Boo to You & Turning 2! Oct 2012 PTR *NEW* 10/30 We're Back! TR Link Posted!!

[Leger13]

Love the day 3 plans! I was trying to find the restaurant I had seen you get that delicious looking pizza at! I'm glad you posted this. I'll have to go back and look at the menu. Right now we have an ADR for Teppan Edo. My DH won't even ride Soarin' once. He doesn't do heights And I really want to get a Disney Visa just for that picture experience but we don't need any more credit cards.

[oboedm]

I love the ear muffs! Where did you find them? Are they regular winter ones? Don't know where to get those in good ol' AZ! . Love the day 3 plans and that you a planning and meal with just your family.

[khertz]

Originally Posted by Leger13

Love the day 3 plans! I was trying to find the restaurant I had seen you get that delicious looking pizza at! I'm glad you posted this. I'll have to go back and look at the menu. Right now we have an ADR for Teppan Edo. My DH won't even ride Soarin' once. He doesn't do heights And I really want to get a Disney Visa just for that picture experience but we don't need any more credit cards.

It is soooo yummy! I would eat at Via Napoli every day of every trip if I could get away with it!!

For Soarin' it's not even a heights thing for us, we just don't get the big deal over it. Yeah, it's great to do every few trips, but only if you don't have to wait a long time for it. I'm always amazed by how busy it always is. I just don't get it.

Originally Posted by oboedm

I love the ear muffs! Where did you find them? Are they regular winter ones? Don't know where to get those in good ol' AZ! . Love the day 3 plans and that you a planning and meal with just your family.

They are Peltor Ear Muffs! Got them from Amazon (but the idea came from Drew Brees!).

They are more ear protection/noise muffling earmuffs vs. winter keep-your-ears-warm earmuffs. DS slept through Wishes entirely last year with those on.

[MEK]

Great day 3 plans. I love the PP pictures of you guys! I really enjoyed the MSEP. It was so fun!

I know I just got back from Disney World, but I already can't wait until my October trip! Via Napoli is a great lunch ADR. I hope your parents get their Le Cellier ADR.

BTW - I started a new TR so if you are interested or have time check out my siggie!

[mandas08]

Day 3 looks great! I am really wishing we could have fit Via Napoli into our dining plans. I had booked it originally but later changed it to LE Cellier because I know how much DH will love it. Our favorite food is pizza so it will def be on the list next trip.

What is Hanson doing in Disney? Is there some sort of event going on?

Those Ear Muffs are a great idea. I wonder if DS would keep them on? He seems to be getting better with hats and sunglasses so maybe he would. Maybe those are something I should consider for our next trip. Have there been any other occasions besides Disney that you have found them handy?

[ash-n-brensmom]

Day three is looking great! I am a huge fan of Soarin' but I get that not everyone loves it. That just leaves more seats for me!

Love those ear thingies...great idea! I wish we had thought of that when our youngest didn't like fireworks..even at aged 4 she had issues, and those would have come in handy for sure!

[khertz]

Originally Posted by MEK

Great day 3 plans. I love the PP pictures of you guys! I really enjoyed the MSEP. It was so fun!

I know I just got back from Disney World, but I already can't wait until my October trip! Via Napoli is a great lunch ADR. I hope your parents get their Le Cellier ADR.

BTW - I started a new TR so if you are interested or have time check out my siggie!

Ooh, lucky you with two WDW trips so close together! I will definitely check out your TR today!

I'm going to try to help my mom get her Le Cellier ADR by checking for her frequently. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Originally Posted by mandas08

Day 3 looks great! I am really wishing we could have fit Via Napoli into our dining plans. I had booked it originally but later changed it to LE Cellier because I know how much DH will love it. Our favorite food is pizza so it will def be on the list next trip.

What is Hanson doing in Disney? Is there some sort of event going on?

Those Ear Muffs are a great idea. I wonder if DS would keep them on? He seems to be getting better with hats and sunglasses so maybe he would. Maybe those are something I should consider for our next trip. Have there been any other occasions besides Disney that you have found them handy?

I still have never been to Le Cellier! Maybe one of these days we will make it there... Via Napoli is great and not too expensive compared to the other WS restaurants.

Hanson is performing at Eat to the Beat in the American Pavilion on Monday & Tuesday night! I've been a fan for 15 years, and missed out on them performing there last year by just a few days. I was so excited this year that our dates worked out perfectly with the days they would be performing!

So far I haven't needed to use them for anything else. We bought the kids size instead of the infant size though so he could use them for several Disney trips if he needed to. At the time, he didn't like keeping hats or sunglasses on (still doesn't if he doesn't need them...won't leave a hat on indoors but if we put it on him outside to keep the sun out of his face he will!), but we managed to slip those on while he was sleeping and didn't have any problems.

Originally Posted by ash-n-brensmom

Day three is looking great! I am a huge fan of Soarin' but I get that not everyone loves it. That just leaves more seats for me!

Love those ear thingies...great idea! I wish we had thought of that when our youngest didn't like fireworks..even at aged 4 she had issues, and those would have come in handy for sure!

I would gladly give you my seat on Soarin'!

I bought the kids size so that he could wear them for several years to come. Loud noises don't seem to bother him now, but I know how kids fears can change year to year so I figured they were a good investment!

[Leger13]

Originally Posted by khertz

It is soooo yummy! I would eat at Via Napoli every day of every trip if I could get away with it!!

For Soarin' it's not even a heights thing for us, we just don't get the big deal over it. Yeah, it's great to do every few trips, but only if you don't have to wait a long time for it. I'm always amazed by how busy it always is. I just don't get it.

I actually just changed our Teppan Edo ADR to Via Napoli after seeing you talk about it again. I'm down with spending $30 on a pizza over $30/person at Teppan Edo. Especially since I know Alex loves pizza. Not sure how he would do with Japanese food. I can't wait to try Via Napoli. I feel so fancy saying the name lol!!

I like Soarin' but I can see why there's not a real draw for some too. It's sight seeing in video form really. I do like it but I never make a point to ride it like we do with TT or Nemo. As for the picture, when we did it with my BFF we always tried to get there when they opened so we didn't have to wait forever. We have only done it a few times. I'd rather get to the character spot when they open now for Alex. Ah priorities, how they change when you become a mommy :D

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[afwdwfan]

Originally Posted by khertz

Soarin' is not on my list! It could possibly be on my parents' must-do list, but I'm not sure. DH and I are not big fans.

I agree... I always try to get a ride on it, but it isn't something I'm going to want to FP and come back later. The technology is cool, but to see the same video again after waiting for at least a half an hour, even with FP... just not worth it.

Originally Posted by khertz

We have an early lunch planned at my new all-time favorite Disney World restaurant Via Napoli!

Mmmmmmmm....

Originally Posted by khertz

I gave them the choice of VN or 50's Prime Time and they would rather join us for 50's.

Nothing wrong with 50's, but really, what were they thinking?

Originally Posted by khertz

HANSON!!!

Can't even describe how excited I am by this, and by the fact that I can take Paxton with me! He loves dancing to their music with me, so hopefully he will enjoy the show. We will probably bring his earmuffs though just in case. I'm more worried about the crowd screaming than I am about the music being loud though!

I still don't know how to comment about this part of your plans.

Originally Posted by khertz

It is soooo yummy! I would eat at Via Napoli every day of every trip if I could get away with it!!

Originally Posted by khertz

For Soarin' it's not even a heights thing for us, we just don't get the big deal over it. Yeah, it's great to do every few trips, but only if you don't have to wait a long time for it. I'm always amazed by how busy it always is. I just don't get it.

Originally Posted by khertz

They are Peltor Ear Muffs! Got them from Amazon (but the idea came from Drew Brees!).

They are more ear protection/noise muffling earmuffs vs. winter keep-your-ears-warm earmuffs. DS slept through Wishes entirely last year with those on.

I'll fully endorse them as well. I bought some of these last year and DS hates fireworks, but we were able to watch Wishes and Fantasmic! and he slept through Holiday Wishes and Illuminations with them on. They work great.

Originally Posted by khertz

I'm going to try to help my mom get her Le Cellier ADR by checking for her frequently. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I hope your luck is better than mine.

Originally Posted by Leger13

I actually just changed our Teppan Edo ADR to Via Napoli after seeing you talk about it again. I'm down with spending $30 on a pizza over $30/person at Teppan Edo.

Just don't buy the salad and the "fillers." That stuff is overpriced and you really don't need it anyway. Stick with the pizza, it will be enough food and it will be the cheapest Table Service meal you eat.

[Leger13]

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Just don't buy the salad and the "fillers." That stuff is overpriced and you really don't need it anyway. Stick with the pizza, it will be enough food and it will be the cheapest Table Service meal you eat.

thanks for the tip!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[khertz]

Originally Posted by Leger13

I actually just changed our Teppan Edo ADR to Via Napoli after seeing you talk about it again. I'm down with spending $30 on a pizza over $30/person at Teppan Edo. Especially since I know Alex loves pizza. Not sure how he would do with Japanese food. I can't wait to try Via Napoli. I feel so fancy saying the name lol!!

I like Soarin' but I can see why there's not a real draw for some too. It's sight seeing in video form really. I do like it but I never make a point to ride it like we do with TT or Nemo. As for the picture, when we did it with my BFF we always tried to get there when they opened so we didn't have to wait forever. We have only done it a few times. I'd rather get to the character spot when they open now for Alex. Ah priorities, how they change when you become a mommy :D

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

You are going to VN!

I think it's the line (and the hype) for Soarin that turned me off. I had heard nothing but how amazing, incredible, awesome, etc. it was. The first time I rode, we waited kind of a long time, and it wasn't nearly as amazing, incredible, awesome etc. as I had been expecting. I guess I am more of a thrill ride kind of girl!

I'm sure we will probably do the Character Connection early in the morning. We didn't at all last year because we knew we'd be meeting the Fab 5 for breakfast at Chef Mickey's, and we met them all our first day in AK. But this is a great place to get them all at once for free!

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Nothing wrong with 50's, but really, what were they thinking?

They really love 50's! And they have never had the pleasure of eating VN, so they really don't know what they are missing anyway.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I still don't know how to comment about this part of your plans.

That's cool The only people that usually do are the ones who are just as big a Hanson fan as I am! I promise, I won't post a million pictures of them in the TR, though I will definitely be tempted.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I'll fully endorse them as well. I bought some of these last year and DS hates fireworks, but we were able to watch Wishes and Fantasmic! and he slept through Holiday Wishes and Illuminations with them on. They work great.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I hope your luck is better than mine.

I doubt it but I hope a reservation comes through for you!

[khertz]

First off, I'm a few days late for this, but we are officially down to...

DOUBLE DIGITS!!!!!

It's hard to feel like Fall is anywhere in the future with the weather being so miserably hot & muggy outside, and yet my countdown on my phone says our trip is just 96 days away. Also difficult to believe is that when the trip does get here, my baby boy will be turning 2 years old! The time since he has been born has just flown by. I miss him being an infant, but at the same time, he is just so FUN at this age! He constantly has DH and I in stitches, although he is also testing the boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable behavior. Those terrible twos are just around the corner!

But, although it's pretty exciting that our WDW trip is 96 days away, in only 39 days we will be heading back to the west coast for our early anniversary trip! I thought I'd share a quick run-down of how we will be spending our 4 day weekend.

Friday August 24th

Our flight leaves New Orleans at 7:15 am, and 4 hours later, we will be arriving at LAX at 9:13 am.

After picking up our rental car (I think we are going to go with Enterprise this time...decent price, and there were definitely a LOT more Enterprise shuttles going by compared to how long it took us to get a shuttle to Advantage!), we're going to head out to Hollywood! There are a few things we definitely want to do this morning...DH has seen most of this when he was in California for work last year, but it will be my first time.

Hollywood Sign


Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store


Grauman's Chinese Theater (maybe do the tours?)


Hollywood Walk of Fame

We will likely grab lunch somewhere along the way, and maybe save the Disney Soda Fountain for the afternoon for an ice cream snack before we get in the car and head to Anaheim. I think check-in is not until 4 pm, but maybe we will get lucky and a room will be ready earlier.

Like I mentioned before, we will be staying at the Peacock Suites in a king bedroom suite.

I'm sure we will at least give it a shot, and if it's not ready, we'll just continue on with our day and head to the parks!

I think we will go over to Disneyland first and spend the afternoon/evening there. I'm pretty sure we will have dinner at the Plaza Inn again...it was so delicious last time! We both got chicken alfredo pasta when we ate there in May, but I think this time, one of us is going to get the pasta, and the other is getting the fried chicken & mashed potatoes so we can share both. No way will we be able to eat all of that food, but the other offerings looked so good and I wanted to try everything!

The park is open until 12 am, but I don't know if we will last until the end. We are SO not used to be awake that late!! However, I really want to try seeing The Magic The Memories & You at 8:45 and the Magical Fireworks at 9:30 this night. We missed both of these (TMTM&Y because we didn't want to keep Paxton out late again, and Magical because we weren't there over the weekend and that was the only time you could see them), so I definitely want to experience them both! I think since we both saw Fantasmic! on our last trip, we are going to skip it this time around.

Saturday August 25th

We will be getting up SUPER DUPER EARLY this morning (another reason we probably won't make it until 12 am the night before!) to attempt to get to DCA for 6:30 am! Thanks to skier_pete, I found out we could register for an early morning at each park during our visit with our AP's. We will be able to get into DCA an hour early starting at 7 am with access to Cars Land! It will probably only give us time to ride RSR (or even just get a FP because I've heard the line for those is atrocious in itself!), but I really just want to walk around and explore Cars Land before the park really gets packed. Hopefully with this being a limited # of people (and something a lot of AP'ers seem to be complaining about because they can't get there that early in the morning), we will be able to see most of Cars Land.

Another top priority will be getting WoC FP's before exploring the rest of DCA and getting to do some of the stuff we missed out on in May. Like maybe riding Grizzly River Run before heading back to the resort for a break after lunch! Our breaks definitely won't be as long as we took with Paxton, but enough to get out of the heat and freshen up a bit (okay, maybe a short nap after that super duper early morning!) before heading back out to the parks.

I'd love to see WoC more than once, so this will be night one of the show!

Both parks are open until 11 pm, and we should be able to hang in there that late!

Sunday August 26th

Depending on how we feel from the night before, we may "sleep in" a little bit this morning. I put this in quotes because despite our best efforts to sleep in when Paxton is not around, our bodies are still wired to wake up pretty early! I'm thinking we might spend an hour or so at the parks, then head to Downtown Disney for some shopping and maybe lunch at Naples.

What can I say? I just can't wait for Via Napoli in WDW, and this sounds like the closest thing!

We will spend the day at the parks with no real touring plan to speak of, but we will have to go back to the resort to freshen up and change sometime in the afternoon. We will be going to Mass at 5 pm at St. Boniface, so I'd like to switch out my park clothes for something more church appropriate. Plus, I'll be ready for our anniversary dinner! After church, we will be heading to the Disneyland Hotel for our 7:30 dinner at Steakhouse 55!

After dinner, we'll spend the evening in the parks, eventually heading over to DCA for the later showing of WoC before calling it a night.

Monday August 27th

Our last morning may or may not start off very early. I signed us up for the early entry at Disneyland which is from 7-8 am. We may decide we don't feel like waking up that early, or we may want to take advantage of the lighter hour in the park. I guess we will decide the night before.

We will spend the rest of the day doing the stuff we haven't had time to do yet or things we enjoyed the most. This will probably include spending some time in Cars Land, even if it is just exploring instead of riding. I'm hoping we can get FP's for RSR and get at least 2 or 3 rides on it over the whole weekend. I guess we'll see how crazy it actually is once we get there!

We will have to leave to head to the airport by about 3:30 pm. That should hopefully give us plenty of time to drive to LAX, return the rental car, and get through security for our flight out at 6:45 pm.

This is where it gets kind of dicey. We will be getting in at 12:30 am. We're leaving our car parked at the airport, so no problems with getting a ride (don't think we'd have much luck with that otherwise! lol). But that puts us getting to my mom's house somewhere between 1 and 1:30 am. Her dogs are going to go CRAZY with us coming in at that hour!! I'm hoping we can maybe call when we get in the driveway so she can come let us in and maybe the dogs won't bark as much than if they hear us unlocking the door in the middle of the night. I'm so worried the barking is going to wake Paxton up and he'll have trouble falling back to sleep. The alternative is getting a hotel room either near the airport or my mom's house. But DH wants to be up and moving really early Tuesday morning so he can still go in to work that day. So in all, we'd be spending almost $100 for a few hours of sleep in the hotel room. Hopefully it doesn't end up as bad as I am imagining!!

Anyway, hope you don't mind me sharing more DL stuff on this WDW PTR.

[afwdwfan]

Looks like a good plan. 12 am Pacific time is ridiculously friggin late Eastern time.

Yes, that's a real time.

Probably not ideal to wear yourself out the first evening, but at least that 6:30 wake up should be easy!

You'll definitely have to let us know how Naples compares to Via Napoli.

[khertz]

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Looks like a good plan. 12 am Pacific time is ridiculously friggin late Eastern time.

Yes, that's a real time.

Probably not ideal to wear yourself out the first evening, but at least that 6:30 wake up should be easy!

You'll definitely have to let us know how Naples compares to Via Napoli.

I know!!! The only good thing is we will definitely be able to get some sleep on the plane unlike last time when we had to entertain DS for 3.5 of those 4 hours. There is no way we are making it until 12 am unless we are just delirious at that point and don't care anymore. But we definitely want to do the early opening at DCA Saturday morning, so I have a feeling we will be leaving shortly after the 9:30 fireworks.

I am happy to do the research of Naples vs. Via Napoli for my fellow DISers.

[ash-n-brensmom]

ooo!! So jealous!! Those California plans look awesome!! Can't wait to read all about it!!