Slipping Disney a Mickey- We have dates with Harry and Shamu: July 2011 The PTR

[natebenma]

Thanks for clicking on my PTR- I wasn't planning on writing this, but I just finished my first TR (which covered 3-plus Disney trips), so I figured I would continue on and share my planning for our 5 day/4 night trip to "The Other Orlando"

Here is a link to my TR:

3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again TR, http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2524240

An alternate title could be: Visiting Disney with the Energizer Bunny!

That's me.

I will offer a brief introduction to my family here- if you feel the need to know us better- there's more info than anyone needs to know in the meet & greet of the TR:

Me: Dee- mostly a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom), part-time job job as a museum teacher at a local historical farmhouse built in the 1600s, full-time volunteer for the elementary PTA, middle school parents group, treasurer for a community theater group. Made my theatrical debut in March as The Cook in a Monty-Python style version of the Canterbury Tales. In my spare time, I keep the Beach and Yacht Club FAQ thread on the DIS up-to-date.

DH: Mark- we were high school sweethearts, this year will be our 25th wedding anniversary. He is a very hardworking and talented manager of a development team for a very large software company. Like me, and the rest of the family, loves to travel.

Nate: age 12, 7th grader. Loves xBox, Airsoft, steak, plays flag football

Ben: age 9, 4th grader. Loves xBox, TV, eating, dinosaurs, history

Well, originally I thought that my next TR would be

"I have more pictures of my meals than my kids- is that wrong?!?"

But after 3 trips in 3 years to to Disney, Mark and I decided we would take a break. Plus Nate goes to Disney in May 2012 for his 8th grade graduation. We are in negotiations about whether I will accompany him as chaperone. He mostly doesn't want me there, but then he remembers how Mom "pones" (kicks butt) at Disney, and he thinks it would be a good idea for me to be there. I am thinking of being a quasi-chaperone- I will stay at the BC because of my devotion to that resort instead of the All Stars and then meet the kids at the parks when they go.

We do, however, have a summer trip in the hopper and I WILL be writing a trip report-

The current working title is

"Slipping Disney a Mickey- we have dates with Harry and Shamu"

Look for it sometime in late July or early August!

I am a huge Harry Potter fan! My oldest son was really into HP (we had two fabulous HP themed BD parties for him) and I want to get him to the Wizarding World of HP before we totally lose him to teenhood. It is happening much faster than I ever believed possible! My younger son is just starting to get into the books and is really enjoying them.

So we are skipping Disney and doing a 5 day/4 night trip to “The Other Orlando”

Right now, we are staying at the Portofino Bay hotel at Universal. The good news is that guests of the resort get early entry to HP and front of the line access for the popular rides. Yay!

But I am having some buyer's remorse. The PBH is more Grand Floridian and this is not our style. The Hard Rock or Royal Pacific are probably better suited to us, and are a lot closer to the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks, but there were availability and some other issues when we booked.

However the Portofino Bay hotel does look beautiful- here are a few photos from internet sites like Orbitz

This is a whole new World for me, so to speak. I know very little about Universal, so I have been trying to gather info. There is a Universal forum on the DIS, but nothing like the main boards.

BTW- did you know that you don't need to make dining reservations for even the most popular Universal/Islands of Adventure in advance?!? That is SOOOOOOOO wrong!

.

 

[natebenma]

Monday July 11- Friday July 15

Tickets:

We are going to purchase 4 day park-to-park tickets ("hoppers") from Undercover Tourist:

$146.95 adult. The 4 day ticket is just $4 more than the 2 day, so it is worth it to us to get the flexibility.

SeaWorld tickets are $79.95 for a single day, but there is a buy one day, get the next day free offer, so it is really a two day ticket. There may be discounts out there through McDonalds or AAA or other sources, so I will be checking into that.

This will give us lots of flexibility for doing half days or evenings at the park.

Here is my proposed schedule so far:

Monday: Flight is 7 am to 10 am. Spend afternoon at Universal Studios

Tuesday: Early Entry at Harry Potter/Islands of Adventure. Lunch or Dinner- Mythos

Wednesday: Sea World

Thursday: Whichever park(s) we want to go back to. We could easily hop from park to park, or even do a half day at SeaWorld


Friday: Our flight is at 6 PM, so we have a morning to spend at one of the parks.



My 10 year old son is also a Titanic freak, so I am thinking of taking him to the Titanic Experience for a couple of hoursat some point during the trip- The Titantic Experience is a kind of an interactive museum on International Drive fairly close to Universal, I believe.

http://titanictheexperience.com/

Note: photos taken from websites of the theme parks




So here is the dilemma. We were not going to go to Disney this summer. We decided this at the end of last year’s trip. We were ok with this decision. I swear!

But once this trip was booked (my family refers to it as "Mom's trip") all my family talks about is how much they want to go to Disney. And I tell them "We weren't going to go to Disney" and they answer "But we're going to ORLANDO now", so that means Disney.

And my husband is the worst one of the bunch!!!

So now Mark is encouraging me to look into the logistics of spending a half day at the Magic Kingdom (travel options and costs, ticket prices). I have checked the hours for that week, and MK is open until 11 each night. So we could go from like 5 to close and have 6 hours at MK.

We figure we can decide last minute if we want to do this- so it would be a surprise for the boys.

So- should we or shouldn't we?

I realize that this is like asking a carnivore if we should order the steak or salad or an art enthusiast if we should visit the Louvre while we are in Paris.

So lay it on me!

For the record, I think we have enough to do to keep us entertained, but what do I know?

 

[Queila]

SIGNING UP!!

 

[Native NYer]

Joining in for all the planning fun!
And congrats on 25 years of marriage.

 

[natebenma]

SIGNING UP!!

Cool!

Joining in for all the planning fun!
And congrats on 25 years of marriage.

Thanks for stopping in and for the anniversary cheer!

Guess I have to start planning and writing again!!!

Next up: RRR! You're not going to get me on that! (A ride preview)

 

[natebenma]

OK, it has been 2 months since I last posted on my PTR, and we leave in 5 days. What have I been doing to plan for our trip?

EEK!!! Not much!

I have been doing a small amount of research- reading the Universal boards here on the DIS and glimpsing a touring guide I picked up "Universal Orlando 2011" by Seth Kubersky and Kelly Monaghan.

I purchased our US/IoA tickets through AAA a few weeks ago. Thought I was going to order them through Undercover Tourist (4 Day Park to Park, $146.95) but the AAA tickets were $145. I paid for the Universal tickets with my Disney Visa. Is that wrong???

Booked our door to door ride (5 am- yawn) to the airport for a 7 am flight.

Kicked the planning into second gear over the weekend:

Arranged for a rountrip ride between MCO to the Portofino Bay Hilton through Ed Korgan, a driver for a towncar company recommended by many over on the Universal Boards, $90 plus gratuity. A cab would probably run around $50 each way.

And here's the big news... We purchased 1 day admissions to use at the Magic Kingdom! I have been using my Disney Visa to charge purchases since the beginning of the year. We had a 5x points offer for gas and grocery this spring. We ended up with $165 in rewards dollars to use towards our admissions. MK portion of the trip is still a surprise to the boys.

Still to do: Order SeaWorld tickets and make any dining reservations we want at US/IoA. From what I understand, you really don't have to make advanced reservations to the restaurants. Plus, by staying on site, we have preferred seating. But I still may make a reservation for Mythos. As of this morning, on opentable, all lunch times were still available.

The other places I would like to dine are:

NBA City at City Walk- Basketball themed restaurant- Nate will enjoy this.

Three Broomsticks (Harry Potter themed restaurant, counter service)
Thunder Falls Terrace (Jurassic Park, spectacular view and food, counter service)
Louis Italian Restaurant- counter service

We may also eat at a Red Lobster that is close to the Portofino. No Red Lobsters within 2 hours of where we live!

Hopefully I'll post some more before I leave- our proposed park plan and the preview of rides that I promised- but no guarantees!