Let’s Put These AP’s to Use!! A June 2018 PTR - Updated 6/1

[ArielSRL]

I was ready to book, but thought I’d check and little more and then saw that the Yacht Club was also available for only $200 more than our Riverside rate.

Very nice! I plan to try to get us Beach Club in 2020, but bc it isn't our home resort, we will have to see how it goes. I'm sure the Epcot area resorts will be popular as they are so close to DHS and by then SW:GE will be open. If I can't get BC, I'll look into Boardwalk.

Our boys will love Stormalong Bay and we are super excited about the proximity to Epcot and how easy it will be to move from the Dolphin to Yacht Club.

Sounds perfect!

 

[cstorm65]

Very nice! I plan to try to get us Beach Club in 2020, but bc it isn't our home resort, we will have to see how it goes. I'm sure the Epcot area resorts will be popular as they are so close to DHS and by then SW:GE will be open. If I can't get BC, I'll look into Boardwalk.

We've stayed at Boardwalk and really enjoyed it. That's part of the reason we are looking forward to this Dolphin/Yacht Club trip. That area is just so great location wise. You are right on Star Wars. It will be crazy for several years to come after it opens, not to mention the 50th is coming up so more new stuff to open and draw crowds!

Sounds perfect!

Hopefully it works out ok!!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 8 Plans

Hope everyone is having a great week! It has been busy around here as it always is trying to get the school year finished off. We started spring football this past week so I’ve got that added to the schedule as well. But, on the bring side we are only 22 days away from our trip!!

For day eight we are coming off of an easy night the night before where we were getting prepared for today’s EMH here:

We are not using FP’s at Hollywood Studios this morning as we are saving them for our evening park. So, at rope drop we will be heading straight for Toy Story to ride during the EMH. Coincidentally they just announced a couple of days ago Toy Story will be closing on June 11 to prepare for Toy Story Land, so this will be our last chance to ride. We would like to get two ride in during EMH, but we’ll see what the wait time is after doing it once.

After Toy Story we will head over and want to try and meet Chewbacca and BB-8. DS6 will love both of those meets as he gets pretty into Star Wars!

We also should have a few Child Swap passes from earlier on in the week to use on Rock ‘n Roller Coaster and Star Tours. We then have lunch at one of our favorite places:

We really enjoy Sci-Fi Diner. It does a good job of keeping the boys interested and the food has always been enjoyable for us, especially since we are paying out of pocket so it is nice that it is a little lower priced than most sit down meals.

After lunch we plan to be back at our resort by 12:30 so we can get a nice nap and break before our evening park plans.

We plan to leave to head to the Magic Kingdom at 4:30. We have all of our three FP’s for the day booked here tonight at some of our favorite rides. The first one we have is Big Thunder Mountain!

After that DW and DS6 have FP’s on Seven Dwarfs later in the evening while I have a FP at the same time on Winnie the Pooh to take DS2 with me. Of course DW and DS6 will pick up a child swap for me to use on Seven Dwarfs.

We also plan on visiting some of our favorite class attractions tonight like Mickey’s Philharmagic and the TTA. Our final FP is me and DS6 at Space Mountain while DW has one for Buzz that she will take DS2 on while we ride Space.

We do plan on being out of the park before by 9:00 tonight so we are on the bus and back to the resort before the fireworks crowd. We have another rope drop in the morning so we don’t want to be out super late, but the rope drop is very close to us and we won’t have to ride a bus to get there. That may give it away for you!

Anyways, have a great weekend everyone!

Up Next: Day 9 Plans​

 

[ArielSRL]

It has been busy around here as it always is trying to get the school year finished off.

I can so relate to this. 8 more days with students!

But, on the bring side we are only 22 days away from our trip!!

Wahoo! Us too!

We would like to get two ride in during EMH, but we’ll see what the wait time is after doing it once.

Good luck!

After Toy Story we will head over and want to try and meet Chewbacca and BB-8. DS6 will love both of those meets as he gets pretty into Star Wars!

Finally, finally, my boys are starting to get interested in Star Wars.

We then have lunch at one of our favorite places:

This is definitely on the list for a future trip.

The first one we have is Big Thunder Mountain!

My fave at MK. My second fave at WDW.

After that DW and DS6 have FP’s on Seven Dwarfs later in the evening while I have a FP at the same time on Winnie the Pooh to take DS2 with me.

We have these exact plans for our MK day!

 

[cstorm65]

I can so relate to this. 8 more days with students!

I know we are getting close. We are down to 12 days left with kids and 14 days for teachers!

Wahoo! Us too!

We get out of school on Friday and have to be ready to go by Sunday. I'm only nervous about getting everything packed up. Last summer we had over a month after school got out to get everything ready!

Good luck!

Thanks, I really have no idea how it will go.

Finally, finally, my boys are starting to get interested in Star Wars.

I love the ride and could do it over and over and over since the ride sequences are each usually different. And now DS6 loves it as well. DW is a one and done person on it. She can only take a simulator type ride one time before needing to be done.

This is definitely on the list for a future trip.

We love it and this will be our fourth trip in a row to go here!

My fave at MK. My second fave at WDW.

We love it as well. Especially in the evening when it is dark!

We have these exact plans for our MK day!

Hope it goes well for both of us!!

 

[SweetSerenity]

I'm joining in. I'm enjoying your current report, and looking forward to reading more about your PTR. How awesome that you were able to book the Dolphin for free! That's great. We love POR, but I'd probably upgrade to YC for the small difference, too. Especially since you have kids who will enjoy the nice pool.

 

[cstorm65]

I'm joining in. I'm enjoying your current report, and looking forward to reading more about your PTR.

Thanks for reading along and commenting!!

How awesome that you were able to book the Dolphin for free! That's great.

I know and it was so easy to get the points that allowed us to do that!

We love POR, but I'd probably upgrade to YC for the small difference, too. Especially since you have kids who will enjoy the nice pool.

It will definitely be worth the small difference in price to get Stormalong Bay! And we love being walking distance to Epcot, Beaches & Cream, and Ample Hills!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 9 Plans

After our two park day yesterday we are going to have a pretty easy day today. We are planning on getting up and hitting a park at rope drop, but since we are at Yacht Club and so close to Epcot that is the one we are doing. We will probably walk to the International Gateway at about 8:20 so that we arrive at 8:30 or so. Do they actually let you through the turnstiles early back here like they do at the front of the park and then just hold you somewhere? I know you are usually a little behind the crowd in getting places, but it’s too convenient not to use that entrance.

Our goal on this morning is to head straight over for a ride here:

DS6 loved this ride on our last trip and is really excited about it this time. We will then head over to the other side of Future World and do a few other things before our 10:15 Breakfast ADR. We will probably ride things like Nemo & Living with the Land before breakfast. Then we have breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places:

After breakfast we then have FP’s at the Character Spot and then back at Frozen Ever After. Frozen was down on our trip at Christmas so we are certainly looking forward to seeing it again. We also have a FP at Spaceship Earth before we leave for the day.

We do plan on being in the park until around 2:00 or so just because we have no plans the rest of the day. We will probably just hang around the Yacht Club, take a nap, spend some time and Stormalong Bay, and find dinner in the area. We definitely wanted to plan some time on this trip just to enjoy our resort and not get too worn out in the evenings.

Day 10 Plans

This day for us will be another rope drop, but that’s ok as we didn’t have any plans last night so everyone should be well rested. This morning we are getting up and headed to a 9am opening at the Magic Kingdom. Our main focus of this rope drop here will be to hit a lot of our favorites in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We start of with a quick ride at Buzz Lightyear & maybe Astroorbiter if things open up quickly. Next we have a FP for DW and DS6 at Space Mountain at 9, while at the same time DS2 and I will head back and use a FP at Winnie the Pooh. Then we are heading back here:

We’ll ride the boys favorites at Barnstormer and Dumbo of course, and then be ready for Pete’s to open at 10:00 so we can see some friends. I think we will try and get through both lines this morning and do all four character meets, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Minnie. Next, we are heading to Frontierland to use a FP at Splash Mountain. I think DW and DS6 will ride and I’ll take DS2 over to ride Pirates. When they are done we are walking back over for our final FP here:

Our goal is to be out of the park at about 12:15 so we can be back and resting by 1:00 at the latest. We have to be back at the Magic Kingdom bus stop by 3:00 as we aren’t going to park the rest of the day, but we have a dinner ADR at 4:00 at ‘Ohana.

We are looking forward to this as ‘Ohana is always one of our favorite meals. The boys love it and DW and I are addicted to a few things on the menu, namely the potstickers and the noodles. After dinner we don’t really have any other plans for the day. We’ll head back to the resort somehow. Maybe monorail to Epcot and then walk through to the International Gateway. We’ll just play that by ear and probably spend some time swimming before an early bedtime. We have an Animal Kingdom rope drop the next day and if any of you have seen that park has added morning EMH at 8am everyday in May & June so we’ll have to be up early!

That does it for Day 9 & 10. We are getting close, just 15 days away! Have a great weekend everyone!

Up Next: Day 11 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 11 Plays

After a nice early night we will have to be up early and ready to go this morning as Animal Kingdom opens at 8 AM. If you haven’t seen they added morning EMH at AK every day in May and June from 8 AM to 9 AM. So, we might as well take advantage!

Our plan starts with us heading over towards one of DS5’s favorite rides here, Expedition Everest.

We’ll grab a couple of rides before heading down to Dinoland. We are really hoping DS5 is tall enough for Primeval Whirl. He would love that ride and always asks if we can do it, so hopefully he is tall enough. We’ll have to put on two pair of socks that day!

After spending that time in Dinoland it will be pretty close to our first FP which at Kali River Rapids. Believe it or not this is a ride we’ve never ridden at Disney World, but DS5 loves rapids rides and really wants to do it, so what are two good parents to do? Of course we take him...after we play paper, rock, scissors to see who gets to stay dry!

We also want to hit some of the animal trails around Asia and Africa before our next FP at Kilimanjaro Safari. After our safari we plan on heading to our lunch spot for the day, Satu'li Canteen. Of course we are just looking forward to seeing the Pandora scenery again:

As for lunch we’ve heard a lot of good things about Satu’li so we are excited. I just want to try those cheeseburger pods!

After lunch are last FP’s of the day are at Flight of Passage, which DW has still never ridden. She had just had surgery last summer and didn’t want to chance a ride and this past Christmas DS1 got sick while we were there and that was the one day he was throwing up, so DW had to stay with him.

We plan on being out of the park by 12:30 or so and heading back for a nice rest and nap time. After a break we plan on heading to the Magic Kingdom for a 6:30 dinner reservation at:

We had a reservation here last summer, but had to cancel because we didn’t go to the park that night, so we are excited about this. I know it gets mixed reviews, but there are a lot of things about this place that make us excited to go here.

We’ll definitely spend some time in MK this night doing some rides that we want. We’ll probably just stop where we are for the fireworks, although we don’t really like to spend an hour saving a spot and then watch the show, and then battle to get out after. So we usually watch from Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. We may stay pretty late this evening as we don’t have a park tomorrow morning. It will of course just depend on how the kids are doing.

So, that is a pretty full and busy day, but again we are sleeping in tomorrow!

Up Next: Day 12 Plans​

 

[chunkymonkey]

I am joining in! I will be there on June 9-11 for a short solo trip. It sounds like you have fantastic plans! I usually stay at the Dolphin for free too, you cannot beat it. Plus if you stay 4 nights you get the 5th free, it's the best deal on a disney property. The location is fantastic. I did hear however that the friendship boats to DHS will be impacted around the time we're there. I think they run to Epcot and the other resorts but not to DHS. I'd double check the exact dates though. There will be bus service instead.

 

[cstorm65]

I am joining in! I will be there on June 9-11 for a short solo trip. It sounds like you have fantastic plans! I usually stay at the Dolphin for free too, you cannot beat it. Plus if you stay 4 nights you get the 5th free, it's the best deal on a disney property. The location is fantastic.

Yes, we are staying 4 nights so that 5th one is free! You are right it is a great deal and location!!

I did hear however that the friendship boats to DHS will be impacted around the time we're there. I think they run to Epcot and the other resorts but not to DHS. I'd double check the exact dates though. There will be bus service instead.

You are exactly right. They announced this about a day after I moved our reservation to the Yacht Club. I think they shut the boats to DHS down around the 10th. We will honestly just probably plan on walking to Hollywood Studios. We've stayed at the Boardwalk before and walked down and it wasn't that bad. I think I have our schedule worked out where we are only going to DHS once after they stop running that boat as well.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 12 Plans

We are winding down here on another PTR, only a week from tomorrow we will head out on our latest adventure! Day 12 will be a fairly easy one for us. After a late evening at the Magic Kingdom the night before this will be a sleep in morning for us. Of course we’ll probably spend some time at Stormalong Bay.

We plan to head to Animal Kingdom around lunch time as we have FP’s at Flight of Passage. We also have a FP after lunch to what has become one of DS6’s favorite rides:

He keeps asking me everyday if we can do the “Dragon Ride” and “Mountain Everest”. I love that he has his own names for all of these rides! So, he is super excited for Animal Kingdom.

We also have a FP scheduled at one of our favorite meet and greets, Adventurer’s Outpost. This has been a place we have had some great meets and it is so unique in that you get Mickey and Minnie at the same time! Here is a pic from almost three years ago now:

We plan on being out of the park by around 3:30 or so and we don’t have any plans at all this evening. The only thing we might do is take a quick stroll over to the France Pavilion by way of the International Gateway for a Napoleon and for DW to get some of the ice cream from the shop there that she loves. Here is DW working on one of those Napoleon's about four years ago:

We will also probably spend some time this day doing a chore we don’t really want to do at all, start packing up to head home. The next day is our last full day, but we like to kind of get a head start so we aren’t just running around like crazy people packing the night before we leave. Anyways, this should be a relaxing day as we prepare for our last rope drop on our final day.

Up Next: Day 13 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 13 Plans

Day 13 is our final full day and for us it will be a full day!! It was going to be a Magic Kingdom day to start with, but in the latest round of park hours changes the park will now open at 8:00 AM on this day. It will be an early morning, but we LOVE 8 AM rope drops. You can get so much done between 8 and 10.

We plan on focusing our morning touring on Tomorrowland and Frontierland mostly. We will have had a couple of rope drops already to focus on Fantasyland. DS6 will love one of his favorites in Tomorrowland:

We also plan on riding this with DS6:

After we finish in Tomorrowland we will head across towards Frontierland. It should still be early enough for us to jump on Big Thunder without a huge wait. After spending some time in Frontierland we have our first FP of the day at Peter Pan and have another FP later at here:

We have a lunch ADR at Be Our Guest that I moved up to 11:00 as we will probably just eat lunch and then head out for our break. We enjoy this lunch quite a bit. Not that the food is a whole lot better than anywhere else, but it is a cool dining experience and always important in the summer is that it is indoors and air conditioned.

We plan on heading back for a break at 11:45 and let the boys get a good nap before returning to the park that evening. We will most likely spend our evening doing whatever the last few things are we want to do. We do have a FP to see Mickey Mouse and we will probably have a few child swap passes to use that we just never got around to using throughout the week. So really not a whole lot of firm plans for the evening, we’ll just see where our last night takes us!

Up Next: Day 14 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Packing & Shopping Update

Well, we are less than 48 hours away from our flight! Funny story...I had set an alarm on my phone as I always do for me to check in for our Southwest flight 24 hours before our trip, but for some reason I had that reminder set for today as if our flight was tomorrow and so I actually tried to check in today at what was the 48 hour mark. Finally I figured out that I had set my reminder for a day too far in advance!

Anyways, DW and I have been working on laundry all night tonight because...we haven’t really started packing at all. With the exception of getting all of our laundry done and laying out all of our equipment type stuff we haven’t done much. Which is very much unlike me, but with the school year adding days do to the teacher walkout here in Oklahoma we just got out of school today. I think we’ll be ok as often the hardest part is making sure you have all of the laundry clean, so if you can do that you can usually pack pretty quickly.

We’ve also gotten about three Amazon packages this week of things we need for the trip. Here are some of the things we got that are new to us. First, some snack containers to stick in our park bag:

We had a different type last year and they worked ok, but they all got broken by the end of the trip. The plastic was just kind of cheap. These are much more durable. Next:

I always want to try this and always seem to forget to buy them, but “Air Pressure” cups to hold our swimsuits in the shower. FYI, I’m a physics teacher and there is no such thing as “suction”, so I call them “Air Pressure” cups. The final one I snapped a picture of:

I am super excited about this one, it is a retractable phone charging cord. I hate carrying my phone charging cord into the park because you have to keep it from getting tangled and it just takes up more space. This retractable one can be extended to the length you need while you charge and then easily taken up when you’re finished. I got me and DW one!

Other than this you can see the rest of our “equipment” stack of stuff here:

Anyways, the packing process will commence tomorrow morning as all of our clothes will be clean, so yes, we are waiting until the day before we leave to pack. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that!

Up Next: Day 14 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 14 Plans

So, here we are down to the dreaded day where we travel hom. I won’t spend much time on this other than to say our flight is not until 5:00 PM, so our bus won’t leave until 2:00. This is one day I haven’t really figured out at all what we want to do. We don’t usually go to a park on our check out day as we will want to sleep in and make sure we are all packed up. I am excited we will finally be able to use Resort Airline Check In. On our last two trips we haven’t been able to use it because DS2 had been a lap child since he was still young enough and those desks are not equipped to handle that. Anyways, this time we should be able to do all of our check in and not have to go to the gate at the airport.

We may head over to Disney Springs for some shopping and snacks.

Last summer we went to Epcot our last morning, not to ride a lot of things, but because DW really wanted some Fish & Chips and because MouseGears is awesome.

Whatever we decide to do we fly out at 5:00 and get home around 10:30 after a layover as there are not direct flights from Orlando to Oklahoma City. It’s so strange because we can fly direct from OKC to Orlando, but not the other way. Anyway, all that to say I don’t have a clue what we’ll do on this day. Who knows, we may just say we’re going to spend one last morning at Stormalong Bay. I have a feeling DS6 will like that idea!

Oh well, I’m going to go continue working on laundry and hopefully we can get all packed up tomorrow!

Up Next: It’s Trip Time!​

 

[SweetSerenity]

Yay! Your trip is so close! I hope you have a great time!

 

[cstorm65]

Yay! Your trip is so close! I hope you have a great time!

Thanks!! We are so excited!

 

[cstorm65]

Well, we are almost packed and I'm not at all worried about it! Most of that due to the fact that our flight is not until early tomorrow afternoon. Usually right about now I'm stressing about getting up early, loading the car, and setting 10 alarms so we don't miss our plane! At least with an afternoon flight we don't have to worry about any of that.

I do have almost all of our stuff packed away. We are taking one more small suitcase than we normally do mostly because we don't have trouble getting stuff down normally, but after we do our souvenir shopping we have trouble fitting stuff in coming home, and you guys know things just don't get put in as well after you've been "vacationing". You just end up throwing stuff in the bag! Of course for us the trick is getting our four big bags, our carryon's, the double stroller, and the two children into the airport and to the check in desk. I'm sure people laugh at us rolling up to the desk with as much stuff as we have, but small kids need a lot!

Speaking of flying we are excited this will be our first trip to have a purchased seat for DS2. I am sick of all of the hoops you have to jump through with a lap child such as presenting the birth certificate or that we can't use resort airline check in. We can now even take advantage of the curbside check in which may be much easier with as much stuff as we have.

Anyways, it is 11 PM and DS6 is still awake. As he usually does the night before a trip he's so excited he can't fall asleep. He has now moved to our bed to see if he'll sleep a little better. Anyways, we shall see. I'm going to head to bed shortly myself. Have a great week everyone...I know we will!​

 

[TeamDP]

Have fun! After reading your last trip report, I'm excited to hear about this one, too

 

[FosterLovesMickey]

Loved your PTR!! Can't wait to follow your trip report - have fun!!!