November 2017, party of 7 or 9 or 11 or 13

[Shrfleen]

Hello everyone!

This is my first PTR! Join me as I count down the days until our next trip! So pull up a seat and join me.

Who: Extended family
What: Trip to Disney World
When: November 13 - November 18, 2017
Where: Wilderness Lodge with 2 standard view rooms
Why: My Aunt's family wanted to go after they saw how much fun we had on our October 2016 trip!

I will be updating you all in our planning as it seems to be changing every couple of weeks.

Next I will introduce you to the cast!

Me, my sister SarahSnow, my mom Veronica, my aunt Peggy, my cousin Kristi and her children (little cousin D (8) and little cousin K (1)).

Original Plan

Our original plan was to take my other cousins MM(14) and ML (13) on this trip with us. However we could not find a time where the kids breaks would overlap. We really wanted to go for Thanksgiving but my aunt Peggy isn't allowed time off from the day before Thanksgiving to the day after Christmas.

We planned on the kids missing at most 3 days of school if we went for Thanksgiving but MM and ML were told they can't miss that much school. If they miss 5 or more days they have to repeat the class (so they were told).

So we told MM and ML that we would plan a trip in October of 2018 so they can go to Disney and we would do it over their fall break.

Current Plan

We originally booked a Deluxe room with club level access at WL but decided it would be best to get two adjoining or connecting standard view rooms and upgrade to the Disney Dining Plan.

Current Party Total: 7

Days until vacation: 297

 

[Shrfleen]

Party update 297 days out

Earlier this week I was putting together our trip binder and posted a picture of it on Facebook. ML commented that her dad said they could go but she didn't want to go without him. Here is a bit of background on her Dad, he strongly dislikes people, including his family. He will never come to Disney World and that's ok, that's why his mom and sister asked if his kids wanted to come with us.

After a long conversation, Kristi was going to follow up with their dad to make sure he was ok with the girls missing 5 days of school. We can't move the dates because Sarah and my mom have both already had their days approved at work.

So officially, 7 of us are currently going on this trip but we might end up adding 2 more. My life would be stress free if ML and MM dad could just give us an official yes or no.

In the meantime enjoy this picture from my last trip!

 

[siestakeys04]

This is going to be exciting...dh and I were looking at that same week or the week before Christmas also Looking out for free dining. Can't wait to see your plans.

 

[Shrfleen]

Planning

Travel
D will likely attend school for at least a 1/2 day on Monday November 13th. If MM and ML end up joining us they will have to miss school because they live further from the airport. We decided to fly because I am never riding down to Florida again! It takes to much time out of your vacation. Currently looking at flights on Delta (non stop) the price is ~$380. We plan on flying Southwest because they have more non stop flights and 1 free checked bag. However they won't release the tickets for our dates until April or so. Hopefully Southwest will have some good deals. We do not plan on renting a car at the airport. We were very happy with Disney transportation to and from the parks and don't see a need in spending extra money.

​

Dining
Currently we only have a skeleton of what we want to do. But we have a better idea of where we want to eat. On our last trip, we really enjoyed pre park breakfast meals. We plan on doing this again for our extended family trip. Here is where we plan on getting reservations:

• Cinderella's Royal Table (2 credits)- Knock out meeting the princesses at a pre park breakfast and we've never been.
• Tusker House (1 credit)- We really enjoyed the variety of food and D is a bit of a picky eater, hoping for a pre park breakfast.
• Garden Grill (1 credit)- We have never had a meal here and the characters are ones I think the kids would like. Also hoping for a pre park breakfast.
• Whispering Canyon Cafe (1 credit)- Dinner on the first night
• Alternatives if we can't get Cinderella's Royal Table
  • Be Our Guest (pre park breakfast)
  • Hollywood & Vine dinner?? (This credit is still in the air. We liked Hollywood & Vine but then we would meet the gang twice.)

Parks
Honestly we don't have any plans right now for the parks. Our plans will revolve around our dinner reservations. We have park hoppers and might do 1/2 day at one park and then go to another instead of full days. I know people don't really like to use the extra magic hours because of crowds but they really helped us when we need to squeeze things in at the last minute. Hopefully the Magic Kingdom will have PM extra magic hours when we go, I fear we will need them.

If you are enjoying my Pre Trip Report take a look at my completed report from my September/October trip. The link is in my signature. ​

 

[Shrfleen]

This is going to be exciting...dh and I were looking at that same week or the week before Christmas also Looking out for free dining. Can't wait to see your plans.

We would love free dining again. If we do end up getting a free dining option we might take the savings and stay a little later haha.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 291

Hello everyone! This weekend we will be having a planning session with the rest of the family. Does anyone know of a good site/blog with videos of rides? We want D to see how things will look while we are planning. Any information helps.

I'll make another update with a cast of characters and letting you know how our planning goes this weekend.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 287

Hello everyone!

This weekend we went up visit D, K, Peggy and Kristi. We wanted to show D ride videos so we can plan once park hours are announced. We looked at menus for the restaurants we want to eat at and what the Wilderness Lodge looks like.

While we were there we talked with ML and MM to see if they were certain about not wanting to go. We won't officially know until April if they can go. So we are going to plan like they are going until them. Party total: 9

I also spoke with my Grandparents about the discounts they can receive since they are Florida residents. My Grandma is not sure if they want to join us for the entire trip, but she really wants to see Animal Kingdom.

Travel
Sarah, my mom and myself plan on flying out early so we can go resort hopping. Kristi, Peggy, D and K will fly out after D gets out of school on a flight leaving around 3pm. MM and ML will have to leave school half day (noon) and fly out with them. They seemed ok with not flying down with us. Once down there we plan on placing an AmazonPrimeNow order to K can have milk, diapers and other stuff and Kristi doesn't have to worry about packing them.

Dining
My aunt looked at the food menus and she was ok with them all but Whispering Canyon Cafe. That was ok. We decided instead we will get a dinner reservation for Chef Mickey's since we can boat over from Wilderness Lodge. All other meals should be ok since they are breakfast meals.

Parks
We watched ride videos for a lot of the rides we thought D would be iffy about. We started with Animal Kingdom and it will be a no go on Everest. She was ok, until it started to go backwards. Primeval Wheel is also a no go because of the spinning. D is very afraid of getting sick because she had a bad experience at Busch Gardens last summer. Next we moved to Hollywood Studios. D was not interested in riding Rock N' Roller coaster. We watched the Tower of Terror videos and she was ok with it. Epcot was next and we wanted her to see Test Track and Soarin'. She really wants to drive the car during Test Track and she seemed ok with Soarin' as well. We plan on doing Frozen Ever After but didn't show her the video because its a calm ride. Next was the Magic Kingdom. All rides expect for Space Mountain were good. She didn't like Space Mountain at all. I think it was the mixture of the speed and the darkness.

D's Birthday gift
We gave D two options for a special present from us. She could do Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or Pirates League. She picked Pirates League, the Empress Package. We told her that since she did the cheaper option we would also buy her a pair of ears from our favorite Etsy shop.

MM and ML's gift
If the girls make A&B honor roll at midterms, they will have the option of going to the Very Merry Christmas party, Pirates League or a set of ears.

I think the thing I am most stressing out about right now is we don't officially know if MM and ML will be coming and planning the park days. I plan on purchasing a TouringPlan subscription to help with the park planing.

If anyone has any helpful tips, please let me know.

 

[Bethislucy]

HI! joining in from the Nov 2017 board Sounds like it's going to be a fun trip.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 272 days

Hello everyone! We are anxiously waiting for our trip! A few weekends ago we went to the Newport Aquarium. It was kind of like a pre Disney trip. The Aquarium does not allow strollers (most of the time) so K either had to walk or be held. Everything seemed to go pretty good, no meltdowns. He just started to walk and so he was held most of the time. We do plan on renting a stroller from Disney so he won't have to worry about walking too much.

Worries
Since Disney increased their prices I'm worried about adding MM and ML to the reservations when we get the official word from their Dad. Has anyone had experience with this? Will adding them increase ticket prices for the rest of the group?

We will only be at Disney for 4 days and we have park hopper for dining if needed. I worry we won't be able to do all that we have planned. When we get closer I plan on ranking the rides and attractions. Maybe I can convince everyone to stay later on the day we fly out and do MK again? Since Sarah and I are definitely going to the Christmas Party we will have to miss one of the night time shows. While I love Illuminations, we will have to miss it this trip. Or we could fly in a day early, do MVMCP but then MM and ML can't go.

A Very Tentative Plan
Monday: Fly In- Sarah, Me and Mom early AM like 7am, everyone else the first afternoon flight around 3pm. We plan on resort hopping before everyone else gets there. We might also go to Epcot.
Tuesday- Animal Kingdom ALL DAY or Magic Kingdom AM and Epcot PM possible MVMCP
Wednesday- Magic Kingdom ALL DAY
Thursday- Epcot AM and Hollywood Studios PM
Friday- Animal Kingdom AM and Epcot PM or Hollywood Studios AM and Epcot PM possible MVMCP
Saturday- Fly Out

We thought about buying the express transportation but unknown yet until we know park hours. Ideally when one park closes I would like to hop to another for a few hours.

At this point we are just still planning, kinda feel like I'm just going around in circles just waiting for park hours. We can't really make true plans until we know party dates and park hours. I'm beginning to overthink...

While I'm not planning our Disney trip, Sarah and I are in the getting ready to head to Chicago for the first time, we are going to see Hamilton Hopefully this little trip will help me keep my mind from Disney (lets be honest, it won't).

 

[dnllmz]

Following along from the November thread!

I had a tp subscription for last year's trip (still have it) but I'm not sure if I want to renew for the next trip. I really liked kenny's & prepschool's free info for park touring plans. Oh & easywdw too.

 

[Shrfleen]

Following along from the November thread!

I had a tp subscription for last year's trip (still have it) but I'm not sure if I want to renew for the next trip. I really liked kenny's & prepschool's free info for park touring plans. Oh & easywdw too.

We have Kenny's app and I'm sure we will renew so we can get the details for Characterpalooza. I thought about getting a TP subscription for the room request feature and all the organizing would be done lol I made our own touring plan last time but with the kiddos and rest of the family joining us I fear we won't accomplish everything they want to do. We will have more planing meetings once we get closer to the trip, which will help.

 

[Whit64130]

Hi Following along with your PTR! We are also going in November but will miss you by a week! We went last November 14-22 and it was an amazing trip crowd and weather wise!

 

[Shrfleen]

Hi Following along with your PTR! We are also going in November but will miss you by a week! We went last November 14-22 and it was an amazing trip crowd and weather wise!

That's great to hear!

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 256 days

Hello everyone!

Sarah and I just got back from or trip to Chicago to see Hamilton! It was an amazing experience and we will be going back to see it, just you wait!

We got our steps in walking around the city, Field Museum and Art Institute, preparing for Disney. I may need to visit a physical therapist because my knee was killing me. It did hurt the last time we went to Disney in September/October but ever since I had my gallbladder out, it's been bothering me. It's just strange that it happened after that surgery. Anyway... enjoy some pictures for our trip to Chicago

​

On the Disney front...

• We got our matching family shirts. They are the red Mouseketeer shirts from the Disney store.
• We have 1 month until the flight information should be released.
• I ordered D's Minnie Mouse ears from ModernMouse. She picked donut ears with sprinkles.
• Our change jar is up to $76.
• Hopefully soon park hours will be released, fingers crossed.
• Since our vacation to Chicago is over, it's time to start saving and paying off our trip. My goal is to put at least $50 toward the trip every week. I'm going to take the next couple of weeks to get all my money in order. My ultimate goal is have my portion of the trip pay off by July!
• Toward the end of the month we will probably set up another time to talk to D and the rest of the family about our trip.

These are all of the updates I have today. Hopefully we can get some party dates for MVMCP and park hours soon!

 

[elaine amj]

Just found it and will be following along. Very interested in the extended family trip - I am traveling with my brither and his family this summer and it will be their first trip!

I made all our ADRs and we are just trying to figure out pre and post hotels. We have one night before and 2 nights after to figure out.

We also have uncertain numbers - hoping to be joined by my father and stepmother but we won't know if 1, both, or none of them will come until 1-2 months out. Eek. A bit worried aboutt FPs and ADRs but since we don't know anything, I added them to our ADRs but am otherwise planning as if they are not coming.

 

[Shrfleen]

Just found it and will be following along. Very interested in the extended family trip - I am traveling with my brither and his family this summer and it will be their first trip!

I made all our ADRs and we are just trying to figure out pre and post hotels. We have one night before and 2 nights after to figure out.

We also have uncertain numbers - hoping to be joined by my father and stepmother but we won't know if 1, both, or none of them will come until 1-2 months out. Eek. A bit worried aboutt FPs and ADRs but since we don't know anything, I added them to our ADRs but am otherwise planning as if they are not coming.

Thanks for joining in! I hope you and your family have a great trip this summer!

The uncertainty drives us planners crazy! I heard it is easier to adjust ADRs. I was told to make the reservation like they are coming because it might be harder to find one, once you know if they are coming. I don't even want to think about FPs yet lol

 

[elaine amj]

I was originally trying to make separate reservations (1 for 7 and another for 2 or split up 4 and 5) to make it easier to cancel what we don't need (esp for stuff like BOG lunch and Mickey's Backyard BBQ with no assigned seats))- but ended up just going with all 9 for everything. I put everyone under my MDE and there is no way to make separate reservations without calling. Kinda wish I had set my brother up on his own MDE.

FPs will be a madness unto its own. And if one or both come, they will come for only a few days to a week. So I can't even make contingency plans (since it will change our ADR and FP choices).

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 250 days

I'll have an update this weekend! We are dropping off a few things with the family and we will probably talk about our trip. As long as the snow stays South of us, we will be going up.

 

[Whit64130]

• We got our matching family shirts. They are the red Mouseketeer shirts from the Disney store.

We got these shirts too for our November trip!

 

[Shrfleen]

We got these shirts too for our November trip!

I got them when they were on sale. How can you beat a $9 kids shirt lol