Our First Stay at the Poly - April 2012 PTR!!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm also a major Disney overplanner--leaving in 2 weeks with my 4 year old granddaughter(first trip), daughter and son-in-law. To say he's underwhelmed by the trip is an understatement; when I told him he was going to have more fun than he thought, he said, "Yeah, that would have to be true." Meaning he's not planning on having any fun at all! Granddaughter is ALL about the princesses, to the point that I don't know if we'll go on ANY rides unless I push the issue! So I love to read about other people's planning struggles--it makes me feel better!
We took our then 5 year old grandson and 2 year old granddaughter and their parents a few years ago and to say it didn't go according to plan is an understatement. I'm hoping to do better this time!

My brother is like your son-in-law. Not excited AT ALL about Disney. We asked him and his family whether they would like to join us this year and he politely declined. Oh well.

On our last trip, DD was not interested in most of the rides because she was "scared of the bad guys". She didn't want to go on Peter Pan's Flight because she was afraid of Captain Hook! So I've been showing her some youtube videos of the ride - yesterday she finally agreed that she will try Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear's Spin this time.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

April 16th Epcot Morning

This is our only Epcot day although I have a feeling DFIL may want to take a sidetrip here on his own during our resort day with all the F+G Festival and HGTV events happening. We start off early once again with an early character meal at 8:10am. From what I've been reading, the monorails to Epcot won't be running until 8am, so we will have to drive our rental. Here's our touring plan.

Arrive at turnstiles by 7:45am - I noticed on our last trip that a lot of families had a "runner" to Akershus once through the turnstiles to get their names in first at the podium. I'm still debating whether this is worth it.

1.Akershus Breakfast at 8:10am - We really enjoyed this character meal last trip. Actually I thought the interactions and the food was better than CRT! My DD thinks this is Belle's Castle since she's the one that greeted us at the front. Love the interior - it does have a very regal feel to it. Expecting to see Belle, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, and Aurora - but if somehow Jasmine gets called in as a substitute, that would be great and save us one less Meet and Greet in the parks!

2. Soarin: This will be the first time for all of us. Ideally, I would like to ride this standby at 9:00am using riderswap. But I don't think we'll be done with our breakfast by the time the park opens at 9:00am. If our breakfast runs past that, I'll leave early to get a FP, which means we will have to come back to Soarin around 10:00-10:30am. We'll do Nemo first then.

3. The Seas Pavillion: One of our favorites because of Turtle Talk with Crush. DD wanted to get picked to talk with Crush last time - I saw her hand shoot straight up when Crush asked the kids for a question. We'll see if she gets picked this time but regardless, always a fun time. The kids don't find the aquarium portion as interesting as we frequently take them to the one in Baltimore Harbor during the weekends, AND we usually have done SeaWorld by then.

(3b. Back to Soarin if we're using FPs. I have a feeling DD is really going to like this one. So, we'll probably send in DW and DD in first with FPs and obtain a Riderswap. When they come back, if DD wants to go again, we'll use the Riderswap pass to send her, me, and DFIL.)

4. Innoventions East and West: This was a a surprise hit with DD last time. We spent a little over an hour and that was just the West building! I think we did the Great Piggy Bank Adventure four times! (If only saving money in real life was this easy and fun ) So I've built in a lot of time in the morning for this one, and I'm pretty sure DS will find a lot of it fun as well. We'll sign-up for Kimpossible for the afternoon while we're here.

(4b. A couple of the adults may split off to go try Mission:Space while the kids are playing in Innoventions)

5. Spaceship Earth: Just so that we can say we did the thing inside the "giant golf ball"

6. Le Cellier for Lunch at 1:35pm - this will be a first for us. Trying to not let the hype get the best of our expectations!

Next Up: WS Afternoon and an Evening Cruise!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

April 16th Epcot Afternoon and Evening

Once we finish a late lunch at Le Cellier, I'll have a choice to make. DS will need a nap but he could easily sleep in the stroller. The bigger issue is that I may need a nap coming off the previous night's MK late night tour and all that extra carb and protein consumption at the Le Cellier! Soooo, if it looks like I'm going to crash and burn in the afternoon, I may take DS with me back to the Poly by monorail for an afternoon ciesta and let DW, DD, and DFIL tour most of World Showcase. Regardless of whether DS and I will be with them, we will go counter-clockwise coming out of Canada/Le Cellier. Here's the touring plan.

(Kim Possible Mission or two during the WS tour)
1. UK: I love the landscaping and gardens here! We'll also check out the red phone booths. Last time, I got the phone numbers for these booth phones from DIS. When DD went into one of them, I dialed it up on my cell. Was funny to watch her reaction when she heard me on the other line! Also, the Pooh and Friends meet and greet in this pavillion has one of the shorter lines, so if we don't end up getting Crystal Palace dining during our trip, we'll use this meet/greet.

2. France: Love watching the street performer here. The guy who stacks up all the chairs up. Also, will be making one of many snack stops here at Boulangerie Patisserie. Mmmmmm, sugary pastries!

3. Morocco: If I had any room in my stomach, which I know I won't, I really would have like to have tried one of their dining.

4. Germany: DFIL lived in Germany during his Army years in the 60s, so pretty sure we'll be spending some additional time at this pavillion.

5. China: Mulan. Check for DD's princess plans.

6. Mexico: We'll try the Gran Fiesta Tour although I'm going to have to Youtube it since I can't really remember much about it from the last time we were on it 10 years ago! Was that even the same ride back then?? Just have to make sure there aren't any "scary" elements for DD

We'll plan on doing a QS dinner at Mexico between 6:30pm-7:30pm. Then, we're heading towards the International Gateway to catch a boat to the Yacht Club Marina, because....

7. ILLUMINATIONS CRUISE!
This is going to be a surpise for everyone. I haven't told anyone in our traveling group that I booked this, but thought this would be a nice way to celebrate DW's birthday which will be about a week later. I've heard mostly positive reviews but clearly the weather and the wind direction plays a big role in the experience. Not much I can do about either of those things, so will keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best! I'm also planning on making a call to YC Private Dining to have a small cake ready on-board. I'm not going for a custom cake - absolutely do not have enough knowledge or experience on cake design to pull that off. So I'm going with one of their generic cakes. It'll still be good, I've been told by the folks at the Cake Thread. I am very excited about this. Cake! Fireworks! No jostling for position trying to secure a good viewing spot!

And that will conclude our Epcot day, hopefully on a high-note!

Next Up: Day 4 Part I: It's finally here. Magic Kingdom!

 

[wakica]

your epcot day sounds great I've been wondering about some of the things inside the Innoventions buildings and trying to decide what dd14 will be interested and what she won't be. since you are so experienced with the great piggy bank adventure can you educate me on it?? Might help me to hear someones story to decide if she's too old for it. We are definitely all about teaching her good money habits though

Good for you on the Illuminations surprise Dh just asked me last night what I want for my bday and my bday is in 2 days Doesn't exactly give him much time to make many plans. ugh. plus he shouldn't even have to ask b/c I pointed out to him SEVERAL times before Christmas and Valentines Day how to find my wish list on Pinterest!! and if he forgot I have a dd who has her own pinterest account and would GLADLY help him to find it if he asked her ugh! I finally told him exactly what i wanted even though i told him the same thing before Christmas and so i guess we'll see what he comes up with. It sure sucks all the excitement out of it all so HUGE KUDOS to you for being so prepared! and I'm sure a little cake will suffice and it will be a totally magical experience!!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

your epcot day sounds great I've been wondering about some of the things inside the Innoventions buildings and trying to decide what dd14 will be interested and what she won't be. since you are so experienced with the great piggy bank adventure can you educate me on it?? Might help me to hear someones story to decide if she's too old for it. We are definitely all about teaching her good money habits though

We only ended up doing Great Piggy Bank Adventure and Where's the Fire, both are interactive video games, basically. Not sure if a teenager would find most of the things in Innoventions interesting. Reading on the Boards, most of the families who enjoyed Innoventions were those with elementary school kids or younger, but I could be wrong. They have their own website if you want to get a better idea: http://innoventions.disney.go.com/

The Piggy Bank Adventure had three different game stations. At the beginning, your team will be given a piggy bank that acts as your key card and stores your game scores for each station. I can't remember the details of each game. One involved a video game with a hot air balloon and full size levers that you were suppose to crank to maneuver the balloon trying to catch as many coins/money as you can. Another one was (I think) was about dispersing your money in different hiding places on the screen so that the big bad wolf couldn't find them. But, what I do remember is thinking afterwards that the experience had very little to do about actually teaching money saving techniques which is why a lot of the kids enjoyed the game. Because the moment you try to actually teach them something through a video game, kids can sniff them out right away and label the game as "Borrrrrring!"

Where's the Fire involved breaking up into two teams, each person equipped with a "flashlight". Each room you enter, you're suppose to point and "shine" the flashlight at potential fire hazards on the giant video screens and capture points. This one was pretty good I thought.

 

[204charity]

As a die-hard Star Wars fan, I gotta say thanks for sharing the commercial. Lol too cute! Your trip sounds great so far!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

As a die-hard Star Wars fan, I gotta say thanks for sharing the commercial. Lol too cute! Your trip sounds great so far!

Thanks Charity! The video always cracks me up - especially the slow-mo walk in front of Aurora's Castle. Such a contrast!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

April 17th Magic Kingdom Morning

It took a lot of restraint on my part NOT to move up our MK day to the front of the trip. Personally, I love starting out my WDW vacation with a close-up view of Main Street and the Castle. But I decided to follow the flow of the crowd calendars and plan for an MK day when it's not relatively busy. And, I'm making up for it by making a solo visit during MK EMH on Day2!

With a 5 year old and a 2 year old, MK is the highlight of our trip. Our Touring Plan will go against a lot of the commonly used plans as our kids have different priorities. We have a second day of MK later in the week so we'll have a chance for repeats on that day. Here's our plan for the morning!

Breakfast at Kona at 7:30am - Looking forward to some Tonga Toast and Pineapple/Macademia Pancakes!

1. MK Rope Drop/Opening Ceremony at 8:45am - I LOVE this show. DW doesn't quite understand why I get so excited about seeing this. But I get goosebumps everytime I watch it! And it really gets me in the right mood for our MK day. Last trip, DD and I were humming and singing zip-a-dee-doo-dah all the way down Main Street after the show. On a separate note, I've tried to convince DW into showing up super early for a chance at getting picked as Family of the Day - no dice.

2. Rapunzel Meet and Greet - This is number one on DD's to-do-list for the entire trip. We had a great experience last year, and I'm sure it'll be fun again even if Flynn is not there anymore. I'm going to fast-pace it by myself once we get in the park with the hopes of getting in front of the line. That way, the rest of the gang can take a little bit more time strolling through Main Street.

3. Tomorrowland Speedway - Yes, this has somehow become one of the top attractions for DD. This will also be the first DS will be able to try it since he's finally tall enough! I fully anticipate that we won't be able to leave this one without at least going on it twice. Sooooo, might as well get it done earlier in the day when the wait times are shorter.

4. Tea Party - And, I'm pretty sure the kids will want to go on this as we walk by it.

5. Winnie the Pooh - We're going to attempt to ride this standby. They have enough things to keep the kids entertained with the interactive queue. DS loved this one last time!

6. New Dumbo and Great Goofini - I have noooo idea right now how well this is going to fit into our touring plans, especially with the next-gen queue supposedly suppose to be in place for Dumbo. Will probably have to adjust plans once they open and we get a better idea of how much time we need to carve out for both of these.

7. FP run for Peter Pan's Flight

8. It's a Small World - Everybody now! It's a small world afterall, It's a small world afterall, It's a small world afterall, it's a small small world

9. Philharmonic - Haven't tried this one yet!

10. Carrousel - I'm pretty sure we'll be going on this one multiple multiple times.

11. Peter Pan using FPs - DD finally agreed to confront her fears about Captain Hook and try this ride!

12. Lunch at Columbia Harbor House 1:00pm - Thought this place was very good for a QS last time. Seemed to have more options that the usual nuggets, burgers, and chicken fingers. Will try to see if we can make our way up to the second floor where I heard it's a lot less crowded.

And that's just the first half of our MK day!!

Next Up: Magic Kingdom Afternoon/Evening

 

[ddluvsdisney]

April 17th Magic Kingdom Morning

It took a lot of restraint on my part NOT to move up our MK day to the front of the trip. Personally, I love starting out my WDW vacation with a close-up view of Main Street and the Castle. But I decided to follow the flow of the crowd calendars and plan for an MK day when it's not relatively busy. And, I'm making up for it by making a solo visit during MK EMH on Day2!

With a 5 year old and a 2 year old, MK is the highlight of our trip. Our Touring Plan will go against a lot of the commonly used plans as our kids have different priorities. We have a second day of MK later in the week so we'll have a chance for repeats on that day. Here's our plan for the morning!

Breakfast at Kona at 7:30am - Looking forward to some Tonga Toast and Pineapple/Macademia Pancakes!

1. MK Rope Drop/Opening Ceremony at 8:45am - I LOVE this show. DW doesn't quite understand why I get so excited about seeing this. But I get goosebumps everytime I watch it! And it really gets me in the right mood for our MK day. Last trip, DD and I were humming and singing zip-a-dee-doo-dah all the way down Main Street after the show. On a separate note, I've tried to convince DW into showing up super early for a chance at getting picked as Family of the Day - no dice.

2. Rapunzel Meet and Greet - This is number one on DD's to-do-list for the entire trip. We had a great experience last year, and I'm sure it'll be fun again even if Flynn is not there anymore. I'm going to fast-pace it by myself once we get in the park with the hopes of getting in front of the line. That way, the rest of the gang can take a little bit more time strolling through Main Street.

3. Tomorrowland Speedway - Yes, this has somehow become one of the top attractions for DD. This will also be the first DS will be able to try it since he's finally tall enough! I fully anticipate that we won't be able to leave this one without at least going on it twice. Sooooo, might as well get it done earlier in the day when the wait times are shorter.

4. Tea Party - And, I'm pretty sure the kids will want to go on this as we walk by it.

5. Winnie the Pooh - We're going to attempt to ride this standby. They have enough things to keep the kids entertained with the interactive queue. DS loved this one last time!

6. New Dumbo and Great Goofini - I have noooo idea right now how well this is going to fit into our touring plans, especially with the next-gen queue supposedly suppose to be in place for Dumbo. Will probably have to adjust plans once they open and we get a better idea of how much time we need to carve out for both of these.

7. FP run for Peter Pan's Flight

8. It's a Small World - Everybody now! It's a small world afterall, It's a small world afterall, It's a small world afterall, it's a small small world

9. Philharmonic - Haven't tried this one yet!

10. Carrousel - I'm pretty sure we'll be going on this one multiple multiple times.

11. Peter Pan using FPs - DD finally agreed to confront her fears about Captain Hook and try this ride!

12. Lunch at Columbia Harbor House 1:00pm - Thought this place was very good for a QS last time. Seemed to have more options that the usual nuggets, burgers, and chicken fingers. Will try to see if we can make our way up to the second floor where I heard it's a lot less crowded.

And that's just the first half of our MK day!!

Next Up: Magic Kingdom Afternoon/Evening

PP is our favorite!! Even DS14 still loves this one.
Try to eat upstairs at CHH over the walkway between FL and Liberty Square. It's a nice view!!! We eating there.

I can't keep up with all your posts You are gonna be done w/ your PTR in like 2 weeks at this rate. LOL

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

April 17th Afternoon and Evening

This is the part of the plan that I'm far less optimistic that we'll be able to stick with it. This will be the fourth day of park touring and we would be coming off of a jam-packed morning in Fantasyland so I fully expect a slower step in everyone. I won't be surprised if we don't get half of the stuff done here, which will be fine since we have a second day to make up for any missed items.

1. FP Run for Splash during lunch

2a. Haunted Mansion: This is going to be a BIG BIG IF for DD and DS. Not very likely that they will go for this. If not, I'll stay with the kids and get the Splash FPs while DW and DFIL go it.
2b. Woody and Jesse Meet and Greet: I'll be in line with the kids while DW/DFIL are at HM. DD has Jesse high up on her character lists.

3. Splash Mountain: None of has tried this before so very excited! Are we going to need ponchos for this ride? Will use the FPs and possibly Riderswap depending on how much DD likes it.
3b. Country Bear Jamboree: We'll entertain DS with this while everyone else is on Splash. Let me rephrase, we'll try to entertain him. Whether he'll find this amusing needs to be seen.

4. Dreams Come True Parade: We'll stake out a spot somewhere in Frontierland which is where we usually like to watch the parades. Far less crowded. DD and I saw this one last trip and had a blast. A few of the characters came over to dance or play with DD during the parade, including Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Each of them held one of DDs hand and started jumping up and down! Of course this was the portion of the day that my camera battery died on me, and so I wasn't able to capture this Dee-Dum moment. She also got very concerned when she Hook was making his way down but he switched over the other side of the route right before he got to us. Whew! Although I've been wanting to try the "Tick Tock" interaction with him.

5. Pirates of the Carribean: Ok, you probably figured out by now that this is one of the rides that will take a LOT of coaxing to get DD on board. Although to her credit, she did try it last trip. And didn't like it.
5b. FPs for Jungle Cruise after the rides.

6. Enchanted Tiki: This will be a nice break. Hey, they can't all be blockbusters, right? It has to be better than what we saw last trip. Thank goodness they got rid of Iago - that bird was pretty irritating.

7. Magic Carpet Ride: Did you know that the camels spits at you during the ride? I found that out the wet way during our last trip. DD thought it was hilarious.

8. Jungle Cruise: Five Words. The Back Side of Water.

9. Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it: We didn't get to see this one last year. I heard there's a lot of good interactions for the kids!

10. Dinner at Plaza 6:15pm: We enjoyed this place. A nice break and a sit down meal. Fairly low key but good food. I'm sure we'll all be pretty much wiped out by this point. That's how it was last year. My mom was so tired - this is what she said to our waitress. "I'll have the cheeseburger. Does that come with cheese?"

11. FP run for Buzz Lightyear's Spin

12. Laugh Floor: If I get picked as "That Guy", I'm probably going to looking for a crawl space.

13. Buzz Lightyear's Spin: DD refused to go on this because she was afraid of Zurg. Yup, Zurg. Now she says she's ready to fight Zurg. Finally!

14. Wishes Dessert Party 9pm: Everybody loves Wishes in my family. We don't like crowds though. The last two trips were during off-peak times, so we had no problem finding a spot on the Tomorrowland Bridge. I'm thinking there may be a couple of more people this time. So, decided to splurge for this. The only downside is that we won't be able to watch the MSEP. We'll try to squeeze that in later in the trip somehow.

And that's how I envision the day ending in my head!


Next Up: Some Much Needed Rest at Poly!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

PP is our favorite!! Even DS14 still loves this one.
Try to eat upstairs at CHH over the walkway between FL and Liberty Square. It's a nice view!!! We eating there.

I can't keep up with all your posts You are gonna be done w/ your PTR in like 2 weeks at this rate. LOL

I know! I've been trying to pace myself but with the holiday weekend I couldn't help myself

I was putting together another posting when you posted this!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Love all your plans !! I'm really going to have to check out Innoventions better this time .. we tend to by pass it .. but from what I've read in this thread my boys are probably at the right age to enjoy it !

Yay for the cruise surprise !

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love all your plans !! I'm really going to have to check out Innoventions better this time .. we tend to by pass it .. but from what I've read in this thread my boys are probably at the right age to enjoy it !

Yay for the cruise surprise !

Thanks!! Innoventions is probably worth at least a look - it's sort of like an indoor interactive playground.

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I really want to tour the parks during the night as well. We did RD everyday on our last trip!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I really want to tour the parks during the night as well. We did RD everyday on our last trip!

For me, it's MK more than any other park that I want to try at night.

 

[HalloweenNut]

Great PTR so far! I'm getting a lot of good ideas from your touring plans. I'm going to wait until after the FP changes to see how that works for people before I cast my plans in stone.

Love the Darth Vader video - thanks!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Great PTR so far! I'm getting a lot of good ideas from your touring plans. I'm going to wait until after the FP changes to see how that works for people before I cast my plans in stone.

Love the Darth Vader video - thanks!!

Thanks! I'm going to put together a list of Disney related youtube videos that I like to watch on a gloomy day and post it soon- but the Darth Vader one always makes the list.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Updating our plans for Day 1 at SeaWorld: I made reservations for the Up-Close Penguin Tour after watching some youtube videos and reading some reviews. It sounds like a fun activity and I'm pretty sure DD and DS will get a kick out of petting a penguin!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

April 18th

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this will be the day when there will be no ropedrops to make, no before the park opens ADRs, no late night firework shows, and no touring plans. In fact, there are no parks at all! (Hyperventilating here).

All kidding aside, I am looking forward to a resort day. In the past we never stayed at WDW long enough to carve out a day where we stayed put at the resort. DW always used to say 4 days is enough to tour Disney. Then she would say why can't we get a day where we just hang out by the pool? So I made a deal - if she agreed to a week long Disney vacay, then we will have a day where we won't be running for fastpasses. And here we are!

Breakfast at Ohana at 8:30am

Pool activities for most of the day with naps in between - I have a cabana reserved for half a day by the pool side. Now, I have to figure out where we are going to get lunch during our Cabana time. Wonder if I could arrange to have some food from Kona "room-serviced" to our cabana?

Leisurely walks along the trails and landscaping at Poly

Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe at 6:30pm

And that's it. Wow, that was too easy. I feel relaxed already!

The only thing I'm debating at this time is whether we would hop over to MK for JUST the MSEP. I'm thinking against it at this time since I would like the kids to get to bed early before 9pm. But this may be the only evening where we would be able to catch MSEP. We'll play it by ear.

Next Up: Hakuna Matata! AK Morning Plans.

 

[204charity]

Sounds like a great day (although I can't imagine a resort day in the middle of the trip - I'd feel like I was "wasting" my time!) lol - I guess we are lucky we have a late flight back home, because we are using our departure day as our resort day. We may just hop over to DTD for some shopping and lunch. Other than that, we are sitting in our FULL DAY CABANA RENTAL BABY!!!! (yes, I'm excited.)

From what I read, you certainly can order Kona down to the Cabana. It's not included on a dining plan though?? I think I read that.....