October 2010: Wizards, Pirates and Pixie Dust: *10/7/10: ready to go

So, disneycat, are you and your husband thrill riders? I ask because you said you did the Islands in about 2 hrs and this seems like not enough time if you are riding things like The Hulk, Spiderman, or Dueling Dragons. Or is it that you really can get thru the Islands a lot faster than you can something like Magic Kingdom?
 
I can't really see it having to much of an impact that it changes the crowds too much on which park they head to. Superhero land is cool the Spiderman ride is great went on that a few times while we were there.

I'm really looking forward to Harry Potter land, we are lucky at having alreay done the 2 parks before I know we can do it all in once day again & still spend more time in Disney.

I know we are lucky to be doing 2 & half weeks this time, I will let you know once I start a trp report, just waiting on my hubby to get his dates confirmed at work then I will know the def dates we are going & I can strt to book it all :)

I'm just wondering if the fact that Potterland is the big new thing will draw people toward the Islands first. It's been so long since we were last at US that this will be our test trip to see how long it will take us to see the attractions that really interest us. Then we can plan better for future trips.

I also am really looking forward to Harry Potter:wizard:. I just hope my expectations are not too high. Every time I see Hogwarts in the movies I just want to be there.:goodvibes

Zig
 
I bought the new Unofficial Guide a couple of weeks ago and have been going over it. Actually it was kind of a kick, we still have our 1999 guide and it was about 1/3 the size of the new 2010 guide.:rotfl: I didn’t really find it to be that useful to me though.:confused3 We already know what resort we are staying at and what table service meals we want. We know the attractions we will do and those we will skip, so I guess if I buy one every 10 years I should be OK. :laughing: The most useful part of the guide so far was the Universal Studios sections. However, I was disappointed to see that they put Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios and Seaworld all in the same section. I can see lumping Universal and Seaworld together, but I would have preferred that Hollywood got its own section, like MK, AK and Epcot. Still it did give me more info on the rides at Universal and an approximation of the size of the parks. I still didn’t find anything new I wanted to ride over there though.:confused3

I haven’t had the chance to look at the Guide yet, too busy trying to finish Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.
 
So, disneycat, are you and your husband thrill riders? I ask because you said you did the Islands in about 2 hrs and this seems like not enough time if you are riding things like The Hulk, Spiderman, or Dueling Dragons. Or is it that you really can get thru the Islands a lot faster than you can something like Magic Kingdom?

Just call me Cat :)

Yep we love all the thrill rides & went on all the big ones at Island of Adventure, as I said we hit the Island first while everyone else seemed to be heading towards Universal, got there at opening, walked round clockwise & actually walked onto every ride with no queue as no one was there yet it only started to get busy as we were leaving the park & heading towards Universal Studio's. We left out the Dr Seuss part as that didn't interest either of us but pretty much done everything else.

I just think at the time we went you really can get thru Island alot quicker then any of the Disney Parks now matter what time you start them parks lol
 


I'm just wondering if the fact that Potterland is the big new thing will draw people toward the Islands first. It's been so long since we were last at US that this will be our test trip to see how long it will take us to see the attractions that really interest us. Then we can plan better for future trips.

I also am really looking forward to Harry Potter:wizard:. I just hope my expectations are not too high. Every time I see Hogwarts in the movies I just want to be there.:goodvibes

Zig

It could pull people there first, one thing I am going to do closer to the time is look at what reports of what type of crowds there are & when they are going there hopefully that will help out.

I ma to but like you I am really hoping that it won't let me down :idea:
 
It could pull people there first, one thing I am going to do closer to the time is look at what reports of what type of crowds there are & when they are going there hopefully that will help out.

I ma to but like you I am really hoping that it won't let me down :idea:

Do you have a specific site you access for US info? So far I haven't found one that is particualrly helpful.:confused3

Zig
 
Well, that's sounds great. I expect we will be heading over there first thing anyway, according to Zig. Do you know of any site with a good map of the Islands and the Studios? So far, I havent been able to find anything worthwhile.
 


Well, that's sounds great. I expect we will be heading over there first thing anyway, according to Zig. Do you know of any site with a good map of the Islands and the Studios? So far, I havent been able to find anything worthwhile.

The actual Universal website used to hold a great map that I used last year but i was looking on there last night & they don't seem to have a map anymore so I will look for one over the next few days & I if find one I will post it on here for you
 
Do you have a specific site you access for US info? So far I haven't found one that is particualrly helpful.:confused3

Zig

No not really I haven't found any that are really helpful, i'm hoping that when it opens they will just release lots of reports about it
 
My cousin is heading off to WDW tomorrow for 5 days at BLT and then her first Disney cruise:sail: I wish I was going with her. I can't help thinking that if we had not changed our plans we would be in Disney right now. But then we would not have had that great trip last spring. I have to just keep reminding myself: This time next year. This time next year.:goodvibes

Zig
 
October 2010, it seems a long way away, doesn’t it? But it’s less than a year now! :cool1: How can we get all our planning done in one year? OK, transportation: We are going to drive, :drive:yes drive from just south of Chicago all the way to Florida . We have done the flying thing, (Sep 08) and decided it was not for us. Just not enough room in the suitcase for all the stuff we want to take and bring back. And let’s not talk about airfares, airlines, or the lack of customer service there right now. :sad2:Not to mention the fact I hate waiting around in airports. Or being cooped up in the plane. So it’s driving for us.

We have made the drive down into the southeast several times now. We went to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta . I think we made that drive in one day. Oi, that is something I don’t want to do again.:crazy2: We drove down to Orlando in 1992 for MagiCon :wizard:(and went to WDW then). I think we took 2 days that time. We actually drove down this past March, made remarkably good time and were fairly comfortable along the way. We took 2½ days to drive in March, but for this trip we are planning only 2 days (one sleep along the way). So it’s "get up early and get on the road, kiddies" for us.:hyper: We usually stop over in Kentucky . Ha, when we went in March, we stopped in Louisville . (Acutally, it was Elizabethtown ). Believe me, you do not want to be trying to get a room in a college town during March Madness.:crazy: We will be marking that on our calendars now, even though we are not college basketball fans. This time I think we will be trying to make it to Chattanooga or thereabouts, ( Murfreesboro is our halfway point) which would only leave driving through Georgia and the little of Florida to Orlando .

Thank Detroit for cruise control. :goodvibes It made the last trip so much easier and quicker. I would actually like to make it past Atlanta the first day. But that is a long haul for me. By the time we hit the Georgia line I am starting to go stir crazy and need to be out of the car.


Zig has a very nice RAV 4 with lots of room inside (the back seats actually slide forward, giving you more room in the storage area, not to mention folding down and out of the way if you really need a lot of room (maybe for that 6 foot tall stuffed Mickey). I have a new 2009 HHR, but while it is roomy enough for me, I don’t think it will be good enough for WDW. (Di’s afraid there won't be room for all of the stuff she wants to buy.):teeth: We are actually taking it to Maryland the first weekend in November to Faeriecon, so we will see whether it has enough room. (In case you couldn’t tell from her siggy, Zig is very much into faeries.):tink: (And pirates.)pirate:
 
So it’s about a week before we go to Maryland for Faeriecon and I have somehow messed up my knee.:sad1: It started out as just a stiff knee and escalated into being unable to bend the knee or put weight on it. Oddly, I cant remember any injury or popping of the knee, no sharp pains or redness or swelling, so I have no idea what I did. The knee is slowly getting better, I’m keeping it wrapped up, using ice if I feel it needs it and now I can bend it again, but I still cant put a lot of weight on it. Thank goodness the Faeriecon is all at one hotel so I wont be doing too much walking around. At least we are not going to Disney otherwise I would have to get an ECV and I have no idea how to drive one of those. :rotfl:I can just see me tooling around Epcot and ending up in the lagoon. I’m ok to drive (a car, :drive:since it’s my turn to drive), it’s just one of those things that doesn’t hurt until you try to walk around. Weird. :scratchin
 
Thank you kindly, ma'am. Yes, it is getting better, still stiff, and I am still wearing a brace, but at least I can walk around without too much trouble now. The frustrating part was not even knowing I had hurt my leg. It just went from stiff to unable to bear weight in about 3 days. So strange.
 
Dining plan, dining plan, dining plan. So what happens if we get free dining next October? We are staying at a moderate resort so we get the regular dining plan, one table, one counter, one snack per person per day. So does that start the day we check in? (Yes, it does. I keep reminding her of that but she never remembers.:confused3) That would mean 9 days of dining plan. We are probably going to arrive later in the afternoon on Sunday, and then Monday and Tuesday are Universal days. How will we work this out? Zig and I were trying to figure out what table service meals we would want. Remember, we feel that counter service is a better choice for us, since we don’t like sitting down to tables in the middle of the day. Actually, Di is the one who prefers not to do so many table services meals. I don’t mind having a little break in the middle of the day.:dance3: (Well, I’m usually just wanting to get on to the next attraction :moped:and I eat fast anyway).

So we are already planning on Prime Time, Whispering Canyon , Rose and Crown, and Chef Mickey. We have already done SciFi Drive-in, Chefs de France, the Princess breakfast at Akershus,princess: and Breakfast with Cindy and weren’t actually planning on doing these again this time. If we get free dining, we will have to add 5 more tables to our plans. I would do the Princess again, but not the others, not this time and certainly not SciFi. Does anyone else think they need to moderate the temperature in there? We have eaten there twice that I can remember and both times it was below arctic in there. :cold: How can anyone enjoy a meal if they are shivering so badly? And we went in September so it wasn’t totally hot outside either. SciFi is the only restaurant that I find intolerable as to temperature.

I have been considering the Signature restaurants. :snooty:They require 2 dining credits so if we did a couple of those we would have less table meals to plan for. I have taken a very quick look at the menu for several of the restaurants and have to say I am not finding much appealing. I don’t eat any kind of seafood and am not a big steak person. Weed out anything really spicy as well and that’s not leaving a lot to choose from. I really wish there were more pasta dishes without seafood accompaniment. And just because I find something I would like doesn’t mean Di will. See now, I like spicy food, and steak, but no seafood, unless it’s fish and chips. So while I would have a wider range than Zig, we need to be together on this. Does anyone have any suggestions? This is going to require further thought and consideration. Stay tuned:hourglass.
 
OK, Zig and I have decided to (separately) make a list of the table service restaurants we would like to eat at. Then we can compare the list and see if there are any matches. So here’s my list:

Rainforest Café (I want to see if it is any different from the ones I’ve eaten at before, besides they have a good menu)
Tusker House
Yak and Yeti (we’ve eaten at the counter service and I see they have the Honey Chicken at the restaurant also, yum)
Biergarten
Restaurant Marrakesh
Tutto Italia
Liberty Tree Tavern
Plaza Restaurant
Maya Grill
Raglan Road


Here are a few restaurants I would be willing to consider adding to our list if we were to be eligible for free dining:

Raglan Road
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus
Le Cellier
Yak & Yeti
Chefs de France
The Plaza Restaurant
Liberty Tree Tavern
Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant
Tusker House

Still need to check the menus on the Signature restaurants.
 
Well, I see that out of the 9 restaurants I chose, Zig has chosen 5 of the same. And out of the 10 that she chose, an additional 3 are ones we have already eaten at and that I would eat at again, but they wouldn’t be my first choice. So I guess this isn’t going to be so hard after all. We are way too much alike. :rotfl: I guess the hard part will be deciding which ones we want to try this time.:confused3

We are off to Faeriecon in Hunt Valley, MD tomorrow. I expect to find Tinkerbell :tink:and all her faerie friends there. We will try to have some Faeriecon pictures or even Disney Faerie pictures for you when we get back.pixiedust:
 
Hi, we’re back from Faeriecon. No pictures yet, but we did have a pretty good time. We had vendors selling faerie prints, faerie clothes, faerie jewelry and faerie figurines, plus lots of other stuff. We had discussion panels with artists like Charles Vess and authors like Charles deLint. There were Bad Faery and Good Faery Masquerade Balls (unfortunately, I had to sit these out with my bad knee). It was a lot of fun. And we come back to news that Disney is thinking of building in China. Oh, why won't they build up here in the Midwest?:confused3
 
Just wanted to poke my head in and say hi. I'm enjoying your trip report so far. I'll be there as well next fall taking a girls trip with a friend of mine. Can't wait to hear about all your plans.
 

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