Pre-Trip We were due

jharvey · Apr 7, 2016

Background:

In the title, I mention that we are due to a trip to the world. In May 2010, I took my wife and two kids (Ella was not born yet) to Disney World. It was their first trip, and I had not been since 1994 when I was an obnoxious 13 year old who did everything he could to ruin my family's trip. In 2010, we did 6 days/ 5 nights at All-Star Movie. We loved it and became instantly obsessed.

Our obsession manifested in an near immediate booking for a 2011 trip. The surprise appearance of Ella forced us to cancel that trip. So our next stay was in September 2012. For me, the three biggest pluses from that trip were the low crowd sizes, staying at Pop Century, and doing MNSSHP for the first time. All things being equal, this might be our favorite trip to date.

Our Next trip was September 2013. Again Pop Century and MNSSHP. This time we took my sister, her daughter, and my parents. The trip was great and we immediately set a September 2014 trip that would include my two brothers.

By April 2014, our trip was fully paid off and our ADRs had been made. Then on the 23rd of that month, my company, after filing for bankruptcy protection, liquidated half of its store count and terminated 80% of its corporate staff (including me). The following 15 months saw us burning through my savings (including the refunded disney money), unemployment benefits, etc. It led to what I euphemistically refer to as the great schism of 2014 in which my mother and brothers went one way and my father, sister, and I went another. It led to depending on the kindness of others far more than I would've ever thought. A tight Christmas and more than one tight birthday.

Through it all, my wife, kids, father, and sister were great. And after 15 months of wandering through the wilderness I was again employed. I've spent the last 9 months installing firm footing under my family and I. I've saved like crazy, skimped like crazy, and now, I'm going back to the World. And I am taking all those that saw me through that horrible time (and my sister's mother-in-law somehow) to Disney.

My pre-trip report will be a little different than many of the ones I've read on this site. I have my ADRs and FP+ selection already booked. I will post them and any feedback would be awesome. The part I would need the most feedback is Port Orleans Riverside. My family is loyal to Pop Century. It might not be for some, but we loved the theming, food-court, and dedicated bus service. I will have questions about a variety of topics, but mainly dealing with POR transportation.

jharvey · Apr 7, 2016

And before I get to the details, I want to mention here that this trip is more than me celebrating the awesomeness that is me.... My tremendous, understanding, patient wife just graduated college while putting up with me and three varying degrees of bad offspring. This trip is also a birthday present for McCall who will be turning 29 on the 6th day of the trip.

jharvey · Apr 7, 2016

Game-plan:

A trip to Disney World, for us, includes a 12-13 hour drive. We honestly love this element of the trip (this one will include a potentially troublesome 18 month old). We typically leave at 1pm-2pm and drive straight through. With gas, bathroom, and meal stops, that gets us to our resort by 5am. This trip, we are planning on leaving at 8am on the 20th. We would drive straight through and arrive in Orlando, fingers crossed, no later than 11pm. We've booked hotel rooms for that night. This would give us a chance to catch a little sleep in an honest to goodness bed before beginning our actual trip. This will hopefully reduce the chances of the first day Zombie phase.

We do not park hop. We did our first trip and missed sooooo much. So we plan to death and hit a park a day.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

I am a man of simple needs. I am also a man who asks little of others. But a non-negotiable for me is Magic Kingdom rope drop. Rope drop will be done or no man comes back alive.

- Meals: no ADRs for the first day. Probably hit Cosmic Rays for lunch (never eaten there). Dinner, Riverside Mill Foodcourt (refillable mugs).

- FP+: Peter Pan's Flight, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain.

We always go directly to Peter Pan's Flight first thing on our MK days. With our group consisting of a little one and a noob, we are doing Philharmagic first. That is a near unforgivable sin for someone who obsessively game-plans their Disney trip. But I dont want anyone feeling left out first ride/attraction.

We got Jungle Cruise because when we last went, it was down due to being converted to Jingle Cruise and I want to make sure they get a shot at it.

And we got a Splash Mountain FP+ because Splash Mountain is awesome. This is the favorite attraction for DW, DS, DD8, and myself. This will be making other appearances.

fractal · Apr 7, 2016

Yes you are due - Great comeback story!

jharvey · Apr 8, 2016

fractal said:
Yes you are due - Great comeback story!

Thanks. It was either this or taking up competitive drinking.

jharvey · Apr 8, 2016

Thought Process:

Before I go too far in to this, I want to explain our thought process on what parks we are visiting. We usually stay 6/5 with two days at MK, two at EP, and 1 each for DAK & DHS. With this being our first 7/6 stay, we were just going to add a day to the Magic Kingdom. About a month ago we made the decision to drop one of our EPCOT days and add it to the MK. The decision was difficult to make because EP is my absolute favorite park and SSE being my favorite icon. However, with Soarin being down, and the artist formerly known as Maelstrom being down for a decade long re-imagining, we figured it was ok to drop this time. The only plus that was working in EP favor for keeping it 2 days was this will be our first time there during Flower & Garden.

jrogue · Apr 8, 2016

jharvey said:
he only plus that was working in EP favor for keeping it 2 days was this will be our first time there during Flower & Garden

Epcot during the Flower and Garden is awesome! There are a few extra things to see there, as well as a lot of tasty food and drinks! Cool plans so far! Always interesting to see how other families do the parks differently (mine CANNOT function without park hopper!)

bee · Apr 8, 2016

My wife and I will be there right after you. Have you done Flower and Garden before? I'm sure you'll love it!

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

jrogue said:
Epcot during the Flower and Garden is awesome! There are a few extra things to see there, as well as a lot of tasty food and drinks! Cool plans so far! Always interesting to see how other families do the parks differently (mine CANNOT function without park hopper!)

We have two things working against us going back to park hopper on this trip. First is my 18 month old nephew. Second is length of stay. I think the sweet spot for park hopper would be a stay of 8 or more days. When that glorious time when my kids are all grown, and out of my house arrives, my wife and I will probably never go without hopper.

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

b33b33 said:
My wife and I will be there right after you. Have you done Flower and Garden before? I'm sure you'll love it!

Sooo pumped for this. This will be a first for us. We usually go in September. Our one previous May trip did not have a F&G festival.

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

This was originally going to be our EPCOT day. As I mentioned earlier, with the current state of that park, I was the only one interested in multiple days there. The main justification for a second consecutive MK day at the start is the drive up would probably result in a early end to our first day.

ADRs:

Liberty Tree Tavern for Lunch
Kona Cafe for Dinner

We are fans of both. This will be our 3rd or 4th LTT meal and our 2nd Kona. However, Kona will be new for 6 of the 10 people going.

FP+:

Anna and Elsa M&G (7 from our group)
Splash Mountain (3 from our group- same time as Anna & Elsa)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train- was being built during last trip, so this will be a first. I am a coward and will be sitting this one out.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad- again, I'm a coward and will be missing this one.

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We love Animal Kingdom! However, it usually ends up being our last day park, and we head out early for our 13 hour ride back home. This time we have it earlier in the trip so we can give it the attention it so deserves.

ADRs:

Lunch we will eat at a CS. We love Flame Tree BBQ, but are leaving the CS choices up to the two oldest kids, so who knows.
Dinner we have a late reservation for Tusker House. We love Tusker House. It would be higher on our list of favorites if not for the straws.

FP+:

Expedition Everest (5 of the group- remember, I am a coward)
Adventures Outpost M&G (same time as Everest for the kids and the aforementioned coward).
Kali River Rapids- if this ride was longer it would be a top 5-10 ride for me. My problem is if I can dead sprint through your queue and it take longer than the ride itself...... its too short.
Kilimanjaro Safaris- we got a late afternoon/early evening FP. We plan to ride this first thing in the morning as well.

We are shooting to do Finding Nemo the Musical and Festival of the Lion King. We've never done either. Do you consider both can't miss? The way I've got the itinerary put together, we should be able to do both. If you had to skip one, which would it be?

wishiwere@wdw · Apr 9, 2016

jharvey said:
Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We are shooting to do Finding Nemo the Musical and Festival of the Lion King. We've never done either. Do you consider both can't miss? The way I've got the itinerary put together, we should be able to do both. If you had to skip one, which would it be?

IMO, both are can't miss. That said, having gone through both shows multiple times with youngsters (4 under age of 13), have a game plan (puffs, snacks, exit strategy lol) because it can be difficult to get out and Nemo the musical in particular is rather long. Most important, have fun - sounds like you've all earned it!

fractal · Apr 9, 2016

jharvey said:
Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We love Animal Kingdom! However, it usually ends up being our last day park, and we head out early for our 13 hour ride back home. This time we have it earlier in the trip so we can give it the attention it so deserves.

ADRs:

Lunch we will eat at a CS. We love Flame Tree BBQ, but are leaving the CS choices up to the two oldest kids, so who knows.

Dinner we have a late reservation for Tusker House. We love Tusker House. It would be higher on our list of favorites if not for the straws.

FP+:

Expedition Everest (5 of the group- remember, I am a coward)

Adventures Outpost M&G (same time as Everest for the kids and the aforementioned coward).

Kali River Rapids- if this ride was longer it would be a top 5-10 ride for me. My problem is if I can dead sprint through your queue and it take longer than the ride itself...... its too short.

Kilimanjaro Safaris- we got a late afternoon/early evening FP. We plan to ride this first thing in the morning as well.

We are shooting to do Finding Nemo the Musical and Festival of the Lion King. We've never done either. Do you consider both can't miss? The way I've got the itinerary put together, we should be able to do both. If you had to skip one, which would it be?

Lion King before Nemo.

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

wishiwere@wdw said:
IMO, both are can't miss. That said, having gone through both shows multiple times with youngsters (4 under age of 13), have a game plan (puffs, snacks, exit strategy lol) because it can be difficult to get out and Nemo the musical in particular is rather long. Most important, have fun - sounds like you've all earned it!

Good call-out on Nemo. Did not think about that. The 4 y/o in our group should be good, but my nephew (18 months) could be a concern. thanks

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

fractal said:
Lion King before Nemo.

Thing is, with the two, I think the adults are the most pumped to watch either. Lion King is my absolute favorite Disney movie with a large gap before you fall to Jungle Book at #2. And aside from the occasional flirtation with Nemo, my kids never showed much interest in that movie. However, we want to try new things each trip and we've never done either one. And they are, for the most part, soooo well received.

jharvey · Apr 9, 2016

Day 3 Continued: Downtown Disney

I know the name has changed, but many on this site still call DHS- MGM, let me have this one. We are fans of the DTD and our Animal Kingdom day would be our best bet to get down there. I know we can catch a boat from POR.

A couple of questions come to mind for this leg of the trip. For 6 years, I've relied on three sites to plan my trips to disney. WDWMagic, DisneyFoodBlog and Josh's site which cannot be mentioned. By the time we arrive, it will have been 2.5 years since our last trip. One of the sites I mentioned above mentions crowding issues at DTD in the evenings. The warnings come as something more than the usual, "Its Disney, so expect crowds" line. Anyone who's been there more recently, are the crowd levels that noticeable? Are construction walls still so prevalent that they create bottlenecks? And lastly, assuming some of our party stay in DTD beyond the time the water shuttles end, would I be correct in assuming bus service to POR would not be an issue?

WDW_Emily · Apr 10, 2016

jharvey said:
Day 3 Continued: Downtown Disney

I know the name has changed, but many on this site still call DHS- MGM, let me have this one. We are fans of the DTD and our Animal Kingdom day would be our best bet to get down there. I know we can catch a boat from POR.

A couple of questions come to mind for this leg of the trip. For 6 years, I've relied on three sites to plan my trips to disney. WDWMagic, DisneyFoodBlog and Josh's site which cannot be mentioned. By the time we arrive, it will have been 2.5 years since our last trip. One of the sites I mentioned above mentions crowding issues at DTD in the evenings. The warnings come as something more than the usual, "Its Disney, so expect crowds" line. Anyone who's been there more recently, are the crowd levels that noticeable? Are construction walls still so prevalent that they create bottlenecks? And lastly, assuming some of our party stay in DTD beyond the time the water shuttles end, would I be correct in assuming bus service to POR would not be an issue?

I haven't been in 10 months but last June the traffic going to and from DTD was the biggest struggle. This is a huge perk to staying at POR and to answer your question yes there is a bus that could get you back to POR from DTD. I know earlier you asked about POR in compassion to POP. A few years ago we were a family that only stayed at Pop Century. Then we upgraded to the family suites at AOA. In 2014 we stayed at POR for the first time. It was our first moderate resort and after visiting them all except coranado, it remains our favorite resort. It is great for families of 5 because of the extra bed. The pool is great! Be sure to check out ye ha bob one night! Have a great trip!

hanwill · Apr 10, 2016

About transportation to and from parks... you have picked a great location. There are multiple bus stops inside POR for parks... but once you get going, it's a short ride to the parks... AK is a little far, but it's not close to anything. You'll love the resort-it's very big, but very nice. You will see the difference! OH- and the boat to Disney Springs/DTD.... The kids will like it. It's slow but relaxing, and fun for the kids.
About the Park Hopper- I don't think you are missing anything... Mainly because each park has its own flavor, and it's weird to me to leave MK and head somewhere else.... different thinking I know, but its what I see... Sounds like you will have a fantastic trip, and a well earned one as well!

Pre-Trip We were due

jharvey

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fractal

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