Mama Needs a Dole Whip- A February 2016 PTR

[missbecca]

Alright dudes, let's try this again!

Backstory: Back in January 2014 I thought I'd live dangerously and plan my family's first WDW vacation within 4 months. Everything was going swimmingly (if not for a not-so-shocking lack of ADR availability!) until we were hit with a major financial blow, effectively eliminating our Dole Whi... er... uh, Disney fund.



Darn you Reality! As it turned out, the week that we were supposed to be enjoying our first trip to the World turned into the worst week of my life when my Mother, who lives on the opposite coast, had a debilitating stroke. Talk about needing some Disney magic!



But here we are again- ready to take our first Disney World trip and immerse ourselves in the Disney love! (And... you know... eat a metric ton of churros and Dole Whips!)



Coming up next: My cast of Mouseketeers!

Table of Contents:

The Cast of Mouseketeers!
The When and the Where!
Planning and Second Guessing!
One more Disney Day!
In Which We Are Officially Booked!
If Mama Ain't Happy...
Sometimes Sad Things Happen
New Plans
The Cast Gets Bigger!
February Update
March Update
June Update
The one in which I agonize over sleeping situations...
We've changed all we can change, so let's change dates again!​

 

[missbecca]

The Cast: So just who is this family so deserving of a trip of this magnitude you might ask? Well, here's my cast of Mouseketeers:

Hubs and Myself:



Hubs works for the government doing stuff and things, and I work in retail and I'm also a knitwear designer and fiber artist.

And my sweet babies, D (10), L (7), and V (5)



While this will be our first trip to Disney World, we've been Disneyland regulars for years! Up until 2 years ago when we moved to Virginia we were AP holders and went several times a year.

My kids talk ALL.THE.TIME about Disneyland and going back, and they know that we might be taking a trip to Disney World eventually, but they have NO idea that it will be within the next 10 months! Eeek!!!​

 

[missbecca]

The When: April 12-17, 2015 is our current goal. It puts us there the second week after Easter, and it seems like a less busy time to be there. We're relatively flexible with the dates though, so hopefully that will work in our favor! Of course we have to wait to book until Disney announces whether or not they will extend their Armed Forces Salute into 2015, but again, we're still going either way.

The Where: Last time we were planning we booked a Cars family suite at Art of Animation. We loved the fact that there would be loads of room for the kids to have their own personal space and the theming is incredible. This time though, we're going to try to book at Port Orleans Riverside for various reasons, most of which is price.

Does anyone have any input on either AoA or POR for a family of 5? With 5 people we are pretty limited on where we could stay, but both of these can accommodate us from my understanding.

 

[missbecca]

Holy geez, would these 2015 package rates just come out already please? The longer I wait the more time I have to second guess my choices! I suppose it doesn't really matter because I can't really officially book until Disney announces whether or not they are extending the Armed Forces Salute into 2015 anyways, but it would be nice to know the price changes. I've been keeping myself busy by working on a planning binder! I've printed out some things from WDW Prep School such as resort maps, park maps, packing lists, etc. I've been working on building our trip itinerary as well, and planning our dining options. We're probably going to get the deluxe dining plan. I know that a lot (ok MOST) people would say that I'm crazy for that, but my family is a 3 meal a day family and the fact that our dining would be completely taken care of once we get on property is what entices us most. I'm sure that we could easily get by on the regular dining though if we pack a ton of breakfast items and snacks, so I'm not entirely set on that yet. Based on 2014 dining plan prices, it's an $800 difference between the regular dining and deluxe, so if we go deluxe we're going to have to make it worth it.

Here's what I have so far:

Sun April 12- leave Casa de Mouseketeer at 4am, arrive at WDW 5pm, play in the pool, let the kids burn energy, eat dinner at the resort, get some sleep.

Mon April 13- spend the morning at the resort relaxing, lunch at Kona, then spend the afternoon and evening at AK with dinner at Rainforest Cafe or Yak & Yeti.

Tues April 14- Princess breakfast at Akershus, morning at Epcot, lunch at Biergarten, afternoon at HS, dinner at Sci-Fi Dine In.

Wed April 15- Breakfast at Chef Mickeys, Magic Kingdom, lunch to be decided, dinner at Be Our Guest.

Thur April 16- Breakfast at 'Ohana, Magic Kingdom, lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, dinner to be decided.

Fri April 17- Spend the morning at the resort, lunch at Raglan Road or House of Blues, walk around DTD, head home

Yes, there are 3 character meals.

Resort- I'm still going between AoA family suites or POR. I talked to a friend the other day about her experiences and she said that she's stayed at POR and thought it was kind of run down. I'm not sure when her last stay there was, but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews about POR. I wouldn't say that her review swayed my decision though, and POR is still the front runner. Ugh, I will feel so much better once the reservations are made.

 

[missbecca]

I spent all morning tweaking my planning spreadsheet (yes, I'm an obsessive planner!). I've come to the conclusion that we could save just shy of $600 by getting the regular dining plan instead of the deluxe and eating breakfast at the resort food court to keep out of pocket costs down. For a family of 5 our breakfasts would average $50/day, so that's not awful. I will miss out on a few restaurants that I was looking forward to trying, but honestly my kids would rather be enjoying the magic anyways. So here's what I have so far for dining:

Sunday night- food court
Monday- breakfast at food court, lunch at Kona, dinner at flame tree bbq
Tuesday- breakfast at food court, lunch tbd counter service in Epcot, dinner at Sci-fi Dine in
Wednesday- breakfast at Chef Mickeys, lunch tbd counter service in MK, dinner at Be Our Guest
Thursday- breakfast at 'Ohana, lunch tbd counter service in MK, dinner tbd counter service in MK
Friday- breakfast at food court, lunch at Earl of Sandwich on our way out

Any recommendations for counter service meals in MK or Epcot?

 

[missbecca]

Woooooooooo!!!! My ticker is under 9 months!

I was able to spend a planning-free weekend with the Mouseketeers this weekend- well, mostly planning-free. My mind was planning like crazy! The kids' school supplies lists were available so I thought I'd download them and get started on planning gathering all of those supplies. Seriously, who in the world needs 20 gluesticks?! 20 gluesticks for one child. Wow.

So anyways, it's Monday now and while the kids are busying themselves with Disney Infinity I'm here tinkering with my spreadsheets and second guessing every Disney decision that I've made up to this point. Looking at the spreadsheet, I've decided that we should just do the Quick Service dining for sure. I can still visit BOG for lunch service, so I won't miss out on that entirely, and if we really want to do a character meal we will budget for it accordingly.

Also, I've settled on POR for our resort. Family suites at AoA are over $100 more per night, and I don't foresee us spending enough time in the room to really care that there is more space to play.

And finally- the main change and the catalyst for so many of these other changes: One more Disney day! We decided to add a day onto our trip so that around the middle of our trip we can take a day off from the parks and hang out around the resort and DTD and maybe do some laundry.

So that's it for changes. Still waiting for 2015 rates to be released and the announcement as to whether or not Disney renews the Armed Forces Salute, but I'm waiting and ready to book!

 

[dumape]

Winner! Best PTR Title! lol I'm waiting on 2015 prices too. They need to hurry!

 

[missbecca]

Haha! Thanks! It's funny to me because whenever we'd go to Disneyland we would always eat at the Jolly Holiday for lunch and my kids would always get these matterhorn cookies that they sell there for after their meal. Once the cashier CM asked me if I'd like a cupcake or something for myself and my son told her "Nope, nothing for her. She's saving herself for a Dole Whip!"

 

[missbecca]

YOU.GUYS.

WE'RE OFFICIALLY BOOKED!!!

Military rates were announced today {Thank you, Disney!!!} so I was able to book this afternoon with 2015 rates!!! The only bummer part is that I couldn't get the resort that I wanted (POR), but AoA was available so I booked a Cars suite. My kids are going to FREAK. They know we are planning on a "someday" trip, but we won't be telling them until Christmas at the earliest. Not going to tell them about the resort though- that will be a fun surprise!!!

I also opted to stick with the regular dining plan- there are too many fun restaurants that I want to try!

OH my gosh!!! I'm going to Disney World!!!​

 

[snowweisz]

Aaw this is such a nice story, I'm signing in and hoping to read along until you get there

So excited for your family

 

[missbecca]

Thanks so much for joining in!

I ended up calling reservations back today- the lady that I spoke with yesterday told me to call back today to see if any rooms at POR became available. For whatever reason the only POR rooms available for booking with the military discount are the Royal Rooms and we would need to book 2 Royal Rooms for our 5 person family. No big deal- the military discount itself is generous enough of Disney that I don't mind paying more to stay in a different resort. I did end up bumping us back down to Quick Service dining to help with the cost, though. Who cares?! We're going to Disney World!!!​

 

[missbecca]

So now that the planning the reservations stage is complete {phew!} I needed something Disney to do today. I decided to print out some cute Mousekeeping envelopes that I found on WDW Prep School. She has several awesome ones to choose from, and in the end I ended up printing out Ariel, Tiana, Tinkerbell, Mickey, and Rapunzel envelopes. Do you KNOW how hard it is to do anything while the kids are on summer vacation? Much less something Disney vacation related when this is supposed to be a HUGE surprise for them? Sure, I could wait to do this until the kids go back to school in September, but there is actually a method to my madness. My plan is to do $5 tips per night, and with the envelopes done early I can go ahead and start collecting those $5 bills and putting them into the envelopes. BAM! One less thing to worry about!

​

 

[missbecca]

So today was the day that 2015 rates were released, so obviously I had to change my reservation, right? OBVIOUSLY. See, I was perusing the new rates this morning and saw that my original choice of Port Orleans Riverside was significantly more cost effective than AOA suites, even without the military rate. I wasn't thrilled with being relegated to AoA, and was definitely holding out hope for a good price on POR. Since cost effectiveness is key to the vacation actually happening, I did the Disney math, saw the savings adding up, and made the call. Waited on hold for 46 minutes before surrendering to the fact that my kids would be up any minute and hung up. Tried again after breakfast, waited on hold for 25 minutes before hanging up. Finally tried again after lunch and held for 45 minutes before a rather rude, but still helpful, lady answered the phone. After much insistence on her part that she wasn't able to do it, she finally was able to change my reservation and cancel the other one. Kept the Quick Service dining, and ended up saving $200 on the reservation!

I think the kids will still be happy- truth be told they won't even know what they are missing with AoA since we always only discussed POR. Just over 8 months!!!​

 

[AAshleySEG]

I don't think you will be disappointed at all with the QS Dining! There are a lot of good Quick Service places to eat, even for breakfast if you don't want to be relegated to eating at the food court each day! One of my favorite places to eat breakfast is Seasons at EPCOT, there are so many different things to choose from there, we are never disappointed. Oh and in my opinion, Be Our Guest is better at lunch than dinner! So that would count as a great Quick Service Lunch option!! If you want any other QS suggestions I would be happy to give you some! Although I know you are doing tons of research too!! Looking forward to reading more!!

 

[cogero]

Joining in. Sounds like a great plan.

We are a family of 5 and staying in a Cars Suite for Thanksgiving. We usually stay in a DVC villa but this is a bonus trip and I rented out all of our points LOL. Anyway I hear awesome things about POR.

We have never done the dining plan but there are so many options at Disney.

 

[missbecca]

I don't think you will be disappointed at all with the QS Dining! There are a lot of good Quick Service places to eat, even for breakfast if you don't want to be relegated to eating at the food court each day! One of my favorite places to eat breakfast is Seasons at EPCOT, there are so many different things to choose from there, we are never disappointed. Oh and in my opinion, Be Our Guest is better at lunch than dinner! So that would count as a great Quick Service Lunch option!! If you want any other QS suggestions I would be happy to give you some! Although I know you are doing tons of research too!! Looking forward to reading more!!

Thanks for the encouragement, and for joining in the conversation! I ended up changing to the regular dining plan this morning when I called to make my deposit. Last change (for now)! Now to wait until October 14 for my 180 days! ​

 

[missbecca]

Joining in. Sounds like a great plan.

We are a family of 5 and staying in a Cars Suite for Thanksgiving. We usually stay in a DVC villa but this is a bonus trip and I rented out all of our points LOL. Anyway I hear awesome things about POR.

We have never done the dining plan but there are so many options at Disney.

Thanks for joining in! I would love to hear what you think of the Cars suite after your trip!

 

[missbecca]

Now that I'm all set up with resort reservations and our Disney Dining plan, I've been looking at our dining options. We get 1 TS and 1 CS meal per day, and I've been looking at how best to spread them throughout our stay. It's been kind of difficult because I've only got April 2014 park hours with EMH listed to go off of and I'm wondering if they will change the EMH parks for 2015. I guess we will see in October, right? So, here is our (loose) itinerary, completely subject to change of course:

Sunday: Arrive at POR around 3-4pm, dinner at Riverside Mill Food Court

Monday: Animal Kingdom then Epcot day- Character Breakfast at 'Ohana, lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, dinner at Biergarten

Tuesday: Epcot then Hollywood Studios day- Character Breakfast at Akershus, lunch at TBD CS, Dinner at Pizza Planet

Wednesday: Break day- Breakfast at Riverside Mill Food Court, lunch at Riverside Mill Food Court, dinner at Kona

Thursday: Magic Kingdom day!!!- Breakfast at Riverside Mill Food Court, lunch at TBD CS, dinner at Be Our Guest

Friday: Magic Kingdom day!!!- Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, lunch at Be Our Guest (yes, I have a problem), dinner at TBD CS

Saturday: Departure Day

Last night I was cruising Facebook and came across a post by WDW Prep School that showed a photo that a reader had sent in of her ADR making process. The photo shows a laptop, a desktop, and an iPad all set up to make reservations at the same time. I don't think that will be necessary for me since we're going at the very beginning of a "regular season", but dang. ADR's are serious business, huh?​

 

[missbecca]

Well here we are 180 days out! I honestly didn't think we would make it this far- we've debated canceling this trip so many times, but with everything that we went through this summer, there's just no way that I will. I need this trip. My entire family needs this trip. And now I've got a second job to make sure that it happens.

But guess what? Disney dining is down! Dude... please tell me that this isn't a sign...​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in! looking forward to hearing what you nailed down for your adrs!