So we are on a tight budget in real life, so I've tried to make this manageable.
I was up at 4am for free dining and got it for our previously reserved CBR standard room.
I signed up for Disney Visas and saved $200 that way, then my husband and parents got one when the deal came out for the $200 Disney gift card. Those gift cards came in the mail last week! I was so excited-I was afraid they wouldn't come in time. So now we have $400 worth of gift cards to take.
I also used SAMS gift cards to pay for a lot of our trip, and saved a little over $100 that way plus we will get 1% cash back on those purchases.
It's been really great to find the little (or not so little to us!) deals along the way!
Our touring plans are:
September 9-pick kids up early from school and drive about halfway (around 5.5 hours)
September 10-Drive the rest of the way! We do not plan to do a park this day, but if we get there early and just can't bear to stay away we will add a day to our tickets (currently have 5 day park hopper tickets). The plan currently is to explore the resort, swim, eat in the resort food court, and go to bed early.
September 11- Magic Kingdom. PPO breakfast at BOG. I plan to focus our time first on Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. It is a party night so we will have to leave the park early. We have a 6:30 ADR at Trails End. We plan to take the boat there and back to MK and then bus back to CBR.
September 12-Epcot. We originally had not planned to do Epcot, but the more I read here, the more I wanted to do it! Our tier 1 fast pass is for frozen. I would love to get in Test Track and Soarin as well if the lines aren't insane. My youngest is tall enough, but barely, so just in case they said no, I booked the FP for something we all can do. Our dinner ADR is at Via Napoli.
September 13-Magic Kingdom. PPO breakfast at Crystal Palace. Then we plan to focus on Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square. Our FP are for these areas. I want to see the FOF parade this day! Dinner is at 5:30 at Chef Mickey's. It's another party night. (we aren't doing the party)
September 14-Animal Kingdom. I'm so excited! This didn't exist last time I was at WDW!!!! So I can't even picture it. My kids love animals so I think we will all love it. We have a 10:30 ADR for Tusker House.
September 15-This is the day I feel most uncertain about. Originally it was going to be a third MK day. However when we decided to add Epcot, we made this HS day. We do have hoppers and I would like to hop to the MK in the afternoon/evening and see Wishes. Our other two MK days we will not see fireworks. We have a lunch ADR at Sci-Fi.
No one in our family is a thrill rider except me. My 6 year old is the child most likely to want to do some thrill stuff, but even he won't want to do the biggies like EE or RNR or TOT. This makes me feel like we can get a good bit of what our family will want to do at HS done by mid-afternoon. Toy Story, Muppets, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours (but not really focusing on the other SW stuff-no one here is a big fan).
We also don't have plans to close out the parks. At home my kids go to bed at 7:30 on school nights, and while I totally don't care if they stay up late on vacation, if we don't take afternoon breaks, I just think THEY will be done fairly early. SO my tentative plan is to return to the resort after dinner each night and swim/go to bed. If the end up being up for more, great. If not, no harm done.
That's probably enough for now, ha!