The Quest For 15K & 18 FP+ ~ A Marathon Weekend 2016 PTR - TR Link, Page 18

LOVE DAY 6!!! I hear you about finding a good spot for Illuminations. LOL...my luck has been 50/50...the 50% successful has been when I have gotten an ADR at Rose & Crown for illuminations time. The non successful 50% have been thanks to trees and people who crowd in front of you after you have been standing in spot for hours. I have learned now at Disney that when waiting for a parade or special shows that I am no longer the nice person...I hold my ground! UGH...sorry I am not letting YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN in front of me. I will be happy to have your children stand in front of me, but not you too as I have waited here forever for my spot.

Sarah-I so admire you and your ability to stay true to who you are at Disney regardless of everything else!
 
:welcome: Nice to see a fellow New York Jew on here (not that there's any shortage of NY Jews ...)! Happy Chanukah!
Disney is pretty great about the Kosher stuff ... much better than a lot of other places. There are some places (like Universal) that don't have kosher options and don't let you bring in food, so you either have to leave the park to eat or hope they'll make an exception and let you bring food in ... so I definitely appreciate that Disney makes it so easy.
I think you picked a great time to visit - we were there around that time a few years ago, and the weather was good and the crowds were great! I think we'll overlap by a day or two, so maybe we'll pass each other in the parks.
Have a wonderful & magical trip!!

Thank you SarahDisney! :D Chag sameach and Happy Chanukah! :D I can't say I disagree on that. That is really a shame that Universal does not have anything in the way of kosher options and that they don't let you bring in your own food (not even water now), as I am sure that is something a lot of observant Jews would consider when making plans of which parks to visit when they are in Orlando. I appreciate that Disney makes it easy for you to bring food in (save for glass or alcohol). Thank you! I agree, I love visiting at this time of year as the parks are not crowded, making for easy touring. Out of my five trips taken, I have visited 4/5 times in January and one time on Thanksgiving on my second trip with my parents in 2007, which was a little more crowded but still manageable. I can't do Summers at WDW as both mom and I are badly allergic to mosquitos and Orlando is far buggier than say, South Florida. In January, the weather can get cool at times, but it is still better than NY. I think we overlap on the 10th-12th, so there is a shot we might see each other. I arrive on the tenth from JFK at about 12:30PM and I will be stopping at Publix on the way to the Buena Vista Palace (thanks to Tiffany Towncar's free 20 minute grocery stop :D ), I will check in, get settled, and swim or go to a park weather-dependent before dinner at Chef Mickey's at 8:45PM. I will be at the Magic Kingdom on the 11th and Epcot on the 12th. Hope to see you in the parks too and have a wonderful and magical trip as well! :D
 
With the road closures, I’m not 100% sure what the best way to get there is, but I’m thinking it’s still bus to DHS, boat or walk to Swan/Dolphin, and then cross the street to mini-golf. I’m thinking based on the map I saw of the marathon course that we may have to cross a sea of runners, but I assume there will be a way to do that … in my experience they’re pretty good about getting pedestrians across the runners with minimal problems.

From the marathon map it looks like the runners will run down the walkway that is between DHS and the Boardwalk on their way past the Yacht and Beach Club to Epcot. That walkway is the only way you can walk to the Swan/Dolphin. It is at mile 25 so I would think there would still be runners using that walkway. It'll be fun to watch the runners go past.

Of course there is the boat to Swan/Dolphin that will take you there, too.
 
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Great plans for Day 6!!! Mini golf is so much fun!! I'm glad you are making an effort to fit it in!!!
 

Good plans. I'm sure you'll be able to get to mini golf just fine using Disney Transportation. Probably much easier than if someone were to try to drive there on their own. I don't remember the layout there, but I'd say that they'll likely make sure you can get across the race course somehow.

Thanks. Yeah, Disney Transportation will be much easier than driving that weekend.
If they don't find a way to make sure we can get across the course ... I can always just jump in and run a little, right?? (I'm guessing that would land me with a lifetime runDisney ban, but that's just a guess)

It looks like you might be one of the few who like It's A Small Mexico as much as my kids. :rotfl2::rotfl::lmao:

Why wouldn't people like it? It's a boat ride with a catch song. That gets stuck in your head and never leaves.
Plus, Donald Duck.

LOVE DAY 6!!! I hear you about finding a good spot for Illuminations. LOL...my luck has been 50/50...the 50% successful has been when I have gotten an ADR at Rose & Crown for illuminations time. The non successful 50% have been thanks to trees and people who crowd in front of you after you have been standing in spot for hours. I have learned now at Disney that when waiting for a parade or special shows that I am no longer the nice person...I hold my ground! UGH...sorry I am not letting YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN in front of me. I will be happy to have your children stand in front of me, but not you too as I have waited here forever for my spot.

Yeah, I hate when people think that just because they have kids they automatically should get the best spots, even if they show up late. I don't mind standing behind kids, because I can see over them, but I don't love standing behind their parents. People ...
Standing your ground is absolutely the right thing to do, and I'm glad you've learned to do it!

Sarah-I so admire you and your ability to stay true to who you are at Disney regardless of everything else!

That's so sweet for you to say, thank you!

From the marathon map it looks like the runners will run down the walkway that is between DHS and the Boardwalk on their way past the Yacht and Beach Club to Epcot. That walkway is the only way you can walk to the Swan/Dolphin. It is at mile 25 so I would think there would still be runners using that walkway. It'll be fun to watch the runners go past.

Yeah, looking at the map that was what I thought too, but I'm not so familiar with that area, so I wasn't 100% sure. It'll be really nice to watch them go by there and cheer them on - by that point most of them will be really exhausted and need some extra encouragement, so it'll be nice to help give them that extra push.

Great plans for Day 6!!! Mini golf is so much fun!! I'm glad you are making an effort to fit it in!!!

Sure, hitting a golf ball multiple times and getting frustrated that it won't just go into the hole is lots of fun...
Sarcasm aside, I'm also really glad we're getting a chance to do it!
 
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Daily Plans:
Day 7, Monday 1/11

Our last park day … so sad. Thankfully, we’ll have lots of time at the park, since we’re starting our day with an 8:15 AM breakfast hosted by …

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Yes, this will be our second princess meal in a row. I know, we’re a little Princess-crazy. But we’re excited.

Once we’ve had our fill of crappy breakfast and fun Princess time (hopefully complete with magic princess wands), it’s off to our first ride of the day …

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We will have already seen the fancy new queue (hopefully), so this time we’ll take the short line … aka FP+, which we can do any time between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM.

Our next FP+, scheduled from 10:35 AM – 11:35 AM, is for …

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Once we finish mining with the dwarfs, we’ll see characters until it’s time for our next FP+ (unless we can manage to move it up earlier … we’ll try), which is from 11:35 AM – 12:35 PM and gives us a shorter line for a ride on …

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This is one of my favorite rides, and Beth hates it, so our compromise for this trip is to do it with a shorter line. I hope. We’ve been known to have short lines on Space Mountain in general (around 10 AM … try it, you’ll see), so I don’t know how exciting this will be, but whatever. I’ll enjoy the ride, Beth won’t.

After Space Mountain, we’ll probably head over to our least favorite FP+ kiosk on Disney property … aka the one by Stitch’s Great Escape (the line there was brutal last trip). But this will just be the first of many FP+ kiosk visits on this day, because Monday will be …

THE DAY OF THE FP+!

We go where the FP+ takes us. We’ll probably do a few things here and there between FP+ attractions, but mostly we’ll be going to the kiosks and seeing which FP+ we’ll be using next!

Once we finish the FP+ quest, it’ll be time for dinner at an old favorite…

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Image Taken From: http://www.guide2wdw.com/dining/reviews/cosmic_rays_starlight_cafe_user_reviews.html

We used to always eat at Cosmic Ray’s … except then we started eating at BOG. And we love BOG dinner, but we figured that on FP+ day we wouldn’t want to be tied down by a dinner ADR, so we’re excited to head back to an old favorite (also, we’re doing Akershus the night before and getting the same food we get at BOG, so we wanted a change of meal).

If we can, I’d also like to catch…

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A lot of it will depend on how our FP+ quest goes. If we decide we have to skip it, I’ll survive (but be sad), but I really love Main Street Electrical Parade, so if we’re on or ahead of schedule, I want to watch it. Also, if we haven’t seen Wishes yet, we may try to watch Wishes … but that will really depend on schedule and whether we were able to see it from a monorail resort on Saturday night (we’re thinking about it).

Once MK is closed, we’ll make our way out, probably stopping at a few stores along the way. If we haven’t already done so, we’ll stop in at Uptown Jewelers and get me a Pandora bead. I don’t know which one I want yet … I’ll decide when I see them in person.

After we finish any shopping (and possibly stop at the PhotoPass area just to see our pictures … we officially have Memory Maker now, so we’ll be printing things from home), we’ll head back to Pop Century for our last night in the hotel. Sadface. But at least we still have our new fun last morning tradition to uphold before we leave!
 
Looks like a great MK day! I have yet to see the me Peter Pan queue but I'd rather fastpass than wait an hour.

I love Space Mountain but my little sister might like it more since she always tries to get the front seat.

MSEP is great but it was looking really dated last January.
 
Wow, I can't believe how close your trip is getting!! I like your plan of going where you can get FP+ for...gives it a bit of spontaneous in between all that planning lol!
 
We go where the FP+ takes us.

That sounds exciting and has the potential to have you running all over the park all day. I hope you're recovered from the run by then! :)

If we haven’t already done so, we’ll stop in at Uptown Jewelers and get me a Pandora bead. I don’t know which one I want yet … I’ll decide when I see them in person.

I was just looking at them online today. I'm thinking I'll get the DL 60th anniversary bead next while I'm there.
 
I just dont get the lines for Peter Pan...:confused::confused::confused: Yes, I enjoy the ride but really always a wait!

I cant wait to see how you fare in reality with the fast passes! I was on Facebook the other day and people were griping about fastpasses and not getting very many! Someone actually told another person there was no way that you could get more than 6 in a day...:rotfl2:
 
All I've gotta say is that you'd better make sure you get more than 20 FP+ or your record won't stand for a full week. :rolleyes1
 
Look at your ticker! Its getting sooo close!

I hope the mini-golf works out for you since I know it's been on the list for awhile. I would expect that Disney would have a pretty organized way to route traffic around the runners.

We've never taken the boat across the lagoon, either. Someday! ;)

Yay for dinner at Akershus! We had breakfast there on our first trip (2006) and I'd love to go back but the food just doesn't appeal to me at all. I know that is the situation for you at most (every?) restaurant which sucks. But I'm sure you will have a lovely time with your princess hostess'!

We struggle with Illuminations viewing too. Someday (maybe in April) I am just going to bite the bullet and use and FP for it but it's already a struggle to choose between Soarin and Test Track so I just can't seem to give up a Tier 1 pass for it.

Breakfast at CRT! Double yay!

How great of Beth to humor you on Space Mountain. Both Aaron and Lucy won't ride but it's one of my absolute favorites so I do appreciate the fact that Beth is willing to do it for you. I've ridden SM many, many times alone in the past couple years now that Olivia isn't always with us.

I wondered when the FP+ day was coming! Good luck breaking your (the) record. I hope you are able to squeeze in the parade and Wishes! Both would be so great to see on your last night!

Did you get the lowered MM price? Very excited to see that yesterday. I still need to add ours but wont until the last minute. With Olivia down there and in the parks I'm nervous that it might start my time early.

I keep thinking of doing one HUGE update of our plans but I am having trouble finding the time! Maybe......
 
We've never taken the boat across the lagoon, either. Someday! ;)

I did this on my Wine and Dine trip...it's honestly nothing special. You're not missing out, IMO.

We struggle with Illuminations viewing too. Someday (maybe in April) I am just going to bite the bullet and use and FP for it but it's already a struggle to choose between Soarin and Test Track so I just can't seem to give up a Tier 1 pass for it.

I believe Soarin' will be down in April. There's one FP possibility eliminated. If I get to go in April I'm doing Test Track w/Tier 1 FP one day and Illuminations FP for my 2nd EPCOT day.
 
Looks like a great MK day! I have yet to see the me Peter Pan queue but I'd rather fastpass than wait an hour.

Thanks! I'm totally with you on that ... which is why we're going to see the line at rope drop on our first MK day (sorter line, hopefully). I really don't want to wait forever just to see a queue when I could use FP+ instead.

I love Space Mountain but my little sister might like it more since she always tries to get the front seat.

Well then you and your sister both have excellent taste in rides!!
I'll sit anywhere, but the front really is the most fun.

MSEP is great but it was looking really dated last January.

I know it's really dated, but I love it! Partially because I remember seeing it on my first trip. But also because I like the 80's video game-sounding music. And I like lights.

I love your Magic Kingdom and unless Queen Elsa unleashes her powers on the NYC area, I plan to be enjoying the Magic Kingdom as well on Monday, January 11th. I plan to arrive at opening and will be making Peter Pan's Flight my first attraction followed by a FP+ for 7DMT at 9:20AM. Hope to see you there! :D

I hope Queen Elsa decides to leave NYC alone for another few weeks ... I love snow, but I can wait until late January/early February for it.
Your plans sound good, and I'll have to check out your PTR to see what else you have planned!
I hope we run into each other in the park, that would be awesome!!

Wow, I can't believe how close your trip is getting!! I like your plan of going where you can get FP+ for...gives it a bit of spontaneous in between all that planning lol!

Less than 3 weeks!
I'm really excited for FP+ day. I like planning where we're going (heck, I like planning everything), but I think the spontaneous day definitely adds some new fun into the mix.

That sounds exciting and has the potential to have you running all over the park all day. I hope you're recovered from the run by then! :)

I think it will be a lot of fun. I really hope we are recovered from the run - thankfully we have Saturday to relax, and Sunday shouldn't be too bad, so hopefully we'll be ready for more running on Monday!

I was just looking at them online today. I'm thinking I'll get the DL 60th anniversary bead next while I'm there.

I love the DL 60th anniversary bead. If I make it out to DL before the 60th anniversary festivities end and they still have the bead, I may get it. I'm thinking about getting the runDisney bead, but I'm going to wait until I get there to make a final decision.
 
I just dont get the lines for Peter Pan...:confused::confused::confused: Yes, I enjoy the ride but really always a wait!

I think it's a combination of it being something that almost anyone can ride and being really slow loading.
But I also don't totally get it.

I cant wait to see how you fare in reality with the fast passes! I was on Facebook the other day and people were griping about fastpasses and not getting very many! Someone actually told another person there was no way that you could get more than 6 in a day...:rotfl2:

I love people who say you can't get a lot of FP+ in one day. Maybe you can't get more than 6 "top tier" FP+ ... but you can definitely get a lot more than that. People... :sad2:

All I've gotta say is that you'd better make sure you get more than 20 FP+ or your record won't stand for a full week. :rolleyes1

Um ... are you stealing our FP+ quest idea, Andy?
Maybe I'll just wait until you get back to post how many FP+ we get ... that way you don't know what record you're trying to break!!

Look at your ticker! Its getting sooo close!

YAY!!! And your trip is even closer!

I hope the mini-golf works out for you since I know it's been on the list for awhile. I would expect that Disney would have a pretty organized way to route traffic around the runners.

I think we should have time for it this trip. Probably. At least once.
And that last statement will be clarified at a later point in time.

We've never taken the boat across the lagoon, either. Someday! ;)

That's one of those things that most people have never done. But it's an experience, and if you get the chance and are not rushed for time, why not try it?

Yay for dinner at Akershus! We had breakfast there on our first trip (2006) and I'd love to go back but the food just doesn't appeal to me at all. I know that is the situation for you at most (every?) restaurant which sucks. But I'm sure you will have a lovely time with your princess hostess'!

Thanks! We get the same food almost everywhere, so the food doesn't need to appeal to us - it makes picking restaurants a lot easier when our only criteria are ambiance and service and food has nothing to do with it.
We've actually had dinner at Akershus before, many many years ago (2000), and it was awkward ... so I'm hoping the princesses (who were not there for dinner back then) make a lot more fun.

We struggle with Illuminations viewing too. Someday (maybe in April) I am just going to bite the bullet and use and FP for it but it's already a struggle to choose between Soarin and Test Track so I just can't seem to give up a Tier 1 pass for it.

Yeah, I get that. I think that with Soarin' being down, if you have more than one day at Epcot, maybe it makes a little sense to try to get FP+ for Illuminations one day. I hope you get that chance in April!

Breakfast at CRT! Double yay!

:)
We're very excited for princess meal #2!

How great of Beth to humor you on Space Mountain. Both Aaron and Lucy won't ride but it's one of my absolute favorites so I do appreciate the fact that Beth is willing to do it for you. I've ridden SM many, many times alone in the past couple years now that Olivia isn't always with us.

I would say that you could come with us, but I think you'll be gone by Monday. But it is very nice of Beth to come with me. Although I'm going to suffer through mini golf, so I think we're even.

I wondered when the FP+ day was coming! Good luck breaking your (the) record. I hope you are able to squeeze in the parade and Wishes! Both would be so great to see on your last night!

Thanks! We saved FP+ for the end because that's when we have the most time at MK. I really hope we get to see both the parade and Wishes, because that would be a perfect last night, but we'll see.

Did you get the lowered MM price? Very excited to see that yesterday. I still need to add ours but wont until the last minute. With Olivia down there and in the parks I'm nervous that it might start my time early.

We were actually undecided on Memory Maker as recently as a few days ago ... but then as soon as they dropped the price, we bought it. I'm glad we got it for the lower price, but it's definitely going to be weird to come back and not have like 900 pictures on my camera (although we are still bringing the camera, just not using it for anything that has memory maker).

I keep thinking of doing one HUGE update of our plans but I am having trouble finding the time! Maybe......

Yeah, I get not having time. My latest update took over a week to write, and it wasn't even that long. I hope you do find time to do an update!

I did this on my Wine and Dine trip...it's honestly nothing special. You're not missing out, IMO.

Good to know. We'll probably do it just because, but at least now I won't feel bad skipping it.

I believe Soarin' will be down in April. There's one FP possibility eliminated. If I get to go in April I'm doing Test Track w/Tier 1 FP one day and Illuminations FP for my 2nd EPCOT day.

That's a good plan. I think it's hard to do Illuminations FP with Soarin' and TT both available, but with Soarin' down, Illuminations definitely makes sense.
 
I hope Queen Elsa decides to leave NYC alone for another few weeks ... I love snow, but I can wait until late January/early February for it.
Your plans sound good, and I'll have to check out your PTR to see what else you have planned!
I hope we run into each other in the park, that would be awesome!!
I agree! While snow is beautiful and the cold doesn't bother me anyway (I prefer being in FL though be it WDW and/or South Florida in the winter), I don't like when the snow grinds transportation to a halt. I remember starting my Spring semester of my Junior year at LIU-Post right after my 2014 WDW trip and how a normally 20-minute drive home took 2 hours! :eek: Thankfully, afternoon classes that day and classes the next day were cancelled. Thank you for checking out my PTR and yes, I would love to bump into you and Beth in the park, which would make for an even more awesome time! :D
 














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