"We haven't been to Disney in HOW long?" - A Mini-PTR

[Jaybird6]

I looked at my Disney countdown today, and realized that we have fewer than 20 days until we are in Disney World! I have been thinking about writing a PTR, but hadn't up to this point because I'm still pretty much a newbie at all this, so we'll call this more of a mini-PTR.

Cast of Characters:

Me - Jen (aka Jaybird6): I'm a certified teacher, currently working at a daycare (stupid economy...)
Favorite Characters: Chip and Dale
Favorite Princess: Jasmine
Favorite Ride: ToT
Favorite Park: EPCOT

DH - Joel : He's an artist and stay-at-home hubby
Favorite Character: Maleficent
Favorite Princess: "Why do I have to have a favorite princess?"
Favorite Ride: Star Tours
Favorite Park: DHS

Sorry about the lack of photo evidence. I'm still pretty new to all this, so I don't have any pictures to upload, yet. Don't worry, there will be plenty for the TR!

The Where and When of Things:

7 nights, 8 days in Kissimmee at Oak Plantation Resort, Aug. 13 - 20.

We had been looking forward to going back to Florida since our Honeymoon trip in 2007, where we spent all of our time at US, IoA and SeaWorld. We mentioned it to some friends, and they said they had a timeshare and we could use it - FOR FREE!! That sealed the deal, and now here we are less than three weeks away!

We Haven't Been to Disney in HOW Long?

After deciding on our trip dates we needed to decide what we were going to do while in Florida. I wanted to go to the Disney Parks, since I had not been there in... 11 years?!? Really?!? I asked DH, who has only been there once (and then only to MK and DHS) when he had been there and he said, "I was a Junior in High School." I did a little math. DH is 35... that's at least 17 years!! That did it - Disney was officially on the itinerary. We also thought to hitting up IoA, since we are both huge Harry Potter fans.

So, here were our original parks:
-EPCOT -DHS
-AK -IoA

Since we don't have kids we were going to skip MK, thinking we wouldn't have any fun. Neither of us have been to AK, so that was a must, and of course we are going to hit our two favorite parks.

Do we keep these plans, or do they change? Find out in the next update! Don't worry, you won't have to wait long.

 

[janabananas]

I am in. Love reading PTR's. We are going in Sept, just me and DBF.

 

[Jaybird6]

I am in. Love reading PTR's. We are going in Sept, just me and DBF.

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! I hope you enjoy.

 

[queendisney]

no MK....but MK is Disney..its a must..!!
You must go and see the fireworks at the very least. I HAVE to go and see the castle and the fireworks its just not right for me to miss that. Thunder mountain, space moutain, splash mountain, buzz lightyear ride, the parades..you must do them..lol..
Enjoy whatever you decide

 

[Jaybird6]

Welcome Back!!

When we last left off, DH and I had decided to visit Disney after so many years away from the World. Our original plans were as follows:

-8 days in Florida, 4 parks (AK, EPCOT, DHS and IoA)

We already have our hotel arraignments, so what is next? Well, we live in Michigan, so we need to decide if we will drive or fly down. This was the easiest decision of the trip:

Flight + Rental Car = Way more $ than driving

So, driving it is! Next? Park tickets. This is where the original plan goes out the door. After talking to DH, I discovered that although he had been to MK in high school, he had never ridden the Haunted Mansion or POTC! "Blasphemy!" I said, and decided that we would go to MK - Because everyone should ride HM and POTC, at least once.

I have to admit, that I hate spending full price on things. That includes park tickets. I knew we wanted four days in Disney, plus one in IoA, but wasn't sure the best way to spend the least amount of money. I first looked at sites like MouseSavers, and read about Under Cover Tourist. They sounded great! But then the doubt sets in... "Are they real?" "Will we be ripped off?" "What if..." So, I decided to do some more looking around. I ended up buying the Unofficial Disney Guide, and saw that they, too, recommend UT. So, I went out of my comfort zone and decided to order tickets through them.

After looking at the prices for tickets to Disney and IoA, a thought occurred to me: We could get 6 day MYW tickets for Disney for just a little more than the price of 4 day MYW tickets! Boom. Done.

I also looked at IoA tickets, but was worried... I had read that the Forbidden Journey ride in WWOHP was size restricted, and both DH and I are pooh-sized. Why go to IoA if we couldn't even go on the one ride we really wanted to? Plus, I had been reading that many of the rides there were not pooh-sized friendly. We ARE a bit more "rotund" since the last time we visited, after four years of marriage. After much discussion, and some heartbreak, we decided not to go to IoA, after all.

Touring Plans and Lazy Days

I used Touring Plans and Disney's website to make a tentative schedule for our week in Disney:
Sunday: EPCOT
Monday: Animal Kingdom
Tuesday: Not Sure...
Wednesday: Not sure...
Thursday: Magic Kingdom
Friday: DHS

We weren't sure which parks to repeat, since we had not been there in years. The original plan was to hit parks that weren't going to be too busy or that we really liked, or eat the money and relax at the hotel. (Yeah, right... )

Shortly after making these plans, I found DISboards!! I spent hours looking at PTR's, TR's, advice and questions. One of my first obsessions was the thread about unusual things people bring on their trips with them: Moleskin? Genius! Clothespins? Fantastic Idea! I made a list of all the awesome things I needed to bring.

We had just had a garage sale the weekend before, and made $180. Guess where that money went? Towards all of those wonderful things, of course! So now I have bags and bags of goodies for our trip, plus a new rolling cooler for the room, two different kinds of bags for the parks, and much, much more.

Next up: "You're Looking at Pictures of Food, Again?!"

 

[Jaybird6]

no MK....but MK is Disney..its a must..!!

Enjoy whatever you decide

Thanks! And, as you can see, we decided to go to MK after all. I'm sure we'll have more fun than we realized we would.

 

[janabananas]

I have learned so much from the DIS boards too. I am glad you decided to go to MK. We are not huge MK fans, we prefer EPCOT. However, some MK stuff like POTC and HM are indeed musts!!! I agree, blasphemy!!

Sorry that you won't get to experience IOA. It is a fun park, if you can go on the rides. I haven't been there in a while, nor have I experienced FJ or WWOHP, but if I got there and wasn't able to ride it or be able to enjoy every part of the park, I would leave disappointed. You do not want that on vacation.

I found this thread and got alot of good advise specifically for pooh-sized folks. I am not sure if you have seen it or not, but I thought I would share it just in case.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2424021&highlight=pooh+thread

Look forward to more!!

 

[Jaybird6]

I have learned so much from the DIS boards too. I am glad you decided to go to MK. We are not huge MK fans, we prefer EPCOT. However, some MK stuff like POTC and HM are indeed musts!!! I agree, blasphemy!!

Sorry that you won't get to experience IOA. It is a fun park, if you can go on the rides. I haven't been there in a while, nor have I experienced FJ or WWOHP, but if I got there and wasn't able to ride it or be able to enjoy every part of the park, I would leave disappointed. You do not want that on vacation.

I found this thread and got alot of good advise specifically for pooh-sized folks. I am not sure if you have seen it or not, but I thought I would share it just in case.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2424021&highlight=pooh+thread

Look forward to more!!

Thanks for the great advice! I don't know what the trip would have been like without the DISboards and Unofficial Guide.

 

[Jaybird6]

By now you might be wondering: "If they have been married 4 years, why does her ticker say 'Until our 10th Anniversary'?" Well, we've been married for four years, but together for 10 in September. So we are using this trip as our big "anniversary" gift to ourselves.

Back to the report -

"You're Looking at Pictures of Food, Again?!"

Now that we had a basic schedule, tickets and goodies, there wasn't much for me to do but look at the forums and dream about how awesome our trip was going to be. I had also started to look at all of the delicious food pictures that people were posting, and began to wish we could eat some of that wonderful food, too.

I had decided not to make any ADR's, mostly because DH has anxiety issues and isn't always fond of eating in restaurants, but I was regretting that decision. I also hadn't made any ADR's because I still wasn't 100% sure about or park schedule, and since we don't have park hoppers I wanted to make sure I knew exactly which park we were going to be at each day before making dining plans. My solution? Make better plans!

"I Wanna Eat at Disney!" and an Updated Park Schedule

After days of looking at other posters' ADR's and food photos I decided that I wanted that, too! First, I had to update the schedule, so I knew for sure what parks we would be at each day. Then the ADR's.

I had decided that I wanted to spend two days at EPCOT, since it is just such a huge park, and there is so much to do. I also decided that we should do DHS twice. Now, I know what you are thinking... TWICE? DHS?! But, you have to remember, DH's favorite park is DHS, and many of our favorite rides are there, as well. So, yes, we're going to DHS twice.

After looking at Touring Plans, once again, I came up with a revised schedule:

Sunday: EPCOT, day 1
Monday: EPCOT, day 2
Tuesday: Animal Kingdom
Wednesday: DHS, day 1
Thursday: MK
Friday: DHS, day 2

This is our current schedule for the parks. It is pretty set in stone, so I don't expect any more changes. Or didn't until yesterday...

DH and I were talking, and I discovered that he was more disappointed than I realized about not going to IoA. So I did a little more research, and discovered that they have added some seats for pooh-sized people to the Forbidden Journey ride! So, guess what? We're going to IoA, after all! We'll end up going on Friday before we hit DHS for the second time. Yay!

Must... Eat...Disney ...Food

I looked for days for the restaurants I wanted to eat at. I knew I wanted to eat in EPCOT at least once, but that was it for my plans. So, I started to look at what was available at each park when we were scheduled to be there. Many of the restaurants were too pricey for what they offered, in our opinion, but I saw two that I knew I wanted: Rose and Crown Pub and Sci-Fi Dine In. R&C sounded the best for EPCOT, and I had been to Sci-Fi as a child and enjoyed it.

At first I thought those would be good enough to feed my ADR cravings. But, only two meals over six days in the parks? Not good enough.

I started looking at DTD and Resort restaurants. I don't know why, but I feel weird going to someone else's hotel to eat dinner, so I avoided those. I finally decided to try Paradiso 37 and Raglan road in DTD. Both sounded yummy, and I love Irish/Celtic music, so Raglan Road sounded perfect!

So, here are the official, current ADR's:

Sunday: Rose and Crown @EPCOT
Tuesday: Paradiso 37 @ DTD
Wednesday: Raglan Road @ DTD
Friday: Sci-Fi Dine In @ DHS

I almost added one more the other day, but DH put a kibosh to that. I guess we'll go by ear for the other two days in the parks.

"Disney World, Here We Come"

All in all, I am super happy with our plans. I know that we will enjoy ourselves, no matter what, and that it will be the best trip we have ever had. And, as I write this, I realize that we only have just over 17 days to go - woo hoo!!

Well, that's it for now. If there are any huge updates, I'll make sure to let everyone know. Thanks, again for joining in, and I hope you enjoyed my little mini-PTR!

~Jen