Disney World! Here we come!

Walt Disney World Other
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Well, we are just hours away from our departure for the Happiest Place on Earth. As a TP user for a number of years, this was my very first time using the Forum. I don’t know how I missed this feature in the past but I am humbled by the collective knowledge of the people hanging out here. They have offered their help at every turn.

I would be amiss if I didn’t give a shout out to a few folks here. First, @bswan26 for his insight on a great steak for my son-in-law; we’re gonna try the Boathouse and the California Grill. I’ll let you know how it goes. To @PrincipalTinker and @capn_ed for their clarification on FPP for groups. Let me tell 'ya…planning for a group takes on a whole new dimension in TP after only doing it for 2 folks all these years. With groups, I don’t think you can over plan. At one point, I had about 18 TP’s running for 4 park days……I’m down to six. A special shout to @Damavs for help with a room at the Grand Floridian, the Fax Request took off without a hitch, wish us luck on a room with a view. To my new friends of the Southeast PA liners, @gabmom, @shanneepantslovesdisney, @BearsMom2011 and others…it was great meeting you all…when is that Shady Maple meet? A very special shout to @haylekk who hooked my up with Disney Rewards card and just happens to be at WDW the same time. If you see a gaggle of lost souls in Philly drab looking for a cheesesteak, that’s us…

We are driving from Philly tommorow and should check in sometime Sunday. We’ll do some notes on the trip but not sure when we get a chnace to post it…maybe do a few pics.

Thanks everyone for all your help in planning this trip.

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Have a great time!!

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Safe travels and have a great trip!

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Safe travels! We fly in on Sunday. It’s been great planning with you!!

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Good luck driving with all the Thanksgiving travelers. It was a pleasure meeting you @jbrew.

Be sure to stop and use restrooms at South of the Border. Chico will give you a countdown. I did it once as a teen with my family when we went to WDW. We stopped with our son on another trip.

We have also thought about meeting at Hershey in the Chocolate World area. There is a parking lot. It is free the first hour. They have a food court, the chocolate world tour and the chocolate store. We probably should wait until after the holidays and see what Winter brings. Any other ideas are welcome.

Have fun on your trip.

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Trip Report 27 Nov – 3 Dec 2016

Hi. This report is terribly late and awfully long. Apologizes to those who been waiting with bated breath. We returned home to a leaking water heater and then work and the holidays took over leaving me with little time to get this together. The month of January was spent pleading with my kids to send me their photos for this report. Got a few but I’ll go with what I have.

My intent is multi-faceted. First, I’d like to report on how we planned for this event. Now, I know in this forum it’s like preaching to the choir but maybe there are some folks here that can use some of this information.

Second, a plan is only good as the first day of execution. As much as I would liked to have EVERYTHING go as planned, sadly its does not (LOL). I have a couple of comical (well its was funny later) incidents to expound on that threw us for a curve and how we managed to make the best of it.

Lastly, we have some great moments/stories to share about the grandkids, their favorite rides and picture galore.

First some background info. Irene and I have been going as empty nesters since 2002. This will be our first trip as a family since the kids were in grade school in the ‘90s. The kids are now adults and have children of their own. The big kids are Jack and Christina with their children Ava (4) and Jaxs (1 ½). Then there is Joan & Gene and their little guy Lucas (5).

PLANNING: The Unofficial Guide is my bible to WDW. I’ve used it for every trip since I heard about it in 2009 and is indispensible. The forum is new to me but the folks here helped me clear up some misconceptions I had about FassPass, better way to make dining reservations for those hard to get places, touring plans and other matters. You can count on them for an honest answer.

This is the first time I planned for a group. I quickly discovered planning for a group has its own unique challenges. Our story starts waaaaayyyyy back to Sept 2015. This was to be a X-mas surprise from us to them and I had all intentions to get them involved in the planning before I booked any reservations. But, the Wicked Witch offered a poisoned apple and planning the plan got off to a rocky start. Here is what happened:

I am retired Army and take advantage of the Disney Armed Forces Salute discounts. The Armed Forces Salute program is a Disney discount not associated with the normal military discount at the ticket window. This program is temporary and is renewed by Disney annually with specific start and end dates. No one knows when this discount will permanently end but they are very deep discounts. For example, in 2016 an adult 4-day hopper ticket is a fixed price at $192.00 (limit to six tickets). Water parks add on is $25 extra.

Normally, the Armed Forces Salute window to book rooms opens in Jan or Feb and is not announced until the day it opens. Disney and the military renegotiated an earlier window to start in October so military families can take advantage of the Christmas room discounts. Somehow, an e-mail announcing the window to open in Oct at 3 PM was accidently sent hours early to those on the MS distro list. I know only a limited number of rooms would be available at a 40% discount, I had the resort reservation phone number on speed dial.

Here is a good link about the program: The Disney Armed Forces Salute - Military Ticket and Room Discounts - Military Disney Tips Blog

With only two hours before the discount window opened, I had to make some decisions without input from the family.

We only had 4-day tickets so I wanted to spend as much time at the parks as possible therefore a Disney resort was the preferred location.

I’m sure the big kids could keep up the pace but, I also knew the little guys would tire easily. Even with a school schedule they were on, mid-day/late-day naps were the norm. And, since two of the four days would be at MK anyhow, I narrowed the selection to Disney hotels on the monorail.

The next decision I have to make is when to go. The easy answer was the less expensive time in the middle of hurricane season commonly called Value Season. Kids are out of school so no conflicts there. But can the little guys handle that oppressive humid Florida heat? The other choice was in December. A bit more expensive but the kids would love the decorations and Christmas theme. Looking at the new tiered pricing, I noticed the week after Thanksgiving and before mid-December (Fall Season??) was the least expensive in the month. Hey, its all about the kids right?

I had pre-dialed the phone number to the Military Salute Disney reservation desk and noted it took 10 seconds to dial and punch thru all the automated prompts. So, at 10 seconds before 3 PM, I dialed the number and like pixie dust on a rotten apple, I was talking to an agent.

So, I am about to book with the agent…PAUSE…lets talk about the budget…

I knew this was going to be more expensive than our recent trips. I had worked out a budget based on the last five trips Irene and I made. We went to the Poly, Pop Century and each of the All-Star resorts. Each time we used the basic dining plan; twice we drove and flew the other times. The last three times we used the Military Salute discounts. We always went in the spring (not Spring Break) or the week(s) after Labor Day. The last visit in 2014 was our first visit to the Food & Wine Festival and that was AWESOME!

I have a pretty good idea what this is going to cost. The day I’m making the call, I have the budget spreadsheet for tickets, transportation, food options in front of me with the three monorail hotels and; if they are filled I have back up hotels, A of A, Pop Century and the All-Stars. Polynesian was my first choice, been there and I liked the décor. GF was next but I knew that would be out of my price range. We went there when it first opened I think in ’91 or ’92. Never been to the Contempory so this might be my first time. I’m thinking A of A would be good choice. It was the only place to have room for 9 of us. All of the others would require 2 rooms. To my knowledge, suites are not discounted at the deluxe hotels.

Okay, UN-PAUSE.

Back to phone call and I’m talking to Jason the reservation agent and he is surprised I dialed in for the Military Discount, it had just popped up on his screen when I called…imagine that!

What I know is, we’re going the last weekend in November for 6 nights and it’s going to be a Disney Hotel.

I asked for the Polynesian…nothing available. My heart sank. Why of course, they are still renovating. I ask him to look at the GF. He has two rooms. When he quotes me the Standard Rate, it’s LOWER than the Poly…I said “no way”! He says, “I can’t believe it my self, that’s a low rate”.

So, I say I’ll take it! I’m as giddy as anything, he says Meal Plan? Not thinking about anything else, I say I say, “sure, go for it”…I don’t even look at my spreadsheet to see what the price is, I get the Memory Maker cause 1) everyone in my party can use it, 2) the advance price is $99 compared to $149 and 3) the photographers do a decent job (more on that later). They could have sold me the Brooklyn Bridge and think I would’ve taken it…

We’re booked. I put a deposit down on each room, six nights, 27 Nov – 3 Dec Standard room, Disney dinning (TS, QS, 2S), memory Maker. But, the story gets better…the Ice Queen shows up and freezes every thing in it place….

I get an invoiced e-mailed to me but I don’t look at it until the weekend. When I finally look at it a few days later, every thing looks okay…6 days, Disney plan, blah, blah, blah…until I see:

BALANCE DUE 20 NOVEMBER 2016!!! NOOOOOO…we’re going 2017!!! It was to be due mid-October 2017…

I panic…. No wonder I got these low prices, I was ready to kill Jason…I called the reservation and spoke with the women on the other end and explained what happened. Well, the Ice Queen started to melt, the agent told me, Jason used the right 2017 codes for the prices, he/we just booked 2016 rooms. In a few moments she had everything switch to 2017 dates and even upgrade us the Lagoon View rooms, cause hat was all that was left.

Though I was happy to get that all fixed, I wonder now if Jason was looking at the 2016 Poly rooms…could there have been 2017 Poly rooms available?..wondering minds…

I’m gonna rest and catch my breath now…in a day or two or sp, we’ll get in more detail about how the planning went for a group for the first time. What a chore THAT was!

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How stressful! I’m glad it worked out.

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The saga continues……its early October 2015 and we’re booked at the Grand Floridian from Sunday 27 Nov thru Saturday 3 Dec the next year. We have 4-day park tickets, dining plan and a Memory Maker account. Now is the time to SURPRISE the kids!! I want to do a family meeting before, on or just after Christmas to tell them. Like I said earlier, I want them to be involved in the planning.

Now we all live in Philadelphia. We are a very territorial family. We stay close to the hospital that we were born in. With a little bit of effort, we can walk to each other’s home. Don’t even need to take a bus, we are THAT CLOSE!! Would you believe it took until 28 January 2016 to get them together and let them in on the surprise? It was like herding cats.

I waited so long to get them in one location, I had a 47-page PowerPoint presentation prepared. It was so cool, too…I had pictures of the hotel, the monorail; pictures from previous trips, even 7DMT video’s Irene dancing on Main Street with Memory Maker animations…I should have sold admission tickets…well anyway…
…They were in tears, not sure if it was them laughing at the video of their Mom line dancing with the Tam-Tam drummers in AK or they were just so happy the presentation was over…like this post.

More tomorrow folks…Dining Reservations.

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And my family think I’m an over planner :joy::joy:

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This is great; can’t wait to read the rest!

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Although we couldn’t get together as a family Christmas weekend, I did give each family a hard copy of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2016 for X-Mas. I purchased the electronic version because I do most of my reading on an iPad. At the presentation, I also gave each family a 1” binder with info sheets on the hotel, kid friendly restaurants, menu’s, reviews of “experiences”, a review on stroller rentals and all sorts of goody stuff to make them WDW savvy.

I asked them to review the restaurants, pick the one’s they would like to go to. Our 180-day out was the last day in May so, I asked them to give me their choices by April.

So while they were doing that, I had to figure out what order we would visit the parks. I looked at the projected Crowd Levels (CL) for each of the parks, what special events were scheduled and when early/late hours would be. Our check-in day was on a Sunday, doing the parks Monday thru Friday and checkout on Saturday. With only 4-day park tickets, one of the park days would have to be a rest day. The Mickey X-mas Party dates for 2016 were not confirmed but as time moved on some of the dates were getting leaked out.

Base on the historical CL’s, I recall most were in the 4-6 range. The 1st week after Thanksgiving is considered the lowest crowd week before the Christmas break. I stayed away from Extra Morning Hours (EMH) because I wasn’t sure how well the little kids will get up for an early rope drop. I picked Weds for the rest day because uh, it was in the middle of the trip. I also skipped AK because the parents thought all it was a big zoo.

I recommended doing: MK on Monday; EP on Tuesday; Wednesday a Rest Day; back to MK on Thursday and HS on Friday. I figured the little guys would enjoy 2 days MK. Except for the Grand Mom.

Oh, non-contraire says the wife in her worst German accent. “AK has zee Lion King, de Flights of Vonder and Zafari….”.

I gave it some thought and came up with this idea: all three groups would do Future World in the morning. After lunch, Irene and I would take the kids to Animal Kingdom and have dinner there. In the meantime, the two big kid groups would continue to World Showcase on their own that IMO (with the exception Frozen) more geared towards adults. If they wanted to go back to Future World.

We would all meet up again in the evening at World Showcase for some Frozen drinks. And that worked out because Tuesday was projected to be Extra Evening hours at EPCOT, we would take the little kids back to the hotel while the big kids had dinner and watch Illuminations. Everyone was in agreement. FEA was a must do on the kids list so I had to work that in, too. Don’t know how I was going to schedule this but it was a plan.

So, armed with the UG and a 1” binder chock full of restaurant information I asked them to just select which table service restaurants they wanted to try. I also asked them to have a second restaurant in mind if I can’t get the first one. The only recommendation I made was to try to get an evening reservation for Chef Mickey on arrival day, Sunday.

Here is what they requested (not in any order); it was heavy on character meals.
Chef Mickey
Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
Coral Reef
Garden Grill
Hollywood & Vine (would become Minnie Seasonal X-mas Celebration or something like that)
Mama Melrose
Cinderella’s Royal Table
Liberty Tavern
A good steak
Spirit of Aloha Luau
Ragland Road
Portabella
California Grill
Surf & Turf

My goal was to keep the kids on the same schedule they were on at home. At home, both kids took naps around 2-3 PM. Sometimes Lucas would skip a nap but be cranky by dinnertime. Both parents agreed to lunch between 11:30 and 12:30 and dinners before 7 PM. Other than that the meal schedule was wide open.

I also had to consider any allergies. My wife is diagnosed with Celiac Shure (gluten intolerance) that makes here very fatigued when she eats wheat. My son-in-law Gene is allergic to raw vegetables. Yeah, veggies!! I wish I knew about that when I was “forced” to eat broccoli as a kid. My granddaughter is not lactose intolerant but is on a soy milk diet.

Next post would be the trials and tribulations of dining reservation day, what we were able to snag and the challenges I encounteed trying to make a change with My Disney Experience (MDE).

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I mentioned that I gave them a copy of the Unoffcial guide for X-mas. I asked them to read Part 1 to get familair with the parks. Remember, they haven’t gone since they were kids. Well, Iwasn’t going to let hard earned money sit a self…In January, I gave the a TEST. Here is the e-mail I sent them:

----Original--------
Okay, I am sure all you good students have read at least Part One of your homework assignment. Here is test:

What is one of seven things you should do 9-12 months before you arrive.
When is the soonest you can make a reservation at a buffet or sit down tpresturant
What is the ratio of park guests to reservation to see Elsa at a buffet
What time of day can you start making an online reservation for a restaurant
If your unsure about your child going on a ride, what recommended YouTube location can you go to watch videos
When is the soonest you can start reserving rides and what time of day
How many miles per day will you walk at WDW
When is the last day you can customized you Magic Bands before they are shipped to you
Do you need to consider mail delivery, pets, medications, credit cards, MyDisney experience accounts in your planning?

You have 7 days to turn in you answers.

Cut___

Then I threw in an extra credit question.

Extra credit question.
What Walt Disney World web site is good place to check for Moms

It was an open book test…I’m sure this group would do well…

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Love the test. I can only presume that a failing grade meant no Mickey Bars for the student? :scream:

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hahaha…I should of thought of that one! When you don’t have carrots on a stick, use Mickey Bars!! BTW, I believe I got the same room you had last time at the GF #2325??. I found some lose change under the sofa…pics to follow on that…

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Mickey Bars are the best - sometimes I think that’s the real reason our family enjoys WDW so much :slight_smile:

I was going to ask you to send the change, but we were in 8327 at Boca Chica. Great room, although I’m sure there are several very nice options at GF.

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Yes, it was an “8”, lagoon view,Boca Chica …but I will check with the maid to see if she still has it…

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The maids work hard and leave cool souvenir cards & chocolates - she can keep it :slight_smile:

That is a great room/view - we loved it there…

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Dining Reservation Day

This was my first time planning for a group. And boy, was I not ready for this! I took the day off from work so I can make the 6 AM Eastern online booking. In front of me, I had my faithful spreadsheet with all the restaurants the kids wanted to try. (See above posts). I also had backup restaurants in case we didn’t get their first choice.

My plan of attack was to get BOG, Chef Mickey and CRT in that order. I believe that BOG is still taking seats from the other two. If I get those, I was going to work in reverse order Saturday to Monday. I figured I would have more open seats further down the road compared to people who are just getting to their open window. I had Irene logging onto MDE under her account to try to get reservations working backwards.

So, I’m logged in, I’ve practiced the morning before, I have my date copied to my clipboard, its 6:00:02 AM and….the first 10 minutes, that felt like eternity, I DON’T GET ONE RESERVATION!!

My first thought, oh, something must be wrong with the reservation system…it must be down!! don’t we all say that……I then try a test with just 1 person…a seat is available for BOG! I increase two, more seats! I’m cooking now! Lets try for 3 seats…at least Joan, Gene & Lucas can get in…NOT AVAILABLE!
OMG…they are going to kill me…I can’t get one reservation…but, finally I break in and get 4 seats for CRT, so Jack, Christina, Ava & Jaxs are in.

One of the challenges I faced was, for most of the reservations, it was for a party of 9. As I read in the UG, most table seating is in increments of 2, 4, and 8. When you get into the odd numbers, the system takes the next best fit, generally the next higher number. In our case, a 10 seat table which are harder to arrange.

Another new feature for me was, MDE defaults to the login name/e-mail for the account. If you want to make another reservation for a smaller group of your party, in the same time frame you have to change the reservation creator from the log in person, to another person and the reservation that already doesn’t have a reservation in the same window. This caused problems later.

My desire to get Chef Mickey on Sunday failed. But, I was able to get 1900 Fare Park at the GF by splitting up the party in 5 seats and 4 seats 10 minutes apart. With a little perseverance, I got a brunch at Chef Mickey on our rest day (less competition).

In most cases, the strategy of splitting the group into smaller groups worked. My coup was getting Hollywood & Vine Minnie’s Seasonal Party with reservations for 5, 3, and 1 all sitting within 10 minutes of each other. Even our last day at the Floridian Café was split into 5 and 4.

So here is what we got:

DAY Park/Resort Meal Location
SUNDAY Grand Floridian Dinner 1900 Park Fare (Everyone)*
MONDAY Magic Kingdom Dinner Crystal Palace (Group 1)
TUESDAY EPCOT Lunch Coral Reef (Every One)
TUESDAY EPCOT Dinner Tokyo Dining (Group 1)
TUESDAY EPCOT Dinner Nine Dragons (Group 2)
TUESDAY AK Dinner Rainforest (Group 3)
WEDNESDAY Contemporary Lunch Chef Mickey (Everyone)
WEDNESDAY Disney Springs Dinner The Boathouse (Group 1 & 3)*
WEDNESDAY Polynesian Dinner Spirit of Aloha (Group 2)
THURSDAY Magic Kingdom Lunch Cinderella Royal Table (Group 1)
THURSDAY Magic Kingdom Lunch Crystal Palace (Group 2 & 3)
THURSDAY Contemporary Dinner California Grill (Group 2 & 3)
FRIDAY Hollywood Studios Dinner Hollywood & Vine (Everyone)*
SUNDAY Grand Floridian Breakfast Grand Floridian Café (Everyone)*

  • Split reservation

Well, we got nearly everything on the requested list. The Rose & Crown and The Diamond Horseshoe Review (I really wanted to do that) were mistakenly missed from the requested list.

Le Cellier at EP was also on the request list but the only opening was during Illuminations.

BOG was high on everyone’s list but we struck out. As we got closer, I couldn’t get 1 seat.

Crystal Palace had to be split over two days.

Group 1 got The Boathouse. Later we wanted to join them but for weeks I couldn’t get a table for 6 or add 2 at the same time. I don’t recall if I saw it in the Dining forum or the UG but I tried Open Table and sure enough there were enough seats open that I cancelled the MDE reservation. Some Disney Spring restaurants do take Open Table. If MDE fails you, give them a try.

It’s a common practice to keep trying for restaurants online that you couldn’t get or need different hours for.
A great tool to use is the Restaurant Finder: Disney World Dining Reservation Finder.

When I first started using it, you could have multiple requests running at the same time. There are real Touring Plan people behind that tool (picture 7DMT with computers instead of pick axes) processing your desires. Unfortunately, I’ve heard that some commercial venues were also using it (can’t confirm or deny) hogging up all the processing time and a limit of two requests per TP account was implemented sometime in 2016.

I used it extensively after I got my FassPass reservations. If it looked like either the dining reservation or the FP window was too close to each other, I used the Finder to see if a better time was available.

Hint: if your planning for a group with different reservation desires, I would get a family member to help. With Irene working one end of the calendar and me the other, cut down on the searching.

Next post will be a short post about making FassPass reservations and making changes in MDE. I’m really eager to get into the trip and some pictures.

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As I gather my notes for my FassPass reservations post, here is the 2nd Quiz I e-mailed the families:
------ORIGINAL----------
Part Two of the WDW Unofficial Guide is very number heavy. You can IGNORE anything about buying tickets cause I already got the best price. The big thing in this chapter to read is the best way to use FastPass to reserve you ride on the most popular rides. Your answers will be due NEXT Sunday. The Quiz for PART Four will be done in March and our next meeting to plan on favorite rides and special events will be in April.

  1. For a family of four, among food, lodging, tickets, and transportation, which represents the most cost per day?
  2. Among other things, your Magic-Band allows you access to the parks, your hotel room and buying souvenirs. What is one thing it can’t be used for, yet?
  3. Do Disney parks only open at 9 AM and close at 9 PM? What are the exceptions?
  4. What are some alternatives of things to do on Arrival day?
  5. What are some Alternatives of things to do on Departure day?
  6. What is a Super-Headliner?
  7. When are there no lines and fewer people?
  8. What is discussed on Page 325?
  9. If your children are early morning risers what extra hours should you take advantage of?
  10. If your children are late evening sleepers what extra hours should you take advantage of?
  11. What are the ONLY ways to make Fast Pass+ reservations?
  12. What attractions should you get a FassPass+ before 11 AM
  13. EPCOT Fast Pass+ only allows you to choose one item attraction from Tier 1. Which are they?
  14. What type attractions are recommended NOT to use Fast Pass+ for?
  15. Do not use a FassPass on “Cycle rides”. What are the cycles rides at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

-----Cut--------
Its a snow day in Philly today, yeah!! After finishing the shiveling, booo!!! maybe I can get that FassPass post done.

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FassPass Reservations

At 60 days from check-in, FassPass reservation day was one of the easier experiences with group planning. Having learned the hard way with the dining reservations, we used those lessons learned to snag some good rides for the kids. Irene and I worked both ends of the calendar. We didn’t get all the parents requests on the first try like FEA but once more TP had some tools to help.

At our final planning meeting, we discussed what rides the youngsters were too small for or frightful, rides their parents thought they would like and of course wanted to do and of course some adult rides. As a result, we had a variety of variables to consider.

At 4-years old Ava checked in at 38” and 5-year old Lucas was just over 42”. So that meant no BTMR, Expedition Forest, Space Mountain, Space Mtn, or Rock n Roll Roller coaster for them.

Ava’s Mom said she doesn’t like the dark, so we stayed away from thos attractions. Lucas had no restrictions.

All three adult ladies are not roller coaster folks but all three adult men were.

None of the adults wanted to try anything that might induce motion sickness. I have no fear of repelling out of a helicopter at 200 feet but the Mad Tea Party ride makes me break out in a sweat and reduces me to a sniveling baby.

DINOSUR and Haunted Mansion was closed. Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite rides and I’ve missed it almost half the time I go to WDW. It must be nostalgia thing about that ride. I still remember riding it as a teen back in 1973 and the hologram gypsy at the end.

On the must do list: FEA for Ava (I’m sure she will play THAT SONG at her wedding); a meet and great Anna or Elsa with Dad; anything with Pirates for Lucas; Grand mom added Lion King at AK and I added Toy Story Mania at HS and Buzz light year at MK.

Though it’s all about the grand kids on this trip, I also wanted the big kids to try something of the headliner rides. For MK Space Mtn, EPCOT Soaring and (both guys are Gear Heads) Test Track, Hollywood Studios RnR coaster and Tower of Terror.

No one but me was a Star Wars fan but I we had some closet Jedi’s when they saw the StormTroopers march down Hollywood Blvd. No Star War fireworks but great clips and pics of Jingle Jam Bam fireworks

So here is what we got:

Monday at Magic Kingdom was geared towards rides for the little guys:
FP 10:10 AM – 11:10 AM Group 1 it’s a Small World
FP 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM Everyone Peter Pans Flight
FP 5:50 – 6:50 PM Group 2 Buzz Lightyear
FP 7:05 – 8:05 PM Everyone Seven Dwarf Mine Train

Tuesday at EPCOT with half at AK in the afternoon. We only used 2 FP’s this day but crowds were small for Stand By.
FP 9:20 AM – 10:20 AM Everyone The Seas with Nemo & Friends
FP 10:40 AM – 11:40 AM Jack, Joan, Gene, & Me Soaring
FP 6:00 PM – 7 PM Irene, Christina, Ava, Lucas Frozen Ever After

Thursday Day 2 at Magic Kingdom leaning toward adult rides
FP 9:40 – 10:40 AM Everyone Seven Drafts Mine Train
FP 2:45 – 3:45 PM Everyone Big Thunder Mtn Railroad
FP 4:40 PM – 5:40 PM Everyone Jungle Cruise

Friday at Hollywood Studios
FP 9:45 AM – 1045 AM Everyone Toy Story Mania
FP 1:15 PM Everyone A Frozen Sing-A-Long (its all about the kids)
FP 3:05 PM Everyone Disney Jr Live on Stage

We had to make some refinements later but I like the upgrade how MDE handles it now. In previous trips, it you wanted to change your FP reservation, you had to cancel the current one and HOPE/PRAY if you didn’t get a fit, our original reservation was still there. Now, when you want to change/modify a FP reservation, you can actually see if the window you want is available. If not, just hit CANCEL.

One other tool that I used from the UG was FassPass availability Walt Disney World. Lets say you have a dining reservation at 6PM but your FassPass reservation window is 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM. You can check to see if a FP time is available earlier or later or maybe change your dining reservation with the Restaurant Finder app mentions earlier.

Well the planning is done. i know this was kinda dry and folks enjoy looking at the pictures (they are coming, promise!) but I hope I was able to share some ideas/thoughts about planning for a group to WDW trip. I believe that if your going to much EXPENSE for this trip, you should take advantge of all the TP and UG tips has to offer.

There would be some minor changes. MDE was very difficult to make a changes and I do want to discuss that later but will hold those comments for the final wrap up. At the end, I will also discuss…if I had to do this again…

Next up…the Drive/Fly down!!

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