Mommy, I want to see the Castle.... my first PTR ~ UPDATED 10/22

[disneymom727]

I pride myself on being organized. I am a planner, some may say "over-planner", I say there is no such thing! I like to know the where, when, why and how's of things. I was reminded recently of just how much I dislike spontaneity. We decided back in the spring to plan a trip to WDW. Our last trip was in 2008 so we are due. We had friends who wanted to go with us and pretty much talked us into going too (though it doesn't take too much twisting to make that happen). We all decided to go in the fall. In the past we'd taken advantage of the Free Dining offer for late summer. After our last trip we realized we couldn't deal with that heat again so we'd book in Oct. and hope for an extension of the offer into the fall. Either way we are going to Disney! All that's left to do is book the trip..

 

[disneymom727]

After much back & forth with our friends about when to go we finally decide on Oct. 16-23 staying at the Pop Century Resort. Our family has never stayed there but we've heard great things so we figured it would be fine. This trip needed to stay under a certain amount so a value resort was going to have to do. We've only ever stayed at Mods or values so it's not like it was a huge deal although normally when we go for a week we like a bit of a bigger room. So there it was the beginning of our "plan". We decided that since we didn't have any sort of deal offered from Disney yet we'd book through AAA so at least we'd get a room discount if nothing else. In the meantime we told our kids and continued to plan which days we'd go where, where we would eat, you know the usual for us "over-planning Disney freaks"!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Oh!! I am first!!!! Yippee!!! Keep it comin'! I love PTRs!!

 

[sjs314]

I'm here too

 

[disneymom727]

Thanks! More to come tomorrow

 

[mousescrapper]

I'm in too

 

[disneymom727]

Now I get to the part where I explain why I titled my PTR the way I did. Several years ago we took DS, then 2, to WDW. He was freaked out by EVERYTHING and I mean everything. He didn't like the rides, shows and most of all characters. The following year we took him back but this time leading up to it found several pictures and videos online to show him so he'd know better what to expect. This helped him tremendously! He was excited and wanted to go on everything. So having had that experience with him I figured it would be great to do the same for our DD (who will have just turned 3). I started by showing her pictures of the castle and princesses. Then moved on to rides like It's a Small World, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, etc. She was thrilled by it all. However being the "girly-girl" that she is she really focused on the princesses and Castle. Everytime we put her down for a nap or bedtime or really any random time of the day she would say "Mommy I wanna see the Cas-hole." She started adding "I wanna see ...Cinarella, Booty, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine". We finally caught on that this was just a ploy to stay up a bit longer. Each time we explained we would see them all in October. Of course she has no idea when October is but for now her requests to go to Disney have subsided a bit. Though I must admit when she says "Mommy I wanna see the Cas-hole" it still makes me smile. All I can say is "me too baby, me too".

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Aww!! That's a sweet memory!!!

 

[disneymom727]

Normally when we go to WDW for a week we get 4 day park tickets doing each park only once without park hopping. We park hopped on our last trip and found it to be more trouble than it was worth with young children. We also really like having a couple of days to do other activities like using the pool, visiting other hotels, shopping, DTD, etc. Generally when we are at the parks we go full steam ahead from open to close. Fortunately both of our children are on-the-go nappers so after lunch time we'll usually just lay them back and out they go. My son was better at this than my daughter is so we'll see how that goes for this trip. So this method works for us!

However for this trip we decided to add an extra day at the Magic Kingdom. Our thinking is that this way we can go it a little more relaxed one day at the MK and really let my daughter take in the castle, meet characters and just enjoy seeing and doing some things we normally miss while we are bolting from one attraction to the next. So our plan for the week is as follows: Leave around noon on Fri., stop and spend the night somewhere along the way, arrive at WDW on Sat. , MK on Sun., HS on Mon., AK on Tues., day off on Wed., Epcot on Thur., and MK again on Fri.

At this point the jury was still out on ADR's. We have a couple "must do's" but wanted to try out a couple of new places as well. DH has become an avid listener to a Disney Podcast. I'm not sure what it's called, I've only listened once or twice. So he comes home with all sorts of recommendations from that which is great. We have to factor in that we have 2 children DS is 8 and DD will be 3 when we go. We also have to factor in that I am a picky eater as are my kids. SO nothing too adventurous for us. We check out menus, blogs, whatever will help us decide and then make a list (I told you I love 'em) on our best options.



UP NEXT OUR ADR's........

 

[mousescrapper]

don't you just love how kids pronounce words....

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Yes...you NEED 2 days at the MK!! I love it there!! I have a suggestion about that...of course, I read this somewhere,...I didn't come up with it! LOL!! I didn't do this when the kids were little and it probably would have been easier,but instead of doing rides/attractions all one day, and meet & greets the next, divide the MK in half. Do Adventureland, Frontierland,and as much of Fantasyland as you can one day, then Toontown, Tomorrowland, and rerides the next day...that way you can reaally soak it up!! Just a thought! I know you are excited...and I too LOVE lists!!

 

[disneymom727]

Yes...you NEED 2 days at the MK!! I love it there!! I have a suggestion about that...of course, I read this somewhere,...I didn't come up with it! LOL!! I didn't do this when the kids were little and it probably would have been easier,but instead of doing rides/attractions all one day, and meet & greets the next, divide the MK in half. Do Adventureland, Frontierland,and as much of Fantasyland as you can one day, then Toontown, Tomorrowland, and rerides the next day...that way you can reaally soak it up!! Just a thought! I know you are excited...and I too LOVE lists!!

That's a good idea too. I'll have to run it by DH, mapping out our day has become his domain He likes to get out the map of whichever park we are going to the next day and plan a strategy. He's pretty good at it too, though the parks don't really change that much from trip to trip but he uses those maps to faithfully plan But thanks for the tip it's definitely something to think about.

 

[mousescrapper]

it's also really good to have things seperated by GOALS or MUST DO's and then the IF TIME items...

that way you can easitly adjust as you are touring if you need an extra break or something comes up you didn't initally pan for...

if your DH loves maps...

touringplans.com you can go in and create your own touring plan maps and it will plot out on the park map your order of attractions you wish to see on a given day...

not sure if you can do this w/out the subscription to the site...but it is a fun tool!

 

[disneymom727]

it's also really good to have things seperated by GOALS or MUST DO's and then the IF TIME items...

that way you can easitly adjust as you are touring if you need an extra break or something comes up you didn't initally pan for...

if your DH loves maps...

touringplans.com you can go in and create your own touring plan maps and it will plot out on the park map your order of attractions you wish to see on a given day...

not sure if you can do this w/out the subscription to the site...but it is a fun tool!

This is our current plan! And yes, we've already subscribed to our Touring plans. DH is so funny, with all my over-planning, I think I've created a monster It sure is a lot of fun to do together though.

 

[disneymom727]

I woke up the morning of 4/19 bright and early ready to make all of our ADR's. That was our 180 day mark and I was more than prepared. I made our first one while I was putting in all my info over the WDW phoneline. Is it just me or does they seem to ask for more information each time I call? I'll stop calling the day they start asking for my weight! Anyway, I finally got through and was able to get EVERYTHING we wanted. I couldn't believe it! I was like a kid on Christmas morning, I was so excited. There would be no calling everyday to find a better time, no praying to get into our fav restaurants. We were set!

OUR PLAN

10/16 Chef Mickey's 6:00

10/17 Ohana 6:00

10/19 Whispering Canyon Cafe 6:30

10/20 T Rex 11:30
Trail's End 6:00

10/21 Akershus 11:00
LeCellier 6:00

10/21 Kona 9:00


Now I realize a few of our choices are not difficult to get into but I was thrilled for those that were. My DH was thrilled that we'd be able to go to LeCellier (his must-do) and Chef Mickey's has become a tradition that we go on the night we arrive. So we are happy campers....well eaters!

 

[DuckFace]

Yes, LeCellier is the best!!

 

[mousescrapper]

nice ADR's....

we will be dining at Chef Mickey's again for breakfast during our upcoming trip...which my DH & I are very excited about (maybe more than the kids) last ime we ate there was in '05


Trails End I think is a decent buffet too! nice atmosphere too

The Princess Buffet in Norway is very nice too...I loved all the Princess interaction and the combo of family stlye and buffet for breakfast

I have also dined at O'Hana, & Kona YUM!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Le Cellier &/or the castle are the first ones I go for every time!

 

[disneymom727]

Sorry it's taken me a while to work on my PTR. Life has been a bit crazy but I have a few minutes and thought I'd write a little more.


I had mentioned before about some friends of ours that were originally going to go with us on this trip but then weren't able to. While they were still in the mix we also had some other good friends that were talking about going around the same time. They could not go for the whole week but wanted to be there the same time we were and maybe spend a day or two with us on our trip. I was incredibly excited about them coming!!!! This was a friend of mine that I grew up with. She lived in Atlanta and I was in Raleigh. We hadn't seen each other much in about 13 years and only talked every couple of years but when we did it was like no time had passed at all. She was diagnosed with breast cancer early last year. I saw her last summer and we talked about our mutual love of Disney. This is when we decided we had to make sure we went together at some point. We grew up in FL and gone together as teens. She couldn't wait to take her son and decided this fall would be the perfect time for a quick weekend. A couple of months ago she was having a particularly difficult time with her treatments. She said she needed a "Disney fix" soon! I kept telling her just wait Oct. would be here before we knew it.

Her family had decided they would probably stay offsite somewhere unless some fabulous deal was announced. We talked about the free dining offer but at that point it hadn't been offered for Oct. I told her I'd keep an eye out for it. Quite honestly we were hoping for it too!!! We were going either way but free dining would be icing on the cake. Then finally it was announced....but guess who's trip dates were blacked out?!?!?!

 

[disneymom727]

I could not believe our dates were blacked out for free dining. This caused quite a bit of panic in me. I kept thinking of course we'll get one of those fabulous pins everyone else was getting. SO I called multiple times and no such luck there either. We started toying with the idea of pushing our trip back a week. I started making ADR's for that week. Of course I was unable to get a few of our top choices which only made that decision more difficult. We had to decide whether to keep our original dates and get everything we wanted but PAY for dining or push back a week and get about half of everything we wanted but eat for free. NO BRAINER RIGHT??? You cannot imagine how difficult this decision was for us. We sat on it for about a week. Keep in mind we had ADR's for both weeks and I felt terrible about holding on to those but a disney girl's gotta do what a disney girl's gotta do.

As DH and I were talking through everything it occured to me that my son had a few days off from school the week before Thanksgiving. The teachers at his school attend a yearly conference and this year it fell on that week. I checked and yes free dining was offered that week. HOORAY and HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!! We weighed all the options and as much as we hated the idea of pushing our trip back to November it would be the best solution. I quick made ADR's and was able to get everything except for LeCellier. DH was bummed about not being able to get into LeCellier but I told him I'd keep working on it. We even decided to add a visit to Cinderella's Royal Table since we were able to get an ADR there and knew our daughter would love to eat in "the cas-hole". Even though it added several more days of waiting for our trip I was very excited about moving it back. I loved the idea of being able to see the Christmas decorations (even though we're not able to do MVMCP), and the cooler weather sounded great too. Plus I was only going to have to take my son out of school for 2 days as opposed to 5! That was a huge bonus!!!

I found the "New Official November Group" here on the boards. What an amazing group of people!!! Someone posted on there that they had to change their dates and she was going to be cancelling LeCellier for 3 people on Nov. 18th for lunch. Again HOORAY and HALLELUJAH!!! She and I were able to coordinate it so that she called and cancelled and I called and picked it up. It worked THANKS AGAIN TruBlu if you are reading this. I'm a firm believer in God working things out for a reason, I didn't know why we had to switch our trip but I was convinced HE had a better plan than we did and all was working out just perfectly.