Piper's Practically Perfect PTR..Wish Trip! 3/2-8...Upd Pg 126- TR Link!! Hooray!

[pipersmom]

I came over from Jordan's report, and finally got caught up! Your daughter is just beautiful and I'm loving your PTR!

Your ADRs look really good - I like the idea of making two and letting Piper choose between them, very smart!

As far as the park dilemma...I think splitting a day between DHS/AK is very doable, but you would miss things in both. I would be more apt to say a child will enjoy AK more than DHS, UNLESS she is really into Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast since DHS has those shows. AK has Nemo and Lion King plus tons of very cool animals.

Although, she said she was eager to ride Space Mountain, so perhaps she would enjoy the thrill ride collection at DHS - Rockin' Roller Coaster, ToT, and Star Tours.

AK has EE and Primeval Hurl...Whirl....

Ugh, I'm no help!

Sorry.

And thank you, Brooke! Now you know how I feel. I think she would enjoy any of the shows since I'm a Disney movie addict, and therefore she's seen all of them numerous times. We still have time to figure it out though

 

[pipersmom]

I'm right there with you brook.

It would be hard for me to say just do one and not the other. Splitting parks would have you missing stuff in each....Hmmm.....I say to split time.

Thanks, Jordan..you guys are kind of confirming what I was already thinking (and originally had planned in my head) and then I talked to Gram and she was all about picking one park over another, which got me thinking about that. Curious to see what everyone else thinks.

 

[jordanyosh]

Thanks, Jordan..you guys are kind of confirming what I was already thinking (and originally had planned in my head) and then I talked to Gram and she was all about picking one park over another, which got me thinking about that. Curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Whatever park you start with, have a back up plan in case Piper is loving that first park.

 

[pipersmom]

Whatever park you start with, have a back up plan in case Piper is loving that first park.

We would start with AK..it's only open until 5, where DHS is open until 8, I think. If she wanted to we could always spend until 3 or 4 at AK, then hit DHS and hit the highlights, I think. And with that, I'm off to bed!

 

[Millie12591]

ADR's! You know how to get a girls blood goin! I like what you have, I think you did some great picks, Piper will love them.
I'm a little worried you won't make Spectro in time, I'm wondering if you can get an earlier time??? Of course be sure to take the Monorail to GF and from GF, it's the fastest way to get to and from, this way you won't waste any of your precious park time. I don't know your dates off the top of my head so when I looked up the times you could eat, the earliest time it gave me was 4:30 p.m. slot.
I think you'll be OK if you take a 4:30 or 4:45 time slot, it will at least give you part of your travel time, and then you should be able to eat, see the characters and travel back to MK in time for Spectro.

As for your day spent at DHS or AK, that's a tough one for me...mainly because I didn't get to see a lot of AK when I was there, so I'm not sure what I might be missing out on, although seeing trapped animals isn't my thing, it makes me sad. The other hard part for me to suggest one over the other would be that I love DHS!!! It's probably my families most favorite park of all the parks, of course it's in extreme close running to MK. The shows are outstanding, and should not be missed, my family and I just loved DHS. I had actually planned one day at DHS and at AK, thinking it would have been enough (never having been there), the family and I decided we needed to have added an extra day at DHS. AK is a lot of walking, and if it's any where near warm out this park will be even warmer, it's the biggest of all the parks, but it also has great shows not to be missed. Sorry, I'm not much help am I? It's Disney, how could you do wrong?!?

ADRs are made! Yes, after reading over everyone’s advice (thank you, btw) and researching some, I have our ADRs all made and ready! Best of all, I was able to get the times I wanted within 15 minutes.

So here is how we stand right now:

On MK day- 1900 Park Fare @ 5:00pm
Chef Mickey;s @ 5:10pm

One of those will get cancelled, possibly both, that day, though right now I’m tempted to keep Park Fare even if she chooses another meal at Epcot..all I’ve heard about it are positives, and it really does sound like fun. Now..help please..Spectro starts at 7:00pm… does a 5:00 ADR leave time to get from CM or 1900 back to MK by 7 without being in a huge rush? If not, I’ll change the ressie to 4 or whenever you guys think would be better!

On Epcot day- Akershus @ 12:10
Teppan Edo @ 1:30

Akershus requires a credit card guarantee, so if she doesn't want to do that one, I will cancel it sooner rather than later so I don't forget about it and lose the $30.



On AK/DHS day (?)- Rainforest @ 1:15.


Now, here is the new dilemma…Bearing in mind this will probably be Piper’s only trip (as a child, anyway):

If you had a 3 day hopper, and knew you wanted a day each at MK & Epcot…

Would you split a day between AK & DHS?
Spend a whole day at AK?
Spend a whole day at DHS?

My conflict is the whole “quality time” vs. rushing situation. Is it better to rush to see part of both parks, or spend a whole day exploring one? I also don’t know if Piper will go for splitting them as there are things she wants to see at each, that being said, I could prob persuade her pretty easily to just do one or the other. My personal thought would be to do AK, simply because it is so different from the other parks in theming, and she’s never seen most of the animals since we don’t have a major zoo in the area. On the other hand, we’re also going on our cancelled DC trip at some point in the spring, and will go to the National Zoo. Though it wouldn’t be the same as the safari experience..she would see the same animals there, for the most part. Of course that doesn't take the shows into consideration.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Oops! I didn't see you already had your choices made when I was posting

My first reaction to the AK/DHS dilemma would be to have a relaxing day at AK. But your thoughts about going to DHS later are good. A couple of thoughts: 1. I think the Jammin Jungle parade looks really fun for kids, and it is about 4pm at AK.
2. Alot of times the FP will be gone by that time for DHS, so probably no TSM or RNRC.

Hmmm. We haven't had our best days at DHS, so I would choose fully enjoying AK, I think.

 

[All7OfUs]

If it were me, I"d say stay at AK as long as you can/want then if you're still raring to go, hop the Studios. There's a LOT to see and do at AK, and a lot of time gets "eaten up" just getting from place to place. The shows esp. Nemo can take a fair bit of time too just waiting.

I do know that the night time atmosphere at DHS is "not to be missed". It is beautiful and fun. Maybe going just for that along would be worth it, even if you don't get to hit TSM.

Anyway, my 2 cents...

 

[pipersmom]

I'm going to work on moving Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare to earlier times, I don't like to rush, and especially don't like to make Piper rush. As for the AK/DHS day, I almost forgot that Fantasmic is that night, so we'll definitely hit DHS, the time depending on how much Piper is grooving on AK.

Snow..and more snow..and more snow..it started snowing here at about 3pm yesterday, and is still snowing as I type this. So far we have about 12 inches..Piper has never seen this much snow and is just itching to get out into it! My favorite is watching the bird feeder..the birds just stand out so much in all the white.

Poor Jeepie...I'll have to sweep him off later.

The view from my front porch

 

[dawnbu40]

That snow looks so pretty but I'm so glad it's not here We woke up to a dusting which is almost gone now and I'd be fine if that was all we got all winter

 

[pipersmom]

I would have been good with 6 inches..lol. Enough for the kids to have fun in, and not enough to be too much of a pain in the butt. It's very ususual for us to get this much in December..

 

[Momofwishkid]

Im with you, trying to decide which parks to split It's so hard, but I think were going to split the day between Epcot and HS. For us I dont see to much at Epcot the kids would be interested in and Gavin loves animals so I know AK is a full day. Of course you had to remind me of Fantasmic which messed up my plans It looks like it's only happening 1 day that were there. Well back to re-arranging for me.

 

[manntra]

Whoa! That's a lot of snow!! It is just missing us ...I am kind of in the middle of NYS but close to the PA border. It's just really, really, really, cold!
I think your ADR's are shaping up good
I am not going to be any help on the park situation because I like them both too much...I always say my favorite park is wherever I am at the moment. There are things that she is going to enjoy at both parks so I guess it is best to go to AK in the morning afternoon and then when you are ready to switch over to HS.

Tracy

 

[jordanyosh]

It's 80 degrees.

 

[pipersmom]

Im with you, trying to decide which parks to split It's so hard, but I think were going to split the day between Epcot and HS. For us I dont see to much at Epcot the kids would be interested in and Gavin loves animals so I know AK is a full day. Of course you had to remind me of Fantasmic which messed up my plans It looks like it's only happening 1 day that were there. Well back to re-arranging for me.

I know..I went through and wrote down each park's hrs, whether it was EMH, then what time/day parades and fireworks were, and then which party was at GKTW that night. I think I have it mostly figured out, and will post it after the holidays. Also..check the Dine with Shamu again if you really want to do it, there were openings on the 5th & 6th when I looked yesterday, but I can't do the pay up front thing this month..I wish they would just take a credit card guarantee instead. Oh well

Whoa! That's a lot of snow!! It is just missing us ...I am kind of in the middle of NYS but close to the PA border. It's just really, really, really, cold!
I think your ADR's are shaping up good
I am not going to be any help on the park situation because I like them both too much...I always say my favorite park is wherever I am at the moment. There are things that she is going to enjoy at both parks so I guess it is best to go to AK in the morning afternoon and then when you are ready to switch over to HS.

Tracy

You're lucky you missed out, it's a mess here. I stocked up on bread and milk yesterday though, and made a big batch of homemade veggie beef soup in the crockpot this morning..yumm!

It's 80 degrees.

No fair..lol. Normally we only get big snows like this in Feb/Mar..now watch our Mar weather be balmy and 70 degrees since that's when we're going to FL!

 

[jordanyosh]

It's not how I'd like to be spending my holiday...wearing shorts...

 

[pipersmom]

I didn't think about that Jordan, but the snow will be gone here by then too..supposed to be in the high 50's later in the week. It's actually already starting to melt here. Maybe some colder weather will come your way.

 

[jordanyosh]

I didn't think about that Jordan, but the snow will be gone here by then too..supposed to be in the high 50's later in the week. It's actually already starting to melt here. Maybe some colder weather will come your way.

Mid-60s next week.

 

[manntra]

It's 80 degrees.

It was 7 the past two mornings when I woke up....it is a balmy 23 right now.

Tracy

 

[jordanyosh]

It was 7 the past two mornings when I woke up....it is a balmy 23 right now.

Tracy

I couldn't do cold weather for 4-5 months, but I could do with a week of it.

 

[pipersmom]

Mid-60s next week.

It was 7 the past two mornings when I woke up....it is a balmy 23 right now.

Tracy

I couldn't do cold weather for 4-5 months, but I could do with a week of it.

Yikes! I can't do the 7 thing for too long, tooo cold for me! I wouldn't mind around 30 right now though, so the snow wouldn't be melting quite so fast. It's around 40 here now. Jordan just let me know when to pick you up at the airport, you can sleep on the loveseat. (I've seen the positions you sleep in, it shouldn't be a problem! )