This PTR needs a name!!! Hope to see you real soon!! Well, not too soon!

[ash-n-brensmom]

Friday March 4th is our Magic Kingdom day!! We are excited to have our first park day be at MK, last year it was Epcot which was fine, but there's just nothing like seeing the MK opening ceremony on your first full day

The park hours so far are 9 AM to 8 PM. Wishes is at 8 and there is no Main Street Electrical Parade. I'm hoping that this will make for lower park attendance that day. We did use TP for the most part while picking our park days, can't remember exactly what they said for each day.....I'm not sure, oh well..this is what we picked.

We have a surprise for DD's this night, though. You may remember I mentioned the Pirates & Pals Cruise that we booked, well it's for this night. We won't miss the parade this way, and we can see the water parade from the boat as well as Wishes and get an easy get away as well. We might just grab a cab back to the resort from the Contemporary where the cruise is docked.

My plan for this day is to follow TP's Happy Family Two day Touring Plan day one...now I know that we can't post this kind of thing on here because it's a pay service, at least I think it is? But just wanted to let you know that we are planning on following a TP to the best of our abilities to help get to everything on our lists. I know that we will deviate from the plan from time to time, especially when Rapunzel refuses to ride something like HM. But that's alright. We used TP's last year and it was great. Having a plan of attack helped, I liked having the map and list of rides in order all on one page!

We are definitely a rope drop family especially at MK. We love the opening ceremony and it gives you plenty of time to ride lots with little to no wait. Then we have an early lunch when the restaurants first open and beat the crowds. There is just nothing worse than waiting in line to order when you are tired and hungry, then having to find somewhere to sit?
URGH!!

Our dinner reservation is at Kona Cafe at the Poly at 5:05 which will give us lots of time to tour during the day, but then will force us to head out and rest a bit over dinner. We plan to take the monorail over to the Contemporary after dinner and check in for our cruise at 6:45. With Wishes at 8 and a special surprise after the cruise I'm not too sure but I am hoping to be back at the resort around 10 at the latest. We don't plan on an early morning the next day, but with no break other than meals, the kids will be tired!! And so will Ferb!!

Up and at 'em the next day for Epcot!!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Stopping by to say hi!! I found you from the March thread and read before, but somehow lost you. So I'm back and reading along!!

Welcome back!! Sorry you got lost!! I do that a lot Glad to have you back along for the ride!!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Okay, I am tired already just from typing all these plans!!
Seriously we are gonna need to sleep in a little after that long day at the MK and the cruise!! So that's just what we plan on doing

It's Epcot day 1! The hours so far are listed as 9AM-9PM. But we are planning on arriving just before the World Showcase opens at 11. This way we can sleep in, maybe have a leisurely breakfast or morning swim depending on the weather. Either way we are not in a hurry.

We have lunch reservations at Le Cellier for 2:25 and we are looking forward to that!! YUMMY!!!

We plan to do some Kim Possible missions while we tour the countries. We did one last year in the UK, but it was soooo hot that the kids weren't to excited to be running around looking for stuff, and neither was Ferb! They are a great idea and we hope to complete as many as possible this time.

We may pick up FP's for Soarin and Test Track along the way and ride them on the way out. We don't plan on staying for Illuminations that night. We have an early morning the next day and we will be feeling the effects of sleeping in a hotel and the go, go, go of Disney and will be in need of a good nights' rest before the next morning's Toy Story MAD DASH!!! Anyways, we will be seeing Illuminations later in this trip!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Sunday March 6th is Hollywood Studios day. This is where we didn't follow TP's recommendation. For two reasons this will be a crazy day..
1. It is ESPN weekend at DHS. I am sure that there will be lots of people here for that reason alone, along with regular park people like us and it will be crowded. But according to some people in the know the lines for the rides should be pretty good, most of the sports enthusiasts should be hanging around the ESPN stuff.
2. It's a Fantasmic day...I know, I know, we're supposed to skip this day, but how are we going to FINALLY check this off our list if we aren't even in the park that day, and no we don't have hoppers..we are too cheap

So, the park hours are listed as 9 AM- 8:30 PM with Fantasmic at 8:30. This means we will need to be there around 8 AM to get in front of the Toy Story MAD DASH!!!! Muuuaaahhhaahhhaa!!! Sounds so evil doesn't it? HAHA!
We have our plan to ride this at least twice in one day...everyone has their plan...no worries, if we only ride once I suppose we will survive
HAHA!!

We enjoy the rope drop ceremony here, just hope the ESPN thing doesn't change this? We are bummed about Star Tours being down, Ferb is a major Sci Fi geek! Not that there's anything wrong with that
We will do as much as we can and take a break at the hotel when the crowds start to get to us too much. We have an ADR for Sci Fi Dine In at 5:40 then we will have to go right to get in line for Fantasmic according to what everyone says. We will play it by ear, but we don't have any expectations for rides after dinner...we are prepared for the wait, we hope

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Okay, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished watching Fantasmic..we hope...and are sleeping and dreaming of our next day at Disney.

Monday March 7th is our day off. We will be hanging out at the resort and DTD. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can swim and maybe check out the fishing if we didn't do that on our first day. We didn't make any ADR's for this day, we figure we will be eating on the fly depending on where we are when we get hungry... insane idea, I know

Something we do have planned for this day is a Carriage Ride at our resort. We are pretty excited about all the fun things they have to do at POR. The carriage ride takes you around the resort and we thought it would be something special and relaxing to do on our day off.

We love these days off in the middle of the week. It gives us time to relax, rest and really feel like we are on a vacation. We may be rope drop people, but we definitely are not commandos!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Tuesday March 8th and we are back to the parks!! It's MK day 2!!
TP's has this as a day to avoid MK, here we are the renegades going our own way..it's funny because when we talk to CM's at the parks they say that Mondays are the day to skip MK and we agree! We made the mistake of going on a Monday and it was... sooooo crowded!!!! Never again!!

Park hours are listed as 9 AM- 11 PM with MSEP at 8 PM and Wishes at 9 PM. This is our chance to see the parade. We love Spectromagic. I have seen footage of MSEP on youtube and I am not impressed. But, we don't want to miss it. The kids might really enjoy it and if we skip it I will feel like we didn't give it a chance, plus I hate missing things...very childish of me I know..but there you go.

The plan is to do rope drop and do as much as possible in the morning again. Then early lunch then head back to resort for a rest and swim, or just head back to the resort for lunch and a break. We'll play it by ear. Our dinner ADR is for The Plaza at 6:15 PM, we haven't eaten here before. The sandwiches sound good. We might skip it if we get busy or hungry earlier.

I'm surprised by the hours and the scheduling of Wishes. I always thought Wishes was shown at the end of the evening? Maybe we will have a good chance of getting some short lines when they are going? Then we can hang out for a while and wait out the crowds heading to the buses. We'll see. We don't have to be up early the next day so staying late might be an option. Just have to see how the kids and Ferb are feeling. I am the only night owl in the family, I don't have a choice though working midnights. Everyone else is used to early to bed early to rise.

This is our last day at MK for a long time so we will want to hit all the biggies and try to do everything on our list.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Wednesday March 9th is Epcot Day 2!!!

The park hours are posted as 9 AM- 9 PM with Illuminations at 9 PM. We have an ADR at Rose & Crown for 6:40 pm. Originally I had hoped to go there and beg for Illuminations seating, but looking at the time I don't see how it could work. Dinner could never last long enough...not even if we had a 3 course meal...oh well...maybe I can try for a later ADR..we'll see. I know that they let you out to the patio even if you have a table inside, which I am fine with..but the time is all wrong..anyone have an opinion or experience with this? Feel free to chime in!

So that morning we will head over to Future World and ride Soarin' and Fast Track and the two brave ones will ride Mission Space. We will need to go on Ellen's ride of boredom because Rapunzel and Stitch both liked it last year. Depending on when we arrive we might head back for a rest at the hotel, but by the time we get back I am going to be craving my Welsh Dragon!! That was one expensive drink, but it was delish and came with a souvenir cup! So well worth it!! After dinner we will watch Illuminations and ride the crowd all the way back to the resort.

Again, this will be our last time at Epcot for a long while..gotta do as much as possible!!!

 

[Colleen27]

Yay for park plans! We'll be in Epcot on the same day, say hi if you spot us I'm making the girls' outfits for our park days, so just look for the matching dresses. Or the patchwork stroller, that tends to stick out a bit. And of course I'll have my lime green Mickey on my bag.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Yay for park plans! We'll be in Epcot on the same day, say hi if you spot us I'm making the girls' outfits for our park days, so just look for the matching dresses. Or the patchwork stroller, that tends to stick out a bit. And of course I'll have my lime green Mickey on my bag.

That's awesome!! I will DEFINITELY have my eyes open!! All four of us will have LGMH's on our bags and my bag is green as well, so you may pick us out first!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Very slight update to our second day at Epcot. I tried to get a later ADR for Rose & Crown to possibly be at the restaurant for Illuminations. The latest available was for 7 PM and Illuminations is set for 9PM. I took it, and will continue to try for later...still pretty sure it won't work out. We may have to just head out after dinner and find a spot somewhere else...although now that I have made our dinner later it may be near impossible to get a good spot so late? Oy!! The stress!!! HAHA!! JK!! No worries, what's meant to be is meant to be!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Sadly we have arrived at our last day at Disney

Thursday March 10 and we are supposed to go to Animal Kingdom. I say we are supposed to because you never know what might happen..we are planning for Animal Kingdom, but we may decide to head to MK if we miss out on a lot the other days..can't see that happening, but you never know.
Park hours are listed as 9 AM- 7 PM with the Jammin' Jungle Parade at 3:45

The plan here is to do rope drop as we have never made it in time before. The only problem making it here on time is trying to get checked out of the hotel and ready to go to a park at the same time. As I am writing this I remember now why we couldn't make it on time last year! It was an EMH morning!! There was no way we could have made it in time for that while getting ready to check out! Maybe we can do it this year after all

As far as park touring we will be trying to see more this time than ever before. We have always had the heat and humidity to deal with and it's not a pretty picture when we aren't feeling well. This time the weather should be more forgiving, and we can take a nice stroll through the park and see some animals. The girls will be bummed when they find out that Primeval Whirl is closed, they really like that one, and depending on the weather we might skip Kali this time. That leaves lots of time for touring and shows another thing we have never done here before. We think we will have lunch here, probably Flame Tree as we have never tried it before. I don't think we will see the parade..I have a feeling we will be back at the hotel swimming

Like I said in a previous post we have a late flight home that day,our flight isn't until 7:35. We will be spending some of our last hours at the resort swimming if possible and then heading to the airport where we will probably have dinner (this is where Chic Fil A comes in another first for us). We will unfortunately be arriving in Buffalo at 10:15 and then have to get our luggage and drive home to Canada..so a very late night indeed. The girls have school the next day but it's their last day before March Break so maybe they will go, maybe not...if they do it will be a little late. Hopefully the teachers will be able to provide us with some work for the break, having that week after may work out really well if we can get some school work done.

And that's it for our 2011 Disney adventure, minus the TR that Ferb insists we will be writing when we get home. Of course we will be looking at the table in our hotel room for a bounce back code!! We don't plan on returning until fall of 2012, but a bounce back would be incentive to book that and have time to pay it off!!

 

[2princesses2princes]

WOW thanks for sharing your plans. I keep changing our day plans, we haven't changed what parks were going to since we set it up, however now I am reconsidering. We do have MK planned for not only a Monday but Valentines Day at that. DH really is happy with that, but I am so scared about the crowds and we do not have park hopping options so we are stuck.

Your plans sound fabulous, daring to go again T However we are going against them too a little bit. Did you pay for the online service? I have the book but haven't decided on whether or not to pay for the other.

 

[Ferb]

This PTR plan for each day of the week sounds like Disney heaven!!! Thanks to my DW for doing a great job!!! Bravo!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

WOW thanks for sharing your plans. I keep changing our day plans, we haven't changed what parks were going to since we set it up, however now I am reconsidering. We do have MK planned for not only a Monday but Valentines Day at that. DH really is happy with that, but I am so scared about the crowds and we do not have park hopping options so we are stuck.

Your plans sound fabulous, daring to go again T However we are going against them too a little bit. Did you pay for the online service? I have the book but haven't decided on whether or not to pay for the other.

HAHA!! Yep we are REBELS!!!
I did pay for the service, the first time I bought the book and the on line service was included. The second time I paid for the online service through their website, but I must have done it so close to the time of our trip that we are still using that same subscription!! I'm getting two trips out of one payment!! I'm usually not THAT cheap but it's pretty cool!
As for the Magic Kingdom Monday..well, that's exactly what a CM called it..."Magic Kingdom Monday" This was after we told him we had just experienced one the day before.. he said the same thing that most of the websites say..it's because so many people travel on the Sunday and want their first park day to be at MK and that's the next day! We never travel on a Sunday because of our work schedule, but it makes sense!
Good luck with your plans!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

This PTR plan for each day of the week sounds like Disney heaven!!! Thanks to my DW for doing a great job!!! Bravo!

Why thank you! It's really a pleasure because I get to feed my addiction, but I do appreciate the props!!
Anyone gonna puke yet?

 

[lovethattink]

Like I said in a previous post we have a late flight home that day,our flight isn't until 7:35. We will be spending some of our last hours at the resort swimming if possible and then heading to the airport where we will probably have dinner (this is where Chic Fil A comes in another first for us). We will unfortunately be arriving in Buffalo at 10:15 and then have to get our luggage and drive home to Canada..so a very late night indeed. The girls have school the next day but it's their last day before March Break so maybe they will go, maybe not...if they do it will be a little late. Hopefully the teachers will be able to provide us with some work for the break, having that week after may work out really well if we can get some school work done.

We love Chic-Fil-A! They often have free chicken sandwich coupons for their email subscribers. Just note they cook in peanut oil, if anyone is allergic to peanuts?

WOW thanks for sharing your plans. I keep changing our day plans, we haven't changed what parks were going to since we set it up, however now I am reconsidering. We do have MK planned for not only a Monday but Valentines Day at that. DH really is happy with that, but I am so scared about the crowds and we do not have park hopping options so we are stuck.

Your plans sound fabulous, daring to go again T However we are going against them too a little bit. Did you pay for the online service? I have the book but haven't decided on whether or not to pay for the other.

There are often discount codes to subscibe online. I decided to try it for the first time through the online when I saw the code in a newsletter. I like the mobile use at the parks!

 

[Colleen27]

then heading to the airport where we will probably have dinner (this is where Chic Fil A comes in another first for us).

Waaaaiiiiittt just a minute, are you telling me there is a Chick Fil A at the Orlando airport? How did I not know that?!? I love Chick Fil A but they don't exist up here. I'll have to keep that in mind this time instead of just grabbing whatever is close to our gate.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Waaaaiiiiittt just a minute, are you telling me there is a Chick Fil A at the Orlando airport? How did I not know that?!? I love Chick Fil A but they don't exist up here. I'll have to keep that in mind this time instead of just grabbing whatever is close to our gate.

HAHAHAHA!!! I just found out myself..the thing is, we've never eaten at one before..they don't exist in Canada at all...so we are thinking we might eat dinner here on the way home.

 

[lovethattink]

Not sure what days of the week you two are traveling, all Chick-Fil-A are closed on Sundays.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Started reading your trip report a day or so ago and now I'm all caught up! I wouldn't worry too much (doesn't sound like you are) about going against touringplans park to avoid on some days. The park crowd level for DHS doesn't look too bad on your day and I've read the same things on here that the ESPN weekend doesn't affect lines a whole lot. As for your MK day, I think you'll be fine as long as you make rope drop.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your trip! March is almost here!