Hi everyone! Considering my insane excitement for my FIRST trip to Disney World with my 5 year old daughter from July 3nd thru the 7th, I thought I would start my trip report now. I'm driving my family nuts talking about it, so letting it all out here is very stress relieving.
I've learned SO much from forums (thanks guys/gals), that I thought maybe I could pass some information along to others. I've made so many mistakes... I've spent so much time... I've planned, then re-organized, then changed my mind, then re-planned... I don't want anyone else to go through this (although I know those who are OCD like me will anyways).
Where to start...
I started thinking about going to Disney World when my daughter was born in 2010... I was never able to go as a child, as my mother was a single parent & any cent that appeared went towards surviving. I knew I just HAD to bring my daughter at some point. I knew I couldn't afford to go at that time, so I set a realistic goal: save $5 every week until my daughter turned 5. That's what I did. In March she turned 5, so...
When the time came to make decisions & I went about it the COMPLETELY wrong way:
1. I booked my vacation within 90 days, so I had less options with dining reservations & less time to actually plan & research. I now know about the ADR's availability 90 days out and Fast Past availability 60 days out. I wish I would have known that then!
2. I got excited and booked my vacation during July 4th weekend. I didn't even consider the fact that this is PEAK crowd season & flaming hot. I'm from VT, so it never get 90+... I should have thought of this!
3. I picked Pop Century resort b/c it was affordable & gave me more wiggle room in my budget. I didn't even consider the amenities or the travel options to/from parks. Although I now know that Pop Century is actually an amazing place to stay with children & it has it's own bus stop, if I could do it all over again, I would have chosen to stay at the Contemporary or the Polynesian Resort, because they are on the monorail system & they have a lot of activities there that we will be participating in (such as 1900 Park Fare dinner, Pirates & Pals Cruise, Chef Mickey's, Ideal Fireworks views, nice pools). When I called to change this after the fact, the only rooms available were the very pricey rooms & I simply couldn't afford it, the lady from Disney said if I had called earlier I could have gotten a regular room at a much lower price... lesson learned!
4. I then failed to consider how I would get to Disney. At first I thought I could drive to Disney from VT without any issue... then I realized it's a 20+ hour drive & there was no way I could be able to handle driving on the interstate with my five year old that long! So I quickly booked a cheap flight. Then, about 2 weeks later, I realized that the flight I booked was not going to work due to the arrivals & departure times being super early in the morning... So I call to change the times & incur another $350 charge for change fees & upgrading my ticket. I should have researched & thought this through!!!
5. I booked my ADR's and Fast Passes without even considering the traveling times to/from each place or the length of the ride/show. Looking at my very first attempt at a touring plan was laughable... I scheduled 3 table service meals a day, Multiple resort meals, & had fast passes scheduled on opposite ends of the park... it was a disaster. At this point, I decided to do some research & bought "The Unofficial Guide to Disney: 2015". With the book came the touringplans.com subscription with customizable touring plans... GOSH DID THIS SAVE MY LIFE! After about a month of reading and researching, I sat my daughter down & showed her video's of Meet & Greets, as well as some of the larger rides to find out what rides she "REALLY" wanted to ride (what she decided on really surprised me). I then came out with a nice list of what rides to add to my touring plan. I also asked her what characters she REALLY wanted to meet, then came up with a list of ADR's for character meals & M&G that would match that list (I found out she didn't want to meet most the characters afterall). I then let the touring plans people create a customizable plan, which reduced my walking time, waiting time & received a realistic outline for each day. Sometimes the excitement causes us to not think clearly, if I would have gone with my original plans, I would have been pulling my hair out!
Those where my failures. The one thing I did do that was a "plus" was I ordered a princess dress for my daughter to wear for each character meal we were going to (on sale at DisneyStore.com), which matched the character of that meal. I then sent the dresses to her "from Minnie Mouse" to get her excited. The look on her face was priceless... the pictures are going to be amazing!
Now, I am 20 days away & I feel ready. I actually feel stress free. I can't wait to report how the trip goes & if my "plans" were a success!
I've learned SO much from forums (thanks guys/gals), that I thought maybe I could pass some information along to others. I've made so many mistakes... I've spent so much time... I've planned, then re-organized, then changed my mind, then re-planned... I don't want anyone else to go through this (although I know those who are OCD like me will anyways).
Where to start...
I started thinking about going to Disney World when my daughter was born in 2010... I was never able to go as a child, as my mother was a single parent & any cent that appeared went towards surviving. I knew I just HAD to bring my daughter at some point. I knew I couldn't afford to go at that time, so I set a realistic goal: save $5 every week until my daughter turned 5. That's what I did. In March she turned 5, so...
When the time came to make decisions & I went about it the COMPLETELY wrong way:
1. I booked my vacation within 90 days, so I had less options with dining reservations & less time to actually plan & research. I now know about the ADR's availability 90 days out and Fast Past availability 60 days out. I wish I would have known that then!
2. I got excited and booked my vacation during July 4th weekend. I didn't even consider the fact that this is PEAK crowd season & flaming hot. I'm from VT, so it never get 90+... I should have thought of this!
3. I picked Pop Century resort b/c it was affordable & gave me more wiggle room in my budget. I didn't even consider the amenities or the travel options to/from parks. Although I now know that Pop Century is actually an amazing place to stay with children & it has it's own bus stop, if I could do it all over again, I would have chosen to stay at the Contemporary or the Polynesian Resort, because they are on the monorail system & they have a lot of activities there that we will be participating in (such as 1900 Park Fare dinner, Pirates & Pals Cruise, Chef Mickey's, Ideal Fireworks views, nice pools). When I called to change this after the fact, the only rooms available were the very pricey rooms & I simply couldn't afford it, the lady from Disney said if I had called earlier I could have gotten a regular room at a much lower price... lesson learned!
4. I then failed to consider how I would get to Disney. At first I thought I could drive to Disney from VT without any issue... then I realized it's a 20+ hour drive & there was no way I could be able to handle driving on the interstate with my five year old that long! So I quickly booked a cheap flight. Then, about 2 weeks later, I realized that the flight I booked was not going to work due to the arrivals & departure times being super early in the morning... So I call to change the times & incur another $350 charge for change fees & upgrading my ticket. I should have researched & thought this through!!!
5. I booked my ADR's and Fast Passes without even considering the traveling times to/from each place or the length of the ride/show. Looking at my very first attempt at a touring plan was laughable... I scheduled 3 table service meals a day, Multiple resort meals, & had fast passes scheduled on opposite ends of the park... it was a disaster. At this point, I decided to do some research & bought "The Unofficial Guide to Disney: 2015". With the book came the touringplans.com subscription with customizable touring plans... GOSH DID THIS SAVE MY LIFE! After about a month of reading and researching, I sat my daughter down & showed her video's of Meet & Greets, as well as some of the larger rides to find out what rides she "REALLY" wanted to ride (what she decided on really surprised me). I then came out with a nice list of what rides to add to my touring plan. I also asked her what characters she REALLY wanted to meet, then came up with a list of ADR's for character meals & M&G that would match that list (I found out she didn't want to meet most the characters afterall). I then let the touring plans people create a customizable plan, which reduced my walking time, waiting time & received a realistic outline for each day. Sometimes the excitement causes us to not think clearly, if I would have gone with my original plans, I would have been pulling my hair out!
Those where my failures. The one thing I did do that was a "plus" was I ordered a princess dress for my daughter to wear for each character meal we were going to (on sale at DisneyStore.com), which matched the character of that meal. I then sent the dresses to her "from Minnie Mouse" to get her excited. The look on her face was priceless... the pictures are going to be amazing!
Now, I am 20 days away & I feel ready. I actually feel stress free. I can't wait to report how the trip goes & if my "plans" were a success!
