Pre-Trip WE HAVE TO GO BACK! (April 2016)

Wow.

Well, this is quite a surprise!

We JUST got back from Disney on 9/26!! I hadn't been in ten years, and honestly didn't expect to be back for quite some time, but as luck would have it, it looks like we are going to be back in just SIX SHORT MONTHS!! I'm seriously still kind of in shock!

So here is a bit of back story to explain..My co worker has told me that her and her significant other are going to start trying for a baby...right now. I'm totally cool with this except that we normally vacation in September, and really any way it plays out if she were to be successful in the new few months, it would mean no vacation or any time off for me for up to 3 months. We always go to the beach, and so my brain started racking. We could go in early spring, but no, too cold, and basically it just went like that and me calculating out how many months from each month and blah blah. It got overwhelming. I knew that no matter what, I'd be pretty safe in April or May but it's not warm enough for the beach. Disney briefly came to mind but I thought "no way will i be able to talk my husband into going back this soon!" So all day today I looked up prices with the help of my mom (remember, she planned out entire vacation!) and I came home in hopes of trying to convince my husband that I think this is the best thing to do in regards to the uncertainty of my coworker being out next year. It didn't take much convincing! He was surprised that we could stay for as cheap as we could and that was it! We decided we are going to do it! I am giddy like a school girl!

I LOVE my beach trips, and the fact that I'm so excited about this is a bit surprising! So that's that! This is SUPER early in the planning process (and that step is OMG i'm still in shock!) and I know all of almost NOTHING right now except that we will be staying in a Value this time around since we are footing the bill. LOL

Anyway, that's all I've got right now. I honestly can't believe it! Stick around!
 
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Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
ScarletBegonias said:
Last night I dreamed of Disney. I guess because I was thinking about it so much yesterday! Still kind of in shock that we are going back!
One thing that kind of stresses me out is that we are already SO close to ADR's! I have Never planned a Disney trip. On our past trip, my mom (who LOVES the planning aspect) did everything. I mean everything. We just jumped in the car and drove there and did whatever the plan was when we got there. So I know I'm in for a lot of research and I feel like I am losing time to do it! I need to decide which days to go to which parks first. I guess you look at how busy they are projected to be? I'd love to make MK a first day tradition because it really is my favorite park! After that will be ADR's. Based on Harper's behavior in the morning, I don't know that morning ADR's are best! By the time we got up, on the buses, and to the parks, she was already tired and NOT In the mood to sit still! I did however, love some of the breakfast buffet's. So maybe just one or two?

I was also thinking about buying gift cards, instead of saving cash, but hubby thinks it'd be too much trouble to carry around a bunch of gift cards. I suggested only carrying one a day? Thoughts on this?
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We used gift cards for quit a few of our meals and it worked out better than expected. Make sure to get them at a discount Target red card, Sam's or Costco etc. We had no trouble lugging those heavy objects around a all:D
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
ScarletBegonias said:
Last night I dreamed of Disney. I guess because I was thinking about it so much yesterday! Still kind of in shock that we are going back!
One thing that kind of stresses me out is that we are already SO close to ADR's! I have Never planned a Disney trip. On our past trip, my mom (who LOVES the planning aspect) did everything. I mean everything. We just jumped in the car and drove there and did whatever the plan was when we got there. So I know I'm in for a lot of research and I feel like I am losing time to do it! I need to decide which days to go to which parks first. I guess you look at how busy they are projected to be? I'd love to make MK a first day tradition because it really is my favorite park! After that will be ADR's. Based on Harper's behavior in the morning, I don't know that morning ADR's are best! By the time we got up, on the buses, and to the parks, she was already tired and NOT In the mood to sit still! I did however, love some of the breakfast buffet's. So maybe just one or two?

I was also thinking about buying gift cards, instead of saving cash, but hubby thinks it'd be too much trouble to carry around a bunch of gift cards. I suggested only carrying one a day? Thoughts on this?
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I always make a color-coded Excel spreadsheet with our itinerary. I start by finding the park hours online and inputting them to the top of each day. Since Epcot is our favorite park we always go there first and last, but besides that I base our general plans on park hours, and especially on EMH. For example, we always do Epcot EMH but usually avoid MK on EMH days. Then I make ADRs based on the parks we will be in. I have never bothered putting faith in crowd calendars but I know plenty of people do.

Our last trip spreadsheet looked like this.
tumblr_nvuxyjZHEl1un92rjo1_1280.jpg
 
Mom@disney

Mom@disney

Well-Known Member
I would say make a plan according to how your family functions on a normal day. If Harper is not a morning person than plan around that, you wouldn't want her grumpy. On our first trip my girls were 3 and 5, very early risers, did not nap and liked to go to bed early...so I planned our trip with early breakfast ressies and all day park and leave about 5/6. But over the years they changed. Our most recent trip girls were 10 and a brand new teenager who loves to sleep in, so I had to plan accordingly. In the end it's all about having fun and enjoying each others company. Don't stress about it :)
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
b33b33 said:
I always make a color-coded Excel spreadsheet with our itinerary. I start by finding the park hours online and inputting them to the top of each day. Since Epcot is our favorite park we always go there first and last, but besides that I base our general plans on park hours, and especially on EMH. For example, we always do Epcot EMH but usually avoid MK on EMH days. Then I make ADRs based on the parks we will be in. I have never bothered putting faith in crowd calendars but I know plenty of people do.

Our last trip spreadsheet looked like this.
tumblr_nvuxyjZHEl1un92rjo1_1280.jpg
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WOW! That's so pretty and organized! I *might* be able to figure out how to do that! LOL
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Mom@disney said:
I would say make a plan according to how your family functions on a normal day. If Harper is not a morning person than plan around that, you wouldn't want her grumpy. On our first trip my girls were 3 and 5, very early risers, did not nap and liked to go to bed early...so I planned our trip with early breakfast ressies and all day park and leave about 5/6. But over the years they changed. Our most recent trip girls were 10 and a brand new teenager who loves to sleep in, so I had to plan accordingly. In the end it's all about having fun and enjoying each others company. Don't stress about it :)
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The hard part was that Anything Goes was the theme in Disney! It's not that Harper is "bad" in the mornings, but she has the most energy and wants to run around! So stuffing her in highchair for an ADR bright and early didn't really go well for us. Plus she gets up EARLY. So by the time we'd get to the parks she had been up for 2-3 hours and was ready for her nap, but would FIGHT until like 3pm. She did start napping twice a day in her stroller which was good while were there! So I think I'm going to do a lunch ADR so that she's a little worn out, and ready to sit down for a little bit!
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Okay! So with the help of my Mom, I found the crowd calendars and such. I think I have a very preliminary itinerary for the week!

4/23- Travel/ Arrive at Pop/ Relax

4/24- AK in morning/ mid-day break/ MK for electrical parade in evening

4/25- Epcot / break/ maybe DTD?

4/26- Ohana ADR in AM then MK/ back to relax for rest of day

4/27- DHS/mid-day break/ MK?

4/28- MK

4/29- Epcot/ mid-day break/ MK for the last time

4/30- Travel home.

My husband also wants to do a ADR at Akershus so that Harper can meet the princesses! So we are going to put that somewhere too. I think those might be the only ADR's we make for the trip. We ate mostly QS when we were there in September. Like I said, Harper isn't a fan of sit down eating right now. I have MK listed in there A LOT, but we love it and just didn't get enough time on the last trip. It's unlikely we'd actually go that many times. In September, we always thought we'd go back, but once we got to the resort, we were tired so we just stayed in.
 
Mom@disney

Mom@disney

Well-Known Member
ScarletBegonias said:
The hard part was that Anything Goes was the theme in Disney! It's not that Harper is "bad" in the mornings, but she has the most energy and wants to run around! So stuffing her in highchair for an ADR bright and early didn't really go well for us. Plus she gets up EARLY. So by the time we'd get to the parks she had been up for 2-3 hours and was ready for her nap, but would FIGHT until like 3pm. She did start napping twice a day in her stroller which was good while were there! So I think I'm going to do a lunch ADR so that she's a little worn out, and ready to sit down for a little bit!
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Well that's a different story! It's really hard to keep them still at that age. I do remember that I had to chase my youngest daughter around to eat at sit down meals because she was too excited to just sit.
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Mom@disney said:
Well that's a different story! It's really hard to keep them still at that age. I do remember that I had to chase my youngest daughter around to eat at sit down meals because she was too excited to just sit.
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She started to get a little better by the end of the week. I think she just had so much pent up energy from being in the stroller so much! She doesn't EVER ride in a stroller at home, so that was hard for her to adjust too. She's VERY independent and does not want to be held back. We pick our battles at home and let her walk with us when we go out. We should work on putting her in a stroller more over the next few months.
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Premium Member
ScarletBegonias said:
Last night I dreamed of Disney. I guess because I was thinking about it so much yesterday! Still kind of in shock that we are going back!
One thing that kind of stresses me out is that we are already SO close to ADR's! I have Never planned a Disney trip. On our past trip, my mom (who LOVES the planning aspect) did everything. I mean everything. We just jumped in the car and drove there and did whatever the plan was when we got there. So I know I'm in for a lot of research and I feel like I am losing time to do it! I need to decide which days to go to which parks first. I guess you look at how busy they are projected to be? I'd love to make MK a first day tradition because it really is my favorite park! After that will be ADR's. Based on Harper's behavior in the morning, I don't know that morning ADR's are best! By the time we got up, on the buses, and to the parks, she was already tired and NOT In the mood to sit still! I did however, love some of the breakfast buffet's. So maybe just one or two?

I was also thinking about buying gift cards, instead of saving cash, but hubby thinks it'd be too much trouble to carry around a bunch of gift cards. I suggested only carrying one a day? Thoughts on this?
Click to expand...





I'm not 100% sure - but I think you could make all you purchases using your Magic Band (for convenience) - charging it all back to the room and then just go to the front desk and use your gift cards to pay off the balance. That way you don't have to carry around the cards or worry about your balance. They can always print out an itemized list of your spending.

Congratulations on going back!!!
 
FlaggNL

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
Wow thats great news :) I could say I am soooo jealous, but we have the same here, although some more months inbetween! We are leaving for WDW in 8 days and then again in October 2016 we will be back again! The offer through Disney UK was so great we could not refuse it :) Congrats on the return trip :)
 

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