New disser here! Giving our report for family trip 2014!

[StirlingSilver83]

Hey everyone! I am new to this board and new to this thread! I am so excited to read about everyone’s PTRs! I hope everyone can be some assistance to me with my Disney trip! This will be our 3rd time going to Disney but our 1st time staying on property! I am super excited about that! Our trip dates are March 28 – April 7. We are from New Jersey and yes we are getting slammed with snow and coldness from the Polar Vortex. Its colder here than in Alaska! Which is another reason I can’t stop planning for Disney. I want to be where its sunny and warm with lots and lots of palm trees! My family says I am obsessed with planning this trip, but I think I am just trying to be prepared and think of everything and plus just thinking of being in FL keeps me warmer than the outside temperatures of 6 degrees here, LOL! Oh and did I mention, my family also thinks I am crazy because I am dead set on driving there. We have an 8 month old baby and with all the baby gear its just easier to throw everything into the back of the truck! Here is the layout of my Pre Trip Report!

- Introductions
- How this trip came to be
- The actual schedule of the trip.

First let me introduce myself. I am 29 years old and the planner of this whole trip. I am a stay at home mom to my 2 boys and a house full of pets! Besides my boys my animals are my life! I train and show Dogs for agility, and I also train and my son shows Horses. All of our animals we own were rescues, except for my 1 dog which we got at a breeder and she is the biggest brat ever, lol. Currently have 3 dogs, 6 cats (they are the easiest to take care of out of all our animals lol), 4 guinea pigs (it started out with 1, but my son had to pick the pregnant piggy, lol), 1 bunny, and 3 horses. Lucky for us when we go on Vacation my mom house sits and takes care of all our animals. I refuse to board any of my animals, plus for all our animals it would be the price of a 2nd vacation to board them all, lol.

Next let me introduce my hubby. He is also 29 yrs old and works as an actuary. He deals with money and numbers all day, I honestly don’t know how he does it. I would totally loose my mind if I had to look at spread sheets all day, lol. He is also the money guy on our trip. Of course he thinks we are spending way to much but I want to make this trip memorable and easy, lol. Ever see that Staples commercial…I want to press the “That was Easy” button for my vacation, lol

Next up to introduce is my son! He’s 7 years old and this will be his 3rd time going to Disney, but again 1st time staying on property. He loves everything Disney! His favorite character is Tigger. He has had a stuffed Tigger since he was 6 months old. I think he really relates to Tigger bc Tigger is very energetic and bounces all over the place. My son has ADHD, so I will be getting him a DAS card…Line waiting is not for him! My son is also extremely athletic and for 7 yrs old instead of normal sports he participates in Dog Agility and riding Horses. He is also a very gifted 7 year old excelling in Math and Reading. He reads 2 grade levels higher than his grade and he taught himself how to do multiplication and division.

Finally we have my other son. He is only 6 months old. He will be 8 months when we go on the trip. We are bringing him up right, lol…if he could he would sit and watch Disney Junior all day long, lol. His favorite show is Little Einstein’s. He also Like Sofia, Doc McStuffins, Jake, Jungle Junction, and Octonauts. Although he has never watched Winnie the Pooh, he wants to be just like his older brother and has a stuffed tigger that is his size that’s his favorite toy, lol.

So that’s it for the introductions. Let me tell you how this trip came to be. We usually do 1 annual family vacation a year. My son and I love to travel! Last year was not a good year. I was having a lot of problems with the pregnancy. We had a trip to Myrtle Beach planned last year but had to cancel bc of an issue I had with the pregnancy. After the issue cleared up, my husband got invited to a conference in Toronto. So again we planned another family vacation to Toronto. A week before we were scheduled to leave I was having more issues with my pregnancy and the doctors put me in a high risk category for pre-term labor. I was basically on bed rest. Again we had to cancel our trip. My son was heartbroken along with very very scared. He was looking forward to having a younger brother and didn’t want anything to happen to him. Everything turned out alright in the end though. I ended up delivering my sweet baby boy 1 week before his due date.
After we got settled at home I had a conversation with my older son and I asked him where he wanted to go on vacation since we had to cancel both vacations we had planned. And where does any 7 yr old want to go? LoL of course he picked Disney. So I started planning, and I literally became obsessed. Still am. I have everything planned except certain FPs so maybe some input on that would be wonderful! All I could think of is I want this trip easy. With the baby and everything (even though hes a relax go with the flow baby, I still want easy). So with much coaxing my hubby finally agreed to let us stay at the Contemporary with the Deluxe Dining Plan so we don’t have to worry about food! Well heres my fully schedule for our Disney Trip 2014!

Friday, March 28 – We are driving down to Florence, SC. I found a hotel only a mile away from 95, so not too far from the main highway. We are planning to leave between 4 and 5 AM. I think this will be the worst part of the trip bc we are driving through DC area on a week day. But once we get past that area I think we should be ok.

Saturday, March 29 – Again we are driving from Florence, SC all the way to Disney. I also think we are leaving early between 4 and 5 AM. I am hoping to get into Disney around 5:30PM or earlier, so we can get checked in and get settled in our room. I made an ADR for Chef Mickeys that night. I thought that was the easiest since it was right in the Hotel. If we feel up to it I might also want to see the Water Pageant, but that’s a BIG IF, lol, after driving so long I don’t know if we will be up to staying up late to watch it.

Sunday, March 30 – This is our Epcot day. We are splitting Epcot into 2 days. We tried to do it in 1 day last time and my feet were screaming by the end of the day. We are going to do World Showcase for our first day. We have ADRs for The Wave of American Flavors, Askershus, and Biergarten. As for FPs I am not really sure which ones to get. I definitely know I want 1 for Maelstrom. I was also hoping to get 1 for Illuminations but I don’t know if that will be available or not. Any suggestions here would help a lot!

Monday, March 31 – This is Magic Kingdom day. We have ADRs for Crystal Palace (with 2 tigger fans this was an absolute must do, lol), Liberty Tree Tavern, and The Plaza. For FPs I was thinking of Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean, and I was hoping to get 1 for the Main Street Electrical Parade but again I don’t know if that will be available or not.

Tuesday, April 1 – This is our Animal Kingdom day. We have ADRs for Rainforest Café, Tusker House, and Yak & Yeti. As for Fast Passes, again I am not too sure. I know I am definitely getting 1 for the Safari ride and I was thinking Nemo the musical might be fun too. But as for a 3rd 1 I could use some input. I watched videos of Everest and Dinosaur and I think both are a little too much for my son. Anything else anyone suggests I get FPs for?

Wednesday, April 2 – Hollywood Studios Day! This is actually 1 of my favorite parks. I love all the shows and there isn’t too much walking. I have ADRs for Hollywood & Vine, Mama Melrose, and 50s Prime time Café. I also have the fantasmic package for special seating to this event. The shows we are looking to see are Disney Junior show, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, and Lights Motor Action. We are also looking to get FPs for Toy Story Mania definitely, but unsure about anything else. I want to do the great movie ride but I head u don’t really need a FP for that. Also I think RnR and Tower of Terror are too much for my son. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thursday, April 3 – We are back in Epcot! This time for Future World. I have ADRs for 1900 Park Fare, Coral Reef, and The Garden Grill. I am planning on getting FPs for Test Track, Nemo, and Space Ship Earth.

Friday, April 4 – Back in Magic Kingdom! We have ADRs for Chef Mickeys, Tonys Town Square, and 1900 Park Fare. For FPs I am definitely getting 1 to Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. For the 3rd 1 I am at a little bit of a toss up. I can’t decide between Belles Enchanting Tails or The Little Mermaid. Although I really want to see Belles Enchanting Tales I don’t know how my son would be there. With his ADHD its very hard for him to sit and listen for a long period of time. So I am almost leaning more towards the ride vs this, but I am not 100% sure yet. Anyone that has been to Belles Enchanting Tales can you let me know what you think? Do u think it will keep a kid with ADHDs attention?

Saturday, April 5 – This is our last Full day in Disney, so I made it sort of a down day. I made ADRs for Ohana, TREX, and Sanaa. I also made a ressie for The Pirates League for my son. So I figure after Breakfast we will hit MK and do the Pirates league and after that head to DTD for lunch and some shopping and then to Sanaa for dinner (hopefully we will get to see some animals ).

Sunday, April 6 – This is our last day in Disney and what better way to celebrate it than having breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table! So I made an ADR for that for a little bit later breakfast, that way it gives us time to get checked out and packed up and head over there. When we are finished with Breakfast we are going to be beginning our journey home. We are driving from Disney to again the same hotel as before in Florence, SC, and staying there for 1 night.

Monday, April 7 – This will be our final day of our family vacation and we will be driving from Florence, SC all the way back to NJ! Hopefully we will be bringing some nice weather with us when we get there!

Well that’s it for our family trip 2014! Hoping everything runs smoothly! If any of you could give me some insight as to which Fast Passes I should pick I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much!