ª"˜˜ª¤.¸Official Team August 2013 Thread!¸.¤ª˜˜"ª&#9733

[momto3gr8boys]

Thursday Night's
Question of the Day
How do you snack at Disney?
Are you planning to bring snacks or are you having them shipped to your room?
Do you haul them in a back pack into the parks?
Do you use up all of your snack credits on the dinning plan?
Any snacking tips to share with the group?

Before our last trip we always used our snack credits if we had DDP and paid OOP for whatever wanted if we didn't. On our last trip I ordered from GG and it was great!! My primary goal was to save $ on water bottles, but I added some breakfast items and snacks to the list. It worked out very well for us!! Now that the boys are older and no one wants to be up and moving at the crack of dawn, we only do a few character breakfasts. Everything else was grabbing something at the BC MP or a pastry somewhere - yummy, but time consuming and expensive for what we were getting. Eating a quick breakfast in the room allowed us to sleep in a bit and still get out at a decent time.

In my backpack I carried a few water bottles and some small bags of snacks. That worked out great as I don't have a problem stopping for a snack, but inevitably someone (99.9% of the time my youngest) would be "hungry" at inconvenient times, and it was great to pull out a bag of chex mix without having to search out a snack. He has matured a bit in that area so maybe it wouldn't be as necessary this trip, but I will probably still do it.

This year we will not have the DDP unless FD comes out. It's just not cost effective for us and I would much rather pay OOP for what I want instead of eat what is "included". That said, I told the boys they can buy whatever snacks they want, but it comes out of their own $.

At the end of the day I'll wind up buying our tried and true favorites, but in reality we don't really snack that much. When we do use the DDP we are always loading up on Mickey rice krispy treats on our last day to bring home.

 

[KSL]

Thursday Night's
Question of the Day
How do you snack at Disney?
Are you planning to bring snacks or are you having them shipped to your room?
Do you haul them in a back pack into the parks?
Do you use up all of your snack credits on the dinning plan?
Any snacking tips to share with the group?

We don't get the DDP either, since we stay DVC and have a kitchen. So we will stock up on groceries on Day 1 and then take a few snacks into the parks with us that travel well (apples, granola bars), given the heat and the jostling throughout the day. With going at August, though, we find we are so hot we aren't even hungry for much between-meal snacking. More important is to drink plenty of water, even if you don't think you are thirsty. So that's my tip: stay hydrated! You'll be sweating so much in the heat that you won't even need extra bathroom breaks with all that you are drinking, LOL! Usually I am making us "pull over" to CS places often for the free cups of water which starts to annoy the rest of my family after about the sixth time I say, "gee, let's just run in here quick for some H2O" - they roll their eyes and are anxious to be moving ON already! So this year I'm trying a new plan: today the Disney Store online has a 25% discount so I ordered each of them a water bottle (Mickey, Minnie & Tink; and they were already on sale!) with the removable neoprene cover which has a strap so that it will be easy for them to carry cross-body style. Only $5.25 each after the discount! So I know that's like $20 with tax but we have 2 12-day trips in 12 months, so I figure it's worth it, and of course they have the water bottles to keep & use anytime. Yay! And I'm hoping that will keep everyone happier because then we can just drink as we go.

Also, wanted to circle back on my post regarding my ADRs... I checked on the MDE site and THEY WERE ALL THERE! Exactly perfect! The only thing I noticed is that it says that email confirmations have been sent (they weren't; or at least, they never got to me!), but I have all the info with the confirmation numbers, etc. so that's fine. It was nice not having to enter all those numbers, which is what I was expecting! So that was great. I haven't spent much time on the new site because I've heard about all the glitches, but this much is working great for me so far!

 

[pigletto]

We don't get the DDP either, since we stay DVC and have a kitchen. So we will stock up on groceries on Day 1 and then take a few snacks into the parks with us that travel well (apples, granola bars), given the heat and the jostling throughout the day. With going at August, though, we find we are so hot we aren't even hungry for much between-meal snacking. More important is to drink plenty of water, even if you don't think you are thirsty. So that's my tip: stay hydrated! You'll be sweating so much in the heat that you won't even need extra bathroom breaks with all that you are drinking, LOL! Usually I am making us "pull over" to CS places often for the free cups of water which starts to annoy the rest of my family after about the sixth time I say, "gee, let's just run in here quick for some H2O" - they roll their eyes and are anxious to be moving ON already! So this year I'm trying a new plan: today the Disney Store online has a 25% discount so I ordered each of them a water bottle (Mickey, Minnie & Tink; and they were already on sale!) with the removable neoprene cover which has a strap so that it will be easy for them to carry cross-body style. Only $5.25 each after the discount! So I know that's like $20 with tax but we have 2 12-day trips in 12 months, so I figure it's worth it, and of course they have the water bottles to keep & use anytime. Yay! And I'm hoping that will keep everyone happier because then we can just drink as we go.

Also, wanted to circle back on my post regarding my ADRs... I checked on the MDE site and THEY WERE ALL THERE! Exactly perfect! The only thing I noticed is that it says that email confirmations have been sent (they weren't; or at least, they never got to me!), but I have all the info with the confirmation numbers, etc. so that's fine. It was nice not having to enter all those numbers, which is what I was expecting! So that was great. I haven't spent much time on the new site because I've heard about all the glitches, but this much is working great for me so far!

Print those numbers or copy them somewhere just in case. I'd hate to see you not have any confirmation if they disappear. All my ADR's were on the site for the longest time and then one day in November or so they weren't any more and they haven't been back since. Luckily I had a word document as back up

 

[amomma23]

Thursday Night's
Question of the Day
How do you snack at Disney?
Are you planning to bring snacks or are you having them shipped to your room?
Do you haul them in a back pack into the parks?
Do you use up all of your snack credits on the dinning plan?
Any snacking tips to share with the group?

We bring our own "snacks" for breakfast...cliff bars, granola, etc. I usually order some juice boxes from soap.com and ship them to our resort. We get refillable mugs with DDP, but there aren't great breakfast beverages available for the kids. We use our snack credits for a few favorites in the parks, but we kind of like blowing them all at once on our last day. The kids take Disney snacks in their lunches for the first few weeks of school and make everyone jealous.

 

[lovingeire]

I have a Question for the Day...Why August? Is it the best time for your family, the price, or just tradition?
!

We weren't going to do a trip this year as we're doing Jan 2014, however youngest DS turns 3 in August so we decided to squeeze in a trip before he turns 3. It helps that our oldest wont miss any school as well. It'll give us the opportunity to test our the summer time frame too as our oldest is in 7th grade so were getting close to high school when our oldest may not want or be able to miss school.

 

[lovingeire]

Thursday Night's
Question of the Day
How do you snack at Disney?
Are you planning to bring snacks or are you having them shipped to your room?
Do you haul them in a back pack into the parks?
Do you use up all of your snack credits on the dinning plan?
Any snacking tips to share with the group?

We normally bring a few snacks with us in the backpack, however the meals are so large we don't do a ton if snacking. Typically we do granola bars and apples and well bring some pop tarts or cereal bars for breakfast. There's normally a day we're full and skip our quick service so we use snacks then. My husbands insisting on DxDP so well see how that goes. I can't imagine all the food, but do long as he agrees to go, I'm happy!

 

[HeadintheClouds]

I'm in! I am going to Florida August 9-18. 4 of those days will be spent at Disney. We have dining ressies for Chef Mickeys, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Shula's, Yachtsman, Sci Fi Dine In, Be Our Guest, and Jiko. We have yet to obtain: Victoria & Alberts, TT Dessert Party, and Narcoossee's,

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm in! I am going to Florida August 9-18. 4 of those days will be spent at Disney.

So....whatcha got planned for the non-Disney days?

Asked out of pure friendly nosy-ness by a fan of offsite stays who also happens to love exploring all the other amazing things Orlando has to offer .

 

[Loreli]

How did I miss this??
Brown Derby is 2 table service credits!!
This is a BIG disapointment for me. I really wanted to eat some great food @ WDW and already gave up many restaurants in favor of character breakfasts for DD7 who does not partake in lunch -due to med side effect
ADRs on Tues, gotta pick a replacement restaurant, guess I will try to make BOG dinner ressie.
Whats a good CS restaurant @ HS? Never even looked as I was planning 50's Prime & Brown Derby.

 

[Loreli]

I remember being young and going to Mass at the Poly, but I don't think they do that anymore. This is the closest church and is supposedly beautiful (not sure if it's the same one): National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, 8300 Vineland Avenue, Orlando, Fl 32821. You can get a cab from your resort and Disney can arrange a return cab as well.

I visited the Shrine's web site, it looks lovely. They don't list masses, no less vigil masses on Saturday. Thanks for the info. It was super close to the World too. Maybe Mom will want to call and see if there are masses they don't list online. Thanks Again!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

How did I miss this??
Brown Derby is 2 table service credits!!
This is a BIG disapointment for me. I really wanted to eat some great food @ WDW and already gave up many restaurants in favor of character breakfasts for DD7 who does not partake in lunch -due to med side effect
ADRs on Tues, gotta pick a replacement restaurant, guess I will try to make BOG dinner ressie.
Whats a good CS restaurant @ HS? Never even looked as I was planning 50's Prime & Brown Derby.

HBD is the best. The other choices at HS are a bit lacking - definitely the least variety of the parks. But that said, 50s and Sci-Fi are both fun, but the food is just ok....sort of along the quality of a diner. Hollywood and Vine is a character buffet, which some people love, but I would not choose to eat there unless I had young kids who were into the Playhouse Disney set. Then there's Mama Melrose, which I believe still offers the Fantasmic dinner package. I only ate there once about 12 years ago, but people rave about it. I live in NY and we have a ton of great Italian restaurants, so that may have colored my perspective.

I'm not sure what your day looks like, but another option may be to look at the restaurants at the BW and BC/YC. You could take the boat over from HS or walk (about 20 minutes), have dinner, and then go back to HS for the rest of the night.

PS - your welcome on the church - I hope you can find something convenient!

 

[lovingeire]

How did I miss this??
Brown Derby is 2 table service credits!!
This is a BIG disapointment for me. I really wanted to eat some great food @ WDW and already gave up many restaurants in favor of character breakfasts for DD7 who does not partake in lunch -due to med side effect
ADRs on Tues, gotta pick a replacement restaurant, guess I will try to make BOG dinner ressie.
Whats a good CS restaurant @ HS? Never even looked as I was planning 50's Prime & Brown Derby.

We ate at Pizza Planet in Dec and thought it was tasty. We love PTC! We eat there every trip!

 

[Disney Commando]

All ADR's made
Park Days Planned
Haircut at Harmony Barbershop made

Now my main focus for the next few months will be hunting out rumors of things that may or may not pan out on our trip, the thing with rumors is you might only hear about them once and they are never updated or confirmed, so when something pans out it's a added bonus

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Has anyone tried Disney Quest before? Did you feel it was worth the money? We know there are DQ vouchers with our MYW package, and we were wondering if we should take advantage of them this year. In August, our girls will be ages 8 and 4 (almost 5).

Also, has anyone used Undercover Tourist before. I know they get good reviews, but wondering if anyone has personal experience either good or bad. They seem to have the lowest prices for DQ. Thanks!

 

[anjalee6]

Has anyone tried Disney Quest before? Did you feel it was worth the money? We know there are DQ vouchers with our MYW package, and we were wondering if we should take advantage of them this year. In August, our girls will be ages 8 and 4 (almost 5).

Also, has anyone used Undercover Tourist before. I know they get good reviews, but wondering if anyone has personal experience either good or bad. They seem to have the lowest prices for DQ. Thanks!

We have been to Disney Quest a few times using our water parks and more passes. My son really enjoyed it. We went last year and he was 5 at the time. He loves video games so it was right up his alley. By daughter was only 3 so we spent most of our time shopping at DTD. If your kids like simulators and games like you would find at arcades, then they would probably like it. It is definitely something different, but not something I feel we have to visit every time we go.

 

[krd315]

Airfare booked!
ADR's done!
Pirate league reservation done!
now to wait 6 more months......this is the hardest part.

 

[msyjoa]

Thursday Night's
Question of the Day
How do you snack at Disney?
Are you planning to bring snacks or are you having them shipped to your room?
Do you haul them in a back pack into the parks?
Do you use up all of your snack credits on the dinning plan?
Any snacking tips to share with the group?

I am curious too! I know we are planning on ordering and having a few things sent to the room. We aren't doing the meal plan so snacks will be oop. Our dd will be four so I'm going to have a stroller, so I figure we will use that for snack storage in the park.

 

[sahmoffour]

Has anyone tried Disney Quest before? Did you feel it was worth the money? We know there are DQ vouchers with our MYW package, and we were wondering if we should take advantage of them this year. In August, our girls will be ages 8 and 4 (almost 5).

Also, has anyone used Undercover Tourist before. I know they get good reviews, but wondering if anyone has personal experience either good or bad. They seem to have the lowest prices for DQ. Thanks!

We went last December, our kids were 4, 5, 8 and 10 at the time. DQ was most of their favorite part of the trip. I didn't love it just because it's not my thing, but the kids had a blast there. I think if you have the vouchers anyways, I would take advantage of them.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

We have been to Disney Quest a few times using our water parks and more passes. My son really enjoyed it. We went last year and he was 5 at the time. He loves video games so it was right up his alley. By daughter was only 3 so we spent most of our time shopping at DTD. If your kids like simulators and games like you would find at arcades, then they would probably like it. It is definitely something different, but not something I feel we have to visit every time we go.

We went last December, our kids were 4, 5, 8 and 10 at the time. DQ was most of their favorite part of the trip. I didn't love it just because it's not my thing, but the kids had a blast there. I think if you have the vouchers anyways, I would take advantage of them.

Thanks! I believe we get two vouchers, so we are debating paying about $80 extra for two additional tickets. We may also use the mini golf tickets this time around. Just trying to plan for any extras!

 

[TI double-GUH ER]

3 Days until I can book my ADRs!!! Can't wait!

We've narrowed down our list - bumping some places to "next trip" or "runner up" status.
We also have a tentative plan for which parks we're going to each day.
Tuesday - arrive/ check in/ pool day/ DTD, dinner at Fulton's, dessert at Ghiridelli
Wednesday -MK - early lunch at BOG, dinner at Tony's
Thursday -MK am, then park hop to EP for lunch at Via Napoli's
Friday- AK, lunch at TRex
Saturday- HS, breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, possible early dinner at 50's Prime Time
Sunday - EP- breakfast in Norway
Monday- MK - breakfast at Crystal Palace
Tuesday come home


The inlaws might be joining us for part of the trip, so we might adjust the days again, but I told them they have to let me know before I make the ressies if they want to be included!!

I'm not sure about that first dinner though - I'm tempted to trade it out for Chef Mickey's or Ohana. All 3 would be new for us. Anyone have advice that way?