A 2nd Chance to do "The First Time" - April 2013 Pre-trip report!!! (Post trip -4/29)

[gtpoohbear]

I think room service is an awesome idea. Especially for the kids. They will think it is so fun to have the food delivered to the room. When we went on a cruise, my older son's favorite thing was to get room service.

That's kind of what I was thinking - I'm hoping we will have a full balcony (I think most rooms at YC do) and it would be very nice to sit out there and eat in the early morning! Plus we could finish getting ready at our own pace while we were eating. It would be perfect if it didn't take 2 credits!! The OOP cost is barely even equal to one credit. But if we don't use credits on it twice, we'll have some left over. Oh well. I still think we will enjoy it.

That's a good plan. I've heard it's easier to get your money's worth on the Deluxe Dining Plan than it is on the regular dining plan anyways, and you've planned the rest of your meals well, so you should try to relax! (I know....easier said than done!)

Haha, SOOO much easier said than done! Especially for us uber-planners

 

[danceintherain]

Daily Plans: Day 4 - Sunday 4/21/2013

This day has given me fits. I've re-done our breakfast and dinner ADRs more times than I can count. I think I'm pretty happy with it now though. I ended up deciding that simplicity is best, so both meals will be at the resort.

We should have a pretty long and relaxing break today, so I'm thinking it might be fun to rent a boat from the Marina for an hour or so. Or we could go explore the Boardwalk area if that doesn't appeal to us at the time. But dinner is back at BC - Cape May (@6:25pm)! This is the ADR that I have undoubtedly changed the most out of all 19 of them. At times, it has been Brown Derby, Kouzinna, H&V, 50's PT Cafe, and a couple of others I can't think of.

The problem is that we are hoping to see Fantasmic! tonight. And unlike our previous June trips, it's at 8:30pm. (It's been at 9pm on our previous trips) Which crowds our dinner time a bit since we like to eat around 7pm. So we needed something either at DHS, or near our resort. And ideally something that wouldn't take very long, so we could still eat fairly late and still have time to get to Fantasmic!

I hope Cape May fits all of those, probably better than the others anyway. At least it's a buffet so once we're seated we'll be able to eat as quickly as necessary. We're not huge seafood eaters, but DH and DD like it fine, and they are supposed to have some vegetarian pasta for me.

Then we'll make a mad-dash to DHS. I'm hoping that we can still get by about 8pm - I'm just not willing to sit in there any longer waiting with Owen, since I know he's going to get restless. In 2008, we got there about 45 minutes early, and still got good seats. In 2010, we were almost an hour early. Unfortunately the rest of our group (my ILs) that were planning to meet us there did not make it before they closed the gates (at capacity) about 15 minutes later. But that was when they were only showing it a couple times a week. Hopefully it's not so crazy now.

I just hope Owen isn't terrified - I figure we'll sit farther back than we normally do. Last time we were so close we could feel the heat of the fire on our face, I'm pretty sure that would be too much for him! If he does panic, I'll be prepared to leave early with him.

DHS will still be open when it's over, so if DH and Lily really want to stay and do ToT or RnRC they can, but I'm sure Owen will need to get back to bed. We have another early morning EMH tomorrow!

I love Fantasmic, but I doubt we'll stay for it this time, because I want to avoid keeping DS out too late and I don't know how he would respond.

I hate trying to schedule meals around entertainment. It just makes it so hard! At least with rides, it's not terrible if it takes a little long to eat.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Daily Plans: Day 5 - Monday 4/22/2013

Today is our only day at Animal Kingdom!!! Since we are only spending one day there, we are going to try, very hard, to push through and skip the afternoon break. We'll see if this is even possible, or if it backfires, lol!

Like most morning for the rest of the trip, we are planning to make use of amEMH (@8am), so no ADR for breakfast. My "suggestion" for breakfast will be to head over to the Dolphin to get a food-court breakfast at Picabu, since they open earlier than anything at YC/BC. The we could take the bus from there. But if we don't get going early enough, we will have to do room service again, or as a last resort, grab something from the Marketplace.

Ideally, we would like to get Dinosaur and Everest done during EMH, and be in line for the Safari by the time the park opens at 9am. if we don't quite make it there in time and there is a line already, we'll probably grab a FP instead.

This is about the closest I've ever been to Everest, lol! Lily didn't want to do it in 2008, and I was pregnant in 2010. THIS is my year, lol!

I'm not sure if we'll be able to do Child Swap for Dinosaur and Everest, since it will be during EMH. I've searched and asked, and can't seem to get an answer. If we can't, DH will go with DD on one, and I'll go with her on the other. Unless there isn't any wait at all, then I guess it won't matter.

But I should mention, it's Earth Day. Without even realizing it, I planned for us to be at the one park in WDW that might possibly attract bigger crowds because of it. Apparently there are going to be some special activities and a party to celebrate throughout the day, but I haven't learned much more than that. I just hope it isn't super-crowded!

I though about trying to switch our days around when I found out about this, but I happened to read about it (and blurt it out) when DH was sitting right next to me. And of course he said we HAD to go to AK on Earth Day!!! So, we'll be there. For better or worse, I suppose.

It will be kind of a bummer of a first hour for Owen, since there's not much open during EMH that he can do. But hopefully he won't mind just getting to wander around and explore while the others ride. He will like the Safari for sure - he is crazy about animals!

We will hopefully be able to do the rest of Africa before lunch - spend some time on the Pangani Trail, and take the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch! I LOVE RPW!! On our First Trip (2008) we spent a lot of time here one morning, and it was one of the best experiences of the trip. Somehow, in 2010, we never made it over there and I've been grumpy about that fact ever since.

Well, mostly frustrated at myself. The rest of the group got into doing the thrill rides, that I couldn't do since I was preggo, and instead of going off on my own to RPW, I kept following them around like a lost puppy. A lot of waiting around and wasted time for me. AK did not end up being a fun day for me that trip, so I'm hoping to get back the Magic that we found there in 2008 this time.

One of my very favorites memories from our First Trip - DD looking out over the water after what had been a completely Magical morning at AK

Lunch is at Tusker House (@11:30). This is another of my must-dos! We've done breakfast twice, but never lunch. I don't think it used to be a character meal, or at least if it was, I didn't know that! So we are hoping to get to try some slightly more exotic food than the typical pancakes and eggs. I just love the atmosphere here though, maybe because I've always been fascinated with Africa. Someday I'll get to the REAL one!

After lunch we'll probably wander around the Discovery Island Trails - this was the very last thing we did before leaving to catch ME back to the airport on our First Trip, so I don't have very fond memories of it actually. But I'm pretty sure that's just because we were all close to tears at the time.

Hopefully this time will be more fun! We might do the character greeting over here, depending on how Owen has reacted to them so far. I'm a little confused about who is meeting here now - it used to be Pooh, but it was changing to Mickey & Minnie I think, but I'm not sure when exactly.

Assuming Owen hasn't crashed already, we'll let him play in the Boneyard for a bit, and maybe so TriceraTop Spin. I'll be honest, I don't really care for Dinoland that much. I feel like I've just left WDW and been plopped in the middle of a local town carnival. But Owen might enjoy it. If he's already asleep in the stroller, I'd be fine with skipping it altogether.

At 2:30, we will see the Festival of the Lion King. We saw it in 2008 and really liked it. (I did an extremely poor job of planning though, and we wandered over there in the afternoon hoping to see it, but having NO idea when the showtimes were. It turned out one was starting in 5 minutes! Not going to count on that kind of luck again.) Again, not sure what state Owen is going to be in by now though, we might have to head back early with him if he just can't take it.

I would really like to see the Jammin' Jungle Parade at 3:45 if at all possible though. We NEVER get to see the afternoon parades because they always happen while we are back at the resort on our break. When we spent a day at Legoland in December, Owen stayed up the whole day (until we left at 5pm), so maybe he'll do alright. We'll try anyway!

The only plans for the evening are dinner at Yachtman (@7pm). That should give us time to rest for a couple of hours after our long day. DH is really looking forward to this one - he is a steak eater for sure! Afterwards, we might try to catch at least a little bit of Illuminations, even if it's just from the boat dock. But I don't want to be out too late, because this was just the first of 4-in-a-row morning EMHs!

Illuminations from the YC boat dock, as seen on our mini-trip in March 2012

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

I will be anxious to hear your report about Tusker House for lunch. That is on my list that I am considering for Animal Kingdom day. I looked at the menu and it looks pretty tasty.

 

[danceintherain]

I don't know for sure, but I imagine they still run Child Swap during EMH. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if they don't. However, lines are short enough, that you may be able to do both twice with little wait anyways.

My DH probably would have had a similar reaction to Earth Day. I honestly need to stop trying to involve him in the planning until the very end, because he gets attached to the strangest things, and then I can't make any changes.

I think we're going to attempt AK in the evening this year. I've gone back and forth a million times, but I think that makes the most sense. I'm hoping we may be able to burn through out break that day so we'll get more time there, because it closes 7pm the day I'm planning.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I don't know for sure, but I imagine they still run Child Swap during EMH. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if they don't. However, lines are short enough, that you may be able to do both twice with little wait anyways.

My DH probably would have had a similar reaction to Earth Day. I honestly need to stop trying to involve him in the planning until the very end, because he gets attached to the strangest things, and then I can't make any changes.

I think we're going to attempt AK in the evening this year. I've gone back and forth a million times, but I think that makes the most sense. I'm hoping we may be able to burn through out break that day so we'll get more time there, because it closes 7pm the day I'm planning.

The only reason I thought they might not was that I think a child swap ticket lets you go through the FP line, and they don't give out FPs during emh, so I wasn't sure if the FP line would even be open. But maybe it won't be too crowded so we won't have to worry about it anyway.

As for DH, that is a VERY good way to describe it: getting attached to the strangest things, lol! But, as always, as long as he is pro-Disney, I can't complain too much.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I will get back to finishing my plan updates soon, but some random things related to our trip that have been going on first...

I've really been trying to prepare Owen. We've been watching lots of Disney movies, You-tube videos of rides, talking about everything we are going to do, etc. I want this trip to be completely Magical for him, so I figure the more ready he is, the better. He tends to get very nervous and apprehensive around things he isn't familiar with, so any type of surprise is probably NOT going to be Magical, lol! I think he will have more fun if he feels like he knows what he's getting into.

One thing that has come out of all this... he REALLY doesn't want to see any fireworks. He is very adamant about this. DH first described it to him, and when he seemed nervous, I told him that I would take him back to the hotel if it was too scary. He immediately said he wanted to go back to the hotel! So I showed him some videos of Wishes and Illuminations, thinking maybe he just didn't understand it without seeing it. He was not amused, and again asked to go back to the hotel.

So, I think we need to admit at this point that the firework shows are just not going to be his thing on this trip. It should come as no surprise, DD was about his age when we took her to her first 4th of July Fireworks and she sobbed with her head buried in my chest the whole time.

DH probably cares more about seeing them than I do, so I figure most nights I'll go back to the hotel with Owen while he stays with Lily for the show. If Owen changes his mind at some point, fine, but we're not going to push it for sure. In a way, I'm kind of relieved, because I was worried about having him out so late every night, I don't want him to be too grumpy to have fun the next day. This way he can get to bed at a more normal hour.

Let's see, other stuff... Well, we still have NO MICKEY MAIL!!! 29 days out and still nothing. I wouldn't be so worried if I had more confidence in our local post office. I can't count how many times our mail has ended up in someone else's box (and vise-versa), packages have been extremely late, or hold-mail has simply been lost forever. They are really quite unreliable. Wondering when I should call Disney to check on it.

I have done some fun preparation stuff though! I made countdown calendars for the kids once we hit the 1-month mark. They are adding a sticker every day until we leave. Owen was so cute - he asked after doing the first sticker if we were going to Disney World, Lily and I explained that once he got all the yellow boxes on his calendar filled with stickers, that we would go. So of course he immediately asked if he could have "lots and lots of stickers". He must have thought it was silly for us to be waiting on such a simple task if that's all it took to be able to go

I also finished putting together my Plan Book. It is much smaller this time. Just our main spreadsheet for the cover, park hours for the week, Touring Plans for each day, a map of each park (cut and pasted from the park brochures so that it fits on 2 pages), and a list of what attractions are open during EMH.

I really tried to cut down on how much stuff I put in there, since we've now been several times, I figure we aren't as dependent on it. Plus we have access to so much info on our phones now, so the paper isn't as necessary.

Then we made Mousekeeping envelopes. We've never done that before. In fact, DH has always insisted on just leaving a big tip on the last day. I think I finally convinced him that we shouldn't do it that way. It was one of those weird things where he had grown up always seeing his parents do it that way, so clearly that's THE WAY it's supposed to be done, lol!

Now I just have to come up with a way to get small bills to put in them. We do all of our banking over the internet, so we don't have a local branch that we can go into to get bills changed out. I'm wondering if maybe the Customer Service Desk at the grocery store would do it??? Of course, I don't even have an ATM card, so I don't even have large bills at the moment!

Other little things, I bought some name tags that we are going to use for Owen. I'll put them on his back so he doesn't try to take it off, and so it doesn't look tacky in pictures. (The daycare at our gym does this and it works great!) They will have his name, our names, and our cell-phone numbers. With DD, even at 2 years old, this is something I NEVER would have felt the need to do. She was always afraid to get more than 3 feet away from us.

But Owen is a different matter. When he gets excited about something, he is gone in a flash! And being so small and agile, he can easily work his way through a crowd much faster than we can chase him. I doubt we'll end up using a stroller much because he refuses to sit in it, so there will be a lot of opportunities for him to escape. I hope to goodness that we never have to rely on these name tags, but I'll feel better knowing they are there. I'm not one to be at all worried about "privacy", so I really don't care if the whole "world" knows his name and our cell #s. (Though, just to avoid tempting fate, I did blur out our numbers in the picture )

Lastly, I've just been obsessing, no, STRESSING over every detail of our touring plans and ADRs!!! I've made a few minor tweaks. Still trying to come up with a good plan for breakfast each day, and still feeling frustrated that it's this hard. Are we really the only ones staying at YC/BC/BW that want a nice selection of hot breakfast items at 7am???? We must be, because everyone else seems to have solutions that just won't work for us. But I feel a little better about our plan after working on it some more.

I also went ahead and switched our 50's PT lunch to Mama Melrose. I was still having trouble getting excited about it - it's definitely not the kind of food we typically eat, and while the theming looked kind of cool, it wasn't totally our thing either. We never even turn the TV on at home, it's just not something that interests us at all. And we really enjoyed MM last time, so it seemed a shame not to do it again.

Lily was disappointed to find out that the show she was looking forward to at DHS (Disney Channel Rocks) is being cancelled before we go. I guess most people didn't care for it, but I wish they had kept it just a few weeks longer! Unless there is something we really want to do once we are there, we'll probably just come back early that day and have more time to swim and nap instead.

That's another thing I've been stressing about - whether our breaks are long enough! I know from experience that if Owen doesn't get his full nap, and wake up on his own (after 2-3 hours usually), he is a major GRUMP for the rest of the evening! I guess I just need to accept that if necessary, we will (or at least Owen and I will) have to skip the before-dinner rides. I think we could definitely make it in time for our dinner ADR with no problem.

So, after some changes, here is our up-to-date spreadsheet:

One more thing I had been stressing about... my parents. I mentioned before that they live in southern Florida, about 4 hours from Orlando. I know it sounds mean, but we never invite them when we go for our "big trips", though we've done several mini-trips with them. But I always start worrying as it gets close that they are going to try to crash our vacation, or at least be really mad about it. (Trust me, if you knew them, you would understand why having them there would definitely spoil the Magic. Especially my mom.)

For the past two trips, I had made another trip down to Florida to see them shortly after Disney, to make it less likely that they would feel the need to show up uninvited to our vacation. This time, I was really considering just not telling them about it at all. At least until after it was over. But this was causing a lot of anxiety. I'm sure I'll be posting Facebook updates while we are there, and while I could hide those posts from them, they were surely going to wonder after a few days when they had seen NOTHING from me! Besides, I'm just not a dishonest person, and the whole idea wasn't sitting well with me.

So, I decided that I had the right idea the first two times, and we are now booked for a short trip to see them at the beginning of May. About 2 weeks after we get back. Now I don't have to keep the Disney Secret anymore, and while they will still be a little miffed that we are 4 hours away for a week and they don't get to see us, it will be bearable because a visit is just around the corner.

Well I think that's it for now, all caught up! IF ONLY THAT DANG MICKEY MAIL WOULD COME!!!!!

 

[danceintherain]

The only reason I thought they might not was that I think a child swap ticket lets you go through the FP line, and they don't give out FPs during emh, so I wasn't sure if the FP line would even be open. But maybe it won't be too crowded so we won't have to worry about it anyway.

As for DH, that is a VERY good way to describe it: getting attached to the strangest things, lol! But, as always, as long as he is pro-Disney, I can't complain too much.

Yeah, I guess it's possible that since they have the FP line closed, they won't be offer it, but maybe they'll let you through regardless? I also doubt the lines will be terribly long during morning Extra Magic Hours. We did Expedition Everest 5 times (or some such nonsense) immediately after Rope Drop one trip with a wait less than 10 minutes or so. I would think Extra Magic Hours will be less crowded (we've never done a morning one).

I will get back to finishing my plan updates soon, but some random things related to our trip that have been going on first...

I've really been trying to prepare Owen. We've been watching lots of Disney movies, You-tube videos of rides, talking about everything we are going to do, etc. I want this trip to be completely Magical for him, so I figure the more ready he is, the better. He tends to get very nervous and apprehensive around things he isn't familiar with, so any type of surprise is probably NOT going to be Magical, lol! I think he will have more fun if he feels like he knows what he's getting into.

One thing that has come out of all this... he REALLY doesn't want to see any fireworks. He is very adamant about this. DH first described it to him, and when he seemed nervous, I told him that I would take him back to the hotel if it was too scary. He immediately said he wanted to go back to the hotel! So I showed him some videos of Wishes and Illuminations, thinking maybe he just didn't understand it without seeing it. He was not amused, and again asked to go back to the hotel.

Let's see, other stuff... Well, we still have NO MICKEY MAIL!!! 29 days out and still nothing. I wouldn't be so worried if I had more confidence in our local post office. I can't count how many times our mail has ended up in someone else's box (and vise-versa), packages have been extremely late, or hold-mail has simply been lost forever. They are really quite unreliable. Wondering when I should call Disney to check on it.

I have done some fun preparation stuff though! I made countdown calendars for the kids once we hit the 1-month mark. They are adding a sticker every day until we leave. Owen was so cute - he asked after doing the first sticker if we were going to Disney World, Lily and I explained that once he got all the yellow boxes on his calendar filled with stickers, that we would go. So of course he immediately asked if he could have "lots and lots of stickers". He must have thought it was silly for us to be waiting on such a simple task if that's all it took to be able to go

I also finished putting together my Plan Book. It is much smaller this time. Just our main spreadsheet for the cover, park hours for the week, Touring Plans for each day, a map of each park (cut and pasted from the park brochures so that it fits on 2 pages), and a list of what attractions are open during EMH.

Now I just have to come up with a way to get small bills to put in them. We do all of our banking over the internet, so we don't have a local branch that we can go into to get bills changed out. I'm wondering if maybe the Customer Service Desk at the grocery store would do it??? Of course, I don't even have an ATM card, so I don't even have large bills at the moment!

Other little things, I bought some name tags that we are going to use for Owen. I'll put them on his back so he doesn't try to take it off, and so it doesn't look tacky in pictures. (The daycare at our gym does this and it works great!) They will have his name, our names, and our cell-phone numbers. With DD, even at 2 years old, this is something I NEVER would have felt the need to do. She was always afraid to get more than 3 feet away from us.

But Owen is a different matter. When he gets excited about something, he is gone in a flash! And being so small and agile, he can easily work his way through a crowd much faster than we can chase him. I doubt we'll end up using a stroller much because he refuses to sit in it, so there will be a lot of opportunities for him to escape. I hope to goodness that we never have to rely on these name tags, but I'll feel better knowing they are there. I'm not one to be at all worried about "privacy", so I really don't care if the whole "world" knows his name and our cell #s. (Though, just to avoid tempting fate, I did blur out our numbers in the picture )

Lastly, I've just been obsessing, no, STRESSING over every detail of our touring plans and ADRs!!! I've made a few minor tweaks. Still trying to come up with a good plan for breakfast each day, and still feeling frustrated that it's this hard. Are we really the only ones staying at YC/BC/BW that want a nice selection of hot breakfast items at 7am???? We must be, because everyone else seems to have solutions that just won't work for us. But I feel a little better about our plan after working on it some more.

I also went ahead and switched our 50's PT lunch to Mama Melrose. I was still having trouble getting excited about it - it's definitely not the kind of food we typically eat, and while the theming looked kind of cool, it wasn't totally our thing either. We never even turn the TV on at home, it's just not something that interests us at all. And we really enjoyed MM last time, so it seemed a shame not to do it again.

That's another thing I've been stressing about - whether our breaks are long enough! I know from experience that if Owen doesn't get his full nap, and wake up on his own (after 2-3 hours usually), he is a major GRUMP for the rest of the evening! I guess I just need to accept that if necessary, we will (or at least Owen and I will) have to skip the before-dinner rides. I think we could definitely make it in time for our dinner ADR with no problem.

So, after some changes, here is our up-to-date spreadsheet:

One more thing I had been stressing about... my parents. I mentioned before that they live in southern Florida, about 4 hours from Orlando. I know it sounds mean, but we never invite them when we go for our "big trips", though we've done several mini-trips with them. But I always start worrying as it gets close that they are going to try to crash our vacation, or at least be really mad about it. (Trust me, if you knew them, you would understand why having them there would definitely spoil the Magic. Especially my mom.)

For the past two trips, I had made another trip down to Florida to see them shortly after Disney, to make it less likely that they would feel the need to show up uninvited to our vacation. This time, I was really considering just not telling them about it at all. At least until after it was over. But this was causing a lot of anxiety. I'm sure I'll be posting Facebook updates while we are there, and while I could hide those posts from them, they were surely going to wonder after a few days when they had seen NOTHING from me! Besides, I'm just not a dishonest person, and the whole idea wasn't sitting well with me.

So, I decided that I had the right idea the first two times, and we are now booked for a short trip to see them at the beginning of May. About 2 weeks after we get back. Now I don't have to keep the Disney Secret anymore, and while they will still be a little miffed that we are 4 hours away for a week and they don't get to see us, it will be bearable because a visit is just around the corner.

Well I think that's it for now, all caught up! IF ONLY THAT DANG MICKEY MAIL WOULD COME!!!!!

We JUST got our Mickey Mail last weekend, and I only arrive a few days before you.

I kind of came to the same conclusion about the fireworks for G. I think the loudness would overwhelm him. I suppose maybe I should let him watch a video of some, just to check. But I only picture us staying long enough for the fireworks one night, and if we do, we'll probably end up doing rides during them.
Parades are a different story. I think he would LOVE watching a parade, but with our breaks it just doesn't work out to see them much. Maybe MSEP, before or after our one night with the Fireworks?

I'm definitely more worried about the length of our breaks this time around. When it's just DH, I can put my foot down about them (I mean...does a grown man really need a 3 hour nap every day even at Disney?) but I'll definitely want my sweet boy well rested. He'll probably sleep in the stroller, but if his nap is broken up too much (ie. falls asleep on the bus) he'll probably sleep less. I guess we'll see what happens. He does a solid 2-3 hours in the afternoons as well.

I would be worried that my Mom would show up if she lived that close too! I still worry, and she's a significant distance away....and has to work that week.
At some point, I would like to take her with us on one of our trips, but since she's a teacher, there aren't a lot of options, unless we want crowds or heat. She just told me the other day that she doesn't understand how I don't get bored at Disney, since I go so often (keep in mind that my last trip was in November 2010, so I don't really see how that has any frequency to it at all). I don't think she really understands how much there is to do past the theme parks. It's also funny, because she has awful attention to detail, so she doesn't actually like planning anything. She has no idea how much easier it is to plan a trip to Disney and have it go as expected than it is just about any other place....especially when you're as high maintenance as I am.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Yeah, I guess it's possible that since they have the FP line closed, they won't be offer it, but maybe they'll let you through regardless? I also doubt the lines will be terribly long during morning Extra Magic Hours. We did Expedition Everest 5 times (or some such nonsense) immediately after Rope Drop one trip with a wait less than 10 minutes or so. I would think Extra Magic Hours will be less crowded (we've never done a morning one).

We JUST got our Mickey Mail last weekend, and I only arrive a few days before you.

I kind of came to the same conclusion about the fireworks for G. I think the loudness would overwhelm him. I suppose maybe I should let him watch a video of some, just to check. But I only picture us staying long enough for the fireworks one night, and if we do, we'll probably end up doing rides during them.
Parades are a different story. I think he would LOVE watching a parade, but with our breaks it just doesn't work out to see them much. Maybe MSEP, before or after our one night with the Fireworks?

I'm definitely more worried about the length of our breaks this time around. When it's just DH, I can put my foot down about them (I mean...does a grown man really need a 3 hour nap every day even at Disney?) but I'll definitely want my sweet boy well rested. He'll probably sleep in the stroller, but if his nap is broken up too much (ie. falls asleep on the bus) he'll probably sleep less. I guess we'll see what happens. He does a solid 2-3 hours in the afternoons as well.

I would be worried that my Mom would show up if she lived that close too! I still worry, and she's a significant distance away....and has to work that week.
At some point, I would like to take her with us on one of our trips, but since she's a teacher, there aren't a lot of options, unless we want crowds or heat. She just told me the other day that she doesn't understand how I don't get bored at Disney, since I go so often (keep in mind that my last trip was in November 2010, so I don't really see how that has any frequency to it at all). I don't think she really understands how much there is to do past the theme parks. It's also funny, because she has awful attention to detail, so she doesn't actually like planning anything. She has no idea how much easier it is to plan a trip to Disney and have it go as expected than it is just about any other place....especially when you're as high maintenance as I am.

I think Owen would like the parades too! I wish there were more evening ones, because the afternoon ones always fall during our break. But we'll definitely try to see MSEP at least once.

My parents definitely don't get my Disney addiction either! They took us several times as kids, but it's still "just an amusement park" to them. They kind of roll their eyes a little at how "often" we go too, which about every 2-3 years. But I also know that a lot of their annoyance is at the fact that we are spending a week in their state and not coming to visit. There's no good way out of that one!

Anyway, STILL no Mickey Mail. And it's Friday, so I have to wait through the whole weekend to try again. I thought the no-mail-on-Saturday thing wasn't supposed to start till August, but apparently our less-than-stellar post office has jumped off the boat early, because we haven't gotten Saturday mail in several weeks.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Alright, back to my daily plans... but first, I have made a few adjustments... okay, I had actually completely rearranged several days and re-done ADRs, then decided I didn't like it so I put it all back, mostly.

What was driving all this madness was that I found out about something cool - the Disney Junior Dance Party at DHS!! It only happens during pmEMH, but I think Owen would absolutely love it.

Unfortunately, the only pmEMH at DHS while we are there is on the day that we are going to AK. Our only plans for the evening were dinner at the resort... so it might be do-able, but our AK day is a long one, possibly without much break in the afternoon.

BUT... it might be worth skipping the parade to come back a little early, if it means Owen could get enough of a nap to make it through a late night, dancing with his favorite Disney Pals So that's the tentative plan now, anyway. I moved our dinner at Yachtsman back just a little to make a nap more likely.

So now, for Day 6: Tuesday, April 23
First of all, we'll almost certainly get room service for breakfast, seems the most efficient route, even though other stuff will likely be open by the time we get up. Here's why...

After my change of plans for the night before... we are probably going to commit a major Disney-Planning-Sin. We will probably be out quite late if we make it to the dance party, so there is a good chance I may let us do something I said I "never" do... sleep in. (I should qualify "sleeping in" to us, I imagine we'll be awake by 8 or 8:30 anyway!)

BUT... here's the problem. It's another amEMH day, at Epcot. I tried and tried to rearrange our days but just couldn't get anything I was happy with.

So here is where we commit the sin - we probably won't get to Epcot until about regular opening time (9am), or even a little later, missing all of EMH. I know you should never go to an EMH park if you aren't making use of the EMH time, but that's just what's going to have to happen.

After playing with the touring plans website some, I think it will still be okay. Or maybe by some weird chance we'll all wake-up bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed at 6:30am (after being out until midnight)... but I'm not counting on it

The only 3 things I was really planning to get done were Test Track, Mission Space and Ellen's Energy Adventure. If we get a TT FP as soon as we get there, we should have time for the other 2 in the interim.

So first, Test Track. We'll have to use Child Swap of course (or it may not matter if we get FP's anyway), so I figure Owen can play in the Radiator Springs play area that is nearby while we wait. Another perk of going during F&G, and I only recently found out about these! TT isn't necessarily one of my favorites, but I'd hate to not get to do it at all, especially since I'm curious about the new version. It was the only thrill ride that Lily ended up liking on our First Trip... that's about the only piece of nostalgia I have for it.

Mission Space - we've never done before, always been a little nervous about it after hearing reports of so many people getting sick. But we'll do the mild version (I think that's Green, but we'll make sure first!) DH still says he isn't really interested in riding, so he'll probably take Owen to the play area inside. Both kids LOVE anything space-related though, so I figured we should at least check it out.

Ellen's Energy Adventure - I actually really like this one! So does DH. It's long, but I always felt it was worth it. I'm just not sure about Owen. It might be a little too scary for him, and with there not being an easy way to bail in the middle if he freaks out, we probably shouldn't risk it. So I may let DH and Lily go today, and take Owen somewhere else. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do it on our last morning here before we go home though.

If we happen to have time after these three, which will depend on when we end up getting there, we may spend some time in Innoventions or at some of the F&G stuff. I had initially planned to have over an hour of "free time" this morning for such things, but the sleep may be more important today. We'll have lots of free time on our last morning here though, so I think it will be okay regardless.

For some reason I don't seem to have a single picture from this whole part of Epcot... will have to be sure to get some this trip!

Lunch is in France! Le Chef's de France, at noon. We did this for the first time on our last trip (2010) and it was probably my absolute favorite meal for just the food. And Remy came by for a visit too which was really neat. We should get to see him again if he is on schedule, but it's not the main reason we are eating there, so if it doesn't happen it's not a big deal. Love the restaurant though!

I briefly thought about scrapping all our park plans for the morning and just hanging out at the pool (which I guess we could still do if we are THAT tired from dancing the night away), but you better believe I will still be dragging everybody's butts to France for lunch.

Afterwards, I really want to see the France movie - Impressions de France. When I was younger I always LOVED the movie - no idea if it's changed since then. I do remember one of the CMs lamenting that it was so out of date... back in the 90s. I was always mesmerized by it though. Not sure if anyone else will be interested, especially if the kids are tired by now. I may send them all back to the resort and watch it by myself.

I don't want to crowd our break this afternoon, especially if we were out late the night before. So I think all of our rides (at MK) will be after dinner, instead of before. That way we won't need to leave the room until about 5:30pm.

Speaking of dinner, this is one of the ones I am most excited for - Be Our Guest!!! I was determined to get an ADR here and try it out. I LOVE Beauty & the Beast, and the new restaurant look fabulous. Dinner is at 6:45, which is a tad bit early for us, but even at my 180+10, that was the best I could do. It will give us time afterwards to do some rides though, and we'll probably get a snack before bed.

The plan is to do just a little bit of Tomorrowland. I especially like that area at night, so that's why I've saved it for this evening. We've never done Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, even though it's one of, if not my very favorite Disney Movie! So that's probably the highest priority tonight.

Would also like to do the People Mover and Astro Orbiter, two rides that I always enjoy more at night. It seems like every time we go on TTAPM though, the lights are on in Space Mountain, kind of ruins the Magic a bit. Maybe they won't be in the middle of "technical difficulties" this time!

We'll probably be done riding by about 9pm, which is when the parade starts. Hopefully we will have seen it earlier in the week, so I doubt we'll stick around tonight, though it certainly is an option if we feel the need.

So hopefully this day will still go okay, despite the probably lack of sleep the night before. Owen is really the only one I'm worried about. On our last trip we stayed out very late at MK two different nights, and Lily made it fine the next day. And I think the morning isn't too ambitious, with plenty of time for a good nap, and maybe even a swim in the afternoon.

Two more early EMH mornings still to come!

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

Your plans are sounding really great!! That Dance party sounds really great. I hope they are still having it when we go in October. This is my first time staying onsite and we can take advantage of this kind of stuff.

 

[Elleshoodat]

I'm joining in! Your pre-trip report is awesome; I love to see how other Type A organizers plan. I might have to "borrow" your spreadsheet color-coding for our next trip.

Your children are adorable. I have a 2-year-old DS, too, and I love the picture of Owen in his Elmo shirt with his Lightning toys lined up in front of him. That's totally something my son would do!

 

[rebeccaariel]

I JUST had a conversation with my mom the other night about tipping. She has always left one big tip on the last night because she says they all usually share tips anyway. But I've heard that's not always the case. How did you manage to convince your DH to do it that way?

 

[JenaBear]

I so agree with you on the "we can sleep at home" statement. We are just like your family going non-stop from 7 am to what ever park closes the latest that night. The pool is another issue for us...we usually see the same kids/families in the pool at all hours. We do not spend that kinda of money to swim in the pool. A nice dip after a long day at the park is great, but nothing more than that.

 

[danceintherain]

I think Owen would like the parades too! I wish there were more evening ones, because the afternoon ones always fall during our break. But we'll definitely try to see MSEP at least once.

My parents definitely don't get my Disney addiction either! They took us several times as kids, but it's still "just an amusement park" to them. They kind of roll their eyes a little at how "often" we go too, which about every 2-3 years. But I also know that a lot of their annoyance is at the fact that we are spending a week in their state and not coming to visit. There's no good way out of that one!

Anyway, STILL no Mickey Mail. And it's Friday, so I have to wait through the whole weekend to try again. I thought the no-mail-on-Saturday thing wasn't supposed to start till August, but apparently our less-than-stellar post office has jumped off the boat early, because we haven't gotten Saturday mail in several weeks.

My Mickey Mail was a false alarm. DH didn't know what to look for in the mail, so he got me all excited over our maps.

I think both my parents have hope Disney-wise...separately. I think they both made each other miserable when they took us as kids. I hope one day to test that theory, but it won't be this trip.

You're definitely brave planning on a late night followed by an early morning. I actually changed my major in college though, because I wasn't getting enough sleep....it's VERY important to me, even on vacation.

PS. The dance party DOES look fun though!

 

[OhMari]

I thought you were going to be at the MK Sat. nite the 13th., then I saw it was the 20th.

Wow, are you organized.

I am almost thinking to upgrading the Deluxe dining. I keep finding TS resturants I want to try, vs. C.S. But then we are never big eaters, and I end up canceling.

I am Marisa on the April Facebook page.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Your plans are sounding really great!! That Dance party sounds really great. I hope they are still having it when we go in October. This is my first time staying onsite and we can take advantage of this kind of stuff.

Yeah I can't believe I hadn't heard about it until just a couple of weeks ago, someone one another thread (about EMH I think) just happened to mention it. And here I thought I knew EVERYTHING about Disney World, ha! I just hope we can keep Owen up for it. It's not showing up on the calendar on Disney's website, but I've asked around and think that's just a glitch, it seems to be a regular thing so I bet they will still have it in the fall.

I'm joining in! Your pre-trip report is awesome; I love to see how other Type A organizers plan. I might have to "borrow" your spreadsheet color-coding for our next trip.

Your children are adorable. I have a 2-year-old DS, too, and I love the picture of Owen in his Elmo shirt with his Lightning toys lined up in front of him. That's totally something my son would do!

I know my plans probably freak some people out, but I now know from experience that we are NOT go-with-the-flow types. Our day goes much better when we know exactly where we need to be and when. You know, I always feel just a little bit like a traitor when I "mix" Disney and Sesame Street stuff - he probably would never have even known who Elmo was if we hadn't gone to a Beaches resort a couple of years ago, and they have the Sesame Street characters there. I worked for months to get him familiar with them before we went, now when he still wants something Elmo related I'm like, REALLY??? Why not Mickey Mouse???

I JUST had a conversation with my mom the other night about tipping. She has always left one big tip on the last night because she says they all usually share tips anyway. But I've heard that's not always the case. How did you manage to convince your DH to do it that way?

Well, the best thing I can say is that when it comes down to it, DH is driven by logic and reason, lol! This wasn't the first time that I had to "present my case" about why something he grew up doing just didn't make sense, so he's starting to see the pattern. I think he was assuming it would be the same person for the whole week, but I pointed out that with us staying 8 nights, that wasn't very likely. Then he said well if everyone leaves a tip on the last day, then statistically it should even out anyway, but once I convinced him that most people don't do that anymore, he saw the flaw in the plan. But I still haven't figured out how I'm going to come up with a bunch of $5 bills...

I so agree with you on the "we can sleep at home" statement. We are just like your family going non-stop from 7 am to what ever park closes the latest that night. The pool is another issue for us...we usually see the same kids/families in the pool at all hours. We do not spend that kinda of money to swim in the pool. A nice dip after a long day at the park is great, but nothing more than that.

I know, that's why the possibility of sleeping in a little after the dance party is still bugging me! Even at home we are almost always up by 7am, I just can't see sleeping any later than that when we could be in a park!! I'm also struggling a little with how much pool time... of course DH and DD are going to get plenty of it while Owen is napping, but it doesn't seem fair to always head back to the park as soon as he wakes up and not let him swim any, especially since we are paying a premium to be at YC, which has a really great pool. But, OTOH, our gym here at home has a really fabulous pool that almost rivals SAB (slides, lazy river, etc) so maybe it's not the best use of our time there anyway. Guess we'll just have to see how it goes. But I'm definitely not one to take a whole day off from the parks and just hang by the pool, I would get much too restless!

My Mickey Mail was a false alarm. DH didn't know what to look for in the mail, so he got me all excited over our maps.

I think both my parents have hope Disney-wise...separately. I think they both made each other miserable when they took us as kids. I hope one day to test that theory, but it won't be this trip.

You're definitely brave planning on a late night followed by an early morning. I actually changed my major in college though, because I wasn't getting enough sleep....it's VERY important to me, even on vacation.

PS. The dance party DOES look fun though!

Oh man, that's a bummer! My Mickey Mail FINALLY came, at day 24 I think. Glad that's one worry I can check off my list. That's interesting about your parents doing better separately at Disney, I'm pretty sure actually that going with just my Dad would be fine, in fact I would love to be able to do that sometime. My mom pretty much makes life for everyone around her miserable no matter where we are though, lol! And while I can usually tolerate it, I wouldn't want to put up with it for long at Disney.

I know, I still a little torn about this whole late-night-dance-party thing. I DO think Owen would have a blast, I just wish it wasn't an amEMH at Epcot the next day! I think that if we do end up going to the party, I'm just going to have to be okay with not setting any alarms and seeing when we wake up. Which may well still be 7am, lol! Owen is really the only one I'm worried about, the rest of us could push through it for one morning. But if he needs to sleep in, I may just head over to Epcot early (since I can never get myself to sleep past about 6am anyway) and do some of the thrill rides on my own, so at least we wouldn't have to worry about child swap later. And I keep reminding myself that we still have our whole departure day (until about 3pm anyway) to finish up anything we didn't get to, and I've tentatively planned that day for Epcot already.

I thought you were going to be at the MK Sat. nite the 13th., then I saw it was the 20th.

Wow, are you organized.

I am almost thinking to upgrading the Deluxe dining. I keep finding TS resturants I want to try, vs. C.S. But then we are never big eaters, and I end up canceling.

I am Marisa on the April Facebook page.

Cool, glad to "see" you on here I WISH we were going to be there on the 13th... it can't come soon enough! We LOVE doing the Deluxe dining, DH won't even consider going without it now, I've spoiled him! He IS a big eater though - seriously the man eats about 3x what I do, and weighs next to nothing. It's totally unfair. He really does eat 3 BIG meals everyday, and is always complaining that he is "starving" within a few hours after each one. I mostly like it for the experience, I could get by on less food, but I like having the breaks scheduled into our day like that, and just love the atmosphere of all the different TS restaurants. After about 3 hours in a park, I have to have something peaceful or I come totally unglued, lol! CS always ends up being a disaster for us, so I've given up even trying that from now on.


I still have several days worth of plans to get posted... was all set to do that this afternoon when I got a FB message from an old friend wanting, guess what, advice on a Disney World trip!! So I'm off for some vicarious trip planning instead

 

[gtpoohbear]

Day 7: Wednesday, April 24

Less than 3 weeks to go!!! And our countdown will be into the teens tomorrow Mickey Mail FINALLY came, and everything seems to be falling into place.

Time for more plans!! I'll start off by saying I'm a little worried about this day. It was day 7 (also of a 9 day trip) that "The Depression" started to set in on our First Trip. It was like it hadn't occurred to me until that day that the trip would have to end at some point! I had a hard time enjoying anything those last couple of days because I was so devastated that it was almost over.

I'm hoping that by being more prepared it won't be so bad this time. Just knowing it *might* happen seemed to stave it off last time, but that whole trip was very different, since we were with such a big group and I was pregnant. Looking at our plans though, this isn't a day that I'm really looking forward to all that much. All of our other days have some sort of "anchor" that I'm really excited about, this one seems a little BLAH for some reason. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, here it goes. We are headed for another amEMH at Hollywood Studios. I have a breakfast ADR at Fresh Mediterranean Market (in the Dolphin) at 6:30am, but I'm not terribly attached to it. If we can't get going quite that early we'll just get room service instead. But I do want to be to DHS by 7:45am at the very latest, so we don't have the option to sleep too much longer anyway.

The first hour will be almost exactly like our first amEMH morning - TSM, then ToT and RnRC, except that DH will go with Lily and I'll keep Owen. Since we had two EMH's here, this seemed easier than having to do child swap - we'll just each have "our morning" with Lily to do them.

I'm still not sure exactly which things are open during EMH, I've seen some conflicting lists. If HIStK playground is open, that would be a great place to take Owen, but only some sources indicate that it is. So we'll see. If nothing else, he and I will ride TSM again and just hang out.

After the "big 3", I'm hoping to do the Buzz&Woddy M&G. It doesn't start until 9:15, and I figure Owen and I can line up early since we won't have much else to do. But we'll have to see if by this point he has warmed up to the characters at all.

We tried to go see the Easter Bunny this weekend, and he was all excited until it was our turn, then he started screaming "I DON'T LIKE THAT EASTER BUNNY!!!" and insisted on leaving at once. Of course, the Easter Bunny isn't a well-known and loved character to him, so maybe there's still hope, but it's possible that photos with characters just aren't going to happen this time. He might at least like to see them (from a safe distance) and wave though.

Then I'm hoping to to do Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow. The reviews of it haven't been very good, but if there isn't much wait I wouldn't mind seeing for myself. Not sure if it's a good idea for Owen though, it looks a little dark and scary. We'll have to see how he has handled things so far.

Then I REALLY want to go in One Man's Dream. I've never done it before and think I would really enjoy it. After that, we'll head over to Streets of America. I would like to see Muppet Vision, since I don't think I've ever done it (or maybe when I was a kid, but I don't remember for sure). We'll spend some time on the playground over there for sure, and hopefully catch a few more characters (Monsters, Phineas and Ferb, Cars). Again, not sure Owen will participate, but Lily and I want to. Although I bet he will love seeing Lightning McQueen! As far as I can tell, I think it's just a statue, so it shouldn't be too scary for him.

So this morning feels a lot less scheduled than most, which makes me a little nervous, but most of what we are doing is just sightseeing, meeting characters, playing, etc. Not a lot of rides. Lunch is at noon, at Mama Melrose. I initially had us at 50's PT, but in the end decided I'd rather go back to MM since we really liked it for dinner last time.

Afterwards, we'll either head on back to the hotel, or stay for Beauty and the Beast if we didn't manage to catch it the first day. I had originally planned to see the Disney Channel Rocks show, but it will have ended before our trip.

We should have a lengthy break before heading back to Magic Kingdom for the evening. We were going to spend the evening at Epcot instead and eat at Akershus, but I much later realized that MK closes early tonight, which is handy because it means that Wishes is at 9pm instead of 10pm.

When I thought that we would be bringing Owen, this was great news! Now, I don't think he'll want to stay anyway because he is convinced that fireworks are too scary, but it will still be good for Brian and Lily to not have to stay out so late. If by some chance they end up staying on Saturday night to see Wishes at 10pm, we may chose to go somewhere else tonight, because that was the main reason for going to MK. But for now, I'm assuming this is where we will be.

Dinner is at Liberty Tree Tavern at 7pm. Another one I'm not super-excited about, but it will be interesting to try something new. We'll try to hit up a few things in Liberty Square first, if we get there in time. Mainly the Riverboat and Haunted Mansion. HM will be a definite NO for Owen, so I'll see what he wants to do while DH and Lily ride. It's not one of my favorites so I'm fine with skipping it. If there is time to do something nearby after dinner we may, but I want to be out of there with Owen by the time Wishes starts at 9, so he doesn't freak out.

And that's it. Again, not the day I'm most looking forward to, but I can't seem to find anything to add or change that would make it more fun. But tomorrow holds a lot of promise - a bright-and-early EMH at Magic Kingdom!

 

[danceintherain]

I'm also struggling a little with how much pool time... of course DH and DD are going to get plenty of it while Owen is napping, but it doesn't seem fair to always head back to the park as soon as he wakes up and not let him swim any, especially since we are paying a premium to be at YC, which has a really great pool. But, OTOH, our gym here at home has a really fabulous pool that almost rivals SAB (slides, lazy river, etc) so maybe it's not the best use of our time there anyway. Guess we'll just have to see how it goes. But I'm definitely not one to take a whole day off from the parks and just hang by the pool, I would get much too restless!

Oh man, that's a bummer! My Mickey Mail FINALLY came, at day 24 I think. Glad that's one worry I can check off my list. That's interesting about your parents doing better separately at Disney, I'm pretty sure actually that going with just my Dad would be fine, in fact I would love to be able to do that sometime. My mom pretty much makes life for everyone around her miserable no matter where we are though, lol! And while I can usually tolerate it, I wouldn't want to put up with it for long at Disney.

I still have several days worth of plans to get posted... was all set to do that this afternoon when I got a FB message from an old friend wanting, guess what, advice on a Disney World trip!! So I'm off for some vicarious trip planning instead

Have you considered Lily & Parent #1 staying in the parks a little bit into your break while Owen & Parent #2 head back for nap? They could do an attraction or two more in the parks before heading back, then everyone could have pool time together when Owen wakes up? Obviously it's not a perfect system, but I'm sure it will be worth it to plan some pool time in for him at least once. I've considered the same dilemma, but we do have a break day planned, and we're not going to the parks on our arrival or departure day, so I'm sure it will work out fine.

Last year, it likely would not have worked to take my parents separately, but now they're divorced, so they can't complain about it....much. If they do, then it will just mean more trips to Disney for me.

Day 7: Wednesday, April 24

The first hour will be almost exactly like our first amEMH morning - TSM, then ToT and RnRC, except that DH will go with Lily and I'll keep Owen. Since we had two EMH's here, this seemed easier than having to do child swap - we'll just each have "our morning" with Lily to do them.

I'm still not sure exactly which things are open during EMH, I've seen some conflicting lists. If HIStK playground is open, that would be a great place to take Owen, but only some sources indicate that it is. So we'll see. If nothing else, he and I will ride TSM again and just hang out.

But we'll have to see if by this point he has warmed up to the characters at all.

We tried to go see the Easter Bunny this weekend, and he was all excited until it was our turn, then he started screaming "I DON'T LIKE THAT EASTER BUNNY!!!" and insisted on leaving at once. Of course, the Easter Bunny isn't a well-known and loved character to him, so maybe there's still hope, but it's possible that photos with characters just aren't going to happen this time. He might at least like to see them (from a safe distance) and wave though.

Although I bet he will love seeing Lightning McQueen! As far as I can tell, I think it's just a statue, so it shouldn't be too scary for him.

And that's it. Again, not the day I'm most looking forward to, but I can't seem to find anything to add or change that would make it more fun. But tomorrow holds a lot of promise - a bright-and-early EMH at Magic Kingdom!

I like your plan to each have a "morning" with Lily. It seems impractical, especially at DHS, to march the shorter child all the way over to RnRC and ToT just to "show" him, when there's practically nothing over there for him to do while you wait.

The characters are my biggest uncertainty this time around. It's so difficult to figure out how kids this age will respond. I have two scenarios playing on repeat in my mind:
1) G squeals in delight as soon as he sees his favorite characters and rushes over to wrap his arm around their legs, whilst jabbering nonstop about his favorite scenes from their shows, while his mother quietly sobs in the background.

2) He shrieks and strains wildly to get away from the crazy creatures, and we spend the rest of the trip strategically avoiding them....while his mother quietly sobs.

I think the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade will help. For some reason I'm thinking that if the characters approach him in an exciting fashion, they'll be more close to how they are in his shows, so he'll dance along with them.

Lightening McQueen and Mater are not too far from being standard cars in a parking lot, so I think they're the safest bet as far as M&G's go.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Have you considered Lily & Parent #1 staying in the parks a little bit into your break while Owen & Parent #2 head back for nap? They could do an attraction or two more in the parks before heading back, then everyone could have pool time together when Owen wakes up? Obviously it's not a perfect system, but I'm sure it will be worth it to plan some pool time in for him at least once. I've considered the same dilemma, but we do have a break day planned, and we're not going to the parks on our arrival or departure day, so I'm sure it will work out fine.

I've definitely had the thought that this may happen a couple of times. Since Lily almost certainly won't "nap", unless we end up having a really short night, I'm afraid she may get tired of swimming every day. Of course, she's used to swimming every day for swim team, but that's different. She may want more time in the park instead. And if DH is willing to take her, that's fine by me. Personally, I like to have some down time in the room just to recover from the chaos of the morning, lol!

The characters are my biggest uncertainty this time around. It's so difficult to figure out how kids this age will respond. I have two scenarios playing on repeat in my mind:
1) G squeals in delight as soon as he sees his favorite characters and rushes over to wrap his arm around their legs, whilst jabbering nonstop about his favorite scenes from their shows, while his mother quietly sobs in the background.

2) He shrieks and strains wildly to get away from the crazy creatures, and we spend the rest of the trip strategically avoiding them....while his mother quietly sobs.

I think the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade will help. For some reason I'm thinking that if the characters approach him in an exciting fashion, they'll be more close to how they are in his shows, so he'll dance along with them.

Lightening McQueen and Mater are not too far from being standard cars in a parking lot, so I think they're the safest bet as far as M&G's go.

Isn't that the truth, lol! There's going to be tears, but will they be tears of joy or frustration??? I agree about the characters in the parades and shows - the Move It parade and the Dream Along with Mickey show would be ideal ways to introduce the characters. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get to either until the end of our trip But better late than never I suppose. That was one reason I thought the dance party at DHS would be good though - I don't see him being scared of the characters if they're just in the same room dancing, that's less intimidating than having to intentionally approach them.