Monday, September 25, 2017

Disney 2016 Planning Part 7

May 8, 2016
W minus 179
Minnie joins Mickey in MGM, sort of. Sounds like the same line but separate rooms.  Olaf also has a meet and greet in an attempt to maintain Queen Elsa’s hold on the park and prevent total First Order encroachment.  Fast Pass planning just got harder…again.

Phone call with awesome happy Disney guy Lamont kills plans for Art of Animation as
A: It’s full
B: Any discount that shows up won’t apply to it.

Back to the POP we go!  You know how great the place is when we can settle for awesome!


May 9, 2016
W minus 178
Phone call with mom to happy Disney guy Lyle books the trip.  YAY!  And there’s a mystery discount on Kim’s account for some reason…YAY!

Checking on line to link our accounts later that evening…confusing and not much yay.

The trip is booked just inside the “180 day limit” for dining reservations…AAAAAAAAAAH!  MUST GRID!


May 10, 2016
W minus 177
Still confused but some linking progress.  Looking at online meal bookings finds nothing with 9 places anywhere we want to eat veeeery scary…too late to call direct. Poop.


May 11, 2016
W minus 176
Long and painful phone call leads to only 5 meals booked, including a too late one at Anabelle on fire central. Nothing else available.  Realization that “it’s still Disney” helps but there are some sad and stressed moments. Ironically, we’re also switching back to my initial gut instinct for park days instead of the one I thought about later and was switching to.  Always go with the gut.

Until we look on mydisneyexperience to grab a non character meal on a day we need food and stumble into new availabilities!!!!  Anabelle’s reminder of the Crystal Palace insures characters on that day.  Eight meals booked (including probably dropping flaming hair location) and hopes that a couple more will surface.


May 12, 2016
W minus 175
Dropped far too late to be a good idea Chef Mickey’s and put in a Brown Derby mid-day.  Not the Sci-Fi, but we gotta eat, and we know it’s really good.  Plus it’s the site of a “Perfect Dad Story” recounted later in the “Next Month” saga.  


May 13, 2016
W minus 174
Called Disney IT to make sure all account link ups are correct, which was a far more fun experience than regular IT. Many compliments for Grandma who did everything right.

Rosa learns Castle tables only seat eight and the Sci-Fi cars have four and six person varieties. She starts looking for split reservations close to each other.


May 14, 2016
W minus 173
Rosa finds Castle breakfast space on the last Sunday, between check out and church, that’s going to be interesting, but we take it anyway.


May 15, 2016
W minus 172
I show Kim how to log in and set up stuff on her mydisneyexperience before we go see Alice Cooper. The concert has no real connection to Disney planning, but was still awesome!


May 19, 2016
W minus 168
Rosa’s on meal watch online for the Castle and Sci Fi dining.  Couple minor Castle things show up either during extra magic hours, or two reservations too far apart.  Looks like Sunday morning will be extreme chaos.


May 20, 2016
W minus 167
Band trip to Dorney Park.  First day its open means many maintenance shut downs, but Anabelle tries her first upside down roller coaster and thinks it’s awesome. (Big shock.)  The slow initial corkscrew puts my butt over my head far longer than it should be at my age.


May 31, 2016
W minus 156
No Up the Lake this year is going to put a major kink in my planning feedback loop, since we tend to all talk about Disney hanging around at the cabin or Lake.  It’s also going to put a big kink in my sanity so here’s hoping I can fend off “Raving Lunatic” land before we even leave.  Also not helping my reconnaissance is the Disney App which is having “technical difficulties” with the wait times, and NEVER shows them. 


June 2, 2016
W minus 154
Well, crap!  The Disney App updated and no longer allows sorting by wait time.  The more map based features will make it easier to use in the park, but its recon use has gotten way tougher. 
I did notice that Toy Story Mania no longer has the longest wait with the second track opening.  FastPass Plus planning just got weirder.


June 9, 2016
W minus 147
The new format Disney App also almost never shows wait times.  Fast Pass planning time just switched back to 7AM instead of midnight. Looks like no sleep Labor Day morning for me.


June 14, 2016
W minus 142
With full knowledge of the trip driving many of our decisions, Anabelle puts the playlist on Disney almost every time we’re in the car, and has cued up a list of Disney films to watch.  Many of these are in Spanish as Abuelita is visiting. They’re fun AND educational.


June 15, 2016
W minus 141
An alligator grabbed a two year old at the Grand Floridian!  Most of me is reacting with incredible horror imagining the massive switch from joy to the worst feeling humanly possible. The tiny part that’s left has decided we’re going to keep staying at only value resorts any time we go.


June 17, 2016
W minus 139
New show in Magic Kingdom castle stage, new Soarin’ movie with an extra theater…same old Disney app not showing wait times.  So much for recon.


June 21, 2016
W minus 135
Frozen ride in Norway opens…and has a five hour wait.  I don’t think I’d wait five hours to be IN Frozen.   The Disney page a day calendar has a picture of Anna and Elsa.  They’re good.


June 25, 2016
W minus 131
Finally, some proof that we’ve chosen the right time to visit.  If we went the same week we did last time, there may have been longer hours and fewer crowds, but “it’s a small world” would have been closed.  The kids could not have handled that.


June 30, 2016
W minus 126

We got the Birnbaum’s Guide.  Grandma got hers a while ago.  Because:  that’s what you do.  In this modern age, they are no help in planning anymore, they just serve as a tangible reminder that we’re going.

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