ndwiese
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2016
I am SO excited for this trip!
My best friend and I had talked for YEARS...hoping one day our families would get to go on vacation together. Last year we finally started seriously talking and decided it was time...we are planning our first vacation together..and at DISNEY WORLD!!!!
We are using a travel agent since we have 2 families going ( we thought that would be easiest) Plus, both of us have been to Disney World a few times each, but neither one of us have ever booked a vacation package w/ Disney. Let me tell you, our travel agent is AMAZING! It's so nice to still get to have the fun of planning things, but then letting someone else book everything! She is committed to giving us the best deal!
Back to the trip...
Like I said, we have 2 families going. My family is me, my husband, my son (8 years old) and daughter (6 years old) My friend's family includes her, her husband, and their 2 year old daughter.
Our trip is booked for the 3rd week of September. We will be taking our kids out of school for the week...they have no idea we are going. Trying to keep it a surprise for them. They have been saving change in a "Disney jar" for over 2 years..we plan on giving them all that money to use on souvenirs.
We will be driving...It takes 14 hours from where we live to drive to Orlando.We are planning on leaving after the kids get out of school on Friday, driving 7 hours, then stopping at a hotel for the night, then getting up early to finish the drive. Hope to arrive at about 3/4pm.
We will be staying at Pop Century. This is our first Disney hotel!! My friend has stayed at an All-star resort (She was in her high school show choir back in the day and competed at Disney)
But this will be a new experience for us!! Any tips for PoP will be great!! We are getting preferred rooms since we didn't know what to expect and with having younger kids, possibly having a closer walk to the lobby/bus stops might be nice.
Our trip will be for 6 nights, 7 days. We have the dining plan, at first we were hoping for the free dining promotion to come out during our trip, but now reading more about it, not sure if we will go for the free dining or the room discount. We weren't planning on purchasing park hoppers since it's the kids first trip, and we didn't think it would be as easy (nor get our money's worth) to park hop with an 8, 6, and 2 year old. But we told our travel agent that we will decide what's best if and when it is announced.
My husband and I went to Disney world for a week in October of 2015 for our anniversary. (we had a timeshare nearby) but we decided to splurge and buy tickets for MNSSHP...We LOVED it!!! So we are
going to go again with the kids this time...we already have our costumes picked out. LOL!
We are less than a month from making our ADR. I already have our list together and we are excited to try some different places than when my hubby and I were there last time.
Last time hubs and I ate at Tusker House for "brunch" I am not good at trying new foods, but my hubby went to culinary school and is a certified chef so he has more adventurous taste than me. So going in between the breakfast and lunch time, we were able to have a little bit of an American style breakfast and some african style foods! Worked well for the both of us.
We also went to Via Napoli...we LOVED this place.. I would love to go again, but can't justify going there and using the dining plan on it.. We thought about paying out of pocket for a pizza, but we will there during Food & Wine (my hubby is very excited for this again) so those extra food booths, plus a breakfast reservation, we are leaving it out this time.
Be Our Guest. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite movie..so this was a must! We weren't thrilled with the food, but the atmosphere was amazing! So was the dessert!
We also ate at Crystal Palace, then Beaches and Cream. Both good choices, and we really enjoyed them both!
This time, we are going to make our reservations for:
Yak & Yeti- lunch time.
Akershus- Early Breakfast. The girls will be SO excited to see the princesses! What am I saying...I'M excited to see the princesses!
O'hana- dinner..before heading in for MNSSHP
1900 Park Fare- Dinner- Love the Tremaine family, and I'll admit we are going here more for them than seeing Cinderella and Prince charming!
Be Our Guest- we are getting a lunch reservation for this place. We aren't too thrilled with the menu choices here, and are really just going for dessert and to see the inside
Hollywood & Vine- Early Breakfat w/ Disney Jr characters. My friend's 2 year old will be so excited to meet Doc McStuffins!
Chef Mickey's- Brunch.
I am loving the changes they made to the dining plan this year in the way of adding a 2nd snack and taking away the dessert off the quick service. We have an idea of where we will eat for quick services, and what snacks are favorites or new ones to try, but we would love suggestions and advice!!
I'll update more later! So excited to continue planning!
My best friend and I had talked for YEARS...hoping one day our families would get to go on vacation together. Last year we finally started seriously talking and decided it was time...we are planning our first vacation together..and at DISNEY WORLD!!!!
We are using a travel agent since we have 2 families going ( we thought that would be easiest) Plus, both of us have been to Disney World a few times each, but neither one of us have ever booked a vacation package w/ Disney. Let me tell you, our travel agent is AMAZING! It's so nice to still get to have the fun of planning things, but then letting someone else book everything! She is committed to giving us the best deal!
Back to the trip...
Like I said, we have 2 families going. My family is me, my husband, my son (8 years old) and daughter (6 years old) My friend's family includes her, her husband, and their 2 year old daughter.
Our trip is booked for the 3rd week of September. We will be taking our kids out of school for the week...they have no idea we are going. Trying to keep it a surprise for them. They have been saving change in a "Disney jar" for over 2 years..we plan on giving them all that money to use on souvenirs.
We will be driving...It takes 14 hours from where we live to drive to Orlando.We are planning on leaving after the kids get out of school on Friday, driving 7 hours, then stopping at a hotel for the night, then getting up early to finish the drive. Hope to arrive at about 3/4pm.
We will be staying at Pop Century. This is our first Disney hotel!! My friend has stayed at an All-star resort (She was in her high school show choir back in the day and competed at Disney)
But this will be a new experience for us!! Any tips for PoP will be great!! We are getting preferred rooms since we didn't know what to expect and with having younger kids, possibly having a closer walk to the lobby/bus stops might be nice.
Our trip will be for 6 nights, 7 days. We have the dining plan, at first we were hoping for the free dining promotion to come out during our trip, but now reading more about it, not sure if we will go for the free dining or the room discount. We weren't planning on purchasing park hoppers since it's the kids first trip, and we didn't think it would be as easy (nor get our money's worth) to park hop with an 8, 6, and 2 year old. But we told our travel agent that we will decide what's best if and when it is announced.
My husband and I went to Disney world for a week in October of 2015 for our anniversary. (we had a timeshare nearby) but we decided to splurge and buy tickets for MNSSHP...We LOVED it!!! So we are
going to go again with the kids this time...we already have our costumes picked out. LOL!
We are less than a month from making our ADR. I already have our list together and we are excited to try some different places than when my hubby and I were there last time.
Last time hubs and I ate at Tusker House for "brunch" I am not good at trying new foods, but my hubby went to culinary school and is a certified chef so he has more adventurous taste than me. So going in between the breakfast and lunch time, we were able to have a little bit of an American style breakfast and some african style foods! Worked well for the both of us.
We also went to Via Napoli...we LOVED this place.. I would love to go again, but can't justify going there and using the dining plan on it.. We thought about paying out of pocket for a pizza, but we will there during Food & Wine (my hubby is very excited for this again) so those extra food booths, plus a breakfast reservation, we are leaving it out this time.
Be Our Guest. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite movie..so this was a must! We weren't thrilled with the food, but the atmosphere was amazing! So was the dessert!
We also ate at Crystal Palace, then Beaches and Cream. Both good choices, and we really enjoyed them both!
This time, we are going to make our reservations for:
Yak & Yeti- lunch time.
Akershus- Early Breakfast. The girls will be SO excited to see the princesses! What am I saying...I'M excited to see the princesses!
O'hana- dinner..before heading in for MNSSHP
1900 Park Fare- Dinner- Love the Tremaine family, and I'll admit we are going here more for them than seeing Cinderella and Prince charming!
Be Our Guest- we are getting a lunch reservation for this place. We aren't too thrilled with the menu choices here, and are really just going for dessert and to see the inside
Hollywood & Vine- Early Breakfat w/ Disney Jr characters. My friend's 2 year old will be so excited to meet Doc McStuffins!
Chef Mickey's- Brunch.
I am loving the changes they made to the dining plan this year in the way of adding a 2nd snack and taking away the dessert off the quick service. We have an idea of where we will eat for quick services, and what snacks are favorites or new ones to try, but we would love suggestions and advice!!
I'll update more later! So excited to continue planning!
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