November 2012- F&W, MVMCP & Smelling the Roses

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by vikkii19

We were debating on TIW vs DDP and have decided on the DDP for this trip, but in the future we'll most likely be doing the TIW. I also debated flying out on Thursday, but decided against it since we have about a 7 hour drive to the airport, so we'll be driving on Thursday and hopefully getting a really early flight Friday morning.

On another note, I say splurge for the mugs. I don't think you'll regret it even if you have a full kitchen.

I think you are right on the mugs, plus they are a fun souvie!

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

Hey you! You need to catch up on this PTR!

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa and Uncle. Did you find flights yet?? I was waiting for SW but then found a great deal with United one day, so SW loses my money by holding out so long on flights!

I'm subbing, I don't know why, but I wasn't subbed!

HI Karen!!! Nope, no flights yet, still pretty pricey. Most at $400 direct. I did finally see something with a connection at $300, but we really want direct and will pay the extra for it. So did you already book your flight then?

[exwdwcm]

UPDATE

Yesterday was ADR day. Yes, on mother's day, the one day I should sleep in, I was up at the crack of dawn to make my ADRs. I had zero problem doing them online. I've heard some DVC folks having issues doing them online lately. But no problem on any of mine. I was nervous about Ohana dinner, i hear it is getting harder to book and more popular.

I got every single time I wanted with the exception of Sci Fi. It was the first one I was booking- for Friday, 11/9, and couldn't get the late time i wanted of 7:30 (they close at 8pm), all they had was 5:20. So just took it. Got every other time i wanted:

• Sci Fi 11/9- 5:20pm
• Crystal Palace B 11/10- 8:05am (before park opening)
• JIKO 11/10- 6pm
• Ohana 11/11- 5:30pm
• Garden Grill 11/13- 7pm (gives us time to catch Illuminations after)
  
• Tusker House 11/14- 10:30am (added this last minute!)
• H&V- 11/16- 8am (before park opening)
• Via Napoli 11/16- 7:45pm
• Ohana 11/17- 10:45am (late so we can sleep in or MK in am- departure day)

I also want to try for Be Our Guest midweek before our MVMCP on 11/12. Haven't booked MVMCP yet, but will before long. I now need to call and book Pirates League and attempt to get WISHES dessert party too!



CHANGES:
So as mentioned above, I added Tusker House breakfast. I realized that on 11/14 and 11/15, we didn't have any sit down meals. We usually do one per day. So i added this in. I figured we can tackle safari and EE during EMH and a few other things before our late breakfast at 10:30am. That sit down will give us a break since we plan to stay at AK until 3pm or so. We usually break earlier than that, but trying to get all of the park done that day.



My parents mentioned how much they enjoyed the WISHES dessert party when we did it back in 2009. I did as well, but just wasn't sure they were interested. So I am going to attempt to book it if available for the day we want. There is really only one day we can try and do it. From last time:




HOTEL

I am also looking to book our first night at either Art of Animation or POP. We've never stayed at a value and I know both are great. We are leaning towards AoA, but waiting to see what rate we can get. I am close to getting my CLIA certification which then gives me a TA discount on the rooms which is pretty significant. So holding out on booking until I get my certification to qualify for a discount! We will just get two rooms at a value that first night (Thursday night). Our 8 nights in a 2 bedroom at BLT are booked solid.



AIRFARE
We haven't booked air yet and probably won't for a bit. It is crazy high. The direct flights I like on AA are $400 per person. I did see a connecting flight on United or someone this week down to $300. But we need to fly direct- between a toddler, my mom's vision and dad's feet, I don't want to mess with it. Besides, I want to get to my happy place FAST! We will keep monitoring though- i check at least once a week. Southwest does not fly direct from Dallas, so we won't even consider them. I wish they did!



I've continued to fill up our big green box of goodies with snacks, toiletries etc. We have a mickey bank as well and I would venture to guess we have at least $150-$200 in coins in there (and bills), plus over $200 in VISA rewards. I just upgraded to the new card, so I'll be earning even more rewards the next 3 months. Hoping we have about $300-$400 on that. We will use that for spending money/souvies. We do pay out of pocket for dining, but will put that on the Disney VISA too to earn more points for next trip!

[exwdwcm]

New SCHEDULE

Well we knew it would happen- the schedule has changed! Once hours were released, I was too swamped at work and home to even work on my schedule. But finally did it last week. I debated on switching to the Thursday 11/15 MVMCP, but decided to stick with the Monday 11/12. The whole not offering a Tuesday MVMCP really threw me for a loop and the two evening EMHs at MK on Sat/Sun! Quite different from past years.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8
I haven't planned this day yet since we aren't sure what time our flight will be. My goal- book a flight that leaves at 11am and arrives MCO at 2:35pm. DH is the key here. He may want to work a half day. If so, we will have to go with a 5pm that gets in at 8;30pm. We've done that one before. I'd prefer to get in and be able to have the afternoon/evening to explore our resort, swim and maybe even visit DTD or the Boardwalk. I'd like to try out the food court at the value we stay at. If we stay at AoA, it appears their pool areas are amazing. Of course it might be too cold. So ideally, we would arrive at 2:35, get luggage and rental car, arrive at resort about 4 or just before, check in, explore, swim and maybe hit DTD or BW after dinner for some dessert.


FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9
7:15am wake up, breakfast in room (check out, leave bags to be moved to BLT)
8:15am leave for Epcot
9:00am Epcot opens
10:45am hit F&W booths for lunch
2:00pm break in room
4:00pm head to DHS
5:20pm Sci Fi Dinner
8:00pm DHS closes

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10
6:30am wake up
7:20am walk to MK
8:05am Crystal Palace breakfast
10am Family Magic Tour
12pm Tour over, lunch QS
1pm break and swim
5pm head to AKL
6pm dinner at JIKO
Hit MK until 1am if wanted for PM EMH


SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11
7:15am wake up, breakfast in room
8:30am head to Epcot
9am Epcot opens
10:45am hit F&W booths for lunch (anticipate big crowds!)
2pm break
4:30pm to Poly
5:30pm dinner at Ohana
7pm to MK (open til 11pm)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
8am wake up, breakfast in room
9:15am head to DTD
11am lunch at Earle
12pm head to Boardwalk
12:30pm Beaches and cream (hoping we could do this on arrival night maybe instead)
2pm break in room/nap
4:30pm head to MK
5:30pm dinner at Be Our Guest (yet to be booked)
7pm MVMCP starts
9pm fireworks
10:30pm second parade

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
9am up/breakfast
9:30am head to Blizzard Beach or park (open- MK probably?)
2pm break/swim
4pm head to Epcot
7pm Garden Grill dinner
9pm Illuminations

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
6:30am up, breakfast in room
7:30am head to AK for EMH
8am AK opens
10:30am Tusker House breakfast
2 or 3pm break
5pm head to MK
7pm WISHES dessert party if available
8pm WISHES/MK closes

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15
6:30 wake up! Snack in room
7:15am walk to MK
8am RD at MK for EMH
10am cinnamon roll on Main St!
11am Pirate League
2pm break
4pm head to DHS, QS dinner
6:30pm Fantasmic
8pm DHS closes- see lights

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16
6:30am up
7:15am to DHS
8am H&V breakfast
9am DHS opens
2pm break in room, pack
4pm to Epcot
8:15pm Via Napoli dinner
9pm Epcot closes

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17
7:30am RAC luggage
8:30am walk to MK or sleep in
9am MK opens
10:20am boat to Poly
10:45am O’hana breakfast
11:30am head to MK
Last year, they changed the hours on our last day and had MK open at 8am instead of 9am. We were able to get in a TON of rides at MK before our 10:30 Ohana breakfast. Hoping for the same.

[khertz]

Looks like you have a FUN trip planned! With the Wishes dessert party & Pirates League, Will is definitely going to have a great time. Hopefully you get some good luck on the airplane tickets and can snag a good fare. We are lucky to have Southwest that has a direct flight from New Orleans to Orlando for not too much money, but it would be really great to fly from home once instead of having to drive two hours to NOLA! The extra cost just doesn't outweigh the inconvenience though, so we make the drive every time, but it can be very frustrating!

[archdandy]

I'm joining in! It does look like you have a really fun trip planned. We are going down the end of September and I am thinking of doing the Wishes dessert party for the first time. Is it just as good as seeing it from other vantage points around the park?

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by khertz

Looks like you have a FUN trip planned! With the Wishes dessert party & Pirates League, Will is definitely going to have a great time. Hopefully you get some good luck on the airplane tickets and can snag a good fare. We are lucky to have Southwest that has a direct flight from New Orleans to Orlando for not too much money, but it would be really great to fly from home once instead of having to drive two hours to NOLA! The extra cost just doesn't outweigh the inconvenience though, so we make the drive every time, but it can be very frustrating!

So far no luck on the airfare, AA is still showing $440 a person RT. OUCh!!!! but still looking and being patient. Will thinks he gets to go to Disney for his birthday every year now. I swear he is spoiled rotten. I told him not every kid gets to go, some kids never get to to and how lucky and blessed we are. I don't think he gets it though. I so wish we were close enough to drive, the drive from here is killer. Not sure how my parents made it with three young girls in a station wagon toting a pop up camper.

Originally Posted by archdandy

I'm joining in! It does look like you have a really fun trip planned. We are going down the end of September and I am thinking of doing the Wishes dessert party for the first time. Is it just as good as seeing it from other vantage points around the park?

WELCOME!!! Thanks for reading along. WISHES dessert party is awesome- i do recommend it. I can say I have had better views of WISHES though- the location for the party is just a little off to the right of the castle- towards Tomorrowland. So you are sitting off to the side a bit. You are pretty close, so have a great view, but just not a direct on center view. YOu won't be able to see the MSEP well either. But we didn't care, we wanted to see WISHES. We had a front table and perfect view. The desserts were awesome. Here is a shot of how the fireworks looked from our table at the party. We hate waiting in line or dealing with crowds and we refuse to line up hours before a parade or fireworks. So this was perfect for us- still got us a great view without having to stake a spot in the crowds.

[exwdwcm]

UPDATES

No major updates since booking ADRs. I did book our Family Magic Tour for Saturday, November 10th! A guy my husband works with is taking his family for like 5 days while we are there. I met his wife for lunch one day to help her plan. She was so thankful. I'll be booking their tickets for them at some point soon too (I am a Disney TA now!). They already have a room through a CM friend with a CM discount, so all they need is tickets. Anyhow- they are going to do the Family Magic Tour with us. They have twin boys my son's age and a daughter that is 7 or 8, so should be a good time to share that!

I do need to book Pirates League and also our MVMCP tickets. I might do that this week.

I've continued to check for decent airfare to no avail. Still not finding anything good with direct flights.

The only other news is that I upgraded to the new Disney VISA, so I am earning more rewards (3x) for the next 3months. I am up to $300 in rewards and hoping to hit $500 before the trip. It was a $50 annual fee, but I've already earned almost $100 from it since upgrading. We have the room through points, Mom bought our tickets, I paid for the tour, so all that is left is the MVMCP, Pirate League, my ticket (waiting to get my CLIA license to qualify for the TA discounted ticket) meals and airfare. We will put meals on the credit card, so really just a few more things to pay for and we are good!

I have started researching gift baskets through Disney Florist and a few other sites. I want to order Will something. I always make my own little goodie bags for him, but I want to do something professional this time- it will be fun for all of us. I might do something fun for my parents too. We will see!

[mommyof3princess27]

Im here!!!! and all caught up!

[Happy Mom2]

I'm here!!

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by mommyof3princess27

Im here!!!! and all caught up!

yeah- welcome!!!

Originally Posted by Happy Mom2

I'm here!!

welcome!!!

[Smileybug]

I'm late to the party as usual. Your little guy is adorable.

[khertz]

That's great that you will be doing the Tour with the other family. I'm sure the kids will have a fun time doing that together!

I had to laugh at Will expecting to go to Disney for every birthday. Looks like that will be Paxton in a few years since we are starting the trend now too! It just worked out too perfect with a fall birthday so we can go when school is in session and miss the crowds and the weather is not full force like in the summer. I think I will be just as disappointed as he will be when we can't go for his birthday once he is older & in school!

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

I'm late to the party as usual. Your little guy is adorable.

Thank you for joining- and thank you so much on my little guy- i am partial!

Originally Posted by khertz

That's great that you will be doing the Tour with the other family. I'm sure the kids will have a fun time doing that together!

I had to laugh at Will expecting to go to Disney for every birthday. Looks like that will be Paxton in a few years since we are starting the trend now too! It just worked out too perfect with a fall birthday so we can go when school is in session and miss the crowds and the weather is not full force like in the summer. I think I will be just as disappointed as he will be when we can't go for his birthday once he is older & in school!

I bet Paxton will be the same way. LOL! But at least we are raising them to be disney fans, or else they will just get burned out- i guess one or the other, right? i am totally fine taking him out of school later if i can, he is already really bright and loves school, so I imagine he is going to do well in school. But i just need to find out about our district and how they handle it, i have a feeling they are going to have issues and be strict.

[jenseib]

Finally got a chance to get over and join!

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by jenseib

Finally got a chance to get over and join!

Thanks for joining Jen!