Last Minute Royal Twincesses Bday at the World!- PTR

[twinsmama]

Wow, 2 days until our trip!!! I am a single mom of twin girls and just 24 days before our trip I decided we were going to WDW for their 5th birthday! This is my first trip alone with the girls, typically my parents come along with us. For this I am both excited and anxious. I am excited to spend time just catering to my little twincesses (with a few hours saturday night to myself!) and not worrying about anyone else. I am a little concerned how I will handle meltdowns, 1 child asleep and 1 child not, getting 2 sleepy kids out of a stroller and onto a bus by myself...what am I thinking??

I'm thinking...I'd rather be at Disney!

That being said, I am trying to maximize our fun while also minimizing potential for meltdowns. We will be taking some midday out-of-the-park breaks for the first time. My biggest meltdown-prevention challenge may or may not be a challenge but really is just the unknown--we typically leave the parks by 7pm, or are eating dinner then and then immediately heading back to the resort. This time, a year older, I am going to see how we do with more evening time in the parks.

Cast of Characters
Mama- Me, 26 years old, grew up on Disney, mother was a CM years ago.
Twincess Anna- My sweet little peanut, turns 5 during the trip! She is more sensitive and quiet than Elsa.
Twincess Elsa- My bold baby, turns 5 during the trip! Much more outspoken than Anna, the "bigger" sister...by 12 minutes!.

Traveling...
2/26-2/29
First time flying to the World, first time using DME!

Staying...
Art of Animation- first time there, first time at a value resort. Looking forward to the themeing--what others consider tacky, I consider FUN!

Eating...
Friday 2/26- Arrival Day, AK, MK
Breakfast- Airplane cookies!
Lunch- QS at AOA or Harambe Market in AK
Dinner- ??? QS at AOA or MK

Saturday 2/27- MK
Breakfast- In-room snacks OR something from AOA food court
Lunch- ADR for Crystal Palace (Elsa is a big pooh bear fan!)
Dinner- Twincesses eating at a Children's Activity Center, while I am planning on trying out Skipper's Canteen! Arepas =

Sunday 2/28- THE BIG "5" BIRTHDAY!
Breakfast- ADR for Akershus
Lunch- QS at Epcot
Dinner- ADR for Be Our Guest

Monday 2/29- MK, Departure Day
Breakfast- Pre-Open ADR for Be Our Guest
Lunch- QS at MK
Dinner- sad airport food seasoned with our post-Disney tears

So here's the plan...

FRIDAY
We arrive at MCO Friday morning and if all goes well with the MDE, we will be at our first park AK around lunch time.

AK- Early Afternoon

• Meet Pocahontas for the first time
• Lunch at Harambe Market if we didn't eat at AOA. I'm looking forward to the chicken skewer or the tikka masala
• It's Tough to Be a Bug
• Safari
• Triceratop Spin
• Finding Nemo show
• Meet Mickey & Minnie

Crowd level is good that day so not expecting much of a wait for anything except possibly Safari. We will only meet Mickey and Minnie if the wait is short.
Option A- Head back to the resort mid afternoon for a brief, 1-2 hour rest and regroup.
Option B- If the Twincesses are having a BLAST and not showing signs of crankiness and we find ourselves staying in AK til 5, we may go straight to MK. I doubt this though, we will have woken up at 4am to get on the plane!

MK- Evening

• FP+ Talking Mickey
• Meet Tink (first time, excited!)
• Quick Service if we don't eat at AOA
• Fantasyland- IASW, carousel, anything else with a short wait
• FP+ Cinderella and Rapunzel
• FP+ Wishes (first time, excited!)

Hoping to be in the room by 10:30pm.

SATURDAY
The only day we can "sleep in" which for my girls and I, means sleep til about 7:30am, maybe 8. We will leisurely have breakfast at AOA or head straight to MK if the Twincesses desire.

MK- Morning to Afternoon

• Off to Fantasyland! May meet Merida or Fairy Godmother, depending on waits
• FP+ Journey of the Little Mermaid
• FP+ Ariel's Grotto
• IASW (a Twincess favorite), other fantasyland rides
• FP+ Pooh Bear
• Lunch at Crystal Palace
• Head over to tomorrowland for people mover, laugh floor, buzz (hopefully with a 4th FP)

At this point I will drop the Twincesses off at one of the Children's Activity Centers! I hope that they don't put up a big fuss about leaving me--they have been known to put on quite the dramatic show for me, but to chill out the moment I leave their sight. I have very fond memories of staying at the old Neverland Club so I hope they will enjoy their time!

MK- Evening...Mama's going solo!

• Pre-MK drinks at the Poly, hopefully Trader Sam's Grog Grotto
• MK...wherever my feet take me! Will also be picking out some special gifts for the Twincesses birthday the next morning. I am bringing giftwrap as I hear the WDW stores don't offer this.
• Ride the mountains and haunted mansion
• Dinner at Skipper's Canteen- lukewarm reviews don't scare me, if I see the word "arepa" on a menu, i'm gonna eat it!

I plan on spending about 4 hours solo at MK and then picking up the twincesses and cabbing to our resort so the kiddos are asleep by 10:30pm latest...early morning tomorrow!

SUNDAY
THE TWINCESSES' 5TH BIRTHDAY!!!
We are gonna be tired. We may even be cranky. But I am hoping the birthday excitement (and presents on their bed) energizes them because I am waking them up at 6:30am for a Princess breakfast ADR!

EP- Morning

• Breakfast at Akershus- We love it there but haven't done breakfast before!
• Seas with nemo, turtle talk, pixar pals
• Character spot if twincesses desire
• Walk through World Showcase. We really have never explored before so I am excited!
• Obligatory croques glace in France--gosh these are delicious!

Around noonish we will head back to the resort for twincesses to rest and mama to pack our bags so I won't be in a rush on departure day. There is a very slight chance of swimming in our forecast here. Anna is not a fan of water but if they both agree, we will go for a brief dip.

MK- Later afternoon-Evening

• Catch the FOF Parade if we make it in time, Twincesses enjoyed this last year
• FP+ BTMRR- their first time, excited and a little scared!
• FP+ POTC- They are already disappointed that this doesn't include Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but they want to ride it nontheless
• IASW (yes, again!) and repeat other favorites
• FP+ Enchanted Tales with Belle
• Dinner at Be Our Guest...SO EXCITED! Nabbed this ADR 3 days out from our trip which in turn made me rework everything, for the better!

I will be more than ready to head to the resort immediately after our late-ish dinner but will leave that up to the twincesses; if they are in good spirits and want to stay we will. At the hotel will be my last chance to have our checked luggage packed.

MONDAY
Departure day :-( the good news is, we get some park time before our early evening flight! We have to wake up the earliest today...I really may end up letting this one slide, but i'm hoping the girls are so excited for their last chance to ride things that they won't mind waking up at 6am ugh. Will utilize the resort airline check in and drop off my checked bags. If we aren't granted late checkout, we may also be leaving carry-on luggage with the bellhops.

MK- The Final Morning

• We have a pre-open early ADR for BOG! Sincerely hoping we get to ride 7DMT early because of this.
• Straight to A&E, beating rope drop. This is a higher priority for the twincesses than 7DMT. We met them before with FP, but they really want to see them again and so far, no FPs have opened up.
• FP+ Peter Pan
• FP+ Under the Sea
• IASW one last time, plus 2 or 3 other attractions we should have time for
• FP+ Buzz. If we get to do this standby on Saturday, we may FP another final ride on Pooh Bear or BTMRR if they loved it.
• Head back to resort to catch the MDE

So what scares me most about traveling solo with young twins...the bus & two plane rides home! On our previous trips they were fine heading home--so worn out from the trip I suppose that they didn't have a meltdown about leaving. I am praying this time will be the same!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Wow, such much planning in such a short amount of time. Looks like you are going to have one busy weekend with your girls. Congrats on the BOG reservation.

 

[twinsmama]

Wow, such much planning in such a short amount of time. Looks like you are going to have one busy weekend with your girls. Congrats on the BOG reservation.

Thanks! Yes...I don't expect everything to go quite as planned! But if we are dog tired Sunday night dinner at BOG may just turn into cupcakes at BOG so we can get back earlier since I don't want to give up the pre-park ADR the next morning.

 

[tortilla24]

Wow! Good luck going solo, mama. But such lucky girlies! Will be reading along. You're leaving so soon!

 

[twinsmama]

Wow! Good luck going solo, mama. But such lucky girlies! Will be reading along. You're leaving so soon!

Thanks I need it lol I can't believe we leave in less than 24 hours!!! So excited!

 

[Paigevon]

What a lovely trip plan! I'm sure it will be magical, and I am so excited to live precariously through your posts!!