OOPS We Did It Again. WDW/Orlando August 2019 PTR (Updated 8/6)

[siren0119]

TAKING SHAPE: Day 2

Day 2 of the trip will be a somewhat leisurely morning, spent around the Boardwalk area. Then we'll come back for some resort time, change into costumes, and head to MNSSHP! This will be our third year going to the party, once the kids find out about the trip (on August 1) we can get their input on whether they want to focus on rides or character meets. But this year the Hocus Pocus show is NON NEGOTIABLE!! I have missed it the last 2 trips, and since we won't be back for a while after this year I am making it a priority!

I decided to add the mini golf to fill some time between breakfast with Punzie and Ariel, it seems like a fairly easy walk from Boardwalk and it's something we haven't done at WDW yet. We'll be using Uber/Lyft between the resort and Boardwalk.

 

[Dave006]

Hey @siren0119, you might want to put your HS days at the front of your visit. SWGE opens on August 29th and HS will be very busy for the rest of the weekend due to the Labor day holiday the first Monday of September this year.

Dave

 

[siren0119]

Hey @siren0119, you might want to put your HS days at the front of your visit. SWGE opens on August 29th and HS will be very busy for the rest of the weekend due to the Labor day holiday the first Monday of September this year.

Dave

Thanks! We're actually planning to hit HS on the first day, and then take our chances on the last day of the trip knowing it's no biggie if we have to spend most of the day in line or only get to do a few things. Still waiting to hear how they'll manage crowd control for SWGE so that we can finalize plans!

 

[loislane]

We'll be there almost the same dates - and it looks like we have a lot of the same things planned!
Our trip -We land Monday the 26th around 5:30. Our plans are simply to check into POP and maybe wander to Disney Springs if we feel like it.
Tuesday: HS in the a.m. for TSM, RnRC FPs and whatever else we can squeeze in. MK in the p.m. for MNSSHP fun!
Wednesday: AK in the morning. FPs for KS, FoTL and NRJ plus the Caring for Giants tour. P.M. is free for wherever we want to go.
Thursday: Bon Voyage breakfast, FPs at Epcot for Soarin' and M:S
Friday: Morning is free. Back to HS (which I am nervous about because GE opens the day before) for FPs for SDD, Star Tours and Fantasmic.
Saturday: Morning is free. AK in the afternoon with FPs for FoP, EE and RoL
Sunday: Breakfast at BoG and FPs at MK for PPF, 7DMT and BTMR

Monday we check out and our flight home leaves at 11:30.

 

[siren0119]

LEMONADE

I haven't updated this in a while because we had a few curveballs thrown our way, and we needed to figure out how we were going to deal with them.

First, hubby's hours started getting cut back at his job. Lost income has been tough to replace.

Then, the car needed some unexpected repairs.

Then, the DOG needed some unexpected repairs lol.

What that meant, was that our fund for vacation was now DRASTICALLY reduced. Canceling the entire trip wasn't really an option because plane tickets had already been purchased, and the last 4 nights of our vacation were bought as a Priceline express deal - so no refunds or cancellations on that either.

We made the heavy-hearted decision to cancel our Free Dining package for the first 4 days of our trip, including the tickets with our package. That was a bitter pill to swallow, we had made some really exciting plans but we had to be honest with ourselves about what we could manage. I also knew that the money we had already paid into the package would be refunded, we could potentially put that back into some altered plans without hurting our current financial situation.

With the plane tickets already locked in, we needed to evaluate what we could do during the same time period. PRICELINE TO THE RESCUE!!! We found an Express Deal for the first 4 nights of our trip, for $49 per night that ended up being the Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista, right next to Disney Springs. Even with the resort fee, it was significantly less than the resort/dining portion of our old package (that was $800 for 4 nights - vs $320 for 4 nights at the Wyndham).

With a new place to stay lined up, we now feel pretty good about being able to at least be IN Orlando, near Disney, for the 9 days/8 nights we had planned. The Wyndham has a character breakfast, and we know that MANY resort activities are free/pretty inexpensive and don't require park tickets. Between resort hopping, mini golf and Disney Springs, we can stay busy on a lower budget. We're also still staying 4 nights at All Star Music, so we have lots of options to stay in the "bubble" without visiting the parks.

That said.....we REALLY want to do at least a LITTLE park time, but paying for 4 adult 7 day single park tickets is still out of budget for us. My husband may be able to pick up some freelance work that could put 4 day single park tickets in reach for us, but I want to have a contingency plan just in case.

What we finally settled on is that WORST case scenario, we can grab MNSSHP tickets for one of the nights that fall during our trip, and one DAH experience at AK. 4 tickets to each of those still comes out less than any configuration of park tickets we could get, and at least gets us some time on the rides.

If folks have other suggestions for things to do near WDW, I'll definitely look at options and figure out what we can afford! We know what we can swing in terms of one or two character meals at the resorts (so no tickets needed) and what we'll end up getting for groceries in the room to make meals more affordable.

All told, we will make lemonade from life's lemons and still enjoy a bit of Disney Magic!

 

[jhoannam]

Oh no! I'm sorry, I hope you'll be able to swing some park tickets. But glad you've made the most of it. Are you all getting a rental car? Maybe you can drive to the coast for a day or 2.

 

[siren0119]

Oh no! I'm sorry, I hope you'll be able to swing some park tickets. But glad you've made the most of it. Are you all getting a rental car? Maybe you can drive to the coast for a day or 2.

We hadn't planned on getting a car, but I am looking into rentals just to give us some additional options. I found out my company lets us use the corporate discount to book rental cars, so that might work out! The beach is a great idea!

 

[siren0119]

THE ENVELOPE PLEASE

Yesterday was August 1st, so it was time to let the kids open up the August envelope from the Christmas box! I had hesitated because at the time we were set on a full Disney trip and I wondered if I should change out the envelope contents because of the plans changing. But in the end I decided to leave it as is and just talk about the situation honestly with them.

We told them that our original plans had changed, but that we were still going to Orlando for a good long getaway and we wanted to try and get a few days in the Disney parks even if we couldn't visit everything. They were a little bummed, but then totally invested in helping us decide what to do!

We presented them with a few options for park time, and told them they could pick two but everyone had to be in agreement. Their options were:
1. MNSSHP
2. DAH event
3. One-day single park ticket but they'd have to agree on which park to visit for the full day
4. Water park
5. Skip a second choice and use the money to do other things/character meals.

They were 100% in agreement on MNSSHP - we kind of knew that would be the case, it's an absolute favorite.

Now they've started asking good questions to help them decide on the 2nd choice. I think they're leaning toward a single day in one park, but they've asked good questions about the DAH events to help figure out what they want to do. I'm so proud of their ability to roll with the punches and be a part of the planning to make this a fun vacation even if it's not what we had originally wanted!

We've been gathering other ideas of things to do too - some things that have come up include:
- Campfire with Chip & Dale at Fort Wilderness
- Yee Haw Bob show at Port Orleans
- Food tour at AKL
- Collect CM transportation cards by riding as much Disney transportation as possible (I didn't even know this was a thing!)
- Hiking/exploring the FW/WL area
- Mini golf at Fantasia
- Hidden Mickey hunt at WL
- Visit the animal viewing area at AKL
- Visit the Lego store at DS
- Keeping an eye on Groupon and Living Social for discount admission to local activities
- GoCity card (if we did the 2 day card, we'd probably do one day at Wonderworks with the magic dinner show, and one day at legoland as that seemed to make the best use of the money)

All in all I think we've got some great possibilities, and I'm happy to know the boys are still excited for our surprise vacation

 

[siren0119]

THE MINIONS HAVE SPOKEN

And their decision is......

....


Hollywood Studios!!

I can't say I'm hugely surprised LOL, on our last trip we tried to make our HS visit a half day and ended up rearranging our plans to go back there for another full day later in the trip. I know for many people it's a half day park (especially before all the new shinies open up between now and 2021) but for my kids? They'd spend a whole day riding Star Tours and think it was the best day ever

Their specific asks for this day include:
lunch at Sci Fi Diner
Jedi Training (probably the last year DS1 will be young enough to participate)
Fantasmic (we missed it last time due to rain, so fingers crossed the weather is kind to us!)
Frozen Sing-Along

I haven't told them yet about the Incredibles meet in Pixar Place, but it's one of their favorite movie series so I think they'll get a kick out of that.

I'm starting to put together solid plans for keeping the days full, and will post our officially unofficial schedule here as it gels. Folks on the DIS have given me some GREAT ideas for off-property things to do as well as non-park activities onsite! If I'm honest, I'm kinda looking forward to the lack of rushing around, and getting to know the Orlando area better. We've talked about investing in a time share or purchasing a vacation property when the numbers make sense, and are going to take this opportunity to see if Orlando is really where we want to have second roots!

 

[jhoannam]

They were 100% in agreement on MNSSHP - we kind of knew that would be the case, it's an absolute favorite.

We love the parties!

Hollywood Studios!!

yay! Will you be there before or after the 29th?

 

[siren0119]

We love the parties!

yay! Will you be there before or after the 29th?

We haven't quite nailed that down yet - part of me wants to be there for SWGE (we are HUGE Star Wars fans, my youngest is named for a SW character LOL) but if I'm honest? With only one day I'd almost rather just enjoy the park and leave SWGE for our next trip in 2021/22. Our trip will straddle the opening (8/26-9/4) so we could go either way. At this point I'm looking at 8/27 if we decided to leave SWGE for next time, and 9/3 if we decide to brave it now. This afternoon will be for scouring crowd predictions and talking to hubby so we can buy our tickets tonight!

 

[jhoannam]

We haven't quite nailed that down yet - part of me wants to be there for SWGE (we are HUGE Star Wars fans, my youngest is named for a SW character LOL) but if I'm honest? With only one day I'd almost rather just enjoy the park and leave SWGE for our next trip in 2021/22. Our trip will straddle the opening (8/26-9/4) so we could go either way. At this point I'm looking at 8/27 if we decided to leave SWGE for next time, and 9/3 if we decide to brave it now. This afternoon will be for scouring crowd predictions and talking to hubby so we can buy our tickets tonight!

Would you be able to take advantage of the EEMHs on 9/3? If you can and your family would be up for it, I would totally try to make it to HS on that day.

 

[siren0119]

Would you be able to take advantage of the EEMHs on 9/3? If you can and your family would be up for it, I would totally try to make it to HS on that day.

Yeah, and that's on the radar - especially with only one day we'd want to pick a day with extra hours regardless!

 

[siren0119]

WOW - So I started doing research on the free things available at all of the Disney resorts - safe to say that we could probably fill our entire vacation with resort hopping and free activities!

One thing I think will be high on the list because my kids will love it - the hidden mickey hunts and other scavenger hunts at the resorts. There are two at Wilderness Lodge, two at Port Orleans, and one at Polynesian (two if you count looking for all of the tiki statues around the resort!). It'll make for some fun photos, and keep things interesting!

I also looked at the free activities at Animal Kingdom lodge - we could pretty much spend an entire day there bouncing between activities, tours and things to see.

We figured out what night Yehaa Bob will be at Port Orleans on our trip so that's going to be a MUST DO. I figure we can visit one of the resorts that does a morning tour, then make our way over to P.O. for some scavenger hunting, and end the night with a pizza from the QS and go listen to Yehaa Bob.

I do want to see if we can time things out to catch the Electric Water parade, we are definitely doing the campfire sing along at Fort Wilderness one of the nights so we might be able to leave the outdoor movie early to head over to the beach.

One thing I can't find online (or my search skills are just weak) is a comprehensive list of the areas in the resorts that are open to non-resort guests. Some are no-brainers, but there are a bunch of things on the activities list at the Poly that say they are on the lawn of the lobby - but not whether you need to be a guest to go there. If anyone knows some "lesser known" things we can see at the resorts as a non-guest, or if a list like this exists, let me know! Otherwise I may just create one based on what we learn on this trip