Pre-Trip Family Return to WDW - Take 2

As some of you may recall, we were supposed to return to WDW in July of 2020. It would have been the first time the whole family has set foot on property since December 2017 and it was going to be a surprise for our girls. Check in day was supposed to be July 11th, the same day the parks started reopening, but I had no desire to be part of the reopening process. So, we canceled and wound up going on a road trip that took us from TX through AR, TN, NC, GA, AL, MS, and LA. If you think that sound crazy, you should see the map of the trip I want to do this summer!

I'm going to try and break the PTR down section by section rather than just through it all out there. I don't know why, but I'm choosing to start with...

LODGING
In any event, we pushed our WDW plans to February and made it one big family planning event. Seriously, we probably watched 50 resort room videos and I was still left to decide on the winner. I wasn't even sure what was going to be open, but the finalists were 1. a studio villa at the Poly 2. a Lion King suite at AOA (this was the decor they liked best) or 3. connecting rooms at CBR. And this is where it gets kind of crazy.

This is what I picked for our lodging...

(not my picture)

Yes, it's a Poly studio villa, but don't get too excited...I didn't stick with these plans. I was already off to a bad start when my parents opted to go with the GF, since they do not care for the Poly. When the Poly construction was announced and I realized monorail service to Epcot probably still wasn't going to be a thing in February, I decided to go big. The kids were bothered about no rain style shower, but we're getting one installed in our master bath at home...so, they'll get over it!

(also not my pictures)

So, I switched us to a 1 bedroom villa at OKW. I know...it wasn't on our list! I wasn't optimistic about bus service or boat service resuming to Disney Springs, but this is going to be a road trip, so having my vehicle and all of this space for the price seemed like a great option. The kids were a little bit sad because they like being MK area, but when they saw the size of the room, they quickly came around to the idea and really liked the jetted tub. We had one in our old house and recently put one into their renovated bathroom, so they've become quite the bath and shower connoisseurs. The only thing...I wasn't sold on it and had plans to change if a decent discount was offered to get us into a 1 bedroom at BWV. If it were for a regular resort room I'd be all over BC, but I don't like the BCV decor as much. Sure, YC was an option, but after our 2012 stay, I was asked to skip it for future trips. BWV also seemed like a good plan for getting to HS to try and get a RotR boarding pass (before they changed the process to 7am).

(definitely not my picture)

I was actually a little bit late to the game when discounts hit. I mean, it was still probably same day, but I wasn't ready at the crack of dawn. Consequently, the phone wait time was 2+ hours (heard it was more like 4). I couldn't spend my whole work day waiting on hold with Disney, so I did what I've found in the past to be the easiest thing to do. Book a whole new reservation and then cancel the first one. Sure, it's a game of deposits, but it's better than sitting on hold. In the end, it was still more than a discounted villa at OKW, but everyone seems happier with the location. In fact, my parents...who did not make the shift to OKW with me, were good with BWV and also booked a 1 bedroom there for themselves. Sounds like it was cheaper than their room at the GF. I had thought about upgrading to a 2 bedroom at OKW instead, since many of you know about my husband's snoring, but BWV seemed like the better option...and I'll just try and cram an air mattress into the room so I can sleep in peace! Oh, and while this also didn't make the list, this was where we were supposed to stay over the summer...well, in regular room. So, it's kind of fitting.

This also gave me a chance to have some fun with my younger daughter...the one who hates clowns.

I had told her that Luna Park's slide was under construction and nobody knew what was going to happen with the clown. When the end results were revealed (which are really kind of blah, IMO), I decided to play a trick on her and show her a pic from a previous trip. I told her that the clown was just refreshed and is open for business.

(This is my picture!)

At first, she got all mad. When I showed her the actual renovation updates with the new school Mickey and friends, she was not a fan and said they should have kept the slide! Wow! And that's coming from a serious clown hater!

Coming up...I discuss dining and cake possibilities, the who's and what's kind of stuff, and some other little things.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I bet they'll do fine! They'll probably try harder to behave so they don't lose the privilege of the freedom. Maybe they can take turns picking attractions, to prevent any arguing. Or are there are certain rides one of them doesn't like? I could see that causing problems...

I agree that freedom will be incentive to behave. The biggest issue would be Tower of Terror. Kendall has been on it once and will never ride it again. Sam loves it and I will tolerate it for her so she doesn't have to ride alone. So, we'll probably need to plan that out in advance if they want to split from us in that park. I see potential for a few issues in MK, but nothing quite as significant.

 

[RememberWhen]

I love the matching shirts! We always try to have matching shirts too, but the age ranges and Disney’s inability to make kid and adult shirts that match (why?!) makes is hard. Plus I’m NOT a fan of the new style Mickey and friends and all the 2021 stuff has them!

Maybe I’ll have to find time to make matching shirts for our October trip. We’ve had some tie-dye successes and that’s always a fun summer activity.

 

[Songbird76]

Yeah, I think that's it in a nutshell. Every kid is different. Some need true adult presence for comfort and/or supervision, some just want it, and some are looking to try out a little bit of independence. While we can't allow as much due to Covid concerns, we have been trying to give them some safer options locally so they start developing a better sense of things. The older one is ticked off because I don't want her going to the movies with friends over the weekend, but that hours sitting inside with everyone removing masks to eat popcorn and drink soda. Thankfully, they usually just want to go sit outside on the patio at Starbucks and have crazy coffees.

The fighting really is the concern. They come by it naturally. My brother and I fought like crazy when we were growing up. Unlike us though, the girls are closer in age and the same gender, so when things are good between them...it's like they're best friends. When we first moved here and had more free time, the girls used to go out for bike rides on our greenbelts...the same ones I use for running and walking. Some days, it was fine...and some days I'd get frantic calls and texts from the older one because the younger one rode off without her. The younger one is a real speed demon and is not one for a leisurely ride like the older one, so it shouldn't shock me, but it's what I'm thinking about with them in the parks.

Still, with Festival of the Arts going on Epcot, I think the adults will probably devote the afternoon to food and drink in the World Showcase and let the kids focus on rides. So, they can choose to get along, or be bored out of their skulls tagging along with us!

My brother and I are 15 months apart, and he's older so he always felt like he was in charge of me, even if mom didn't tell him he was. He could be really awful. We were on vacation and when we got to the motel, we were thirsty, so we asked if we could get a soda from the vending machine. We were not well off, and mom only had enough for one soda, so she gave the money to my brother with the instructions that we had to share, so we had to get something we both liked. My brother was wanting to lose weight, so he only wanted diet soda, which I didn't like. He just put the money in, got the diet soda, and told me if I didn't want to drink it, that was my problem. And my mom didn't do anything about it. He'd steal my food at restaurants by pretending to see something and say "Oh look!!" then when I'd look away, he'd take some of my food. We fought like cats and dogs growing up and mom always sided with him because he was older. I guess that might be part of why I don't ever put E in charge of A. It's not fair to her to have to be responsible for him, and it's not fair to him if she abuses that power. I HATED it when my brother did stuff like that. When we were in high school, we got really close and were like best friends a lot of the time, but up until I was maybe a sophomore and he was a junior, we were at each other's throats. I don't want my kids to be like that.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yeah, the European offers make it a completely different story. If I was in the states, I'd just pay out of pocket, too, because the dining plan isn't really worth it since we end up with a ton of credits left. But the first time I went to book on property, there was no option for room only. It automatically popped me over to the UK site, and I couldn't access the American version. You couldn't buy everything separately and you couldn't get tickets for fewer than 7 days. You had to get a package deal that included the dining plan for free and came with 14 day ultimate tickets for the price of 7. (Ultimate tickets are park hoppers that also include park hopping to the water parks. You didn't have to use a day's ticket only for the waterpark...you could go to a water park and to one of the 4 main parks on the same day's ticket) I had previously been able to access the American site and had priced everything out separately and it ended up cheaper for us to stay 10 days at CBR than it would have been to stay at All-Star Music for 5 days, plus we had access to the water parks and got 2 passes for mini golf. So that's what I booked. Then in 2019, I waited for that same deal and booked for both my brother's family and mine. I kind of like not having to worry about how much the meals cost, or what I order, but I think we'd come out cheaper without the dining plan if it wasn't included in the package. Unless you eat nothing but steak, meals are cheaper than what the dining plan charges. But I DO like that buffets are covered in that, because those are typically more expensive. On our 2016 trip when the kids were 8 and 10, we did a TON of character dining, which is more expensive. I felt like we could do it because it was already paid for. If we wouldn't have had the dining plan, we wouldn't have done as many TS meals, and certainly not all the character things. And if we were in the US, we wouldn't be eligible for the Ultimate tickets, so we'd just get park hoppers and we wouldn't get water park tickets. Overall, the European deal is way better...we get everything. We just have to pay more, because we also have to buy international flights so it all kind of evens out in the end. But I totally understand you not wanting the dining plan. It's not worth it for most people.

I'm tired...I looked at this and read my reply to you and thought that was it. I need more sleep!

I have one friend who swears by the dining plan. Says it really works for their family. I have another who knows she'd probably pay less OOP, but they'd rather pay for the plan than avoid all of the feelings you get when paying the bill vs. having credits deducted. Still, these things work for them, so I chalk it up to there being many ways to do Disney right. Character dining does tend to help balance things out if you're on the plan. I'm not a huge fan of buffets, so that also helps with those OOP costs. Still, you pretty much reaffirm my belief that you guys get better deals. I'm sure it's partly because Disney knows how much you're sinking into air and it becomes a bit of a loss leader. Either way, glad someone can benefit from some of it.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I love the matching shirts! We always try to have matching shirts too, but the age ranges and Disney’s inability to make kid and adult shirts that match (why?!) makes is hard. Plus I’m NOT a fan of the new style Mickey and friends and all the 2021 stuff has them!

Maybe I’ll have to find time to make matching shirts for our October trip. We’ve had some tie-dye successes and that’s always a fun summer activity.

I believe that's part of why I went for tie dye that year. Sizing can make it a real challenge, unless you've got a person on Etsy who offers a decent deal on a family package of shirts. I had these made for our 2012 trip because I found an ebay person who'd do fairly reasonable custom family shirts. I think these were my favorites...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

LITTLE UPDATE

I was up the other night, unable to sleep, and I found a DFB email talking about Festival of the Arts. I completely forgot it would coincide with our dates. As I perused the menus (around 1am), I realized that we may want to make that lunch and dinner for the day. I was already not really feeling things with Teppan Edo and the though of dressing up and driving over to Narcoosee's also was sounding less and less appealing. We discussed Shula's, since it's walking distance and Yachtsman isn't open, but after seeing the festival menus and my dad agreeing...this is the plan. So, I canceled both ADRs last night.

I also called Boardwalk to see if they had started doing custom cakes again, since I know YC/BC's bakery is...nope, nothing at BW. I've decided to just go with Amorette's. I haven't had their cakes since 2016, but what I remember was incredible. Not to bash the Disney bakery cakes, since they are fun and very well done...but the flavors and the textures of the Amorette's cake was WOW. For those of you who didn't see it, this was K's 2016 Amorette's cake.

I would like to get two cakes...one for my mom and one for David. My dad thinks this would be too much, but two people...two milestone birthdays...two flavor options. I think I NEED two cakes. Before all of this, my dad said Minnie or Elastagirl. Minnie is an Amorette's option, so that's easy enough. I asked David last night which character was his favorite out of the Fab 5 and that's where things get difficult. I really thought he'd say Pluto, but he said he considers Pluto to be a side character and not a main character. OK...don't want him to get a cake of anything he deems less than the others. He ended up deciding on Mickey...but it was like "I guess that's what I'd choose if that's my only options." Sorry...no Stitch at Amorette's. I feel odd having Mickey and Minnie cakes, when these are for my mom and husband...like my mom's cake shouldn't be my husband's cake girlfriend. On the flipside, it would be really visually appealing to have those cakes side by side. I'm also going to ask if they can personalize them, like we did for Kendall's...but I may also buy some age toppers to put in after I pick up the cakes. We'll see.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm tired...I looked at this and read my reply to you and thought that was it. I need more sleep!

I have one friend who swears by the dining plan. Says it really works for their family. I have another who knows she'd probably pay less OOP, but they'd rather pay for the plan than avoid all of the feelings you get when paying the bill vs. having credits deducted. Still, these things work for them, so I chalk it up to there being many ways to do Disney right. Character dining does tend to help balance things out if you're on the plan. I'm not a huge fan of buffets, so that also helps with those OOP costs. Still, you pretty much reaffirm my belief that you guys get better deals. I'm sure it's partly because Disney knows how much you're sinking into air and it becomes a bit of a loss leader. Either way, glad someone can benefit from some of it.

Yeah, I think that's the thing...they would lose most of their overseas guests without the deals because not many can afford Disney prices PLUS international airfare. I feel kind of bad that we get better deals, especially since there are a lot of people in the US who can't afford Disney prices either.

 

[RememberWhen]

Two cakes are better than one cake.

 

[Songbird76]

Two cakes are better than one cake.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Two cakes are better than one cake.

I agree.

At one point, I was considering THREE If you've seen my sketches before, you know this is a really REALLY rough sketch for me, but I was trying to get a vision to paper before I totally lost it. If I stuck with my plan to work with a Disney bakery, I would have made a better sketch. LOL

Still, I think two cakes from Amorette's is a good plan. The cakes are significantly cheaper, I know they taste great, and if I'm going to have some...it might as well be really good cake.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Still no Magic Bands or shipment notification...MDE still just showing an order for three bands...and now it's also showing I can order MBs for our trip...again. The only plus of this is that I was able to see the one I ordered for myself...that may never show up.

See...holidayish and wintery...but not overly Christmasy...at least on this side.

I guess I'll call AGAIN tomorrow if I see nothing happen today. I'm not optimistic.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Today has been a better Disney day...

1. I got an email around 4am that my new Magic Band order has shipped. It's still showing up all wonky on my MDE account, and it has the same status as my bands shipped on Dec 10th, but I'm going to try and be optimistic. This is at least progress.

2. I decided to try calling the GF's standard cake line yesterday. It gave me the option of leaving a message, but said that the voicemails aren't being checked on a regular basis and gave me another number to call if I wanted a cake. So, I tried that, and plugged in option 2 for cake orders and it just rang and eventually said my call could not go through. I tried this about 6x over the course of the last day. Frustrating, BUT decided to try option 1 instead for actual private dining and that worked. I was put directly through to the bakery and confirmed something that had been floating around on another forum...the GF bakery is currently handling cakes for other resorts. So, they'll make my cake and deliver it to Boardwalk! Sweet!!! (literally and figuratively)

It occurred to me that my dad's bday is just a little over a week before the trip. So, it felt kind of unfair to give the others cake and not have one for him. So, I decided on three mini cakes and I'm going to leave it up to the pastry chefs on who they want to jazz them up.

Cake 1- Stitch theme- blue buttercream/chocolate cake/50 somewhere on it
Cake 2- Elastagirl theme- red buttercream/vanilla cake/70 somewhere on it
Cake 3- Captain Hook- black buttercream/chocolate cake

Now I'm just waiting on them to call me back to get my payment info. I at least have the bakery contact's number if I don't hear anything today.

So this is a good...a good Disney day

 

[RememberWhen]

Today has been a better Disney day...

1. I got an email around 4am that my new Magic Band order has shipped. It's still showing up all wonky on my MDE account, and it has the same status as my bands shipped on Dec 10th, but I'm going to try and be optimistic. This is at least progress.

2. I decided to try calling the GF's standard cake line yesterday. It gave me the option of leaving a message, but said that the voicemails aren't being checked on a regular basis and gave me another number to call if I wanted a cake. So, I tried that, and plugged in option 2 for cake orders and it just rang and eventually said my call could not go through. I tried this about 6x over the course of the last day. Frustrating, BUT decided to try option 1 instead for actual private dining and that worked. I was put directly through to the bakery and confirmed something that had been floating around on another forum...the GF bakery is currently handling cakes for other resorts. So, they'll make my cake and deliver it to Boardwalk! Sweet!!! (literally and figuratively)

It occurred to me that my dad's bday is just a little over a week before the trip. So, it felt kind of unfair to give the others cake and not have one for him. So, I decided on three mini cakes and I'm going to leave it up to the pastry chefs on who they want to jazz them up.

Cake 1- Stitch theme- blue buttercream/chocolate cake/50 somewhere on it
Cake 2- Elastagirl theme- red buttercream/vanilla cake/70 somewhere on it
Cake 3- Captain Hook- black buttercream/chocolate cake

Now I'm just waiting on them to call me back to get my payment info. I at least have the bakery contact's number if I don't hear anything today.

So this is a good...a good Disney day

Yay! 3 cakes are better than 2! (Just FYI, 4 cakes are better than 3, in case you’re thinking about another...)

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yay! 3 cakes are better than 2! (Just FYI, 4 cakes are better than 3, in case you’re thinking about another...)

Honestly...I was so close to getting everyone their own cake! 6 cakes! I talked myself out of it when I realized that Sam's favorite character can't be put on a cake. So, that was my sign that I needed to just stop at 3.

 

[Songbird76]

Honestly...I was so close to getting everyone their own cake! 6 cakes! I talked myself out of it when I realized that Sam's favorite character can't be put on a cake. So, that was my sign that I needed to just stop at 3.

I'm confused...what would make a character unable to be put on a cake?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm confused...what would make a character unable to be put on a cake?

Yup. There are some characters, like Winnie the Pooh & Friends that are completely off limits. They have absolutely no rights to do anything with them on cakes. Other characters have licensing issues come and go. Ex. issue with the Avengers, Muppets and Star Wars stuff here and there. They are also only able to use approved images or molds of what they can do. So, let's say I want Donald Duck...I have to go with either their approved 3D white chocolate molded sculpture, something conceptual that doesn't involve them sculpting a character, or an edible image from their library of approved images. If I want a special image, I may be able to get it, but you have to put in a request pretty early and wait to see if it is approved, which can take at least 30 days.

 

[Songbird76]

Yup. There are some characters, like Winnie the Pooh & Friends that are completely off limits. They have absolutely no rights to do anything with them on cakes. Other characters have licensing issues come and go. Ex. issue with the Avengers, Muppets and Star Wars stuff here and there. They are also only able to use approved images or molds of what they can do. So, let's say I want Donald Duck...I have to go with either their approved 3D white chocolate molded sculpture, something conceptual that doesn't involve them sculpting a character, or an edible image from their library of approved images. If I want a special image, I may be able to get it, but you have to put in a request pretty early and wait to see if it is approved, which can take at least 30 days.

Wow...I never knew they couldn't use Winnie the Pooh on cakes. They have Winnie the Pooh everything else, so it doesn't really make sense, but ok.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Wow...I never knew they couldn't use Winnie the Pooh on cakes. They have Winnie the Pooh everything else, so it doesn't really make sense, but ok.

On the surface, it looks like they have rights to all of this stuff, but I suspect that these things are spread out legally beneath the surface and are full of red tape. They have so many rules.

 

[Songbird76]

On the surface, it looks like they have rights to all of this stuff, but I suspect that these things are spread out legally beneath the surface and are full of red tape. They have so many rules.

It's kind of sad really, because Disney's target "audience" is families. Families with small children who might love Winnie the Pooh and not understand laws regarding trademarks and copyrights. To them, Tigger is a real person, and they get to meet him at Disney...but then they can't have his picture on their cake? It's not very logical. I didn't know there were so many restrictions on that. I figured Disney characters on Disney property should be fine.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It's kind of sad really, because Disney's target "audience" is families. Families with small children who might love Winnie the Pooh and not understand laws regarding trademarks and copyrights. To them, Tigger is a real person, and they get to meet him at Disney...but then they can't have his picture on their cake? It's not very logical. I didn't know there were so many restrictions on that. I figured Disney characters on Disney property should be fine.

Oh, I totally agree, but it's not my rules. The best way people get around this is ordering a cake with decorations that fits sort of a Pooh vibe and bringing their own topper. This is the only Pooh & Friends examples in my archives of someone doing this...

The only other alternative is working with an outside bakery who doesn't have to play by the same rules.