On the Road Again----SOON "In search of SNOW and FLOWERS" - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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On the Road Again----SOON "In search of SNOW and FLOWERS"
The time just seems to have flown by and now we are almost at our travel date and I haven't shared anything. So here goes the PTR for our upcoming trip.
Yes, we are going back to Disney World. After all it has been a very long time since we were there. (That would have been the last 2 weeks in July last year.) I know that is only 8 months but it feels like forever. We are tired of the cold and winter weather and are hoping that the first two weeks of April will be just right. That is – not TOO hot and not TOO cold and have very little rain and NONE of the white stuff.
Here are the plans:
Travelers: DW (Judy) 63; ME (Michael) 68
Travel dates: Leaving NC on 3/27, arriving in Kissimmee on 3/28 with a layover in Jacksonville, FL near the airport. This will be about 3/4 of the way and will give us time for the planned stops and still get to the resort early in the afternoon.
Stops in route on Friday 3/28: Disney Outlet in the Pr1me Outlets near St Augustine, FL and possibly Theme Park Connection in Orlando. The objective would be to find some bargains on tees, pins, and of course SNOW and TINK stuff.
Resort:Vacation Village at Parkway. This is a timeshare resort off 192 a little east of I-4. For reference and for those who know 192, the “Arabian Nights” dinner theater is inside this resort.
Celebrating: Since we are never at WDW on the exact dates for our birthdays or anniversary, we always pick one day (at least) for each of these important days. DW does not like FL in the hotter months so we try to avoid May through August.
We will be celebrating: DW bd# 64, ME bd # 69 and anniversary # 44. The actual dates all fall inside that May to August time period.
Preparation: We have booked and paid for the resort stay. We will have to pay a deposit and an amenities fee when we check in. This should be about $150 and we will get $100 back when we check out.
We have ordered, paid for and received our Annual Pass certificates and the new Memory Maker Plus card. We will need to get these converted into real passes before we go to the parks. This means a run to DTD as soon as we get checked into the resort.
Day by day plans: These plans can be changed if needed. We just have to remember that that there is a deadline for making changes so we do not have to pay penalties.
3/27-28 Thursday/ Friday: Travel, check-in, pick up water and other supplies. That would be mostly breakfast stuff and snacks.
3/28 Friday evening: DTD for dinner and to get the cards activated. I am also hoping to meet up with some PP friends this evening. These are people that I have been exchanging posts with for some time but have never met. They are on a really tight schedule as they are leaving on a cruise on the 29th.
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Thanks for joining in. I plan on posting the rest of the plans over the next few days. DW and I are traveling Tuesday thru Friday next (family issues) so I will get it all in before we leave.
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3/29 Saturday: Animal Kingdom for RD and go to Rafiki’s to check out the vet procedures. DW and I will probably be going in different directions since she does not do any of the rides except for the train and the Safari (motion sickness problems.) I, on the other hand, want to do EE and Dino as many times as I can. I also want to get up close for the Finding Nemo show. I hope the new FP+ system works with me. I understand that since our APs are still in certificate form and since we are staying off property, we will have to do the FPs after we get to the park each day. I do hope that we will be able to make the FPs in advance after we get the AP certificates changed to tickets.
We will do CS for meals and be near the front of the park late in the afternoon so we can watch the parade and then make a hasty exit when it passes.
We will have dinner off site and then go to the Contemporary around 8pm. The evening entertainment will be the “Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise.”
3/30 Sunday: Hopefully we will be able to get up in time to go to church. I have found one in Celebration with an 8:30 am service. This will give us time to get back to the resort to change into park clothes and head to DHS. We won’t make RD so unless we can get an advance FP for TSMM we probably will miss this one. I will head for the rides and DW will head for shows, shopping and pin trading.
Our lunch ADR is at 12:35 at 50’s Prime Time Café, the first of many firsts this trip. We will probably leave the park shortly after sundown so we can rest up for another early start on Monday.
3/31 Monday: Breakfast at 8:40 at 1900 Park Fare. We have done dinner here several times before but this is the first time for breakfast. Not sure what park we will go to today. Even though we are close to MK, we will be going to a different park since we are scheduled for MK for the next two days. Jen and I have been PMing and now have a time to meet. We will be meeting her and her family at T-Rex around 8—8:30 tonight. Other than at the Mousefest meetings, this will be the first time we have ever actually met a PPer at WDW.
4/1 Tuesday: Today will be a MK day with an early start. We have an 8:30 ressie for the “Keys to the Kingdom” tour. It has been about ten years since we did this tour so with the changes, I will consider this one a first also. The tour includes lunch so we will only have to worry about dinner and will probably do CS.
4/2 Wednesday: This will be another MK day. Our plans would be to do character meets and as many rides as possible. With two days at MK I hope to get to meet Heather (a PP who now works as a boat captain on the Jungle Cruise.) The day will close out with a late dinner at the California Grill (another first.) This is scheduled for 9:10. Hopefully we will be able to get a good seat for the fireworks. We have told them that we will be celebrating our 44th anniversary today. Maybe this will help us with our seating. We will leave the park early take in some pool time before getting cleaned up and dressed for dinner.
4/3 Thursday: Animal Kingdom for an extremely early start. We have to be at the front gate by 8:15 for the “Wild by Design” tour (another first.) We will do meals as we get hungry. No real plans.
4/4 Friday: Disney Hollywood Studios for the day. We will probably arrive at the park mid- morning. We have a dinner ADR at 5:10 for Hollywood and Vine in conjunction with Fantasmic seating.
Great looking plans! I can't wait to hear what you all think about the Keys to the Kingdom tour and the Wild by Design tour. We've done the first tour and loved it, but we've not the second at AK yet.
Great looking plans! I can't wait to hear what you all think about the Keys to the Kingdom tour and the Wild by Design tour. We've done the first tour and loved it, but we've not the second at AK yet.
The last time we did the KTTK tour was about ten years ago and they were not using any radios. We had to huddle as close as we could to the guide. There was a lot missed on that tour. We are looking forward to doing it again and actually being able to learn something. I used to work as a designer with an equipment company so I am excited about how all of the stuff at AK came to be. This should be a great tour and since it is mostly inside the park, I will be able to take pictures.
We did the KTTK tour without the radios, too. Very difficult to hear at all times. Then a year later we did the Backstage Safari tour at AK with the radios and wondered what had taken Disney so long to think of that.
We did the KTTK tour without the radios, too. Very difficult to hear at all times. Then a year later we did the Backstage Safari tour at AK with the radios and wondered what had taken Disney so long to think of that.
How did you like the Backstage Safari tour? I did that one several years ago and got to see and touch a white rhino.. Bad thing no pix while in that area. Loved that tour.
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