My not-so-secret "surprise" trip June 9-15 About This Page:

[mfirst]

Hi!
I'm soooo excited to get started on our PTR. I gave a bit of information in another post - essentially, my oldest has been hording change, counted four piles of 100 and declared to my husband that he'd saved $4000 - was it enough to take me to WDW for my birthday? He wanted to do this last year - even planned out surprising me when the car went under the Welcome sign and pulled up at the hotel and walking down Main Street USA with me on my birthday (July 18th). I have the MOST awesome and thoughtful children!

After many discussions, my husband stated that we needed to make this happen for Nolan - I didn't need any further encouragement to start planning!

My husband is a teacher and coaches three sports, so we're limited to June, July and August for vacation time. We tossed around the idea of travel over Christmas break next year (he's dropping his basketball coaching job), but we have the only grandchildren and I think our parents would never forgive us if we didn't give them access to the kids over Christmas - especially since we live a distance from both our families. So, summer it was. Plus this was a trip to surprise me for my summer birthday, right?

We decided on June 9th - 15th because while school is set to finish on May 29th (May 30th for my husband) we live in Ohio...we get snow days, and a lot of them (we had 9 last year). The district make-up days finished June 5th, which meant that the football mini-camp my husband runs would be June 6th,7th and 8th...so that set our check-in days. Now on to the hotel debate - we were leaning toward POP, but worried about room size. I also liked being close to the MK which was our favorite park last trip. I initially called and booked a Woods View, bunk bed room at WL, but started worrying because this would put us at the top of our price bracket for our vacation - and we handn't included food yet. Our TA called after running the numbers for the Carribean Beach Resort - we could get a preferred room, tickets and the Dining plan for a little less than the WL room and tickets...no brainer, right? So we switched our plans....then my husband discovered that the Carribean Beach had 2 dbl beds - not a deal breaker, but he worried about the boys sharing a bed. At this point, I started thinking I should call the trip report "the people who keep changing their resort resies!"

Well, back to number crunching - we switched our resies again (for the third and possibly final time)...to POR, garden view room with a request for a ground floor room because trying to haul three kids and a double stroller (or three kids and two strollers) up stairs after a long day at the park isn't very appealing...especially after we were so spoiled our last trip.

The "final details" - POR, garden view, requested ground floor and sterile microwave, 5 days of base tickets and the dining plan. After a long conversation between my husband and our oldest, Nolan agreed to go in June rather than over my birthday after learning that we would be there during the final Star Wars days...he's already planning to pack his favorite DRA book (Star Wars, of course) to have characters sign.

Of course, there's always room to change our plans if a good discount or Pin comes our way for our open travel dates in July....

[shnewell]

Great start! I think you will enjoy POR -- it has a lot to offer and makes you feel like you are worlds away from real life!!

[MayraLR]

Great start!

[valegirl5292]

Great start, I hope you get your request for the first floor. When we stayed at CBR, they put us on the second floor and with 2 boys and a stroller, I said no way, unfortunately they couldn't move us for the first night and it wasn't easy getting up those stairs after a long day.

[mfirst]

Originally Posted by valegirl5292

Great start, I hope you get your request for the first floor. When we stayed at CBR, they put us on the second floor and with 2 boys and a stroller, I said no way, unfortunately they couldn't move us for the first night and it wasn't easy getting up those stairs after a long day.

We are driving down, so our "plan B" is for a room near a parking area so we could store the stroller in the van over night - not ideal, because we'd have to leave it while my husband helps me get the kids upstairs, then one of us (probably him) will have to run it to the van, but hopefully it works out.

[bsblady01]

I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world

[SimbasPride]

We are big fans of POR!
The cast members are very nice and the property is beautiful!
It sounds like a great start!

[mfirst]

Originally Posted by SimbasPride

We are big fans of POR!
The cast members are very nice and the property is beautiful!
It sounds like a great start!

That's so awesome to hear! I choose the resort based on pictures online, reviews and the Spring discount. I'm a bit nervous about not being at a Monorail resort - what beats that convenience? But, I keep reminding myself that we'll have our own car, we'll have a diamond parking pass and free parking at the parks so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

I've been struggeling (in a good way) with our ADR's. Last trip, we had the QS plan and decided to pay for 2 dinners OOP. My parents splurged and booked a 3rd. We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's, dinner at Crystal Palace and a dinner at Sci-Fi. Chef Mickey's taught us to NEVER schedulle another breakfast resie...it was a disaster for the boys, my husband hates breakfast, and I was stressed by everyone's behavior. So, I knew NOT to repeat that preformance again . We LOVED Crystal Palace...it was crowded, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. We never felt rushed - the characters were really cool with the boys (and my dad). The chef walked the buffet and personally delievered safe food choices to the table for my then 2 year old. I'd mentioned that I was going to split his meal (he was 2 and free if he shared my food) and the chef patted me on the back and told me to fill my plate with "good food to give mom energy". He also instructed the server not to charge us for Patrick's food. He really was so sweet - he even checked back at the table to see how Patrick was eating, and requested a "runner" to go over to Tony's to get a dairy free desert for Patrick. Seriously - how awesome can a dinner get?

We liked the atmosphere of the Sci-fi, but didn't like the food - I quickly struck that one from my list...

So, I started trying to get a resie for any day or time for the Hoop-de-Doo...I've had ZERO luck and I started on the DAY we made our deposit (which was 175 days out). Our Travel Agent is still trying...but in case that doesn't come through, I went ahead and reserved the early seating at the Spirit of Aloha.

We have nothing planned for our arrival day - we learned that last time we needed to leave the day to unpack, explore the resort and get to bed early.

Sunday - The only "must -see" request from my oldest is the final Star Wars day at DHS, so we'll be headed there. I made a lunch ADR for the Hollywood and Vine as my youngest two are HUGE Disney JR fans and these are characters we didn't get to see last time.

Monday - this keeps changing. I really want to fit in dinner at Cape May (I had resie's last time, but changed them to the Sci-Fi about two weeks before we left). I thought about Teppan Edo, but as my husband pointed out, we have a lot of really good Japanese restaraunts in Troy where we live, so I made ADR's at the Garden Grill. We tried to get them last trip, but couldn't.

Tuesday: Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner - but I really would like to eat at Crystal Palace, however, hubby pointed out that we already have 2 character meals in a row.

Wednesday: 4:00 resie for T-Rex. I'm so excited that this is part of the DP now We're hoping to be able to make it a little later, but if not, we'll make the 4:00 resie work.

Thursday - Spirit of Aloha

That's it - for now, until I change my mind, again!

[shnewell]

Your ADRs sound great! It's always hard to strike the balance between returning to places you loved and trying new things!

[MayraLR]

Great dining choices!

[mfirst]

ADR's have changed again I got a call from our TA this morning - she was able to get us ADR's at 5:00 on the Tuesday we are there for Hoop-Dee-Doo!!!! I'm soooo excited - I loved it when I went with my parents back in 1990 and know the kids will enjoy it too! So, Liberty is out for that day, and we're dropping the Spirit of Aloha on Thursday...now I need to find another TS so back to planning !

[Tabitha34]

Just found your PTR and so glad I did! Your plans look great! looking forward to reading about what you choose for your other TS.

[Luv2laff]

ADRs sound great so far! Have fun finding another TS to book!

[valegirl5292]

Your ADR's look great, it's always hard picking places that everyone will enjoy, I definitely agree about keeping the first day low key, I learned my lesson after our last trip.

[SimbasPride]

I am so glad you were able to get ressies at HDDR! We loved this even when the kids were little. I think they were 4 the first time we took them to HDDR (I have twins).
I'm hoping I land reservations for this as well! Can't wait to hear more!