Who:
Me - Planner - 40 (sigh)
DH - 43
DD - 9
DS -7
Our second trip together as a family.
6 day PH ... haven't decided on WP&M option or just a one day waterpark pass.
When - On property 5/23 - 5/28/10
Where - The Contemporary
Explaining the title - I've planned the last 4 Disney trips and I do not remember having the doubts/worries about those trips that I am having for this trip. Part of my doubts/concerns come from the fact that I'm not really settled on all of my ADRs and I know from last family trip, my DH really wants a sit down meal every day. Also, my children have only experienced September when the parks are not very busy and they are used to riding things over and over. I know crowds will be bigger this time, but I do not have a real grasp on how big. But, my kids are now "veterans" so I'm hoping they will be flexible.
Saturday, May 22nd. My kids' last day of school will be May 21st. Their actual last day is Tuesday, May 24th, but those are pretty much free days, so I thought we could use the opportunity to leave early and try to get a little jump on the crowds. We are driving - will leave Lafayette, Louisiana on Saturday morning and take our time driving to Orlando. I haven't booked it yet (see my title .... am I really prepared???), but our plan is to book a relatively inexpensive chain hotel in Orlando that evening, maybe close to DTD if we arrive early enough.
Sunday, May 23rd. Wake up and arrive at the Contemporary very early. Check in if it is available, if not grab our tickets and hit the parks!! This is our first time at the Contemporary (or any monorail resort). Normally, I would not spring for monorail, but I had a 40% off pin code and it was too good to pass up. Also, DH is a bit high maintenance, when the kids and I go, we go moderate, but DH likes deluxe (and the queen size beds, instead of double beds). DD wanted the Beach Club for the slide, DH liked the rooms at CR, he won the coin toss. At first, I was worried about the choice, but now that it looks like the BC slide will be closed while we are there, I'm very happy we chose CR instead.
Once again, not sure which park today. Most likely MK since we will be next door. MK has very late evening EMH tonight, so I know we will hit MK at some point. All of our other trips, we started at Epcot. This was mostly because we usually arrive mid-afternoon and have reservations in Epcot. I expect that we will go to both Epcot and MK today ... maybe try to accomplish things in the FW at Epcot. Chances are we will skip DHS since it's the first SWW and likely very crowded. Once again, I have no ADRs for this day, but once we pick which parks, I'm sure we can find something available. (fingers crossed ... DH needs to be fed or he get very grouchy. We do have our car so all of Orlando is available to us if necessary).
Monday, May 24th. ADRs at Le Cellier at 12:50. However, I think we may try to hit DHS at opening so we can ride TSM and our family's favorite ride (or at least one of the many
) RnRC!! Also, try to hit TOT while we are there. Then leave for Epcot for our reservations. Depending on if we made it to Epcot on Sunday and/or what we accomplished, we will probably spend some time exploring the WS. I have never been to the American Adventure (or whatever it's called), so this is one thing I do want to do that is new for me.
Tuesday, May 25th. Breakfast reservations at Tusker House, very late 8:50 reservations at O'hana. My plan is to spend the day at AK. We love EE. Our entire family LOVES thrill rides, except that I cannot do any kind of simulator ride (the tunnel in Buzzlightyear makes me ill). My DS is looking forward to getting soaked on KRR. None of us have seen the Finding Nemo show. However, my kids love Lion King Show and I doubt my DH and DS have the patience for more than one show. We might have to take a family vote on which one we want to see.
After two solid park days, we will probably want to take a long pool break this afternoon. Our ADRs for Ohana are very late. I keep trying for earlier reservations or on another day, but no luck yet. My DH and DD have not experienced Ohana and I thought they would enjoy it. We may try to show up a little early for our reservations. If not, hopefully, we can find another place to eat. Kona has openings, but we've eaten at Kona before ... food was good, but the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired.
Wed. May 26th. Dinner reservations at Narcoossee's. I'm looking forward to eating here. DH and I love California Grill - we've eaten there as a couple pre-kids and with the kids on our last family trip. Love, love, love it. But, I wanted to try something new and Narcoossee's receives great reviews. MK fireworks are planned during our dinner time. This will probably be a water park day. My DD's one request this trip was that we do the Disney waterparks ... this will be a first for us. I still haven't decided if we are going to purchase WP&M pass or just a one day pass. Cost-wise, it is probably better to buy the WP&M, but I still can't imagine taking more than one day away from the beloved parks to spend at a waterpark ... decisions, decisions....So waterpark, maybe DTD, some rest and relaxing and later ADR for the evening.
Thursday, May 27th. Dinner ADR for Captain's Grille. I picked this place because it looked okay and I thought it would be nice to explore the boardwalk at bit. Still not sure about this ADR, we may have to change it. I'm thinking about Flying Fish, but I do not know if we want to dress up two nights in a row. Also, we are on the DDP, we may only have one TS left and if we pay OOP for FF, then we will have to find another TS for Friday ... sigh, I do not know why the planning of this trip is not smooth sailing. As far as parks, probably MK, depends on what the kids want to do, what we have yet to accomplish. We might do another early a.m. at DHS to ride favorites again.
Friday, May 28th. Leaving day. No plans, no ADRs. We are leaving Disney today, but may take the weekend to drive home. DH's sister lives in FL, we may stop to spend a night or two with her family or we may go home to relax during the long weekend before returning to work. However, I let DH know in no uncertain terms that I have NO intention of leaving Diseny property before 5:00 p.m. today. Last trip, I wanted to spend a good part of the day at Disney before we left for the beach (staying with DSIL again), but he kept rushing to leave because "we had a drive ahead of us." This time, we can spend the evening in Orlando or any other little town along the way, but we are not leaving early.
As far as parks today, kids can choose again where they want to finish their Disney vacation. We may hop around and see what we can do.
Keeping fingers crossed that we have a nice and (as much as possible) relaxing vacation. We are sort of park commandos, simply because we ride alot of rides and hop around alot because it has never been busy when we were there. I have Wed, Thurs, and Fri fairly open because I am unsure of how much we will be able to accomplish in each park depending on the crowds.
I hope we can see Illuminations and Wishes at least once, if not twice, while there. I do not know if we will be able to see Fantasmic. If we change our Ohana reservation, we may be able to see it that evening.
Personally, the kids and I have never seen Hall of Presidents or COP in MK. I hope to see both. We haven't seen Stitch either, but my kids will have to experience that one without me. Also, we haven't seen the American Adventure at Epcot (I've walked by it a dozen times but didn't realize it was there) so that is high on my list.
Other than being nervous about my planning (or lack thereof) and the crowds, I'm really looking forward to this trip. We cancelled our Feb. 2009 trip, so we are all missing Disney. My DD is growing older and wasn't so excited at first, but after I reminded her that she has not been on TSM (it's new since her last trip) or on RnRC (it was closed for repairs her last trip) and throwing in the waterparks, she's now very excited. DS loves all of it and can't wait. DH and I are really looking forward to spending an uninterrupted week together as a family. This may be our last family trip to Disney. As the kids are growing older, there are other places we want to explore and show the kids. But, who knows, it seems Disney is our default happy place, I'm sure we will be going again.
Less than 2 weeks to go!!!
The "I thought it was planned but now I'm not so sure" pre-trip report
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