Our First Trip as a Family of Four - A July 2017 PTR - Updated 6/26

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Our First Trip as a Family of Four - A July 2017 PTR

Well, here we go again! Another Pre-Trip report for us and our family’s 5th trip to Walt Disney World this summer, but it is our first trip as a family of four! We’ve obviously had some major changes since our last trip including the adoption of our newest son, Brooks. The adoption and everything that goes with it is the main reason we have now waited two years between trips, but it is time to introduce the little guy to the place we all love so much. So...here we go! Please comment as I go as that makes it so much more fun! Finally, here is a link to the previous trip reports for our other three trips.

Link to Previous Trip Reports

Introductions

I will start by introducing myself, I’m Jon.

I am a high school teacher and coach and love the job I get to do every day. I’ve been teaching and coaching at the same school for ten years and in the last month have been named the Head Football Coach at our school as our previous coach, who was my best friend, took another job. Anyway, I honestly think I have the best job in the world. Being able to make a positive impact on kids every day is something I love doing. It certainly has its challenges, but overall I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

Favorite Character: Goofy
Favorite Ride: Expedition Everest
Favorite Show: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Restaurant: ‘Ohana

Now for my best friend and wife, April.

April loves our family vacations as well as almost any time we get to spend together. We have developed a love for Disney and vacationing together and it is something she cherishes. She is a school psychologist by day and an incredible mother and wife by night. She works in the same school district I do and she gets to come over to my classroom for lunch every day, which really is nice. She loves her job working with kids as well and she is awesome at it.

Favorite Character: Ariel
Favorite Ride: Rock 'n Roller Coaster
Favorite Show: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Movie: Little Mermaid
Favorite Restaurant: Whispering Canyon Cafe

Next up is Braxton, who just turned five about a month ago.

We can’t believe he is already five. It seems like just yesterday that he was born and came into our family, but I’m sure all of you with kids think it goes fast too! He loves to run, play, hit things, throw balls, and many other things most little boys love to do. He has a great personality and is a good kid most of the time. In addition to all of these things DS loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and all of the super heros. Anyway, he is an awesome kid and is now a great big brother.

Finally, we have the newest member of our family, Brooks.

He will be 18 months old during our trip which is a little older than Braxton was on his first trip. Brooks is an incredibly sweet little boy who LOVES his mommy! Braxton was always kind of a daddy’s boy, but Brooks has certainly taken the other side. He just loves to sit and play with his mom. He loves playing with any type of ball and he also loves to sit and watch basketball on TV, go figure! He’s not much into watching cartoons on TV yet which is a good thing I think, but he does love his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. I just grabs it and hugs it sometimes and won’t let it go.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of us on our most recent family pictures, around the time Brooks turned one.

Up Next: The Master Itinerary​

 

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Table of Contents

Master Itinerary
Day 1 Plans
Day 2 Plans
Day 3 Plans
Day 4 Plans
Day 5 Plans
Day 6 Plans
Day 7 Plans
Day 8 Plans
Day 9 Plans
Day 10 Plans
Day 11 Plans
Day 12 Plans
Day 13 Plans
Shopping and Packing Update
Day 14 Plans
San Antonio Mini-Trip Report Part 1
San Antonio Mini-Trip Report Part 2

 

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Past Trips and Trip Reports

Current Trip Report
July 2017 - Our First Trip As a Family of Four!

Past Trip Reports
June/July 2014 - Escape from Real Life to Paradise: A New Trip with New Memories
June 2013 - Escape from Tornado Alley to Food, Tropical Storms, Mickey and More Food
June 2011 Trip Report - "Can Two Thrill Ride Junkies Love Disneyworld?"

Past Pre-Trip Reports
June 2015 PTR - We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes!
July 2017 - Our First Trip As a Family of Four!

Past Trips
July 2008 - Offsite
June 2011 - Caribbean Beach Resort
June 2013 - Pop Century/Universal Royal Pacific/Boardwalk Villas
June/July 2014 - Disney Dream Cruise/Wilderness Lodge
June 2015 - Pop Century/Coronado Springs Resort
July 2017 - Pop Century/Port Orleans French Quarter

Upcoming Trips
December 2017 - All Star Sports
June 2018 - Undecided

 

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Master Itinerary

Now that the introductions are out of the way let’s dive right into the itinerary. This PTR is meant to serve three purposes: 1) To organize my thoughts on all of the different components of the trip, 2) To get suggestions from all of you on the different things we plan on doing, and 3) To build some excitement for the trip! I hope you all enjoy reading and please comment with any suggestions along the way.

If you’ve read any of my other Trip Reports you’ll see we like long trips. I think we stayed for 12 nights last summer and are staying for 13 this summer. Since DW and I are both teachers we have the luxury of summer break and we prioritize spending vacation time with our family during the summer. Now, we also have to do split stays for our trips because I do use my annual Travel Agent discount for one week, but that is the longest you can stay on the discounted rate. We then usually just stay at a value resort for the other days as that usually fits in our budget. We are teachers in the state that is 49th out of the 50 states in teacher pay, but that’s another topic and I won’t go there!

Anyways, for the first several days of our trip we are going to stay at our typical value resort:

Pop is the place we have stayed several times now and we really enjoy it. Of course it has some of the negatives of being a value resort, but we still feel it is a better option than the All Stars, and Art of Animation is usually not included in discounts. We also really enjoy the Pop food court area and have always found the bus transportation to be good from there.

After our stay at Pop Century we are going to stay one week here:

This will be our first stay at either of the Port Orleans resorts and are really looking forward to it. French Quarter is usually not included in discount offers since it is so small, but I was able to get the Travel Agent rate here. We are really excited about the small resort size with only one bus stop. That is one of the only things we really don’t like about moderate resorts is that most of them have several bus stops and it makes the journey take longer. We are also of course looking forward to the food court here and the beignets.

Finally, we are also very much looking forward to the boat ride to Disney Springs. It will just be nice to get to Disney Springs easier than the buses as those buses always seem to take longer than the theme park buses.

So, with all of that in mind, here is the master itinerary:

Day 1 - Sunday
Fly to Orlando
Check into Pop Century

Day 2-6 - Monday to Friday
Staying at Pop Century

Day 7 - Saturday
Resort Change from Pop Century to Port Orleans-French Quarter

Day 8-13 - Monday to Friday
Staying at Port Orleans-French Quarter

Day 14 - Saturday
Fly Home

I will get a little bit more in-depth and go through each specific day as we go along in this PTR, but that kind of lays the groundwork for the trip. Hope everyone has a great week!

Up Next: Day 1 Plans​

 

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Day 1 Plans

Let’s do some planning! On the first day of our trip we are flying down to Florida on Southwest Rapid Rewards Points. As I was researching flights I saw the Southwest is now operating a nonstop flight from Oklahoma City to Orlando! YESSSS!!! It only happens on Sunday’s so we won’t be able to be nonstop on the way home, but we’ll take what we can get. It is sometimes difficult to fly out of OKC since we are a small market, but this is exciting for us with two young children. Not having to change planes is going to be huge!

We leave OKC at just before 8 AM, which isn’t two insanely early and if you read my last trip report we departed around 5 AM...that was tough! We will arrive in Orlando just before noon. DS5 has always been great on planes, but it will be the first time we’ve been on a plane with DS1, so we’ll see how he does.

Once we land in Orlando we are actually going to take advantage of a perk of one of our credit cards. We have a card that gives us free access into airport lounges and there is a lounge near the Southwest gates that we are going to stop and try for 30 minutes or so. We don’t know what it will entail, but hopefully we can get a few snacks and maybe even enough for lunch since we will have been on a flight all morning.

I know, I know, many of you are saying why are you delaying getting to Disney, but I figure we can’t officially check in until 3:00 anyway, so we can spend 30 minutes here getting a free lunch and coffee.

We plan to visit until 12:30 or so and then head down to Magical Express. I think we can still be to our resort by 2:00 or so depending on Magical Express transport time. I don’t usually like to check in very early anyway as I’ve found if you wait until a little later you have a better chance of getting your room request.

After getting settled into our room I did something I’ve never done before, make a dining reservation on our arrival day. I know there are some dangers here, but it fits well into our schedule to do it here and I’ll tell you why. Our reservation is at 5 PM here:

Yes, Cape May Cafe! We love this meal and think it will be a great way to start off our trip. The reason it was hard to fit into the schedule was that we like to go on the nights they have fried shrimp along with the crab. Last time I completely forgot about it and we went on the night of Calamari instead. It wasn’t bad, but calamari on a buffet is just kind of weird and we like the fried shrimp better. So, we had to make sure we were going on a Sunday or Wednesday. Either way we love the crab legs!

After dinner we are faced with the challenge of getting back to Pop Century which involved going to either Hollywood Studios or through Epcot to get to transportation. Well, we are going to take advantage of the location and head through Epcot. Our main goal will be to convert our park tickets to annual passes. I bought 10 day tickets before the last price increase and need to convert them to annual passes so we can use again next summer on our trip. I’m hoping the guest relations location at the International Gateway will be easy to get this done, but we can go to the main guest relations location if we need to. We may also pick up a FP once we get our passes converted if anything good is available, but we don’t plan on spending much time here. We’d like to be back at our resort by 8:00 so we can get the kids down for a good night's sleep.

Up Next: Day 2 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 1 Plans

Let’s do some planning! On the first day of our trip we are flying down to Florida on Southwest Rapid Rewards Points. As I was researching flights I saw the Southwest is now operating a nonstop flight from Oklahoma City to Orlando! YESSSS!!! It only happens on Sunday’s so we won’t be able to be nonstop on the way home, but we’ll take what we can get. It is sometimes difficult to fly out of OKC since we are a small market, but this is exciting for us with two young children. Not having to change planes is going to be huge!

We leave OKC at just before 8 AM, which isn’t two insanely early and if you read my last trip report we departed around 5 AM...that was tough! We will arrive in Orlando just before noon. DS5 has always been great on planes, but it will be the first time we’ve been on a plane with DS1, so we’ll see how he does.

Once we land in Orlando we are actually going to take advantage of a perk of one of our credit cards. We have a card that gives us free access into airport lounges and there is a lounge near the Southwest gates that we are going to stop and try for 30 minutes or so. We don’t know what it will entail, but hopefully we can get a few snacks and maybe even enough for lunch since we will have been on a flight all morning.

I know, I know, many of you are saying why are you delaying getting to Disney, but I figure we can’t officially check in until 3:00 anyway, so we can spend 30 minutes here getting a free lunch and coffee.

We plan to visit until 12:30 or so and then head down to Magical Express. I think we can still be to our resort by 2:00 or so depending on Magical Express transport time. I don’t usually like to check in very early anyway as I’ve found if you wait until a little later you have a better chance of getting your room request.

After getting settled into our room I did something I’ve never done before, make a dining reservation on our arrival day. I know there are some dangers here, but it fits well into our schedule to do it here and I’ll tell you why. Our reservation is at 5 PM here:

Yes, Cape May Cafe! We love this meal and think it will be a great way to start off our trip. The reason it was hard to fit into the schedule was that we like to go on the nights they have fried shrimp along with the crab. Last time I completely forgot about it and we went on the night of Calamari instead. It wasn’t bad, but calamari on a buffet is just kind of weird and we like the fried shrimp better. So, we had to make sure we were going on a Sunday or Wednesday. Either way we love the crab legs!

After dinner we are faced with the challenge of getting back to Pop Century which involved going to either Hollywood Studios or through Epcot to get to transportation. Well, we are going to take advantage of the location and head through Epcot. Our main goal will be to convert our park tickets to annual passes. I bought 10 day tickets before the last price increase and need to convert them to annual passes so we can use again next summer on our trip. I’m hoping the guest relations location at the International Gateway will be easy to get this done, but we can go to the main guest relations location if we need to. We may also pick up a FP once we get our passes converted if anything good is available, but we don’t plan on spending much time here. We’d like to be back at our resort by 8:00 so we can get the kids down for a good night's sleep.

Up Next: Day 2 Plans​

 

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Day 2 Plans

I hope everyone is having a great week thus far! We are nearing the end of school hear, just 6 days left for me, but DW is rubbing it in because she is out in 4 days in her district! As anyone in education knows the end of the school year is crazy so we have been extremely busy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

So, onto day 2 of our trip! For our first full day we are going to take it fairly easy, at least for us. We are going to a park at rope drop and for the morning, but don’t have any park plans the rest of the day.

We plan on getting up and heading for Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom at 9 AM. Our plan for this day includes taking in this family favorite ride:

Before using FP’s at places like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and the Speedway. DS finally rode Splash at the end of our last trip and loved it! I know the picture below doesn’t look like he loved it, but he did!

It was hard not getting a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP for this day, but we are spending this entire day in Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland and avoiding Fantasyland. We are just trying to avoid backtracking through the park much on this trip. We just want to avoid walking back and forth with two kids now and one of them being pretty young. So, we’ll spend a whole morning in Fantasyland later in the trip.

Since this is our only park for the day we plan on staying in the park until 1:00 or so. We will most likely have lunch at Cosmic Rays since we are spending the last bit of the morning in Tomorrowland with our FP’s. We really haven’t loved it in the past, but again we are trying to avoid backtracking much and we are for sure going to hit the favorite lunch spot of Columbia Harbour House on another day.

After we leave the park at around 1:00 we’ll head back to Pop and probably do some swimming.

We’ll of course take afternoon naps and rest some until dinner time. We have a 6:50 dinner reservation at ‘Ohana, so we’ll have to be at the bus stop by 5:30 or so as we have to transfer to the Poly. We love our dinners at ‘Ohana, some of our most favorite times, like this picture when my mom joined us in 2013.

We did this dinner a little late on purpose. Today is July 3 and so we would like to watch the 4th of July fireworks this night as we are not going to be anywhere near the Magic Kingdom on the 4th! We are not really sure where to watch from. I know the Poly beach is great, but do they restrict it to just guests of the resort now? I think the fireworks will start at 9 PM, although it’s not showing on the Disney site right now. If so we may head over and just watch from outside the MK gates so we can be quick to the busses when the show is finished. Anyways we want this day to be fairly easy as we have an 8 AM rope drop tomorrow.

Up Next: Day 3 Plans​

 

[ArielSRL]

I am a high school teacher and coach and love the job I get to do every day.

Elementary teacher here...which you probably already know from my PTR.

I’ve been teaching and coaching at the same school for ten years and in the last month have been named the Head Football Coach at our school as our previous coach, who was my best friend, took another job.

Congrats! What an honor!

She works in the same school district I do and she gets to come over to my classroom for lunch every day, which really is nice.

That's wonderful!

Next up is Braxton, who just turned five about a month ago.

Such a cutie!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of us on our most recent family pictures, around the time Brooks turned one.

Love them!!

 

[ArielSRL]

We are teachers in the state that is 49th out of the 50 states in teacher pay, but that’s another topic and I won’t go there!

Interesting. I don't even know where GA falls on the list.

This will be our first stay at either of the Port Orleans resorts and are really looking forward to it.

Love the PO resorts!

French Quarter is usually not included in discount offers since it is so small, but I was able to get the Travel Agent rate here.

I have stayed at POR several times but have never had the chance for POFQ. It is totally on my list but currently we have been staying at the DVC villas (paying cash or renting points).

We are also of course looking forward to the food court here and the beignets.

Yummy! I have gotten a few orders of these from POFQ. My DH is from Louisiana, as well as another friend, so I have actually had them from New Orleans but POFQ ones are just as good. We also make them at home sometimes.

Finally, we are also very much looking forward to the boat ride to Disney Springs.

That is a very nice perk!

 

[ArielSRL]

I know, I know, many of you are saying why are you delaying getting to Disney, but I figure we can’t officially check in until 3:00 anyway, so we can spend 30 minutes here getting a free lunch and coffee.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

Yes, Cape May Cafe! We love this meal and think it will be a great way to start off our trip. The reason it was hard to fit into the schedule was that we like to go on the nights they have fried shrimp along with the crab. Last time I completely forgot about it and we went on the night of Calamari instead. It wasn’t bad, but calamari on a buffet is just kind of weird and we like the fried shrimp better. So, we had to make sure we were going on a Sunday or Wednesday. Either way we love the crab legs!

I love Cap May breakfast but really want to try dinner. That's a good thing to note about the shrimp. I'm hoping to rent points and stay at BCV or BWV next trip (2019) so we will be close, I hope!

I bought 10 day tickets before the last price increase and need to convert them to annual passes so we can use again next summer on our trip.

I am planning to do this for our 2019 and 2020 trips. I'll try to get some discounted tickets and then upgrade. I'll have to make our 2019 trip a week later than usual though.

 

[ArielSRL]

We are nearing the end of school hear, just 6 days left for me, but DW is rubbing it in because she is out in 4 days in her district! As anyone in education knows the end of the school year is crazy so we have been extremely busy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As of today, I have 2 more with students (including today) and then 2 post planning days, so Friday is it for me. Then we have a week until we leave for Disney and for me to tie up all our loose ends. But yes, it is crazy busy right now at work and then I am exhausted once I get home. I'm way behind on the DIS so feel honored I am reading this report...hahahaha. J/K.

We plan on getting up and heading for Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom at 9 AM.

This is our first park of choice and our plan as well.

Our plan for this day includes taking in this family favorite ride:

I wish my 5 year old was a little more adventurous. Maybe in a few years!

We will most likely have lunch at Cosmic Rays since we are spending the last bit of the morning in Tomorrowland with our FP’s. We really haven’t loved it in the past, but again we are trying to avoid backtracking much and we are for sure going to hit the favorite lunch spot of Columbia Harbour House on another day.

Agree about Cosmic Rays. We went last year and it was okay but I think they changed the menu and its not as appealing to me. We are doing CHH and Pecos Bill for our MK QS this trip.

After we leave the park at around 1:00 we’ll head back to Pop and probably do some swimming.

We’ll of course take afternoon naps and rest some until dinner time.

This is our plan as well but because we don't have but 7 days in the parks we will head back in about 5pm.

We have a 6:50 dinner reservation at ‘Ohana, so we’ll have to be at the bus stop by 5:30 or so as we have to transfer to the Poly. We love our dinners at ‘Ohana, some of our most favorite times, like this picture when my mom joined us in 2013.

Fun and yummy, I'm sure. We are doing breakfast there for the first time this trip!

We did this dinner a little late on purpose. Today is July 3 and so we would like to watch the 4th of July fireworks this night as we are not going to be anywhere near the Magic Kingdom on the 4th!

Ah, makes sense. Good plan!

I know the Poly beach is great, but do they restrict it to just guests of the resort now?

I don't think so...but I am not as up to date on that info as I would like to be.

 

[cstorm65]

As of today, I have 2 more with students (including today) and then 2 post planning days, so Friday is it for me. Then we have a week until we leave for Disney and for me to tie up all our loose ends. But yes, it is crazy busy right now at work and then I am exhausted once I get home. I'm way behind on the DIS so feel honored I am reading this report...hahahaha. J/K.

Tomorrow is our last day with students!! Then Friday is our check out day, so sounds like we are done at the same time. We still have to wait a full month before Disney though. Going later this summer so we can get annual passes and do an early summer trip next year on the same passes.

I wish my 5 year old was a little more adventurous. Maybe in a few years!

Hey, it happens at all ages. I didn't ride roller coasters with loops until our honeymoon, now I love them!

Agree about Cosmic Rays. We went last year and it was okay but I think they changed the menu and its not as appealing to me. We are doing CHH and Pecos Bill for our MK QS this trip.

Yeah, it's never been that great to us. Hopefully it's better, we really don't want to walk to the other side of the park just for a meal, but if its bad we may have to in the future.

This is our plan as well but because we don't have but 7 days in the parks we will head back in about 5pm.

We love our breaks! We wouldn't make it very many days (probably like one) if we didn't take a break!

Fun and yummy, I'm sure. We are doing breakfast there for the first time this trip!

I was listening about a breakfast here on a podcast yesterday and it sounds very yummy. Can't wait to hear how you like it.

Thanks for all the comments!!!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 3 Plans

I hope your week went well! We’ve been dodging severe storms here the last few days, but it’s finally beautiful outside today. Let’s get on with the planning.

Day 3 of our trip is actually the 4th of July. We are doing a later trip than normal this summer so we can get annual passes and then go back in June of next year and get another big trip out of the AP’s. The result of this though is being down over the 4th of July, which is of course a crazy time. Our goal was to watch the fireworks last night so we could stay as far away from the Magic Kingdom today as possible. With that in mind we are planning on going to Animal Kingdom today. It always seems to be the best park on holidays, but I’m not sure if that will hold true or not now that Pandora is open. We shall see…

Animal Kingdom does open at 8 AM, so it will be an early morning, but hopefully that means we can stay ahead of the crowds. We plan on heading into the park and heading straight to Pandora to ride the two main rides there. First DW and DS5 will take in Flight of Passage while I get a child swap for later. Then we are hoping we can all get on Na’vi River Journey right after that without a huge wait. That way we have gotten rides in on both of those without using any FP’s yet.

In general I am really looking forward to Pandora. I’ve heard great things, but have been purposefully not looking at many pictures or videos as I want to experience it all new myself. We hope to be done with both Pandora attractions by 8:45 so we can head back and visit some favorites like Expedition Everest...

...and Kilimanjaro Safari.

We are planning on riding the Safari with our first FP of the day before heading over to spend some time in Dinoland. After spending some time there we have a FP for Everest later in the morning, followed by a FP for Flight of Passage around lunch time. So, this way we may get a couple rides in on the new Flight of Passage ride if everything goes according to plan.

We need to head out of the park by about noon as we have a lunch reservation at Sanaa, one of our most favorite restaurants. We ate here for the first time on our last trip and loved it...especially the bread service.

We had entirely too much food last time because of the bread service, so this time we plan on ordering the bread service, a few extra pieces of naan, and one meal for DW and I to share. We are also excited about eating lunch here as it should give us a better viewing time for the animals. Last time we had an early dinner, but it was still late enough it was hard to view the animals while eating as many of them were being put away for the night.

After lunch we have absolutely nothing else planned today! Like I said we want to take it easy on this holiday, not to mention we had been up early for the 8 AM rope drop. We want to take the rest of the day to relax, rest, and prepare for the rest of our trip. We might consider going and watching the fireworks from the TTC if we didn’t get to it the night before, but we’ll play that by ear. We really want to be in bed at a reasonable time as we have another rope drop in the morning.

Have a great week everyone!

Up Next: Day 4 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 4 Plans

Since we got to bed early last night we are up bright and early this morning to head to Rope Drop at our favorite place:

We plan on spending the first part of the morning riding all of our favorite attractions in Fantasyland, including a FP on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train...DS5’s favorite ride!

We are also going to have lunch at our favorite quick service place in Magic Kingdom, Columbia Harbour House, hopefully from a quiet little table on the second floor! After lunch we have FP’s at Big Thunder and Jungle Cruise before heading out of the park for an afternoon break.

We’ll spend the afternoon lounging around the resort and getting ready for a big evening of park touring at Epcot! The plan is to use this night to see as much of the World Showcase as we can, although we are going to try and get a 4th FP on our phone for something this evening. We’ll just wait and see what is available.

Our plan for dinner will be just to eat as we make our way around World Showcase. DW will of course want a stop in the bakery in France, to which I’m not even going to try and spell the name. We will definitely have one of our favorite treats...the Napoleon, which is in the back of the picture below.

I will also for sure be making at stop in my favorite quick service at Epcot, Tangerine Cafe. I absolutely love their food here and it is an every trip sort of restaurant!

We plan to stay in World Showcase and get a spot to watch IllumiNations this evening. We didn’t see it on our last trip and want to get a good viewing in this time. We plan to stay towards the back of the World Showcase and take our time getting out after the show. We do have a sleep in morning tomorrow so getting out and to bed isn’t such a huge deal on this night.

Up Next: Day 5 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 5 Plans

After a late evening the night before we plan on sleeping in here in Day 5 of our trip before heading to our park for the day. Our plan at this point is to hang around the resort until around 11:00 or so before heading to Hollywood Studios. We will definitely look around at some of the fun characters at the resort!

At Hollywood Studios we plan on heading straight into the park and using a FP at a show we have never seen before, the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. I think DS5 will love the show, so hopefully that goes well. We also have a lunch ADR at a place we went to for the first time on our last trip:

We really enjoyed Sci Fi Diner. DW loved the chicken wings she got for her meal and she is super excited about going back. I think I’d just be happy sitting in the great atmosphere drinking a milkshake!

After lunch we have our next FP set up at Toy Story Midway Mania after which we will try and visit the Star Wars Launch Bay. DS5 seems to be into Star Wars as much as a 5 year old can be. I think he’ll enjoy meeting both of the characters in here, so hopefully it isn’t too crowded.

We also plan to finish our time in the park by using FP’s at Star Tours. DW and I both think DS5 is close to being able to ride it, so hopefully that goes well...we shall see!

We plan to spend the rest of the evening just relaxing at the resort, probably having dinner at the Pop Food Court or the Art of Animation Food Court before getting to bed early. Although we will probably go for a quick swim as that is all DS5 is asking to do right now!

The main goal of today is to get some rest and relaxation which includes sleeping in and going to bed early! Thanks for reading everyone! Have a great end of the week!

Up Next: Day 6 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 6 Plays

I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend and a special thanks to all of the previous and current members of our armed forces!

We are on to our plans for Day 6 of this summer trip. If you remember we only did an afternoon park yesterday and were back at the resort by dinner time and got to bed early. The reason why, well today is morning EMH at Magic Kingdom. We aren’t usually EMH people, but we did a Magic Kingdom one on our last trip and we got a lot done by being able to get in the park at 8 AM. We hope this time is no different. We plan to be at the bus stop by 7:15 so we can arrive in time for the 8 AM EMH opening.

Yes, I know that picture isn’t currently opening procedure and I’m a little sad about that. I love the memory of DS watching the train come in at park opening.

We are planning on heading to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland this morning and knocking out a bunch of stuff early on. A ride that will be a first for us the the Astrorbiter. DW and I have never had the desire to ride it, but I think DS will like it. He’s really into planes and flying so we are going to hope he will like it.

We plan on using our first FP of the day at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train later in the morning and the is actually the only FP we have planned in the morning. We are saving the other two FP’s for the evening. After some good rides we have a breakfast ADR here:

Where we can enjoy one of our favorite breakfasts on property and meet some friends in the process. We loved a late breakfast here on our last trip and are hoping it goes just as well this time. Sorry, I’m going to throw in a cute kid picture of DS5 making a sad face with Eyore:

We plan on being out of this park by noon at the latest and headed back for a nice little break and lunch. We’ll probably just eat lunch at the food court since we had a late breakfast we probably won’t be all that hungry. We will also do some swimming at some point in the afternoon I’m sure, and of course take a nap!

Sorry if that picture of me swimming blinded you!

We plan on heading back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening at around 5:00. The highlights for this evening will be FP’s on Peter Pan’s Flight and Space Mountain with some other things thrown in there just for fun. We plan on having dinner at a family favorite, Columbia Harbour House. This is just a good old fashioned tour, break, tour day at the Magic Kingdom, just how we like it!

Up Next: Day 7 Plans​

 

[chunkymonkey]

What a beautiful family you have! Love the pictures! And your plans look great. Wow 13 days at WDW - amazing!
Will catch up more soon but just wanted to let you know that I'm following along. Good luck with crowds at Pandora!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello! I am following along with your trip report! Your boys are both adorable!

You guys are so lucky that you can spend 2 weeks at Diesny, you can really spread out all the things you want to do!

The reason why, well today is morning EMH at Magic Kingdom. We aren’t usually EMH people, but we did a Magic Kingdom one on our last trip and we got a lot done by being able to get in the park at 8 AM. We hope this time is no different.

EMH in the morning really are fantastic. For the most part you can really get a lot done. I reconmend hitting the Peter Pan que during EMH, it's a great que but no one wants to stand in those long lines!

Sorry, I’m going to throw in a cute kid picture of DS5 making a sad face with Eyore:

So cute!

This is just a good old fashioned tour, break, tour day at the Magic Kingdom, just how we like it!

With young kids, it is THE BEST way to plan. It really is!

Can't wait to hear what you have planned for the rest of the trip!

 

[ariane37]

Ok here I am! I know I said this when I responded to your comment on my PTR, but your boys are adorable
Count me as another one jealous of 2 weeks in WDW! We did do 10 days once when the boys were younger and it was sheer heaven, but between school and - worse - older DS's sports I don't think that long a trip is in the cards for us for awhile.

About Astro Orbiter: I can ride Space, EE, RnRC, TOT is my favorite. Astro makes me flip out The height, I think, but the views from up there are gorgeous.

I would also love to be there on July 4th at some point! Keep the plans coming, they all look great so far!

 

[cstorm65]

What a beautiful family you have! Love the pictures! And your plans look great. Wow 13 days at WDW - amazing!

Thanks for reading along...it is great to have a professional trip reporter comment over here!

We definitely love our long trips! The perks of both of us being teachers!

Will catch up more soon but just wanted to let you know that I'm following along. Good luck with crowds at Pandora!

Thanks...we're going to need them. We certainly plan on being there in advance of the 8 AM opening.

Hello! I am following along with your trip report! Your boys are both adorable!

Thanks for joining in...they are pretty cute!

You guys are so lucky that you can spend 2 weeks at Diesny, you can really spread out all the things you want to do!

That is our plan. We are lucky we are both teachers and that I can use the TA room rate to make the one week of lodging quite a bit cheaper than normal. We definitely have the goal of spreading stuff out so we don't get too worn out.

EMH in the morning really are fantastic. For the most part you can really get a lot done. I reconmend hitting the Peter Pan que during EMH, it's a great que but no one wants to stand in those long lines!

I have been wanting to see that queue area. I think we only used FP last trip, so that's a great idea. Thanks!!

With young kids, it is THE BEST way to plan. It really is!

Totally agreed!

Can't wait to hear what you have planned for the rest of the trip!

Another update coming shortly!

Ok here I am! I know I said this when I responded to your comment on my PTR, but your boys are adorable

Thanks for coming over and commenting! I'm enjoying reading your PTR as well!

Count me as another one jealous of 2 weeks in WDW! We did do 10 days once when the boys were younger and it was sheer heaven, but between school and - worse - older DS's sports I don't think that long a trip is in the cards for us for awhile.

I hear that. As teachers/coaches we know how the schedule can get. So we are planning these long trips while we can because we won't always be able to do it!

About Astro Orbiter: I can ride Space, EE, RnRC, TOT is my favorite. Astro makes me flip out The height, I think, but the views from up there are gorgeous.

I usually don't have problems with that kind of stuff, but DW has always said she won't do it and that is mainly why we never have. But I think DS5 probably will want to so we may try. Hopefully it goes well!

I would also love to be there on July 4th at some point! Keep the plans coming, they all look great so far!

I know, we want to see the fireworks, but want no part of actually being in the Magic Kingdom. That may be weird, but it is what it is!

Thanks for commenting everyone!