They're opening FLE just for us! UPDATE: My 2010 Disney Book(11/17)

Hey, I don't remember seeing the pictures when I first read about the surprise. And, I love the Target plates. I wish our Target had those. But that would only be more money for me to spend which i should not be doing right now.

About the pictures on that update about letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak - I was sure the photos were there when I posted -- but then they weren't.

The Target plates are fantastic. There were even a few more designs I didn't get. It's so hard because I want to buy Disney stuff because we're going - but I also want to save money to spend there! Argh. If only I had won that powerball... :cloud9:

We love the plates though. We haven't eaten off anything else since I bought them!
 
Any new planning?

Of course there has been! I have several half posts written in my Disney journal (it's where I scribble stuff when I want to obsess about Disney and everyone is tired of listening) and I will get busy moving them to here on my trip report.

Any luck getting into Le Cellier?

Absolutely not. But I'll keep checking.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share this post I made today in a different thread. It's about funny pictures from the park. I completely cut and pasted it below.


popcorn::

I met Baloo in 1996 in the MK. I wasn't paying attention and he smacked me upside the head! But very gently, especially for a bear.

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I guess he felt badly because afterwards, he kissed me on the top of the head.

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Or was he trying to eat my head?

Here's my Dx making the sad Eeyore face at the CP in 96.

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And you might not think this is funny, but look at the cranky lady giving me the evil eye over the Dx's shoulder. I was not aware I had done anything to offend, but her glare says otherwise. Sorry lady!

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I knew we'd get in if I just kept trying(swimming)!

I was reading some dining reports here on the dis this afternoon and decided to check again for a lunch reservation at Le Cellier that would work for us this December. There weren't for my number one choice of days, but my second choice showed a free spot at 2:05! So I snapped it right up, yay us!

So even without the extra ten days (in the 180+10), we've managed to secure reservations everywhere we were hoping for. Now of course since we don't have a dining plan for this trip, that's not as many table service restaurants as we would do otherwise, but I'm still super excited.

Next post = all our ADRs and related food talk.
And thanks to our Fairy Godmother for the Pixie Dust!

pixiedust:
 


congratulations for snagging your ADR's! If you really would prefer a different date for LeCellier, you could keep the one you have & keep trying for you #1 date, then if you get it cancel the one you won't be using. I am doing the same type of thing for a Bibbidi Bobbidi reservation we have. not that I'm complaining I scored getting the one I got. :goodvibes
 
I know I said my next update would be about ADRs, and it's still coming, but I just booked our flights and I'm SO EXCITED. :woohoo:

For the last few weeks I've been stressing about flights. Well, not exactly stressing, but every time I'd read about someone's flights I'd wonder about ours and want to change the subject. I didn't like it being up in the air. What time would we get there? How late could we stay on our last night? Of course I want to get the lowest priced flight I can, but even more than that I want an early arrival and a late departure. And a non stop flight. The last time I bought flights for somewhere, I knew which flights we wanted and watched the prices, but before they dropped the flights I wanted were sold out. They were overseas flights and I wanted the ones with the least stops and shortest layovers more than I wanted a deal. It was a drag and I didn't want that to happen again.

So today I posted on the boards asking when people generally booked their flights. I had the Dx make sure the price was approved by his office and I logged into the airline's website to make our reservations!

We are getting one of our flights for free because the Dx's office will pay for him to be there (for their day of meetings and evening of partying). That's fantastic and such a help. And then we were thrilled to learn that if one of us got a particular credit card, we'd automatically earn more than enough bonus points for one round trip ticket. Super fantastic. That leaves only one flight we have to pay for (a large part of what's making this trip possible).

I've never used points to book a flight before and I'm afraid it took me a few times until I got it right. The first issue was whether or not the free flight had to be in Dx's name. We have to purchase his flight and then submit an expense report to be reimbursed by his company, and we weren't sure if they'd give us back money when the receipt says it was payed for in points. So we didn't want to make that flight in his name.

I called the 800 they said to call with any questions. No wait, and super nice phone person informed me the ticket can be purchased for anyone, not just the points holder. So yay. I used the points to buy a ticket for me. I logged on and went through the process of booking the flight, but when it came to the pay section, I couldn't find anywhere to enter my numbers. I called the 800 number again. No wait, and super nice phone person told me to go back to the first page where there's a button to see the prices in points instead of dollars. Fantastic.

I had more problems though. After I entered all the info, I got a pop up that told me the name of the flyer didn't match the number for the rewards account. Back on the phone - no wait, and the super nice phone person told me just take rewards number out of the box. It automatically entered Dx's number, and that's what wasn't matching. There didn't need to be a number there at all.

And then it worked. Woohoo! I was flying to Disney World for 5 bucks. :cool1: ($2.50 each way for some kind of fee.)

Next, to make sure Dx and DD get on the same flight I was on! That went off without a hitch and now we're all set on the transportation. Did I mention it was exciting? It's one more bit of proof that we're going. One step closer. And one more thing off the boring things to do so I can focus on the more exciting bits of planning and anticipating.

We leave on a Thursday at 7:40 from Kansas City. Non stop flight, 2 free checked bags and we get in to MCO at 11:15.
We come back on a Thursday. leaving MCO at 5:05, straight to KC and arriving at 7:10 (my lucky number).

I'm thinking that means we'll get to the CSR by 1:30 and have plenty of time to enjoy EPCOT til it closes at 9:30. Our last day will be an early extra magic hours morning at the MK, so we could possibly be there from 8am tll 1 or 2. :love: Love that.

So much magic. 160 days. You know I can't wait.
:cheer2:
 


Just the facts:

Friday: 7:05 @ Sanaa
Just for me and DD. DX will be at work, and he's not an adventurous eater, so I thought we might go there and enjoy some delicious food.

Saturday: 1:25 @ 50s Prime Time Cafe
New to all of us. I might try to do this earlier in the day.

Sunday: 12:50 @ San Angel Inn
Again, I might try to get something earlier.

Sunday: 7:10 Sci Fi Dine Inn
We're going with the Inns on this day, obviously. Will we really make the second meal, or will we be too full? I don't know.

Monday: 8:05 @ Tusker House
I'm pretty sure we're going to cancel this.

Monday: 4:20 Liberty Tree Tavern
New to all of us. I'm excited for this one.

Tuesday 2:05 at Le Cellier
I would rather do this on Wednesday and will change it if I can.
 
When the family and I went to Disney World the first couple times (in the early 90s) I made a few dining reservations. I don't think there was a dining plan (if there was I never read about it). We got a character meal with our vacation package though, and we definitely made reservations for those. First trip was the Crystal Palace. The second year we had breakfast at Hollywood & Vine. The characters were from Hunchback ((my favorite movie)) and Pocahontas). We had a fantastic time. We also ate at the Sci Fi Dine Inn, Chef Mickey's and San Angel Inn. I must have made reservations for those as well.

For my trip with DD in 2010, I was all about the ADRs. I even changed my mind a couple times. I checked the every day we were there for a chance for breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (without luck). But even then I didn't do the reserving. We went with my brother who is a DVC member, so we just told him what we were hoping for and he let us know what we got. We had thad some fantastic food. We ate at CRT, Tutto Italia, Sanaa, San Angel Inn, and Le Cellier. I keep thinking of making a Better Late Than Never dining report about that trip. Reading everyone else's really makes me want to relive mine.

This year, it is up to me to make the reservations. We looked at menus, talked about our favorites and planned our hopefuls for the week. Since we're going with the company, and we don't have any kind of number to associate with our stay, I didn't get the ten extra days of the 180+ten. I had to call as each day of our stay reached the 180 day mark.

It wasn't bad though. I'm up early anyway, so I just logged on and checked the boxes. We've ended up with a great schedule, and I still have plenty of time to change or find "better" times.

The first couple days I didn't even try for any spots. On the Thursday that we arrive, we don't really want to be tied in to a reservation. On the Friday, Dx will be at work all day and evening, and since it was just DD and I, I thought we should save good dinners for when we could all be together. (I changed my mind about this later, but that's what I was thinking at the beginning).

180 days before the Saturday we were there I logged on. We had decided to always try for Le Cellier first (not that it's the best but it's the trickiest to get). I was shocked to see a reservation come right up for 2pm. I was thrilled. Woohoo, lucky me, all that. And then I realized that the date had reverted to that day's date, and early as it was, I knew I couldn't make it to Orlando by 2pm. I changed to the correct date in December, and nothing was available. Oh well, it was only the first day.

Our second choice was for 50s Prime Time Cafe. It's early magic hours at HS that day. I know not everyone is a xmh kind of person, but we dig them. So we plan to show up early, get those pesky high demand rides ridden as much as possible, and then slow down to enjoy the rest of the day. We'll have lunch at 1:25. None of us has eaten there before. We hope it will be fun. I dig the vintage surroundings and it's just Dx's type of food, so I expect we'll like it.

The next morning I was making reservations for the Sunday of our trip. Checked for Le Cellier first, no such luck. That morning we will be heading to EPCOT. I got us lunch reservations at San Angel Inn. We've eaten there every trip and we all have very fond memories. Dx will miss the old boat ride for sure. He remembers it fondly as lovely and relaxing, neither of which are true any longer.

I found a 7:10 time for dinner at the Sci Fi Dine Inn. We all ate there in the early 90s and thought it was fun, if not super tasty. We didn't go last time, and both Dx and Dd are into it so we made the reservations. The question is will we really want a big dinner at 7 after we just had one at 1? I don't know, but HS is open till 11 that night so we'll be in that park anyway. Again, we'll have to wait and see. I like the 7:10 time though. My birthday is July 10, so 7:10 is my favorite number (it's also the time we make it to our home airport at the end of our trip).

Morning again and I'm making plans for our Monday. No luck at Le Cellier, but I got the earliest Tusker House I could get at 8:05. Dx and DD are big breakfast lovers and Dx really liked the menu. It would be a great time - except that's AK's early magic hours day. We'd miss the magic hour and leave breakfast just in time to colide with the crowd. So I don't know. I might try to do it earlier or might just decide no tot do it.

I also made late lunch reservations in the Magic Kingdom for a 4:20 at Liberty Tree Tavern. None of us have eaten there before and I'm kind of excited. I think the salad and the pasta look terrific and Dx sees several things he likes.

I continued to check for available lunch spots at Le Cellier through the week. We all decided we'd take whatever we could get so I kept trying.

Now since we booked our own AoA room, we did have the 180+ten for that stay. Since it is the end of our trip though, it was only 180+1. I thought maybe that would give me a leg up for the reservations. I logged on ready to make plans for the Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip. I was hopeful, but still, no such luck.

After failing again at LC, I decided to add an extra meal at San Angel Inn. Just in case. We love it and we're planning to be at EPCOT that afternoon so I did it. It was a lunch reservation at 1:10.

We had spots at all the other places we wanted to try, so I left Wednesday and Thursday free of ADRs, keeping in mind we could find others later if we really wanted to.

About a week after that I was talking with a friend who is a Disney Vacation Planner. She said she thought Disney was holding some of those reservations for something or other, and that she'd let me know when they were released so I could try again. Shockingly, I was reading the disboards right here when her text came. I logged right on to Disney.

I really wanted to eat at LC on Wednesday, but that day was full. I tried Tuesday and what do you know? There was a spot at 2:05. Perfect! Or close enough. When I took it, the helpful online reservation system reminded me I already had reservations at San Angel Inn, but then was nice enough to cancel them for me. I gave them my info and we are all set.

A few days later I was thinking about the day DD and I will be on our own in the parks while Dx has his work stuff. We both love Indian food, and seriously enjoyed Sanaa on the last night of our last trip. It occurred to me it would be the perfect night for just the two of us to head out to Kidani Villas for dinner at Sanaa. We have reservations at 7:05.

And so that's it. I think. You know how these things are. I'm sure I'll feel the need to add or change something in the next 5 months. Especially if it turns out we are able to add dining at some point. Then I expect there will be a mad shuffle to add a few more reservations.

But so far, so good, don't you think?
 
Well done big sis.

My trips seem to be more and more about the food too.
 
It's 135 days until we're at Disney World.

It's been far too long since my last update. Of course Disney things have happened because I think of Disney and this crazy surprise vacation every single day. I also read posts here on the disBoards obsessively; I might have developed and addiction problem actually. :rolleyes2 It's just kind of impossible to get enough Disney lately. And reading about or seeing pictures of the world make it sometimes seem too good to be true that we are actually going! But we are, in a little more than 4 months. Time is flying by (as it usually does).

I have several reservations I'm hoping to change just a little bit. Dinner at Sanaa and Prime Time Cafe I'm hoping to move up to make them just a little earlier in the day. My Tusker House breakfast is scheduled during EMH one morning, and I just don't really love that, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do there. I also had a San Angel Inn lunch for later than we wanted, but I've already been able to fix that. Hurrah. :cheer2:

I was excited when I first heard rumors of Free Dining during our trip. My friend who is a Disney travel agent gave me the heads up it was coming, but it turned out since the first part of our trip is heavily discounted and not a package, and the second part is a room only, it wouldn't really work out for us. :( Dang. I keep telling myself not having the dining plan won't make any difference, but then there's a little voice inside (I don't think it's Jiminy Cricket ;)) that thinks it would be so much better with it. Looks like I'm just going to have to wait and see. Of course I'll let you know when I get back!

As you may or may not remember, my little brother is a serious Disney fanatic. Last weekend we had a big sibling get together and ended up playing a Disney trivia game. I thought it would be fun to play me and my brother against everyone else, but that got shot down and we were each on our own teams. They thought it would be fair because Brian's more into the Walt and business side of Disney, where I am a big movie and songs fan. But even with the song/movie advantage I was pretty sure Brian would win. He's also been to the parks many more times than I have, and he knows a lot of history.

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cards from the game

He won. But not by much. My team did better than I thought we might. The game we played was from the mid 90s, so he suggested we get a current one and try that next time. I'm all for it. Plus it will help work everyone up about our giant family trip we're planning for 2015. I want to make sure everyone actually gets excited and saves up for it. I think the little nieces will be 6, 5 and 4 then and how awesome would it be to go experience the magic with little girls you love - at that age? Super awesome, so my fingers are crossed.

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adorable nieces as they are now

135 days. It really doesn't seem like much. Have I mentioned I am super excited? Ok then. 'Till next time, TTFN! :tigger:
 
Disney trivia was super fun! I am on the lookout for a newer version already.

I also can't believe your next trip is SO soon! Still a year and a half for me - BLEH.
 

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I turned 46 and I have to tell you, I am loving this mid40s thing. I can't speak for everyone else, but for me it's been so much better than being young was. I wouldn't trade 46 for 26 for all the tea in China. (Especially because I don't like tea, and where would I put it all?)

One of the good parts of being 46 is that I already have a lot of the things I want. When my family started asking what I wanted for my birthday, I wasn't really coming up with anything. All I'd been thinking about was Disney and our upcoming trip. It occurred to me one day that all I really wanted was to make sure several frozen mango margaritas were in the budget! I don't usually drink and tend to think of the cost as a big luxury - and at almost ten bucks a shot, those things can add up fast. But I wanted to know that when I was walking through the Mexico pavilion at EPCOT, I could get one if I wanted.

So I asked for a Disney gift certificate! Most everyone thought that was kind of weird, and surely there was something I wanted more. I even started to question myself. Was I sure I wanted to spend a golden gift opportunity on a trip almost 5 months away? Yeah, I was. The gift card prevailed.

No one else really wanted to go online and figure out how to buy one (really? it's so simple), and I'm the one with the card we use for online purchases, I agreed to do it. As a mom, I've purchased my own presents plenty of times through the years. It's not so bad, and you can be sure you get exactly what you want.

I got online and checked out the available cards. I kind of liked the Bambi cards, and an Aristocats one, but I didn't really love any of the designs. And then I remembered reading somewhere on these boards about personalized gift cards. !!! For 4 bucks more, you can upload your own image to have printed on the card. Fantastic!

Here's a link about them in case you're interested.

I tried several photos, from my first trip in the early 90s and my last trip in 2010. I settled on a picture from last time of me with Thumper and Ms Bunny (one of my highlights from that trip!). Oh, I just realized it's my avatar here! Obviously a favorite.

Here's what their website says my card will look like:

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I'll show you the real one when I get it!
(131 days!)
 
Great call on the gift card!

Thanks man. I knew you'd understand.

Today's the 125 day mark. I'm trying to decide when it's time to make a countdown calendar, and what I'm going to do to make one for this trip. The one I made the last time was good, but I think I should come up with something new for this time.
 
So for my birthday present, you may remember, I chose a personalized Disney gift card.

It came in a plain, greeting card sized envelope. No frills, no decorations - but the return address says DisneyStore.com, so I knew to get excited.

Mine came with a card (which I had picked out) that looked like this:

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I opened it up to see this:

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Hooray and how fun! I can't wait to use it!

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Now my DD19 doesn't have a job. This is sometimes an issue. She is a full time student, even in the summer, so I can live with it. To help motivate her to get a job, her father and I don't give her money and don't buy her stuff. She has some chores she's expected to do as part of the family, and sometimes she earns tiny bits of extra money buy doing extra chores or projects. So far she's fine with that.

But I started thinking about her at Disney. We all know she's going to want to buy at least a couple souvenirs or things for her friends. And I know she's going to want more Diet Coke's than we feel like buying her. I've warned her we won't be paying for that kind of stuff, and told her she needed to find a way to save some money before our trip, but realistically, where's it going to come from? So I decided to buy her her own gift card, and devised a bribe -- I mean incentive plan ;) for her to earn it. I'm pretty sure she'll succeed.

When you buy a predesigned gift card, you don't get to choose which greeting card it comes it, but you do get to add some text if you want. Here's her's:

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And inside:

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She hasn't seen it yet. Her first chance to see if she's earned it is the 10th of this month. I'll let you know how she does.

So there are our gift cards, so far. I think mine is a big win in terms of birthday gifts. I know I'm going to love using it!

123 days. And counting.
 

103 days. I'm so close to double digits I can feel it. I think that deserves a happy dance!

:cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

So obviously the big news since my last update is the Fantasyland Expansion announcement. The new part of the part officially opens the day we get there, although "previews" start almost a month before on November 19 (and special previews for DVC and Passholders get their peeks even earlier).

Woohoo, right? :banana:

Well maybe woohoo. I mean I am certainly glad we will be riding the rides and checking it out, but I kind of expected it to be open sooner and of course I'm worried about the CROWDS! :grouphug:

I am trying not to worry about the crowds though. It's not like we can change our dates, so what help would worry be? This kind of opening has never happened before, so anyone's guess about crowd level is pure conjecture. And this whole trip has been like a giant surprise gift from the universe so I am choosing to think of this as just another good sign.

I don't know if I'm being naive and living in my own version of fantasyland, or if I'm being rational and positive, but here's my take.

First of all it's the first half of December, so even if numbers double it won't be as bad as later in the month or other super crowded times.

Second, with previews starting so much earlier, surely many locals and frequent visitors will go earlier to check it out.

Third, the park is going to suddenly cover a much larger area, so although the FLE area might be swamped, the rest of the park could be pretty normal. And even more so for the other parks!

Fourth, we'll be there for 8 days. 6 whole days and 2 travel days. I know for many that's not a long trip, but it will be the longest we've ever stayed. By the end of our stay, the crowds will be less, and that should give us enough time to visit everything we want to.

So even thought at first I kind of freaked out a little bit, now I don't think we'll change our plans hardly at all. Here's what we're thinking we'll do (although as always, all plans are subject to change without warning or notice!).

On Thursday our flight from Kansas City lands at 11am. Once we check in, our plan had been to take a quick trip to walk around the FLE (which I had assumed would have opened a few weeks before), and then head to Epcot. Epcot is DX's favorite park, and he hasn't visited since the early 90s. Since he has to work the next day, he got to pick.

I think we'll still do the same. Yes, it might be insane at the MK, but we can't pass up being there on opening day. We realize it could be miserable, and we might only stay long enough to walk through, but we still want to. When we've had our fill of crowds, we'll take off to Epcot.

The next time we had planned to be in the park is bright and early for rope drop the next day (DD and I alone). Again, I understand it could be insane and if it is we will just leave for another park. But I'm thinking 1. EMH limits how many people will be there. 2. Locals probably won't be there bright and early. 3. People who are flying in for the weekend will probably arrive later in the day.

We plan to walk through the FLE, ride the Ariel ride as many times as we can, eat a snack at Gaston's, take a thousand pictures and then enjoy our non Fantasyland favorites across the park. Even DD19, who plans to stay out late and sleep in every morning says she wants to wake up for rope drop that morning, so that's where we'll be.

Saturday is the first full day we'll all be at the park together. DHS has EMH, so that's where we'll start our day. DD and I made the mistake of never starting a day at DHS on our last trip, and we never got a chance to ride TSMM or RNR. Star Tours was being updated at the time, the shows were mostly over for the day, we didn't see any characters and we were bored. So we're going to try to make up for it and give the park a good chance by getting there for rope drop Saturday morning. At least the DX and I are. Who can predict what the DD will do?

But when we're done with DHS, we had planned to head back to the MK. It closes at 10 than night which is the latest of all the parks. But on Saturday night I am sure it will be wildly crowded. Saturdays are always crazy at the MK, right? and I think this one will be a bit too much for us. If we change any plans, this night will be it. But where else to go? AK closes at 5, so that's out. HS is open till 8 but I can't imagine we'll want to spend the whole day at one park. Epcot will be open till 9:30, but we already have a lot of Epcot scheduled. We'll definitely have to just play that night by ear.

Our next scheduled day to visit the MK is Monday afternoon as we have a very early dinner ADR at LTT. Will it still be crowded by Monday? I don't image a lot of locals will be there, and maybe by then a lot of weekend visitors will be gone. Either way we'll be there before 4. There are EMH so it will be open till 11 and at least the last 3 hours should be less crowded than earlier in the day.

Tuesday and Wednesday, at the end of our trip, are way less scheduled and even further away from opening day, so I'm not worried about them. We leave on Thursday the 13th, but late enough that we can stay in a park until noon. Since the MK has morning magic hours, that's where we'll be. Maybe we'll eat lunch at Be Our Guest as a last thing before we head back to unenchanted real life.

So basically I'm not really changing any of our plans because of the opening. Maybe Saturday night, but we'll have to wait and see how it feels when we get there. Mostly, I'm excited. I mean I had hoped it would be open before we went - to escape the crowds and so I'd get to see pictures and read reviews to make plans before I went. But really, with previews opening almost a month before, I will certainly get all that from you lovely people here at the dis!

I'm staying positive. 103 days. I can almost taste how close it's getting!


 
I've started a Pre Dining Report. It's crazy but true. I didn't even know there were such things, but I was stuck in bed one day last week and spent too much time wandering around these boards. I checked out a couple and decided my life would not be complete if I didn't start one myself.

It's right over here - just click this link.

 
Still over 450 days for me... sigh.

If we end up with the 1BR at GF you will HAVE to tag along!

Until then I will live vicariously through you and your much more current trip plans.
 

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