Disney World is for babies and CRAAAAAZY people! * A December 2014 PTR*

[aharbin88]

Hi there!

I'm Andrea, and I'll give 10 points to the first person to get my reference in the title of this PTR.

It took me a long time to think of something clever, so it's going to suck when someone gets in in 0.02 seconds.

Sooooo.... I've never written a PTR before, so I'm breaking the seal to write about a trip I still haven't booked. 'Cuz I'm awesome.


Bear with me, since I'm sure this will not be as highly entertaining as I'm hoping it will be. I've read some fantastic trip reports in my years on the DIS, and I'm hoping to scrape some of their awesomeness onto my own. We shall see how it goes!

First off, the details and introductions.

As I said, I'm Andrea, your host for this PTR.


This is me, just hangin' with the Duke and Duchess. You can't see it here, but I'm actually rocking HRH Baby George while I'm back there. They call me up to help out from time to time.

This is The Hubs, the light of my life and the killer of spiders.


He's the mud monster on the right. This was after our Warrior Dash last weekend.

This is DD7, my oldest. She will be 7 by the time we travel.


As of this morning, she has graduated kindergarten and will be navigating the big bad world of first grade this fall. She's growing up entirely too fast and I'm not handling it well.

This is DD4, my baby girl. I'm certain she's going to be 4 forever. She seems completely happy to do just that.


Isn't she just an angel??? :little angel:

So buckle up, buckos! It may be a very smooth, very boring ride, but just in case it's Expedition Everest-worthy, hold on tight!

 

[aharbin88]

Ok. Soooo,
A) I need a quick lesson in resizing photos, and
B) I totally left out the "details" part of that first post.

Lesson learned.

As I said, I'm PTRing a trip that isn't even on the books yet. But since we're about 95% sure we're going and I went through the trouble of thinking up a snazzy title for my PTR, I'm gonna write it anyway.

As of now, we're planning to arrive on December 5 and come back home on the 12th. Those dates are flexible, but it will be around the first week in December. My husband will be attending a conference at the Yacht Club while we're there, and the dates for the conference are the first week of December. So, we'll pick the best flights and that will determine our official dates. We'll definitely be staying at Yacht Club, though, because Hubs clearly stated that he would not be hailing a cab to get from the Poly to YC at the break of dawn to get to the meetings. #highmaintenance

I need to do work on ADRs that I want to nail down, because, if we stick to the December 5th arrival date, then my 180 day mark is June 8. That day will be here in a heartbeat, so I have some homework to do!

Here is my wish list for ADRs, and I don't think I'll have much trouble getting what I want. As badly as I want to eat at BOG sometime, the menu doesn't exactly thrill me enough to stress about getting an ADR this go 'round.

Can't Miss:
Tusker House
Akershus
Crystal Palace

Want List:
Hollywood & Vine
Sci-Fi Dine In
Liberty Tree Tavern
O'Hana (that's not super-important, since we're not staying at the Poly this time)
<insert new restaurant here> (I want to try something new, but idk which one)

I also want to make sure we do Bippity Boppity Boutique for the girls this time. We meant to last time, and I waited too long and missed the good reservation times.

So that's it for the preliminary stuff. I'll update as I figure things out!

I'd also like to use the PTR as a "blog" of sorts. I'd like to use it to document the time in between deciding to go and actually going, so I hope you'll find the non-Disney parts entertaining. Or at least tolerable.

 

[mamamaleficent]

Joining in...I enjoy reading the Disney stuff along with day to day stuff. Looking forward to finding out what your clever title means

 

[aharbin88]

Joining in...I enjoy reading the Disney stuff along with day to day stuff. Looking forward to finding out what your clever title means

Thanks for joining in!

 

[aharbin88]

I had planned to sit down and write a quick update, but we are in the midst of a rough storm and our fur baby is freaking out at the moment. I'll try to calm him down and pop back in in a bit!

 

[cstorm65]

I'm ready to hear about your trip plans! We loved our breakfasts at Tusker House and Crystal Palace last summer. Those are great choices!!!

 

[PiratesMommy]

I can't wait to hear about your plans!!
I will be there at about the same time and my children will be the same age as yours on our trip!!

 

[aharbin88]

I'm ready to hear about your trip plans! We loved our breakfasts at Tusker House and Crystal Palace last summer. Those are great choices!!!

Welcome!!

I can't wait to hear about your plans!!
I will be there at about the same time and my children will be the same age as yours on our trip!!

Hi there! Thanks for joining in!

 

[aharbin88]

Mercy, mercy, mercy....

First, the good news: We booked our trip today!!! Whoo Hoo!!

And the not-so-good news: It was a dadburn fiasco. I figured up our 180 day mark, and went to bed last night dreaming Disney dreams. Woke up at 7:45AM (I know, late already!) and immediately called Disney to book our hotel and dining reservations. Got on the phone, got everything done, high-fived the Hubs, and sat down to relax.

As Steve and I were discussing the plans, I realized I booked the wrong. Freakin. WEEK!! Somehow or other I got the wrong date for Steve's conference in my head and I booked the week AFTER the week I need. Grrrr. So I call back immediately, change our dates, and try to change my dining. I got all the same restaurants I had before, but my times are all off now. I always aim for pre-park opening reservation times for our breakfasts, and I wasn't able to get any of those for our new dates. I got pretty close for our Crystal Palace ressie, but the others are well past the times I wanted. Oh well. What can you do? I'll just constantly be checking online for our times to open up!

To beat it all, that wasn't the last change I had to make. After all this Disney business, Steve went online to book his conference, and noticed that there was a special rate for attendees. I called the number on the website, and I got Disney Group Sales. They had me cancel the reservation I had made (twice!) and re-book with them. It saved so much that it was worth doing, but it was still a pain to have had to make a reservation for the third time in just a few hours.

The things we do for Disney vacations!!

So now I can officially say we're going to Disney world, and I can start to obsessively stalk Disney Dining to see if my ADR times open up! Send me good luck vibes!

 

[stasijane]

Congratulations on booking!! Sounds like something I would do with the dates

 

[aharbin88]

I thought I'd go ahead and post the reservations I do have and I'll update as they *hopefully* change.

Nov. 29- No reservations for our arrival day. May add some later
Nov. 30- Crystal Palace 9:10AM
Dec. 1- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall 10:45AM
Dec. 2- Hollywood & Vine 1:40PM
Dec. 3- Tusker House 10:40AM
Dec. 4- San Angel Inn 6:00PM
Dec. 5- Liberty Tree Tavern 6:25PM
Dec. 6- Departure Day- no reservations, but I may add a breakfast somewhere.

If I can move all the breakfasts to pre-park opening, I'll be happy as a clam! Not too much to ask, right?

 

[aharbin88]

Congratulations on booking!! Sounds like something I would do with the dates

LOL! Glad I'm not alone in my crazy universe!

 

[MidnightParade]

Congrats on booking, but thats hilarious you booked it the wrong week. Could have been worse, it could be you didn't realize it for a few days!

So are any of the ADR's you booked the new restaurant you want to try?

Oh, also joining in!!

 

[aharbin88]

Congrats on booking, but thats hilarious you booked it the wrong week. Could have been worse, it could be you didn't realize it for a few days!

So are any of the ADR's you booked the new restaurant you want to try?

Oh, also joining in!!

Welcome aboard!

San Angel is new to us. I wish I could try more, but I hate to give up our favorites, you know? Even though BOG's menu doesn't thrill me much, I'd snap up an ADR for it in a heartbeat!

 

[MidnightParade]

Welcome aboard!

San Angel is new to us. I wish I could try more, but I hate to give up our favorites, you know? Even though BOG's menu doesn't thrill me much, I'd snap up an ADR for it in a heartbeat!

I wasn't able to get BOG for the day I wanted either. I got it on a day we don't want/need it and I will be cancelling it 99.5% sure. I keep checking online though for the day I want and nothing so far. Blah! I'm not crazy that I need to go there but it would be nice.

San Angel will be new to us on our October trip. I asked the DBF and thats what he picked. Looking forward to it as its so pretty in there. I agree though, hard to give up your favorites!

 

[aharbin88]

I wasn't able to get BOG for the day I wanted either. I got it on a day we don't want/need it and I will be cancelling it 99.5% sure. I keep checking online though for the day I want and nothing so far. Blah! I'm not crazy that I need to go there but it would be nice.

San Angel will be new to us on our October trip. I asked the DBF and thats what he picked. Looking forward to it as its so pretty in there. I agree though, hard to give up your favorites!

You'll have to let me know how you like it! I have a good friend who just got back and they ate there on their trip. I had heard bad things about it a while back, but I've heard they've changed management and menu and things seem much improved. My friend posted a picture of her meal, and it looked DELICIOUS! She got the Carne Asada, and her husband got the Mole Poblano and they both raved about it. And you're right, that pavilion is so cool. I think we'll be happy with it, but my husband is sort of urging a Biergarten ressie instead. We've eaten there several times, though, and we wouldn't have a single new restaurant planned if we ate there again. I'm hoping he'll just forget about it!

 

[aharbin88]

Lookie there! My post made it to page 2!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Hi subbing and following along. We are booked for the same week as you. I have heard it's a non super busy time (if there is such a time), but I've had a hard time booking ADR's that we really want (of course the one I'm really trying is one of the most popular-Chef Mickey's, should've known). So I also will be checking dining daily.

Looking forward to seeing how your plans fall into place.

 

[aharbin88]

Hi subbing and following along. We are booked for the same week as you. I have heard it's a non super busy time (if there is such a time), but I've had a hard time booking ADR's that we really want (of course the one I'm really trying is one of the most popular-Chef Mickey's, should've known). So I also will be checking dining daily.

Looking forward to seeing how your plans fall into place.

Hi lady! :good vibes
I feel like I recognize your username. Maybe I've seen you around a TR before? Thanks for stopping by mine!

 

[saysib]

We're there at the same time! My DD will also be 7 on our trip and my DS will be 22 months.

I like your title, I can just hear it being said in that Southern drawl

Looking forward to reading more.