PTR- Memorial Weekend Madness - Feeling the Force and Celebrating the 5th

[Nhebron]

Doing the happy dance!! After deciding not to do Disney this winter (we typically go in Feb) and booking an off-site trip in September to visit the "dark side," we decided to do a quick Memorial Day weekend trip. It will be our son's 5th birthday, so we will be focused on things that he loves (characters and trains!). I am also super excited that DS has reached the height limit to ride more attractions and it's SWW (bonus!).

I am super obsessed with Disney planning and feel like I have a bit of a late start. Fortunately, I haven't missed the 60 day FP mark yet! Yes, I will be one of those folks up late waiting for the exact moment my FP window is available.

So here we are. Not quite Disney "vets," but this will be our 3rd trip in three years. For the past two years, we have gone in February and really enjoyed the weather and moderate crowds. We also avoided weekends in the park on previous trips. This trip will be entirely over the weekend and a holiday weekend at that! I think we are a bit nuts.

Join me as I obsess over this upcoming trip and likely over plan. Planning for me is one of the best parts of a Disney vacation

 

[Nhebron]

Details:

Flight should arrive ~8am in MCO and we depart Monday evening. Should give us a 1/2 day of park time on Friday, full day on Saturday and Sunday, and then 1/2 day on Monday. We ended up with 5 day park hoppers, even though we only needed 4 day tickets. The promotion we booked had "5th" day for free and a room discount.

Lodging - 3 nights at Caribbean Beach Resort in Pirate Water view room. On our past two trips, we stayed at AKL and Poly. Originally, I wanted to do a value resort to save money, but given the expected heat and crowds, I really wanted a resort with a nice pool. CBR looks like it would be a lot of fun for DS and I think he will really enjoy the pirate theme. I am a bit concerned about the size of the resort, potential for crowded buses, etc.

Dining - Didn't buy the meal plan. We did the free dining promo the past two years. Still debating on whether it would be worth purchasing, assuming free dining does not become available. We have already booked some table service ADRs, so we might make out better under the plan. On the other hand, I feel like it's going to be hot and crowded and I am not going to be interested in eating that much during the day. Plus I am going to have to order from Garden Grocer anyway (need water, cereal, wine, etc). Even having the free dining last year, I felt like we still spent a lot of money OOP with gratuity, alcoholic drinks, and appetizers. Plus the Jedi Mickey dinner would be 2 credits (more than OOP cost), so I might just still with OOP and a set dining budget.

• Friday - Shutters
• Saturday - Jedi Mickey's Stars Wars Dinner @ Hollywood and Vine
• Sunday - Kona (sushi for me!)

Park Schedule - Still working on it but I am pretty sure it will look something like this:

• Friday - MK after resort check-in (FP for MK attractions) - Epcot open until 11pm. Might split up (one stay with kiddo) and check it out.
• Saturday - HS bright and early for SWW, leaving about midday for a break. Dinner @ HS (7:20pm) and then star wars fireworks. MK open until 2am. Might split up (one stay with kiddo) and check it out. Will definitely do some park hopping today, either @ Epcot or MK
• Sunday - Will check out SWW and Epcot. Not sure how this will all work yet. FP will likely be @ Epcot. DS is tall enough to ride Soarin!
• Monday - Resort check-out, luggage storage and AK at rope drop. I think we will need to be back at our resort and ready for ME by 3pm.

 

[Nhebron]

Just placed a Garden Grocer order for water, juice boxes, wine, cereal, and fruit. You get a 10% discount when you place your order at least 60 days in advance. Also got some lunch items for one of the days. Pretty sure we are NOT doing the dining plan.

 

[Nhebron]

Threads I am reading eagerly right now:

Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015 - http://www.disboards.com/threads/official-star-wars-weekends-thread-tips-and-tricks-2015.3324422/

The "New" Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ Thread! - http://www.disboards.com/threads/th...q-thread-part-viii-open-for-business.3348628/

I totally need to stay out of that Star Wars thread. It's going to have me spending money! Someone just posted the cutest picture and mentioned some Vader light-up shoes. So of course, I had to go directly to Amazon and find a pair for DS.

I am also looking at the Disney cake thread and contemplating whether we will order DS a birthday cake for our trip. I think he would be fine with just a large cupcake from somewhere. I also ordered him a gift basket from the Disney florist with his favorite snack items (cookies, lollipops, cheese crackers), balloons, and a light saber.

 

[Nhebron]

FLASHBACKS!!!

2013

2014

 

[Nhebron]

I asked DS who he wanted to see at Disney World and he said "Pluto." Him....gotta figure that one out. Last year, he saw Pluto at Ohana's breakfast.

 

[Nhebron]

Thinking about canceling dinner on Friday, so that we can just be flexible. We have an early morning flight and will likely be tired. Hoping the resort food court isn't too bad. Other option would be pizza I guess.

 

[Nhebron]

With my FP approaching in a few weeks, I am trying to nail down a park schedule. SWW is putting a wrinkle in my plans. Haven't figured out best strategy for enjoying those activities while still doing our must rides!

 

[chunkymonkey]

We'll be there for SWW too, but the week before you, we actually leave the Friday before mem day weekend. Like you I've always gone during off-peak times, mainly during the fall, but I was determined to go to SWW one year and this year was it! We've booked both Star Wars-themed meals at DHS, they look really fun! We too are not on the dining plan even though we have been so in the past, usually on free dining. There are pros and cons about it but we felt it was too expensive this time, especially since all the SW meals are 2 dining credits each - for it to be worth it for us we would have to do deluxe dining! We definitely like the meal plan though because it just makes our vacation easy but not having one provides you flexibility. I too am going to stay up late to make my FP reservations. I am a little behind in planning this trip as well. I sort of made my reservations a while ago and not tinkered that much with it as I usually do. I really want to go to the Star Wars fireworks dessert finale. I went to the Frozen one last year with my sister and it was so much fun!

 

[Nhebron]

We'll be there for SWW too, but the week before you, we actually leave the Friday before mem day weekend. Like you I've always gone during off-peak times, mainly during the fall, but I was determined to go to SWW one year and this year was it! We've booked both Star Wars-themed meals at DHS, they look really fun! We too are not on the dining plan even though we have been so in the past, usually on free dining. There are pros and cons about it but we felt it was too expensive this time, especially since all the SW meals are 2 dining credits each - for it to be worth it for us we would have to do deluxe dining! We definitely like the meal plan though because it just makes our vacation easy but not having one provides you flexibility. I too am going to stay up late to make my FP reservations. I am a little behind in planning this trip as well. I sort of made my reservations a while ago and not tinkered that much with it as I usually do. I really want to go to the Star Wars fireworks dessert finale. I went to the Frozen one last year with my sister and it was so much fun!

Yay a visitor!! I was getting a bit lonely in here.

I missed out on the SW breakfast. We didn't decide to book this trip until a couple of weeks ago, so the SW themed meals were booked when I originally tried to plan my meals. I lucked out and found the SW H&V opening while surfing the web at 2am!

I keep debating back and forth as to whether we will book the FTF package when it comes out. I feel like it will limit our flexibility to hop to other parks. We have such limited time in Disney (only Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon). On one-hand, it's not our first time, so there are things we can skip. However, this is the first time our kiddo can ride certain rides (Soarin, Test Track, BTMRR, oh my!). I really need to do some prioritization. With the heat and a little one, I know that we cannot go "commando" and will need to take some breaks to get out of the sun.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yeah, the fireworks are pretty late at night. I was actually surprised by how many kids were there. I was more tired then they were! Especially because there is no seating at the area, it is standing room only, but I saw people sitting on the floor. The view wasn't even that good because the hat and scaffolding were in the way but the desserts were really cool and fun to eat. The view will probably be better now that the hat is being removed. Also unlimited ice cream cart snacks like mickey bars and frozen banans. We definitely had a few of those! I agree to just do what works for you. A weekend is a short time at Disney! Where are you flying from? Hopefully it is not too far away.

 

[Nhebron]

We have a relatively short flight...like an hour and 20 minutes. But we are driving three hours to get to the airport (will drive down night before flying out). I got three tickets out of ATL for the cost of one ticket out of my home airport. Driving three hours is better than 10+ hours in memorial day weekend traffic.

We have gone to Disney the past two years and have done 4 nights and 5 park days, so this will definitely be a change for us. We also stayed at deluxe resorts (AKL and Poly), so that might be a change too. We just need to adjust our expectations. I think the heat and crowds will be the biggest issue. Our last two trips were in Feb, during the week before President's weekend. So crowds were fairly low and we followed the crowd calendar recommendations in choosing our park each day. This year, we are purposely going to the least recommended park due to SWW...eek!

 

[Nhebron]

So I started thinking about day 1 and made some dining changes. Day 1 will definitely be MK (recommended park) and I changed the Kona reservation to Friday.

I think we will book our FP during a 3pm-7pm window.

If we get on site early, we may go to DHS to Disney Jr. Live knocked out. That seems a bit aggressive though.

For MK, FP I am hoping to get are 7DMT, BTMRR, and Talking Mickey. Other MK priorities include Minnie in fantasy land. Anything else will just be dependent on wait times, but I do think DS will be interested in less popular attractions like the carousel and tea cups.

 

[Nhebron]

DHS priorities include TSM, Disney Jr. Live, and Star Tours. This is obviously excluding the SWW stuff.

 

[Nhebron]

Day 2 FP will be at DHS. Hoping for TSM and Star Tours.

 

[Nhebron]

Made some changes to the plans!

First, I'm droping AK from the trip. Four parks over a long weekend, with resort breaks dialed in, just didnt seem to work. The downside here is that EE is my absolute favorite ride at Disney! Guess that means we need to go back.

So the park plan looks like this now:

Friday - MK in afternoon, dinner @ Kona and fireworks at DHS
Saturday - DHS with a midday resort break
Sunday - DHS in am, break, and MK in pm
Monday - Epcot


I was able to score an ADR for Sci-fi Galactic breakfast (sweet) for Saturday, so that changed my plans a bit. I now have two Star Wars meals on Saturday.

 

[Nhebron]

Love this one......from our 2013 trip.

 

[irene_dsc]

Following along...I don't know much about SWW. We are doing Spring Break..

 

[Nhebron]

Following along...I don't know much about SWW. We are doing Spring Break..

Welcome!

 

[Nhebron]

I'm starting to feel concerned that we don't have enough time and I need to scale back on the plans. With this being a holiday weekend, I'm sure transportation is going to be bogged down.

What I am currently obsessing over:

• Whether I need park hoppers or not. Can you even change this once you have put them on your package
• Whether we will do the Feel the Force package. I think we will but then this changes our Sunday night plans to go to MK. Sunday is the only day we would have for this package due to ADRs already booked for SWW