Two Families-One World!! Our FIRST WDW Trip PTR! ***UPDATED 4/28***

[DynamicDisney]

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I am pretty terrible at this PTR thing! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I know Santa was good to us! Here are a few photos from our celebrations!


The kids (plus my nephew who is living with us) meeting Santa!


She loved her giant Elsa doll!​

Now, on to the fun stuff!! What ADRs did I end up with??​

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Here is what I ended up with:

Saturday---May 2

Chef Mickey's----5:20 PM

Sunday---May 3

Hollywood & Vine---8:05 AM

50's Prime Time---6:40 PM

Monday---May 4

Akershus Royal Banquet---7:55 PM

Tuesday---May 5

1900 Park Fare---9:50 AM

Thursday---May 7

Tusker House---8:35 AM

Friday---May 8

Be Our Guest---4:15 PM

Looks like you got some great places and times! It caught my eye that you also have a daughter Piper! My DD is 6. We are staying at AoA at the same time, we will be in a Nemo suite! We check in on 4/27, and check out on 5/6. Maybe we will run into each other!

 

[jchurch0409]

Looks like you got some great places and times! It caught my eye that you also have a daughter Piper! My DD is 6. We are staying at AoA at the same time, we will be in a Nemo suite! We check in on 4/27, and check out on 5/6. Maybe we will run into each other!

That would be fun!! We have met another Piper every year on vacation! We live in a very small town and we have only met one other Piper here at home, so it is always neat to meet other little girls named Piper on vacation!

 

[afwdwfan]

PTR's can be tough. Sometimes, there just isn't anything new to add, so no worries about lack of updates.

The ADR list looks great, especially for all the kids going along.

 

[jchurch0409]

Hello all! I am hoping to have more updates since we are under the three month mark now!! We are down to 87 days! FP+ day is coming up in 28 days! So now on to what little updates and planning I have been doing!

When the spring discounts came out, we looked long and hard at our plans. Since this is our first trip, I had done a lot of research on different resorts. In the end, we settled on the AoA Little Mermaid rooms. I was very excited about this decision. After the discounts came out, we did some pricing for other rooms. Now, on a side note, when we vacation we are rarely in the room. We like to be out and about. We are usually only in the room to sleep and occasionally relax. So, keeping this in mind we looked at what the resorts had to offer. In the end, having more money to spend won out over staying in AoA. We ended up changing to:

I am pretty excited about this. It isn't what we originally wanted, but we ended up saving almost $600 for each room, which is a pretty nice chunk of change to have for spending money.

 

[jchurch0409]

I am mainly writing this PTR to keep myself on track and keep up with all my plans, but I hope some of you guys are following along! Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated when it comes to my daily plans and FP+ plans. I have done tons of research, but that can't replace the expertise of people who have been to the World several times!

So now...onto the daily plans!!!

Day One: Departure Day---Friday 5/1

We originally had planned to leave on this day at about 12:30. It turns out the kids do not have early dismissal from school, so we decided to just leave early that morning and let them lay out of school! We aren't telling the older kids we are leaving this day. They will think we are leaving super early the next morning! We hope to be on the road by 7:00 AM, at the VERY latest. We will head down to Ormond Beach, FL to stay the night. We hope to get there by about 5:00. We chose this area because the kids want to see the ocean in Florida. We will pick up dinner somewhere local, more than likely pizza. If any of you guys have stayed in this area before and know of some good places to eat, let me know! We will let the kids play in the ocean for a little while. I still have to book the hotel for this night!

Day Two: DISNEY DAY!!!---Saturday 5/2

We plan to have a quick breakfast in the hotel and then head out to Disney, hopefully be on the road by 10:00 at the VERY latest! After we check-in, we want to head to DTD and grab some lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Then we plan to do a little shopping! Piper and I love shopping, the Hubby not so much. He is excited to check out the Lego Store and I am super excited about all the stores! We will probably pick up a meal here OOP for lunch at Earl of Sandwich. There are so many tasty looking choices on the menu there! We would then head back to our room to go for a swim and freshen up. We will be having dinner with a certain mouse and his friends at....

We will head over to the TTC to catch the monorail. Gabriel and Simon are both HUGE train fanatics, so they are looking forward to riding the monorail. My mom and her family (plus my kids) think we are just going to ride the monorail to catch a glimpse of the Magic Kingdom. They don’t know that we will be getting off to eat dinner with Chef Mickey at 5:20 and then heading into the Magic Kingdom! I am so excited!!

So for our first night at Magic Kingdom, I am hoping to get a few character meets knocked out of the way! Here is my FP+ wishlist for this day:


1-Barnstormer---7:00-8:00

2-Meet Rapunzel and Cinderella---8:00-9:00

3-Meet Tinkerbell---9:00-10:00


Well, since Simon isn’t old enough to ride Barnstormer, my Mom (AKA: Nana) will take him for a spin on Dumbo. What better first ride for a toddler? I am hoping we are actually able to pull off a FP+ for the Mine Train on this first evening, but if not, we have two more days to try to ride it! If we can get one, we will use it and just wait in the stand-by for The Barnstormer. We are hoping to meet Talking Mickey and Tinkerbell this night, and possibly a few others!

*Sorry these posts are so word heavy!*

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

Joining and caught up readingCan't wait to continue along with you!

 

[jchurch0409]

Joining and caught up readingCan't wait to continue along with you!

Yay!! So glad to have you following along!

 

[jchurch0409]

Well I had half of an update typed and my cat jumped on my laptop keyboard and hit the back button. I knew I should have used that new "save draft" button.

Anyway....lets see if I can remember what I wrote!

I have been doing a lot of outfit planning! I am making several of the shirts we are wearing and I am also making the dresses that Piper and Shayda will wear to BBB. One of my BFFs is going to Disney in April with her three little girls and she has asked me to make SIX dresses for them to take! I will also be posting photos of those when I am finished! I have already made her three for Halloween last year.

Now....on to day three!! I used Josh's recommendations when planning my park days! So, our first full day in the parks will be....

Day 3: 5/3/2015---Disney Hollywood Studios!!

We will begin our day with a pre-park opening breakfast with these guys:

My kiddos are huge Disney Junior fans, especially Jake and the Neverland Pirates! Piper is only upset because Izzy and Cubby won't be dining with us!


There are a few must hits here at DHS. My Hubby’s favorite ride is here, so we would like to do it at least twice. The FP+ I plan to schedule will be:

1-TSMM---10:00-11:00

2-Star Tours---2:00-3:00

3-Tower of Terror---3:45-4:45


After eating we plan to go straight to RnRC, before the lines get crazy. My mom and I are not big roller coaster fans, so just DH, Jason, and Shayda will be riding this. RnRC will be her first real “coaster” experience. We have watched several ride videos and explained that it is a very fast, dark ride that goes upside down. So far, she is all for it, but of course this may change when we get there!


After this we are going to head on over to let the older kids (who want to) ride ToT, if the wait isn't too bad yet. Then, finally Simon will get to enjoy a ride, Toy Story Midway Mania!

We plan to have lunch here at Backlot Express. I am hoping they still have the buffalo chicken nuggets when we go! We have a 6:40 dinner reservation here:

I am sooooo excited for this dinner! It is probably one of the ones I am most looking forward too! I can't wait to try the sampler plate I have read so much about!

We then plan to watch Fantasmic and head on back to the resort for bed!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

Loving all your ideas...makes me realize we need to plan out our day

 

[ach222]

plans are looking great!

we got to meet talking Mickey at MK on our last day and it was magical for Grant - hopefully he's feeling chatty when you are there!

We also did chef Mickeys and had a great time. Your HS day looks fun, we had lunch at Backlot as well and enjoyed it.

 

[jchurch0409]

Loving all your ideas...makes me realize we need to plan out our day

Thanks! Yeah, I love to plan and it gives me something to do while I wait for FP+ day!

plans are looking great!

we got to meet talking Mickey at MK on our last day and it was magical for Grant - hopefully he's feeling chatty when you are there!

We also did chef Mickeys and had a great time. Your HS day looks fun, we had lunch at Backlot as well and enjoyed it.

I have been following along and LOVING your trip report! I am so glad that Grant liked talking Mickey! The hubby and I watched a YouTube video of a meet with him and I teared up! It is just so magical! I haven't told any of the kids or my mom and step-dad that he talks, so that will be fun!!

I am glad to hear good things about Backlot. I picked it for the fact that it had the buffalo chicken LOL. That is one of our favorite foods! I am also very excited about Chef Mickey because the family doesn't know what our plans are for that night! I have read some not so great things about it, so I was glad to see your review in your TR!

 

[jchurch0409]

Day Four---May 4, 2015---EPCOT
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When I was originally making our plans, we thought we would just skip EPCOT and add an extra DHS day. The more I thought about this, the more I really wanted to go to EPCOT. So, day four, our second full park day, will be spent in EPCOT!

Our plan is to arrive at rope drop to begin our day! My plan with FP+ here will be to divide and conquer. Since Simon (and possible Gabriel) may not be tall enough to ride the headliners, we will need to switch off. We could use Rider Swap, which we probably will. Since their are tiers on FP+ here, we are going to head straight to Test Track at Rope Drop. DH, Jason, Piper, Shayda, and Drake will ride first. We plan to get a rider swap pass for me. After TT, they will have a FP+ for Mission: SPACE. While they are riding these, my Mom, Gabriel, Simon, and I will enjoy The Seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush.

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When the others are finished, we plan to meet up and hand Simon off to them. They will take Simon and the older kids to experience Nemo and Friends. My mom, Gabe, and I will then use the rider swap pass to enjoy Test Track!

Here are the FP+ I plan to schedule:

1-Mission Space---9:15-10:15--Jonathan, Jason, Shayda, Drake, Piper
3-Soarin---11:45-12:45
4-Spaceship Earth---12:45-1:45

We will have to switch off to ride Soarin and SE since Simon is too small to ride both of those, but we will just take turns during our FP window.

We plan to have lunch here:

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If you have any recommendations on good things to eat, let me hear them! There are so many choices! Also, if their are any adult entrees that are big enough to share, that info would be awesome!

After lunch and our rides, we will head to the World Showcase. One thing we want to do for sure is Pick a Pearl in Japan. I plan to purchase these before hand for Piper and Shayda.

We will spend the afternoon in World Showcase before having dinner at 7:55 with a few lovely ladies!

We will then head back to our resort for the evening!

 

[ach222]

I had the fish tacos at Sunshine seasons and it was the best quick service meal I had all week!

 

[jchurch0409]

Day 5---May 5, 2015---Resort Day!
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This day is our planned break day from the parks. We hope to sleep in a little bit. We have a brunch reservation at....

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We are very excited about meeting some of our favorites characters this morning!! After breakfast, we are going to head over to one of the resorts that offer surrey bikes and attempt to take a ride!

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Other than these two things, we really don't have anything else planned for this day. We will probably swim quite a bit. We may head back to DTD if we feel like it to grab a bite to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express or we may just stay at the resort and grab something at Intermission.

Day Six---May 6, 2015---Magic Kingdom
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Finally.....our first FULL Magic Kingdom day!! We have an early appointment with some Fairy Godmothers in Training!! Our appointments at BBB are 8:05, 8:10, 8:10, and 8:15! We are doing the Crown Package ($59.95) for the girls and bringing our own dresses. We are doing the Knight Package for the two older boys! I am so excited about this!

The only other real plans I have for this day are where we are eating lunch and dinner:

The rest of our plans this day just depend on when/if we get the coveted A&E FP+.

 

[afwdwfan]

I am pretty excited about this. It isn't what we originally wanted, but we ended up saving almost $600 for each room, which is a pretty nice chunk of change to have for spending money.

Good call. I love AoA, but any room on the property is just fine... and saving $600 ain't too shabby.

I am hoping we are actually able to pull off a FP+ for the Mine Train on this first evening, but if not, we have two more days to try to ride it! If we can get one, we will use it and just wait in the stand-by for The Barnstormer.

If you make your FP+ at the 60 day mark, I think you'll have a good chance of getting it. I think you have a good plan.

My kiddos are huge Disney Junior fans, especially Jake and the Neverland Pirates! Piper is only upset because Izzy and Cubby won't be dining with us!

That is a fantastic character breakfast! Our kids had a blast there.

After eating we plan to go straight to RnRC, before the lines get crazy

Just make sure you get out of there in time for RD.

I am hoping they still have the buffalo chicken nuggets when we go!

They should... They've had it for the last 3 years or so. Unless there's a major menu overhaul, I think you'll be fine.

The rest of our plans this day just depend on when/if we get the coveted A&E FP+.

Yeah... good luck! Easier said than done. Try for that on your last MK day before you attempt any other FP+. And if it doesn't show any availability for your whole group, remember to try finding FP+ in groups of 1 or 2 with overlapping times. This is what I had to do for us. 5 out of 6 in our group managed to get a window that overlapped for 5 minutes on all their FP+ for A&E. That was the best I could do.

 

[jchurch0409]

I had the fish tacos at Sunshine seasons and it was the best quick service meal I had all week!

I will have to check those out!! Thanks!

Good call. I love AoA, but any room on the property is just fine... and saving $600 ain't too shabby.


If you make your FP+ at the 60 day mark, I think you'll have a good chance of getting it. I think you have a good plan.


That is a fantastic character breakfast! Our kids had a blast there.


Just make sure you get out of there in time for RD.


They should... They've had it for the last 3 years or so. Unless there's a major menu overhaul, I think you'll be fine.


Yeah... good luck! Easier said than done. Try for that on your last MK day before you attempt any other FP+. And if it doesn't show any availability for your whole group, remember to try finding FP+ in groups of 1 or 2 with overlapping times. This is what I had to do for us. 5 out of 6 in our group managed to get a window that overlapped for 5 minutes on all their FP+ for A&E. That was the best I could do.

Thank you so much for all your advice!! Yeah, I plan to do our FP+ reservations on the 60 day mark! A&E on our last MK day is the first thing I will search for! Thank you for the tip about finding over-lapping times!

 

[jchurch0409]

Day 7---May 7, 2015---Animal Kingdom
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This is one park we are excited for! We have an 8:35 breakfast reservation at Tusker House. I have heard such good things about this character meal! I have been searching for one closer to 8:00. I am hoping one may open up when the 45 day mark hits!

There are a few character meets that I really want to do here---Pocahontas, Baloo/King Louie, and Rafaki.


Here are my FP+ wishes for this day:


1-Kilimanjaro Safari at 9:30-10:30---If the standby line isn't long, I am going to attempt to switch this to an afternoon FP+ for Festival of the Lion King show at 4:30. I know the chances of having availability are not great, but I will try anyways.

2-Dinosaur at 10:30-11:30

3-Expedition Everest at 2:00-3:00---We plan on heading for this ride first thing in the morning when the park opens to try to get a quick ride in before the Safari. I won’t be riding this, so I can keep an eye on line times for the Safari with the Touring Plans app, and move around the FP+ if needed.

So, after breakfast everyone but my Mom, Gabriel, Simon, and I will head to EE to ride. Then we will all head to ride the Safari! We plan to do a few of the trails as well, since the kids really like animals. Shayda, DH, and Jason plan to ride Primeval Whirl. While they are doing that, we are going to take a spin on some dinos.

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Then we plan on watching Nemo and having lunch at Pizzafari. After lunch, we will check out the Boneyard and the older ones will use their FP+ for EE.

Later, we will have dinner at

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Then, if waits are down, they older ones will head to try and ride EE one more time (if they like it the first two times ). While they are doing this, Nana and Gabriel will ride Kali Rapids, while I entertain Simon. After the others finish up on EE, we will all ride Kali while Nana entertains Simon. We will then head back to the resort for the evening!


*Photos are from Google*

 

[momabbate]

Joining in! I added your PTR a few weeks ago, but haven't had time to start a new report to read, due to being behind on so many reports. So if you don't hear from me for a while, I will return.
Your plans sound great.

 

[jchurch0409]

Day 8: May 8, 2015---Magic Kingdom/Last Day in the Parks​

We don't have a lot of concrete plans for this day. A lot of what we do will depend on how many things we do in the MK on Saturday and Wednesday. Our plans will also depend on if we get the A&E FP+ for this day or a different day. We will probably take it easy this day and re-ride some of our favorites from earlier in the week! We may even take a mid-day break! I do know our dining plans for this day! We will be having lunch at Pecos Bill's and then a very early dinner (4:15) here:

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We also have a reservation on this evening for the Wishes Dessert Party. A little back story to this reservation. On our 180 day mark, I did the ADRs online while my hubby called to schedule the BBB appointments and the dessert party. I didn't know at the time that you could book online for the dessert party. Well, he gets it booked. We never get a confirmation email and it isn't in our MDE. So, about a month ago, I have him call and confirm our appointment because I saw on our credit card statements that they had refunded the money. So, he calls, and of course, we have no reservation.

I am pretty upset at this point. This was going to be our big surprise for my family on our arrival night. So, I frantically get online to see if their is anything left. There is nothing left for May 2, however, I was able to get a reservation for May 8, our last night! I am still confused on what happened with the first reservation. The only thing the woman on the phone could say was that I must have cancelled it on MDE, which was impossible since it was never there! But that is all water under the bridge, since I was able to get it booked for another night!

(WOW----sorry this post is so wordy!!)

Day 9: May 9, 2015---Departure Day

I won't really write much here about this sad day. We will check-out and head home!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

What exactly is Wishes? Is the dessert party on the DDP? I need to figure out our 180 day mark I realized