Our COMPLETELY New and TOTALLY Different 6th September Disney trip: A pre-trip report

[999ghostslover]

Have you audio booked the Kingdom Keepers? We listened to the first one when audible had a sale. I refuse to buy kid books with my credits but sometimes they have a sale on kids titles for like $5-$7 and then I will buy them then.
I bought my kid an iPod when she was five and I am seriously thinking about it for Brady when he turns 4. People think that's weird but they don't think a DS is weird. A DS costs about the same and the games are tons more money. Plus my kids can watch netflix, read books (at least Abs can), listen to books and music. It seems nuts not to.

 

[kokotg]

Have you audio booked the Kingdom Keepers? We listened to the first one when audible had a sale. I refuse to buy kid books with my credits but sometimes they have a sale on kids titles for like $5-$7 and then I will buy them then.
I bought my kid an iPod when she was five and I am seriously thinking about it for Brady when he turns 4. People think that's weird but they don't think a DS is weird. A DS costs about the same and the games are tons more money. Plus my kids can watch netflix, read books (at least Abs can), listen to books and music. It seems nuts not to.

I think the same thing about the DS vs. ipod! The kids can do so much more with the touches without spending any extra money (or very little; if someone gives them a $20 itunes gift card or something, they stretch it out forever buying 99 cent apps).

My oldest tried reading Kingdom Keepers a year or two ago and didn't get into it (he's VERY picky about books). I wonder if an audiobook would be better, though--he'd be stuck with it until he the story sucked him in

 

[princess&her4princes]

WOW great deals with the t's! I never thought of trying the thrift/goodwill store for Disney's! Great idea, especially for the boys and how quickly they outgrow them!

I hope O'hana pans out better than you expect! I ate there once and loved it (with only adults), we have ressies for our January trip with the boys, hope they love it as much as I did!

Just bought the Kingdom Keepers 1st book for me to read and share with my oldest, so we have something in common to chat about. Hope he likes it!

And WOOHOO for single digits!!!!!!!

 

[kokotg]

WOW great deals with the t's! I never thought of trying the thrift/goodwill store for Disney's! Great idea, especially for the boys and how quickly they outgrow them!

That's one nice thing about having 3 boys, though--always someone to pass things down to (although the downside is the first time I actually had to get rid of baby clothes because there were finally no more babies to pass them down to, I cried and cried )

 

[kokotg]

Another day, another Goodwill trip:

For Dave (well, not this exact shirt. I snagged this picture of the same shirt on the internet, because I'm too lazy to take my own ). This one's my new favorite of his, I think, edging out his "I'm with Grumpy" shirt. I have a new rule this year that he's only allowed to wear Disney shirts and math geek shirts to the parks. He got lots of comments last year about his "Don't drink and derive" shirt. Mostly from engineers, it seemed like. But I digress.

Last year when I got back, I had a big plan to shop all year for t-shirts, so that we'd have enough good ones for the whole trip this year (or at least for the kids and Dave. I've never found a Disney shirt for me at a thrift store. Maybe I'm pickier for myself). But I kind of ran out of steam around November, I think.

 

[kokotg]

Thursday: Epcot

In what I feel like it becoming a theme of this pre-trip report, I kind of feel like 2 days is not enough at Epcot. I think next year we'd better stay for 2 weeks.

Last year the kids did two Kim Possible missions with all their friends:

(only one friend was online to ask permission to post the picture, so I just chose one where you can only see her and my kids' faces )

They only gave us one Kimmunicator for all 7 of the kids to share, which was a little much, and caused a few tears and arguments. But they still had a GREAT time, and vowed that this year they would do ALL the missions.

So that's the plan for today. We might try to get to Epcot in time to redo a couple of Future World rides before we head over to the World Showcase, but otherwise the only thing we HAVE to get done is Kim Possible.

As mentioned earlier, Dave and I plan to set the kids loose as much as possible while we sip drinks and remain available for help, as needed. We've never done an actual non-park day on any of our trips (one year we planned one, but then we couldn't stop ourselves from going to a park anyway), but this seems like a nice, relatively relaxing substitute.

I have a Coral Reef lunch reservation for today, but I'm probably going to cancel it. I'm holding onto it for now, because I'll keep it if we can get an extra night at Pop. But as it is we'd end up paying out of pocket for one our table service meals, and I'm not nearly excited enough about Coral Reef to do that.

Coral Reef was our very first Disney table service meal. Here is what my first trip report says about it:

Time for dinner. The waiting area of the Coral Reef was packed when we got there. I theorized hopefully that this was because it was so early that they hadn’t started seating yet and, sure enough, within 10 minutes or so nearly everyone waiting had a table. We were on the second level, so we had just an okay view of the fish; the kids were mostly unimpressed until the divers showed up. Those they liked. Kids were restless, so dinner was not as relaxed as one likes, but the food was good. We were delighted by the $150 tab that cost us all of nothing.

Ah, that was back in the days when appetizers and tips were included with the dining plan. I miss those days.

So it may well be all quick service all the time today. No specific plans, for today is our relaxed day! We may just kind of grab stuff and snack when the mood strikes us. Dave wants to check out La Cantina de San Angel, so I may suck it up and get incredibly (for me) adventurous on his behalf. Or I may just watch him eat there and grab something for myself somewhere else. Whatever! It's relaxed day!

We'll probably make this our Illuminations night, since it's a late morning and we have another late morning the next day. Our kids are a little PTSD about Illuminations after sitting right in the path of all the smoke from the fireworks last year, so we'll need to pay more attention to the wind this year!

 

[999ghostslover]

Coral Reef has been getting some pretty decent reviews lately so they must have changed their game a little. It used to get slammed all of the time. If you are doing a WS day will you want to trudge back to the farthest corner of the park for a ressie? I would just eat in WS at a counter service place or see if you can get in at Via Napoli. There you guys can split a couple of pizzas and the cost isn't too too awful. Or jump on a boat by France and go to Beaches and Cream for lunch. Yum. Okay, I think that may be what we do now.

 

[kokotg]

Coral Reef has been getting some pretty decent reviews lately so they must have changed their game a little. It used to get slammed all of the time. If you are doing a WS day will you want to trudge back to the farthest corner of the park for a ressie? I would just eat in WS at a counter service place or see if you can get in at Via Napoli. There you guys can split a couple of pizzas and the cost isn't too too awful. Or jump on a boat by France and go to Beaches and Cream for lunch. Yum. Okay, I think that may be what we do now.

The reservation is at 11:35, so the idea was we would go there first before we head to the World Showcase. But you're reminding me that I keep wanting to try Beaches and Cream! And that would be a good one to pay for OOP. Hmm....

 

[RooRach0906]

My DSis and DNiece are demanding to do Kim Possible glad to hear it was so great!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on getting a new shirt!

Hope you enjoy a nice relaxing day at Epcot - the plans sound great! Can't wait to see Illuminations

 

[transientsoul]

Just saw the Kim Possible posts. My kiddo will be newly 7. I'll bet he'll love it! And the parents won't mind those drinks either. Though we better not try to drink around the world in one day (this time).

 

[kokotg]

We leave a week from today!!

Yay on getting a new shirt!

Hope you enjoy a nice relaxing day at Epcot - the plans sound great! Can't wait to see Illuminations

me, too! With all the trips we've taken, this will only be our second time seeing it. Kids were too little to keep out late for a long time.

Just saw the Kim Possible posts. My kiddo will be newly 7. I'll bet he'll love it! And the parents won't mind those drinks either. Though we better not try to drink around the world in one day (this time).

Ha--yes, take it slow, or those Kim Possible clues will be way too hard to figure out Seven's a great age for it; our middle DS was newly 7 last year....he might need a little more help (we're counting on our 10 year old to take the lead), but it's fun for grown-ups, too!

 

[kokotg]

Ooh, ooh! Exciting update!

Dave has been calling for weeks trying to add an extra night onto the end of our reservation. Since we decided to cancel the Contemporary part of our trip, we've been slowly adding nights on one at a time at Pop as availability opens up. We'd pretty much given up hope of adding that last night and figured we'd need to find somewhere off property to go after the Halloween party. But he just got it! Friday night with another night of dining! Yay! We couldn't believe it when the reservations CM said they had a room for us.

so I don't need to cancel my Coral Reef after all, but I kind of still want to. There's just not much on the menu that appeals to me (I don't really eat seafood). So I'm looking around to see what I can find right now. The possibilities!

 

[RooRach0906]

Woohoo on getting that last night at Pop!!!

 

[gallmcduck]

Single digits Its really great that you got POP booked for your last evening You'll have a smooth journey back to POP after the halloween party. I am right with you on the ipod front, our 2 year old has a liking to our iphones so I looked out an old ds for her to play with, entertaininment is def the way for an 8 and half hour drive, I know I am always packed with way too much for our 9 hour flight. Audio books is interesting I have never looked into that but sounds like a interesting way for the whole family to spend time on a long journey

 

[TanzUnited99]

Ooh that is exciting!!! on getting the extra night and it being 6 days until your trip!!!

Good luck finding a new ressie - if you are not happy with Coral Reef think you should change it to something you will be more comfortable with.

 

[kokotg]

Woohoo on getting that last night at Pop!!!

Thanks! I'm very excited about it. I was getting completely overwhelmed trying to figure out where to book for that last night, and now I don't have to think about it anymore!

Single digits Its really great that you got POP booked for your last evening You'll have a smooth journey back to POP after the halloween party. I am right with you on the ipod front, our 2 year old has a liking to our iphones so I looked out an old ds for her to play with, entertaininment is def the way for an 8 and half hour drive, I know I am always packed with way too much for our 9 hour flight. Audio books is interesting I have never looked into that but sounds like a interesting way for the whole family to spend time on a long journey

The audiobooks were great for our drive over the summer. I think my youngest is just now getting old enough that we can find things that aren't too much over his head but still hold the attention of the older two.

Ooh that is exciting!!! on getting the extra night and it being 6 days until your trip!!!

Good luck finding a new ressie - if you are not happy with Coral Reef think you should change it to something you will be more comfortable with.

We're both so close!

I already booked something new last night after I posted! I'll save the big reveal of where it is for my next update

 

[kokotg]

Exciting milestones for today:

1. One week from today we'll actually be at Disney! We leave a week from yesterday, but Friday will be the day we check in and go to MK.

2. My thread is over 5 pages! That's never happened to me before! Thanks so much for reading, everyone....I like to write trip reports regardless, so that we'll be able to look back and remember everything, but it's so much more fun with actual readers!

The promised big reveal (because I know none of you could sleep last night, wondering if I'd change my dining reservations ) I canceled Coral Reef and booked.....Liberty Tree Tavern instead.

Not on the same day. I think we'll stick with counter service that second Epcot day after all. We checked to see if we could get Garden Grill that day, but no luck on that. So we're going to do Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch on Wednesday, the night we have a late (8:30) reservation for 'Ohana.

We haven't eaten at LTT since it stopped being a character meal, and we've only done dinner there before. We have really fond memories of the character meal there and were bummed when they stopped doing it. It's the only character meal my kids have ever really gotten into.

Aww, I'm getting all nostalgic reading back through that part of my trip report from our second trip. sniff, sniff.

It was still a little before 5, but the sky was looking very ominous by now, so we went ahead and walked over to Liberty Tree Tavern to check in. It started pouring almost as soon as we got inside and continued to rain throughout our dinner. The lobby was getting crowded, but we found an empty bench and settled in for the wait.

Restless kids wait for dinner

It was awhile before they called us (maybe 25 minutes?) but not much past our actual reservation time. We hadn’t been to LTT before, but the kids ADORE Stouffer’s mac and cheese, so I knew it would be a hit with them food-wise (they call it “Gigi’s macaroni and cheese, because my mom always buys it for them). I was a little hesitant to book any character meals, since the kids’ reaction to characters ranges from terror to utter disinterest. But I figured, “it’s Disney—we have to do at least one or two!” Plus they’re sort of hard to avoid when you have seven ADRs to make.

We really enjoyed LTT and would definitely go back. The food was perfect for the kids—they liked nearly everything. I thought the rolls with honey butter were yummy, and the mashed potatoes were really good. The macaroni and cheese was…well, it was Stouffer’s. The meat was not impressive—the turkey and steak were kind of dried out and overcooked and ridiculously thinly sliced, but edible. Neither of the grown-ups tried the pork. So the food was just so-so overall, but the character interaction was great. The restaurant was quieter and not so overwhelming as other character meals we’ve done. Chip, Dale, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto were all there, and each one came to the table. The kids were very shy at first (Milo was our table diver this year), but by then end of the meal they had come around and were actually interacting with the characters like children who enjoy such things! It was Dale who brought them all out of their shells. Near the end of the meal, Milo announced, “I’m going to hug ALL of the charcters” and got a little sad when he realized he’d missed his chance with some of them.

Goofy is BIG and makes Gus nervous

"I'm just going to pretend this isn't really happening"

"But we LOVE Dale"

"And Minnie can have a hug anytime"

I'm too lazy to get out of my seat to take these pictures

So, anyway, that's what we're doing. We'll try not to be too sad that Goofy's not there. I think it will be good, though. Wednesday's going to be a long day--getting to MK for rope drop and then out until an 8:30 dinner (unless we crash and go back to the hotel, of course); it will be nice to have a relaxing lunch to break things up a bit.

 

[kokotg]

I keep forgetting to post Ari's contribution!

Hi, I'm Ari. These are my top 10 favorite rides at WDW: 1. Tower of Terror. 2. Everest. 3. Rock n' Roller Coaster. 4. Mission: SPACE. 5. Space Mountain. 6. Splash Mountain. 7. Test Track. 8. Soarin'. 9. Spaceship Earth. 10. Dinosaur. Probably.
Interview: Questions by Gretchen. Answers by Me:
What is your favorite Disney character?
Hmmm. I'd say Donald Duck. Mostly because he's really funny when he gets angry. Although I like Goofy too...
What is your favorite restaurant at Disney?
BOMA of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge! My dad's favorite restaurant anywhere is Boma. I like it because I like buffets and it has a lot of good food.
What is your favorite park?
I don't know. That's really hard to decide. My favorite ride is in Hollywood Studios, but I really like Epcot... I think... Epcot! Because I really like Mission: SPACE and Spaceship Earth and Test Track. Plus, I like the Kim Possible missions at World Showcase.
What are you most excited about doing on our trip?
Riding on the Tower of Terror and Everest, because they're my top 2 favorite rides. And the Halloween Party. I love it when there are short lines!

 

[kokotg]

Oh, goodness. Things keep getting more complicated in delightful ways! Because I cannot stop myself, I keep checking on the website to see what ADRs are available. Last night Le Cellier popped up for dinner on our first Epcot night, and I snagged it! And then today Garden Grill opened up for our other Epcot day!

I must admit I've never had any particular interest in Le Cellier before. But now that it's going to suck up two of my credits, I'm all over it for some reason. I think before I thought the kids were too young for us to go there. Now, as long as we don't forget the ipods that day, I think they'll be fine.

It would be perfect if the days were switched, as we'll be doing Garden Grill on our World Showcase day and Le Cellier on our Future World day....but, hey, walking's good for us, right?

Now I have too many ADRs again! I'm definitely going to cancel the Liberty Tree Tavern lunch (making my big LTT post earlier rather extraneous)....but I'm not sure what else. I already had to cancel the Biergarten to make the Le Cellier reservation. And that's pretty much the last restaurant I wasn't really attached to going to. Suddenly I am completely and totally happy with every single ADR!

But there are too many of them! I guess we'll either pay out of pocket for one, or cancel Kona on the first night. I think that's the only one I could bear to part with! I really need to stop looking at the dining reservations page right now before some other irresistible restaurant opens up.