Will They or Won't They? Or Will Ride for Legos! Pre-Trip Report August '11

[scanne]

Good morning, Disboards! I haven't done a PRT or a TR in a LONG time, but I am feeling the itch to do one now. So please join me and my family as we plan a not-anticipated Disney trip for August '11.

Last summer, we spent our vacation at WDW and at the end of the trip, DH and I said, "We don't think we will be going back to WDW in 2011." There were many factors that came into play, but finances were a big one. 'Nuff said.

So we were fine with our choice and had thought about doing some mini trips near home (NJ). Washington, DC, the beach, the Poconos, New York...

Then in October, my grandmother passed away quite unexpectedly and we were all heartbroken. She had been to WDW with us several times and loved seeing her great-grandchildren laugh and smile in "The Happiest Place on Earth." We all took her passing extremely hard as she was such a loving, caring, vivacious and beautiful woman. We miss her terribly and talk about her every day.

In December, my mom (grandmom's daughter) was feeling particularly sad and began talking to me about finding something to cheer her up and give her something to look forward to. After not-so-much talk, Disney came up. But I told mom that we weren't planning a trip there this year. But in any case, we began looking at December 2011 - both WDW and the Disney Dream. YIKES the prices had us !!!

Now, mom extremely generously, told us we would only have to pay for meals and souvenirs for this trip and she would take care of everything else. And she told me not to thank her, but to thank Grandmom. So thank you Grandmom - and we will think of her often while on our vacation!

We did end up booking December '11 at the Wilderness Lodge, but we weren't 100%. I'm a teacher and a trip at this time of year feels very rushed to me. I much prefer having time to "relax" prior to vacation rather then run around and rush like a maniac to "relax" on vacation - which we never do at WDW anyway.

I think it was in February that I got a pin code for summer dates for 40% off a room only reservation. Hmmmmm, my wheels began turning. 40% off summer rates, not Christmas rates....more time to prepare for vacation...time afterwards to get ready for work....yes, I decided to pitch the idea to mom.
When I priced it out with our DU agent, we were saving well over $4000.00 total. Well, it wasn't too difficult to twist mom's arm. Heat, schmeat. We'll deal. Hurricanes? Whateva!!!

So we switched our reservation to August 15-23 and added the QSDP. More on that in a bit....
Last summer we had also visited US/IOA and stayed 3 nights at Portofino Bay. We wanted to go to IOA again for the Harry Potter stuff, but didn't want to be in US for too long, so we booked a one night stay at Royal Pacific and we have 2 day park-to-park passes. We have an early flight into Orlando which will give us a good portion of our first day at US/IOA and then we will head to IOA super early on our check out day. We are taking a limo from the airport to Royal Pacific and then from RP to the WL. We did the limo through Happy Limo last year and it was awesome so we're doing it again!

So here is our cast of characters and the reason for the title "Will They or Won't They..."

Me - 37, mom and wife, music teacher and business owner (More on that....)
DH - 41, hubby and dad, chemist but he loves animation, Disney and Star Wars
DS - 9, loves LEGOS, Harry Potter, WDW, magic and video games.
DD - 7, is your typical girly-girl, loves dressing up, singing and dancing
Gmom - loves WDW and travelling with us, and yes, she wears her Minnie Ears almost every day in WDW
Dude - my dad, but the kids call him Grandpop Dude or Dude. He's a retired teacher, professional photographer and blogger.

Now, our kids haven't gone on certain rides for the past 5-6 trips. They are:
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise

These are the ones that they DID ride before turning 3, but once that cognitive development crept in, so did wild imaginations and fears. Perfectly normal.

HOWEVER, DS has watched ALL of these rides on youtube and knows them inside out, backwards and forwards. So he knows what to expect. DD will follow her big brother anywhere and if he rides a ride, she rides a ride.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo.....

Will they or won't they + legos = let's hope so!

DH has devised a crazy bribery scheme to entice DS to try these rides at long last. If he tries all three rides mentioned about, he can choose a lego set up to $150. My poor crazy DH......

DS caught on quick and thinks that by addind rides (TOT and RNR) that he can increase the amount by $50.00 per ride. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Didn't see that one coming, did ya, DH???

So we did put a cap on the lego bribe - but the caveat is that DS can use some of his birthday money and add to the coveted lego set(s).

So with all of these factors, we will see if DS will ride for legos.

DS's birthday is the week before we leave, so he will be getting gifts from family and we also give our kids $100 Disney Gift Cards to use as they wish for souvenirs. Once the card is spent, then no more souvenirs. They did great with this last year and it made them really think about what they chose.

In my next installment, I will share how we went from no DP to the QSDP and finally settled on the DDP.

Thank you for reading!!! Be back soon!

 

[scanne]

DAY 1 and Day 2 - Travel and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure.

We are leaving bright (ok, it won't be bright - it will be 4:30am) and early to get to the airport for our 7:15am flight to Orlando. We are scheduled to land at 9:40am then we are taking a limo to Royal Pacific Resort. Hopefully check in will go smoothly and we can head over to Universal Studios park after grabbing a bite to eat.

Last year when we stayed at Portofino Bay, we had the front of the line access with our hotel room key. This is such a great time-saver, so hopefully we'll get to do Men In Black, The Simpsons and Jaws without too much waiting.

We are having dinner at The Islands Dining Room back at the hotel and we will probably head over to IOA after we eat to ride things like The Hulk, Spiderman, The Cat in the Hat and Jurassic Park. We're saving The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the next morning.

Again, the reason we're only doing one night/two partial days, is because of the FOTL access with our hotel room key. We know that for WWoHP you can't get FOTL so that is why we are planning on getting to the gate by 7:45am after getting up super early, checking out and storing our luggage.

We have a lunch reservation at Mythos on this day, but I'm also hoping to get into Three Broomsticks for breakfast after riding Forbidden Journey.

Last year, DD tried FJ - none of us knew what to expect, and needless to say, she was freaked out by the ride. She was only freaked out by the fact that she "almost went upside down" and not all of the other stuff....so as of right now, she doesn't want to ride it again. So the plan is for Gmom and Dude to take the kids to Ollivander's while DH and I ride FJ and Dragon's Challenge (is that what it is called now?)

So we do have a plan and we will see how it goes.
Our limo is picking us up at 4pm to take us to the Wilderness Lodge and we have to get checked in and be at the boat dock by 6:30 at the very latest for our first Disney meal of the trip: THE HOOP DE DOO REVUE!

So that's the first two days in a nutshell. I'll be back for more updates in a bit....

 

[scanne]

Coming to you with a LIVE update!
We are in US/IOA having front of the line access with our hotel room key is awesome. We were able to do so much in such a short time on our first day!

Our flight was delayed about 40 minutes. No biggie. When we got to Orlando, our limo driver was waiting and he helped get our bags and loaded the limo and within 25 minutes of landing, we were pulling up to Royal Pacific at US/IOA. Check in was quick and smooth, we stored our luggage and headed to CityWalk for lunch. We chose Bubba Gumps. No wait to be seated, had a very nice waitress and a fun meal. (I will be doing a dining report upon my return so more on the food later).
After lunch we headed to Universal. It was pretty crowded and took a while to get in but once we were in the park, the crowds dispersed somewhat. In a short time we were able to ride ET, MIB, The Simpsons and The Mummy. We also looked in the I Love Lucy exhibit and saw a little magic show.
There was a typical Florida rain for literally 5 minutes. Then it got hotter. Lol!
We then went back to the hotel to get to our rooms and cool off and have dinner.
Dinner was at Islands Dining Room. More on that in my dining report.
After dinner we walked to IOA. The walk was quick - only 8 minutes and it was faster then waiting for the boat. It had cooled down somewhat and it was a very comfortable walk.
We got right in to IOA the kids were excited to ride The Cat in the Hat.
Next we walked to WWOHP. It was crowded. Not as bad as last year, but it was still packed. FJ had a 30 minute wait (it was around 8pm). We rode Flight of the Hippogroff two times, got butterbeer and chocolate wands then decided to head back.
But before that we rode the Seuss trolley ride and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I got soaked.....
We took the boat back to the hotel and we were asleep in seconds.
Today we are checking out and heading to WDW at 4pm. But before that we are going back to IOA and hopefully we will get to ride FJ and the kids want to go to Ollivanders plus we want to ride Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Hulk and Dudley Doo Right. We have a lunch resize at Mythos which DH is really looking forward to.

More live reviews to come!

 

[scanne]

Hi from the WL! We are finally in Disney and soooooo happy! We checked in around 5, our rooms were ready then we went to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop De Doo Revue.

When we got back to our rooms, we found we were dusted with Disney treats!! My parents found a WL chocolate box and a plate
Of cookies.
We found a white chocolate Donald Duck, a plate of chocolate chip cookies and two gift baskets for the kids. The baskets are beach shovel and pails filled with cheetos, Mickey rice krispys, fruit roll ups and skittles.

We were absolutely dumbfounded as we have never ever received pixie dust!!!

I'll try to post pics from my phone. If I can't, they'll be posted when I get home and also in my dining report.

So far Disney magic abounds!!! Tomorrow is MK and EPCOT double header!!
Thanks for reading!!!