The Month O'Disney (FW, SSR, AKV, DCL EBTA & Pandora!)

[KalamityJane]

Hey all I'm Rachel and I'm a compulsive trip planner. I'm sure you understand the feeling. We live in Idaho and when the winter gets dark and cold, I have this overwhelming need to plan a Disney trip! I grew up in Orlando and at WDW and still have family there, which is convenient.

Let me introduce you to the rest of the cast and crew -



(this is from 2015 when we had annual passes to Disneyland)

Joe - hubby - converted him to the Disney way of life about 6 years ago when we went to Disneyland and it was magical. He's more of an introvert and hates crowds, so I try to plan for off season times. This year he has unlimited vacation time which is AMAZING.
Fav ride - Screamin' by FAR.

R1 - 8.5yo spitfire, loves art, animals, and snark.
Fav ride - Screamin'

R2 - almost 6yo with not an ounce of self preservation. Leaps first, looks later.
Fav ride - Tower of Terror

K - 4yo, thinks he is a big kid and will do anything the older 2 do, which has resulted in him riding Space Mountain at 2yo (in Disneyland the height requirement is 40" and I have tall kids) which he ADORED.
Fav ride - Radiator Springs Racers

 

[KalamityJane]

This all started about 3 years ago when I found the Panama Canal cruises were a lot cheaper than a regular 1 week cruise. I started planning and saving. Through a series of events, we had to cancel and ended up booking the EastBound Transatlantic from Port Canaveral to Copenhagen boarding May 13, 2017.

Before I start this, I should add I have a lot of siblings. Like A LOT. I'm the oldest of 9 kids, youngest brother is 7 years older than my oldest. They all mostly live in Orlando still.



I planned on seeing my family while in Orlando before we went on the cruise, and was going to do a resort only stay with my parents and youngest brother. Oh, the best laid plans We had done a resort only stay in Sept 2015 and rented points for a 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, which we ADORED. To be so close to the parks and not visit wasn't that hard then, because it was stiflingly hot the week we were there. We spent most of the time in the pool and riding Disney transportation with my transport obsessed youngest.








I booked at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani this time in a 2 bedroom Savannah view because R1 is obsessed with animals, and there is a lot to do activity wise. Also, nice pools! That is a MUST with my kids. I planned on flying in late Sat night the 6th, and then heading over to AKV on the 7th. I forgot we had miles on Alaska we needed to use, so the kids and I are actually flying in early on the 6th, leaving the 6th and the 7th wide open. Not sure what we will do on the 6th as of yet. Joe will fly in late on the 10th so he can spend a few more days at work. Honestly, he could come down earlier because he can work remotely but I think he enjoys the quiet of an empty house.

Remember how I said it was going to be a resort only stay? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You all know how this goes, I'm sure.

I asked my Air Force younger brother if he wanted to come to the parks with us (the kids think he hung the moon, and it goes likewise for him) and get us all in on military salute tickets. He was game, but he was moving soon, so he couldn't go all the days which was fine. Then we found out about the Discover Disney tickets for FL residents, and it was all downhill from there Long story short, I convinced most of my family to spend the 7th at Magic Kingdom and then my mom and 2 of my siblings to get FL Resident Weekday Select annual passes (they will buy the Discover Disney tickets and upgrade after we use them on that Sunday).

Then of course the kids and I needed annual passes...

Then I needed to use the passes more than that 1 week...

Which led to booking 2 more trips and a stay post cruise.

I told you it spiraled!

 

[KalamityJane]

These are the current plans, subject to revision.
May 1 - Leave
May 2-6 - Fort Wilderness
May 6-7 - Saratoga Springs Resort
May 7-13 - Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani
May 13-28 - Eastbound Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic
May 29-31 - Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani (going to try to hit Pandora!)

(various other camping trips around Idaho planned)

(this trip is somewhat dependent on if Joe is going to a conference)
November 1-12 - Fort Wilderness tent camping
November 12-17 - Universal Studios/IoA - Royal Pacific

Jan 3-24 - Fort Wilderness tent camping (may change the dates to a bit later in the month)

 

[KalamityJane]

Ran into a small setback. With all the ticket prices changing and the tickets themselves now having an expiry, Disney is changing their price bridging... sort of. I was counting on price bridging to get a cheaper price for my annual pass, because 800 bucks makes me want to puke a little! It did make me feel a tidge better about not being able to get the discounted tickets from Undercover Tourist though, I delayed buying them and went to buy tonight and the "buy 4 days, get 3 days free" older tickets were gone It looks like I may have posssssibly dodged a bullet on that one, as Disney is only giving the value of the tickets pre-price hike, so it wouldn't have been as much of a savings as I initially thought.

Whew.

If you followed all that, you deserve a high five!

I also called around to all the siblings to see if they wanted to get FL Weekday Select annual passes, as our 60 day FP window is opening up. If you have a lot of people in your family, you understand how much like herding cats this is!

Now off to figure out online check in for the cruise (27th) and what I want to book. FP window opens in March. I feel like I should probably just give Disney my credit card at this point, it's going to be one of those years where they are getting a lot of my money!

 

[KalamityJane]

Online checked in for the cruise! Unfortunately all of the VIP character breakfasts were booked. Tickets bought and now figuring out FPs for everyone. I also booked a night at SSR before we check into AKV because we ended up flying in sooner than I thought. I plan on doing a pool day and ending it at Disney Springs My kids adored the pools at SSR, so this will work out well.

Now to get a reservation for TREX!

ETA: and done! 7:45pm (mostly so I remember this lol)

 

[KalamityJane]

Can people see the pictures? I'm having issues with Google pictures and linking.

FastPass reservation day! 60 days to go! So exciting Not as exciting - getting up at 4:30am to make those FPs. I will say that the app was incredibly easy to use from my nice warm bed, and I managed to get the FPs I needed for the massive group I have going

Now off to make touring plans. I subscribed to Touring Plans and omg, it has been amazing. Not only has their reservation finder been epic and found me BoG reservations for 10!! pre park opening, but it also has been great in fitting in all rides with a minimum of walking/waiting.

On the cruise front, I DID get a VIP character breakfast! Disney IT at it again, they all opened up a few days later. Go figure.

 

[KalamityJane]

Update time -

Booked our flights from Copenhagen back to FL, whew! Glad that is off the list. I had been waiting because prices had risen but I checked today and they were lower, so I booked.

My brother is going into the military and we won't be seeing him for a while, so I called Alaska to see if we could move our flights forward in order to see him before he leaves. They did it with no change fees <3 I then went to add on some days but due to The Summit (cheer competition) at ESPN's WWoS, hotels are pretty booked. I ended up adding on 4 nights at Fort Wilderness tent camping, and I'm so excited! It will be a preview/dry run of later in the year when we stay for longer. As of now, we will be gone the entire month of May Month o'Disney.

 

[Deb T.]

Can people see the pictures? I'm having issues with Google pictures and linking.

No, I can't see any of your photos. All that shows up is a great big empty space with a 'dash inside a circle' in the center of the empty space.

Enjoying your report so far! Sooo glad for your family that Alaska Airlines changed your flights w/o fees!!

 

[KalamityJane]

No, I can't see any of your photos. All that shows up is a great big empty space with a 'dash inside a circle' in the center of the empty space.

Enjoying your report so far! Sooo glad for your family that Alaska Airlines changed your flights w/o fees!!

Thanks! I switched to Photobucket, hopefully that works.

 

[Deb T.]

Thanks! I switched to Photobucket, hopefully that works.

YES!!! Yay! Cute family!

 

[dvc at last !]

Super plans - I am jealous !

 

[KalamityJane]

I picked up 3 of these travel feet pillows for the overnight flight to Orlando and the overnight back from Copenhagen. Hopefully they will be more comfy for the kids and we will all get some sleep.

http://www.1stclasskid.com/

Really want the below to happen
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1144/1134/products/OZfamily1_large.jpg?v=1485325669

 

[KalamityJane]

Look what came in! The kids are psyched!

 

[dvc at last !]

Look what came in! The kids are psyched!

Is that Captain America ?

 

[KalamityJane]

Is that Captain America ?

Yes! They were on Groupon for 99.99 but had a coupon for $10 off, plus I had $30 worth of Groupon Bucks to use, so it was serendipitous They had Iron Man left as well, but the kids wanted Cap.

 

[KalamityJane]

Things are coming together! We have been busy getting in suitcases, Fish Extender gifts, and clothes. There has been something in the mail almost daily, which only heightens the excitement!

We have a paper loop chain countdown and it initially stretched from the floor, up across our double window, then down to the floor again, BUT it has gotten so short we can't even fit it across our single window The kids thought this was hilarious that our poor chain is dangling from one side of the window now.

We are working on making our Fish Extender today, we are going with Nightmare Before Christmas theme. I will post pictures when it is done, it should be pretty good, hopefully!

 

[fallonkendra]

Fav ride - Screamin' by FAR

Love Screamin'! One of my favourite roller coasters!

Remember how I said it was going to be a resort only stay? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You all know how this goes, I'm sure.

Hahah! This sounds familiar - we were going to WDW so my fiance (then boyfriend) could run the half marathon in January. Then, an awesome seat sale came up for flights last fall, so I booked us a trip to Disneyland for his birthday (also in January). Then, the half marathon was cancelled in January, so my fiance was able to transfer his registration to the Avengers half marathon in November in Disneyland. The plan was always to go back so he could run the full marathon at WDW in January 2018, but we decided why not extend our trip, invite our closest family and friends and have a Disney wedding at the same time haha!

These are the current plans, subject to revision.
May 1 - Leave
May 2-6 - Fort Wilderness
May 6-7 - Saratoga Springs Resort
May 7-13 - Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani
May 13-28 - Eastbound Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic
May 29-31 - Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani (going to try to hit Pandora!)

(various other camping trips around Idaho planned)

(this trip is somewhat dependent on if Joe is going to a conference)
November 1-12 - Fort Wilderness tent camping
November 12-17 - Universal Studios/IoA - Royal Pacific

Jan 3-24 - Fort Wilderness tent camping (may change the dates to a bit later in the month)

Wow! That's impressive!

Also - I'll be there next January from the 2nd until the 13th

If you have a lot of people in your family, you understand how much like herding cats this is!

I've been dealing with this trying to make wedding plans! Most of our friends/family have never been to Disney, so my fiance and I are doing all of the planning for everyone...

 

[KalamityJane]

Fish extender done I crossed out our names, last name is at top.

 

[Deb T.]

Fish extender done I crossed out our names, last name is at top.

Wow! It's amazing! You did a fantastic job!!!