Pre-Trip 4th Birthday at WDW - why not?

Hi guys,

This is my first attempt at a Pre-Trip report, and hopefully a Trip Report afterwards :)

PROLOGUE
Ever since our honeymoon in 2011, I've been telling my wife that we have to go back to the most magical place on Earth! That trip, almost 6 years ago, was my first Disney vacation - I had been dreaming of visiting this whimsical place since I was a little boy. I remember watching TGIF on ABC back in the day when AK opened, I was in complete awe.

HONEYMOON
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Wanting badly to go back, I was casually mentioning Disney to my wife every few months, hoping she would get the same itch that I had, however it wasn't the case. It also didn't help that during the past 6 years, we bought a house, had a child and my wife lost her job. The timing just wasn't right.

Luckily for me, the tide changed in early January when my wife said to me that this spring would be a great time to go on a Disney Vacation!!! She had a new job and our son was a decent age for his first visit. We initially wanted to go in July to celebrate my 30th birthday, however we are trying to conceive are second child and it wouldn't of been a good idea if my wife would've been 7 months pregnant. We believe that it might be our last chance to visit for a few years. Since my son is a huge Disney fan, we thought it would be a wonderful idea for him to experience the magic for his birthday.

WHO
Mathieu (me)
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Disney and Star Wars lover

Emilie (DW)
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Late 80's / early 90's Disney fan

Olivier (DS - soon to be 4)
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Loves the new Disney movies and Star Wars

WHY
To celebrate DS's birthday:D

WHEN
May 20th to May 26th, 2017 (we are missing Pandora :cry:)

WHERE
Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside

In the next few days and weeks, I will be posting more details about the trip and answering your comments;)
 
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21stamps

Well-Known Member
Darn it... I was influenced...

I have added to my ADRs:

Disney Jr Play N Dine Breakfast at DHS
May 25th at 8:15
I am so happy to read this!!! He will love it! I just feel like this specific meal has such a limited time frame for kids to really get the most out of it. 4 is the Perfect Age!!! He will get his autograph book 1/3rd completed with this meal alone :)
 

Frogglet

Active Member
Looks like a fun trip. We were last at Disney for out Honeymoon and are headed back in April for the first time with our girls. Although our Honeymoon was in 1999 so it has been a while :) But can't wait looking forward to following your plans.
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looks like a fun trip. We were last at Disney for out Honeymoon and are headed back in April for the first time with our girls. Although our Honeymoon was in 1999 so it has been a while :) But can't wait looking forward to following your plans.
Thanks!

It's one thing to go as adults but it will be such a difference experience to be there with kids. I can't wait to see the joy in DS's eyes!
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Dude you are in for a treat.
Best trip moments for me are watching my DDs enjoy and experience it.
They are older now but we have been going since they were 5 & 6
Enjoy my friend

Max
 

kaitertot5249

Well-Known Member
I love your reporting style already! I can't wait to read more about your plans and hopefully read a trip report when you get back from your magical time in WDW!
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love your reporting style already! I can't wait to read more about your plans and hopefully read a trip report when you get back from your magical time in WDW!
Glad your enjoying it - the style should be as present in the trip report!

Chapter 3 will be tomorrow night - my evening was busier than expected today, unfortunately.
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Chapter 3 – How to plan a balanced schedule

I'm back with part 3 - where I will go into details of planning a magical vacation for a 4 year old boy and a go with the flow wife.

A WDW nut
In case you hadn't already notice, I'm the Disney obsess person in my relationship. My wife loves the movie and the universe related to it, however she's not in love with it. She wants to see different things and it isn't in her nature to want to see the same things over and over again. Not that I don't like seeing what the world (yes, the real world) has to offer, but there is something about WDW that makes want to come back every year and see different things and redo the same things over and over again.

Luckily for me, it has been almost 6 years since our last visit, and a lot has change in THE world and in our life, so my wife was happy to come back and experience the magic once again, especially to see it for the first time through our son's eyes. But there is a but...

Once we had agreed on when to go, the budget, and which resort to stay at, she didn't want to know anymore of it. She didn't want to discuss the planning, the various ADR's, the FP I would book or anything else that is me talking about the trip or WDW. Fortunately I have this board to help me get it out of my system - but I still let some stuff fly at home... and I always get the look from DW, and she tells me everytime : "AGAIN?!"

So to simply put it, I was alone to plan this trip and it had to be perfect, and not too restrictive (if that's even possible). Because if the planning is off, I will certainly hear about it - since I'm suppose to be the expert... And expert I am not. This is our second Disney trip and a lot has changed in the last few years, so I had to relearn how to proceed and adapt a new strategy.

As you have learned in the previous chapter, I had to unfortunately start my planning with the ADR's since we were already late in the game. This dictated, at least at first, the schedule for the week. However, as I started to build the plan, I was moving ADR's around and finding better times or better restaurants, this was helping craft what I believe is a good plan.

Afternoon breaks - more than an option
My son still takes an afternoon nap, they are not as long as before but I'm pretty certain that when May roles around and he's being overstimulated, he will require 1 or 2 hours of afternoon sleep. We rented a stroller through Kingdom Strollers to assure us that we always had a stroller at our disposal, whether we always need one or not. This will also help in him not getting too cranky in the late mornings or when we want to stretch out the evenings to see the shows.

When we visited in 2011, DW and I thought we were invincible. We were young and full of energy and never thought that we would have to take a break in the middle of the day to regain energy. So every morning we set out, sometime for rope drop, but most times about 30 minutes or an hour after the parks opened. We didn't have a clear plan, we knew which park we were going at, a few of the rides we wanted to experience and which ADRs we had. So with no plan in hand, we wandered from side to side in every park we went and walked more than we should have, which meant we were more on our feet doing "nothing" than doing rides, eating and seeing shows. Which often meant that by 3 or 4pm each day we would be tired as hell, so we would head back to our resort just before dinner. The problem with that is all that travelling takes time, and our ADR's weren't early enough to tough it in the parks but not lates enough for us to go to our room, relax and go out again. Safe to say, we missed about half of our dinner reservations. Also our bad planning made us miss things we wanted to see, and eat meals much too close to one another.

So back to the present!

This time I knew taking afternoon breaks wasn't an option. So all my days were gonna be planned the same way: breakfast, go to a park for rope drop, eat lunch, go back to the resort, go to a park, have dinner, see a show, and finally go back to the resort.

Built to succeed
I have always been a fan of the park hopper, it allows me to see two parks a day, and makes it easier for ADR flexibility. So in the mornings, we plan on seeing park 1 and then in the evening seeing park 2. In theory, this concept works perfectly, in reality it's a little more complex. First we had ADR's spread out across the map, then we wanted to see each park in the morning and the evening at least once (even AK since the new ROL as arrived), then we didn't want to do the same park back to back, and then we needed to figure how much time at each park.

Luckily for me, the way the ADRs were initially spread out, left me with something to work with, not something great, but at least something. So slowly I started crafting my schedule, and slowly I got to moving things around. It's never easy to cancel an ADR that you booked and wanted to do but didn't fit, even when you find something great to replace it. But after a good 2 weeks of fiddling with my schedule, I thought I was set - although not completely satisfied.

For instance, we weren't visiting EPCOT during the day, only in the evenings due to 3 ADRs. Also we were doing DHS back to back, which is not the greatest idea. Luckily by booking a few new ADRs, cancelling others and shuffling 3 half days around, I was done and extremely happy. Until...

The Touring Plans
My schedule was set until I found the Touring Plans. I had heard of touring plans back in 2011 while ready the Unofficial guide to WDW but I thought it was too much trouble, and that I was smart enough to get by on my own, and from what I told you, I was wrong. This year, once again, I read the Unofficial guide to WDW and the Unofficial guide to WDW with kids - I suddenly saw more the value of touring plans. However, I wasn't ready to follow a daily plan that someone else had dictated as the right choice - especially for a family that doesn't ride rollercoasters!

Again, this forum came to my rescue. While discussing the plans, I was made aware of the fact that you could make custom plans and let them optimize it or analyze it only. This seamed like a great solution :)

So I signed up, for only a few dollars, and go to entering my trip details and the attractions and shows we wanted to see. It was WONDERFUL - I actually managed to fit more rides than I thought, I switched some ADRs around to take advantage of Tusker House ROL packages. I was able to maximize my days but without sacrificing our rhythm and our tastes.

I had even prepared my list of FP for the 60 days mark, and with the Touring Plan I was able to better optimize them and get the ones I really wanted.

The only down side, which isn't really related to the Touring plans, is that I measured DS this weekend to see if we would be able to do 40" and up rides, and sadly we won't... he's just about to cross the 38". So I had to accept that we won't do Soarin as family, nor will we do Test Track or Star Tours. I might however try Test Track and Soarin as a single rider :D

The Plan
Without waiting anymore, here is our schedule for the week. Which I hope doesn't change after your feedback ;)

Friday May 19th
Drive from Gatineau to Montreal - we are staying at an hotel beside the airport. They offer parking for the 7 days, which is perfect, as well as the shuttle to the airport.

Saturday May 20th
Flight from Montreal to Orlando at 7:40am
Arrive at resort by noon
Quick lunch and then off to MK for the afternoon.
Return to room for a quick wardrobe change
Off to T-Rex at DS for a 6:15 reservation

Sunday May 21st
Rope drop at MK
QS lunch at BOG
Resort break in the afternoon
AK in the evening
Tusker House reservations and ROL show!

Monday May 22nd
Before rope drop breakfast at Hollywood and Vine with Disney Jr characters
DHS in the morning with QS lunch
Resort break
Epcot in the evening
Chef de France dinner with Illuminations

Tuesday May 23rd
MK at Rope Drop
Lunch at CRT :cool:
Resort Break
Evening at DHS
Dinner at Mama Melrose and Fantasmic (might try to get the Star Wars fireworks :rolleyes:)

Wednesday May 24th
Rope drop at AK
Lunch at Rainforest Café
Resort break
Evening at MK (EMH)
QS dinner and the new Happily Ever After fireworks!!!!

Thursday May 25th
Rope drop at EPCOT (EMH)
QS Lunch
Evening is open depending on our mood
Dinner reservations at Kona Café!

Friday May 26th
Flight from Orlando to Montreal at 11:45 :cry:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Next update will be in about two weeks for the FP+ (wish me luck)
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Enjoyed reading Chapter 3
I have been fortunate to have a family of 4 who all enjoy the trip itself and the planning.
Try not to stress out too much about your plans - do your best and go with it/adjust as you go.
No such thing as a perfect plan.

My only comment on your day by day is your first travel day.
With a 7:45am flight you will have a long day.
Going to MK in the afternoon and going to DS for dinner might be a bit much for you 4 year old.
You know him better that I ever will but just something to consider.

And I hear you on the height thing - we had a meltdown on trip 2 with my girls due to lack of accurate pre measuring.
Not sure if you have done Test Track in its new form but personally I am not a huge fan of the ride on its own.
It is the design your own car then test it it is cool
So if you do Single rider you do not design your own car!! So it may not be worth the wait.
We did single rider once and then never again.

Waiting for the next chapter !!!

Max
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Enjoyed reading Chapter 3
I have been fortunate to have a family of 4 who all enjoy the trip itself and the planning.
Try not to stress out too much about your plans - do your best and go with it/adjust as you go.
No such thing as a perfect plan.

My only comment on your day by day is your first travel day.
With a 7:45am flight you will have a long day.
Going to MK in the afternoon and going to DS for dinner might be a bit much for you 4 year old.
You know him better that I ever will but just something to consider.

And I hear you on the height thing - we had a meltdown on trip 2 with my girls due to lack of accurate pre measuring.
Not sure if you have done Test Track in its new form but personally I am not a huge fan of the ride on its own.
It is the design your own car then test it it is cool
So if you do Single rider you do not design your own car!! So it may not be worth the wait.
We did single rider once and then never again.

Waiting for the next chapter !!!

Max
Thanks for the feedback Max!

Don't worry I won't stress too much with the plan, I'll go with the flow if things changes or if the family is sending me in another direction. In the end we are there to enjoy ourselves.

I'm a little bit worried of the long day on arrival but I'm trying to keep nice and slow. No rushing at MK and it's a 6pm dinner, so we shouldn't get in too late to get a good first night of sleep. Luckily my son is used to being up at 5:30 and going to be around 8:00, the only thing is that he will be napless, but we do have the stroller.
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
QUICK UPDATE
I'm getting really excited about our trip, but it's still 68 days away :cry:
Next big step is booking our FP+ next Tuesday - can't wait to see if we can get all we want and in the timeframe we want!

And after that we play the waiting game... I wish I had more planning to do, it's the best part :D
Maybe the packing list will be on my to do list, even though I've started it already. We bought special t-shirts for me and DW, and a Disney theme shirt for DS for every day of the trip - and DW doesn't know I had bought shirts to cover the whole trip, she thinks it's only two shirts ;).

We also bought a bigger backpack this weekend at Wal-Mart - best $30 I have spent. Lots of room but not too bulky, with great support in the back and on the straps. Whether I liked to admit it, we will need more things for DS than our Disneymoon in 2011...
 

amjt660

Premium Member
QUICK UPDATE
I'm getting really excited about our trip, but it's still 68 days away :cry:
Next big step is booking our FP+ next Tuesday - can't wait to see if we can get all we want and in the timeframe we want!

And after that we play the waiting game... I wish I had more planning to do, it's the best part :D
Maybe the packing list will be on my to do list, even though I've started it already. We bought special t-shirts for me and DW, and a Disney theme shirt for DS for every day of the trip - and DW doesn't know I had bought shirts to cover the whole trip, she thinks it's only two shirts ;).

We also bought a bigger backpack this weekend at Wal-Mart - best $30 I have spent. Lots of room but not too bulky, with great support in the back and on the straps. Whether I liked to admit it, we will need more things for DS than our Disneymoon in 2011...
Can't wait to see pics of 'Matt the pack mule" as he heads off to the parks!!
You might want to hire a sherpa for Animal Kingdom

But seriously yes you will pack more - just don't go overboard - leave the kitchen sink at home

Max
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Can't wait to see pics of 'Matt the pack mule" as he heads off to the parks!!
You might want to hire a sherpa for Animal Kingdom

But seriously yes you will pack more - just don't go overboard - leave the kitchen sink at home

Max
You made my morning - I just imagined my head on a mule posing with Mickey :p

And what if it's a small sink - bathroom size? ;)
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
We are avid backpackers and the one thing that makes or breaks a long trip for us is a good solid shake-down hike. If you load your pack and take it to an all day zoo adventure you'll be able to see exactly where the limit is before you start feeling like a pack mule. Disney World shake down hikes should be a thing, LOL.
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wish me luck - tomorrow is FP+ Day! I hope to get all the ones I want and more importantly, at the right time!

In the meantime, I booked another ADR... Please don't judge, I know I said that they were final a few weeks ago, but I always felt something was missing.

My son loves Winnie the Pooh, he has a stuffed Winnie that he's been sleeping with for more than 3 years. So of course I wanted to book a meal at Crystal Palace. I tried getting a dinner reservation on our second last night for weeks but unable to achieve my goal. Last night while browing the ADR's, just for fun, I noticed a 8:50 spot at Crystal Palace on our first full day, Sunday the 21st. The time wasn't ideal, I would've preferred 8:15, but I booked it anyways - and I'm glad.

Luckily, I was able to switch things around in my Touring Plan to make it work, I only had to cut Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, which wasn't bad since my son's English is still being developped (we are French-Canadians). I will take my TS credit from Mama Melrose for this meal since the value will be better.

It will make that first full day heavy with ADR's, which I was initially trying to avoid at DW's request, but was unable to spread them as I wished - most are in the first 3 days!!! But that day will be fun, Crystal Palace, BOG and Tusker House!

FP update will come later this week :)
 

MomofPrincessGrace

Well-Known Member
Wish me luck - tomorrow is FP+ Day! I hope to get all the ones I want and more importantly, at the right time!

In the meantime, I booked another ADR... Please don't judge, I know I said that they were final a few weeks ago, but I always felt something was missing.

My son loves Winnie the Pooh, he has a stuffed Winnie that he's been sleeping with for more than 3 years. So of course I wanted to book a meal at Crystal Palace. I tried getting a dinner reservation on our second last night for weeks but unable to achieve my goal. Last night while browing the ADR's, just for fun, I noticed a 8:50 spot at Crystal Palace on our first full day, Sunday the 21st. The time wasn't ideal, I would've preferred 8:15, but I booked it anyways - and I'm glad.

Luckily, I was able to switch things around in my Touring Plan to make it work, I only had to cut Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, which wasn't bad since my son's English is still being developped (we are French-Canadians). I will take my TS credit from Mama Melrose for this meal since the value will be better.

It will make that first full day heavy with ADR's, which I was initially trying to avoid at DW's request, but was unable to spread them as I wished - most are in the first 3 days!!! But that day will be fun, Crystal Palace, BOG and Tusker House!

FP update will come later this week :)

We loved Crystal Palace. The food was good, but the atmosphere was amazing. We loved getting to meet all the Pooh Characters, especially Eyore and Piglet. FYI, remember that you can meet Pooh and Tigger in Christopher Robins bedroom at UK in Epcot. We stumbled upon the meet and greet and loved the "set".
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We loved Crystal Palace. The food was good, but the atmosphere was amazing. We loved getting to meet all the Pooh Characters, especially Eyore and Piglet. FYI, remember that you can meet Pooh and Tigger in Christopher Robins bedroom at UK in Epcot. We stumbled upon the meet and greet and loved the "set".
Great to hear - and can't wait to experience it with DS4!

I had hears of the G&M at UK in Epcot but we are doing a few character meals, in order to skip most of the G&M opportunities that eat up so much time. Exceptions will be made for Chewbacca, Buzz and Woody of course ;)
 

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