Our Honeymoon Redo! PTR: 11/15/15 - 11/20/15 - Trip Report Link!

[deedee2177]

Oh not at all, me too! We are reserved at All Star Movies but we are hoping for Free Dining, if it comes out for our week we will change over to a Mod, thinking maybe CB!

I looked at ASMo as well so that is our back up in case Pop is filled (I just think DH will like Pop the best). I'm curious to see what the price difference will be between the Values and Moderate for FD. If we go Value then we will pay the difference to upgrade the dining to the DDP. When upgraded our dining plan in 2012 with FD it was about $150 to upgrade. I figure it will still work out cheaper for us to stay Value and upgrade the dining plan then to stay Moderate....but I will definitely check out both so it is definitely not out of the question. If we do go with a Mod then I was thinking CB as well!

 

[teekathepony]

DH and I got our meals figured out, and I told him that the party dates are out so now we're going to do a tentative schedule too.
Arrival day looks good, like the DTD plans, especially T-Rex! Love that place!

I also love your MK day. CHH is awesome, and of course BOG is my absolute must do for this trip!

 

[deedee2177]

DH and I got our meals figured out, and I told him that the party dates are out so now we're going to do a tentative schedule too.
Arrival day looks good, like the DTD plans, especially T-Rex! Love that place!

I also love your MK day. CHH is awesome, and of course BOG is my absolute must do for this trip!

I'm really looking forward to going to DTD, we have always talked about going but it just never seemed to work out. I can't wait to see all the updates. I think this maybe the only time on the trip we take the buses (we prefer to have our car with us) at the Parks...just works out better for us. I have just read so much about the parking over at DTD that I figured the bus might work out for the best.

I have heard/read good things about T-Rex so glad we decided to choose that as one of our ADRs. CHH is one of our Must Do's every trip...it is one of our favorites. This trip we are going to eat upstairs (a first for us). The last couple of trips we have had the kids in tow so it was always just easier to sit downstairs, but since it will just be the 2 of us we will be trying out upstairs. Definitely keeping my fingers crossed for dinner at BOG...I can't wait to see the inside of the Beast Castle...the pictures I have seen look amazing!

 

[DisMama5]

I looked at ASMo as well so that is our back up in case Pop is filled (I just think DH will like Pop the best). I'm curious to see what the price difference will be between the Values and Moderate for FD. If we go Value then we will pay the difference to upgrade the dining to the DDP. When upgraded our dining plan in 2012 with FD it was about $150 to upgrade. I figure it will still work out cheaper for us to stay Value and upgrade the dining plan then to stay Moderate....but I will definitely check out both so it is definitely not out of the question. If we do go with a Mod then I was thinking CB as well!

Yup you are definitely correct it will still come in cheaper to stay at a value and upgrade the plan rather than stay at a mod and get the standard plan for free we usually stay at a value and upgrade the plan for the difference as you said but this year we are going to switch it up.. all in hopes that FD even comes out for our dates but I am hopeful!

 

[deedee2177]

Yup you are definitely correct it will still come in cheaper to stay at a value and upgrade the plan rather than stay at a mod and get the standard plan for free we usually stay at a value and upgrade the plan for the difference as you said but this year we are going to switch it up.. all in hopes that FD even comes out for our dates but I am hopeful!

I will keep my fingers crossed that it all works out for you!

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Sandy!

Ashley here from the November group. We'll be staying at Pop too but we'll be checking out on the 9th.

From experience at the Halloween Party, we arrived around 4 PM and seriously rode anything and everything. We walked on to almost every ride we wanted to - Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Pooh, etc. None of the big headliners but still, the abilities to ride were awesome. We did do a few character meets. We ate QS that afternoon so we didn't need a big meal that evening and could save room for snacks. I think we are going to use the same approach this year for the party, except no character meets this year - we stood in line for Seven Dwarfs last year and don't plan on doing that this year. Aside from the special fireworks and parades, I think we'll spend a majority of the beginning of the party jumping on all of the rides.

 

[deedee2177]

Hey Sandy!

Ashley here from the November group. We'll be staying at Pop too but we'll be checking out on the 9th.

From experience at the Halloween Party, we arrived around 4 PM and seriously rode anything and everything. We walked on to almost every ride we wanted to - Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Pooh, etc. None of the big headliners but still, the abilities to ride were awesome. We did do a few character meets. We ate QS that afternoon so we didn't need a big meal that evening and could save room for snacks. I think we are going to use the same approach this year for the party, except no character meets this year - we stood in line for Seven Dwarfs last year and don't plan on doing that this year. Aside from the special fireworks and parades, I think we'll spend a majority of the beginning of the party jumping on all of the rides.

Hi Ashley

So glad to hear (read) about your experience at the party. This is exactly what Keith and I are hoping for...our main focus will be on the rides. We will be having lunch at Sci-Fi earlier that day so I know we will be full after that for quite some time, so grabbing a QS later during the party will be a great break for us. I have never been to a party and I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Thanks for following along...I'm "watching" your reports and looking forward to catching up on them!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Hello! also followed along from the November group! Great plans so far. we are HUGE party fans and CANNOT WAIT TO GO!!! this will be our second time at the MVMCP.

 

[Li Li]

Hi there! I thought I had watched your thread but I couldn't find it today. So, hopefully, I clicked everything correctly and I won't miss anymore updates!

I would agree that POP would probably be the best value. My DH and I stayed there for a quick 3-day trip and we really liked it. But if you are looking at mods other than POR/FQ, I highly recommend Coronado! We thought the resort was beautiful with the lake and everything. Lots of meal choices, and I really liked the room decor!

Since you are driving down, are you mostly driving to the parks or do you still use the buses? Just curious.

 

[deedee2177]

Hello! also followed along from the November group! Great plans so far. we are HUGE party fans and CANNOT WAIT TO GO!!! this will be our second time at the MVMCP.

So excited to have you along. I'm really excited about the party especially since I have never been to a Disney Party before!

Hi there! I thought I had watched your thread but I couldn't find it today. So, hopefully, I clicked everything correctly and I won't miss anymore updates!

I would agree that POP would probably be the best value. My DH and I stayed there for a quick 3-day trip and we really liked it. But if you are looking at mods other than POR/FQ, I highly recommend Coronado! We thought the resort was beautiful with the lake and everything. Lots of meal choices, and I really liked the room decor!

Since you are driving down, are you mostly driving to the parks or do you still use the buses? Just curious.

Thank you so much for following along! Thank you for the feedback on Pop, I think we have finally made up our mind that is where we are going to stay. Though I would love to stay at a Mod some day, since it will be just the 2 of us I know Pop will be just fine for us. We are planning another trip in April 2016 with the kids for Spring Break (yikes, crowds), so I rather save the money to stay at a Mod that trip for the extra room we will need...also considering renting DVC points. Anyway...that is for another PTR...LOL.

We will drive to the parks, I was thinking about taking the bus to DTD our first evening just because we will have been in the car all day and I have heard the parking is tough there. Other then that I think we will use our car. We tried the buses during our November 2012 a couple of times and it just didn't work for us...probably because we had the 2 kids and a stroller (and baby bag) so it was a bit tough to transport everything on the bus, and much easier to throw in the truck of the car and head to the parks. It would probably be a bit easier on the buses for just me and DH, but I think we will stick to the car...my DH likes having the car and not having to depend on the buses.

 

[deedee2177]

Time to hang out with some Witches and Wizards! - 11/17/15

When DH and I started planning this trip I never even thought about going to US/IOA. I have been a few times when I was younger, and then I went again back in 2007 with my friend, sister and my Mom. I enjoyed it and had fun, but after that I have always just stuck with the Disney Parks.

However, after reading some of the TRs on here that included some US/IOA visits and seeing the Harry Potter stuff, I knew I HAD to go. I began to think that this trip with my DH would be a great opportunity to visit these parks because I am not too sure how much the kids would like the parks because they are true Disney kiddos, and think they would enjoy it better when a bit older. I discussed it with my DH and explained that we would have to give up a day at Disney because we cannot extend the trip because we do not want to be away from the kids more than the 5 days we will already be gone. So, this meant we would take one day to go to US/IOA and then have 3 days for Disney Parks with our hoppers. DH was onboard because he has never been to US/IOA at all. Luckily, I can also get discounted tickets through work so that helps a bit. So, decision made and we are going to US/IOA

Now that the MVMCP dates were released I figured the best day for us to go would be Tuesday, 11/16/15! I have to admit the planning for this day has been a bit more tough since I am not as familiar with this park as my beloved Disney Parks.
Any advice or recommendations from anyone would be GREATLY appreciated!!

So, here is the plan so far:

6:00am: Wake up (YUCK..so early), but I want to make sure we have enough time to grab something for breakfast before we leave since we will be paying OOP for food at US/IOA.​

6:45am: Grab some breakfast at Pop Century Food Court (QS). We may even be able to get away with sharing a QS meal because DH is not a big breakfast eater at all. I kinda like the idea of splitting one because that will leave us another QS to split at some point in the trip. I guess we will just see how hungry we are that morning.​

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Image: Google Search/Pinterest​

7:30am: Head over to US/IOA. I have looked up the travel time from WDW to US/IOA and it seems to be between 20-25 minutes, I am also keeping in consideration we will be traveling on a work day so there will probably be more traffic at this time of the morning. One thing I do remember it is quite a walk from the parking area to the front gates. Based on last year’s hours the park will open around 9am.

9:00am: Park opens and my plan is to visit US first. Now this is where I’m at a complete loss as what to visit first within the park. I’m thinking we visit all the other parts of the park and then make our way over to the Harry Potter area, so we can then take the Hogwarts Express over to IOA. So, to be brutally honest I’m not too sure about the rides here….I am well what we can call “Pooh Size”. I have never had any issues with Disney Rides at all, and I ride them all. However, I have not had the same experience at US/IOA (and other parks for that matter). A little bragging moment: I have lost 25lbs over the last couple of months, I still don't think even by November I will be at a place where I could comfortably could ride all the rides at US/IOA...however we will see. My main goal is to see the HP sections, but I guess we shall see how it goes.​

1:00pm: I figure we will grab some lunch around this time, a counter service type of meal. Again, I’m at a loss on where to eat so I will have to do some more research. Any suggestions would be great! We don’t want to eat anything too heavy because we do have some dinner plans for later this evening that I am very much looking forward to! So something light or to share will be good for us.​

We plan on staying to close if need be, again according to last year’s hours that will be around 7pm and then we will head back to Disney and probably go straight to our Dinner ADR. And where will that be??​

8:30pm: Dinner at ‘Ohana!! I’m so excited about this ADR. I have been wanting to eat here for quite some time. This will be our first visit here, and I’m looking forward to it. After dinner we will head back to the resort because we will have had a very long day!​

So, there you have it our plans for our 2nd full day! I'm planning on doing a bit more research on US/IOA to have a better idea of what our MUST DO's will be. Please share any suggestions!​

Our next day will be back at our Disney Parks!​

 

[Chicago Mo]

LOVE your plans! O'hana is WONDERFUL..
WONDERFUL!!!

I am reading a friends report now about US.. and she is totally selling me on going... might just have to extend my trip a couple of days.

 

[Tracy161]

Your day looks wonderful! I can't offer any advice as it's been nearly 18 years since I've last been to Universal. In my head, I know that statement to be true, but I just can't quite make sense of that fact!

And yay for dinner at 'Ohana!

 

[Li Li]

You will totally be able to split a QS meal, probably bounty platter would work but there are other options. DH and I did a lot of QS splitting when we stayed at POP because the portions are really good for lots of meals. (Also, left more room for cupcakes!)

I don't have any universal counter service suggestions, other than REALLY light because you will definitely want to save room for Ohana!

 

[deedee2177]

You will totally be able to split a QS meal, probably bounty platter would work but there are other options. DH and I did a lot of QS splitting when we stayed at POP because the portions are really good for lots of meals. (Also, left more room for cupcakes!)

I don't have any universal counter service suggestions, other than REALLY light because you will definitely want to save room for Ohana!

My DH is not a big breakfast eater at all, so I definitely think we will be fine to split something that morning. I think we may do the same thing for lunch at US/IOA just because I know our dinner is going to be some major food!

 

[DisneyHoover]

A day at IOA/USO sounds like a great idea! You are right that it is quite a trek from parking into the park (though the moving sidewalks do make it quicker until you hit the City Walk area). From my experience (which is somewhat limited since I haven't gone in 2 years), if ya'll are flexible about it, I'd go to IOA first and hit up the Harry Potter area at open if the witches and wizards are the big focus of your visit so you can hopefully get some shorter wait times. The theming of the queues for both the Dragon Challenge and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey were great! Food-wise I don't have much advice to offer unfortunately; we ate at the Three Broomsticks so I could try the Butterbeer and the food was okay, nothing stellar though (And unless you have a serious sweet tooth you'll probably want to split a Butterbeer if you opt to try it -- it was just too sweet for me to drink even half of it)

 

[deedee2177]

3rd Full Day! Animal Kingdom/Epcot - Part 1 - 11/18/15

Animal Kingdom is definitely DH’s 2nd favorite park (MK being the first), and Epcot is my 2nd favorite (MK also being the first). Based on last year’s EMH schedule this day could possibly be AM EMH for Animal Kingdom (it will be so nice when the official park hours are released). I know there are many people that recommend staying away from a park on EMH hours, but I feel we could get quite a bit done that morning.​

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8:00am: Arrive at EMH Park Opening. We will most likely head over to the Safari first thing. We went on the Safari during out last trip first thing in the morning and it seems the animals were a lot more active! This is one of my favorite rides and enjoy it every time.​

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DH and I have never had a chance to check out the different trails in the past, just seems have never worked out in our past trips. So, that is definitely on the Must Do List for this trip. After our Safari Adventure the plan will be to check out Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. DH and I are hoping to take our time and enjoy an area of the Park we have not explored before.​

10:00am: This is just a guestimation on time. We will head over to Asia and we will check out Maharajah Jungle Trek…again looking forward to this because it is something I have not had the chance to do in the past. The next stop will be EE for DH to take a ride, I’m not planning on getting a FP+ for this because unfortunately DH will have to ride this on his own so he can use the Single Rider line. I have been on this ride in the past and loved it, but during our last trip in April I got super oozy on it when we went backwards. So, I don’t think it will be a great idea for me to take a ride on it.​

The plan is then to make our way over to Dinoland. I always enjoy this area because I love the atmosphere..it is just fun!​

Photo from Google Images​

11:30am: We plan on having lunch at Flametree BBQ. This will be another first for us. My DH is a big fan of BBQ so I think he is definitely looking forward to this lunch. ​

Photo from Google Images​

I would like to catch FOTLK at some point during our visit…DH is not usually into the shows but hoping to convince him to see this one!​

1:00pm: Head out of the park and back to the resort for a bit of break/swim/nap before we hop to our next Park.​

Ok, I think that will be it for this update, and I will share our plans for the 2nd part of the day in my next update. Thanks for reading along and as always please don't hesitate to jump in and say hello and provide your suggestions!​

 

[Chicago Mo]

The plans are really coming together!!! Great planning on AK day. this is one heck of a busy day!!!

 

[deedee2177]

The plans are really coming together!!! Great planning on AK day. this is one heck of a busy day!!!

Thanks! I agree with the busy day...seems like that is the theme of this trip, but I guess that is to be expected when it is a shorter trip. It's definitely going to be different just being the two of us, so we will be skipping stuff that we rather do with the kids when we take them back in April 2016. Our last trip was the first one I worked breaks into the schedule (mainly thinking of the Grandmas and the kids), but I ended up enjoying the break myself! It's nice just to go back and chill out at the pool or nap for an hour. I think that is going to be our key to success with this commando trip.

 

[deedee2177]

I just noticed my countdown ticker has moved into the 7 month timeframe....woohoo!!!!!