Mrs. Darling's June 2010 Accidental PTR: Pirates and Harry Potter 6/30 TR Link posted

[Dolce27]

Whoa! I'm getting too far behind on this pre-TR. It moves fast! Those memory pic's are great - I love the expression on your sons face as Alice is giving him a kiss. Too cute!

I'm in the process of convincing myself to add on one more day to my January Marathon trip and spend that day at IOA to see the Harry Potter land. It looks amazing. How is the best way to get to IOA from Disney property when you don't have your own vehicle? I see that you may or may not have your own car depending on if you take the train or not. I'd love to take the train - I'm petrified of flying - but it'd take me three days to reach Orlando by train so flying it is!

So, if you guys take the train and don't have your own car, how will you go to IOA? Taxi?

 

[dismagiclover]

So, if you guys take the train and don't have your own car, how will you go to IOA? Taxi?

We're actually taking the Auto Train which is a special train that runs from VA to FL and they take your car on the train. So we will have a car. I'm not sure what is the best way to get to IOA. I don't know if Mears runs a shuttle or not. I'd ask over on the transportation board and see what kind of answers you get. January would probably be a great time to check out Harry Potter. Much less crowded!

 

[cdotla]

What a coincidence that you mention the Auto Train. I had never heard about this until about a month ago...someone reported about it on one of the Disney podcasts I listen to...just can't remember which one.

Anyway, I think it is totally the way to go as opposed to driving! Great idea!

 

[Angies1274]

The Auto Train does sound fun!! (much better than driving all that way!) We actually considered it last April but it's an 11 hour drive to the train station for us so I ended up spending the extra to fly. The boys were all for the idea though...they were so excited to ride on a train. So, there's a possibility we still may give it a try!! Sounds like the perfect solution for you!!

 

[dismagiclover]

What a coincidence that you mention the Auto Train. I had never heard about this until about a month ago...someone reported about it on one of the Disney podcasts I listen to...just can't remember which one.

Anyway, I think it is totally the way to go as opposed to driving! Great idea!

Everyone seems to agree (even the podcasts) that the Auto Train is a great idea. Plus since I'm the only driver it seems to be an even smarter idea. I'm not sure why it took me so long to consider it. I've known about the Auto Train for several years.

The Auto Train does sound fun!! (much better than driving all that way!) We actually considered it last April but it's an 11 hour drive to the train station for us so I ended up spending the extra to fly. The boys were all for the idea though...they were so excited to ride on a train. So, there's a possibility we still may give it a try!! Sounds like the perfect solution for you!!

If I were you I would fly too. It really isn't any cheaper than flying, but since we want the car and DH is coming down to drive back with me I think this is perfect. (Well it would be perfect if I sprung the extra $350 for the family bedroom.)

 

[liznboys]

Good morning! The auto-train sounds so great!! That'll be really interesting to do and fun.

 

[dismagiclover]

Good morning! The auto-train sounds so great!! That'll be really interesting to do and fun.

Good morning to you too I don't know why it took me so long to think of the Auto Train for this trip. I'm pretty excited about it.

 

[dismagiclover]

So it's time to get on with the daily plans for this trip don't you think? First of all as previously mentioned there have been some major changes to Day 1. Now we won't leave the house until after lunch. Then we'll make the short drive to Virginia where we will catch the train and be transported along with our car down to Florida Day 2 should remain the same though we may arrive earlier at Old Key West and if we're tired we may sneak in an afternoon nap.

Now on to Day3:

Our wake up call will come bright and early because we are heading to Hollywood Studios for Morning Extra Magic Hours This will be our first time using EMH. We'll eat breakfast in the room and hopefully be in the car by 7:30 for the short ride over to the Studios. Then at rope drop we will go with the rest of the crowd over to Toy Story Mania. The question here is which do we do first get fastpasses or ride? Normally I think we'd ride first, but since we'll be leaving the park fairly early I think we'll get fastpasses so we can definitely use them. Then we'll hop on for a ride. Hopefully we'll be through the ride before EMH is up and then we'll head on over to Star Tours so the boys can take a ride into outer space. I really don't like this ride. It makes me a bit quesy, but since DH isn't around I'm going to have to buck up and take the boys. This will actually be Wendy's first time on Star Tours.

So by this point EMH will be over and the crowds will be out in full force, but hopefully they are all over by TSM, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster. I'm pretty flexible about what we do next. I've never been on the Backlot Tour so that is a possibility. The kids might enjoy the Muppet Movie. And there is always the HISTK playground. There will probably also be characters out at the hat we could visit with and depending on the show schedules we may try to fit in a showing of Indiana Jones or Beauty and the Beast. So those are some of the possibilities for the morning. Before we leave we'll use the fastpasses to get another ride on TSM. We'll only be spending the morning here because we have to take Wendy to the port for her cruise!

So the next big question is where should we eat lunch? We could eat at Hollywood Studios, but no one ever has many good things to say about counter service there. Any of you have any opinions? We've eaten at Pizza Planet a couple of times and I don't really want to go there again. I'd rather try somewhere new. My other thought is we head over to the POFQ on our way out. I've read good things about it and we've never been to the resort so that could be fun. What do you think?
Anyway after lunch we'll drive Wendy to the port to meet my parents. I know everyone on the DIS says to arrive early, but my parents don't frequent the DIS So I'd guess they won't want to meet us until early afternoon. So after dropping Wendy off for her adventure the boys and I will head back to Old Key West for a relaxing afternoon. I envision hanging out by the pool or maybe popping into the community center.

Late afternoon we'll head over to the Grand Floridian, another resort we've never been to. We'll have dinner at 1900 Park Fare and hopefully the boys enjoy the Tremaine's. They aren't too excited about this "princess meal", but it's what I picked After dinner we'll head back to the resort for an early bedtime because Day 4 is a big day!

So what does everyone think? As always comments and opinions are more than welcome

 

[Angies1274]

Your Day 3 plans sound great!! We love EMH (especially in the morning...you are able to get so much accomplished!!) They will work perfectly for you since you don't plan to spend the whole day there and supposedly the park always gets busier as the day goes on during EMH. Although, we haven't had too much of a problem with them.

As far as TSM goes, I would probably grab the fastpasses first thing and then ride since you plan to leave early. As you know, we are still trying to figure out CS places in DHS too... although we're leaning toward the Backlot Express. I'm anxious to hear what others have to say.

It sounds like a fun day!!

 

[liznboys]

At HS there's that area on Sunset Blvd. down by ToT where there are 4 or 5 counter service/kiosk type places and a large outdoor seeting area. We like that area, they have frozen lemonade at one of the places and we love that in the summer.

I love eating at the different resorts, and POFQ is one of our favorites. If you felt you had the time to go there for lunch that would be fun. It might be nice and quiet there that time of day, and you'd be inside in the heat of the day. There's a big TV in there so the kids could watch that while you eat. And they have a table with crayons and coloring pages and legos. When we eat there the boys who are done first go over there and color and play while the rest of us finish.

 

[dismagiclover]

Your Day 3 plans sound great!! We love EMH (especially in the morning...you are able to get so much accomplished!!) They will work perfectly for you since you don't plan to spend the whole day there and supposedly the park always gets busier as the day goes on during EMH. Although, we haven't had too much of a problem with them.

As far as TSM goes, I would probably grab the fastpasses first thing and then ride since you plan to leave early. As you know, we are still trying to figure out CS places in DHS too... although we're leaning toward the Backlot Express. I'm anxious to hear what others have to say.

It sounds like a fun day!!

CS in HS is a bit tricky, but it sounds like they are getting a few more options than they used to have which is a good thing.

At HS there's that area on Sunset Blvd. down by ToT where there are 4 or 5 counter service/kiosk type places and a large outdoor seeting area. We like that area, they have frozen lemonade at one of the places and we love that in the summer.

I love eating at the different resorts, and POFQ is one of our favorites. If you felt you had the time to go there for lunch that would be fun. It might be nice and quiet there that time of day, and you'd be inside in the heat of the day. There's a big TV in there so the kids could watch that while you eat. And they have a table with crayons and coloring pages and legos. When we eat there the boys who are done first go over there and color and play while the rest of us finish.

I'm glad you mentioned that area on Sunset Blvd because I'd never really looked into it. So I did and it sounds like Fairfax Fare might be a good choice for us. Wendy loves ribs and I like some good beef brisket every once in a while so I'm thinking we'll go with that. Plus it sounds like the servings are huge and Wendy and I can just split our meal with only using 1 credit Though I would like to go over and check out POFQ sometime, but this probably isn't the best time because we'd have to rush to get Wendy to the port.

 

[dismagiclover]

So one of the things we did for the first time last summer was pin trading. I bought a lot of pins from pinfinder.com and the kids traded them in the park. The kids had a great time deciding what pins they wanted as part of their collection. So I bought another lot of pins for this trip. This time I bought them from mousepinsonline and I was very happy with the pins they sent me. Here is a shot of the whole lot.

There are some really cute pins in there. Quite a few of them the kids have decided they don't want to trade at all but are going to keep. Which kind of defeats my whole purpose, but if it makes them happy So here are some closer shots of the pins for any of you pin trader experts.

So that is one more thing done and ready for our trip that is still over 2 months away. If I only I could be so prepared and organized in every aspect of my life

 

[dismagiclover]

Sorry Double post

 

[Stefy]

Day 3 sounds good :thumbsup

Good idea to FP TSM and then ride it. Thats what we are hoping to do this year, although I'm not looking forward to the mad crowd rush to get there.

I agree with Liz, that area would be good for a CS meal, quite a few kisoks to choose from. I think we ate there on our first trip and we had burger and chicken strips. Not a bad meal for something quick

Cool pins, you got a Stitch one too Do they just send you random ones?

 

[jmskinner]

Love the pin assortment. I've been thinking of ordering a lot or two myself. I'd be like you kiddos though and keep my favorites. Love the goofy hat box one.

Day 3 sounds good. My BFF and I were just discussing yesterday the plan for DHS in June. They got stuck on the bus, in the parking lot, last year and didn't make it for rope drop. By the time I met them at the gate, grabbed their FP's and got to TSMM, the FP line was all the way to Walt's Dream. I wish we had ridden first and then grabbed the FP's.

Also trying to figure out what to do for lunch there. Figure we will be fine with a hamburger or something like that. I also mentioned depending on how we all feel, we could hop the boat to Boardwalk and eat at ESPN. I love their nachos.

Waiting to hear about Day 4!

 

[cdotla]

Great pins!

I am going to do that as well this year. Our kids have never done pin trading before...I think it will be fun.

Thanks for the link to your seller!

 

[dismagiclover]

Day 3 sounds good :thumbsup

Good idea to FP TSM and then ride it. Thats what we are hoping to do this year, although I'm not looking forward to the mad crowd rush to get there.

I agree with Liz, that area would be good for a CS meal, quite a few kisoks to choose from. I think we ate there on our first trip and we had burger and chicken strips. Not a bad meal for something quick

Cool pins, you got a Stitch one too Do they just send you random ones?

John was pretty excited about the Stitch pin. He collects them. And yes they just send random pins, but I thought there were some real good ones with mousepinsonline. Last year when I used pinfinder we got quite a few pins that were from Disneyland rides and they weren't as fun. Though they traded the same.

Love the pin assortment. I've been thinking of ordering a lot or two myself. I'd be like you kiddos though and keep my favorites. Love the goofy hat box one.

Day 3 sounds good. My BFF and I were just discussing yesterday the plan for DHS in June. They got stuck on the bus, in the parking lot, last year and didn't make it for rope drop. By the time I met them at the gate, grabbed their FP's and got to TSMM, the FP line was all the way to Walt's Dream. I wish we had ridden first and then grabbed the FP's.

Also trying to figure out what to do for lunch there. Figure we will be fine with a hamburger or something like that. I also mentioned depending on how we all feel, we could hop the boat to Boardwalk and eat at ESPN. I love their nachos.

Waiting to hear about Day 4!

If you do buy some pins mousepinsonline is great! The kids were funny about which ones they want to keep. The one they fought the most over is the Bolt pin. That suprised me a bit because to me that would definitely be a trader. You never know I guess. And I know what you mean about the TSM fastpass line. My concern is that since we will be leaving the park early the fastpass time might be too late if we ride first. So that is the reason for getting the fastpass first. Food at the Studios is hard and it is always tempting to hop over to the Boardwalk or the World Showcase. The food choices are just so much better over there. But again I don't think we'll have time for that so we're going to try to hunt for some new options in HS.

Great pins!

I am going to do that as well this year. Our kids have never done pin trading before...I think it will be fun.

Thanks for the link to your seller!

I'd definitely recommend mousepinsonline. I'll use them from now on. I was really satisfied with the pins they sent

 

[kcandbella]

You got some really good ones! I especially like the little girl Aurora one. Those baby and little girl princesses are so cute! I can't wait to read your TR and find out which ones they trade and what they get in return!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Hey - we might see you in the crowd at the DHS opening that morning...though it will be our sixth day in the parks, and we might be running out of steam at this point! When we did TSM in '08, I got Fastpasses while DH and the kids got in the standby line. We were there early enough, and the Fastpass machines were jamming up enough, that DH actually had to get out of line once and go to the end because they were entering the building and were afraid I wouldn't be able to catch up! But it worked well for us - we were able to come back only about an hour later. That will be our second day at DHS, since we'll have been there all day Sunday for Star Wars Weekends, so hopefully we'll have done most of what we want to in that park for the day and will be able to head out before the EMH crowd gets too unbearable.

I think the Autotrain sounds great. My DS 6 would love it. I can understand the worries about sleeping, but I have to agree - I think it's safer than depending on yourself to drive the whole way. I really don't think I'd be able to!

Love the pins, too - I made the mistake of mentioning to my mom that I was thinking of going to Ebay to get some for their Easter baskets. Well, we had an early Easter with Mom and Dad on Sunday since we'll be at my in-laws on Easter, and what was in their eggs??? Both Haley and Jack got about eight pins each! Good thing she'd told me last week...I guess I'll stick to Disney Dollars in the Easter eggs! The kids are excited about trading this year.

Looking forward to more plans!

 

[Angies1274]

Love the pins...very cute!!!

We may try that for our next trip! I think the boys would really like it!!

I'm sure your kids are going to have a lot of fun trading!!