Spongebob or Cinderella...who will get more love? My Nov. PTR

[heatherenae71]

Welcome to my pre-trip report for our first ever family vacation to the World and Universal Studios!! This trip has been almost four years in the making…mostly thanks to my daughter deciding to make her arrival into the world (not THAT world) on November 11, 2007. I made DH promise me that night in the hospital that he would take us to Florida in 4 years so we could celebrate her birthday in the Magic Kingdom on 11-11-11! My DH loathes amusement/theme parks in general (whereas I am a coaster junkie and love all things Disney!) The two of us have been to Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in 2002, Epcot in 2003 and took our son to Disneyland in 2006 to celebrate his third birthday. We (I) have been waaaaaay overdue for some Disney love, huh!

So first up, let’s get to know the fam damily. I’m Heather….I’ve already said that I love roller coasters (think “Griswolds” and that was my family year after year on the road hitting up the latest and greatest amusement park each summer). I also love scrapbooking, taking pictures (one of these days I’ll figure out how to effectively work my camera), playing on the lake and spending time with my family. Nick is the man of the house and I can’t really decide how to describe him. He’s a total guy’s guy…thing is, he doesn’t like hanging out with the guys (i.e., I dub him “the most anti-social person on the planet” – LOL). He loves watching all types of sports, shooting guns, wakeboarding, and playing video games. Our son, Hayden, will have just turned 8 when we take our vacation. He is seriously such an awesome kid (and yeah, I’m biased…but really – he’s fantastic.) I hope this vacation just blows him away! Our daughter, Dana, will be 4 when we take our trip and she talks non-stop about becoming a princess and meeting Sponge Bob – LOL! I am having soo much fun pre-planning and thinking of nice surprises to spring on the kids!

Okay, so ever since Dana’s birth, I’ve thrown out lil remarks here and there about our vacation to the world (which were always met with eye rolls from Nick). I’d just smile back “you promised” – haha. Last July I found my way to the DIS and have been in crazy planning mode ever since. The first plan started out with 9 days at WDW, and I entertained the idea of DxDP and had restaurant choices narrowed down (to look back at that list now *shudder*). Then one night, Nick sprung some news on me…

 

[heatherenae71]

One evening while rambling off Disney “stuff” he goes “you know, I’d really like to try to fit in some days at Universal and Islands.” Spider-Man is his all-time favorite ride (as much as someone who hates rides can like a ride, that is). He goes “about how splitting up our stay.” He could see the disappointment in my face and goes “isn’t Sponge Bob at Universal?” Dana heard this and yeah, it was pretty much over. Back to the drawing board! We agreed to 5 day park tickets at WDW and 3 day park tickets at Universal/IoA.

So, it was a no-brainer which resort we’d stay at on Universal property…the FOTL access was just too good a perk to pass up. Lowe’s Royal Pacific Resort it is!!! Now the dilemma was “where would we stay in Disney?!”

Ever since I first stepped foot in WDW at age 13 and saw the monorail come out of the Contemporary, I just *knew* I would stay there someday…my DREAM resort, if you will! Then I came to the Dis and started reading sooooo much info on every. single. property. I was second-guessing myself big time. My kids and DH would probably enjoy the theming at the Poly, Stormalong Bay looked really nice, we could get a 2 bedroom suite at Coronado Springs for the price of a Deluxe, etc. etc. etc. My mind flip-flopped daily about which resort we’d pick. Finally, my DH goes “if we don’t stay at the Contemporary, the whole time we’re there and you see the monorail, you’re gonna be wishing we did. So just book the Contemporary already.” (Does my DH know me or what!) So on October 10, I put in our reservation for a Tower Room - Theme Park View at the Contemporary! Goodness I was *giddy*!

Then in February, I received an e-mail from Disney I had long been hoping for….40% off our room. Only problem, the dates were slightly off and all that were available were Bay Lake views in the tower. Realizing all the money I could save, though, (and frantically posting on the Contemporary Resort thread for pics of Bay Lake View rooms), I bit the bullet and utilized the discount. This meant that we would now be starting our vacation at the Universal parks and ending with WDW...and this also meant NOT being at Magic Kingdom on 11-11-11 (what I have been envisioning for 3.5 years). It’s been 4 months since we’ve changed the itinerary, and I’m still the *teeniest* bit sad about it. See, my plan on 11-11-11 was for Dana to have her princess makeover at BBB that morning, then eat breakfast at CRT. You’ll find out the new plans a bit later!

So after a slight bit of headache from our travel agent with getting our dates changed, it was now on to deciding what meals to eat….ADRs were 3 months away from being made – YAY! We’re doing the regular dining plan and I have been all over the place with how to utilize our 4 TS credits!!!

 

[heatherenae71]

May was here and it was time for ADR-makin’. Tickets for MVMCP also went on sale this month. I had been on the fence for so long about attending this party. Nick was no help – “if you think we should go, let’s go”. Dana received the Enchanted Belle costume in her Easter basket and that pretty much sealed the deal that “yes, we should attend MVMCP.” I purchased tickets for the Tuesday, November 15 party (our “arrival” day to WDW). It was a really hard decision between Tuesday’s party and Sunday’s party on the 13th. On this day, we’ll be at Universal and I figured we could leave that park around 5:00 and head over for MVMCP – it would be nice to get some Disney in before we’re actually AT Disney. But alas, I finally decided that I didn’t want to pay for parking and if by some chance we DID happen to last til midnight, driving back to Universal that late might not be fun and I really want to be at RD at Islands of Adventure for WWoHP Monday morning…so Sunday MVMCP was out!

I’m currently up in the air for which park to hit morning/afternoon of MVMCP. We’ll be checking out of Royal Pacific around 9:30 a.m. and getting to CR around 10:30, I assume. Right now I’m thinking we’ll go to Epcot and either tour World Showcase til party time, or hang out in the Living Seas (I *super heart* manatees), ride Nemo…if we’re lucky, get on Test Track or Soarin’. Or I guess we could always head to Magic Kingdom?! What do you think we should do from roughly 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.?

Okay, so back to ADRs….it was my 180 days and I was *READY*. I got online at 5:00 a.m. my time and got everything I wanted (CRT, Sci-Fi and Chef Mickey’s!) Then when I got into work, I called BBB and scored an 8:15 a.m. appt. for my DD (we’re now doing her princess make-over on Friday, November 18). I can’t WAIT to walk down a near-empty main street! I also reserved a spot for my son’s Pirate’s League makeover that afternoon. We are going to have dinner at CRT that night, and I’m thinking of surprising them with a special order Princesses and Pirates birthday cake (I’ve been reading the cake thread like crazy!)

Now that the ADRs are booked…it’s on to figuring out what my kiddos are going to wear! Am I the kind of person who themes their child’s clothing?!?!? Hmmmmmmmmmm

 

[heatherenae71]

Of COURSE I am *that mom*…at least for my daughter. In the words of my son “boys don’t care about that stuff, mom.” So as the itinerary stands today…these are some of the outfits I have picked out for Dana to wear:

Friday – Nov. 11. We have a 5:00 flight arriving at MCO at 9:00 and will just spend the night in a cheapy hotel. I can’t decide if I want my kids to wear tops that day/on the plane that say “I’m going to Disney World” (it’s possible I might be at WORK that day til around 1:00 p.m.). Still on the fence if we should do “special” outfits for the plane ride down.

Saturday – Nov. 12. Spend the day at Islands of Adventure.

Sunday – Nov. 13. Spend the day at Universal Studios (I’m still searching for the perfect Sponge Bob dress)

Monday – Nov. 14. Back at Islands of Adventure. If I can talk my son into it, I might have the kiddos wear Thing 1 and Thing 2 tops.

Tuesday – Nov. 15. Spend the afternoon at Epcot wearing her Tinkerbell dress. And that night MVMCP!

Wednesday – Nov. 16. Spend the day at Hollywood Studios

Thursday – Nov. 17. Spend the day at Animal Kingdom (still trying to decide on an outfit for this day). That night either go back to MK for the parade or brave DHS for F!.

Friday – Nov. 18. Dana’s BBB appt. and dinner at CRT. That night go to Epcot for EMH.
On the fence if she will wear this Cinderella dress or not....

Saturday – Nov. 19. Chef Mickey’s for breakfast. Decide once we’re there what park to hit on our last day *sniff*.

 

[heatherenae71]

It has been a crazy six weeks! We totally revamped our dining plan....going DELUXE afterall (and no, this has nothing to do with the free dining that will be offered while we are there - although I did run the numbers, but it's still a better deal to utilize the PIN we got and get 40% off our resort )

So with that...the new game plan...characters, characters and more characters! We picked quite a few restaurants that don't get great reviews with the Dis, but we are simple folk with our tastebuds and we're just gonna see what we like!

Our arrival day to WDW, we have an ADR at Tony's at 5:00 and tickets to MVMCP that night (we'll more than likely already be in MK...kiddos want to go to this park as soon as get our tickets!)

Day 2: breakfast at 1900 Park Fare; AK for the day; dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe that night

Day 3: breakfast at Hollywood & Vine at DHS before park opens; Sci-Fi for lunch; 50's Prime Time Cafe at park closing (yes, it's a lot of meals in one day...but I just couldn't choose between Sci-Fi and 50s...I ate at both of these places when I went to WDW as a teenager with my mom, so nostalgia played a big part in what we decided!!)

Day 4: late breakfast at Crystal Palace (DD has her BBB appt. before park opening); dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table

Day 5 (last day *sniff*): late breakfast at Chef Mickey's (my boys will likely sleep in this morning!!); dinner at Le Cellier

So I admit, once I made this *monstrous* autograph book for the kids (I'll post pics), I started looking more closely at all the different character meals and then it just kind of snowballed to the point where it made sense to just go Deluxe versus paying OOP.

And DH was happy to hear he gets to eat more churros now with the extra snack credits