Bring on the Pixie Dust! Going Back to Disney with Mom - a May 2016 PTR 5/18: LIVE UPDATE!

[Elevationist]

Today is double digit day for my May trip! Only 99 days until we get to spend a week at my favorite place SO excited!

DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE PARTY, WOOOOOO!

We put our name in and ended up being seated probably 20 minutes after our actual reservation time. Not awful, but a little bit annoying. However, considering how tiny the place is, it makes sense. Plus, as Will says, they have the "Cheesecake Factory issue" where nearly everyone feels like they need dessert. I think this definitely makes it run a little slower than other places, but we were glad to wait. Though we were hungry when we did get a table!

Ooooh, VERY good to know! So book my ADR for about 20 minutes sooner than I actually want to be seated. Got it.

When our food appeared, this is what we got - they went ahead and split up the sandwich for us (and Will gave me his pickle - yum).

And in my opinion you can't go wrong with pickles - though Will definitely disagrees with me

You can have my pickles, too. I hate them. BLECH!

I needed no deliberation - I knew exactly what I wanted from seeing it so many times on the Disboards: The No Way Jose!

YAAAASSSS! I'm am soooooo looking forward to trying this in October!!

Will isn't a huge fan of peanut butter either (crazy!).

Okay, he's on his own on this one. I love me some peanut butter!

I'm still dreaming about how amazing this sundae was However, I think if I got it again I'd get it all with vanilla ice cream

OOOOH! That sounds GENIOUS! I love chocolate as a topping, but prefer vanilla ice cream. NOM!

Overall, we had a wonderful meal at Beaches & Cream.

I'm and so so so glad to hear this!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Thank you all for the awesome dancing gifs!

Aw Man, does that look like ice cream sundae HEAVEN!!!!!

I would totally forgo dinner and head straight for this baby.
Totally doing this for my next trip (although that won't be for a few more years yet)

It was amazing! I can't blame you for skipping dinner - I might do that in the future

Ooooh, VERY good to know! So book my ADR for about 20 minutes sooner than I actually want to be seated. Got it.

Obviously, I can't guarantee this always happens, but I feel like it might be a distinct possibility that you wait a little while, so better safe than sorry probably!

YAAAASSSS! I'm am soooooo looking forward to trying this in October!!

It is SO GOOD! I'm already trying to figure out how to fit another one in

OOOOH! That sounds GENIOUS! I love chocolate as a topping, but prefer vanilla ice cream. NOM!

I do too - this helped me out a little since I was super full but still kept taking bites of ice cream Once I got done with the vanilla part it wasn't quite as appealing. My friend got one with all chocolate which sounds wonderful if you like chocolate ice cream!

I'm and so so so glad to hear this!

Yay! I'm glad The only other thing I would say was that the hamburgers we saw looked sort of blah - so I might go for something else if you want dinner food with your ice cream.

 

[Elevationist]

Yay! I'm glad The only other thing I would say was that the hamburgers we saw looked sort of blah - so I might go for something else if you want dinner food with your ice cream.

As much as I LOVE cheeseburgers, I eat enough of them at home, so I rarely order them on vacation unless there's something super special about them. I'm leaning towards either the grilled cheese, or the hot dog with chili & cheese! Either way, there will be onions rings... Oh yes, there shall...

 

[kastoney]

Catching up on all your mini trip report adventures. Looks like a great trip so far, albeit short. Love your boardwalk view, glad you all took the time to enjoy it. And so jealous you can be there inside of 7 hours with a dinner stop. It would be in the 16-18 hour neighborhood for us so don't think I'll ever brave it.

Your grilled cheese in Epcot and patty melt look great. Good move leaving room for dessert!

 

[LindseyJo22]

We are only 25 days from making our Fastpass reservations! Which means we're not too far from ordering at Be Our Guest, and we're only 85 days from being back at Disney!! I'm so excited But first, more of our very short January trip, coming right up:

Mini Trip Report - January 30, 2016

Magic Kingdom!!

After our great meal at Beaches & Cream, we wanted to head to the Magic Kingdom since it happened to be open until 1am that night. I just didn't feel right being at Disney and not even seeing the castle!

So we walked over to the Beach Club bus stop and waited a little bit for a Magic Kindgom bus, but not terribly long. This is also a huge plus to the Annual Pass - if we had bought a one day ticket for this trip, we definitely wouldn't have gotten park hoppers. And I would have been very sad not seeing the castle! We're still going to have to crunch numbers to see if we'll renew them, but I am a huge fan of being able to park hop and not worry about the tickets, I have to say.

Blurry Castle picture:

We headed straight for one of our favorites - the People Mover

Love this ride! The projection show was going on while we were riding too, which was super cool (even though my pictures of it turned out really blurry).

Then it was time for something we hadn't done in a while - the Carousel of Progress! I love, love, love this ride. My mom and I used to do this all the time when we were at Disney, and I still love the song.

weird picture trying not to be that person with the phone in the theater

Next, it was off to another favorite - Winnie the Pooh! it's been a little while and I actually had forgotten a lot of what we did, so the pictures are useful

Obviously, I can't get enough of the Hundred Acre Wood gang - they're my favorites! If the line didn't back up for this one so often (and if we didn't have other things we love to ride) I'd probably do this ride so many more times in a trip It's adorable!

After grabbing a new fastpass, we sat down to watch Mickey and his magical Orchestra:

Another favorite. Songs from Disney movies that are classics to me, and fun 3D effects too

I think we had gotten a fastpass for Pirates or the Jungle Cruise, and we headed over to Adventureland. We were pleasantly surprised to catch the Electrical Parade! This is something that we always intend to watch and seem to miss, forget, or just be too tired to stay for a lot of the time:

more blurry night time pictures I love the end float - it reminds me of something I think Sam Eagle would come up with in the Muppets

I have a feeling we did Jungle Cruise or Pirates (again, don't really remember) before heading back to Fantasyland and doing Small World. This was a super fun and crazy experience - it was late, and there was absolutely no one in line for Small World!

So we got our own boat all to ourselves

Small World picture spam:

My favorite room - it feels like being in the Polynesian

And then it was time to say good by to Small World until next time:

We got a few photopass pictures and headed out of the park. It was a really efficient and enjoyable night at the Magic Kingdom, and I am super happy we went over, even though it was a really late night for us.

Cheesy picture because that's what we do

After not too much sleep, we headed to France for one last Disney breakfast before we had to hit the road:

I love the way this picture turned out! Also, it was super cool to be in an empty French pavilion

We got some deliciousness to fuel us for the drive home:

We got an egg and bacon croissant to split, I got creme brulee, and Will got the chocolate duo. I had the chocolate duo in December and it was amazing. Equally good this time around! But the creme brulee was absolutely fabulous. Even though it wasn't warm on top like you'd get at Chefs de France, it was perfectly custardy, the sugar taste was great, and the crust was still nice and solid. I think this may be my go-to stop for creme brulee unless we have a special dinner planned, and it's really nice to know I can get it at a counter service place!

The egg croissant was also quite yummy. There was some good cheese if I remember right, and the egg was actually quite better than expected. I think this may have to be a regular breakfast thing when we stay close to Epcot!

And with that delicious breakfast, it was time to head home and back to work

However, I've still got our December trip to report (and try to remember) and more planning for May to work on at some point! The life of a Disney addict is never boring (at least not on the planning front for me).

 

[LindseyJo22]

so jealous you can be there inside of 7 hours with a dinner stop. It would be in the 16-18 hour neighborhood for us so don't think I'll ever brave it.

Oof! Yeah, we are definitely here for another year, but after that we don't know where we'll be. Will is a college teacher, so it kind of depends on the job market and the availability of (hopefully) tenure track positions. I'm hoping for closer to Disney, but we're trying to take advantage of the good drive while we have it!

Your grilled cheese in Epcot and patty melt look great. Good move leaving room for dessert!

So yummy! I'm still thinking about that wonderful sundae Thanks for following along!

 

[Saphire5742]

It was a really efficient and enjoyable night at the Magic Kingdom, and I am super happy we went over, even though it was a really late night for us.

No trip to Disney is complete without the Magic Kingdom. Wonderful that you were able to fit it in

I love the way this picture turned out! Also, it was super cool to be in an empty French pavilion

That is one great photo.

I had the chocolate duo in December and it was amazing.

But the creme brulee was absolutely fabulous.

I'll have to remember to put those on my (ever growing) list

 

[kastoney]

Looks like a great night in MK and a wonderful breakfast good bye. Can't wait to hear about all your other adventures

 

[LindseyJo22]

20 Days to Fastpasses

80 Days till Disney!!


Mini Trip Report - December Getaway Part I

Travel
So, this trip was not originally in our plans this year. However, we became DVC members on our honeymoon (yay)! And had some extra points to use. Plus, I had never seen the Osborne Lights - and once we found out they were going away, we started to toss around the idea of a short Disney trip. It seemed like a great way to cap off the end of our teaching semester, and a good way to unwind before beginning a very epic road trip to see our families for the holidays.

We decided that we'd go December 14-17 and head on our road trip the 18. It was a lot of additional driving for us, but it was worth it to be at Disney! For reference, we currently live in Georgia, my family lives in Northwest Arkansas, and Will's is in South Carolina. So it was a little bit of an epic adventure The perfect way to start Christmas vacation is with a Disney trip, though!

In the preparation for Disney, end-of-semester grading, and prepping to leave for a 2 week trip directly after this one, I couldn't believe how fast my countdown looked like this:

Woo hoo! It's Disney Day!

We left around 7:00 am if I remember right, and we had a 1:50 reservation at Trail's End that we were really trying to get to.

We ended up getting to Disney property a little bit early and looked around the Wilderness Lodge for a bit - this place is amazing at Christmas Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures there :/ We drove over to Fort Wilderness and didn't realize we were going to have to take an internal bus to get to Trail's End - I think next time we'd just take a bus from the WL, since I think it would have been a bit faster or more direct

Trail's End
Thankfully we were the only people on the internal bus, and the driver got us directly there with no other stops. We were so excited for this meal!

Menu pictures:

I ended up going with the Pan-fried Catfish, something I'd been eyeing on the menu ever since we made this reservation. Will got the Chicken Fried Steak, and we both got drinks.

Catfish:

This was super good! Our reservation was on the very tail end of their lunch service, but everything came out hot and fresh, and our waiter was wonderful the whole time. I feel like sometimes you can have a less than wonderful experience if you come in on the tail end of service, but this was great! I also remember the waiter being wonderful about refilling drinks. I usually drink a lot of whatever is in front of me, so keeping my glass refilled can be a job The collards were wonderful, but I love collards so may be biased. The fries were even really good, and sometimes Disney can be a little bit iffy on fries for me. Overall, I loved this. We were also super hungry by the time we got here, so I inhaled this!

Chicken fried steak Notice there are two giant pieces on that plate! This also came with a really interesting green pea salad that we both really liked. The potatoes were really good, and the chicken fried steak was yummy too! I stole a bite or two Now, to be fair this is not like over and above other chicken fried steak - but if you know you like it, I don't think this is a bad choice. It's certainly a ton of food!

Honestly, I really wanted to order dessert, but we were so stuffed that we didn't end up getting any.

Overall, we loved Trail's End. It was peaceful, we had great service, and it was really reasonable in price for a Disney table service meal. Definitely not the best value on the dining plan necessarily, but since we usually just pay OOP it's nice to find a place that is a little on the less pricy side.

Resort & Room

After Trail's End, it was time to head over to Saratoga Springs to check into our room

Our home resort is the Polynesian, but since this was a somewhat last-minute short trip (and we wanted to conserve some points), we stayed at Saratoga Springs. I am pretty sure it was the only thing that was available, and we even had to change our original dates a little bit to get a Studio for all of the night! Christmas is busy busy busy

We ended up in the Paddock section of Saratoga, which was actually really nice. It's a little farther away from the main building, but not more than a 5-7 minute walk or so. Our building was right next to the second pool, and pretty close to the part of the resort close to Disney Springs. I didn't really know what to expect from this resort, but I was so pleasantly surprised when I walked into our room:

This isn't the best picture - but there was a lot of space, and our window looked out onto the resort property, right by a waterway. It was a really nice, serene view:

The little bed runner had Copper and Tod from Fox and the Hound on it

Pillows on the couch:

More room photos:

We loved being at Saratoga Springs! The room was really spacious for a studio, the decor looked really classy and nice - and the bathroom felt a lot more roomy than our bathroom in a studio at the Boardwalk, so that was nice. Plus, it's one of the resorts that is cheapest in DVC points, so that is a plus. The grounds reminded me of Port Orleans Riverside, which is another favorite of mine from when my family went to Disney. It's an absolutely huge resort, though - so I can see how some might not be as happy about that. We used a mix of our own car and Disney transportation, and were very happy with our stay. After hearing a few complaints in various places about the state of SSR rooms, I was really happy with this.


Next time: We're at Disney! Let's hit the parks!

 

[kastoney]

Woohoo for another Disney trip!!!!!!! This is a PTR right?

Looks like you started the trip off right food wise. Gotta love some good ole fried catfish and steak. Yours looks divine. Gotta get to trails end one of these days

Your room at Saratoga looks great. We'd never really considered it since it seemed so large and removed from things but with a car it certainly looks doable.

 

[Saphire5742]

So, this trip was not originally in our plans this year. However, we became DVC members on our honeymoon (yay)! And had some extra points to use.

Heading back again????? I must admit I am slightly jealous.

This isn't the best picture - but there was a lot of space, and our window looked out onto the resort property, right by a waterway. It was a really nice, serene view:

LOVE this view! Also, cute touches on the bedding.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Woohoo for another Disney trip!!!!!!! This is a PTR right?

Haha I know! But there isn't much to do between now and Fastpasses, so I figured I might as well give my few readers something to look at

Heading back again????? I must admit I am slightly jealous.

This was an anomaly year - definitely won't be as many trips next year, but we're trying to take advantage of only being 6 hours away while we can

 

[LindseyJo22]

15 days till Fastpasses!
75 days till Disney!!!

The PTR that turned into a bunch of Trip Reports - December Trip Day 1!

So I know this kind of turned into a weird PTR But I don't have much to do between now and Fastpasses, and it seemed like the January trip was too short for its own thread - and you guys might as well have something to read if you want while I'm in the no man's land of trip planning

There was some really exciting Disney news this week, though. Rivers of Light is opening in Animal Kingdom in April! However, we probably won't manage to make it to that this trip . I really wanted to make it work, but we'd have to give up other stuff that I really want to do. Like watching Wishes from the Top of the World and trying to see the new Star Wars Fireworks at HS. So I think we're going to save Rivers of Light until our next trip (May 2017, or if I'm successful at registering, Princess HM Feb 2017) I'm still a little sad, but not enough to rearrange our entire trip to accommodate the show.

Back to the December trip!

I'm pretty sure Will had some work to do when we got to our room, so I headed to check out the main area and the resort. It was quite nice! But soon enough we were headed to Epcot to look at the resort decorations:

On our way, we rode the Land at night. We had been to Disney in the summer, and Will was very confused by how early this ride closed. He knew he remembered riding it at night and couldn't understand why it closed so early. We figured out that of course, in the winter it gets dark early - so obviously you can ride it at night then, but not in the summer

They even had Christmas decorations!

I got a picture by the Spode Christmas teapot:

I look a little crazy here - just excited to be at Disney!

Then we went to the resorts and looked at decorations - which apparently I didn't take pictures of. I know we got video, but I can't really insert that here. Trust me, they were awesome

Stopped at Picabu for Will's dinner of tacos:

And I got a Chocolate Duo from France as my dinner

Both of these were great! The tacos were really filling and not very expensive, and I am going to have to resist getting the chocolate duo every time we got to the pastry place in France The only thing about Picabu is that because it's in the Swan (or Dolphin, I can't really remember) they can't charge with the magic band. So we paid OOP and not with our gift cards for this meal, but it wasn't too expensive.

At this point, my memory of this trip is pretty fuzzy. I know we walked around Epcot a little bit, wandered around the resorts, and took some Photopass pictures:

We hit Magic Kingdom for a little bit, and I got a new Magic Band (purple!). I wanted one with Winnie the Pooh, but of course they didn't have a custom option for that so I got the castle. I love being able to have a purple band now! It's so much fun

More not-so-mini trip reporting coming soon (and hopefully some real news for our upcoming trip)! Thanks for sticking with the twists and turns of this not-so-PTR

 

[kastoney]

Haha I know! But there isn't much to do between now and Fastpasses, so I figured I might as well give my few readers something to look at

You know I'm just infinitely jealous

There was some really exciting Disney news this week, though. Rivers of Light is opening in Animal Kingdom in April! However, we probably won't manage to make it to that this trip .

It's actually opening while we are there and an evening we already planned to be in AK. Though I'm on the fence about the crowds and trying it the first day. May wait until next trip too.

Stopped at Picabu for Will's dinner of tacos:

These look delicious. I'd never heard of Picabu before. Looks like a great option.

We hit Magic Kingdom for a little bit, and I got a new Magic Band (purple!).

There is a purple magic band!!!! How did I not know this? Purple is my and my daughters favorite color. Where did you find it?

 

[LindseyJo22]

There is a purple magic band!!!! How did I not know this? Purple is my and my daughters favorite color. Where did you find it?

Yes!! I got mine at the custom magic band place in Tomorrowland because it was the only place to get them at the time - but they just made purple a default magic band color! So you can totally get a plain purple one with your regular magic band order I'm still going to be using my castle one for the next little while, but I love the fact that the next time we get sent MBs I can have my favorite color

These look delicious. I'd never heard of Picabu before. Looks like a great option.

They were good from the bite I stole! We found Picabu wandering around the Swan and Dolphin in September and were glad we actually got to eat there this time

 

[kastoney]

Yes!! I got mine at the custom magic band place in Tomorrowland because it was the only place to get them at the time - but they just made purple a default magic band color! So you can totally get a plain purple one with your regular magic band order I'm still going to be using my castle one for the next little while, but I love the fact that the next time we get sent MBs I can have my favorite color

Thanks for the tip. 2 purple magic bands are now coming my way

 

[chunkymonkey]

I am loving your PTR turned into Mini TRs! You are so lucky to live close to Disney. Congrats on the DVC purchase! I just love the Poly. Did you buy direct through Disney or through resale?
It's something that we're looking into but haven't decided on yet. I think SSR would actually be good for us as it's not too expensive.

 

[LindseyJo22]

I am loving your PTR turned into Mini TRs! You are so lucky to live close to Disney. Congrats on the DVC purchase! I just love the Poly. Did you buy direct through Disney or through resale?
It's something that we're looking into but haven't decided on yet. I think SSR would actually be good for us as it's not too expensive.

Yeah, it kind of evolved! Thanks for reminding me I need to get back on this, because Fastpasses are on FRIDAY!

And thanks! We bought direct through Disney - mostly because we wanted to be at the Polynesian, and the resale contracts aren't a whole lot different (or didn't seem to be when we looked). We did finance, which I know gets a lot of eye rolls on the boards, but for us I still think it was a good decision. We're planning to pay it off early, and it makes Disney trips a heck of a lot easier!

My in-laws own at SSR and they love it - they haven't had too much trouble getting other resorts, either (though that may depend on time of booking and the room type you want). We stayed at Bay Lake the first time I went with the family a couple of years ago, and it was great - but our recent stay at SSR was also wonderful, so I know that it would be a great home resort!

 

[LindseyJo22]

2 days till Fastpasses!
62 days till Disney!!!

The PTR that turned into a bunch of Trip Reports - December Trip Day 2!

Wow guys, I can't believe we're almost to fastpass time for the May trip! With the news that Flower and Garden has been extended, I've been saving up some $ for fancy snacks at the food booths

But I'll be back on Friday with fastpass news - this post is to continue the December mini (or not so mini) report.

I realized that I forgot to show you guys our Fitbit stats from the first night - not bad for driving for 6 hours that morning!

The second day our plan was to take it easy in the morning, check out Disney Springs, and then head to Hollywood Studios so we'd be there for the Osborne Lights. We wanted to not rush so much so we'd still be awake and ready to do stuff in the evening!

Not too much was happening in Disney Springs, but I loved being able to walk from Saratoga Springs. It was a pretty path, and we noticed they were building a pedestrian bridge for a few of the non-Disney hotels over by Disney Springs - seems like it would be really nice if you were staying there! I loved the decorations here (though apparently I didn't take any of my own pictures of them :/). They had a really cool tree by the toy store that had yarn, needles and thread, and awesome little toys as decorations. It was so cute!

For lunch, we decided to try out the Wolfgang Puck Express on the Marketplace side. I got a pizza, and Will got some pasta and we both got drinks. I seriously think next time we're going to split a meal here and get some Ghirardelli ice cream for dessert. This was so much food!

I really enjoyed this meal, but since I think I maybe finished half my pizza, I'd definitely split next time. We did like that the restaurant had a few waitstaff who refilled drinks and cleared tables - it gave it a table service feel with a counter service price, which was nice. After lunch, we wandered around Disney Springs a bit more. We saw a few choirs performing, and a random guy doing Jimmy Buffett covers by the margarita stand. That was super fun, since we both love Buffett (yes, we're old people at heart)

After some wandering, lego browsing, and sight seeing, it was time to head to Hollywood Studios! I do remember at this point that we got on a bus which ended up breaking down at the Saratoga Springs stop. Thankfully, the bus driver was super nice and we got a replacement quickly!

Huge tree! I wish they had photopass people in front of this one, but it's outside the park :/

Christmas decorations!

And honestly it's a bit hard for me to remember what rides we even did now - I need to make sure and take notes on our May trip so I remember

We obviously did the Great Movie Ride:

Always a classic, I love it!

Mary Poppins

Munchkinland! I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but when we briefly (like, a nanosecond) looked at Disney weddings there was an option to have a reception inside the Great Movie Ride! I still think I may want to do this on a milestone anniversary one of these days How cool would that be??

Pretty sure we did ToT and the Beauty and the Beast show since I'd never seen it. It was so so good! A little shortened obviously, but I may have cried a few happy tears for my favorite story I'm going to have to make some time for this one in future trips - it usually gets skipped for other stuff, but it was so much fun!

At some point, Will and I decided to split an ice cream sandwich:

Another ridiculously huge treat (that is a snack credit on the DDP I believe). This was from Hollywood Scoops I think - right by the ToT fastpass kiosk and Beauty and the Beast. These cookies were full sized, and there was a giant scoop of ice cream in the middle. It was a lot, even to split, but it was so so yummy! Highly recommended

We did a few other things in HS - I know Star Tours and probably Muppets - and then it was getting to be time for the Osborne lights!

We wandered around for a while before there was a "show" segment, and it was just fabulous! A few pictures:

A razorback! So the Osborne family was from Little Rock, AR - which is actually where I was born and lived until about 4th grade. We used to drive by the house with the lights, but I don't have a whole lot of memories of that. I was excited to see a little piece of Arkansas in Florida!

There were Photopass photographers around, and this is my favorite of our pictures:

The lights were utterly wonderful. The crowds were pretty heavy, but not totally crazy - and the snow was super festive and amazing! This was a great way to get into the holiday spirit, and I'm so glad that I got to see the lights. I'm kind of sad that they will be gone, but I'm hoping the new additions to HS will be amazing

We had planned to eat dinner somewhere in HS but weren't really hungry for anything at the time - so we ended up grabbing dinner at Artist's Palette

I got the turkey and brie sandwich: "Smoked Turkey, Brie Cheese Spread, Fresh Arugula, and Chambord-Cranberry Mayonnaise with House-made Chips or Vegetable Slaw"

Not a great picture, though

Will got what I'm pretty sure was the Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke flatbread:

Both of these were super tasty for a resort food court. I really enjoyed my sandwich, and Will liked his flatbread a lot too! I love to have a good resort food option, so we were both really glad that these meals were yummy. The house made chips were also super tasty, and I like that this seems to be more common at some of the quick service restaurants more recently. I much prefer these to a bag of Lay's

It was a very successful day, and we were tired - the next day was Magic Kingdom, dinner at The Wave, and seeing the Grand Floridian gingerbread house!

 

[yesvirginia]

Loving your pre-trip report so far!!