We are going bi-coastal! Oct 2014 DL and Jan 2015 WDW PTR

[jforever52]

As of this week we are officially going bi-coastal!!!!!

First off, let me introduce myself, I am a 30 something married mother of two (DS 11 and DD 5). We are a Disney Family. Our last Disney trip together as a family was to Aulani in February 2012 (I say together because I have been known to skip down to Disneyland solo on occasion, DD and DH and I have been known to have adult-only trips, and DS and I once took a 2 day epic adventure with a mission to ride all the mountains at DL in one day).

I do miss the AMAZING location that is Aulani. My advice is, if you have a chance to go, run, don't walk, get yourself to Aulani!

Here is me getting my Happy on at Aulani:



Earlier this year DH and I thought it would be awesome to plan a Disneyland trip with his fraternity brothers (who are now all also married with kids). We started planning this earlier in the year, but we consider ourselves Disneyland pros so the major planning isn't going to happen for another month or so. My major I mean: (1) figuring out a character meal for the group; (2) which nighttime spectacular we are going to do as a group; and (3) setting up the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Botique appointment for all the little princesses of our group.

Here is a picture from our last trip as a family to Disneyland (which was in February 2011):



Trip information for DL thus far is: October 9th-October 13th, 2014

Staying at the Crown Anaheim Plaza

We will driving down and back so the 9th and 13th are full travel days. We will have 3 full days in the parks.


In the meantime I have been itching to plan a 2015 trip to WDW. The last time we were there was 2009 when I was pregnant with DD5! Our DVC timeshare is at the Grand California so have been waiting for the 7 month window to approach so that I could make some reservations. I am happy to report that this week was the week! Reservations have been made for a Savannah View Room at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were trying to get Club Level to take advantage of the food offerings but only waitlist was available.

Here is a picture from our last family trip to WDW:



Yes that is us sitting in the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion. Yes we are soaked (WDW got over 10 inches of rain the week we were there). Yes I am 4 1/2 months pregnant. Heck yes, we had a great time in spite of the crazy weather.

My mother in law (pictured in the stretching room) will be joining us again for this trip to WDW. I am super excited to try out magic bands and my magic experience. I am also super excited to stay at our first WDW DVC resort. There is SO much to plan! There s SO much to do! Let the PTR begin!

Trip information thus far: January 16-January 24, 2015.

Staying at: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge


By the way, if you are interested there is a link to the 2 prior trip reports I have done. One involves a crazy year we called the "year of the annual pass" and involves a full year of our Disneyland adventures. The other outlines a Disneyland Trip taken before that madness ensued. This will be my first report on WDW and our family's 4th trip there.

Thanks in advance for following along and giving sage advice as you feel is necessary!

 

[jforever52]

Today was a Disney planning day for sure!

As I mentioned earlier, our Disneyland trip is a bit of a Frat Boy reunion; although honestly they are a bit less Frat Boy and a bit more Super-Dad now a'days. There is approximately 12 adults and 7 children in the group (kids range in age from 11-1 years old). Our traveler's range from 1st timers to Disney Veteran's and all levels in between. Because of that we are playing it a bit fast and lose during the day so that each individual family doesn't feel obligated to hang out with the entire group the entire time.

I finally got off my duff and sent out the official Evite for the event. This type of event invitation has always worked out nicely for these events and I don't want to fix something that is not broken!

The plan is that each family is going to take care of their individual travel plans and I would plan group events for the long weekend. The thought of micro-managing 20 people sounds like fun....just kidding it sounds like work and I typically don't get paid to plan other people's vacations (although if I could figure out how to get people to pay me to PLAN their vacations and TAKE me on said vacation I would quit my job immediately and start my new dream career).

Here is what the group plans are turning into:

Thursday, Oct 9th-dinner/drinks in Downtown Disney. I am thinking Earl of Sandwich followed up with the patio at the Disneyland Hotel.

Friday, Oct 10th-Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 8am sharp for the little princesses of the group followed up with Character Breakfast at Ariel's Grotto around 10:00.

Friday, Oct 10th-group photo in front of the castle in the evening (prior to sunset though)

Saturday, Oct 11th-dinner at Cafe Orleans

Sunday, Oct 12-group meet up for World of Color

Any suggestions for large groups in Disneyland are always welcome. This will be the largest group I have been with at a Disney Park; beating the 12 individual/family members who shared an epic WDW adventure with me in 2007. Because of that any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jforever52]

So, my Disney planning started today with a simple question posed on the DIS boards. Did anyone know where to find extra magic hours for my January 2015 trip? This question was posed at 10:54am. By 11:01am I had received the mother of all answers (link here). A kind hearted fellow DIS'er sent me the park times and extra magic hours for the entire month of January in a convenient spread sheet format.

And...since I had some time to kill I decided to compile my dream list of Disney Diney based on my tentative touring plan for our vacation. All of this is, of course, based on the invaluable information provided this morning almost immediately after I posed by querry.

We are going to be doing the Disney Dining Plan during this trip (just the basic table service plan). I have not included quick service below; only those restaurants that I will need to make an ADR at. The list is helpful to me since I will be logging into the "my magic experience" app from work when the 180 day window opens and I don't want to be taking up too much time at work focusing on my Disney obsession.

Here is what I am gearing up to to. The top restaurant listed below is my 1st choice of dining. I have backups listed in case they are unavailable. I also have left our last day of touring open for dining because I plan on trying to plug in one of my options on that day after the rest of the week's schedule is confirmed.

Friday-1/16 Resort Day (after arriving from the West Coast so it most likely will be a resort evening)
Sanaa
Boma

Saturday-1/17 Animal Kingdom
Yak & Yeti
Tusker House

Sunday-1/18 Magic Kingdom
Be Our Guest
Liberty Tree Tavern
Crystal Palace

Monday-1/19 Hollywood Studios
50's Prime Time
Si-Fi Dine In
Hollywood & Vine

Tuesday-1/20 Epcot
La Cellier
Garden Grill
Biergarten Restaurant
Restaurant Marakesh

Wednesday-1/21 Resort Day
Bongo's Cuban Cafe
T-Rex
*I am also planning on DH and DS doing a safari this day and DD, DM-i-L and myself doing the Wonderland Tea Party

Thursday-1/22 Park not designated yet
O'Hana (breakfast with Lilo & Stitch)

Friday-1/23 Park not designated yet
Dining TBD but probably one of the above

So what do you think? Anything on the list we should stay clear of? Anything we are crazy not to have on the list?