My Sweet 16 in Walt Disney World -- July 2016

KellyKateri

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
OK, I'm finally getting on this forum bandwagon because I had
an I had such an amazing Sweet 16
b I would love to help others plan their sweet 16
c I want to share my trip because it was the most amazing time
d I want to show that doing Disney Sweet 16 trips on a budget is totally possible.

****Budgeting was a major factor in my trip and everything in this trip may not be the most *ideal* for everyone out there, but it was definitely worth it in my case.****

I guess I will start off with my preplanning,and let me tell you now that I and my younger sister spent well over 20 hours planning this trip so it may seem a little insane, but it 100% pays off in the long run. I am the Disney Planner in my family, I plan what park we are going to on what day, where we are staying, where we are eating, what fp+s we get and just about everything else and in-between. This was essentially the only way i could make sure this trip happened the way I wanted it to happen.

Sunday, July 17th, 2016
So first off driving into WDW is easily the cheapest way to get there. Coming from NY we rented a Dodge Grand Caravan and began our journey down to the happiest place on earth. We did stop overnight in North Carolina and stay at my aunt's house which was another big money saver. We left New York around 7 AM and made it down to North Carolina by 5 pm.

Monday, July 18th, 2016 (Check In Day)
We woke up at around 7 again and proceeded to finish off our drive. I received my online check-in confirmation saying that our room was ready. Using online check in is extremely helpful and I highly suggest it, you can make room requests and you can skip the check-in line in the lobby entirely because they send you your room number and a link to the resort map where you can locate your room. I requested for our room to be near the elevators and on the highest floor, which we were slightly disappointed when seeing we had the highest floor, but we had the farthest walk to the elevators, but we would just have to make due. We arrived at the Boardwalk Inn Resort around 4 PM.

-Now let me talk about the Resort and its booking and all that jazz-
I know what your thinking The Boardwalk Inn??? How is that on a budget??? Well, it was totally on budget and got even better. While we were looking into booking rooms much earlier on we had three possible hotel options. The Art of Animation family suite, POP Century, and All-Star movies. Because there was going to be six of us we would have needed to book two rooms in POP and All-Star, this is when the less than ideal part comes in. Looking around more and comparing amenities and sq ft of rooms we had basically decided on POP, but then I came across the Boardwalk Inn with rooms for 5 going for $299 a night, which is a steal in itself, but there was six of us and two rooms in BW seemed a tad overpriced. So what did we do? We booked the room for five and brought an air mattress in the car. Like I said extremely unideal and not very ethical, but why not. So now we had booked a standard room in BW for 5 (actually 6) for only $299 a night.

So we dropped our luggage off with the bellboy and we were off to our room. We took the elevators to level 4 and started to walk down the VERY LONG (I'm not kidding VERY LONG) hallway. We reached the end of the hallway and were still confused because there weren't any more rooms except a small office. So my mother peeped her head in and asked where the room was and they responded Mrs----- we have been waiting for you! I was taken back majorly. My friends had never been to Disney before so they didn't really understand what happened (and truthfully I don't think they understood for the entire trip) They explained to us how to use the door (it is touch opened by magic band) and gave us information on The Innkeepers Club which is the club room in Boardwalk. We continued to walk down another long hallway and got into our room. The room was very tidy and there was the classic towel head mickey on the bed. Along with it was a note welcoming us "home" and some small chocolates. We quickly unpacked and headed over to the Innkeepers club to see what they had to offer. And trust me they didn't disappoint. They welcomed us warmly and said they would soon be taking the appetizers down to put up the dessert for the evening. We had a wide variety of food, they are not "meals" though may I warn all though it is a "take as much as you want" scenario. There was a fridge with soda and waters available to us and coffee. My personal favorite was the peanut butter and jelly rolls and I highly recommend them. Following our "appetizers" we went down to explore the boardwalk and grab a box of pizza. (We saw many people order pizza and bring it up to the club room to get away from the "hustle and bustle" of the boardwalk) After our dinner, we got changed and grabbed some sodas for the pool. The resort offers fresh towels in the pool area and drop off stations for them when your done using them. The pool overall was very nice, the clown slide is very delightful and quick tip you can actually see the backside of Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios from the top of the slide! After a fun evening in the pool, we showered off and got dressed for Disney Springs. When we returned from our night out we were welcomed at the front office asking if we enjoyed our time and if we needed anything. After returning to the room we were delighted to see the turndown service that was given. Salt water taffy on each bed and the bed partly unmade.

---- For the next three days we spent our entire time in the parks and I will not give as in-depth detail as I did above, I will, however, indicate "special occurrences", fast passes, ride order and etc because not only do I want to write this thread for information but also for my own memory---------

-- Speaking of which I am more than happy to give fast pass help or game plan help just leave a response!--

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Breakfast in the Innkeepers club is well worth it. I eat light breakfast and this definitely was enough for my party. There was a large selection of coffee, tea, sausage, deviled eggs, orange juice, chocolate milk, self-serve cereal bar, and many other items. Next, we headed to Animal Kingdom

Park: Animal Kingdom
Transportation by: Bus
Transportation from: Boardwalk
Rides: Kilimanjaro Safaris
Expedition Everest
When we got on the ride I was given 6 re-entry passes for any ride in animal kingdom!
Dinosaur (used re-entry up)
Primavera Whirl

Park: Hollywood Studios
Transportation by: Bus
Transportation from: Animal Kingdom
Rides: Tower of Terror (fp+)
Star Tours (fp+)
Muppet 3D vision
Toy Story MidWay Mania! (fp+)
Rockin Rollercoaster (4th fp+ made on my phone)

We then went back to Boardwalk to get dressed for "Birthday Dinner" in my favorite restaurant Chefs de France.

Park: Epcot
Transportation by: walk
Transportation from: Boardwalk
Rides: We met Sleeping Beauty
Figment
Finding Nemo

We got lots of compliments/stares in the park as we were wearing our dresses. I wore a black "sweet 16 dress" and had everyone else in my party wear white, I also wore my sparkly minnie mouse ears with a tiara while everyone else wore the regular minnie ears. I had "speeches" during our dinner and overall it was great time. We were asked, "Who's the bachelorette" (that gave my mom a fright haha) I was given a mickey sticker "sash" by a cast member and we basically just had a great time.

We then went back to Boardwalk and changed back into comfy clothes haha

Park: Hollywood Studios
Transportation by: walk
TRransportation from: Boardwalk
Rides: Tower of Terror (fifth fp+ made on my phone)
Fantasmic (sixth fp+ made on my phone)

Side note: so far many people don't know that you can now make FP+ on your phone. I talked to multiple CMs before my trip asking for clarification and I got very mixed responses saying you can make three on your phone, and that you can't make them on your phone and only at a kiosk so let me tell you straight.

After you use your first three fp+ selections you can make another using the MyDisneyExpierence app. If you have park hoppers and you are in Hollywood studios you can make one in magic kingdom. YOU CAN ONLY MAKE ONE SELECTION AND YOU NEED TO WAIT UNTIL YOU USE THAT FP+ BEFORE BOOKING YOUR NEXT FP+. This was very beneficial because you can make FP+ for rides you really don't want to wait in line for, but actually want to go on (barnstormer in MK, finding Nemo in the Magic Kingdom).

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Park: Magic Kingdom
Transportation by: bus
Transportation from: Boardwalk

Magic Kingdoms new opening time is now 8 am, use that to your advantage, in the middle of July we WALKED onto Splash Mountain and Big Thunder it is 100% worth the early morning wake up.

Rides: Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain

Park: Epcot
Transportation by: Boat from MK to the transportation and ticket center (it was really nice being that the boat was empty because we were out of MK by 9 and that was when most of the crowds started to pour in, it was literally the six of us and this small family of three.) Then we took the monorail to Epcot.
Transportation from: Magic Kingdom
Rides: We met Daisy
We met Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie at the Epcot character spot (FP)
Mission Space (FP+)
Three Cabarellos
We met Anna and Elsa
Frozen Ride (fp+)
The frozen ride was actually down during our FP time so we went to the hotel and chilled out until it was open again (only about an hour)

Park: Magic Kingdom
Transportation by: monorail to the transportation and ticket center then to Magic Kingdom
Transportation from: Epcot
Rides: When a ride is closed during your FP time you get a "multiple uses FP" meaning you can wait for the ride to open again or use it for another ride, but this also means you can book your next FP because your last FP has expired. We booked Jungle Cruise Fps being that MK was our next park.
Jungle Cruise
When we got to Jungle Cruise it was raining, meaning jungle cruise was closed and we got another "multiple use FP". Our plan was to wait in line for Pirates of the Carribean and then use the multiple use FP in Haunted Mansion, but while waiting or Pirates, there was actually an FP available for Haunted Mansion in ten minutes and because our other FP was a "multiple use FP" we could book it. So we went ahead and booked the Haunted Mansion FP and used our "multiple uses FP" on Pirates of the Carribean.
So Rides Pirates of the Carribean (fourth FP)
Haunted Mansion (fifth FP)
Jungle Cruise (sixth FP)
Quick Dinner at Pecos Bills
Barnstormer (seventh FP) (these are the "I want to go, but not wait Fps)
Dumbo (eighth FP)
Ariel Journey of the Little Mermaid (ninth FP)
Meet Ariel (tenth FP)
Small World (11th FP)
Phillarmagic
Wishes
Stitch (FP)
Magic Kingdom was open until 1 AM that night, but we actually went home after 11 because we had FP's for all of tomorrowland the next day)

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Park: Epcot
Transportation by: walk
Transportation from: Boardwalk
Ride: Soarin'
Test Track

We actually then walked to Boardwalk for a quick nap being that Soarin and Test Track took all morning.

Park: Magic Kingdom
Transportation by: bus
Transportation from: Boardwalk
Rides: 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (FP)
Lunch at Be Our Guest
People Mover
Stitch's great escape
Space Mountain (FP)
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (FP)
Laugh Floor (fourth FP)

Park: Hollywood Studios
Transportation by: bus
Transportation from: Magic Kingdom
Rides: Tower of Terror
Star Wars Fireworks
Rockin Rollercoaster (FP)

We then took the boat over to the Yacht and Beach Club for Beaches n Cremes iconic Kitchen Sink!

Friday, July 22, 2016
We packed our stuff up and gave it to the Bell hops and said our final goodbyes to our wonderful room. (Side note for club level guest, upon the day of your check out you have access to the innkeepers club for the entire day (we grabbed lots of snacks for the road). We hung out by the pool and shoppe on the boardwalk before leaving our home. We did shed tears in car in reflection on how sad we were to leave, but also on how great of a time we all had.

And with that, we drove back up to New York.

If you actually read this whole thing I give your props and I hope it gave you some help. I know while I was planning I really wanted some first-hand advice so hopefully this help. Don't be shy to reply! I would love to answer any questions on Boardwalk, Club level, parks, tickets, anything!
 
OP this is a really good trip report. I must say that I am really proud of you, and I like it that you are 16 and the trip planner for the family. Let me tell you this is such a coincidence because I am 16 years old and planned the whole trip for my family all by myself. It was extremely hard work but we had a great time, and my family thanked me tons for my hard work. We were there just last week.

Here is my trip report if you want to read it: http://disboards.com/threads/the-be...amily-has-ever-done-august-6-12-2016.3537056/

I haven't finished it yet, but I did the first two days, and am about to do the third day very soon.

I honestly thought I was the only one that was my age and did all of these things myself, but I am glad to find you very knowledgeable and knowing your stuff about WDW. I also help other families plan their trips as well. Once again it really thrills me that you have done this yourself and all of you had a great time!
 
Thank you for sharing your trip! This is very helpful. I am in the process of planning a July 2017 trip to WDW and I am trying to learn the in's-and-out's of the FP system. It all seems very confusing.
Happy birthday!!
 


Thank you for sharing your trip! This is very helpful. I am in the process of planning a July 2017 trip to WDW and I am trying to learn the in's-and-out's of the FP system. It all seems very confusing.
Happy birthday!!
Hi! I just saw your comment and would love to help out with any questions you might still have with any FPs they do tend to be really confusing, but are actually so helpful if you use them right!
 

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