"I"m Only Going Because My Teacher Told Me To" Nov. 2016 PTR * update 12/2 TRIP REPORT STARTED! *

[Jenny Sanders]

Hi Ariane! I LOVE your trip reports! What can you tell me about Coronado Springs? Didn't you stay there last year??? I just booked 4 nights in July. Until then, I have the Grand Floridian to look forward to a week from Sunday...Also, Congrats on becoming a Disney travel Agent!!!!!!!!!

 

[ariane37]

Hi Ariane! I LOVE your trip reports! What can you tell me about Coronado Springs? Didn't you stay there last year??? I just booked 4 nights in July. Until then, I have the Grand Floridian to look forward to a week from Sunday...Also, Congrats on becoming a Disney travel Agent!!!!!!!!!

Very Much!! And very exciting about your GF stay coming up; is that for MNSSHP? My memory isn't that great but for some reason I seem to remember you saying you're going to that
We did stay at CSR in August of 2014, so it's been just over 2 years. We were going to be there for the last 3 nights of our stay next month but our BCV waitlist came through so we get to stay there the whole time. Not that we weren't happy to be going back to CSR, but we've never stayed at Beach Club and being a busy time of year we think not having to move will work out better. But we loved CSR! The bus service was fantastic, kids loved the Pyramid pool and the big slide, our room was very clean and I believe they're doing a refurb of the bathrooms anyway either now or starting soon so they may be even nicer by July. We ate at Pepper Market a couple times and liked it much better than the POFQ food court; also at at Maya Grill and my youngest still talks about his delicious steak there lol. The grounds are also beautiful
Frozen Summer Fun was going on at the time we stayed and we could see the high Frozen fireworks from the front of the main building. Now with the SW fireworks I'm guessing you may be able to see those? I'll bet it talks about that over on the CSR thread on the Resorts Forum. But yes, we really, really enjoyed it and it'll be our go-to moderate the next time we stay that level

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Very Much!! And very exciting about your GF stay coming up; is that for MNSSHP? My memory isn't that great but for some reason I seem to remember you saying you're going to that
We did stay at CSR in August of 2014, so it's been just over 2 years. We were going to be there for the last 3 nights of our stay next month but our BCV waitlist came through so we get to stay there the whole time. Not that we weren't happy to be going back to CSR, but we've never stayed at Beach Club and being a busy time of year we think not having to move will work out better. But we loved CSR! The bus service was fantastic, kids loved the Pyramid pool and the big slide, our room was very clean and I believe they're doing a refurb of the bathrooms anyway either now or starting soon so they may be even nicer by July. We ate at Pepper Market a couple times and liked it much better than the POFQ food court; also at at Maya Grill and my youngest still talks about his delicious steak there lol. The grounds are also beautiful
Frozen Summer Fun was going on at the time we stayed and we could see the high Frozen fireworks from the front of the main building. Now with the SW fireworks I'm guessing you may be able to see those? I'll bet it talks about that over on the CSR thread on the Resorts Forum. But yes, we really, really enjoyed it and it'll be our go-to moderate the next time we stay that level

Yes, it is for MNSSHP. I'm very excited about this, because its been a few years since we did the party. Plus, we are staying at my fav resort...

Did you find the pool to be crowded with CSR being a conference resort????

 

[ariane37]

AAARRRRRRGH!!​

In case I haven't mentioned it I'll say it again: I am NOT a fan of FP+ and even though we've been Thanksgiving week before, I'm 2nd guessing my FP decision here and it's getting on my nerves. So let me lay out my plans for you and tell you what's bothering me when I'm done:

Day 4, 11/22
AK/MK
This like yesterday will be another RD day, at AK. Right now the park opens at 9 but last year about 2 weeks prior to our trip, AK went to 8:00 openings pretty much every day of the week so I'm expecting that again. As we usually do we'll go right to the Safari. After I don't know how many rides, we've found that the animals are most active first thing in the morning - and during torrential rainstorms We'll probably have eaten something from the room on the way to the bus stop but I know at least Chris and I will be hungry again, so we'll go with our norm and grab something here



Can you say Disney Danish?? Unless something changes which I'll get to in a sec. Right now our FP's are set like this:
FP:
EE 10
Character Outpost 11:10
KRR 1:10
So, if the park opening stays at 9 we'll most likely head over to EE after second breakfast Chris won't ride so I'll go with Ricky once and then Steve will go with him. If opening moves to 8 we'll have some extra time to do what we want! Ride EE w/o our FP's if the line is short, ride Dinosaur, or check out some of the entertainment aroud AK. Some of it we've seen before but there are a number of new performances I want to see; Burudika, The Harambe Wildlife Parti, and the Discovery Island Carnivale. Burudika doesn't seem to start performances until 2:55 and the other 2 until later, but we love the band/dancers in Africa too and I'd love to see the acrobats Steve and I caught in Africa in August (no idea what they're called). I also want to do ITTBAB. Chris has never done it and the rest of us haven't done it since 2006. So depending on park opening we'll use our EE FP at some point and then Character Outpost with some of the above in between.

Character Outpost is strictly to get a picture for our Christmas card of the boys with Mickey and Minnie in holiday outfits, like we did with Goofy 2007. We met all the characters in their holiday sweaters and scarves at AK but I used this on our card:



I have to ask on the TPAS board when they change outfits but I believe when I asked last year the answer was that they'll already have changed before Thanksgiving.
I want to walk some of the Discovery trails too, plus we'll have to have lunch at some point. Is my lack of a more precise schedule annoying any of you so far So here's my first possible change: I have a search going on for a TH late breakfast/early lunch. I really want to eat at Harambe Market again and I know Steve wouldn't mind, but the kids aren't thrilled with the QS options at AK. We have Yak & Yeti dinner another night, so instead of running around to get different lunches for everyone this might be easier. Not thrilled with another character meal but if I can get it and possibly catch the end of breakfast and beginning of lunch, I will.

Anyway you can tell this day is kind of not solid lol. After Kali I want to do the 2:30 Flights of Wonder show, unless we got the TH ADR and manage to do the 12:30 FoW. Then we'll most likely head out. We have more time at AK later in the week for whatever we didn't do.

MK
Whether we go right from AK to MK or back to the resort will depend on how everyone feels, but we'll definitely be at MK in time for our 6:25 BOG dinner ADR thanks to @Whit64130 who helped me with the drop/pick up! This is one of our favorite TS's all around and Ricky will be able to get his 2nd order of Disney mussels. The only other thing that's a definite is watching Wishes from Fantasyland, over by the carousel. We accidentally did this last Nov. and the view is incredibly beautiful; it feels like the fireworks are going off all around you and like you're directly under an umbrella of them (must be that dome Disney puts over the park ) Here's my FP issue: I originally figured that as far as rides at MK we'd just do whatever had low waits or we could get FP's for, assuming we wouldn't get any headliners based on our experience last year. It'll be our 2nd day here and we'll be back 2 more times. But now I'm wondering if I need those FP's in AK..........last year that park was the least busy park all week, but, 1. Chris specifically mentioned wanting to do KRR, 2. Ricky would not be happy if he couldn't ride EE and won't do SR, and 3. IF ROL opens between now and then as the latest rumors suggest, the park could be significantly more crowded, even during the day. For these reasons I'm thinking I should keep them at AK and go with whatever we can get that night at MK rather than risk long lines at AK? I normally don't worry so much about FP's but really, one of 2 negatives during Thanksgiving week last year was the inability to get additional FP's day of and long waits at the parks after 12. What do you guys think?

 

[ariane37]

Did you find the pool to be crowded with CSR being a conference resort????

Nope, not at all! We only noticed conference people in Pepper Market around lunch time and walking around the resort a couple times at night. I'm pretty sure they're kept busy during the day so they wouldn't be at the pool; maybe a bit at night but again, I think they even have things going on at night like dinners, mixers, etc. I never really hear complaints about conference attendees interfering with other guests' trips

 

[Raeven]

I think I would keep the AK ones but I've never been Thanksgiving week

I didn't know Mickey and aminnie in AK have Christmas clothes on though. That's awesome because I FPed that before I knew.

 

[cinderelly828]

Character Outpost is strictly to get a picture for our Christmas card of the boys with Mickey and Minnie in holiday outfits, like we did with Goofy 2007. We met all the characters in their holiday sweaters and scarves at AK but I used this on our card:

This photo is so adorable! I didn't know they did holiday outfits either! Now I'm wondering if I should swap out a FP on my AK day for Character Outpost...

 

[KathyM2]

Just had to stop by and say I love that holiday photo!! I would not want to miss out on getting another one of those!!! As for the planning...it's so tough to choose...I think no matter what you do you won't know for sure if it was the right choice lol..I Know what you mean about FP+. I'd just leave it probably!

 

[ariane37]

I think I would keep the AK ones but I've never been Thanksgiving week

I didn't know Mickey and aminnie in AK have Christmas clothes on though. That's awesome because I FPed that before I knew.

I'm leaning more towards keeping the AK ones the more I'm thinking about it.......
Yes, and they're adorable in the holiday outfits! Good you have a FP; since we haven't met Minnie and Mickey at that location I'm really not sure what the waits are like, but I'm thinking if people find out they're in holiday clothes the waits could get long.

This photo is so adorable! I didn't know they did holiday outfits either! Now I'm wondering if I should swap out a FP on my AK day for Character Outpost...

Aw, thank you IDK, like I mentioned above to Raeven the waits could be long but I don't know for sure?? I'm just hoping they've already changed when we're there. I posted the question on the TPAS board but the only answer I've gotten so far is someone saying they were in the holiday outfits the beginning of Dec. last year.

Just had to stop by and say I love that holiday photo!! I would not want to miss out on getting another one of those!!! As for the planning...it's so tough to choose...I think no matter what you do you won't know for sure if it was the right choice lol..I Know what you mean about FP+. I'd just leave it probably!

Hi Kathy, and thank you! I know I think it'll be cute, although Ricky being 14 probably won't think so lol. I'll be happy if I can just get him to smile!
And you're right, I'll be 2nd guessing myself on these FP's and I'm sure some other choices! We loved Thanksgiving week last year but it is the busiest time we've gone and does make for a different trip/type of touring than other times of year. And that makes certain things more important and more difficult. Luckily we go fairly often but I still like things to go my way!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I would keep the AK ones for all the reasons you mentioned. I haven't been at TDay week but I know that MK has the most FP+ attractions so I would think there might still be a few things you could do. I would jump on MDE right after you scan at KRR and grab something in MK that you guys are interested in for late afternoon.

And I like the semi-plans for AK. I know that sounds weird coming from this uber planner...but you guys are seasoned vets and know what you want to accomplish and what you want to go with the flow on.

I may need to check out the AK Bakery myself. Is it close by the Safari? My plans will be to head there right after RD as well.

Oh and TH breakfast was REALLY good. I actually hated giving that one up for June but I's rather try Sanaa on our AK day, so, even though it is a character meal, I think you will really enjoy it!

 

[ariane37]

I would keep the AK ones for all the reasons you mentioned. I haven't been at TDay week but I know that MK has the most FP+ attractions so I would think there might still be a few things you could do. I would jump on MDE right after you scan at KRR and grab something in MK that you guys are interested in for late afternoon.

And I like the semi-plans for AK. I know that sounds weird coming from this uber planner...but you guys are seasoned vets and know what you want to accomplish and what you want to go with the flow on.

I may need to check out the AK Bakery myself. Is it close by the Safari? My plans will be to head there right after RD as well.

Oh and TH breakfast was REALLY good. I actually hated giving that one up for June but I's rather try Sanaa on our AK day, so, even though it is a character meal, I think you will really enjoy it!

Yeah, think I'm going to keep the FP's at AK. I originally thought the same thing for MK, even if I can't get headliner FP's I should be able to get some for the lesser attractions or at least hit a few things with low waits. We went last Thanksgiving week for PM EMH and waits weren't bad at all, and this day isn't PM EMH.

LOL you're one I had in mind when I was typing my all over the place plans! It is easier to go with the flow with older kids and since we know real well what we do and don't want to do; but there are actually quite a few new things for us to do this trip and a handful of older things we haven't done in awhile I want to get in

Yes! Kusifiri Bakery is right by the safari. When you're walking past TH towards the safari, it's on the left passed where the band plays. It's small and tucked back a bit but if you don't see it right away you can always ask someone.

I'm hoping we get a TH ADR! Nothing yet from TP reservation finder........but I still have 36 days!

 

[Saphire5742]

Awwww, the Christmas card photo of your boys with holiday Goofy from 2007 is adorable!

 

[kittylady1972]

I may totally have to steal the idea of getting photos this year of the kids with characters dressed in Holiday finest for our card. I usually just try to get one in front of one of the various Disney trees and then make sure I add a cool holiday border to it using the Photopass site.

 

[ariane37]

Awwww, the Christmas card photo of your boys with holiday Goofy from 2007 is adorable!

Thank you Odelia We'll see if I can get them both to smile at the same time again

I may totally have to steal the idea of getting photos this year of the kids with characters dressed in Holiday finest for our card. I usually just try to get one in front of one of the various Disney trees and then make sure I add a cool holiday border to it using the Photopass site.

You have my permission to steal That was the first year we actually did a Disney Christmas card! We did one last year in front of the Mickey statue at Fantasy Gardens mini-golf; it wasn't Christmas-y at all but at least it was Disney and neither of them was smirking.........

 

[kittylady1972]

I'm not sure we've ever seen that Goofy Santa...except from a distance. I think I took photos of him in Hollywood Studios maybe in 2014 when people were standing in line to meet him. It would be cool to get a close up photo with him without waiting in a crazy line. Maybe the little ones with us would also enjoy that once we determine if they are okay with characters, which I think they will be.

Our first holiday photos were these:

Gonna miss that hat for sure.

 

[ariane37]

​

I'm not sure we've ever seen that Goofy Santa...except from a distance. I think I took photos of him in Hollywood Studios maybe in 2014 when people were standing in line to meet him. It would be cool to get a close up photo with him without waiting in a crazy line. Maybe the little ones with us would also enjoy that once we determine if they are okay with characters, which I think they will be.

Our first holiday photos were these:

Gonna miss that hat for sure.

Aw, very nice, thanks for sharing!
So next month will be your first time seeing HS since they removed the hat? I didn't mind the hat, even have the Hollywood Studios Alex & Ani bracelet with the hat on it But I must say I like being able to see the theater better now. It's how it was the first time I went to MGM and I think it gives more of the "Old Hollywood" vibe, which is what made me fall in love with the park Definitely a different look though!
That was our only time meeting Goofy Santa because as you said, his line is always crazy long. However we did meet Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus in Epcot back in 2012 and I used that as a Christmas card, too! I tried getting the boys to recreate that last November but I got a resounding no

 

[ariane37]

So, You Know How You Have Things Planned, And Then......​

Well, this morning when I decided to write a post today it was going to be a rather sad one - sad for me, not really for you guys who don't have anything vested in my trip! There was something going on that was stressing me out because it was affecting our trip and possibly causing us not to go. I hadn't mentioned it here because it's not a done deal and I didn't want to bring a depressing vibe, but it's really been upsetting me so much I wasn't feeling much like going forward with my day by day itineraries
However, by the time I actually stared writing this things had done a 180 and now I can make this a 100% HAPPY POST!

I think I've mentioned this but Ricky is a basketball player. He plays year 'round on multiple teams including for school. In middle school tryouts didn't even start until after Thanksgiving so going away didn't interfere, and when I booked this trip it never crossed my mind H.S. would be different. Well, in Aug. I found out high school starts in mid-Nov. and Ricky had a cow that if he makes the team he'd miss practices while we're away - luckily no games until Dec. but they do scrimmage other schools before that. And if you miss practices, especially in the beginning, you're penalized. This is H.S. sports, people! I f mentioned to Steve back then, before our end of Aug. trip,that maybe we should contact the person we rented points through and see if we could move the Nov. trip to Aug. if they had anything available. But it's like this: one of us likes to be pro-active and one of us likes to wait until something IS a problem before thinking about it Therefore, we did nothing with my idea.
Fast forward to the last month. There are what's called "open gyms" for the basketball kids each week; then a select few freshmen were "invited" the 2nd week of school to stay after additional days to work out/shoot with the jv and varsity teams and coaches, and Ricky was one of them. This does not in any way mean he will definitely make the team but it's still cool and had us thinking more about the trip, and had Ricky commenting more often about not wanting to come if he makes the team. And as much as I love Disney I do actually love my son more, and I love his passion for his sport, and should he be lucky enough to make it I don't want to screw him in any way by taking him away right after the team is announce because - get this - freakin' tryouts are 11/14-11/17 and WE LEAVE THE 19th So we won't even know if he made the team until 2 days before we go!!!

So what do we do? This is what I've been agonizing over. We had decided that, should he make the team, Ricky and Steve would fly down Tuesday night. That way Ricky would most likely only miss practice the Sat. after Thanksgiving. There were a couple decent flights they could take with a fairly decent amount of seats left, but Steve, who is not a sports fan at all and wasn't happy about the whole thing, didn't want to book until we knew the outcome. So that meant we'd cross our fingers there'd be 2 seats left on a flight down that didn't cost $400 pp 2 days before Thanksgiving. And if there wasn't? They wouldn't come. Now I have no problem going down with just Chris for a few days, in fact I think it'd be fun. But not for a whole week. I love him to death but he's a little.......trying sometimes lol. Plus I'd be very sad to not be with Steve and Ricky for Thanksgiving. Bottom line I wouldn't have fun. So:

Scenario 1: Come 11/17 Ricky doesn't make team; we're good. No change, we all leave 11/19
Scenario 2: Come 11/17 Ricky makes team; we check for 2 seats on decently priced flight; find them, Steve and Ricky come down on the 22nd. Chris and I spend a few days alone in WDW and then we all meet up in time for the holiday
Scenario 3: Come 11/17 Ricky makes team; we check for 2 seats on decently priced flight; don't find them, NONE OF US GO. TRIP CANCELLED.

SO obviously scenario 3 is what' been bringing me down and ruining my sleep for the last few weeks. I didn't want to post anything here even though I did, I wasn't excited when anyone asked me about our trip, didn't want to talk about it. I was pretty convinced we wouldn't be going and even though that would be good news for Ricky and I'd be overjoyed for him.....well, I love Disney Not to mention losing what we paid for Beach Club.
But then this morning happened and I'll put that in another post since this is long and wordy

 

[ariane37]

So fast forward to this morning around 10:00. As I said in the last post, Steve isn't a sports fan and really neither am I, but we both love watching our kids. But I understand I little more that as kids get older sports become more serious, whether it's school, AAU, whatever. Therefore Steve's feeling with the school team is that the coach should understand that if Ricky makes it, this trip was booked before hand and he shouldn't be penalized, and we should go as planned. I understand why he feels that way and I've tried explaining that's not how it works once you get to high school, but Steve's old, stubborn and a man so his feelings didn't change

What did change is that he actually listened to me It happens from time to time and always throws me for a loop. So he came home early today and told me he thinks it makes sense to book a flight for Tues. night just in case he makes the team. *let me also point out the kids are off Wed-Thurs-Fri, and I've checked last years schedule and they did nothing that Wed. so we're going on the assumption they won't this year, either. Hence our thought that this way, he may only miss one practice on our departure day bringing less penalization (is that a word?) if any, than going away 2 days after the team is set* I was elated!!! Got on Jetblues website right away! Now before this gets as wordy as the last post let me give you our new scenario if Ricky DOES make the team:

11/19: Chris and I fly down
11/22: Steve and Ricky fly down, arriving MCO 11:30pm. They'll be with us for the 23-26th

I cannot tell you how much stress this has taken off of me I don't even know if I've conveyed how heavy this was weighing on me because I tried not to completely turn you all off to my PTR with these amazingly boring posts I also cannot tell you how badly I want Ricky to make the team because he'll be devastated if he doesn't, but that's for another day. For now I'm going to revel in the knowledge that yes, we're DEFINITELY going on this trip!! Of course I now have to have 2 different plans for some of the days it may be just Chris and I, so I'm going to do some rearranging over the next couple days and then get back to posting my itineraries for all you loyal Dis friends

I was so excited and in Disney mode after Steve booked the Tuesday flights (for $99 each no less! Whichever they don't use he'll cancel and they'll be banked for future use minus a cancellation fee) that I went ahead and booked us the just-announced-today Jingle Jam Jingle BAM dessert party at HS for Thanksgiving night! Very happy they're doing something Christmas-y at HS since Osborne lights is no more and I don't mind them not having SW Galactic Spectacular in lieu of this. Oh, and Ricky's MB came:



It's a different Sorcerer Mickey one than he originally picked out but it's cute! Just have to link it in MDE.
Once again thank you guys for reading my somewhat off-topic post and for listening to me let off steam. Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

 

[Raeven]

So sorry you almost had to cancel your trip, I can understand why you weren't excited with that going on. My boyfriend can be a procrastinator too so I have to take the plans into my own hands most of the time

I'm glad you resolved it though! And I hope Ricky makes the team. I'm looking forward to your review of the HS show and dessert party before we go!

It doesn't bother me either that they temporarily canceled SW fireworks for this. (I think they'll come back after the holidays anyway).

 

[kastoney]

OK wait, wait! It's not really that I don't like it; I get motion sick on it I have to keep my eyes shut the whole time and if I open them I get nauseous so I just can't really enjoy it. I'll still most likely do it at some point to say I've done it, I just won't feel well for about 30 mints after. Happy now???!!

Slightly happy I'm not as bad as you but I could never make it through the ride without closing my eyes. But on the new one, I did without any trouble. I think the quality of the new movie makes a big difference.

Um, well then you better get back over to my dining report because I wrote about it awhile ago and it appears you skipped right over it!!!
I want to hear what you thought about your meal there, too. Any idea when I may get to read that

Well don't I suck. I have no idea how on earth I missed that, but headed there now. And hoping to get mine started this weekend. Haven't even had time to download the pictures yet.

So, if the park opening stays at 9 we'll most likely head over to EE after second breakfast

I have a search going on for a TH late breakfast/early lunch.

Hope you can get it. Totally my favorite time to eat there. And hello Dawa Bar Bloody Mary

his is one of our favorite TS's all around and Ricky will be able to get his 2nd order of Disney mussels.

I was just reading the Disney Tourist Blog review of BoG and they were raving over the mussels. Now I'm totally craving some

The only other thing that's a definite is watching Wishes from Fantasyland, over by the carousel. We accidentally did this last Nov. and the view is incredibly beautiful; it feels like the fireworks are going off all around you and like you're directly under an umbrella of them (must be that dome Disney puts over the park )

This is our favorite place to watch them too. It's awesome when the fireworks are all around you and even more awesome you don't have to deal with all the crowds.

For these reasons I'm thinking I should keep them at AK and go with whatever we can get that night at MK rather than risk long lines at AK?

This sounds like the best bet to me. You'll only be in MK for a few hours anyway and if nothing else, it can just be under appreciated attractions night.

Glad to hear all of the basketball drama has been worked out. I'm sure its been stressful mulling over the what ifs. And if Steve and Ricky can't get down there for a few days, then Casey and I will just join you