The Penguins won a trip to Florida! DLR AP holders first trip to WDW PTR

[Rubygoose]

Hi Everyone! I'm Kati, from Victoria, BC, Canada. I'm so excited to be writing my first PRT on the blue side of these boards. I'm a lot more used to the green side! We have done 4 trips to DLR in the past 4 years, and on our previous trip, we upgraded to deluxe APs so that we could go again at spring break. Well, with the flights being so expensive in March, and so many rides down for long refurbs, we decided that we would put off our trip until August, right before our APs expire on the 21st.

And then our spring break plans changed once again. Bryan (my husband, who I'll formally introduce a little further on in this PTR) found a contest sponsored by Residence Inn that was based on the Penguins of Madagascar movie. They had 6 pictures of the penguins from the movie, and each week we posed like one of the pictures and we won the contest! I'm not sure which photo it was that won, but once I find out, I'll post it on here. The trip includes airfare for 4 to Tampa, 3 nights at the Residence Inn Tampa downtown, 2 day passes to Busch Gardens, a special Safari tour at Busch gardens and some spending money. Bryan sent the paper work in a couple days ago, so we should be hearing from them soon to make the travel arrangements. Hopefully we'll be able to extend our flight home and we'll spend 4 nights in WDW . I went ahead and booked the Caribbean Beach Hotel for spring break and started making dining reservations (I can cancel it all if we can't extend the flight.) Trying to wrap my head around WDW planning and FP+ is enough to drive me crazy... but it's a good crazy.

 

[Rubygoose]

Here's our cast of characters:


Kati/Mom: That's me. I'm a substitute teacher and I'm currently working towards my Special Education diploma.

Bryan/Dad: He works for the BC government. We don't really know what he does!

Annalise/Annie-Roo: She's 7 and in Grade 2. She's the thrill seeker in the family.

Gavin/The Goose: He's 5 and in Kindergarten. He loves meeting characters (especially Tinkerbell and anyone else he can flirt with!)

(To learn a bit more about us, you can browse the DLR TRs in my signature.)

This will be our first time at WDW, and the first time in Florida for the kids and I. Bryan went to Florida for work about 15 years ago when he worked for a board game company. He didn't get to spend a lot of time outside of the toy fair they were attending, but he did go to Busch gardens for an hour or two before they closed.

The kids and I get 2 weeks for Spring Break in March, but I have a class to attend from 8:30-4:30 on a Saturday right smack dab in the middle of Spring Break so that only gives us one week to travel. The travel agent from the contest hasn't contacted us yet, but I've figured out our dates so that I know what to ask for when she calls. If everything goes the way I want it to, this is what we'll do:

Sunday March 15: Fly from Victoria to Tampa. I don't know what airline they'll put us on, but I really hope we don't have to stay anywhere overnight before we get to Florida. We have a 3 hr time difference, so we'll probably get in really late. We'll check in to the Residence Inn and go to sleep.

Monday March 16th: We'll sleep in a bit, then go to Busch Gardens.

Tuesday March 17th: We'll pack up and check out of the hotel in Tampa. We'll spend a bit of time at Busch Gardens in the morning and then head to Disney World in the afternoon. We'll check in the to Caribbean Beach Resort and spend some time at the pool.

Wednesday March 18th: Magic Kingdom day - we always start our DLR trips at Disneyland, riding Peter Pan and then Dumbo. We may not stick to this tradition in WDW, but at least we're starting with the right park.

Thusrday March 19th: Animal Kingdom

Friday March 20th: Epcot

Saturday March 21st: Hollywood Studios for most of the day, then driving back to Tampa for our 3rd night at Residence Inn

Sunday March 22nd: Fly Home (hopefully we get a flight that arrives in Victoria that evening, but we may end up staying overnight somewhere and then flying home in the morning)

 

[Rubygoose]

Bryan finally got an e-mail this morning from the travel agent who is looking after our trip. We were getting a little worried when we hadn't heard from anyone, since we'll need to start booking airfare pretty soon for March! Now we're just crossing our fingers that our dates in March will be available and that they'll let us extend our trip. I have until the end of January to either cancel or pay off our WDW reservation, so I'm glad that the travel agent has finally contacted us so that we can get this all started. I think I've figured out our plans for our Disney days and our window for FP+ opens up this week! Luckily we're on the west coast, so I'll be making reservations at 9pm instead of at midnight like East Coasters. I'm still trying to figure out if we should bother going to Hollywood Studios or if we should spend a second day at Epcot instead. We will be doing a trip to DLR in August before our APs expire, and it looks like most of the stuff that appeals to us at Hollywood Studios is also in DLR.

So glad that we at least have gotten the planning started!

 

[Gillyrose779]

I remember that contest- congrats!

 

[Rubygoose]

I remember that contest- congrats!

Thanks! Did you enter? It was fun! There weren't really very many entries, especially since it was over 6 weeks.

 

[Gillyrose779]

Thanks! Did you enter? It was fun! There weren't really very many entries, especially since it was over 6 weeks.

I believe I saw it the last week it was running. I wanted to enter but my sons are 3 and 5 and were not in the mood to pose for me.

Very exciting for you though!

 

[Disney127]

They had 6 pictures of the penguins from the movie, and each week we posed like one of the pictures and we won the contest!

Congrats! How exciting! Yes, WDW is definitely different from DL. After visiting 2x already, we still haven't done all the things that we wanted to do. And we enjoyed the Caribbean Beach Resort - got the pirate room . DD (13) and I are in the mist of planning for an August 2016 trip. So much more planning than just heading to DL

Looking forward to see the winning photo!

 

[Blissikins]

Subbing in. Congratulations on your win! What a fantastic prize!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh I'm so excited for you!! What a fun opportunity. We are going to WDW for our first time this year too. I can hardly wait to see the winning photo!!

 

[Rubygoose]

I've been so busy with school and work, but I'm taking a break to post a little bit about our trip. Last weekend, the travel agent booked our flights and hotel, so it's official! I put up our Mickey Head countdown on the kitchen wall and today it's at 49 days (until we leave Victoria.) The travel agent was able to book the exact flights that I asked for on Alaska Airlines, so we'll earn miles on these free flights! On Jan 15th at 9pm I was able to book our FP+s and since I'm on the westcoast, I didn't have to get up at midnight! And then, on Thursday Bryan convinced me to go ahead and purchase our flights to Disneyland in August. The exchange rate is brutal right now, but I think this helped bring the cost of flights down. So, now we officially have 2 Disney trips to look forward to in 2015!

And... the moment you've all been waiting for...

Our winning penguin photo!


This was the photo from week 3. I'm not sure if they actually chose this one as the winner or not, but this is the one they posted when they announced the winner of the contest on Twitter.

I think this one should have won...

Bryan actually built the Residence Inn out of Fun Foam and a Mandarin Orange box! He used the lights from our Christmas houses to light it up.

 

[kaoden39]

I think both are adorable!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi Kati! So fun to win a trip! You will be leaving Florida the day we arrive. Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[luulu1999]

Following along!! I have read your stuff from the DL thread, we are actually planning a short 4 day weekend trip to WDW this October so we can experience MNSSHP, I won't take my kids out of school for a trip and they get a Friday and Monday for "fall break" so we are doing Sat MK and Sunday MNSSHP (hopefully it will work out like that)

 

[Rubygoose]

Following along!! I have read your stuff from the DL thread, we are actually planning a short 4 day weekend trip to WDW this October so we can experience MNSSHP, I won't take my kids out of school for a trip and they get a Friday and Monday for "fall break" so we are doing Sat MK and Sunday MNSSHP (hopefully it will work out like that)

It seems like you always have a trip around the same time as us! We're doing only 4 days in the park, so I know we won't have enough time to see it all, especially for a first trip. So, if we really like WDW then we'll start saving for next spring break. I'm trying to convince DH that we should do Aulani in 2016, though.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Congrats guys!!

 

[Rubygoose]

Two more days before we leave! I have a big test tomorrow for my course, and then it's a 2hr drive home and right to bed, since we'll be getting up at 3am on Sunday!

 

[kaoden39]

Two more days before we leave! I have a big test tomorrow for my course, and then it's a 2hr drive home and right to bed, since we'll be getting up at 3am on Sunday!

Good luck on your test! I can hardly wait to hear about your trip!