The Trip That's Happening a Year Early - A Marathon Weekend 2017 PTR Update:12/22 - Day Seven Plans

[fallonkendra]

Following along! I've been reading your previous TR and loving it!
The trip sounds exciting, 5k and all, and your family is lovely

Thanks for reading along!

I have to admit, I was skeptical about the cranberry sauce too, but it really did tie the sandwich together. It made it really sweet and tangy. I get it whenever we randomly stumble across Earl of Sandwiches during our travels.

We haven't booked our resort yet, we are still debating where we want to stay, but how do you plan which days you want to visit the parks? My girlfriend and I know the dates we will be visiting, but we are struggling which ADR to make for which dates because we don't know which park to be in which day.

I don't typically like cranberry anything, but maybe I'll give that sandwich a try...

We actually sat down and made a spreadsheet for our trip in 2017 with all of our dining wishes. We started by figuring out what our plans were involving race days/race Expo. The morning we'll be going to the Expo, we decided to get up early and do one of our breakfast wishes for the trip at one of the other resorts, since every resort offers bus transportation to the Race Expo. On the 5km day, we decided we'd want to come back to our hotel and shower and change before heading to a park, so we decided on just hopping over to Disney Springs on the boat and doing one of our lunch ADR's there that day. On the half marathon day we won't be going to a park at all, so all of our ADR's will be for Disney Springs/other resorts. On the 5km day, we know we won't be getting to a park until the afternoon, so we won't have a full day at a park. Luke also requested that we spend the Sunday of the full marathon at Epcot (his goal is to run the Disney full marathon in 2018, and he thought it was really inspiring to watch the racers go through Epcot last year). So that settled that day. We just kept going through like that, until we eventually narrowed down our ADR list by day.

 

[fallonkendra]

Food (Part Three!)

Eek! We are only two days out from our first phase of choosing ADR's! Since we are doing a split stay, we'll be able to make our selections for the first 5 nights in two days, and then wait to make our selections for the last 4 days. Here are a few more of our planned restuarants to hit up on this trip:

1) Be Our Guest Breakfast - a lot of people complain about the food here during this time slot, but we thought it was fine. We put it on our list again because of our luck on our trip earlier this year - we made an 8:10am reservation and the park opened at 9am, so we were able to get a picture in front of the castle with no one else around. Then, after we finished eating we walked out and the park still hadn't opened, but a few rides were already running so by 9:15 we had already been on Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan and Winnie-the-Pooh.

2) Beaches and Cream - I need to be careful with ice cream, too much will make me sick but I NEED to try the No Way Jose! It sounds so good, and it's also right up Luke's alley, so I know I'll be able to convince him to get one and then I'll just steal a few bites of his

3) Le Cellier - for appetizers/side dishes only. I can't justify spending that much money on a steak, especially when I live in Alberta (the province that has the best beef in all of Canada). We're thinking we'd like to order the Cheddar Cheese Soup (I just hope it doesn't actually taste like Moosehead beer, since that stuff is disgusting - I'm born and raised in the province where that beer is from so I've had my fair share of it over the years), a poutine (none of which are accurate, but I'm intrigued by the ingredients used) and the loaded mashed potatoes. We figure splitting all three of those will be enough food for us to share.

4) Peco's Bills - we really enjoyed this on our last trip, so we're hoping to not lose any of our food to a giant bird this time around.

5) Saana - I love Indian food. I plan on ordering the Potje inspired with the butter chicken, but I'm worried it won't be up to my standards. There are some really incredible Indian restaurants close to where I live, and we make our own butter chicken fairly regularly at home as well. I could always order one of the other options... I know I don't like paneer, so that's out, and I don't eat seafood. Any suggestions? I'm also really interested in the bread service, I love Naan bread (I'm just sad there's no coconut naan as an option, since that stuff is amazing).

6) Olivia's - Since we are staying at OKW for the first 5 nights, we have to go to Olivia's at least once! I'm really looking forward to possibly trying the Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken at supper, and the banana bread french toast at breakfast...

7) 'Ohana - This is planned as our supper the day of Luke's half marathon. I figured it would be something he'd like, and it's all you can eat which he'll enjoy after a long run.

8) Whispering Canyon - I was really drawn in by the skillet they offer on their menu, but then I read a few less-than-impressed reviews on it earlier today. Now I don't know what to do...

 

[SarahDisney]

You have some awesome options on that list. Good look on ADR day - I hope you get everything you want!

 

[ariane37]

I actually enjoyed our BOG breakfast in January, but they've raised the price since then and changed the menu. Not sure we'd go back but I completely understand why it's a good option for some
Sanaa is one of our favorites and I've gotten the butter chicken every time we've been! However it's the only place I've had butter chicken so I can't really tell you how "authentic" it is, and I get 2 orders of it since I'm not interested in any of the other options so I can't help you there, either. We also always get the bread service which is fantastic (as are the desserts) so I think you've got a super choice there!
We're doing WCC for lunch in November. No skillet for me but we ate there quite a few years ago and it's a fun place

 

[fallonkendra]

You have some awesome options on that list. Good look on ADR day - I hope you get everything you want!

Thanks Sarah! ADR's are now booked for the first 5 days of our trip, now we just need to wait until next week to book the last 4 days

I actually enjoyed our BOG breakfast in January, but they've raised the price since then and changed the menu. Not sure we'd go back but I completely understand why it's a good option for some

I'm not much of a breakfast person, so my opinion on the menu should be taken with a grain of salt haha, but Luke really enjoyed his selection last time, and it was nice to get a few of the big rides done right away without wasting hours in line!

Sanaa is one of our favorites and I've gotten the butter chicken every time we've been! However it's the only place I've had butter chicken so I can't really tell you how "authentic" it is, and I get 2 orders of it since I'm not interested in any of the other options so I can't help you there, either. We also always get the bread service which is fantastic (as are the desserts) so I think you've got a super choice there!

I'm sure it'll be fine, even bad butter chicken is still good One of our favourite quick and easy suppers to make is to fry up a chicken breast or two (cut into bite-sized pieces), then dump a bottle of pre-made butter chicken sauce into the pan once the chicken is cooked. We cook some frozen french fries in our Actifry, dump those into a dish, cover them with cheese curds (or shredded mozzarella) and then pour the butter chicken over top - butter chicken poutine

I think I'm most excited for the bread there haha, I really love me some Naan bread! Which accompaniments are your favourite?

We're doing WCC for lunch in November. No skillet for me but we ate there quite a few years ago and it's a fun place

It sounds fun!

 

[fallonkendra]

The First Batch of ADR's!​

This morning our window for booking ADR's for our first five nights opened up! Since we are doing a split hotel stay, we were not able to book for our entire trip today, so we need to wait until next week to finalize everything.

The ADR window opens at 6am Orlando time, which meant 4am for us... So we set an alarm for 3:45 and both woke up before the alarm - I guess we were excited about Disney!

Without further ado, here are our current ADR's for January 3rd-8th:

January 4, 2017:

• Olivia's Cafe - wanted 8:15am, booked 8:15am
• Garden Grill - wanted 5pm, booked 4:50pm

January 5, 2017:

• TRex - wanted 2pm, booked 2pm

January 6, 2017:

• Tusker House - wanted 10:45am, booked 10:45am
• Olivia's Cafe - wanted 6:30pm, booked 6:30pm

January 7, 2017:

• 'Ohana - wanted 6pm, booked 5:50pm

January 8, 2017:

• Le Cellier - wanted 12:30pm, booked 12:45pm
• Via Napoli - wanted 6:30pm, booked 6:45pm

I'm very pleased with what we were able to book, we managed to get all of our reservations within 15 minutes of when we originally wanted them . Some of the ones left to book next week might cause us a little more difficulty, but we'll cross that bridge on Tuesday when our next window opens up. For now though - only 180 days until Disney!

 

[fallonkendra]

The Final Days of ADR's!​

This morning, the rest of our trip opened up for ADR's. We once again set an alarm for 3:45am, and were ready to go as soon as the clock turned to 4am. Here's how the last days of our trip are lining up:

January 9, 2017:

• Beaches and Cream - wanted 1pm, booked 1pm
• Turf Club Bar and Grill - wanted anytime after 9pm, booked 9:15pm

January 10, 2017:

• Boma - wanted 8:15am, booked 8:15am
• Rainforest Cafe - wanted 12:30, booked 12:30
• Saana - wanted 5pm, booked 5pm

January 11, 2017:

• Be Our Guest - wanted 8am, booked 8am
• Whispering Canyon - wanted 1pm, booked 1:15pm

Once again, we were able to book everything we wanted, and within a 15 minute window of when we wanted it - I guess it's worth it to go in the off-season!

Right now, all three reservations for January 10th are tentative. We've been talking about possibly doing the Wild Africa Trek, and if that's the case than Boma or Rainforest Cafe (or both) will end up being cancelled. I really want to eat at Saana, so that probably won't change, but the time might. I booked a 5pm time slot hoping that Animal Kingdom will release night hours - I figure eating at 5pm will give us enough time to eat and then get back to the park in time for a possible night show. If the hours which are currently released stand (with the park closing at 5pm) I will probably try to move our reservation to a later time (but if I'm not able to do that, we'll just keep our 5pm).

I thought about trying to squeeze in another breakfast on our last day (January 12th) but I'm not sure what time the Magical Express will be picking us up - we'll be flying back to Canada, but we originally fly from Orlando to Minneapolis - so I'm not sure if Disney will classify us as a domestic flight or international flight (since our end destination is international). I didn't want to be too rushed that morning, so we'll more than likely just be stopping by The Artist's Palette at Saratoga Springs for a quick-service breakfast.

Overall, I'm very happy with our decisions, and can't wait until we're actually there to enjoy all of this food!

 

[fallonkendra]

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[fallonkendra]

Updates!

I've been terrible at updating lately! To be fair though, Luke and I spent 12 days in New Brunswick visiting my family in June, and then I went on a mother-daughter trip to Vancouver last week so I've been busy traveling. I'd like to try and get a little mini trip report for each of those trips, in case anyone would like to see pictures of the two coasts of Canada - the two locations I've visited in the past month are over 5300km apart (or 3300 miles) and couldn't be more different!

The only real Disney news I have is that Luke purchased our park tickets! He was antsy, and excited and went ahead and bought us each a 7-day park ticket (no hopper) and he even bought Memory Maker! Last year before we went, I hummed and hahed over Memory Maker for months before finally buying it, and even after I paid for it Luke thought it was ridiculous. But, as it turns out, he loved getting all of our on-ride photos and felt it was worth it just for those! We now have everything bought that we need to for our trip, and we have over 5 months to pay it off on our credit cards! We have also both been converting Canadian money to US currency each week to pay for our meals once we're there, but we're still quite a ways off from what we want to have saved...

I have not even started running yet despite being signed up for the 5km while we are in Disney. I found out last month that the current medication I'm on for my Crohn's is no longer working (which I pretty much have known for a few months, I just needed my doctor to agree, but it did work wonderfully for over 2 years!), so I'm in the process of switching to a different medication. The new medication is over 10 times more expensive than my current stuff, so my health coverage required paperwork filled out by my doctor before approving it. I have also been going for some crazy tests to make sure I'm even a valid candidate for this medication, so I've been missing more work than I typically like. I'm hoping to have all of the testing I need completed by next week, so I can hopefully get started on this new med before we go on our next trip to Manitoba in September. I've basically been feeling crummy for a few months now, and as much as I try to not let it stop me there's at least a few nights each week when I get home from work and just lay on the couch in pain - even one day of our New Brunswick trip I refused to leave my dad's house because of pain due to my Crohn's. Once I'm on this new medication (which has fantastic results, and everyone I've talked to who is on it loves it) I'll get started on my training for my first ever 5km! I know I won't be breaking any records on my run, but I'm so excited for it!

 

[ariane37]

Ugh, I'm so sorry for your pain and all the testing/waiting you have to do for your new medication. And to have to limit what you did when you were visiting your Dad really sucks I do hope your on the medication soon and it kicks in quick, and that your health insurance covers the medication so the extra cost, if any, is minimal.

It feels good to have your tickets, doesn't it? Since Steve and I are upgrading to AP's when we go next month we'll just have to get tickets for the boys for November, which I'll get when we get back from our Aug. trip. Have to have them in time to make our FP's in Sept.

 

[SarahDisney]

Yay park tickets!!

I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with your medication, but I hope the new medication works out well. Don't worry too much about the race ... you still have a few months to get ready for an awesome race!

 

[fallonkendra]

Another Life Update:

Last Saturday my grandmother (the only grandparent I still have) was admitted to the hospital. On Sunday morning, when test results came back that were not promising, I immediately booked a flight. I'm the only grandchild, and I live about 4000km away from her. Two of her children (my mom and my uncle) also live in the same province as I do, so all three of us dropped everything and flew home Sunday night, arriving Monday morning. Most of my days this week have been spent sitting around the hospital with my Nanny, who has been living with COPD for over a decade now. She's been on oxygen for years now, but her lungs have deteriorated significantly, and she must be on a higher dose of oxygen now, but she has been improving. If she is ever able to leave the hospital, she will require home care pretty much around the clock, but she won't be leaving us this week (which is what we thought at the beginning of the week). It's been difficult, I left Luke home with all of our pets and by the time I get back to Alberta it will be over a week since I've seen him. I'm just so ready to get back to a normal routine! I'm so glad I flew home to see my grandmother, but now that I know she'll be ok, I'm starting to miss my dogs and my cats and my degus

I hope my next post will actually be happy, the last two have been some bummers - sorry about that.

 

[ariane37]

I'm so sorry to hear this, but I'm glad she's somewhat on the mend. I was lucky enough to know 3 of my grandparents and was extremely close to my mom's mom. She was also able to meet my oldest son. She passed away right before he turned 2, when I was 33, and she also had COPD. I'm very glad you went to see her and happy you'll get to see her more.

Also hoping things have gotten better with your medication and I'll be anxiously awaiting your next (happy) update!

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm sorry to hear that your grandmother is in the hospital, but it's great that you were able to go out and see her and that she's doing a little better. I hope she continues to improve!

 

[fallonkendra]

I'm so sorry to hear this, but I'm glad she's somewhat on the mend. I was lucky enough to know 3 of my grandparents and was extremely close to my mom's mom. She was also able to meet my oldest son. She passed away right before he turned 2, when I was 33, and she also had COPD. I'm very glad you went to see her and happy you'll get to see her more.

Also hoping things have gotten better with your medication and I'll be anxiously awaiting your next (happy) update!

Thank you Ariane. I flew back to Alberta last Wednesday, and I guess my grandmother's oxygen levels were all over the place again on Thursday, despite being fairly stable for the entire 9 days I was there. I guess any little bit of stress is making it hard for her to breathe, but they did get it back to normal again. The doctors have not even started talking about her coming home yet, we're thinking it could be months - but the hospital is the best place for her right now. My mom flew back to Alberta a few days ago as well, but she's hoping to get back to New Brunswick again this fall. I probably won't be able to make it back there again until next summer, so that sucks It turned out that I didn't even have enough vacation days to go this time, but my manager talked to the general manager where I work, and they decided to just go ahead and pay me as if I were here, and then I could make up the time over the next few months - which I was so grateful for!

I heard from my doctor's office while I was visiting my grandmother that they have the results of some of my tests back, and all is good for me to go forward with this new medication. I'm hoping to have the last test completed tonight, and then hopefully I'll be able to receive my first dose of medication next week or the week after.

I'm sorry to hear that your grandmother is in the hospital, but it's great that you were able to go out and see her and that she's doing a little better. I hope she continues to improve!

Thanks Sarah! It's been up and down, but she's still here with us so that's the most important thing

 

[fallonkendra]

New Disney Purchase!

While I was in New Brunswick visiting my grandmother, I went to meet one of my best friends from high school for supper. I stopped in to Winners to pick up a few books for my friend's little boys beforehand, (Winners is a Canadian chain-store that carries brand name clothing/perfume/housewares/etc at a lower cost - it's typically left over items from previous seasons) and as soon as I stepped in to the store something immediatedly caught my eye!

​

The Mickey Mouse Disney Vans backpack! I had actually looked at ordering one of these online, but they were $50 Canadian - no thanks! The price tag on the one at Winners - $19.99!

I was very excited, and then I noticed this:

​

They had the Donald Duck one too! I took these pictures, and texted them off to Luke. After telling him the cost, I asked him which one I should get... and he responded with "I think you could have the Mickey, and I'll use the Donald one. Buy them" - so both of them came home to Alberta with me! We now have two new backpacks for taking to the parks with us! (on our last trip, I used a little kids Frozen backpack, and Luke had a Winnipeg Jets one that broke on our June New Brunswick trip).

I was so excited about this Winners score, it's one of the best finds I've ever had there!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love those backpacks! So cute!

 

[fallonkendra]

Is It Too Early to Be Planning Our Next Trip??​

Our ADR's for our January 2017 have been completed for awhile now, but we're still a ways out from selecting our FP+, so there's not a lot to be done. Flights have been booked for months, hotels are booked...so naturally I've been thinking about our next trip. When we left WDW in January 2016, the plan was to return in 2018 - this 2017 trip was not in the original plans. In 2018, Luke is aiming to run his first ever full marathon, so we know we'll be going in January again. The actual dates for Marathon Weekend have not been released, and I don't plan on seeing them for awhile yet, but I can make assumptions. Marathon Weekend always seems to fall the full weekend before Martin Luther King Day, which is January 15th, 2018 - so I'd guess Marathon Weekend will be January 4th-7th (4th - 5km, 5th - 10km, 6th - half, 7th - full). If we plan on running the 5km again, we will need to make it to the Race Expo on the 3rd, meaning we would more than likely need to fly in on the 2nd. If we decide the only race will be Luke's full marathon, then we would not need to be there until the 5th (but based on every flight I've ever priced out to Orlando, prices are significantly cheaper on Thursday opposed to Friday, so we would more than likely fly in on the 4th). Confused yet? In 2018, I have a milestone birthday - I will turn 30 on January 13th. I spent my 28th birthday at Universal Studios earlier this year, and it was a terrible day that saw me yelling at guest services through tears at one point. It wasn't good at all. In 2017, we fly back to Canada the day before my birthday, so I will turn 29 at home with my all of my fur-babies (it's a Friday in 2017, but Luke and I both took the day off to deal with jet-lag and unpack from our Disney trip). I am basically a giant child, and refuse to turn 30 anywhere but Disney - so our trip needs to extend to at least January 14th in 2018. I know that weekend will be insane in the parks, with it being a long-weekend in the US, but I don't even care. Again, Sunday flights are always more expensive than weekdays, so we might extend to the 15th or 16th.

(I would love to be on this WestJet plane at some point, but I'm pretty sure it runs on the Toronto-Orlando route, and I avoid the Toronto airport on International trips at all costs)


Basically, that long-winded rambling means that 2018 could possibly be our longest trip yet - January 4th-15th at the shortest, January 2nd-16th at the longest. Two full weeks! Then I started thinking... What if we did the Castaway Cay Challenge? You have to run any distance during Marathon Weekend, and then on the Monday (which would be January 8th, 2018) you jump on a cruise ship for a 4 night cruise, with a stop at Castaway Cay - where you run a 5km on the island! Luke is going to be sore after a full marathon, and extensive park touring would be limited for the next few days following anyways, so why not relax on a cruise (before running another 5km of course haha). Neither one of us have ever been on a cruise before, but it's something we've talked about...

So that would mean our itinerary would look something like this:

January 2nd - fly to Orlando
January 3rd - Race Expo, park day
January 4th - 5km race, park day
January 5th - park day
January 6th - park day
January 7th - Marathon, hotel relaxing day
January 8th - cruise
January 9th - cruise
January 10th - cruise
January 11th - cruise
January 12th - back to WDW, relaxing day
January 13th - my birthday, park day
January 14th - park day
January 15th - park day
January 16th - fly home

We would have a split stay at two resorts - the first one for 6 nights. My dream would be to stay at the Boardwalk for this stretch - it would be so convenient for Luke's marathon. Then 4 nights on a cruise ship, then back to Orlando for another 4 night birthday stay - which I would love to be at Animal Kingdom.

Can we afford this trip? I have no idea. But a girl can always dream! I'm off to start pricing out how much this dream trip would cost us...

 

[absolutmey]

jealous of that itinerary! can't wait to read about your plans.

 

[fallonkendra]

jealous of that itinerary! can't wait to read about your plans.

That itinerary is unfortunately for our trip in 2018, and it probably won't end up looking like that I priced it out - holy moly! I think I'd have to get a second job to be able to pull that off. We will be going in January 2018, but it will more than likely end up being a standard Disney trip like our 2016 and 2017 ones. But I won't stop crunching numbers to see if we can make it work!