The third time’s the charm! A March 2013 10th anniversary PTR! Update 3/24

[sheila <3 WDW]

Welcome to my pre-trip report! I am in the midst of planning a third vacation for my family. I am so excited to be going back to my favorite place on Earth!

I came up with the idea for the title while I was reading through other trip reports so it made me decide to actually start a report. I started a pre-trip report before (possibly a dining one? I can't remember now), but it really doesn't count...I'll explain later.

Now, for the cast!

I am the Disney-obsessed planner. I am 32 years old and work in the accounting department of a big corporation.

DH is 31 and works in IT. He likes Disney, but isn't really into the planning like I am. Hes pretty much happy with whatever I plan, which is one of the many reasons I love him!

DD is 5 ½ and in Kindergarten this year. She is my favorite girl. She's moody and dramatic and gets so very excited about things. I love looking at the world through her eyes. I cannot believe how much I love that little girl and how much she changed my life. She is definitely mommy's girl.

DS is 1 ½ and he is the sweetest , most adorable little boy I could have imagined. He has me and his daddy wrapped around his little fingers. He recently started walking at 16 months. He isn't talking much, but he understands so much and when you tell him its bedtime he drops everything and walks/crawls to the stairs to go to his room. He loves to give hugs and lay his head on your shoulder. He is super ticklish and I love to hear him laugh.

Now: pictures! These are from Thanksgiving 2012

Coming up next: the reason behind the title

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Table of Contents

Initial post
Reason behind the trip report title...
Our trip plans!
Change of trip plans
Our to do list
To do list updated
Update to park hours/crowd levels
Final reservation made - Wishes Dessert Party here we come!
Final update (hopefully) - 2/11
mini update and what will happen next?
New dress and crown for DD
A wonderful gift from a friend so DD can start pin trading
Links to my trip report and dining report!!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Last night I was reading trip reports other people posted (I love reading them, helps my Disney fix). I started thinking about our upcoming trip and realized that this is my third time planning our third trip to Disney World and we are going in the third month of 2013 (thirteen LOL)! So I thought it was a fitting title.

Now some background (maybe if I ramble then people will comment LOL)

In spring of 2010 we were discussing taking a family vacation. Our DD was going to be turning 3 and DH and I had been discussing trying for a second child that fall. So we figured we should take a family vacation before we are back to having a newborn. We decided on Disney World and I started googling and reading everything I could about it. I learned so much and our first trip was fabulous. We went in September, 2010 and stayed at AKL with free dining upgraded to deluxe. Had lots of good reservations and hit all the main rides and went to DTD. It was amazing! DD did have times where she would act up or be cranky and she was a runner so there were times she would take off and we would have to chase her, but it was still great.

After we got home I went into Disney depression. I desperately wanted to go back and after a few months I convinced DH and we started debating where to stay. My boss owns DVC (at Vero Beach) and he said he had points that were going to expire and offered to rent them to me. So we jumped at that offer and he booked us BWV with deluxe dining. We were going in May, 2011 and I would be 30 weeks pregnant. That trip was still fun, but it was not nearly as fun or amazing as our first trip. I had a lot of back pain with that pregnancy and my back would hurt any time I was sitting down. My feet were hurting so bad from standing and walking. But we still soldiered on and tried to have fun. On our third day there the worst part of the trip occurred. DD developed a huge fear of auto flush toilets while at AK. She refused to use them. After several hours we resorted to going to the Baby Care Center and buying pull-ups for her. Those she would use, thankfully.

Picture from first trip:

After that trip things were crazy at home with having the baby and adjusting to life as a family of four. During this time DD still refused to use auto flush toilets which made going anywhere stressful. DS was and still is such a happy baby. I started dreaming of taking him to Disney but I knew we wouldnt be able to until DD conquered her toilet fear. I finally got DH to agree we could book a trip and if DD got over her fear we would go, if not we would cancel. I booked it for March, 2012. By our 45 day mark in January DD was still terrified of auto flush toilets, so we cancelled. That was trip #1 I planned for our third vacation.

Picture from second trip:

Luckily, in April (11 months after it started), she was over her fear! I am so proud of her for using the auto flush toilets now. Shes still nervous even now, but shell do it. So we started our 2nd attempt at booking trip #3 and planned it for late October, 2012. We had reservations and plans to do the Halloween party and enjoy F&W. Then we started looking for a new house. I didnt want to settle because I hate moving and didnt want to do it again. LOL In June we found a house we loved. It was a foreclosure and listed about half the price it originally sold for. We put an offer on it, then found out they accepted a different offer instead. We kept looking, but didnt really find anything else we liked. One day our realtor called and said the contract on the foreclosure fell through and did we want to put another offer on it&.yes we did! We ended up getting it and after a lot of drama (it had been vacant for almost 3 years, water was shut off, when water was turned back there was a leak but the bank that owned it fixed it, rushing to get paperwork done the day of the closing, etc.) we closed on it in September! We had decided to cancel our trip before the 45 day mark because we knew we would have to put a lot of time and money into the new house. We moved in mid-October. I love our house, it was worth cancelling our third trip to Disney for the second time.

Then I started planning again. We were talking about going in May, but then I realized we could use the Eat, Play, and Stay offer in March and go to Disney for our 10th anniversary! So thats what we are doing.

Next time: more details on our upcoming plans

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

We leave on Wednesday, March 6 and return Wednesday, March 13. This will be our longest trip so far. We are staying at POFQ for the first time and we booked it under the Eat, Play, Stay special (I think that’s what it was called). We have flights booked with Southwest. We actually had booked the flights for our trip last October and when we cancelled them we were told we had until June of 2013 to use the credits. We have direct flights both ways which is fabulous because we won’t have to deal with the stroller and carryon bags to change planes.

Now, for the plans!

Wednesday, March 6: Flight is scheduled to arrive at 2, take DME to POFQ and check in. The room should be ready, so we’ll drop off our carryon luggage and depending on weather at home and in Florida we may change clothes. The plan is to take the boat to DTD and walk around/shop and then have dinner at Raglan Road with our reservation at 6:45. We have been there twice already and we love it. We hope to have a fairly early night.

Thursday, March 7: MK day. They have morning EMH so we want to get there as early as possible. DD normally wakes up between 6:30 and 7 (DS normally between 7 and 8), but with all of us in one room we figure we’ll all wake up at or around the same time, DD is not a very quiet child. We have reservations for Crystal Palace at 9:35. Lunch so far we are planning on QS somewhere and we have BOG dinner reservations at 7:20 for dinner. I am very excited about BOG.

Friday, March 8: DHS day. We aren’t thrilled with the dining options here for breakfast so we will probably eat at the resort. DHS opens at 9. We don’t have reservations for lunch either, so we will either schedule something between now and then or just get QS somewhere. My goal is to get a cupcake at Starring Rolls this day. I’ve heard wonderful things and we didn’t make it there our last two trips. Definitely want to do some character greetings. DH wants to ride Tower of Terror and Rock n Roll Coaster. I want to take the kids to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area and see Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid shoes. DHS is our least favorite park, so we scheduled the SOAS at the Poly for 5:15. We want this to be an early night and depending on weather we may try to get some swimming time in before bed.

Saturday, March 9: AK day. We have a before park opening reservation at Tusker House for 8:05. We want to eat, then ride the Safari, then hit the rest of the park. We definitely want to explore the two trails, we haven’t done either before. Probably do some character greetings. Probably won’t ride KRR unless it’s hot out. I want to see FotLK again. I want to ride EE and Dinosaur. We have HDDR scheduled for 8:30 pm tonight. I am debating changing it to the earlier time, but I don’t know what I want to do. We have discussed taking a cab back to the hotel so we can get back faster and get the kids to bed. Time changes tonight also so we lose an hour.

Sunday, March 10: MK day 2. MK opens at 9 with evening EMH. Plan is to go to Poly for breakfast at Kona, 7:45 am reservation. I really want to eat here which is part of the reason I am thinking about trying to move the HDDR time up. I want us to be able to wake up earlier enough and not be super tired. DD has BBB reservation at 9:30. Lunch is QS somewhere, maybe BOG. Dinner is also undecided. Was debating 1900 PF or Kona again, but not sure I want to deal with leaving the park and getting back in the park. I am also considering changing this to an Epcot day so we have more time to enjoy the F&G festival, however our other Epcot day is scheduled for tomorrow and I’m not sure if we should do 2 days back-to-back. Maybe I’ll switch AK to Sunday and Epcot to Saturday. I really don’t know. I need to check and see if we can get Tusker House for Sunday. That would make switching possible.

Monday, March 11: Epcot day. Before park open reservation at Akershus for 8:10 am. The plan is to hit Living with the Land, Seas with Nemo, and anything else we want to do over in FW. Then we want to spend the rest of the day in WS looking at topiaries, exploring the countries, and meeting characters. We haven’t done Soarin and I don’t know if we are going to or not. I guess it depends on FPs after our breakfast. QS somewhere for lunch and Le Cellier for dinner at 6:05.

Tuesday, March 12 (our 10th anniversary!!): MK day 3. Before park open CRT reservation at 8:25 am. Want to get photopass pictures before this for sure. No plans for lunch and dinner yet. Trying to get reservations for the dessert party this night, I think it would be wonderful for our anniversary and the fact that crowds are supposed to be pretty high.

Wednesday, March 13: Flight home leaves at 5:15 pm. Unsure what we plan to do this day. AK opens at 8, we were discussing going there for a while if we missed anything we really wanted to do. Definitely going to pack and get luggage dropped off for DME as early as possible. Probably get back to the hotel around 1 so we have time to grab something to eat before we catch DME to the airport.

I am open to suggestions if anyone has any! I feel like we have a lot scheduled, but we don’t go-go-go in the parks, we do take time to sit and rest. DS should nap easily in the stroller. We are bringing our sit-and-stand so DD can rest, too. I want to get Photopass+ ordered, but haven’t done so yet.4 The hardest part is deciding between 3 MK days and 1 Epcot day or 2 MK and 2 Epcot days. My kids are 5 and 1 so I know MK will be a hit.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

OMG I am reading dining reviews and now I want to eat at O'hana so very much! Maybe I'll have to see about getting reservations for the Sunday night we don't have dinner plans...goodness the review I read made it look so very good! LOL

 

[SAT887]

Ok found the right one! Hi joining in!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Ok found the right one! Hi joining in!

I was just reading your pre-trip/trip report from your December trip! Small world...
Thanks for joining!

 

[CtinaDitty]

I'm also in!

I'm going in December and have started a PTR as well!! I have also heard great things about O'hana and can't wait to eat there. We are actually staying at the Poly and have heard great things about all of their food!

Your plans sound great so far! Sure have a lot more done than I do! I need to figure our dining. As silly as this sounds I feel I am running out of time before I have to book them in June!! Lol!! Less than six months! I need to have some order!

I very much recommend The Brown Derby at DHS. It was the truly special moment of our honeymoon back in July.

Also, I'm reading that other trip report titled 3rd Times the Charm! Small world!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Lol Our PTR titles are almost the same! How funny! I'm okay with them being close, but of course I cannot speak for everyone. I will have to join in on your report now!

 

[wiigirl]

I'm in!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I'm also in!

I'm going in December and have started a PTR as well!! I have also heard great things about O'hana and can't wait to eat there. We are actually staying at the Poly and have heard great things about all of their food!

Your plans sound great so far! Sure have a lot more done than I do! I need to figure our dining. As silly as this sounds I feel I am running out of time before I have to book them in June!! Lol!! Less than six months! I need to have some order!

I very much recommend The Brown Derby at DHS. It was the truly special moment of our honeymoon back in July.

Also, I'm reading that other trip report titled 3rd Times the Charm! Small world!

Hi and welcome!! June is just around the corner! Have you reached your 180 yet? When we were originally booking this trip we started looking at April and I was going to book right around 180 days...then we decided on March and suddenly I was only 150 days away! LOL Luckily we were able to get all the reservations we wanted, except for BOG dinner on the 12th. We have it a different night instead.

Lol Our PTR titles are almost the same! How funny! I'm okay with them being close, but of course I cannot speak for everyone. I will have to join in on your report now!

Welcome!! Yeah, I keep seeing your title and doing a double take, but I swear I didn't copy it! LOL Great minds and all that.....

I'm in!

Welcome!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

So today I feel like I made major changes to my trip, but I think it'll work so much better!

Wednesday, March 6: Arrival day. Changes made to this day!
Was going to go to DTD, now we are planning on spending the afternoon and evening at Epcot for more F&G time. Flight is scheduled to arrive at 2, so we'll have to figure out what to do for dinner. I need to check and see what is available.
Dinner: ?? somewhere in Epcot

Thursday, March 7: MK day. No changes to this day
Breakfast: Crystal Palace at 9:35
Lunch: ?? QS somewhere
Dinner: BOG at 7:20

Friday, March 8: DHS day. No changes
Goal: get a cupcake at Starring Rolls
Breakfast: ?? probably resort
Lunch: ?? QS somewhere or just snacks
Dinner: SOAS at the Poly for 5:15

Saturday, March 9: AK day. Changes made to this day!
Breakfast: Tusker House at 8:05
Lunch: QS? Probably Flame Tree - love that place
Dinner: Raglan Road at 7 pm (changed from HDDR to instead go to DTD - we decided 8:30 for HDDR was much too late)

Sunday, March 10: MK day 2. No changes
Breakfast: Kona Cafe at 7:45
DD has BBB reservation at 9:30.
Lunch: QS somewhere, maybe BOG
Dinner: ??

Monday, March 11: Epcot day. No changes
Breakfast: Akershus at 8:10 am.
Lunch: QS somewhere
Dinner: Le Cellier at 6:05.

Tuesday, March 12 (our 10th anniversary!!): MK day 3. No changes
Breakfast: CRT at 8:25 am.
Lunch: ??
Dinner:??
Want to do Dessert Party

Wednesday, March 13: Flight home leaves at 5:15 pm.
No definite plans for this day yet. Kind of thinking we'll just have it to relax. Sleep in, pack and drop off luggage, maybe take the boat to DTD for Earl of Sandwich (we've never been!) for an early lunch before our flight.

 

[CtinaDitty]

Hi and welcome!! June is just around the corner! Have you reached your 180 yet? When we were originally booking this trip we started looking at April and I was going to book right around 180 days...then we decided on March and suddenly I was only 150 days away! LOL Luckily we were able to get all the reservations we wanted, except for BOG dinner on the 12th. We have it a different night instead.

No, our 180 isn't until June 5th, I think? I am already working on what places I want to eat. I know there are a few places I wanted to eat on our honeymoon that we didn't choose so I will have to remember which places those are!

Your changes look good! You'll have to let me know how the dessert party went! I've wanted to partake in it since I heard about it a few years ago. I just don't know if I can fathom the cost.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

No, our 180 isn't until June 5th, I think? I am already working on what places I want to eat. I know there are a few places I wanted to eat on our honeymoon that we didn't choose so I will have to remember which places those are!

Your changes look good! You'll have to let me know how the dessert party went! I've wanted to partake in it since I heard about it a few years ago. I just don't know if I can fathom the cost.

Oh! I totally misread your post thinking your vacation was in June. Oops!

We did the Dessert Party our first trip in September, 2010. It was awesome. I don't really remember the desserts terribly well, but the view was fabulous!! I actually recorded the fireworks and my DD loves to watch them. I figure if we can do that on 3/12 it will work out perfect because crowds are supposed to be pretty high for spring break starting that weekend. Then we won't have to fight crowds to watch the fireworks.

 

[SAT887]

I like your changes! We went to Raglan Road last month and had a great time! The food was very good, the service was great and DD3 danced with the dancers. We had a very good time - I also agree that 8:30 is late for the HDDR

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Today I looked for 'Ohana reservations, but I couldn't find any times to work, the only days that had dinner times was after 8 pm which is too late with the kids. I'll keep trying (trying for the night we have Spirit of Aloha and then I'll cancel the luau). If not this trip, it'll be on my list for a future trip!

I also started writing a list of must-do or must-try.

So far I have:
-jalepeno cheese pretzel at AK (I need to find out where they are sold)
-nutella and fruit waffle at Sleepy Hollow in MK
-beignets at our hotel POFQ
-go up in balloon at DTD (depends on wait time and if we have time)

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Our trip is 45 days away! I am so excited!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I am adding more stuff to our do/try/buy list:
(new in purple)

So far I have:
-jalepeno cheese pretzel at AK (I need to find out where they are sold)
-nutella and fruit waffle at Sleepy Hollow in MK
-beignets at our hotel POFQ
-go up in balloon at DTD (depends on wait time and if we have time), I just bought a groupon for this...2 rides for $20 (regular price $36) yay!
-try, maybe buy, Laila perfume in Norway at Epcot
-buy more glass princess figurines in Germany (we have Cinderella and Ariel so far)

 

[SAT887]

Looking at groupon is a great idea! Never thought of it for WDW!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Looking at groupon is a great idea! Never thought of it for WDW!

I wouldn't have either! I was on the Theme Park board reading a thread about DTD and someone posted a link to it. It's good until 5/31/13.