Pre-Trip Because I'm Driving Myself Crazy...

... and, because I'm chomping at the bit to fast forward to June already, I figured I would post what I have so far for our plans and welcome feedback. DH just isn't as into planning all of this as I am (which annoys me even more, since the trip was actually HIS idea lol) so I feel like I need someone to help me hash out my thoughts so I don't make any newbie mistakes or focus on the wrong things, etc.

Background:
DH and I have been married for 7 years (will be 8 years when we get to WDW, with an arrival right after our anniversary). These last few years have been VERY tough. We've both undergone several changes, including weight loss surgery (between the two of us we have lost about 350 pounds and kept it off), me losing my job and finally finding another one in January, family issues on my side of the family... you get the idea. Nothing so traumatic that we couldn't survive as a couple, but definitely a challenge.

When I found out that I was going to have a full-time job again, we decided that this summer would be a good time to begin trying to start our family. This thought process led my husband to decide that this summer would be a good time to get out and enjoy Disney together, since it would be our last opportunity to do so without kids in the picture (yes, I know WDW is a lot of fun for families with kids, but I also know it's a different experience when it's just two adults in your party).

Plan Basics:
We decided to book for the end of the spring discounts at Pop Century. Cost is still a huge factor here since my pay is being prorated until September... I'm a teacher, so the good news is I now will get paid during the summer, but since I'm working less than half of the year, my monthly pay isn't much more than it was when I was subbing in the fall. We opted to NOT do a dining plan because we figure we won't be eating enough to be worth it... we will probably be bringing protein bars, baggies of almonds, etc with us each day and maybe eating at one or two QS places while in the parks. Breakfast every day will be at the Pop, except for a day when I booked breakfast at 1900 PF on a whim in case we decide we want a character meal. Knowing DH, we will probably end up cancelling that and using that money towards drinks at Epcot or souvenirs, but we'll see!

Rough Sketch:
Here's what I have so far for that week. Eek!

Sunday:
Check in at Pop around lunchtime and head to MK since they have EMH late that night. Trying to decide if we should relax by the pool for a little while before heading that way, or if we need to get to the park as quickly as possible. Thoughts?

Monday:
Planning to sleep in after being at MK until 2 am, so I figured we would probably end up at HS so we can use their evening EMH as well.

Tuesday:
Hopefully we will be at AK by about ten am. Based on suggestions from friends who know my food tastes, we have lunch ressies at Rainforest Café for 2pm. I figure we will probably finish up at AK around 4 and head back to the room to relax for a while before meeting local friends at DTD for a late dinner.

Wednesday:
Epcot, perhaps? And maybe get back to the hotel for the movie under the stars?

Thursday:
As of now, breakfast at 1900 PF. After that, no clue... I figured Thursday and Friday would be our chance to try and revisit some of our faves before we leave.

Friday:
Some local friends are joining us at Epcot in the evening. They have AP's, though, and don't care which park we visit together... I just figured DH and I would want to stay late and enjoy the EMH after they leave... but maybe MK would be a better choice?

Saturday:
Check out and head home.

Feedback is much appreciated! I'm planning to put this all into my account on touringplans to determine which rides to FP+. Our trip is the first week of June and I get to start FP+ this coming Wednesday.

 

[cw1982]

Hmm...

After looking at easy WDW, Touring Plans, and Undercover Tourist, I'm noticing a few things in comparison to my plans:

Sunday:
All three sites seem to discourage MK that day, but Easy WDW does say that during EMH things will be more manageable. Since we have FP+ for the busiest time of day (3 pm-6 pm), I think we'll be okay there if we hit the less popular attractions between FP+ times, eat dinner around 7, and start looking to hit the rides again when the crowds start lining up for parades and fireworks. Looks like the apps that show wait times will be my friend this day

Monday:
My plans: sleep in and then hit HS because of evening EMH
All three sites differ.
Tuesday:
My plans: AK in the morning, DTD that night
TP and UCT both have AK as a good choice for that day, and EWDW has them as a "better" choice. Sounds like this is a relatively sound decision for this day.

Wednesday:
My plans: EC in the morning, ADR for dinner at BoG
TP and EWDW both recommend EC this day, while UCT has them as "neutral." EWDW and UCT both also recommend MK this day, while TP predicts a higher crowd at MK than at EC, but less or equal to AK and HS. Sounds like the EC thing is a good choice, but MK after dinner may be up in the air. DH is going to want to get back to the hotel to relax this day, so I may be able to talk him into hanging out at MK long enough to catch Wishes before we head back. That would give us an hour or two after dinner to ride a few things if it's really not that crowded. Plus, if we do end up relaxing by the pool on Monday instead of doing EMH that night, he may be more likely to want to stay at MK that night anyway

Thursday:
My plans: HS in the morning, dinner at Coral Reef in EC
TP and EWDW agree about these being good picks for this day while UCT has HS as a bad choice but EC as recommended. 2 out of 3 in agreement with my original plan isn't bad, so I'll go with it lol. We probably won't get to EC early enough to do much before dinner, since DH will undoubtedly insist that we go back to the room and freshen up first; however, given that the only form of transportation would be buses anyway, and we are celebrating out anniversary, I have no qualms with that, as opposed to our Wednesday plans when we will already be in EC and heading to MK would be oh so much easier if we skip the trip to the room and just hop on the monorail. I'll discuss this with DH that morning LOL... if we discuss it now, he'll just get annoyed.

Friday (here's where I could really use some extra perspective):
My plans: MK in the morning, EC at night
Here's my biggest crux: While all three sites seem to agree about MK being a good start of the day, EWDW and UCT discourage EC this day. TP has them as equal to MK. The only thing that makes me lean towards TP's recommendations on this one is that we are planning to do EC primarily for WS that night, NOT for FW's headliner rides. The explanation on EWDW says that TT and Soarin' will be pretty much over an hour wait until right before closing, but since we're going there more for the ambiance of WS, I'm thinking we may be okay there. I hope. I would hate to end our time at WDW on a sour note by having everything be too crowded to enjoy it. Of course, with Epcot closing at 9 every other day and us primarily wanting to enjoy WS for the prospect of sampling a drink or two and snacking throughout the evening, even if it's a little more crowded, Friday's evening EMH still seem like the best choice for this activity (the $35 'Wind Down" package is not a good choice for us... I can't eat and drink at the same time; besides, being tied to one lounge hardly seems like the same experience as being able to walk around and go where we want). Also, EWDW acted like the fireworks show would be more crowded, but this almost doesn't make sense to me, since it's done over the water and all of WS surrounds the water; is there really a "bad" place to watch that show?!?

Sorry that got so long. I hope no one minds that I'm using this space to kind of "hash out" my thoughts... it's the best way I can think of to sort through it all. Thanks for following!

 

[FlaggNL]

Plans look marvelous! Although the planning is mostly American I guess! We will be in WDW in October and all we planned is 6 days Disney parks 2 days Universal and 9 days staying in a villa with a car For the rest we go with the flow

 

[cw1982]

Plans look marvelous! Although the planning is mostly American I guess! We will be in WDW in October and all we planned is 6 days Disney parks 2 days Universal and 9 days staying in a villa with a car For the rest we go with the flow

Thanks

Wow, that's some trip you have planned! I'm not generally the type to plan everything either, but as much as things fill up at WDW (from what I hear), and with this trip being such a rarity for us, I just didn't want to risk missing out on something that we would have wanted. And, honestly, these are all rough sketches of what we think we'll do; if something ends up changing last-minute, no big deal.

 

[cw1982]

Well... I'm so stinking, excited, it's not even cute!

1. I just decided to rearrange my FP+ for MK on our first day because our first ride of the day was going to be Space Mountain, assuming that we got there just in time to use our first FP+ before doing anything else. I decided to reorder them so that Peter Pan is now first (3:40-4:40), followed by Space Mountain (4:40-5:40), and then BTMRR (5:45-6:45). Yeah, I know those are back-to back, but my theory is that, since these are all one-hour windows, we need to get through them as quickly as possible in case there is a chance of being able to book more FP+ when we use the first three and the hour window should still allow time for walking around, etc, between rides. Even if not, though, I figured if something goes wrong and we don't make it to MK in time for our first FP+, I'd rather have to hit Peter Pan later with a possible 30-minute-or-so wait once FL starts to clear out than try to find my way onto Space Mountain without a FP+ or a super long line lol.
2. I saw on a thread here on WDWMagic that someone called Disney in advance and had a notation put on their ADR's about a birthday in their group. I figured, what the heck... it's our anniversary. I already had the notation on our room reservations, but on a hunch I called today to see if the note was also on our ADR's, since I made those well after I put the original note on our account. Sure enough, it wasn't there and has now been added. Not sure if it'll make a difference, but it would be cool if having this scored us a better table at Coral Reef or a free cupcake at BoG... lol. Not expecting anything in particular, but still.

I'll add here that we are staying with friends the night before we check in so that we can get up refreshed, spend some time with them, and maybe go to lunch before we arrive at the Pop, but we may want to walk around the hotel and check things out before we head out for the afternoon, and I don't want to feel like we can't do that just because we have to make it to MK in a rush to get to a certain ride.​

What's really hilarious is that Touring Plans keeps insisting that we'll get everything done that we want to do by midnight or so if we arrive at about 7 pm. I really have no interest in waiting until that late to get there because I do want to allow extra time for eating, meeting a character or two (as we see fit), and any other reason we end up not following that schedule. I didn't make the schedule so that we would be locked into it; I really did it moreso to see if we could realistically do everything I think we'll want in the time I'm allowing, and it looks like we'll have plenty of time, even if TP is only halfway right.
​

Sigh... 47 says feels like eternity right now! That's how long we have until we check-in!

 

[BigTxEars]

I think you are going to have a "excitement" overload if you are not careful

As you know we are 1 day apart in our trips. I am kinda in the eye of the storm so to speak. All the planning and paying is done. I am pretty calm right now. When we get within 14 days or so I will get fired back up!

Well honestly at around 30 days out we are having a MB unboxing night at the house

 

[cw1982]

I think you are going to have a "excitement" overload if you are not careful

As you know we are 1 day apart in our trips. I am kinda in the eye of the storm so to speak. All the planning and paying is done. I am pretty calm right now. When we get within 14 days or so I will get fired back up!

Well honestly at around 30 days out we are having a MB unboxing night at the house

Hah! You seem to know me too well already!

I think this trip just has me so psyched because, on some level, I never in a million years thought DH would be voluntarily going to WDW with me, especially as his own idea! And I think part of it, too, is that in some way, it signifies the real start of the next chapter of our lives, since I'll be coming off of my birth control pills right before the trip.

We've got all the major planning done, all the paying that we're going to do up front is done. We'll be charging up the credit card to pay for food, alcohol, and incidentals, but I'm working an extra week this summer soon after our trip, so I'll be able to pay that off with minimal interest accruing on it; well worth the temporary debt IMO.

A 30-day out MB unboxing night? Sounds fantastic! Wish I had thought of that... LOL. My first picture of those was actually a friend posting a picture of theirs on Facebook, and I got a little too excited about it.

And honestly, I think part of the reason I'm allowing myself to obsess over this trip is because things are a bit rough at work right now (we're in the hardest time of the school year, between finals, standardized tests, prom, graduation, my seniors who might not get to graduate, and all the paperwork that comes with the end of the year, not to mention finding out slowly but surely who all is going to be getting to return next year), and focusing on this trip is giving me an out when I get stressed about all of that.

 

[BigTxEars]

Hah! You seem to know me too well already!

I think this trip just has me so psyched because, on some level, I never in a million years thought DH would be voluntarily going to WDW with me, especially as his own idea! And I think part of it, too, is that in some way, it signifies the real start of the next chapter of our lives, since I'll be coming off of my birth control pills right before the trip.

We've got all the major planning done, all the paying that we're going to do up front is done. We'll be charging up the credit card to pay for food, alcohol, and incidentals, but I'm working an extra week this summer soon after our trip, so I'll be able to pay that off with minimal interest accruing on it; well worth the temporary debt IMO.

A 30-day out MB unboxing night? Sounds fantastic! Wish I had thought of that... LOL. My first picture of those was actually a friend posting a picture of theirs on Facebook, and I got a little too excited about it.

And honestly, I think part of the reason I'm allowing myself to obsess over this trip is because things are a bit rough at work right now (we're in the hardest time of the school year, between finals, standardized tests, prom, graduation, my seniors who might not get to graduate, and all the paperwork that comes with the end of the year, not to mention finding out slowly but surely who all is going to be getting to return next year), and focusing on this trip is giving me an out when I get stressed about all of that.

Uh oh it's gonna be baby time soon

LOL our first two were "unplanned" but both occurs while using birth control so I guess they were meant to be I still give them a hard time about being "Accidents" though

The third kiddo was planned, he will be 12 this year.

My wife works in eduction (elementary level) so I kinda get what you are saying about the time of the year. We leave the day after school gets out here

The MB unboxing is geared towards our fifth traveller. She has never been to WDW and is super excited. She is my daughters friend, she is a little shy and I want her to feel like part of family this trip. We watched Frozen together at our house (her first time seeing it), I bought her a Disney princess lanyard when I was at MCO in March on business, and I think the MB unboxing with her at the house will kinda round everything out. We are also watching Tangled that night But we also have some MB attachments I picked up at MCO so I am looking forward to putting them on the bands.

How Disney nerdy am I ?

 

[cw1982]

Uh oh it's gonna be baby time soon

LOL our first two were "unplanned" but both occurs while using birth control so I guess they were meant to be I still give them a hard time about being "Accidents" though

The third kiddo was planned, he will be 12 this year.

My wife works in eduction (elementary level) so I kinda get what you are saying about the time of the year. We leave the day after school gets out here

The MB unboxing is geared towards our fifth traveller. She has never been to WDW and is super excited. She is my daughters friend, she is a little shy and I want her to feel like part of family this trip. We watched Frozen together at our house (her first time seeing it), I bought her a Disney princess lanyard when I was at MCO in March on business, and I think the MB unboxing with her at the house will kinda round everything out. We are also watching Tangled that night But we also have some MB attachments I picked up at MCO so I am looking forward to putting them on the bands.

How Disney nerdy am I ?

I hope it'll be baby time soon! I've been waiting patiently for "baby time" for almost 8 years now... lol.

Glad you understand the whole teacher thing... some people just think I'm crazy when I mention who batty things get this time of year. Morale is a bit low at our school too, so that just makes things worse.

I think it's great that you're helping your daughter's friend to branch out a little! She's going to have a blast!

Eh, you may be a tad nerdy, but in a good way. lol

 

[BigTxEars]

I hope it'll be baby time soon! I've been waiting patiently for "baby time" for almost 8 years now... lol.

Glad you understand the whole teacher thing... some people just think I'm crazy when I mention who batty things get this time of year. Morale is a bit low at our school too, so that just makes things worse.

I think it's great that you're helping your daughter's friend to branch out a little! She's going to have a blast!

Eh, you may be a tad nerdy, but in a good way. lol

Yeah I lean towards the nerdy side for sure. Disney, WWII history, and fantasy books and games are my norms

I hope you have as many babies as you want I suggest stopping at three, the little boogers are expensive. Although honestly in a matter of years we will be going to WDW alone, no kids. That's gonna be WERID! One of the reasons I am doing the WS wind down is to test those WDW waters without kids

Weird I know but we are going to have to ease into not having anybody to yell at while we eat dinner

 

[cw1982]

Yeah I lean towards the nerdy side for sure. Disney, WWII history, and fantasy books and games are my norms

I hope you have as many babies as you want I suggest stopping at three, the little boogers are expensive. Although honestly in a matter of years we will be going to WDW alone, no kids. That's gonna be WERID! One of the reasons I am doing the WS wind down is to test those WDW waters without kids

Weird I know but we are going to have to ease into not having anybody to yell at while we eat dinner

Lol! Too funny

I just hope that DH and I can eventually be financially secure enough to be able to afford to go back to WDW when our kids are old enough to enjoy it. Right now that would never happen lol... but in the fall my pay monthly income will double (thanks to my salary being prorated right now due to my being unemployed at the start of the year) and DH will hopefully be changing professions soon, which will mean a pay cut but might mean lots of discounts on meals at local places as a cop LOL... plus then we wouldn't need childcare as often between me being off for breaks and him working odd hours. So maybe us being able to provide this for our kids later will be more realistic than I think.

In the meantime, I can't wait to celebrate! I honestly never would have thought all of this would be possible two years ago!

 

[BigTxEars]

Lol! Too funny

I just hope that DH and I can eventually be financially secure enough to be able to afford to go back to WDW when our kids are old enough to enjoy it. Right now that would never happen lol... but in the fall my pay monthly income will double (thanks to my salary being prorated right now due to my being unemployed at the start of the year) and DH will hopefully be changing professions soon, which will mean a pay cut but might mean lots of discounts on meals at local places as a cop LOL... plus then we wouldn't need childcare as often between me being off for breaks and him working odd hours. So maybe us being able to provide this for our kids later will be more realistic than I think.

In the meantime, I can't wait to celebrate! I honestly never would have thought all of this would be possible two years ago!

Oh no doubt. We did not go to WDW until our youngest was 8, and that was by the skin of our teeth that we were able to afford it. We can afford (even after sending Obama yet more tax money today!!!!) to go now but we cut back on other stuff to afford it. I am blessed to get pretty nice bonuses at work which help pay for our trips now. Same way we paid for DVC this year. I would not have guessed we would have been able to purchase two DVC contracts ever much less in a single year when we first went to WDW. Things can happen

If you can not afford to go at first after having kids you will at some point be able too. In fact I am of the opinion that taking kids to WDW really makes more sense after they are at least 3-4 years old. So after the baby you have 3 or 4 years to save up to go to WDW

 

[cw1982]

Oh no doubt. We did not go to WDW until our youngest was 8, and that was by the skin of our teeth that we were able to afford it. We can afford (even after sending Obama yet more tax money today!!!!) to go now but we cut back on other stuff to afford it. I am blessed to get pretty nice bonuses at work which help pay for our trips now. Same way we paid for DVC this year. I would not have guessed we would have been able to purchase two DVC contracts ever much less in a single year when we first went to WDW. Things can happen

If you can not afford to go at first after having kids you will at some point be able too. In fact I am of the opinion that taking kids to WDW really makes more sense after they are at least 3-4 years old. So after the baby you have 3 or 4 years to save up to go to WDW

Yeah, I definitely want to wait until our kids are old enough to remember most of the trip and to not need to be carried or rolled around in strollers half the day lol. Nothing wrong with it for those who choose to take younger kids; I just don't think that would be our style

I'll definitely be saving up as soon as we can afford to start... for Disney trips and other things!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks

Wow, that's some trip you have planned! I'm not generally the type to plan everything either, but as much as things fill up at WDW (from what I hear), and with this trip being such a rarity for us, I just didn't want to risk missing out on something that we would have wanted. And, honestly, these are all rough sketches of what we think we'll do; if something ends up changing last-minute, no big deal.

I understand that if you wanna enjoy WDW at the most and want to see almost everything you have to plan.... But we will see where it ends and if there is a lot we can't do this October trip we have to come back next year

 

[cw1982]

Only 11 more days until our MB customization window closes! That means we're almost into that 30-day countdown window... eek!

I think I've decided to quit trying to change my ADR for BoG. The more I think about it, having that 6:05 time is actually good because then we should finish dinner by 7 or 7:30 and can spend some time at MK of hop on the monorail and go back to Epcot if we didn't get everything done before dinner that we wanted to do. If dinner was later, that wouldn't be as much of an option... so now that I think of it in those terms, this is perfect.

The only thing I'm wondering about now: how is 7DMT going to impact our time at MK? Anyone else think the MK is going to be that much more of a zoo this summer because of this ride being opened?

 

[FlaggNL]

Maybe you are right about the 7DMT..... I guess a lot of people want to take the ride! But on the otherhand people plan there trips with or without 7DMT..... So dont know what is normal for the time of year you are there.........

 

[rani8600]

The only thing I'm wondering about now: how is 7DMT going to impact our time at MK? Anyone else think the MK is going to be that much more of a zoo this summer because of this ride being opened?

I wouldnt think that the 7DMT will impact your plans too much. That ride will of course have a line but ppl trying to ride it may decrease the waits elsewhere.

 

[cw1982]

I wouldnt think that the 7DMT will impact your plans too much. That ride will of course have a line but ppl trying to ride it may decrease the waits elsewhere.

That's what I'm hoping

 

[cw1982]

Maybe you are right about the 7DMT..... I guess a lot of people want to take the ride! But on the otherhand people plan there trips with or without 7DMT..... So dont know what is normal for the time of year you are there.........

Yeah it'll be busy no matter what, and you're right that people plan their trips regardless. It'll definitely be interesting to see how it goes!

 

[cw1982]

Um, holy cow!

So, now that WDW has modified the FP+ policy officially, with date for the changes, we know that we'll be able to add extra FP+ after our first three. In my mind, this can change our plans fairly significantly:

We may now only need one day at HS. The whole reason I had planned for two days originally was so we could experience both RnC and TSMM without asinine waits. Now, I'm toying with the idea of trading in that RnC FP+ on our first HS day for a TSMM, and then either hoping we can get a RnC FP+ later or maybe just riding it later in the evening, either during the first Fantasmic or after the second one, since we'll be there for EMH that night... Touring Plans estimates that after 9 pm, the wait for RnC drops to about 30 minutes and stays there until closing. If that works out, we won't need the second day at HS, and I figure we should still be able to get some decent fast passes at either Epcot or MK for that Thursday. We have dinner plans in Epcot that Thursday night, but Friday night is also when we're planning to tour WS with friends who have AP's... so I guess we'll have to play that by ear. Maybe Thursday could become a "lounge by the pool until lunch" day, and then we could go to Epcot a few hours before dinner and focus on some of the more relaxing attractions Then we might not be in as big of a hurry to leave MK to get to Epcot on Friday. Hmm...

Also, I finally slid in a discussion about whether or not we really need to go back to the hotel and shower before dinner at BoG. DH was the one who acted like we needed to freshen up first, when my idea was always to be able to hop over to MK on the monorail after being in Epcot during the day. When I mentioned this again tonight, he said, "well, why don't we just stay at Epcot all day until time to head to MK?" Sigh...

38 days to go! But who is counting?

 

[cw1982]

Update!

I got my luggage tags, package coupons, and info booklet today! I'm a bit too excited!

And, as DH pointed out, our luggage is American Tourister brand, which is apparently the official brand of WDW... lol! Not sure where he got that from, other than their logo being on the luggage tags, but I'm glad to see him getting into this!