Let's Try this Whole Trip Report Thing - a Memorial Day Weekend PTR

[Disneyhayes]

Hello and welcome to my first trip report. Well PTR. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Instead let's rewind and start from the beginning!

This is my family

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

My name is Katharine. I am 29 and a stay at home mom. I like to spend my time on the boards, watching Disney vlogs, playing with makeup and of course spending time with family.

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

This is my DH, Jason. He is a collector for AAFES and also works part time for the local children's hospital. He is not a Disney addict like myself. He actually gets annoyed when I talk about Disney too much but he really enjoys our trips. He loves Star Wars and anything Marvel or DC comics.

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

These are my DDs. On the left is Abby who is 8. She is my co-planner. She enjoys watching vlogs with me and making ADRs and FPs. She will ride just about anything too. On the right is Layla who just turned 8. She is not into all the planning but loves all things Disney. She is like her dad in that she loves Star Wars and comics.

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]


I have done dining reports before but have recently fell in love with reading trip reports so I thought I would give one a try. I am still a huge foodie though so this report with include lots of lovely dining pictures and reviews.

Our next trip is scheduled for 5/27-6/3. We are taking advantage of the great room rates for the DIS 20th anniversary. I have been dying to go back after our last trip in November 2013. It just wasn't in the cards for us financially. Thanks to the fact that my husband now has an amazing job, the financial aspect isn't an issue for us currently. I will talk more about what I have done to plan this trip thus far in my next post!

Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy reading about me changing my mind and plans every other day

 

[Emilie988]

Following! Those are the exact days we are going too. I can't stop changing my mind about everything. I have changed our room reservation four times since November haha.

 

[Disneyhayes]

Following! Those are the exact days we are going too. I can't stop changing my mind about everything. I have changed our room reservation four times since November haha.

Welcome! We have never been during summer so we are interested to see how it goes! We haven't changed resort ressies but keep an eye out for my post on ADR changes lol

 

[Moushe]

Cant wait to read all about your plans. We will be there that same week, only we get there on Sunday 5/28.

 

[katt789]

Excited to read! Your family's adorable!! AND we're there similar dates!! May 27-June 5th! At Art of Animation!

 

[iheartbelle87]

I'm here! We'll be there 5/25-5/31... looking forward to reading about your plans!

 

[ariane37]

Joining in! We'll miss you by a few days as we're there the 18th-22nd. Look forward to reading about your plans and of course your changes, because it's not a Disney trip without some plan changes

 

[Disneyhayes]

Cant wait to read all about your plans. We will be there that same week, only we get there on Sunday 5/28.

Welcome! Looks like a lot of us will be down there for the 20th!

Excited to read! Your family's adorable!! AND we're there similar dates!! May 27-June 5th! At Art of Animation!

Thank you! I have been wanting to stay at Art of Animation

I'm here! We'll be there 5/25-5/31... looking forward to reading about your plans!

Glad you're here!

Joining in! We'll miss you by a few days as we're there the 18th-22nd. Look forward to reading about your plans and of course your changes, because it's not a Disney trip without some plan changes

You'll get to miss the crowds then hopefully! I love your reports so I am happy to have you here!

 

[Disneyhayes]

36 days and counting! I am so excited! As of right now I have most of our plans down. They have changed a few times since the beginning and I will try to note those where I can remember We are not on the dining plan this trip. Our plan is to do breakfast in the room, QS lunches and then TS dinners where we will split meals.


Saturday 5/27 - Arrival Day
Depart from CMH at 12:50pm via Frontier Airlines. We have never flown Frontier before as they are fairly new to our airport.
Arrive at MCO at 3:00pm and take DME to Port Orleans Riverside. We should be getting the text about our room on the ride so we plan on dropping our carry-on luggage in the room and heading straight to... MAGIC KINGDOM!

Park hours 9am-11pm
Dinner ADR at 5:50pm at The Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd Skipper Canteen (guess they had troubles narrowing down the name)

Fastpasses:
5:00pm - 6:00pm Big Thunder Mountain - This was Layla's request for our first ride
6:55pm - 7:55pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - We have not ridden this yet so I am super excited
8:25pm - 9:25pm Splash Mountain - This is Abby's favorite ride and I am hoping it will be dark when we ride it.

We plan on riding more rides through the fireworks this night as we will be returning to MK later in the trip.

Sunday 5/28 - Epcot
Park hours 9am-9pm

We have no ADRs for our Epcot day as we plan on eating at the Flower and Garden booths. Well eating and drinking . Last trip we drank around the world sharing a "signature" drink from each country. I don't think we'll go that deep this year but I am sure we will be getting those liquid calories without any issue.

Rope Drop
Soarin'
Test Track
FP - Spaceship Earth 9:15am-10:15am
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
FP - Journey into Imagination with Figment 10:40am-11:40am
Living with the Land
Hit up some food booths and check out the F&G center.
Break at the resort for nap and/or swimming
Return to Epcot - WS
FP - Frozen Ever After 6:55pm-7:55pm
Illuminations @ 9pm

Monday 5/29 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
Park Hours - 9:00am-9:30pm

Haven't decided on an ADR yet. Was scheduled for 50's Prime Time and canceled that. Then had an ADR for Hollywood Brown Derby and canceled that. May look into eating at Boardwalk, Yacht or Beach Club and then walking or boating to DHS for the evening.

Rope Drop
Rock 'n' Rollercoaster
FP - Toy Story Mania 9:35am-10:35am
Voyage of The Little Mermaid
Star Wars Launch Bay
FP - Star Tours 10:55am-11:55am
Lunch
FP - Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 12:55pm-1:55pm
Break at the resort for nap and/or swimming
Return to DHS
Star Wars Stage Show
Great Movie Ride
Frozen Sing Along
F!
Leave F! early and walk to see the Star Wars projection show and fireworks (may just skip F!)


Tuesday 5/30 - Typhoon Lagoon
Hours 10am-6pm

Stay at Typhoon Lagoon until 3ish or whenever
Disney Springs in evening.

Wednesday 5/31 - Animal Kingdom
Park Hours 8am-1am

*** I am sure this day is going to change. I don't know about staying at AK all day where it's usually hotter than going straight to 'Ohana. I would really like a later 'Ohana reservation.

ADR - 'Ohana at 3:30pm. I have really wanted to eat here and this was the only reservation I could get so far.

Rope Drop
Na'Vi River Journey
FP - Avatar Flight of Passage 8:05am-9:05am
FP - Expedition Everest 9:15am-10:15am
Kilimanjaro Safari
Lunch - Flame tree BBQ
FP - Dinosaur 11:55am-12:55pm
Primeval Whirl
Kali River Rapids - a few times if the line isn't too long. We will have a bag with a change of clothes and flip flops for this ride.
Tough to be a Bug
Bus to Poly for O'hana
Monorail to MK for a bus back to resort for nap and/or swim
Back to AK around 8:00pm
Rivers of Light @ 9:15

Thursday 6/1 - Magic Kingdom
Hours - 9am-11pm

Rope Drop
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
FP - Splash Mountain 9:35am-10:35am
Small World
Philarmagic
Winnie the Pooh
FP - Peter Pan's Flight 11:05am-12:05pm
Lunch - Casey's Corner
FP - Pirates of the Carribean 12:10pm-1:10pm
Break to resort for swimming and/or nap.
Return to Magic Kingdom
Stitch's Great Escape - yes we like this
Monster's Inc
Buzz Lightyear
People Mover
Astro Orbiter - Husband can take the kids while I find a place to hang out. This ride scares me.
Space Mountain - hoping to get a FP for this
Dinner - QS in the park
Journey of The Little Mermaid
Dumbo
Barnstormer
Wishes - 9pm

Friday 6/2
We don't have any plans for this day yet. Our plan is to return to whichever park the kids want to go to. Our other option is to make this our day for the water park and have Tuesday be an actual rest and Disney Springs day. Maybe do the mini speed boats and the surrey bikes around the resort. In the evening we will be catching YeeHaw Bob at the resort and packing

Saturday 6/3
DME will pick us up around 6:45am as our flight leaves MCO at 9:50am.

I am open to suggestions on places to eat, plan changes and what not. I also know that when we get there the plans will probably go out the window

 

[Disneyhayes]

We got Mickey mail!!!! Our letter and luggage tags for Disney's Magical Express arrived in the mail. This seemed to be the perfect start to do a travel day update!

We have been to Disney as a family 3 times. We have driven twice and flown once. When it came to planning this trip my husband said he wanted to fly. When we drive it's 16 hours and we do it in 1 day. While my kids do pretty well on road trips, I think it's taking a toll on my husband. He won't let me drive so he's stuck doing the whole thing.

When it came to looking for flights I started to get discouraged. We had previously flown Southwest. The prices are generally low and we get the luggage. When I started looking at prices though I had a bit of a panic. It just wasn't working for the days we wanted to travel. We did have a 3 day wiggle room for arrival and departure but prices were still pretty steep for the 4 of us. I decided to check some other airlines. Maybe we would have to do a layover with multiple airlines or fly at crappy times but I was on the hunt for more affordable flights. When I started to look on the travel sites a weird airline popped up. Frontier? Since when did that airline start flying out of Columbus? I had heard of it before as being a discount airline so I went to their website and started poking around. The prices were good but you had to pay for luggage. I crunched the numbers and it was going to work! So I priced out the travel days and plugged them into my spreadsheet for my husband to review. He looked at it and picked the dates and I booked the trip!

We will be flying from John Glenn Columbus International Airport (say that 5 times fast) to MCO on Saturday 5/27. Our flight departs at 12:50pm. Our plan for the day is to wake up at 8am. I will make breakfast for the family while husband showers and the kids get dressed. Once we eat I will get ready and get our luggage to the front door. My father in law will be taking us to the airport. We will leave my house at 9:30am for the 20 minutes ride to the airport. Since we are traveling on Saturday, mid day, during a holiday weekend, I want to make sure we have a few hours to get our bags checked and get through security. We will eat lunch at the airport before boarding the plane.

Our arrival time at MCO is scheduled for 3:00pm. We will get off the plane, take the fake-o-rail to the main terminal, stop for a picture at the Disney World wall and then make our way to DME.

Each person on Frontier is allowed a personal bag up to the size of a backpack. My kids and husband will be carrying backpacks and I will have one of my Disney tote type bags. While we won't need enough stuff on the plane to fill these bags, I want the extra space for bringing stuff back lol. My kids will each had their iPads, stuffed animal and snacks. Husband will carry meds, change of clothes (in case luggage gets lost) and chargers. I will carry the wallets, important papers, my book and additional snacks.

If anyone has any other suggestions for anything to make our travel day easier let me know! It's my oldest DDs first time flying but we think she will do ok. 31 days!!!!!! I can't wait!

 

[indyshelley]

Following!! We will be there May 31 to June 6!!!! The countdown is ON!! We are driving but splitting it into 2 days each way. Like the Griswolds! I'm like you though, when I fly I get to the airport very early so I don't get stressed. So excited!!!!

 

[Disneyhayes]

Following!! We will be there May 31 to June 6!!!! The countdown is ON!! We are driving but splitting it into 2 days each way. Like the Griswolds! I'm like you though, when I fly I get to the airport very early so I don't get stressed. So excited!!!!

Welcome and happy to have you! We leave at 430am when we drive down. On the way back we split it over 2 days the first time so we could stay later. The 2nd time my husband decided to keep driving and drove all night after spending the morning at the parks. I don't think he will do that again. He was so tired and sore and struggling to stay awake.

 

[katt789]

Yay for more plans!! Also WOW, not only will we ALSO be in Mk on the 1st, but our Splash Mtn fp is legit for the exact same time lol!!!
Looks like an awesome week! As for Quick Service places:
MK:
-Columbia Harbour House: has great seafood options (and nuggets and mac & cheese for kids) there's fried shrimp, or even a baked salmon w/cous cous and veggies!
-Pecos: easiest for sharing! We got the fajita platter last trip, and with a trip to the FREE toppings bar to LOAD up we split it between 3 adults no problem

DAK:
-Flame Tree BBQ, great options, big portions, chicken, ribs, sandwiches
-Yak & Yeti QS

DHS:
-Pizza is usually my go to here!
-ABC Commisary is my next choice

Epcot:
-Anywhere in WS, obviously you'll have all the booths to snack from, but I love Morocco's & Japan's qs!

 

[Disneyhayes]

Yay for more plans!! Also WOW, not only will we ALSO be in Mk on the 1st, but our Splash Mtn fp is legit for the exact same time lol!!!
Looks like an awesome week! As for Quick Service places:
MK:
-Columbia Harbour House: has great seafood options (and nuggets and mac & cheese for kids) there's fried shrimp, or even a baked salmon w/cous cous and veggies!
-Pecos: easiest for sharing! We got the fajita platter last trip, and with a trip to the FREE toppings bar to LOAD up we split it between 3 adults no problem

DAK:
-Flame Tree BBQ, great options, big portions, chicken, ribs, sandwiches
-Yak & Yeti QS

DHS:
-Pizza is usually my go to here!
-ABC Commisary is my next choice

Epcot:
-Anywhere in WS, obviously you'll have all the booths to snack from, but I love Morocco's & Japan's qs!

Maybe I will run into you at Splash! Thanks for the suggestions on places to eat and split meals. 29 days and I am just so excited!

 

[Disneyhayes]

Non trip update! A package arrived in the mail today from Bradford Exchange. It was addressed to my husband so I texted and asked if I could open it. He said it was my Mother's Day present but I could open it now if I wanted. So what did I do? I opened it now of course!

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]


I love it! It has our names on it too!

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

He does such a good job with surprising me! And since he's found Bradford Exchange I have been spoiled!

 

[Disneyhayes]

Real life update.

After my post on Friday I unfortunately lost one of my puppies, Sophie, to a horrible accident. It's been a rough few days and in a little bit I go to pick up her urn and ashes. I've been watching Disney vlogs and reading the boards to help keep my mind off stuff but I still have moments of ugly crying. As many of you paw parents know, they are family members and the pain proves that's true.

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

 

[indyshelley]

Oh no!!!!! I am so very sorry to hear this!! Hugs to you and your family.

 

[Disneyhayes]

Oh no!!!!! I am so very sorry to hear this!! Hugs to you and your family.

Thank you.

 

[iheartbelle87]

I'm so sorry to hear about your Sophie <3

 

[ariane37]

I'm so sorry about your puppy, I do truly know how much a part of the family they are. While I'm a cat person it's the same feeling, and I've lost too many cats to list. It doesn't get easier and you never forget them
I love your Mother's Day gift! I think I've seen that advertised before. I especially love the little touch of your names being on it
A client of mine who is also a friend flew Frontier last month and had a good experience. You have to play around with flights and airlines sometimes to get it to work! We always fly JetBlue but we also have about 5 airports we can choose from. To drive would be 24 hours and that isn't appealing to any of us lol.