Wait we're going in 54 days over Spring Break? What about planning? UPDATE 2 days!

[tabrizia]

29 Days!

Today was our first FP+ day. I did not get up at 7, oops. On the other hand minion one was up and loud so I was up at 7:30. Park day 1 is EPCOT so I got on to get our FP+. I went ahead and got Living with the Land and Character Spot for everyone at 10:40 and 1:50 respectively. I then got Soarin' for D, R, M, and Pom at 11:40. I could not get Frozen before 6:50 for the rest of us, even splitting up our group into smaller sections. I was hoping for an earlier time so we could try for a 4th FP, but it didn't happen. The plan is to get in, head to Test Track ride that, see what else has a short wait and then head to Land pavilion for the rides there. I left a break in there for lunch which I figure we can do at the Land, since we'll be there. Whoever wants to can try standby for Soarin' if the line isn't horrible when the boys have their FP+ for it. After that we might hit the Seas before heading to the Character Spot. I figure we'll spend our afternoon/evening in the World showcase and pick up dinner at the booths set up for Flowers and Garden. We will ride Spaceship Earth at some point, other than that and Test Track we have the rides that are on my must do for EPCOT list, even if the times are not perfect.

 

[mdsouth]

I just found your Pre-TR! I love how you are including past photographs of your family as you talk about your upcoming trip! You have done an amazing job of lining up all the plans and getting NOT ONE but TWO character meals during Easter Break! VERY IMPRESSIVE!

And I expect your parents and sister really have no idea how hard that was to achieve within the less than 30 days time frame that you had.
And then planning all the Fastpasses for such a large and diverse number of people!

 

[tabrizia]

I just found your Pre-TR! I love how you are including past photographs of your family as you talk about your upcoming trip! You have done an amazing job of lining up all the plans and getting NOT ONE but TWO character meals during Easter Break! VERY IMPRESSIVE!

And I expect your parents and sister really have no idea how hard that was to achieve within the less than 30 days time frame that you had.
And then planning all the Fastpasses for such a large and diverse number of people!

Thanks. To be fair I had about 54 days to plan, but yes the character meals were tough. Both CRT and trying to find one for 9 people!

I love adding the pictures of our older trips. I figure it sort of makes up for completely failing to complete my last trip report.

 

[tabrizia]

28 days!

So it was time for day 2 FP+. I set my alarm this morning for 6:45, 6:55 and 7:05 because I really didn't want to be up that early, but it is our first Magic Kingdom day, and the busier one too. I got up on time, go me and was at the computer at 7.

I got the fast passes I wanted. Now the times aren't quite perfect just because of the fact we're going to be running back and forth across the park, but oh well. I got everyone Splash Mountain at 9:35am. It might be a bit early for a water ride, but it was a good time to set it up. It let's us get there at park opening (I hope) and ride a few rides in Fantasy Land if we're lucky before heading over. We then go all the way back across the park for our FP to Space Mountain at 11. Little E, Big E and my parents have a FP at 10:45 for Under the Sea, Little E loves Ariel. Since they are hopefully going to meet her at their CRT lunch I just got the Under the Sea ride and not the Grotto for them. After Space Mountain (which we'll hopefully get a rider swap for, thanks to Little E being to short) and Under the Sea we'll head right back over towards Splash for our 1pm FP to Big Thunder Mountain. I also got Little E and my parents a FP to Jungle cruise FP at 1:20, I don't know if we'll do that one, but I figured it was a good choice. I'm hoping to get another child swap for BTM thanks to Little E as well.

After the FP I will go with Little E, Big E, my Mom and L to CRT to check them in. The reservation states the person who reserves the meal has to go, though I was planning to let my sister go in my place so we'll see about that. I am hoping that with the child swap passes M will be able to take some subset of the boys on both Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain a second time. I'll also try to get a new FP for everyone. I also am figuring that we'll feed everyone somewhere in there.

After CRT we'll either take a break or keep going, it really depends on everyone. Since the park is open till midnight and our down day is the next day, I am not sure what people will want to do. I do hope to be able to get some more fastpasses day of after ours are used. I have no clue if M is leaving this evening or Wednesday morning to go home, so that may also change the evening plans. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[tabrizia]

26 days!

After waking ridiculously early, 7am is super early for me, I got online to get our FP+ for our 3rd Disney day. When I logged on there were no FP+ available at all for Magic Kingdom on April 5th. Waiting a couple of minutes until 7:10 or so made it so there were now FP+ options. Not the top 2 I wanted, but there were options at least. My goal was to get Tales with Belle and 7 Dwarfs though I wasn't really expecting to get 7 Dwarfs. That was a good thing because I couldn't get 7 Dwarfs. I also couldn't get Belle unless I went for an 8pm FP+. Since I am not sure we are even staying until 8pm on our second MK day I didn't get the Belle FP either. I got Buzz Lightyear, Pirates and Peter Pan FP+ instead. I figure our goal will be to do 7 Dwarfs then Belle first this morning. We have Buzz at 10:30, Pirates at 12 (I'll need to watch for parade issues) and Peter Pan at 3. This hopefully let's me get at least one more FP in the afternoon if anything is left by then. I figure we'll do lunch between Pirates and Peter Pan. I am not thrilled that I couldn't get Belle and I may look to see if any FP come free for it later on. On the other hand we have a decent selection I think and the times aren't too bad.

Tomorrow I get to wake early again to try for our Animal Kingdom FP+. I am hoping Kali, Everest and the Safari are easy to get.

 

[mdsouth]

Sounds like your plans are falling into place. And you did a nice job of getting the fast passes. I think you will be especially glad you got the Peter Pan fast pass. I know that the line for that ride really builds up.

Just keep in mind that if you and your kids have the endurance - usually a lot of the rides in the MK have very short waits in the last hour or two near closing, especially Fantasyland.

 

[tabrizia]

Sounds like your plans are falling into place. And you did a nice job of getting the fast passes. I think you will be especially glad you got the Peter Pan fast pass. I know that the line for that ride really builds up.

Just keep in mind that if you and your kids have the endurance - usually a lot of the rides in the MK have very short waits in the last hour or two near closing, especially Fantasyland.

The plan is on Tuesday I am hoping to make it to closing with the older 2 at least. I am pretty sure my niece and nephew won't make it and not sure about minion 3. I am not sure about Thursday since we have a park day Friday, but I'll have to see how we are doing that evening. On the plus side we're not going to Pandora at AK, which will make the park much more manageable on Friday.

I think we'll be glad to have Peter Pan too, it is nice to know we will be able to ride without a real wait.

 

[tabrizia]

23 days!

On Wednesday I got our last set of Fastpasses for our last day. Animal Kingdom. Shocking no one the cool Avatar ride had no FP left. We have FP for Everest before our lunch at Tusker House. The Safari after our lunch and then Kali after the Safari. The first FP are not till 10:15. Depending on how everyone is moving in the morning we may not try to make rope drop and we might just head over to get there by 10 or so. My kids want to do the Wilderness Explorer stuff again, but honestly I think it is going to be a fairly quiet and relaxed AK day. We'll see what we want, ride things if the lines aren't bad and leave when everyone is ready likely by 6 or 7 at the latest. That way everyone has time to pack since we all leave Saturday. My biggest issue is going to be checking into SouthWest at exactly 24 hours out. I am tempted to spend the extra money on the early check in just so I don't have to worry about it. I'll have to debate that one a bit more.

I am happy with our AK FP. I think everyone will have a nice day. I'm hoping to get the Lion King show in at some point, but if we don't I've seen it a few times and I've seen the full play on Broadway so it isn't a huge deal.

The only major thing I have coming up now is my Dad needs to check about the hotel room tomorrow, Sunday or Monday. Hopefully there is something still available since I'd rather not be stuck on the sofa.

 

[macraven]

cute pictures!

 

[tabrizia]

cute pictures!

Thank you very much .

 

[mdsouth]

My biggest issue is going to be checking into SouthWest at exactly 24 hours out. I am tempted to spend the extra money on the early check in just so I don't have to worry about it. I'll have to debate that one a bit more.

It has been a long time since I last flew Southwest that I wasn't even aware that you can pay extra to check in early for the flight. How much does it cost per ticket? I can see where spending the money would make it one less thing you have to worry about at the end of your trip but like you, the extra money could just be saved or spent at Disney.

Your plans for your AK day sound good. It will be nice to just go with the flow on your last day in the parks.

I understand how you will able to skip Lion King show since you have been previously and have seen the Broadway show. For me, it will be a must do since I have never seen the Disney show. My daughter's school performed the Lion King Jr show and she was Sarafina (Nala's mother). So, we know all the songs and can't wait to see the show while at AK.

The last time we were in Disney the theater was being renovated and they did not have the show.

 

[tabrizia]

It has been a long time since I last flew Southwest that I wasn't even aware that you can pay extra to check in early for the flight. How much does it cost per ticket? I can see where spending the money would make it one less thing you have to worry about at the end of your trip but like you, the extra money could just be saved or spent at Disney.

Your plans for your AK day sound good. It will be nice to just go with the flow on your last day in the parks.

I understand how you will able to skip Lion King show since you have been previously and have seen the Broadway show. For me, it will be a must do since I have never seen the Disney show. My daughter's school performed the Lion King Jr show and she was Sarafina (Nala's mother). So, we know all the songs and can't wait to see the show while at AK.

The last time we were in Disney the theater was being renovated and they did not have the show.

It is $15 per ticket for early bird check in. It adds up, but honestly for that $60 in this case I will get peace of mind that we are checked in. I just attempted to sign up for it now and the website was throwing an error so I'll try again later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for the comments. My eldest was in Lion King this fall he was an extra but he really enjoyed it. He has actually seen the broadway show with his theater group, so we'll see how he feels about going to the show while we're there. Fortunately we have enough adults to split up as needed.

 

[tabrizia]

12 days!

I haven't updated in over a week, oops. We celebrated minion 2's birthday. We went to the National Zoo a couple of days before, had a party to see A Wrinkle in Time the day before, and hung out with her best friend the day of. She had a great day. We're currently prepping for a huge storm here. I love snow, but the possibility of 12+ inches in late March always seems odd to me. My birthday is Monday, I don't know if I am going to do anything interesting, I'll have to wait and see.

There is not a ton new going on in the preparing for Disney front. I need to make autograph books still. We haven't tie dyed t-****s, but we have enough t-shirts I'm not to worried about it. I think I have enough shirts for the minions for the trip. I should start pulling shorts out for them and packing. Maybe I'll do that Saturday. We have a hotel room so we aren't all squished in the condo. The time share had run out of room by the time it hit 21 days, which wasn't a huge surprise. My Dad used his hotel points to get a room at the Fairfield inn right next to the timeshare though. It is within a 8 minute walk of the time share. Which is nice.

I need to contact my uncle and cousin and let them know our plans for Disney, they may come to visit one day. I should do that today. Other than that it is really just a waiting game for the next week or so.

At the zoo seeing Pandas


It's a Donald Duck? Minion 1 on his second trip.


Tigger! Minion 2 on her first trip.

 

[tabrizia]

10 days till Disney!


Only 10 days to go! I still have a couple things I want to grab before we go, some easter candy for the kids, a few ponchos just in case, and a couple of other small things. I need to put together the autograph books. I am thinking I'll do that this weekend. I have bleached my hair and will dye it today at some point so it will be bright and fun for the trip. I need to start gathering clothes for the minions. It looks like it should be in the 80s most of the week so I'm thinking shorts and maybe one pair of long pants.

It seems so odd we'll be in 80 degree weather in less than 2 weeks, when we just had a huge snow storm yesterday that gave us 6+ inches of snow. The kids were playing in it all day yesterday and the boys went back out this morning. Nothing like going from snow to summer.

 

[tabrizia]

2 days till Disney!

Wow that went fast. I made autograph books yesterday. I haven't taken pictures yet though. They are done, which is good. We are going to do some errands today so I can get the last minute things I need for the trip. I plan to pack today so we are ready. I have made up my daily sheets so I can see what is happening each day. I need to do a bunch of printing of those and just general information today for my Disney folder as well. I have e-mail my parents and sister so they all have the basic schedule.

I did try to change one fast pass, but the ride I want to change it to did not have availability at the time I wanted so it isn't happening right now.

Other than packing, shopping and having to get up early tomorrow to check in for our flight, I think we are ready and our plans are all ready. Disney here we come!

 

[macraven]

I'm still with you reading along

 

[tabrizia]

1 Day!

Just one day left. I woke up early this morning and checked in for our flight. We got A boarding. I'm happy since minion 3 is now to old for us to use family boarding. I finished up my planning book to bring. Printed out the info, laminated it, and put fun stickers on the pages. We are mostly packed. The kids need to do their carryons. I need to do mine. I also need to make another trip to Target. I forgot ponchos. All the minions clothes are packed in zip lock bags to make them easier to grab when needed. Oh I need to put the patches on my backpack still too. We are basically ready.

I woke minion 2 early today so she has a chance of going to bed early and not being exhausted for the plane. Not much of one with having to leave the house at 5am, but at least a chance. I can't wait, I am so ready for the trip!


Autograph books all ready to go.




My planning folder and planning book.


Daily info and times for the trip in the planning book.