"I"m Only Going Because My Teacher Told Me To" Nov. 2016 PTR * update 12/2 TRIP REPORT STARTED! *

[ariane37]

Oh and did you do a package? If not check out park savers buy 4, get 3 free deal. You can upgrade those to APs and you'll save almost $80.

We actually did do a package this time, first time in awhile. The room price with the "back to school" promotion was really good even with Disney's ticket prices but I did price out doing a room only and going with Parksavers for tickets. We've ordered from UT our last few trips but I do think we'll be getting the boy's tickets for Nov. from Parksavers unless they're cheaper through Steve's work. Parksavers seems like a good company and more and more people seem to be ordering from them with good results!

 

[adobda]

I'll be the redhead (every 7-8 weeks ) with huge frizzy Florida August hair with NO kids! Definitely say hello if you recongnize me and when I post our park days lmk if we match up at all

Ugh, don't even remind me about huge frizzy Florida hair! We went last August/September too and it was brutal. I have naturally curly/frizzy hair to begin with, so I ended up just pulling it back every day, which makes getting ready to go in the mornings much more quickly. We're going to do MNSSHP while we're there and I'm thinking of going as Merida...just throw on a costume and let the Florida humidity work its magic on my hair!

Have to do some ADR's but again, lots to choose from even though it's during free dining so its all good!

I have some ADR's that I have not cancelled yet despite finalizing our plans (finally!); if there's one you're looking for that you can't find, include it in one of your postings and I'll see if I have anything!

 

[absolutmey]

hooray! two tickers!!

 

[Carathryn]

YAY!!!!!!! I am so excited you guys get to squeeze in an August trip, and try out a new resort!!! As someone who books almost all of my trips about 45 days out, I have always been able to get all of the ADRs and fast passes I wanted. And you know who else will be there in August...

 

[Karabear15]

SOOO Jealous!! Have a great time and let us know what you think about the WL!

 

[ArielSRL]

We actually did do a package this time, first time in awhile. The room price with the "back to school" promotion was really good even with Disney's ticket prices but I did price out doing a room only and going with Parksavers for tickets. We've ordered from UT our last few trips but I do think we'll be getting the boy's tickets for Nov. from Parksavers unless they're cheaper through Steve's work. Parksavers seems like a good company and more and more people seem to be ordering from them with good results!

Gotcha. But yes, parksavers is great. I just purchased from them for the second time this past Saturday! There is only one (possible) issue for you. The current sale ends 7/31. That doesn't mean there won't be a new, different, better (?) sale afterward, but who knows?

 

[ariane37]

Getting Our Plans Ready and MDE Annoyance​

I've got a decent amount of plans set, although some of you who really plan down to the smaller details will probably be like this when you see how much I didn't do last night. But first, MDE is annoying the crap out of me this morning! I accidentally made FP's for the wrong day last night and didn't realize it until this morning. Basically I need to move our Tues. ones to Monday for which I currently have no FP's. However, since I did accidentally make some for Wed. when we fly out early I need to cancel those b/c we have 3 day hoppers and I currently have FP's for 3 days so I can't make them for Monday until I cancel one day (following?) However, MDE won't let me cancel Wed. UGH! I'm sure it's a stupid momentary glitch but it's happening while I'm trying to do stuff so it needs to stop asap!

Here's what I have so far for our first 2 days:

Sat. 8/27
We'll arrive at MCO approx. 11:15 if we're on time and take DME to WL. Steve has requested we spend a good portion of the day checking out and enjoying the resort, something we normally fail to do. We both wish we'd relaxed a bit more when we were at AKL in January, although it was quite cold during our trip so being outside walking around or at the pool wouldn't have been so much fun. I'm not really a pool girl unless I'm sitting by a pool with an adult beverage, so we may do some of that this day.
FOOD: I know I'll be hungry as soon as we get to the resort, so we'll most likely just check out Roaring Forks. I haven't made an ADR for dinner but some ideas are Citrico's, Narcoossee's, Artist's Point (we've never been), or possibly going over to Disney Springs. I'm not too concerned about getting in somewhere and may not make a reservation until we're poolside. This has worked for us on both our previous adults-only trips and while looking at available options last night, I was quite surprised at all the availability at lots of places, popular and less-discussed, considering we're going during FD.

Sun. 8/28 EPCOT/AK
Before we head to our first park, I made an 8am breakfast ADR for Trail's End. I've wanted to eat breakfast here for awhile now & actually made a reservation last Aug. when we did our Universal-only-but-snuck-MK-in trip, but cancelled. I've also been trying to fit it in for our Nov. trip but since I feel RD is more necessary the week of Thanksgiving with all of us than it is next month with just the 2 of us, it works in perfectly here. It's also easy to get to from WL.
The main reason I want to eat here is because I heard they have the French Toast Bread Pudding similar to what they have at Boma breakfast, and I fell in love with that in January and have been craving it ever since! I've searched for a picture of the TE one but can't find any, so here's a picture of my Boma plate that includes their FT bread pudding with praline sauce:



See it there right next to the also delicious scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives? Mmm....now I want to go back to Boma for breakfast lol!
After breakfast we'll head right to Epcot, probably not getting there before RD but hopefully not long after. My goal is to ride new Soarin' with a somewhat short, read reasonable, wait. Possibly TT single rider if we feel like it. I'm sure we'll do SE and I want to see if the Pixar shorts have changed since January. We both enjoyed them and since it'll be HOT and I hate the heat, I'll take any chance at a/c I can get. At 11 we'll most likely do some walking around WS for as long as we can stand it and possibly eat lunch or definitely get a snack, and DEFINITELY get a grey goose slush or 2! I didn't do FP's here b/c I'm saving them for later at AK. Also just a BTW, I looked to see if I could get a FEA FP at all and I couldn't. Not disappointed, Steve is in no rush to ride it and I'll be doing our Nov. FP's at the 60 day mark so I'll try for one then.

Not sure when we'll leave - will we go back to the resort or right to AK? My gut tells me we'll want to shower - again, gross and HOT.
Regardless my AK FP's look like this:
KRR 4:00
KS 7:20
JB show 8:25

I do have a couple issues with this. 1) My initial plan was to have dinner at Tiffins in between our first 2 FP's. However, after looking over the menu again, it's not turning me on. I'd like to maybe try some of the offerings in Harambe Market since I was outvoted on eating there back in Nov., but I don't know if there's enough to satisfy Steve if we didn't have a decent size lunch. Possibly Yak and Yeti except we're eating there in Nov. and I'd like to not eat anywhere we're eating in Nov. This brings me to 2) depending on what we decide to do about eating, I may have to move around a FP or 2. Maybe we'll eat somewhere outside AK before we go in? I just don't want to get there too late; I'd like to catch some of the new entertainment as well as see the Tree of Life change thingy. We plan on riding EE after the JB show so that's not an issue as far as what time we get there, but I do want to get KRR and the safari in and since reviews of the safari at night aren't great I'd prefer to ride it before total darkness.
Now a little aside about the Jungle Book show. I know the reviews are far from positive overall, but I LOVE the JB and I didn't think it would still be around in November, so I'm pretty excited that I get to check it out for myself. I'm not expecting to be blown away, but it'll give me a great reason to wear this cool tank top I picked up in Hot Topic about a month ago:



That's what I have for our first 2 days! I've been busy all day so now I need to try MDE again to cancel those Wed. FP's and make Monday ones before I firm up the plans for Monday and Tuesday.

 

[ariane37]

Ugh, don't even remind me about huge frizzy Florida hair! We went last August/September too and it was brutal. I have naturally curly/frizzy hair to begin with, so I ended up just pulling it back every day, which makes getting ready to go in the mornings much more quickly. We're going to do MNSSHP while we're there and I'm thinking of going as Merida...just throw on a costume and let the Florida humidity work its magic on my hair!



I have some ADR's that I have not cancelled yet despite finalizing our plans (finally!); if there's one you're looking for that you can't find, include it in one of your postings and I'll see if I have anything!

Plans are NEVER finalized until you're actually there lol! Thank you for the ADR offer
My hair, although it doesn't look that bad in my profile picture, is normally HUGE. It takes a ton of product to make it look somewhat civilized. The past 2 Augusts I tried my best to look decent in the parks but ended up just throwing my hands in the air and saying "whatever"! and just trying to stay out of pictures!
I do like the Merida costume idea though

hooray! two tickers!!

Two are better than one

YAY!!!!!!! I am so excited you guys get to squeeze in an August trip, and try out a new resort!!! As someone who books almost all of my trips about 45 days out, I have always been able to get all of the ADRs and fast passes I wanted. And you know who else will be there in August...

I seriously thought of you yesterday after we booked! I meant to go back to your PTR and check out your dates. Tell me again exactly when you're there and when you start the CP, I'd love to find you!

 

[ariane37]

SOOO Jealous!! Have a great time and let us know what you think about the WL!

Thank you and I'll definitely report back on our WL thoughts!

Gotcha. But yes, parksavers is great. I just purchased from them for the second time this past Saturday! There is only one (possible) issue for you. The current sale ends 7/31. That doesn't mean there won't be a new, different, better (?) sale afterward, but who knows?

I did read about the sale ending on the 31st on another thread, and I mentioned it to Steve. Hopefully we'll get them before that........I just need to keep reminding him about the savings factor and that while there is a chance another sale will turn up, it's not guaranteed. He's fond of doing the "let's wait and see" thing while I'm more of a "it's there, let's take it" person.

 

[ArielSRL]

Plans so far look great! You know I'll be paying a lot of attention to your WL coverage!

As far as AK plans, we did Y&Y in June. Not impressed. Probably won't be doing that again. My first suggestion is move KRR to 6:20 -7:20 and do an early meal at AKL. I'm fairly certain I'm booking Sanaa for our next trip. I want to do the bread service and there's steak on the menu so my DH will be happy.

Another suggestion would be Tusker House. I know it's a character meal but I've heard they have some interesting offerings at dinner. My family is not very adventurous so it wouldn't work for us but it might work for you? And you wouldn't have to change FP.

And another: change the FP, stay a little longer at Epcot (maybe doing some inside stuff to get a "break" then have a meal at one of the many offerings there.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[buzzrelly]

Here's my Disboards confession…I have never, in all these years, read a pre-trip report. I just couldn't see the point. As much as I love to read about people's trips, I thought reading about the planning of them would be boring. Well, you've proved me wrong! I just caught up…all 14 pages…and I love it! I am SUPER jealous that you get to do a last minute trip when you already have one 4 months away! But I did that last December when I had a trip planned for April so I guess I shouldn't be too jealous

I love all your clothes from Hot Topic! I am definitely heading there before my next trip!

Happy Planning! I'm off to find more pre-trip reports to read

 

[fallonkendra]

How exciting that you get to do a last minute trip in August! Both of our Disneyland trips were super last minute (one was decided on 3 days beforehand, and the other one was won at a hockey game 2 weeks before) and I loved just going with the flow!

I can't wait to see your pictures of Wilderness Lodge - it looks so pretty from everything I've seen of it.

Those Dooney and Bourke magicbands look so nice, but I have no idea how to get my hands on one up here in Canada...

That picture of your nephew wearing the Minnie Mouse dress as a skirt is too funny!

I love that Jungle Book tank! I haven't been to Hot Topic in a few months, I've been trying to avoid going to the mall, but now I might have to make a trip...

 

[ALEXandFAB]

SO WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY NEXT MONTH! 48 DAYS FROM TODAY TO BE EXACT!!! AND IT'S JUST THE 2 OF US!!!!

How did I miss this announcement?! YAY!!

I'm sure it's a stupid momentary glitch but it's happening while I'm trying to do stuff so it needs to stop asap!

I hope MDE us working for you now.

Super cute tank top!

 

[ariane37]

Plans so far look great! You know I'll be paying a lot of attention to your WL coverage!

As far as AK plans, we did Y&Y in June. Not impressed. Probably won't be doing that again. My first suggestion is move KRR to 6:20 -7:20 and do an early meal at AKL. I'm fairly certain I'm booking Sanaa for our next trip. I want to do the bread service and there's steak on the menu so my DH will be happy.

Another suggestion would be Tusker House. I know it's a character meal but I've heard they have some interesting offerings at dinner. My family is not very adventurous so it wouldn't work for us but it might work for you? And you wouldn't have to change FP.

And another: change the FP, stay a little longer at Epcot (maybe doing some inside stuff to get a "break" then have a meal at one of the many offerings there.

Let us know what you decide!

Well I did kind of take some of your advice lol! I moved our KRR FP back an hour, from 4 to 5:20. And we're going to eat a later lunch in Epcot before we refresh at the resort and head to AK Then we'll try out the offerings at Harambe Market later at night, somewhere between FP's and before the JB show.
Now first of all I want to say that you should definitely book Sanaa for your trip next year if it interests you, we LOVE it! We've eaten there 3x. We've gotten the bread service the last 2 and we all love it, even Ricky who can be on the pickier side. Speaking of picky, you mention dinner at TH which was a very good suggestion! We've done lunch there a couple times and I believe the food at lunch is the same, or close to the same, as dinner. The first time we did it Ricky was pretty young, I believe 5? And I figured he would just eat bread b/c he was still in his mac n cheese, chicken nugget and pizza phase But he surprised us both by eating a lot! So if TH interests you at all and you're only hesitating b/c of your picky eaters, maybe think about it some more. I actually think there's more there for picky eaters than on the Boma dinner buffet.

Here's my Disboards confession…I have never, in all these years, read a pre-trip report. I just couldn't see the point. As much as I love to read about people's trips, I thought reading about the planning of them would be boring. Well, you've proved me wrong! I just caught up…all 14 pages…and I love it! I am SUPER jealous that you get to do a last minute trip when you already have one 4 months away! But I did that last December when I had a trip planned for April so I guess I shouldn't be too jealous

I love all your clothes from Hot Topic! I am definitely heading there before my next trip!

Happy Planning! I'm off to find more pre-trip reports to read

AAHHHH I'm so happy you decided to come over!! and I'm glad you're enjoying it. You know, I felt the same way about PTR's at one point. Before I'd ever written a TR I thought about writing one some day, but said I'd never do a PTR because people don't read them lol. I can't remember when I started reading the PTR's but I became as hooked on them as I am on the TR's! Problem is it means I spend more time on the Dis.....

Now the problem with Disney trips close to each other as you know, is you get spoiled and have a harder time when you have to wait longer periods in between!

Hot Topic is dangerous I realized this morning I have Hot cash (equivalent of Kohl's cash) that expires Sunday. I don't have to use it, but isn't that like throwing money away??

I hope you found a few more awesome PTR's! I know I'm following some good ones!

 

[ariane37]

How exciting that you get to do a last minute trip in August! Both of our Disneyland trips were super last minute (one was decided on 3 days beforehand, and the other one was won at a hockey game 2 weeks before) and I loved just going with the flow!

I can't wait to see your pictures of Wilderness Lodge - it looks so pretty from everything I've seen of it.

Those Dooney and Bourke magicbands look so nice, but I have no idea how to get my hands on one up here in Canada...

That picture of your nephew wearing the Minnie Mouse dress as a skirt is too funny!

I love that Jungle Book tank! I haven't been to Hot Topic in a few months, I've been trying to avoid going to the mall, but now I might have to make a trip...

WOW, 3 days before! I do think it's easier to do that at DL though, isn't it? You don't really need to make ADR's and they haven't gotten FP+......yet!
I do remember reading about the trip you won at the hockey game, I wish I'd win a Disney trip!
As for the D&B magic bands, I believe I read they'll be available on the shop parks app. Can you access that? I'm assuming you can but I am so bad with apps and tech stuff and that sort of stuff, it's laughable.
I'm always for a trip to a mall, any mall, so I say go to Hot Topic if only to add an update to your PTR showing what you bought

How did I miss this announcement?! YAY!!




I hope MDE us working for you now.



Super cute tank top!

I'm going to apologize first if you didn't read this the few times I complained about it lol, but my "quote" feature STILL WILL NOT WORK! So I have to quote whole posts......life is so hard......
Thank you for sharing in my excitement! I'm thinking this will make waiting for our Nov. trip less painful lol. I figure when we get back on the 31st it'll be like 22 days until FP for that trip so I'll only have 60 days left. Sounds better than my over 100 days right now!

MDE worked fine today I've been lucky since they introduced MDE and never had any major issues; in fact this was actually the biggest one! Some people have huge troubles so I guess I shouldn't complain but when it gets in the way of plans and you're on a roll, it's super annoying.

Like I keep saying, Hot Topic is both dangerous and an obsession!

 

[ArielSRL]

Well I did kind of take some of your advice lol! I moved our KRR FP back an hour, from 4 to 5:20. And we're going to eat a later lunch in Epcot before we refresh at the resort and head to AK Then we'll try out the offerings at Harambe Market later at night, somewhere between FP's and before the JB show.
Now first of all I want to say that you should definitely book Sanaa for your trip next year if it interests you, we LOVE it! We've eaten there 3x. We've gotten the bread service the last 2 and we all love it, even Ricky who can be on the pickier side. Speaking of picky, you mention dinner at TH which was a very good suggestion! We've done lunch there a couple times and I believe the food at lunch is the same, or close to the same, as dinner. The first time we did it Ricky was pretty young, I believe 5? And I figured he would just eat bread b/c he was still in his mac n cheese, chicken nugget and pizza phase But he surprised us both by eating a lot! So if TH interests you at all and you're only hesitating b/c of your picky eaters, maybe think about it some more. I actually think there's more there for picky eaters than on the Boma dinner buffet.

Glad you got it worked out! I have heard so many good things about Sanaa! We will do it on our AK day. I was throwing around TH breakfast. We did that in June and liked it a lot but I really don't want to spend our 1 AK day doing two TS meals. Also, I'm trying to cut down on the buffets bc, as you've read, my boys eat nothing so I don't want to pay for a full buffet for them!

 

[kastoney]

Laughing out loud at your plans. I'll PM you what we loosely plan on doing but so far our Sunday is eerily similar!!!!!

 

[ariane37]

MDE Problem Solved, 8/28 Update and 8/29 Plans​

I'm happy to report that MDE got over it's glitch and I was able to straighten out all the FP stuff. I also made a small change on Sunday; I moved our KRR FP from 4 to 5:20 and decided that we'll eat a later lunch at EPCOT and then grab something at Harambe Market sometime before the JB show. So unless something else gets planned that changes up our Sunday, we're looking like this:

8am Trails End breakfast
9-9:30 EPCOT
EPCOT lunch 1:30-2ish, very possibly at San Angel Inn
AK by 5 (unless I change the FP to 6......)
KRR 5:20
KS 7:20
JB show 8:25
Harambe Market eats somewhere in there

I know San Angel gets some negative reviews but it's on my bucket list to try. We've eaten in every country except Mexico, and every other restaurant in EPCOT except this one, La Hacienda San Angel, Spice Road Table and Monsieur Paul. I checked and there's tons of availability so I don't know that I'll actually make a reservation until maybe the day before, just in case we change our mind. I may keep an eye on the availability. Also I heard you can get the Avocado Margarita there that they serve at the Margarita place in the Mexico pavilion, even though I don't see it on the menu. Does anyone reading my report, maybe someone who has extensive Margarita/Disney alcohol knowledge know the answer to this

Now on to 8/29 (Monday):

MK: breakfast either Roaring Forks or a nice huge cinnamon bun for each of us from Gaston's
We'll do a few rides before it gets crowded: my main goal is to get Steve on Astro-Orbiter for the first time! It's not my favorite but he really wants to ride. We tried a few times in January and the line was always at least 30 minutes which is beyond our waiting tolerance.

FP's
Splash 11:05
Space 12:05
HM 2:20

I'm very excited to see the feature they added at the end of HM where the Hitchhiking ghosts hold up a sign with your name or town or whatever on it!! I was excited to see the feature added at the end of IASW too, but then realized its down for refurb when we're there. BTMRR is also down which stinks since it's one of our favorites but at least I only have to wait another 4.5 months to ride it.

I did make a lunch ADR for today at Skipper Canteen for 1:00. At first I wasn't thrilled with the menu. Back in January they weren't taking ADR's yet, they were trying to lure people walking by in and Steve and I passed. But since then I've read some positive reviews and seen pictures of some apps on dining reports like @kastoney's and decided I'd like to try it. I even know what I'm getting!


Falls Family Falafel


House-Made Arepas

And to wash it all down I'll get a beer...oh wait! No alcohol there I don't understand this, while the whole menu doesn't thrill me so much of it screams for alcohol! I guess I'll just have to take care of that the day before at EPCOT and work it in to whatever we do that night

Another thing we may try to do this day is catch the new castle stage show, Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire. I haven't checked the times yet but my main concern is standing still in the heat. As I've said, we've done August before and I've made it out alive. But the key for me is NOT standing still too long. For instance, I can manage walking from attraction to attraction, but standing still to watch a parade, which I've done for the kids, kills me. It's like I'm a marshmallow on a stick and someone is holding me over a fire. So that's what I'll feel like if we attempt to watch the show, unless they happen to have one at like 9:30 maybe. So we'll see. If not, there's always November!

After our 2:15 HM FP we'll most likely see if anything else has a low wait and then head out. With BTMRR and IASW (which is one of Steve's favorites) closed, and a handful of rides we don't really do without the boys, we should be good. Our plans for the evening are open at this point but I'll get back to you all if I figure something out ahead of time. If I said this before I'm sorry to repeat myself, but going kid-free makes it so much easier to plan less, switch plans around and be more spontaneous, and I love it!

 

[ArielSRL]

Very envious of your adults only! And then the freedom you have bc you are going back in November! I like the first day plan change. Love me some margaritas so I hope you get a few good ones.

I totally get you on the heat thing. That's why we didn't do the daytime parade at MK.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

I'm happy to report that MDE got over it's glitch and I was able to straighten out all the FP stuff.

Good!

I'm very excited to see the feature they added at the end of HM where the Hitchhiking ghosts hold up a sign with your name or town or whatever on it!!

I can't wait to see this feature first-hand. Nothing like it at Disneyland

I did make a lunch ADR for today at Skipper Canteen for 1:00.

We have an ADR there for dinner in November. Really looking forward to it. Lots of stuff on the menu sounds delicious.

If I said this before I'm sorry to repeat myself, but going kid-free makes it so much easier to plan less, switch plans around and be more spontaneous, and I love it!

I hear you. Alex (my hubby) and I plan to take a WDW trip just the two of us once our son is grown. We plan to do a lot of travelling at that point actually (fingers crossed), but WDW is at the top of the list. We've had so much fun the few times we've sneaked off to Disneyland by ourselves.

For the next several years though, it's all about family vacations (with a few adult-only weekend trips thrown in). Disney World this year, and then Philadelphia (of all places!) in 2017. My little guy has asked to visit the historical sites there including a side trip to Gettysburg and a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary (we're weird and we like visiting reportedly haunted places!). He also has New Orleans on his bucket list and wants to visit the Myrtles Plantation...for the ghosts of course .

But nothing will ever top WDW for me . Wish we could visit every year.