photophreak
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2016
- Messages
- 45
Ok.... I'm still kind of a board newb, and even though I used to be a heavy message board user back in the day, the uprising of Facebook kind of took over, and all the boards I used to go on migrated over there. So, be kind if I make any SNAFUs? <3 (And I literally can't stop using hashtags. I know they aren't a thing on MBs. They just come out. haha!)
Who we are: Dad (M), Mom (V- aka ME!), 13 year old son (N), 10 year old son (T) + 7 year old son (L). My daughter (K) is in college + her spring break does not coincide with the boys, so she will not be accompanying us.
About me: (Since I'm the one who uses this board...
) I am a Registered Nurse with 15 years experience in OB/Labor + Delivery, but I don't currently work in the medical field. I have a great job with an incredibly flexible schedule working from home as a corporate manager for a fashion/lifestyle company out of NYC. My hubby + I love to do stuff with our kids. We want them to have lots of fun memories of their childhood. I am obsessed with photography. I consider myself an advanced hobbyist, because at this point, I have no interest in going pro.
Here we are. We always take a carfie (car selfie?) before any of our family outings.
Speaking of roadtrips- we'll be driving to Disney. We did the same on our last trip. It's about a 10 hour drive from where we live currently. We have previously done the roadtrip to Disney from much further north when we lived there, and that was about 23 hours. And, just so we're clear, when I say WE will be driving to Disney- I mean my husband will be driving to Disney. I will look a little something like this. #KeepingItReal
We will be arriving to Port Orleans Riverside on 4/2/17. It will be our second time to POR. We went to Disney for spring break 2 years ago. Last year, we went to Destin, and this year- time to go back to Disney!! I was interested in maybe trying a different resort this time. We didn't have a bad experience at POR last time, but some of the things that I have sen other people post as pain points were definitely felt by us. (Crowded food court, long walk to lobby, long wait times for buses). But anyway, POR ended up being the best bet for our dates + our budget, and we decided to make a longer trip this time. We definitely tried to cram too much into 3 days last time, and then spent the rest of the vacation elsewhere in FL with family. Here are a few pics from our last trip to Disney + POR.
We have the DDP. We did the QSDP on our last trip, and I definitely need less CS food and some "real" meals. In mapping out our plan, I've come to the conclusion that paying out of pocket would possibly have been better- but I'm happy to have the convenience factor of the DDP, and i know we would have probably said no to snacks we wanted to try if we were paying out of pocket, so I'm not upset about going with the DDP.
Here is the breakdown I have of our days:
4/2: Arrival. We will probably arrive mid-morning. My hubby likes to drive at night to avoid traffic. He's a robot or something. After all my years of working night shift, I treasure my nights for sleeping. But he can drive through the night and then be ready to "DO STUFF!!" when we arrive wherever we are going. Our plan is to check in, settle in to our room, then hang out at the pool for a while. We'll take the boat over to Disney Springs (I almost said Downtown Disney. haha!). I'm a little bit torn about what to do for food this evening. We've got 1 day with 2 table service meals- which I think is going to be a bit much, especially since my husband and I have been on a strict ketogenic diet, dropping LBs like it's our job. We aren't going to stress about our diet during our week of vacation, but I still think 2 large meals isn't going to feel that great for us. That being said, we love The Earl of Sandwich. haha!! (Such a random place to love, right?) So we planned to just wander around Disney Springs, eat at EOS, and then get dessert at Ghirardelli (another of our favorite stops in Disney Springs). I'd love your thoughts on TS restaurants I might be able to get a reservation at this late date for in Disney Springs. We could always break up a hotel/pool day with a boat ride over to Disney Springs and get EOS for lunch instead of the food court at the hotel.
4/3: Magic Kingdom Day. We'll plan to be there at park open, which is not my favorite concept. (Have I mentioned how much I value my sleep?) But I know it's the best strategy to be able to get in and have at least a few rides without abysmal lines, so I'm going to take one for the team. We are doing a TS lunch to break up the day, give us time to get off our feet, relax, recharge, etc- and planning to stay until the fireworks. I really wanted The Plaza, but couldn't get an ADR that worked for us, so we have an ADR at The Crystal Palace for around 3. We'll eat breakfast at the hotel early, and then probably do a mid morning snack + an early evening snack.
4/4: Hotel/Pool Day. We definitely learned our lesson last time. Back-to-back park days don't work for us. So, our plan for this day is to sleep in a bit, recover from the MK day + hang out at the pool. We'll go to our TS brunch- Chef Mickey Buffet around 11:30. This is the day that we have 2 TS meals on. We have an ADR for Maya Grill at 7 pm. I'm just really re-thinking this strategy. I don't think we're going to want to leave the hotel twice for completely different locations, plus it's 2 big meals.
4/5: Epcot Day. Again, we'll arrive at park open + stay until close. Our plan for this day is to just use a ton of our snack allotments and snack our way around the World Showcase. Any favorites we MUST try?
4/6: Hotel/Pool Day. We have an ADR for Trattoria al Forno at 5:50. We'll probably head over tot he Boardwalk a little early and just wander around. I think its' so pretty.
4/7: Animal Kingdom Day. We kind of went back + forth on going to AK again. I do lie it as a park, but how the H does it manage to be even hotter than the rest of FL? Is it in some kind of crazy twilight zone? That park is sweltering!! haha! BUT, my boys LOVED the Kali River Rapids ride so much. They put it as one of their favorite things from our whole trip last time, and they also loved the dinosaur ride, so we wanted them to be able to do those things again. I have an ADR for Donald's Safari Breakfast at 9:45, so we'll arrive in time for that, then go right to the park. We also made an ADR for BOMA that evening at 1900, which I think will be ok, even though it's 2 TS in one day. We loved the food at AK so much last time- definitely our favorite CS options. And since it's so far from were we'll be, we figured we'd just get it al into the day we are at the park. Years ago, when AKL was still pretty new, we stayed there, but never managed to get to any of the restaurants. I'd change that if i had a do-over!
4/8: Check out. I would have loved another relaxing day at the pool before we checked out, but I know that i will value that day at home before the kids have to go back to school + my hubby and I have to go back to work. We'll get up whenever, have breakfast and then hit the road and just power through until we get home. This will leave me all day Sunday to catch up on laundry, get stuff put away, get the boys lunches for school and everything ready.
Ok, I definitely wrote a manifesto. It's one of the hardest things for me. I'm so wordy!! If you made it through, you deserve some kid of a prize. I'm really excited for our trip + I'm really having fun making all the plans!! I'm excited to hear what more seasoned Disney experts think about the plan, and if i should tweak anything.
Some questions I'd love input on:
1. To travel between one hotel + another, is it best to go over to Disney Springs on the boat + try to catch a bus from there if we don't want to drive? Are there better strategies?
2. I really want to make this vacation- as with any vacation- special for my boys. Have you done anything for your kids that they really loved? I'm thinking about getting them some t-shirts made, using some $$ that I earn from my side hustle to give them each a $100 gift card to buy souvenirs with. I'm seeing that people decorate their hotel room windows/doors. That might be fun. I'd just love ideas to make it fun and full of little surprising + delightful moments for them.
Who we are: Dad (M), Mom (V- aka ME!), 13 year old son (N), 10 year old son (T) + 7 year old son (L). My daughter (K) is in college + her spring break does not coincide with the boys, so she will not be accompanying us.
About me: (Since I'm the one who uses this board...
) I am a Registered Nurse with 15 years experience in OB/Labor + Delivery, but I don't currently work in the medical field. I have a great job with an incredibly flexible schedule working from home as a corporate manager for a fashion/lifestyle company out of NYC. My hubby + I love to do stuff with our kids. We want them to have lots of fun memories of their childhood. I am obsessed with photography. I consider myself an advanced hobbyist, because at this point, I have no interest in going pro. Here we are. We always take a carfie (car selfie?
) before any of our family outings.
Speaking of roadtrips- we'll be driving to Disney. We did the same on our last trip. It's about a 10 hour drive from where we live currently. We have previously done the roadtrip to Disney from much further north when we lived there, and that was about 23 hours. And, just so we're clear, when I say WE will be driving to Disney- I mean my husband will be driving to Disney. I will look a little something like this. #KeepingItReal
We will be arriving to Port Orleans Riverside on 4/2/17. It will be our second time to POR. We went to Disney for spring break 2 years ago. Last year, we went to Destin, and this year- time to go back to Disney!! I was interested in maybe trying a different resort this time. We didn't have a bad experience at POR last time, but some of the things that I have sen other people post as pain points were definitely felt by us. (Crowded food court, long walk to lobby, long wait times for buses). But anyway, POR ended up being the best bet for our dates + our budget, and we decided to make a longer trip this time. We definitely tried to cram too much into 3 days last time, and then spent the rest of the vacation elsewhere in FL with family. Here are a few pics from our last trip to Disney + POR.
We have the DDP. We did the QSDP on our last trip, and I definitely need less CS food and some "real" meals. In mapping out our plan, I've come to the conclusion that paying out of pocket would possibly have been better- but I'm happy to have the convenience factor of the DDP, and i know we would have probably said no to snacks we wanted to try if we were paying out of pocket, so I'm not upset about going with the DDP.
Here is the breakdown I have of our days:
4/2: Arrival. We will probably arrive mid-morning. My hubby likes to drive at night to avoid traffic. He's a robot or something. After all my years of working night shift, I treasure my nights for sleeping. But he can drive through the night and then be ready to "DO STUFF!!" when we arrive wherever we are going. Our plan is to check in, settle in to our room, then hang out at the pool for a while. We'll take the boat over to Disney Springs (I almost said Downtown Disney. haha!). I'm a little bit torn about what to do for food this evening. We've got 1 day with 2 table service meals- which I think is going to be a bit much, especially since my husband and I have been on a strict ketogenic diet, dropping LBs like it's our job. We aren't going to stress about our diet during our week of vacation, but I still think 2 large meals isn't going to feel that great for us. That being said, we love The Earl of Sandwich. haha!! (Such a random place to love, right?) So we planned to just wander around Disney Springs, eat at EOS, and then get dessert at Ghirardelli (another of our favorite stops in Disney Springs). I'd love your thoughts on TS restaurants I might be able to get a reservation at this late date for in Disney Springs. We could always break up a hotel/pool day with a boat ride over to Disney Springs and get EOS for lunch instead of the food court at the hotel.
4/3: Magic Kingdom Day. We'll plan to be there at park open, which is not my favorite concept. (Have I mentioned how much I value my sleep?
) But I know it's the best strategy to be able to get in and have at least a few rides without abysmal lines, so I'm going to take one for the team. We are doing a TS lunch to break up the day, give us time to get off our feet, relax, recharge, etc- and planning to stay until the fireworks. I really wanted The Plaza, but couldn't get an ADR that worked for us, so we have an ADR at The Crystal Palace for around 3. We'll eat breakfast at the hotel early, and then probably do a mid morning snack + an early evening snack. 4/4: Hotel/Pool Day. We definitely learned our lesson last time. Back-to-back park days don't work for us. So, our plan for this day is to sleep in a bit, recover from the MK day + hang out at the pool. We'll go to our TS brunch- Chef Mickey Buffet around 11:30. This is the day that we have 2 TS meals on. We have an ADR for Maya Grill at 7 pm. I'm just really re-thinking this strategy. I don't think we're going to want to leave the hotel twice for completely different locations, plus it's 2 big meals.
4/5: Epcot Day. Again, we'll arrive at park open + stay until close. Our plan for this day is to just use a ton of our snack allotments and snack our way around the World Showcase. Any favorites we MUST try?
4/6: Hotel/Pool Day. We have an ADR for Trattoria al Forno at 5:50. We'll probably head over tot he Boardwalk a little early and just wander around. I think its' so pretty.
4/7: Animal Kingdom Day. We kind of went back + forth on going to AK again. I do lie it as a park, but how the H does it manage to be even hotter than the rest of FL? Is it in some kind of crazy twilight zone? That park is sweltering!! haha! BUT, my boys LOVED the Kali River Rapids ride so much. They put it as one of their favorite things from our whole trip last time, and they also loved the dinosaur ride, so we wanted them to be able to do those things again. I have an ADR for Donald's Safari Breakfast at 9:45, so we'll arrive in time for that, then go right to the park. We also made an ADR for BOMA that evening at 1900, which I think will be ok, even though it's 2 TS in one day. We loved the food at AK so much last time- definitely our favorite CS options. And since it's so far from were we'll be, we figured we'd just get it al into the day we are at the park. Years ago, when AKL was still pretty new, we stayed there, but never managed to get to any of the restaurants. I'd change that if i had a do-over!
4/8: Check out. I would have loved another relaxing day at the pool before we checked out, but I know that i will value that day at home before the kids have to go back to school + my hubby and I have to go back to work. We'll get up whenever, have breakfast and then hit the road and just power through until we get home. This will leave me all day Sunday to catch up on laundry, get stuff put away, get the boys lunches for school and everything ready.
Ok, I definitely wrote a manifesto. It's one of the hardest things for me. I'm so wordy!! If you made it through, you deserve some kid of a prize. I'm really excited for our trip + I'm really having fun making all the plans!! I'm excited to hear what more seasoned Disney experts think about the plan, and if i should tweak anything.
Some questions I'd love input on:
1. To travel between one hotel + another, is it best to go over to Disney Springs on the boat + try to catch a bus from there if we don't want to drive? Are there better strategies?
2. I really want to make this vacation- as with any vacation- special for my boys. Have you done anything for your kids that they really loved? I'm thinking about getting them some t-shirts made, using some $$ that I earn from my side hustle to give them each a $100 gift card to buy souvenirs with. I'm seeing that people decorate their hotel room windows/doors. That might be fun. I'd just love ideas to make it fun and full of little surprising + delightful moments for them.
