Surprising our girls with MVMCP, Wishes dessert party & free dining 11/14-21 at Pop!

[Sarilas]

Handy-dandy table of contents:

The cast and tentative plans
Upgrading free dining
Starting itinerary
ADRs are made!
A day is added
It's a surprise!
High tea
MVMCP
Car rentals.... oh joy!
Disney's holiday season begins when?
What to drive...
Another day and first purchases!
65 days and MVMCP tickets!
Birthday and the flu
Foggy headed Disney math
To change, or not to change?
TO CHANGE IT IS!
New purchases!
Tentative itinerary and ADR help needed
THIS JUST IN! I got the Wishes Dessert Party!
More ch-ch-ch-changes
September is for SHOPPING!
PAID IN FULL!
Final TS meal added
A new package offer is available!
Disney On Ice Tonight!
GLASTONBURY and Disney on Ice part 1
Disney on Ice Part 2
Disney on Ice Part 3










I can't believe I'm even typing this, but friends, DISers, countrymen (and women), we are headed back to Disney!

Back story: My family of six took our first ever vacation to Disney World in January/February of this year. It was amazing, and we were so glad to have such a killer deal as the buy four, get three deal. We ended up spending ten glorious days at POR, which I am still attempting to write about in my TR.

This trip will include my husband and myself... seen here enjoying a nice virtual swim!

Our soon-to-be 11 daughter, Tatiana...

Our 4 year old, Anastasia...

And the caboose on our baby train, 2 year old Alexandra.

Fast forward to last night, when over dinner my husband and I started hashing out ideas for a return trip. Our 14 year old son had already mentioned he'd rather stay home with his grandpa this time around, so it'd just be my husband, our three daughters and of course, me!

A little research led me to discover that the free dining plan was still running... Considering we planned on staying at a value resort this time around, free dining would be SO worthwhile! (We paid for quick service dining in January, and although handy, it was way too much food; we wouldn't pay for it again.)

Then I did the math... and immediately made a phone call!

For the five of us (our 2 year old will still be in a pack 'n play) to stay in one room at ASMovies for five nights with four days worth of tickets and the free quick service dining is only $1,493! We paid over five grand when we went for ten days in January... This feels like a steal!

We're booked for November 16 through the 21st, driving down from Nashville. That should make for an adventure in and of itself!

Let the planning BEGIN!

EDITED SEPTEMBER 14TH:

ASMovies is SO last week... after little deliberation and much whim, we are now staying at Pop Century from November 14th till November 21st, including one night at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

 

[Sarilas]

SO! After talking to my husband and doing a little research about our dining options, we decided we want to upgrade to the regular dining plan from free dining. I noticed that on the free dining offer it says only moderates and up qualify for regular dining. So I thought about upgrading to a moderate, but my husband (hereby simply called Jose because typing "my husband" every time I just need to say "Jose" is getting old!) is really adamant about staying at ASMovies. I know it's bass-ackwards but we stayed at POR in January and the lack of Disney atmosphere at the resort was an issue with him. He's a kid at heart and he really wants our 2 and 4 year olds to feel like they're still in the parks when we come home for the night. I get that.

Then I read that we could simply pay the difference from quick service to regular dining, which is just over $30 a day in our case. Paying that little amount and getting to have a sit down meal every day sounded so nice. We did ten days of quick service dining in January and while completely adequate, it got old around day five.

SO! Long story still long-ish, we're paying an extra $200 total and getting the regular dining plan!

Now I have to come up with ADR's, and we're already under the 90 day mark so I need to make some ressies soon...

THE PRESSURE! lol

 

[Sarilas]

The first of our ADR's are made! And i say the first of because I will keep my eyes peeled for dinner openings at a couple of places I was only able to acquire lunch ressies for.

Without further ado... here's the list!


Tusker House Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park
Monday, November 16, 2009
Time: 11:45 AM

'Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time: 6:50 PM

Le Cellier Steakhouse at Epcot®
Monday, November 16, 2009
Time: 12:45 PM

The Garden Grill Restaurant at Epcot®
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM

The Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom® Park
Friday, November 20, 2009
Time: 11:40 AM


I'm working out now a regular ol' itinerary... so far, so good!

 

[Sarilas]

Right, so anyone reading this who may have also read my PTR for our January '09 trip will know that nothing is better left well enough alone when it comes to my planning... 24 hours into this PTR and I've already changed our dates (from the first week of November to the 16th day) and made multiple ADR revisions via the online ressie system! (Which, might I add, was not around when I was booking ADR's last time around. I absolutely LOVE IT!)

So here's the deali-o. Tomorrow I'm calling and adding another day to our trip.

SHOCKING, I know.

We'll add the night of the 15th which is a Sunday, giving us all of Saturday to drive from Middle Tennessee to Orlando. We won't add an additional day of tickets as that Sunday will be the perfect day to spend at, where else, Downtown Disney!

I don't know if they'll add another day of dining on our plan if we're just adding another night, as opposed to a night plus tickets... I guess I'll find out in the morning. But I was able to nail down a really decent itinerary and make some dining reservations accordingly!

The list as it now stands is:

Sunday, Nov. 15, Raglan Road dinner
Monday, Nov. 16, Le Cellier lunch, QS dinner
Tuesday, Nov. 17, QS lunch, O'hana dinner
Wednesday, Nov. 18, QS lunch, Biergarten dinner
Thursday, Nov. 19, Tusker House lunch, QS dinner
Friday, Nov. 20, QS lunch, The Wave dinner
Saturday, Nov. 21, QS at Epcot and on the road for home!

I think I'll be adding tickets to a night of MVMCP as well... stay tuned!

 

[Sarilas]

So, yeah. I called reservations first thing this morning and changed our check in to November 15th (Sunday). That gives us Saturday to drive down, six nights at ASMovies and right now I've got five days of tickets to the parks... but I may up that to six so we can go to Epcot on the day we leave, just because. I'm debating it, which means of course I'll call and make the change, inevitably. lol

 

[Sarilas]

I should mention that we've decided NOT to tell the kids we're even taking this trip! When we went in January we had countdown calendars and I openly collected goodies to take with us, showing the kids all the fun stuff we got. THIS time around we've decided not to say a word about it till the day we leave! We're still formulating a plan, but I'm guessing it'll involve a video camera and three very sleepy little girls... Must start planning!

Also, I think I'm going to add a tea time at the Grand Floridian! I showed Jose everything about it last night and he LOVES it. This man was praying every night I was pregnant for little girls, and he got them in spades. He cannot WAIT to take them out for some 'girly' time. He is one proud Daddy!

So now I have to figure out when is a good day/time for tea... Off to check the schedule!

 

[Sarilas]

Tea time is scheduled!

We'll be at the Grand Floridian on the 17th for high tea and we annot WAIT! I'm especially excited for the girls to try the Magical Dark Tea (chocolate milk)... lol

 

[If U Had Wings]

It looks like you got a lot of good ADR's for your trip this time.The girls should really love the activities at Ohana. They are always havining limbo contests, hula lessons and coconut rolling games. It always looks like the kids are having a good time when I've been there.

Le Cellier is wonderful too, and it's always been easy to find things for my nieces at Biergarten. Plus they love the music and getting to go dance on the floor with their daddy during dinner.

It's too bad that Kyle didn't want to come to, but I'm sure it will be great for him to have some bonding time with his grandpa.

 

[Sarilas]

It looks like you got a lot of good ADR's for your trip this time.The girls should really love the activities at Ohana. They are always havining limbo contests, hula lessons and coconut rolling games. It always looks like the kids are having a good time when I've been there.

Le Cellier is wonderful too, and it's always been easy to find things for my nieces at Biergarten. Plus they love the music and getting to go dance on the floor with their daddy during dinner.

It's too bad that Kyle didn't want to come to, but I'm sure it will be great for him to have some bonding time with his grandpa.

You are my o-fficial first PTR reader! (insert fireworks here)

Last time we just did quick service, with one exception. It was fun because we were so busy running back and forth through the parks and nobody really wanted to stop at the same time to eat. But this time we feel like we have a better grasp on what we want to see and do and how much time it takes to do it all, so regular dining with at least one table service a day will be perfect!

I can't get over Kyle being all independent and stuff. Sheesh.

 

[JenAusty]

I'm here! Talk about fast booking! hehe I'll try and catch up asap.

 

[Sarilas]

Yeah, Jen! I know, I didn't waste any time, did I! lol

 

[Native NYer]

Love your PTR.

Yay for adding a day. Gotta love a longer Disney vacation.

Tusker House is great. I'm sure you and your family will love it.

 

[Sarilas]

Hey there, Jennifer! Thanks; I agonized for months (literally) over our ADR's for January and ended up dumping them all at the last minute. I'm really looking forward to some table-service meals this time around. It's a great way to convince the kids we MUST STOP WALKING for a while.

 

[Sarilas]

It's official - we are going to par-tay at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on November 19th! I've got it planned that we'll go to Animal Kingdom that day, then to Downtown Disney for dinner and over to Magic Kingdom for the party; what a day!

 

[Sarilas]

Veeery interesting!

I keep checking car rental sites as we want to rent a mini van for the drive down to FL. (Yes, we COULD take one of ours, but we'd rather give the girls as much room as possible for that long, long drive.) I found a decent price at Budget ($426 from the 14th till the 22nd with 1600 miles alotted) but the drive down and back alone is going to be just over 1400 miles and I'm a little nervous about going over if we end up driving to the parks or just doddle around. Anywho, I went to the AAA website as they have a discount deal with Hertz, but for the same amount of time the price was better BUT they only gave me just over 900 miles! What up with that?

I was perplexed, so I called the place I had chosen to rent from and asked the guy about it. He said it should be giving me 200 miles per day, and he couldn't figure out what the deali-o was either. I told him the offer I'd gotten from Budget and he counter offered me! I can pick up the car at 9 am (instead of noon) on Saturday the 14th, and I don't have to have it back till noon on Sunday the 22nd. I will also get UNLIMITED mileage (that is so golden in a situation like this!) plus my 15% AAA discount which will make my final price $413.09. We could chop that in half by renting something smaller, but having all that space with three kids in the car for 13-ish hours will be a luxury. Otherwise we'd have two car seats and an 11 year old piled up in the backseat. Not good.

I'm going to keep searching out deals, but this is a pretty good one! (I hate that mini vans are so much more expensive though! UGH.)

 

[If U Had Wings]

You are my o-fficial first PTR reader! (insert fireworks here)

Last time we just did quick service, with one exception. It was fun because we were so busy running back and forth through the parks and nobody really wanted to stop at the same time to eat. But this time we feel like we have a better grasp on what we want to see and do and how much time it takes to do it all, so regular dining with at least one table service a day will be perfect!

I can't get over Kyle being all independent and stuff. Sheesh.

I had originally contemplated the quick service plan when I was still going solo, but I really felt like I needed to have a couple of sit down meals to relax. I think having some sit-down meals will be great for your next trip. I find they really help give you a nice break from the park craziness.

 

[Sarilas]

That is exactly what we're hoping for. I was so hyped up and hurried on that first trip, trying to get everything in that we wanted to do, I ran everyone ragged. I'm hoping to be able to chill out a bit this time around, and I think knowing we have time to stop and smell the roses (and the steaks and the creme brulee!) will help a great deal.

 

[Sarilas]

I forgot to mention that one of the reasons we're dying to have tea or eat at the Grand Floridian is in hopes that they have the Gingerbread house set up! I have no real idea when Disney goes Christmas, but in the latest Disney Destinations email it says their holiday season starts on November 10th. If that's the case then they may have it all decorated up by the time we get there, which means the TR that follows this PTR is going to be as picture heavy if not more so than the one I'm still writing for our January trip! Disney PLUS Christmas? Yes, please!

 

[trixiequilts]

How exciting that you're going back so soon!

Are you okay with Kyle staying home? I'm sure you are, otherwise you wouldn't let him, but wow, girl! Do you think he'll change his mind and want to go???

We're looking at November 2010...I booked November 5-16 or something like that this year and DH nixed it! What a drag!!!

I love reading about your plans.

 

[Sarilas]

Trixie, we would have had a whole day of overlapping vacation if he hadn't nixed your trip, DANGIT!

And yeah, I'm fine with Kyle staying home; my Dad lives with us, so he's not 'alone' at all, he's just not with me. lol