buzznwoodysmom
07-05-2012, 12:27 PM
Cast:
Myself Denise 35
My mom Sheila 60
DS Collin 12
DS Landon 10
We leave at the end of the month for an end of summer trip. My kids will go back to school about 5 days after we get home. DH will be in Germany for 3 weeks so my mom and I decided to get away with the kids. What started out as a 6 night trip quickly turned into an 8 night trip thanks to a good friend who had DVC points she wanted/needed to rent out.
Resorts:
We originally were staying all 6 nights in a Royal Guest room at Riverside. Not thrilled with that resort choice we started second guessing and ended up with a split stay between CBR and YC, 3 nights at each. My boys begged for CBR, they love that pool, and I wanted something new, so we went with YC since we love Stormalong Bay pool. Then I wanted to do my normal "add an extra night to the end to surprise my kids". My friend was sure she wouldn't use all her DVC points for next year so she rented one night at Boardwalk, a place my boys have been asking to stay for the pool. Our plan was to arrive a night early, and stay at a value resort so that we could start our trip off well rested on our first "official" day. We always do this. Same DVC friend ended up canceling days off her own trip and was going to loose points so she rented us a one bedroom at AKL for the same price we would have paid for a value. So there you have it, 4 different resorts on one trip!!! And we couldn't be more excited! With the temps high I know we'll spend tons of time at our resort pool, so it will be nice to be able to move around and experience lots of pools on this trip. I've even managed to get my packing down to a science! I will pack one suitcase for each resort stay, this way I'll only have to take one bag down at a time, making the moves super easy.
As far as park planning.... The plan was to have no plan. However, we've decided to break the parks down by the location we'll be in. We will have the military 4 day tickets with water park and more. No hoppers tho. So the days when we are at YC we'll do Epcot and DHS. The days we are at CBR we'll do MK and AK. We have no particular order beyond that. We also plan to do a few half days at the water parks. Where those may fall??? Who knows!
ADRs:
We have only two ADRs for this trip. We have Ohana's for our first "official" night, meaning our first night at CBR. Then we have Chef Mickey's for breakfast on the day we switch from CBR to YC. We do plan to try to have dinner at Shutters at CBR one night while we are there. And we'd like to do the same at Captain's Grill at YC one night. We won't make reservations for these two, and if we can't get in then no big deal. We'll also likely eat at Beaches N Cream at some point during our stay. We've opted for no ADRs at Epcot because we've become so fond of our "eating around the world". We love to grab little snacks or apps here and there in WS rather than sit at one location for a full meal. We also plan to have lunch at the Fork and Screen theater in DTD. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 comes out on our last day in WDW. DS is a huge fan and wants to see it in WDW. If we have time, and can get a last minute ADR we MAY, and that's a big may, try afternoon tea at Grand Floridian. I'm just not sure I want to do this with the boys, but we'll see.
Other than that we really don't have any other plans. We may rent sea rayers one day. I'm sure we'll spend one morning or evening at DTD. I've promised DS12 that we'll visit his favorite resort, WL, at some point. That kid can't visit WDW without a stop at WL. And I've promised DS10 that we can visit the new Art of Animation resort on our way out, perhaps having lunch there before we hit the road for the drive home.
We are hoping for decent weather. Hope it's not too hot, althought I know it will be. LOL. And we are definitely hoping for no hurricanes, in WDW or at home. I'll be sure to post trip reports when we get back!!!
Myself Denise 35
My mom Sheila 60
DS Collin 12
DS Landon 10
We leave at the end of the month for an end of summer trip. My kids will go back to school about 5 days after we get home. DH will be in Germany for 3 weeks so my mom and I decided to get away with the kids. What started out as a 6 night trip quickly turned into an 8 night trip thanks to a good friend who had DVC points she wanted/needed to rent out.
Resorts:
We originally were staying all 6 nights in a Royal Guest room at Riverside. Not thrilled with that resort choice we started second guessing and ended up with a split stay between CBR and YC, 3 nights at each. My boys begged for CBR, they love that pool, and I wanted something new, so we went with YC since we love Stormalong Bay pool. Then I wanted to do my normal "add an extra night to the end to surprise my kids". My friend was sure she wouldn't use all her DVC points for next year so she rented one night at Boardwalk, a place my boys have been asking to stay for the pool. Our plan was to arrive a night early, and stay at a value resort so that we could start our trip off well rested on our first "official" day. We always do this. Same DVC friend ended up canceling days off her own trip and was going to loose points so she rented us a one bedroom at AKL for the same price we would have paid for a value. So there you have it, 4 different resorts on one trip!!! And we couldn't be more excited! With the temps high I know we'll spend tons of time at our resort pool, so it will be nice to be able to move around and experience lots of pools on this trip. I've even managed to get my packing down to a science! I will pack one suitcase for each resort stay, this way I'll only have to take one bag down at a time, making the moves super easy.
As far as park planning.... The plan was to have no plan. However, we've decided to break the parks down by the location we'll be in. We will have the military 4 day tickets with water park and more. No hoppers tho. So the days when we are at YC we'll do Epcot and DHS. The days we are at CBR we'll do MK and AK. We have no particular order beyond that. We also plan to do a few half days at the water parks. Where those may fall??? Who knows!
ADRs:
We have only two ADRs for this trip. We have Ohana's for our first "official" night, meaning our first night at CBR. Then we have Chef Mickey's for breakfast on the day we switch from CBR to YC. We do plan to try to have dinner at Shutters at CBR one night while we are there. And we'd like to do the same at Captain's Grill at YC one night. We won't make reservations for these two, and if we can't get in then no big deal. We'll also likely eat at Beaches N Cream at some point during our stay. We've opted for no ADRs at Epcot because we've become so fond of our "eating around the world". We love to grab little snacks or apps here and there in WS rather than sit at one location for a full meal. We also plan to have lunch at the Fork and Screen theater in DTD. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 comes out on our last day in WDW. DS is a huge fan and wants to see it in WDW. If we have time, and can get a last minute ADR we MAY, and that's a big may, try afternoon tea at Grand Floridian. I'm just not sure I want to do this with the boys, but we'll see.
Other than that we really don't have any other plans. We may rent sea rayers one day. I'm sure we'll spend one morning or evening at DTD. I've promised DS12 that we'll visit his favorite resort, WL, at some point. That kid can't visit WDW without a stop at WL. And I've promised DS10 that we can visit the new Art of Animation resort on our way out, perhaps having lunch there before we hit the road for the drive home.
We are hoping for decent weather. Hope it's not too hot, althought I know it will be. LOL. And we are definitely hoping for no hurricanes, in WDW or at home. I'll be sure to post trip reports when we get back!!!