My First Pre-Trip Report - September 2018

[lolomarie]

Hello!!!!!!

I'm so excited to be writing this pre-trip report! We leave in just over a month and I think I'm driving my family crazy with all the Disney talk so this will be a perfect outlet for my excitement. If this goes well I may extend this pre-trip report into a full blown trip report. I've always enjoyed reading peoples trip reports, but I am commonly a lurker. So if you'd like to lurk, lurk away! But if you want to say hi, that would be nice too! So here we go!

The Details:

- September 11-22, 2018
- Staying at Sheraton Vistana Villages (my mom's time share)
- Car rental from Costco Travel. I highly recommend Costco for car rentals. You can keep checking back and if the rate drops simply rebook and cancel the reservation at the higher rate.

Planning to visit Food and Wine, all 4 parks multiple times, Disney Springs, possibly NASA (still undecided) and celebrating a birthday!

Next up introductions...

 

[lolomarie]

Introductions:

Joining us on this wonderful trip will be myself (Laura), my husband (David), older son (Liam), younger son (Callum) and my mom (Denise). We will be visiting my sister (Heather) who is working as a Cast Member in the Canada pavilion on the Cultural Representative Program. She is graciously getting us into the parks each day, we will only be required to by a children's ticket for Liam. She will be joining us as much as her schedule allows.

Me (Laura):


I'm the trip commander, planner, and mummy extraordinaire! I love all things Disney! I'm currently on maternity leave for the year, but work as a special education teacher normally. We live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and are so lucky to live just a small drive to the amazing Rocky Mountains (seen above)! This will be my eighth Disney trip, seventh to Disney World, second with this little family of mine. When my sister got accepted for her second CRP I said to DH, "Should we go?" His response, "I guess we have to!"
Favourite Disney movie: Lady and the Tramp and Moana (She's a Girl Bad A** that doesn't let anything get in her way)!!!!
Favourite Disney character: Minnie
Favourite Princess: Belle (because reading is cool!)
Favourite park: AK
Favourite ride: Rockin' Roller Coaster
Favourite snack: Dole Whip

DH (David): David tolerates Disney for me! I think he enjoys the talent and technology that go into the animations, but if it weren't for me he could take it or leave it! Luckily, he's an amazing husband and enjoys it for my sake. David visited Disney Land as a kid, and then his first trip to Disney World was Christmas 2015 during my sister's first CRP. He enjoyed it, but hated the Christmas crowds. Here's hoping the crowds are more manageable this time and he'll have an amazing trip.
Favourite Disney movie: Wall-e
Favourite Disney character: Buzz Light Year
Favourite Disney Snow White (mostly because he thinks I most resemble her, lol)
Favourite park: EPCOT
Favourite ride: Pirates of the Caribbean
Favourite snack: none (but he really wants to try the Turkey Leg)

Liam:

Liam will be turning 4 years old while we are in Disney World! (This sweet picture of him was taken in Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island, I'm plugging my country here if you can't tell already)! We are so excited to celebrate his birthday with him there. This will be Liam's second trip to Disney World, his first was during Heather's first CRP when he was 15 months old. He enjoyed some of this trip, but was mostly just along for the ride. Every time we watch a Disney movie Liam asks if we could take him to see the castle, so needless to say he is very excited! But, being the sweet soul that he is, when asked what he is most looking forward to, he says he is most excited to visit his Auntie! Liam is very adventurous and is looking forward to all the rollercoasters. He has seen all the ride videos on youtube, but never actually been on one, here's hoping he likes them!
Favourite Disney movie: Cars 3
Favourite Disney character: Mickey Mouse
Favourite Princess: mummy "You my favourite princess, mummy!"
Favourite park: TBD
Favourite ride: small world
Favourite snack: TBD

Callum:

Callum is my sweet, chill, happy, easy going baby boy! He is seriously an angel. I anticipate that he'll just be happy to take in the sights and sounds and go with the flow. We'll be scheduling nap every afternoon because of this guy, and to escape the heat.
Favourite snack: all the fruit!

DM: Mom, Nana, Denise

My mom is probably the reason for my Disney obsession (well her and my dad, of course)! She loves Disney almost as much as I do! This will be her ninth Disney trip, including one to Disney Land! She's excited to experience it all with Liam, and he has promised her a ride on Dumbo! DM has the time share at Sheraton Vistana Villages, and is graciously taking us all along.
Favourite Disney movie: Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Muppet's Christmas Carol
Favourite Disney character: Ursula
Favourite Princess: Cinderella
Favourite park: AK
Favourite ride: Tower of Terror
Favourite snack: Dole Whip

Dsis: Heather, Auntie Header

Heather is probably the biggest Disney fan of us all, so much so that she's moved to Disney world now for the second time for the Cultural Representative Program! She loves all things Disney and even has a Disney youtube channel which I adore watching! Heather is 10 years younger than me and is the sweetest little sister and auntie to my kids. We're very excited to visit her and appreciate that she'll be waking up early every day for a week to get us into the parks! Thanks sis! I'm going to guess on her Disney stats and update them if I'm wrong.
Favourite Disney movie: Lilo and Stitch and Frozen (?)
Favourite Disney character: Stitch
Favourite Princess: Ana
Favourite park: EPCOT
Favourite ride: Soarin'
Favourite snack: Dole Whip (seems like a family theme)

Well that's us! Thanks for following along. I'll update soon with our day to day plans, ADR's and Fastpasses!

 

[lolomarie]

September 11, 2018, Travel Day:

- we are all flying down but on seperate flights. My mom wanted to arrive early, so she is taking a red eye down. I didn't think that was a great idea with the boys, so we will be leaving at 6 am Mountain time, and arriving at 3 pm Orlando time.
- we've booked a car with Costco travel. It will be $350 for the 11 days in a full size and I'm constantly monitoring to see if I can get it even lower!
- once we arrive we plan to grocery shop and spend some time unwinding at the resort

Sheraton Vistana Villages:

Our room at Sheraton Vistana Villages is a two bedroom lockoff, meaning that we will have 2 separate units. The large unit will be for my mom and sister, the smaller one for us. We will have 2 beds, baths, kitchens, and living rooms! Our last stay was at Port Orleans Riverside. While I adore Disney resorts, and LOVED POR, I am really looking forward to some more space. I've requested both a play pen and a high chair for Callum to make our lives easier. I'm planning on putting the boys to bed in our living room, Liam on the pull out couch.

 

[lolomarie]

September 12, 2018, AK Day:

-Rope drop Navi
-9:15 Kilimanjaro Safari FP+
-10:15 Everest FP+ I'm going to try to move this up once we tap in for KS because...
-10:15 Tusker House Breakfast!
-Check out tree of life and discovery trails on way out of park for break/nap/swim then...
-3:00 Flights of Passage FP+ I seriously don't even know how this happened!!!! Just perusing one day and they popped up and I nabbed them! This will be our first time and I'm sooooo excited. We'all rider swap this probably with a visit to the Boneyard for the boys.

Then try to fit the following into the rest of the day:
-FOTL (high priority since I missed this last time)
-Dinosaur
-the 2 animal trails
-dinner at Satu'li Canteen
-see Pandora at night

Looks like a pretty awesome first day at Disney!!!!!

 

[lolomarie]

September 13th, Hollywood Studios Day:

Planning on rope dropping TSL and getting in what we can. Since my sister is a CM she can only make up to 4 days of FP+ reservations at a time and her boyfriend is currently visiting her and using them all. Once he leaves we will salvage what we can in regards to FP+ and make the most of it.

No ADR's this day. Would like to try Baseline tap house for a pint break and snacks at Woody's lunch box.

 

[kclark9830]

Your little ones are super cute! Following along!

 

[becalubob]

I’m in! Your resort looks super nice! Your trip will be here before you know it!!

 

[lolomarie]

Your little ones are super cute! Following along!

Thanks so much!!! We're pretty lucky!

 

[lolomarie]

I’m in! Your resort looks super nice! Your trip will be here before you know it!!

We've stayed here a few times before, being my mom's home resort for her time share, and we've always had a great time. Very much looking forward to it!

 

[lolomarie]

Update: September 13th, Hollywood Studios

So I was able to make FP+ for this day now!

We have the following plans:
-rope drop SDD with rider swap for baby
-do AS2 (rider swap? Not sure if this will be too whippy for the baby)
-9:20-10:20 TSM FP+ for everyone
-10:20-11:20 Rockin' Rollercoaster FP+ with rider swap for both boys. First beauty and the beast show for the day is at 11. May time riding RR with this so that boys are entertained while waiting. Anyone know if they let you enter the theatre during the production so that we could swap out adults? We would sit near the back so as not to disturb others.
-11:40-12:40 Star Tours FP+ with rider switch for baby. Possibly have drink at Baseline while waiting for riders!!!

Leave for break/lunch/nap/swim at condo. Return after dinner. Try to squeeze in TOT and Frozen singalong before Starwars fireworks at 9. Maybe score a 4th FP+ for either if we're lucky!

 

[lolomarie]

September 14th - Magic Kingdom Day and Liam's 4th Birthday!

This is the day I am most excited for during the whole trip!!! My boy is 4!!!! How did that happen?!?!? You blink! Anyways, we're making the day all about him. FP to come will be centred around him and we will rope drop the park in the morning. If the boys stamina allows for it, I'd love to stay for the afternoon parade, then exit the park afterwards. Then we will leave for lunch/nap/swim back at the condo.

Our boy is dinosaur CRAZY so we've decided to have dinner at the T-Rex Cafe in Disney Springs! I've heard the food is not the greatest, but it's not about us today it's about Liam! I purchased a Landry card and plan on using my benefits here on this day. We are going to bring candles and order the giant volcano dessert, supplemented with a cupcake that I'll quickly run and grab from Goofy's Candy. Liam's biggest concern is how are we going to get cake to Disney world for his birthday! So I think the 2 desserts will definitely impress him. We are planning on bringing him into Build-a-Dino following dinner for his birthday gift from us! We have a build-a-bear at one of our malls and he constantly asks for one, and I always tell him we can do that one day for something special, so I think he'll love this experience.

Other special birthday plans:
-have Liam wear a birthday pin all day
-my sister is going to pick up a Mickey Mouse birthday card and have the big cheese himself sign it for liam!
-L is fixated on balloons lately so today we will let him pick one out on main street!
-Gastons tavern for a mid morning cinnamon roll
-maybe a visit to the lego store as Nana's gift to L?!?

All told I think it's going to be a pretty magical day and Liam is one pretty lucky kid!

 

[lolomarie]

Updated Sept 14th fastpasses:

I scored some sweet fastpasses for Liam's birthday using refresh:

9:45-10:45 7Dmt!!!!!!!
11-12 Splash
12:15-1:15 BTMR

Then I'm hoping we have enough time to hop on the train and ride to main street and either exit or watch the parade if we can see. The parade is scheduled for 2, any ideas if this is possible.

Also I ordered this amazing shirt for L from Etsy! Sooooo excited!

 

[lolomarie]

September 15th Rest Day/Disney Springs:

When we said we were going to Disney I asked DH what he wanted to do, and having lunch at Earl of Sandwich was on the top of his list. So today, we are going to make sure that happens. We may also hit the Orlando Premium Outlets which are very close to our hotel.

Other updates: I checked the pricing on our car rental and prices went down so I was able to upgrade us to an SUV for less money than we were spending on our full size!

 

[lolomarie]

September 16 Magic Kingdom

Due to my sister's passes we are only able to make 4 days of FP at a time and since this is our 2nd MK day I opted to wait to make FP until after we attend our first park day and save our FP selections for the next day, EPCOT.

We do have an ADR at Crystal Palace at 10:30. I love the breakfast there, and we can take some lunch selections as well as they switch over the buffet.

Plan is to do Tomorrowland in the morning and Liberty Square and Adventure land after brunch.

We won't be doing a park this evening as DH and I are going to Halloween Horror Nights for date night while my mom graciously babysits!!!!!!! I'm terrified for this, but also very excited.