We get to do it all again! : July 2015 PTR

[Princess Leia]

Hi everyone! Although I've been on the Disboards for many years I have never written a trip report. I have spent many an evening, when I should be doing other things, reading other people's trip reports. I have been mulling over whether to do a pre-trip report. Now with less than a week to go it's now or never. Let's start with some introductions:

Meet the Family

Here we are on our last trip to Orlando in July 2013.

It rained so much that we said we would not visit again in July. This time I looked into going at Easter instead, but the flights were a lot more expensive and there was no free dining, so we are going back in July. I booked this trip in May 2014.

Our first trip was in July 2008. I had been twice to WDW in my late teens but it was the first time for the others. I love looking back at the photos of the children when they were younger so I warn you there may be an occasional throw back.



WDW has been an important part of every Orlando trip. Since the first ‘Once in a Life-time Trip’ we go to the non-Disney theme parks on alternate years. This year we are spending the first two nights at Universal before 12 nights staying at Old Key West. I have enjoyed the other Disney Deluxe hotels we have stayed at but we really needed to move to separate sleeping arrangements for the children. I had come up with some off-site options but they were having none of that! This will be our fifth trip to Orlando so we have lots of Disney memories.

I’m known on the Dis Boards as Princess Leia. I work full-time and spend most of my non-working life driving the children to their various activities. I have always enjoyed our family holidays. I also love singing and musical theatre.

Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favourite Ride: Space Mountain

Favourite Character: Pluto

Favourite Disney Movie: Peter Pan although I do have a soft spot for Pete’s Dragon!

Alan (DH) loves going to WDW. He wasn’t so keen on the idea the first time but was soon won over by how well organised it was! He hates leaving the Disney bubble so will be glad once the first two days of our holiday are over! He is great with rope drop but not so great with late nights! He enjoys playing tennis and watching rugby.

Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favourite Ride: Splash Mountain

Favourite Character: Sulley

Favourite Disney Movie: Monsters Inc

Hannah is 14 years old. Her hobbies are singing, acting and being an all round drama queen! Like most teenage girls she spends too much time on Instagram and Netflix!

Favourite Park : Magic Kingdom

Favourite Ride: Expedition Everest

Favourite Character(s): Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse

Favourite Disney Movie: Loves so many but at the moment Tangled!

Then there's Peter.


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Peter is 10 years old. He spends his time playing rugby, swimming, going to rugby matches, playing guitar and the Xbox. Peter particularly loves going to the water parks.

Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favourite Ride: Space Mountain

Favourite Character(s) : Chip and Dale

Favourite Disney Movie: Monsters University

 

[Princess Leia]

Links

Dining Choices

Happy Canada Day

Universal and Islands of Adventure

Ready to Go and WDW plans

Update from the airport

 

[xlsm]

Hi

We'll be in the World in July as well! I'm not sure if our dates overlap at all, but I'll have a lime green Mickey head on my bag with my user name on it, so if you see us shout a hello!!

Your husbands faces in the ride photos are priceless!

My youngest is a huge Chip and Dale fan, too.

Looking forward to your report

 

[Princess Leia]

Glad to have you along. We may just miss you - we will be there for 2 weeks.

We always have huge fun with Chip and Dale.

 

[Princess Leia]

Dining Choices
This will be our third time with the dining plan. I have always worked it that we each get to choose some ADRS. This time we are staying 12 nights so that meant we each got 3TS to use. I made most of the ADRS in January-early February. Then I stopped as I needed to try and work a schedule round them as thanks to the boys we seemed to have a lot of dining over in the Animal Kingdom area. I also made an ADR for lunch at Be Our Guest when they were released at the end of February for our first Disney day at Magic Kingdom. I then booked the remaining ADRS in April. I was able to get all the ADRS I wanted. Hannah and I put together a TS each for a surprise anniversary meal at California Grill (not that it’s a surprise we will have an anniversary when we are there)! Here are our choices:

Me
California Grill
Chefs de France
Trattoria al Forno (I’ve hemmed and hawed on this one since booking)

Alan – has picked restaurants we have not been to before
Olivia's Cafe
Tusker House Restaurant (lunch)
Yak and Yeti

Hannah
Mama Melrose's Fantasmic package
La Hacienda de San Angel
California Grill

Peter
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (Lunch)
Boma (This is a favourite with our family)
Rainforest Café (Animal Kingdom)

We will be returning to 4 restaurants (California Grill, Boma, Chefs de France and La Hacienda de San Angel) but will also have 7 ‘new’ restaurants to try.



I can’t believe how much younger Hannah looks in this picture. She looks like she was enjoying herself.

This time we are planning to have breakfast in our villa before heading out for the day. In previous trips I have mostly used our snacks for a pastry at breakfast.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm in!! Great start so far!! (and your kiddos are just adorable )

I laughed when I read that you wouldn't ever return in July after the last trip, and now you're heading back in July. We said that ourselves after dying in the heat on our first August trip, and then ended up going back that same week for three consecutive years. Ditto on being there over Christmas because of the crowds, and now we're headed back there for Christmas again this year . Never say never!

Looking forward to more.......

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm in!! Great start so far!! (and your kiddos are just adorable )

I laughed when I read that you wouldn't ever return in July after the last trip, and now you're heading back in July. We said that ourselves after dying in the heat on our first August trip, and then ended up going back that same week for three consecutive years. Ditto on being there over Christmas because of the crowds, and now we're headed back there for Christmas again this year . Never say never!

Looking forward to more.......

Great to have you along Gina. Peter was excited when I told him you were following after all you did teach him how to say 'eh' like a true Canadian! Since we are tied to the school holidays until we retire we are pretty limited as to when we can go to Florida. As long as it doesn't rain quite as much as July 2013. We get more than enough rain at home. The two most recent photos of the children were from last summer. It will be good to add some more up-to-date ones. It seems no time since we were counting down to your May trip.

 

[mercydisney]

I am in!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Great to have you along Gina. Peter was excited when I told him you were following after all you did teach him how to say 'eh' like a true Canadian!

lol.....that just made my day!

If he's got the "Eh!" down pat, all he'll need to work on is developing an affinity for poutine and a love of hockey, and he'll officially be hailed as an honourary Canuck .

Super jealous that you're down to a week before you're off to Orlando. That last week is so fun...because it goes so fast!

 

[Princess Leia]

I am in!

mercydisney. Glad you could join us.

 

[Princess Leia]

lol.....that just made my day!

If he's got the "Eh!" down pat, all he'll need to work on is developing an affinity for poutine and a love of hockey, and he'll officially be hailed as an honourary Canuck .

Super jealous that you're down to a week before you're off to Orlando. That last week is so fun...because it goes so fast!

Happy Canada Day! Peter already enjoys hockey and supports our local team. We'll need to wait till next time we're in Canada to try the famed poutine.



Chip and Dale seemed to like the idea of being honorary Canadians too. They were quite amused to meet Buzz the Beaver and kept checking out his tail!

 

[Princess Leia]

Wait a minute how come my ticker has added two more days on - that's not fair!

 

[Princess Leia]

That's better - it's back to 2 days to go!

 

[Princess Leia]

Another busy day in the final run up to the holiday. We were all up bright and early. We had watermelon for breakfast which helped get us in the mood. The girls went shopping for a few items - suncream, blister plasters, make-up and a few clothes items. I got an Olaf rain mac and a Harry Potter t-shirt. Hannah insisted I didn't get a Minions one as she would have been the odd one out. I also managed to get Peter some cool Stormtrooper PJs. While we were out Alan had been busy. He had vacuumed upstairs, taken Peter to get his hair cut and packed his and Peter's clothes.

The Universal and Islands of Adventure part
We haven't been to Universal since our trip in 2011. On our first trip in 2008 we had stayed on site at Royal Pacific Resort and really enjoyed the front of line passes. In 2011 we didn't have express passes and it was not too bad until about 11am and then the queues became unbearable. I was determined this time that we would stay on site for at least one night. Alan isn't as keen on Universal but said it was OK as long as we did it first to get it over with. I ended up booking our first night at Fairfield Inn and Suites Universal as we wouldn't really get the full benefit of the perks on that first day. I have booked Hard Rock Hotel for the second night. I wish I was staying longer there as it looks really cool.

Peter is very excited as it is the first time he can do the big roller coasters. Hannah also loves roller coasters. She is also a big Harry Potter fan and has a good knowledge of the books and films. We have also visited the studios near London and been to other locations in Britain such as Alnwick Castle. That was one cold miserable day at Alnwick Castle - not sure if you can feel the rain and wind in these photos.





I am really interested to see how Diagon Alley compares to the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden. We spent hours there pouring over the details. I imagine the detailing will be pretty good at Universal.

Last time we were a Universal Hannah and I waited over an hour in the baking heat to get into Ollivander's. At least she got chosen by the Wandkeeper.

In terms of drinks we have decided we will purchase the Coke Freestyle cup for the 2 days at Universal/IOA. We have also bought the 3 day photo connect package. I know this part of the holiday will really fly. I didn't get to ride Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket last time as it seemed to keep breaking down.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Happy Canada Day! Peter already enjoys hockey and supports our local team. We'll need to wait till next time we're in Canada to try the famed poutine.



Chip and Dale seemed to like the idea of being honorary Canadians too. They were quite amused to meet Buzz the Beaver and kept checking out his tail!

Thanks for the Canada Day wishes . Love the pic of Chip and Dale!!

I, personally, don't like poutine (bad, bad Canadian girl that I am) but my guys adore it. Cheese curds on gravy and french fries make me . But I'm definitely an oddball on that ..... its a pretty popular dish here.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am really interested to see how Diagon Alley compares to the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden. We spent hours there pouring over the details. I imagine the detailing will be pretty good at Universal.

I think you'll be really, really impressed.....Diagon Alley is simply breathtaking. The detail and the theming there are second to none. I am certainly not anywhere near what I would call a Harry Potter fan, but even as a non-Potterhead, I was just agog.

Awesome that you have one night on site, so you can get early entry to enjoy DA and Hogsmeade before the masses hit. Those hours are golden. And the all-day Express passes will be fantastic in the summer heat!

 

[Princess Leia]

Chip and Dale really are the best! I always feel guilty that we hold up the line as it is really hard to get them to stop playing.

I'm not convinced that I'd like Poutine but I'll try anything once (well most things).

 

[Princess Leia]

I think you'll be really, really impressed.....Diagon Alley is simply breathtaking. The detail and the theming there are second to none. I am certainly not anywhere near what I would call a Harry Potter fan, but even as a non-Potterhead, I was just agog.

Awesome that you have one night on site, so you can get early entry to enjoy DA and Hogsmeade before the masses hit. Those hours are golden. And the all-day Express passes will be fantastic in the summer heat!

I think it is all going to go so quickly. Diagon Alley does look really good. Hoping we can get a lot done in a short time. At least if we have plenty drinks we can stay hydrated.

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm finally ready to go. We have managed to pack into 3 cases and have packed an empty holdall for the way home. We spent time this afternoon saving copies of photos on camera and camcorder. Ever since my video camera went missing on my return journey in 2009 I am a bit paranoid in this respect. It was easy to replace the video camera but the footage of my two young children I will never get back. I have packed one case for the first 2 nights at Universal so we have what we need to hit the ground running.

I haven't said much about the Disney part of this trip. In some ways there hasn't been many changes from two years ago. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is new as is all the Frozen theming. Fast pass+ and Magic Bands are new to us. I found booking FPs so far out a pain and combined with ADRS for dining it has resulted in a much tighter schedule than I would like. At work all year round I have a very tight schedule so it's not really what I want on holiday. I don't think it would be so bad if only going for a few days but doing for 12 nights I was beginning to lose the will to live. Then I would think this is truly a first world problem and does it really matter what FPs I choose? The main changes at Disney have been the things that have closed since last visit such as Backlot Express, American Idol and Maelstrom. The animation building is due to close while we are there. I'm looking forward to trying a new resort and a few new dining experiences. We will no doubt return to a few old favourite rides and attractions and enjoy the parts that are unplanned and unscheduled.

I will try and give some brief updates along the way and may even do a trip report if there's enough interest.

Yes some things do change ...



but there is always time for the unexpected and unplanned break from your schedule!



See ya real soon!

 

[Princess Leia]

Sitting in the departure lounge. Security was really quick. My Dad picked us up this morning to drive us to the airport. Hopefully we will get away on time.