Planning a Family Size Trip (My First PTR)

[caylene44]

Mini (ish) update! Weirdly enough this will be the first post where I'm not updating my schedule. Dare I say that I might be done moving our ADRs around...but I'm still contemplating on whether to send my family to The Wave for dinner our last night or just book them dinner at the hotel. I don't know if I trust them to figure out how to get over to The Contemporary without me There's seriously that much hand holding going on over here, y'all.

The Type A+ To-Do List (as of 6/17/19):

Hotel Reservation: DONE
MDE Reservation: DONE
Add DDP: DONE
MNSSHP Tickets: DONE
ADRs: DONE
Dining reservation for our day at Universal Orlando: DONE
Park Tickets: DONE AND LINKED. We actually received our tickets one week after ordering them so I think delivery varies considerably (especially since it took a few weeks for @czechplz to receive tickets so I was a little worried about making our FP+ window).
FP+: Window opens June 30th (13 DAYS )
MagicBands: Expected in August
Birthday Cake Orders: Sometime in August
Finalize Itinerary/Print: End of August
Arrangements for our puppy: Need to do
MNSSHP Costumes: Need to do (need ideas!)
Memory Maker: Will be purchased arrival day!

I FINALLY feel like this trip is getting solidified with just one hurtle to overcome...FP+. Waking up at 4 a.m. to get that buttoned up and trying to make reservations for a group of 9-11 will be seriously interesting.

ETA: I am such a pushover. I said a couple posts ago that everyone was on their own for FP+ and here I am making their FP+ reservations for them. I just want everyone to have a good trip, is that so wrong?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I'm still contemplating on whether to send my family to The Wave for dinner our last night or just book them dinner at the hotel. I don't know if I trust them to figure out how to get over to The Contemporary without me

Sebastian's is supposed to be really good. I say let them stay at CBR while you head to Cali Grill.

ETA: I am such a pushover. I said a couple posts ago that everyone was on their own for FP+ and here I am making their FP+ reservations for them. I just want everyone to have a good trip, is that so wrong?

I don't think it's being a pushover. When you're planning, there's so much pressure to make a perfect trip for everyone. It's a hassle, but I think you're going to feel better about the trip if you have control over booking the FPs, at least initially. Then, if people want to make adjustments, so be it.

 

[caylene44]

Sebastian's is supposed to be really good. I say let them stay at CBR while you head to Cali Grill.

I don't think it's being a pushover. When you're planning, there's so much pressure to make a perfect trip for everyone. It's a hassle, but I think you're going to feel better about the trip if you have control over booking the FPs, at least initially. Then, if people want to make adjustments, so be it.

Yes, I've heard great things about it as well! Unfortunately, the party size is too large to book online so I'll call the dining line this week to set them up for that. The nice thing about no one else paying attention is I can change their plans 100 times and they have no idea

Thank you for that! You are right. I'm such a perfectionist/control freak that I don't want to leave them to their own devices and then hear that they showed up with no FP+ reservations. Better to make the choices for them and THEN they will know how important it is once we get there.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along!

Kudos to you for taking on this complicated trip planning for your family. Seems like you are doing a great job with it. I will need to do the same for 2022(?) with our family group of 6 (maybe more?).

I feel you on not knowing how to feel about being there for the opening of Star Wars. I had booked a trip for Sept 2019 which got changed to a Disney Cruise and I am glad I will be avoiding that insanity. Although I am really looking forward to seeing Galaxy's Edge!

Good call on making the fastpass reservations for the group. Sounds like they would not have really known what to do and probably would have missed out on some of the best ones.

 

[caylene44]

Following along!

Kudos to you for taking on this complicated trip planning for your family. Seems like you are doing a great job with it. I will need to do the same for 2022(?) with our family group of 6 (maybe more?).

I feel you on not knowing how to feel about being there for the opening of Star Wars. I had booked a trip for Sept 2019 which got changed to a Disney Cruise and I am glad I will be avoiding that insanity. Although I am really looking forward to seeing Galaxy's Edge!

Good call on making the fastpass reservations for the group. Sounds like they would not have really known what to do and probably would have missed out on some of the best ones.

Welcome!!!

Good luck for your future trip planning. At least you have years to think about it...although that might stress you out because it's SO much time to think about it. At least that's what happened to me, I keep second guessing every choice

I really want to go on a Disney cruise, that's so exciting! That's going to be the TOTAL opposite of the SW:GE craziness

 

[caylene44]

Wellll, less than 3 days from FP+ day so, naturally, I'm going over my plans with a fine tooth comb.

For posterity, thought I'd post my plans and we'll see how it shakes out in a couple days. In order of how I plan to book them (aka priority order):

• Saturday 8/31:
  • Flight of Passage for 8/Navi River Journey for 3 around 6 pm: Thought process here is that it's more likely to get FoP later in the day. Also, at least 3 people in our party won't be able to ride FoP due to motion sickness so hoping to get NRJ in an overlapping time for them. Fully expecting not to get FoP at all and we'll all be riding NRJ.
  • Kilimanjaro Safari for 11 at 9 am.
  • Rivers of Light for 11: I have to pander to different interests here. If I had my way, we'd all be riding EE. Those of us who want to ride it will probably do SR or stand-by at some point during the day.
• Sunday 9/1 (for those of us going to DHS):
  • Toy Story Mania for 3 at 10 am: This is a MUST DO for my BF.
  • Star Tours for 3 at 9 am
  • Throwaway for 3 at 11 am: I'll probably grab a Little Mermaid and then we'll just scan and walk away...anyone else feel guilty doing this?
• Tuesday 9/3
  • Living with the Land for 11 at 9 am: Hoping to RD Soarin' and then use FP for LwtL. Hate on it all you want but I really like this ride.
  • Frozen Ever After for 11 at 10 am: Haven't been on this yet so this is my personal must do!
  • Journey into Imagination for 11 at 11 am
• Wednesday 9/4: This is an MK day just for me, my parents, sister, and BF. There's nothing super must do for us so I'm pretty go with the flow for what we get.
  • Haunted Mansion for 5 at 10 am
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for 5 at 11 am
  • Pirates of the Caribbean for 5 at 12 pm
• Sunday 9/1 (for those going to EPCOT): This day isn't really my priority to book because my family won't know the difference between the FPs I make for them...Am I horrible?
  • Soarin' for 6
  • Spaceship Earth for 6
  • The Seas with Nemo and Friends for 6
• Monday 9/2: This is our MNSSHP day so I'm hoping to get lucky and get FPs for before the official party time.
  • Peter Pan for 9 around 3:30 pm
  • 7 Dwarves Mine Train for 9 at 4:30 pm
  • Space Mountain for 9 at 5:30 pm​

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Good luck with your FP day! I agree that FoP is going to be tough, but maybe you'll get lucky. Fingers crossed.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Flight of Passage for 8/Navi River Journey for 3 around 6 pm: Thought process here is that it's more likely to get FoP later in the day. Also, at least 3 people in our party won't be able to ride FoP due to motion sickness so hoping to get NRJ in an overlapping time for them. Fully expecting not to get FoP at all and we'll all be riding NRJ.

At least you are prepared for this. Will you be able to rope drop FoP?

• Living with the Land for 11 at 9 am: Hoping to RD Soarin' and then use FP for LwtL. Hate on it all you want but I really like this ride.
• Frozen Ever After for 11 at 10 am: Haven't been on this yet so this is my personal must do!
• Journey into Imagination for 11 at 11 am

My only concern for you here is the backtracking since Frozen Ever After is on the opposite side of the park from Living with the Land and Journey Into Imagination. I would suggest swapping Imagination and Frozen Ever After unless you had a specific reason for the order they are in.

 

[caylene44]

At least you are prepared for this. Will you be able to rope drop FoP?

I woke up an hour late and was still able to score FoP at the time I wanted AND overlap NRJ for the other 3. It was surprisingly easy to get what I wanted so fingers crossed that crowds won’t be too super insane with SW:GE.

I was contemplating rope dropping FoP but I’ve heard some horror stories about it so we might just tackle other things since we have a FP for it now.

My only concern for you here is the backtracking since Frozen Ever After is on the opposite side of the park from Living with the Land and Journey Into Imagination. I would suggest swapping Imagination and Frozen Ever After unless you had a specific reason for the order they are in.

Yes, good point! My thinking is we RD Soarin’ and use the LwtL FP. Then we have time to mosey around the F&W booths/use our Frozen FP before wandering back over to Journey. I want to do lunch at Sunshine Seasons so it made sense in my head to do the back and forth. I’ll deliberate over a park map again though, thanks for bringing this up!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Then we have time to mosey around the F&W booths/use our Frozen FP before wandering back over to Journey.

I thought the booths open at 11am with the rest of the WS. Does F&W open earlier than normal World Showcase hours?

 

[caylene44]

I thought the booths open at 11am with the rest of the WS. Does F&W open earlier than normal World Showcase hours?

I thought so too! But the Disney World website is saying the booths are open 9 am-9 pm on that day. I'm not sure if that's typical (I've never been for a festival) or if it's something they're doing to mitigate SW:GE crowds?

 

[caylene44]

Okay, so day after FP+ day...how did things go?

WELL, I'm normally like this bright and early on FP+ day:

I had set my alarm for 3:30 AM PST...after getting home late from a wedding where I definitely enjoyed myself Sooo this is how I looked when I woke up at 5 am PST:

Needless to say, I was freaking out that I woke up an hour AFTER the FP+ window opened, didn't have my computer/phone/iPad all set up, didn't have my list of what FPs I wanted handy. I just grabbed my phone and iPad determined to get FPs for something, ANYTHING...

Imagine my surprise when I was able to book FoP at 60+2...for 8 people...at the time I wanted...AND overlap NRJ at the same time for the remaining 3 people in our party Granted, all that was left for FoP were evening times and that's the timing I wanted but it makes me really curious as to what was available right at 7 am EST. Anyone else have the same FP+ day want to chime in on what you saw? I'm hoping this means that's crowds won't be as crazy as we're all predicting buuut I'm not sure if you can draw reasonable conclusions from FP+ booking

Anyways, here's how I did compared to what I wanted (I'm calling them an exact match when they're in the same time frame I wanted):

• Saturday 8/31:
  • Kilimanjaro Safari for 11 at 9:35 am: Exact match
  • Flight of Passage for 8 at 6:30 pm/Navi River Journey for 3 at 6:25 pm: (Basically an) Exact match, just thankful to get FoP at all so HUGE win.
  • Rivers of Light for 11: Exact match
• Sunday 9/1 (for those of us going to DHS):
  • Star Tours for 3 at 9:05 am: Exact match
  • Toy Story Mania for 3 at 10:10 am: Exact match
  • Throwaway for 3 at 11 am: Did not get. I ended up forgoing a throwaway and only scheduled 2 FPs. Are there any ramifications to this??? My thinking is we use our first two and then try to get an Illuminations FP for that night since the rest of the family has one...I need to reread the FP rules though because I can't remember if we need to have and use a third FP at DHS first.
• Sunday 9/1 (for those going to EPCOT):
  • Spaceship Earth for 6 at 12:05 pm
  • The Seas with Nemo and Friends for 6 at 1:05 pm
  • Illuminations for 6
• Monday 9/2: The order of this day got moved around but I got the 3 attractions I wanted before the party time so still a win.
  • 7 Dwarfs Mine Train for 9 at 3:20 pm
  • Peter Pan for 9 at 4:20 pm
  • Space Mountain for 9 at 5:20 pm
• Tuesday 9/3
  • Living with the Land for 11 at 9:15 am: Exact match
  • Frozen Ever After for 11 at 10:25 am: Exact match
  • Journey into Imagination for 11 at 11:25 am: Exact match
• Wednesday 9/4:
  • Haunted Mansion for 5 at 10:10 am: Exact match
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for 5 at 11:15 am: Exact match
  • Pirates of the Caribbean for 5 at 12:15 pm: Exact match

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I thought so too! But the Disney World website is saying the booths are open 9 am-9 pm on that day. I'm not sure if that's typical (I've never been for a festival) or if it's something they're doing to mitigate SW:GE crowds?

Cool beans! I bet the crowds will be light back there since it's not usually open that early.

 

[caylene44]

Cool beans! I bet the crowds will be light back there since it's not usually open that early.

Here's to hoping!

Also, I'm laughing to myself at work because I just now found/read through your PTR and commented the same time you commented on mine

 

[caylene44]

Totally recognize that this PTR is kind of a snooze fest but I like to keep it updated with my thoughts and I promise to try to add more GIFs. So, with that, I’m going to start posting a breakdown of my plans for each day. It helps me look at my plans in a different way and decide if they are actually feasible. Totally welcome to all commentary and suggestions because, as you can see from this PTR, I change my mind allll the time

Thursday, August 29th: Arrival Day

This is one day that the plans probably (hopefully) won't change. Our flight takes off from Seattle at 8:05 am PST. Thankfully it’s a non-stop so we arrive MCO around 4:50 PM EST. Hop on DME to CBR and drop whatever carry-ons we have in the room before taking a bus down to DS. Eat at a counter service (most likely D’Luxe) and activate our military salute tickets at the DS Ticket Office. Bus back to CBR and get to sleep hopefully at a decent time.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Imagine my surprise when I was able to book FoP at 60+2...for 8 people...at the time I wanted...AND overlap NRJ at the same time for the remaining 3 people in our party

That is a real score for sure!

I need to reread the FP rules though because I can't remember if we need to have and use a third FP at DHS first.

I'm pretty sure that your first three have to be in the same park but that any fastpasses made after that can be in another park.

 

[caylene44]

I'm pretty sure that your first three have to be in the same park but that any fastpasses made after that can be in another park.

Yeah, I was worried that's the rule. I'll have to add in a "throwaway" like I was originally planning on. I just feel guilty taking a FP I won't use.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Yeah, I was worried that's the rule. I'll have to add in a "throwaway" like I was originally planning on. I just feel guilty taking a FP I won't use.

No, you don't have to do this when you're hopping. You can't prebook in different parks but, as soon as you tap into your 1st fp, you can make a 3rd in a different park.

This is the post of the FP addendum that details it:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...nytime-bonus-fps-cl-fps.3538258/post-56320835

 

[caylene44]

No, you don't have to do this when you're hopping. You can't prebook in different parks but, as soon as you tap into your 1st fp, you can make a 3rd in a different park.

This is the post of the FP addendum that details it:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...nytime-bonus-fps-cl-fps.3538258/post-56320835

Thank you! I couldn't remember which way it was. Before the tier changes at DHS, I always used all my FPs so I've never come across this problem before.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

No, you don't have to do this when you're hopping. You can't prebook in different parks but, as soon as you tap into your 1st fp, you can make a 3rd in a different park.

This is the post of the FP addendum that details it:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...nytime-bonus-fps-cl-fps.3538258/post-56320835

Interesting, definitely not well advertised.