Walk-ing Back to Disney! COMPLETED 10/16! A Fall 2014 PTR!

[Denovagirl]

Pre-Trip Report: Walk-ing Back to Disney!​

Welcome One and All to my 2nd Ever Pre-Trip Report!!


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For those who are new and those who've followed me over from past reports, let me start by saying THANK YOU for stopping by and taking the time to read my slightly-OCD planning! All opinions are graciously welcomed and, in fact, encouraged, so please chime in with your two cents! I want to plan the best possible trip for my family, so I love hearing about your own experiences!

A little background on the Walk family is in order, if you feel like you already know me, feel free to scroll on down to the table of contents and skip straight into the planning fun!!

Alright, so were the WALKS!!

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Hence my PTR Title! No, we are not really walking to Disney&thatd be near impossible from our great home state of Texas!! Speaking of Texas, I warn you now, I am prone to the word Yall so get used to it, sugar!

This will only be our 2nd time to visit the Mouse in his amazing World, and we cant wait to go back!!! I created a PTR for my first trip that you can find HERE, and of course I had to do a TR for the most-amazing 1st trip ever that you can see HERE!

Im not exaggerating when I say we had a near-perfect first experience at Disney the first time. The hubs initially thought I was nutso when I spent 8 months planning nearly every minute of our trip&and I was a little scared myself, but the results dont lie, and even the hubby admitted that my strenuous planning helped make, what can turn into a hectic vacation, the perfect Disney experience for us first-timers. In fact, the only day we had a dreaded Disney meltdown was the one day I was relaxed on my planning and thought wed just be spontaneous&yeah, no, that doesnt work well in this fam, and this time I am planning even more!!

Our first trip included the hubs parents and sister, which was great to have the extra hands to help with the kiddos, but after learning the Disney ropes we are SO EXCITED to go it alone with our little foursome this time! So let me introduce you, shall I?

I am Terri, the chief-planner of trips in this household! I love everything Disney and it was a HUGE dream-come-true for me to finally take that trip last year! I was definitely the most excited of the group. I am lucky to be a stay at home police wife to my kiddos, and I love that job.

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The hubbster, Chris, as I mentioned is a Police Officer. Hes always loved Disney too, but after our trip he became another giant Disney fanatic as well. Hes been helping a lot more with the planning this time and is always giving recommendations and such, which I love!

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Our oldest daughter, Olivia is going to be 5 in the next couple of weeks and she literally had the time of her life on our first trip! She got to become a princess and a pirate and meet all her favorite characters. She was a trooper and loved and appreciated every second of Disney-goodness. She is thrilled to be going back and has been giving her input on the planning as well!

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Maddie, our youngest, will be 2 by the time we go back to Disney, and even though she was only 14 months old the first go-round, she LOVED it! She rode so many rides, she watched, enthralled, every show, and she absolutely adored meeting the characters, mainly Mickey himself! Even I was surprised at just how great Disney can be for even the tiniest members of your family, and I always encourage parents who say they want to put off Disney until their kids are older to just go now!

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So thats us, the Walk family! And we cant wait to do all the fun planning that it takes to get us back to the place we love most, Disney World!! Please join us with the planning!


Table of Contents:
Dates!
Resorts!
A Night off from the Parks
The Day to Day Play by Play
The Return of "The Box"
Things NOT to Do
Costume Reveal & Disney Shopping
The To-Do List
Olivia's 5th Birthday
Magic Bands!!!
Lots-O-Updates!
The Yeti!
Decals for the MB's
Change of Plans #1
Painted Shoes
Ohana Means Family
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da
DOLE WHIPS!
Fun Mail
October Hours
Disney Crafting
Shoe Fever
Even More Shoes
October Detailed Hours are Up!
ADR Day Tomorrow!
ADR Day!
Fall Discounts
Crafting Again
Disney Finds and Lists
I'm Baaaa-ack!
*NEW* Plans
Free Dining!!!!
MMMTorture
MMMBop After All
Nom Nom Nom
Snack-Ports
Dis on the Brain
4 Months
The Doctor
Caught the Bug
DDD!
Disney Mail
60 Days Can't Come Soon Enough!
Walk the Walk
Shopping Fun
What a Day!
Stars and Stripes
"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"
Halloween Time
Mom's Weekend Off
Little Things
FastPass+
Productive Weekends
Less than 50!
The BIG Outfit Post
Pixie Dusted
This and That
Getting Closer
Magic Bands!
And the packing shall commence!
My D~ Bag!
Pack Rat
Single Digit Day!
Waiting and waiting...
Today's THE Day!
The end.

 

[Denovagirl]

Okay, so we're going back to Disney...the obvious first question is WHEN?!?!



Well, we've been talking and talking and talking and talking about it and we have narrowed it down to a few choices. The one thing we know for absolute certain is that it definitely needs to be fall or winter 2014 in order for the hubs to get the time off.

We really love the idea of being at the parks during a holiday time too, since our first trip was in August. So we had the debate over Christmas versus Halloween. Though we would obviously love either of those times, Halloween was a clear favorite for now because...

1. It's cheaper than Christmas
2. Better Weather
3. COSTUMES
4. Hallowishes & Boo To You Parade
5. Halloween comes SOONER!!!

So we've known for a while that we wanted to go back around Halloween, now we just needed to narrow it down some more. This is what I have been working tirelessly on the past few weeks. We usually use tax refund $$$ as our yearly vacation fund, and we all know tax season is rapidly approaching, so I need to be ready to book soon! Also, fall ADR time is FAST approaching, and I can't miss that 180 day mark, so I need to have all that planned and ready to go too....

Alright, so I initially was thinking September, there is usually Free Dining promo's running throughout that month, so I thought that we'd book & pay, and then if we get lucky enough to land Free Dining we'd get reimbursed... well then I started thinking about another fun fall event.... Food & Wine Festival! If we're going around that time anyway, I'd really hate to miss it, so again, back to researching past F&W dates and I see that it's usually only at the verrrrry end of Sept, and into October. Well...that changed my thinking a little.

What it boils down to now is that I've crunched the #'s and come up with three possible weeks and need thoughts and opinion on these...

We want to be in Disney longer this time, we did 8 days/7 nights last visit, but the first and last day of that were travel days so we really only had 6 park days. This time we are shooting for 10 days/9 nights. So here are my 3 top choices, all of which align with Chris' schedule so he only needs to take 4 days off from work.

#1 (My Fave) Monday, September 29th- Wednesday, October 8th

I like this one because it will definitely give us dates during MNSSHP & F&W. The price was a bit more than one of my other options, but only by $200 or so, so that's not a big price difference.

#2 Monday, September 15th- Wednesday, September 24th

This might possibly allow for F&W if they start it early enough, but its a chance. Again, prices were slightly less than my top choice, but slightly more than my 3rd choice.

#3 Monday, September 1st- Wednesday September 10th

This was the cheapest week! A few hundred less than the top choice, but not sure if that amount of money really makes that big of a difference. One big pro of this week: it's the soonest!

So there are my 3 choices, I am leaning most for option #1, I have pretty much decided on it, really, I even went ahead and made a countdown ticker based off them...but I wanted to see if anyone's been during this time? What did you think?

I looked up predicted crowd calenders and all of these times seem to be pretty low crowds, which is fantastic... our first trip crowds averaged 5/10 most days, these weeks the average 3/10, woot!!

 

[Denovagirl]

Okay, here's one I really do need some feedback on, Resorts!!! I've narrowed my choice down to two:

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Let me tell you my thoughts...

First off, financially, we need to be more on the value level of room. However, we are purchasing the DDP, so if the opportunity arose to book the more pricey room and get the DDP free, it would work just fine, money-wise. Or if we could get a pin for a good 30-35% off room rates, then we could book POR as well.

I did see some other Diser's say that they got PINs for September already, but I keep checking my email and I've gotten nothing, zip, zilch, nada!

What's up with that? I think I recall someone saying I should call and ask if I have a PIN...is that true? Can you just call like that and ask? Anyone done it with success??

My heart and I really want to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. I've been sighing and oogling pictures of the beautiful resort for a while now, and I LOVE it! It's stunning, and I would REALLY love to stay in a Royal Room!!

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But even their regular rooms are nice!

As for Art of Animation, well...we LOVED it last time. The theme's were perfect for our girls, and they adored the Little Mermaid rooms!! The only thing I really didn't like was the beds were small and not very comfy...and I hear that gets better in the Moderate Resorts. But if I have to stay at a value, I think AoA would best suit us. I LOVED LOVED LOVED their food court, it was so tasty! I know we tried POP's food and really didn't like it so I am weary of the other Value's food as well.... I have heard that POR food is similar to AoA too...like they have the make your own pasta and such, which was my favorite!

All in all, we would do fine staying in the LM room again...

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It's just that I would really like to try somewhere new, and I have sorta fallen in love with POR.

So my question is....should I book the POR room and hope that a sale is released when the fall promo's start rolling out? Or will I be ok booking the AoA room and then switching up if a sale comes about? I am so torn on this... I would really like to just pay the whole thing when we book, and I am afraid we wont be able to with POR, and I hate that feeling of it not being paid.... the vacation doesn't seem real until its booked and paid in full, ya know? Should I try calling about a sale? What do you all think???

Has anyone tried POR, the Royal Rooms have gotten a lot of good buzz, what about the regular rooms?? How did you like it??

 

[Disneylover99]

Hi!

I read and loved your first Trip report. So glad you are going back.

First off I want to say, definitely go with option #1 (first week of October) you don't want to miss F&W festival and MNSSHP.

Secondly, book POR. At least you know even if free dining doesn't come out, there will probably be some kind of discount at POR. There never is for the LM rooms.

We stayed in a Royal room at POR in December. It was beautiful, but next time if I go back, I would book a preferred room at POR.

The one thing I did like better when we stayed at AofA last October was the bus service. It was much better then POR.

Okay.....now I'm confusing you. I'm saying book POR but I liked some features of AofA better. Sorry!

Looking forward to your report!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Hi!
I know you were following along with my first PTR and my TR for awhile, but I have a new PTR in my signature. We are going on a short trip Sept 20-24! Our reasoning was very similar to yours! It is cheaper and the Halloween party looks so fun! I always thought it was my dream to go during Christmas time, but I am beyond words excited to go during MNSSHP! If you pick option #2 our trips would overlap!

I called one day and I had a PIN code! So you should definitely try calling. It was totally worth it.

Anyway I will be following along with this one too!

 

[Denovagirl]

Hi! I read and loved your first Trip report. So glad you are going back. First off I want to say, definitely go with option #1 (first week of October) you don't want to miss F&W festival and MNSSHP. Secondly, book POR. At least you know even if free dining doesn't come out, there will probably be some kind of discount at POR. There never is for the LM rooms. We stayed in a Royal room at POR in December. It was beautiful, but next time if I go back, I would book a preferred room at POR. The one thing I did like better when we stayed at AofA last October was the bus service. It was much better then POR. Okay.....now I'm confusing you. I'm saying book POR but I liked some features of AofA better. Sorry! Looking forward to your report!

That's very true that there are NEVER discounts for LM rooms, I like your thinking. The bus service was outstanding at AoA, I never understood why people hated the buses...but hearing that buses at POR kinda stinks! We rely on the buses a lot, but I suppose that's not really a deal breaker? Were the beds better?

 

[Denovagirl]

Hi!
I know you were following along with my first PTR and my TR for awhile, but I have a new PTR in my signature. We are going on a short trip Sept 20-24! Our reasoning was very similar to yours! It is cheaper and the Halloween party looks so fun! I always thought it was my dream to go during Christmas time, but I am beyond words excited to go during MNSSHP! If you pick option #2 our trips would overlap!

I called one day and I had a PIN code! So you should definitely try calling. It was totally worth it.

Anyway I will be following along with this one too!

Ohhh! Fun!!! Ill go check out your PTR now!! Good to know about the PIN code! I think I will call tomorrow, I assume you just call the reservations line?

 

[STLMickeyMom]

following along....of course! I say book POR!!! we loved it so much! we didn't eat at the resort that often because I had booked us so many ADRs, but the food we did get there was great. we did some make your own pasta one night and breakfast a couple days. all great! besides, my feeling was, stay at a royal room while the girls were young enough to really get caught up in it and this was the perfect time to do it. they LOVED our room. also, the resort is so PRETTY and peaceful, you can take a boat to DTD and go se Yee Haw Bob in the evenings. he's hilarious! and, when I priced it all out (for January, not September, of course) it was really only about $30 more expensive then a value and so worth it to us for the coffee maker and queen size beds!

yes, you can just call and see if you have a PIN. I've called a couple times, but no luck so far...

we've never been in sept, so I can't help with the dates, but they all sound good to me!

the pic of you all in front of the castle is soooo cute!! can't wait to hear more!

 

[Disneylover99]

That's very true that there are NEVER discounts for LM rooms, I like your thinking. The bus service was outstanding at AoA, I never understood why people hated the buses...but hearing that buses at POR kinda stinks! We rely on the buses a lot, but I suppose that's not really a deal breaker? Were the beds better?

I found the beds at both AofA and POR equally comfy, but of course the beds are bigger at POR. I also loved the double sinks at POR as well.

 

[Denovagirl]

following along....of course! I say book POR!!! we loved it so much! we didn't eat at the resort that often because I had booked us so many ADRs, but the food we did get there was great. we did some make your own pasta one night and breakfast a couple days. all great! besides, my feeling was, stay at a royal room while the girls were young enough to really get caught up in it and this was the perfect time to do it. they LOVED our room. also, the resort is so PRETTY and peaceful, you can take a boat to DTD and go se Yee Haw Bob in the evenings. he's hilarious! and, when I priced it all out (for January, not September, of course) it was really only about $30 more expensive then a value and so worth it to us for the coffee maker and queen size beds!

yes, you can just call and see if you have a PIN. I've called a couple times, but no luck so far...

we've never been in sept, so I can't help with the dates, but they all sound good to me!

the pic of you all in front of the castle is soooo cute!! can't wait to hear more!

Thanks, I think I will call and check on the PIN for sure...

I found the beds at both AofA and POR equally comfy, but of course the beds are bigger at POR. I also loved the double sinks at POR as well.

Didn't even think about the sinks!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yes just call the reservation line. I did it a bunch with my last trip. The first CM told me to check every other week or so, so I used to call every two weeks. Never had any luck. This time my DH said we could only do a deluxe if we got a PIN and sure enough I had one.

And for what its worth I would check out POR too! We stayed at POFQ on our honeymoon and it is soooo pretty. The rooms are just enough extra comfort to make it worth it.

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Subbing in! I read your current TR today and was happy to find that you were beginning another trip! Your DDs are so cute!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I am sooooooo excited!!!

 

[Chicago Mo]

now that i am caught up here!!!

i have been in Sept the crowds are low and this is our favorite!!

Since your going for halloween your next trip you need to shoot for Christmas!!! we went in November. which was the tail end of F&W so we had the best of both worlds that trip.. NOTHING beats the castle in lights AND the Osborn lights!!!!!!!!!!!! breathtaking!!!!

YES YES YES CALL THEM!!! Disney doesn't always email or snail mail the discounts!!! the last time we went we didn't know we had the pin! when we called to book we had asked and sure enough there it was!!!

that same trip we did stay at POR.. it is BEAUTIFUL! loved the pool and the food was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
you probably already know this but there is a web site just for POR adn you can get all your information? CLICK ME

we stayed in building 14 close to the food court and buses.. best ever. NOT a royal room..

your going to love Disney even more with the 4 of you!!!
Sept is still HOT keep that in mind.. November we needed a sweatshirt at night.

 

[Denovagirl]

Yes just call the reservation line. I did it a bunch with my last trip. The first CM told me to check every other week or so, so I used to call every two weeks. Never had any luck. This time my DH said we could only do a deluxe if we got a PIN and sure enough I had one.

And for what its worth I would check out POR too! We stayed at POFQ on our honeymoon and it is soooo pretty. The rooms are just enough extra comfort to make it worth it.

Well, called this morning and the Agent seemed confused, she said if I hadn't received an offer in the mail/email then I had no offers.... so I don't know. Blehhhh....

Subbing in! I read your current TR today and was happy to find that you were beginning another trip! Your DDs are so cute!

Thanks for stopping by! Glad you've checked out my TR!! Thanks for the sweet words about the girls, I'm pretty fond of them myself!

now that i am caught up here!!!

i have been in Sept the crowds are low and this is our favorite!!

Since your going for halloween your next trip you need to shoot for Christmas!!! we went in November. which was the tail end of F&W so we had the best of both worlds that trip.. NOTHING beats the castle in lights AND the Osborn lights!!!!!!!!!!!! breathtaking!!!!

YES YES YES CALL THEM!!! Disney doesn't always email or snail mail the discounts!!! the last time we went we didn't know we had the pin! when we called to book we had asked and sure enough there it was!!!

that same trip we did stay at POR.. it is BEAUTIFUL! loved the pool and the food was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
you probably already know this but there is a web site just for POR adn you can get all your information? CLICK ME

we stayed in building 14 close to the food court and buses.. best ever. NOT a royal room..

your going to love Disney even more with the 4 of you!!!
Sept is still HOT keep that in mind.. November we needed a sweatshirt at night.

Haha! I am pretty sure Christmas will be next on our list after Halloween!!! I'd probably do something the same as you with going in November, ahhh how I love being a stay at home mom with homeschooled children, no school schedule to work around!!

Glad to hear so many good things about POR!! I crunched the #s last night and I think even with a 25% off room rate (which I dont even have) it was still significantly cheaper to just stay at AoA...so I think I am just gonna book that, the only way I would probably change the reservation is if we could get free dining, so I will just keep and eye out for that, then POR would be cheaper for us!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Well, called this morning and the Agent seemed confused, she said if I hadn't received an offer in the mail/email then I had no offers.... so I don't know. Blehhhh....

I don't think that's right. you should call back and check again. they can look and see if you have any PINs attached to your name. i'd try again. I've seen lots of people on here who never got anything in the mail/email and had PINs attached to their names when they called.

 

[Denovagirl]

I don't think that's right. you should call back and check again. they can look and see if you have any PINs attached to your name. i'd try again. I've seen lots of people on here who never got anything in the mail/email and had PINs attached to their names when they called.

Yeah, maybe I got someone new?? I will call again, thanks

 

[Denovagirl]

Alright I a few questions floating around in my brain!

First off, who's been to Splitsville??

Image from GOOGLE​

We are looking at doing Magic Kingdom/DTD day and we thought about booking a meal at Splitsville.

I have already heard that the food is outstanding, but I was curious just how the ADR works. Is the ADR just to eat? What if you want to eat and bowl? Can you make a reservation for a lane and eat there, or should you eat and then bowl before or afterwards?

Also, the $20 p/p to bowl (after 4pm) is a little steep, but not unexpected at Disney...so my other idle thought was what if we take that chunk of cash and apply to some in-room babysitting instead??

In room baby sitting through the company Disney suggests, Kid's Night Out, will cost me $18.50/hour plus a $10 travel fee. $2/hour is added after 9pm and there is a 4 hour minimum...

So if we used a sitter from say 5-9pm it would be $84... not too bad, really... I mean it IS Disney World...

Some things the hubs and I could do would be to still go to DTD and have a nice dinner together and shop. We could also see a movie at the AMC there...

I even thought about catching the Cirque show... I saw there are showtimes at 6pm, I wonder if we'd have enough time to get there see the hour and a half show and get back? I think so.. We saw our first Cirque show just a few weeks back in Vegas (Beatles Love) and it was amazing! We LOVED it, so maybe this would be a nice treat for us. It is pricey though, on top of the baby-sitting $$$ we would have to fork out roughly $150 for tickets to the show as well.

Image from GOOGLE​

Have any of you used the in-room sitters at Disney before?

*Sigh*.... decisions, decisions....

Are there any other cool things to do if you had a night off from the kiddos? We need to stay within Disney because we are not renting a car and we can't do a park, bc we are not doing park hoppers and MK will be closed for the MNSSHP.... suggestions??

Maybe even checking out another resort might be fun?

 

[jewels1916]

Hi! Just found your PTR, and I am following along! I'm a fellow Texan and can't wait to read about more of y'all's plans!

Courtney

 

[Denovagirl]

Hi! Just found your PTR, and I am following along! I'm a fellow Texan and can't wait to read about more of y'all's plans!

Courtney

Howdy Fellow Texan!

Thanks for stopping by! I see you're a true Disney Vet by your impressive signature!

Glad to have you!