May 2016 Our first Disney World trip! Forget the Mouse, this is all about the Duck!

[2anddone]

Index

Hi so after what has felt like an eternity these dropped on my doorstep today and I now feel it's time to do my very first pre-trip report of our first trip to Disney World!

Let me introduce myself my name is Emma, self confessed Disney Nut. Loves all things Disney and I am so excited about taking my two babies on their first trip to Orlando. I have visited twice before once in 1996 for 3 days and in 2004 for a week. The first time was with a family I had spent a year being an au-pair for in Pennsylvania, the second was to perform with my dance school during Disney's Magic Music Days. Therefore both of my past trips have been organised by other people and I have been told what parks we are visiting on what days and for how long! I love a list, I love a plan and I can honestly say I have loved every minute of planning this holiday (yes even the 4am wake up to secure Anna and Elsa meet and greets!

This is Ben, he is 10 and one of the most chilled out little men you could ever meet. He is not keen on the unknown so may take some persuading to go on some rides. He loves Disney especially Pixar Characters and Mickey and is really looking forward to meeting Baymax.

This is Charlotte she is 7 and until our trip to Disneyland Paris last year had a complete phobia about any characters (she was fine with face characters like the princesses but characters like mascots would have her run a mile!). Last year we met Donald Duck walking up Main Street at DLP and I quickly explained in English (and French to cover most bases &#128521 that she was very nervous. Donald was fantastic with her and now we have a Donald obsessed 7 year old (hence the name of this report).
Also joining us on this trip is Dave (Ben and Charlotte's dad) we separated in 2013 but still get on well. When he heard that we were coming I told him if he could afford it and wanted to come then he could, but no moaning about the constant Disney or that everything is booked so there is not a great deal of room for movement with ADRs etc! Hopefully we will get on ok but hey it's Disney who can't be happy there?
I have booked this trip myself getting hotel through the Disney site, Kennedy and Universal tickets through Attraction Tickets Direct, car through Alamo Brits and flights with BA.
We have been to DLP twice before this is as close as Charlotte got to Mickey on her first birthday trip!

Ben celebrated his fourth birthday on the same trip and loved all of the character attention!

I went for my first time for my 21st birthday a little while ago (or many years)and have been hooked ever since!

I am hoping to write the trip report live while we are there, I managed it in DLP last year on trip advisor but that was only 5 days! Hope you enjoy reading!

[2anddone]

We fly BA from LGW direct to MCO on Saturday 21st May so we are staying at the Gatwick North Premier inn on the Friday night to enable us to do twilight checkin (and start our holiday a day early at £39 it was rude not to!)
A lovely dibber (Ayles300) helped me with a code for parking so I have booked valet parking with the Gatwick Valet Company for around £58 for 16 days parking.
The plan is to have hotel breakfast the Saturday morning before heading across to the terminal for security. It's Ben, Charlotte and Dave's first long haul flight so I have booked Ben and Charlotte a children's meal but am intending on taking plenty of snacks as I haven't heard wonderful things about them!
Once we arrive at MCO we are taking the ME to our hotel and I can't wait to get there!

[2anddone]

This will be our home for 14 nights Disney's Carribean Beach resort. I booked when QSDP was offered free and upgraded to DDP as I knew that the children would want lots of character meals especially once I read how many included princesses and Donald!
We are in a standard room and I have requested the pull down bed and an upper floor. I am slightly nervous about how large it may be and there are very mixed reviews on trip advisor but I am a firm believer of not worrying until you have something to worry about and then deal with it!
I am hoping the fact that we have rented a car will take away some stress as if all else fails we can drive to the parks if the buses are too packed.
Thanks to advice I have read on here I have bought a couple of hanging shelves to make more space for clothes and also I am intending on using the laundry facilities to cut down on how many clothes I need to bring (and also so I can use the laundry app which I think is awesome!)

[2anddone]

We will be collecting our hire car from Disney Car Care Centre on the afternoon of 22nd May and returning it to there the morning we leave. We decided to do this as by using the Magical Express to and from the airport we could hire a smaller car for during our trip as we don't have to worry about cases. I booked through Alamo Brits and have cancelled and rebooked numerous times whenever the price has dropped. Currently I have managed to knock £80 off the price doing this, which is not masses but every little helps!
Alamo have listed a Kia Rio as a possible car on the economy grade we have booked so we shall see what it's like!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by 2anddone

Hi so after what has felt like an eternity these dropped on my doorstep today and I now feel it's time to do my very first pre-trip report of our first trip to Disney World!

Let me introduce myself my name is Emma, self confessed Disney Nut. Loves all things Disney and I am so excited about taking my two babies on their first trip to Orlando. I have visited twice before once in 1996 for 3 days and in 2004 for a week. The first time was with a family I had spent a year being an au-pair for in Pennsylvania, the second was to perform with my dance school during Disney's Magic Music Days. Therefore both of my past trips have been organised by other people and I have been told what parks we are visiting on what days and for how long! I love a list, I love a plan and I can honestly say I have loved every minute of planning this holiday (yes even the 4am wake up to secure Anna and Elsa meet and greets!

This is Ben, he is 10 and one of the most chilled out little men you could ever meet. He is not keen on the unknown so may take some persuading to go on some rides. He loves Disney especially Pixar Characters and Mickey and is really looking forward to meeting Baymax.

This is Charlotte she is 7 and until our trip to Disneyland Paris last year had a complete phobia about any characters (she was fine with face characters like the princesses but characters like mascots would have her run a mile!). Last year we met Donald Duck walking up Main Street at DLP and I quickly explained in English (and French to cover most bases &#128521 that she was very nervous. Donald was fantastic with her and now we have a Donald obsessed 7 year old (hence the name of this report).
Also joining us on this trip is Dave (Ben and Charlotte's dad) we separated in 2013 but still get on well. When he heard that we were coming I told him if he could afford it and wanted to come then he could, but no moaning about the constant Disney or that everything is booked so there is not a great deal of room for movement with ADRs etc! Hopefully we will get on ok but hey it's Disney who can't be happy there?
I have booked this trip myself getting hotel through the Disney site, Kennedy and Universal tickets through Attraction Tickets Direct, car through Alamo Brits and flights with BA.

See more...

Hi Emma, oh a girl after my own heart , I love my lists too!
We go the 21st may too! From Glasgow! I CANNOT wait! I did a pre-trip report too. ( if you want to have a look) Infact I was reading through it again today,

So, I'm Waiting for more...

Edit***sorry, your still writing! Lol

[2anddone]

My ADR day was Monday 23rd November and typically after having Monday's off for the past 2 years I was asked to work!
Luckily I work as a nanny so was able to book my ADRs while looking a after the children!
During our visit we have ADRs for...
Tusker House Donald's breakfast
Crystal Palace
Akershus
Chef Mickey twice!
Hoop de Doo
Beaches and Cream
Scifi drive in
BOG breakfast twice!
Rainforest cafe
Coral reef
Cinderellas Royal Table
BOG dinner
1900 Park Fair
I am still debating the Hoop de Doo as Ben and Charlotte loved the Buffalo bill show at DLP last year and I am worried they will be expecting similar... what do you think I should do?
If we stick with HDD I will probably cancel one of the chef Mickey meals although at the moment we are ending the holiday with brunch there before we leave so don't want to cancel that meal!
I am nervous about the amount of food that will be given to us and have tried where possible to book buffets.

[2anddone]

Originally Posted by Mrs B

Hi Emma, oh a girl after my own heart , I love my lists too!
We go the 21st may too! From Glasgow! I CANNOT wait! I did a pre-trip report too. ( if you want to have a look) Infact I was reading through it again today,

So, I'm Waiting for more...

Edit***sorry, your still writing! Lol

See more...

Lol sorry I do waffle... working my way through the list so I don't miss anything 😉

[Guest]

Oh, I'm a registered childminder ! ( I do t work Monday's either lol)
I have booked breky at Cindy's on the 31st.
And breky at tuskers in the 27th with an early dinner at rainforest cafe too
I can't get BOG. :-(. But I'll keep trying

Great minds!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by 2anddone

Lol sorry I do waffle... working my way through the list so I don't miss anything 😉

See more...

Waffle away

[2anddone]

Fast passes!
My FP booking day was on Tuesday March 22nd and I went to bed the night before with the intention of waking up booking Anna and Elsa, 7 dwarfs and Toy Story Midway Mania then going back to sleep especially as the clocks had changed in USA but not here so I actually had to be up at 4am... well that didn't quite go to plan! I woke up and booked the 3 FPs I knew were hard to get then ended up booking for the whole trip, then ended up modifying times around parades, ADRs and other things that came into my head at 5am while I was still messing around on the app! Of course I couldn't get back to sleep but I am happy with the FPs I have booked and I have left days clear of fast passes so we can choose while we are there.
Fast passes are currently booked for
Animal Kingdom
Safari
Rapids
Expedition Everest

Magic Kingdom
Anna and Elsa
7 Dwarfs
Buzz
Peter Pan
Thunder Mountain
Splash mountain
Barnstormer
Tales with Belle
Winnie the Pooh

Epcot
Test track
Spaceship Earth
Disney Pals
Nemo
Turtle talk
Living with the land

HS
Toy story
Frozen sing along
Voyage of mermaid

We have more days planned at the moment for MK but that could change once we get there.