She's Gonna Party, A June 2025 Copper Creek PTR

[rdkeim]

I see it now - party tickets! Very fun! I love the parks at night.

 

[eliseisawkward]

We got hoppers for the first time, in part because your trip reports made the flexibility of hoppers sound so appealing! For a short trip, it worked out really well for us.

We’ve done 2 After Hours tickets, one at AK and one at MK and honestly loved both so much!! I would love to do one at HS next for sure. Maybe when I don’t have a toddler…

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I’m excited to hear the plans for another of your adventures! I always love your trip reports.

So far your plans sound great. Another first class flight (especially a direct flight!) sounds like a dream. We’re taking our first first-class flight this summer (not to Disney World) as the price was just slightly more than the “more legroom” seats on our United flight. I only did first class on the way there as it was $3,000 more to add it for the way home. Even with a single leg I’m pretty excited about it!

And hooray for After Hours tickets! I think this is GREAT option for Hollywood Studios as they have so many headliners and the lines get so long. It is also such a hot park! I’m trying the MK AH party for the first time next month - wandering around a quieter MK in the dark should remind me of the late night EMH that I loved back in the day. As you guys like to enjoy time outside the parks at your resort and Disney Springs, fewer park days or skipping hopping could work for you.

I look forward to hearing about the rest of your plans - especially your dining choices!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I love the return of the spreadsheet. I love using them for Disney decision making, too.

Disney is the best use of spreadsheets, right?

Your first full day is a good time to go to the party. Your family will still be on California time.

Yeah, we figure it is a good time to sleep in and have a late night. I think we will just do Disney Springs before we go to the park that evening.

My sister-in-law bought the $99 one park/four-day ticket for a couple trips. She didn't like having to use one day for AK instead of going to MK twice. Now she has an annual pass.

That’s a good point about the special tickets, they don’t allow visiting a park twice. The flexibility of APs is the best bet by far. I think we will plan for park hoppers once again on our other park days.

Yay, another TR! Anxious to follow along. Love non-stop fights - we book them whenever we can. Eliminates so many possibilities for trip drama. Never experienced first class - maybe some day. Cliff hanger on the next purchase!

Welcome. It is great not having to worry about connections and switching planes, plus another whole airport to worry about. Yes, the purchase of the party tickets was the cliff hanger for the next update.

I see it now - party tickets! Very fun! I love the parks at night.

You came in after the cliff hanger was posted, but you got it. I’m sure we’ll buy something else before too long though.

We got hoppers for the first time, in part because your trip reports made the flexibility of hoppers sound so appealing! For a short trip, it worked out really well for us.

We do love them. Melissa says I have severe FOMO and like visiting every park every day and probably would if she didn’t throttle me… It is great to have flexibility on the shorter trips, we just got tempted by the lower cost last year.

We’ve done 2 After Hours tickets, one at AK and one at MK and honestly loved both so much!! I would love to do one at HS next for sure. Maybe when I don’t have a toddler…

We really think it will work out great for us. We all enjoy some HS rides but don’t need to spend all day there. If we can get in everything that night it will be a win. At least a toddler will sleep in a stroller…

I’m excited to hear the plans for another of your adventures! I always love your trip reports.

Thanks for joining in once again.

So far your plans sound great. Another first class flight (especially a direct flight!) sounds like a dream. We’re taking our first first-class flight this summer (not to Disney World) as the price was just slightly more than the “more legroom” seats on our United flight. I only did first class on the way there as it was $3,000 more to add it for the way home. Even with a single leg I’m pretty excited about it!

That sounds great about your flights. You just gotta check because sometimes it is totally worth the extra of you can get a deal. Melissa reminds you to be sure to go online and reserve your meal choices ahead of time. That helped us a lot on American last year, and we believe United does the same with making choices about five days before the flights. It will be great, but kinda like a drug dealer giving out free samples it might get you hooked. It worked that way for us.

And hooray for After Hours tickets! I think this is GREAT option for Hollywood Studios as they have so many headliners and the lines get so long. It is also such a hot park! I’m trying the MK AH party for the first time next month - wandering around a quieter MK in the dark should remind me of the late night EMH that I loved back in the day. As you guys like to enjoy time outside the parks at your resort and Disney Springs, fewer park days or skipping hopping could work for you.

Yeah, we will probably still decide to park hop, but having two non-regular ticket days during the trip should be fine.

I look forward to hearing about the rest of your plans - especially your dining choices!

We will share them as we come up with them. The next update mentions some of them, and we are working on that right now.

 

[eliseisawkward]

At least a toddler will sleep in a stroller…

Oh I wish. I do wish… not my extremely nosey toddler with severe FOMO. She has literally never once in her life slept in a stroller.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Oh I wish. I do wish… not my extremely nosey toddler with severe FOMO. She has literally never once in her life slept in a stroller.

Wow, if she won't do it at Disney after a long day of fun, it probably just isn't happening. I guess its good preparation for later when they HAVE to be part of everything. I guess she's already in that phase.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Wow, just like that we are down to our double digit day! That's one advantage of getting a late start on the PTR, but now our countdown is down to 99 days.

The trip is so close! Time is just going to fly though because if we weren’t already busy enough Allison is now on the track team. We’re officially sports parents and all that entails, including practice every day after school and meets on most Saturdays between now and early May.

Yes, she is taking full advantage of the High School experience and signed up for high jump on the track and field team.

It is kind of neat, they did a one day track meet each year in middle school, and Allie learned that she has a strange ability to do high jump, despite not being all that tall. She's strong and athletic and motivated, so she does well.

It’s exciting to watch her try something new and be involved.

On the Disney front we haven’t finalized our restaurant reservation decisions yet. We have some conflicting priorities.

Ahh yeah, we have some meal plans in place, and some ideas for changes / things to try agian. We have our consistent must-dos which will include Boathouse, Teppan Edo, and probably Yak and Yeti, but the interesting part is what to do differently.

Since we'll have a car, eating dinnner at other resorts is easier, and there's a couple we'd like to go back to.

Topolino and Boma are on the potential list this year along with maybe something along the monorail loop like Grand Floridian Cafe, or Kona Cafe.

We were actually thinking we would leave an open ADR window for our monorail hopping afternoon, so we can see what's available to hop into, kind of like we did with Kona last year. It has been a long time since we did Boma, and it sounds good to all of us. Topolino sounds good too, but Melissa much prefers driving there rather than connecting via the Skyliner and other transportation to the resort.

I just don’t like feeling stuck at a resort if something goes sideways (like high winds, freak rainstorms, etc.), now that the kids are bigger and nobody needs a car seat a cab would be an option but I think driving would just be easier.

Driving also makes the dinner location more independent from which park we are at that day, so it may well happen that we visit Boma after MK or Epcot, but with the car it can actually work well.

Yes, last trip we planned a Sanaa dinner on our Animal Kingdom park day which makes a ton of sense if you are relying on Disney Transportation, but with the car we were able to leave the park when we wanted and have enough time to go back to the room, rest for a bit, and then come back out for dinner without having hour long transportation times. It really helps make more efficient use of our vacation time.

I'm also always a fan of the mid-day resort break. It is nice to come back home to WL multiple times a day.

We are also planning to have a non-park day later in the trip, which will include shopping time at Disney Springs and surprisingly both kids really want to go back to Forever Vintage Surplus again.

It's a trip outside the bubble, but I'm in for it. One question is do we try for Homecoming Brunch again. It can be tough to get, but we are always tempted to try.

We were talking about skipping Homecomin brunch but we were watching either DisneyFoodBlog or AllEars on YouTube and they were doing a review and it reignited the desire. The food is sooooo good.

It is hard to say no to, and we do enjoy our DS mornings. It should be a fun time. Now we just gotta get through about three more months of work, school, sports, trip planning, and whatever life brings, We'll keep you posted.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It is kind of neat, they did a one day track meet each year in middle school, and Allie learned that she has a strange ability to do high jump, despite not being all that tall. She's strong and athletic and motivated, so she does well.

I like the way she is holding her sleeves so that nothing hits the bar. Those one day track meets are a great way to find hidden talent.
Our granddaughter is doing shot put, just like her mother did.

We are also planning to have a non-park day later in the trip, which will include shopping time at Disney Springs and surprisingly both kids really want to go back to Forever Vintage Surplus again.

I looked into that shop when I had a quick trip with my sister last November. She had rented a house for a month that wasn't too far away from the shop. But the shop is only open certain days of the week, and I wasn't there for those days. It looks like a lot of fun, though.

 

[Woth2982]

Joining in! AH at DHS is 100% worth it! My brother and I did it a few years ago. It was actually cheaper to get the AH than adding a day to his ticket! We were the only two people on R&R! Longest line we waiting in was for Slinky and it was maybe 15 minutes? I would love to do another AH at DHS.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I like the way she is holding her sleeves so that nothing hits the bar. Those one day track meets are a great way to find hidden talent.
Our granddaughter is doing shot put, just like her mother did.

Hooray for middle school track meets and discovering hidden talents.

I looked into that shop when I had a quick trip with my sister last November. She had rented a house for a month that wasn't too far away from the shop. But the shop is only open certain days of the week, and I wasn't there for those days. It looks like a lot of fun, though.

It is a neat place, although a full 30-45 minutes from WDW, so it is a bit of a commitment if you are a staying in that area. Both kids absolutely want to do it again next year so we will plan on it.

Joining in! AH at DHS is 100% worth it! My brother and I did it a few years ago. It was actually cheaper to get the AH than adding a day to his ticket! We were the only two people on R&R! Longest line we waiting in was for Slinky and it was maybe 15 minutes? I would love to do another AH at DHS.

Welcome, we are glad that you joined in. It just seems like a great way to do HS for us, and the cost really is largely offset by the day of park ticket savings. Short lines and cooler temps at HS sound wonderful to us.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Hello, and welcome back. We got to do some Disney related trip planning this week since we had dinner with Jon and Brandy, friends of ours who have joined us on many trips who just spent 9+ days at WL in January. It was our first chance to catch up with them since their trip, and we got their recent restaurant experiences and reviews to use for our trip.

We are still firming up our plans as far as restaurants go but we’ve got a good idea of what we want to do. They really solidified our plans for Boathouse again (not that Paul needed any more encouragement).

They did enjoy Boathouse, and guess what, they were able to eat in the wooden boat! After trying for years, this time they didn't even ask and wound up seated there. It is just a great restaurant with a huge variety. We originally went there at Jon's request, and now it is probably my favorite WDW restaurant, and one we will likey visit on our first full day.

They also had dinner at Topolino which is on our short list for this trip. I think after their review it earned its spot.

Yes, they said it was one of the very best meals of their trip, and they ate at a lot of great restaurants including California Grill and Teppan Edo. We enjoyed Topolino's for dinner once before with Jon and Brandy, so we feel it is time to go back.

With the rental car we can swing by there any night, and might even get to see some Epcot fireworks from there.

They had not a great experience at Teppan Edo but it was just kind of an off day. It’ll stay on our list for sure and they weren’t ready to hold their most recent experience against it.

Yeah, it is another must do for me, and despite having to pay an upcharge for the filet mignon, it is still easy to do and really worth it. Their chef wound up overcooking everything, including the Wagyu, so that was probably the main issue. We'll hope our great luck there continmues, and will probably plan on another lunch there on a full Epcot day. They also got to try Summerhouse on the Lake at Disney Springs, and they said it was really good.

They had pizza which sounds good. Our problem is we don't have enough room for ADRs there for all the places we'd like to eat. Maybe we can snag something there on our departure day, we'll see.

Oh yeah, maybe on departure day.

We do want to leave some spots open to see what we can snag, and not overplan. We'll see.

A little real life update, Allie crushed it at her first real big track meet this weekend. She placed first at a smaller scrimmage meet on Wednesday and then today she tied for third at a huge meet, I think I heard there were 18 schools.

That was really cool, and was her first real track meet. This might be a big part of our weekends for the next few months.

Oh and then on Friday I did something super critical for the trip.

Oh yes, without that the kids and I might be boarding the plane by ourselves...

I have been putting off getting my Real ID for 5 years now and I finally had to go take care of that.

After a series of delays, I'm thinking this time they are going to require IDs that actually verify you are who you say.

The California DMV is notoriously a pain in the you know what but I completed all of the paperwork online before my scheduled appointment so that helped when I got to the DMV office.

I did have my birth certificate rejected once and then our marriage license rejected when I had to upload it the second time because they rejected the birth certificate. Once I got to the office though it only took 20ish minutes from start to finish so that was pretty fantastic. I should have my newly verified license by the time we fly.

That's great, we can all go to Disney together this way!

We've been watching weekly Disney Food Blog videos as always, and today we found a fun one.

Oh yeah, speaking of looking back, it was a neat look at how things have changed at Disney from 2020 to 2025.

Looking back at the COVID restrictions was a little wild.

And the things that never came back, like Fastpasses. Anyway, it was a pretty fascinating one to watch.

That’s all we got for tonight. We make our ADR’s in just over a month so we should have everything firmly nailed down soon.

 

[Wood Nymph]

They also got to try Summerhouse on the Lake at Disney Springs, and they said it was really good.

We've added Summerhouse to our list of restaurants for our upcoming trip. I hope it's good.

A little real life update, Allie crushed it at her first real big track meet this weekend. She placed first at a smaller scrimmage meet on Wednesday and then today she tied for third at a huge meet, I think I heard there were 18 schools.

Wow! That's great. I see a future of track meets for you.

I have been putting off getting my Real ID for 5 years now and I finally had to go take care of that.

We finally got ours last November. Luckily, we had many of the documents already on hand. We needed them when we enrolled in TSA precheck. We had some anxious moments when my husband's new Real Id was lost in the mail. It took our neighbors about two weeks before they finally gave us the envelope that had been delivered to their house by mistake. You would have thought that the return address from the Secretary of State would have prompted them to give it to us sooner.

Looking back at the COVID restrictions was a little wild.

We went to WDW throughout all the Covid restrictions and never got sick. But some of the restrictions were pretty crazy.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

That’s nice that you were able to get feedback from Jon and Brandy’s recent trip! I’m glad to hear they had fun and miss seeing them in your trip reports. (Hopefully they’ll join you again in a few years once Allie’s school schedule doesn’t dictate your trip dates.)

Those are fun restaurant choices! I’m not surprised that you’re planning to go to the Boathouse and Teppan Edo (that’s too bad, though, about Jon and Brandy’s experience with overcooked food). Summer House on the Lake sounds really good to me (as well as their cookie bar) and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Topolino’s. I’ve not been for dinner, but the view from that restaurant during breakfast was spectacular!

I saw that Disney Food Blog video and it was fun to watch. I’m sure I’ll miss the free Fastpasses this Friday when I pay several hundred dollars for our lightning lanes for our upcoming trip.

 

[KPeterso]

Your restaurants sound a lot like mine. I will be eating at Teppan Edo, Toppolinos and Summer House on the Lake during my trip next week! Teppan Edo and Toppolinos are both favorites! And Summer House on the Lake is new. Hoping Teppan Edo is as good as I always remember.

And how are you just getting your Real ID in CA? I have already renewed my Real ID! I originally got it right at the end of 2019 / start of 2020. And it just expired last week and I renewed as soon as I got my renewal and it came in the mail in maybe 5-10 days total!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Hopping onboard here to read along with your trip planning! Ill be there right before you in May.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to get my Real ID!! I always used my military ID so when I got married I just did the basic name change on my license even though they recommended I just renew my license and get my real id. Well I’ve since gotten out of the military so now I have no choice but to get to the RMV asap. I’ve been dreading this

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We've added Summerhouse to our list of restaurants for our upcoming trip. I hope it's good.

It isn’t yet a must try, but it is a leading contender if we have an open spot for another meal.

Wow! That's great. I see a future of track meets for you.

We will see. We had another one tonight and a varsity fourth place finish.

We finally got ours last November. Luckily, we had many of the documents already on hand. We needed them when we enrolled in TSA precheck. We had some anxious moments when my husband's new Real Id was lost in the mail. It took our neighbors about two weeks before they finally gave us the envelope that had been delivered to their house by mistake. You would have thought that the return address from the Secretary of State would have prompted them to give it to us sooner.

Wow, that had to be scary for a little bit. I’m glad it worked out.

We went to WDW throughout all the Covid restrictions and never got sick. But some of the restrictions were pretty crazy.

So did we, and we adapted quickly, but looking back on those things seems so crazy now. I’m glad most of it is back to “normal”.

That’s nice that you were able to get feedback from Jon and Brandy’s recent trip! I’m glad to hear they had fun and miss seeing them in your trip reports. (Hopefully they’ll join you again in a few years once Allie’s school schedule doesn’t dictate your trip dates.)

Jon and Brandy are great friends and we enjoy getting to have dinner together with them and always spend a lot of time talking Disney. We have some more common bucket list trips we’d all love to take together. We all dream of a three bedroom Copper Creek stay sometime.

Those are fun restaurant choices! I’m not surprised that you’re planning to go to the Boathouse and Teppan Edo (that’s too bad, though, about Jon and Brandy’s experience with overcooked food). Summer House on the Lake sounds really good to me (as well as their cookie bar) and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Topolino’s. I’ve not been for dinner, but the view from that restaurant during breakfast was spectacular!

Thanks, we do have our favorites, and there are so many great choices it is hard to go wrong when adding others. We really enjoyed Topolinos shortly after it opened, but never have made it back.

I saw that Disney Food Blog video and it was fun to watch. I’m sure I’ll miss the free Fastpasses this Friday when I pay several hundred dollars for our lightning lanes for our upcoming trip.

Yeah, exactly. Who would have thought we would line up to pay to skip lines. Some things really have changed.

Your restaurants sound a lot like mine. I will be eating at Teppan Edo, Toppolinos and Summer House on the Lake during my trip next week! Teppan Edo and Toppolinos are both favorites! And Summer House on the Lake is new. Hoping Teppan Edo is as good as I always remember.

We do like our list and are looking forward to every chance to visit as many great restaurants as we can.

And how are you just getting your Real ID in CA? I have already renewed my Real ID! I originally got it right at the end of 2019 / start of 2020. And it just expired last week and I renewed as soon as I got my renewal and it came in the mail in maybe 5-10 days total!

I have had mine for a few years, but Melissa just never got it done.

Hopping onboard here to read along with your trip planning! Ill be there right before you in May.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to get my Real ID!! I always used my military ID so when I got married I just did the basic name change on my license even though they recommended I just renew my license and get my real id. Well I’ve since gotten out of the military so now I have no choice but to get to the RMV asap. I’ve been dreading this

Welcome, although hopefully we will have more positive content than dreading the DMV Real ID process.

 

[KPeterso]

Thought I would pop in and give you an update on the United lax-mco flights. I just took them for my trip. So on 3/7, I took the lax-mco flight thst is around 10:15 am. All seats had rhe tvs in the seat backs. Flight was great and went pretty quick. Flight home on 3/14 mco-lax around 7:15 pm. Seemed to take forever. No seatback entertainment at all. They do still offer inflight entertainment but you go through the app on your phone or iPad. So make sure you have those ready and charged up in case you get a plane like that.

Oh and my teppan edo meal was fantastic as always. I had the steak and shrimp and it was all cooked perfectly!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Thought I would pop in and give you an update on the United lax-mco flights. I just took them for my trip. So on 3/7, I took the lax-mco flight thst is around 10:15 am. All seats had rhe tvs in the seat backs. Flight was great and went pretty quick. Flight home on 3/14 mco-lax around 7:15 pm. Seemed to take forever. No seatback entertainment at all. They do still offer inflight entertainment but you go through the app on your phone or iPad. So make sure you have those ready and charged up in case you get a plane like that.

Oh and my teppan edo meal was fantastic as always. I had the steak and shrimp and it was all cooked perfectly!

Thanks for the update. We are used to bringing out own devices for in flight entertainment, although I really do prefer having a screen even if I just leave it on the map the whole time. In flight WiFi is my favorite, and I can catch up on DisBoard stuff.

Great to hear about Teppan Edo as well. It is one of our must do every time meals and often our favorite of the trip. It really is my favorite steak anywhere.

We haven’t done much more trip planning since we are deep into track and field season. With two meets a week Allie is pretty busy. We are down to 75 days now, so itire really is going by quickly. Soon it will be time for ADRs.

 

[Stasieki]

Didn't realize you all started this one. Sounds like plans are coming together nicely. We were there in February for cheer so didn't get to do a lot of restaurants but did enjoy Space 220. Just not sure if the price justifies it!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Didn't realize you all started this one. Sounds like plans are coming together nicely. We were there in February for cheer so didn't get to do a lot of restaurants but did enjoy Space 220. Just not sure if the price justifies it!

Hello! We started it, but have been crazy busy with life for a while. We have an update coming soon though as we are almost to another pre-trip milestone.

Space 220 was fun, but definitely on the expensive side. We discussed it with Jon and Brandy and it is an occasional one at best for us. I am glad we finally got to see it though.