Hi, everyone! My name is Melissa and I'm 29 years old. We are planning a trip to the World 09/26/09 - 10/03/09. This is my first PTR so, bare with me, please!
Here's the cast:
ME - Working mom of 2 and overall Disney addict. This is only my 2nd trip to the world and I'm already hooked. I'm not a obsessive planner but I'm doing much more this time around.
DH - SuperDad and Awesome Hubby! He works a full time job and also is a "part-time" (really full time) youth pastor. He is a Disney fan but hasn't quite reached the fanatic stage yet!
DS - 6 year old with a flair for the dramatics. He is our little comedian and loves everything Disney, except the yucky girly princess stuff! He is my movie companion and Disney geek!
DD - 2 year old bundle of energy! Coming from such a tomboy mother, I'm surprised of how girly she is! Loves all thing princess with a preference for Cinderella!
BFF's - Our best friends and godparents to our children. They pretty much go everywhere we go and vice versa! They were with us for our first trip last year!
DGdS - Our precious 4 year old godson who we love like our own! He is very much a boy but loves princesses. He is a self-professed protector and guardian of our DD.
So, this is our 2nd trip to the World. We went last year in mid Oct. We loved this time of year and wanted to go back again this year. We stayed offsite last year in 5 bedroom house with our BFF's and some of their family. The house was great! It had a private pool which we only used a couple of times. And, it was only a short drive to each park!
This time around, though we wanted to try out staying onsite. We didn't really know where to start other than we couldn't afford to spend a fortune on somewhere to sleep. So, it was and easy choice to go with the value resorts. Based on what I read on these boards we've settled with POP Century. We knew we wanted to go in the fall again. We were almost settled on Columbus day weekend until FREE DINING came out and we moved it up 2 weeks to Sept 26- Oct 3.
Now, I have the daunting task of figuring out our ADR's and in essence planning out our days in the park. What a huge task! I didn't realize it was going to be so in depth. Last year, the only ADR we had was Chef Mickey's and we were not particularly thrilled with it. Plus we had some issues with DD and DGdS being afraid of the characters. So, to do character interactions or not, that is the question. After much consideration I think that we are going to attempt to do them and hope for the best since they weren't absolutely terrified, just a little intimidated.
Here a few places that are on our wish list:
Cinderella's Royal Table - DD and DGdS will love this one! Hopefully we can get it. We want to do an early breakfast, before park opening if possible.
Crystal Palace- This will either be a backup or a second breakfast before park opening
1900 Park Fare - we want to do dinner here on one of our MK days.
Tusker House - we want to do breakfast before park opening on our AK day if possible!
50's Prime Time - Lunch or Dinner will be fine.
Sci-Fi - Again, lunch or dinner will be fine. We will have two days in DS.
San Angel - We love Mexican food so I think this will be a good fit!
Our plan is to do MK for 3 of the day, DS for 2 and AK and EP 1 each. We didn't catch Fantasmic or Illuminations last year so, we would like to include this in our plans as well! I would love to do MNSSHP, but I don't think it's in the buget this year! Good reason to come back next year, right? We plan on a BBB and maybe a Pirates Makeover for the kids. We are not real early risers but we plan on taking advantage of some of the EMH and we are going to do our best to be at rope drop (if we don't have ressies) every morning!
So, this is where we are at the moment! Hope you guys won't be to bored with this and if you have suggestions or tips I would really welcome them!
Here's the cast:
ME - Working mom of 2 and overall Disney addict. This is only my 2nd trip to the world and I'm already hooked. I'm not a obsessive planner but I'm doing much more this time around.
DH - SuperDad and Awesome Hubby! He works a full time job and also is a "part-time" (really full time) youth pastor. He is a Disney fan but hasn't quite reached the fanatic stage yet!
DS - 6 year old with a flair for the dramatics. He is our little comedian and loves everything Disney, except the yucky girly princess stuff! He is my movie companion and Disney geek!
DD - 2 year old bundle of energy! Coming from such a tomboy mother, I'm surprised of how girly she is! Loves all thing princess with a preference for Cinderella!
BFF's - Our best friends and godparents to our children. They pretty much go everywhere we go and vice versa! They were with us for our first trip last year!
DGdS - Our precious 4 year old godson who we love like our own! He is very much a boy but loves princesses. He is a self-professed protector and guardian of our DD.
So, this is our 2nd trip to the World. We went last year in mid Oct. We loved this time of year and wanted to go back again this year. We stayed offsite last year in 5 bedroom house with our BFF's and some of their family. The house was great! It had a private pool which we only used a couple of times. And, it was only a short drive to each park!
This time around, though we wanted to try out staying onsite. We didn't really know where to start other than we couldn't afford to spend a fortune on somewhere to sleep. So, it was and easy choice to go with the value resorts. Based on what I read on these boards we've settled with POP Century. We knew we wanted to go in the fall again. We were almost settled on Columbus day weekend until FREE DINING came out and we moved it up 2 weeks to Sept 26- Oct 3.
Now, I have the daunting task of figuring out our ADR's and in essence planning out our days in the park. What a huge task! I didn't realize it was going to be so in depth. Last year, the only ADR we had was Chef Mickey's and we were not particularly thrilled with it. Plus we had some issues with DD and DGdS being afraid of the characters. So, to do character interactions or not, that is the question. After much consideration I think that we are going to attempt to do them and hope for the best since they weren't absolutely terrified, just a little intimidated.
Here a few places that are on our wish list:
Cinderella's Royal Table - DD and DGdS will love this one! Hopefully we can get it. We want to do an early breakfast, before park opening if possible.
Crystal Palace- This will either be a backup or a second breakfast before park opening
1900 Park Fare - we want to do dinner here on one of our MK days.
Tusker House - we want to do breakfast before park opening on our AK day if possible!
50's Prime Time - Lunch or Dinner will be fine.
Sci-Fi - Again, lunch or dinner will be fine. We will have two days in DS.
San Angel - We love Mexican food so I think this will be a good fit!
Our plan is to do MK for 3 of the day, DS for 2 and AK and EP 1 each. We didn't catch Fantasmic or Illuminations last year so, we would like to include this in our plans as well! I would love to do MNSSHP, but I don't think it's in the buget this year! Good reason to come back next year, right? We plan on a BBB and maybe a Pirates Makeover for the kids. We are not real early risers but we plan on taking advantage of some of the EMH and we are going to do our best to be at rope drop (if we don't have ressies) every morning!
So, this is where we are at the moment! Hope you guys won't be to bored with this and if you have suggestions or tips I would really welcome them!
I'm trying to work out my ADR's for this September. I've heard some good things about the breakfast at CM's. Any one have any suggestions? 
