"I Just Want to Ride Dumbo!" A January 2014 PTR

[bellebookworm9]

Hello DIS friends! Since we are now exactly 75 days away from our next trip, I thought it might b a good time to begin a PTR.

The characters in this trip are:

That's me. I'm Gretchen. 22 years old, in the second year of my doctoral program in audiology, former cast member as of a week ago, and working part time in a group home for people with varying disabilities.

My mom, Debbie. 56 years old, working in a different group home for a different agency-can you tell this runs in the family?

A new addition to our cast for this trip, is my younger brother Ian. He will be turning 19 on January 5th and is actually the reason we are taking this trip! He's never been to Disney before. Ian lives in a group home and has a host of disabilities, including intellectual disability and autism.

Our trip is planned for January 6th-10th. We are flying on JetBlue, arriving in Orlando at 10:45am Monday morning and leaving at 5:35pm Friday evening. Our resort is Art of Animation-Cars suite. I stayed at AoA in a Lion King suite with two friends over the summer and loved it! We wanted three beds for this trip, and deluxes are just too expensive with more than two adults in the room. My "twinsie", PB, is a cast member at MK and has kindly booked us at a 60% discount.

On my last trip we also rented a car for the first time and we will be doing so again. Dollar had a good deal, so we have a Ford Focus (or similar) booked. Ian just wouldn't be able to deal with the waits for the buses or the packed in like sardines conditions at the end of the night. Also, Mom has some serious back problems, so we are renting a scooter from Apple Scooter for the second time. It supposedly easily disassembles for easy car transport so we don't have to feel like a huge inconvenience to other guests on the bus.

And we have one ADR booked for the Fantasmic package at Hollywood and Vine. Ian is too unpredictable to make a lot of ADRs, particularly with this new $10 charge if you don't show up. We figure this way we don't have to wait quite as long for the show, and a buffet means we can go at our own pace of eating.

So I hope you'll join in as I figure out our park and dining plans, plus try to navigate the new DAS and possibly the FP+/Magicband system!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Day 1 Plans:
Our first day is going to be relatively laid back. My mom may be moving the week before our trip. I will probably go stay with her the night before, so we can take one car to the airport. Our flight leaves Buffalo at 8:00am. Buffalo is typically not a super busy airport, especially before 7am. Hopefully we can get Ian through security without too much trouble.

We are sitting together in a row of three, and plan on bringing Ian's iPod, magazinies, my iPhone, anything we can think of to keep him busy. I'm thinking of buying one of those "charger cases" to make sure one of our devices always has a battery!

We land in Orlando at 10:45am or so. I think we'll grab something to eat at the airport so we can let the luggage come out and not have such a long wait for that. Then Ian and I can go get the bags and Mom can go take care of the car paperwork.

On to Art of Animation! I hope to arrive at the resort by 1. With any luck, our room will be ready. And I really hope Mom's scooter will be there-we can't go to a park without it. So maybe we'll be able to stop and drop off the bags before heading to Epcot!

Epcot has evening EMH this night, which I normally avoid like the plague, but I think they may benefit us. We'll make a stop at Guest Relations to get a DAS for Ian. Then I'll go to a kiosk and get a return time for Test Track. While we wait for the return time, we will do Gran Fiesta Tour, Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Journey Into Imagination. When we've ridden Test Track, I'll go to the next kiosk to get a return time for Soarin'. Then we can head back to Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club for dinner. After dinner, I'm thinking it will be time for Soarin'. Then we can chill and wait for IllumiNations-my and my mom's favorite thing at Disney! If we want to ride anything else again, we can do that during EMH.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Day 2 Plans
We'll be okay sleeping in a bit and getting a later start on this day. We'll have breakfast at the food court and then head to Animal Kingdom around 11am.

I think Ian will enjoy TriceraTop Spin and Primeval Whirl, so we'll take a ride on those. If we still don't have the ability to do FP+, we'll get regular FPs for the Safaris and Everest at points during our day. Kali River Rapids could be a go if it's not too cold. If Festival of the Lion King is open, that's one of my must dos. We may give Nemo a try, judging by Ian's mood and whether or not we think he can sit through a 45 minute show. Lunch will be at Flame Tree BBQ, and then we'll do the parade because I think Ian will like that too. If we don't last that long, that's fine too.

In the evening we'll take a trip over to Downtown Disney. I plan to get dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. Maybe we'll duck into World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy and the Lego Store. Goofy's Candy Co. is a must do, of course! Back at the resort, perhaps we'll partake in whatever "Movie Under the Stars" is going on.

Other updates:
I did online check in last week at our 60 day mark. We decided to request an upper floor room with a lake view. Ian would like the Lightning/Sally building, but we'll see.

We were also able to customize our MagicBands! Ian picked red (and he's very excited about his "red bracelet that he gets to wear at Disney!"), Mom went with pink, I chose green, and PB asked for orange.

CM Main Entrance passes still can't be linked, so we don't have the ability to use FP+, and I don't know if we will before the trip rolls around.

Only 50 days to go!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Day 3 Plans
Wednesday will be our day at Hollywood Studios. We aren't going to do Toy Story Mania this time, because Ian probably won't understand it anyway. However, we still plan to be at rope drop and will head straight to Rock n Roller Coaster!

We would also like to do Tower of Terror and the Great Movie Ride. As far as shows, I think Ian would really like the Disney Junior one, and probably Beauty and the Beast. We might even be able to do the Little Mermaid if he's up for it.

Lunch will be at Starring Rolls and then we'll head back to Art of Animation for an afternoon break (according to Touring Plans, we can accomplish all of that between 9am and 1pm). When we return, we have dinner reservations at Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic package at 4:55pm. Fantasmic is at 7, so by the time we are done with dinner it will likely be time to head over to the ampitheater.

After that, the park will be closed. That's okay because we need a good night's sleep: the next day will be Magic Kingdom and we are planning to do morning EMH, plus it will be a long day there anyway.

Our MagicBands should ship tomorrow or the next day so we'll have them soon.

Only 33 days to go!

 

[Nhebron]

Hi there. Subscribing to your thread.

Your plans look great so far. We are heading to Disney in February and will get one night in a Cars suite.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Welcome! Where will you be staying the other nights?

 

[Nhebron]

Welcome! Where will you be staying the other nights?

We will be staying at Poly the other nights. We wanted to be close to MK.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Nice! I've always wanted to stay at the Poly, but alas, using a 60% discount it's either never available or still way too expensive because they'll have like an MK view concierge room open.

 

[Nhebron]

Nice! I've always wanted to stay at the Poly, but alas, using a 60% discount it's either never available or still way too expensive because they'll have like an MK view concierge room open.

A 60& discount is awesome. I would definitely be flexible with a rate like that

 

[bellebookworm9]

Day 4 Plans

Thursday will be a busy, busy day! We'll start bright and early to get the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours at 8am. According to Touring Plans, we should be able to get quite a lot done before lunch at 11am.
-Buzz Lightyear
-Peter Pans Flight
-Journey of the Little Mermaid
-Ariel's Grotto
-Dumbo (Ian's one request!)
-Magic Carpets of Aladdin
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-Grab a FP for Big Thunder Mountain
-it's a small world

Then it will be time for lunch! If they continue the FP+ system for Be Our Guest or the line isn't too long, we'll give that a shot, otherwise we'll go over to Columbia Harbor House. Before we head out for our afternoon break, we'll use our BTMRR Fastpasses.

Upon our return to MK in the early evening, we'll get some dinner at Cosmic Ray's. Then we'll start on our second batch of rides.
-Country Bear Jamboree
-Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It!
-Winnie the Pooh
-The Haunted Mansion
-TTA

And then the evening spectaculars: Wishes, Celebrate the Magic, and the Main Street Electrical Parade. After that it'll probably be time to head out for the night because the park closes at 9! That will give us some time to pack because we're leaving on Friday.

 

[bellebookworm9]

*We got MagicBands today!

I really wish purple was a color choice, but oh well, I guess I'll make do with green.

*After some fuzzy Disney math, we decided to add the QSDP for $21.99/person/night (CM discount). I had calculated $250ish for our QS meals, not counting snacks or refillable mugs, and also purchasing two meals for the three of us to share. The QSDP is $280, so that was pretty much a no brainer!

*Beaches & Cream is now taking ADRs, so I made one for 6:30pm on 1/6, our arrival day. I'm a little nervous about the new cancellation policy and traveling with Ian, but I'll hope for the best. I was afraid that if we didn't make the ADR, we wouldn't get in at all because it's such a tiny restaurant.

*Got a different great deal through Dollar with the Orlando Magicard. Saved me about $20 more off my already really great deal.

*After reading some horror stories about Apple Scooter here on the DIS, doing some more research, and our own not so great experience with them last year we canceled our reservation with them. Instead we chose Walker Mobility. A little more expensive but rave reviews. We do have to meet them for pickup and drop off of the scooter because they are not a "Disney approved vendor" but that's okay. And we chose a pink princess scooter (support for breast cancer, I believe).

Only 27 days!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Day 5 Plans
Our last day will be Friday January 10th. We'll check out of our hotel and probably do Resort Airline Check In. Then we have a breakfast ADR at Ohana at 9:40am. I've eaten there three times for dinner but never for breakfast. We think Ian will like a character meal and Ohana seems pretty laid back, plus it's family style so no rushing back and forth to the buffet between characters. And PB has a 50% off coupon so that will save us a bundle!

After breakfast, we have no set plans. PB can get us into Typhoon Lagoon for either 50% off or possibly for free. If it's warm enough we'll definitely go there. Otherwise, we'll probably let Ian pick which park he would like to re-visit. We have to be back at Art of Animation at 1pm, I think, to meet Walker Mobility and return the scooter. Then it's off to the airport to return the rental car. Our flight departs at 5:35pm on a smaller plane, only two seats per row as opposed to three. We land back in Buffalo at 8:10pm.

Other Updates
I changed our Beaches & Cream ADR to a 2pm lunch time instead of dinner.

We're getting closer, only 16 days!

 

[bellebookworm9]

PB got his schedule yesterday. Unfortunately, he has to work on our arrival day from 9:30am-7:15pm. He's going to show his ID at AoA the day before and explain the situation to them so there shouldn't be any problems during check in. We're also going to use our "e-tickets" on the first day so he doesn't have to get us in to the park. This means we can use FP+! We have FP+ reservations for Soarin', Spaceship Earth, and Mission: Space. If Legacy FPs are still available, we'll pull them for Test Track, otherwise we'll use the DAS card.

I saved another $40 on our rental car with a AAA discount. My mom said, "Keep looking, maybe we'll get it for free!" We're now down to $162 for a compact rental.

We've decided to keep our Beaches & Cream dinner reservation for 6:30pm on our arrival day.

Our field trip to the airport went well. Ian is a little concerned about taking his shoes off for security but we'll deal with that when the time comes!

I should probably start putting things together for packing soon.