Taylor's Once in a lifetime wish 3/13 ~ update 3/12 More BIG GIVES & time to go pg 30

[my2girlsrock]

Thank you all for your well wishes... Samantha's fever finally broke this past Saturday YAY!!!! Thank God Taylor did not catch it.... . I now am a little congested but I'm the Mom no time to be sick....

Now that the holidays are over & everyone seems to be doing better I am going to be planning & probably asking ALOT more questions!!!! Let's just pray that everyone stays healthy!! LOL

I hope everyone had a great holiday & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

 

[smileycrissy]

So glad to hear that Samantha's fever broke and Taylor didn't catch it.

Make sure you try to rest up.

Happy New Year to you guys too!

 

[Mom2mitokids]

Coming by to say hi. I can't believe we are almost 2 months away. I hope we can meet.
How is Taylor doing? I forgot, but have you gotten your flight info yet? We haven't. I'm going to call on Monday.

 

[that's nice]

What great Christmas cheer that was brought to your family over the holidays!!!

I'm glad the sickness has left your house. We have had our own sickness here.

 

[my2girlsrock]

Coming by to say hi. I can't believe we are almost 2 months away. I hope we can meet.
How is Taylor doing? I forgot, but have you gotten your flight info yet? We haven't. I'm going to call on Monday.

I know we are sooooo excited!!! It is starting to get real . I would love to meet up with you all. Taylor is doing ok right now.
We have gotten our flight info we will be landing in Orlando at 12:05pm on Sunday the 13th then we will be taking off to go home at 2:30 on the 19th. Let me know when you find out about your flights. We are happy because we get there early in the day on Sunday.

I hope that your girls are feeling ok... I have not been on here that often lately so I am making a commitment to myself to get on here at least every other day... LOL I have to take some time for myself. LOL

Talk to you soon.

 

[my2girlsrock]

Need some advice about reservations .....

we are trying to decide whether or not we should eat at Cinderella's castle. We are all very picky eaters, except my husband.

We don't know if it is worth the money to get a reservations at Cinderella's castle (if we even can this late). How long does it usually take for a meal? Is it worth the time or would it be better spent in the park?

We are so torn on this we figure we are going to have to eat somewhere anyway that will take time so why not eat there? On the other hand we don't know if it is worth the price.

For anyone that has been there or has any advice feel free to share!!!!

We are only 2 months away so I am working on a "plan" that we prob will not adhere to but I want to at least have the days that we are going to visit the parks planned out.

Can we do Epcot, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios in half days? Thanks for any input you can give

 

[Mom2mitokids]

We have our flight info.

We take off at 10:34am and land at 6:06pm. Long day..

Coming home...we leave on the 23rd at 6:15pm and land at 8:45pm.

I can't help you with the meal. We have never did a meal like that. I just can't see spending that much money in one seating. We do have more people than you. We can see characters all over the park for free. If money was no object...yes..I would do it.

I think you can do 1/2 days at Animal Kingdom, and DHS. I think we are going to try this. I heard you really need a day to do Epcot. We have never been, so we will do an all day at Epcot.

I made our plans on Korissa PTR

 

[Emilyswish]

We did not eat at Cinderella's Royal Table (we couldn't get an ADR), but we did do 2character meals and I think they were well worth it! They were expensive, but our expense check from MAW more than covered the cost. If we were paying for a vacation on our own, I would say it might not justify the cost.

BUT, we did Akershus in Epcot with the princesses and it was at the top of my highlights list for sure. We also ate at The Crystal Palace in MK and it was fun too. There was more of a selection of food for picky eaters at CP. Maybe you should try that one, the characters are Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore (P and E you probably won't see in the parks).

I figured, this was our once in a lifetime trip, so we went for it!!!! Both character meals averaged about $30 per person (per meal). A quick service meal cost us around $40 or so for 5 eaters (Emily doesn't eat by mouth), so definitely more expensive. For me, it was all about the experience though!

I think, if you haven't done one before and you are not likely to go back to WDW and have a chance to do it another time, do it now.

 

[my2girlsrock]

What great Christmas cheer that was brought to your family over the holidays!!!

I'm glad the sickness has left your house. We have had our own sickness here.

I am just catching up on your TR & I am happy to hear that Ana is feeling better !!!! I love all of the awesome reports that you are giving us... I am going to reread alot of them & take some notes before we go on our trip!!!!

 

[my2girlsrock]

We have our flight info.

We take off at 10:34am and land at 6:06pm. Long day..

Coming home...we leave on the 23rd at 6:15pm and land at 8:45pm.

I can't help you with the meal. We have never did a meal like that. I just can't see spending that much money in one seating. We do have more people than you. We can see characters all over the park for free. If money was no object...yes..I would do it.

I think you can do 1/2 days at Animal Kingdom, and DHS. I think we are going to try this. I heard you really need a day to do Epcot. We have never been, so we will do an all day at Epcot.

I made our plans on Korissa PTR

I am happy you got your flight info!!! but that is a very long day ...

We have thought about it & we don't think it is worth the amount of money to do the Cinderella Castle... We asked Taylor & she said she doesn't really want to do that she would rather eat with other characters so that is what we are planning on doing. We were thinking of The Crystal Palace buffet????

It is so hard to put the days with the parks... LOL we have 5 of us going on the Wish Trip. Then my Mom, StepDad, Brother & his girlfriend are meeting us there from early afternoon Mon - Late afternoon Fri, so there are certain things we want to make sure we do with them They are all very easy going & they tell me whatever you plan is fine with us.... LOL

My StepDad is Norweigan so he really would love Epcot so we want to try to make sure we go there.....

We will probably be at Seaworld Thurs also!!!! We want to go to the Christmas festivities at GKTW that night so we figured that would be the best park to go to.

 

[my2girlsrock]

We did not eat at Cinderella's Royal Table (we couldn't get an ADR), but we did do 2character meals and I think they were well worth it! They were expensive, but our expense check from MAW more than covered the cost. If we were paying for a vacation on our own, I would say it might not justify the cost.

BUT, we did Akershus in Epcot with the princesses and it was at the top of my highlights list for sure. We also ate at The Crystal Palace in MK and it was fun too. There was more of a selection of food for picky eaters at CP. Maybe you should try that one, the characters are Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore (P and E you probably won't see in the parks).

I figured, this was our once in a lifetime trip, so we went for it!!!! Both character meals averaged about $30 per person (per meal). A quick service meal cost us around $40 or so for 5 eaters (Emily doesn't eat by mouth), so definitely more expensive. For me, it was all about the experience though!

I think, if you haven't done one before and you are not likely to go back to WDW and have a chance to do it another time, do it now.

Thank you so much for the info I looked at CP & I think that is where we are going to eat.... We have a reservation at Chef Mickey's already. We asked Taylor & she said she doesn't really care about eating with the princesses because she will prob see them through the park. She said she would rather eat with other characters so I think CP is the next place we will reserve !!!

We thought the same thing about the MAW check as far as covering the cost of the meals. There is no way we will ever do it again so we thought the why not now....

 

[my2girlsrock]

Tentative Schedule ..... open to ANY suggestions....

Ok let me start by saying that the WISH trippers include 5 of us then My parents, my brother & his girlfriend will be meeting us there.

We (wish trippers) arrive on Sunday Mar 13 at 12:05pm then the rest of the "crew" will be getting there Monday around 11 AM. We leave on Saturday Mar 19 at 2pm the rest of the "crew" leave on Friday around 3pm. So the hard part is getting everything in that we want to do together.... I will take ANY suggestions from anyone that is willing to share them....

OK here it goes.... LOL

Sunday Mar 13 ~ arrive at 12:05pm go to orientation.... How do we find out times of orientations???? We figured we would check out GKTW some then we were thinking of maybe checking out US or IOA a little bit we have reservation at Chef Mickey's at 7:50. Do you think it would be worth going to US/IOA at all this day? We will only have one day for both parks during the week so we thought maybe we could hit a few things this day but we don't know if it is worth it ..... Then we were thinking maybe we would just go to DTD after orientation instead of US or IOA until our reservations??

Monday Mar 14 ~ Magic Kingdom.... we figured get up & eat breakfast at GKTW then head over to MK the rest of the "crew" will be meeting us there hopefully around 12:30pm then we have a reservation for all of us at Crystal Palace at 2pm.

Tuesday Mar 15 ~ Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure ~ this is our only day here so that is why we were wondering if we should go to US or IOA at all on the day we arrive?

Wednesday Mar 16 ~ Arrive at AK when they open stay until early afternoon then head over to HS... There is not much we want to do at AK so do you think that this is a realistic plan? LOL

Thursday Mar 17 ~ Day at Seaworld then back to GKTW for Christmas festivities....

Friday Mar 18 ~ Epcot in the morning until early afternoon (then the rest of the "crew" will leave) then back to MK for the evening & nighttime parade/fireworks... I really wanted to end our trip at MK I think this will be the girls favorite park.

Saturday Mar 19 ~ We can hang out at GKTW all morning our flight is at 2:05 to go home . What time do we have to check out from GKTW?

The few things that I am trying to figure out are:
1~ what to do the day we arrive, do we go to US or IOA at all or should we just go to DTD?
2~ is it possible to do AK & HS in one day????
3 ~ is it possible to do US/IOA in one day????
4 ~ my parents really want to see Epcot & I think there are certain things my girls would love there so we want to go how many hours do you think Epcot would take? We will most likely be walking "around the world" to all the pavillions to try all the foods.... then Test track, Soarin & Nemo but that is really all we are planning on for Epcot....

I think that is it for now .... It is getting close so I want to try to look down a "plan".

Please feel free to offer & advice or alternate plans, they will be GREATLY appreciated....

 

[lawblond7]

Depending on what your daughters want to se eyou can deiniftly do AK and HS in one day. We are going to do EPCOT and AK on the same day if we can on Jake's wish trip in 2 weeks. Again as my boys are older and love thrill rides and Harry Potter we will be spending 2 days at Universal - we have not been there in over 9 years (although we have been to Disney twice in that time frame). We are also not going to do Sea World.

As for eating with the characters - Jake also initially wanted to have dinner with the princesses - actually he wanted a one one 4 date with them BUT... he looked at the Royal table menu and he is a very picker eater so we decided on breakfast at Akershus in Epcot on Saturday AM at 8:20 and then we will spent time there and then hit either AK or HS.

Sounds like you have a good handle on things.

 

[smileycrissy]

I'd say go to DTD on the day of your arrival. It'll get you all hyped up for MK the next day. I like going there for a Disney dose, its just as good as being in any of the parks. Plus it'll be easy to get from DTD to Chef Mickey's on time.

I think your Epcot day is going to take up most of the day, especially with a group of 9. You'll be stopping all over the place. But the parks are a lot more fun when you have a big group. When my sister was down last August we had such a blast and we were a party of 9 as well.

 

[billwendy]

OOOOHhhh, your plans are SO EXCITING!!!!! I'd say try to enjoy GKTW your first day - it really is a fun place, the pool is awesome, mini golf etc and you dont have much time for it the rest of the week. Chef Mickey's is a great way to get you in the spirit of things!! Go to DTD if you have time, it is fun and also very Disney and the store is AWESOME!!!! We had a great time there!!.

EPCOT does take a while to do! Also, do they still have that Kim Possible scavenger hunt there? Your girls are the perfect age for that!! Also at EPCOT there are lots of stations around where the kids can stop and make something - so if your girls are crafty..........I love Test Track, Soarin, Living Seas, Imagination, ride in Norway, show in America (its pretty cool)..and yes the FOOD!!!! lol....

I love ending a trip at MK as well!! If they have the fireworks and parade do it!!! Its so awesome!!

We usually have an awesome time at HS as well, love tower of terror, rock n rollercoaster, beauty and the beast show, toy story mania, back lot tour - oh and I love to go to the animation studio and learn how to draw a character - so FUN!! and love muppetvision 3D too!!!!!! Fantasmic is also really cool!!!

I think AK is a 1/2 day place - unless you are extreme animal lovers - then you can spend a ton of time there!!!

So you are going to Chef Mickey's - any other ADR's?

 

[Mom2mitokids]

Tentative Schedule ..... open to ANY suggestions....

Ok let me start by saying that the WISH trippers include 5 of us then My parents, my brother & his girlfriend will be meeting us there.

We (wish trippers) arrive on Sunday Mar 13 at 12:05pm then the rest of the "crew" will be getting there Monday around 11 AM. We leave on Saturday Mar 19 at 2pm the rest of the "crew" leave on Friday around 3pm. So the hard part is getting everything in that we want to do together.... I will take ANY suggestions from anyone that is willing to share them....

OK here it goes.... LOL

Sunday Mar 13 ~ arrive at 12:05pm go to orientation.... How do we find out times of orientations???? We figured we would check out GKTW some then we were thinking of maybe checking out US or IOA a little bit we have reservation at Chef Mickey's at 7:50. Do you think it would be worth going to US/IOA at all this day? We will only have one day for both parks during the week so we thought maybe we could hit a few things this day but we don't know if it is worth it ..... Then we were thinking maybe we would just go to DTD after orientation instead of US or IOA until our reservations??

Monday Mar 14 ~ Magic Kingdom.... we figured get up & eat breakfast at GKTW then head over to MK the rest of the "crew" will be meeting us there hopefully around 12:30pm then we have a reservation for all of us at Crystal Palace at 2pm.

Tuesday Mar 15 ~ Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure ~ this is our only day here so that is why we were wondering if we should go to US or IOA at all on the day we arrive?

Wednesday Mar 16 ~ Arrive at AK when they open stay until early afternoon then head over to HS... There is not much we want to do at AK so do you think that this is a realistic plan? LOL

Thursday Mar 17 ~ Day at Seaworld then back to GKTW for Christmas festivities....

Friday Mar 18 ~ Epcot in the morning until early afternoon (then the rest of the "crew" will leave) then back to MK for the evening & nighttime parade/fireworks... I really wanted to end our trip at MK I think this will be the girls favorite park.

Saturday Mar 19 ~ We can hang out at GKTW all morning our flight is at 2:05 to go home . What time do we have to check out from GKTW?

The few things that I am trying to figure out are:
1~ what to do the day we arrive, do we go to US or IOA at all or should we just go to DTD?
2~ is it possible to do AK & HS in one day????
3 ~ is it possible to do US/IOA in one day????
4 ~ my parents really want to see Epcot & I think there are certain things my girls would love there so we want to go how many hours do you think Epcot would take? We will most likely be walking "around the world" to all the pavillions to try all the foods.... then Test track, Soarin & Nemo but that is really all we are planning on for Epcot....

I think that is it for now .... It is getting close so I want to try to look down a "plan".

Please feel free to offer & advice or alternate plans, they will be GREATLY appreciated....

Your plans sound great. I wish we get in so early. I believe they have a 3 or 3:30pm orientation. I believe it's about a hour..so..about 4:30 you would get done. I would say you really wouldn't have time. I would just go to DTD.

We are going to try to do AK and DHS in one day. I picked Monday because DHS has EMH and they don't close until 10 and hoping to get some pixie dust and get to stay. We can stay until 2 or 3 at AK(only a few things we really want to do there) and then head to DHS till at least 9

US and IOA is hard..We are going to try and do both, but my kids loves the fast rollercoasters.

Epcot is an all day park for us. We have never been there and want to take our time. I heard from many that you just can't to a half day there.

Sea World day is great

 

[Emilyswish]

I consulted the "bunny book" (the Village guide) for you. They have orientations daily at 9am and 7:45pm. They also have one each afternoon but it says to check with Guest Services for the time that day. You have to attend orientation before you go to any parks though because that is where they give you all of your tickets/passes.

On the day of check out, you have to vacate your villa by 11am, but you can stay at the village and still get meals too until you have to leave for the airport. We went to DTD on our departure day.


We needed a long time at each park but our kids are much younger, bathroom breaks take a lot longer, etc. But with a large group, it might be difficult to fit in everything. We definitely went with a plan and mostly stuck to it, but then had to just fit in what we could. We left without getting to go to AK at all, only spent a few hours in HS, only one day at USIOA, and didn't make it to SeaWorld either. Now, we missed one whole day because so many of us got sick. Hopefully that won't be an issue for you!

I think your plan looks doable. Just "plan" to alter the plan on an as needed basis too. You might want to ask your girls to prioritize the parks so you know which ones would be last on the list and the first to skip if you need to.

 

[that's nice]

Sunday Mar 13 ~ arrive at 12:05pm go to orientation.... How do we find out times of orientations???? We figured we would check out GKTW some then we were thinking of maybe checking out US or IOA a little bit we have reservation at Chef Mickey's at 7:50. Do you think it would be worth going to US/IOA at all this day? We will only have one day for both parks during the week so we thought maybe we could hit a few things this day but we don't know if it is worth it ..... Then we were thinking maybe we would just go to DTD after orientation instead of US or IOA until our reservations??

There is usually a 3pm orientation at GKTW and I think you will arrive in time to make this.

I think hanging out at GKTW during the afternoon then heading to your ADR a little early and checking out the Contemporary Resort (CR) before dinner would be fun. Also DTD is on the way to the CR so maybe stopping there for a few hours would be doable.

Monday Mar 14 ~ Magic Kingdom.... we figured get up & eat breakfast at GKTW then head over to MK the rest of the "crew" will be meeting us there hopefully around 12:30pm then we have a reservation for all of us at Crystal Palace at 2pm.

You guys are gonna have a blast at CP!!!

Tuesday Mar 15 ~ Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure ~ this is our only day here so that is why we were wondering if we should go to US or IOA at all on the day we arrive?

I think hanging out at GKTW would be a good idea... but don't base your plans of of my suggestions. I see you have a lot of great ideas!

Wednesday Mar 16 ~ Arrive at AK when they open stay until early afternoon then head over to HS... There is not much we want to do at AK so do you think that this is a realistic plan? LOL

DHS is open till 8:30 so I think you would be able to do both in one day. But you need to have a 'must see' list and stick to that list. If you have extra time then add in another ride/show/attraction. At DHS, the characters are usually only out till 5pm... just a little FYI in case there are characters the girls want to see.

Thursday Mar 17 ~ Day at Seaworld then back to GKTW for Christmas festivities....

You can see most of SW and be back to GKTW by 4-5pm.

Friday Mar 18 ~ Epcot in the morning until early afternoon (then the rest of the "crew" will leave) then back to MK for the evening & nighttime parade/fireworks... I really wanted to end our trip at MK I think this will be the girls favorite park.

Try to park at the TTA and take the monorail over to Epcot. Then you can take the monorail from Epcot to MK for the evening. After the fireworks your car will already be at the TTA (aka Magic Kingdom parking lot)

Saturday Mar 19 ~ We can hang out at GKTW all morning our flight is at 2:05 to go home . What time do we have to check out from GKTW?

Check out is at 11 and that is the time you should be planning on leaving GKTW. It will take you about 30 minutes to drive back to the airport.

4 ~ my parents really want to see Epcot & I think there are certain things my girls would love there so we want to go how many hours do you think Epcot would take? We will most likely be walking "around the world" to all the pavillions to try all the foods.... then Test track, Soarin & Nemo but that is really all we are planning on for Epcot....

You can honestly spend 2 days in Epcot and not see everything. I think you will want to ride Spaceship Earth too... that is the ride in the big ball. So I would hit SE, Soarin', Nemo, TT, then head counter clockwise around the world. Keep in mind that the WS doesn't open (usually) till 11am. It will take you 3 hours minimum to do the WS- especially if you are stopping in each country or having the girls do the Kidcot stops. There are also shows & characters that you will see along the way that will take some time too.

 

[my2girlsrock]

Depending on what your daughters want to se eyou can deiniftly do AK and HS in one day. We are going to do EPCOT and AK on the same day if we can on Jake's wish trip in 2 weeks. Again as my boys are older and love thrill rides and Harry Potter we will be spending 2 days at Universal - we have not been there in over 9 years (although we have been to Disney twice in that time frame). We are also not going to do Sea World.

As for eating with the characters - Jake also initially wanted to have dinner with the princesses - actually he wanted a one one 4 date with them BUT... he looked at the Royal table menu and he is a very picker eater so we decided on breakfast at Akershus in Epcot on Saturday AM at 8:20 and then we will spent time there and then hit either AK or HS.

Sounds like you have a good handle on things.

I don't think we will be doing much of the thrill rides yet... Taylor is 9 & Samantha is 7 but they just are not ready for them, my husband wishes they were he wants someone to go on with...

I hope your plans come through for you guys!!!!

 

[my2girlsrock]

I'd say go to DTD on the day of your arrival. It'll get you all hyped up for MK the next day. I like going there for a Disney dose, its just as good as being in any of the parks. Plus it'll be easy to get from DTD to Chef Mickey's on time.

I think your Epcot day is going to take up most of the day, especially with a group of 9. You'll be stopping all over the place. But the parks are a lot more fun when you have a big group. When my sister was down last August we had such a blast and we were a party of 9 as well.

I think after all of the awesome input we will be doing DTD the day of our arrival.

We are very excited to have everyone going.... it will prob get a little hectic at times but I am planning on just going with the flow.....
When the 9 of you went down did you do any ADR together? We will be giong to the Crystal Palace & when I made the reservation it said we may be seated at different tables??? I was wondering if that happened to you?