Celebrating the Year of the Dragon - Figment style

[dimndgal1]

HELLO! and welcome to my first PTR! After reading so many and never actually having the chance to plan before, I wanted to post a PTR... and now that we're less than a week out, it seems silly, but here it is!!!

Cast of Characters:​

Disney Vets

- Me, 31 and 2 months post-hip surgery
- DH, 31, ‘the graduate’
- DD, 4.9999999, ‘the birthday girl'​

Disney Rookies

- FIL, totally new, the ‘life of the party’
- MIL, spent one day at Disney 30+ years ago, ‘Christmas in June’
- BIL, totally new, ‘1st Anniversary’
- SIL, spent one day at Disney 10 years ago, ‘1st Anniversary’​

Background:​

I have been going to Disney off and on since ’88, and my husband since 2000. We lived in Jacksonville, FL for a year and had an AP where we spent over 50 days at the World. While living on the Pacific side, we had the chance to visit DL (YAY!) and introduce our DD to the joy that is Disney. We also hit one of my bucket list goals – to eat at Club 33 (It was AWESOME!)

This past year has been one of struggle and stress due to the program my husband recently completed and my health (I have been fighting a previously undiagnosed degenerative disorder of my hip for 4 years). We decided it was IMPERITIVE for our sanity to take a family vacation this summer. We contemplated a cruise – but it seemed silly to cruise to a beach destination in the summer when there are plentiful beaches around and the cost was a bit limiting. We considered Europe – but, again, cost was limiting what we REALLY would enjoy doing and we’d rather wait until DD is older to fully embrace it. So…. My home away from home, it was!

We initially booked a cheap, quick trip using military resources – staying at Shades of Green, using the 4 day military tickets and staying just those 4 days. But, as this was the first time we have been able to plan a trip more than 6 weeks in advance, DH ‘convinced’ me to surf for discounts and we were able to book a split stay between POR and the YC. Since we learned the hard way the value of an ‘off’ day during a Disney trip, we extended our trip to 6 nights. And, since I’m a sucker for family togetherness, we invited his parents along with us. When my SIL heard about our trip, she was thrilled, but wistful – having spent a matter of hours at MK 10 years ago, she was desperate to go back and actually DO Disney… so, our party of 3 became 7 with four ‘newbies’.

Planning:​

The hardest part of the planning process is anticipating what people who have never been to Disney want to do. Our must do list, compiled from the group:

Cinderella’s Royal Table
Garden Grill
Meet Merida and Rapunzel
Mountains, Mountains, Mountains!
Pirates of the Caribbean
Main Street Electrical Parade
Tower of Terror (for my little thrill junkie)​

As a bonus, I wanted to secure some special surprises for the group and was able to add some great treats for us all!:

BBB - surprising DD with makeover
Illuminations Cruise
POR Royal Room and YC with Stormalong Bay
Gift baskets by Betsy (for DD's birthday and BIL/SIL Anniversary)
Christmas in June (for MIL as we have missed the last 3 family Christmases)​

Finally, DH and I previously have been ‘park commandos’, coming, seeing, and conquering with a trail of Mickey bar wrappers in our wake. This trip, due to the party size we decided to go from ADR scoffers to DDP enjoyers… but, that meant one new thing for us:

you mean we have to think about food BEFORE we get hungry???​

Our current ADRs:

CRT for breakfast
Garden Grill for dinner
Chefs de France for dinner
Morocco for lunch
Raglan Road for dinner​

Touring:​

We currently have all of our mornings mapped out to include a pre-park opening ADR at CRT and two AM EMH at the parks. Our afternoons are somewhat flexible - we put all our EPCOT dinner ADRs early in the evening to allow touring time after at the parks. We will also finish off our trip by enjoying a PM EMH at MK - with no rush to get up the next morning, I figure we'll have the freedom at night!

As of now, we are on the fence about touring AK - DD is too short for a few rides, and is currently not a fan of 'toothy' dinosaurs. We have it penciled in for one afternoon and figure the group can split up: some of us go to MK, some go to AK... freedom is GOOD!

OTHER:​

We are driving down and spending time before and after with various family around Florida, so we will have a car and are not restricted by time coming and going.

This will be my first experience renting an ECV and being restricted on rides. That said, I plan to enjoy more shows and meet as many characters as possible!

We will be switching resorts on our 'off' day and have the Illuminations Cruise that evening. I am surprising DH with an AWESOME cake on the cruise, as well as a small, personal cake for DD's birthday.

We are working with my BIL to surprise his wife with a necklace at CRT on the morning of their anniversary.

DD will receive an invitation to BBB and will be surprised with Rapunzel's wedding dress to wear to CRT breakfast (also a surprise). She has no idea you can even eat at CRT, so this should blow her away!

The Anniversary couple and DD will be getting surprise gift baskets to help celebrate their special days on arrival.

We are decorating a tree and each child and grandchild is picking a Disney ornament to put on the tree for MIL -- even those long distance will contribute. That way she can remember the trip and we can make up for missed holidays!!!


I owe an immeasurable amount of thanks to the DIS for all the advice and amazing information I received in the planning process. My ticker started at 42 weeks with bare bones laid out and now we're down to less than 1 with an amazing itenerary! Can't wait to come back with a post and pass on our experience to others in the planning process!