Pre-Trip My first Pre-Trip report!! May 2017

So, as you can see from the "not so original" title, this is my first ever attempt at a pre-trip report! I have been religiously reading everyone else's PTR & TR to get some hints & tips so here goes nothing!!

Aaaaaaaagggghhhhhhhhh WE'RE GOING BACK TO DIIIIISSSNNEEEEYYYWWOOOOORRRLLLLLDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!

Me & H in 2014

Since we are well into our double digit countdown, now seemed to be a good a time as any to undertake this report to share some of our plans and ADR for our trip which will be for two weeks in May! Any suggestions and recommendations will definitely be welcomed

Although we have been to WDW a number of times as children and most recently again in 2014, there are a few differences this time with not only the number of people, but also dining plan & resort choice.

Who: this is the first time we as a family have been with any more than 4-5 of us so the group has essentially doubled in size from mum, older sister, older brother & me
TO: me, my older sister (fellow Disney fanatic), mum, mums friends Matt & Kay, Matts daughter, Kays two daughters, Kays daughters boyfriend & finally little Niambh (daughter of Matt & Kay) PHEW! That's everyone I think!

Where: Port Orleans Riverside. Our first time in a moderate resort as we have mainly swapped between the All Star Resots on previous trips. (We thought since we're "grown up" now we would go up a level so we're super excited about experiencing a different resort.

When: May

Favourite princess: Belle ❤

Mostly our plans for going to the parks are....MK on the first day & that's pretty much the only thing set in stone with park selection. We always get the 14 day park hopper tickets so we can swap and change as we see fit for the EMH etc. We have however made a number of ADR throughout the two weeks. We did these on the 180 days mark due to there being 10 of us & wanting to get most of our reservations together for the main restaurants. We also know that there will be occasions when we won't be all together so have made some separate reservations for me, mum & sister (H).

On our last trip in 2014 we were fortunate enough to snag the QS dining plan for free in our package & this was our first ever experience of the DDP. We thought it was amazing and so convenient especially as we were there during the Food & Wine festival, however this time we are on the moderate dining plan which means so many more options for dining...which brings me toooooooooo Cinderella's Royal Table *does a little dance* we are suuuuuper excited that we bagged this reservation especially for the 10 of us! Now..I've heard mixed reviews about the food at CRT but I'm just looking forward to the experience. We also have Be our guest booked which we did go to before and loved!

We currently have the below restaurants booked:
Boatwrights dining hall
(First evening as it's easy on the resort but also we may take the boat to DS)
50's Prime Time
Be Our Guest (lunch and dinner)
Coral Reef (me mum & H)
Ohana
Whispering Canyon
Sci-fi dine in
Hollywood Brown Derby
Mama Melrose
San Angel Inn
Cinderellas royal table
Akershus princess lunch (we booked this for Niambh obviously )

Any comments on these would be greatly appreciated!!

We plan on visiting universal studios *shock horror* for one day during the holiday. We first did Universal IOA in 2014 however this day is now known as "Universal Gate" as we were rained out after just 3hrs in the park anyway... it just means we have plenty of new things to experience on that day.

So although we don't have much planned in terms of activities as yet, we will be looking at our fast pass options as soon as it gets to 60 days!

I hope this wasn't too boring & that a few of you are happy to follow along with my trip report when it comes to it!! I can't stop researching Disney EVERYTHING including how I'm having my nails done for the trip Pinterest is such a wonderful thing for planning a Disney holiday!!!!

So until then I'll leave you with my first PTR
View attachment 187153

 

[RyPat]

We currently have the below restaurants booked:
Boatwrights dining hall
(First evening as it's easy on the resort but also we may take the boat to DS)
50's Prime Time
Be Our Guest (lunch and dinner)
Coral Reef (me mum & H)
Ohana
Whispering Canyon
Sci-fi dine in
Hollywood Brown Derby
Mama Melrose
San Angel Inn
Cinderellas royal table
Akershus princess lunch (we booked this for Niambh obviously )

Any comments on these would be greatly appreciated!!

The food at Cinderella's is nothing special, but like you said, that's not why you're going there. It is worth it at least once just to eat in the castle. My only criticism would be that you don't have an ADR for Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Kidani!! One of our favorites in all of Disney...

 

[*Flynnderella*]

The food at Cinderella's is nothing special, but like you said, that's not why you're going there. It is worth it at least once just to eat in the castle. My only criticism would be that you don't have an ADR for Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Kidani!! One of our favorites in all of Disney...

Ahh thank you I will definitely go & do some more research!! There's sooooooo many places we don't even know about. 2 weeks just isn't long enough

 

[LisaBelle]

Sounds like fun and you have some great ADRs. If you like steak you should definitely get the steak at Mama Melrose. It was hands down my favorite meal of my last trip. 50s Prime Time always looks like so much fun, but I've never been there or to Ohana.

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Sounds like fun and you have some great ADRs. If you like steak you should definitely get the steak at Mama Melrose. It was hands down my favorite meal of my last trip. 50s Prime Time always looks like so much fun, but I've never been there or to Ohana.

Oooo thank you. I know a couple in our group do love steak We did 50's Prime time once when we were younger & remember it being fun but now we're older we might not be as shy with the CM!! Most of the reservations we have made this time we haven't ever been to before so it should be a lot of fun trying new places, especially after reading reviews about Whispering Canyon!! Do I ask for Ketchup?!

 

[Ms.Sunshine]

LOVED Be Our guest! My husband compared every single meal we'd had to it during our trip last July Akershus was just okay, but we mostly went to see princesses anyway.

 

[*Flynnderella*]

LOVED Be Our guest! My husband compared every single meal we'd had to it during our trip last July Akershus was just okay, but we mostly went to see princesses anyway.

We went for lunch on our first day last time but because of the jet lag I think we were all in a little daze at how amazing it was so I'm extra excited that we have lunch & dinner there this time to hopefully soak it all up I've heard lots of different reviews about Akershus & I have to say I'm not holding out hope for great food but like you say its the princesses that make it worth it!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

So....We have been informed that we must have Tonga Toast for breakfast one morning.. I googled this mysterious dish & now I'm wondering if it can be shipped to the Worldwide?!!!!!!! Sounds absolutely AAAMMAAAZZZINNGG!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Just a couple of suggestions,
You might want to do more than 1 day up the road at Uni/IOA especially if you are wanting to do all the Potter things. Also it is worth taking a stroll down the river to the French Quater to try thier beignets .

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Just a couple of suggestions,
You might want to do more than 1 day up the road at Uni/IOA especially if you are wanting to do all the Potter things. Also it is worth taking a stroll down the river to the French Quater to try thier beignets .

Well we are still debating how many days we should do at Universal as there is just so much there!! I'm praying for low crowds & no rain (completely different to our last experience) Oooo thank you- I will need to also google this Beignet!? Sounds intriguing

 

[amjt660]

So....We have been informed that we must have Tonga Toast for breakfast one morning.. I googled this mysterious dish & now I'm wondering if it can be shipped to the UK!!!!!!! Sounds absolutely AAAMMAAAZZZINNGG!!

I love me some Tonga Toast!!!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

So tonight we are having an "official" meet up to discuss DIIISSSSNEEEY!! They're my favourite kind of get together. Disney inspired treats at the ready!!

At this point we thought it would be a good idea to go through what we have booked for ADR's and change things to suit everyone. After doing some more research since we booked the restaurants, there have been a few amendments due to reviews not only on here but looking properly into the menus of the ones we had booked. We currently have changed to:

Wolfgang Puck Express (instead of Boatwrights on the first night. I suddenly remembered the Chicken Alfredo & we just HAVE to go back there!! )
Be Our Guest (Lunch & Dinner)
50's Prime Time
CRT (Dinner)
Whispering Canyon
San Angel Inn
Coral Reef (me, mum & H)
1900s Park Fair (Breakfast)
Chef Artsmiths Homecoming Dinner
Le Cellier (Me, Mum & H)
'Ohana (Me, Mum, H)

We still have Sci-Fi on there but we're not sure about the food reviews that we have seen?! Looks like a fun experience though?! Any thoughts?

We took Mama Melrose off the ADR's as we thought there would be different places to try other than Italian ... good idea?

Also on the agenda for tonight......T-SHIRT DESIGNS!

Yes of course you have to have matching t-shirts....

And t-minus 1 day until we can book our trains to the airport

Part of the experience is all the planning & I CANNOT get enough!

I'll definitely update after our meet tonight!! Any more suggestions for our new ADR's would be greatly appreciated

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Sooooooooo ....its almost the 60 day mark for us which meeeeeaannnssssss *drum roll* Yes you guessed it....FP+ time!!!!

We are not sure how this is going to play out so it will be all about trial and error for us. When we first used the online fast past system in 2014, to be honest we were not impressed. The app always seemed to crash on us and we spent most of our times with our heads in our phones which is less than ideal. *starts petition to bring back paper fast passes*

Anyhooowww enough complaining!!!!!!!

If anyone has any tips that will shed any light on this experience for us.. that would be so helpful

But for now since its 8am I should probably go to work but dreeeeeaaammmm of my Disney days

 

[amjt660]

FP+ vs Paper system?
You do not have to trek all around the park to get the FP+ but the paper system (especially when the end time was not enforced) had advantages for the people who knew how to work it.

Max

 

[*Flynnderella*]

FP+ vs Paper system?
You do not have to trek all around the park to get the FP+ but the paper system (especially when the end time was not enforced) had advantages for the people who knew how to work it.

Max

Hi Max- thanks for your thoughts
I think the most part was the spontaneity of wandering around and collecting FP as you went! (plus a free ticket souvenir which we have about a billion of in our scrapbooks!) But I totally understand that technology moves on & crowds are so much heavier than when we were there in the 90's howeverrrrrrrrrr 60 days before your trip is a little too pre-planned.. even for me!!!

Is the process of booking them quite simple?

Sophie

 

[amjt660]

Hi Max- thanks for your thoughts
I think the most part was the spontaneity of wandering around and collecting FP as you went! (plus a free ticket souvenir which we have about a billion of in our scrapbooks!) But I totally understand that technology moves on & crowds are so much heavier than when we were there in the 90's howeverrrrrrrrrr 60 days before your trip is a little too pre-planned.. even for me!!!

Is the process of booking them quite simple?

Sophie

My daughter C is the FP and Disney app expert but I found it easy to add / subtract and modify
Do your best to book them now and stay flexible / modify them as you go

Max

 

[blreinsel]

Booking them is really simple and like Max said, just be flexible. I change mine quite a bit once we're actually in the park because rides we have FP+ for later in the day or week end up having short wait times so we take advantage. Now that you're able to make additional reservations right from the app, it changes how you book the initial ones, at least in my opinion. For our upcoming trip, I plan to make them all for late morning and then book others as we use them up. I made them for afternoon/evening on our last trip and it held us up in terms of booking additional ones.

 

[amjt660]

Booking them is really simple and like Max said, just be flexible. I change mine quite a bit once we're actually in the park because rides we have FP+ for later in the day or week end up having short wait times so we take advantage. Now that you're able to make additional reservations right from the app, it changes how you book the initial ones, at least in my opinion. For our upcoming trip, I plan to make them all for late morning and then book others as we use them up. I made them for afternoon/evening on our last trip and it held us up in terms of booking additional ones.

Just to chime in again blgauger's strategy of booking later in the morning
It works good if the following exists:
1) You arrive early to take advantage of short lines
2) Use your FP+ in the late morning when lines start to grow
3) You are then able to book more FP+ for afternoon (if staying) or early evening

The last point is critical - our last two trips were at Christmas and this strategy did not work.
The lines in the evening were nuts and all the good FP were gone before we could book a fourth one.
So we corrected on the 2nd Xmas trip and booked late afternoon and evening FP.

So it depends on how busy it will be and when you want to go to the parks vs rest/relax at the hotel

Max

 

[blreinsel]

Just to chime in again blgauger's strategy of booking later in the morning
It works good if the following exists:
1) You arrive early to take advantage of short lines
2) Use your FP+ in the late morning when lines start to grow
3) You are then able to book more FP+ for afternoon (if staying) or early evening

The last point is critical - our last two trips were at Christmas and this strategy did not work.
The lines in the evening were nuts and all the good FP were gone before we could book a fourth one.
So we corrected on the 2nd Xmas trip and booked late afternoon and evening FP.

So it depends on how busy it will be and when you want to go to the parks vs rest/relax at the hotel

Max

Good points, Max. We always visit the first full week in June and what you detailed above is how I handled our FP+’s. It worked out well but crowds definitely play a big role in that!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Just to chime in again blgauger's strategy of booking later in the morning
It works good if the following exists:
1) You arrive early to take advantage of short lines
2) Use your FP+ in the late morning when lines start to grow
3) You are then able to book more FP+ for afternoon (if staying) or early evening

The last point is critical - our last two trips were at Christmas and this strategy did not work.
The lines in the evening were nuts and all the good FP were gone before we could book a fourth one.
So we corrected on the 2nd Xmas trip and booked late afternoon and evening FP.

So it depends on how busy it will be and when you want to go to the parks vs rest/relax at the hotel

Max

Thank you @amjt660 & @blgauger

We used to go over the Christmas Break & I don't think we ever experience the crowd levels there are now! We would usually do from Dec 14th-Dec 28th and I never remember it being as manic as people say it is now at that time & FP's were never usually an issue! *there are worse issues to have I guess*

We are hoping that beginning of May will be just after the Easter rush & before Summer break but who knows!!!! We will get what we can booked for now & change as we go like you say!

We try and be (what the phrase) "Park Commandos" staying open till close but I think we will try and resort hop a little this time & with us staying at a nicer resort, we want to spend sometime there too. Again you don't know until you're there but we will go with the flow!!

Okay I'm waffling on...

Thanks again for your comments