VailRaven
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2015
Hello all and thanks for checking out my Pre-Trip Report! I’ve been a long time reader of the DIS Trip Reports and have really enjoyed the variety of plans from everyone.
I’m taking my family to WDW in September of 2016 and we will be celebrating 2 special events. My wife and I’s 8th Anniversary on the 20th and our oldest DD’s 6th birthday on the 21st! We're very excited to be able to celebrate at Disney World!
So a little background. I have Disney loving parents and we made the trek from my old home of Towson, MD to WDW on 4 separate occasions when I was little. My first trip was in 1979 and I was 5 years old. My avatar is our family picture from that trip. We stayed at the Poly and I remember some bits and pieces of that trip, but not very much. After that we drove down in ’81, ’83 and ’86 and stayed at the Fort Wilderness Campground. Those all occurred during the month of February as we had something called “Energy Conservation Week” in Baltimore schools, which was our “Spring Break”. I have an older brother and I think my parents decided that we had outgrown Disney, so ‘86 was our last family trip. In hindsight, it probably was a good idea not to go back because we went with some other families with kids my age and we kids started to get in a little trouble with our new found freedom.
*Fast-foward
I eventually moved out to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (Vail to be exact) where I met my DW and we started our family. When my wife and I had our first DD, we talked about Disney World and how much fun it would be to take her. *Seed planted*
We would eventually forgo the mountain life and moved to the beautiful, and more “real-life” town of Fort Collins in 2012. We then had our 2nd DD and that pushed back our plans a little longer. Then sometime early last year my wife read that children under 3 don’t require park tickets and that it would be a great idea to go soon. Well, say no more! As soon as we started seeing the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, I started reading about Disney. After a day of Google-ing about Disney and probably spending way too much time reading up on all of the planning, I realized that I needed to learn more. I have now read about 5,739 different articles, blogs, forums, trip reports, etc, etc, and believe I’m about as learned as someone can be who hasn’t been to WDW in 30+ years. My favorite sites are Easy WDW, WDW Prep School, Touring Plans and of course, The DIS! I was amazed and extremely excited about planning my family’s first trip to Disney!
*Tangent – I started telling my wife about all things Disney and she thinks I have a screw loose. Our previous non-Disney trips have had little planning on my part and she was annoyed to be the planner of everything. I’ve toned down my “updates” a little and when she mentions something she read about Disney I’m all like, yeah, I know all about that and here’s some more info
So, over with the boring background and on to the Sept 2016 PTR!
Myself: I’m Mike and am an IT Professional with a love of travel. I’ve been to most of the states in the US, traveled in Canada, Mexico and Europe and have always loved a good road trip. Although now with littles, the long road trips are at a minimum…or pretty much zero.
DW: Sara is a Nurse and Lactation consultant who shares my love of travel. She’s been to more places in Europe than I have (little bit of jealousy here) and has also traveled extensively in the US, Canada and Mexico.
DD5: My oldest DD will be turning 6 on our trip and she has a love for all things Disney. This won’t be a surprise trip for her as we’ve talked it up for quite a while. I figure, why not share in the excitement of anticipating this trip? She is a total movie buff and has watched many Disney movies. She has a new favorite every week, but she loves Tarzan, Pocahontas, Frozen and Tangled the most.
DD2: My youngest will be 2.5 on this trip and she is as easy going as Sunday morning. She has a love for Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc. No birthday celebration for her, but I know that she’ll have a blast and we’ll make sure she gets some extra attention.
My Parents DF & DM: So, I had some hesitation about asking my parents to join us on this trip. They are both in their 70’s and can be a little slow getting around. But, I really wanted them to experience their Granddaughters’ first trip to Disney and this may be the last time they ever make it down there. They are going to drive down from MD and will stay at FW in their camper. They are only staying 3 nights, so we will have our own family time without them as well.
We had heard that you could rent DVC points and could get a nice room at a fraction of the costs. The location to Magic Kingdom and being able to walk there was pretty much the deciding factor for us. With the littles in tow and with MK being our main focus on this trip it was kind of a no-brainer. We didn’t want any long bus rides after a long day in the park. If there are any meltdowns then we can mosey back to the room or take a quick monorail ride. Easy. And with Theme Park View we can enjoy some fireworks from our balcony. This may be a saving factor as I’m not sure how our DD2 will do with fireworks.
ADR’s are made and I’m very happy with the reservations we were able to secure.
- Chef Mickey’s Dinner
- BOG – Pre-park opening Breakfast
- Crystal Palace Lunch
- Coral Reef Lunch
- HDDR w/Grandparents (Their arrival day so I wanted to make it easy on them)
- Another BOG – Pre-park opening Breakfast w/Grandparents (these are mainly to get ahead of RD crowd)
- Cinderella’s Royal Table Dinner for DD’s birthday w/Grandparents (after her BBB appointment)
- The Plaza Restaurant Dinner
I’m hoping that we don’t feel too tied to our reservations but I think that we’ll need some of these to force us to sit down and relax. There are plenty of meals that we’ll be able to do a QS or eat in our room, since we will have a full kitchen. I wanted to book an Ohana late breakfast on our MNSSHP day, but my wife overruled me and thought having a day without reservations will be needed. I can totally understand that one, as I would have booked it on our MNSSHP day. She didn’t get any arguments from me but I’m bummed that we won’t get to Ohana this trip. That just gives me a reason to come back!
As I said earlier, we will be heavy on the Magic Kingdom touring and will have a day at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We decided that HS could be skipped this trip as I’m the only one that would be interested in the SW stuff and this trip is all about the DD’s.
That’s it for now. I have a lot of tentative plans but I’ll save those for another update.
I’m taking my family to WDW in September of 2016 and we will be celebrating 2 special events. My wife and I’s 8th Anniversary on the 20th and our oldest DD’s 6th birthday on the 21st! We're very excited to be able to celebrate at Disney World!
So a little background. I have Disney loving parents and we made the trek from my old home of Towson, MD to WDW on 4 separate occasions when I was little. My first trip was in 1979 and I was 5 years old. My avatar is our family picture from that trip. We stayed at the Poly and I remember some bits and pieces of that trip, but not very much. After that we drove down in ’81, ’83 and ’86 and stayed at the Fort Wilderness Campground. Those all occurred during the month of February as we had something called “Energy Conservation Week” in Baltimore schools, which was our “Spring Break”. I have an older brother and I think my parents decided that we had outgrown Disney, so ‘86 was our last family trip. In hindsight, it probably was a good idea not to go back because we went with some other families with kids my age and we kids started to get in a little trouble with our new found freedom.
*Fast-foward
I eventually moved out to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (Vail to be exact) where I met my DW and we started our family. When my wife and I had our first DD, we talked about Disney World and how much fun it would be to take her. *Seed planted*
We would eventually forgo the mountain life and moved to the beautiful, and more “real-life” town of Fort Collins in 2012. We then had our 2nd DD and that pushed back our plans a little longer. Then sometime early last year my wife read that children under 3 don’t require park tickets and that it would be a great idea to go soon. Well, say no more! As soon as we started seeing the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, I started reading about Disney. After a day of Google-ing about Disney and probably spending way too much time reading up on all of the planning, I realized that I needed to learn more. I have now read about 5,739 different articles, blogs, forums, trip reports, etc, etc, and believe I’m about as learned as someone can be who hasn’t been to WDW in 30+ years. My favorite sites are Easy WDW, WDW Prep School, Touring Plans and of course, The DIS! I was amazed and extremely excited about planning my family’s first trip to Disney!
*Tangent – I started telling my wife about all things Disney and she thinks I have a screw loose. Our previous non-Disney trips have had little planning on my part and she was annoyed to be the planner of everything. I’ve toned down my “updates” a little and when she mentions something she read about Disney I’m all like, yeah, I know all about that and here’s some more info
So, over with the boring background and on to the Sept 2016 PTR!
Cast of Characters:
Myself: I’m Mike and am an IT Professional with a love of travel. I’ve been to most of the states in the US, traveled in Canada, Mexico and Europe and have always loved a good road trip. Although now with littles, the long road trips are at a minimum…or pretty much zero.
DW: Sara is a Nurse and Lactation consultant who shares my love of travel. She’s been to more places in Europe than I have (little bit of jealousy here) and has also traveled extensively in the US, Canada and Mexico.
DD5: My oldest DD will be turning 6 on our trip and she has a love for all things Disney. This won’t be a surprise trip for her as we’ve talked it up for quite a while. I figure, why not share in the excitement of anticipating this trip? She is a total movie buff and has watched many Disney movies. She has a new favorite every week, but she loves Tarzan, Pocahontas, Frozen and Tangled the most.
DD2: My youngest will be 2.5 on this trip and she is as easy going as Sunday morning. She has a love for Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc. No birthday celebration for her, but I know that she’ll have a blast and we’ll make sure she gets some extra attention.
My Parents DF & DM: So, I had some hesitation about asking my parents to join us on this trip. They are both in their 70’s and can be a little slow getting around. But, I really wanted them to experience their Granddaughters’ first trip to Disney and this may be the last time they ever make it down there. They are going to drive down from MD and will stay at FW in their camper. They are only staying 3 nights, so we will have our own family time without them as well.
When are we going?
September 17th – 24th, 2016
Where are we staying?
Bay Lake Tower – 1-BR Villa Theme Park View!!!
September 17th – 24th, 2016
Where are we staying?
Bay Lake Tower – 1-BR Villa Theme Park View!!!
We had heard that you could rent DVC points and could get a nice room at a fraction of the costs. The location to Magic Kingdom and being able to walk there was pretty much the deciding factor for us. With the littles in tow and with MK being our main focus on this trip it was kind of a no-brainer. We didn’t want any long bus rides after a long day in the park. If there are any meltdowns then we can mosey back to the room or take a quick monorail ride. Easy. And with Theme Park View we can enjoy some fireworks from our balcony. This may be a saving factor as I’m not sure how our DD2 will do with fireworks.
Dining Reservations!!
Food is good
ADR’s are made and I’m very happy with the reservations we were able to secure.
- Chef Mickey’s Dinner
- BOG – Pre-park opening Breakfast
- Crystal Palace Lunch
- Coral Reef Lunch
- HDDR w/Grandparents (Their arrival day so I wanted to make it easy on them)
- Another BOG – Pre-park opening Breakfast w/Grandparents (these are mainly to get ahead of RD crowd)
- Cinderella’s Royal Table Dinner for DD’s birthday w/Grandparents (after her BBB appointment)
- The Plaza Restaurant Dinner
I’m hoping that we don’t feel too tied to our reservations but I think that we’ll need some of these to force us to sit down and relax. There are plenty of meals that we’ll be able to do a QS or eat in our room, since we will have a full kitchen. I wanted to book an Ohana late breakfast on our MNSSHP day, but my wife overruled me and thought having a day without reservations will be needed. I can totally understand that one, as I would have booked it on our MNSSHP day. She didn’t get any arguments from me but I’m bummed that we won’t get to Ohana this trip. That just gives me a reason to come back!
As I said earlier, we will be heavy on the Magic Kingdom touring and will have a day at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We decided that HS could be skipped this trip as I’m the only one that would be interested in the SW stuff and this trip is all about the DD’s.
That’s it for now. I have a lot of tentative plans but I’ll save those for another update.
