*~Trading Snow & Slush For Pixie Dust~* Jan PTR - 1/17 - Photo Challenge Complete!

[Colleen27]

Hi Colleen! I'm subbing and have been reading! Looks like you are a trip changer, so we have something in common! We're headed down right as your trip is wrapping up, so it will be fun to follow your PTR, I have one as well, if you have lots of time to read lots of rambling!

Dumbo and Thunder threw my plans as well at MK! I guess it will give us more time for other things, but my dd is pretty disappointed. BTW, I thought it was adorable that you call your dd Boo, I used to call my dd Boo and she would call me KITTY! (what Boo calls Sully in Monsters Inc.)

I'm enjoying your PTR - it reminds me of my '09 trip that got postponed like a million times due to the craziest, stupidest, money-sucking things before we finally got there!

My Boo meeting Kitty was one of the great moments of our last trip. When we first went over there only Mike was out so we went back later to see Sully, and she ran right up to him calling him Kitty and he gave her a big monster hug.

Hey Colleen...would you believe we were there at MK the same DAY in 2009 - we also left the next day on Sunday. We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom, and transferred over through the TTC. I remember the line for the monorail going on forever, so we got on a packed ferry boat instead. The crowds were CA-RAY-ZEE @ MK! We watched the Christmas parade from the head of main street (by the train station) and then went and watched the stage show. It's partly why we have no desire to pay $65 per person to see what we already saw for "free". It left me ZERO desire to go during busy times, though we've had friends that went during the President's Day/Winter Break and claimed it really wasn't too bad.

That's funny that we were both there the same day! We were at the Magic Kingdom most of the day, except for an afternoon break to tour the monorail resorts and have dinner at Narcoosees. The crowds weren't too bad until about noon but then it got really crazy, and that evening was the heaviest crowds I've ever experienced at any Disney park. By the time we got back after dinner they had the path behind Main Street open for people coming into the parks because there were so many people parked on Main Street that there was no way to get through.

One of my close friends is going back for her second President's Day trip this year and she says the crowds aren't bad, but her only other trip was in late June so I'm not really sure she gets what I mean by "low crowds". Her birthday coincides with the President's Day weekend though, so she has an extra incentive to go then. I'd like to go for Memorial Day weekend one of these days for the same reason - to be there for my birthday, even if it is more crowded than I'm used to!

 

[skier_pete]

:
One of my close friends is going back for her second President's Day trip this year and she says the crowds aren't bad, but her only other trip was in late June so I'm not really sure she gets what I mean by "low crowds". Her birthday coincides with the President's Day weekend though, so she has an extra incentive to go then. I'd like to go for Memorial Day weekend one of these days for the same reason - to be there for my birthday, even if it is more crowded than I'm used to!

We were in the park until after dusk (stayed for the stage show and a few rides). I agree its just about the most crowded I've ever seen MK - though I'm sure it got worse as the week went on. We are very used to "low crowds" as well, so are not looking to the day we'll be seeing higher crowds. We'll be heading to DisneyLAND next July for a few days shortly after Carsland opens, so maybe that'll be our first taste.

 

[Colleen27]

Before I get to the day 2 plans, I just have to get this out of the way...



Just a little double digit dance! 99 days left on the countdown! We're so busy right now that the time is just flying by!

Day two is a planning oddity for me. I usually plan free days a little further into the trip, but since we'll have two this time I want to space them out a bit to improve the odds of at least one falling on a warmer day.

We'll likely sleep in a bit, having stayed at the MK for the 11pm close the night before. When we get moving our destination will depend on the weather - Disney Quest if it is unusually cold or rainy, Blizzard Beach if it is sunny and warm, or maybe just hanging out around the resort to enjoy the pool and activities.

I'm planning on playing lunch by ear. It might be counter service, it might be one of the Downtown Disney table service locations - most likely Raglan Road or Wolfgang Puck Cafe. That'll depend on where we find ourselves for the morning.

For dinner, we have an early ADR at Flying Fish which was one of the stand outs of our last trip. It was so good that I have every intention of ordering exactly what I had last time - tuna tartare and the potato-wrapped snapper.

After dinner, we're going to head over to Studios for a few hours of evening EMH fun.

I'm not interested in the rides as much as the EMH-only character dance party in the Disney Junior theatre. We'll hit a couple of the lower-demand attractions as well, things that we might skip for the sake of time if my brother wasn't with us like The Great Movie Ride and MuppetVision.

If the lines are reasonable we'll fit in a baby-swap double ride on Star Tours too, because Stitch wants to ride it as many times as possible to see all the new segments. He's even asked if I could look up all the possible variations and make him a little checklist to keep track of how many we see! This has been one of his favorite Disney attractions since our very first trip and none of us have been on it since the 2.0 update so it is a BIG must-do!

Even with the evening EMH the park closes at 10 so it won't be a super late night even if we stay until the very end.

 

[Coconuts]

Just read up on the last few pages. I, like your DH, hate huge crowds and get anxiety just thinking about high crowds at WDW. I have always tried to plan trips during lower crowd times, and this past January was perfect. I'm already starting to get nervous because we are going to be there for most of Jersey week this year, but don't have much choice because DS would miss too much work with a full week out of school.

Your plans sound great for your first few days. Just out of curiosity, how does your youngest handle going all day at WDW and then staying up late for EMH? My DD can't usually make it past 9.

 

[Colleen27]

Just read up on the last few pages. I, like your DH, hate huge crowds and get anxiety just thinking about high crowds at WDW. I have always tried to plan trips during lower crowd times, and this past January was perfect. I'm already starting to get nervous because we are going to be there for most of Jersey week this year, but don't have much choice because DS would miss too much work with a full week out of school.

Your plans sound great for your first few days. Just out of curiosity, how does your youngest handle going all day at WDW and then staying up late for EMH? My DD can't usually make it past 9.

Jersey week isn't supposed to be terrible, though. Busier than the rest of the non-holiday fall weeks but far from peak, so hopefully it'll turn out to be a good time to go. We were there for the weekend leading up to Mardi Gras in March, which is another of those minor holidays where only a certain state/area is out of school, and even on Mardi Gras at the MK the crowds weren't holiday bad. Not dead, but manageable.

Boo handles the long days admirably well. We started out her first trip with the expectation of nap breaks but it quickly became apparent that they weren't needed. She's about the most adaptable baby I've ever known and she's growing up on the sidelines and in the bleachers of the older kids' sports so she's learned to nap when she's tired regardless of the setting.

We have a funny page in our trip scrapbooks now featuring attractions that put Boo to sleep. Haunted Mansion started what quickly became a running joke - she fell asleep the first time she rode it and then slept all the way through lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Since then she's napped in Muppetvision, Captain EO, Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, Oh Canada, Impressions de France, on a booth at Sunshine Seasons, and in her stroller all over the World. Between being able to sleep anywhere and everywhere and getting to ride rather than walk for big chunks of the day she's got more stamina than I do at times. Once she gives up the stroller we'll have to take things slower but for now she's a mini park commando!

 

[Coconuts]

Jersey week isn't supposed to be terrible, though. Busier than the rest of the non-holiday fall weeks but far from peak, so hopefully it'll turn out to be a good time to go. We were there for the weekend leading up to Mardi Gras in March, which is another of those minor holidays where only a certain state/area is out of school, and even on Mardi Gras at the MK the crowds weren't holiday bad. Not dead, but manageable.

Boo handles the long days admirably well. We started out her first trip with the expectation of nap breaks but it quickly became apparent that they weren't needed. She's about the most adaptable baby I've ever known and she's growing up on the sidelines and in the bleachers of the older kids' sports so she's learned to nap when she's tired regardless of the setting.

We have a funny page in our trip scrapbooks now featuring attractions that put Boo to sleep. Haunted Mansion started what quickly became a running joke - she fell asleep the first time she rode it and then slept all the way through lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Since then she's napped in Muppetvision, Captain EO, Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, Oh Canada, Impressions de France, on a booth at Sunshine Seasons, and in her stroller all over the World. Between being able to sleep anywhere and everywhere and getting to ride rather than walk for big chunks of the day she's got more stamina than I do at times. Once she gives up the stroller we'll have to take things slower but for now she's a mini park commando!

Thanks for the comforting words about Jersey week crowds. I hope you are right.

Well I guess I have my answer about why your DD lasts longer than mine. She takes naps. My DD very rarely ever naps and hasn't done so since 1 1/2 years old. If she's really pooped out she may fall asleep in the stroller but not always. Since our last trip she's been potty trained, so I can't really just let her fall asleep anywhere anymore; should be an interesting trip.

 

[Colleen27]

Thanks for the comforting words about Jersey week crowds. I hope you are right.

Well I guess I have my answer about why your DD lasts longer than mine. She takes naps. My DD very rarely ever naps and hasn't done so since 1 1/2 years old. If she's really pooped out she may fall asleep in the stroller but not always. Since our last trip she's been potty trained, so I can't really just let her fall asleep anywhere anymore; should be an interesting trip.

Boo doesn't nap at home any more either, but when we're out running around she seems to know when she's hit her limit and she'll pull the shade closed on her stroller and close her eyes. It is really cute! Neither of my older two were that self-aware, and both were much more prone to getting cranky and whiny when tired. But not Boo; when she's had enough she just zonks out, and she's been like that ever since she was born.

I'm a little nervous about the potty training thing. Boo is mostly trained at home, but is still easily distracted if we're out or if there's anything really fun going on. She doesn't like taking time to use the bathroom if she feels like she's going to miss something, and she resists "just in case" stops and public restrooms. Hopefully she'll be past that by January but I suspect we'll take the easy way out and put pull-ups on her, not to avoid bathroom breaks but just in case she isn't cooperative with our efforts to get her to use the bathroom when the opportunity is there rather than when it becomes urgently necessary.

 

[Coconuts]

Yea, I guess if we know we'll be out past 9, we'll bring her pull up that she sleeps in, and put in on her @8pm, in case she falls asleep in the stroller. And my DD resists the "let's just try" potty trips too.

Looking forward to day 3 plans.

 

[Colleen27]

Well, the Tigers game is looking like an out and out disaster so I've decided to get back to happy place planning!

On to day three, and the only park that we're only planning one day for.

The girls and I will be up bright and early. I'm not all that worried about waking the boys, so if they want to they can catch up with us later.

Pocahontas has her YES class first thing in the morning, before the park opens. I'll be attending the class with her because she's not old enough to go on her own. That's kind of messing up my planning for the whole day, but I'm still hoping we can hit our highlights - Everest, Dinosaur, the safari, and Festival of the Lion King.

Pocahontas waffles between wanting to be a teacher or a vet when she grows up and she dreams of working at Animal Kingdom, so she's really thrilled with the idea of taking this class. And I'm looking forward to it almost as much as she is, just because it is something we've never done and something I'd have loved at her age.

DM and Boo will be there for rope drop for a little character hunting and a few rides on Triceratops Spin.

If the boys get up we'll send them off to collect FPs for later on and ride a few highlights. I'm hoping they at least manage to get Dinosaur out of the way because I'm not sure we'll have time to get back to it later.

The class should wrap up just in time for us to all meet up at Yak & Yeti for lunch, though if we have a set of Everest FPs I might try to fit that in before our ADR. If we don't already have them I'll grab a set before we check in.

We've had lunch at Yak & Yeti before and weren't terribly impressed. Some things were excellent, others were just okay, and the atmosphere is very noisy just because of the architecture and decor of the restaurant. But we really don't care for buffets and I know my mom will love the mango pie dessert so we're giving it another shot.

After lunch we're going on a whirlwind tour of Asia. If the line isn't too long or our FP window is up we'll start at Everest, unless we rode already.

If it is warm enough we might go for a ride on Kali but if it is at all chilly we're okay with skipping it. Walking around wet in the cold isn't in the plans! The kids do enjoy Kali, though, so I'm hoping it'll be warm enough to enjoy it.

I would like to spend a little time checking out the animals on the Maharajah Jungle Trek, because it is my favorite of the animal trails in the park. The tigers and bats are so cool to watch.

(In case it isn't obvious, Animal Kingdom is my favorite park from a photography standpoint. The attention to detail is simply incredible!)

That's really all we're looking to accomplish in Asia. Then it will be on to Africa, just for the safari. At some point earlier in the day we'll have grabbed fastpasses so we don't have to worry about the standby wait.

I'm not really that big a fan of the safari, maybe because we always seem to have rather bad luck as far as animals go, but this is something else that makes the must-do list because my brother hasn't seen it. Our only trip as kids was about a year before Animal Kingdom opened.

With the safari out of the way, the plan is to head to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the last show of Festival of the Lion King.

I've never seen it so it is kind of a must-do this trip but the morning class is making my Animal Kingdom plan far more hectic than I'd like so I'm not real confident in whether or not we'll make it in time. The last show is at 4:30, which means we'd really need to get the rest done in about 4 hours to be there in time, and that's more ambitious than I like to be on vacation!

We plan to stay until close, obviously. If we miss FotLK we'll probably stop in at Tough to be a Bug on the way out and spend a little time looking around the Discovery Island trails.

After leaving the park we'll hop a bus over to the Contemporary for our dinner ADR at California Grill. This is my family's absolute favorite Disney restaurant and one we make a point to fit in every trip. Our ADR is for 6pm and Wishes is at 8, so we should be finishing up just in time to watch from the observation deck if we want. Then it'll be back to POR to call it a night.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Sounds like a great day! We did Homeschool Days back in 2008, before they added/changed them to YES classes and my dd really enjoyed it. It wasn't a class, but an all day event at MK for those of us signed up, it was pretty fun. BUT, it did totally change touring for us and I think AK is already a strangely hard park to get stuff done? Maybe it's b/c everything is so spread out, but it seems to take forever just to do a few rides. Definitely try to see Lion King, it's GREAT!

 

[Colleen27]

One more reason to be glad we rescheduled...

Stitch's team won their league championship on Saturday to finish the season with a 4 and 1 record.

He's in his last year of youth football before starting in the school program in 8th grade, and the adult coordinator for his age group is the 8th grade coach. Coach G decided that this year, as a sort of all-star type thing for the "graduating" 7th graders in the program he would arrange a few post-season games against the 7th graders in neighboring towns.

We don't have the full schedule yet but the tentative plan is 3 Saturday games starting 10/29... Our Nov dates would have had him missing 2 of the 3 games, and since he'll be trying out in front of this coach for the 8th grade team in the spring he would NOT want to miss even one. Commitment to the team is too big a factor when it comes to our school's (top rated) football program.

None of this was so much as mentioned until at the game on Saturday, because the coach didn't want to get the boys' hopes up until he'd worked out the details with the other teams' coaches. But boy am I glad we postponed because I do NOT want Stitch feeling like we're making him choose between his favorite activity and our family trips! That would be inviting far too much teenage attitude for my liking.

So yay for January, the time of year when none of my crazy-busy kids have activities!

 

[skier_pete]

OK, i've said it before but will say it again. You've GOT to catch Festival of the Lion King. Skip the trails, skip ITTBAB, skip whatever, DON'T skip that!

 

[DisMomAmy]

OK, i've said it before but will say it again. You've GOT to catch Festival of the Lion King. Skip the trails, skip ITTBAB, skip whatever, DON'T skip that!

 

[khertz]

OK, i've said it before but will say it again. You've GOT to catch Festival of the Lion King. Skip the trails, skip ITTBAB, skip whatever, DON'T skip that!

I'm just catching up Colleen, but I'm so glad the move in dates is working so well for you!! Your plans so far look great. Hopefully it is warm enough for you to get a few rides on Splash. That's my favorite too! DH and I are thinking of taking our parents only trip in early February, and while he is really upset about BTMRR probably being down for refurb (I'm a little disappointed too, but I'll get over it), I, like you, am excited that it means Splash will probably stay open!

 

[OziJo]

Subbing. Followed you from my PTR. I've just had a quick read through. What a long journey you have been on with your planning.

 

[Colleen27]

Yea, I guess if we know we'll be out past 9, we'll bring her pull up that she sleeps in, and put in on her @8pm, in case she falls asleep in the stroller. And my DD resists the "let's just try" potty trips too.

In case you haven't read this elsewhere - bring post-it notes for the Disney toilets. Pocahontas was potty trained for over a year by the time of our first family Disney trip but those auto-flush toilets had her so afraid that she was asking for pull-ups. She just wasn't tall enough to block the sensor so it would flush while she was still sitting on it and those things are loud and powerful enough to intimidate little kids. Sticking a postie over the sensor guarantees it won't flush until you're good and ready, which for Pocahontas meant when she was a step or two outside the stall.

Definitely try to see Lion King, it's GREAT!

OK, i've said it before but will say it again. You've GOT to catch Festival of the Lion King. Skip the trails, skip ITTBAB, skip whatever, DON'T skip that!

That seems to be the universal opinion. The TouringPlans.com sample plan for a late arrival at AK says it is all doable with a little time to spare, so I'm hopeful we'll get to it this time.

I'm just catching up Colleen, but I'm so glad the move in dates is working so well for you!! Your plans so far look great. Hopefully it is warm enough for you to get a few rides on Splash. That's my favorite too! DH and I are thinking of taking our parents only trip in early February, and while he is really upset about BTMRR probably being down for refurb (I'm a little disappointed too, but I'll get over it), I, like you, am excited that it means Splash will probably stay open!

I think my kids will ride Splash even if it is cold. Whether or not I join them is a different matter entirely.

Subbing. Followed you from my PTR. I've just had a quick read through. What a long journey you have been on with your planning.

A quick read-through? You must be a fast reader! It has been an adventure and we've still got 3 months to go!

 

[Colleen27]

Today was a gorgeous day here in Michigan, just barely 60° and sunny, and Pocahontas had a basketball tournament in a town known for its orchards. What better time to go apple picking?

The orchard we used to go to closed a few years back, so we've been trying to find another that we like as well ever since. Today I think we found it. The place was fairly crowded, as you'd expect for a warm Saturday this time of year, but once we got back into the orchard it was very peaceful and they have three separate areas serving donuts and cider so even the shop area handled the crowds well.

The kids wasted no time running off into the trees but I did manage to get them to sit still for a few pictures.

Stitch looks way too grown up here!

Pocahontas took advantage of all the grass to practice her gymnastics. Here she is, mid walk-over:

I found this cute harvest fabric on the remnant rack at Joanns so I made Boo an outfit yesterday just for the occasion.

We had a great time - picked a bushel and a half of apples, some of which will become applesauce later this week, ate our fill of still-hot cider donuts and corn on the cob, and just enjoyed being outdoors on such a nice day.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Looks like a goreous day! We usually go apple picking every year but haven't made it yet this year & probably won't with our trip just around the corner. It's been pretty wet here this year though.

I love the outfit you made for Boo! And I love that you just threw it together.

 

[Colleen27]

Looks like a goreous day! We usually go apple picking every year but haven't made it yet this year & probably won't with our trip just around the corner. It's been pretty wet here this year though.

I love the outfit you made for Boo! And I love that you just threw it together.

Thank you. In watching her run around in it I've decided to add pockets in the coordinating fabric to break up the green a bit more but overall I'm happy with the way it came out, especially for such a spur-of-the-moment effort.

Its been wet here too - somewhere I read we had the 3rd wettest Sept on record, and all the corn/soybean fields in my area are so swampy that the farmers are having a hard time harvesting. We've decided to skip our annual corn maze outing because it is just so wet and mucky; I was hoping it would dry out enough to go next weekend but with rain in the forecast from now until Thurs that's a long shot. Fortunately the orchard is on a little higher ground, so it was just a bit muddy but not unbearable.

And in a semi-trip related tie in, watching the kids run around in tank tops & short sleeves in 60° weather put my worries about FL in January in perspective. Going back 10 years in the Wunderground trip planner, I only found 3 days cooler than that in the entire second half of Jan and never more than one in any two-week period.

 

[skier_pete]

In case you haven't read this elsewhere - bring post-it notes for the Disney toilets. Pocahontas was potty trained for over a year by the time of our first family Disney trip but those auto-flush toilets had her so afraid that she was asking for pull-ups. She just wasn't tall enough to block the sensor so it would flush while she was still sitting on it and those things are loud and powerful enough to intimidate little kids. Sticking a postie over the sensor guarantees it won't flush until you're good and ready, which for Pocahontas meant when she was a step or two outside the stall.

2nd this...our DD hated the auto-flush toilets. The Post-it works perfectly. Just please remove it and flush the toilet when your done!