All our ghosts have been dying to meet you… Pre-Trip: Update & costume tweaks 9/20

abbybeth

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Hello! I am your host. Your ghost host.

(not really)

But I am the hostess for this little pre-trippie you’ve stumbled upon.


My name is Abby and this is my third pre-trip report here on the DIS and it will eventually morph into my second trip report. Coincidentally, this trip will be my third trip to WDW and I absolutely CANNOT wait!

The Who:



Abby, 29, university employee by day, highland dancer, dance teacher, crossfitter, quilter by nights/weekends. I didn’t go to WDW for the first time until 2007. My parents planned what was supposed to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip for our family and pulled out all the stops. You can read all about that here: Fairtale Remix: Cindy & the Three Bears
Well, we had so much fun on that trip, I went back for a girls weekend in 2009. Then my parents went for Christmas in 2011 and decided to become DVC members. They should be landing at MCO any time rightthisflippingsecond for a quick Flower & Garden trip actually. Once in a lifetime, huh? :rotfl2:

I’ve been desperate to get back since 2009 and decided that it just had to be done. I started bringing up Disney here and there in conversations with my boyfriend and after a few weeks he agreed that a trip could be fun. A string of his favorite dinners and batting my eyelashes may or may not have been involved. I also may or may not have put a lot of emphasis on Food & Wine Festival, drinking around the world and having Disney transportation available to take our hypothetical future drunk selves back to our resort.

Ryan, 32, provides clinical services and research for a pharmacy by day, crossfitter, runner, rec softball player, high school lacrosse conditioning coach and general sports fan by nights/weekends. The last time Ryan went to WDW was his junior or senior year of high school. This will essentially be a brainwashing, I mean reintroduction, to the Mouse.

The When:
September 28, 2013 – October 6, 2013

The Where:

Port Orleans French Quarter

The Why:

Seriously? You need a why?! Fine. You’re a demanding audience already, aren’t you? I definitely got bit by the Disney bug on the first trip, but can’t go as often as I’d like. I’ve only gone in the fall, but the weather is perfect, I adore Food & Wine Festival and love everything about MNSSHP. Boo to You gets sung year round, much to the annoyance of my cat. Ryan and I have taken weekend trips but haven’t done a real vacation together and I can’t wait to take him to my favorite place!

So, welcome Foolish Mortals. We hope you enjoy your stay!
 


The Game Plan

At this stage our ADRs have already all been made. Duh. Im DISer. You get shunned if you dont call promptly at 6:59:59am on your 180 day mark. Obviously you don't begin dialing at 7, then you're already a few seconds behind. (yes, I am aware that the online system opens at 6am. Didnt work for me)

Apparently though, if your 180 mark falls on the first Sunday of the month, the new eligible dates will not have been uploaded into the system and you get stuck having to call at 6:59:59am on your 179 mark.

Saturday, September 28

Arrival day. The day the heavens open, shafts of light pour down and angels sing. The flight time that we will likely have will be a nonstop leaving at 9:30am. Throw ME and check-in into the mix and Im hoping to get to Epcot around 2 or 3. No ADR today, just throwing ourselves headfirst into the wonders of Food & Wine Festival. What can I say, were hardcore. We will be meeting up with friends of mine who live in Miami for our World tour!

Sunday, September 29

Animal Kingdom
7:10pm ADR at Sanaa

AK closes at 5 on this day, so that will give us time to get over to AKL and hopefully have a drink and oogle the animals prior to dinner!

When we began planning this trip, I asked Ryan for his input on restaurants he would be interested in eating at. He chose Sanaa and Marakesh. Well, he made it through two menus and promptly decided that yes, Indian food did sound good and we should go get some right then. In retrospect, I should have fed him first, then asked him to look at menus. Live and learn!:lmao:

Monday, September 30

No ADRs for now. Were tentatively looking at doing a ToT meet up and either Via Napoli or Striketown with a group of DIS friends. If you read my Cindy & the 3 Bears trippie, its our friend Timmy and our friends from Scotland. Leaving plans for this day pretty flexible to work with whatever ends up happening!

Tuesday, October 1

Disneys Hollywood Studios
7am ADR at Chef Mickeys
3:30 ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby/Fantasmic Package

While this is Ryan & Is vacation, my parents will be in WDW at the same time. We will be heading over to their DVC home at the Contemporary to try out an ADR that will be new to all of us for breakfast. I still havent managed a meet & greet with the Main Mouse, so this will finally take care of that!
Our Brown Derby ressies are at the same time as theirs, but we arent necessarily planning on sitting together. Fantasmic is a must-do for me and I think its worth it to save some hassle on the loading and seating process. Plus, I adore the theming of the HBD!


Wednesday, October 2

1:00pm ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh
8:30pm ADR at Raglan Road
EPCOT day

There will also be a surprise for Ryan this day as well. I dont think hell end up getting over here to the boards, though he knows Im writing this. I think Ill leave the surprise plans out for now ;)

Thursday, October 3

Leaving the morning open based on Park Hours and consulting my crystal ball, this will be our MNSSHP night!

EDIT 4/30/13: Added a 11:35 ADR at Sci-Fi Drive-in. I think I want an early, but substantial lunch prior to MNSSHP. We could do a little DTD/DHS in the morning, eat then head back to POFQ. Plus burgers and milkshakes in a fake car! Whee!

Well take it easy, maybe do a park for a few hours in the morning, hang out by the pool and get ready for the evening. We will be dressing as coordinating characters! :rolleyes1

Friday, October 4

THIS is the day that I will be waiting the entire trip for. The first ADR I made when I got someone with English speaking skills and a pulse on the other end of the Dining Reservations line.

8:05am ADR at The Crystal Palace

What? You dont get that excited about Pooh & Friends and breakfast lasagna?:rotfl2:


Then I guess this one is the one the fanfare is for&.

6:25pm ADR at Be Our Guest.

Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite Disney movie. I can still remember going to see it in the theatre and the sense of wonder, awe and amazement I felt during the ballroom scene. I listened to soundtrack (on cassette tape) over and over again. I cant tell you how many times Ive watched it now. Getting into this restaurant was the most important part of planning this trip and I wouldve been heartbroken if I missed the ADR....
But no ones gloomy or complaining while the flatwares entertaining! My birthday is also noted on the ressie (it'll only be 5 days before my 30th) so hopefully I'll be lucky enough to try the grey stuff (it's delicious)

This will probably be MK all day so we can hit anything we missed at MNSSHP the night before.

Saturday, October 5

8:00pm ADR at Narcoosees

I wanted one dinner to get all dressed up and celebrate our trip. Narcoosees has been on my need to try list for quite some time and I was lucky enough to snag a ressie that will time perfectly with Wishes. It seemed suiting send off for our last night in Disney.
Not sure what park well be doing this day yet.

Sunday, October 6

Departure day. Looks like well have a flight out around 7pm, so well have the morning to spend in a park or hit DTD. No ADRs for right now, will keep things somewhat flexible.

From what I can tell, we're going to miss Free Dining by about 3 days, so I probably won't be adding any other ressies unless I can fit whatever the new incarnation of Cali Grill in somwhere.
 
Hey Abbybeth, Great start to your PTR. My wife and I will also be going during F&W/MNSSHP season but one month after you guys. Love your ADRs, I'm hoping to try Ragland Road someday but I always have a hard time fitting DTD into our touring cause it takes forever to get there and back. Narcoossees is a beautiful restaurant , great way to cap off a Disney trip. Looking forward to hearing more about your plans :)
 


Good job snagging a coveted Be Our Guest ressie! :thumbsup2 I used to LOVE Crystal Palace for breakfast! and mmmmm Narcoossee's! Last time we were there was July 4th 2002 . . .:eek:
 
Hey Abbybeth, Great start to your PTR. My wife and I will also be going during F&W/MNSSHP season but one month after you guys. Love your ADRs, I'm hoping to try Ragland Road someday but I always have a hard time fitting DTD into our touring cause it takes forever to get there and back. Narcoossees is a beautiful restaurant , great way to cap off a Disney trip. Looking forward to hearing more about your plans :)

Hi! I just got done commenting and joining on your Pre-TR! I love Raglan Road - the food is wonderful and the atmosphere is a ton of fun at night with live music and Irish step dancers. I've been spoiled staying at POFQ because we can take a boat over, which is a pleasant ride. Maybe it could fit in as an evening stop - head over there for a drink at the bar and enjoy some of the entertainment before calling it a night? I'm so looking forward to Narcoosee's - lobster and almond-crusted cheesecake, please! Should be a nice, romantic evening :)

Good job snagging a coveted Be Our Guest ressie! :thumbsup2 I used to LOVE Crystal Palace for breakfast! and mmmmm Narcoossee's! Last time we were there was July 4th 2002 . . .:eek:

I'm already planning my outfits for BoG lunch and dinner. :rotfl2: I love CP too, but that was actually a Ryan request. I asked him if he was ok with the idea of doing character meals and if so, which of the characters were most appealing to him. He chose Pooh & the Gang - and their breakfast food is always yummy :)
 
*clears throat, cough, cough, sip of water* AHEM.

If I may have your attention, I have a public service announcement. Though not a store I have ever shopped at, Hot Topic has a bunch of really cute Disney tanks & tees right now! I've ordered two Beauty & the Beast ones (one from eBay before I figured out they were available at HT) and the other today. Theres also some great Little Mermaid items and few other things. They also have some cute Star Wars items, though I prefer much of what's available from Her Universe.

Maybe I'll enable others.... I'm a sucker for BaTB merchandise!

This concludes your public shopping, umm....service announcement. Please resume your regularly scheduled DISing.
 
*clears throat, cough, cough, sip of water* AHEM.

If I may have your attention, I have a public service announcement. Though not a store I have ever shopped at, Hot Topic has a bunch of really cute Disney tanks & tees right now! I've ordered two Beauty & the Beast ones (one from eBay before I figured out they were available at HT) and the other today. Theres also some great Little Mermaid items and few other things. They also have some cute Star Wars items, though I prefer much of what's available from Her Universe.

Maybe I'll enable others.... I'm a sucker for BaTB merchandise!

This concludes your public shopping, umm....service announcement. Please resume your regularly scheduled DISing.

Wow, Hot Topic . . .DD used to shop there when she was a "scene" kid back in 2005 . . .lol Didn't realize they've added Disney stuff as being "scene" LOL
 
Wow, Hot Topic . . .DD used to shop there when she was a "scene" kid back in 2005 . . .lol Didn't realize they've added Disney stuff as being "scene" LOL

I know! It's pretty funny .... I didn't realize they had started carrying some Disney items until I found these. Apparently Disney is now in their "pop culture" section and somewhat hipster-ish. Who knew?! :lmao:
 
Joining in.

Seems like we'll be at the World at the same time. Looking forward to counting down together.


Great looking ADRs and well done on BoG.
 
Joining in! :goodvibes

:welcome:
always happy to have new friends join in!

Joining in.

Seems like we'll be at the World at the same time. Looking forward to counting down together.


Great looking ADRs and well done on BoG.

:welcome:
I'll head over and check out your Pre-TR as well! 150 days as of today (plus a handful of hours) I'm so excited :goodvibes BoG is definitely the biggie for me on this trip!
 
How was everyone's weekend? I spent most of it in dance related activities. I competed in London, Ontario, Canada on Saturday and spent a lot of time in the dance studio on Sunday.

Friday evening I traveled halfway to the competition venue, which also incorporated a stop over at my parents house. If you may recall from a prior post, the lucky ducks were in Disney this week to check out Flower & Garden festival. In their quest to visit the Main Mouse, they left behind their adorable kitty Somber. Not only did I get a place to stay for the night, but I also got to check in and hang out with Somber - she was pretty pleased to see me!





I've also been starting to add some important pieces to my Disney closet! While I'm not your typical Hot Topic shopper, I did pick up these two beauties!





I am in LOVE :love: with the second one - I've contemplated a tattoo with part of the stained glass for some time. This will definitely be what I wear the day that we will be doing BoG for lunch. I'm sure that I will take a somewhat dorky picture with the mosaic there since we'll be twinsies and all



Nothing says nerd like starting to plan your outfits and photo ops 150 days out ...:rolleyes1
 
Nothing wrong with being a nerd :P

Somber looks like a very cuddly cat, definitely a cutie. Oh and I love the shirts.
 
Nothing wrong with being a nerd :P

Somber looks like a very cuddly cat, definitely a cutie. Oh and I love the shirts.

something has to pass the time until it's time to leave, right? :rotfl:

Somber is a sweetie - she was a rescue kitty and just loves attention. She'll race my dad down the hallway to her perch so she can climb up and be ready for him to scratch her ears! It was nice to stop in and visit her - I know she was missing my parents being around.

I need to do a post on my own little monster before too long as well :)
 
What a precious cat!

We'll be there that same week and I think we're also planning on MNSSHP on the 3rd.

I love your Beauty and the Beast shirts. I'm guilty of already planning my outfits too. And hoping my son doesn't outgrow all his cute Disney clothes so we can coordinate. :rolleyes1
 
Nerd? I don't see any signs of any nerdiness on this thread...or on the Dis, for that matter.


That calico cat is just beautiful. I had a cat with that kind of colouring and markings. She was a grand cat. :thumbsup2
 

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