Disneyworld Pre-Trip Planning: Part 1

I've read this cover to cover and have many pages "ear" -marked

It's true what they say: People spend more time planning their vacation than they do their retirement. And why is that? Because it is so much more fun! I have become Disney obsessed these last few weeks and my frenzy isn't waning. I swear Mickey ears are going to soon grow out of my head.

I first started reading the book Complete Guide to Disneyworld then that didn't statiate my appetite so went to the Disneyworld.com website. From there I was directed to a palethera of other websites, message boards and even podcasts! Who knew!


One of the message boards suggested making a countdown calendar which I promptly did. Annabelle has enjoyed making the Mickey silhouettes and exclaiming every morning "---- days to go!" 52 as of today.


This is the website I go to for the message boards. http://www.wdwinfo.com/ They are chalk full of all sorts of interesting information: both practical (bring two good pairs of walking shoes that are already broken in) to impractical (buy disposable rain ponchos for each member of the family/day and rather than try and reuse them just throw them out. Hmmm...that means that I would need to buy 28 disposable rain ponchos.)



Our Laughing Place has a great transportation wizard. Since we'll be using Disney Transportation aka DT during our stay it has been great to know beforehand how we're going to get from here to there.


All Ears is where I checked restaurant menus. When we first booked our trip and got the free dining plan we all read the restaurant guide and highlighted which places we wanted to eat. When the Disney calendar and hours posted for October I made a general itinerary of what parks we were going to and when. Soon after I went to make my advanced dining reservations aka ADRs. I was soon to be disappointed as a lot of the restaurants were already booked and this was a full 85 days before we're leaving. The character meals were especially popular and the eating times I got are quite strange. So a word to those of you who are planning on WDW trips in the future and would like to eat at the table service restaurants: Get your ADRs at least 90 days before you get there as there are some serious people who have the 90 day mark on their calendar and are up at the crack of dawn getting their reservations.

When I finally realized I wasn't going to get to eat where we wanted to I finally relaxed and just picked random places and times.


The website I check out on a daily basis because they have a great Mom's Panel, calendar of events, park hours etc. is http://www.disneyworld.com/ .

Our itinerary is as follows and is subject to change:

September 28
Arrive in Orlando @ 8:45 pm. Don't get to do any playing but hope we aren't tired enough to at least go hang out in the pool for the rest of the evening

September 29
Epcot
Lunch at Teppan Edo - When we were thinking of going to Disneyland Nate wanted to take a trip to Benihana so we were excited to see there was a restaurant like that in WDW
Go to Disney Hollywood studios around 6 pm to see Fantasmic

September 30
Disney Hollywood Studios
Early dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby. We really wanted to go to the 50's Prime Time Cafe but it was booked

October 1
Magic Kingdom
Lunch at Crystal Palace. The only character meal we're getting this week which I'm glad as Annabelle really wanted to meet Pooh and Tigger. Josie wanted Donald Duck's Safari breakfast in the Animal Kingdom but alas, that was not to be....booked solid the entire time we're there.
We may sleep in this day or after lunch retire to our room for a few hours as we have tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. I'm not saying we couldn't last the whole day in the park but am being realistic about our family's stamina.

October 2
Animal Kingdom
Dinner at Boatwrights - Port Orleans Riverside - After the Animal Kingdom closes at 5 we are going to wander over to the Port Orleans resort to have dinner. I really wanted to stay there but since it would've increased our vacation $1000 we opted to stay in the All Star Sports resort. We don't plan on spending much time in our room anyway but thought it would be fun to explore what could have been.
After dinner if we are up to it we will take a boat taxi and spend the remainder of the evening at Downtown Disney.

October 3
Morning in the Animal Kingdom - Thought 2 days would be good here as my kids love animals
Lunch at Yak and Yeti - Was hoping it would be breakfast with Donald
After lunch we'll decide if we've seen enough of Animal Kingdom and make our way over to the Magic Kingdom

October 4
Breakfast at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another resort I am excited to tour.
Typhoon Lagoon until 5 pm weather permitting - Excited about the Crush n Gusher and floating in the Lazy River
Back to our resort to shower and then Magic Kingdom to see Wishes and stay up until 12 am.

Ocotber 5
Epcot
Finishing our vacation where we started it
Dinner at the Coral Reef - Loved the interior of this place even though I do have a small phobia of being surrounded by aquariums. Let's hope they don't break like that scene in Jaws 3.
We'll stay until the park closes with the fireworks show IllumiNations a great ending for a great trip.

October 6
Leave early in the morning to get back home

So that's what I have planned so far and now it's getting into the finer details. I can't imagine anyone coming into a WDW vacation with just a lassiez fare attitude and no planning. I'm trying not go overboard the other way and plan our days down to the minute. I am also bracing myself for knowing that I can't see and do everything and hopefully (fingers crossed ) my family will have such a blast that we'll just HAVE to go again.