We'll Be Doing Whatever Snow Does in Summer- Trip Report

[franandaj]

I guess if anyone has ever tried to figure out their options with DVC points they well get the agony!

I have definitely been there and then trying to figure out which contracts to use. Where to borrow because you're saving one fir the 11 month advantage the following year.

I'm lucky that this trip and the next are at only one DVC resort.

I'm glad you got it all sorted out in the end.

 

[disney ny]

Real Life Update: So I know this is a Disney trip report and nothing beats planning for Disney but I did have a nice diversion a few weeks ago for Spring Break. My family rents a house in Myrtle Beach every few years and this year we got to take a trip there. This was a much needed trip as I am hitting that late winter/early Spring slump that school teachers get when we have been too long without a break. It was a LONG March this year! So I set my Disney planning aside for a few weeks and focused on the trip to South Carolina which ended up being really nice. My husband and I and the two kids drove down on Friday April 11th after I got out of work and we stopped for the night in Staunton, Virginia which was probably about half way. It ends up being around a 14 hour trip as long as you don’t hit major traffic on I-95 (which of course we did on the way down so it was hours longer). Driving in a car with our family sometimes looks like this-



And sometimes like this



Those are the more pleasant moments of driving with my kids. I wish WDW was that close because the 10 hours or so difference just makes driving to WDW such a horrible thought………..Anyway we really did have a great time and a vacation is always great. This was our first time back there in 5 years and the last time my son was only a few months old so this was his first time really enjoying the ocean and my daughter’s first time ever at the ocean. Anytime I go south I remember why I love it and why I HATE living in upstate NY.



I truly believe I am a southern belle at heart and after going to college in Kentucky I cannot believe I ended up living back here where I grew up. I never planned to come back and stay but I guess life had other plans.
We got to enjoy relaxing and lots of good food. Anytime we go to Myrtle Beach I am excited about the food. Ok, who am I kidding I get excited about food anytime we go anywhere. I love to eat! I get especially excited about one type of food when we go south- Hushpuppies! Just the word makes me drool. Well I certainly got lots of chances to enjoy them this trip and guess what? Avery loves them too. Sometimes it scares me how much that child is like me. Less you think I am exaggerating here is some proof that Avery loves her some hushpuppies~






Braden? Well not so much. He may have ate one or two but in general food does not get his engines cranking like it does for me. I am not sure sometimes what is wrong with the child because he will even (gasp!) skip meals. I can’t skip a meal without becoming one very cranky lady and I think Little Miss Avery is going to be just like me. She loves French fries, hushpuppies and all the other things that make it worth getting out of bed each day. Truly my very own “mini-me” and already developing all Mom’s bad habits. Swoon~

You know what else the South has that I love?



Did you see it? YUP!! I love me some Chick-fil-A a whole lot too. Like A LOT and the obsession got worse this trip. I may or may not have taken the kids there several times.


Here are a few other pictures from our trip. I am not sure I can last the three months to our next trip. Might have to plan a day trip or too in the early summer!

 

[disney ny]

For anyone who loves to plan trips to WDW once the lodging is set the next fun part of planning starts. In February we finally hit the six month mark and I was able to book our dining. To do this I start with a preliminary list of ideas and then I make a spreadsheet so I can visualize everything. This time I had to plug in our different hotels and guess where we would be theme park wise so I knew where to book dining- we have never done a split stay before. I went into the planning with many things in mind. The first is that I know our family and I know we like to have ADR’s and a schedule of where we will be. With 4 little kids it just won’t work for us to play it by ear and try to find a quick service somewhere. We also know that the way we tour is to hit parks early grabbing something small for breakfast and then eat an early lunch before going back to the room for naps. We don’t do busy, hot, crowded middle of the day time in the parks. We relax at the resort, nap in the air conditioning and hit the pools. After all isn’t that the true reason for DVC? Going into this trip I also knew that I really wanted to try a dinner show because I thought the kids would like it and I also wanted to try a signature or two. So with this in mind we have decided to do The Deluxe Dining Plan for the first part of our reservation (the 5 days at BLT) and then the regular Dining Plan for the next 5 days. I wish you were still able to only book the dining plan on certain days like you could a few years ago. That was a nice perk for DVC members and we were able to just purchase the DXDDP every other day and maximize the credits on our last trip but it was a pain and our credits got messed up quite a bit so I guess that is why they no longer allow that. Anyway before the blessed hour of advance dining resverations opening I had to get my plan in order and know what I was doing. I took ideas and input from my mom and sister but they weren’t a ton of help and they deferred to my excellent Disney judgement. I had a lot of fun planning it and for the most part I got everything I wanted and pretty close times to what I was looking for. Below are our plans for dining and my thoughts on them.

Arrival Day 8/17: We fly in early afternoon and after settling in at Bay Lake Tower we will have our traditional first dinner at……………..Cinderella’s Royal Table!

Thoughts: I know people have a lot of differing opinions on CRT and many people think it is overpriced but this for us is a must for a few reasons. Back when my mom was planning our 2008 return trip to WDW she made a reservation for dinner here and was really excited. Growing up we had only take day trips to WDW and I remember looking at the castle and thinking people who got to eat there must be so rich and lucky. I dreamed of going there and we were going to get to! Then she got sick and couldn’t make the trip so we had to go without her. We had an amazing time and when we went back we made sure to take her there on the first night. We all loved the atmosphere and it helped us celebrate the start of our trip and being together at the place we love. You can’t put a price on that. This time will be our first time at dinner with princesses because in the past it was only the Fairy Godmother and mice. I am not sure how Braden will feel about this but I think Owen and the girls will love it. I think it is the perfect start to our trip.

Monday 8/18:
Late Character Breakfast at Ohana
Thoughts: I am the only one who has been to Ohana and that was for dinner so we are very excited about trying this new character meal. We have done a lot of them so we are getting down there on new ones to try. I am not a huge buffet person so I am thinking I will like the family style of this one and I am excited that it is easy to get to because we can just hop on the monorail. I think this will also be a big hit with the kids and I made it late so we did not have to rush out after travelling the previous day. This will hopefully hold us over until dinner that night at…..Narcoossee’s!

Thoughts: We have never done a Signature before so this will be our first. I pained over the decision between this, Citrico’s, or California Grille but I had read a lot of mixed reviews on CG since the refurbishment and nothing jumped out at me there. It was a toss-up for me between the two at the Grand Floridian but I finally settled on Narcoossee’s. We are thinking that we may drop the boys at The Cub’s Den at Wilderness Lodge or Neverland Club this night and let them do their own thing. Neither one really likes to eat anyway (not sure how they were born into this family) and the girls can eat their kid’s meals. I don’t think this will be a problem. Both girls will probably eat better than the boys anyway and I know they won’t love sitting through a long meal! If the girls were old enough and potty trained they would get to go to a kids club too! So I am thinking this will be our special girls night while the boys will have a blast doing their own thing. If it goes well for the boys we may let them go back another night or two or maybe try the kids club at AK Lodge too.

Tuesday 8/19: We will probably head over to the Magic Kingdom this morning and catch the opening show and visit for a few hours before heading to lunch at……………….Kona!

Thoughts: This will be a first for everyone. My sister and I wandered into the Polynesian back on our trip in 2008 and we were not super impressed with our first impression. We got the whole 1970’s outdated feeling but it could have been for a lot of reasons (like getting confused on the monorails and never meaning to visit there anyway and then losing a pair of sunglasses etc.) so I am not sure the first impression was correct and I know this place is beloved. When I went back last time with my husband to Ohana I had a much better impression of the Polynesian and I do have a very warm, nostalgic place in my heart for the resort so I know it is growing on me. Anyway I am super excited about trying Kona and we loved the lunch menu when we looked it over. I really want to try breakfast here too but we will save that for next time. My sister is all about trying new places so this is a new one!

It is a new one for dinner this night too because we are heading to Fort Wilderness for…….the Hoop Dee Doo Revue Dinner Show!

Thoughts: I am very excited for this one too. I debated between this and Mickey’s Backyard BBQ but not for too long. This one was the clear choice. Owen loves music and theater and I think this will be right up his alley. The girls will like it too and of course there is Braden who may not. Probably will depend on the mood of Mr. Unpredictable that night. I am very excited to visit Fort Wilderness which I have never been to. The closest we have ever been is to pull up to the dock on a boat from the Wilderness Lodge. I think this will be a great night. Maybe we can catch the campfire that night too and that would be fantastic. I have to check times on that as we are attending the 6:15 show.

So that is the start to our dining plans. Please feel free to leave comments on the choices. More to come in my next update……

 

[franandaj]

Your meal plans sound great! We'll be dining at Narcoosee's on our trip in a couple weeks. It's a definite favorite for us. I wasn't impressed with CG, so I think you did a good one, but not choosing that.

I haven't eaten at some of the others, but they are on my "must try" list. In fact we've already planed to do Hoop De Doo on our trip in April 2015.

I think that should work out great for you!

 

[rentayenta]

I'm here. Going back to catch up.

 

[disney ny]

Well I have been very busy finishing up my busy year of teaching Kindergarten. I am very pleased to say that I have 13 more days to work before I am off for the summer. Sounds short right? Not so much when you are actually teaching. 13 days seems like a lifetime! My little man is about to finish up his first year at school too and I am excited for his Kindergarten Celebration on June 20th. I have been keeping my excitement about Disney up by reading trip reports and doing more planning. I have also been scouring ebay and etsy for cute outfits for the kids and have purchased a couple of cute custom dresses for Avery. Once summer vacation truly gets here I can really go into planning mode.

Anyway I wanted to use this post to finish up posting about our Dining Choices/Plans. So when I left off I had posted through Tuesday. Only 7 more days to post! (I still am in total shock we are going to Disney for 10 whole Days!)

Wednesday 8/20: I have planned that on this day we might head over to EPCOT for some of the day. We have a 11:30 lunch reservation at Via Napoli!

Thoughts:This will again be a first for everyone. We have some pretty good pizza up in the part of NY so great pizza is nothing new to us but I have heard such great things that I am excited. All the kids love pizza so I don’t think we can go wrong here.
Dinner this night is at another new one for everyone and our second Signature Experience of the trip- Yachtsman Steakhouse!

Thoughts: I am super excited about this reservation! We had a reservation here on the trip that my mom was not able to go on so we cancelled it because we didn’t want to go without her. We have eaten at Captain’s Grille but never here and I think this will be great.

Thursday 8/21: One note on this day. I do have reservations for 3 meals today and I realize this seems like a lot but we had credits that we need to use and I tried to spread them out starting very early to very late plus there is one I added today that originally I had not planned on. On this day we have a very early 8:05 reservation for breakfast at ……………Crystal Palace.

Thoughts: This one was not on my original list. I am not a big buffet fan and I had not planned on doing this meal but my mom asked if we could do this one so I moved things around for it. My mom, sister and I did this meal on our 2003 trip and my mom has fond memories I guess plus she thinks the kids will enjoy meeting the characters for Winnie the Pooh. I guess since my mom and sister don’t ask for too much I can let her have this one 

Lunch today is at The Plaza:
Thoughts: I am still not sold on this one. I am the only one who has eaten here before and I did really enjoy it. I like that it is a not so heavy lunch but I am not sure we aren’t missing out on something with more of a wow factor. I still may change this one at some point but I am not sure what to pick instead. We need a lunch in the MK area and we have done LTT before. Perhaps I could do Whispering Canyon or maybe Grand Floridian Café- anyone care to weigh in?

Dinner tonight is at Ohana!

Thoughts: I am so excited to take the family to this one. I went with my husband last time and it was my favorite meal of the trip. I think everyone will just love it and the food should have something for everyone. I have been thinking about the dessert since we were there last time. So yummy and I think this will be a highlight!

Friday 8/22: This is the day we are moving from BLT to AKL so our morning will involve packing and getting our stuff to bell services before we are “homeless” for a little while. This is also the day we will switch from DXDDP to regular DDP. Since we are going that way anyway I made a post checkout lunch reservation at The Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom.
Thoughts: I know many people don’t love this place but I always enjoy it and think it is fun for the kids. Plus if we do decide to get moving early and go to AK for a while then it is a nice cool place to get out of the sun for a bit. The menu has a lot of choices so the kids will be happy and I think we will enjoy it. I originally had planned for us to watch the parade at AK this afternoon too but now that is not going to happen! I guess never making it a priority finally caught up to us!

Dinner tonight is at our new resort………….Sanaa!
Thoughts: Originally I had planned for us to do Jiko this night but when my mom wanted to add Crystal Palace I switched this one. I am excited to try the bread service here and this will give us a chance to check out Kidani too as we are staying in Jambo House. I am not sure how the kids will like this but I think they will love the animals and I am excited about it.

Saturday 8/23: This morning we have a new character meal to try………………Donald’s Safari Breakfast at Tusker House!
Thoughts: I booked this based on several people telling me we had to do this. I also booked it at 10:40 so we would get the end of breakfast and the beginning of lunch so we could try both and see what we like best! Smart thinking right? I always enjoy new character meals and there aren’t many left that we haven’t tried so this should be really fun!
I am planning to do QS for dinner this night. We may do Mara at the AK Lodge or go to Downtown Disney for Wolfgang Puck or Earl QS.

Sunday 8/24: It will be QS at Downtown Disney for lunch on this day or maybe at Mara if we are hanging out at the resort. Today we are switching resorts again and heading for The Boardwalk! Dinner tonight is at……. Beaches and Cream!
Thoughts: I am glad they started taking reservations for this place as I don’t know if we ever would have gone and just tried to brave it without an ADR. I got input from the family on this one and you can never go wrong with ice cream so this should be fun. It will be right across from our resort so it should work out good.

Monday 8/25: Today we are doing the Fantasmic Package for lunch (because I couldn’t get an ADR for dinner) at Mama Melrose!
Thoughts: This is a new one for all of us again. My aunt went in the fall and they were raving about Tusker House and Mama Melrose so I decided we would try it. I am not super excited but nothing about dining at DHS gets me excited so we shall see. It was between this and Sci Fi which we have also never done but we thought with the small kids that might not be such a good idea so we are going to try this! Dinner will be a QS somewhere.

Tuesday 8/26: Our last day! We will heading out tomorrow so taking it easy and enjoying ourselves is on the plans for today. I may try for a QS reservation for lunch at Be Our Guest and then our last dinner will be at………….Coral Reef!
Thoughts: I have read mixed reviews on this place but I think everyone will enjoy the aquarium view and I wanted something nice that was close to Boardwalk where we are staying. I thought spending our last night at EPCOT and enjoying a nice dinner would be a fun way to end our trip.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Can't wait to hear about your trip especially AKL. We are staying at Kidani in January by buying points.

 

[disney ny]

Can't wait to hear about your trip especially AKL. We are staying at Kidani in January by buying points.

That sounds great- I would love to get away in January! That won't happen as long as I'm a teacher though. Looking back now I wish we had bought at AK instead of VGF because those value rooms are a bargain and they just aren't available at 7 months. I am so excited to stay there now. Is this your first trip on points?

 

[LuvEeyore]

I bought points from DVC rental store. We are staying at Kidani in a studio from 1/3-1/9 for less than 900 dollars by buying points. The fridge and microwave work well for us. I have food allergies and am diabetic for so this helps us. I can't wait

 

[franandaj]

I'm finally back from all the trips and the move. Your dining plans sound great. I've eaten at about 2/3 of those restaurants and really like all of them. I've heard good things about the ones that I haven't been to. Sounds like a lot of food though! We can never eat an entire Main Entrée between the two of us, so we just don't do the dining plan, we would waste so much food it would be silly! I'm glad you have it all planned out to work for you!

 

[disney ny]

Today is officially my first day of summer and I am so excited. Yesterday was my last day of school until September 2nd. I have had a stressful few weeks trying to get things packed up and ready for September because they are doing construction at school over the summer and they will not let us back into the building until August 18th which is the day after we leave for Disney! So I will have very little time to get my room ready this year. Oh well! In other news my little man is now a First Grader. How cute is he and how time does fly!

Yesterday I was excited to read about the news Frozen experiences for Hollywood Studios this summer. I know Frozen isn't for everyone but our little ones love it and I think they will enjoy some of them a lot. I am especially excited to see fireworks in DHS! I have never seen them there and it adds a few new things for us to do this trip. Our tickets are purchased now and I have set up all of our Fastpass+ reservations. I am also going to still try and get the Fastpass BOG lunch if I can but pretty much everything is set now and it is a lot of waiting! I will end this post with a few more summer pictures from last weekend at our family camp. I just LOVE summer!!

Miss Avery

Braden getting a little help on Avery's Bike

 

[disney ny]

I bought points from DVC rental store. We are staying at Kidani in a studio from 1/3-1/9 for less than 900 dollars by buying points. The fridge and microwave work well for us. I have food allergies and am diabetic for so this helps us. I can't wait

That sounds great. I will take lots of pictures of AKL for you!!

 

[disney ny]

I'm finally back from all the trips and the move. Your dining plans sound great. I've eaten at about 2/3 of those restaurants and really like all of them. I've heard good things about the ones that I haven't been to. Sounds like a lot of food though! We can never eat an entire Main Entrée between the two of us, so we just don't do the dining plan, we would waste so much food it would be silly! I'm glad you have it all planned out to work for you!

I just got all caught up on what is happening with you. One of the benefits of vacation is being able to read about Disney more. So glad you are in and can relax and I am loving the trip report. It does sound like a lot of food and I am second guessing it a bit. Who knows I may still change things around some.

 

[disney ny]

Well my trip report title just got a little more appropriate because now that they have added all of the Frozen stuff to Hollywood Studios our plans have changed a bit. We have booked the Frozen Premium package with dessert party and are very excited about it. I think with how popular everything is this will work out good for us. The only downside is that we are going after August 17 when the Fireworks time changed to 9:15 so now we can't do this and Fantasmic too. This meant I had to cancel our Fantasmic dinner package and rethink our parks strategy. So now we are planning to do HS on two days because I rebooked our Fantasmic Package for the night before and now we are doing Hollywood Brown Derby instead of Mama Melrose. I have been super busy changing lots of things around because we made a huge decision that was a game changer. We have decided to go with Tables in Wonderland instead of DXDDP! This has allowed us more flexibility and it also meant I needed to change some things and times but I think in the long run it is the best choice for us. I can't believe how fast this trip is approaching and I am getting very excited!

 

[Disney Spaz]

It never ceases to amaze me how you can get close to a trip and think that everything is set then something happens and plans suddenly have to be changed. Usually it is for the best but sometimes I think Disney does this to keep us on our toes. A fellow teacher friend of mine is going the week before you and when I told her about the Frozen offerings at DHS this summer she moved her entire vacation around as well.

 

[disney ny]

It never ceases to amaze me how you can get close to a trip and think that everything is set then something happens and plans suddenly have to be changed. Usually it is for the best but sometimes I think Disney does this to keep us on our toes. A fellow teacher friend of mine is going the week before you and when I told her about the Frozen offerings at DHS this summer she moved her entire vacation around as well.

I feel exactly this way. You would think switching to TIW wouldn't be a big deal but it was because it forced me to look at everything differently and do things like switch us to the later Hoop Dee Doo and cancel a few things. Then the Frozen thing seemed so simple but yet it wasn't because of the Fantasmic package and that is not even considering all of the FP+ changes I have to make. Luckily I am off for the summer and have lots of time to do such things! Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Trentmom]

Subscribing . Found you from Hershey thread

I am child of eighties too, so can totally relate

Love back story.

Have errand to run but will rest tonight

 

[disney ny]

Subscribing . Found you from Hershey thread

I am child of eighties too, so can totally relate

Love back story.

Have errand to run but will rest tonight

So glad you came over. I plan to put up my mini-trip report of Hershey Park after we get back this weekend. I will consider it practice for my Disney trip! I am pretty sure I have decided to do the preview the night before so we will be heading to Bird in Hand on Thursday and over to the park for preview that night. Thanks for the good report on the hotel I am super excited for my kids.

 

[disney ny]

Just a few things/updates I wanted to post....

1- Check out that ticker!!! Can you say we are now under the 30 day mark? SO EXCITED~

29 Days


2- Does anyone have any input on Villains Unleashed? That is happening when we are down there and we are now considering doing it. Thinking about leaving the boys at the Cubs Den and the girls with Mamoo and having just me and my sister and now my cousin who is meeting up with us for a day go over for the night. My cousin's mom is a cast member and is going to try to get discounted tickets. I am apprehensive about the price but love the idea of seeing rare characters.

3- I am going to post my Hershey Park/PA Dutch Country trip report over on the Community Board. Should have the first part up today and I will link it here once it is up. Hope you will check it out!

4- I have been enjoying summer break so much but have been very busy. Next week we are off again on a short trip to Ohio to visit Mamoo. Two adults and four kids under 7 in a mini-van for 12 hours. If that doesn't sound like fun I don't know what does!

 

[franandaj]

Yay for less than 30 days!

I just read back and say the post about switching from DxDDP to TiE. Smart move, at least in my opinion. We do that as well. You save money but don't have to order food you don't need. The only one that is a bit much food was the Brown Derby F! Package. But I ate it anyway because it was all so good!