I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.. (NOW A JUNE!) 2021 PTR (new update 5-31)

[kclark9830]

We are 3 weeks out from leaving our house for this trip!

I pulled our old countdown picture from the "Disney box" and we've been counting down since the beginning of this week.



I am pretty excited about the mask changes. Not so much for the capacity changes without any FP+ announcements. Still, we intend to go slower on this trip regardless. Less riding of rides and more stopping to enjoy our vacation.

I find myself getting more excited as each day passes. We haven't made any changes to our plans, so at this point we're just listening for any other WDW policy changes and keeping our fingers crossed for an awesome trip!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Cute countdown display! I bought a Disney countdown magnet set off Etsy recently and have been using it. My trip is quite a bit farther out though.

They need to start opening more restaurants and shows that will help alleviate crowds. The Unofficial Guidebook used to list how many people the attraction could cycle through in an hour. Some rides and shows are very slow loading and have low capacity (looking at you, Astro Orbiter). Some have much higher numbers, like Pirates of the Caribbean, since it continuously loads large boats. I'm hearing they're fully loading ride vehicles, so that will help, as will things like Festival of the Lion King reopening.

I actually kind of liked not having Fast Passes; it made the standby lines move quickly.

I am concerned about pool capacity; I hope that fully reopens soon.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I find myself getting more excited as each day passes. We haven't made any changes to our plans, so at this point we're just listening for any other WDW policy changes and keeping our fingers crossed for an awesome trip!

Fingers crossed for a great trip!

 

[kclark9830]

Changes!!!

ok, so I just posted yesterday that we hadn't made any changes then wham! Micheal says this morning that he forgot to tell me that his job is sending him to the GA/FL line for work, for a couple of days. He gets to choose when he goes, so he figured we could just tack it onto the front side of our trip to save driving time (so he doesn't have to make the drive twice consecutively ).

Well, Okie Dokie.

As of right now, we haven't made any definite plans, but we will most likely leave early Thursday morning rather than Saturday afternoon. Drive to the state line where he will work Thursday afternoon/Friday morning. Finish our drive Friday evening. So we will be staying in Orlando Friday night and Saturday night now, rather than arriving Sunday.



What to do? I'm not totally sure. On the plus side, Micheal's job will pay part of our travel expenses, so yay! Thursday morning to the following Saturday night is a long trip, though. I'll need to make different pet sitter arrangements, which is tricky since we live at least 20 minutes (driving time) from our nearest friend/family. It'll work though, don't get me wrong. Not complaining! Just processing.

My first thought was to stay at Beach Club or Yatch Club for Storm Along Bay, but availability was not there. I looked at renting dvc points and didn't see much availability for those 2 nights at all. There was availability at Caribbean Beach Resort or the values, but since I don't see us going into the parks those days (buying more days on our tickets), I didn't really want to be at a value or even CBR, at least not at those prices.

So, we are looking at using Hilton points Micheal has built up to stay at a Hilton property on WDW resort.

My vote is this Bonnet Creek property. The lazy river/pool looks great, and we could go to Disney Springs and maybe do mini golf.





There are less expensive Hilton properties, too, though, at DS, and since Micheal doesn't quite have THAT many points built up we may end up at one of those. They look completely acceptable, as well, and then of course we can still do DS and mini golf.





I'm really pushing for the Bonnet Creek property though .

In one last exciting (to me, haha) piece of news we have rebooked our Alaskan cruise for next year. Yay!!!

 

[kclark9830]

Cute countdown display! I bought a Disney countdown magnet set off Etsy recently and have been using it. My trip is quite a bit farther out though.

They need to start opening more restaurants and shows that will help alleviate crowds. The Unofficial Guidebook used to list how many people the attraction could cycle through in an hour. Some rides and shows are very slow loading and have low capacity (looking at you, Astro Orbiter). Some have much higher numbers, like Pirates of the Caribbean, since it continuously loads large boats. I'm hearing they're fully loading ride vehicles, so that will help, as will things like Festival of the Lion King reopening.

I actually kind of liked not having Fast Passes; it made the standby lines move quickly.

I am concerned about pool capacity; I hope that fully reopens soon.

Yes, I am worried about pool capacity too! I did see that for Movies, where we are staying, they are using the All Star Music pool too, so that should help.

 

[kclark9830]

Fingers crossed for a great trip!

Thank you!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

That sounds like a good problem to have! Any hotel with a fun pool will be perfect to swim and chill for a few days! Bonnet Creak sounds nice!

 

[kclark9830]

That sounds like a good problem to have! Any hotel with a fun pool will be perfect to swim and chill for a few days! Bonnet Creak sounds nice!

Yes! My thoughts exactly.

 

[kclark9830]

Shoring Up Plans

We have picked a hotel and will be staying at...
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The Swan & Dolphin!







It was kind of a hard decision , but ultimately we got a good rate and spent the same as we would have staying at All Star Movies for those 2 nights. We're looking forward to the stay! We will arrive around 6PM Friday night, and we plan to spend all day Saturday enjoying the pool and the Swan paddleboats. Sunday, we're hoping to walk over to Fantasia Gardens for mini golf before moving to ASM. I'm hoping it won't be too big of a bummer moving from S&D to Movies!

We do have one other change, but I don't think it will affect our plans too much. My sister and her kids will now be coming along on the trip. They've bought their tickets and made APR's. Staying offsite. We may adjust some of our dining plans, but that would be it.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Sounds perfect!

 

[kclark9830]

One week from tomorrow we will be loading up and heading out! I can hardly believe we’re almost there.

We are used to going in the fall when I’ve had all summer to plan, and this year I am super busy with finishing up the school year. I feel very unprepared. It hit me last night that I don’t really know what clothes I’m bringing for this 10-day trip. Yikes!

Here’s the breakdown of our plans in short form.

Thursday – Drive to GA, stay overnight while hubby works Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

Friday- Drive to Orlando around noon. Hope to arrive by 4PM or thereabouts.

Staying at the Dolphin, want to soak up the Disney atmosphere around the Boardwalk!!!

Saturday – Spend the day at the pool and we want to try out the Swan paddleboats. Eating around the S&D resort

Sunday – We’ll get up and go to church then return to the Dolphin to check out. We plan to do mini golf or Disney Springs. We will see how we feel.

Check in to All Star Movies

Monday – Magic Kingdom!!! Ashlyn and I plan to be there by 7AM for an 8AM opening. Micheal and Miles will join around 9AM.

Lunch ADR at The Plaza, then we’ll head back to the resort until 5 or 6PM and we’ll close out the park

Tuesday – Animal Kingdom day, and Emma’s birthday. We plan to go into the park around 11 or 12, and we have an ADR at Rainforest Café for 12:30.

The plan is to take it slow and focus on all the other things AK has to offer besides rides. We will try to fit in a few rides, though!

Wednesday – Epcot!!! We plan to be there around 10 for the 11AM opening. We want to hit up Frozen and Gran Fiesta, then make our way around some of the F&G festivities including the Spike the Bee scavenger hunt and the butterfly garden. We will check out the aquarium, then hit up WS.

We have an ADR for Via Napoli but I’m pretty sure I’m going to cancel that. We’ll just eat as we can, and we will stay until we’re done.

Thursday – Hollywood Studios day. I’ll be up early and trying for a BG for RotR, but I won’t cry if we don’t get one. I’m not sure we’d even like it. I feel crazy even saying that, but there it is.

Toy Story Land is our #1 priority here, but we also want to do anything else we can fit in throughout the day. We plan to be there before opening and again for closing with a midday break in between.

We do have an ADR for Sci Fi but it’s not until 2:20. I am trying to change it to earlier. If I can’t, we’ll cancel it.

Friday – Magic Kingdom day #2, and our last park day. I don’t have many plans set for this day. I’ve learned our last days are usually dragging, LOL. We may be up early or not, but we will hit up the Frontierland side of MK.

We have a lunch ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern, and I want to keep it but the more I think about it the more I worry the food is too heavy for the heat of summer. Any opinions?

Saturday – departure day. Pretty sure we will be up with the sun to make the 10-hour drive home. No fun.

I hope to post a bit more over the weekend and heading up until Thursday, once I get a little shopping done and things ready to pack!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Toy Story Land is our #1 priority here, but we also want to do anything else we can fit in throughout the d

We love Toy Story Land!

I’ll be up early and trying for a BG for RotR, but I won’t cry if we don’t get one. I’m not sure we’d even like it. I feel crazy even saying that, but there it is.

I do hope you get to try it. But I get that it isn't for everyone. I do think it is fun, but it def isn't AS exciting if you aren't star was fans.

We have a lunch ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern, and I want to keep it but the more I think about it the more I worry the food is too heavy for the heat of summer. Any opinions?

Hmmm, I was going to say that they have other options for lunch. But that doesn't seem to be the case right now. And your point is exactly why we didn't go there for the longest time. But sitting down in air conditioning alone might be worth it....

 

[kclark9830]

Packing and getting ready to go!

We’ve done a little shopping! Nothing super exciting or oozing Disney, but I’m happy .


I bought some new, lightweight shorts and tops to wear in the Florida heat, and I’ve ordered a new bathing suit that SHOULD be delivered tomorrow. Here’s hoping!





I also got some new scents at Bath & Body Works just for vacation.



We bought a couple of sleeping bags for the kids. I started worrying about them having to share a bed for so many days. An 11 year old girl and a 4 year old boy? Might be a recipe for disaster! So I thought maybe if they each had their own “space" in the bed it might work better. Maybe it’ll be a huge fail, but maybe not. I’ll have to let you know .



Micheal also bought some new clothes for the Florida heat, but just like mine they’re pretty basic so I didn’t take any pics of them.

Ashlyn and I were supposed to have an appointment on Wednesday to get our nails done, but Miles ended up needing to see the ENT and Wednesday is the only day they could do it so we had to cancel our nail appointment.

Instead, we’re going to be attempting our own nails. We’re aiming for some fairly basic stuff. Again, I’ll have to let you know how that goes.






With school officially out here, I feel much more relaxed and ready to get this vacation started! 3 more days!!!

 

[kclark9830]

We love Toy Story Land!


I do hope you get to try it. But I get that it isn't for everyone. I do think it is fun, but it def isn't AS exciting if you aren't star was fans.


Hmmm, I was going to say that they have other options for lunch. But that doesn't seem to be the case right now. And your point is exactly why we didn't go there for the longest time. But sitting down in air conditioning alone might be worth it....

I do hope we get to ride RotR. I guess I just won't be terribly disappointed if we don't get a BG. I try to set my expectations low, LOL!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

An 11 year old girl and a 4 year old boy? Might be a recipe for disaster! So I thought maybe if they each had their own “space" in the bed it might work better. Maybe it’ll be a huge fail, but maybe not. I’ll have to let you know

That is a good idea! In therory at least. I know how fickle syblings can be sometimes!

Have a great trip!!!!!!!!

 

[CruellaNY]

So happy your trip is finally here and I hope you have a wonderful time!!