OH BOY!!*My 1st PTR for our 1st ever WDW trip JUNE 2011* 6/14: Started my TR.

[aprilfoolwed]

I am enjoying my peek at your PTR! Kudos for keeping the trip a secret - I could never do it! LOL

I am a big planner too, but just remember to allow yourself some flexibility too. Sometimes some really magical moment just pop up, and you don't want to miss out on them!

Oh - and can I mention I am envoius of your drive time! It will take us 20 hours to get from PA to FL!

Happy planning!

 

[mrssmith06]

I am enjoying my peek at your PTR! Kudos for keeping the trip a secret - I could never do it! LOL

I am a big planner too, but just remember to allow yourself some flexibility too. Sometimes some really magical moment just pop up, and you don't want to miss out on them!

Oh - and can I mention I am envoius of your drive time! It will take us 20 hours to get from PA to FL!

Happy planning!

Thanks for stopping by! I expect to be more flexible than what my schedule looks like, but I need some sort of plan to go by even if it has to be changed at the last minute, otherwise I would panic.

 

[dissybroad]

Howdy!

Wow, 1st trip is soooo magical. What has helped me chill when things don't go exactly as planned is to plan the next trip

Try packing the kids' clothes in gallon food storage bags. Put in pants/shorts, shirt, skivvies, and socks to make a complete outfit. That way they can just grab a bag on those early mornings, and suitcases and room stay neater.

Have fun!

 

[mrssmith06]

Decided to change my ADR at Rainforest Cafe and bump it up 1 hour that day since we have EMH in AK that morning anyway. This way, we can get to HS a little sooner and have more time there. I had toyed with the idea of hitting HS first thing in the morning just so we can get a FP for TSM but since we have EMH in AK and don't want to waist half of our day hopping back and forth, I don't think it's a good idea. We will just have to hope that we are able to get a chance at TSM without having to wait in line for an hour

 

[lbuzz52]

1:30p - Catch a bus to Hollywood Studios!
----> *Toy Story Mania (may need to get a fastpass and come back!)
3:00p - Block Party Parade (skip if needed)
----> Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage!, *The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Disney Animation, Beauty and The Beast-Live on Stage!
6:30p - Grab dinner @ Toy Story Pizza Planet! (Located near the Muppets)
----> (If time allows) Catch the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show!?
(If the kids are tired, go back to hotel after dinner & skip Fantasmic).
9:00p - Fantasmic!
9:30p - Catch a bus back to our hotel and start packing our bags!
10:30p - Sleep!



about this part of the schedule- i agree with others on the Toy story fast passes. also, you may want to google steve soares site- he gives show times for the week. when we last went, the majority of the shows at DHS were only playing a few times a day so that limited our schedule. his site wont have the show times for your week yet, but it may give you an idea.


also, for chef mickey's- you can take a bus to the magic kingdom and then hop on the monorail to the contemporary.

 

[mrssmith06]

1:30p - Catch a bus to Hollywood Studios!
----> *Toy Story Mania (may need to get a fastpass and come back!)
3:00p - Block Party Parade (skip if needed)
----> Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage!, *The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Disney Animation, Beauty and The Beast-Live on Stage!
6:30p - Grab dinner @ Toy Story Pizza Planet! (Located near the Muppets)
----> (If time allows) Catch the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show!?
(If the kids are tired, go back to hotel after dinner & skip Fantasmic).
9:00p - Fantasmic!
9:30p - Catch a bus back to our hotel and start packing our bags!
10:30p - Sleep!



about this part of the schedule- i agree with others on the Toy story fast passes. also, you may want to google steve soares site- he gives show times for the week. when we last went, the majority of the shows at DHS were only playing a few times a day so that limited our schedule. his site wont have the show times for your week yet, but it may give you an idea.


also, for chef mickey's- you can take a bus to the magic kingdom and then hop on the monorail to the contemporary.

Thank you, I will look over his site tonight!!

I went to the book store today and purchased this:

So I've got lots and lots of reading to do!

 

[Lidian]

Congratulations on your first trip and your upcoming anniversary!

Your kiddos are adorable!

A few questions/suggestions:
**Do you have activity bags for the kids for the car ride? I made each child an activity pack (coloring books, washable crayons, DS/Leapster, etc), plus we had a DVD player that plugged into the cig lighter. I know some kids are better than others with long car rides (we have about a 9-10 hr drive ourselves).
**Do NOT forget to sunscreen yourself every AM. It's easy to forget when making sure kiddos are protected. (I learned from experience.)
**Don't forget OTC meds!

We stayed at Movies in 2009. We ate in the food court quite a bit that year ... and I remember having a steak salad and it was sooo yummy. No one in our group ever complained about the food.

If you go to DTD, I suggest Wolfgang Puck Express. Wolfgang Puck is our must-do dining experience every year - and DH would totally throw a tantrum if we don't eat there. In my opinion, they have the best food. I do hope that if you try it, you'll agree and not say, "Some crazy lady told us to eat here and it stinks!"

I love that you are making multiple plans so you can be super flexible! It's really hard to tell how little ones will be in the heat and excitement!

When you do Epcot, Spaceship Earth might be crowded early, if the lines are long, check back later. Most people gravitate to it first, so lines are usually shorter later in the day.

I am so jealous of your Rainforest Cafe rezzie. We would eat there every year if it was on the DDP. I had a coconut shrimp dish (I hate coconut) and it was MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

And I'm jumping on the TSM FPs will be gone early - and the line will probably be 90+ mins long all day. My fingers are crossed that something will work out great and you'll get a ride on TSM.

I love the Scavenger Hunt idea! I think it will be sooo fun. I can't wait to hear how it plays out!

Did you find all the information you needed on FPs and Transportation?

 

[mrssmith06]

Thanks for the tips Lidian! And !!

Yes, we will have activities for the car and a dvd player! We usually drive to the beach in FL every summer anyway and it's anywhere from 6-8 hours depending on where we go. They always do pretty good in the car!

And yes I think I got all the info I needed on transportation and FPs. ....at least for now...

 

[mrssmith06]

91 days and counting!!!

Found a good deal to use at our Rainforest Cafe meal! These kids rewards charts will make the kids meals only .99 cents!!!
http://www.rainforestcafe.com/rewardsCalendars.asp
I'm also trying to earn up enough "MyPoints" to get a gift card for there!!! I'm about 2,000 points short of getting the $25 gift card though so I might not make it in time

In other news... I got a PIN in my email today!! BUT it's for free dining and I haven't read the details yet but I'm pretty sure the kids play free deal I'm on now would come out better. Hmmm... I've already paid for my trip in full too so I probably can't change anything anyway can I?

 

[Lidian]

91 days and counting!!!

Found a good deal to use at our Rainforest Cafe meal! These kids rewards charts will make the kids meals only .99 cents!!!
http://www.rainforestcafe.com/rewardsCalendars.asp
I'm also trying to earn up enough "MyPoints" to get a gift card for there!!! I'm about 2,000 points short of getting the $25 gift card though so I might not make it in time

In other news... I got a PIN in my email today!! BUT it's for free dining and I haven't read the details yet but I'm pretty sure the kids play free deal I'm on now would come out better. Hmmm... I've already paid for my trip if full too so I probably can't change anything anyway can I?

I love the RFC deal you found! I may have to work on the rewards, too! We loved eating there in 2009!

G'luck on getting enough points! I'll be cheering you on!

Grats on the PIN! When I did the math for the PIN vs Kids Free, I came up with Kids Free on Value and Mods, and 40% off Room for Deluxe - all over the free dining. If it was regular dining, it might be different ... double check, just in case though.

And even though you've already paid in full, you can make changes to your reservation without penalty up to your 45 day mark. (Then it gets trickier on making changes, but you can still do it - just sometimes it requires a fee, or you have to wait until arrival or something - according to my TA.)

If you find out that Free Dining is cheaper, WDW will just refund the difference back to your card. One of our friends just made a change to their "paid in full" reservation and WDW credited back $20 to their card.

So pull out the calculator and crunch some numbers! Your PIN may be different from mine, and you may end up with a better deal than I did!

 

[mrssmith06]

I went back and looked over the email again and it's only for the quick service plan if your staying in a value resort, so the kids play free deal IS saving us more. Oh well, I was still excited to get a PIN at all

 

[Lidian]

I went back and looked over the email again and it's only for the quick service plan if your staying in a value resort, so the kids play free deal IS saving us more. Oh well, I was still excited to get a PIN at all

Mine was for QS for Value & Mod ... and there was only a $6 difference between Free QS + upgrade and Kids Free when I did the math (based on a standard room @ a Mod resort). But yes, getting a PIN is exciting, even if you don't or can't use it!

 

[mrssmith06]

I just ordered a few things for our trip!

2011 Autograph book!

Swimsuit for DD:

2011 Pens:

I made my tip envelopes yesterday, I'll get a picture of those up soon! I love them!

 

[mtgirl29]

Love the swimsuit, pens and autograph book!!

Also, love the Award Certificates that you posted for Rainforest Cafe. We are going there, also. I am hoping to get the kids to do one so they can get their meal for $ .99. That is an awesome find!!

 

[mrssmith06]

I was just reading over your plans ~ GREAT WORK! I know how much time and effort go into planning a Disney trip of a lifetime and you're doing so GOOD! And it will all pay off! I'm sure that you've heard it before but TIME = MONEY at Disney. Just keep in mind it is a vacation and some of your planning simply won't go as planned... be patient and a bit flexable (also advice for myself when I'm there). I really hope that you have a Magical Time!


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Check out our family's Disney World Character Website! We also list over 250 Time and Money Saving Tips and Tricks that we've learned over the years!

www.welovemickeymouse.com

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o.k. Sorry I just noticed your most recent post... Great autograph book and Super Cute swim suit... those pens were horrible for us TWICE. I thought oh how cute ~ I have to have those pens and then waited in a long hot line to see Peter Pan & Wendy and they stopped working out of no where.... my advice ~ just be sure to bring along a regular old pen from home.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out our family's Disney World Character Website! We also list over 250 Time and Money Saving Tips and Tricks that we've learned over the years!

www.welovemickeymouse.com

or like us and receive updates on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Love-Mickey-Mouse-com/198150716881308

Thank you!!! I hope those pens work ok, guess I'll find out soon!
I have been looking over your website the past few minutes and it's awesome!! I will be spending some time on there reading tonight!

Love the swimsuit, pens and autograph book!!

Also, love the Award Certificates that you posted for Rainforest Cafe. We are going there, also. I am hoping to get the kids to do one so they can get their meal for $ .99. That is an awesome find!!

Thanks, I was stoked to find the reward chart deal!!!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

I'm here! Trying to get caught up.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

And finally....some pics of us!
Here are 4 of us last year, in Florida...

The little ones on Christmas Eve...

Also.... I am beginning to rethink my idea to surprise them. I still want to do the scavenger hunt... just not sure if I can wait until THAT night to get their bags packed!!! I'm sure I will want to have everything packed way before then... so maybe I should have their luggage already packed and instead say "Your bag is packed, Your going to Disney World!" ???

You have a beautiful family!! I agree that I would already have their bags packed. The scavenger hunt sounds awesome! We're also waiting to tell our kids where we're going. A few months ago I was trying to convince DH to go to WDW this year and I told DS to tell Daddy that he wanted to go to Disney World....well he thought I meant that we could go right then! It did not end well.

I went to the book store today and purchased this:

So I've got lots and lots of reading to do!

I've never seen the pocket version of the Unofficial Guide! I'll definitely have to pick this one up.



Love the bathing suit that you got for your DD! The autograph books and pens are cute, too. Looking forward to seeing your tip envelopes!

 

[mrssmith06]

Thanks!
I'll hopefully get those tip envelope pics up soon, I keep forgetting to get the pictures off of my camera!!!

 

[mrssmith06]

And finally....Here are the tip envelopes!!!
I got these from one of the girls on the Creative board's albums.
1 for each of our ADR's (Chef Mickey's, Rainforest Cafe, Planet Hollywood & Ohana)

I already have them with $$$ in them so they are ready to go!! Don't have to worry about tips now!! I'm not going to seal the envelopes though, I plan to leave the ends open with the $ sticking out so that they won't get thrown away! I read this somewhere, that it happens if they think it's just random paper/garbage.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Those are super cute!! I have wondered about whether or not the servers would realize what it was or just think it was something that had been accidentally left behind...or trash.