September 2011 - The Planning Has Started!!!

[MikellaCinderella]

That dress is gorgeous!! I love all the custom clothes, though the costs can really add up. The first year we went I needed an extra suitcase for all my daughter's custom outfits with all the matching shoes, bows, jewelry, etc. DH told me I needed to pack lighter after that

Haha, I know what you mean about packing! She always has about 3-4 outfits per day, plus bows/jewels, and then about 6-7 different pairs of shoes and sandals! I just can't help it! She's my baby! We stay very organized though. I always bring a hanging plastic shoe holder (the ones with the pockets), and keep all her shoes organized. I have a big box that I keep the bows in so they don't get smashed, and all the jewels in another box individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I usually end up with an extra outfit or 2 in the parks for the day for different ADR's, so I keep them neatly packed in a backpack that is stored under the stroller, locked shut and tied to the stroller itself. That way I don't have to drag it onto rides. I do take another backpack with belongings onto rides with us though....camera, money, KTTW cards, etc. That Rapunzel dress just showed up in the mail this afternoon too! Yay! It's so pretty in person!

 

[MikellaCinderella]

I don't believe it happens earlier. Last year the 14th was the first party date.

Are you able to move your trip by a couple of days? Keep in mind these dates are not carved in stone. They may change. Disney changed a few dates around last year when they finally released the "official" dates & times.

Well, I haven't purchased our airfare yet, so technically I "could" change our dates. The problem is, I don't want her to miss any more school. Right now, she will be missing 5 days. Shortening the trip on the front side won't help because the first 3 days we are at WDW it's Labor Day weekend, so no school anyways. AND....if I added days to the end, we wouldn't have the dining plan. Right now we have the "kids stay/play free" package and deluxe dining for the front side of our trip. I used a 40% off pin code for the last night we are there at WL. I purchased park tickets for both the front and back side of our cruise using the "kids stay/play", but can't add dining to the back side unless I rebook and add tickets to that part as well. It's cheaper to just have the tickets with the first half of the trip because you can use them within 14 days....and cheaper that way. Know what I mean? After our cruise, we are just staying 1 more night at WDW. We have a room booked at WL. 5 nights at POP is before the cruise.

 

[MikellaCinderella]

Oh. My. Goodness. That is the most adorable thing I have ever seen! I think I need some names if you don't mind posting/PMing them?? I have to look into this!

I will send you a PM with some names and links when I get a chance!! Hopefully yet tonight!

 

[MikellaCinderella]

Wow---with the amount of us going on the 27th, we can create our own party..

Whoever is staying at POP...come over to our Pop thread and join us.. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2519160

It's a Sept --Pop Century thread!!

Thanks for the info on the Pop thread! I just joined!

 

[MikellaCinderella]

My DHs cake will be Jack Skellington Themed

Do boys go through a growth spurt at 3?? My son just turned 3 and he's 39.5 inches tall..... with out shoes.... I told him he needs to start stretching to eek out the last 1/2 inch LOL

And my DD is 40.5..... I told her she needs 3.5 more inches LOL She turned 4 today

MNSSHP is TWO DAYS after we leave.... figures....

O well, when we go back in 2012 we'll have to go twice to make up for it right??

Happy Birthday to your DD!! MNSSHP starts ONE day after we leave! Darn!

 

[pinkle]

Got our ADR's in this morning on-line even. Got the times I wanted, which shouldn't surprise me considerin the strange times I wanted.

9/16 Coral Reef 3pm
9/17 Yak & Yeti 2:30pm
9/18 Crystal Palace 10:20am
9/19 50’s Prime Time 3pm
9/20 Tony’s Town Square 6:50pm
9/21 The Garden Grill 6:50pm

Now, just waiting to see if they do the Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party! I want to book it for 9/18 as that's my b-day but the dates only go thru July at the moment. Wonder if they will do them in September?
:

Silly question....i am in the same timezone as WDW is it 6 am or 7am that I can go online to make ADR's???? I would hate to get up at 6:00 if i didn't have to

 

[DaniB]

Now, just waiting to see if they do the Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party! I want to book it for 9/18 as that's my b-day but the dates only go thru July at the moment. Wonder if they will do them in September?

Hallowishes was at 9:30pm and a Parade at 10:30pm? Is there usually another parade earlier? just wondering.

I'm wanting the Dessert Party for the 25th myself! We're hopping there for an evening EHM and it will be crowded that night. I'm planning on surprising my husband! Looks like the dates are only being released about 3 months in advance. Ah well. Hopefully we'll get them, right?

Ohh, and there are 2 parades for the MNSSHP. We saw the first one. I forget when... 9pm? I know that the 2010 MNSSHP thread in the theme park section can tell you. ANd possibly this year's thread.

That's awesome the dates have been posted... doesn't it seem earlier than last year? I thought it was May before they posted them! Not that I am complaining...

These dates are NOT official! I'm sorry MamaJessie. I'm not bashing you. It's just that last year this same thing happened. Websites everywhere post what the dates were and when Disney finally released the dates (late spring / early summer), many people were disappointed as some of the dates where changed. You can find this in last year's MNSSHP thread in the Theme Parks area.

Having said that, again this year I have made our plans based on the current speculated dates of park closing at 7pm. Hopefully these dates won't change. I was lucky last year as the date I planned was cancelled, but I was able to switch to another MNSSHP date during our trip.

It's unfortunate Disney waits so long when people have to book ADRs, vacation, airfare so far in advance.

Well, I haven't purchased our airfare yet, so technically I "could" change our dates. The problem is, I don't want her to miss any more school. Right now, she will be missing 5 days. Shortening the trip on the front side won't help because the first 3 days we are at WDW it's Labor Day weekend, so no school anyways. AND....if I added days to the end, we wouldn't have the dining plan. Right now we have the "kids stay/play free" package and deluxe dining for the front side of our trip. I used a 40% off pin code for the last night we are there at WL. I purchased park tickets for both the front and back side of our cruise using the "kids stay/play", but can't add dining to the back side unless I rebook and add tickets to that part as well. It's cheaper to just have the tickets with the first half of the trip because you can use them within 14 days....and cheaper that way. Know what I mean? After our cruise, we are just staying 1 more night at WDW. We have a room booked at WL. 5 nights at POP is before the cruise.

I can see how switching wouldn't work for you (or be easy). That's a shame. All the more reason to plan another year though, right?

Silly question....i am in the same timezone as WDW is it 6 am or 7am that I can go online to make ADR's???? I would hate to get up at 6:00 if i didn't have to

I'm in the GTA area of Ontario and we are on the same time zone as WDW.

It's 6 AM for ONLINE reservations. And 7 AM for phone reservations. Good luck!

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

I really hope to go in 2012 or 2013 during nov/dec for a MVMCP! I would love to see WDW for the holidays.

You should! The party is awesome and I don't think there's a better time to visit WDW. The Christmas decorations are so beautiful and it's a really fun time to experience Disney!

 

[MamaJessie]

These dates are NOT official! I'm sorry MamaJessie. I'm not bashing you.

I don't think you're bashing me, all I said was wdw news today posted those dates, never said wdw did.


At breakfast DH said he wants to try a princess meal I told him they are a bit expensive and beyond our price range and he said he just wanted to throw it out there because he loves to see the kids reactions and thought they would really enjoy something like that. What to do, what to do.....

 

[Caretames1]

I don't think you're bashing me, all I said was wdw news today posted those dates, never said wdw did.


At breakfast DH said he wants to try a princess meal I told him they are a bit expensive and beyond our price range and he said he just wanted to throw it out there because he loves to see the kids reactions and thought they would really enjoy something like that. What to do, what to do.....

I didn't think Akershus was so bad, price wise for breakfast. It's all you can eat family style, with cold buffet. Picture is inclued in price and gettin in park early is a plus!

 

[L-Harper]

Hey all! I'm sorry that I've been MIA recently. I've just been really busy. I have everyone added and/or changed on the first page!

to all of our new September travelers!

I've been messing around with my ADR's... I added Hollywood & Vine for lunch on our DHS day. I actually didn't even have a TS meal that day, so it works out perfectly. I think my boys are really going to love it. Now, I'm trying to figure out if we want to do Les Chefs de France or The Garden Grill on one of our nights in Epcot. Right now I have a reservation for both. I'm going to decide within the next few days and cancel one of them. Opinions? We have 3 character meals not including Garden Grill... I just don't know!

 

[MamaJessie]

I didn't think Akershus was so bad, price wise for breakfast. It's all you can eat family style, with cold buffet. Picture is inclued in price and gettin in park early is a plus!

I noticed that it said photo package, what comes with that? Is it multiple pictures? Do you get one pp or per table?

Also considering have dh and the two littles do 1900 dinner and me and teh two olders doing t-rex. Ok so sure, he gave me a but he did also give me an excuse to spend more time planning and rearranging all the days again

 

[TinyDancer]

We have the exact opposite. I am on the taller side of average (5'9") and my husband is 6'3", everyone in both of our families is tall, but both our girls are on the lower end of the 50th percentile for height. I guess they will shoot up sometime! My oldest couldn't ride the 40" restrictions until last December, when she was finally 41". But I was bummed I couldn't take her on the Men in Black ride at Universal, she would've loved it, but was an inch too short!

I hope everyone's kids get the growth spurts they need before vacation time!

Oh wow! How old was she when she hit 40"? Briar is usually around 20-30th percentile.. Now I'm worried! She'll be almost 4 when we go.

 

[DaniB]

I don't think you're bashing me, all I said was wdw news today posted those dates, never said wdw did.

At breakfast DH said he wants to try a princess meal I told him they are a bit expensive and beyond our price range and he said he just wanted to throw it out there because he loves to see the kids reactions and thought they would really enjoy something like that. What to do, what to do.....

I noticed that it said photo package, what comes with that? Is it multiple pictures? Do you get one pp or per table?

Also considering have dh and the two littles do 1900 dinner and me and teh two olders doing t-rex. Ok so sure, he gave me a but he did also give me an excuse to spend more time planning and rearranging all the days again

Thanks MamaJessie. I was apologizing in advance in case you thought I might be.

We did Akershus! I thought our DD11 was too old and wouldn't want this. Plus... the money for CRT is way too expensive!! But I was wrong about DD not wanting to see the Princesses and someone pointed me to Akershus. Luckily I was able to obtain an ADR before our trip. It's a whole lot cheaper than CRT and if on the DDP - only 1 credit instead of 2.

The photo package is included with your dinning package at Akershus.

It's one photo package per group and although the PPP took more than 1 picture, you only get to choose 1 pose to purchase. They gave it to us in a pretty folder. The large photo is almost 6x8 and it included 3-4x6 of the same pose.

The good news is that the back of the large photo has a PPP code on it. So if you are purchasing the PhotoPass plan, you can add that number and you will get *all* the photos the photographer took added to your PPP account. So if you are getting the PHotopass package, hand the photographer your PPP card and tell him you'd like a few different shots please. You can get the kids with Belle together, and then you & hubby, or your whole family together.

I'm glad I heard about that before our trip. It was the only way we were able to get the photo (the PPP took) of our son with Belle. Our shot came out too blurry. This was a special breakfast for our DD so the main pose was to be her & Belle.

I've been messing around with my ADR's... I added Hollywood & Vine for lunch on our DHS day. I actually didn't even have a TS meal that day, so it works out perfectly. I think my boys are really going to love it. Now, I'm trying to figure out if we want to do Les Chefs de France or The Garden Grill on one of our nights in Epcot. Right now I have a reservation for both. I'm going to decide within the next few days and cancel one of them. Opinions? We have 3 character meals not including Garden Grill... I just don't know!

Well, here's a question that may help you decide. Do the kids want to meet Chip & Dale, Mickey & Pluto to get photos and/or autographs with them? If they do but you really would rather Chefs de France, can/will you have opportunity to go elsewhere to do this?

What I liked best about the character dining was getting about 25 photos & autographs without waiting in long park line-ups!

 

[TinyDancer]

.............looking into it...good idea, are you going to do it???

Yes! I started running back in January. I've got a big group of my family and friends that are going to do it also! It is going to be a girls only trip, should be a blast!

 

[peachydreamyxx]

I bet your son was adorable What are yall planning on wearing this year?
I have been thinking about doing two parties for that reason since it will be our first year attending the party.

He was adorable, but then again I'm partial We've yet to decide on costumes for this year. All we know is that it has to be loose and lightweight because it was humid. Im figuring I am going to decide closer to September and see what DS is into. Last year we saw the cutest family of 6 done up as Toy Story. I wish I got a picture! The parents were Jesse and Woody, and their kids were buzz, bo peep, a soldier and their baby was an alien. It was adorable! I'd like to try and theme our family if possible this time around.

If you can swing it, I would def. recommend two parties. Last year was our first MNSSHP and I feel like I missed out on a lot because I was so overwhelmed. It was soo much fun! This is the last year that DS is 'free' since he will still be under 3 so if we are going to do two parties this is the year to do it!

 

[TinyDancer]

Silly question....i am in the same timezone as WDW is it 6 am or 7am that I can go online to make ADR's???? I would hate to get up at 6:00 if i didn't have to

6am for online. I'll be up with you in the morning!! Oh what crazy things we do for WDW..
I'm making all my ADRs online and then calling at 7 for CRT, BBB, and PL since those seem to be an ordeal with doing online.

 

[jbmom]

I've been messing around with my ADR's... I added Hollywood & Vine for lunch on our DHS day. I actually didn't even have a TS meal that day, so it works out perfectly. I think my boys are really going to love it. Now, I'm trying to figure out if we want to do Les Chefs de France or The Garden Grill on one of our nights in Epcot. Right now I have a reservation for both. I'm going to decide within the next few days and cancel one of them. Opinions? We have 3 character meals not including Garden Grill... I just don't know!

We love the Garden Grill. It nice because its not a buffet so you don't have to get up, get food in between the characters. I also love their outfits there. The food was good, not great but not any worse than the character buffets we have been to. I have not been to Les Chefs yet, I had thought about an ADR there this trip but I have read some unflattering reviews lately. I don't usually let that sway me, but we already have 6 meals in Epcot so I let it go.

 

[L-Harper]

It's funny, I'm sitting here dreaming about our next WDW vacation. I'm looking at different resorts to imagine where we might stay. Who knows if we'll get to stay in a deluxe resort for a whole week or more for awhile, but it sure is fun to dream about it. I would LOVE to have a 4 day {or so} trip for just me and the hubby. Gosh, that sure would be absolutely awesome!

 

[PixieMama]

I'm going to WDW the first week of September with my mom, sister, and sister's BFF! I seriously cannot wait.

The BFF recently took the plunge to get in on a condo-timeshare. Even though she has never been to Orlando. The convo between my sis and her BFF went something like this:

Sis: "You've been to Orlando. WDW is in Orlando!"

BFF: "I've never been to WDW."

Sis: "WHAT?! How is it you, the 'Princess of all things pure and innocent' have NEVER been to WDW?!"

BFF: "I've just never had the chance to go!"

Sis: "Oh, we are soooo going to WDW."


Anyhooo... the trip the snowballed into including my mom and myself. We have yet to buy our tix and make any sort of plans, but I am soooo excited!

It's a little weird to plan the trip knowing my kids aren't going (we -- myself, DH, and our 2 DDs -- have been to WDW twice; 2007 and 2010)

Soooo... we've decided on the dates for our trip, but unfortunately, nothing else!

We're staying off-site, and have the condo from Sun 9/4 to Fri 9/9.

Our initial thoughts were to get 3 day tickets with Park Hopper, and use Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to tour all 4 parks. Since Monday is a holiday, we figured we'd stay away from the parks (i.e., the crowds). But after looking at EasyWDW.com it looks like the crowds won't be as bad as we thought.

Which leads to the question, should we do 4 days instead of 3? And if so, then should we just get base tickets and spend one day at each park? I've done both... we had Park Hopper passes for our '07 trip, but did not for our 2010 trip. I can see the benefits of both options... but this time, I just don't know!