UPDATED 6/20: ~Fastpass+ and Pre-trip HAUL~ We must ride the yellow Dumbo! An August 2016 PTR

[poodledogs55]

Chapter Links:
1) Introductions
2) The Planning
3) ADRs/DDP Analysis
4) Fastpass+
5) Pre-trip Haul

Hello Everyone!
As I'm sitting here, watching America's Got Talent, reading the Disboards, and taking a break from writing my master's thesis, I decided, "Why not write a pre-trip report?" To be honest, my pending Disney vacation is the ONLY thing getting me through these next two months, while I finish my research and write my thesis.

I usually lurk on these threads, but decided to take the plunge, write a PTR, and I'll hopefully write a full trip report when I get back! Warning, there will be a learning curve as I figure out how to make links and organize all the parts.


Introductions:

As I mentioned above, I'm finishing up my master's thesis and (hopefully) the end to me being in school (finally!). So, is there a better way to celebrate than a trip to Disney? YES! A trip to Disney AND a Disney Cruise! Before I talk about all that, here's a little intro about the cast:

Colleen (me): I'm 25 and finishing up my master's of science in environmental engineering.
Favorite Character: Minnie Mouse
Favorite Princess: Tiana
Favorite ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Favorite snack: Mickey rice krispie treat with chocolate ears and dole whip float
Favorite Hotel: AKL
I've been to Disney World 6x (soon to be 7), 2 Disney Cruises (soon to be 3), and Disneyland once.



Not sure where the picture I uploaded will end up, but it's me ca. 1996. I don't think my parents would appreciate me uploading pictures of them, so I'll stick to emojis!

Mom: She's older than 25 and is a middle school librarian.
I'm going to have to ask her all the other favorites, but I know my mom LOVES Stitch
She's been to Disney just a few times fewer than I have, but all the other trips apply!

Dad: Also older than 25 haha and also an engineer. He's not a big Disney fan and will only be going on the cruise portion of this trip. Ironically, Disney loves my dad. He always gets favoritism from the characters and special treatment. My favorite example is when Roz called him out on the Monster's Inc. ride at Disneyland, "Young man in the third row, I like your glasses."

Ellie (2, top) and Brody (1, bottom) are our wire-haired pointing griffons, which are awesome hunting dogs! Ellie loves to find birds and go swimming. We named her after Elsa, but she also has a lot in common with Ellie from Up! Brody also loves finding birds and being in dog shows. They won't be going on the trip, but will have fun at "camp" aka the kennel.




~Up next: The Planning~

 

[poodledogs55]

The Planning

Before I delve into the planning, I figured I should explain the PTR title. Our last family trip to Disney World was in 2010. After waiting probably 40 minutes to ride Dumbo, my mom chose a random Dumbo and my dad and I chose the one in front of her. This particular Dumbo happened to be yellow. A mom came up to us and asked us to move out of our Dumbo (we were already sitting down, strapped in) because her daughter had to have the yellow one. Considering we were already set and wanted to keep our party together, we politely declined. The child had a meltdown and mom took her off the ride. So, to this day, we say we HAVE to ride the yellow Dumbo.

The Story:
When I graduated undergrad in 2013, we went on the Disney Fantasy. It was an AMAZING trip and decided I wanted to do another Disney trip when I was done with grad school. So, when Disney released their 2016 packages, my mom and I jumped on booking. We really wanted to stay at YC, but it was all booked up and "settled" on POFQ. I say settled, but I honestly would love to stay there one day. It looks like a beautiful resort! Eventually, this trip got shortened from 7 days to 4 and we tacked on a 4 night Disney Cruise on the Dream (which was the only way to get my dad to go). Well, thanks to the Disboards, I read about a "magical deal" and we were able to switch to the Poly, my dream resort! The Poly is the perfect choice for a short trip. My mom and I are very happy to have monorail access!

Plans:

• When: Early August
• Where: Polynesian Resort standard view~4 nights
• Parks: MK (twice), Epcot, and AK. Skipping DHS due to all the construction. We also got a free waterpark ticket with our package, so we'll be trying TL for the first time!
• Tickets: 4 day base ticket, no PH this time
• Dining Plan: regular DDP
• Extras: Early Morning Magic (I'm a HUGE skeptic, so I'll definitely be reviewing this experience)
• 4 night Bahamas cruise on the Dream

~Up Next: ADRs~

 

[poodledogs55]

ADRs and Is the DDP worth it?

Our 180 days has long since passed, but I figured I'd not only share our dining plans, but also why we chose to get the DDP. There has been SO much discussion on whether the DDP is worth it. Some people are adamantly against it, others swear by it. I'm in the middle. It definitely depends on where and what you plan to eat. Hopefully my "ultra-scientific" analysis is helpful to some of you!

ADR Summary:
My DDP Analysis is a little long, so here's the "TLDR" version of our dining plans!
*New restaurants!

Day 1: Epcot
Lunch: *Sunshine Seasons~12:30
Dinner: *Akershus 6:45

Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House~11:30
Dinner: *Be Our Guest 5:50

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
Lunch: Tusker House Jungle Book package 12:20
Dinner: Flame Tree BBQ~ 6:00

Day 4: Magic Kingdom
Lunch: *Capt. Cook's (w/QS credits) or Skipper's Canteen (OOP)~12:00
Dinner: Ohana 5:30

Day 5: Disney Cruise Day
Breakfast: *Kona Cafe (OOP) 8:00

Snacks: anything at Karamell Kuche, Dole Whip Float, Mickey Rice Krispie Treat, dole whip with rum, AK Jungle Book banana cupcake, suggestions welcome for others!!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

DDP Analysis:

1) How much does the DDP cost?
We booked before the most recent price increase, so we were locked in to the $62/person/day cost, for a total of $496 spent (2 people, 4 nights). I assumed this included tax.

2) What's included?
1 QS credit, 1 TS credit, 1 snack, 1 refillable mug per person per night

ADRs and Assumed Cost
To see if the DDP would save us money, I made a spreadsheet of our reservations, prices of meals we'd like to eat, and tax. I did this for lunch and dinner and summed up how much we'd spend OOP each day vs. what we were paying for the DDP. Overall, I've estimated that we're saving $90, which basically pays for tips!

Here we go!

(I included 6.5% tax in all prices)

Day 1: Epcot

Cost OOP: $155.60
Cost on DDP: $124
Savings: $31.60

Breakdown:
Lunch: Sunshine Seasons

• Me: Power Salad with Oak-fired Chicken, Quinoa, Almonds, and Honey Vinaigrette+carrot cake cupcake+bottled water
• Mom: same, but soda instead of water
• Total cost: $40.64

Dinner: Akershus

• $104.33 for the both of us

Snacks: Karamell Kuche

• large caramel popcorn: $6.38
• sea salt chocolate (I think!): $4.25

___________________________________________________________________________

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Cost OOP: $138.90
Cost on DDP: $124
Savings: $14.90

Lunch: Columbia Harbour House

• Me: lobster roll+cobbler+bottled water
• Mom: lobster roll+soda+coleslaw
• Total cost: $42.44

Dinner: Be Our Guest

• Me: sautéed shrimp and scallops+soda+grey stuff
• Mom: grilled strip steak+soda+grey stuff
• Total cost: $85.20

Snacks: 2 dole whip floats=$11.26
_________________________________________________________________________________

Day 3: Animal Kingdom

cost OOP: $153.19
Cost on DDP: $124
Savings: $29.19

Lunch: Tusker House Jungle Book Backage

• $49/person or $104.38 for both of us incl. tax

Dinner: Flame Tree BBQ

• Me: 1/2 chicken+fries+bottled water
• Mom: smoked turkey breast sandwich+fries+soda
• Total cost: $38.62

Snacks: (pretzel???) something that cost $4.25+JB cupcake $5.95=$10.20
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Day 4: Magic Kingdom (again)

Cost OOP: $139.07
Cost on DDP: $124
Savings: $15.07

Lunch: Capt. Cook's

• Me: grilled chicken sandwich+bottled water+gourmet cupcake
• Mom: aloha pork sandwich+soda+chocolate croissant
• Total cost: $38.45

Dinner: 'Ohana

• $42/person or $89.46 (incl. tax)

Snack: from Big Top Treats totaling $11.16

~Up next: Fastpass+ and promise of more pictures!~

 

[poodledogs55]

Fastpass+

This was my first time making fastpass+ reservations and after reading people on here have had luck making reservations at 12:00am, 4:00am, and 6:00am, I ended up getting up at every single one of those times. Of course, promptly at 7:00am, I was able to make my reservations. I was pretty exhausted at that point, but thought I did pretty well for the first time!



(I promised more pictures!)

You may have noticed that THE fastpass is missing, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. I was actually able to make one with no problem at all, but with Early Morning Magic, I figured it was unnecessary since we'd be able to ride like 7+ times in a row, so I modified it for BTMR (last day it will be open for a long time)! Hopefully another family was able to snatch them up

I'll be sure to report back on my first Fastpass+ experience, but so far, I'm pretty excited to ride at least 12 rides total without much of a wait!

~Up next: Pre-trip HAUL~

 

[poodledogs55]

Pre-trip HAUL

If any of you watch any Disney vlogs, you are probably familiar with "haul" videos. If not, it's when vloggers show all the awesome stuff they bought on their trips to Disney! I really enjoy watching these and getting ideas of souvenirs to buy on my trip. It seems like there are tons of discussion on best backpacks, most comfortable sandals, and items to keep you cool. So, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the items I've bought to use on our trip. I'm a student Amazon Prime member ($49/year for all you college students out there!) and bought pretty much everything from there. Lots of times, if you don't care about the color of an item, you can get STEEP discounts!

Note: I bought all these items for our Disney trip, so I can't give full reviews yet on how they all worked out, but I will!

Purchased from Amazon:

Sandals: Keen's Newport H2 $40
What I like: Good arch and heel support, waterproof, better foot protection than an open-toed sandal


Backpack: Sunhiker C821 Crossbody $9.99
What I like: It's very small (holds ponchos, sunblock, wallet, phones/chargers, not much else)



Keeping Cool: Frogg Toggs $6.99
Not sure if these work as well as everyone says, but I felt $7 was a price risk I was willing to take! My mom and I plan to cut it in half so we can share. It's plenty big enough to do so. It comes in a carrying case, but the case will definitely not fit in the backpack.


Phone charger: 13,000 mAh Portable Charger $14.99 (but price just dropped to $12.99!0
What I like: Price was reasonable, size isn't too big, and promises to charge an iPhone 6 4.5x (I have a 6s and my mom has the SE, so hopefully we'll be able to get at least 4 charges out of it before we have to re-charge the charger).


Camera SD Card: PNY Elite Performance 64gb $22.99
What I like: Basically, I wanted a memory card that had enough space for pictures and videos as I plan to try to vlog some of our trip. We have a waterproof camera, so I'm hoping to also get lots of underwater footage at Castaway Cay

Clothes: I don't have pictures, but decided to also invest in some moisture wicking clothing. I got some running shorts from JCPenney, shirts from Kohl's, and socks from Target. There LOTS of stores that sell reasonably priced options. My advice is to shop around! Basically, I decided it was way more important to be comfortable than to make a fashion statement, especially in August.

~Up next: How to get pumped for a Disney trip!~