lauren5406
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2008
- Messages
- 228
We are off soon and since I was making up a schedule for myself I decided to post it here and see if I could get any comment/questions/suggestions.
Going on this trip will be myself, DS23 (in this report it will stand for Disney sister), and DN4 (Disney niece). This trip will be our second for the year. We were there Feb. 17-20 for my birthday. This trip was originally planned to also include our parents, and our brothers (8 & will be turning 10) to celebrate my now 9 year old brothers 10th birthday. But, he actually has standardized testing at school that week and wont be able to get away. Boo. Am I a bad sister if I still go? I dont think so since the consolation prize is going to be a Star Wars Weekend trip for just me and the boys. They will also be getting a Pirate Room at CBR which will be a surprise; more on that another day.
Wednesday May 6th is going to be a travel day. I have decided not to take any vacation time on that day so I wont be leaving work until 5:00pm. In a perfect world we will be on the road by 5:30. But, we must be on the road by slightly before 6:00 because we will need to drop the dogs off at the kennel by 6:00. This is a major expense that has to be planned into a vacation that you tend to forget about. The kennel is very close to our house but I can already see me having to push and push to get them out the door on time. DS is habitually late. Our biggest fights on the trips we take (this one and all others) will inevitably be about being somewhere on time i.e. making rope drop at MK, which is a must for me.
We are going to just get a room from hotwire.com for Wednesday night. It will be just a bed and really help with the budget. The drive for us is 4.5 hours but it can be slightly longer if we get caught in traffic in Jacksonville, FL. But based on the evening hour which we will be going through Im hoping we wont. Im thinking we will be in bed in Orlando by midnight.
We have reservations made at the All-Star Music. Our trip was originally going to be two nights longer. With the shortened trip I am seriously considering upgrading to a Moderate. It will be essentially the same price I was going to originally spend. The only Moderate I have never stayed at and that actually has availability (by availability I mean the standard rooms) is POR. Does anyone have any feelings on this? This will be a surprise for my DS and DN. Me and DS usually half the price of these trips but I thought I might pay for the upgrade on my own.
We also will be trying out the quick-service dining plan for the first time. We really love eating but didnt want to be tied down by ADRs.
Thursday May 7th.
We are going to begin our trip with a day in the Animal Kingdom. On our last trip we only stopped by here one evening for EMH and werent able to do much more besides EE a couple of times. While that is extremely fun we didnt get to do our favorite things. On our must do list is Festival of the Lion King and Kilimanjaro Safari. We will most likely eat lunch at Flame Tree BBQ or Tamu Tamu.
That evening we have a really special treat. Our absolute favorite band Jacks Mannequin will be playing at the House of Blues. Their tour schedule is what prompted the idea of this trip that just so happened to coincide with my brothers birthday. I was also able to get Special VIP tickets with my Citi card. This will be a big highlight of my trip. The doors open at 6:30 so we have ordered childcare through Kids Night Out. The babysitter is supposed to be there at 5:30. While I am really excited about the concert I am a little nervous about the sitter. Has anyone ever used them? We most definitely cannot take DN to the concert and definitely did not want to leave her home during the trip.
Friday May 8th.
We are going to Blizzard Beach. I have only been to a Disney Water Park once and it was to Blizzard Beach in 2004. DS and DN have never been to either. We are very excited about this. I am so thrilled to be going on Teamboat Springs. This slide was the highlight of the 2004 visit and DS will definitely love it and I hope DN does too. That evening Epcot has EMH and we may try to go over there if were not too exhausted from a day at the water park. We will have lunch that day at Blizzard Beach and dinner at either the hotel or maybe Epcot depending on what we do.
Saturday May 9th.
We are going to Magic Kingdom. As a personal rule/law I always arrive here at rope drop. You can get more accomplished in the first three hours than you can all day if you sleep in during those first three hours. We usually do one of two things: Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain first or Space Mountain and the rest of tomorrow land first. Since Space Mountain will be closed for refurb the choice has been made for us. We usually like to just hit up whatever attractions we can up until parade time and then head on out. We park ourselves right up near the exit. Although, on our Feb. trip we didnt really enjoy the parade; DN really like the before parade activities but the parade itself was a bit of a let down. The rest of the day is free. We may do some Downtown Disney shopping in the afternoon or just hang out at our hotel.
Sunday May 10th.
We have one ADR at Hollywood and Vine in HS at 8:45 am. DN loves character dining and me and DS love Disney breakfast buffets. When I called the dining line this was the only ADR available for a character meal for breakfast on Mothers Day. DN and DS do not know we are doing this. I will probably mention it once we get to FL. I am going to be paying for this meal as a Mothers Day gift for DS (she is a single mother). I may run out during breakfast and go get Toy Story Mania FP. Im not sure how this is going to work out but I will try. We will definitely do the Tower of Terror and take turns on Rockin Roller Coaster before calling it a trip. Well head back home midday on Sunday to return to life as scheduled. We will probably stop at the outlets in St. Augustine and somewhere else for some Steak and Shake on the way home.
Going on this trip will be myself, DS23 (in this report it will stand for Disney sister), and DN4 (Disney niece). This trip will be our second for the year. We were there Feb. 17-20 for my birthday. This trip was originally planned to also include our parents, and our brothers (8 & will be turning 10) to celebrate my now 9 year old brothers 10th birthday. But, he actually has standardized testing at school that week and wont be able to get away. Boo. Am I a bad sister if I still go? I dont think so since the consolation prize is going to be a Star Wars Weekend trip for just me and the boys. They will also be getting a Pirate Room at CBR which will be a surprise; more on that another day.
Wednesday May 6th is going to be a travel day. I have decided not to take any vacation time on that day so I wont be leaving work until 5:00pm. In a perfect world we will be on the road by 5:30. But, we must be on the road by slightly before 6:00 because we will need to drop the dogs off at the kennel by 6:00. This is a major expense that has to be planned into a vacation that you tend to forget about. The kennel is very close to our house but I can already see me having to push and push to get them out the door on time. DS is habitually late. Our biggest fights on the trips we take (this one and all others) will inevitably be about being somewhere on time i.e. making rope drop at MK, which is a must for me.
We are going to just get a room from hotwire.com for Wednesday night. It will be just a bed and really help with the budget. The drive for us is 4.5 hours but it can be slightly longer if we get caught in traffic in Jacksonville, FL. But based on the evening hour which we will be going through Im hoping we wont. Im thinking we will be in bed in Orlando by midnight.
We have reservations made at the All-Star Music. Our trip was originally going to be two nights longer. With the shortened trip I am seriously considering upgrading to a Moderate. It will be essentially the same price I was going to originally spend. The only Moderate I have never stayed at and that actually has availability (by availability I mean the standard rooms) is POR. Does anyone have any feelings on this? This will be a surprise for my DS and DN. Me and DS usually half the price of these trips but I thought I might pay for the upgrade on my own.
We also will be trying out the quick-service dining plan for the first time. We really love eating but didnt want to be tied down by ADRs.
Thursday May 7th.
We are going to begin our trip with a day in the Animal Kingdom. On our last trip we only stopped by here one evening for EMH and werent able to do much more besides EE a couple of times. While that is extremely fun we didnt get to do our favorite things. On our must do list is Festival of the Lion King and Kilimanjaro Safari. We will most likely eat lunch at Flame Tree BBQ or Tamu Tamu.
That evening we have a really special treat. Our absolute favorite band Jacks Mannequin will be playing at the House of Blues. Their tour schedule is what prompted the idea of this trip that just so happened to coincide with my brothers birthday. I was also able to get Special VIP tickets with my Citi card. This will be a big highlight of my trip. The doors open at 6:30 so we have ordered childcare through Kids Night Out. The babysitter is supposed to be there at 5:30. While I am really excited about the concert I am a little nervous about the sitter. Has anyone ever used them? We most definitely cannot take DN to the concert and definitely did not want to leave her home during the trip.
Friday May 8th.
We are going to Blizzard Beach. I have only been to a Disney Water Park once and it was to Blizzard Beach in 2004. DS and DN have never been to either. We are very excited about this. I am so thrilled to be going on Teamboat Springs. This slide was the highlight of the 2004 visit and DS will definitely love it and I hope DN does too. That evening Epcot has EMH and we may try to go over there if were not too exhausted from a day at the water park. We will have lunch that day at Blizzard Beach and dinner at either the hotel or maybe Epcot depending on what we do.
Saturday May 9th.
We are going to Magic Kingdom. As a personal rule/law I always arrive here at rope drop. You can get more accomplished in the first three hours than you can all day if you sleep in during those first three hours. We usually do one of two things: Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain first or Space Mountain and the rest of tomorrow land first. Since Space Mountain will be closed for refurb the choice has been made for us. We usually like to just hit up whatever attractions we can up until parade time and then head on out. We park ourselves right up near the exit. Although, on our Feb. trip we didnt really enjoy the parade; DN really like the before parade activities but the parade itself was a bit of a let down. The rest of the day is free. We may do some Downtown Disney shopping in the afternoon or just hang out at our hotel.
Sunday May 10th.
We have one ADR at Hollywood and Vine in HS at 8:45 am. DN loves character dining and me and DS love Disney breakfast buffets. When I called the dining line this was the only ADR available for a character meal for breakfast on Mothers Day. DN and DS do not know we are doing this. I will probably mention it once we get to FL. I am going to be paying for this meal as a Mothers Day gift for DS (she is a single mother). I may run out during breakfast and go get Toy Story Mania FP. Im not sure how this is going to work out but I will try. We will definitely do the Tower of Terror and take turns on Rockin Roller Coaster before calling it a trip. Well head back home midday on Sunday to return to life as scheduled. We will probably stop at the outlets in St. Augustine and somewhere else for some Steak and Shake on the way home.
