***Official April 2013 thread*** SEE POST # 4028

[Hunclemarco]

Originally Posted by mblab

Hello again everyone! There may still be a month and a half (ish) until our trip but I've got Disney fever! I was up until 2 am last night/this morning on this amazing site! I'm trying to plan as best as I can and create an amazing vacation!
We have 3 full days (and 3 days worth of tickets) for 4 parks so I've tried to plan around that as best as I can. (Especially since my DH has never been to AK or HS) Here's the plan so far:

Saturday, 4/13: Drive in and spend the afternoon at the outlets. (Kate Spade has my name on it for visiting, and probably only window shopping) then check into POP and do something fun for dinner, tbd (any suggestions?).
Sunday, 4/14: AK all morning and afternoon and then MK for the extra magic hours (we think being there super late at night has got to be cool, or at least we have to try to find out). If we're not too tired we may swing by HS that afternoon before heading off to MK.
Monday, 4/15: EPCOT, F&G festival foods for lunch and an ADR at Biergarten for dinner
Tuesday, 4/16: (my birthday! ) MK (and maybe HS that afternoon if we didn't get there before and we can manage to leave MK)
Wednesday, 4/17: check out but we've got ADR at Boma for breakfast before driving back home

I'd love any thoughts or suggestions any of you may have. Or even just a "woo hoo" in sharing in my excitement!

Sounds like you'll be quite busy. What kind of tickets do you have? Are your tickets Park Hoppers? Also, depending on the ticket type you have, you could possibly add another day. An upgrade for 2 tickets is $30.00. That way you could go to a park on your first evening, making the rest of your stay a little more relaxed.

Either way, i'm sure you'll have an excellent time.

[anniebabymu]

Originally Posted by alc571

Hi all!

I can't believe it! We just booked a royal room at POR for Apr 14-22!

We went to POR last October and fell in love. We were looking to go back in Sept this year, but decided this morning to look at prices and they were too reasonable to pass up! Notice I said reasonable and not cheap! Haha!

We're in a royal room the 16-23! This will be our first time at POR and I can't wait!!

[jenhum]

Originally Posted by mblab

Hello again everyone! There may still be a month and a half (ish) until our trip but I've got Disney fever! I was up until 2 am last night/this morning on this amazing site! I'm trying to plan as best as I can and create an amazing vacation!
We have 3 full days (and 3 days worth of tickets) for 4 parks so I've tried to plan around that as best as I can. (Especially since my DH has never been to AK or HS) Here's the plan so far:

Saturday, 4/13: Drive in and spend the afternoon at the outlets. (Kate Spade has my name on it for visiting, and probably only window shopping) then check into POP and do something fun for dinner, tbd (any suggestions?).
Sunday, 4/14: AK all morning and afternoon and then MK for the extra magic hours (we think being there super late at night has got to be cool, or at least we have to try to find out). If we're not too tired we may swing by HS that afternoon before heading off to MK.
Monday, 4/15: EPCOT, F&G festival foods for lunch and an ADR at Biergarten for dinner
Tuesday, 4/16: (my birthday! ) MK (and maybe HS that afternoon if we didn't get there before and we can manage to leave MK)
Wednesday, 4/17: check out but we've got ADR at Boma for breakfast before driving back home

I'd love any thoughts or suggestions any of you may have. Or even just a "woo hoo" in sharing in my excitement!

Waving at you! We are going to be in the same places for most of the week. We're at AoA, but doing AK on 4/14, Epcot on 4/15 and MK on 4/16. So I think your plan sounds pretty good, lol!

[melindae10]

Something just occured to me! For those of you who have used DME, how long did it take to get your bags? We don't get in until about 7:30 PM and once we get to the hotel it will almost be bed time, although in our neck of the woods it will be three hours earlier. We would need our bags to go to bed...I am having the kids carry on thier clothes to save us some baggage fees, but my husband and I are checking ours. Should we not use the baggage service part and just pick up our own luggage at the airport?

[Mousemommy1]

Originally Posted by melindae10

Something just occured to me! For those of you who have used DME, how long did it take to get your bags? We don't get in until about 7:30 PM and once we get to the hotel it will almost be bed time, although in our neck of the woods it will be three hours earlier. We would need our bags to go to bed...I am having the kids carry on thier clothes to save us some baggage fees, but my husband and I are checking ours. Should we not use the baggage service part and just pick up our own luggage at the airport?

It's really up to you. It can be up to 3 hours from the time you land until the luggage gets delivered. We have landed as late as 10:00 and yes, our luggage was delivered at approximately 1 am. For us, not a huge deal...DH answered the door, put the bags in the corner and went back to sleep. It didn't wake the kids at all. But, if it's going to bother you than you could get the bags yourself.

We always have carry ons for ourselves with essentials since the bag arrival is delayed. Couldn't you pack PJ's, toothbrushes, etc in the carry ons?? Oh, and swimsuits! Just in case...again, it's up to you!

[chrisc88]

Originally Posted by melindae10

Something just occured to me! For those of you who have used DME, how long did it take to get your bags? We don't get in until about 7:30 PM and once we get to the hotel it will almost be bed time, although in our neck of the woods it will be three hours earlier. We would need our bags to go to bed...I am having the kids carry on thier clothes to save us some baggage fees, but my husband and I are checking ours. Should we not use the baggage service part and just pick up our own luggage at the airport?

I don't remember exactly how long it took but it was hours after we arrived and we arrived early in the day, maybe at about 11am. If I recall correctly, we ate, went to Epcot and came back and had to call for our bags. Definitely more than 3 hours. May want to pick- up the bags yourself, you definitely don't want to risk them arriving after your kids are asleep.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[danceintherain]

Originally Posted by melindae10

Something just occured to me! For those of you who have used DME, how long did it take to get your bags? We don't get in until about 7:30 PM and once we get to the hotel it will almost be bed time, although in our neck of the woods it will be three hours earlier. We would need our bags to go to bed...I am having the kids carry on thier clothes to save us some baggage fees, but my husband and I are checking ours. Should we not use the baggage service part and just pick up our own luggage at the airport?

We had a similar scenario during our trip in November 2010. I think our flight arrived after 6pm, so we didn't get to our hotel until after 8pm. Once we got to our room, we called Bell Services and told them to hold our bags until the next morning, since we had a 3 month old baby with us, and didn't want him woken (if he slept) in the middle of the night.
We had packed everything we needed for the night into a carry on bag, so it wouldn't be a problem if we didn't get our bags until the morning.

They called back 5 minutes later, because our bags had already arrived, and rushed them to our room. I was really impressed with that service.

[gtpoohbear]

Originally Posted by melindae10

Something just occured to me! For those of you who have used DME, how long did it take to get your bags? We don't get in until about 7:30 PM and once we get to the hotel it will almost be bed time, although in our neck of the woods it will be three hours earlier. We would need our bags to go to bed...I am having the kids carry on thier clothes to save us some baggage fees, but my husband and I are checking ours. Should we not use the baggage service part and just pick up our own luggage at the airport?

We always take enough in our carry-on to get through the first night-pjs, change of clothes, swimsuit, necessary toiletries, etc. To me, not having to deal with waiting for luggage and hauling it out to the bus and then to your room is one of the best parts of ME, so I would hate to give that up!

[USAND3KIDS]

Did anyone else watch the Kelly and Michael episode live from Disney just now? I'll have to admit, I teared up a bit. I can't wait to get there.

[USAND3KIDS]

Made some ADR changes.

added 4/22 @1:00 Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom
4/23 cancelled Tokyo Dining and added Coral Reef @1:15
4/25 changed Spirit Of Aloha from the 5:15 show to the 8:00 show

[scrappinggirl]

Originally Posted by USAND3KIDS

Made some ADR changes.

added 4/22 @1:00 Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom
4/23 cancelled Tokyo Dining and added Coral Reef @1:15
4/25 changed Spirit Of Aloha from the 5:15 show to the 8:00 show

We tried to get into rainforect cafe on April 30th and they were booked so we are going to Sanaa Dinner at 6:55 but the park closes at 6. Not sure what we are going to do for the 55 mins. Anyone have this issue before?

Been to the Coral Reef and lucked out with a table right up against the glass. Didn't even ask. Our waitress's name was Mullan.

[scrappinggirl]

Originally Posted by USAND3KIDS

Did anyone else watch the Kelly and Michael episode live from Disney just now? I'll have to admit, I teared up a bit. I can't wait to get there.

I caught the end of it and I have DVR the other shows this week so I won't miss them. I too, can't wait to go!

[USAND3KIDS]

Originally Posted by scrappinggirl

We tried to get into rainforect cafe on April 30th and they were booked so we are going to Sanaa Dinner at 6:55 but the park closes at 6. Not sure what we are going to do for the 55 mins. Anyone have this issue before?

Been to the Coral Reef and lucked out with a table right up against the glass. Didn't even ask. Our waitress's name was Mullan.

If you leave when the park closes, it will take all of that 55 minutes to get over to Sanaa and let them know you are there for your reservation.....trust me. Having that 55 minute window is actually a good thing.

[gtpoohbear]

Originally Posted by scrappinggirl

We tried to get into rainforect cafe on April 30th and they were booked so we are going to Sanaa Dinner at 6:55 but the park closes at 6. Not sure what we are going to do for the 55 mins. Anyone have this issue before?

Been to the Coral Reef and lucked out with a table right up against the glass. Didn't even ask. Our waitress's name was Mullan.

Did you try calling the Rainforest Cafe directly? They only release a few ADRs to Disney, it's usually a lot easier to get in if you speak to the restaurant. I think you can find the number on the main RFC webpage.

I also think you will need 55 minutes to get to Sanaa though - by the time you wait for a bus and make the trip over to AKL, get checked in, etc. The resort itself is beautiful, so if you have some extra time just wander around!

[mblab]

Originally Posted by Hunclemarco

Sounds like you'll be quite busy. What kind of tickets do you have? Are your tickets Park Hoppers? Also, depending on the ticket type you have, you could possibly add another day. An upgrade for 2 tickets is $30.00. That way you could go to a park on your first evening, making the rest of your stay a little more relaxed.

Either way, i'm sure you'll have an excellent time.

Sorry I forgot to specify! We've got 3 day hopper passes. And as much as I'd like to, we've got to stick with the days and passes we've already got. I want to do as much as we can but still enjoy our trip. I feel the need to go to HS and AK since DH has never been. I'm thinking we may wind up ditching my "plan" and skipping one of those parks. Sometimes you're in the mood to do everything and other times you just want to enjoy and go at your own pace. I'm not sure which way we'd want when we're there!

Originally Posted by jenhum

Waving at you! We are going to be in the same places for most of the week. We're at AoA, but doing AK on 4/14, Epcot on 4/15 and MK on 4/16. So I think your plan sounds pretty good, lol!

Why hello! Great minds think alike you know.