31 Days to Go - Disney Planning Spreadsheet

I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world when it comes to most things EXCEPT travel. I always plan trips way in advance, and Disney is no exception. Disney trips made with me are planned out quite a bit. See below:



This is my typical Disney spreadsheet. At the top, you'll notice the dates of travel. The next row, in light orange, are each Disney parks operating hours during that day. Park hours in the darker bold font are the parks operating under Extra Magic Hours, which means they are open earlier or closing later than normal.

The next row in the purple and yellow background are the resorts information. For this trip, we are splitting our stay between Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. We haven't had the opportunity to stay at either one of these resorts in the past, though we've visited both before.

The next row with the light green background shows the planned parks for that day. These are always subject to change depending on weather and other factors, so it's just a guideline and some of these are due to restaurant dining reservations.

The next few rows are just open places for different information. The yellow background in these rows are planned tours. For this trip we have planned a Family Magic Tour one morning and Frank will dive at EPCOT on another day. The light blue background indicates our dining reservations. These are restaurants where we have secured ADRs - Advanced Dining Reservations. I indicate in these blocks the time of the reservation, the restaurant, it's location, the number of people as well as the ADR number that was assigned when I made the reservation. This comes in handy if I ever have to call back Disney for any changes as sometimes they have trouble looking it up by name or phone number. I have a green background block do indicate the day that we plan to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party this year also, and a gray block to indicate the day other people will arrive to join us, specifically my brother and his girlfriend on this trip. The last row contains times for other special evening events, such as nighttime parades, fireworks, etc. including the Wishes fireworks show at the Magic Kingdrom and Fantasmic! at MGM Studios. There is also Illuminations at EPCOT in the evening but that is usually run at the same time every night, where Wishes and Spectromagic can change times depending on the park hours.

I'll make several copies of this in a final version and distribute them to be used during our trip to make sure everyone knows our gameplan. I don't expect everyone in our group (which will be 11 people at it's maximum) to have to follow this exactly. Dining reservations are there if they want to join us on some dates, but they certainly don't have to if they want to try something else.

37 Days to Go - Character Meals

We've had the fortune of being able to eat at many different character buffets during our visits at Disney. Even when we go without the kids, there are still some meals that I insist on attending.

My favorite character dinner buffet is the Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends at the Magic Kingdom. First of all, you are eating at the Magic Kingdom and some tables even have a view of the castle. What could be better? However, the food there is really quite good for buffet and I especially enjoy the prime rib and the shrimp, but everything is always good. I think we've done this particular buffet for at least our last 3 or 4 trips.

We've had breakfast at the Crystal Palace also, but I'm not a huge breakfast eater anyway so I can do without it. It's still good though.

My next favorite character meal has to be Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, if only for the fun atmosphere that takes over the place. Most of the time we've had breakfast there and really enjoyed it. We had dinner once and I wasn't as impressed with it, but for our upcoming trip we'll try dinner again just because he fits better into our schedule and I figured we should give it another shot. We always have our photo taken there and purchase it too.

Another favorite breakfast character meal is O'Hana at the Polynesian. I love the pineapple bread they serve here. This is a family-style meal, meaning they just bring the food in a big plate to your table and pick and choose what you want to eat and can order more of anything. It's now been changed to include Lilo and Stitch, so we have plans to do this one again for our upcoming trip to see the new characters. I guess this means we may not see Chip, Dale or Goofy now, but we'll have to wait and see.

One other character meal we've done a few times in the past is the Garden Grill for dinner. This is located at EPCOT and the entire restaurant rotates with great views of some of the fish tanks. This is another family style meal, and it's not recommended for larger parties because the seating isn't made to accommodate them, but we've enjoyed a few meals there and the character interraction has been great. This is also where the perform the re-hitching ceremony so if you are celebrating an anniversary you should have that done there. It's cute.

Of course, the other character meal that is worth doing at least one time is eating in the castle at Cinderella's Royal Table. We've had the good fortune of securing this for breakfast about 3 or 4 times in the past, though the prices continue to increase so much there that even though I had a reservation this time around I just couldn't bring myself to pay that kind of money for BREAKFAST. Yes, it is truly wonderful to be eating in the castle and looking out over Fantasyland. You will most likely get a visit from a few princesses too. It used to be that Peter Pan would also show up and a few others, but we didn't see him on our last visit there. The food was really good. It's all-you-can-eat but it's preplated so they bring each person a plate full of food and you can have more of anything. If you only get to Disney one time, it's worth it to try to get this meal experience. However, you ABSOLUTELY have to book this one exactly 180 days in advance of the day you want to attend. You need to call the number for Disney dining (407-WDW-DINE) beginning just before 7am at the 180 day point and be quick about telling the person that finally answers that you want Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast at this date and time. I'm not sure if we'll do it again in the future with the prices so high now, but I'm glad each of our kids have had the chance to experience it once.

For our upcoming trip next month, we're trying out a few new buffets mixed with our old favorites. In addtion to Chef Mickey's for dinner, Crystal Palace for dinner and O'Hana's for breakfast, we're also going to attempt the Princess Storybook Lunch at Akershus in EPCOT one day and Cinderella's Gala Feast at 1900 Park Fare for dinner.

One of the highlights of any Disney trip for us is the meals. Yes, they are pricey but we always enjoy them and having the opportunity to sit down and relax at a table meal every so often after spending all day on your feet roaming the parks is well worth it.

43 Days to Go - My daughter's first Disney trip

In September of 2003, we planned a Disney vacation for our family once again. This time we'd be taking my daughter, age 11 months, for the very first time. This would be my son's second trip at age 3.5 and my in-laws were joining us again. It was going to be great fun.

I managed to get a great deal on 7 nights at the Polynesian Resort hotel. They special they were running was 7 nights for the price of 4 and it was such a great bargain that we even upgraded both rooms to a Lagoon View room. I requested a view of the Magic Kingdom and we had two great rooms located right on the water where we could view Cinderella's Castle in the distance.

The morning after our first night there, my son awoke bright and early. It was still dark outside but in the distance we could see the castle, changing colors every few minutes and he and I just sat there and watched together. I captured this on video as well. It was truly a magical moment, one of many we would have during the trip.

Unfortunately, after our second day there, my mother-in-law became very ill. We ended up booking her and my father-in-law on a flight back home on day three. We spent the rest of our vacation without them but still managed to have a great time.

Our plans to go to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party on our anniversary without the kids were changed to include the kids, but that was fine. The kids had a great time there at night, being able to ride many rides with very few lines and trick-or-treating. We also still managed to have our anniversary dinner at the Garden Grill in EPCOT where we were presented with a small cake and they had a rehitching ceremoney for us too. It ended up being a great 5-year anniversary.

As for my daughter, being so young at Disney wasn't a problem for her at all. No, she wasn't able to walk yet, but she was content to ride in the stroller. She fell asleep in my arms plenty of times, usually in the loudest places. I think she fell asleep during the Universe of Energy ride amongst all of the loud noises and she also fell asleep during the Tarzan ROCKS show.

However, seeing her interract with the characters there was truly something special. We had several Character meals planned, including Chef Mickey's, the Crystal Palace and O'Hana as well as the Garden Grill for our anniversary. Noelle could not get enough of each and every character that approached her and they seemed to love her too. She was picked up by Minnie Mouse for a photo. She touched noses with Mickey Mouse. It was just so great to watch her light up and smile and laugh at each character. See for yourself here:

Kids with Characters at Disney in 2003

So whenever people tell me they don't want to take their kids until they are older, I just think how lucky we were to be able to take our kids at such a young age. The memories we have of them there are priceless.

52 Days to Go - My very first Disney trip

I honestly don't really remember much about my very first Walt Disney World trip. As my mom tells the story, she basically decided one night she wanted to go, they packed up the Chevy Nova hatchback and she told my dad they would drive until my brother and I had had enough and then they would stop.

We went from Maryland to Jacksonville before we stopped.

I remember staying at the Dutch Inn, a resort which had a pool shaped like a windmill. I believe this was the same place where I chose to climb outside the balcony rails and HANG there with my arms hooked in the balcony rails behind me. This, as you can imagine, scared my mom when she saw me, at about age 5, standing outside the balcony on a ledge a few inches wide and hanging there. Rather than scare me, she went back inside, called my name, and I climbed back onto the balcony and came inside.

I can remember my mom teaching me how to count and say a few phrases in French as we were riding the bus. It's strange how I can remember that for some reason.

I don't remember much about Disney itself. I'm sure I enjoyed it though. I'm not sure we have too many pictures. Not like the hundreds I take now on just about every trip. It's crazy but I can't stop taking photos. I loved to look back through the albums and revisit our trips though.

57 Days to Go - My First Disney trip as an adult review

I had really hoped to be able to enter something here daily, but this week has been crazy and I haven't met my goal. I promise to try harder.

I wanted to talk a little more about the very first trip I took to Walt Disney World as an adult, only because it also happened to be my husband's first trip EVER to Walt Disney World.

We happened to plan our trip for February of 1997 which fell during one of Disney's birthday celebrations. The castle was decorated like a huge birthday cake. I'll have to post a picture of that sometime soon.

We decided to stay at the All Star Music resort for our trip. Our room was spacious enough for the two of us, with I think a king sized bed. We ended up in a handicap room, so the bathroom was like walking into on big shower stall, but it was fine with us.

I wish I could remember the details of our trip in particular, but I'll try to touch on some of the highlights.

We were able to attend two of Disney's dinner shows during this trip. We chose the Polynesian Luau and the Hoop-De-Doo Musical Revue.

The Luau was really cool and I can remember all of the food there being wonderful. The show was very entertaining for adults, especially one of the guys who was twirling fire.

The Hoop-De-Doo show was even better. We were seated at a table near the front and center. Frank was chosen by one of the cast members to participate in the show, which made it even more entertaining, especially for me. It was so cute to watch him on stage being part of the whole show. The food was wonderful again there. I have to say, that we have never been back to attend either one of these shows since that time, but I think we'll make it a point to go in a few years when the kids are a little older and may enjoy it more.

One of our meal choices was to eat at the Prime Time Diner at MGM Studios. That was an interesting experience, especially since I am definitely a picky eater. I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into by choosing this place. I can remember not quite being able to finish my meal and the water picked up a spoon and started doing the airplane with it to feed me. I wasn't sure he was going to let me order dessert after I didn't eat my meal, but he did and I got the s'mores which were fantastic.

We also decided to even brave some of the water parks during February, which wasn't exactly the best idea at the time. I know it wasn't terribly hot that week. We started out at Blizzard Beach but found the water there lived up to the name of the park...it was COLD like a blizzard. We would later decided to brave Typhoon Lagoon and we absolutely LOVED this waterpark. The wave pool there was fantastic and I think we could have spent all day there enjoying that. We even bought a disposable waterproof camera so we could take all kinds of photos. Frank even went off to do the snorkel with the fish that they had there and although it wasn't quite as exciting as scuba diving he still enjoyed it.

There were other opportunites during our short trip to become part of the Disney experience. We attended a show at MGM Studios where they showed the art of studio television. They incorprated a scene from Cheers and asked for volunteers. Frank was chosen to go up on stage and I got to watch as he basically sat at the Cheers bar on the screen and became part of the show.

We went on the Jungle Cruise one day and I was chosen to drive the boat. The driver gave me his hat to wear and I became a part of the ride. It was fun.

I know I came away from my first trip to Walt Disney World as an adult with a renewed sense of the need to return more often. I hadn't been to Walt Disney World since about 1985 and it was a whole new experience for me, especially now that MGM Studios was there, a park which I had never been able to visit before. Plus it was only my second visit to EPCOT and I found I really enjoyed that park as well, despite it's massive size. There's no way I would miss going there and especially seeing Illuminations, which I love every singe time I see it.

Frank came away from the trip with a real sense of just how different the World was from the Land of Disney. We couldn't wait to return and we've managed to go back there at least every two years ever since that first trip.

SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING

Well my plan for posting here daily went by the wayside over the weekend but I'm back!

The best news about today in particular was that I arrived home to find a piece of mail for me from the Disney Vacation Club. Now I've been waitlisted for any available studio room in Disney during Thanksgiving week. My brother and his girlfriend are arriving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I wanted to be able to use my Vacation Club points to reserve a room for them as well, since our 3 bedroom villa for that week was already booked. I had even arranged our original reservation into a split stay at two different room types in two different resorts just to have the points available to borrow for this purpose. Anyway, today the letter arrived confirming a reservation for a studio room for my brother to use. I couldn't wait to call him tonight to share the good news. It's nice to be able to basically pay for the rooms for everyone in our family that will be joining us during Thanksgiving.

So, we arrive the Thursday before Thanksgiving, probably sometime that evening after a long drive from home. It will be our family of five plus my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We will check into our 2 bedroom room at Disney's Old Key West for that weekend and the first 4 nights of our stay, checking out on Monday morning.

Monday afternoon my parents will join us in Disney. At that point, we will all be checking into a 3 bedroom vacation villa at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort for the remainder of our vacation, or four more nights. My in-laws will take one bedroom, my parents will take another bedroom, Frank and I will take the 3rd bedroom and the kids will use the pull-out sofa. It should work out just fine for all of us, considering most of our time will be spent in the parks anyway. My brother arrives on Tuesday and they will check into their studio room at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights.

I have already made plans for a few meals for all of us together, especially on Thanksgiving day. It seems a bit strange to not be eating at home on Thanksgiving considering Frank and I have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner together ever since we were married for our whole family. At least we will all be together for Thanksgiving. We'll just be paying somebody else to cook and the menu will be much bigger considering we're eating in a steakhouse. They will still have traditional Thanksgiving fare there, but I wonder what the chances are that I can get that coveted turkey drumstick as I always do for Thanksgiving? Probably not.

I guess that's just the sacrifice I'll have to make to be able to have Thanksgiving dinner away from home. The important thing is that most of our family will be there with us this year. I'm really looking forward to that.

63 Days to Disney

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Sept. 15th and on November 15th we'll be on our way to Walt Disney World. This will be our very first time driving and I'm not sure everyone is looking forward to the trip. Sure, the final destination will be great, but getting there will be a long road. From our home, we're estimating about 16 hours and right now the plan is to leave as early in the morning as possible.

So far, our departing time has changed many times and right now I think we may be looking at about the 4:30am to 5:30am hour. This is mosly to make sure we get through the better part of the state of Virginia before the ugly rush hour traffic builds there.

Will this drive be tough on the kids? I'm sure, but in this age of electronics there are so many things to keep them busy and I am known as a mom to be as overprepared as possible. I'm sure not only will we have movies and the gameboy and other video games with us, but crayons and markers and books and snacks and perhaps I'll even buy a few new surprise items to bring out for them just when the ride gets rough for them. I'm hoping having all of that stuff will make things easier on everyone, inlcuding the adults who will have to listen to what I'm sure will be some squabbling along the way about something.

All of our previous trips with the kids have been flights. However, as a child my parents did the driving thing with myself and my brother more than once. I'll be sharing some stories about my Disney visits as a child, what I can remember of them, in future posts so stay tuned!