YES! We are going again! Spring Break 2016 PTR! Complete: TR Link

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[deedee2177]

If you want to do Rainforest or T-Rex, just get the Landry card. It costs $25 but you get a $25 credit when you use it. It also gets you basically front of the line privileges at Rainforest, T-Rex and Yak and Yeti. We waited under 1 minutes when we went to T-Rex our first time with 5 people when we had the card (the regular wait was around 45 minutes) and we waited 15 minutes with 16 people the second time we went (regular wait time was 90ish minutes). You just show it at the podium and they get you in as soon as they possibly can.

I just read something about this Landry Card the other day. Thanks for sharing your experience with it. I ended up being able to get a lunch ADR at the Rainforest Cafe at AK the following day which works better for us (sneak peek to my next PTR update).

 

[deedee2177]

YAHOO!

The hotel looks FANTASTIC!!! YUM breakfast too!!! Great Job Billie! (as always)

I'm very happy Billie worked me up with this! I think this is going to be a perfect overnight stay for us!

Don't forget to ask for the parking pass once you get to the resort. I forgot to grab mine when we were there.

Thanks for the reminder. Keith and I will have our AP's so no need for the parking pass from the hotel. Also, during our last visit we never got a parking pass, we just told the parking attendant we were staying onsite...some just let us through, others scanned out badges. I think we will be utilizing the buses more this trip, I think I finally converted Keith on our last trip to use the them more.

You guys are going to have a blast! Can't wait to hear how he loves all the rides!

He has always loved rides and has never showed any fear, I'm curious to see how he does now that he is a bit older and will be riding the "big kid" rides.

 

[deedee2177]

Aahhhh, first day of magic! Sounds great! I'm hoping that the weather will be great and that the crowds will be courteous and happy! And that the magical 40 inches comes true!

Thanks so much!! I'm already stalking the AccuWeather App since it now shows our days in the Extended Weather Forecast. It drives Keith crazy because she keeps telling me it will change 100x...I know this but it's still fun to look.

I am a bit worried about the crowds. We went over Spring Break in April 2014, but we managed. My biggest concern is Joey...he tends to get a bit apprehensive while waiting in a crowded line, to the point where I'm nervous he is going to hurt himself with a tantrum. We used the DAS Card last visit with him, we never actually used the card to come back to the ride because they also gave us a sticker to put on his stroller that allowed him to stay in the stroller through the line. This worked out great for him...no huge melt down. Having him in his own space within the stroller really helped to keep him calm. I think we might do this again. The dirty looks get on my nerves, but I'm not trying to work the system. We are still waiting in line like everyone else, except he is sitting in his stroller. Oh well...people will always judge!

We will measure him again closer to the trip.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[missjackiemcg]

Love the shirts you found for your trip!!

Sounds like you've got a perfect plan for heading down to FL and yay for the first day of Magic!!! It's snowing very grossly here in Chicago right now--you're making me wish I had a smaller countdown!!! We are 301 days away still :-/

 

[deedee2177]

*heads over to bookmark site*

This is what they are showing for the forecast today for our dates....please, please, please stay this way!!

Love the shirts you found for your trip!!

Thanks! I love them too! It's been tough not to wear them, but I want to save them for the trip! I'm such a klutz and I know if I wear them before the trip there is a strong possibility that they will get messed up.

Sounds like you've got a perfect plan for heading down to FL and yay for the first day of Magic!!!

I'm hoping the traveling down to FL will go smoothly with the kiddos. I feel like what will help us is that we won't be in a rush to get down there and make it to Disney. So, if need be we can stop and let the kids have a break for a bit.

It's snowing very grossly here in Chicago right now--you're making me wish I had a smaller countdown!!! We are 301 days away still :-/

Ugh! The Company I work for has their headquarters in Chicago, so I have heard about the yucky weather you are all are dealing with. Stay safe and warm!

 

[deedee2177]

March 29, 2016: Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios​

This will be our first full day at Disney with all 6 of us! Here are the plans for the day:

8:00am: We all take the bus to Animal Kingdom for 9am opening.


Thank you "Buildabettermousetrip" for the very appropriate picture. Located on google images

My Sister has never been to this park so she is super excited about it. I didn’t make any FP selections for this park. Our first stop will be the Safari. I can’t wait to see my Sister’s reaction to this ride. After our Safari adventure we will check out the Pangani Trail and the Maharajah Trail…I’m determined to do this on this trip!! We always skip it for some reason. I know Keith, my Sister and Emma want to ride Everest so I might send them to go do that while Mom and I take Joey to see the animals.

From there we will head over to Dinoland. Joey is not tall enough for Primeval Whirl so Mom will probably take him on TriceraTop Spin while the rest of us go on Primeval Whirl. I’m sure the next stop will be Dinosaur. I will kindly volunteer to stay with Joey while the others ride this one. I’m a big chicken and I keep my eyes closed the entire time…LOL. I think it will be too intense for Joey so I will be using him as an excuse not to go on it. He and I will probably check out more of Dinoland while waiting for the others.

Proof of my reaction to Dinosaur:





If we have time I would also like to see The Festival of the Lion King, but I will have to see how the group is feeling and it they want to do that.


1:00pm: Rainforest Café Lunch ADR. Since we decided to cancel the Rainforest Café dinner the night before at Downtown Disney, I snagged a lunch ADR at the one at AK. I was so glad there was one available. This was the only place my Sister asked to eat at so I wanted to make sure we worked it in somewhere.




Once we are nice and full from lunch I will gather up the gang and we will head over to Hollywood Studios via bus.


We did some re-arranging on this as well (I know, shocking!). Since we decided to have lunch at Rainforest Café, we cancelled out lunch at 50’s Prime Time Diner. To be honest I was a bit nervous about this ADR because Emma is pretty sensitive and I don’t know how she would take the kidding around. So, I wasn’t too disappointed in losing this reservation. Here is the plan at this time:


3:30pm: Arrive at Hollywood Studios and head over to our FP at RnR. Our FP window is from 3-4pm so hopefully we get there in time. Mom will be skipping this ride so she will opt to watch Joey. Emma says she is going to ride it, but I’m not too sure if she will actually follow through on it. If not, I will probably stay with Mom and the kids and let Keith and my Sister go. If I do ride it, I'm sure it will result in a similar picture like this one:

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/101272586@N04/

4:00pm: We will make our way over to Frozen. We have a FP for the 4:30 show so our arrival time is from 4:05-4:20. I have to say Emma is not excited because she is approaching that age where she is “too cool” for Frozen. I’m not sure if we will all go to the show or if some of us will break off in groups. I know me, Mom and Joey will definitely go to the show. He loves Frozen and I think he will get a kick out of it.

5:00pm: If we split up we will all meet up for the Great Movie Ride. I think this will be one of my Mom’s favorites.

5:50pm: Tower of Terror FP from 5:50-6:50. Mom hasn’t made up her mind about this one yet. If she decides not to ride then she will watch Joey. He is tall enough for this ride, but I think it will be a bit too intense for him. Emma wants to give it a try (so she says), I hope she does because I think she will like it after it is all said and done.

6:30pm: Dinner. Still haven’t decided where yet. I’m thinking about the Fairfax/Catalina Eddie’s/Rosie’s All American area…that way there will be something for everyone.

7:15pm: We will then make our way over to the Star Wars Launch Bay and Star Tours. Keith and my Sister will definitely want to check this out.

Here’s my dilemma…I would love to see the Star Wars Fireworks and I think Keith and my Sister would enjoy it as well since they are both Star Wars fans. It is scheduled to start at 9:15 this night. Epcot is having EMH hours until 11pm this night as well. If we stay for the fireworks then we won’t be able to make it over to Epcot for EMH. If we skip the fireworks then we can head over to Epcot. If we do visit Epcot this will allow my Mom/Sister to visit all 4 parks during their visit. However, what also comes into play are the kids….if they are completely exhausted then it might be best to take them back to the resort. I’m going to have to run it by Keith maybe and see what he prefers to do. Maybe he and my Sister can just stay for the Star Wars fireworks and then come back to the resort (Emma can stay if she wants too), and Mom and I take Joey back to the resort. Or I take Joey back to the resort and the rest of the gang goes to Epcot. So, this part of the plan we will just have to wait and see how it all works out because there are a bunch of factors that will come into play.

So, there you have it the 1st full day with the whole gang, a pretty jam packed day but so looking forward to it!

Please feel free to share your suggestions or feedback! Thanks for following along!

32 days until we leave, 33 days until we are on Disney Property!!!​

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Chicago Mo]

No No No No.. She has to do the Frozen sing along!!! IT'S A RIOT!!! She will love all the jokes!
Not a fan of Rain Forest.. We have a couple of them around here overpriced for OK food.
Your pictures are too funny! I love the faces!

 

[deedee2177]

Well, you certainly have a very full day planned! I hope you do enjoy Frozen Sing-A-Long, it was one of my surprise favorites of my last trip.

I hope you are right...I've heard really great things about it!

I think another factor about EMH at Epcot will be how everyone's legs and feet are after all the walking. I remember one late EMH hours after riding PoC, and DD18 wanted to go ride Space Mountain one more time - I looked at her and said "I just can't walk over there again..." I am going to wear much better shoes next time!

You are absolutely right on this one, the feet/legs will definitely play a bit part in our plans!

No No No No.. She has to do the Frozen sing along!!! IT'S A RIOT!!! She will love all the jokes!

I'm hoping Emma decides to see it...I will probably have my Mom ask her to come with us...she can't say to her Nanny!

Not a fan of Rain Forest.. We have a couple of them around here overpriced for OK food

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan either, but the kids (including my 24 year old sister) love it. Keith and I skipped it on the last trip, and I didn't miss it at all.

Your pictures are too funny! I love the faces!

I try so hard not to look like a complete idiot in these pictures, but it never fails my fear/excitement take over and I look like a goof!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I try so hard not to look like a complete idiot in these pictures, but it never fails my fear/excitement take over and I look like a goof!

OK this made me laugh out loud.. Very hard!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I LOVE your ride pics Very magical how the excitement takes over!!

Sounds like a VERY full and very fun day!! I'm with Mo on the Rainforest Cafe. I bet Disney does it better than the ones we have in Chicago though!

 

[MataHari22]

You're getting so close! Less than 3 weeks!

 

[deedee2177]

I LOVE your ride pics Very magical how the excitement takes over!!

Thanks...they crack me up.

Sounds like a VERY full and very fun day!! I'm with Mo on the Rainforest Cafe. I bet Disney does it better than the ones we have in Chicago though!

If my Sister hadn't requested it, I probably would have skipped it. However she hasn't been to Disney in 10 years and this was the only place she requested...so I decided to be nice.

You're getting so close! Less than 3 weeks!

I can't believe how close we are getting!!! With the kids schedules it will really be here before I know it!!

 

[deedee2177]

Sorry Gang! Didn't get a chance to post last week...definitely a crazy week We are now 20 days from leaving and 19 days from being on Disney Property!!!!!!! I can't believe it. This coming weekend is the only weekend we don't have plans. So, Emma and I are going to start packing up her clothes for the trip. I know it sounds a bit crazy to pack that early, but next weekend she has a dance competition and then the next weekend we will be leaving!! We did got through her clothes the other day to determine if we needed to by anything new. Luckily with the outfit her Mamaw bought her and the 2 new shirts I got her we are ok on clothes for her. Now, Mr. Joey might be another story, but I haven't got there yet!! I need to get a move on that though...UGH. Ok, now onto the update:

March 30, 2016: Magic Kingdom!!​

Another full day with the whole gang, and we will be heading to Magic Kingdom!! We will head to the buses around 6:30 for the 8am opening. I just recently read that they are not doing the Welcome Show every morning, so I’m hoping this will be one of the mornings it is performed. This saddens me that they aren’t doing this every morning anymore. ​

We will head to Fantasyland, but I want to make sure we stop to get some MM pics of us on Main Street. I can’t wait to see my Sister’s reaction to New Fantasyland. I’m 14 years older than my sister and to say she has been through a lot over these past few years is a complete understatement. There were times we didn’t think she would make it, but she has pulled through like a Champ and she is a walking miracle! I tell her she was my first baby because I’m so much older than she is, so I truly feel I will have all 3 of my kids with me during this trip and I can’t wait to see all of their reactions. Not to mention my kids adore my sister and they are so happy to have her there for a couple days on the trip.​

As mentioned before I went ahead and made the FP selections for myself and Keith at 60 days since we already had our Annual Passes. When I heard the rumblings of ticket increases I texted my Mom and let her know because I felt she would probably feel the most impact of these increases since they were only buying 2 day tickets (with Park Hoppers). Mom gave me her card info and I went ahead and bought hers and my Sister’s tickets. As soon as they were purchased, I was able to line up their FP’s. I was able to copy our Hollywood Studios Tickets for 3/29/16 right over with no issues, but not so lucky with the Magic Kingdom Fast Passes for this day. However, I was able to do a bit of some tweaking and get starting times that overlapped by 10-20 minutes. I bought the kids tickets last week and tried to get their Fast Passes lined up as well, and as expected I had to do more rearranging and actually lost a few too. However, I know all will work out fine. ​

We are planning on getting a DAC for my son. I know many are not happy with this option, however in our situation it works for him. Being able to keep him in his stroller through the stand-by line or coming back at a later time is very helpful. We obtained the DAC for him during out 2014 trip and it was a huge help, we actually never used the option to come back to a ride at a later time because allowing him to remain in his stroller worked out just fine for him. ​

Ok, let’s get back to the planning with new Fast Pass Info:​

8:30-9:30am/8:40-9:40am: Fast Pass for Mine Train. With all the rearranging I had to do I was only able to get Fast Passes during this time for me, Joey, Sister and Mom. However, my Mom has already said she will give her band over to Emma so she can ride it. Emma and Keith have a FP for Pirates at this time. I’m hoping for some pixie dust that a FP comes open for them for Mine Train at this time. However, Mom and Emma can switch bands…Keith and Mom can go ride Pirates while the rest of us ride Mine Train, then meet back up afterwards. Again, we will just see how it goes.​

10:00-11:00am/10:10-11:10am: Fast Pass for Splash Mountain. I was able to get this FP for the whole gang with overlapping times. Keith really loves this ride so you will see a pattern of this one showing up on our list.
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11:20am: Lunch ADR at The Plaza Restaurant. I have not had the chance to eat here before, we have had ADRs before but we always end up cancelling for some reason. I think this is a good choice for this group, and it will be our last table service meal as a group.


2:00-3:00pm/2:05-3:05pm/2:15-3:15pm: FP for Peter Pan. Ohvey this took some rearranging to get us all there at the same time. Keith and I missed riding this during our November Trip because the line was always crazy. However, this is a must do for my Mom, so I’m glad I was able to work in with our Fast Passes.

This is the time I might fit in a resort break, especially for Joey. He usually takes a nap around 1:30 every day and we still have a full evening/night planned. I’m expecting the crowds to be pretty intense about this time as well.

I have set up a surprise for my Sister…we are going to have a Sister/Sister dinner at Kona Café (Dinner ADR at 5pm…I would like to push this back a bit if possible…keep checking but no luck yet). Mom and Keith will take care of the kids, and will probably head over to MK for the evening and dinner.

So, my Sister and I will leave Pop and head over to Kona Café…probably by bus to MK and then monorail/boat to the Polynesian. She has no idea I planned this for us, and she won’t know until I tell her that is where we are heading. The menu looks really yummy, and we are both fans of sushi so that might be our choice for the evening. Any feedback on Kona Café dinner that anyone would like to share? I wanted to do a dinner table service at one of the MK resorts, but keep the budget in mind too (therefore, Ohana was out). I think she will love seeing the Polynesian up close too…it’s definitely her style.

After dinner we will head over to MK, they have EMH until 2am!!!!!!!!! I’m not really sure if we will meet up with the rest of the gang or just make it a Sister Date for the rest of the night. I know my Mom will not want to stay out too late because she will be doing all the driving home the next day.

I just want to surprise my sister with a fun dinner and some sister time.
I’m sad Mom/Sister can only come for these 2 days, but I will take what I can get with them. Well, that is our 2nd full day, and this will be the halfway point of our trip. ​

 

[MataHari22]

The sister/sister dinner sounds like a wonderful idea!

 

[deedee2177]

The sister/sister dinner sounds like a wonderful idea!

I'm definitely looking forward to it. I has been a long time since just she and I went out together!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[missjackiemcg]

Oh, I am so teared up over your Sister/Sister time!! How amazing to get to spend such special time together, just the two of you at the most magical place of all LOVE the sound of that!!

PS No such thing as starting to pack too early for Disney!!! There are just SO many things you need. In fact, I already have a little bag in my closet started for December because it's easier to toss things in as I think of them, especially if I won't need them until them (ahem, Mickey ears and lightbulb necklaces!)