BounceWalker
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2013
- Messages
- 50
Hello DISers! I felt the need to "give back" to the community by posting my PTR, seeing as how I have gleaned so many great bits of info from everyone else's posts. My wish is that this can help someone else. I'll try to keep it somewhat short...
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Travelers: Me -- (My callsign is "Bounce" -- no, it has nothing to do with Tigger), DH, and my two kids -- we'll call them DD3 (Age 8) and DS (Age 6), but I don't have custody of them -- are all WDW "vets."
MIL, FIL, and DH's two daughters (DD1 age 13 and DD2 age 10-- also not in our custody) will be joining us as WDW First Timers and this fulfills one of FIL's life-long dreams to have everyone enjoy WDW together.
When: 9 days in June
Where: Art of Animation; we're getting a Cars Family Suite with all the kids and the ILs will be in a Little Mermaid room at the opposite end of the property
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I'll tell you upfront that I enjoy the pre-trip anticipation almost as much as the trip itself! I even get to the point where I have dreams/nightmares about taking the kids on rides. Case in point, I had a dream last night that I was on a single-seater coaster with DS3 and she started to slip out and I couldn't save her. Eeeek! Okay -- that's admittedly a little extreme, but it's just one of those mom things.
Anyhow, my biggest downfall is that I can be a real control freak and get caught up in trying to get everything "perfect" for everyone. You can see where this is headed, right? Inevitably things don't go as planned, and I get frustrated, and I end up having a less-than-fun time. Thankfully I am very aware of this and will try to mitigate those feelings as much as possible.
In line with trying to tamper my controlling spirit, I told DH long ago that "I will chill out...we don't have to plan much...I'll just go with the flow." And then WDW had to come out with FP+ which, if you want to go on "good" rides, forces you right into planning mode! Grrrr. Oh well...it's all fine. So what if we miss one, right? But one thing we will NOT miss is Anna and Elsa...more on that later...
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So way back in December, DH and I were spending a romantic weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. We had a great time, until he woke up at 5:30 AM to see me sitting at the hotel room desk with my iPad out and refreshing dining reservation pages. He sleepily mumbled "WHAT are you DOING?!?" I replied "Trying to score us some reservations...go back to sleep." Sure enough, 30 minutes later we were officially 180 days out from our arrival date and I was able to jump on Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch on our first day in the parks. WOOOOOT!!!! Triumph #1. After all that excitement I couldn't go back to sleep, so I sat there and made some other reservations, but none felt as "good" as getting that ADR for CRT. By the way, that will be a first-time experience for all of us, so I'm sure we'll really enjoy it.
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Things were coasting along fine, and then it came time to decide what we were doing with transportation from the airport. My husband really wanted to ride Disney's Magical Express from the get go because he thinks the retro busses look so cute. I personally wanted to "get there" as quickly as possible, so I started researching private transportation companies. It's so funny -- I research everything TO DEATH. Seriously -- I think I spent 3 separate days, total, and numerous consults with my (VERY patient) husband deciding what to do.
Here was my line of thinking, and bear with me that it all starts with water and my extreme distaste for the sulfur-laden water we encounter occasionally at WDW. I started doing the math of how much it would cost just to buy everyone water -- even one bottle of water per day (which is unrealistic, especially in June) -- and quickly arrived at a sum of something like $135 for the entire week. EEEEK! So then I said "Well, what if we had a van pick us up from the airport [yes, I actually considered LIMO service to make it special for the newbies, but then I quickly realized going to WDW is "special enough" on its own], and we made the stop at the grocery store to BUY our own water? Then we'd also shave a couple of hours off of our transit time each way, certainly..." And as I was doing some further research I happened upon the grocery delivery service that is so popular amongst the DVC experts. I said "GOSH! $8 for a case of water still sounds steep...until I take into consideration that it's still FAR cheaper than Park bottles of water...and we can get multiple cases for less than the cost of the transportation...plus tips...etc." And so the decision became quickly clear -- order stuff from the grocery delivery and have it waiting for us! If we were made of money, I'd just buy everything there...but gosh, the whole experience is so expensive isn't it? So I need to make the smartest choices I can... (I consider this Triumph #2)
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Getting our tickets and FP+: Now here was a challenge that had me on edge. If you think I'm silly for laboring over a water decision for 3 days, imagine how I was with tickets?!? See, DH and I are both Active Duty Military, so we get some extra discounts to take advantage of...but then we had to ask ourselves "Do we spend a little bit more to get all of the tickets ahead of time and schedule FP+? Or do we wait until the day we check in, take a couple of busses over to the Shades of Green, and stand in line to save $70?" Ordering them from our local MWR office quickly won out. So once we got them we were within our 60 day-window to schedule FP+.
I have to stop for a moment to give a huge THANK YOU to Disney for making it easy for us to input our vouchers (which we will have to exchange for tickets once we get down there) into the My Disney Experience website and allow us to begin making FP+. That was huge. Anyhow, DD2's main goal for this trip is "to meet Queen Elsa." I heard that and rolled my eyes, having been on these boards and reading about the HOURS to wait for the meet & greets. And of course, when I got online and checked every one of the 8 days it said that "Standby is available" -- i.e. you're outta luck for FP+, Suckaaaaa! Fortunately I stumbled upon a post someone made that said "There is something in the system that limits the amount of FP+ they'll give out at a certain time." Ah HA!!! I kid you not, I sat nervously at my computer scanning day by day for ONE FP+ at a time and FINALLY (Hallelujah!) wound up scoring 8 single FP+ that all overlap in one 5-minute window. GEEZ LOUISE!!!! I almost had a panic attack trying to get all of those to line up. Anyhow, on Sunday the 8th of June we will be "That" family of 8 showing up at exactly 3:50 PM so that we can get in to see the ladies and make DD2's Disney Dream come true! WHEW!!! Triumph #3.
Oh, we also have a lot of little pirate fans. I've taken my kids to see "Cap'n Jack's Pirate Tutorial" (yum -- whoops! Was that my out-loud typing voice? Shhhh...don't tell DH I said that) and we all loved it, so we decided that we'd all do the Pirates' League this trip. Wait -- I mean all of the KIDS will do the Pirates' League. Yes, I know we could do it too, but reference what I said earlier about spending/saving $$$, the adults will sit this one out. Rather than buy super expensive Disney costumes, I bought the kids costumes off of eBay. DS actually will be in a Jake costume which, by the way, I bought for a very reasonable price from a lady in England and it's WAY better than our American versions. Where our Jake costumes have yellow felt, this one has shiny gold material -- very cute! Anyhow, we'll have a whole crew of pirates and I was able to score 0905 and 0915 ressies for the four of them. This also equals early park entrance to make our way back there to Adventureland, so I'm excited for that to happen too! WHEEEE!!!! I think we will finish getting our pirates "made," jump on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then hit Cap'n Jack's Pirate Tutorial at 10:30 with the hopes of them getting called up to parry with him and then say "LOOK! It's Blackbeard's daughter!" and then fleeee! Triumph #4.
FINALLY, today I was able to score FP+ for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on Days 1 and 5. WHEW. This will make FIL happy as it's the only ride he mentions. LOL. Triumph #5
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I've had fun reading about and looking at pictures of everyones' Magic Bands they've decorated. This led me to purchase a bunch of nail polishes (that I would not have ordinarily selected) and nail art. We'll be having some fun Magic Band parties in our rooms at night. I even bought one off of eBay that I could "practice" on. Love it!
Now I'm just counting the days and making my packing lists. I can't tell you how very much I appreciate all of the tips I've gathered from these boards. Clothespins to close curtains as well as hang up dripping bathing suits...deodorant/anti-chaf stick for feet...places to eat and visit that I still haven't accomplished in over 7 visits...it's all shaping up to be a wonderful time. And yes, I do believe I'll be able to chill out -- for the most part. ;-)
I'll check in from time to time...but this is it for now. Standing by for questions. Happy Friday, everyone!!!
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Travelers: Me -- (My callsign is "Bounce" -- no, it has nothing to do with Tigger), DH, and my two kids -- we'll call them DD3 (Age 8) and DS (Age 6), but I don't have custody of them -- are all WDW "vets."
MIL, FIL, and DH's two daughters (DD1 age 13 and DD2 age 10-- also not in our custody) will be joining us as WDW First Timers and this fulfills one of FIL's life-long dreams to have everyone enjoy WDW together.
When: 9 days in June
Where: Art of Animation; we're getting a Cars Family Suite with all the kids and the ILs will be in a Little Mermaid room at the opposite end of the property
----------------------------------------------
I'll tell you upfront that I enjoy the pre-trip anticipation almost as much as the trip itself! I even get to the point where I have dreams/nightmares about taking the kids on rides. Case in point, I had a dream last night that I was on a single-seater coaster with DS3 and she started to slip out and I couldn't save her. Eeeek! Okay -- that's admittedly a little extreme, but it's just one of those mom things.
Anyhow, my biggest downfall is that I can be a real control freak and get caught up in trying to get everything "perfect" for everyone. You can see where this is headed, right? Inevitably things don't go as planned, and I get frustrated, and I end up having a less-than-fun time. Thankfully I am very aware of this and will try to mitigate those feelings as much as possible.
In line with trying to tamper my controlling spirit, I told DH long ago that "I will chill out...we don't have to plan much...I'll just go with the flow." And then WDW had to come out with FP+ which, if you want to go on "good" rides, forces you right into planning mode! Grrrr. Oh well...it's all fine. So what if we miss one, right? But one thing we will NOT miss is Anna and Elsa...more on that later...
-----------------------------------------------
So way back in December, DH and I were spending a romantic weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. We had a great time, until he woke up at 5:30 AM to see me sitting at the hotel room desk with my iPad out and refreshing dining reservation pages. He sleepily mumbled "WHAT are you DOING?!?" I replied "Trying to score us some reservations...go back to sleep." Sure enough, 30 minutes later we were officially 180 days out from our arrival date and I was able to jump on Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch on our first day in the parks. WOOOOOT!!!! Triumph #1. After all that excitement I couldn't go back to sleep, so I sat there and made some other reservations, but none felt as "good" as getting that ADR for CRT. By the way, that will be a first-time experience for all of us, so I'm sure we'll really enjoy it.
----------------------------------------------
Things were coasting along fine, and then it came time to decide what we were doing with transportation from the airport. My husband really wanted to ride Disney's Magical Express from the get go because he thinks the retro busses look so cute. I personally wanted to "get there" as quickly as possible, so I started researching private transportation companies. It's so funny -- I research everything TO DEATH. Seriously -- I think I spent 3 separate days, total, and numerous consults with my (VERY patient) husband deciding what to do.
Here was my line of thinking, and bear with me that it all starts with water and my extreme distaste for the sulfur-laden water we encounter occasionally at WDW. I started doing the math of how much it would cost just to buy everyone water -- even one bottle of water per day (which is unrealistic, especially in June) -- and quickly arrived at a sum of something like $135 for the entire week. EEEEK! So then I said "Well, what if we had a van pick us up from the airport [yes, I actually considered LIMO service to make it special for the newbies, but then I quickly realized going to WDW is "special enough" on its own], and we made the stop at the grocery store to BUY our own water? Then we'd also shave a couple of hours off of our transit time each way, certainly..." And as I was doing some further research I happened upon the grocery delivery service that is so popular amongst the DVC experts. I said "GOSH! $8 for a case of water still sounds steep...until I take into consideration that it's still FAR cheaper than Park bottles of water...and we can get multiple cases for less than the cost of the transportation...plus tips...etc." And so the decision became quickly clear -- order stuff from the grocery delivery and have it waiting for us! If we were made of money, I'd just buy everything there...but gosh, the whole experience is so expensive isn't it? So I need to make the smartest choices I can... (I consider this Triumph #2)
---------------------------------------------
Getting our tickets and FP+: Now here was a challenge that had me on edge. If you think I'm silly for laboring over a water decision for 3 days, imagine how I was with tickets?!? See, DH and I are both Active Duty Military, so we get some extra discounts to take advantage of...but then we had to ask ourselves "Do we spend a little bit more to get all of the tickets ahead of time and schedule FP+? Or do we wait until the day we check in, take a couple of busses over to the Shades of Green, and stand in line to save $70?" Ordering them from our local MWR office quickly won out. So once we got them we were within our 60 day-window to schedule FP+.
I have to stop for a moment to give a huge THANK YOU to Disney for making it easy for us to input our vouchers (which we will have to exchange for tickets once we get down there) into the My Disney Experience website and allow us to begin making FP+. That was huge. Anyhow, DD2's main goal for this trip is "to meet Queen Elsa." I heard that and rolled my eyes, having been on these boards and reading about the HOURS to wait for the meet & greets. And of course, when I got online and checked every one of the 8 days it said that "Standby is available" -- i.e. you're outta luck for FP+, Suckaaaaa! Fortunately I stumbled upon a post someone made that said "There is something in the system that limits the amount of FP+ they'll give out at a certain time." Ah HA!!! I kid you not, I sat nervously at my computer scanning day by day for ONE FP+ at a time and FINALLY (Hallelujah!) wound up scoring 8 single FP+ that all overlap in one 5-minute window. GEEZ LOUISE!!!! I almost had a panic attack trying to get all of those to line up. Anyhow, on Sunday the 8th of June we will be "That" family of 8 showing up at exactly 3:50 PM so that we can get in to see the ladies and make DD2's Disney Dream come true! WHEW!!! Triumph #3.
Oh, we also have a lot of little pirate fans. I've taken my kids to see "Cap'n Jack's Pirate Tutorial" (yum -- whoops! Was that my out-loud typing voice? Shhhh...don't tell DH I said that) and we all loved it, so we decided that we'd all do the Pirates' League this trip. Wait -- I mean all of the KIDS will do the Pirates' League. Yes, I know we could do it too, but reference what I said earlier about spending/saving $$$, the adults will sit this one out. Rather than buy super expensive Disney costumes, I bought the kids costumes off of eBay. DS actually will be in a Jake costume which, by the way, I bought for a very reasonable price from a lady in England and it's WAY better than our American versions. Where our Jake costumes have yellow felt, this one has shiny gold material -- very cute! Anyhow, we'll have a whole crew of pirates and I was able to score 0905 and 0915 ressies for the four of them. This also equals early park entrance to make our way back there to Adventureland, so I'm excited for that to happen too! WHEEEE!!!! I think we will finish getting our pirates "made," jump on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then hit Cap'n Jack's Pirate Tutorial at 10:30 with the hopes of them getting called up to parry with him and then say "LOOK! It's Blackbeard's daughter!" and then fleeee! Triumph #4.
FINALLY, today I was able to score FP+ for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on Days 1 and 5. WHEW. This will make FIL happy as it's the only ride he mentions. LOL. Triumph #5
----------------------------------------------
I've had fun reading about and looking at pictures of everyones' Magic Bands they've decorated. This led me to purchase a bunch of nail polishes (that I would not have ordinarily selected) and nail art. We'll be having some fun Magic Band parties in our rooms at night. I even bought one off of eBay that I could "practice" on. Love it!
Now I'm just counting the days and making my packing lists. I can't tell you how very much I appreciate all of the tips I've gathered from these boards. Clothespins to close curtains as well as hang up dripping bathing suits...deodorant/anti-chaf stick for feet...places to eat and visit that I still haven't accomplished in over 7 visits...it's all shaping up to be a wonderful time. And yes, I do believe I'll be able to chill out -- for the most part. ;-)
I'll check in from time to time...but this is it for now. Standing by for questions. Happy Friday, everyone!!!
). I am planning on wearing mostly moisture wicking and quick-drying stuff that I can even wash in my bathtub if necessary and hang to dry. 
Good question re: the tax at Shades vs MWR. I just don't know. What I was very pleasantly surprised about was that we got our 4 day military salute tickets cheaper at MWR than either Shades or at the gate (which, in that latter case, I have heard is a tax issue). The long pole in the tent for us was DH's parents and their tix...to get them the best price, we offered to buy the ticket for them rather than them getting it through 
Strangely, I was able to do it for everyone else so I knew it was a special situation. A lengthy (30+ mins) call to tech support, who then had to talk to ticketing back office, fixed the problem. 
for magic bands!!! Awesome!
I know from previous trips that it can get steamy and rainy in June. I'm aiming for mostly moisture-wicking or loose clothes. I'm curvy, and have fallen victim to the horrible look of "**** sweat" 
before in clingy cotton tees. Sorry...just keepin it real. I will spend a week laboring over my clothes packing. DH, on the other hand, will be finished in 15 minutes.
