Pasta and Potatoes Conquer Orlando - October 2-10, 2013 (Updated 1/31)

[PrincessInOz]

What dishes are you most looking forward to?
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You're asking the wrong person!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37421302#post37421302

 

[bellaally]

Your list for food and wine seems like a duplicate of mine. Seriously I can't wait. Hey I'm Ally and I will be down to the world at the same time. We are actually running in the tower of terror ten miler but there is a haunted 5k that comes with a shirt and medal and you get to take pictures with rare characters, I'm letting you know since you had so much fun with the graffiti run.

I am procrastinating as well and I have so many projects to get done to prepare for disney.

 

[abbybeth]

looks like our trips overlap a tiny bit! Looking at the F&W menu is always exciting, daunting and makes me hungry

 

[IowaTater]

Your list for food and wine seems like a duplicate of mine. Seriously I can't wait. Hey I'm Ally and I will be down to the world at the same time. We are actually running in the tower of terror ten miler but there is a haunted 5k that comes with a shirt and medal and you get to take pictures with rare characters, I'm letting you know since you had so much fun with the graffiti run.

I am procrastinating as well and I have so many projects to get done to prepare for disney.

I looked into the 5k and unfortunately, they were sold out already I would have loved to participate in it.

 

[IowaTater]

It has been another busy week but this time, I got LOTS of WDW items crossed off my list.

1)

MNSSHP tickets have been bought and received. We will be there October 6th, come rain or shine! Our PP+ has also been purchased and received.

2) Pasta and I have gotten all the items we need for our respective Halloween costumes. We are planning on trying them on tomorrow and taking some pictures.

3)

ME info has been received! This is awesome because it wasn't showing up on our reservation so I was planning on calling to make sure my TA added it.

4) Last payment has been made! The trip is officially paid off

5) 95% of the shopping has been completed. I used a Bass Pro Shop gift card that I got 2 years ago to purchase two rain ponchos and a Frogg Togg. I also placed an order for the last of our snacks & travel size items and it came in on Thursday.


6) We have updated our ADRs to the following:

10/3: Hoop Dee Doo Revue
10/4: Sci-Fi Dine-In at 1:40 pm; Planet Hollywood at 8:15 pm
10/5: Kona Cafe at 7:30 am
10/6: 1900 Park Fare at 8:15 am; Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:00 pm
10/9: Cape May Cafe at 5:45 pm

7) We have updated our park plans to the following:

10/2: Arrival day; Magic Kingdom (mainly so I can see MSEP)
10/3: Animal Kingdom
10/4: Hollywood Studios EMH; Downtown Disney in the evening
10/5: Spending the day in Orlando; Titanic exhibit & shopping; Senor Frogs & BB Kings
10/6: Resort hopping in the am; Magic Kingdom in the pm for MNSSHP
10/7: Animal Kingdom EMH; Epcot in the afternoon for F&W
10/8: Universal Orlando
10/9: Magic Kingdom or Epcot for more F&W
10/10: Resort hopping or whatever we've missed; flight leaves at 6:00 pm

8) Crafting is almost done. The binder is pretty much up-to-date. I've made all the shirts that need to be made except my "Disney" shirt.

DH's trick-or-treat bag needs to be made but mine is finished.


Both autograph books have been completed.




Luggage tags have been made.


Mousekeeping envelopes have been made.


And finally, my LGMH has been completed. I couldn't get the lime green to print right on any printer I used to I improvised with cardstock & my Cricut.



If you see it, please feel free to come up and say hello. I promise I'm a friendly person

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looks like you're all set!

Hope to bump into you at MNSSHP.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Looks like you have everything in order now!

 

[IowaTater]

Looks like you're all set!

Hope to bump into you at MNSSHP.

Looks like you have everything in order now!

I'm glad everything is almost done. We just have a few more Universal details to iron out, pennies to polish, etc. Plus we still haven't gotten our actual park tickets or anything yet. Our TA said she would mail them to us about 2 weeks before our trip (which makes me a bit nervous because I'm such a control freak but I'm sure it will be fine). Unfortunately, it means that we have to wait until then to see if we are MB and FP+ eligible.

PiO, hope to run into you too! It would be nice to meet some DISers.

I'll post pictures of our costumes by the end of the week.

 

[abbybeth]

You've been SO productive! I wish I had that many things crossed off of my to-do list. Really looking forward to seeing what your halloween costumes are - the trick or treat bag turned out really cute

 

[IowaTater]

You've been SO productive! I wish I had that many things crossed off of my to-do list. Really looking forward to seeing what your halloween costumes are - the trick or treat bag turned out really cute

Thanks! I can't wait to see yours as well. I thought I had an idea of what it was but now I'm completely stumped. I guess I'm not as up on my Disney movies as I thought I was.

 

[IowaTater]

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. We are down to 12 days from today! As if working 2 jobs and getting ready for this trip wasn't enough, I'm also co-hosting my sister's baby shower which is scheduled for the week after we get back from WDW. Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. But the good news is that starting Sept 28th, I am on vacation from my part time job! The bad news is that we have on the 27th, a wedding shower on the 28th, and our annual Taste of St. Louis on the 29th. I swear I won't know what to do with myself when this is all over. LOL

MNSSHP plans

So we really don't have a set plan for this day. Mainly just "guidelines". We have breakfast ADRs at 1900 Park Fare that morning so we will head over to Magic Kingdom to spend a few hours in the park. Then around 1 pm, we'll go back to our hotel, clean up and change into our costumes so we can be back at MK by 4 pm for our ADR at LTT.

After we eat, we'll start taking in the party events. We'll hit up any rides and character meets we didn't get to do during the day along with trick-or-treating and MNSSHP events.

Character Meets

Tinker Bell & friend
Captain Jack Sparrow
Mickey & Minnie
100 Acre Wood gang
Gaston
Ariel
Merida
Buzz
Aladdin & gang

MNSSHP Events

Boo To You Parade
Celebrate the Magic
Tomorrowland Dance Party (I really want to see Boo!)

Rides

BTMR
Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
ETWB
Haunted Mansion
PhilharMagic
POTC
Splash Mountain (will like to do during the day so we won't be wet the whole party)
Stitch's Great Escape
Under The Sea
Winnie The Pooh

Like I said, we'll try to accomplish some of these things throughout the morning so by party time, we'll slow down a bit. DH's costume comes back from the cleaners tonight so hopefully we will have pictures this weekend.

Here is mine:

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[GarrettJD]

I'm following along! We're going to be at MNSSHP on 10/6 also! If you see Wreck-It Ralph and Belle in her blue dress, that's us-- say hi!

You and your husband's story is similar to ours. I'm 36, DW is 38, we've been together for 14 years but married for just 3, and no kids. I'm eager to hear about your trip! If you haven't been since 1995, you won't believe how much has changed. I'm thankful for our may visits to WDW but sometimes I wish I could go back and experience it all over again for the first time.

Happy planning and safe travels.

 

[IowaTater]

I'm following along! We're going to be at MNSSHP on 10/6 also! If you see Wreck-It Ralph and Belle in her blue dress, that's us-- say hi!

You and your husband's story is similar to ours. I'm 36, DW is 38, we've been together for 14 years but married for just 3, and no kids. I'm eager to hear about your trip! If you haven't been since 1995, you won't believe how much has changed. I'm thankful for our may visits to WDW but sometimes I wish I could go back and experience it all over again for the first time.

Happy planning and safe travels.

We will definitely keep an eye out! We will also have our LGMH on our backpack so hopefully we'll be easy to spot! I'm so excited for our trip. Everything will be so new.

 

[abbybeth]

Your costume is so cute - and looks comfy! The glasses are just the perfect touch!

Your trip is getting so close now too I understand being crazy busy in the days leading up to depature though - deep breaths, it'll all get done!!

 

[IowaTater]

We are officially down to 1 week today!!!! And yes, I have already started packing. The in-laws have a copy of our itinerary, we have arranged for a close friend to check on the house, I'm doing the final update for our binder, DH has his costume back from the cleaners...I think we're going to make it!!

As for the baby shower, I finished almost all of my items last night. I have delegated the food and favors to my co-hostesses. The only thing I have left to buy is the 2 game prizes.

Of course, no matter how much you try to plan, there's always something that throws a bit of wrench into things. Such as the case with us.

We were planning on meeting a couple of friends down there, C & G. They are friends of mine from back home that moved to Florida about 5 months ago. They have now decided to go to F&W with us on 10/7, spend the night somewhere and then go with us to USO on the 8th! Yippee!!!

Also, we have found that the couple we had originally planned on going to WDW will be there the same week we are AND at the same resort! *double Yippee!* We are actually going to dinner with them tonight to see if we can arrange a double date while we are there.

AND, my cousin from Atlanta contacted me last week and said that she and her hubby are surprising their 4 kids with a weekend-long WDW trip October 4-7! *triple Yippee!* We are in the process of figuring out when we can meet up because I very rarely get to see her.

AND another friend and her daughter (whom we haven't seen in about 8 years) are going to try to meet up with us on October 5th! *quadruple Yippee!"

So, our trip has just become more complicated and busier but so much more fun!!!

 

[IowaTater]

And so the rearranging and changing begins.....

We met with our friends M & D last night (they are the couple from my previous post that we were originally planning the whole trip with). After much discussion, we decided that on the day we arrive we will meet at MK so that I can watch....


One of my favorite parades! Because of all of the MNSSHPs, most of the MSEPs are cancelled. So this is one of the few nights we can watch it.

And I was finally able to get one thing I didn't think I was going to be able to get....



Lunch reservations for BOG!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! The only problem was that I couldn't get it for the day I wanted to we've had to rearrange our park days a bit.

October 2 (arrival day): Magic Kingdom - We will catch a couple of rides and MSEP but I'm sure we'll be super tired so we may head back to the resort shortly after that.

October 3: Magic Kingdom - I normally would not plan the same park back to back and I may totally regret it but this is the day we have our ADRs at BOG and HDDR so it just kind of makes more sense. Plus MK has EMH that morning.

October 4: HS & Epcot - HS has EMH that morning so we're hoping to hit most of the "must dos" then so we can hop over to Epcot in the afternoon/early evening.

October 5: Non-park day - We are taking this day to hit up some places outside the park. We are planning on going to a couple of outlet malls, The Titanic Experience, and possibly eat at BB King's. If there's time and we don't have anything else planned, we'll come back and relax by the pool.

October 6: Magic Kingdom - Yes, another MK day. That's because 1) There's a lot we want to do there, 2) we have breakfast and dinner ADRs there, and 3) we have tickets to MNSSHP that night. We are planning to break around lunch time still to go back to relax at our resort for a couple of hours.

October 7: AK & Epcot - AK has EMH that morning so I'm hoping to experience the Safari first thing. And then we will head up to meet our friends for F&W at Epcot in the early afternoon.

October 8: USO - We are spending the day at USO with our friends from Bradenton. We have park hoppers so we'll hit both parks and hit up the mini golf after the parks close. We also plan on having breakfast at Three Broomsticks and having a late dinner somewhere at CityWalk after park closing time.

October 9:

October 10 (departing day): Luckily our flight doesn't leave until 6:30 pm but we will be out of park days on our ticket so we will spend the day checking out the other resorts and shopping at Downtown Disney.

And then my loverly friends, it is back to reality. Waaaaahhhh Waaaahhhhhhh. They say "All good things must come to an end" and such is the case with this trip. I'm sure it will be a day I dread because I have no idea when or if we'll ever be back and I'm sure a few tears will be shed.

So if you see a 36 year old woman in a full-on meltdown October 10, just smile in sympathy and continue about your day.

 

[IowaTater]

We are officially down to HOURS before we leave for Walt Disney World!!! I'm excited but at the same time, this is when my anxiety decides to kick in. I'm mainly concerned about the flight because I am Pooh-sized and I don't fly that often. So far, I have worried about our travel documents not being correct (which they are), misplacing my ID (which I haven't), being charged baggage fees because our flight is operated by AirTran but we booked through Southwest (which we won't be charged...I called SWA on 3 separate occasions to check), that DH and I won't have seats together (which we do...I checked the seating arrangement), and that AirTran won't have seat belt extenders (which they do...see my baggage research).

I swear I will have a nervous breakdown before tomorrow morning if I keep this up. I thought work would be enough to keep me busy but it's almost making it worse.

We packed last night so that's all out of the way. I also double checked all the stuff in our binder and updated my MP3 player with Disney music. DH has his list of chores to take care of before he picks me up from work today so by the time I get home, all I should have to do is get the fridge cleaned out and the trash bagged up.

This is one of the bad things about having anxiety disorder. It always hits when you least expect it to. And it's usually over stupid things.

Anyhoo, this will be my last post for my PTR. Hopefully I will see all the wonderful DISers that will be at the World while I'm there and to those I don't, I hope you all have a wonderful trip!!

I would be willing to do a TR complete with dining reviews when I get back, if anyone is interested.

 

[GarrettJD]

Safe travels and have a magical vacation! Hopefully we'll run in to you at MNSSHP.

Oh, and by the way, on AirTran, we fly them often, and being "pooh sized" myself, I've never had a problem flying with them. In fact, their seats seem a bit roomier than, say, Delta. Believe me, I worry about flying, too, but I've never had issues. I also worry about fitting on the rides, but I've ridden every ride at WDW at around 400 pounds, so if I can fit, anyone can.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope you had a great trip Iowa. I never did see you at MNSSHP!

 

[OhMari]

I have you moved.
I hope you had a great vacation.
My motto is Plan and God laughs, I do not know if you had any kind of melt down, or if everything went without any problems, but I usually have a few hours where I get crabby, but it is usually from the intensity of WDW.

Looking forward to your report.