Thanks, Nana! Our 2008 Walt Disney World pre-trip report - COMPLETE 5/5 About This Page:

[Lemap760]

You have a lovely family.
I hope the Magical Express counter looks that empty on a Friday night in August.

[BelmontBelle]

Your little Kate is just as beautiful as her sisters! Thanks for the recent picture. It sounds like everything is falling into place. I can't wait to hear more details and what's this about changes? More please!

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Originally Posted by Lemap760

You have a lovely family.
I hope the Magical Express counter looks that empty on a Friday night in August.

I hope so, too. It was awesome to walk right up and be on our way within a few minutes!

Originally Posted by BelmontBelle

Your little Kate is just as beautiful as her sisters! Thanks for the recent picture. It sounds like everything is falling into place. I can't wait to hear more details and what's this about changes? More please!

Thanks! She's really a wonderful little girl.

Yep, there are changes ahead. Good ones! I haven't written that part of the "story" yet but I will be back later....

[RobDVC]

I hope the DME line looks like it did when you took that picture.

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Originally Posted by RobDVC

I hope the DME line looks like it did when you took that picture.

Me, too! I haven't been to WDW in late April, much less taken DME then, so I really don't know what to expect. I'll take a picture of it for you, though!

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

My itinerary went through many, many revisions during the first few months of the new year, and so did my list of ADRs! In fact, I’m still calling Disney Dining once a week, most recently to try to add my brother and his family to some of our reservations, now that he is home from Iraq for good!

One of my biggest hang-ups in the planning process was the Pirate & Princess Party. I knew we wanted to go, and at the time, the April/May dates hadn’t been officially announced yet. I had read that we would probably have the choice of either Tuesday or Friday. Now, at first I thought Friday, then I went to Tuesday, but that’s the day of our early CRT breakfast, so I switched back to Friday. Then I got my heart set on Tuesday again, and then the dates were officially announced. Guess what? There was not going to be a party on Tuesday. Argh! That meant I basically had to start all over (I can’t really remember why it affected the entire touring plan) and when I expressed this aggravation with my DH, he said, “But honey, you love to plan!” He knows me so well!

Here is our basic itinerary:
4/28: Epcot p.m.
4/29: MK, Wishes
4/30: Studios a.m., break, AK EMH
5/1: AK a.m., break, Epcot, Illuminations
5/2: MK, P & P Party
5/3: day off until Spectromagic
5/4: MK (or Epcot)

And here is my list of ADRs, including what’s new and what’s not:

Lunch at Le Cellier on our first day (the first meal of our last family trip was here, as well)
Dinner at Garden Grill (new)
Breakfast at CRT (new)
Breakfast at Kona Café (new)
Lunch at Play ‘n Dine at Hollywood & Vine (new for me, the girls went last year with Dad when I was sick)
Lunch at Sci Fi Dine in Theatre (new for the boys, who are going here while we’re at H& V)
Dinner at Coral Reef (new)
Brunch at Chef Mickey’s (new)
Brunch at 1900 Park Fare (new)

Wow, now that I look at it, I really didn’t have to put “new” on every single one; I could have just said, “Everything is new except Le Cellier and H & V.” I’d never looked at it like that before.

Here are some photos from last year's special meals:


Meeting Ariel at the PSB.



The girls with Leo at H & V.




Le Cellier lunch


Here is our partial family at Ohana; AK had really done Christian in, so he and Rick had to miss out. I’d really like to get back here, but so far I haven’t had any luck with the current itinerary. (I did have ADRs there and canceled them when I had to make the “new” itinerary!)


This is one of my favorite pictures from our whole trip. The breakfast at Cape May Cafe was awesome. The dinner here, not so much (in fact, this was where I ate the night before I got sick...)

Now, you may be thinking that we have an awful lot of sit-down meals planned, and you’d be right. The reason is that we have the DDP, and you know that rule about everyone in the party has to be on the same plan? Well, unfortunately, they were not able to make an exception for us, even though our son does not eat much solid food, and will not be benefiting from the plan. Instead, we have 6 extra adult table service credits to use! So that means in order to get our “money’s worth,” I feel that DH and I should use them, which results in three extra sit-down meals for our family. I try to look at it positively, and say that we wouldn’t get to do Garden Grill, or Chef Mickey’s, or Coral Reef without these “extra” credits. So we’re going to make the best of it!

Up next, finally, the big change. Here’s a hint: it all started with a dream…

[Colexis Mom]

Great plans

[DawnDenise]

Looks like some great ADRs!! You definitely got some of my favorites!! Looking forward to hearing baout the next change!

[disneydani]

The plans look great, glad you were able to make good use of the extra TS credits.

danielle

[disney_duke]

I can't believe I just stumbled upon this now... good thing I haven't missed too much! A - the kids are adorable. Too cute!! B - good score on all of your ADR's, it's a stellar line-up! C - totally hooked by the title. My Nana was also a very special lady to us. She did the same thing and left the 3 of us kids (we're the only kids in the family, my brothers and I have no cousins) a nice chunk of change. One brother and I used it for our first cars, but I don't remember what my other brother used it for. It was frivilous (sp?) spending and totally worth it! Looks like you have an amazing vacation coming your way!
What is this big change?????

[DebbieG]

Great trip report. I am looking forward to reading more.

I must say that I am very disappointed to hear that Disney will not accommodate your family with regard to your son and the DDP. That does not seem right, and is not what I would expect from Disney. I wonder if you could get a different answer by pursuing the matter with management? It just seems so wrong.

Debbie

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Originally Posted by DebbieG

Great trip report. I am looking forward to reading more.

I must say that I am very disappointed to hear that Disney will not accommodate your family with regard to your son and the DDP. That does not seem right, and is not what I would expect from Disney. I wonder if you could get a different answer by pursuing the matter with management? It just seems so wrong.

Debbie

I had two different TAs try to get them to accomodate us, but they wouldn't. I did not deal directly with Disney myself, so who knows? I'm hoping that the "extra" meals will help us relax a bit more and not get so exhausted running all over, but then again, what is taking 4 kids out to eat if not exhausting? I'll let you all know how it all turns out!

[Jookiba]

You're eating at alot of my favorites on your trip!! I really believe your kids are going to love Coral Reef!! I am so mad at myself because we had an ADR to eat there during our 06 trip and I cancelled it!! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal there in January and have vowed to eat there every trip. Matter of fact I'm taking Sharon there on our "Conference" trip!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Originally Posted by Jookiba

You're eating at alot of my favorites on your trip!! I really believe your kids are going to love Coral Reef!! I am so mad at myself because we had an ADR to eat there during our 06 trip and I cancelled it!! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal there in January and have vowed to eat there every trip. Matter of fact I'm taking Sharon there on our "Conference" trip!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

Glad you enjoyed CR; we're actually going for two reasons. I gave DH a list of Epcot restaurants, and he chose that one; but mostly, the girls saw it on the WDW episode of "Full House" and have wanted to go ever since!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Just caught up with your Pre-trip. The reason behind the trip is so heartwarming. Your plans sound awesome and I know you'll love all the places you have ADRs for your meals.

Can't wait to hear more.