The Mouse-KIDS are in charge...a Jan '12 PTR NEW 2/5 TR link & new tickers

[mousescrapper]

What a wonderful bunch of "characters"! I loved reading what they all liked about planning a trip to WDW. My favorites responses were Naomi Ruth's and Hubby's!

thanks...funny those two huh

I can't wait to see what's up next and what decisions the kids start making! So much fun reading along!

working on stuff today...so I'll be posting that in the next day or two

Excellent introduction to everyone~ !!

Awesome introduction to everyone!!

thank you both...I am sure you'll get to know us more and the kids as we continue to plan!

 

[Marshay]

Love the family pics!
The one of Nathan at HDDR always makes me LOL.

I just called MS about our Jan trip and unfortunately, BLT standard view is not available for our dates either the week you are there or for 2 nights when we would go.

So we need to rethink our dates, change resorts or go one less night in a lake view instead.

We were really hoping for BLT! Oh well, time to make some decisions!

 

[Charleston Princess]

You have such a great group of children! I loved reading their responses about what they are looking forward to with planning.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Love the "best things" answers. You have an incredible family.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

What a great family. You are so blessed!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Nice to meet you all!

It's amazing how much the kids have grown since I started following your reports four years ago!

 

[mousescrapper]

Love the family pics!
The one of Nathan at HDDR always makes me LOL.

I know, me too...he loves good food

I just called MS about our Jan trip and unfortunately, BLT standard view is not available for our dates either the week you are there or for 2 nights when we would go.

bummer well keep me posted

You have such a great group of children! I loved reading their responses about what they are looking forward to with planning.

thanks Jackie

Love the "best things" answers. You have an incredible family.

What a great family. You are so blessed!

aww thanks guys ...WDW really brings us together as a family so why not do more of the planning together...

Nice to meet you all!

cute!

It's amazing how much the kids have grown since I started following your reports four years ago!

I know seriously...and yours too...they grow up fast that is why i am feel so lucky that we have been able to scrimp for these all these great WDW trips while they have been little

 

[KathyRN137]

I know these kids are Disney PROs... I have every confidence that they will plan an amazingly fun trip!

Thanks for linking up to Faces in the Queue; Nathan is a STAR!



Kathy

 

[mousescrapper]

I know these kids are Disney PROs... I have every confidence that they will plan an amazingly fun trip!

Thanks for linking up to Faces in the Queue; Nathan is a STAR!



Kathy

was wondering when you would show up

they are PRO's right ?! we have some good prelim stuff planned (coming up next) and you bet for the link!

 

[tree320]

This is great! We are also going Jan 2012 and we also went Nov 2010. I remember you from that thread! Sounds like this is going to be fun, I can't wait to read more!!

 

[jillyb]

Great bunch of characters!! Looking forward to what the kids will come up with.

Enjoyed Nathan's interview...thanks for sharing the link. Good job Nathan!

 

[mousescrapper]

This is great! We are also going Jan 2012 and we also went Nov 2010. I remember you from that thread! Sounds like this is going to be fun, I can't wait to read more!!

LOL very neat...what are your dates for jan? the official month threads are fun too...thanks for stopping by and

Great bunch of characters!! Looking forward to what the kids will come up with.

Enjoyed Nathan's interview...thanks for sharing the link. Good job Nathan!

Hi Jill WELCOME!!!

we are characters for share I am glad you enjoyed his interview thanks for reading, he flet good doing it and kathy (fellow Diser) does such an amazing job of writing

 

[mousescrapper]

Before we get to the planning…I’d like to share the trip Binder cover I made for the trip. This binder I will take down w/ us to WDW and leave out in the room. I t will hold our itinerary and day to day plans plus any other travel info we’ll need while there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So I asked the kids what do we need to do FIRST to start planning the trip?

NR: “go on Dumbo and have lunch”

B: “sharpen our pencils to brainstorm ideas”

N: “ Decide how much money you can bring [for souvenirs] oh wait a better idea decide how much time you are going to spend in each park”

R: “Decide what you need to bring”

Got to love those answers …so what planning has been done, besides picking the dates and booking our Resort?

I have gone over some of that crazy Disney Math and decided we can do far better w/ our budget by dropping our usual DDP budget and plan an OOP one (really I owe a lot of credit to my fellow DIS bud MYRPPNS (Heidi) for her opening my eyes to a new way of thinking about food and budget.) Plus to help slim down the costs on this trip as well, Dad and I decided that non hoppers could be doable this time…this may open to discussion once the KIDS start figuring out how much we want to do in the parks and see if we need some more hopping flexibility…

Unfortunately I was not prepared to buy tickets before the rates went up just a week ago…so I will be holding off till much later to get the park passes…one of the biggest goals for this trip is to avoid putting many expenses on credit.

So the first order of business is to get a TOP 5 Park/other activities running list compiled for each family member and figure out what are the most common items.

I created this chart w/ B’s help:

And asked R to help me gather and sort the information:

I then asked her w/ N’s help to come up w/ the TOP things at each park and other activities.

The items w/ * had the most commonality and the items w/ - were individual picks (this list is probably not exhaustive, as i am sure there are things not listed we may choose to do...this is a starting point)

MK:
* BTMRR
* HM
*POC
*JC
*Dumbo
-Space Mt
-Pirates league
-IASW
-WTP
-peoplemover
-PPF
-Wishes (front of castle)
-tea cups
-railroad

DHS:
* TSM (N would love to do stand-by to see Mr. Potato Head...have to see?)
*TOT
*F! (BUMMER...looks as though RUMOR true F! is not going on our week)***have to figure out new plan w/ kids...
*MV3D
* Star Tours (added since pix was taken of chart)
-IJSS
-meet Army Men
-Car Stunt Show
-B& B show
-picture in front of NY
-Disney Junior Show
-Little Mermaid Show

EPCOT:
*Soarin
*TT
* SSE
* Nemo/TT (added since pix of chart taken)
* food
-Innoventions
-Ellen Energy
-Malestrom
-China Acrobats
-live entertainment
(no one mentioned KP missions, but if this is decided upon I think we'll do two missions and split up 1 parent and 2 kids)

AK:
* KS
*Nemo show
-Divine
-FotLK show (only have time for 1 show...so this may be on the pass list)
-gorillas
-character meet/greets
-EE
-Mickey Safari picture

OTHER:
*mini golf
* Marketplace Shopping
*pin trading

Next step is to plan a basic itinerary schedule. I have been asking some of my DIS friends for their thoughts and was awaiting the park hours to be released to get a better idea how to work it all. ***They are NOW out on the TA site!

the kids got busy looking over the charts/ and crowd predictions:

Right now the KIDS, Dad and I have determined we’ll need at least this much time:

MK: 2 days…Tues/Thurs
DHS: 1 day Sun
EPCOT: 1 day Mon
AK: ½ day Wed
Other activities: mini golf-Fantasia gardens and MP shopping ½ day Wed
***thinking this may change now that we have official Op hours and NO F!

The kids also have decided they want to take a mid day break on both of our full MK/EP days back at BLT for lunch, rest, (swim if warm enough) and community center time for games, crafts, etc…plus they say we should take the monorail to MK so we can rest to do our walking in the park…haha

Stay tuned for more planning: final park picks, food, and more

 

[teekathepony]

Great plans! How organized you all are!

 

[mousescrapper]

so the NO F! I feel has put a bit of a wrench in the plan for our basic itinerary...

We had basically planned our days around the F! showing as predicted being on Sun/Thurs evenings...but that is a no go now.

I have talked it over w/ the older girls (N is away at camp)...I am not sure if it is worth going to DHS on first day now...they don't think we should change anything...."don't like change"

looking at the hours this is what we have:

Sun 15th
MK 9am-11pm w/ an eve EMH
EP 9-9pm
DHS 9-7 pm
AK 9-5 pm

Mon 16th
MK 9-8 pm
EP 9-9 pm
DHS 9-7 pm w/ an eve EMH
AK 9-5 pm w/ an AM EMH

Tues 17th
MK 9-8 pm
EP 9-9 pm w/ an AM EMH
DHS 9-7 pm
AK 9-5 pm

Wed 18th
MK 9-8 pm
EP 9-9 pm
DHS 9-7 pm
AK 9-5 pm w/ an AM EMH

Thurs 19th
MK 9-8 pm w/ an AM EMH
EP 9-9 pm
DHS 9-7 pm
AK 9-5 pm



here's the planning factors:

* want to spend most time at MK (and we have the easist accessibilty to this park)

* no F! on schedule (not tied to an eve DHS tour)

* AK closes early each night

* mini golf destination chosen is Fantasia Gardens, would it make more sense to pick the park for this day near this location?

* we enjoyed the late nights in the parks in Nov. since short stay would it make more touring sense to maximize in EMH's ?


Original Intinerary:

Sun: arrival DHS (picked for F!)

Mon: EP

Tues: MK

Wed: AK/mini golf/MP shopping (picked as other park choice as 1/2 day)

Thurs: departure MK (picked for easy access on leaving day)



B then thinks maybe would it make sense to do MK on first day, since we want to do it twice? and R adds we are so close, could take a break too...

R do we change anything else, don't want it too busy?

both now we're confused...

B too bad we don't have hoppers

B wanted to look at the crowd chart and our park picks....I reminded her not to overly pay attention to the crowd levels, since we have just 5 days it may not work completely in our favor, plus we have have Nathan's GAC as the line back-up

I say why don't you write down what order you think we should do things...


Bekah's PLAN B:

Sun-MK
Mon-EP
Tues-AK/mini golf/shopping
Wed-DHS
Thurs-MK


Rachel's PLAN B:

Sun-DHS
Mon-EP
Tues-MK
Wed-MK/mini golf/shopping
Thurs-AK



My choices for a Possible PLAN B:

Sun: MK (picked for EMH)

Mon: mini golf/shopping/DHS-EMH (picked for more local ease, yes?)

Tues: MK (same)

Wed: EP

Thurs: AK (picked since closes early and we are leaving this day)




WWYD?

would you change things around since there is no F!

would you avoid the EMH's

thanks for reading....

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hmmm... I'll have to think about this. My first thought is to get hoppers!

I like the idea of MK on your departure day but it will be busier with morning EMH. I'm not a big fan of EMH... granted I usually stay off-site so I have it ingrained in my brain to avoid them, but I do think it increases crowds. Even with the GAC, we try to avoid the most crowded parks - I'd be especially inclined to avoid EMH parks (especially morning EMH) since you don't have hoppers! I also like the idea of MK on your arrival day since you don't know when your room will be ready & you could easily take a break to get settled in, then head back out. (I'd be OK with the pm EMH since you could take advantage of that.) But do you feel like you'd have enough MK time with two partial days? AK is a good half-day park for Thursday/departure day too.

I agree with DHS or Epcot on your golf day. Epcot needs more touring time so I'd probably go with the DHS & mini-golf combo.

Don't know if that helps or not... I think about it some more.

 

[MRYPPNS]

OK Here is Plan MP for NO Hopping (I'll be back with a plan for hoppers)

Sunday --- MK (emh pm)
Monday --- Cape May Character breakfast
Mini golf
DHS (emh pm)
Tuesday --- AK
Shopping (dinner at DTD)
Wednesday --- Epcot
Thursday ---- MK (emp am)

I'm not worried about emp am at MK on Sunday ....crowds are low, you have a GAC and just fits better with departure day.

By doing MK on arrival night you can split up later in the night for who ever needs to sleep.

 

[MRYPPNS]

EeeeeeKKKK!!!! This was a toughie!!

Here's Plan MP for HOPPING

Sunday -- Travel / MK (emh pm)
Monday -- Character Breakfast @ monorail resort or Cape May/ mini golf / DHS (emh pm)
Tuesday -- MK / break at BLT / Epcot
Wednesday -- AK (emh am) / break at BLT / Epcot
Thursday -- MK (emh am) / travel

This plan has no DTD planning because it heavy in time at MK -- a trade off -- you could plan time to shop on Main Street

 

[mousescrapper]

OK Here is Plan MP for NO Hopping (I'll be back with a plan for hoppers)

Sunday --- MK (emh pm)
Monday --- Cape May Character breakfast
Mini golf
DHS (emh pm)
Tuesday --- AK
Shopping (dinner at DTD)
Wednesday --- Epcot
Thursday ---- MK (emp am)

I'm not worried about emp am at MK on Sunday ....crowds are low, you have a GAC and just fits better with departure day.

By doing MK on arrival night you can split up later in the night for who ever needs to sleep.

thanks MRYPPNS for giving us this suggestion, I think this is the best one that works for us so far. um....and I think it was a good idea to split up the mini golf and shopping so it won't end up being full of cranky kids and a tired Mom at the end of the day (I love the banana)

PS I love your Dis name

I am going to share this w/ my sister and brother and see what they think.

Rebekah (aka Steve...cause Steve is awesome)

 

[MRYPPNS]

thanks MRYPPNS for giving us this suggestion, I think this is the best one that works for us so far. um....and I think it was a good idea to split up the mini golf and shopping so it won't end up being full of cranky kids and a tired Mom at the end of the day (I love the banana)

PS I love your Dis name

I am going to share this w/ my sister and brother and see what they think.

Rebekah (aka Steve...cause Steve is awesome)

Thanks Steve....errr I mean Rebekah. I think the most important parts of picking your park days is to do it so you aren't traveling too much to get back and forth to where you want to go and making sure that everyone can have a break and get rest. Plus you need good places to eat!