horse11
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2013
After having my heart broken from the Poly construction I picked up the pieces and went on to planning our trip. I would have a few challenges to deal with in my planning strategy. With the boys I was not sure how they would managed some late nights. With my mom having hip issues walking would not be the only problem but standing for long periods of time could even be worse. As mentioned before with my husbands anxiety we would have to limit tight crowds. With the entire family except me heat could also be an issue. I on the other hand do not mind the heat.
WOW! This would take some dedicated planning! If you notice my post you will see I have visited this site often. I would have been lost without all the DIser whom have helped my out.
It was decided that May would be the best time for our family to visit WDW. I was hoping for fare weather and less crowds with kids still being in school or having graduation party's. With the dates of May 13- May 19th we would catch both the Flower Fest at Epcot and Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios. DOUBLE BONUS! My First plan was to to have a day at each park and one day at a water park. Now we live about 5 to 6 hours from the Water Park Capital of the world ( Wisconsin Dells ). Since we try to make it yearly to the Dells and with all we wanted to do at Disney we decided to add an additional day at Magic Kingdom instead of the water park.
One night we got together with my parents for dinner and a Disney planning night. Everyone added activities and places to eat that they would enjoy doing. That was the easy part. I was left to fit everything in without having to stand in line long, fight crowds and get some pretty tough ADR's Sure no problem!
The first step would be planning our park days around our hope full ADR's. I wanted to be able to wine and dine my parents giving them the opportunity to order what ever they wanted off the menu. I knew my mom and Dad were steak lovers and and they enjoyed seafood as a special treat so both a great steak house and a seafood restaurant had to make the cut. The boys had there heart set on Sci Fi , Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex. I still could not get the Poly out of my mind. I wanted to have the chance to give the boys a taste of Hawaii this trip so The Spirit of Aloha was important for me. Being that Bill would not be comfortable waiting in line to see Fantasmic I really liked the idea of doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose. Being that my boys and I are a HUGE Stich fans we all wanted to go to Ohana's for there character breakfast. During my research I found out that Be Our Guest was the hottest ADR out there and also the hardest to get. Being that I have all boys, princess meals would not be that important but a chance to meet the 7 feet beast in person would be OUTSTANDING!! So many restaurants and some being fine dinning. Considering we were on the mid level dining program how could we choose? Would we be able to get the hottest ADR out there??? My plans for now were to get what I could and figure out the details later.
The day had finally arrived! The 180 day to be exact. The day I would make sure I was off of work and up at the crack of dawn. it was a cold November day in Central Illinois but I was dripping with sweat. I was anxiously loged on to my computer pacing the floor waiting for the clock to strike 5:00am (6:00am Disney time) which I thought would be the time to make my ADRS on line. I was praying there would not be an disappointments this time around. The clock strike 5:00 and I ran to the computer like a bat out of hell only to have the Disney web site tell me I could not make any ADRS at this time. I thought to myself." there goes BOG!" May be I could get the others. The time from 5:00am to 6:00am (7:00am Disney time) was pure torture!! Phone in hand the whole time I kept hitting redial about 5 minutes before 6:00. At 6:00am on the dot I got through to an AMAZING CM! First up the chance to get BOG. I heard the lady on the other end say, "and for what date," I nearly passed out. OMG what date, what date? I got myself so nervous I had almost forgot? I managed to mumbled out the date and heard her say that the ONLY time she had was for 4:10 PM. I heard myself scream out, " I WILL TAKE IT!!!!! After that is was just AMAZING! Every restaurant I threw at her she could work out a great time for us! Coral Reef, Le Cellar, Spirt of Aloha, Ohana's character breakfast, Fulton's Crab House, Tony's, Mama Melrose with Fantasmic Dinner package!!! OMG I DID IT!!! My first thought was of my boys and how excited they will be. It was my first experience receiveing some Disney Magic
but would not be the last one.
Then an amazing thing happened. That CM was the best! Knowing I was dealing with three boys she informed me of two assume activities for them. She asked me, " so how much do your boys like to be pirates?" She went on to tell me about Pirates League. Now I know there is a lot of Disney Veterans out there whom already know about this activity but for you whom are reading this and fairly new to the WDW scene Pirates League is a place that transforms both kids and adults to becoming a Pirate or a Mermaid! They have to say a pledge as well. They have several face paint styles to choose from and even receive accessories to complete the look. This sounds fun! The boys would LOVE it!! Sign me up! Then the CM went on to explain they had a special cruise with a pirate on board whom would take us to see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. They would serve cake , fruit and punch before leaving by boat to view the fireworks with a pirate as a our guide. A visit from Peter Pan would be thrown into the mix. Wow you mean no waiting for hours fighting crowds to see wishes?? You Betcha, count us in!!! Surprisingly everything was starting to take shape and actually lead us to a theme for our trip to Disney as well as finalize our resort choice. Can you guess what that might be?
WOW! This would take some dedicated planning! If you notice my post you will see I have visited this site often. I would have been lost without all the DIser whom have helped my out.
It was decided that May would be the best time for our family to visit WDW. I was hoping for fare weather and less crowds with kids still being in school or having graduation party's. With the dates of May 13- May 19th we would catch both the Flower Fest at Epcot and Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios. DOUBLE BONUS! My First plan was to to have a day at each park and one day at a water park. Now we live about 5 to 6 hours from the Water Park Capital of the world ( Wisconsin Dells ). Since we try to make it yearly to the Dells and with all we wanted to do at Disney we decided to add an additional day at Magic Kingdom instead of the water park.
One night we got together with my parents for dinner and a Disney planning night. Everyone added activities and places to eat that they would enjoy doing. That was the easy part. I was left to fit everything in without having to stand in line long, fight crowds and get some pretty tough ADR's Sure no problem!
The first step would be planning our park days around our hope full ADR's. I wanted to be able to wine and dine my parents giving them the opportunity to order what ever they wanted off the menu. I knew my mom and Dad were steak lovers and and they enjoyed seafood as a special treat so both a great steak house and a seafood restaurant had to make the cut. The boys had there heart set on Sci Fi , Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex. I still could not get the Poly out of my mind. I wanted to have the chance to give the boys a taste of Hawaii this trip so The Spirit of Aloha was important for me. Being that Bill would not be comfortable waiting in line to see Fantasmic I really liked the idea of doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose. Being that my boys and I are a HUGE Stich fans we all wanted to go to Ohana's for there character breakfast. During my research I found out that Be Our Guest was the hottest ADR out there and also the hardest to get. Being that I have all boys, princess meals would not be that important but a chance to meet the 7 feet beast in person would be OUTSTANDING!! So many restaurants and some being fine dinning. Considering we were on the mid level dining program how could we choose? Would we be able to get the hottest ADR out there??? My plans for now were to get what I could and figure out the details later.
The day had finally arrived! The 180 day to be exact. The day I would make sure I was off of work and up at the crack of dawn. it was a cold November day in Central Illinois but I was dripping with sweat. I was anxiously loged on to my computer pacing the floor waiting for the clock to strike 5:00am (6:00am Disney time) which I thought would be the time to make my ADRS on line. I was praying there would not be an disappointments this time around. The clock strike 5:00 and I ran to the computer like a bat out of hell only to have the Disney web site tell me I could not make any ADRS at this time. I thought to myself." there goes BOG!" May be I could get the others. The time from 5:00am to 6:00am (7:00am Disney time) was pure torture!! Phone in hand the whole time I kept hitting redial about 5 minutes before 6:00. At 6:00am on the dot I got through to an AMAZING CM! First up the chance to get BOG. I heard the lady on the other end say, "and for what date," I nearly passed out. OMG what date, what date? I got myself so nervous I had almost forgot? I managed to mumbled out the date and heard her say that the ONLY time she had was for 4:10 PM. I heard myself scream out, " I WILL TAKE IT!!!!! After that is was just AMAZING! Every restaurant I threw at her she could work out a great time for us! Coral Reef, Le Cellar, Spirt of Aloha, Ohana's character breakfast, Fulton's Crab House, Tony's, Mama Melrose with Fantasmic Dinner package!!! OMG I DID IT!!! My first thought was of my boys and how excited they will be. It was my first experience receiveing some Disney Magic
but would not be the last one. Then an amazing thing happened. That CM was the best! Knowing I was dealing with three boys she informed me of two assume activities for them. She asked me, " so how much do your boys like to be pirates?" She went on to tell me about Pirates League. Now I know there is a lot of Disney Veterans out there whom already know about this activity but for you whom are reading this and fairly new to the WDW scene Pirates League is a place that transforms both kids and adults to becoming a Pirate or a Mermaid! They have to say a pledge as well. They have several face paint styles to choose from and even receive accessories to complete the look. This sounds fun! The boys would LOVE it!! Sign me up! Then the CM went on to explain they had a special cruise with a pirate on board whom would take us to see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. They would serve cake , fruit and punch before leaving by boat to view the fireworks with a pirate as a our guide. A visit from Peter Pan would be thrown into the mix. Wow you mean no waiting for hours fighting crowds to see wishes?? You Betcha, count us in!!! Surprisingly everything was starting to take shape and actually lead us to a theme for our trip to Disney as well as finalize our resort choice. Can you guess what that might be?
. With mom in mind I studied the park maps to help me perfect a pathway that would save us walking yet allow us to do the rides and activities of choice without waiting in long lines yet still fitting in time for our ADR's. That was probably my greatest challenge as well as my biggest accomplishment. But would it all work out? Only time would tell. 
Thanks for sharing!!!
). 
We have stayed there twice and it is my favorite resort. 
We only go on short trips so it flys by to fast. I'm already planning our next trip and CBR is one of my first choices 
