LeafsFanNL
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2010
Like others lately, the anticipation of our upcoming trip has me wanting to write this pre trip report proving that I am indeed a Disney Geek!!
The cast. We have DW, and my twin DS’s who are just about to turn nine. In 2007 we stayed at POFQ, in 2008 we stayed offsite and last year it was at the Magnolia Bend part of POR. We always come the week after Easter as that is when the schools here in Newfoundland have their break. We have been tempted to come late in August before our school year starts, but the thought of the summertime heat scares us stiff. It turns out that two of my sisters in law who live in Ontario will be sharing a bunk room in the WL. One thing that concerns me is that these ladies will not be on the go in the morning as fast as we will. DW and I have determined that we are going to do our thing, and if as I suspect, they have leisurely mornings, we’ll meet them in the parks, communicating via cell phones. Hopefully with the two of them we might have sitters for a night or two!!
We booked our Aeroplan points flight tickets on Air Canada last April; arriving in Tampa and were planning to stay with my parents as they have a winter place in St. Pete’s. However, about two months ago it became apparent that my folks would not be there, and visiting their place and seeing them was our only reason for the trip. Refunding our points or changing our flights would cost too much money, so after some deliberation; we decided to return to the World.
After eating at Artists Point last year I had pretty much decided that my dream resort would be the WL. DW had entertained the Alligator Bayou section of POR for their shaded quiet pools, but after some discussion we decided to splurge and go to the WL. We are looking forward to the easy access to the MK via boat or very short bus ride and by extension to the monorail resorts and EPCOT. It looks like there are lots of fun things to do at the resort as well.
We are going to have a rental car for the first time to get from Tampa to the Orlando area, which we got using more of our hard to use Aeroplan points. If I had to guess, the car will be parked most of the week, as we have always found Disney Transportation to be from adequate to very good. I might use it to get to resort dining in the EPCOT area on days when we are not in EPCOT.
We purchased the deluxe dining plan. DW and I love the sit down meals, and the boys have always been pretty good with that style of dining even when they were five. We loved the regular dining plan in 2007, liked it less last year when the appetizers were dropped. DW has always liked the signatures so we found that we ran out of table service meals and snacks but we would have a counter service credit or two left over. This year we have selected a lot of signature dinners. We have some breakfast ADR’s, but I can see us grabbing coffees and croissants if we are in a hurry, allowing us to do more CSM’s. We have four lunchtime ADR’s as well, mostly on days when we don’t have breakfast ADR’s. If I had to guess we will use up our meal credits, but have a few snack credits left over, although maybe not if I get addicted to the Dole Whips along with my pre existing school bread habit. Somewhat surprisingly, we have been able to get last minute ADR’s for my wife’s sisters, that mostly parallel ours. Where this is not the case, it will be noted.
A little bit about our touring style. On our previous trips when we were on property, we would be at the parks at either rope drop, or very close to it. Our time zone is 1 ½ hours ahead of Florida, i.e. an 8 am opening is 9:30 am to us, and thus getting there early is easy for us to do. We would always pick 4 or 5 headliners that we would hit quickly, and then visit the less busy attractions. Most days we opt for leaving the parks before 2 pm and head back to the resort for pool time. This was easy to do at POFQ and POR, it should be heavenly at the WL. We haven’t been huge nighttime fans as the time zone works against us here. Last years the kids did better in the evening, so I expect that evenings will be better for us. It is interesting that our own little strategy seems to match what underlies a lot of what the touringplans.com site uses in their plans. We have also never gone for the park hopper option, and after 2007, the water park option has not been selected. We find the resort pools satisfy our needs.
March 31st
We have a 1:00 pm departure from St. John’s, with a short but comfortable layover in Toronto, then a direct flight to Tampa, getting in just after dinner. We will pick up the rental car and drive to my Aunt’s for the night in St. Pete’s, as there is no way to get DW on the I-4 at night. The two SIL’s will arrive from Ontario into Orlando, I am not sure what they are planning other than an ADR at Artists Point.
April 1st Thursday
We will drive up from St. Pete’s hopefully fairly early after saying good bye to my aunt and uncle. Our plan now is to go straight through to the Wilderness Lodge to pick up our check in package, as we have already checked in!! Our plan is to go straight to EPCOT as we have lunch time ADR’s at Coral Reef. I’d like to get Test Track, Journey into Imagination, and Spaceship Earth done this day as these are the Future World attractions I have not done. Supper is Le Cellier at 8:05. My SIL’s have an ADR at the Biergarten. We are hoping to catch as much of Illuminations as we can.
April 2nd Friday
This year, the kids have chosen AK as the first day park, mainly due to the fact that in 2009 we didn’t make it to the AK. Also in 2007, and 2008 by the time we arrived in Dinoland the crowds were out of control. We are planning to grab snacks at Roaring Fork and hit the AK as soon as we can. This year we will tour Dinoland’s three main rides as the focus of our touring plan. Dinoland will be followed by the Kali River Rapids, Maharajah Jungle Trail, and probably the Festival of the Lion King, (DW loves the shows). We have a Lunch ADR at the Whispering Canyon Café. We will probably enjoy the resort for the afternoon, followed by Artists Point. We are hoping to get the Sil’s to mind the kids and then perhaps head over to the Poly to watch Wishes with a fruity drink or two.
April 3rd Saturday
This day starts with an early Supercalifragilistic Character Breakfast at the Grand Floridian. Hopefully we will be at the MK at 8:45 am or so. We found that the character breakfast were impossible to get for the SIL’s so they are going to the Wave a little later than we will eat. I am working on a touring plan for the three mountains, and then perhaps the Haunted mansion and pirates. We’ll play it by ear after that. A guilty pleasure of mine is that I rarely visit the MK without going to the Tiki room, so I’ll try to squeeze it in. DW and the boys think I am crazy on this issue. DW and I have discussed how, with the exception of Minnie’s Confectionary, we seem to rush through Main Street USA on our way in and out of the MK. We are planning to linger here a bit. Lunch is at the Grand Floridian Café and Dinner is at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. We should have the time to make it back for Wishes. Interestingly, this will be the fourth year in a row in the MK on the day before Easter. If anyone reading this will in the World on this date I recommend they get over to downtown Disney at 2:45 pm for the school band event. A local Celtic fiddler school band/ choir are playing. I have heard them and they are great. Go seem them if you like that kind of music, we’re going to try to get there.
April 4th Easter Sunday
We have a breakfast ADR at the Whispering Canyon Café at 7:30 am. We will more likely take advantage of any Easter Egg hunt or similar activities which hopefully will be going on at the WL. We did something similar at FOPQ in 2007 and it was a hoot. More than likely we will get the park not much before lunch which will be at Le Cellier. Sil’s are going to Tutto Italia. We’ll try to get any of the highlights we missed on April 1st. We will tour the World Showcase for the entire afternoon before having dinner at Les Chef du France. We are planning to see Illuminations for the second year in a row, we loved it last year. This will probably be the only full afternoon in the parks.
April 5th Monday
My current understanding is that SIL #2 is heading back to Ontario on this day fairly early, so she will be out of the picture. We have a Grand Floridian Café ADR for breakfast. This is now our Sea World Day. At Sea World we are planning to hit the shows ignoring the extreme coasters which I can certainly do without. When we get back to the property we will head over to EPCOT where we have ADR’s for the San Angel Inn, and then maybe a beer or two and Illuminations.
April 6th Tuesday
We have a Kona Café ADR at 8:00 am. After that we will take a Poly bus to the studios. The Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coaster are out for us, so we will try to get on Toy Story Mania ASAP. Whether that works or not, after that the only big thing we haven’t seen is Star Tours. The boys have discovered Star Wars this year, so they are looking forward to this. LCA has been done twice so we will skip that and surprisingly DW wants to pass on Beauty and the Beast this year. We might do the Indy stunt show. I am sure we will be done fairly early here, although the SIL hasn’t been here in a long time. We do have an ADR for the PTC lunch time. In past years we have always taken a day off from the parks, usually doing a Downtown Disney morning instead. This year, I think we might do this on this afternoon. Dinner ADR is at Flying Fish Café.
April 7th Wednesday
We have a character breakfast ADR at Ohanas this morning. This is an early morning EMH at the MK. Last year we were at the MK for 7:00 am early in the trip and had Tomorrowland to ourselves for the first hour. I’d like to do that again but the ADR will get in the way. A lot depends on how we did on April 3rd. If we have toured pretty well on the 3rd then I’ll be a little more easygoing on the 7th. If not I might be agitating to skip that ADR. Sil #1 heads back this day so we will be on our own from about 10 am or so. I think that if we get there early enough say at nine we could get the big three done fairly early in the day. We have an ADR at the Liberty Tree Tavern for Lunch. If we haven’t made it to Downtown Disney by then, we might spend the afternoon there, or maybe outlet shopping as the DW has mentioned it as well. Dinner ADR is at Narcoosees. I foresee going back for the parade and Wishes, which would be a late night for us.
April 8th Thursday
I have a breakfast ADR at the Whispering Canyon for that morning, which I think might be blown off. Our plans for this day have changed somewhat. My mother and father will be at their place by now. We are planning to head out sometime after check out. Our plan is to drive to St. Petes, and spend most of the day at the beach. I am sure DW is going to want to get going, but I can think of several things I might want to do. I am sure that we will have done the AK so that park will be covered. I am pretty sure that DHS will also be covered. None of our EPCOT arrivals will be early, so I can see a visit at rope drop for an hour or so, if we haven’t covered things on the first, fourth, and fifth. Similarly I can see the same thing happening at the MK. Less likely, I could also see a pool morning happening for an hour or so. If we haven’t made it down there a morning at The World of Disney, but I am pretty sure we will have done this by then. If I had to guess. I’d say we’ll have a 90 minute visit to the MK for Dole Whips and Splash Mountain, and the confectionary before we have an 11:00 am departure.
April 9th Friday
Depart for Toronto at 2:00 pm arriving in St. John’s around midnight.
The cast. We have DW, and my twin DS’s who are just about to turn nine. In 2007 we stayed at POFQ, in 2008 we stayed offsite and last year it was at the Magnolia Bend part of POR. We always come the week after Easter as that is when the schools here in Newfoundland have their break. We have been tempted to come late in August before our school year starts, but the thought of the summertime heat scares us stiff. It turns out that two of my sisters in law who live in Ontario will be sharing a bunk room in the WL. One thing that concerns me is that these ladies will not be on the go in the morning as fast as we will. DW and I have determined that we are going to do our thing, and if as I suspect, they have leisurely mornings, we’ll meet them in the parks, communicating via cell phones. Hopefully with the two of them we might have sitters for a night or two!!
We booked our Aeroplan points flight tickets on Air Canada last April; arriving in Tampa and were planning to stay with my parents as they have a winter place in St. Pete’s. However, about two months ago it became apparent that my folks would not be there, and visiting their place and seeing them was our only reason for the trip. Refunding our points or changing our flights would cost too much money, so after some deliberation; we decided to return to the World.
After eating at Artists Point last year I had pretty much decided that my dream resort would be the WL. DW had entertained the Alligator Bayou section of POR for their shaded quiet pools, but after some discussion we decided to splurge and go to the WL. We are looking forward to the easy access to the MK via boat or very short bus ride and by extension to the monorail resorts and EPCOT. It looks like there are lots of fun things to do at the resort as well.
We are going to have a rental car for the first time to get from Tampa to the Orlando area, which we got using more of our hard to use Aeroplan points. If I had to guess, the car will be parked most of the week, as we have always found Disney Transportation to be from adequate to very good. I might use it to get to resort dining in the EPCOT area on days when we are not in EPCOT.
We purchased the deluxe dining plan. DW and I love the sit down meals, and the boys have always been pretty good with that style of dining even when they were five. We loved the regular dining plan in 2007, liked it less last year when the appetizers were dropped. DW has always liked the signatures so we found that we ran out of table service meals and snacks but we would have a counter service credit or two left over. This year we have selected a lot of signature dinners. We have some breakfast ADR’s, but I can see us grabbing coffees and croissants if we are in a hurry, allowing us to do more CSM’s. We have four lunchtime ADR’s as well, mostly on days when we don’t have breakfast ADR’s. If I had to guess we will use up our meal credits, but have a few snack credits left over, although maybe not if I get addicted to the Dole Whips along with my pre existing school bread habit. Somewhat surprisingly, we have been able to get last minute ADR’s for my wife’s sisters, that mostly parallel ours. Where this is not the case, it will be noted.
A little bit about our touring style. On our previous trips when we were on property, we would be at the parks at either rope drop, or very close to it. Our time zone is 1 ½ hours ahead of Florida, i.e. an 8 am opening is 9:30 am to us, and thus getting there early is easy for us to do. We would always pick 4 or 5 headliners that we would hit quickly, and then visit the less busy attractions. Most days we opt for leaving the parks before 2 pm and head back to the resort for pool time. This was easy to do at POFQ and POR, it should be heavenly at the WL. We haven’t been huge nighttime fans as the time zone works against us here. Last years the kids did better in the evening, so I expect that evenings will be better for us. It is interesting that our own little strategy seems to match what underlies a lot of what the touringplans.com site uses in their plans. We have also never gone for the park hopper option, and after 2007, the water park option has not been selected. We find the resort pools satisfy our needs.
March 31st
We have a 1:00 pm departure from St. John’s, with a short but comfortable layover in Toronto, then a direct flight to Tampa, getting in just after dinner. We will pick up the rental car and drive to my Aunt’s for the night in St. Pete’s, as there is no way to get DW on the I-4 at night. The two SIL’s will arrive from Ontario into Orlando, I am not sure what they are planning other than an ADR at Artists Point.
April 1st Thursday
We will drive up from St. Pete’s hopefully fairly early after saying good bye to my aunt and uncle. Our plan now is to go straight through to the Wilderness Lodge to pick up our check in package, as we have already checked in!! Our plan is to go straight to EPCOT as we have lunch time ADR’s at Coral Reef. I’d like to get Test Track, Journey into Imagination, and Spaceship Earth done this day as these are the Future World attractions I have not done. Supper is Le Cellier at 8:05. My SIL’s have an ADR at the Biergarten. We are hoping to catch as much of Illuminations as we can.
April 2nd Friday
This year, the kids have chosen AK as the first day park, mainly due to the fact that in 2009 we didn’t make it to the AK. Also in 2007, and 2008 by the time we arrived in Dinoland the crowds were out of control. We are planning to grab snacks at Roaring Fork and hit the AK as soon as we can. This year we will tour Dinoland’s three main rides as the focus of our touring plan. Dinoland will be followed by the Kali River Rapids, Maharajah Jungle Trail, and probably the Festival of the Lion King, (DW loves the shows). We have a Lunch ADR at the Whispering Canyon Café. We will probably enjoy the resort for the afternoon, followed by Artists Point. We are hoping to get the Sil’s to mind the kids and then perhaps head over to the Poly to watch Wishes with a fruity drink or two.
April 3rd Saturday
This day starts with an early Supercalifragilistic Character Breakfast at the Grand Floridian. Hopefully we will be at the MK at 8:45 am or so. We found that the character breakfast were impossible to get for the SIL’s so they are going to the Wave a little later than we will eat. I am working on a touring plan for the three mountains, and then perhaps the Haunted mansion and pirates. We’ll play it by ear after that. A guilty pleasure of mine is that I rarely visit the MK without going to the Tiki room, so I’ll try to squeeze it in. DW and the boys think I am crazy on this issue. DW and I have discussed how, with the exception of Minnie’s Confectionary, we seem to rush through Main Street USA on our way in and out of the MK. We are planning to linger here a bit. Lunch is at the Grand Floridian Café and Dinner is at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. We should have the time to make it back for Wishes. Interestingly, this will be the fourth year in a row in the MK on the day before Easter. If anyone reading this will in the World on this date I recommend they get over to downtown Disney at 2:45 pm for the school band event. A local Celtic fiddler school band/ choir are playing. I have heard them and they are great. Go seem them if you like that kind of music, we’re going to try to get there.
April 4th Easter Sunday
We have a breakfast ADR at the Whispering Canyon Café at 7:30 am. We will more likely take advantage of any Easter Egg hunt or similar activities which hopefully will be going on at the WL. We did something similar at FOPQ in 2007 and it was a hoot. More than likely we will get the park not much before lunch which will be at Le Cellier. Sil’s are going to Tutto Italia. We’ll try to get any of the highlights we missed on April 1st. We will tour the World Showcase for the entire afternoon before having dinner at Les Chef du France. We are planning to see Illuminations for the second year in a row, we loved it last year. This will probably be the only full afternoon in the parks.
April 5th Monday
My current understanding is that SIL #2 is heading back to Ontario on this day fairly early, so she will be out of the picture. We have a Grand Floridian Café ADR for breakfast. This is now our Sea World Day. At Sea World we are planning to hit the shows ignoring the extreme coasters which I can certainly do without. When we get back to the property we will head over to EPCOT where we have ADR’s for the San Angel Inn, and then maybe a beer or two and Illuminations.
April 6th Tuesday
We have a Kona Café ADR at 8:00 am. After that we will take a Poly bus to the studios. The Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coaster are out for us, so we will try to get on Toy Story Mania ASAP. Whether that works or not, after that the only big thing we haven’t seen is Star Tours. The boys have discovered Star Wars this year, so they are looking forward to this. LCA has been done twice so we will skip that and surprisingly DW wants to pass on Beauty and the Beast this year. We might do the Indy stunt show. I am sure we will be done fairly early here, although the SIL hasn’t been here in a long time. We do have an ADR for the PTC lunch time. In past years we have always taken a day off from the parks, usually doing a Downtown Disney morning instead. This year, I think we might do this on this afternoon. Dinner ADR is at Flying Fish Café.
April 7th Wednesday
We have a character breakfast ADR at Ohanas this morning. This is an early morning EMH at the MK. Last year we were at the MK for 7:00 am early in the trip and had Tomorrowland to ourselves for the first hour. I’d like to do that again but the ADR will get in the way. A lot depends on how we did on April 3rd. If we have toured pretty well on the 3rd then I’ll be a little more easygoing on the 7th. If not I might be agitating to skip that ADR. Sil #1 heads back this day so we will be on our own from about 10 am or so. I think that if we get there early enough say at nine we could get the big three done fairly early in the day. We have an ADR at the Liberty Tree Tavern for Lunch. If we haven’t made it to Downtown Disney by then, we might spend the afternoon there, or maybe outlet shopping as the DW has mentioned it as well. Dinner ADR is at Narcoosees. I foresee going back for the parade and Wishes, which would be a late night for us.
April 8th Thursday
I have a breakfast ADR at the Whispering Canyon for that morning, which I think might be blown off. Our plans for this day have changed somewhat. My mother and father will be at their place by now. We are planning to head out sometime after check out. Our plan is to drive to St. Petes, and spend most of the day at the beach. I am sure DW is going to want to get going, but I can think of several things I might want to do. I am sure that we will have done the AK so that park will be covered. I am pretty sure that DHS will also be covered. None of our EPCOT arrivals will be early, so I can see a visit at rope drop for an hour or so, if we haven’t covered things on the first, fourth, and fifth. Similarly I can see the same thing happening at the MK. Less likely, I could also see a pool morning happening for an hour or so. If we haven’t made it down there a morning at The World of Disney, but I am pretty sure we will have done this by then. If I had to guess. I’d say we’ll have a 90 minute visit to the MK for Dole Whips and Splash Mountain, and the confectionary before we have an 11:00 am departure.
April 9th Friday
Depart for Toronto at 2:00 pm arriving in St. John’s around midnight.
