All About the FOOD!!!! An Aug 2018 PTR *8/15 update with Day 8/9 plans*

[MinnieWebster]

Hey Dis Friends!! We are headed back to Disney, for our final trip with our current APs. Not planning on renewing this year, to take a break and visit some other Disney parks next year (hoping to visit Japan Disneyland next spring). Until then, we are planning this one.

Who is going? Myself (Sam) and DH (Nick)
Dates: Aug 17-25, 2018
We are staying at All Star Sports, and have the Quick Service Dining Plan (booked last years bounce-back offer for Free Dining). So, with the QSDP, this trip will be mostly about the (counter service) food! We love food. And maybe a few beverages, since they are now included with meals...

 

[suse66]

Yay! You started your PTR! I am following along. Maybe our plans will overlap to say hello.

 

[MinnieWebster]

Our plans are pretty loose right now, we will iron them out once we get our fastpasses. Currently we are planning for either DHS or AK in the mornings, and Epcot and MK in the evenings. We are going to focus our FP+ on FOP and SDD/TSM.

DH and I have been going through menus of quick service restaurants in each park, trying to decide what we are most interested in getting. We like to try to maximize the value for each credit. We currently have lunch ADRs at BOG for 8/18 and 8/19, so Magic Kingdom will likely be our second park of the day for both of those days, unless that changes based on which FP+ we get next month.

95 days to go!!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in! Love August trips, the heat is okay with me.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Joining in! It will be interesting to see how you plan to use up all those QS credits!

 

[MinnieWebster]

Yay! You started your PTR! I am following along. Maybe our plans will overlap to say hello.

I had a few minutes last Friday, before I got crazy busy at work, so I was able to get it started We will have to see if they do We like to park hop, so maybe there will be some overlap.

Joining in! Love August trips, the heat is okay with me.

Hi! We love August trips too. I don't love the heat, but I can usually cope with it pretty well. Lots of water

Joining in! It will be interesting to see how you plan to use up all those QS credits!

We are coming up with lots of ideas! Usually we pack lots of snacks, and split meals, so we don't spend a whole lot of money on food, so the QSDP lets us try more things without worrying about cost. Unless it's to figure out the highest cost items that we can get. DH is a banker, so this is what happens

 

[MinnieWebster]

We booked our flights on Tuesday!! We had been watching the prices, and finally decided they weren't going to get any lower. Southwest from Chicago, we will be flying in the night before, Aug 16, arriving at MCO around 11:30pm. Since our reservation starts Aug 17, we will get a nap in the airport, and take the ME bus to AS Sports around 4am. DH wanted to do it this way, and it was a comparable price to other flights we were looking at for Aug 17. But this allows us to actually rope drop a park on our first day! Yay! That will be pretty awesome.
We will probably rope drop either Animal Kingdom or Epcot, as both DHS and MK have EMH that morning. And we will have to stop at guest services before we can go in the park.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Since our reservation starts Aug 17, we will get a nap in the airport, and take the ME bus to AS Sports around 4am. DH wanted to do it this way

Wow that is so hard core!! I applaud you, I would be dead on my feet.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along!

Are you going to slate a cs place for each meal or just make a running list of all the places you want to try? Either way, can't wait to hear where you are looking at going!

 

[MinnieWebster]

Wow that is so hard core!! I applaud you, I would be dead on my feet.

DH (and possibly myself as well) will probably be napping during a show in the afternoon. still young enough (for now) to be able to do this. Probably not for much longer though

Following along!

Are you going to slate a cs place for each meal or just make a running list of all the places you want to try? Either way, can't wait to hear where you are looking at going!

We will probably plan similar to how we did last year, and plan on certain restaurants based on where we will be, but we are usually pretty flexible when it comes to keeping to the plan or veering off course

 

[MinnieWebster]

FP+ day is tomorrow!! We had a houseful of family here all weekend, so we are working on our plans now, since everyone has gone home
Our focus will be on getting FOP and SDD as much as we can, and then we will fill in from there. BOG lunch on days 2 and 3 are the only ressies we need to work around. I plan on making a lunch ressie for Yak & Yeti once we get these FP+ reservations done tomorrow and know when we'll be at AK

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Good Luck Tomorrow! 2019 packages are released tomorrow also... So, it may a bit more tricky than normal... fingers crossed for you!

 

[MinnieWebster]

Good Luck Tomorrow! 2019 packages are released tomorrow also... So, it may a bit more tricky than normal... fingers crossed for you!

Thanks! We had pretty good luck, only one error for my husband. Managed to get FOP and SDD 3 times each (had a 4th SDD on day 2, 7:50pm, but we gave that up for Magic Kingdom morning instead. We will be flipping a couple days, Magic Kingdom in the am instead of ending there, and switched a HS and AK morning later in the week. But overall pretty happy with it

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

But overall pretty happy with it

Glad to hear it!!!! Fast Pass Day is always so exciting!

 

[MinnieWebster]

And....DH has changed a few days of fastpasses that we had gotten... He doesn't think we will want to do that many rides on SDD (said we might not like it, which is possible...), so he switched one day with evening HS FP to afternoon MK, and last night I changed our last park day from evening HS to morning MK. This will allow us to try to get additional FP at MK and possibly some "Tier 2" rides at HS those days.

Now we are trying to balance park time as much as possible, although currently we are spending a lot more time in MK and HS than we are in Epcot and AK.

57 days!!

 

[MinnieWebster]

We were (slowly) getting through our daily plans.... hadn't gotten far, only the first day and a half done until this morning, when DH saw that someone had posted about more FOP FP being released for August. Originally, we were planning on going to Epcot for rope drop our first day, and had FP for TSM, ToT and RNR in the late afternoon/evening. Those plans all changed when we found FOP FP for 9:15am! DH was eventually able to modify it to 9:00am, and we added on Kali and Everest for 10 and 11. So that meant redoing that first days plans
We are hoping to be able to rope drop FOP before doing our FP, but part of this will depend on how long it takes DH to get done at guest relations before we enter the park. We have decided on using a couple snack credits at the QS Yak & Yeti, before heading to Finding Nemo the musical and Dinosaur. Lunch will be the ribs, chicken, and pulled pork sampler at Flame Tree BBQ, with some pulled pork fries. We will try to do It's Tough to be a Bug on our way back to Africa for Festival of the Lion King.
Probably heading to HS next, depending on what we are able to get for additional FP. Since HS has late EMH until 12:30am, we will try for a late dinner at ABC Commissary. So we will likely get something to hold us over for a little while once we get to the park. Thinking about getting the Carolina foot long hot dog and milkshake from Dock Diner. ABC will be closer to 7:30-8pm, and then we'll head to see Fantasmic! DH wants to try to get a ride in at ToT before heading over to watch Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular. Then during EMH we will probably get some ice cream and then spend the rest of the night in TSL.
This will be an extremely long day, with leaving the airport around 5am, dropping our bags at the hotel, and staying out until 12:30 but we can't wait to get back to WDW and to see TSL

 

[suse66]

This will be an extremely long day, with leaving the airport around 5am, dropping our bags at the hotel, and staying out until 12:30 but we can't wait to get back to WDW and to see TSL

Awesome first day plans! You guys are super ambitious, I love it! I am so excited for EMH at HS that night too, nothing better than the parks at night!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow! Your first day is jam packed! More ambitious then ours! I am concerned about our long day with DAH but you all will also have a really long first day with limited sleep!

We can do this right!! Only in WDW, I am very excited to have a super long day with limited sleep

We will be at the EMH this night as well, maybe we can meet up to say Hi in person. We have a late ADR for Sci-Fi at 8:45 then planning to spend time in TSL!!

 

[MinnieWebster]

Awesome first day plans! You guys are super ambitious, I love it! I am so excited for EMH at HS that night too, nothing better than the parks at night!

I love the parks at night too. ...I thought you overlap with the end of our trip? We are there Aug 17-Aug 25. But we plan on doing the EMH at HS on Aug 24 as well

Wow! Your first day is jam packed! More ambitious then ours! I am concerned about our long day with DAH but you all will also have a really long first day with limited sleep!

We can do this right!! Only in WDW, I am very excited to have a super long day with limited sleep

We will be at the EMH this night as well, maybe we can meet up to say Hi in person. We have a late ADR for Sci-Fi at 8:45 then planning to spend time in TSL!!

We usually operate on very little sleep at WDW, because we always try to get as much park time in as possible.
We can do this! LOL

We should definitely try to say hi that night!

 

[suse66]

I love the parks at night too. ...I thought you overlap with the end of our trip

My mistake....I was thinking of the 24th. How awesome that you get two nights of late EMH at HS! I can't wait for TSL!!