There'll be magic, there'll be fun!!! Fall 2014 PTR *Updated 7/20*

[SarahSlink]

Whew – I feel like the last couple weeks have flown by! I did get a little bit accomplished on the trip front though, so I thought I’d give you a quick update.

First, I was able to switch our ‘Ohana ADR to 6:40 on our arrival night. I’m happier with that than 5:00, so I think I’m done hounding the MDE app for a while! It was kinda fun though I think I have a problem…

And, I’ve spent some time trying to figure out our touring plans…I posted my thoughts on Epcot before and have started working on the other days. Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios don’t scare me too much, but trying to think about 2.5 days at the Magic Kingdom freaks me out Seriously overwhelming right now… any advice is greatly appreciated! I actually wrote all the attractions I want to make sure we do on 3x5 index cards so I can arrange and rearrange them while looking at park maps and suggestions I’ve found online to see what makes the most sense! I just know if I don't have a plan of action, we are going to be the family standing with a map on Main Street trying to figure out what to do... and annoyed when no one will make a decision.

Lastly, over Memorial Day weekend we went away with my husbands family (Ugh.) and spent a day at a small amusement park. It has all the classic carnival or fair rides, but because it’s a permanent location, and located right on shores of Green Bay, its well cared for and doesn’t have the carnies! It’s super cheap as well (most rides 25 or 50 cents each) and we actually enjoyed it for a while. Anyway, it was a nice way to gauge our family and what our touring style will be. My instinct was right and we will definitely be early risers and rope droppers, then resters after lunch. We started the day hanging out at the hotel waiting for the rest of the family to be ready. Then got to the park and waited for everyone to figure out what they were doing. We finally got going on rides and stuff at about 10am and by about 2:30 Little Man was exhausted and the girls were having nothing to do with sleeping in the stroller. We should have gone back to the hotel right after lunch, but since the rest of the family was sticking around we tried to as well. Bad choice. But, now we know. I also learned that my paranoia about making sure the Chief and Little Man (neither of whom are the most patient in the world) don’t have to wait in line very long was in vain… they willingly waited in line 45 minutes for the Tilt-a-Whirl. Seriously. The TILT-A-WHIRL!!! I guess if they will wait 45 minutes for that I don’t need to worry so much.

And I’ll leave you with a few pictures because, really, all text updates are BORING!

 

[DISNEY180]

Great update I too have to start deciding the park tours..and there are only two of us.. mostly it is for the FP+s then anything else.

For Magic Kingdom my advise is SLOW..If you are spending 2.5 days there will be time to see it all..Being early risers will help and maybe picking which "LAND" is the most important to visit first will help. So if is Fanstay Land then I would suggest taking the train and save your feet. This way you get to see a bit of the park without having to fight the crowds. I find if the kids say want to get on Goofys Barnstormer coaster then dragging them though Tomorrow Land first may be unproductive and unenjoyable.

Once done there decide to go to Tomorrow Land which is where Buzz Lightyears ride is ( love it) and it is nearer the entrance and if late enough head out the front entrance or wait to see a show or parade in front of the castle

If you are coming back later then maybe make some FP+s for then instead of early morning unless you are will to stand at the Kisoks to make new ones after the 3 are done. Not sure if you have to wait til all three are done or you can make new ones once one is used.

I love MK but it is huge and IMO the best one for little ones so 2.5 days is lots of time to truly enjoy the park, so running from attraction to attraction isn't needed.

 

[Denovagirl]

Hi!! I guess I never came over here, but I saw your link after you commented on my PTR and had to come check on things! Yay! We will be overlapping, so possibly we can do a Dis meet! We will both be in AK the same day!!

Your plans look good. I did want to recommend you check THIS out! Sort of a cheat sheet of attractions, and if you look around on that site, the guy does lay out some great touring plans.

I think your Epcot day looks good. You could probably accomplish a bunch on that list if you are there for rope drop and just go straight to each attraction, but the thing about Future World in Epcot is there are lots of exhibits and interactive areas that are fun and can totally throw you off course, but really, as long as the kids are having fun, and you are, don't stress about seeing everything. We missed a lot on our Epcot day, theres just SO much to do there. (Have you read my TR, it could give you an idea of what to expect)

I love your ADR's I am SO glad you booked HDDMR, it was my FAVE! And you got Ohana in and a bunch of character meals, good job!! I would still say try for BOG FP+ for lunch, it was an outstanding lunch in my opinion!

 

[SarahSlink]

For Magic Kingdom my advise is SLOW..If you are spending 2.5 days there will be time to see it all..

I'm hoping that we'll be able to take it slow and just ENJOY it! But I do want to make sure we fit in quite a bit at the same time

Hi!! I guess I never came over here, but I saw your link after you commented on my PTR and had to come check on things! Yay! We will be overlapping, so possibly we can do a Dis meet! We will both be in AK the same day!!

Your plans look good. I did want to recommend you check THIS out! Sort of a cheat sheet of attractions, and if you look around on that site, the guy does lay out some great touring plans.

I think your Epcot day looks good. You could probably accomplish a bunch on that list if you are there for rope drop and just go straight to each attraction, but the thing about Future World in Epcot is there are lots of exhibits and interactive areas that are fun and can totally throw you off course, but really, as long as the kids are having fun, and you are, don't stress about seeing everything. We missed a lot on our Epcot day, theres just SO much to do there. (Have you read my TR, it could give you an idea of what to expect)

I love your ADR's I am SO glad you booked HDDMR, it was my FAVE! And you got Ohana in and a bunch of character meals, good job!! I would still say try for BOG FP+ for lunch, it was an outstanding lunch in my opinion!

Thanks for checking out my ramblings We should totally try to meet up in AK - that would be really fun!

I have looked at (and poured over) Josh's touring plans and really have taken a lot of his suggestions into account as I make plans. They have been very helpful!

I was pretty happy with my ADR list as well - especially considering I had not yet booked at 180 days out, so I was behind the rest of the crowd! BoG FP+ is on my list for one of our days there. However, attempting to get A&E is my first priority when that time comes...

 

[SarahSlink]

I’m baaack!! Wow, life speeds by sometimes. We’ve been having a fun few weeks again, here’s a few highlights of what we’ve been up to.



First, we went to a graduation party a few weeks back where there was a bounce house. Little man had a blast with his BFF from way back.





And of course Thing 1 and Thing 2 had a good time as well. However, when it was time to go home, it went downhill fast.

A little backstory – when Thing 1 reaches the end of her rope and is ready for bed, she melts down in a hurry. My best description is that she hits the wall face first, falls on her butt and there’s no recovery.

So, when we took her out of the bounce house she was crying and whining and we took it as our cue to exit stage left. As we were saying our good-byes she threw a fit if we set her down and was only happy if one of us (or DH’s mom) was holding her. When we got home I was going to run the kids through the bath before bed and she again threw a fit when we put her on the floor. It was then that we realized she wasn’t walking. At all. We figured something had happened in the bounce house, so we called my parents (so thankful they live next door…) and they came to get the other two so we could take Thing 1 to the ER. After a long night in the ER including x-rays and everything else, they had no idea what could be wrong with her. So, they gave her some Tylenol and lo & behold she started walking once it kicked in. We got sent home with instructions to give Tylenol as needed, since she also seemed to have a low fever along with not walking. The next day she would only walk (shakily at that) after a fresh dose of Advil. I cannot tell you how scary it is to watch your normally very active 2 year old suddenly stop walking, and revert to crawling to get somewhere. We went to the clinic the next day and after talking to a pediatrician it was determined that she must have some sort of virus that was causing very severe body aches. I’m very thankful to report that she is back to normal now!!

The other current news is that we figured out a solution to our transportation issue… we bought a van! It’s nothing fancy but it’ll work for us for the next several years. The color is listed as Light Ice Blue… too cheesy for me to name it “Elsa”?



I really have no problem driving a van and figured it was in the cards at some point. And honestly the only reason I procrastinated so long is to prove everyone wrong… It drove me nuts that when we found out we were expecting twins the first thing everyone said was “it’s time for a van!!” I disagreed and held on to the Equinox to prove a point. No, I am not stubborn.

And in trip news, I'm rethinking EP a bit in regards to the afternoon - originally the plan was to just keep going after lunch and then head back to the resort in the early evening, but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't head for a rest right after lunch, then come back in the evening for WS... and honestly, depending on how things are going, there's a chance that Chief and the kids would stay at the resort and Nanny and I go back and do World Showcase & F&W... with it being the first full day, though, I just don't know. For anyone who has done breaks after lunch, how long did it take to leave the park, relax for a while and get back to the park? Honestly, I need to start thinking more about the other parks. I don’t know why I’m so focused on Epcot?

We are leaving for our annual vacation on Friday and I probably ought to start getting ready for that! The good news is that I’ve been doing this exact same vacation since I was about 7 years old, so it’s pretty low stress prep for me after all this time. If need be, I could be ready to leave in about an hour. Praying for safe travels and a wonderful week with wonderful weather. We spend as much time as possible on a small beach with a bunch of friends and family. Doesn’t get much more relaxing than that… well, aside from chasing my monsters around and making sure they don’t try to eat too much sand or swim without a life jacket…

Right now we have a countdown chain for our vacation going and I promised Little Man that we would start one for Disney when we get back. By then we will be at 89 days to go!!! Absolutely crazy how quickly this is going!!!

 

[Denovagirl]

Wow, what fun y'all have been having! And vacation soon! Yay! Hopefully the summer will fly by and Disney time will be upon us soon!

About breaks- we didn't do any, because we realized really quickly how long disney transport can be. Realistically I think if you left Epcot at say noon you'd be back in your room maybe 45 min later. It's a lot to do the bus ride, unload all the kids and stuff and trek back to your room. So that's an hour and half both ways I'd say on travel time to and from break. Plus however long you break. You could get lucky and shave some time off if a bus is there quickly and your room is near the bus stop, but you could also end up on the other side of the scale and take longer if bus is 15-20 min waiting to get there and then a 10-15 min ride and then 10-15 min to your room....

If you think the hubs will stay back with the kids I'd say try to do a long morning and late lunch and then leave for rest so they get a little longer in the park.

 

[SarahSlink]

About breaks- we didn't do any, because we realized really quickly how long disney transport can be. Realistically I think if you left Epcot at say noon you'd be back in your room maybe 45 min later. It's a lot to do the bus ride, unload all the kids and stuff and trek back to your room. So that's an hour and half both ways I'd say on travel time to and from break. Plus however long you break. You could get lucky and shave some time off if a bus is there quickly and your room is near the bus stop, but you could also end up on the other side of the scale and take longer if bus is 15-20 min waiting to get there and then a 10-15 min ride and then 10-15 min to your room....

Thanks for the info. We will be driving down there, so I'm thinking on the days we are planning breaks, we'll use our own car instead of Disney buses, so that should shave a little time off. But, who knows, we may try a break once and find that it's not right for us too... It's just a guessing game at this point!

 

[SarahSlink]

Wow, I feel like I’ve abandoned this PTR! And how many times can a person claim busy-ness as an excuse? In my defense, we were on vacation for a week of that time…

It was, once again, a wonderful trip and the kids did AWESOME in the car for the long drive. Granted, we make several stops on the way there to break it up a bit, but for the 12 hours on the way back they were troopers! Because we go with a bunch of my extended family (and friends who might as well be family), Nanny rode with us as well. It was a little preview of things to come this fall!


We left home about 7:55 to meet up with my parents at my sister’s house at 8am. I LOVE that we live so close to my family…have I mentioned that my parents live right next door? We were pulling out of my sis’s driveway shortly and within 30 seconds pulling right back in… Nanny packed at 10pm the night before and thought of an item or two she failed to include in her bag. It was probably a good thing she was riding with us because I don’t think her parents were too thrilled with her at that point! Regardless, we hit the road shortly and had smooth sailing through Wisconsin and stopped for lunch just across the border of the UP. We ate at a Perkins there and the service was soooo slooooow. Frustrating when you have a large group of people (including young children) anxious to be on their way. But, we ate quickly once our food came and got back on the road. We stopped for gas, and again at a rest area that has a little beach area along Lake Michigan. By this time we connected with another family that would be vacationing with us and splashed in the water for a bit. The plan is always to let the kids “get their feet wet” but I know my children and had dry clothes easily accessible! This started the trend for the week of Thing 2 having no fear in the water and Thing 1 freaking out when any amount of sand touched her feet… They are SO DIFFERENT in some ways!




After drying off, we got back in the van and headed to the Mackinaw Bridge. We had hotel reservations on the other side of the bridge at a nice hotel we’d stayed at before. The kids had a good time in the pool and we ordered in pizza for dinner. In an attempt to keep the girls up a little later, we went for a walk to a nearby outdoor mall with everyone else. Fail. The Chief and Little Man stayed and played on an awesome playground there while I practically ran back to the hotel with 2 screaming girls trying desperately to escape their stroller. I’m sure the other guests in the lobby of the hotel were praying their room was not by mine! We had two pack-n-plays set up in the room and this confirmed that I will always try to book a suite of some sort when we travel going forward. I literally put them in their beds and hid in the bathroom while they were going to sleep! Thing 1 crashed immediately. Thing 2 was a different story (which is the opposite of the first 1.5 years of their life). By the time the Chief and Little Man were ready to come back she was still not sleeping, so we fought that battle with everyone in the room at the same time. Ugh. But, once everyone was asleep it was an uneventful night.

The next morning we continued on our way. We always stop at a family farm stand that has great fresh fruit, a little bakery, and an awesome play area for the kids. We were there for quite a while before continuing on our way.


We stopped for groceries and then headed to one of my favorite places ever. Moomers. Seriously, heaven. It’s a local ice cream stand that makes their own ice cream. It’s delicious – the best I’ve ever had! Don’t believe me? They were voted as the Best Ice Cream in America by the Good Morning America viewers a few years ago. We stop there on the way to the cottage, and make at least 1 or 2 more trips during the week. It’s probably a good thing they are 6-8 miles away and not 1 or 2…I could walk that every day! My newly discovered favorite flavor was Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt. Holy moly that was awesome. And I don’t like chocolate ice cream!

Our week at the cottage is generally defined by “sun, beach, family, lake, food, Moomers”. It’s a rough life. It was strange the first few days, as we had insane winds – so much so that I didn’t even want to be outside! But then it died down and we enjoyed being outside the rest of the week. Thing 1 wanted to be in the swing anytime she could.



Thing 2 could have sat in the shallow water all day playing with the sand and stones.



Little Man had a great time playing in the lake with all the big kids and with his life jacket on, he held his own in the deep water and went all over the place! The awesome thing about this week is that with all the families there, we have kids of every age to play with! The teenagers are all really good with the little kids, so it’s a nice break for me! Plus, the Chief isn’t much into swimming and heat, so he prefers to stay inside and handled nap time with the girls like a pro, as well as got up early with them and let me sleep in. Truly was a vacation for me!

Our last trip to Moomers was once again delicious and we discovered just how much our family loves ice cream…






As I said, our trip home went well – as often as we stop on the way there to break it up, on the way home we power through and only stop for meals and gas. I will say that we stopped for breakfast and for the first time ever we had to remove one of our children from the restaurant because they were so loud and inconsolable. Ahh…the end of vacation melt downs are a hoot!

And, after that detour from the PTR, I’ve sat down with my planning binder and put together a rough draft of our touring plans for each day and what I would like to target for FP+. I feel like I keep going around in circles with this and have to keep reminding myself that regardless if my plans go off as I have scheduled or not, we’ll be in WDW!!! And really, how bad can that be?!? I’ll put that together in another update in the next day or two.

Stay tuned…

 

[SarahSlink]

I know!! Another update, and so quickly!

Couple of things… There is this older couple that we go to church with that are Disney obsessed (at least annual trips, sometimes more often) and they seem to have adopted our kids as their grandchildren, since they don’t have kids of their own. So, needless to say, when they found out we booked a trip they were VERY excited for us. The other day they handed me this cool sticker that he ordered for us… how sweet is that?!?! I wasn’t sure what to do with it since it said it wasn’t safe for outdoor use (ie, bumper sticker), so I put it on the back of my planning binder.



I finished the countdown chain for the kids. I’ve found this type of countdown works really well for Little Man. We’ve used them for all kinds of things…Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, other vacations… I think it helps him to visualize the number of days, since he really doesn’t have the concept of how long 80+ days takes. It totally cuts down on the “Is today the day? No? The next day?” questions if he can look at this and see there are a lot of days left to take down.



And, I forgot to mention that my birthday was the day we came home from vacation and my sister got me this bracelet with awesome Minnie and Tink charms on it. I’m excited to add to it (even non-disney charms – gasp!) the next few years. I’m planning to do Pick a Pearl in the Japan pavilion in Epcot – wonder if there’s any setting for the pearl that would fit on this?



As I’ve mentioned, I’m really trying to figure out our touring plans for the parks. Here’s what I’m thinking for our first day there. We will be checking into ASMu that morning and settling in. I’m hoping to eat a quick lunch in the room, then head to MK if our room is ready. Otherwise, if not, we’ll just head right there…why not?!?! My goal for this day is to get our bearings (do a bit in each area), ride a few rides… meet a few characters... take a few pictures… cry at the first sight of the castle… you know, typical newbie things! Since we have another 2 days there, I feel comfortable missing a couple things on my list if it doesn’t all work out. But, since I can at least book 3 FP+’s, it’d be foolish not to! So, without further ado…

MK – Day 1 (Sunday, 9/28)
Peter Pans Flight (FP+)
Peter Pan/Wendy M&G
Barnstormer
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (FP+)
Buzz M&G
Festival of Fantasy Parade (FP+)
It’s a small world
Jungle Cruise

Since we are planning afternoon breaks the other 2 days at MK, I figured this was our best chance to see the afternoon parade and to keep from needing to spend 45 minutes claiming our spots, it would be a good use of FP+.

We have an ADR that evening at ‘Ohana for 6:40pm. What time should we be exiting MK to allow enough time to get to the Poly? I know it’s close and doesn’t take long “best case scenario”, but realistic planning time should be… ?

That’s it for now… Stay tuned!

 

[Denovagirl]

Gah, I just replied and hit the button and my phone messed up and it got lost So here we go again...

So vacation looked like a blast! What fun and special times with your family!

How sweet that the couple at church has taken you under their Disney wings! Love that!

Love your bracelet! Too cute! Haven't seen anything like that for the pearl, but they're called "pearl cages" so that's what to look up, maybe pearl cage charms?

So your MK arrival plans look great! The only thing I want to point out is how hard it is to get around the whole park in one day, especially your first time bc there will be SO much you can't help but stop and look at. I notice your FPs are pretty spread out throughout the different lands, so just be prepared to pass a lot of things up that your kiddos may not like passing. You'll have to miss things to stay on time, or consider moving FPs so they are just in a couple of the lands close together. Either way it will work out, I'm sure, and you'll have the time of your life!! Good motto on your FP selection by the way!

Ohana- I would leave MK by 6, that should give you enough time!

 

[SarahSlink]

Wow – I looked at the little magnet Disney sent and my FP+ day is 7/30! Holy schmoley that’s coming up quick!!! I need to get some of this written down and out for evaluation

Animal Kingdom – Tuesday 9/30
Use Disney bus to travel from ASMu to AK – be at bus stop by…7:15? Or earlier? When do buses start running?
BREAKFAST – Tusker House ADR 8am
Kilimanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest – maybe.
Dinosaur – FP+ 10-11
Boneyard Playarea – for the girls while the rest of us trade off on Dinosaur and/or Everest
LUNCH – Flame Tree BBQ
Kali River Rapids – FP+ 12-1
The rest of the afternoon I have a list of things I want to do – figure we will mix shows with walk throughs. I will probably FP+ FOTLK and see where everything else falls in. The To Do list includes:
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Flights of Wonder
FOTLK
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
Rafikis Planet Watch

Aside from FOTLK, none of these are on my “must do” list, so if everyone is ready to head back to the resort and swim/relax early, that’s cool too.

Little Man is only 42 inches tall right now, so I doubt those 2 inches will magically appear in the next 70 (eek!!) days. I told Nanny to pick something at each park that she wants to do, so if Everest makes her list, she and I (or the Chief) will fit it in after the Safari. He and I are not big thrill ride people, but I don’t want Nanny to have to ride them by herself either!

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Wilderness Explorers program thingy? Yea or Nea for a 4 year old?


Next up – Magic Kingdom – Wednesday 10/1
Drive to MK – leave ASMu by 7:45 to arrive in time to steak out a place for the opening show…does anyone know how the railroad refurb will effect that?

Mickey M&G at Town Square Theatre
Journey of the Little Mermaid
Ariel M&G
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Daisy & Minnie M&G at Pete’s Silly Sideshow
Donald & Goofy M&G at Pete’s Silly Sideshow
Winnie the Pooh
7 Dwarfs Mine Train – FP+ 10:30-11:30
LUNCH – Be Our Guest – Will attempt to FP
Enchanted Tales with Belle – FP+ 12-1
Anna & Elsa M&G – FP+ 1-2 (cross fingers!!!)

Break – Head back to resort to rest and/or swim for a few hours. If all goes well with my FP+’s, hopefully we’ll be heading out of the park about 1:30 or so (yes, wishful thinking) and returning about 4:30 or 5. I’m hoping that by driving rather than depending on Disney transportation we won’t feel like we’re wasting a ton of time or “rushing” through the rest time…

I’d like to do the following in some sort of decent order this evening. Depends on when we get back to the park and wait times at each.
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
People Mover
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Haunted Mansion (will try to book as 4th FP on our way out)
DINNER – QS somewhere…
Revisit favorite rides so far, if we have time

Then, I am really hoping this can be our one late night so we can see MSEP & Wishes!!! (Along with everyone else who isn’t going to a party this week…) Here’s my newbie question – with MSEP at 8pm and Wishes at 9pm, do we find one place to watch both? Or after the parade goes by, find a different spot for Wishes? If one spot for both, where would be recommended? I don’t mind waiting a little while before hand – good snack time, or whatever, but I don’t necessarily think we could hang out (happily) for a long time!


Day 5 – Hollywood Studios – Thursday, October 2

I’m rethinking our breakfast ADR for this day… right now it’s set at 8am. However, I was thinking about these things while doing dishes after supper (normal, right?) and as much as we are morning people, I think after the late night, we should maybe not rush out this morning. I checked the MDE app and there are no other openings for breakfast or lunch that day at H&V. I think I will keep checking and see what opens up. With being able to FP+ Toy Story, we don’t NEED to be there at rope drop and ride it more than once. So, this is as it stands right now, but I might switch it up a bit…

Take Disney bus to HS from ASMu – be at bus stop by 7:15?
BREAKFAST – Hollywood & Vine ADR at 8am
Toy Story Mania
Tower of Terror – FP+ 9:30-10:30
Beauty and the Beast
One Man’s Dream – I would love to see this, but I have a feeling I’ll get vetoed…
Disney Jr Live on Stage
Toy Story Mania – FP+ 10:30-11:30
Star Tours – FP+ 11:30-12:30
LUNCH – QS somewhere in the area
Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area – if the kids need to run around a bit
Muppet Vision – maybe. I’m not feeling it, but think maybe when we are there we might want to? Who knows. Same thing with Indiana Jones & Lights, Motors, Action… We’ll probably hit one of those, but I’m not sure which…
Otherwise I just want to fit in a bunch of M&G’s this day – Sully & Mike, Mr & Mrs Incredible, Frozone and then hopefully catch a Characterpalooza or two. According to info I’ve found, it should be happening at 2:30, 3:25 & 4:15.

Hopefully we’ll have another relaxing evening at the resort. Nothing special planned for dinner. The food court is being refurbed, so not sure… Depending how everyone is feeling, I might suggest we head to Downtown Disney (or maybe do that Tuesday?).


Last day (Boo!!! ) – Magic Kingdom – Friday, October 3
Drive to MK – leave ASMu by 7:45 to arrive in time to steak out a place for the opening show… I heard someone else mention that this is the time they use to slather on sunscreen and take care of all that stuff. Sounds like a good plan to me!

TinkerBell M&G at Town Square Theatre
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Pirates of the Caribbean
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain – FP+ 10-11
Woody & Jessie M&G
Chip & Dale M&G
LUNCH – QS somewhere in the area

Break at resort. Same as the other MK day, but hopefully a little earlier – leaving noonish and back by 3:30-4.

Space Mountain – FP+ 3:30-4:30 for myself and Nanny
Speedway – FP+ 3:30-4:30 for Chief & Little Man
Mad Tea Party
Cinderella & Rapunzel M&G – FP+ 4:30-5:30

DINNER – Hoop Dee Doo 6:15 show. I’m planning to take the boat from MK to Fort Wilderness…what time should we be in line for the ferry? I may need to rearrange the afternoon a bit, just because I have no idea how much time to allow here.

If I can’t get the A&E FP for Wednesday, I’ll switch it with the Cindy & Punzel slot this afternoon…either will work either day. But, just in case everything blows up and we don’t make it back to the park and go straight to dinner, I’d rather shoot for A&E on Wednesday!


I think that about covers it!! Wowzers, that looks like a lot!! But at the same time, aside from Wednesday night at MK, and whatever we decide to do with EP on Monday, we don’t have any late nights at all – in fact, pretty relaxing evenings over all. Which is what my family needs.

In other trip related things…I’m starting to get the bug to make shirts. I don’t intend to have matching shirts for each day, but I do want to try and “coordinate” so we don’t look like a 80’s family portrait gone bad in the PhotoPass pictures! Most days I do dress the girls matching or coordinating as much as possible, so it’s finding stuff for the rest of us that works when it’s all together. I have a few solid color tshirts from Old Navy, so when I figure out which ones I will need for each day, I might add some Mickey heads or something. I did buy some freezer paper the other day, so I might try my hand at that technique too.

That said, we are doing a Frozen theme (shocking!) for the girls’ birthday next month and I have a picture to print and iron on shirts for them. I want to find, or make, a Kristoff shirt for Little Man for the party as well, so whichever day we end up doing the A&E meet, they might as well wear those. I saw a cute “logo” for Kristoff’s Ice Sales, but only Sven was on it, and I really want something with Kristoff as well. I might need to visit those awesome DISigners…

And Nanny is not a fru-fru princess girl, so I think I’m going to make her a shirt with Mulan (her favorite) that says “Self Rescuing Princess”. We’ll see if her 15 year old fashion mind will allow her to wear it

Finally…I pulled out all the “stuff” I’ve accumulated over the last couple years… umm… I think I have a problem. It’s a good thing I did this when the Chief was not home – he would have had a FIT!!! I’m going to try and split it up between new things for the trip there, little welcome gifts at the resort and then new stuff for the road trip home. Pardon the crappy phone picks on the wrinkled bed...







Some of these things may end up going to my sisters kids when they leave for their Disney cruise in a couple weeks. Like the marker boards and some of the glow sticks. I figure they will have a good time with them on their drive as well! I’m putting together binders of puzzles and games for them too, so it’ll all fit in.



I got these bags at a garage sale, but they are brand spankin’ new! I plan to use them for the kids’ car bags for sure, and if Nanny needs a park bag, or if Little Man thinks he needs a bag in the park they can use them. I’d rather not lug any more bags than we need to in the parks, but they are not huge, so they should fit under the stroller if needed as well.



I got these on clearance from Fisher Price online. They had an extra % off clearance and free shipping last month, so I nabbed ‘em! (as well as a great table/kitchen for the girls for their b-day and a couple accessory packs for the kitchen for Christmas!) They look like they will work perfect for the girls to play with in the car – big enough that they won’t be losing little tiny pieces, but not so big as to be cumbersome and annoying to try and play with it in a car seat. There are two little outfits and accessories for each – I think 7 pieces total. I was wishing they had a Mickey one too, but no such luck.


I hope to do one more update before my FP+ day, but I think that’s it for now… Stay tuned!

 

[DISNEY180]

WOW you are right it looks like you are going to be busy... My suggestion is before you make your FP+ selections look at each park and eye ball the distance between what you want to do and other places that you can skip. Disney World is 40 square miles so each park is HUGE!!! So havning your FP+ going in the same direction is a good idea so you aren't criss crossing the park.

I would look at the musical Finding Nemo in AK, I find I enjoy that more then the Lion King but with Lion King in a new home I will be checking it out next month. AK is also the most spread out park and hottest for temp I find but the most luxious due to all the greener.

M&G lines can range anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours depending on who you want to meet. So they can eat up a lot of time which can make kids cranky.. as standing in line is BORING...LOL If meeting Anna & Elsa is a must then on your 60 day mark get on the computer early to make the FP+ as they go fast and the standby line gets up to 90 minutes fast..

I agree driving to the parks may work better for you as getting on and off the bus with strollers and bags can be a hassle

For Wishes and the parade ppl start lining the streets sometimes 2 hours ahead of time to get a decent spot. You can see wishes in many places thoughout the park so no worries there, the parade follows a route you have to decide do I want to up front or just wanting to see something. Most ppl are on Main Street as they are leaving right after so want to get out of dodge..lol which is like herding cows into the corral...

Everyone will love Mickey’s PhilharMagic but you don't have to do a FP+ as it is a big theatre so it sits a lot of ppl and it is A/C so nice break. The speedway is very slow moving ride,it isn't like go-karts but for some reason the lines can get long

On ytube most of the rides are shown which may help in deciding what is a must

BTW I cry as soon as I get on the Magic Express as I know I am going home..

I just found this link that may help http://www.easywdw.com/cheat-sheets/disney-world-cheat-sheets-maps-touring-plans-and-wait-times/

 

[Denovagirl]

Ok wow, big update!

AK- out plans are very similar this day so if we see each other we have to stop and say hi! Were planning lunch at Flame Tree too around the same time!

Wilderness Explorers! My 4yo LOVED this more than anything in AK. She's made sure to note that this is again a must do for her! Your kids will love it too I'm sure... It's a bit of a time suck, but it's too hard to turn your kiddos down on something they want to do so badly!

MK- I am curious about the RR being down and the opening show too! But I've read it's for refurb on certain areas of the track so my guess is they'll still do the show like normal and be working in other areas.

For MSEP you can just claim a spot and stick there if you're in the hub/main st area! We like to watch the parade from the street and move to the bridge between the hub and tomorrowland to watch wishes, there's a bench there that wasn't crowded at all and Tink flies right over you

HS- for our 8am ADR I plan to get to the bus by 7am. The buses may not run as frequently that early so if you miss one at say 7:10 one may not be back until 7:30... But you also may sit there until 7:15, it's a gamble lol!

Suggestion for your QS that day- Starring Rolls! Big yummy sandwiches that will be a nice light change from the huge disney meals and then the famous cupcakes they have! They also carry Mickey check meals for the kiddos!

Also Indy is rumored to be closing soon so if suggest that for a show!

MK- I'd get to the ferry like 5:15- the boat ride is surprisingly long and you'll still need to check in and take photos before HDDMR!



Love your disney stuff you've collected! You do have a problem! But so do the rest of us, it's called being disney obsessed! Lol!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Joining in! We'll be leaving the day you get there--bummer. I hope you and denovagirl find each other. She's awesome!

Your kiddos are too cute! I love the little sticky-up pony tails on the girls! I miss those!

Your plans look great so far. Some things I though of as I read--

The nemo show is cute and air conditioned if you need a break. Our youngest was 2 1/2 when we saw it the fire time and enjoyed it. Just FYI if the littles need a break

For MK--we always do more then one day there and to make it easier to plan , I diode up the park. We stay in whatever part and really enjoy it. If we get to everything then we go explore other stuff. I know you're mostly planned already, but that helps me

You will LOVE tusker house!! The characters are fun, the food is GREAT and that juice is DELICIOUS!! Ask for a to go cup of it when you leave because it is wonderful!

Your binder looks awesome! I should do that....

Anyway--can't wait to hear more!

 

[SarahSlink]

So, I was thinking I might not have an update to throw on here until after I did my FP+ selections TOMORROW NIGHT!!

However, my dear, dear husband threw a wrench into all my plans. Seriously. He has decided he does not want to drive overnight, as I had originally thought/planned. He’s afraid that if the kids don’t sleep much, or well, we are starting the week off short of sleep and it won’t get any better. Valid point.

However, he suggested we leave Friday morning, overnighting in Nashville and still arriving in Orlando Saturday evening. Sounds great, except that I can’t even imagine telling my sister (who is a teacher/administrator) that Nanny will need to miss 1 more day of school. The Chief thinks it should be no big deal, but that early in the semester with several AP classes… I can see that 1 more day is important and honestly can’t believe that she’s ok with Nanny missing a whole week the way it is!

That means leaving early Saturday morning, arriving to the world Sunday evening. For the most part, it’s not that big of a deal, but I was really looking forward to having that first half day wondering MK and taking it all in and just being a little more relaxed. Seeing the castle first thing, etc, etc. We have an ADR for ‘Ohana that evening at 6:40 that would be tight to get to, so I’m going to see what I can do about that… whether we make it a little later, or move it to Tuesday (after AK) or Thursday (after HS)… time will tell what happens there.

I had originally thought we’d make it to EP for park open Monday morning, but I’m thinking about a later arrival and maybe no break… get there a little late, then hope for some rest time in the afternoon for the kids while we tour WS, then head back to the resort after eating an early-ish dinner. I’m trying to find a late-arrival plan somewhere that I can use to figure out a course of action for EP… seriously, why has EP been haunting me this whole time?!?!

The good news is that my MK plans were mostly based on EasyWDW recommendations, so I can pretty much go with his 2-day touring plan for planning FP+ attractions and times for those days. I had only added a couple things when I thought we had 2.5 days, so bringing it back to 2 days isn’t HORRIBLE.

Of course, I had finally gotten on the ball last week and booked a hotel for Saturday night in Orlando, since I wasn’t sure when we would get in and room-only at WDW was out of our price range. So, now I need to cancel that and find someplace in Nashville. We are pretty set on that being the stopping point since my BFF and her family are currently living there and I haven’t seen her in FOREVER! I was hoping to work something out on the drive down or back anyway, so this just seals it. So, we’ll see where she recommends and I’ll get that taken care of.

So, off to figure out a final plan, since 24 hours from now I’ll (hopefully) be selecting FP’s!!!!!

 

[Denovagirl]

Don't ya just love when plans change!?!?

I am sure it will work out with school and such. Hopefully the teacher can work with you!

Nashville would be a fun stop!!

 

[SarahSlink]

I think I may have overreacted and over thought the other night with the changes to the road trip plans ... I talked to my sister briefly about it and she did not seem to think it would be that big of a deal for Nanny to miss one more day of school . We are going to wait until school starts to make the final decision, but as of right now we are now planning on leaving early Friday morning and stopping in Nashville, driving the rest of the way Saturday and checking in at ASMu Sunday morning. The Chief put in his vacation request for the extra day off and that was approved without a problem, so I just need to find a hotel in the Nashville area now.

So. FastPass+ selections. I think it actually went pretty well. I'm happy with how everything came together, with the exception of Anna & Elsa being unavailable the length of our stay. I figure I'll keep checking on those and see if anything turns up. There's rumors going out there that they will be back in Epcot at some point, so that might even be an option... I'm crossing my fingers that they are going to add them to the Akershus line-up (VERY wishful thinking) and I won't need to do anything. Wouldn't that be the best bit of pixie dust! Regardless, it's not going to make or break our trip, so if it works out, great. If not, oh well!

I'm not even going to type out what exactly we got... suffice it to say that based on the plans I wrote out above, everything is within 10-15 minutes of what I sketched out! I did do a bit of rearranging our HS day (switched to H&V lunch) and Festival of Fantasy parade was not available our first day there, so I grabbed Haunted Mansion and I actually like how that afternoon is shaping up a little bit better.

That's about all going on for the trip right now... I need to start tagging and getting a bunch of toys and clothes ready for a consignment sale I signed up for. I cleared out the kids' toy room and they haven't even noticed that a large portion of their toys are missing! I figure with the girls' birthday coming up, then a trip to WDW and Christmas around the corner, it'll fill up again without a problem! I set a lofty goal of selling $350 worth of stuff, so we'll see how that goes for me! Coincidentally, that's about the amount left to pay off on the trip...

Stay tuned...

 

[STLMickeyMom]

glad you're happy with your FP selections and that everything seems to be working out with travel changes!

we didn't get an a&e FP either. I agree with you--it certainly won't ruin our trip! we will be in Disney, right?

good luck with your consignment sale! I hope you get the last of your Disney funds!!

 

[Denovagirl]

So I commented on your comment on my PTR what days were we overlapping, but then I just came and checked myself. I have now added you to my notes for our AK day and your last MK day that we will overlap! I know you know we should be easy to spot in our matchy-matchy stuff, but I will keep a lookout for you too!!