"“I've Got A Dream: I Just Want to See the Floating Lanterns Gleam!”" May 2015 PTR! **NEW 5/3!!!

[princessesandpascal]

"I've Got a Dream: I Just Want to See The Floating Lanterns Gleam!"
Our May 2015 PTR!

Livin’' it up, love that feeling’,
fillin'’ me up, let the memories begin!

(Lyrics may not be accurate. It’'s been three years since I’'ve watched the Stacey channel.)

To all who come to this happy place, welcome! After finding out last night via FaceTime that our May 2015 trip was a go (and proceeding to ugly cry a little out of sheer joy), I knew I wanted to PTR this trip! Join us on our journey to plan our first Disney trip in three years!

Let’'s start with the Who...

I’'m Shannon, I’'m 21 years old, and I will be your skipper, lion tamer, alligator wrestler, and if you don’'t laugh at my jokes, your swimming instructor for this PTR and eventual trip report. I’'m in my third year of university, majoring in English with dreams of being an author or working in publishing. This will be my 6th visit to WDW and I can hardly believe we’'re finally going back after three years! I love meeting face characters more than fur and I like to think I’'m best friends with every princess and courting every prince. I read a lot, quote TV shows and movies constantly, love puns and Stacey, and even though I am quiet and introverted, at Disney I can break out of my shell a little more than normal. Which usually ends in slightly more exuberant walking than normal and a lot more talking.

Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom
Top 3 Rides: Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Soarin'’
Character I’m Most Like: Elsa or Rapunzel
Favourite Characters: Flynn Rider, Aladdin, Anna and Elsa, Ariel, Belle, Minnie, Stitch
Favourite Restaurant: Ohana
Favourite Disney Treat: disney sugar cookies!
Favourite Disney Movie: Tangled, The Little Mermaid or Big Hero 6

Joining me on this adventure is my Mom, Karen! She does much of the planning while I’'m in school and focusing on my studies as well as being the financial provider for most of the vacation funds. Translated: she'’s superwoman. She'’s my best friend and one of the funniest and most generous people I know. Her DIS username is plutopuppy and she might pop in to offer her commentary on the PTR and eventual TR. Mom loves Christmas, Chip and Dale, and Scottish people more than anyone else ever and has been known to lurk around the UK pavilion in search of accents. She loves the World just as much as I do, and she loves to meet characters and goof around with me while we make ALL the memories!

Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom
Top 3 Rides: Soarin’, Buzz Lightyear, Philharmagic
Character She’s Most Like: Merida
Favourite Characters: Chip and Dale, Pluto, Mickey
Favourite Restaurant: Chef Mickey’s
Favourite Disney Treat: Dole Whip
Favourite Disney Movie: Tangled and Beauty and the Beast

My Dad is also in the picture, but our trips to the World are usually girls’ trips! (This is our FIFTH mother-daughter trip to Disney!) He is not a fan of WDW and enjoys his hunting trips with his brother in the fall for fun instead. When we go, he likes hearing about what we do there, and occasionally chimes in with our conversations about what he liked, but he says he thinks one trip (our first trip in 2006 was with all three of us) was enough. I don’'t really know where we went wrong with him, but at least he'’s happy in his man cave. And he doesn’'t want his picture on Facebook, let alone the entire internet.

The When and the Where...?

As of right now, we’re planning on 8 days, 8 nights from May 4th-May 12th, dates which will shift a little when we actually book. We’'re taking advantage of the spring deals. We’'re staying at POP Century: this is our favourite resort and we always call it home! It’'ll be our third stay here and we could’n't be more excited.

The Why?

It’'s been three years since we last went to Disney. The last time we went to Disney, we still had Legacy FPs. The last time we went to Disney, Frozen didn’t exist. The last time we went to Disney, New Fantasyland was just being built. It’s about time we grace the kingdom once again with our sarcastic, loud, and sometimes immature presence. This trip, like a reversible shirt, is also serving as a combination of my 21st Birthday celebration (my birthday’s in January and I received news that we were going on my birthday weekend, but that’s beside the point) and an early graduation trip (I’m one year away from only student loans connecting me to my school). I’'m planning on going to publishing school after I graduate university and I may not have time or money to go next year.

So, as our friend Tom Haverford from NBC’s woefully under-awarded sitcom Parks and Recreation says, TREAT YO SELF.

We will, Tom. We’ll treat ourselves for a whole week.

Last but not least: The What (Is With the PTR title):

Tangled is my favourite Disney movie, and ever since they added the Tangled bathroom/rest area to New Fantasyland, it has been one of my must-dos for the trip to go there (I know, I know, “but Shannon, it’s a freaking bathroom!” YES IT IS AND IT’S GOT PASCALS AND LANTERNS AND PAINTINGS I WILL BE GOING THERE). So, just like Rapunzel, my “dream” for the trip is to see the floating lanterns and lurk around the Tangled rest area. It helps that it’s next to my other One True Love, otherwise known as the Haunted Mansion. That corner of the park was clearly made for me.

(sidenote: I’m very sad that the Flynn Rider wanted poster is in the men’s room rather than being in the main area for everyone to see. I was looking forward to a picture with it, but now that will definitely not be the case. Getting arrested is not part of my Disney plans.)

Join us in our Disney Vacation Extravaganza as we attempt to do the following:

figure out how to do dining without relying on the DDP (we're going rogue for the first time!!)
choose restaurants without it becoming the 76th Hunger Games
navigate the world of MyMagic+
not overpack
stay up until all hours of the morning just to ensure we meet Anna and Elsa
determine how many cupcakes we can devour in a week
order adorable accessories off Etsy
participate in the ultimate test of our relationship by agreeing on MagicBand colours
have the greatest trip of all time!

CHAPTER LINKS:

We're Booked!
The Dining Conundrum
"I Mean It's Crazy-" "What?" "We Finish Each Other's-" "ITINERARIES"

​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Looks like we will be there about the same time! Joining in so that we can count down together!

 

[princessesandpascal]

Looks like we will be there about the same time! Joining in so that we can count down together!

So exciting! It looks like a really great week to go!

- - - -

Just a quick update today to say... WE'RE BOOKED!



Mom and I booked yesterday afternoon: well, she booked and I sat listening in on FaceTime. It's the best way to book a trip when you're about two hours away from each other! We're both so excited.

Our official dates are May 4th to May 12th in a preferred room at Pop Century! We'll be in the parks for 8 days (seven full days plus part of our arrival day) and have park hoppers to come and go as we please. It feels so real now that we are officially booked!

Plus, not only are we booked into our resort, but we also have made our first dining reservation! I will update on dining once we get some more ideas together, but it is tradition to have a Chef Mickey's meal when we arrive in Disney. We managed to grab a reservation which I am so excited about! One down, a few to go. ​

 

[ursalita]

Joining in! Sounds like a fun trip.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

So exciting! It looks like a really great week to go!

- - - -

Just a quick update today to say... WE'RE BOOKED!



Mom and I booked yesterday afternoon: well, she booked and I sat listening in on FaceTime. It's the best way to book a trip when you're about two hours away from each other! We're both so excited.

Our official dates are May 4th to May 12th in a preferred room at Pop Century! We'll be in the parks for 8 days (seven full days plus part of our arrival day) and have park hoppers to come and go as we please. It feels so real now that we are officially booked!

Plus, not only are we booked into our resort, but we also have made our first dining reservation! I will update on dining once we get some more ideas together, but it is tradition to have a Chef Mickey's meal when we arrive in Disney. We managed to grab a reservation which I am so excited about! One down, a few to go. ​

There is always that thrill of excitement when you are finally officially booked!

 

[princessesandpascal]

Joining in! Sounds like a fun trip.

Thanks! Hopefully it will be!

There is always that thrill of excitement when you are finally officially booked!

We are both so excited!

 

[princessesandpascal]

PTR Update #2: The Dining Conundrum

So, of course, as any good DISer would, our first priority after booking our vacation is to figure out our dining reservations for the week! As I mentioned in the intro, we've decided to go off the beaten track and not use the DDP this time. We've always travelled with it, but after a bit of calculating, we realized we might actually save money by going OOP for our food.

Our main reason is the flexibility. We can do more sharing and not be forced to get desserts that we don't really want (looking at you, chocolate cake in a cup) and instead use our carbs on the most delicious things Disney has to offer (looking at you, Starring Rolls cupcakes). Plus, we won't be panicking at the end while we buy a bunch of Mickey crispy treats as we attempt to use up all our DDP credits. Hopefully, it'll be win-win-win. Food wise, I'm a bit more of an non-adventurous eater, so we stick to basic-ish places, but I'm always open to trying new foods! Unless they have melon in them, as I have the weirdest allergy ever. (Coincidentally, this is also our first trip where we actually have to deal with an allergy, as it surfaced not long after our last Disney trip. Fun! *sarcasm voice*)

We don't have a list of exact places we are going to eat QS wise, but here are some things we are dying to try for the first time:

Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese at Min and Bill's Dockside Diner: Hollywood Studios
Lefou's Brew at Gaston's Tavern: Magic Kingdom
School Bread at Kringla Bakery: Epcot
Cupcakes at Starring Rolls and Kusafiri Bakery: Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

This list will grow as we think of more things: but if you have any favourite Disney treats we should try, let me know! There's some we already know of (Dole Whips, Kaki Goris, Churros, Cinnamon rolls) but we are always ready for new treats!

As for table service, we've decided to do 5-6 sit-down meals. The only ones we have booked are Chef Mickey's our arrival night and (as of yesterday) Akershus the next morning. Here are the meals we're considering booking:

Ohana (B and/or D)
Via Napoli (D)
Kona Cafe (B)
Sci-fi Drive In (L)

We're still going over park days and figuring out our plans so we can figure out our dining schedule: we're hoping to book the rest of our reservations this week! So stay tuned...



​

 

[ursalita]

I'm with you on the dining plan. We've done it in the past and it's ok, I can totally understand why it works for some people. I decided to skip it this time because of the flexibility. For my family, we don't need 4 desserts when we can split one, or split an appetizer and entree.

I'm not an expert on Disney treats but there are some that I'm going to try to grab this trip: Carrot Cake Cookie at Writer's Stop in HS and Cake Cups at Cheshire Cafe in MK.

 

[cajunfan]

Our trips will cross paths too! We will be at AoA 5/8-5/17. I plan on starting a trip report soon!

Lynn

 

[broadwaybookworm]

Joining! It's nice to see the planning side of a trip. My sister has been annoyed the last two trips cause we couldn't get the dining plan, so I'm excited to see how you go without it!

 

[HikingBelle]

PTR Update #2: The Dining Conundrum

Our main reason is the flexibility. We can do more sharing and not be forced to get desserts that we don't really want (looking at you, chocolate cake in a cup) and instead use our carbs on the most delicious things Disney has to offer (looking at you, Starring Rolls cupcakes). Plus, we won't be panicking at the end while we buy a bunch of Mickey crispy treats as we attempt to use up all our DDP credits. Hopefully, it'll be win-win-win.

​

Hello! Following along as you plan.

My DH and I tried the DDP for the first time in January because it was part of our package. However... gotta be honest... I prefer eating a la carte! My DH and I feel we are less full and enjoy the food more when we eat on our own, which usually involves yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, splitting a QS lunch, doing a TS dinner, and then sharing lots of Disney goodies or snacks that we bring from home.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

We found the same thing when we considered the DIning Plan. Just not worth it.

As far as the ADRs go, Ohana dinner is very much a family favorite for us. And Kona Breakfast is another that has been on our radar.

As for Via Napoli and Scifi I can't say that DH and I were at all impressed with either. Via Napoli uses a wine in their sauce that comes through in the flavor in a way that DH and I don't like (but we aren't big Wine Drinkers) and our experience at Scifi was a HORRENDOUS experience and neither of us are willing to go back.

 

[princessesandpascal]

I'm with you on the dining plan. We've done it in the past and it's ok, I can totally understand why it works for some people. I decided to skip it this time because of the flexibility. For my family, we don't need 4 desserts when we can split one, or split an appetizer and entree.

I'm not an expert on Disney treats but there are some that I'm going to try to grab this trip: Carrot Cake Cookie at Writer's Stop in HS and Cake Cups at Cheshire Cafe in MK.

Exactly! We are looking forward to splitting lots of things: it means we get to try more snacks!

The Carrot Cake Cookie is on our list too (since I want to be a writer we'll take tons of pics in the Writer's stop, plus carrot cake is my favourite cake!) but we'd never heard of cake cups! They sound amazing and we'll check them out for sure!

Our trips will cross paths too! We will be at AoA 5/8-5/17. I plan on starting a trip report soon!

Lynn

AoA looks like such a beautiful resort! We could see it being built from our room at Pop in 2012. Happy planning! I'll keep an eye out for yours, thanks for joining in!

Joining! It's nice to see the planning side of a trip. My sister has been annoyed the last two trips cause we couldn't get the dining plan, so I'm excited to see how you go without it!

Thanks for joining in! I thought it'd be fun to document all the ups and downs of planning. We're hoping a trip without the DDP will work better for us!

Hello! Following along as you plan.

My DH and I tried the DDP for the first time in January because it was part of our package. However... gotta be honest... I prefer eating a la carte! My DH and I feel we are less full and enjoy the food more when we eat on our own, which usually involves yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, splitting a QS lunch, doing a TS dinner, and then sharing lots of Disney goodies or snacks that we bring from home.

I think we'll prefer it too, I'm a pretty light eater. We're considering some buffet and family style restaurants which aren't really affected since it's a fixed price, but we'll see a difference at the menu-ordered places. And sharing lots of goodies is a must!

We found the same thing when we considered the DIning Plan. Just not worth it.

As far as the ADRs go, Ohana dinner is very much a family favorite for us. And Kona Breakfast is another that has been on our radar.

As for Via Napoli and Scifi I can't say that DH and I were at all impressed with either. Via Napoli uses a wine in their sauce that comes through in the flavor in a way that DH and I don't like (but we aren't big Wine Drinkers) and our experience at Scifi was a HORRENDOUS experience and neither of us are willing to go back.

We have been looking at Ohana dinner but aren't sure how it fits into our plans so far. Kona breakfast is one of our very favourites, we haven't done it in a couple years and we're hoping to do it for Mother's Day this year!

Via Napoli is a new one for us, we're looking at getting pizza to share and I've never met a pizza I didn't love, so hopefully it'll be good for us Sci-fi is one we did a couple years ago and really enjoyed, I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience! The atmosphere is one we love so if we can book it I'll keep my fingers crossed for a good experience again.

 

[princessesandpascal]

PTR Update #3
“I Mean It’s Crazy-” “What?” “We Finish Each Other’s-” “ITINERARIES”

We have officially planned out our dining and made our reservations! We called Disney Reservations today and made every dining reservation we wanted, and here are the final choices! We have seven sit-down meals, which is more than we expected but we’re able to budget them out and we’re very excited!

Chef Mickey’s Dinner
Akershus Breakfast
Ohana Breakfast
Via Napoli Dinner
Kona Cafe Breakfast
Garden Grill Dinner
Sci-fi Dine-In Dinner

We spent yesterday evening figuring out where we wanted to go and, with the dining reservations, have tentatively chosen what parks we’re visiting in a day! Subject to change, of course, but here’s our first draft of our itinerary for the trip! We have a lot of MK time because it’s our favourite, but we’re considering dividing it up differently as time goes on.

Monday May 4th: Fly into MCO hopefully early (are in the process of flights). Check into Pop and spend the afternoon at MK using some FP+s. Finish with a late dinner at Chef Mickey’s.

Tuesday May 5th: Epcot early EMH in the morning with breakfast at Akershus. For the evening, hop back to MK.

Wednesday May 6th: AK EMH in the morning. We’ve left the afternoon open for wherever we feel like going, since we’ll be using our FP+s in the morning at AK.

Thursday May 7th: Early MK EMH, then breakfast at Ohana. In the evening, we’re currently hopping back to the MK but might change that since it’ll be busy from that morning’s EMH.

Friday May 8th: Hollywood Studios in the morning, then hop to Epcot for EMH at night and dinner at Via Napoli.

Saturday May 9th: Epcot in the morning, then after a rest for the afternoon, hop to MK for EMH until 2am!

Sunday May 10th: Since it’s Mother’s Day, Mom got to choose that day’s parks herself. We’ll be going to the MK in the morning with breakfast at Kona Cafe, then to Epcot in the evening with dinner at Garden Grill!

Monday May 11th: For our last day, we’re starting at either Epcot or MK in the morning, then finishing the trip at Hollywood Studios EMH with dinner at Sci-fi!

Tuesday May 12th: Fly home, hoping for an early flight. (And then start the trip report!)

Seeing plans (tentative as they may be) just makes everything seem so much more real! We made our MDX settings last night and already put in for MB colours: pink for me and green for Mom. We also customized our characters as Violet Incredible and Mrs. Incredible, which has no purpose in this TR other than that it’s cute.

We are so close to 100 days and I am so excited! ​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

We have similar morning plans on the 7th and the 8th! We'll be hitting those parks as well!

 

[princessesandpascal]

We have similar morning plans on the 7th and the 8th! We'll be hitting those parks as well!

That is too funny! I'll be wearing a mickey head on my bag with my username so if we run into each other that would be so funny! They looked like the best parks for the day so they're a good choice.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

That is too funny! I'll be wearing a mickey head on my bag with my username so if we run into each other that would be so funny! They looked like the best parks for the day so they're a good choice.

Same here. Though the 7th is our first park day so it was a no brainer where we would be spending our morning. I'm not sure I spent much time looking at the crowd calender for that day.

 

[princessesandpascal]

“A Salute to All Disney Vacations, But Mostly Our Past Ones.”
(first of all, forgive me for still figuring out the new forums! hope this posts fine, I love the new font colours!)

So because there haven’t been many things to update on in the Disney-verse, I thought I would write up a little summary of the last five WDW trips, because what would the internet be without getting to know fun facts about various strangers? This’ll give you an idea of how we’ve developed our touring strategy over the last 9-ish years since our first trip in 2006.

In 2006, we travelled (all three of us!) to Disney for the first time. We went in late April and stayed for 7 nights at the Wilderness Lodge: probably our first and last time in a deluxe. We loved it, but I doubt I’ll ever have the money to go back to it and Mom agrees! It was during the Happiest Celebration on Earth so the castle had all that crazy gold stuff all over it. (I actually was quite fond of the crazy gold stuff, but then again, I also loved the DHS hat so take that as you will). It was a really great trip: we got to experience so much cool new stuff for the first time. Pin trading, Soarin’, Buzz Lightyear (I still wish almost 9 years later that we bought the ride photo when Dad rode Buzz Lightyear in his own car), delicious Disney food and so many characters.

We ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe, Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Artist Point, and Sci-Fi. Mom and I knew we had to go back, but Dad decided that once was plenty enough for him. Interestingly, he actually considered going back with us this year but ended up declining again. Different strokes for different folks! I was only 12 on this first trip and was just young enough to still be enchanted by all the magic.

Our second trip was in 2007, just Mom and I for five days at Pop. It was our shortest trip ever and we knew we needed to go back after this one because it wasn’t enough time! Because we only had five days we ended up not visiting AK on this trip and only doing a half day of DHS. It was still so much fun: we tried new dining places like Akershus, Liberty Tree Tavern and 1900 Park Fare in addition to old favourites. We still pin-traded, made friends with guests in line, I got a Tinkerbell face painting because thirteen year-old me wanted to prolong being a child, we watched Jack Sparrow’s training show and when he made his entrance he ruffled my hair and played with my Tigger ears, which made Mom so infinitely jealous she probably still holds it against me.

Plus, we fell in love with Pop and that’s when it became our ‘home’ resort. We stayed in the 50s in the Lady building and it was just the most fun resort, we love Pop and have no problem coming back to it over and over!

In 2009 we went for March Break, but left two days before break started so we had 9 nights at All-Star Music. This, oddly enough given how much park time we had, was probably our worst trip: we didn’t have plans for the crowds at all (no rope drop or recommended parks) and while the first few days were great, as soon as Sunday hit we were in mobs of people for the rest of the week. I have a lot of memories of just wandering around Epcot with all waits over an hour and no Fastpasses available. However, there were plenty of great things: we rode Everest and Toy Story Mania for the first time, ate at Tusker House, Kona Cafe, and Ohana for the first time, and went through the fairies line in Toontown so many times that they knew us by the end of our trip. Having long waits for everything also made us experience lots of minor things, like playing in Innoventions and beginning our so-far undefeated winning streak at “Where’s the Fire”.

(sidenote: not even joking. We’ve never lost a game of Where’s the Fire in our entire lives and have probably played at least seven or eight rounds in the last few years. I think if we did we’d fall to our knees and wail with defeat. Mom and I are two of the most competitive people known to mankind (our Buzz and TSM rides get brutal). We’re the kind of people who, when placed on the Searchwells with a three year old and a confused-looking relative, aren’t even phased because we are BUILT FOR THIS MOMENT AND SHALL CARRY THEM TO VICTORY. The CMs kinda watch us in awe as we get about three bonus rounds after every room and full-on run around the house. We take no prisoners. We will be returning to defend our title in May. Because we don’t want to be those people who take a children’s game too seriously, we are always respectful of all teammates and have never performed a victory dance upon winning until far out of sight from the attraction.)

Anyways, our next trip wasn’t until 2011, when we made it back for a week at the beginning of April: 7 nights at POFQ. This is one of my favourite vacations of ours, because this time, we got it. We were up for some rope drops, we didn’t miss any of our must-dos because we planned in advance when we’d visit each must-do, and we had such an amazing trip. POFQ is one we’re hoping to stay at again someday when the money is there, because we are obsessed with it! We love Pop but at the same time, POFQ is so beautiful and much more intimate than Pop was in our opinion. We met some of the nicest people this trip, both CMs and guests. We waited a whole morning to see Rapunzel and Flynn which did not disappoint! We rode Splash for the first time this trip, really explored and experienced the World Showcase, and soaked in all the little things rather than just running from headliner to headliner like we used to.

And finally, our 2012 trip: 8 nights at the end of July at Pop Century (in a 60s room this time! We were in the play-doh building). We celebrated my graduation from high school and it was really fun having a celebration that wasn’t a birthday, as we got some special moments but without the attention of a birthday. We still found new stuff to experience this trip: Laugh Floor, meeting Merida (one of our favourite princesses), playing around at Innoventions some more, experiencing Pick-a-Pearl, and just enjoying every second of the ambiance. It was horrifically hot and busy because it was July, but overall we had a fantastic vacation. I have so many great memories of just joking around on Ellen's Energy Adventure, getting the artist's copy of a drawing of Phineas and Ferb at the Animation Academy, and snacking around the parks.

We are so excited for the upcoming trip! We got our first Mickey Mail the other day (just confirmation stuff) and will be picking our rides to FP+ in a couple weeks when I'm home on break. The trip is now EXACTLY three months away!!​

 

[Anitsirk24]

following along. Love that there so many of us that will be there the same week

 

[princessesandpascal]

following along. Love that there so many of us that will be there the same week

Thanks for following along! It'll be fun having so many Disboarders around that week!