PTR - my first one...let's see how this goes! T MINUS 18 days and counting!!

[rhondac]

I've been really enjoying all the PTR and TR's on this board so I thought I'd do my own.

Introductions...I'm Rhonda (mom to 3, I love all things Disney), dh (who puts up with my fascination for the disneyworld webpage), ds K just turned 8yo, dd J who is 4.5 and our baby dd L who is almost 16 months.

I have a few Disney trips under my belt - first time when I was 12 years old, then I went again as a teenager with my family, and at 20 with just my Mom. Then DH and I took a trip there shortly after we were married, my sister was working in Epcot at the time and I wanted to visit her.

Then I decided to plan a family trip, we had 2 kids at the time and were planning a March break trip...that is until I discovered #3 was on the way and due at the end of March! Decisions, decisions - we decided to move the trip to Nov 2007 while I was pg, much easier to go with 2 kids while pg than with a newborn. It was a wonderful trip - ds was 6yo, dd almost 3, lots of fun! We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and I loved the resort.

Once we got home I was already itching to go back! Once L turned 1yo I started looking at packages and pricing out airfare. I found a fantastic package deal including airfare, with the free dining and after lots of talking and talking and talking about this great deal and how much fun it would be, DH finally caved

So here I am, planning our second family trip to Disney World, the planning is definately one of my favourite parts of a Disney trip, so many fun things to plan out ahead of time! We are going August 31-September 7, staying at POP, and we have the free dining package (yay!).

 

[rhondac]

We live in Ontario and are flying to Orlando, using ME to get to POP and relying on disney transport for our trip. Our last trip the arrival flight time was horrible, so I'm excited about our flights this time because they are MUCH better. We arrive at MCO around 1pm on Monday, August 31.

I'm assuming it will be around 3:00-3:30pm when we arrive at POP using ME. I'm hoping to do online check-in but not sure if I can. I didn't book my package through Disney, I did it together with my flights through the airline vacation planning group. I do have a disney reservation number from when I made my ADR's, so I'm hoping I can use it to do online check-in - I'd rather avoid a long lineup to checkin and be able to get to a park ASAP for our first evening!

Once I had the trip booked my planning began...planning out our days so I could book ADR's according to which park we will be in that day. I opted not to do park hoppers this time. We had them on our last trip but only hopped once or twice. It really wasn't worth it for us, with the little kids hopping definately seemed like more hassle than it was worth. But without park hoppers I had to be very careful planning our days for parks as I had specific character meals I wanted.

After much tweaking I finally decided on a plan, and a backup plan which includes a few extra ADRs just in case ;-)

So here's the current plan (and it will likely not change as I have ADRs which pretty much dictate our park days):

Monday - travel day, HS evening, quick service dinner at Pizza Planet (I have a 7:55 ADR at Chef Mickey's but I'm fairly certain we won't be using it, I have another one booked later in the trip for a much more reasonable time, I just don't think a late dinner is going to work for us our first night)

Tuesday - AK day, 8:15am reservation at Tusker House for Donald's Breakfast Safari. We've never done this meal before so I'm excited to go, I'm excited to have a character meal our very first morning at Disney, and I'm mostly excited to be in the park before opening. Hours this day at AK are 9-5 so we'll need every minute in the park to get everything done as this is our only day at AK. I'm not sure what we'll do this evening once we leave the park. With the park plan I have for this day I'm hoping we'll be done by the time the Jammin' parade starts, then head out of the park after the parade to beat the crowds who will likely be leaving at 5 when the park closes. We'll definately go back to the resort for a swim, then either hang out at POP for the evening or if we have a lot of energy we'll head to DTD for quick service dinner and shopping.

Wednesday - MK day!!! I can't wait to walk down main street. We have lunch ADRs at CRT for 12:15. J is very excited as she is really, REALLY into princesses now (our last trip she wasn't quite 3 and hadn't hit the princess phase yet). I will be bringing her snow white gown with us. She does have a cinderella dress but it's more of a winter dress - long sleeves, very thick fabric so it's bulkier to pack plus will be warm for summer weather. Her snow white dress is really cute and lightweight. I'm not telling her though, I know if I tell her beforehand she'll want a Cinderella dress. This way I'll just say on the way to the castle "by the way, I brought your beautiful snow white princess dress to wear at lunch" and she'll just be so excited to be going she won't care. Park hours this day are 9-9. According to Disney calendar no Spectromagic this night, but Wishes is at 9pm. So the plan is to stay for fireworks. Not being able to see Wishes on our last trip is the only regret I had about the trip so I'm definately seeing them this time! Yes, it will be a long day at the park, and no I don't plan to go back to the resort. I do plan for us to take breaks, I've planned the day out so we have some downtime, plus the CRT lunch in the middle of the day will give the kids a big break I think.

Thursday - Epcot day, ADRs at Garden Grill with Chip and Dale at 4:30pm. We'll do a quick breakfast at our resort and get to the bus stop early I hope. One of the things I'm really looking forward to here is the Kim Possible missions. It's new since our last trip and is something I think my 2 big kids will absolutely love. I'm hoping to do a few missions between our 2 days at Epcot.

Friday - HS, no ADRs this day. Park hours are 9-7 although I'm hoping we have everything done by the time Block Party Bash starts so we can head out after the parade. Maybe DTD this evening. It depends on Tuesday, if we already did DTD on Tues evening then tonight is a maybe. If we haven't done DTD yet then I'd definately like to head there for quick service dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express and do shopping.

Saturday - MK day again. Early ADRs for Crystal Palace at 8:20 before the park opens. I've never been in the park early for breakfast (last trip we did dinner at CP) so I'm looking forward to walking down main street in the early hours. I have a picture in my mind I'd love to get - all 3 of my kids walking toward the castle - we'll see if it comes to fruition. First we'll do the areas of MK not yet done on Wednesday, then re-do things we all liked best. Dinner ADRs at Whispering Canyon, I think the kids will enjoy the boatride to WL. After dinner we'll head back to MK and hopefully see spectromagic. It will have been a loooong day for us all at this point, hence the hopefully. We are definately not staying for wishes at 10pm though, the plan is stay for spectro and get back to the resort to sleep!

Sunday - our last full day at Disney, I'm already sad just thinking about it. Today is our second Epcot day. The plan is to hit anything we missed the first day and if time permits redo favourites. We have ADRs for Chef Mickey's at 5:00pm. We'll take monorail from Epcot to Contemporary for dinner. Not sure if we'll head back to Epcot or not - if we are tired we'll go back to POP for the night, if not we'll head back to Epcot and catch Illuminations.

Monday - time to go home. Our flight is around 2:00pm so we'll have time for breakfast and a swim, then it will be time to finish packing and get on ME to the airport.

Well, I think I've outlined enough. I actually have very detailed plans for each day, outlining rides and areas of each park we'll be hitting at different times of the day. Yes, I'm a bit obsessed with the disney trip planning!

 

[rhondac]

Only 1 month to go, it seemed so far away when I booked the trip and now it's coming up fast.

I've spent the last couple of months planning the details of our days at the parks - making ADRs, which days to be at which parks (avoiding EMH due to no-park hoppers, touring plans), planning each day in detail to make sure we hit everything we want to see.

Now the trip is getting closer so I need to focus on the travel down there - packing lists, picking up little things for the kids to keep them occupied on the plane/in hotel room/in lineups. I've already picked up a few things - colouring books for L, tinkerbell activity book and some disney crosswords for J, reading books for K. I want to plan some fun things to keep the kids occupied in lineups - I've already told K about the hidden mickey's and he's excited to look for those. I was thinking of googling some Disney facts/trivia and making little info cards and games to keep in the backpack - I list 4 facts and the kids try to figure out which one is true, that sort of thing. Anyone have any suggestions? I'd love any and all ideas.

I also want K and J to each do a little journal while on the trip, nothing big, just write a blurb about each day - their favourite thing, etc. I'm going to try to find some Disney character notebooks at the dollar store.

Clothes...I have 1 boy and 2 girls, while I wouldn't call myself a total matchy matchy person, I do like the kids to coordinate, especially when pictures will be taken (there will be lots of pictures taken!). K's clothes aren't much of an issue - navy, brown and khaki shorts go with pretty much everything. The girls have some outfits which coordinate, don't match exactly but are from the same line at gymboree so the colours work well together. Being the absolute planning dork I am, I'm trying to coordinate their outfits with who we will be meeting that day character wise. Last time we went to Disney I packed the kids outfits in large ziploc bags, a complete outfit in each bag, labelled for which day. It worked out really well and I plan to do that again...so much easier to just grab a bag and tell K and J to get dressed than going through the suitcase trying to find the right t-shirt.

 

[rhondac]

The pre-trip shopping has begun! I love to buy things for a trip - little things for the kids to keep them entertained. And I especially like to get deals so we avoid spending too much on souvenirs for the kids (you know, so *I* can spend more on souvenirs at Disney LOL).

Today I found a really cute light up cinderella necklace for a steal at 2.49. It's a cinderella figurine, you presh a button on front and it stays lit up for a little while. I figure this will be perfect for J during spectromagic. I want to pick up some glow sticks to bring for K. They had an Aurora necklace too and I'm almost wishing I'd picked it up - even though L is only going to be 17 months I think she'd like it. Hmmm, I think another shopping trip is in my future next week.

I also started picking up little things for the baby - disposable sippy cups for milk - she has a SIGG sport cup and kleen kanteen sippy but we'll use those for water. Disposable snack cups to fit on her tray, disposable bibs (I'm not exactly an environmentally friendly traveller, am I?).

And I've started stockpiling snacks to bring - mini boxes of cereal, snack packs of goldfish crackers, granola bars, little raison boxes, juice boxes, soy milk tetra packs, L's baby cereal bars which she appears to be addicted to. We do have the free dining plan but my kids are all about snacks throughout the day, they don't seem to eat a lot at meals but rather graze as the day goes on, so I want to be prepared without having to use up all our snack credits - I'd like to save those for fun things like mickey ice cream bars and frozen lemonade!

 

[rhondac]

Haven't been around - we took a mini vacation to Niagara Falls while dh was on vacation from work!

 

[rhondac]

Hmmm, I tried to post some pics but it says I need at least 10 posts so I'm adding some...

 

[rhondac]

And another

 

[rhondac]

And another...

 

[rhondac]

Another

 

[rhondac]

And one more!

 

[rhondac]

We went on a mini-trip this past weekend to Niagara Falls. At first I was annoyed at my kids - within the first hour they were super annoying with asking for absolutely everything they saw! I told them I'm not taking them to Disney if they are going to act like that when we get there (Dh was scared - I told him the baby and I would go by ourselves LOL). But they both calmed down, and were very appreciative of the things we did do, getting to stay in a hotel, playing games, going to Marineland, etc so it was all good.

I made each of the kids their link chain, they were both asking about having one. K's is Mickey themed, J's is princess and they are hanging in their rooms, they enjoy taking a link off each morning. On each link I wrote something to look forward to at Disney (give Mickey a hug, each lunch in Cinderella's Castle, visit Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow, Expedition Everest, etc).

And I've started organizing the disney stuff I'm accumulating for each kids. So far J is in the lead - she's so easy to buy for...princess stuff, plus she's the perfect age for activity books, etc. I have a few reading books for K, and some baby stuff for L but I need to get a few more things to even it all out!

 

[rhondac]

When we took the kids in Nov 2007 we didn't do autographs. I just didn't really think about it, J was under 3 and I don't think would have really been into it yet.

This time however I really want to do it. I'd like to get the kids each an autograph book with spots for pictures so we'll do pics with each character to put beside the autographs. I believe they are available at DW in the resort gift shops? We get to POP late afternoon and are heading to HS right away, I'd like to buy the books at POP when we arrive in case we meet any characters at HS that evening (K would love to meet the Incredibles!). The other thing I'm considering is making autograph books for them out of an 8x8 scrapbook. We'll see how ambitious I feel before we leave!

I've already started my sharpie collection, so we have the right colour for each character to sign with

I think I have all the colours we'll need for princesses, tinkerbell, mickey, minnie, goofy, donald, etc.

Any tips for getting autographs? We'll be getting most of them at Character meals - we are dining at Donald's breakfast at Tusker House, Garden Grill with Chip 'n' Dale, CRT, Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's. We are also planning to visit Pixie Hollow, and possible the princesses in Toontown (depending on which princesses we see at CRT). And I'd love to meet Mary Poppins, I believe she's in the UK at Epcot? K really wants to meet Stitch, we saw him last time at Ohana Breakfast which was so much fun but I just couldn't fit it in this time. I believe we can meet Stitch at AK so I'm hoping we do that on our second day, which is our only day at AK. I'm not sure if there are any Stitch meets at other parks, but I should find out before we leave just in case we don't see him at AK, as that is the only one K has specifically requested. J will be seeing all her favs - princesses and fairies - so I want him to meet Stitch. I'm hoping L doesn't mind meeting Pooh and friends. Our breakfast at Crystal Palace is near the end of the trip, so she will have seen lots of characters at that point, hopefully she's willing to get her picture taking with Pooh.

 

[SilverL]

I love the countdown links you made for your kids. So cute!

As far as autographs go, if there are specific characters your kids really want to meet, check Steve Soares' website for the character greetings times and make a list before you go. I think these are published on the times guides in the parks as well, but it's been a while. Character meals are the best way to do autographs because you're killing two birds with one stone and eliminating line time, but not all characters are at the meals.

Try to catch characters as soon as they come out if you're looking for them in the parks. They don't always stay out long enough to visit with everyone in line, and if there is no line, the experience can be awesome. We ran into Captain Hook and Smee early one morning right after riding POTC. My little sister's friend had bought a "My Boyfriend is a Pirate" pin and Smee decided he was her boyfriend. They goofed around with us for 10 minutes or so. They stole our sunglasses and posed with them, fought with each other, and all the while Smee kept insisting he was her boyfriend! We have a hilarious series of pictures.

 

[rhondac]

Thanks - I stole the idea of the Mickey one from a PTR I read on here, then my dd wanted princess so I did the crown for her. I was going to do just one family link chain - but they each have different things they are looking forward to, this way each thing on their chain is something they specifically will be looking forward to doing (my son is not a princess fan - he was so mad I caught a pic of him with Jasmine last time LOL).

Good tip on the Steve Soares website, I'll definately look there before we leave and make a list of where/when for each must-see character. I love the character meals, we did 3 of them last time and are doing 5 this time because it is such a great way to meet the characters. Plus my 17 month old doesn't have any credits on the dining plan, so character meals are the best way for us to go as they are mostly buffets/all you can eat so it makes it easier to get her a plate of things she'll like (whereas at other sit downs I need to make sure to order something she can safely share).

How fun about the character interaction. I've read so many stories like that on here, princesses walking with little girls holding their hands, etc. I would love to have something like that happen with us on our trip, I'm a picture-taking fiend and would just love to get something like that on camera with my kids!

 

[SilverL]

We had fun with Mulan and Mushu in the China Pavilion last time too. We were pretty lucky with the characters. My sister and her friend were around 13-14 at the time and didn't care to wait in lines for characters, but we always happened upon them when there was no line. Arriving at the park early helped for sure. We ran into Mexican Donald and Belle. We did wait for Stitch, I think. They love Stitch.

When I was much, much younger, my family took a trip to Disneyland. I stood in line waiting for Pooh and carefully drew a honey pot on a blank page of my autograph book. I wanted him to sign inside the honey pot and didn't realize that it was too small for them to do that. When it was finally my turn, I handed my book to Pooh. He spotted the honey pot and proceeded to spend the next few minutes licking my autograph book until the handler CM finally convinced him that it wasn't a real honey pot. You never know what they're going to do!

 

[rhondac]

so I had a realization the other day. As a family we now have quite a selection of aluminum bottles (kleen kanteen and SIGGs mostly). However we now have one less due to little L and her stroller. She had the cutest SIGG bottle, which was my favourite (used to be J's), it has a great twist sport top which was perfect for her. We were in Niagara falls, it was on her stroller, and now we no longer have the bottle, ARGH! I knew something like this would happen, I was always checking it, putting it back in the cup holder on her tray, etc. And in the mall or on the way to the park it isn't a problem because I easily notice if it falls overboard (aka gets thrown overboard by a certain toddler). However with the craziness that is Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls I obviously did not notice and now it's gone. My first thought was I need to buy another one before we go to Disney, then I realized the same thing might happen there! But it is going to be HOT while we are there (first week of Sept), and seeing as she doesn't talk yet I really want her to have constant access so she can drink whenever she needs water.

So, I figured the easiest solution was more disposable sippys. I had picked up a batch to use for milk in the evening as they are easier to rinse out than her avent ones I use at home, and if I don't get a chance to rinse and it gets gross then I just toss. Yesterday I picked up another batch (different colours to keep milk/water ones separate). I'll use those on her stroller tray for water. I do like the aluminum water bottles for safety (the evils of plastic and all LOL). But these sippys are BPA free, plus I figure I'll bring a bunch of our alum bottles, fill them at the resort in the mornings and keep them under the stroller (we go to the amusement park near our house and when I do this the water actually stays cool all day). Then I can just fill up the plastic sippys on her tray throughout the day so she has constant access to refreshing, cool water.

Wow, that was a long post all about sippys LOL! I'm just concerned about her staying hydrated while we are there. She will be almost 17 months but she absolutely refuses to talk (no other developmental delays, she understands everything we say to her, she uses sign language a bit to communicate and other ways like pointing, etc - I think she's just stubborn and doesn't want to talk ). At least my big kids can tell me when they are thirsty or feeling blah because of the heat.

I keep reading about those cooling fans to attach to baby strollers to keep them cool. Anyone have experience with those? Should I get one beforehand or are they available at Disney?

And another question about water - anyone with experience at POP who can answer this would be great - are there water dispensers in the food court I can use to fill our bottles in the morning? Is the water decent? (taste good? I'm a picky water drinker). Is there an ice dispenser? I don't know if I'm better off waiting until I get to the parks and having a CM at counter service fill them for me.

 

[rhondac]

details, details...

I am trying to make sure we aren't super rushed while we are there, but on the other hand I'm trying to make sure we do everything, sooooo, I have a plan for each day in the park. Some of them I think are overly ambitious with 3 kids including a young toddler. But I figure I'll make the plan, we'll do what we can and if we don't do it all, I won't get stressed. Mostly the plan is to make sure we aren't criss crossing around the parks. Here's our plan for Hollywood Studios our first evening. It's evening EMH but I'm not sure how late we'll want to be here so it's very likely not all of this will be done our first night. We have another full day at HS later in the week.

* take bus from Pop to HS, arrive at park 4:30-5:00pm? This all depends on how long it takes to get to POP on ME, and how long it takes to check-in...I'm hoping to do online check-in before we leave to make the process as fast as possible once we arrive at Pop.

* HSM3 show? K, my 8yods, loves the HSM movies, he's all about music and thinks Troy is very cool. It would be nice to arrive at the park just before this starts and get to see it when we walk into the park but if not we'll have lots of oppty to see this later in the week when we spend a full day at HS

* streets of america, honey I shrunk the kids playground - my kids loved HISTK playground last time so we'll head there, they will have just spent a good part of the day in airport, airplane, on ME bus, on bus to HS so running around a playground seems like the best first stop for us

* quick service dinner at Pizza Planet - definately a must for K, he was a big Toy Story fan when he was little. I don't think J has seen the movies so I'll need to put these on our list of movies for disney movie nights leading up to the trip so she's familiar with the characters, I think she'll really like them

* Epic stunt spectacular? I'll need to check the times of this before we leave, I believe Steve Soares usually has times guide info a week beforehand? Dh and K want to catch both this and the Indy show at HS, so I'm hoping they can do one this evening, the other later in the week when we are at HS

* Muppet Vision 3D - we didn't see this last time, I haven't seen it since dh and I went in 2000, I really want to see it this time around and I think both K and J will enjoy it! Likely dh will hang out with L outside while we are in here.

* animation Courtyard for magic of disney animation, playhouse disney dance party - I've been reading about the disney dance party in HS on EMH nights, anyone know about this? Is it still on? It looks like something all my kids will love so I hope so! I thought dh or I could take K through disney animation while the little kids party it up with the playhouse gang

* toy story mania - since it's evening EMH I'm hoping we can ride this, but if the lineup is too long we'll wait for later in the week

If we can get all these done our first evening I will be VERY happy. Even if we do TSM this evening I will want to do it again later in the week, it will be the first place we head on our HS day.

 

[SilverL]

I'm not sure about misting fans that attach to strollers, but I have a spray bottle mister fan that is really really nice when you're there in the hotter months. You can buy them at Disney, but they're way overpriced. Take a trip to Walmart or some such store and pick one up for much cheaper. Oh, and don't forget PONCHOS! Last time we bought some nice, non disposable ponchos that had little drawstring bags in which to store them and they were fantastic. Don't forget one for the stroller!

Also, I'm pretty sure that FastPasses for TSM will be gone by the time you arrive that evening and lines will be insane. You could wait in the line if you want, but you could also make sure to get there early on your HS day and eliminate the wait. TouringPlans says that you can get the most done in the first two hours the park is open, so when I figured out our park strategies, I made sure we hit all of the popular rides first.

 

[rhondac]

yeah, I wasn't sure about TSM during evening EMH. The regular park hours end at 7pm, EMH that night until 10pm. I'll run over to TSM right when we get to the park and hope they still have fp available for later in the evening.

And yes, ponchos, thanks for the reminder...I need to add that to my packing list I have started! I don't want to spend a ton of money on Disney ponchos, I'd rather buy cheap ones before we leave.

 

[rhondac]

Day 2 - our first full day at Disney - Animal Kingdom! park hours this day are 9-5.

* ADRs for Donald's Breakfast at Tusker House for 8:15am - this means an early wake up but the benefit is we are in the park super early. I'm really excited about this meal, how fun our first morning at Disney the kids get to meet some of their fav characters. J has been really excited about meeting Daisy Duck! I'm hoping we don't have to wait long to get seated because I don't want to rush through bfast but want to be done shortly after 9 so we can get over to Kilimanjara before a lineup starts

* first stop after breakfast is Kilimanjara safari - hope to get on without a huge lineup

* next is heading over to Asia - grab fastpasses for Expedition Everest (if the lineup isn't too long we'll just wait but likely by this point will need fastpasses)

* once we have EE fastpasses we'll head to Dinoland. I'd like to catch the first showing of Finding Nemo (we missed this last trip) so we'll get in the lineup. Once out of here we'll visit the boneyard (K loved this last time!). Then Tricera Top Spin...if it's time to use EE fastpasses dh or I will take K over, the other will take the girls on Tricera Top Spin (J is too small for EE, this will make her very sad so that's why I'm planning for her to be on another ride at the same time).

* then Discovery Island - lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, and meet Lilo & Stitch

* back to Asia for maharaja jungle trek and flights of wonder show

* by now it's time to get a spot for jammin' jungle parade!

And now we've done everything in the park that's on my list. We saw Festival of the Lion King last time, so I don't feel a strong urge to see it again (although it was a great show!). My kids are big fans of 3D movies, I might be able to get them into Muppet Vision 3D at HS, but not even going to try It's Tough To Be a Bug even though they love the Bug's Life movie. We are also skipping Dinosaur.

My plan is to leave the park just after the parade, go back to Pop and have a swim in the pool.

Then we'll either have dinner at the resort and just wander around the paths and have an early night, or head to DTD for dinner (I'm dying to try Wolfgang Puck Express!) and do some shopping. I *think* we'll be able to do DTD esp after having a swim to have down time and energize everyone, but we'll see, I don't want to push the kids too hard, it is a long week of late nights. K is fine, he's a night owl so staying up late isn't a problem for him. And L should be fine as she'll just sleep in the stroller as needed. J gets kind of whiney when tired, what will help is we are bringing the stroller which has a little bench seat/stand on the back so she can stand or sit for a break throughout the day and evening.