From Certifiably Insane to Shockingly Lucid: 10/20 - TR Link Posted, We're Back!!!

[annnewjerz]

Originally Posted by KathyRN137

Great doggie pix, Ann!

Good luck with your ADRs Sunday!


Kathy

Thanks for popping in Kathy!!

I'm looking forward to ADRs. Apparently, a lot of people are able to book online now at 3:00am EST, so I'll either be going to sleep very early tonight or staying up veeeerrry late to make my reservations. Gotta finalize the plan tonight and from there, all I can do is cross my fingers and hope the stars align!

[annnewjerz]

Well everyone, today we actually made some progress on the trip planning front---and made a change while I was at it!

I realized that we are officially 30 days from WDW today and had a minor freak-out. I've been so wrapped up in planning for our trip in December that I have completely lost track of how quickly our October trip is approaching.

As of today, I still hadn't scheduled the Magical Express, figured out 100% if we are doing costumes for MNSSHP or not, started a packing list, bought a new camera strap---the list goes on and on.

So about an hour ago, I checked Southwest for one last time and resigned myself to the fact that we will, indeed, be flying out of Baltimore instead of Philly. While it's an inconvenience in the sense that it is about 2.5 hours away from our house, it's not really that bad once you consider the fact that our initial plan was to drive all the way from NJ to FL and back in one 3-day weekend.

I called up the Disney reservations line and finally added the Magical Express to our reservation. So now, instead of just getting to MCO, we can actually get to our resort!!

After I was done adding the Magical Express, I got to thinking that maybe I should reconsider the dining reservations we had booked. The original plan was The Plaza Restaurant on October 17th for my birthday, as well as October 18th before MNSSHP. Originally, this sounded like a great plan for our trip on a budget. Quick, easy, inexpensive and most importantly TASTY. Well, we may be eating at The Plaza two times in December also, and thinking it might be a little bit of burger and milkshake overload I decided to celebrate my birthday with something a little more special.

So.............instead of The Plaza for my birthday, I booked..............

The Wave!

It was one of the two I was considering initially and since it seems to be getting good reviews, why not? It is my birthday after all.

Next on the list is going to be doing a clothing inventory to see if we need to buy anything before we leave, and to purchase some photography related stuff that I need (I use that word loosely) before October.

So that's my update for the day. Hope everyone is having a fantastic week. Only a month more until I'm in The World!!!!!

[annnewjerz]

After so much waffling back and forth about whether to dress up for MNSSHP or not----it is officially decided, we're doing it! I even started buying the components to my costume, so there's no turning back now!

We are going as.............

(drumroll please).............

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE!

There are only four of us going to MNSSHP, so we won't be the whole group, but most of it. I am going to be the Indiana, my DH is going to be the sailor (since he was a sailor in real life for 8 years), my DBIL is going to be a cowboy and my DBIL's boyfriend is going to be the construction worker.

Someone at my work came up with this idea. I wanted cheap, fun, easy to wear and not too hot so this will be perfect.

Mostly, we'll wear normal clothing and then accessorize for our individual costumes. I'll wear a dress with a feather headdress, some basic face paint and fringed flip flops. My DH will wear a white t-shirt with some of his ribbons/medals and a dixie cup sailor hat. My DBIL is planning on wearing a plaid shirt, tying some rope around his beltloop and maybe wearing a cowboy hat if he can find one for cheap and his BF will be wearing a reflective vest, some cutoff shorts and maybe a toolbelt of some sort.

So happy that decision is made. Now I just have to order/make everything else we'll need and it's another thing I can cross off of the pre-trip to-do list.

[disneygirlinnj]

Good choice on the wave!! I've only heard amazing things about it And I LOVE the idea of the Village People! hahahahhaa!

[annnewjerz]

Originally Posted by disneygirlinnj

Good choice on the wave!! I've only heard amazing things about it And I LOVE the idea of the Village People! hahahahhaa!

I'm hoping it's good---I'm even going to break my vow of abstaining from alcohol until our trip in December to have an antioxidant cocktail for my birthday. I saw a picture of it on someone's dining review recently and it looked soooo good.

[scoot241]

I've also heard nothing but good about The Wave and saw a delicious chocolate dessert from there in the food porn thread recently. Should be delicious!

[annnewjerz]

Well---I changed our dinner reservation again. Anyone surprised??

Originally, we had The Plaza for my birthday dinner. Then, I switched to The Wave. Now, we are booked at Todd English's bluezoo in the Dolphin.

Here is my logic:

1. It's not on the DDP, where The Plaza and The Wave are, which means we can't try it in December---so this is our shot.

2. We have The Plaza and The Wave booked for our trip in December, so this will keep us from spoiling the surprise for that trip.

3. It's right near the Boardwalk, which means if we reaaaaally want to, we can pop into Beaches & Cream for a No Way Jose dessert.

4. It was recommended by Carrie, so it's got to be good, right?

So that's where we're at for now. I don't hear too much about bluezoo on the boards and they had every timeslot that I tried to reserve available (5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 8:00, 8:30, 9:00) so I'm hoping all ends well with a belly full of birthday seafood!

The plan is:

12:30pm / Arrive at CSR
1:30pm - 5:00pm / Magic Kingdom
5:00 - 7:30pm / Dinner at Todd English's bluezoo
7:30 - 11:30pm / Magic Kingdom

Almost at the three-week mark, time to start getting excited people!!!

[scoot241]

Ummm... never heard of it.

Let us know how it is!

[annnewjerz]

Originally Posted by scoot241

Ummm... never heard of it.

Let us know how it is!

Take a look-see. It's a seafood place.

http://www.swandolphinrestaurants.com/bluezoo/

[lurkyloo]

Yaaaaay! I like your new plan. I admit, I was a Disney-restaurant-only until my last trip, but then when I tried bluezoo and Shula's at the Dolphin, I was like "Forget ery - these places are great!" It's just too bad you have to go to the Dolphin to eat at them....

So.... I sure hope you like the place, or I'monna owe you a birfday dinner!

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

Yaaaaay! I like your new plan. I admit, I was a Disney-restaurant-only until my last trip, but then when I tried bluezoo and Shula's at the Dolphin, I was like "Forget ery - these places are great!" It's just too bad you have to go to the Dolphin to eat at them....

So.... I sure hope you like the place, or I'monna owe you a birfday dinner!

The other side of that is, while bluezoo seems to be only at the Dolphin, there is a Shula's about three blocks from my office. Even though I haven't eaten there yet, I don't think I would want to eat an expensive dinner at a place I can eat at while at home. (Earl of Sandwich is a different story ) I'd rather be trying other restaurants.

bluezoo certainly looks like a nice place to eat though!

[annnewjerz]

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

Yaaaaay! I like your new plan. I admit, I was a Disney-restaurant-only until my last trip, but then when I tried bluezoo and Shula's at the Dolphin, I was like "Forget ery - these places are great!" It's just too bad you have to go to the Dolphin to eat at them....

So.... I sure hope you like the place, or I'monna owe you a birfday dinner!

I'm excited to try it out!!

Where we eat in The World has always been dictated by the dining plan (the only time I've gone as an adult with DH was during free dining), so it'll be nice to get outside of the disney restaurant box that we've always been confined to.

We love seafood and honestly aren't very picky, so as long as I don't feel like it was any old seafood I could have gotten at the NJ shore but for double the price---no "birfday" dinner will be owed!

Originally Posted by scoot241

The other side of that is, while bluezoo seems to be only at the Dolphin, there is a Shula's about three blocks from my office. Even though I haven't eaten there yet, I don't think I would want to eat an expensive dinner at a place I can eat at while at home. (Earl of Sandwich is a different story ) I'd rather be trying other restaurants.

bluezoo certainly looks like a nice place to eat though!

I feel ya on this one. I like to try new things on vaca and luckily for us, we don't even have an EOS in NJ, so it'll all be new and exciting!

[annnewjerz]

Less than 3 weeks to go now until our weekend in WDW. I am so stressed out. About work, about getting the house in tip-top condition before we leave, about forgetting to bring something, about going to BWI airport for the first time----about EVERYTHING.

On the upside, I think DH is finally starting to get a litttttttle bit excited about our upcoming weekend trip. I mentioned it to him yesterday that we were only 3 weeks away and he smiled, which was nice compared to the normal eye roll I get when I bring up Disney yet again.

Friday night we went out for an early anniversary dinner to this chain seafood restaurant in town, McCormick & Scmicks. We didn't feel like going all the way into Philly to get anything fancy, so this was good enough. I wanted broaden my seafood horizons, so to speak, since we'll be eating at bluezoo and Flying Fish on upcoming trips.

I tried mussels for the first time, as well as scallops. The mussels kind of grossed me out. The broth they were cooked in wasn't to my liking and having to actually remove them from the shell wasn't fun. The scallops, however, were awesome. They came with a butternut squash rissoto and it was so yummy. The combination of the sauce, the fall taste of the squash and the scallops was nice. I'll definitely be getting the scallop appetizer at bluezoo now.

I also did some shopping for travel sized toiletries yesterday, since we're trying to do carry-on only this trip. While Southwest allows two checked bags for free, they don't participate in the RAC program at the Disney resorts and who really feels like waiting in line at MCO just to check bags? Not me. It'll be hard enough knowing we are coming home from Florida already, but it'll be that much worse if we have to fight a long line in the airport.

Here's what I got. I'm not very well versed in carry-on only, so if anyone can think of anything else to add, please do let me know:

- Shampoo
- Conditioner
- Face wash
- Lotion
- Purell
- Toothpaste
- Mouthwash
- Deodorant
- Shaving cream

I also have some other non-liquid/gel stuff that I bought:

- Bar soap
- Travel sized pain killers
- Shout wipes
- Q tips

So---I'm sure I'm missing something. Thoughts?

I can't believe I only have two more weekends to get everything together and done. So much to do, so little time!

[scoot241]

I don't remember where you're staying off-hand (and I'm on my iPhone so it might take a while to find it), but Southwest does do resort check-in at Pop. I used it on my trip and it was great.

[annnewjerz]

Originally Posted by scoot241

I don't remember where you're staying off-hand (and I'm on my iPhone so it might take a while to find it), but Southwest does do resort check-in at Pop. I used it on my trip and it was great.

Coronado Springs. We were at POP for a while, but once the new fall discount codes came out---I upgraded as an anniversary present for DH.

I knew they were running a trial for Southwest and the RAC at POP and was excited to try it out, but wasn't sure how long it'd be running for. I hope that the trial goes well and whenever we eventually get back, it'll be running at all of the WDW resorts.