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

[lovingeire]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

Resort hop, hang at Downtown Disney, have lunch at a favorite spot?

 

[julieanddanny]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

You could always book a character meal at one of the resorts. That would be fun. Otherwise hang out at DTD.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

Hang out around the Boardwalk area to eat, shop, and rent a bike!

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Ok I am making a declaration for this trip.

The pigletto family will not be making any ADR's. NONE. ZIP. ZERO. NADA.

This will be our first vacation without ADRs (no table service, not even out of pocket), and I'm really looking forward to it! It will allow us to stretch our QS meals out over more days, as we can easily share two credits at one meal. It also gives us the freedom to try more places, as we will use a QS credit at one location and then hop to a new location to use another credit. We've always wanted to try the Food and Wine Festival, so using QS meals to eat around the world is the closest we will come in August!

 

[thetorit]

We did the same. We were going to have the plan of start the trip at Magic Kingdom and then let the kids pick where we went. Then plan creep set in and now we've upgrade the dining plan and made ADRs for each day.

Here's our schedule now.

8/17 - Arrive at AoA
Chef Mickey's at 7:20pm

8/18 - MK
Crystal Palace at 8:25am

8/19 - DHS
Hollywood & Vine at 8:05am

8/20 - Water parks
1900 Park Fare at 6:55pm

8/21 - Epcot
Akershus at 8:15am

8/22 - MK
'Ohana at 8:40am

For our CS meals we're hoping to get into BOG at least once for lunch. We're hoping to hit Pizza Planet at DHS and Katsura Grill at Epcot. We may eat at the food court at AoA or Pop once or twice as well. We'll snack on a pork shank at Gaston's Tavern for a meal as well.

The rough plan is to get to the parks early, hit some attractions and take a break back at the hotel pool and/or water park during the heat of the day then return to the same park that night. We're not hopping and we're skipping AK this trip.

We're doing all the same ADRs except I opted out of H&V since we don't have cable and my kids have no idea who those characters are, and replaced it with CRT. I've even planned the same CS meals besides Katsura Grill. And we're at AoA too! Great minds think alike!

 

[squirrel4569]

We're doing all the same ADRs except I opted out of H&V since we don't have cable and my kids have no idea who those characters are, and replaced it with CRT. I've even planned the same CS meals besides Katsura Grill. And we're at AoA too! Great minds think alike!

I had to swear on the bible last night that I wouldn't make anymore changes to our plans.

Still hoping that we can get some kind of discount but for now all is well.

For the QOTD I'd probably hit up DTD and do the Characters in Flight balloon ride and leisurely take our time through World of Disney and the other stores and things down there.

 

[mjaure]

Just added two days to my trip
So now we are staying at ASSports 8/16 & 17 and switching to OKW from 8/18 to 8/23!

I am planning on going to Universal Studios/IoA 8/17 & 8/18. Has anyone took the Mears shuttle from a disney resort to Universal and back?

Thanks!

Mary

 

[Koh1977]

You could always book a character meal at one of the resorts. That would be fun. Otherwise hang out at DTD.

I like that idea!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[thetorit]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

I would resort hop. And to start the groups Disney Indulgence, I'd head over to Beaches and Cream and share a Kitchen Sink.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

You will have the three boys along? I am going to assume yes.

My suggestions, then, would be:

1. A day at Disney Quest, with snacks at Goofy's Candy Company and a meal at T-Rex.

or

2. Do the Characters in Flight balloon ride at DTD, have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, then rent a pontoo boat for an hour or so and cruise the Sassagoula River.

I know my teen DS would love either of these.

Maybe I should have asked if you had a specific budget in mind?

 

[rabeck]

Has anyone took the Mears shuttle from a disney resort to Universal and back?

I will also be spending one of my days at Universal. I'm interested in the Mears shuttle service as well. It's not in the budget to rent a car or take a taxi. I looked into it and it's something along the lines of $20 per person round trip, but that's as far as I got in my research before I switched back to planning the Disney part of my trip.

 

[pigletto]

Just added two days to my trip
So now we are staying at ASSports 8/16 & 17 and switching to OKW from 8/18 to 8/23!

I am planning on going to Universal Studios/IoA 8/17 & 8/18. Has anyone took the Mears shuttle from a disney resort to Universal and back?

Thanks!

Mary

We have twice. It was a good process overall and I would do it again. We always stay onsite at Universal if we go now though. Have you seen the DreamsUnlimited (sponsors of the disboards) link that combines tickets and the Mears shuttle? That's the one we used and found to be a great deal

 

[Loreli]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

Shop shop shop DTD!! Oh right you have boys....then the other posts have great ideas.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Shop shop shop DTD!! Oh right you have boys....then the other posts have great ideas.

LOL, I don't know about momto3gr8boys's kiddos, but my teen son LOVES to shop!!! And for shoes, no less .

If you asked him what a perfect day in Orlando would entail, it would include:

1. Food
2. Outlet Malls
3. Pool time

Park time, for him, is just a bonus!

 

[pigletto]

QOTD time! Well, actually I am looking for suggestions on what you would do with one day at Disney with no resort and no park tickets. We are going on a 3 night Dream cruise next week, and will spend the day we disembark at WDW. We will arrive around 10 am and have to head back to the airport at 6:00. We have a few ideas, but I'm curious, what would you do?

I would probably pick a waterpark if it's in the budget. They are both a lot of fun and it would be the perfect amount of time to spend at one

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Thanks for all the great thoughts on the QOTD! Yes, mine are boys, but they too love to shop

The water park is a great idea, but we do have TL scheduled for August, and I'm not sure if I want to deal with changing and wet clothes just before our flight home. Plus we will have spent the day before on Castaway Cay.

I was thinking I'd like to resort hop at either the Boardwalk area or the monorail resorts, but as my DW pointed out, we are going to be staying in both resort areas in just a few months.

So, we've decided on DTD to shop and eat and possibly checking out Splitsville or DQ if the weather isn't great, or taking the boat over to POR or FQ and walking around/renting a surrey bike there. We love POFQ, and it's out favorite moderate, so since we won't be spending any time there in August, it might be fun to enjoy it a bit now.

A few of you have mentioned doing the Characters in Flight. Has anyone done that? Honestly all I know of it is the one time I stayed at OKW I watched that balloon go up and down, and up and down lol. I wasn't sure of the appeal since we've only gone to DTD at night - I have never really experienced it during the day. What is the appeal?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

A few of you have mentioned doing the Characters in Flight. Has anyone done that? Honestly all I know of it is the one time I stayed at OKW I watched that balloon go up and down, and up and down lol. I wasn't sure of the appeal since we've only gone to DTD at night - I have never really experienced it during the day. What is the appeal?

There is zero appeal for this heights chicken . The only time I want to be going up and down, up and down is in an airplane on our flights there and back .... and if there was a way to avoid that whole scenario, I'd snatch the opportunity in a heartbeat .

For those with fewer hang-ups than me (which is probably just about everyone ) I would think that the appeal of Characters in Flight is the view. Betcha its pretty cool from up there . Not that I'll ever find out . I am counting on some of you more adventurous folk to go on the balloon ride and take some great photos and share them here, so I can live vicariously through the brave .

 

[pigletto]

There was a great Groupon deal for Characters in Flight on a recent trip. I tried to get my family onboard. DD said she was too afraid of heights.. ok. Dh and ds then said they were too afraid of heights as well. I've lived with all these people for a long time.. how did I not know this?

So.. I let it go. But out of the blue one day I remembered that last August dh and ds had a blast going parasailing at the Contemporary. Umm.. how afraid of heights are you boys if you actually sailed through the air over water with ropes attached to you?

I think they just didn't want to go and saw the excuse worked for dd and ran with it

On that note. I apparently am doing my job to raise Disney obsessed children. DD 16 just texted me ..

"Mom, I had some trouble with my Science test this morning. And as I was stuck I heard the Spaceship Earth voice in my head saying "And then..we hit a road block." I don't think that's normal"..

Yep.. when the narration in your head in everyday life is from Spaceship Earth you've come over to the dark side!

 

[squirrel4569]

A few of you have mentioned doing the Characters in Flight. Has anyone done that? Honestly all I know of it is the one time I stayed at OKW I watched that balloon go up and down, and up and down lol. I wasn't sure of the appeal since we've only gone to DTD at night - I have never really experienced it during the day. What is the appeal?

If I recall you can see all of the iconic structures of the world from up there. You can see the castle, the hat, ToT, the Tree of Life, the ball, etc.

We wanted to go when we saw it in November but it was closed due to weather plus we had tired and cranky kids.

My wife is afraid of heights but she still wants to go on it. I've partially cured her of her fear though since she did the Sky Jump off of the Stratosphere for her 30th birthday last year. Our friend that is joining us also wants to go on it so I think we'll be set. Hoping to get a Groupon for it when we get closer to the time.

QOTD: Is anyone doing any weight loss or exercise plans to build up endurance prior to walking a million miles a day at the parks?

 

[zabache]

QOTD: Is anyone doing any weight loss or exercise plans to build up endurance prior to walking a million miles a day at the parks?

We are. My DH started walking yesterday. He also got his protein shake. I lost a lot of weight last year but have gained it back. The past month I have been working out but had a medical procedure done which halted them. Hopping to get back on track once the Dr gives the ok.