2 Trips 4 The Price of 1 PTR...WDW AND DL in 2014!! *3/6 TR Started!*

[JessicaKnits]

This is one of my favorites! As you can see from the cloud level, we were REALLY up there!

Well...I hope you all enjoyed. The fall colors were absolutely perfect this weekend, and the pictures just don't do them justice. I am soooo glad I went!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Well, I know its been awhile, but I do have lots to share!

This first is that in addition to a date change, we have also changed resorts. I can't help myself!

If you remember correctly, my very first morning that I was in Charlotte happened to also be our 180+ day for reservations. And guess what...yea that didn't happen. The first few weeks I was here were such a whirlwind, that very important things like ADRs for Disney fell to the wayside. So we had to do a bit of re-strategizing and decided instead that we will be going February 22nd thru March 5th. That's right folks, thats 11, yes ELEVEN nights and TWELVE days of Disney bliss

Even better, even though we were well past the 180 mark by the time I decided to make the switch, I was able to get every single ADR we wanted and there are A LOT of them! The only thing that we weren't able to nab was a dinner reservation at BOG! Although I'm a little bummed about that, I will continue to check for availability!

And of course, we changed our resort. They releaed the spring discounts pretty early, and as expected, Art of Animation ended up being excluded. We had really preferred to stay at Art of Animation or Port Orleans Riverside and settled for Pop Century, which is near and dear to my heart since it was my first Disney Resort! After crunching the numbers, paying the rack rate at Art of Animation saved us about $600 versus using either of the available discounts at Port Orleans Riverside. So, while its quite a bit more than staying at Pop Century, it was a good compromise! I'm super super super SUPER excited about going to AoA! I love being able to experience new resorts!

 

[klacey1]

Lovely photos-- the mountains are gorgeous!

Yay-- 11 Disney nights! We're definitely looking at adding nights to our next trip. Can't have too much Disney!

I can't wait to see your pics of AoA. It seems like an awesome resort!!

 

[blabbermouth]

Yay for AoA, it's like super-Pop! Glad you got all of your ADRs.

What a beautiful drive, just amazing!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Lovely photos-- the mountains are gorgeous!

Yay-- 11 Disney nights! We're definitely looking at adding nights to our next trip. Can't have too much Disney!

I can't wait to see your pics of AoA. It seems like an awesome resort!!

We are SO excited about staying there. It is so against my nature to pay full price for ANYTHING! Honestly, even my first designer handbag was bought at the Macy's in New York with a discount. I guess if you are going to go full price on something, then Art of Animation is the place you want to do so!

Have you started a new PTR? I'm reading your trip report now and LOVING it! Can't wait to read more...

Yay for AoA, it's like super-Pop! Glad you got all of your ADRs.

What a beautiful drive, just amazing!

It IS like Super Pop! I loved Pop when I stayed there for my first trip, but I also want to branch out and experience something new...looking forward to sharing with everyone!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow those pictures are so gorgeous!

Yay more Disney time! That's the exact length we did for our September trip! I thought it was a great amount of time to balance in some down time and not feel like it was vacation boot camp.

So jealous-- AoA is so cool!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Wow those pictures are so gorgeous!

Yay more Disney time! That's the exact length we did for our September trip! I thought it was a great amount of time to balance in some down time and not feel like it was vacation boot camp.

So jealous-- AoA is so cool!

Lol, I love vacation boot camp, but I am excited to enjoy plenty of down time too. I'm soooooo excited about Art of Animation. I played hotel ping pong for awhile. Do we want to stay with Pop? Or maybe we want to go with Port Orleans and stay in a princess room? In the end though as soon as I would commit to one or the other, I was just sad that we wouldn't be staying at AoA. Eeeee! I'm so excited!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Ahhhh yes! Day Zero! It is really my favorite day! You know, the day when you get to check completely out of reality and know that you are finally (in our case, finally, finally, FINALLY!!) headed to Disney. All the months, and in some case, years of planning are finally about to pay off.

I have always been very good about tuning out of work when it is "my time." Case in point, this PTR update is currently being brought to you via Delta's inflight WIFI on a trip home for the weekend. Everyone works hard in order to be able to afford to be able to go to Disney, so when Day Zero is finally upon us, you have that "Yay, we're almost there!" feeling!

So I have finally settled on airfare. We are taking Southwest out of Milwaukee! They have an AWESOME nonstop that leaves Mitchell airport at 7AM and gets us in to Orlando at 10:40! That's right folks, we will be in Disney for lunch time!! Milwaukee is about an hour and forty-five ish minutes away from Green Bay, and while it is not very far, with us leaving in the dead of winter, I like to have the peace of mind knowing that we are at the airport the night before. Also, I am HORRIBLE at navigating Milwaukee, so we figured it best to head down a day early.

I plan on taking the entire day off on Friday. That will leave me time to finish things up around the house, get a mani/pedi, (because I’m like that! I always wait till the last possible moment before vacation to get my nails done!) pack any last minute items and load up the car. Megan lives about 30 miles south of me and is en-route to Milwaukee, so I will drive down to pick her up. Then we will make the drive to the Clarion Milwaukee airport where we will bunk for the night. It is actually about $50 cheaper for us to get a hotel room at the Clarion which includes free parking, than it is to just pay for parking! Score! The hotel used to be a total hole, but they have recently renovated and it is quite spiffy. Even though I still don’t consider their donuts from Dunkin and orange juice from concentrate to actually be breakfast!

We will have to stop at California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, because I am obsessed with their carmelized peach salad. It is seriously the most perfect thing on earth! I have often tried, and failed, to replicate it’s amazing ness!

We plan to arrive at the hotel around 8 PM, because once we get there, there is literally NOTHING to do other than watch TV. There isn’t even anything to do entertainment wise near the hotel. So, the later, the better.
Even writing about our pre-Disney night plans gets me excited!!

 

[JessicaKnits]

As previously discussed, Magic Kingdom absolutely, positively, MUST always be my first Disney park! You just have to go there first! Especially since this will be Megan's first trip, I think it's important that she get to experience the park where it all began. And since it will have been nearly 2 years since my last visit to "The World" there is a ton of new stuff to do there as well!

We will start off with yet another "First Day" tradition for me! Breakfast before park opening at one of my favorite buffets...

I have eaten here on my first day on every. single. trip. This one will be no different. I love the variety, how fresh everything is, I could go on and on. For more about the food itself and to catch a few pictures about meals from past trips, you can mosey on over to my PDR, linked in my signature.

Despite booking nearly three weeks after our 180 day mark, I was able to snag us an 8:10 AM ADR here. I may have cried if I didn't get this one. Really, I may have!

I enjoy being able to eat breakfast at a leisurely pace, although I don't particularly enjoy any of the characters. I am all about the food ya'll! The plan is to be done with breakfast around 8:50 so that we can be ready for the mad dash too.....

NEW Fantasyland!

I cannot wait!! Seriously, I am SUPER SUPER excited about this guys. Last time I was there, they were really in the very early stages of construction still. That stupid crane was still a major eye sore behind the castle, I just can't wait to see everything all gorgeous! Normally I hit the park from left to right, so heading straight up the hub will be a new and exciting experience. NEW must see's here include Voyage of the Little Mermaid, the new Dumbo! (can you believe I've never actually ridden on Dumbo?!?) and Enchanted Tales with Belle. I also enjoy Mickey's Philharmagic, the Hall of Presidents, the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and the Mad Tea Party. I am really really crossing my fingers that the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train will be finished by our arrival. Has anyone heard a more specific opening date besides "2014?"

Depending on the time, after Fantasyland we will either be headed to our lunch reservation or headed off to Adventure land. I think that if we work smart, we will be able to get Fantasyland and Adventureland before we have lunch.

First stop in Adventureland is....

Yay! The backside of water! Jungle Cruise holds a very special place in my heart because it was the first Disney ride I have ever ridden, back when I went to DisneyLAND in 2006.

After a quick stop there, we are headed to...

Very sadly, one of my all time favorites, Splash Mountain will be going through a lengthy refurb that will be going on our entire trip, so we won't be able to enjoy it, and I'm SUPER bummed!

After Adventureland it is off to lunch at a NEW restaurant for us....

 

[newtexan]

jumping out of lurkdom to say i am really enjoying your ptr

 

[JessicaKnits]

jumping out of lurkdom to say i am really enjoying your ptr

THANK YOU for joining! Glad to have you here!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Sorry to cut everyone off, I wasn't intending for that to be a cliffhanger, but we had started our descent and I didn't want to be "THAT" person that had to be told by the flight attendant to power down!

The weather in Green Bay is really Brrrrrrrrrrr today, so I have spent the day catching up on some Disney movies! I am ashamed to admit, but the most recent Disney movie I have seen is Toy Story 3! I have LOTs to catch up on! This includes Tangled, Brave, Cars 2, UP, and Monsters U! I feel like I am missing even more! I really thought Monsters U was already out on DVD already, but sadly it isn't until Tuesday. I started out with Monsters Inc. this morning so that I could be all ready, and now I am starting on Brave!

We are off to lunch at...

Kona Café! If you are interested in why we decided to have lunch at Kona, you can read about that here in my PDR.

Magic Kingdom is supposed to have Extra Magic Hours this evening, so I think after our lunch at Kona we will walk back to the TTC and head back to the hotel to spend some time at one of the amazing pools! It also sounds like they have a great little pool bar where we can enjoy a few drinks. Once we have gotten some sun, it will be time to get ready for dinner.

So some fun facts about me and the Magic Kingdom after dark...

1.) I have never seen the Electrical Parade (to be fair, I haven't seen the day time parade either!)

2.) I have never made it to Extra Magic Hours, despite that always being the plan!

3.) Riding BTMRR during Wishes is on my Disney bucket list.

This time, I hope to cross at least 2 of those off the list. The plan is to have dinner at Tony's at 7 and step outside while we watch Wishes. After dinner, we hope to be able to do Space Mountain, Buzz and possibly the Stitch ride before we make our way back to Main Street to watch the Electrical Parade. Then it will be time for Extra Magic hours! We have an early morning the next day, but the goal is to go on at least of few of the headliners before we head back to the resort.

 

[JessicaKnits]

Well, now that I have FINALLY booked our flights, and since I changed hotels, and dates...I can give you a much clearer picture of what our Arrival Day plans look like!

Our flight departs Milwaukee at 7:00 AM. I find it worth it, for us, to purchase early bird check in for the flight down there. I want seats as close to the front as possible, since the first ones off the plane are the first ones on the Magical Express!! Eeeeeeeeeee! This may be too much excitement for me this early in the morning.

Anywhoo...we are bunking at the Clarion Milwaukee airport the night prior, since it is cheaper for the hotel room for the night that includes parking, then it is to actually pay for the parking at the airport, so its sort of a no brainer! All we need to do in the morning is get up and get ready, and then take the shuttle over to the airport. It's about a ten minute ride. We will need to drop our bags at the counter, and then it's off to security.

Security at Mitchell tends to be an all-or-nothing type experience, so here's to hoping everything goes smoothly for us.

Food options are a little bit limited here, especially for anyone on a special diet! There is a small café that I had a tasty veggie omelet at on my trip to New York that also happens to make a mean mimosa, so we may check that out!

Before we know it, it will be time to board the plane and we will be off to sunny Florida! Thanks to WeatherUnderground, we were able to find out that the average high in Wisconsin during our trip is 29 degrees. Honestly, that seems a bit low to me, but we will take their word for it. The average high in Florida during the same period hovers around the mid 70s. Believe me. We will take it!

Once we land in Florida, we will leave the airplane in a calm, rational, manner. Ah, who am I kidding. We will look something like this...dancer:

Then it's time to head to the Fake-o-rail. We will follow all of the other crazed/dazed passengers over to the...

We will resist the urge to shout out "neener neener" (really, we will, because I was raised better than that) to the remaining passengers on board, as we will be the first dropped off at...

Being the good DISer that I am, I will have completed online check in at the earliest possible date, and will hope that 1) our room is ready! and 2) that our request for the highest floor possible in the closest building will have been met.

Then it will be off to check out our amazing...

Little Mermaid Room!!!

Then we plan to call the car care center so that we can go and pick up our rental car. And then we will be driving it right back to the hotel. That's right folks! Parking I hear is usually an issue at our first destination, so we will leave the car safely at home for the night and let Disney do the driving to our first destination...

Where we will be having lunch at...

This will be a first for me, so I am very excited to try it!

After we grab a quick bite, we will spend the afternoon shopping before we check in for our dinner reservation here...

This one of the ADRs I am most looking forward to! It's a seafood lovers dream!

After we roll ourselves out of Fulton's, if we aren't too tired, my plan is to check out a place that I have had on my radar every trip since 2010. Sadly, its just never worked out to go here, but I am hoping that this trip I finally get to experience the infamous....

After JellyRolls, we definitely will need to head back to the hotel, because we have a very early morning!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Oh boy, I've been a bad bad girl. You see, I've had my eye on a few items I wanted to buy for our trip from the Disney Store. Namely a few really cute T-shirts and a few accessories, but I haven't been lucky enough to snag them when they are on sale. So I have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and today, finally a 25% off sale. I resisted the urge to buy more, only because I know that for Black Friday they will have some ridiculously good deals! So I got all of these T-shirts, for $15 each. I think they are all adorable, and they all might very well be my favorites! And then my favorite new accessories!!

Seriously, I wore out the VHS tape of Bambi when I was young!

My main girl, Minnie

Who can resist a bow accent, I mean, seriously?

Snow White...

Daisy!!!

An homage to where we are staying..

And lastly...

My favorite, favorite!

And last, but certainly not least, the only reason I was even looking on the website this morning was so that I could purchase these....

We will have to fight over who gets what pair later! I absolutely adored the pair that I got on my last trip, that I had on in my Intro pic. Unfortunately I was forced to check my carryon bag on our return flight and the feathers got very crumpled!

I know I went a little bit overboard, but usually when those shirts go on sale for $15, they NEVER have any of them in my size, so I jumped at the chance. The only one I couldn't get was the "A pair of shoes can change your life" one which I was REALLY bummed about! I will continue to stalk it to see if it makes a re-appearance though.

The only sad thing is that I had to have these shipped to my home address since I am already out of luggage space when I leave Charlotte, so I won't get to see them for two whole weeks!

 

[JessM]

Love all the new Disney shirts! I've been fighting the urge all day to go buy a ton!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

So psyched but bummed that you changed your dates--we were going to overlap!

LOVED Fultons and there is NO WAY to explain how fun Jellyrolls is. It's just a freaking blast. My husband isn't that into fish, so he wasn't as psyched about Fultons as I was.

Thanks for all the fun posts!! I am also going to try to snag that Bambi shirt. Don't feel bad. I bought about $250 worth of Disney shirts at Old Navy before our last trip.

 

[klacey1]

I had to immediately delete that 25% email this morning so I wouldn't be tempted!! You got such cute shirts!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Love all the new Disney shirts! I've been fighting the urge all day to go buy a ton!

Take my advice, don't fight it, just do it!

So psyched but bummed that you changed your dates--we were going to overlap!

LOVED Fultons and there is NO WAY to explain how fun Jellyrolls is. It's just a freaking blast. My husband isn't that into fish, so he wasn't as psyched about Fultons as I was.

Thanks for all the fun posts!! I am also going to try to snag that Bambi shirt. Don't feel bad. I bought about $250 worth of Disney shirts at Old Navy before our last trip.

Whoa whoa! They sell Disney shirts at Old Navy?!?!?!? HOW have I not learned this before? I am immediately off to their website NOW to scope them out!

I had to immediately delete that 25% email this morning so I wouldn't be tempted!! You got such cute shirts!

Kylie, I shouldn't even mention the Dooney promo they had going on. But...just in case, if you buy $250 worth of Dooney, you get the wristlet free!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Quick update before I jump into our day two plans! I am headed home again for the weekend this Friday and thankfully my mom said that my Disney Swag did in fact arrive safely at her house this past Wednesday. Talk about some seriously quick shipping! I can't wait to check everything out and show all of you!

I'm also hoping to have a theme night while I'm home, since the next time I will be back will be Thanksgiving. Which sounds really far away, but is only three weeks from this Thursday. CRAZY!

So stay tuned for that!

We now resume this regularly scheduled pre-trip report.

For day two we are off to....

Epcot! I know that technically, Epcot stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." In my mind though, Epcot stands for "Place where they have really delicious snacks, lots of shopping and La Cava!"

Our "Must Do" list here is long. So let's get to it yes?

Prior to heading over to breakfast, we are stopping for breakfast at The Wave. If you're interested on why we decided to check this place out for breakfast again, you can read about it here. I know, I know. Shameless self-promotion. Guilty.

After breakfast it's off to Epcot!

We will start in Future World First, since, you know, it's the only thing that's open. There are a few old favorites for me to check out here, and some things that previously I have skipped.

I think our best bet is to head on over to my all time Epcot favorite...

I love Soarin', mostly because it started out at Disneyland, which is also where my love affair with Disney started. Its kind of crazy, because lines in Disneyland are never as crazy as they are in the world! I wonder why it's so different at the two parks?

After we glide over the California scenery, we will make our way over to check out the new...

The new Test Track (which I have now noticed is sponsored by Chevy, and not GM.) I am going to try really really hard to keep an open mind for this. Really, I am. But I just don't know that it's going to "work" for me since the whole concept of a "test" track was that they were "testing" the cars. So...I will see.

We may try out Mission: Space, but even the green version made me a little queasy last time, so we will see how solid everyone's stomachs are feeling.

Next I would like to check out Innoventions, because I haven't ever spent any real amount of time in here.

If the lines aren't too long, I think it will be a good time to get our pictures taken with the characters and stop by the Fountain View for some Starbucks. Yes! Starbucks in Disney. The most amazing thing that has happened since the Mouse himself moved in.

We will probably pass on Ellen's Energy Adventure because of the whole time thing, and the fact that they continuously announce that there is no way out...it just sort of creeps me out.

Instead, we might try out Captain E.O. Not because I find it particularly entertaining (I really do wish they would bring back Honey I Shrunk The Audience!) But because everyone really should have to experience the spandex, 80s hair, and even the 80s smell of the theater at least once in their life.

By this time it should be very close to, if not past the 11 o'clock hour, and we can start making our way over to the World Showcase! I always start on the Mexico side. Always. Tequila. Priorities people. But, since we are going to be having lunch back at Future World, I think it's best we start on the Canada side this time.

I have never much cared for the Canada pavilion unless I was indulging in some cheddar/beer soup. We are skipping Le Cellier this trip (none of the non-meat dishes appealed to me to make it worth 2 credits.) I have however, always skipped all of the films in the various countries, so I think we might try out the Circle Vision movie here. And of course do some browsing in the shops. Because hey, it can't hurt, you never know what you might find!

After Canada, it's off to Great Britain. GB is one of my favorite pavilions because they have Strongbow which I'm sort of obsessed with. They also have the tea shop, which sells the worlds most amazing little shortbread cookies, so we will have to make a stop in Britain for both, post haste!

France is next on the list, but I have a LOT of things that I want to do here, mainly of the eating and drinking variety, so we may skip it and come back later. I would also like to check out the film in France. And may just grab a Grand Marnier slush to tide me over...

I'm not sure how much time we will have in Morocco, but nothing has every really interested me here other than just how pretty everything is. Again, perusing the shops here can't hurt. You never know what you may find! By this time I do believe it will be time to head over to our lunch ADR back in Future World at...

And if you're interested in hearing more about what we're expecting at Coral Reef, you can check that out here.

What to do after lunch is a topic of much debate. Normally at this point in the day I would want to go back to the hotel for some time at the pool or for a nap. But with a lunch ADR at 1 and our dinner ADR at 6:45 and wanting to get there early so we can get a table with a view for Illuminations, it probably isn't worth the hassle.

So stay tuned for what's up next...

 

[spiritsim]

sorry been of doing mundane things but back to catch up on your thread. We changed to CSR business class and moved the date to the 1st of oct to the 12 so we also will have 11 nights 12 days at WDW. We will be doing Fultons for our anniversary the 7th of oct. Our first night we plan on T-Rex and Circe de Solie.