1st family WDW trip EVER! June 2018

Confession time!
I'm a RideMax person. I've used it many times before on our Disneyland trips. A friend of mine ages ago recommended it and OMG, it saved our trip. My DH really really REALLY does not like waiting in long lines at theme parks. So I started using RideMax for our earlier Disneyland trips. It's a wonderful tool. My family now kids me about how I'm an uber-planner and how I have a spreadsheet for every Disney trip complete with what meals will cost, etc., etc. :laughing: Yes, that's me!

Most of the time now on Disneyland trips, I will still make a RideMax plan each day but we don't follow it to the letter. For example, on our recent Disneyland trip, we had to throw out our DCA Ridemax plan out the window since RSR was closed all morning. BUT I knew from the Disneyland app and from prior RideMax itineraries on other trips that the Fantasyland rides in DL would have 5-10 min waits. So we hopped across the Esplanade and went over to Fantasyland. Woo hoo!

I've been playing with Touring Plans. I know enough about WDW to know that planning a WDW trip is, in some ways, quite different than planning a trip to DL. At DL, ADRs are not nearly as big a deal and the QS locations have wonderful variety with a lot of healthy & tasty options. At DL, I don't have to reserve FP times before our arrival. And the crowd level fluctuations can be pretty different. When So Cal APs are not blocked, the evenings are pretty darn crowded (when everybody gets off of work to go on a couple of rides, have dinner, and go home).

So that's why I paid the $14.95 for a Touring Plans subscription. I've been messing around with it this morning. Here are 2 options I've come up with so far for Epcot. 1 of the Epcot plans is a standard TP-designed one that I tweaked a little. I'll be honest with y'all...I'm not that excited about going to Epcot. It's a bit lacking in the ride department and everything is super spread out with no transportation options. My kids enjoy going on rides. And I don't understand why you'd need a FP to do something like see the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival.

Epcot touring plan #1 for Mon 6/11:

  • 9:09 am - Test Track. 19 min wait
  • 9:37 am - meet Disney pals @ Epcot character spot. 16 min wait
  • 10:10 am - Living with the Land. 2 min wait
  • 10:32 am - Journey into Imagination with Figment. 4 min wait
  • 11:00 am - Japan pavilion. Because I know my ODD is going to want to shop in that amazing store there.
  • 11:25 am - check in @ Via Napoli for 11:35 am lunch reservation
  • 12:15 pm - Voices of Liberty. 15 min wait for 12:30 show
  • 12:44 PM - American Adventure pavilion
  • 1:04 pm - Reflections of China. 7 min wait.
  • 1:28 pm - Norway pavilion.
  • 1:42 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour starring the 3 Caballeros. 5 min wait
  • 1:55 pm - LEAVE THE PARK! Nap, rest, swim, have dinner w/DH when his convention day is done.
  • 6:56 pm - Spaceship Earth. 5 min wait
  • 7:25 pm - The Seas with Nemo & Friends. 5 min wait
  • 7:36 pm - the Seas main tank & exhibits
  • 9:00 pm show time - IllumiNations
My kids aren't into Anna & Elsa really that much anymore, but they'd be up for a character meet & greet with them. Not enough for me to want to devote a FP to the Frozen Ever After ride. And we just went on Soarin' 2 weeks ago in DCA. If Soarin' was a bit different than at DL, we would go on it. I think that we'll skip the Mission Space attraction. NOT interested in a nauseous puke-fest for any of us!

Epcot touring plan #2 for Mon 6/11:
  • 9:09 am - Test Track. 19 min wait.
  • 9:37 am - meet Disney pals & Epcot character spot. 16 min wait
  • 10:06 am - Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival. 2 min wait.
  • 11:25 am - check in for 11:35 lunch @ Via Napoli
  • 12:30 pm - Voices of Liberty
  • 12:54 pm - Norway pavilion
  • 1:05 pm - meet Anna & Elsa at Royal Sommerhus
  • 1:25 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour w/the 3 Caballeros. 5 min wait
  • 1:53 pm - check out the Japan Pavilion so we can shop in the Japanese department store.
  • THEN LEAVE THE PARK! Nap, rest, swim, have dinner w/DH when his convention day is done.
  • Then go BACK to Epcot so DH can study in peace & quiet for his Tues a.m. certification test for work.
  • 6:51 pm - Spaceship Earth. 5 min wait.
  • 7:20 pm - The Seas w/Nemo & Friends. 5 min wait.
  • 7:31 pm - Turtle Talk with Crush. 5 min wait.
  • 9:00 pm - IllumiNations. I'll probably use a FP for this.
To be perfectly honest, my kids will probably think that Epcot sucks because they will only have gone on 2 rides in the earlier part of the day. But we'll give it a whirl anyway and see how it goes.

 
Ok, I did some more messing around with the Epcot TP and here's where it stands now. I'm a lot happier with this itinerary:
  • 9:09 am - Test Track. 19 min wait.
  • 9:37 am - meet Disney pals @ Epcot character spot. 16 min wait.
  • 10:09 am - Turtle Talk w/Crush. 5 min wait.
  • 10:33 am - the Seas w/Nemo & Friends. 10 min wait.
  • 10:51 am - Journey into Imagination w/Figment. 7 min wait.
  • 11:17 am - Gran Fiesta Tour. 4 min wait.
  • 11:35 am - ADR @ Via Napoli
  • 12:47 am - Japan Pavilion
  • 1:00 pm - Voices of Liberty for 1:15 pm show
  • 1:30 pm - The American Adventure show
  • 2:20 pm - LEAVE THE PARK!
  • 6:21 pm - Spaceship Earth. 5 min wait. This will mean an early dinner w/DH.
  • 6:57 pm - meet Anna & Elsa. 12 min wait.
  • 7:14 pm - Norway Pavilion
  • 9:00 pm - IllumiNations
 
I'm a strong believer of going to Disneyland first on your first day of a DL Resort trip. So I'm applying that same logic to our WDW vacation! Our first park day will be Sunday 6/10. The general plan goes like this:
- park in the morning & early afternoon
- DH goes to convention center to pick up his convention badge & freebies
- we get to Fort Wilderness ~ 5:00 pm for the 6:15 pm Hoop Dee Doo dinner show. We'll be driving, so don't have to rely entirely on WDW transportation (other than using the Fort Wilderness shuttle to get to Pioneer Hall from the parking lot).

I've read recommendations on TP and other sites that if you have multiple days at MK, it's a good idea to split up your days. So focus on Frontierland & Adventureland 1 day and Fantasyland & Tomorrowland the 2nd day. We're going to give that a try. Here's the TP itinerary that I have for Sunday:
  • 9:10 am - HM. 5 min wait.
  • 9:32 am - BTMRR. 6 min wait.
  • 9:47 am - Splash Mtn. 6 min wait.
  • 10:15 am - Pirates. 11 min wait. I consider anything under a 20 min wait for a ride to be acceptable. An 11 min wait for Pirates is about normal. >30 min would mean DL is pretty darn crowded that day!
  • 10:36 am - Magic Carpets of Aladdin. 8 min wait.
  • 10:47 am - Swiss Family Treehouse. 2 min wait.
  • 11:04 am - Country Bear Jamboree. 7 min wait.
  • 11:24 am - Hall of Presidents. 11 min wait.
  • 11:59 am - check in for 12:05 ADR @ Liberty Tree Tavern
  • 1:02 pm - Jungle Cruise. Hope to get 1-2pm FP for this.
  • then take the train from Frontierland station to Main Street station.
  • LEAVE THE PARK!
  • Kids & I rest & swim. DH goes to convention center.
  • Then leave hotel ~ 4:45 pm, get to Fort Wilderness ~ 5:00 pm. We won't be returning to MK after dinner, I think.
 


Now that we've been to Disneyland a few times, I have a few things that I always pack in my luggage. We usually go to Disneyland road trip style since we live in Phoenix and it's a 5.5-6 hour drive from where we live. This time around, we'll be flying. So instead of putting all of this in my suitcase, I'm going to be packing my park essentials in my park bag and then I'm going to bring a backpack on the plane in addition to my park bag. My regular R2D2 suitcase...I will check that luggage.

So I have some pictures to share! First, here are the Teva sandals that I got ODD and myself a couple of days ago. It's a good thing that the weather is warming up here in Phoenix because we'll be wearing these on the weekends in order to break them in for the trip! ODD is only 11 and already wears a size 9!

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Next up, we have this mish mash of stuff. All of this goes into my park bag.
  • We have 3 reusable ponchos (1 each for the kids & I). Since DH won't be going into the parks as often as the rest of us will, I have a Dollar Store emergency poncho for him in case it rains.
  • Then at the top right of the pic is a packet of tissues.
  • Under that is a travel pack of ibuprofen
  • some quarters & a couple of pennies for pressed pennies.
  • In a small ziplock bag is my battery charge & a cord to recharge my cell phone. I thought it would be a good idea to keep it in a plastic bag in case it rains. Then I won't stress out about it getting wet. We hardly ever have to worry about that on our DL trips!
  • Just to the left of that are my cheap $5 Walmart sunglasses that I've had forever. I'll be wearing these most of the time.
  • The clear plastic zipper thing just next to that has bandaids (including blister bandaids) in it. The clear plastic zipper thing we got from my kids' dentist.
  • Then we have my travel sized umbrella that I got a couple of yr ago at the grocery store.
  • Just to the left of that are 3 Frogg Toggs chilly pads.
I need to go to Cost Plus Imports to get 2 or 3 fans. They're cheap there...about $3 or so each. You know...the foldable kind, not the automatic battery powered ones that take up a lot of room in your bag. The human-powered foldable fans. I've used those plus the Frogg Togg towels on summer trips to Disneyland and it makes things much more tolerable! I've also used them at swim meets here in Arizona in the summer. It's a lifesaver.

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This is a slightly blurry picture, but here's all of those park items in my park bag. Yes, it's an ugly bag. It's a Rick Steves bag that I purchased a few years ago for a Disneyland trip. But I hang onto this bag and I keep using it because when it's empty, it weighs hardly anything. It fits the bill. I usually carry it on 1 shoulder, but you can extend the strap and turn it into a messenger bag if you wanted to.

This picture is the bag with all of that stuff packed in it. It doesn't have my wallet or cell phone in it in this picture, but those are small and don't take up much room.

I've considered having the kids carry their own park bag (1 bag for them to share) and we've done that for our last 2 Disneyland trips. But this time around, I think that we'll just stick to my park bag. The kids don't want to wear a backpack all day in sweaty humid weather (nor do I). I am going to make them carry their own water bottles. The kids have Hydroflasks that they use for school. I can attest to the fact that during our horribly hot summers here in Arizona, those Hydroflask water bottles do keep the water cool for hours and hours. Even when it's 110 outside, the water in the bottle still has ice in it. We'll bring both of those and just share our germs between the 4 of us.
:rotfl2:
 
And last but not least, there's this stuff...

This, generally speaking, all goes in my suitcase. We'll start at the top left of the pic and go around in a circle clockwise.
  1. Here's the 2 Dollar Store ponchos I talked about earlier.
  2. A travel sized container of lotion
  3. sunscreen
  4. 2 containers of body glide
  5. travel sized container of Lysol
  6. travel pack of Clorox wipes
  7. a toiletry container for various odds & ends...normal travel stuff goes in here. Toothbrush, hairbrush, other personal care items.
  8. a laundry line that I got a few years ago off of Rick Steves' website.
  9. some of my favorite sunscreen ever - Sun Bum!
  10. a sarong


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Ok, so let me tell you guys about the sarong. It's basically a huge scarf. I got a couple of these ages ago on a vacation week took to Hawaii once with extended family. I have about 3 of these. Purchased them super cheap (like $7 a piece) at the ABC Store in Hawaii (it's a local chain, they're all over the place there). The sarong/scarf thing is great. It serves multiple purposes and I always bring one on our Disneyland trips. It's like a Swiss army knife. I use it for:

- a cover up when 1 of the kids gets cold in the evening in the parks
- a cover up/shawl if *I* get cold
- you can use it as a blanket to sit on when you're waiting for a show or a parade. We've used it for this purpose when we've been at Disneyland and we're waiting for fireworks and our viewing spot is back by It's A Small World. DH or I will sit on the scarf while the other adult takes the kids on a ride in Fantasyland to kill some time.
- you can use it as a thin towel to dry off if you got too wet on Splash Mtn
- also doubles up as a pool cover up. Tie it around your waist while you walk to the pool.

What I love the most about it is that it's really lightweight, rolls up tightly (it's only loosely rolled up in this photo), and doesn't take up much room my park bag. I have considered other alternatives to this. The Disneyland Daily website recommends a certain brand of packable lightweight blankets, but I've never bothered to try those because I love this one so much. My DH purchased a waterproof (well, it's water proof on the bottom side of the blanket) beach blanket that he thinks that we should bring into the parks with us. But I always laugh when he asks me if we're going to bring it. Why?
BECAUSE THE THING IS ENORMOUS! Seriously, there's no way that it would fit in my little Rick Steves messenger bag. And I'm not going to pack for a day in a Disney park like we're going to Mt Everest. It really is funny when he suggests it (which is usually the night before we leave or the day after we get back home).
 


So now let's move to our 2nd Magic Kingdom day! This will be on Tues 6/11. Here's what the current plan looks like on TP. This assumes that I can actually get a FP for 7DMT, which is kind of laughable, I think. I will have more luck going on it first thing in the morning and being at the park way way early before rope drop, I think.

  • 9:14 am - Splash Mtn. 4 min wait.
  • 9:46 am - carrousel in Fantasyland. 4 min wait.
  • 9:53 am - 7DMT. 6 min wait. Assumes FP for 9-10am. Let's be honest with each other here, shall we? There's no way this is happening. LOL
  • 10:04 am - Mickey's PhilharMagic. 4 min wait.
  • 10:23 am - Mad Tea Party. 6 min wait.
  • 10:34 am - Go around once on the train, starting at Fantasyland station. 7 min wait.
  • 11:03 am - meet Ariel @ her grotto using FP.
  • 11:11 am - Under the Sea ride. 2 min wait using FP.
  • 11:27 am - Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor. 13 min wait.
  • 11:57 am - Carousel of Progress. 5 min wait.
  • 12:24 pm - People Mover. 0 min wait.
  • 12:36 pm - Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café for lunch.
  • LEAVE THE PARK!
That's pretty decent. This rivals some our Disneyland trips where we've done at least a dozen attractions by lunch time. Since we won't have park hoppers, I need to think about what we'd want to do at MK in the evening when we come back after dinner!
 
So after changing it up a bit with the Tues 6/11 TP, here's what the software came up with...I like this one a lot better!

9:11 am - Pirates. 5 min wait.
9:28 am - Splash Mtn. 5 min wait.
9:59 am - it's a small world. 10 min wait.
10:29 am - Ariel meet & greet. 3 min wait assuming 10-11 am FP
11:00 am - Under the Sea. 2 min wait assuming 11-12 FP
12:20 pm - lunch at Cosmic Ray's
1:20 pm - LEAVE THE PARK!
7:00 pm - Enchanted Tales with Belle. 4 min wait assuming 7-8 pm FP
7:27 pm - Mickey's PhilharMagic. 6 min wait.
7:46 pm - carrousel. 4 min wait.
7:58 pm - railroad from Fantasyland Station. 6 min wait.
8:30 pm - Carousel of Progress. 5 min wait.

8:57 pm - People mover. 0 min wait.
9:08 pm - Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. 5 min wait.

9:30 pm - Tomorrowland Speedway. 12 min wait.
9:47 pm - Mad Tea Party. 4 min wait.


What I'll need to get on the agenda for Thursday of that week is Jungle Cruise!
 
More trip prep!

I had to run to Sprouts this evening and picked up these 2 things...the Ecodent toothpaste is great! It's a powder, so if you're packing only with carry-on luggage and you need to limit your liquids, then this is an awesome alternative. If you're looking for a non-liquid form of shampoo and conditioner, Lush Cosmetics makes some that work really well. They come in a bar form kind of like soap. I think that they work really well. The Ecodent was about $5 and this small bottle lasts FOREVER!

The sunscreen is going to go into my park bag for us to reapply sunscreen so I don't have to lug around a big container of it all day long!


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So the Magic Kingdom has...
Fantasyland
Main Street
Tomorrowland
Frontierland
Adventureland
etc...

And in my family, we have...
Perpetually-changing-ADRs-land :rotfl2:

I swear this is the last time I'm going to change our Fri night dinner! First, I booked Boma. Then I thought, "Nah, this is for DH's birthday, we shouldn't do a buffet for his birthday. Jiko has good reviews, let's go there instead." So I booked Jiko. Then I changed my mind and cancelled Jiko and rebooked for Boma at 6 pm. But then I thought, "Hm, I really want to try California Grill." So I started looking for CA Grill for Wed evening.

But DH couldn't commit to being available for dinner on Wed evening because of the work conference. Well darn it, there goes that plan. My mouth waters just thinking about the filet that everybody raves about at CA Grill.

Then I went through a phase of other Wed night dinners...Morimoto's or Homecomin'? And I booked and changed those a couple of times. But eventually just cancelled everything for Wed dinner. We'll do QS somewhere. Or we'll go to that Sofrita's Latin Cafe that's really close to our hotel.

And then a 5:15 pm time slot popped up today for Friday at CA Grill. So I cancelled Boma and we're going to CA Grill instead. I'm not changing it again. I promise!
 
That was totally me planning our first WDW trip, I changed our ADRs so many times. I found a reservation finder website and I changed the reservations all over again. Then I came across the ADR cancellation page and I kept changing our reservations. This time we are only doing 2 TS and I’ve only changed them twice. We are doing Tusker House breakfast at 10:40, to get some lunch foods. And Ohana, because I loved the bread pudding. I hard originally scheduled Boma because of the awesome reviews but the bread pudding won. But I’m most excited about Early Morning Magic!
 
So I just paid off the AKL 1-night & 5-day tickets package this morning w/WDW Travel! YAY! And now all 4 of our tickets are linked together on my MDE account online. The hotel reservation is showing up there also. I didn't realize that you get a free round of miniature golf with this. Maybe we'll find time to do that on our departure day!
 
I made a stop at REI and Cost Plus Imports today at lunch time. At Cost Plus, I picked up 3 of these batik fans. They were about $5 each. Some of them were $4.50. Of course, ODD wants one of those mister fans. Ugh. Well, if she wants one, then she gets to carry it throughout WDW! Picture is courtesy of Cost Plus's website.

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Then I bought 3 pr of Wright Socks. They're the Double Layer Coolmesh II quarter socks. I've worn these before and walked 20 miles in 1 day in the summer and did not get blisters. Between these socks and Body Glide on your feet, NO blisters! These were about $12/pair in the store. Expensive, but SO worth it. I have 4 other pairs of these double layer Wright Socks and since ODD has almost caught up to my shoe size, she can basically borrow my socks. I need to get probably 3 pr for YDD and 3 pr for DH.

Here's a pic from REI's website:


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I also got a 4 oz bottle of this Repel 100 stuff, which is 98% DEET. This was $11.95 at the REI store. Because it's 4 oz, it's not something that you could pack in a carry on bag, but definitely something that would go in checked luggage. Here in Phoenix, we hardly ever have problems with mosquitos, so I never have any insect repellent at home.

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9 yr old YDD said earlier this week, "Mama, your park bag is ugly. You need to get something prettier." She's right. It's an ugly bag. LOL. It's served me well for quite awhile. But yeah, it's nothing nice to look at. So I broke down today and bought a Baggalini hobo tote. Here's a picture from Baggalini's website. All of my park stuff will fit in it, including 3 kind of bulky ponchos, a travel umbrella, and other odds & ends. The side pockets on the outside are also just the right size to fit 2 water bottles. And on one side of it, it has this zipper thing that lets you attach it to a rolling luggage handle. And it's blue instead of olive green like my old bag is. It's just as light weight as the Rick Steves bag.


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DH bought a new pair of walking shoes today, so he'll have a couple of months to break them in before we are walking miles and miles in a theme park.
 
Life update!

We met up last weekend with good friends, 1 of whom I haven't seen in about 5 years! It was great to catch up with them! It's hard to believe that there's only 2 more months left of the school year. Time flies! In about a week, I'll be making FP+ reservations!

I put all of my "bring into the park" stuff into my new Baggalini purse and it's very manageable and not heavy at all. Even with a water bottle in one of the side pockets, it's fine.

I do think that I need to add a couple of Tide pods to my packing list because I'm planning on doing a little laundry midway through our trip. I always do this because: (a) it gives us an excuse to stop and relax and do nothing for a little while; (b) we don't have to bring a week's worth of clothes with us; and (c) we can use smaller suitcases.
 
I have now officially reached that point where perhaps all first time WDW vacationers on these boards do this.... :badpc: and :eek: and a bit of :furious: with a tad of :scared1: thrown in, too.

Listen up, people. Pull up a chair, grab your favorite beverage, because it's Trip Planning Story Time and oh boy do I have a tale to tell.

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away...
No, that's not how it goes.

Once upon a time, this DL veteran thought she was smart and started reading the WDW part of DIS boards in advance of her family's WDW vacation. The original plan went something like this:
- DH goes to convention in Orlando.
- DH's employer pays for the hotel because of the convention.
- We all stay at the hotel with DH (me & the kids).
- We spend the last night at AKL before we fly home to reality.
- I purchase park tickets with the 1 night AKL stay and link the park tickets to that on site stay.
- 60 days before the AKL stay, I book our FPs for AK (which is same day as when we check into AKL).
- 30 days before 6/10, I book the 1st set of FPs for the 1st day we'll be in the off site hotel.

Then there was a big management shake up at DH's employer. Employer paying for attending the convention is now up in the air. But we won't know until later. What to do? Well, of course, I did the obvious and went scouring the Internet for a back up off-site hotel room. Spent hours looking. Preferably something with free breakfast and wasn't a run down hotel. For grins & giggles, I did a comparison for those same dates for a WDW on site stay. And well what do you know, but that summer room rate special makes staying at All Star Music actually CHEAPER (even when you include tax) than staying at the off site convention hotel.

SWEET! We're all excited, right? I know I was. party: Oh and I could cancel that room reservation up to 6/4 and get my hotel room deposit back. I mean, we're talking almost a $40/night difference.

THEN....then WDW sent me an email this morning saying "Hey! You can start booking your FP+ today!" I thought, "Oh! Really? I was going to wait until 4/16 and just do the AKL FP reservations for 6/15, but if I can do it all today, then ok, I'll do that!" So I was doing this --> :cheer2:

Like a diligent DIS Boards trip planner person, I logged into MDE. Checked to see that all of our tickets were showing up and that they were linked. Why yes, they were! I went to the FP+ part of the MDE website and what do my wondering eyes see, but it will only let me book FP+ for 6/15 and 6/16! What? What is this? So my :banana: changed to :eek:.

I call the WDW phone number. Their customer service is wonderful, by the way. And then I spent the next 30-45 minutes on the phone with them. Here's what I've learned through all of this:

  1. You can only have park tickets linked to ONE ON SITE HOTEL RESERVATION, NOT 2!
  2. If you link your tickets to an on site hotel reservation but you are going to the parks BEFORE your check in date, you CANNOT BOOK ANY FP+ for those "pre-on-site check in date" park days. You cannot book those 30 days prior. AT ALL. Your ONLY option is to book the FP+ when you get to the park.
  3. AND your park tickets which are linked to your on site hotel Magic Bands? Those won't be active prior to the on site hotel check in date, so you'll have to go to the ticket booth to activate them before you can go into the park. No "it's all automatic and it's no problem." :scared1:
  4. So your hopes of getting a FP for 7DMT or Peter Pan? Kiss them good bye.
  5. Oh...and that $169 you spent on the Memory Maker photopass package? That is tied to your on site hotel reservation, too, and will only be active for 6/15 going forward, so you'd see NONE of the pics for any of the park days BEFORE 6/15. HAD I KNOWN THIS, THEN I WOULD NOT HAVE SPENT THE ARM AND A LEG ON THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE! :crazy2: Here's where I had a mental melt down while on the phone with WDW customer service....Just last month, we were at Disneyland for 2 days with my sister (it was so much fun, very magical & wonderful). You want Photopass there? $10/day. But who knows when we'll go back to WDW after this first ever WDW trip, so I want those awesome Photopass pics since the PP photographers do so much of a better job at taking pictures than I do.
  6. Can they 'unlink' the park tickets from the room reservation? Apparently not.
Today, I really and truly feel like planning a WDW is like planning a military invasion or something. It seems like I'm planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy. o_O

So the very helpful Disney Reservations CM got everything squared away. Here's where things stand now:

  • She created a NEW trip package for All Star Music (6/9-6/15) with the 5-day base tickets for the 4 of us linked to that.
  • She linked the Memory Maker photo pass thing to that reservation.
  • She left the AKL on the original reservation. Just hotel & nothing else with it.
  • She had to refund the original credit card payments that I'd already made for all of that.
  • She also had to then charge my credit card on the new reservation for the amount that I'd previously paid from the original package.
  • Thus leaving us with ~ $688 for the All Star Music room (that's room + tax) that has to be paid in full by 5/10 (1 month from today). This room rate is much better than the off site convention hotel.
BUT...
- DH's employer will likely not allow DH to expense the 6/9-6/15 hotel (even though it's cheaper) because it wasn't booked through his employer's online travel application.
- As a result, now DH is quite grumpy.
- I'm trying to talk him down a bit and remind him of how he'd just spoken yesterday about "Gee, what if they decide to cut corners at work and decide not to pay for me to go to this? I really need to go to this convention regardless, so if they say no, I'm taking that week off as PTO (paid time off) and I'm going anyway." :mic: DH can't see or understand that yet. All he sees is "$688?!" :scared1:


Sure, we could cancel the whole trip for the kids & I and DH could go by himself, but he'll be miserable by himself the whole week and he wants us to go with him. Besides, we've promised this to the kids now, so we're committed and we need to follow through. And it's only $688. We can swing that and it won't be difficult. Plus, since we'd be on site the whole time, we could switch the rental car to have DH do it through his employer. Therefore, he would be the only drive and I wouldn't be allowed to drive the rental car. The kids & I would use on site transportation to get places

If you're exhausted from reading all of this, you should be! HAHAHA! Who needs Mr Toad's Wild Ride when you have this? I'll be honest with you guys...I really was missing Disneyland trip planning this afternoon. I know that everything will eventually work out for this trip, but in the meantime, it's been crazy and stressful. I am really not used to having to know all of the caveats, rules & such beforehand.



In the next post...I'll tell y'all what FP+ reservations I snagged today! Good news is in store.

 
After all of that, what does our FP+ reservations look like?

Sun 6/10:
9:35-10:35 am - BTMRR
11:20-12:20 - Jungle Cruise (thus making YDD a happy camper)
12:05 pm Liberty Tree Tavern ADR
12:40-1:40 pm HM
6:15 pm - Hoop Dee Doo for dinner


Mon 6/11:
9:25-10:25 am - Test Track
10:45-11:45 am - Spaceship Earth
11:35 am - Via Napoli ADR
not sure if I'll add a FP for Illuminations. I've seen the video on YouTube and it didn't look too exciting.


Tues 6/12:
9:25-10:25 am - Peter Pan
11:25-12:25 - 7DMT
12:55-1:55 pm - IASW
no ADRs


Wed 6/13:
no ADRs
no parks today
no FP


Thurs 6/14:
9:50-10:50 am - Peter Pan
10:50-11:50 am - meet Rapunzel & Tiana
6:30-7:30 pm - Jungle Cruise
7:45 pm - fireworks dessert party (plaza garden viewing)


Fri 6/15:
10:05-11:05 am - Kilimanjaro Safaris
12:10-1:10 pm - Avatar FOP
2:25-3:25 pm - Kali River Rapids
5:15 pm - CA Grill ADR for DH's b-day
then MAYBE back to AK to see Rivers of Light for the 9:15 pm show.


Sat 6/16:
no parks today, no ADRs, no FP. Sleep in, enjoy the pool, fly home.

You know what I think? We should eat the $688 and stay at All Star Music.


 
This week has flown by! Busy with work, the kids' school stuff, and trip planning. :-) DH & I have decided to keep the All Star Music reservation. He's going to cancel the convention hotel reservation. Yes, we'll have less square footage in the hotel room and we'll be in double beds instead of queen beds, but we'll get to be on site the whole time. DH will use the rental car for transportation to/from the convention and the kids & I will use the Disney buses to get around. Win win!

I like that we'll be able to get the kids Mickey waffles for breakfast every morning. I was looking at the menu on Allears . net. I love that website. I use it as our go to place for Disneyland restaurant menus & prices and that's how I figure out what our Disneyland food budget needs to be. And I've been using for this WDW trip, too!

** Edited to add **

I forgot to mention the refillable mugs! They don't have these at Disneyland. And whenever we go to Disneyland, we save $$ on our food budget by bringing some snacks w/us into the parks for the morning. Plus at mealtime at Quick Service locations, we get free ice water and use it to fill up our water bottles.

But holy cow, WDW has refillable drink mugs! Looks like they're $18.99 a piece and you can use them for the length of our stay according to what I read on the refillable drink mug sticky thread.

Ok, now it's time for some math.:teacher:

My DH drinks a lot of liquids whenever we're at Disneyland, so I'd say conservatively, let's assume the 4 of us each fill up the mug 4x/day. For DH, it would be twice at breakfast, twice at dinner if we're eating dinner there and once some time between dinner and bed time.

Same thing for the kids and I - probably 4x/day. Once at breakfast, once when we get back to the resort from the morning at the park, once during pool time, and once before we head back to the room at the end of the evening.

Let's also assume for a moment that the price of those sodas are the same at the parks as at the resort. So $3.29/soda, coffee, or lemonade (my kids hate soda).

For 1 person, that's $13.16/day in drinks.
For 1 person over 7 days, that comes to a total of $92.12.
For 4 people, that's $52.64/day in drinks.
And for 4 people over 7 days, that comes to a total of $368.48!

HOLY MOLY!


So by spending $18.99 on 4 refillable mugs, you save $292.52 just on drinks.:eek:
 
Last edited:
This week has flown by! Busy with work, the kids' school stuff, and trip planning. :-) DH & I have decided to keep the All Star Music reservation. He's going to cancel the convention hotel reservation. Yes, we'll have less square footage in the hotel room and we'll be in double beds instead of queen beds, but we'll get to be on site the whole time. DH will use the rental car for transportation to/from the convention and the kids & I will use the Disney buses to get around. Win win!

I like that we'll be able to get the kids Mickey waffles for breakfast every morning. I was looking at the menu on Allears . net. I love that website. I use it as our go to place for Disneyland restaurant menus & prices and that's how I figure out what our Disneyland food budget needs to be. And I've been using for this WDW trip, too!

** Edited to add **

I forgot to mention the refillable mugs! They don't have these at Disneyland. And whenever we go to Disneyland, we save $$ on our food budget by bringing some snacks w/us into the parks for the morning. Plus at mealtime at Quick Service locations, we get free ice water and use it to fill up our water bottles.

But holy cow, WDW has refillable drink mugs! Looks like they're $18.99 a piece and you can use them for the length of our stay according to what I read on the refillable drink mug sticky thread.

Ok, now it's time for some math.:teacher:

My DH drinks a lot of liquids whenever we're at Disneyland, so I'd say conservatively, let's assume the 4 of us each fill up the mug 4x/day. For DH, it would be twice at breakfast, twice at dinner if we're eating dinner there and once some time between dinner and bed time.

Same thing for the kids and I - probably 4x/day. Once at breakfast, once when we get back to the resort from the morning at the park, once during pool time, and once before we head back to the room at the end of the evening.

Let's also assume for a moment that the price of those sodas are the same at the parks as at the resort. So $3.29/soda, coffee, or lemonade (my kids hate soda).

For 1 person, that's $13.16/day in drinks.
For 1 person over 7 days, that comes to a total of $92.12.
For 4 people, that's $52.64/day in drinks.
And for 4 people over 7 days, that comes to a total of $368.48!

HOLY MOLY!


So by spending $18.99 on 4 refillable mugs, you save $292.52 just on drinks.:eek:
Have you thought about adding the meal plan?
 

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