A group of almost First Timers - February 2013 PTR - Updated Day 3 and 4 Plans

[glo1770]

Welcome… this is my very first PTR and, essentially, my first trip to Disney World. What I mean by that is that my family went to Disney World back in 1986 when I was 16. However, we stayed off property at a KOA camp in Kissimmee. At that time, the only parks were Disney World and Epcot, but we did do both parks. I have very vague memories of that trip and unfortunately, no photos. Also, we’ve been to Disneyland, but that was back in 1983 when I was 13. Again, I have no photos of that trip. What can I say, my parents were lousy photo keepers (and I say keepers, because I know we took photos, just don’t know what ever happened to them) and being a teenager, I guess I wasn’t so big on it either. So on with the planning of this trip.

The cast of characters are:

Me. My name is Gloria. I’m a Paralegal by day and trip planner by night. Oh, okay, I do trip planning during the day as well. I do love Disney, but I’m not a Disney fanatic. Yet. Although, I am obsessed with planning this trip. I’m worried that I will become even more obsessed once we are there and will have to plan another trip, but I do have something else on the horizon Disney related which I will share later.

Next up is my sister, Angel. She also was last in Disney World in 1986. She was only 13 at the time so I imagine her memories are even less than mine.

Now for the reasons for the trip in the first place.

We will be bringing my Godson, Daniel. He will be 9 at the time of the trip. Daniel has been to Disneyland. I’ve been told he was afraid of most of the rides. But that was about four years ago so I’m hoping he won’t be afraid now. We’ll see. He loves all things Dinosaur so I have a lot of stuff planned just for him.

And Julian, my nephew (Angel’s son). He will be 6 at the time of the trip. This will be Julian’s first big trip. He’s gone on a lot of little weekend getaways, but this will be the first time he’s flown. Julian is all about the thrill. I don’t see any of these rides scaring him at all. He also could live in the water, so I’m sure we’ll be at the pool a lot.

Finally is my niece, Joslyn (also Angel's). Joslyn will be 10 months old at the time of the trip. Not sure how this will play out with a 10-month old, but I see a lot of rider swaps in our future.

So, since we are a huge group of Newbies, I’m hoping to get lots of ideas and tips from all of you. And I hope that I will have followers on this PTR. I’ve learned so many tips from reading the Dis and especially other people’s TR’s and PTR’s but any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Especially those of you with experience at traveling with babies.

Up next… the What, Where and When

 

[glo1770]

What, Where, When and Tentative Itinerary

Plans for Day 1 and 2

Plans for Day 3 and 4

 

[BearcatsFan]

I'll be reading!

To do chapter links ... see the number in the upper right corner of the post (#1, #2, etc.)? After you post your entry, click on that post number and it will pull up that single post. Copy the URL for it, then go back and edit your chapter links post. Enter the URL for the single post using the Insert Link button. Part of it will be highlighted blue - you can change that wording to whatever you want it to read, like "Epcot Day" or "Itinerary" or whatever.

Hope that made sense! Carry on!

 

[emksmama]

I'll happily follow along! Our story is similar...I was last at WDW in 1985 at age 13/almost 14, and barely remember it as well, so I feel like a first timer.

 

[reyasmommy]

Sometimes I envy those who get to experience WDW for the first time. There is NOTHING like your first time! I got hooked right away and that's pretty much the only place we vacation now. I'm excited for you.

Traveling with a baby can have it's challenges, but it's not that hard. All I can really say is it's hard to stick to a strict schedule. It's best to go with the flow, cuz babies are so unpredictable. I took DS when he was 3 months old and I took DD when she was 6 months old. It's nice because the baby will be able to ride a big majority of the rides, but of course you'll need to use Child Swap a LOT, but that's easy.

Biggest tip I have is check,double check, and check again that you have EVERYTHING you need for that baby before you leave your hotel room. I accidently only brought 1 diaper with me when we went to magic kingdom with my son and that was a disaster. They have these amazing baby care centers in all of the parks where you can breast feed, change diapers, just sit and relax for a bit, plus they sell baby supplies such as diapers and formula. Only problem is they were out of his size. I asked almost 2 dozen moms if they have a couple diapers I could buy off of them, but they either were the wrong size or they only had a couple themselves. Spent over an hour trying to get a diaper for him. We were staying off property so it was too hard to go back to the hotel room.

Have fun planning!!

 

[glo1770]

I'll be reading!

To do chapter links ... see the number in the upper right corner of the post (#1, #2, etc.)? After you post your entry, click on that post number and it will pull up that single post. Copy the URL for it, then go back and edit your chapter links post. Enter the URL for the single post using the Insert Link button. Part of it will be highlighted blue - you can change that wording to whatever you want it to read, like "Epcot Day" or "Itinerary" or whatever.

Hope that made sense! Carry on!

Yay, I have readers Thanks for the instructions on doing chapter links. I'll give it a try here in a few. I'm just about ready to do another update. And thanks for reading along.

I'll happily follow along! Our story is similar...I was last at WDW in 1985 at age 13/almost 14, and barely remember it as well, so I feel like a first timer.

Hi and Welcome. I see you are going to WDW in a few weeks. I hope you have a great time back and I can't wait to hear about your trip. Especially if you remember anything from when you were first there. One of my vague memories is of a pretty empty park. But we went in July so I'm not sure how empty it really was.

Sometimes I envy those who get to experience WDW for the first time. There is NOTHING like your first time! I got hooked right away and that's pretty much the only place we vacation now. I'm excited for you.

Traveling with a baby can have it's challenges, but it's not that hard. All I can really say is it's hard to stick to a strict schedule. It's best to go with the flow, cuz babies are so unpredictable. I took DS when he was 3 months old and I took DD when she was 6 months old. It's nice because the baby will be able to ride a big majority of the rides, but of course you'll need to use Child Swap a LOT, but that's easy.

Biggest tip I have is check,double check, and check again that you have EVERYTHING you need for that baby before you leave your hotel room. I accidently only brought 1 diaper with me when we went to magic kingdom with my son and that was a disaster. They have these amazing baby care centers in all of the parks where you can breast feed, change diapers, just sit and relax for a bit, plus they sell baby supplies such as diapers and formula. Only problem is they were out of his size. I asked almost 2 dozen moms if they have a couple diapers I could buy off of them, but they either were the wrong size or they only had a couple themselves. Spent over an hour trying to get a diaper for him. We were staying off property so it was too hard to go back to the hotel room.

Have fun planning!!

Hi and Welcome. Thanks for reading. I'm so excited to take Julian for his first time. Joslyn won't remember but Julian is so excited to go. He watches different cartoons on TV and lately has been asking me if they are "Disneyland Characters". This morning he was asking about Dora and I told him no. Then he asked about Toy Story and luckily I was able to tell him yes. He loves Toy Story.

Thanks for the tips on traveling with baby. I'll make sure we have plenty of diapers at all times . Our plan is to pretty much take it easy. At this point we are planning afternoon breaks from the parks so that the boys can play in the pool and we can rest a bit. I love that we will be able to take Joslyn on so many rides, but I've read up on the Child Swap so we know how that works. The boys are going to love it because they will be able to ride the rides twice. This will also work in case Daniel is still afraid of some of the rides. He can just sit out that ride with whoever has the baby.

 

[glo1770]

I originally started planning this trip a year ago and it was supposed to happen this past March. However, right after I made the deposit, we found out my sister was pregnant and was due around the time of our trip (Joslyn was born April 30). Well, we had to cancel and move back our plans. I'm so excited to be planning again.

What/Where: Well Walt Disney World, of course. So we will be staying at the Carribean Beach Resort with 7 day Park Hopper tickets and we will be on the Magic Your Way Plus dining plan. We are only doing 7 day tickets because there are a few days we plan on being off property. I know, I know But, there are a few things we want to check out outside of Disney while we are in the area. I’ll discuss this more in depth when I go through detailed plans of our schedule.

When: Well, this is still in question. Spring break around here is March 11-15. However, according to Touring Plans, that is the beginning of the Spring Break season and the crowds are expected to be high. My sister won’t do well in crowds, I can already tell you that (although we've discussed this and she has assured me she will make it work). So, I’ve discussed with my cousin (Daniel’s mother) about the possibility of him missing a week of school. He will be in the third grade. She’s thinking about it. But, if she agrees, I would love to go February 22 to March 3. Touring Plans has the crowd levels down to a 3/4 most of that week. If she decides he can’t miss school, we will be going March 8 to March 17 and we’ll make the crowds work.

I haven’t made the reservations yet. I’m waiting for them to open the reservations for 2013 online. I’ve been told it will probably be middle of July/beginning of August. Hopefully my cousin will have made her decision by then. If not, I’ll go ahead and book February 22-March 3 and if she decides he can not miss school, I’ll move it back to March 8 to March 17. It’s a little hard to explain to people who aren't Disney obsessed about how important it is to book these things so far out. It’s not like any other place where you can book a month or two ahead with no problems.

So below is our tentative itinerary as well as a list of places we are planning ADR's. I’ll go into more detail for each day later on.

February 22, 2013, Arrival Day
February 23, 2013, Animal Kingdom
February 24, 2013, Seaworld
February 25, 2013, Disney Hollywood Studio
February 26, 2013, Beach day
February 27, 2013, Magic Kingdom
February 28, 2013, Universal
March 1, 2013, Epcot
March 2, 2013, Open day
March 3, 2013, Departure

Now, if we end up going March 8-17, these plans will change slightly according to Touring Plans best park estimates.

ADRs we are planning:
T-Rex
Whispering Canyon
O’Hana
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre
Crystal Palace
Liberty Tree Tavern
Chef Mickey’s
Planet Hollywood
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

 

[glo1770]

I’m planning on getting the 7-day pass with park hoppers. I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not to purchase the park hoppers since we have our trip pretty well planned to a single park a day. But, the reason I’m going ahead with the hopper is that on Animal Kingdom day, I know the park closes fairly early and after we have dinner, we may want to venture into another park to check things out. Same thing goes for our Seaworld day. Also, our last full day in Disney is an open day and I want to use this day for the boys to chose what attractions they absolutely want to do one last time which means we may be jumping from one park to another.

So on with the plans:

Day 1: February 22, 2013, Arrival Day

I’m hoping we can get a late morning flight that will put us in Orlando around mid-afternoon. After arrival and check in at the hotel, our only plan is to head over to Downtown Disney and our first ADR at T-Rex. I chose T-Rex for Daniel, but I’m sure Julian will love it as well. We plan to do a little bit of shopping at DTD while we are there. Daniel also loves Legos and Julian is just starting to get into them so I’m sure we’ll have to make a stop there.



Day 2: February 23, 2013, Animal Kingdom

For this park, I’m thinking we will definitely be spending time in Dino-Land for our dino loving party. Other must dos here are Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, the Safari and It’s Tough to be a Bug. Any other suggestions on things that are a definite must do at this park? I don’t know how the boys and a 10 month old will do with the various shows. Anyone have boys around 9 and 6 that have favorite shows here?

Our dinner ADR for this night will be at Whispering Canyon. I figure we’d stay at the park as long as we need to see all we want and then go from here to Wilderness Lodge. If we finish up early, we’ll go back to the resort and then head to Wilderness Lodge later. Can anyone give me the best way to get to Wilderness Lodge from our resort. I was thinking heading over to Magic Kingdom and from there taking the boat. I think the boys would really like that.

 

[glo1770]

I hope everyone had a nice 4th. Ours was windy and rainy, but nice big firework display (put on by the City).

So the 2013 calendar for booking is open on July 11th. Got that message when I went to check the other day. Can't wait to get this thing booked. So on with the plans. These are our plans for days 3 and 4.

Day 3: February 24, 2013, Seaworld

So this will be our first outside of Disney trip. Seaworld was my idea because I love dolphins and whales. I actually was just telling my sister the other day that I was thinking of scraping this plan and just staying in Disney this day. But the very next day Julian and I were watching Dolphin Tale and there is a scene near the end where Winter jumps out of the water and Julian was so excited. He said “I wish I could see that” so because of that, I put Seaworld back on the plans. The plan is to arrange transportation from our resort to Seaworld (most likely taxi). Anyone have any suggestions about transportation outside of Disney World? We will need it another day of this trip as well. I guess I’m worried about traveling with Joslyn. We are not taking a car seat with us. Do any of the transportation services (not Disney) provide car seats?

Our dinner ADR for this night is O’hana. I figure we’ll stay around Seaworld until close to our ADR time and then just get a taxi to the Polynesian. After dinner, we can take the monorail to MK or Epcot and catch a bus back to the CBR.



Day 4: February 25, 2013, Disney Hollywood Studio

So for this day I’m hoping we can make Rope Drop so we can do the mad dash for Toy Story Mania. I’m thinking we’ll jump into the stand-by line and on our way out pick up Fastpasses to do again later. Tower of Terror is a definite must do. Other than that, I will let the kids be the guide here and we’ll go where they want to. I would love to do the drawing class. I’ve seen it in so many TRs. Not sure how that will go with Julian. Art is not his favorite subject. Daniel might like it though. Maybe him and I will do this one on our own. We’ll see. We plan to eat lunch at Pizza Planet since Julian loves Toy Story. I think after lunch we will head back to the resort for some rest and pool time. We’ll come back to this park later since we are planning our dinner ADR at Sci-Fi Dine-in Theatre. I know Julian would love eating in the car. However, this now may not be possible because there will be five of us instead of four. Are they able to put a high chair at those car tables?
Not sure if we will do Fantasmic or not. I know when I was looking at the schedule for this past March, it wasn’t showing every night. I’m assuming that will be the case for February as well so I guess we’ll see if it’s even showing this night and then make the decision at that time.