The Road to Disney World: Part Two |
Okay, Christmas is just days away and we are making the final plans on how to tell our kids Emmy and Sam (8 and 6 years old respectively) about what will be their most exciting Christmas present ever – a whole week at Disney World! What makes this even more exciting is that neither of them has even been on an airplane plus . What has made it even more fun for us is that they don't have a clue about the surprise. This we know because my wife overheard the below conversation they had while watching a Disney Sing-A-Long Video containing lots of great shots of Disney World.
Sam: "I want to go there someday"
Emmy: "We can't go soon Sam, it is very expensive!"
Sam: "You mean like 25 dollars?!?"
Emmy: "No, more like 25-thousand dollars!"
While Emmy's numbers are exaggerated, it is exciting to see them appreciate what a big deal this is while at the same time not have any idea that they are just weeks away from going to somewhere they thought they could only ever dream about going to!
For now let’s rewind to the beginning of November. My wife knew that in
order to get into certain character meals at Disney World she would have to
call 90 days in advance to book them. As with all homes once the school year
gets underway – ours was busy. On this particular morning as my wife woke
up she suddenly realized the 90 day call she was to make – she quickly
went to the calendar and realized she had already missed the first few days
of our trip – with only two booking days left – book in hand –
she headed to the office. No luck with Cinderella's Royal Table which takes
place inside Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom - and is one of the most
popular character breakfasts at Disney... but she was able to book a few other
meals – Chef Mickey’s and a Princess breakfast at Epcot – both
are highly rated by families with kids the same age as ours.
Disappointed she decided to give it another try the next day... at 6am she headed to the office to synchronize her clock, she wanted to be sure to get a booking this time – at exactly 7am she dialed the number and just as she had read – the breakfast sold out in 2 minutes! Talk about high stress – booking a meal for kids – waking up early – synchronizing clocks… she decided to give up on this meal and called to book a lunch or dinner at the Castle – these two meals do not include the characters but she thought the kids would like to eat in the Castle. When she called back, telling the Disney agent she had missed out on the big breakfast booking, – the agent asked if we would be available on any other days, that she would check availability. My wife was surprised to learn that there was a table for 4 available the day before – which was perfect for our family. The agent said that what often happens is two people book a character meal – different phones – and then call back to cancel the doubled booking. So, if you are trying to book a character meal and miss out like my wife – ask the agent about another day – but don’t leave it too long – the cancelled bookings get picked up quickly. **A note about these bookings – they are not reservations – they are preferred seating bookings. This means that you get the next available seating that suits your party size. Because character meals are big hits with kids, families tend to stay longer so you may have to wait – but don’t go late – or you’ll lose your seating. One other point to remember, some require a credit card deposit to secure the booking.
Now that we have some of the "important" meals figured out our planning took us to figuring out the big picture. We are staying at Disney WOrld for an entire week - and plan to spend 5 days at the parks so where do we start? We decided to take a look at some of the Disney guides – talk about information overload! But a good information overload - lots of good information - each a little different. In our reading we have learned that although it seems like the right thing to do, parents with kids should hold off going to the Magic Kingdom until later in their stay – picking Epcot, MGM, and /or the Animal Kingdom Park first. Why? Well Magic Kingdom is the biggie for most kids and once they go there they expect the same level of magic. Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom are all great parks but sources say they don’t have the same "magic" appeal – but the advice that has come our way is that the kids love all of these parks - especially if they come before Magic Kingdom.
We didn’t realize the importance of having an itinerary but the internet and the guides all recommend having some kind of game plan – otherwise you waste a lot of time waiting in lines and looking at maps. My wife has spent countless hours looking at internet websites and reading these guides - and we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do - but because our daughter Emmy is 8 (going on 30) and loves to plan things we have decided to hold off until she knows we are going and enjoy the process together.
Christmas morning should be pretty exciting – the kids will open a puzzle that is going to have the following pieces...
U , R, Green Light attached to -ING, 2 and then the final piece has a picture of the Magic Kingdom. Once together they will spell out "You Are Going to the Magic Kingdom". Once the squeals of delight settle down, this revelation will be followed by a box of Disney-related goodies – some to get them even more excited about the trip and some things to take with them on their excursion .
I’ll let you know how Christmas morning goes – and then the planning will begin!
