The No One Get Sick Again PTR

Hey guys and welcome to my pre trip report! We will be in the World May 5-12 2013! A little background info for all of you!

The cast is me, Steve, my wife Megan and our 2 boys Landon (4) and Declan (almost 2 when we go). We live in Ilinois just outside of Chicago! This trip will mark my 10th WDW trip and I am more excited than ever! As a child I was lucky enough to go to Disney every couple of years and it was my moms favorite vacation spot! I love having my own kids now and getting to take them here to experience the magic! it is just pure joy for me!
This will be DW 6th trip, Landon's 3rd, and Declan's 2nd.

My trip report name comes about from our last trip in May of 2012! We took DWs mom with us, and the drive down her and my older son were sick! Very sick! We had to stop so many times on the way down I didn't think we would ever make it! The first 2 days of our trip were kind of stalled because of the 2 but they were troopers and we managed to do everything we wanted!

For our vacation this year, we are still undecided where we want to stay. at a rental house again, or on property . Yes I know staying on property has its perks and we have stayed many times on site, but with the 2 little ones, getting to go back to an actual big home as opossed to a 1 room hotel has its own perks.

We have booked the same house we were in last year which Is literally 3 stop lights down from the Disney complex and it never took us more than 5 minutes to get to and from the world and our home. 4 bedroom with a pool! We tend to go to the parks early, leave in the afternoon for naps or swim time, and then go back to the parks for th evening.

This week we started booking ADRs for our trip and have been getting our itinerary down!

Sunday- arrival day. Stop at traget(across the street) to stock the house with some supplies and just hang out at our pool and relax for the big week head

Monday- our first day is going to be spent at Epcot! We have a lunch ADR at Via Napoli and dinner at Garden Grill! Landon loves Chip an Dale! Also I will be excited for Test Track to be back as it was closed for the refurb last year.

Tuesday- O'hana breakfast! This was our favorite place to eat last year ad the boys favorite as well! He was so excited to eat with Mickey and that damn juice is to die for! After breakfast we will spend the rest of the day at DWs favorite park, Animal Kingdom! Seeing as how the park closes at 6 we will probably eat at home ad rest up for te next day!

Wednesday- Magic Kingdom here we come! We are trying for rope drop this year! (An hopefully family of the day) the only TS we have scheduled for this day is Be Our Guest! Tomorrow is the day to make that reso so I hope I get the time I want!!! Not to mention MK is the park we snack at the most!!! So that's why we only want one sit down! We are also excited for the new areas to be open and explore! DW is so excited for Little Mermaid ride, it's her favorite Disney movie!

Thursday- Is our rest day! Sleep in, swimming, relaxing,etc. we do plan to go to downtown Disney in the evening for shopping and maybe TRex cafe??? We are not sure because of Declan! He will be almost 2 when we o and think he might find it too scary!

Friday- is our day at Disney Hollywood Studios! We have breakfast ADRs planned for Hollywood and Vine character breakfast! I know this place seems to get very mixed reviews, but Jake and Oso are what's bringing us here as both Landon and Declan love both of the shows! We also have dinner plans to do Prime Time Cafe! I have never been here but hear good things about it and the menu is favorable to us! We will not be doing Fantasmic again though because Landon was very scared of it last time we went!

Saturday- day 2 at Magic Kingdom! No ADRs or plans really just enjoy the park one last time before we go! Get on rides we didn't get to go on the first day if that really happens or reride favorites. Last year when we were at WDW, the parks we not crowded at all and we really only waited a half hour for several rides. Everything else was virtually a walk on! I hope we have success with that again this year!

Sunday- leave the world and go back to the REAL world!

So what do you guys think? I am so excited this year! Declan's reaction to Mickey is what I'm most excited for this year because he now recognizes him and know who he is! Any suggestions or tips in the meantime would be great!

Also Landon wants to do a pirate makeover! So we are deciding on the best day to do that is? Our first or last day at MK? We are also considering a photo pass plus???

 

[stevehousse]

Success!! We were able to get an ADR for Be Our Guest!!! We have a 535 reso which is perfect! All of our ADRs are new for us this year except Ohana which was our family favorite last visit! We are very much looking forward to BOG! I hope I picked good choices! I know this PTR is so early, but its so fun to plan all this out!

 

[stevehousse]

So we have decided on doing the photo pass + and taking advantage of it! I do have to say the process of it all sounds very confusing, but a few board members guided me in the right direction and can't wait to use it! Landon was really into the characters last year, I have to find it, but my DW sent me a photo while I was at work the other day. I'll share the story once I can get te picture on here!

We also are doing the pirate makeover! Landon is very excited to do it and wants to be jake! This show is his favorite right now, but I do have to say that I was very disappointed last week when Peter Pan was on tv an Landon refused to watch more than 15 minutes of it because Jake wasn't in it! Peter Pan is one of my favorite rides!

 

[stevehousse]

this has been a test! this is Landon by the way!

 

[stevehousse]

so like i said, the DW sent me this pic the other day! and you will never believe what triggered his outburst of sadness!

apparently, he saw a Disney Park commercial on tv, and saw all the the kids running up to Mickey and hugging him, and he went running to my wife balling! she asks him whats wrong? he proceeds to tell her that he needs to go back to "Mickey's House" because he misses him and needs to give him a hug like the kids on tv how sad is that!

 

[LongTimeLurker]

Hi Steve! I'm also from the Chicago area (eastern DuPage co.) On our first trip, my kids were about the same ages as your kids on your upcoming trip. My kids are now 17, 15 and 12, and I've lost track of how many times we've been to WDW (either six or seven.) So what is your thought process on the flying vs. driving? We always flew until this year. I planned a last minute spring break trip to Universal for just me and the kids (husband couldn't get off work) and I didn't even consider looking into airfares because I knew they would be high. When we went back to WDW in August, I decided that the drive wasn't bad, so we did it again. But I never went back to do a cost analysis to compare. Driving just seemed to add too much time to our "time away from home." With kids as young as yours, I think you're really brave to drive!

 

[stevehousse]

We have driven several times, this will be the second time driving with the 2 boys! They did great last year in car!

 

[stevehousse]

Today we booked Hollywood and Vine at DHS! I understand that this place has received many mixed reviews! The sole reason we are doing this breakfast is because the boys like to watch all the shows the characters are from, specifically Jake and Oso! We have an 805am reso, and i am hoping to leave the restaraunt to run and get fast passes for Toy Story right at 9, regardless if we are finished with breakfast or not! Does that sound a little ridiculous or what? Hehe...

 

[Englebabies]

Love the plans so far you are going a little more then a month before us. We are going June 17 - 22/23. I think it is neat that at least two people on this forum has a child name Declan, that is just awesome.

 

[stevehousse]

So today we were able to book Landon's Pirate Makeover! We have an 11am apt. This will be on our first day at MK and we are planning on doing rope drop! Out of the previous 9 trips I've taken, I have never been at MK for opening ceremony! So I am really excited for the boys to see all the characters welcoming us to the park!

Since Declan will be almost 2 when we go, I am somewhat a little worried he will find characters scary, but Landon is fine with them now an was great last year! I also want us to get there early enough and Try to scope out the area and see if we can "get picked" for family of the day! Anyone here ever do this before???

 

[brifraz]

I also want us to get there early enough and Try to scope out the area and see if we can "get picked" for family of the day! Anyone here ever do this before???

Well, we didn't 'try' to get picked for family of the day, but we did (hence the avatar picture). We went to celebrate DDs 5th Birthday. The actual morning of her birthday was planned to be a Magic Kingdom day. We are ALWAYS very early morning folks at the parks (you can read multiple trip reports linked in my signature about that). Well, on her birthday, DD was up at 5am, very excited to be heading to the park to celebrate. So, we caught the overnight hours bus from Old Key West at about 5:30am. Yes, there are random busses that run late at night to early in the morning - in our case, we hopped on and told the driver Magic Kingdom and he let us know that it was still over 2 hours to opening (EMH at 8am), but we were undeterred. We got to the gates around 6am and sat down in front of a turnstile to play some cards. Around 6:30am, some cast members came out and one of them started talking to DD and gave her a large number of stickers. She took them and started walking up to all the CMs and giving each of them a sticker to celebrate her birthday. Well a couple minutes later a CM walked up to us and asked if we wanted to help Mickey open the park. Needless to say, we said YES!

Combination of early arrival and DD being extreme in her sharing was I think the magic ticket for us. I think there is a monumental amount of luck involved and I don't think you can 'try' to do it. We weren't even thinking about the possibility when the CM walked up and asked us if we wanted to do it - and were quite dumbstruck by the possibility. Good luck to you!

 

[stevehousse]

So we are considering maybe adding the MK dessert party to our trip??? Anyone on here can tell me what the views are from this place for the night shows and can u see the electric parade from here?

 

[stevehousse]

Happy New Year everyone! Think its time for a quick update on our vacation plans as we are 116 days and counting!

We still r debating where exactly we would be staying. We were looking at staying on property this time and taking advantage of the dining plan as well, until my DW was looking at other area hotels! We found coco key resort which is about 10 minutes from Disney! We have always switched back and forth from staying on and off property but we foud this insane deal there!

There room rate are about 120 a night or higher, but we found this sweet deal where it would be almost half off per night there! Makin us very indecisive if we want to spend the extra money and stay on at port Orleans riverside, or stay offsite! The hotel rate I got for PORS was about $1200. Coco Key was just about $600!!! That is for eight nights folks! So u can see how saving about $600 is extremely pleasing to me, seeing as how I consider that to be a lot of money!

We had budgeted a good amount of money for food seeing as we have 5 ADRs scheduled for this trip! One for each day we are at the parks. Either way it would be nice to have our food prepaid for so we could deal with less cash handling or loosing I should say! But if I can save 600 to stay off site I am ok with that! We budgeted about the same amount of money that the dining plan would cost so it really is a win win either way! It's just up to Landon to decide where he wants to stay! I'm praying he picks the water park!!!

Then today in the mail, for the first time ever in our Disney history,( I have been experiencing the parks for nearly all my life getting to go every couple of years or every other year(so grateful for that) ) we have received in the mail today 2 pin codes!!! One is for up to 35% off select hotels, and the other is for free Disney dining plan!!! Value resorts receive QS dining plan, an mod and deluxe get the plus dining plan!!! This is insane that we received this because I haven't stayed on property in a good 3 or 4 years! We have however done those surveys in the parks and sign up on the Disney site to do maps for our trips and other things, so maybe that's why???

Now onto the unfortunate news, that these damn pin codes are not in effect at the time that we are going!!! I wanted to cry! Getting that free dining would have instantly guaranteed our stay on site! So upset that the free dining is not available when we want to go. It only runs now until march 7th! As u know we are going at the beginning of may. Plus I think it's bogus to offer this now and only have it run for the next 2 months, and I use part of my tax return to pay for vacations which because te gov is stupid, I can't even guarantee when I will be receiving the refund! And even more bogus that Disney knows they book restaurants 180 days in advance and they expect me to make a quick trip all if a sudden with hardly tin to actually book restaurants to go to for free dining! We booked all ours for may back in November!!! Just seems silly and very bad timing to send me this damn thing! I feel so cheated! Haha!!!

So because of this we will be most likely staying off property and saving us a cool $600 dollars for other fun things for our trip!!!

Now I know my post is long, but one thing I am concerned about is this magic+ crap I keep reason about it! I don't really care for it! I just want to know how my trip in may will be! Will they have implemented the fast pass + yet?? I really hope we have the old fast pass when we go! We are very good about utilizing these especially for durin the time we go it isnt crowded(we never waited more than 30 minutes for any ride at any park last year) it is possible to get many more that the 4 FP+ let's u have!!! I would really rather wait to use It once it had gone in to full effect for a good while, instead of being a potential guinea pig!

All of your thoughts tips and opinions are all much appreciated!

PS - I am not a doom and gloomer at all when it comes to Disney, but their new website can suck it! We can't even get it to work half the time we go on! It's ridiculous and if this was my companies website I would be embarrassed and someone would be losing their job! It's just extremely unprofessional to roll out stuff like this for it to not be functional!

 

[stevehousse]

One more update I forgot about was our final list for ADRs. We have the following booked;

Monday May 6

Epcot
Via Napoli lunch
Garden grill dinner

Tuesday May 7

Ohana breakfast
Animal kingdom

Wednesday May 8

Magic Kingdom
Be Our Guest dinner

Thursday May 9

Non park day! We have no plans really but to swim shop and probably eat out somewhere off property!

Friday May 10

Disney Hollywood Studios
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
And we will probably do pizza planet for dinner! Landon loved that place last year! Toy Story is both him and Declan's favorite movie!

Saturday May 11

Magic Kingdom day 2. We do not have any ADRs for this day, however we can always try and add one if someone has any suggestions. We are not park hopper people so if we did add one it would have to be near magic kingdom or the closer resorts to that park! Not looking for crystal palace or Cinderella royal table!

To end the night, my last question about the magic+, is that we are going to be purchasing the photo pass + or whatever it's called, and I read that we will be given a RFID wrist band for photo pass? Anyone know more about this? Kind of confusing??? Is this wristband only for photos, or will it work in conjunction with the fast passes and such? Also do we only get one bracelet or does everyone in our group receive one??? Not liking all this new stuff involving the planning of my trip to the extreme! The only planning we are used to doing with Disney is pick a park and 1 table restaurant to go to each day!

 

[stevehousse]

Update!!!

So since we last left off we have been finalizing our plans for our trip. Since Uncle Sam decided to be nice to us this year ( my tax return was for more than what I expected) we have decided to take my 13 year old sister Jade with us on our trip as a sort of 8th grade graduation trip! In doing so our plans have changed just slightly.

We have again this year decided and booked a rental home to stay at. We had great success with our trip last year with villa direct, so we chose to stay at one of their homes again. With the younger kids and extra body it's nice to have everyone in their own bedrooms especially with Declan needif to nap in the afternoon! Not to mention te home we selected is less than a 10 minute drive to the Disney complex. Also, since we are returning guests with villa direct we get a 10% discount on our stay!

All of our ADRs have been switched to accommodate the extra person EXCEPT for BOG! The receptionist said that it wouldn't even allow her to change it in the system for some reason and that whatever we do DO NOT cancel! She said if we show up a little early for our reserved time we will be fine to get it no problem! I hope that holds true! Essentially we jut need space for a high chair for Declan! So hope this wont be too much of an issue. DW sai she didn't care if Declan ha to sit on her lap that's how badly we are both awaiting this dinner and I hope it doesn't disappoint!

On a side note, Landon has a chore chart made up fr him now which he can earn money toward a gift card to use at Disney!

We have about 87 days to go till we leave ad we are all so excited! Lastly, we have decided to not get the photopass seeing as how uncertain the new magic + affects the program and no answers to questions I have regarding it!

 

[stevehousse]

Update! Yesterday we received our park tickets in the mail! So excited to finally have those! Today I also paid off the rest of the vacation home we are staying in! So excited our trip is finally paid for and we just need to save a little more money from now until May to be "comfortable" for our trip!

On a side note, we also finally got our new car, a dodge journey, which we will be driving to Florida in! So excited for that as well! 2013 looks to be a great start for us and I hope it just continues. We don't seem to always have the best luck with things.

81 days to go!

 

[stevehousse]

Hello all and we are doing to 36 days! The boys keep getting more and more excited! We have been watchin parades and rides on YouTube to pass the time! My sister is equally as excited as it had been al'most 4 years since she has last been.

Our trip cannot come soon enough!

 

[stevehousse]

25 days and counting! Although we have a huge set back! I just lost my job of 8 years! I am super sad because that place and those people were my second family and I will miss them!

Any who, since everything has been paid for in advance, we are still going on our trip! We will have to cut back on our spending and eliminate most of our ADRs. We had 4 or 5 originally, I need to double check but plan to keep at least 2 of them. Be our Guest we r for sure keeping, and we are still deciding on what else to keep??? This will sa us some serious cash as we are payin out of pocket since we are staying off site.

The only thing really holding us back is if I get unemployment or not. I am fairly positive we will be able to get it, but you never know! Thank god I have accrued vacation and a bonus coming my way for my last 2 paychecks!!! Please send some pixie dust and prayers our way! I have no idea how I would be able to tell my 4 year old that we couldn't go!!!

 

[Missymoe4]

Hello,

I just came upon your trip report (I typically don't read them) and was quickly swept up in all of your plans (you sound like my family with all the decisions...especially where to stay).

Anyhow, by the time I finished reading your last post, which was incredibly heartbreaking...I knew I needed to respond.

I am so sorry for your loss. I know that it's difficult, and we all have living expenses (home, food, etc) but a family vacation, even if it's scaled down to accommodations and park fees, and picnicking in between...is worth it in the end. No one ever regrets a vacation--time spent away from chaos...no one ever looks back and says that it was a waste. Even during trying times, we all need a break. Maybe this trip is coming as a blessing for you and your loved ones to get away, makes some memories and regroup.

I'm sending you all my prayers and pixie dust!!!

 

[stevehousse]

Thank you!