She's Going To Show Him The World, a September 2016 PTR

Wood Nymph · Jan 27, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
We actually had a pretty full night without going into the parks and I didn't really miss it this time. We really got to test the double stroller in crowds though and I really like it. It's different but I like it. I think I'll be more comfortable with Marshall in it as he gets bigger as well and by the time we go to Disneyworld he'll be able to sit up and chill better in it.

We took our daughter to WDW when she was 9 months and our son was four years old. Nine months is a nice age for traveling. They are old enough to sit up by themselves and eat some finger food, but too young to crawl away.

GrandCalifornian said:
By then we were hungry, so we headed to our favorite spot, the snack bar at the Grand Californian. We really like the food here, and it is a beautiful quiet spot to hang out. Melissa and I decided to split an order of Nachos and a Carnitas burger.

I love your favorite snack bar. I am always amazed at how empty it always looks. I expect everything at Disneyland to be busy, even their hotels, since it is located in a big metropolitan area. Do you only eat there when it isn't busy?

GrandCalifornian said:
It would be nice if the resort was quieter ultimately though for me the resort location is a pretty big deal for this trip. I think the only thing that would really make me want to switch would be if we couldn't get quick service food. If we switch it would be to POR.

I agree, as long as we have access to Roaring Fork and can catch boats on Bay Lake to the CR, FW, and MK, I think we can work around anything else. It all will also depend on what hapens when discounts come out though too. We are hopeful that we will have a better chance at free dining at WL.

Do you plan to use your normal touring style when you are there? I would think you would miss most of the construction noise in that case.

It is just so hard to know what will be happening in September. I was shocked to find them closing off the lobby floors when we were thrre a few weeks ago. It makes me wonder what else they might have up their sleeves. We are headed back to WDW in a few weeks and will be sure to stop by the WL to check out construction. And we also need to visit the Territory Lounge, one of our favorite places which we missed on our last trip.

GrandCalifornian said:
I'm thinking we should start some sort of pool as to what size clothing Marshall will be wearing by the trip.

We were spoiled by Allie who was always right on as far as sizing. Now Marshall is wearing some 6 month clothes at only 6 weeks old!

I'm going to make an early guess that he will be in an 18 month size by then.

GrandCalifornian · Jan 28, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
We took our daughter to WDW when she was 9 months and our son was four years old. Nine months is a nice age for traveling. They are old enough to sit up by themselves and eat some finger food, but too young to crawl away.

That's what we are thinking. He'll be young enough to travel on a lap and go where we go in the stroller or in a carrier. He won't remember it, but we'll have some great pictures.

Wood Nymph said:
I love your favorite snack bar. I am always amazed at how empty it always looks. I expect everything at Disneyland to be busy, even their hotels, since it is located in a big metropolitan area. Do you only eat there when it isn't busy?

We love that spot because it isn't busy even when there are crowds everywhere else. It is kind of hidden in the hotel and not on a main path. The food really is great too, and is some of our favorite in all of Disney.

Wood Nymph said:
Do you plan to use your normal touring style when you are there? I would think you would miss most of the construction noise in that case.

It is just so hard to know what will be happening in September. I was shocked to find them closing off the lobby floors when we were there a few weeks ago. It makes me wonder what else they might have up their sleeves. We are headed back to WDW in a few weeks and will be sure to stop by the WL to check out construction. And we also need to visit the Territory Lounge, one of our favorite places which we missed on our last trip.

Yeah, it is a big guessing game. We plan on keeping our usual schedule as much as possible, but by staying at WL we can always head back to the resort fairly easily if we need to. As far as more unexpected changes at WL, my fear is that there will be restaurant closures as things are moved around and into the new building. I don't think this will happen by September, but we never know for sure. At first I was disapointed that our favorite room location will be closed, but we both are excited about having fewer people overall at the resort.

Wood Nymph said:
I'm going to make an early guess that he will be in an 18 month size by then.

That's probably not a bad guess. We should start buying whatever Disney clothes we can find for him that are in bigger sizes since he'll be able to wear them at some point. What he gets to wear on the trip will be a mystery.

WDWKOOK · Jan 28, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
I wasn't sure how Allie (or myself) would react to being that close and not going in to a park, but some of our favorite things are outside the gates so there's no reason to miss out on them. Allie was cute about it too.

Allie said "There are still magical things to do."

We actually had a pretty full night without going into the parks and I didn't really miss it this time. We really got to test the double stroller in crowds though and I really like it. It's different but I like it. I think I'll be more comfortable with Marshall in it as he gets bigger as well and by the time we go to Disneyworld he'll be able to sit up and chill better in it.

Allie begged us to walk through the Rainforrest Cafe, so we checked it out and Marshall got an up close view of the wildlife. He wasn't sure about the Alligator but played along.

Her smile looks so sinister in this picture.

Welcome back to DLR with Marshall! Marshall is so cute, big and strong looking and Melissa, you're looking fabulous, even though I'm certain you're pretty tired.

You snapped that photo of Marshall and the gator at just the right moment - perfect!

GrandCalifornian said:
We even found a nice outside sittign area that reminds us of some of the areas at Wilderness Lodge, only it is outdoors which works well with our nice weather.

Is this area high up or at ground level? It reminds me a bit of the area above the port cochere at WL.

GrandCalifornian said:
By now we were past our two hours of free parking, so we started workign toward the car. On the way we had to stop at the Lego store though, and Allie decided to spend some of her own money on more minifigures. The funny thing is she made two of the three figures identical, so they could be twins.

I wonder if she wanted to give one of them to Marshall?

GrandCalifornian said:
Now, back to our WDW trip planning. There isn't a whole lot to report, but things are still on track. Currently we are just 46 days from our ADR date, and the Jet Blue airfare schedule and the preliminary Diseny travel agent calendar should be available within the next month.

Our goal is to see if we can get airfare for the 4 of us for under $1,000. Marshall will be a lap baby so we're not technically buying him a ticket. We are looking at ALL the flight options including a non-stop red-eye flight out of LAX. I'm not sure what I would prefer in a flight with the baby but budget is going to be a pretty big factor in our flight choice this time. It should be interesting to see what we end up with.

We are all hoping for a deal on the JetBlue flight we have taken the last two times, which has one stop in Austin but is the same plane for both flights so we don't have to worry about making the connection.

I like that flight because we've got the whole routine figured out. Hopefully we can still make that one happen.

We are also watching the Wilderness Lodge construction situation. Since we last posted they have announced that basically half of the main resort is shut down, leaving only the North wing and a single set of elevators. While this means our favorite rooms from the last two times won't be available, we are still thinking it will work out ok, and it might be very nice to have fewer people overall at the resort.

It would be nice if the resort was quieter ultimately though for me the resort location is a pretty big deal for this trip. I think the only thing that would really make me want to switch would be if we couldn't get quick service food. If we switch it would be to POR.

I agree, as long as we have access to Roaring Fork and can catch boats on Bay Lake to the CR, FW, and MK, I think we can work around anything else. It all will also depend on what hapens when discounts come out though too. We are hopeful that we will have a better chance at free dining at WL.

It's a big wait and see game at this point. Speaking of wait and see, I'm thinking we should start some sort of pool as to what size clothing Marshall will be wearing by the trip.

We were spoiled by Allie who was always right on as far as sizing. Now Marshall is wearing some 6 month clothes at only 6 weeks old!

He has made it impossible to predict what size he'll be in by September. I guess that's about it for now. We'll keep you updated as planning heats up in the next month or two.

Thanks for following along and we'll post more here as things come together.

I hope you get a good deal on the tickets and your familiar route. It's really hard to tell how you'll feel at WL with all the changes. Many of the amenities are closed, will those affect your enjoyment?

GrandCalifornian · Jan 28, 2016

WDWKOOK said:
Welcome back to DLR with Marshall! Marshall is so cute, big and strong looking and Melissa, you're looking fabulous, even though I'm certain you're pretty tired.

Thanks! Marshall is growing quickly, and weighed 14 lbs this morning. Allie didn't weigh that much until she was 4 months old!

WDWKOOK said:
You snapped that photo of Marshall and the gator at just the right moment - perfect!

We got lucky, and didn't catch his expression until we looked at it on the computer at home.

WDWKOOK said:
Is this area high up or at ground level? It reminds me a bit of the area above the port cochere at WL.

It is actually on the 5th floor, and seems very similar to the area above the port cochere at WL. This one sees more traffic though, as it has a good view of the fireworks. I love how both resorts have their special little areas like that, and even after many visits we had never found this spot before.

WDWKOOK said:
I wonder if she wanted to give one of them to Marshall?

I don't think that was her plan, but she is being great about sharing things with him. She'll give him a Barbie doll to play with when he's in her bedroom, which makes for some cute pictures.

WDWKOOK said:
I hope you get a good deal on the tickets and your familiar route. It's really hard to tell how you'll feel at WL with all the changes. Many of the amenities are closed, will those affect your enjoyment?

Thanks, we're watching for deals and hope to jump on them when they do come out. As you know so well the WL construction is a wild card. We knew about it going in, and agreed that we could do without everything that has been closed so far. We visited WL during the main pool refurbishment during our POR trip last time and it still felt like home, and we are watching all the updates as they come in. We are willing to do without the beach area, outdoor movies, and boat rentals since we can do any of those at nearby resorts if we want. Having half of the resort closed down and the single bank of elevators might be an issue, but we are optimistic about the resulting reduction in number of people at the resort. We both have concerns about Roaring Fork though, and if it were to not be available we might reconsider. Overall though WL seems to still be a great deal because of its great location. With the baby we would love to be right on Bay Lake and have MK so easily accessible. We have some friends who are planning on joining us for this trip as well, and they have followed our prior trips and always liked WL. It is tough to explain to them that it won't be at its best, but so far for the price we think it will beat the alternatives.

GrandCalifornian · Feb 9, 2016

We are officially going to Disney World, as we booked our airfare today!

So exciting! Sunday morning Paul was up checking Jet Blue's fares bright and early and was greatly disappointed when our usual flight didn't appear on the schedule.

I was bummed, because not only were the fares more than we wanted, we had to connect in Boston or JFK, leading to a 6 hour flight.

Bummed probably wouldn't accurately describe it. More devastated and mopey.

I don't know about devastated, they didn't say we couldn't go, just that it was going to cost more and not be as nice. That definitely made me mopey.

We looked at one way tickets out of one airport and coming home to a different airport. Obviously there are plenty of airplanes going between Southern California and Orlando but we had a budget of 1000 dollars that we wanted stay within.

We compared bag fees, fare options, and airport parking costs. I wound up giving up for the day, and returned to searching at work on Monday.

We finally found a great flight option out of LAX on United.

At first it showed up as a 1 stop on the way there, and a nonstop return but by the end of the day yesterday they had a nonstop each way for $268 a person. That fare beat what we could find anywhere else, even on Spirit where we'd have to pay for carry ons.

Marshall is flying on a lap so that works out to just over 800 dollars, well below our ticket budget. We thought we would wait to see what we could get on Southwest out of our airport closest to home but after lots of thinking I decided we just needed to book the nonstop.

I compared the cost of that flight at other times of the year, and never found it any cheaper so we decided it was time to commit and go for it. We will have to pay to check our bags, but we'll still be right at our $1000 budget.

We are super duper excited and that makes the trip official. We are headed back to Disney!

WooHoo, I am excited. As we type this Grandma Nancy is booking their airfare too so they will be on the same flights with us.

so planning is going to get into full swing soon.

We are expecting the travel agent calendar for September to be released any day now with the park hours for September, and then we can finalize our ADRs. We get to call for them in just 33 days! We'll post our daily plans here as we figure them out, but now we know that we'll be there. We can't wait!

Wood Nymph · Feb 9, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
We thought we would wait to see what we could get on Southwest out of our airport closest to home but after lots of thinking I decided we just needed to book the nonstop.

The price sounds great and a nonstop will be nice.

GrandCalifornian said:
As we type this Grandma Nancy is booking their airfare too so they will be on the same flights with us.

That will be nice. Are they staying at the WL. too?

GrandCalifornian said:
We are expecting the travel agent calendar for September to be released any day now with the park hours for September, and then we can finalize our ADRs. We get to call for them in just 33 days! We'll post our daily plans here as we figure them out, but now we know that we'll be there. We can't wait!

I can't believe it is only 33 days until ADR day. That makes it seem close. We are going to try to book a bounceback for September 21st to 26th when we are there in about ten days.

I have a question for you - when you stayed at POR with your parents, did both of you reserve preferred rooms? I booked a preferred room for our son and grandsons but could only get a king room for us with the BB offer. I'm hoping we can still get connecting rooms even though ours is a king and not preferred.

GrandCalifornian · Feb 10, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
The price sounds great and a nonstop will be nice.

Yeah, we have never had a nonstop, but it should be pretty nice. We couldn't beat the price, so we went for it.

Wood Nymph said:
That will be nice. Are they staying at the WL. too?

Yes, they are booked at WL with us again. We also have some other family friends who are joining in who have booked a room at WL and also booked their airfare yesterday, so it is all coming together. Now we are hoping for a free dining offer, but we'll have to wait a couple of months for that.

Wood Nymph said:
I can't believe it is only 33 days until ADR day. That makes it seem close. We are going to try to book a bounceback for September 21st to 26th when we are there in about ten days.

I have a question for you - when you stayed at POR with your parents, did both of you reserve preferred rooms? I booked a preferred room for our son and grandsons but could only get a king room for us with the BB offer. I'm hoping we can still get connecting rooms even though ours is a king and not preferred.

Congratulations on your planned September trip. Getting to catch Food and Wine will be nice. When we stayed at POR we both booked preferred, and my parents wound up with a room with two Queen beds as well. The way they do the room categories you should be fine with one preferred and one King. Supposedly each room is only considered to be in only one bookable category, so the King bed rooms in the preferred buildings are considered King category. That way it shouldn't be a problem to get the rooms together, and being linked to the preferred reservation should improve your chances of getting a good location. Good luck, and enjoy your trip.

Wood Nymph · Feb 10, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
The way they do the room categories you should be fine with one preferred and one King. Supposedly each room is only considered to be in only one bookable category, so the King bed rooms in the preferred buildings are considered King category. That way it shouldn't be a problem to get the rooms together, and being linked to the preferred reservation should improve your chances of getting a good location. Good luck, and enjoy your trip.

Thanks, now I just have to hope that there are plenty of king rooms available in the preferred section.

Mousemommy1 · Feb 10, 2016

Wow!! Congratulations on the new little guy!! I typically lurk on your TR's and see you around on the WL thread from time to time, so I had no idea. Yay!!! :yay:

GrandCalifornian · Feb 10, 2016

Mousemommy1 said:
Wow!! Congratulations on the new little guy!! I typically lurk on your TR's and see you around on the WL thread from time to time, so I had no idea. Yay!!!

Thanks! Marshall is doing great, although he is BIG! Allie didn't weigh this much until she was four months old, and he's just two months old tomorrow. We are super excited to be going back to WDW, and to get to stay at WL. We think the location will be great in order to hop back over to the resort if we need to.

Mousemommy1 · Feb 10, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
Thanks! Marshall is doing great, although he is BIG! Allie didn't weigh this much until she was four months old, and he's just two months old tomorrow. We are super excited to be going back to WDW, and to get to stay at WL. We think the location will be great in order to hop back over to the resort if we need to.

Yes! Our little guy will be 13 months tomorrow, but we brought him when he was 3 months old last April. Staying at the CR was the best decision we could have made as far as location! It becomes very important with the very little littles.

GrandCalifornian · Mar 14, 2016

Today is our ADR day, which means we are only 180 days from being in Disney World! I set an alarm for 3 AM (6 Eastern) so I could try to get the reservations online, but knew I might have to call at 4 AM when the phone lines opened up. For the first time ever, I was able to get all of our ADRs made online!

As we mentioned before, my parents and some friends of ours are joining in on this trip as well. We showed them all the restaurants we were planning on, and everybody wanted to be included, so we went ahead and made all of our ADRs for 8 people.

I had printed off a list of the meals we wanted in what I thought would be a good priority order, with the harder to get ones first. I had no problem with Be Our Guest Lunch, Crystal Palace Breakfast before the park opens, Boma, or Ohana. Surprisingly to me, the one that gave me issues was lunch at Yak and Yeti. At first it showed 2:30 as the only available lunch reservation, but when I tried to book it I got the dreaded "sorry for the paws" message. When I tried again, it showed no lunch times available on the day we had chosen. I finished my list and then went back to it and finally was able to get the 2:30 lunch reservation. It will give us plenty of time to explore in the morning, and we'll have some yummy snacks if we get hungry.

Here's our list of ADRs:

Sunday September 11th:
Trail's End Dinner

Monday September 12th:
Yak and Yeti Lunch

Tuesday September 13th:
Be Our Guest Lunch
Akershus Dinner

Wednesday September 14th:
Crystal Palace Breakfast (before park opens)
Ohana Dinner

Thursday September 15th:
Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch

Friday September 16th:
Teppan Edo Lunch

Saturday September 17th:
Boma Dinner

Sunday September 18th:
Garden Grill Dinner

As we were typing this, we remembered that we usually book BBB for Allie when we call. There still doesn't seem to be a way of doing that online, so Melissa called from work on Monday.

On the phone I was able to schedule BBB at the Magic Kingdom for Tuesday the 13th at 9:20 AM. We found Allie a really nice Anna dress at the Disney store, and I think that's what she is going to go with for BBB this year.

While I was on the phone I also reserved a haircut for Marshall on Thursday morning at the Main St. Barber Shop. We're not sure he'll have enough hair by then, but we can always cancel and it might be hard to get the reservation later.

So, there's our list. We're really excited to be at less than 180 days to go. Next we hope for a free dining promotion or other Fall discount while we start to think about what we want for Fastpass + reservations...

Wood Nymph · Mar 14, 2016

You have some of our favorites on your list and some restaurants we haven't tried yet. Are any of these new for you? With so many favorites we find it hard to slip in new ones.

I've noticed a lot more girls wearing Anna costumes instead of Elsa. I think Anna has really cute outfits.

GrandCalifornian · Mar 15, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
You have some of our favorites on your list and some restaurants we haven't tried yet. Are any of these new for you? With so many favorites we find it hard to slip in new ones.

I've noticed a lot more girls wearing Anna costumes instead of Elsa. I think Anna has really cute outfits.

We have more and more favorites too so it is hard to fit new things in. This time Teppan Edo is new for us and we are really looking forward to it. Boma and Ohana will be new for my parents, since we went to them in 2013 on our own.
Crystal Palace, Yak and Yeti, Liberty Tree, and Akershus have all become favorites, and we couldn't miss Trail's End. Allie's one meal request (or maybe demand...) was the "spinning restaurant" Garden Grill. We tried it for the first time last time and she loved it. It is a nice way to eat with Mickey and still have great food.

One we didn't book but would like to have is Boatwrights at POR. We would definitely eat there again. Did you do it last time you stayed at POR?

We'll have to post some pics of the Anna dress. It is one of the really nice (and usually expensive) ones from the Disney store, but we got it on clearance and everybody is excited about it.

Wood Nymph · Mar 15, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
One we didn't book but would like to have is Boatwrights at POR. We would definitely eat there again. Did you do it last time you stayed at POR?

We ate at Boatwrights during our August trip. The corn bread and French onion soup were delicious. I really liked my shrimp dish but my husband wasn't too impressed with the prime rib. I thought it was fine. We had a really nice hostess from our suburban area. And our waiter was a lot of fun. Those things really make a difference.

We are going to eat there again in June because our daughter really wants to try the jambalaya. I'm looking forward to it, too.

We had dinner at Yak & Yeti last month and once again had a great meal. The pot stickers are a favorite and this time I tried the chicken Mandarin salad. I think I have found a new favorite. We tried the very popular won ton dessert but were not impressed. At least now I know what everyone is talking about.

I wish we could fit it into our June trip. But it is only a four night trip and we have Liberty Tree Tavern lunch, Tusker House breakfast, and dinners at Boatwrights, Ohana and Cape May, which is enough table service for us.

We like Trail's End, too, especially their breakfast buffet.

WDWKOOK · Mar 15, 2016

While the airfare was "touch and go"

, I'm glad it all worked out in the end and for your friends and parents, too.

Is Melissa working on any new outfits for Allie and/or Marshall? Not that she has tons of time to spend sewing, but you know we all love seeing those amazing creations.

Wonder what was going on with trying to book Y&Y? I'm sure it will, but if for some reason a new dining promo. isn't available and you instead use a room promo., would you opt to not do the DDP? Didn't tables for 8 used to be considered "Grand Gatherings" and you would have to call to book those? I've never made ADRs for more than 3 so I'm not sure about that.

If Marshall doesn't have enough hair to warrant a cut, I'm sure it would be fun for Paul to get the royal treatment and pixie dust pixiedust:

GrandCalifornian · Mar 22, 2016

WDWKOOK said:
While the airfare was "touch and go", I'm glad it all worked out in the end and for your friends and parents, too.

Is Melissa working on any new outfits for Allie and/or Marshall? Not that she has tons of time to spend sewing, but you know we all love seeing those amazing creations.

Wonder what was going on with trying to book Y&Y? I'm sure it will, but if for some reason a new dining promo. isn't available and you instead use a room promo., would you opt to not do the DDP? Didn't tables for 8 used to be considered "Grand Gatherings" and you would have to call to book those? I've never made ADRs for more than 3 so I'm not sure about that.

If Marshall doesn't have enough hair to warrant a cut, I'm sure it would be fun for Paul to get the royal treatment and pixie dust

Hi there

. I missed the notification that there was a new post, but I'm here now.

It is great to have the airfare booked, and that makes it official that the trip will for sure happen. We are super happy with the rates we got, and everyone is excited to be going. One of our friends has never been before and the other has never stayed onsite, so it will be fun showing it to them.

Fortunately booking ADRs for 8 was no problem. I don't know what the max is for a regular reservation now, but 8 was easy. We're just glad we get to do Yak and Yeti, it is one of our favorites.

Melissa hasn't made any firm plans for new outfits, but we did get a new desk this weekend that the sewing machines will live on, so she can leave them set up and see when she gets a chance. We've been pretty busy, and won't have time for a whole lot of sewing, but hopefully there will be something new and we will definitely share it here.

If we book a room discount without free dining we would be open to not using the dining plan. We have a good idea what the meals we want will cost, so we will compare the numbers. Grandma and Grandpa would prefer to be on the dining plan and not have to pay OOP for each meal, and I tend to agree, so if the costs are close we will lean toward the plan. The way we eat it works out well, and I am the kind of person who enjoys not thinking about what each item I order costs. We could use gift cards to pre pay for food, but Grandpa and I would still be thinking about what's the best deal or cheapest option and it is nice not to think about prices. We don't try to get the most money out of the plan either, we just like not having to think about what things cost.

That's a cute idea about me taking the haircut appointment. If we do it we will be sure to get pictures.

Thanks for following and we should post more soon.

Wood Nymph · Mar 22, 2016

GrandCalifornian said:
Fortunately booking ADRs for 8 was no problem. I don't know what the max is for a regular reservation now, but 8 was easy. We're just glad we get to do Yak and Yeti, it is one of our favorites.

We have eleven people the first two days of our trip and then eight people for the last three days. Our daughter, her DH and our grandson, (who has the same birthday as Allie), will be overlapping our trip by two days. We have had a hard time getting ADR's for 11 at Liberty Tree Tavern. In fact, we ended up making an ADR for ten people in order to get a table and hoping we can squeeze the 11th person in. But we had no problem with 11 at Boatwrights and Tusker House, and no problem with eight people at 'Ohana and Cape May.

We have free dining for seven people and the rest are OOP. Even though the dining plan was free, I am still obsessing about getting my money's worth. I really prefer to pay OOP just because of my crazy $$$ obsession.

But free dining with two preteen boys will save a lot of money. So, unlike you and your father, the dining plan is not relaxing and doesn't let me forget prices. It makes me crazy. :crazy2:

The only good thing is that I don't have to worry about using up all the snack credits before we go home. I know that the boys will take care of that for us.

GrandCalifornian · Mar 22, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
We have eleven people the first two days of our trip and then eight people for the last three days. Our daughter, her DH and our grandson, (who has the same birthday as Allie), will be overlapping our trip by two days. We have had a hard time getting ADR's for 11 at Liberty Tree Tavern. In fact, we ended up making an ADR for ten people in order to get a table and hoping we can squeeze the 11th person in. But we had no problem with 11 at Boatwrights and Tusker House, and no problem with eight people at 'Ohana and Cape May.

That's good you didn't have many issues with the big group. The more, the merrier, and hopefully LTT will be fine. That's another one of our favorite lunch spots.

Wood Nymph said:
We have free dining for seven people and the rest are OOP. Even though the dining plan was free, I am still obsessing about getting my money's worth. I really prefer to pay OOP just because of my crazy $$$ obsession. But free dining with two preteen boys will save a lot of money. So, unlike you and your father, the dining plan is not relaxing and doesn't let me forget prices. It makes me crazy. The only good thing is that I don't have to worry about using up all the snack credits before we go home. I know that the boys will take care of that for us.

I understand how you could really get into trying to maximize the plan, but that would take the relaxation out of it for us. We have always gotten the plan as part of "free dining" and I think that helps with our outlook. If we didn't pay for the food, we can just take what we want and will enjoy. I know we did "pay" something for it by not getting another discount, but we have done that math too and we don't have to order the most expensive stuff to still save money. We do tend to do some buffets and character meals which adds to the savings.
Even on the plan we wind up with one or two meals OOP, and we plan ahead to figure out which will be the cheapest. I just like not having to think about individual item prices when I order. I just feel like thinking about the fact a burger costs $20 would detract from my fun. I'd rather spend some of my discount on having it all taken care of before we go.
I think a lot of it is what your used to, and switching to the plan would be challenging too if you were used to paying OOP.

WDWKOOK · Apr 14, 2016

I know you've been awaiting a Free Dining announcement. Kenny the Pirate has just posted this information HERE

Rumored FD with possible booking date of 4/25:

August 23 – October 1
November 15-21
November 26-28
December 10-21

She's Going To Show Him The World, a September 2016 PTR

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