One for the Money, Two for the Show... A Nov.2015 PTR - Updated 11/1

[deannaf87]

Hello and welcome to my pre-trip report. I've been going back and forth on whether or not to do a PTR and TR since I'm an admitted trip report quitter. Eventually I decided I'm just too dang excited not to share.

Seriously...every time I think about my trip...


Lucky for me I've found a great group of people who, just like me, can't get enough Disney.

Our first (and latest) trip was March 2013. That trip was so amazing, but the focus was definitely on the value aspect. We stayed at Shades of Green and only did two table service meals. The majority of our meals were eaten off property. My theme for that trip was



Well fast forward two years, a new job, and a few promotions later and my motto for this trip has been



Thus the title "One for the money, two for the show". I am more than ready to just soak in the Disney (and Universal) magic.

This seems like a good time to introduce my party. The fearless leaders, my husband and I



I am the household Disney nut and he obliges my obsession by pretending to listen to me while I blabber on and on about resorts, ADRs, and fastpasses.

Our daughter on our last trip at O'hana, she was five.



and a few weeks ago meeting Dan Deluca from Newsies. She will be 8 on our trip this fall. She one of few 8 year olds who is so over Frozen, haha. Her favorite character is Rapunzel and favorite ride is Star Tours.


and the tiniest member of our troop, our son. He was 16 months last time.


and now

Sorry that picture cracks me up every time. He's doing his best Crazy Eyes impression. He will be a month shy of 4 years old this trip. All he talks about is how he wants to go on all the roller coasters. He just measured in at 39 inches last week, so we are hoping he'll past the magical 40 inches mark by November. If not, I see lots of Barnstormer in our future.

Coming up next... our resort choice!​

 

[deannaf87]

WHERE TO LAY OUR HEADS?
I have been planning this trip since last summer. The majority of my obsession has been where to stay. We knew we wanted to stay on property for our Disney days in order to get the 60 day fastpass+ perk. I researched everything to death. I have created spreadsheet upon spreadsheet analyzing the cost and benefits of each resort. I was quick to decide that double beds would not do for us. My husband is 6'1" and 230 pounds. This would be my life in a double bed.


So values were out, wayyyy out. Except for of course Art of Animation suites, which I love.

My husband is active duty military, so I knew I wanted to get the military discount if we could. Problem was I needed to book in May in order to get our ADRs at 180 days out, but the military discount for October would probably not be released until late summer. So I did what any logical DISer would do and booked a resort at a rate I knew I would be okay paying rack rate for.



I went back and forth on whether to book CBR or POR for a few weeks. Then free dining was announced and *POOF* all CBR rooms were gone for online booking. I figured that was a sign from the Disney gods and pulled the trigger on a garden view room at POR. My husband and I were both raised in Southeast Texas, which is basically Louisiana, haha; but we currently live near Washington, DC. A visit to POR would be like a little taste of home.

With our resort reservation all ready to go, I was all ready to get up bright and early for ADR grabbing at 180 days. A few items on my wish list were BOG, Crystal Palace, Akershus, 50's Prime Time, Via Napoli, and the Plaza. Would we get them? Find out next!

​

 

[deannaf87]

WHERE TO FILL OUR TUMMIES?
I was up at 5:30 on May 20th ready to fight the ADR battle, which was basically the battle against Disney IT. I cannot tell you how many times I got the "I'm sorry, we are unable to look for reservations" spiel.


Eventually I was able to it through the mess and snag what was available. I was not able to find a Be Our Guest reservation for anytime during our stay.


I was pretty disappointed at the time, but now I'm hopeful that I'll be able to find something between now and November. I was also not able to get a pre park opening Crystal Palace as hoped or anything at all for Akershus.

In the end after a few tweaks, here are the ADRs we have planned.

11/16 Dinner - Boatright's @ 7:35
11/17 Lunch - 50s Prime Time @ 11:25
11/18 Lunch - Via Napoli @ 1:00
11/18 Dinner - The Plaza @ 7:40
11/19 Breakfast - Tusker House @ 8:40
11/19 Dinner - Boma @ 4:55
11/20 Dinner - 1900 Park Fare @ 5:10
11/21 Breakfast - Kona Cafe @ 8:35


​

 

[deannaf87]

THE BIG PICTURE and TRANSPORTATION

Now that where to stay and what to eat were settled, it was time to make a day by day plan. I was still trying to decide between flying and driving. We live just north of DC in Maryland, so the drive would have been anywhere from 12.5 to 14 hours depending on traffic.

We decided to leave town Friday November 13th, spend three nights at Shades of Green while we were doing Universal, and then spend five nights at POR. We would be heading home on Saturday November 21st.

We came up with this game plan:

Saturday 11/14 - Universal, starting the day at Universal Studios
Sunday 11/15 - Universal, starting the day at Island of Adventure.... MVMCP that evening
Monday 11/16- Universal, starting park yet unknown.
Tuesday 11/17 - Hollywood Studios, this is the day the park closes at 4PM for a cast member party. I am hoping that means most other guests will be going to another park for that day. We will park hop to Epcot in the evening for Illuminations.
Wednesday 11/18 - Epcot then park hopping to Magic Kingdom in the evening since it's a non party night.
Thursday 11/19 - Animal Kingdom then hopping to Hollywood Studios in the evening for Osbourne Lights
Friday 11/20 - Magic Kingdom

Oh! and we decided flying was definitely for us. 14 hours straight in a car did not sound fun. We ended up booking four, nonstop, round trip tickets from DCA to MCO on the dates we wanted for $807. I was happy with that price and am very excited not to be driving.

After deciding to fly we also came to the conclusion that we wanted a rental car for our Universal days. We could have taxied, shuttled, or Ubered but car seats just add a whole other hassle to that process I didn't want to deal with. I ended up booking a midsize SUV through Alamo for entire stay (9 days) for $230.

Our flight purchase pretty much seals the deal on the reality of this trip. No going back now!​

 

[deannaf87]

UPGRADED

Yesterday the Armed Forces Salute discount which originally ended October 3 was extended to the end of December. This was the news I was waiting for! I hustled to call the customer service line and see what was available. The few days leading up to the discount release I had fallen in love with Art of Animation suites and all the space those provide. Unfortunately that was not available for our dates. Since flights were already booked, I had no flexibility date wise.

These were my choices:
All Star Movies --- nope, not double bedding it.
Port Orleans Riverside garden view ---- five nights totaling $708.60
Port Orleans Riverside Royal Room water view ---- five nights totaling $927
Animal Kingdom Villas - Studio Standard view ---- five nights totaling $1343
Animal Kingdom Lodge - Savannah view with bunkbeds ---- five nights totaling $1607.88
Animal Kingdom Lodge Arusha view ---- five nights totaling something I didn't even pay attention to because ... expensive.

I had the biggest internal debate on what to do, but ultimately decided to pull the trigger and book Animal Kingdom Lodge Savannah view. My room rate averaged out to $285 per night, which is a pretty good deal for a Savannah view. The lovely CM I was speaking to on the phone was like....


I'm really excited and hoping the Christmas tree will be up during at least a portion of our stay. My husband said AKL was his #1 choice and I know the kids will love it. I just need to tell my frugal side to calm down. I've reached for the phone so many times in the past 24 hours to see if either option at POR was still available. I just keep telling myself that this will probably be the last time we can use the military discount and to use the 40% off deluxe while I still can. We also tend to spend the afternoons at the resort, so I really wanted a place I could spend a lot of time exploring and it seemed like AKL was perfect for that. See I'm still trying to talk myself into the splurge. ​

 

[Fastpassminus]

Oooh this is shaping up to be a fun PTR/TR. It's a bummer you didn't get what you want for ADRs but you have got some solid choices. Be on the lookout for a BOG ADRs for breakfast at the 90 day mark. You could get Pre RD & BOG in one ADR!!

AKL will be magical for you!! 250.00 a night for Savannah View is awesome.

 

[deedee2177]

Following along! We will be there the same dates! We are staying at CSR from 11/15-11/20!

 

[deannaf87]

Oooh this is shaping up to be a fun PTR/TR. It's a bummer you didn't get what you want for ADRs but you have got some solid choices. Be on the lookout for a BOG ADRs for breakfast at the 90 day mark. You could get Pre RD & BOG in one ADR!!

AKL will be magical for you!! 250.00 a night for Savannah View is awesome.

Thanks for joining in! I get more excited about AKL every second. I cannot wait to watch the animals in the morning!

Following along! We will be there the same dates! We are staying at CSR from 11/15-11/20!

Hi!! Thanks for following. I hope the week we are going isn't too busy. I'm trying to not let the complete lack of ADR availability sike me out of the crowd levels for the week.

 

[FunTimeMom]

Following along! We are going to be there the same week with kids similar in age!

Thanks for pointing out HS is closing at 4 on the 17th. Not much open in the evening that day of you don't have MVMCP tickets.

 

[deannaf87]

Following along! We are going to be there the same week with kids similar in age!

Thanks for pointing out HS is closing at 4 on the 17th. Not much open in the evening that day of you don't have MVMCP tickets.

'

Thanks for joining! On the 17th if you don't have MVMCP tickets, your only night time option is Epcot. I have a feeling it will be pretty busy. My only plans for that evening are to explore WS and catch Illuminations.

 

[deannaf87]

ADR Update

I ended up cancelling the 11/16 Dinner reservation for Boatright's since we will no longer be staying at POR. I think our plan for the evening of the 16th will end up being just eating at the Mara and exploring AKL.

I am also cancelling the 7:40 Plaza reservation. I really wanted to try the Plaza, but since our MK time is only 1 MVMCP, 1 evening, and 1 day (leaving early since it's MVMCP we don't have tickets for); I decided we'd just do QS and maximize park time. I think Wishes is at 8PM that night as well. Preliminary plan is to grab dinner at Columbia Harbor House and try to catch the Fireworks from somewhere in New Fantasyland or Storybook Circus.​

 

[deedee2177]

Hi!! Thanks for following. I hope the week we are going isn't too busy. I'm trying to not let the complete lack of ADR availability sike me out of the crowd levels for the week.

I'm hoping the lack of ADRs is because people are hoarding them until they have determined their plans, and will be releasing them closer to our trip. I know making ADRs during Free Dining is always tough, but like you I hope it is not an indication of the crowds. We went November 2012 during FD the week after Thanksgiving (we arrived the Saturday afterwards), the weekend was pretty crowded but as the week went on the crowds definitely thinned out. I'm hoping that the week before will not be too bad...according to some of the crowd calendars I looked it at it doesn't seem to really start picking up until the week of Thanksgiving.

We went during Spring Break last year and it was definitely crowded at that time!! However, I think it was completely manageable. We got there at park openings, had an early lunch and then would head back to the condo we rented for a break. Then we would head back to the parks for the late afternoon/evening.

 

[deannaf87]

I'm hoping the lack of ADRs is because people are hoarding them until they have determined their plans, and will be releasing them closer to our trip. I know making ADRs during Free Dining is always tough, but like you I hope it is not an indication of the crowds. We went November 2012 during FD the week after Thanksgiving (we arrived the Saturday afterwards), the weekend was pretty crowded but as the week went on the crowds definitely thinned out. I'm hoping that the week before will not be too bad...according to some of the crowd calendars I looked it at it doesn't seem to really start picking up until the week of Thanksgiving.

We went during Spring Break last year and it was definitely crowded at that time!! However, I think it was completely manageable. We got there at park openings, had an early lunch and then would head back to the condo we rented for a break. Then we would head back to the parks for the late afternoon/evening.

I have a feeling Disney is holding some stuff back as well, just based on what was available at 6AM on my 180 day mark. I suppose we'll see

Our last trip was the week before Speaster (what i like to call the week leading up to Easter). Crowds were very managable. Hopefully we'll have the same luck this time.

 

[LaurenDisneyMom]

This is our family's first Disney trip and I'm a bit worried about crowds based on dining availability! Following this thread for news- We'll be at Art of Animation 11/15-11/21

 

[deannaf87]

This is our family's first Disney trip and I'm a bit worried about crowds based on dining availability! Following this thread for news- We'll be at Art of Animation 11/15-11/21

Art of Animation is great place for a first trip! Thanks for following along!

 

[deannaf87]

Daily Schedule - November 17th

I've been playing around on touring plans and have come up with some tentative schedules for our Disney days. Except for our full MK day, I can't get touring plans to cooperate with me on that one. TP was super useful on our last trip in 2013, which did not have FP +. I feel like FP+ has really thrown TP for a loop. It keeps telling me not to use the A&E fastpass option, and that waits at 2PM will only be 45 minutes. Anyways........... here's the plans I have so far.

Right now HS opening on 11/17 is 9. Easywdw seems to think it might be changed to 8 since it's closing at 4. That would be nice, so we shall see. For now I'm still planning on the 9 AM opening.

Fastpass wishlist for this day: Toy Story - all of us
Tower of Terror - me and Audrey/ rider swap. Even if Ezra hits 40", I don't think he'll be up for riding it.
Star Tours- Daniel and Ezra/ rider swap. If Ezra gets 40" before September I will schedule this for everyone.

9:00 - Rock 'n' Rollercoaster w/ rider swap
9:30 - Tower of Terror FP+ and rider swap
10:15 - Great Movie Ride
10:45 - Toy Story FP+
11:25 - 50's Prime Time ADR
12:45 - Beauty and the Beast 1:00PM show
1:30 - Frozen Sing Along 1:40 show
2:15 - Star Tours FP+
2:30 - Muppet Vision

3:00-6:00 Go back to AKL for rest

6:00 - Leave for Epcot

6:30-8:30 - Explore World Showcase and grab some dinner
8:30 - Get a spot for Illuminations at 9


Of course this is all subject to revision based on FP+ availability, but I figured I'd map it out ahead of time so I'd know my preferred windows for FP.

​

 

[deedee2177]

Great Plans. I just bought my subscription for Touring Plans today so I need to test it out a bit. I'm curious to see what type of recommendations are presented for my days

 

[deannaf87]

I managed to snag a BOG dinner today for 11/18 during the mass release of extra BOG dinner times!

 

[MataHari22]

Following along. Your photos and gifs are cracking me up!!!
Will be down there for basically the same time as you are, we're going the 12th-20th.

 

[deannaf87]

Following along. Your photos and gifs are cracking me up!!!
Will be down there for basically the same time as you are, we're going the 12th-20th.

Welcome! Glad you are joining in! I can't believe we're already 4 months out. It's so close!