Whenever we are planning a vacation we know one thing for sure, it will be Disney related. It has always been Disneyland because we like to be able to spend time visiting family since we are in the military and have been living in Hawaii for the last three years. This year we received orders to move to Kansas and had a decision to make, drive to California and go to Disneyland or drive to Florida and take our first family vacation to Walt Disney World. We took a family vote and WDW won 5 to 0!! So then began the planning of how many days ,where to stay, what to do...everything was completely new to me because we have been going to Disneyland 1-2 times every year for as long as we have had our children. Since we are military, we looked at the military tickets, 4 day park hoppers for $156 for the four main parks. However, we decided 4 days is nowhere enough time for our first family visit! So we looked at adding more days and decided that we knew we wanted to go back more throughout our time in Kansas and decided to invest in Annual Passes! We ended up extending our stay to a total of 20 days because my husband will be on leave. Next came the decision of where to stay! When I was 14, my parents took me to WDW, it's the only time I have been and don’t remember a lot but, I do remember we stayed at the Polynesian Resort, and I knew I wanted to stay on Disney property. I have many military friends who have stayed at the Shades of Green Resort, which is only for military members. SoG is very comparable to the nicer resorts on Disney property and you get all the same perks but for a much cheaper price. There is a Mickey shaped pool, playground, many restaurants on property and a golf course. So we had the tickets decided on and where we would be staying then came the hard part: planning for the parks! First off, I wanted to call and make reservations for where to eat and what for the kiddos might do. I asked around, called the WDW reservation line many times to get different opinions and decided on Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort. First thing to note on difference from DL to WDW, to make reservations at DL you call 60 days in advance, for WDW you can make reservations up to 180 days in advance! We were lucky to get the reservations for Chef Mickey’s. I also knew I wanted to eat at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater Restaurant and the 50’s Prime Time Cafe. I had eaten at both of these with my parents when we went and remembered how much my dad loved them. Since he passed away almost two years ago, I was really excited to take my family there and feel like my dad was with us too.
I was really hoping for a Be Our Guest reservation but it books up very quickly. One of the amazing cast members told me that they take walk-in’s for lunch, so we will be trying that. I have also made reservations for all three of my kids to a Disney Pirate Cruise, these are children 4-12 and they each receive a red/white bandanna or striped pirate hat. They are supervised by a “pirate” crew of cast members who are all CPR trained. Each child receives a lunch of peanut butter and jelly Uncrustable, Goldfish crackers, a Rice Krispy treat, and a juice-box. This is for kids only, no parents allowed and they stop at different “port of calls” and search for treasure and get to show all the other kids at the last port while enjoying their lunch. These cruises depart on different days and times from four different destinations. There is the Bayou Pirate Cruise is on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from Port Orleans Riverside (this is the one our kiddos are doing), Monday’s, Tuesday’s Wednesday’s, Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturdays is the Disney’s Pirate Adventure from the Grand Floridian. Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s is the Albatross Treasure Cruise taking off from the Yacht and Beach Club and then the Island of the Caribbean Pirate Cruise sets sail from the Caribbean Beach Resort on Sunday’s, Tuesday’s and Friday’s. Each cruise takes off at 9:30 a.m. and the cost is $31.95 per child.
In Disneyland, my daughter always does Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I was already to book a time for her when we found Pirate’s League for the boys and that they also make girls into pirates and mermaids and she decided she wanted to do that.
We are now 9 days away from our trip and I am still reading all my books and deciding which day to see which parade, because we are going to be there for 20 days we have decided not to plan out each day and just try to enjoy each moment. How can you not while in Disney!!??!! I have added on one more dinner reservation for San Angel Inn in Mexico at Epcot, mostly because my favorite place to eat in DL is the Blue Bayou inside of the Pirates of the Caribbea nand a cast member told me this was quite similar as in atmosphere.
I will tell you this much, I am quite anxious,excited and over the moon about this trip. Other than the reservations I have made, we have no other concrete plans. We will see parades, shows and all the characters but have no ideas what times or days this will happen. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that our first day will be at the Magic Kingdom and we will keep our tradition of our first ride of Pirates of the Caribbean, only this time we will be on the lookout for mermaids!! Be ready for my next blog which will be from the other side of this vacation and many, many, many pictures will be included! So with many Disney kisses I bid you farewell for now!!
Kisses,
April
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