Wanna Know A Secret: January 2019 Pre-Trip Report

cosmicmommy

Out of This World Mom
Joined
May 11, 2016
First of all, to those of you who were reading my January 2017 trip report that I never finished, I am sorry. Life got hectic and then the details got fuzzy, but at some point, I will revisit it, I promise!

Now, on to the good stuff - the new trip that is on the horizon. A little background for this trip:

Who - Myself, my three boys and my NIECE (Yes folks, I am dragging along my will-be 14 year old niece as a glorified babysitter. She's going to buy her ticket, and I am covering everything else. She loves Disney as much as I do, had a recently somewhat disappointing trip with her grandmother, brother and cousin, and my kids look up to her and respect her. Win-win-win. I will have another set of eyes, ears and hands on these rowdy boys of mine!)

What - Disney trip! Yay! This time, we are going with 7 Day Hoppers (!!! More on that later!) and have decided to forgo the dining plan since my niece is accompanying us. We will do a mix of eating in the parks (at least one meal daily in the parks) and bringing snacks/sandwiches and filling up on popcorn refills!

Where - I upgraded to Caribbean Beach this time around to have the 5th sleeping space for my niece. The boys will likely take turns on the pull down bed.

When - Mardi Gras 2019. March 2-10. I know it's going to be busy, but there's no other time we can manage a 9 day trip. The only way to go at another time in the year, is to shorten or massively delay our trip.

Why - The boys went on their first trip in January 2017 and have been daydreaming (rather loudly) about going back since we got 3 miles outside of Orlando on the way home. The secret? They don't know about this trip yet and they won't find out until it's bedtime the night before we leave. Literally hours before we get there and embark on a whirlwind trip around the world. I also have decided I want to fix some of the minor mistakes we made last time (although there were very few errors!) and expand our experiences.

Stay tuned!
 
Following. We're looking at 2/25-3/5. Hoping the Mardi Gras crowds aren't too bad!
We're hoping they're not too bad either. Mardi Gras is late next year, so it doesn't coincide with President's Day, but early enough that we'll hopefully miss most Spring Break crowds. The kiddos get the whole week off and I get Mon/Tues, so I don't have to pull them out of school and I only have to use 3 vacation days!
 
So I just noticed that today, my ticker hit less than 10 months! Yay! There is still SO much to be done to prepare for this trip, but I overwhelmingly feel like the majority of my plans are pretty concrete already. With two sensory kids, limited vacation time availability and a strict budget, I had to get the major details hammered in early. For this post, in celebration of the ticker rolling into the "9 months to go" territory, I'll give you a better introduction to the major players this time.

Me: I am a single working mom to three boys, each with their own unique sets of challenges that make vacation planning a must-do. Over the years, I have learned how to plan down to the minute, but allow enough wiggle room that if *ahem* when something doesn't go according to plan, we can transition past it without too much loss of time (or dignity). I work for the county government doing office work for a recreational park that hosts adult softball, youth softball, youth soccer, and youth football. Outside of my day job, I am a Scout leader for a secular, Co-Ed group of Scouts that focuses on STEM activities and survival skills. This will be my 5th trip to the World, and my second as an adult. This will be my second stay at Caribbean Beach Resort, but the last time was 20 (!) years ago, so it'll be like my first time all over again. When we last stayed there, I remember that Mulan had just been released and 'True To Your Heart' kept playing over and over again on the Disney TV.
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Caitlyn: My 13 year old niece. She is way too mature for her age, but I like to remind her whenever I can that she's still a kid and should be enjoying her life as such. She will be 14 by the time we go, so she will provide with something desperately needed on my last Disney trip with my kids - extra body parts (as in eyes, ears and hands!) to keep up with the boys (two tend to wander) and an additional "adult" for ride swaps! Last time, we were at the mercy of the youngest (he was 4 at the time) in both height and courage (or lack thereof) for some rides. Now, Caitlyn will be able to take anybody who can't or won't ride a ride while I ride, then we can swap off. It shouldn't present itself too many times, but I know that my youngest two absolutely refuse to ride Big Thunder and my youngest will have nothing to do with Dinosaur.
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Orion: My 9 year old. This will be his second trip, and his last as a Disney kid. He has extreme ADHD and can be a handful at times, but only because his mind is in 500 different places at once. His little heart is always constant - right on his sleeve. I can't remember any rides he hated last time. In fact, he and my middle boy (who was 7 at the time) rode Mission: Space and Primeval Whirl by themselves because my youngest was too short to ride, so we had to wait it out elsewhere. He is/was a major help with his younger brothers and he tries his hardest to "act big" but deep down, he's still getting there on the maturity front and I'm not complaining. He can grow up later. He is a very asynchronous kid - he looks like he's 12 (and reads at a 6/7 grade reading level), he's actually 9, and his maturity level is about a 5. But for now, his little Disney loving self can keep on keepin' on. His favorite rides were Splash Mountain, Expedition Everest and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.
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Apollo: My (almost) 8 year old. He will be 8 when we go as well. This is also his second trip and likely his last as a Disney kid too since we probably won't return until 2021 for the 50th. He has a brilliant mind, but because of his autism, his social quotient is best likened to that of a snail. He can fake his way through most social situations, but those who love him know he can be a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off if he is triggered. As last time, he will likely have a stroller this time around as well so that he has somewhere he can escape. One of his biggest triggers is being touched by strangers. If you can imagine, that can make navigating Disney World hazardous, but between the DAS pass, a careful plan and a stroller, we were able to avoid all but 3 meltdowns over the course of a 5 day trip last time. With extra help and more knowledge, we are hoping to maintain that level for our upcoming 9 day trip. His favorite rides were Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest.
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Phoenix: My caboose. He will be just shy of 7 when we go. In fact, he is going to celebrate his 7th birthday while we're there. This will be his second trip, but I think we'll get at least one more in before he becomes a 'Disney adult.' My little redhead is the quintessential redhead - sassy and without a sense of danger. That's not to say he doesn't feel fear - he very much does and he very nearly escaped Big Thunder mountain mid-ride due to sheer terror. Then he turned around and rode Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest and loved them. He is overall a bit of an odd duck and he keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. He also qualifies for a DAS pass due to sensory integration issues, but we will likely just have it for his brother as his quirks are typically manageable and he will usually ride anything Apollo does. Just not Big Thunder. They both hate that ride with the heat of a thousands suns because it is "too clacky." One of his favorite things in all of Disney World is the Lion King show. His favorite rides were Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and It's A Small World. His least favorites were Big Thunder, Dinosaur and Star Tours. All for different reasons, but he absolutely tried to escape each of them. He caught me off-guard with Big Thunder, but his attempts were thwarted on the latter two - and documented in the case of Dinosaur.
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Adorable family ! March will be here before you know it.... I have to wait until May of 2019 :(
 
A quick recap of our last trip, to give you a better understanding of my method of planning for the upcoming trip. We went in January 2017 and stayed at Pop Century. It was the boys' first trip and it was just the four of us. We rented a stroller for Apollo (and Phoenix since he was still just 4 at the time) and we spent 5 days back to back in the parks, often from Pre-open to long after the park closed. We did not have park hoppers last time and we did 2 days at Magic Kingdom and 1 day at the other three parks. Apollo's favorite park was Epcot. Phoenix's favorite park was Animal Kingdom. Orion's favorite park was Hollywood Studios. They all loved Magic Kingdom too, but staying true to themselves, they all went outside the box for their favorites. Magic Kingdom was the 2nd favorite for two of them and third favorite for the other. Last time, we had the standard Disney dining plan because I wanted them to be able to experience character meals and to generally have our meals planned out in advance.

RECAP: PART ONE​

Day 1:
We met up with my ex-husband's mom and stepbrother at Disney Springs since they happened to be in town. We ate at T-Rex (her treat), got pictures taken at PhotoPass studios, shopped around and got poured on. On the drive down (we left around 1 AM), we were trying to stay in the one hour golden window between tornadic storms, so I kept having to stop at rest areas to let the one in front of us move out more, but couldn't stop too long or the one behind us would catch up to us. We got a quick pizza at the food court for dinner that night and hunkered down to ride out yet another round of tornadoes and watch the Hippy Dippy pool overflow with rain.
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Day 2: The clouds were still ominous this day, but the weather was expected to improve throughout the day. I planned our first day at Magic Kingdom to conquer Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square, plus the parades and shows. The day went by fast and we veered from our plan a bit when Splash Mountain was a walk-on, but we got in at least one ride on everything we wanted to ride, although we did skip Festival of Fantasy to get onto Haunted Mansion sooner. We missed Country Bears Jamboree because I didn't notice it closed it at 6, but we made up for it with an extra ride on Splash Mountain. We ended up meeting Aladdin, Jasmine, Cinderella, Elena, Jack Sparrow and The Beast (at our dessert reservation at Be Our Guest). We rode Jungle Cruise (twice), Magic Carpets, Thunder Mountain (twice), Splash Mountain (twice), Liberty Belle Riverboat, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean (twice) and visited the Swiss Family Treehouse. I got wetter on Pirates than I did on Splash! We saw Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire (only took three tries due to rain!), Move It, Shake It Parade (we danced with Nick and Judy), Muppets Present American History and Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial. We ate at Sleepy Hollow (snack credits!), Casey's Corner and Be Our Guest (just the grey stuff and a cupcake!).
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Day 3: This day, we went to Hollywood Studios bright and early to sign up for Jedi Training Academy. We spent the first half of the day completing the attractions around the park that were NOT Star Wars related and devoted the second half of the day to Star Wars exclusively. We did Toy Story Midway Mania, met Buzz and Woody, met Moana, did the Disney Jr show, ate with Handy Manny, Doc McStuffins, Sofia and Jake, met Mickey and Minnie Mouse, sang along with the Frozen gang and dropped into the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (even my 4 year old). My youngest was too short to ride Rock N Rollercoaster, so we skipped it because the big boys were not yet ready to ride without me. For the second half of the day, we watched the March of the First Order, battled Darth Vader, vent on an adventure with C3PO in Star Tours made our own lightsabers, ate Chicken and Waffles at Backlot Express, met Chewbacca, had my youngest declare his allegiance to Kylo Ren, got interrogated by storm troopers and then braved in front of front row for the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular. Then we explored the Art of Animation resort since we got back kinda early. And I got food poisoning from somewhere - so I spent 6 hours throwing up while the boys peacefully slept.
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RECAP: PART TWO
Day Four: We got up early (even though I felt horrible) and just barely made our 8 AM ADR for Tusker House, where I convinced every kid to try something new. Of course, they were delighted to get to meet Goofy, Mickey, Daisy and Donald too. We made pretty quick work of the park in theory, but took our time to enjoy those little things other might would skip such as the boneyard and the Wilderness Explorers. The boys got SO wrapped up in Wilderness Explorers, we had to skip the Jungle Trek and Flights of Wonder completely. Our first ride of the day was on the first Jeep to leave on the Safari. From there, we saw the Festival of the Lion King, took the Wildlife Express to Conservation Station and met Rafiki and Chip and Dale, met Baloo and King Louie, met Mickey and Minnie again, conquered Everest, saw Finding Nemo, ate at Restaurantosaurus, played in the Boneyard, lost a Magic Band, panicked, found said Magic Band that a castmember had picked up, went back in time on Dinosaur (and my 4 year old tried to stay there)... no, really... took a spin on a Triceratop and allowed my oldest two to ride their first ride without me - Primeval Whirl (again, my youngest was too short). We hit up the photo booths while we waited, then we all had to do it. We ended the night by watching the Tree of Life Awakening and buying stuffed Lion Guard members in the gift shop.

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Day Five: This brought us back to Magic Kingdom to attempt to conquer the OTHER side, aka Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. I had a strict schedule with carefully planned FastPasses and maps and touring plans that we promptly threw out the window the minute we got there. We had a Pre-open breakfast at Be Our Guest and were out the door by 8:40 and on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train by 8:45. In fact, we rode it 3 times before the park even opened. Then we hustled over to the Fairytale Garden to meet a certain princess, and then back to Peter Pan, Pooh and PhilHarMagic. By this time, I was really getting the hang of Apollo's DAS pass and alternating getting return times, riding something with little or no wait, then returning to our bigger attraction and mixing in our Fastpasses along the way. By lunchtime, we had also met Tiana and Rapunzel, rode the Carrousel and It's A Small World, listened to Belle's Enchanted Tale (and participated) and visited the Storybook Circus (where we knocked out Dumbo and Barnstormer without return time or FP in 15 minutes). Deciding that we weren't hungry, we decided to go Under the Sea and meet Ariel in her Grotto before attending a Mad Tea Party and then blasting off to Tomorrowland. Upon arrivale, we rode Astro Blasters and PeopleMover, then got a return time for Buzz and used our Space Mountain Fastpass, then returned to Buzz. We got a return time for the Speedway and danced with The Incredibles, then dropped in to visit Mike at Monsters, Inc. By this time, we were hungry, so we visited Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Ray's, then went for an after-dinner drive at the Speedway. Having completed everything on our list, we made the decision to close out our night by walking over to Frontierland and riding Splash Mountain and few more times. In fact, we crested Chick-a-Pin Hill just as the first fireworks from Wishes exploded in the sky. We had a bit of a meltdown in The Emporium (I bribed Phoenix to ride Mine Train that morning by offering him a Snow White Tsum Tsum, but couldn't find one ANYWHERE) followed by an amazing castmember gifting my son an expensive figurine playset AND a golden ticket for the next day. Did I mention that I did this whole day with NO voice because I had lost it from the irritation from two nights before with the food poisoning?
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Day Six: Our last day in a park was spent in Epcot so that we could catch the Festival of the Arts. We had a Pre-Open breakfast at Akershus that I had planned to use to get a jump on Frozen Ever After, but it didn't work out that way. When it was time to go, the little one had not yet seen Snow White, so we decided to go off-plan and wait for Snow White. Once we'd met her, we headed to Frozen and found a 45 minute wait, so we got a return time and met the sisters instead. By the time we got done there, we could ride Frozen Ever After and wrap up Norway. Because nothing else was open yet, we wandered to Future World and knocked out Imagination before heading back and playing along with Perry the Platypus in Mexico. We met Mulan in China, watched the trains in Germany, pretended to be part of the portrait in Italy and grabbed some "artistic" snacks in the American Adventure. The boys did NOT like the scallops, but LOVED the chocolate flights (hello snack credits!). We learned about Kawaii in Japan, waved at Jasmine in Morocco, saw the Eiffel Tower in France, played in the phone booths in UK and wrapped up our scavenger hunt in Canada. After grabbing a quick snack at Refreshment Port, we ventured into FutureWorld to find Test Track broken down and our first anytime fastpasses. Then we found out my youngest was too short for Mission: Space, despite having ridden other 44 inch rides, so I sent my oldest off again on their own to ride while we played in the playground. Then we thanked the Phoenicians in Spaceship Earth, tested our rides on Test Track, visited the Seas with Nemo and Talked with Crush. We hopped aboard Living with the Land, then went Soarin' with our golden Fastpass, before checking into our Garden Grill dinner reservation. We had intended to stay there until after Illuminations, but upon realizing we were done with 15 minutes to go, we waved goodbye to Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto and made a mad dash for Character Spot. I sent the boys into Baymax's line and watched them from the Inside Out line, then had them join me there to meet Sadness and Joy. We ended our trip around the world and to the future with an exhausted picture in front of the big golf ball.

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Day Seven: On our last day, we rode a Hawaiian rollercoaster ride with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch, then returned to the Springs to visit Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and to crown three handsome knights, take some more pictures at PhotoPass Studios and grab lunch at Cooke's of Dublin, then spend our snack credits on take home treats from Goofy's Candy Company.

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And a bonus picture because it's just funny:
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This Pre-Trip report is LONG overdue for an update. First things first, we are back to a party of 4. My niece cannot go due to circumstances beyond my control so it will be just me and the three again. Secondly, we have changed both resorts AND months. Can't say I'm too terribly upset about either of the latter changes since changing resorts is going to be cheaper and changing months means lower crowds! I am disappointed that my niece can't go, but I also know that I can do this. I've done it before and even though we are going for a longer amount of time and adding hoppers, the boys will all be two years older and everyone will finally be big enough to ride everything.

In true over-planner fashion, I have already typed out a general itinerary for the entire trip. Since we are not doing the dining plan this time around, getting my ADRs secured was way less stressful than I had anticipated since we had very few dinner plans that required reservations. Our pre-open breakfast at Be Our Guest was invaluable last time and the boys and I enjoyed it, so I rebooked that and got exactly 8 AM, so I am thrilled. I also decided this time to book the restaurants that I wanted to visit, but that aren't a good value on the dining plan, so I booked us a lunch at 50s Prime Time, a dinner at Sci-Fi, appetizers/dessert at Rainforest and a dinner at Via Napoli. Everything else we eat will be Quick Service and likely kids meals around or sharing meals. We have better things to do this time than waste all our time eating. I am seriously considering ONE character meal, but haven't decided if it's worth the $100+ this time or not... Does anyone have a glowing recommendation for somewhere? I know the boys do love Rapunzel, so I may be considering Trattoria Al Forno...

We are going to have hoppers this time, so I have laid out several days where we will be jumping between parks and our final day is going to a monumental four park hop. The plans are to get a picture with the icon, ride our 2-3 favorite rides and grab a snack in each park. We will be starting in Animal Kingdom since it has EMH in the morning and then cycling through each park - Hollywood, then Epcot and ending at Magic Kingdom where we will also be enjoying our big splurge this trip - the Happily Ever After dessert party. I think that's ending on a pretty big bang. Historically, Magic has been open until midnight on the Saturday when we'll be there, but right now, it is currently only open until the fireworks. If they don't expand those hours, our four park hop day will likely look like this:

8 AM - Animal Kingdom
- Safari first thing
- Everest
- Another attraction, likely Primeval Whirl or Tough to Be a Bug

10 AM - Head to Hollywood
- Toy Story ride (whichever I can get a FP for)
- Rock n Rollercoaster
- Tower of Terror

1 PM - Epcot
- Soarin'
- Test Track
- Another attraction, likely Misson: Space or Spaceship: Earth

4 PM - Magic Kingdom
- Splash Mountain
- 7 Dwarfs Mine Train
- If time, another attraction like Pirates, Small World or Haunted Mansion
- HEA dessert party starts at 6:30, so there's that...

Then, of course, if Magic ends up being open later, it's gonna be a free for all, ride everything we can kind of night like a bunch of kids at...well, Disney!

I am still fine-tuning the rest of my days and of course, waiting for the dreaded refurb schedule to drop. Anything but Splash! That is my boys' favorite ride in Magic Kingdom and they will be super disappointed if it's closed. I think between all of our hopping, it's on the plan about 5 or 6 times. They love it that much. Here's hoping...
 
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We're now going January 26-February 3. So 8 nights/9 days/7 day hoppers. We're driving, so we'll hang out at Disney Springs for half days on arrival and departure day. We're currently booked for All Star Music. I had originally considered keeping my reservation at CBR, but it was a BIG difference... over $700. So I justified switching down by reminding myself that we're going longer this time. The kids will probably appreciate ASMu more anyway since it's so themed.
 
Another update! Dining day came and went and I got everything I wanted. I have now added on a character breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno, but was unable to get an early slot. I switched our Epcot and Hollywood/Animal days around to utilize EMH at both Epcot (PM, so two extra hours) on Tuesday and at Animal Kingdom on Monday (AM, so swapped the park order). In doing so, I was able to snag an 8:55 TAF reservation and since that day is going to be spent in World Showcase anyway, losing an hour of touring time won't completely cramp our plan. We'll head into Norway at 10ish and then continue on with the plan. Since we won't be needing any other FastPasses on this day (unless I snag a late Soarin'), I will be utlizing Apollo's DAS pass to secure a return time for Frozen. Today's update will highlight our first three days - Arrival and Day 1 and 2 in parks.

Disclaimer: This is about the 10th version of the plan and I have no doubts that it will change.

By the way, I am an overplanner. I know it and I embrace it. I scheduled our days this way last time and it worked out pretty well because it kept us on time. I have scheduled in more than one "droppable" activity a day so that if we get off-time for the important stuff, we can drop some things and get caught up.


Day 1 – Saturday, January 26

Arrival - (Disney Springs) – 10 AM – 12 AM

Lunch: D-Luxe Burger

Kids’ Meals – ($8.00 x 4) = $32.00 + Tip

PhotoPass Studios

Silhouettes and/or Caricatures

World of Disney/Lego Figures

Swimming at Hotel Pool

Buy 1 Refillable Mug at Food Court - $18.99



Day 2 – Sunday, January 27

Magic Kingdom Half Day (Frontierland, Liberty Square) – (AM EMH) 9 AM – 8 PM

Splash Mountain Ears (Brown Ears, Blue Bow, White/Teal Flowers, Teal Droplets)

Breakfast: Room = $0.00

8:00 AM – Go to City Hall to request DAS pass for Apollo

Castle Pictures

Big Thunder Mountain (7 Minutes)

Splash Mountain (18 Minutes)

Haunted Mansion (10 Minutes)

Hall of Presidents (23 Minutes)

11:00 AM – Move It, Shake It, Dance and Play It Parade

11:30 AM – Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire

12:10 PM – Muppets Present!

Liberty Square Riverboat (16 Minutes)

Country Bear Jamboree (10 Minutes)

Tom Sawyer Island (30 Minutes)

2:00 PM – Lunch: Casey’s Corner

Foot Long Mac and Cheese Dog ($12.50 x 2) = $25.00



3:00 PM – Hop (Monorail) to Epcot (Future World) – 9 AM – 9 PM

Spaceship: Earth Ears (White Ears, Black Bow, White Flowers)

4:00 PM – Spaceship: Earth FP (16 Minutes)

4:30 PM – Mission: Space FP (15 Minutes)

5:00 PM – Test Track FP (4 Minutes)

Journey Into Imagination (6 Minutes)

Living with the Land (14 Minutes)

(Request Return Time for Soarin’)

6:30 PM – Dinner: Sunshine Seasons

Kids’ Meals ($7.00 x 4) = $28.00

Soarin’ (5.5 Minutes) – Ask for seats in Row B1

Turtle Talk with Crush (17 Minutes)

Living Seas with Nemo (4 Minutes)

Character Spot (10 Minutes)

9:00 PM – Park Closes


Day 3 – Monday, January 28

Animal Kingdom – 9AM – 8 PM (8 AM EMH)

Pandora Ears (Royal Blue Ears, Teal Bow, Teal/Purple Flowers)

Breakfast: Room - $0.00

8:00 AM - (Request Return Time for Flight of Passage)

Dinosaur (3.5 Minutes)

Primeval Whirl (2.5 Minutes)

TriceraTop Spin (1.5 Minutes)

Donald’s Dino Bash (10 Minutes)

The Boneyard (15 Minutes)

Flight of Passage (6 Minutes)

(Request Return Time for Na’Vi River Journey)

Pandora Utility Suit (15 Minutes)

Swotu Waya Na’vi Drum Ceremony (10 Minutes)

Na’vi River Journey (5 Minutes)

11:00 AM - Finding Nemo: The Musical (35 Minutes)

12:00 PM – Lunch: Flame Tree Barbeque

Pork & Cheese Fries ($6.49 x 4) = $25.96



2:00 PM - Hop to Hollywood Studios – 9 AM – 8:00 PM

Toy Story Alien Ears (Blue Ears, Lime Bow, Purple/Lime Flowers/Whirlybit Antenna)

3:00 PM – (Request Return Time for Toy Story Midway Mania)

3:30 PM – Slinky Dog Dash FP

Alien Flying Saucers

5:00 PM – Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

5:30 PM – Rockin’ Rollercoaster FP

6:00 PM – Tower of Terror FP

6:40 PM - Voyage of the Little Mermaid

8:00 PM - Fantasmic!

 
You are my kind of planner! My plans are pretty detailed like this, too, despite our trip being 6 months out. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I keep telling him that I won't know when/where to book ADRs if I don't lay things out this way.

That is a BUSY couple of days. After all of that driving alone, I'm not sure could handle 8-9 and 8-8 back to back park days. Of course, my girls are younger than your crew and will pumpkin earlier :-). Are you still up in the air on your Monday dinner?
 
You are my kind of planner! My plans are pretty detailed like this, too, despite our trip being 6 months out. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I keep telling him that I won't know when/where to book ADRs if I don't lay things out this way.

That is a BUSY couple of days. After all of that driving alone, I'm not sure could handle 8-9 and 8-8 back to back park days. Of course, my girls are younger than your crew and will pumpkin earlier :-). Are you still up in the air on your Monday dinner?

It gets even crazier as the week goes on. My kids are park-stormers like me. My Aspie gets a bit overwhelmed, but we'll have a stroller for him to hide in when that happens. In fact, we're going back to back open to close (with some EMH) for 7 days... then driving home. Yes, I am insane...

For Monday, I had originally planned to hit Animal Kingdom in the PM and eat at Flame Tree and do Hollywood in the morning and do an early 50s Prime Time lunch, but since I flip flopped them around due to EMH at Animal Kingdom, we're doing lunch at Flame Tree and I'm not sure what to do for dinner. We may end up splitting a couple cheeseburgers at the resort or something. There is a chance my MIL (former, but she still claims me) may be joining us for a couple days at some point in the trip, so we may end up going somewhere she wants to go for dinner since the park closes at 8 if she chooses to join us for those days. We may end up eating popcorn as dinner, since my kids are OBSESSED with Disney popcorn.
 
We may end up splitting a couple cheeseburgers at the resort or something.

Yeah, there's no way my kids would swing that. They're "so, so, so, so hungry, Mommy," by 5pm despite noon lunch and 3pm snack. I seriously don't know where they put it all: they're these long, skinny things that just keep eating! I guess they lucked out with hubby's metabolism.
 
Yeah, there's no way my kids would swing that. They're "so, so, so, so hungry, Mommy," by 5pm despite noon lunch and 3pm snack. I seriously don't know where they put it all: they're these long, skinny things that just keep eating! I guess they lucked out with hubby's metabolism.


My kids know that we'll eat when I'm ready to, LOL. Like I said, park-stormers here. They want to do and see and ride everything, twice if possible. I always keep a couple snacks in my bag for those times when they really are ravenous, but last time we went, we did mostly pre-park open breakfasts and then dinner and skipped lunch OR we skipped breakfast and did an early lunch with a snacky type dinner. My kids are for the most part tall and skinny too.
 
You'll be at the music resort about a month before me. Following along for the most up-to-date info :)
Your kids are absolutely adorable too!
 
Joining in....I too am trying to plan our trip for January 2019. There are 11 of us...lots of planning...
6 adults...5 kids. And we can't even manage them. Lol...good for you...my link is at bottom for my PTR.
 
Joining in....I too am trying to plan our trip for January 2019. There are 11 of us...lots of planning...
6 adults...5 kids. And we can't even manage them. Lol...good for you...my link is at bottom for my PTR.

Welcome, welcome. I think my ex-husband's mother is going to join us for a few days, so I will have another adult to help me out somewhere along the line. I just don't know where yet. So there's a chance I may have to switch BACK to Caribbean Beach if she wants to bunk with us while she's in town. She has her own timeshare, but she wouldn't have EMH if she did that. Still working out details with her. I have also invited my ex-husband to join us a couple days, but that is far less likely to happen. We are closer with his mother than him.
 
Welcome, welcome. I think my ex-husband's mother is going to join us for a few days, so I will have another adult to help me out somewhere along the line. I just don't know where yet. So there's a chance I may have to switch BACK to Caribbean Beach if she wants to bunk with us while she's in town. She has her own timeshare, but she wouldn't have EMH if she did that. Still working out details with her. I have also invited my ex-husband to join us a couple days, but that is far less likely to happen. We are closer with his mother than him.
that is wonderful that you are still close with you ex MIL...it is important to have family ties...( it takes a villiage)
one DS and family are staying at beach club...while we and DS2 and family are at Bonnet Creek...so we will miss out on the EMH..I just couln't justify the cost to stay on property...and boy did i try...compared to Bonnet Creek...
 

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