YO HO YO HO A PIRATES LIFE FOR MY PRINCESS...Bella's Pirate Birthday Pre-trip Report

[cantoine]

Ahoy Mates...Welcome to my pretrip report for my upcoming trip to Disney to celebrate my little pirate Isabella. Bella will be turning the big 5. My husband and I started a tradition for our 4 children after the birth of our first, that when they turn the big 5, we would celebrate at Disney. But this trip is an extra special trip as my daughter Bella keeps saying. She is completely and utterly addicted to pirates. Pirate everything. Where the other 2 girls are princess lover's my 3rd princess is a pirate at heart. She is the middle of my 3 girls, and ever since our second child came in 2008 we have been in full girl mode as we only have 1 son. I am excited for the challenge of planning a trip to Disney without princess, and scared to death at the same time. If you are joining in Welcome and I am glad to have you along for the ride MATE!

 

[cantoine]

I always love reading the pre trip reports and trip reports that introduce a family to me. It makes me feel more connected to the writer and for me makes the reports more interesting. So for all of you readers out there that also enjoy that here is my family!!!!

There is a total of 10 in our bunch. My DH has 2 older children, 1 in the Navy and 1 in college, we adopted 2 amazing boys, 1 in college and 1 about to start college in the fall and then our 4 little monsters. This photo was taken at my graduate school graduaton. Due to scheduling it was not possible to have all of us there.



I am Crystal. I am the mom of this large group. I spend my days as an Investigator for Child Protective Service in Texas. I was born and raised in Chicago Illinois. I am a Disney addict, and love all things Disney.



This is my DH Jason. He too spends his days as an Investigator for Child Protective Service. He was born and raised in Brooklyn New York, leaving at the age of 18 to join the Marines where he served for 8 years before being medically discharged for injuries to his knees. He is fully supportive of my Disney addiction and even wears ears for me!



Petty Officer Tatiana. She is currently stationed in Boston MA. She is an amazing big sister and an in the closet Disney fan.



This is my DS and the only boy left in the house Devyn. He loves all things Star Wars and enjoys going to Disney for Star Wars weekends



This is our DD Peyton. Peyton has a magnet attached to her that attracts characters at Disney. Every single trip from our first where Cinderella came from behind her ropes and sat on the floor with her and played for 20 min. while we waited for our table at the castle to our last trip where Smee held her hand through the Contemporary , she always has amazing character encounters.



This is my little Pirate Bella. Bella enjoys all things pirates and loves Peter Pan.



and last but not least Princess Sophia of Enchancia. She literally makes us call her that. She will not respond to just Sophia. You must say Princess Sophia of Enchancia.

We are all a big bunch of characters. We enjoy our trips to Disney very much and it gives all of us a chance to be together an shut out the outside world. I hope everyone enjoys this pretrip report. Let the planning begin!

 

[cantoine]

So let's get down to the planning. For some reason I have been extremely flooded at work these past couple of weeks and I have been slacking on my planning. We are DVC members and we have been going back and fourth with weather we wanted to use pints for this trip or, if we wanted to book a room on cash. With there being so many of us we knew that 2 rooms were going to be necessary if we chose not to use points. So back and fourth we have went on this decision.

When my 11 month booking window opened up at AK-K I wanted to go ahead and book the Value 2 bedrooms. But DH was not sold on that idea and wanted to book 2 pirate rooms at CBR. So I didn't book the room through DVC. Then when I went to book the rooms at CBR, and started to do some research on them I found out some things that I was not loving. I do not like the "double beds" sleeping on a queen is possible for us, but a double, I don't think so, then as much as I enjoy a leisure stroll around my resort, I found out that not only am I paying more for the pirate theme rooms, I am also the furthest from everything. So it was back to the drawing board because naturally the 2 bedroom values are completely booked up.

Fast forward to my 7 month booking window, and I was able to get 2 studios at OKW. We have never stayed at this resort before, but we have heard wonderful things about it. So I book 6 nights in 2 studios from the 13th-19th of November. But then...I intercepted a blog that Free Dining may be released on Monday, So now I do not know what to do!!!! Especially since I borrowed points to add a few more days onto my reservation. So, I told my DH that if I can get a cheaper rate doing the free dining and since 100 points were pulled in to 2016 UY expect a late summer trip to the world since we will have all these points that have to be used by Jan and I can't bank them. Of course he rolled his eyes and said "sometimes I think you do these things on purpose to get another vacation out of me! You know I hate wasting points" (a little piece of me does )

So here is what I have so far:

Travel Dates: November 13-19, 2016
Number coming along:7

Staying at: Old Key West in 2 Studios ( This may change)


Tickets: Undecided
Dining Plan: Undecided
Activities: Undecided


As you can see I am still very undecided as to what we are going to do. I have seen the MVMCP dates have come out for 2016 and of course we have to attend that. It will be a first for our family. We have done MNSSHP in 2014 and loved it. The whole family dressed up as peter pan characters.

Now lets talk pirates: What is every bodies favorite pirate thing to do at Disney? I need to get as many pirate activities on my schedule for my Bella, but I am clueless as to what they are, so any suggestions or comments are both welcomed and appreciated!!!!!

 

[ariane37]

Hi there! We're actually arriving the day you guys are leaving You have a beautiful family! I too have stepchildren, 2 wonderful stepsons 27 and 24 besides our DS's 14 and 10
So, pirates What comes to mind immediately are Pirates League and Capt. Jack's Pirates Tutorial, both in MK. The pirate's tutorial occurs on a stage outside PoTC a few times a day (it's normally listed on the times guide you can get in the park). It's a show that involves Jack Sparrow teaching kids how to become pirates. He calls a few kids up from the audience and they get to "fight" with him (with rubber swords lol) then at the end he calls even more kids up and they call get a scroll making them honorary pirates.

Pirates League is sort of like BBB but cheaper You get made up like a pirate. There's also an option to get made up like a mermaid, but I assume your DD would choose one of the pirate face painting choices! You get some other accessories like a sash, bandanna, earring etc. You should check those out!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[cantoine]

and thanks for following along. Pirates league will be a mist do for us. She said she wants to dress up like a girl pirate. I will absolutely look into the pirates tutorial. We have never seen that so it will be nice to add something new into the mix.

I called Disney and found out my 180 mark begins May 17th. We decided for her actual birthday we would do MK and take her to pirates league, and then do the pirate and pals fireworks cruise that leaves from the contemporary. She loved the idea, DH hated the price, but came around once he seen how happy she was about it and all the free ice cream!!!!!

I plan on calling on the 17th to try and get our reservations booked. I was told that they also have pirate adventures at certain Disney hotels that the kids can go on. The CM i spoke to said it last about 2 hours and the kids are taken on a pirate adventure! I am considering this option as well. Has anyone done this experience in the past and willing to share their experience?

 

[jandlinz]

Joining in. You have a beautiful family. We'll be there during your trip too. We stayed at OKW as our first official stay as a family and loved it. The stairs were hard at the end of the day, but the rooms were huge. We stayed in a 2 bedroom.

 

[cantoine]

Joining in. You have a beautiful family. We'll be there during your trip too. We stayed at OKW as our first official stay as a family and loved it. The stairs were hard at the end of the day, but the rooms were huge. We stayed in a 2 bedroom.

Thanks for joining us. We have been saying that we want to stay at old key west for some time, but I always talk myself out of it. But I am determined to not do that this time. I love the resort, it is beautiful and YES HUGE!!!! The stairs will be an issue for us, I am hoping to get into a building with elevators, my husband has 2 blown knees from his time as a Marine, and he does not handle stairs well. Although he will never admit that they hurt and he will never complain (it is the marine in him) I know he is in pain. So I usually will request a ground floor, and I say it is because of the stroller and not wanting the hassle of climbing stair with it if the elevator is packed, or not working. So as a person who has stayed at Old Keys West what were your loves and hates of the resort?

 

[cantoine]

Need some advice. I have been playing around with my DVC points and I have come out with 3 possible options for my room choices:

6 nights in 2 studio (current reservations);
4 nights in a 2 bedroom (lose 2 nights but upgrade to accommodations);
2 nights in 2 studios and then 3 nights in a 2 bedroom (lose 1 night, but upgrade in accommodations);
3 nights in 2 studios and then 2 nights in a 2 bedroom (lose 1 night but upgrade accommodations)

I need help in deciding what is the best route to go. I do not mind being in studio's but my DH likes to be all in one room. Our biggest worry is that we will be far away from each other. Where as in the single unit, we won't be, we will all be together. Thoughts? Opinions? etc all are welcomed and appreciated!!!!

 

[ariane37]

Need some advice. I have been playing around with my DVC points and I have come out with 3 possible options for my room choices:

Aahh! I hate to lose nights! So my first instinct was to say leave your reservation as is so you don't lose any time. But then I saw your line about your DH preferring that you're all in one room, which I understand. And it's definitely a possibility that you could end up not near each other.........so, with that in mind I'd pick choice #3, 2 nights/2 studios and then 3 nights/2 bedroom. That way you have more nights together in a room and you're only losing one night

 

[disneylove16]

Joining in! You have a beautiful family!

and last but not least Princess Sophia of Enchancia. She literally makes us call her that. She will not respond to just Sophia. You must say Princess Sophia of Enchancia.

This cracks me up! So cute.

 

[cantoine]

Joining in! You have a beautiful family!


This cracks me up! So cute.

thanks so much for joining in, and thank you for the kind words. Princess Sophia of Enchancia absolutely cracks us up at home. Her cubby at school even has that title. I am so glad to have you joining in on our family shanagins.

 

[cantoine]

Aahh! I hate to lose nights! So my first instinct was to say leave your reservation as is so you don't lose any time. But then I saw your line about your DH preferring that you're all in one room, which I understand. And it's definitely a possibility that you could end up not near each other.........so, with that in mind I'd pick choice #3, 2 nights/2 studios and then 3 nights/2 bedroom. That way you have more nights together in a room and you're only losing one night

I know, I hate losing nights as well, but can completely understand DH's concerns. But I know its gor the best. We did make a decision so stay tuned, it is a very unique one

 

[cantoine]

So we spent the past few days making some decisions about our upcoming trip. We have been back and fourth and I have been trying as best as I can to make sense of everything. My DH wants to be in one unit to spend time as a family. But I am trying my hardest to save points for an anniversary trip to Hawaii. On Thursday morning while driving the Kiddos to school, my son says to me "Mom I would really like to go to the new Harry Potter land at Universal Studio". My mouth dropped. Then my little pirate goes "oooh mommy they have the minions there, I love the minions, I want to go see the minions for my birthday" I was in utter shock. So I say to my DD " Bells I thought you wanted a pirate birthday at Disney?" She replies I do, and I want to see Minions and the ninja turtles"

So I drop the kiddos off at school and as they are getting out of the car my DS says "Mom why can't we do both" and then it hit me like a ton of Mickey's. I immediately called DH and ran through a plan with him. Surprisingly he was on board with the crazy, non-traditional plan.

So here goes...
Bella's first trip to Orlando was when she turned 6 months old. My DH's brother died right before we were to travel so he never made the trip. My two oldest adopted boys are actually my husbands nephews. We all tried really hard to make the best of the trip, but it was not the same. So I asked my husband how would he feel about actually re-doing Bella's first trip to Orlando for her special Birthday trip. He was of course on board with the plan anything to spice it up a little. So I got to work and starting making the necessary adjustments.

I picked the kiddos up from school and I could not wait to tell them the news. They got in the car and of course Bella said "Mom did you call the minions and invite them to my Pirate Birthday Party?" So I said "Yes bells I did, and they said they were very excited that you were returning to see them after 4.5 years, (The first time she was in Orlando she was 6 months old) and can not wait to see you for your birthday. Then the screams erupted and I had children jumping for joy


So a little back story:

Bella's first trip to Orlando she was 6 months old



and she met her first minions


but she was way to young to remember any of it


So instead of focusing on just her pirate obsession, we are going to make this Birthday trip a reunion trip for her and her minions, while adding a Disney pirate twist.


We will be arriving to Orlando on November 13, 2016 and we will be staying 4 nights at the very first hotel Bella ever stayed at:

a 2 bedroom at Sheraton Vistiana Villages




Then we will be checking into Disney's Tree house Villas on November 17, 2016 (Her birthday) for 3 nights




I figured since it is all about my pirate, why not give her what she wants....

 

[cantoine]

Hello

So my 180 day mark has come and gone. I got up early so I could get everything booked that I needed to book.

The plan was simple:

November 17- Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, Pirates League, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow show, Parade, Dinner for 7 at O'hana to celebrate Bell's Birthday; Pirates and Pal fireworks Cruise

November 18- Resort Day, Early Dinner at 1900 Park Fare and MVMCP

November 19- Breakfast at Cape May, Hollywood Studios, Pool time and then off to Disney Springs for some bowling (Bella's second favorite thing next to Pirates)

November 20- Breakfast at O'hana to see stitch, hang around the resort and head to the airport on DME


So I had my soft plans set...logged into my Disney account...it loaded...and I searched for my dinning....and NOTHING!!!!

Not a single restaurant I wanted was available.

So I called the reservation line...NOTHING

I finally cooled off and thought to myself "it's ok, you have 180 days to get the reservations it will be fine


Then I checked the park hours. I know that the Christmas Party dates are November 13,15,18 and MK will close at 7:00 PM. What I was not anticipating was MK closing at 4:30 PM on her birthday so again the panic set in

I called and spoke to recreation and the CM said 4:30 closing No way. So he looks into it and says "well I'll be it does close at 4:30, that hasn't happen ion years", the nice young man was kind enough to call over to guest services to see what was going on. After being placed on another hold for an additional 15 min, I had been on hold for 42 min before an agent picked up the phone, he came back to the line and said Guest services was just as surprised as he was. He stated no one had any information as to why the park is closing so early.

He attempted to book my pirates league and my pirates and pals. NOTHING. apparently, they have not loaded the 2 places into the booking window calendar so the CM's can not book these activities yet. He apologized and stated I should watch the blogs regarding the closure, and call back every couple of days to see if my booking window has opened up for the 2 activities

As of tonight, they still have not released the booking calendar


So I have no meals scheduled, no activities and it would seem as though her birthday spent doing pirate things is a bust. I literally want to cry

 

[ariane37]

I'm so sorry about all that Yes, the MK 4:30 closing on the 17th is due to the CM party. They have it every year but in recent years it's been at HS; apparently this is either the first time or first time in ages it's been at MK. So that 4:30 closing is going to stick unfortunately When I first read your post I thought, "well they should still have the cruise", but if they're not doing Wishes for the CM's it would make sense they won't do the cruise.
Could you do the cruise on the 19th? I'd suggest the 18th except you're doing the Xmas party-
You could still do everything up to the parade on the 17th and then just do the cruise on the 19th.
As for the ADR's it's gotta be because of the free dining. I did half my ADR's on Monday and the other half today and I did manage to get what I wanted, although our BOG dinner is on a different night than I wanted. Do you know about TouringPlans reservation finder? You sign up, input what restaurants/dates/times your looking for, and it'll email and/or text you if anything becomes available. This helped us get CRT last Nov. and I know a few people who used it for trips next month.

 

[cantoine]

I'm so sorry about all that Yes, the MK 4:30 closing on the 17th is due to the CM party. They have it every year but in recent years it's been at HS; apparently this is either the first time or first time in ages it's been at MK. So that 4:30 closing is going to stick unfortunately When I first read your post I thought, "well they should still have the cruise", but if they're not doing Wishes for the CM's it would make sense they won't do the cruise.
Could you do the cruise on the 19th? I'd suggest the 18th except you're doing the Xmas party-
You could still do everything up to the parade on the 17th and then just do the cruise on the 19th.
As for the ADR's it's gotta be because of the free dining. I did half my ADR's on Monday and the other half today and I did manage to get what I wanted, although our BOG dinner is on a different night than I wanted. Do you know about TouringPlans reservation finder? You sign up, input what restaurants/dates/times your looking for, and it'll email and/or text you if anything becomes available. This helped us get CRT last Nov. and I know a few people who used it for trips next month.

We are hoping we can do it on the 19th. But with them not releasing the calender yet, I have no idea what nights they will have available.

There is something going on the week ai am there. We looked at free dining promotion 4 hours after it went public and all the rooms were gone for our week. I think alot of people reserve a binch of meals at a time and release them as they figure out what they are doing. So we shall see.
I am going to call back daily and see when is the cruise. I can always switch our days around again and do Disney the first half of the trip if I have to. Hopefully they will have their calendars all fixed within a couple of days.

What resturants were you able to secure?

 

[ariane37]

We ended up booking some of our favorites: Tokyo Dining, Garden Grill breakfast, Narcoossee's, BOG dinner, LTT lunch, Mama Melrose lunch, Restaurant Marrakesh dinner. Then we have some new ones, too: Cape May Café dinner, Whispering Canyon Café lunch, Minnie's Dine @ Hollywood & Vine for Thanksgiving, Captain's Grille breakfast. The only one I haven't booked yet is a Yak & Yeti dinner because as of now, the AK hours for Nov. haven't been extended. I can't book dinner past 5:00 and I know I want it later, so I'm waiting on that
It's such a pain waiting on the release of the hours and schedules

 

[cantoine]

We ended up booking some of our favorites: Tokyo Dining, Garden Grill breakfast, Narcoossee's, BOG dinner, LTT lunch, Mama Melrose lunch, Restaurant Marrakesh dinner. Then we have some new ones, too: Cape May Café dinner, Whispering Canyon Café lunch, Minnie's Dine @ Hollywood & Vine for Thanksgiving, Captain's Grille breakfast. The only one I haven't booked yet is a Yak & Yeti dinner because as of now, the AK hours for Nov. haven't been extended. I can't book dinner past 5:00 and I know I want it later, so I'm waiting on that
It's such a pain waiting on the release of the hours and schedules

Mama Melrose and Cape May dinner are two of our favorites. We have never done the Garden Grill Breakfast. We were talking about adding it to our plans, but who knows when that will be. I completely understand the pain of waiting on hours and schedules!!!! It is so frustrating especially when they go and change them mid planning.

We wanted to do Thanksgiving week at Disney. But our bosses could not yet tell us if we would be on-call, so we decided not to risk it. So we decided on the week before. I am starting to rethink that decision!

 

[cantoine]

So a little pirate got a big package from Mickey Mouse today! She was so excited to receive a huge box from the Disney Store today. Inside was a brand new Ariel bathing suit, a cover, a towel, swim goggles, sun glasses and flip flops, each of the girls got the entire get up of swim wear as well...My little pirates Jake costume has officially arrived!!!!!! Thank you Disney and your Twice Upon a year sale. I purchased a total of 3 beach towels, 3 bathing suites, 3 pairs of sun glasses, 3 bathing suite covers, 3 swim bags, 3 pairs of flip flops, Happy Birthday magic band bling, 1 Jake costume, 1 Princess Tiana dress, pair of shoes and wand, and 1 Rapunzel dress and shoes and a large swim bag for MOM. After I applied my free gift cards earned from Swagbucks, I only had to pay 40.00 out of pocket!!!! I love the the Disney store especially when they are free!!!!!