1st family WDW trip EVER! June 2018

Have you thought about adding the meal plan?
I have thought about it. But almost all of DH's lunches and some of his breakfasts while he's at the conference (even probably a dinner or 2) will be provided by the conference venue and/or vendors, so us purchasing a dining plan will kind of be a waste of money. It'll be cheaper for us to do it like we do at DL, which is pay out of pocket as you go.
 
Made a FP update today! We only had 2 FP+ for Tuesday at Epcot, so I added 1 for meeting some characters at the Epcot character spot. Touring Plans now has the plan for Tuesday like this:

  • 9:08 am - Figment ride (yes, we're skipping the Frozen ride). 4 min wait
  • 9:23 am - the Seas main tank & exhibits
  • 9:39 am - Turtle Talk w/Crush. 5 min wait.
  • 10:11 am - Test Track using FP. 8 min wait
  • 10:45 am - Spaceship Earth using FP. 5 min wait
  • 11:20 am - Norway pavilion
  • 11:35 am - Via Napoli ADR for lunch
  • 12:45 pm - Japan pavilion
  • 1:00 pm - Voices of Liberty in the America pavilion. 15 minwait
  • 1:30 pm - see the American Adventure show. no wait
  • 2:19 pm - meet Disney pals at Epcot character spot. 5 min wait
  • leave, swim, rest, have dinner w/DH
  • 7:06 pm - Living with the Land. no wait
  • 7:26 pm - the Seas with Nemo & Friends. 5 min wait
  • 7:49 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour w/the 3 Caballeros. 4 min wait
  • 8:07 pm - Reflections of China. 7 min wait
  • I think we'll probably stop by the France pavilion to get ice cream before we leave for the night
 
Made a FP update today! We only had 2 FP+ for Tuesday at Epcot, so I added 1 for meeting some characters at the Epcot character spot. Touring Plans now has the plan for Tuesday like this:

  • 9:08 am - Figment ride (yes, we're skipping the Frozen ride). 4 min wait
  • 9:23 am - the Seas main tank & exhibits
  • 9:39 am - Turtle Talk w/Crush. 5 min wait.
  • 10:11 am - Test Track using FP. 8 min wait
  • 10:45 am - Spaceship Earth using FP. 5 min wait
  • 11:20 am - Norway pavilion
  • 11:35 am - Via Napoli ADR for lunch
  • 12:45 pm - Japan pavilion
  • 1:00 pm - Voices of Liberty in the America pavilion. 15 minwait
  • 1:30 pm - see the American Adventure show. no wait
  • 2:19 pm - meet Disney pals at Epcot character spot. 5 min wait
  • leave, swim, rest, have dinner w/DH
  • 7:06 pm - Living with the Land. no wait
  • 7:26 pm - the Seas with Nemo & Friends. 5 min wait
  • 7:49 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour w/the 3 Caballeros. 4 min wait
  • 8:07 pm - Reflections of China. 7 min wait
  • I think we'll probably stop by the France pavilion to get ice cream before we leave for the night

I moved up our character meet & greet FP by a smidge for our Epcot day, so this is what Touring Plans did with the itinerary. I watched a ride through of Living With The Land and meh...my kids will be totally bored on this ride. I got bored just watching it! I don't think I'd want to do this first thing in the morning. LOL.

9:12 am - Living with the Land - 0 wait
9:32 am - the Seas with Nemo & Friends - 5 min wait
9:43 am - Turtle Talk with Crush - 5 min wait
10:06 am - the Seas main tank with exhibits - 0 wait
10:31 am - Test Track w/FP - 1 min wait
10:44 am - Spaceship Earth w/FP - 0 wait
11:14 am - Norway paviliion
11:33 am - lunch @ Via Napoli
12:50 pm - Voices of Liberty for 1:05 pm show
1:32 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour - 0 wait
1:50 pm - character meet & greet using FP - 6 min wait
2:10 pm - Figment ride - 10 min wait
leave the park
6:58 pm - Reflections of China - 7 min wait
7:30 pm - American Adventure show
8:02 pm - Japan pavilion

So I'm messing around with TP this morning. I'll let you know in a few min what I get instead!
 
Ok, this one is much better. I took out Living with the Land and put in Soarin' instead. Here's what TP came up with. I like this one a lot better.

9:12 am - Soarin' - 0 wait (assumes we are at the main gate plenty of time before rope drop)
9:26 am - the Seas Main Tank & Exhibits - 0 wait
9:42 am - Turtle Talk - 9:42 am
10:06 am - The Seas with Nemo & Friends - 5 min wait
10:24 am - Test Track using FP - 1 min wiat
10:45 am - Spaceship Earth using FP - 1 min wait
11:16 am - Norway Pavilion
11:35 am - lunch @ Via Napoli
12:41 pm - Japan pavilion
12:54 pm - Voices of Liberty (for 1:05 pm show)
1:32 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour - 0 wait
1:50 pm - character meet & greet - 6 min wait
2:10 pm - figment ride - 10 min wait
LEAVE THE PARK
6:58 pm - Reflections of China - 7 min wait
7:30 pm - American Adventure - 0 wait

We're going to skip Illuminations unless the kids want to watch it stand by. I've seen the videos of it and I hate to say it, but I don't understand what the big deal is about Illuminations. There's a light up spinning globe in the middle and some fireworks.
 


For Thursday, our last day at MK, I cancelled our 6:30 pm Jungle Cruise FP and changed it to a Pirates FP for 5:15-6:15 pm instead. So here's what Thursday looks like now....

9:10 am - HM - 8 min wait
9:40 am - Peter Pan with FP - 5 min wait
9:50 am - carrousel - 1 min wait
9:56 am - Mad Tea Party - 4 min wait
10:03 am - Tomorrowland Speedway - 13 min wait
10:24 am - Dumbo - 11 min wait
10:38 am - character meet & greet at Pete's Silly Sideshow - 11 min wait
11:02 am - Rapunzel & Tiana meet & greet with FP - 5 min wait
11:25 am - railroad
REST, LEAVE THE PARK, LUNCH, POOL
4:21 pm - Tom Sawyer Island
5:15 pm - Pirates with FP - 6 min wait
6:05 pm - dinner @ Columbia Harbour House
6:46 pm - IASW - 10 min wait
7:18 pm - People mover - 0 wait
7:45 pm - fireworks dessert party
 
I watched a ride through of Living With The Land and meh...my kids will be totally bored on this ride. I got bored just watching it! I don't think I'd want to do this first thing in the morning. LOL.
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:We finally did this ride a couple years ago. And when we got off it, the first thing Morgan says was "Ugh! I feel like I just rode through a science book!"

9:12 am - Soarin' - 0 wait (assumes we are at the main gate plenty of time before rope drop)
I feel like that is a much better use of early morning. I think we did this once and it worked out fine. You may wait a little but nothing like what it will be later in the day.

9:26 am - the Seas Main Tank & Exhibits - 0 wait
There are dolphins upstairs! I think they were upstairs.

10:45 am - Spaceship Earth using FP - 1 min wait
11:16 am - Norway Pavilion
This seems kind of tight. Not sure how long the actual Spaceship Earth ride is, but between that and the stuff when you come out and then the walk around. (Well that might just be that my kids walk REALLY slow)

We're going to skip Illuminations unless the kids want to watch it stand by. I've seen the videos of it and I hate to say it, but I don't understand what the big deal is about Illuminations. There's a light up spinning globe in the middle and some fireworks
Ha! Again! it is the only night show we haven't seen.

10:38 am - character meet & greet at Pete's Silly Sideshow - 11 min wait
11 minutes seems too low of a wait. I feel like both sides usually had a 20-30 minutes wait.

7:45 pm - fireworks dessert party
Can't wait to hear how you like it! I def think we want to do it next time.
 
@StarWarsMomofGirls! - I laughed out loud reading your comment about what your daughter said about Living with the Land! Hahaha!

We spent this past weekend in Las Vegas. it was a spur of the moment thing and we got an inexpensive room. The 4 of us went. There were a couple of fun highlights. I'll start with those first...

  1. saw this amazing Japanese samurai exhibit at the museum at the Bellagio. Totally and utterly amazing. Seriously. WOW! :flower:Kids 12 and under get in free.
  2. went to see Blue Man Group. SO funny and entertaining. Loved it.
  3. took the kids to the Hoover Dam. Went on the dam tour. Took pictures. That was fun. Everybody should see it once in their lifetime.
  4. had lunch at this cool 50's diner in Kingman, AZ on Route 66 just off of I-40 on our way back home to Phoenix. YDD said, "Mama, this place is like the real Flo's V-8 Café!" I would totally go there again.
Some of the not-so-highlights:
  1. OMG, since when did Vegas become SO expensive? The breakfast buffet was like $100 for 4 of us! 3 ice creams and a bottle of water was $30 at one hotel. And I thought Disneyland & WDW prices were high?!
  2. SO much sensory overload. Just walking from the hotel room to the casino entrance would overwhelm me and stress me out. I can only imagine how rough it is for people with autism...they feel that way pretty much ALL the time. I found myself missing those quiet spots in Disneyland and DCA. You know, where you can just sit on a bench and watch the world go by. Or you can sit by the Rivers of America and enjoy the scenery.
  3. SO many neon lights, flashing billboards, etc...and then totally seedy icky areas literally right next door to the Strip. I am looking forward to some of that Disney bubble which everybody talks about at WDW. Granted, I've been to Vegas before and knew about all this, but it's been >10 yr since I've been there. Out of sight, out of mind!
  4. Customer service - it was lacking. Just parking the car...we did self park, but I asked the parking valets where the self parking was. They didn't even grunt at me. Just motioned with their hands and were pretty rude. Didn't even stop the in depth conversation that the 5 of them were having together.
  5. the hotel pool - my kids were disappointed that we didn't hit up the pool, but the pool closed at some stupid time like 5 or 6 pm and immediately after it opened every morning, almost all of the lounge chairs were full. Plus I just didn't feel like dealing with a bunch of drunk adults at the pool with 2 kids in tow. Next time we go to Vegas, it will be when the kids are adults or we will go without the kids.
  6. The sea of humanity - just navigating around ALL of those people ALL day long from the moment you left your hotel room was mentally exhausting. It felt like I was in protective mother duck mode all day. It totally wore me out. My DH said, "But how is that much different than at Disneyland?" Well, it's TOTALLY different! When we go to Disneyland, we strategize our day so we avoid long lines and we minimize the amount of time we have to spend navigating through the sea of humanity. We take a break at the hotel. And the hotel IS relaxing. It soothes your mind. Vegas hotels? Not soothing. I mean...get this... I had a massage in the hotel spa. Nice idea, right? Except they played the same casino music that was playing in the casino. So I had my massage listening to 60's Motown songs. That doesn't really put me in a zen state of mind. Plus...besides...at Disney parks, there are places you can go to escape. You can sit on a park bench for awhile and watch the world go by and it's relaxing and lovely and wonderful.
To be perfectly honest, now that the weekend is over, I kind of wish that we had stayed home. DH wanted to try something that wasn't Disney for a change. I told him that I'm fine with a non-Disney trip, as long as it doesn't require us to spend 2.5 days in Las Vegas at any point over the next 10 years! :rotfl2:
 


It looks like AK has set up EMH for EVERY SINGLE DAY in June. I'm not sure how I feel about this. We had purposely planned our days to be at parks that did not have EMH. But oh well. Our updated plan for our AK day is as follows:

  • 8:10 am - NRJ 10 min wait. This probably assumes that we'll need to be at the park entrance at 7:00 am. I don't think that's going to happen, so we will probably skip this and try for it at the end of the day right before closing.
  • 8:36 am - Triceratop Spin - 4 min wait
  • 10:05 am - Kilimanjaro Safaris w/FP - 5 min wait
  • 10:40 am - Festival of the Lion King - 20 min wait
  • 12:10 pm - FOP - 35 min wait
  • 1:45 pm - Finding Nemo musical - 15 min wait
  • 2:42 pm - Kali River Rapids using FP. I'm not thrilled with how late in the day our Kali River Rapids FP is for. I've been looking online to try and move it, but no earlier times are available at the moment.
  • THEN LEAVE THE PARK
  • 5:15 pm - dinner at CA Grill
  • then back to AK to maybe go on NRJ right before the park closes. Otherwise, watch ROL at 9:15 pm.
To be perfectly honest, there's not much purpose of us beating it over to AK for EMH because....
  1. Dinosaur - too scary for my kids
  2. Expedition Everest - we'd do this if it was only a forward-moving coaster, but since it goes backwards, forget it!
  3. it's tough to be a bug - did this once at DCA and thought it was horrible. We all hated it. Never again!
  4. Primeval Whirl - I'm not sure if this is worth getting up at 6:30 am for. Besides, we have to check out of ASM and move over to AKL that day as well.
  5. FOP - we have a FP for this later in the day
  6. NRJ - we can do this at the end of the day before the park closes.
MAYBE if Kilimanjaro Safaris opens during EMH, we'll go on that first thing.
 
2:42 pm - Kali River Rapids using FP. I'm not thrilled with how late in the day our Kali River Rapids FP is for. I've been looking online to try and move it, but no earlier times are available at the moment.
Look at it this way.... You will get wet and then head out back to the hotel to get out of those wet clothes!
 
I've moved around a couple of FP. Here's what we have right now in terms of FP reservations:

Sun:
9:35-10:35 am BTMRR
10:45-11:45 am Jungle Cruise
12:40-1:40 pm HM

Mon:
9:25-10:25 am Test Track
10:25-11:25 am Spaceship Earth
1:50-2:50 pm character meet & greet

Tues:
9:25-10:25 am Peter Pan
11:25-12:25 7DMT
12:55-1:55 IASW

Thurs:
9:50-10:50 am Peter Pan
10:50-11:50 am Rapunzel & Tiana meet & greet
5:15-6:15 pm Pirates

Fri:
10:05-11:05 am Kilimanjaro Safaris
12:10-1:10 pm FOP
1:10-2:10 pm Kali River Rapids
 
I've changed our Fri night dinner reservations. Cancelled CA Grill in favor of the less expensive Homecomin' at Disney Springs. I showed DH a picture of their deviled eggs (he loves deviled eggs) and he was ready to go right now! And since this is for DH's birthday dinner, I figured, "Why not?"

The conference DH is attending is doing an attendee appreciation event at Universal Studios on Wednesday evening, so he will be attending that with a couple of his coworkers who are also going to the conference. So the kids and I will instead do our own thing on Wednesday, which is fine with me!

I think on Wednesday, we'll sleep in, have a late QS breakfast at ASMusic, swim in the morning, go to Disney Springs and have lunch there, followed by more swimming in the afternoon and dinner at Captain Cook's at the Polynesian. Part of the reason for that is to explore that resort. I'm pretty certain that DH will be using the rental car all day that day, so I need to figure out how to get from ASMusic to the Polynesian.
 
We are now all set! The ASMusic room is paid in full. The AKL room is paid in full. Tickets paid in full. ADRs are set up. FP+ are set up. I picked the colors for our magic bands last month. We have plane reservations and a rental car reservation. Starting tomorrow, our 30 day countdown begins!

It's been over a week since I posted on this PTR. Our regular non-Disney lives have been pretty darn busy over this past week. There's the normal end of the school year stuff. This past weekend, we signed a contract to buy a new construction home in a new housing development in the area. We are excited and we really like the part of town it's in and the neighborhood is great.

The #1 thing I'm looking forward to the most on this trip? Going to Hoop Dee Doo for dinner. And not having to deal with work for a week. I almost don't care if there are long lines for rides. Now, granted, I'm not going to wait an hour for ANY ride. If the lines are that long, we'll hit up the pool and do other stuff. I'm just thrilled that we get to go on this trip.

3 more weeks until the end of the school year! YAHOO!
 
So now that the hardest part of the trip planning is over, it's time for some fun stuff! PACKING! A couple of months ago, I splurged and got myself a very lightweight Baggalini purse. It's much better looking than my Rick Steves bag.

upload_2018-5-9_13-21-44.png

This is going to be my travel purse and my "in the park" bag. Here's what it's going to hold:
upload_2018-5-9_13-22-59.png
From the top going clockwise, inside the Baggalini purse, will be:
  • 2 ponchos I got from Target
  • 3 Frogg Toggs chilly pads
  • a battery + iPhone charging cable for my phone
  • Kroger generic brand container of fruit punch water flavoring stuff
  • wallet
  • ziplock bag with a few quarters and pennies
  • travel sized umbrella - got this last year @ grocery store for ~ $10
  • small flat ziplock style container with various bandaids & some tissues
  • a pen
  • 2 Dollar Store ponchos
Here's what it looks like if you open it up! There's still plenty of room. There's 2 outside side pockets on the purse, which I'll use for water bottles.
upload_2018-5-9_13-26-59.png

In total, it only weighs a couple of pounds even with everything in it.
 
More trip prep today! YDD had suddenly gone through a growth spurt, so a lot of her shorts fit her anymore. I bought her 3 pairs today at Justice and 2 pairs for ODD (who needs some, too!).

Mom complaint...

What the heck is the deal with all of the booty shorts? I don't want my kids wear shorts where their butts are hanging out. Good gravy, it's hard sometimes finding shorts that fall about halfway down their thighs. And my kids hate wearing denim, so that leaves out any sort of denim Bermuda shorts as an option.

1 month from today and we'll be at WDW! 3 more weeks left to the kids' school year. 2 weeks left until ODD's big comprehensive exams at the end of the school year. I am SO looking forward to this trip!
 
I changed our Friday evening ADR again. ROFL! :rotfl2: Cancelled Homecomin' and switched it back to Boma instead. Why? Because I realized that after being at Animal Kingdom all morning and after checking into our room at AKL, we're not really going to want to get in the car to drive to Disney Springs, park, walk, and then have dinner at Homecomin', followed by going back to AK after dinner.

In fact, I'm pretty certain that neither DH or I will want to drive after dinner at all. And I don't want to navigate Disney transportation from Disney Springs all the way to AK after dinner. :crazy2:

PLUS, park hours changed a bit. They were extended at some parks on some of the days. So this is what Friday looks like:

Animal Kingdom:
  • reg park hours 9 am-10:30 pm
  • EMH 8-9 am
  • Kilimanjaro Safari 9:05-10:05 am - previously, this FP was in the 10 am hour
  • Kali River Rapids 10:10-11:10 am - previously, this FP was in the 1:30-2:300 pm time frame
  • Avatar FOP 12:10-1:10 pm.
Then we have dinner reservations at 5:45 pm at Boma.

Here's what Touring Plans recommended in terms of what order to do stuff in:
  1. 8:10 am - NRJ - 8 min wait. This assumes, of course, that we get to the main gate way in advance. I don't know how feasible that will be!
  2. 33 min to kill until...
  3. 9:05 am - Kilimanjaro Safari w/FP - 1 min wait
  4. 9:40 am - Festival of the Lion King for 10:00 am performance
  5. 10:37 am - Kali River Rapids w/FP - 4 min wait. I predict that DH will sit this one out while the kids & I get drenched!
  6. 10:58 am - Triceratop Spin - 5 min wait
  7. 54 min to kill (this would be a good time to eat lunch) until...
  8. 12:10 pm - FOP using FP - 24 min wait
  9. 12:54 pm - Finding Nemo musical - for 1 pm performance
  10. then leave the park
  11. dinner at Boma
  12. 8:45 pm - Rivers of Light (for 9:30 pm performance)
  13. if we enjoy FOP, I'm hoping that we can get in line for a 2nd FOP ride just before closing, so that's why I'd want to see Rivers of Light at the earlier show.
 
On Thursday (our 3rd MK day), park hours are until 11:00 pm (originally were until 10 pm). DH will be at the convention in the morning and will join us in the afternoon. I changed around the FPs so all 3 of our FP+ would be in the morning and I hopefully can get add'tl FP for later in the day.

Magic Kingdom Thurs 6/14:
  • reg park hours 9:00 am - 11:00 pm
  • FP+ Peter Pan 9:50-10:50 am
  • FP+ Rapunzel & Tiana meet & greet 10:50-11:50 am
  • FP+ Pirates 11:55 am - 12:55 pm --> previously, I had this in the late afternoon
So here's what Touring Plans recommended for what order to do stuff in:
  1. 9:10 am - HM. 9 min wait
  2. 9:40 am - Peter Pan using FP. 5 min wait
  3. 9:53 am - Mad Tea Party. 4 min wait
  4. 10:02 am - meet & greet at Pete's Silly Sideshow. 6 min wait
  5. 10:16 am - Dumbo. 6 min wait
  6. 10:31 am - IASW. 7 min wait
  7. 10:55 am - Rapunzel & Tiana meet & greet using FP. 5 min wait.
  8. 33 min to kill (this would be a good time to eat CS somewhere using mobile ordering) until....
  9. 11:55 am - Pirates using FP. 6 min wait.
  10. 12:20 pm - free time.
  11. 4:51 pm - Peoplemover. No wait
  12. 5:03 pm - Tomorrowland Speedway. 11 min wait
  13. 5:22 pm - Prince Charming Carousel. 4 min wait
  14. 6:05 pm - Columbia Harbor House for a very light dinner. I'll using mobile ordering here.
  15. 7:45 pm - check in at Tomorrowland Terrace for the fireworks dessert party.
  16. some time before we leave - take the train all the way around the park.
I'm hoping that we can last until closing time so that we can take advantage of hopefully shorter ride lines and so that DH can go on some more rides with us.
 
Mom complaint...
What the heck is the deal with all of the booty shorts? I don't want my kids wear shorts where their butts are hanging out. Good gravy, it's hard sometimes finding shorts that fall about halfway down their thighs. And my kids hate wearing denim, so that leaves out any sort of denim Bermuda shorts as an option.
I was just talking to someone about this! Morgan is short and the shorts are still way to short on her! I don't need them to be super long but they don't need to be booty shorts!
 
Ok, this one is much better. I took out Living with the Land and put in Soarin' instead. Here's what TP came up with. I like this one a lot better.

9:12 am - Soarin' - 0 wait (assumes we are at the main gate plenty of time before rope drop)
9:26 am - the Seas Main Tank & Exhibits - 0 wait
9:42 am - Turtle Talk - 9:42 am
10:06 am - The Seas with Nemo & Friends - 5 min wait
10:24 am - Test Track using FP - 1 min wiat
10:45 am - Spaceship Earth using FP - 1 min wait
11:16 am - Norway Pavilion
11:35 am - lunch @ Via Napoli
12:41 pm - Japan pavilion
12:54 pm - Voices of Liberty (for 1:05 pm show)
1:32 pm - Gran Fiesta Tour - 0 wait
1:50 pm - character meet & greet - 6 min wait
2:10 pm - figment ride - 10 min wait
LEAVE THE PARK
6:58 pm - Reflections of China - 7 min wait
7:30 pm - American Adventure - 0 wait

We're going to skip Illuminations unless the kids want to watch it stand by. I've seen the videos of it and I hate to say it, but I don't understand what the big deal is about Illuminations. There's a light up spinning globe in the middle and some fireworks.
Just a warning the timeline between Japan and meet n greet is pretty tight with what you have planned - even assuming you go at end of FP window. The Japan pavilion has a huge department store that is fun to explore. I've easily lost an hour in here (and usually end up buying something too!)

spend 2.5 days in Las Vegas at any point over the next 10 years! :rotfl2:
Try staying at a resort off strip. Last time we stayed at Tahiti Village resort (it's a timeshare but the rent the condos too). Lazy river, zero entry sand bottom pool part, tins of loungers, does have pool bar but also the restaurant has a service side out into pool area too. I love the energy of the strip but it. An definitely be overwhelming!

And I'm doing this on my iPad so somehow the booty short rant didn't copy over- but omg I totally am with you on that!!! The bad part is my girls also prefer longer shorts and they both have very long legs too (my oldest is 6'2) so trying to find an inseam longer than microscopic is hard!

Trip is getting close! And I LOVE your bag!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top