Always Remember to Love Yourself--A January 2014 PTR UPDATED 9/14 Life Update

[katiee37]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the PTR/TR clan so bear with me!

My name is Katie, and I am so incredibly excited to share with you my excitement about my upcoming birthday trip!

Here's me with Pluto at Chef Mickey's on my last trip way back in July, 2009!

Considering the fact that I'm a journalism major in college, I figure I will go with the 5 W's and 1 H method of introducing the trip.

WHO? Me, me and more me! It's a solo trip, my first ever. Work and other commitments have prevented my family and friends from joining me. As disappointing as that is, I'm excited to be the boss of the trip! I'm going to do what I want, when I want to.

WHAT? My 20th birthday! What better way to celebrate being on Earth for two decades?

WHEN? Tuesday January 7, 2014 through Tuesday, January 14, 2014. My birthday's the same day as the full marathon--Sunday, January 12!

WHERE? The Little Mermaid section of Art of Animation! I don't think the concept of the resort even existed during my last trip so I'm so excited to see it with my own eyes. Although I heavily considered Animal Kingdom Lodge for the obvious reason of animals as well as returning to the Beach Club for its convenient location, my college student budget as well as the fact that I really don't need much space for just myself has brought me to AoA.

WHY? Like I said, my birthday!!! Like my PTR title states, always remember to love yourself. And how am I expressing my love for myself? I'm taking myself to the happiest place on Earth!

HOW? An early-morning Southwest flight followed by a ride on the most Magical Express around!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Overview of Trip
Tentative ADRs
Mini Update--Package Booked and a Trip Gamechanger
Actual ADRs
New Ticker
ADRs Yet Again
Introducing Emily!
Tuesday, January 7--Arrival Day Plans
Wednesday, January 8
Quick Life Update
Insane but Short Life Update
Thursday, January 9
Friday, January 10
Saturday, January 11
Sunday, January 12 (YAY I'M 20 )
Monday, January 13
Tuesday, January 14
Magic Kingdom Must-Do
Epcot Must-Do
Hollywood Studios Must-Do
Animal Kingdom Must-Do
Whatever else comes to mind

The above will become links to the updates as they are posted.
Thanks for reading!!!

 

[katiee37]

By this time next week all of my ADRs will be booked

With that said, here are my tentative plans for each day! I've been referring to easywdw for basic ideas though I'm sure I deviated for them for ADR and EMH reasons.

Tuesday, January 7--Early morning flight to MCO. As much as I hate having to wake up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6:50 a.m. flight (who am I kidding, I will be too excited to sleep!) I want to get as much park time in as I can. Once I board the most Magical Express around, I will check to AoA, hopefully get in my room and then head to Epcot. Normally AK is my arrival day park, but I decided to switch things up a bit this trip. I might try to head to HS for Fantasmic after dinner, weather permitting.

Wednesday, January 8--Magic Kingdom rope drop, break in the hotel, Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. I'm going to try to avoid DD for the four day marathon weekend since I'm assuming it will be crowded with spectators and runners that don't have park admission.

Thursday, January 9--Animal Kingdom rope drop, late lunch/early dinner. I've never seen the parade at AK so I'll probably stay for it. Not sure what plans will be after the park closes (5 p.m. is so early!)

Friday, January 10--Epcot rope drop, break at hotel, Hollywood Studios for evening EMH and for Fantasmic if I haven't done it already

Saturday, January 11--I have Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom written down, but really I have no idea what I'll end up doing. This will probably be a resort hop day for the most part.

Sunday, January 12--HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME I have breakfast at Kona planned, followed by Teppan Edo for dinner since my birthday tradition since I was under ten years old was going to the local Japanese steakhouse for dinner on my birthday. Might as well keep that tradition up! MK has evening EMH so I plan to close out this magical day with Wishes and other favorites.

Monday, January 13--Another day without much planned. Catch up on some favorites, return to DD for more shopping, etc.

Tuesday, January 14--Morning EMH for Epcot energy-permitting, then board the not-so-magical-anymore express to MCO.

Next up, ADRs!

 

[katiee37]

Two updates in one day, aren't you all lucky

I figure ADRs go hand-in-hand with an overview of the trip so here you go! July 7 might change a few things but I don't think I'm hitting too many overly popular restaurants to have to completely write off one of them. I assume Via Napoli might be the hardest since it's the first night, but I'm flexible with times so we'll see. I'm planning on a lot of QS and snacks to save money, especially since eating a lot often slows me down and depending on what it is may not always agree with me when multiple rides are immediately following

Tuesday, January 7-- Via Napoli for dinner! I've heard only good things about this place, and it wasn't open during my last trip. This was actually the reason why I deviated from AK being my usual arrival day park. I'm hoping for the 5 p.m. range since I probably wouldn't have eaten much earlier in the day.

Wednesday, January 8-- Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney for dinner! Now I know it isn't the most highly rated place, but the one that used to be 20 minutes from my house closed quite a few years ago and a part of my childhood closed with it I was debating between this and Planet Hollywood, which we visited my last trip and actually enjoyed. However I can get Planet Hollywood from many more places I visit than I can Rainforest Cafe.

Thursday, January 9-- Yak and Yeti for a late lunch/early dinner! I was debating between trying it for the first time or going to the AK Rainforest Cafe location and something else the night before but I figured something new would be good! I definitely want to try the wonton dessert

Friday, January 10-- Nine Dragons for another late lunch/early dinner! Since I'm hitting HS evening EMH I don't want to be too full at that point so I'm sticking to some appetizers. Nine Dragons was a favorite my last trip so even though it's been a few years I'm hoping it will still be good!

Saturday, January 11-- Kona Cafe for dinner! Originally I was planning on Tony's and dedicating the night to Wishes, and even though the latter will probably still happen many reviews I've read have turned me away from Tony's I always take those with a grain of salt though, so I might still end up trying it for lunch one day if I get especially hungry (I can't imagine getting an ADR a few days in advance for one there would be too difficult)

Sunday, January 12-- Kona Cafe for breakfast to start my birthday off right! I was considering 'Ohana or Crystal Palace to have a character breakfast, but going solo I'm not sure if my waiter/waitress or people sitting nearby would be willing to take pictures with me and the characters, so I didn't want to take the chance. I'm looking forward to Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes and a great cup of Kona Coffee though Like I said in my previous post, Teppan Edo is for dinner to keep my Japanese hibachi tradition on my birthday alive.

Monday, January 13-- T-Rex for dinner since the menu seems rather appealing to me! This is also something my mom would never do so this will probably be my one and only trip to try it. I might add Tony's for lunch since I'm not sure what my plans are for the day.

 

[spiritsim]

I understand this I love RF and drive about 70 miles to the nearest one. You can get a card for 25 dollars from them and you get back a 25 dollar gc for inrollling and a 25 dollar gc for your birthday. Plus you get points on every dollar you spend even on merchandise. When you collect 250 points you get a 25 dollar GC again. And not just at RF but T-rex ,bubba gump and about 20 other resteraunts......So I am with ya girl.

 

[katiee37]

I understand this I love RF and drive about 70 miles to the nearest one. You can get a card for 25 dollars from them and you get back a 25 dollar gc for inrollling and a 25 dollar gc for your birthday. Plus you get points on every dollar you spend even on merchandise. When you collect 250 points you get a 25 dollar GC again. And not just at RF but T-rex ,bubba gump and about 20 other resteraunts......So I am with ya girl.

WAIT, WHAT?! I must look into this!!! There's a Bubba Gump in Baltimore that I go to every once in a while so 250 points could happen rather soon. Thanks for the insight!

 

[spiritsim]

Yes and don't forget the 10% discount......lol oh yea and prefured seating when you show your card at the checkin desk

 

[katiee37]

I'll have a more detailed update in a few days once my ADRs are booked (I've tweaked them slightly since I last posted). But I figured I would say that as of 6:50 this morning, my room at AoA is booked and my park hopper ticket is purchased!

I didn't know that DisneyQuest vouchers were now included in packages?! Sweet! I've never been but I guess I will allocate a few hours to it at some point. It never seemed worth the almost $50 admission but now I guess I'll check it out. The design-your-own roller coaster simulator looks like a lot of fun!

Now for the gamechanger: my trip may no longer be solo!!! One of my closest friends will most likely be joining me once she verifies it with her schedule and other commitments. I've never been to WDW with people other than family so I'm excited for what is to come!

 

[katiee37]

Yes and don't forget the 10% discount......lol oh yea and prefured seating when you show your card at the checkin desk

Awesome!!! I looked into it and I'll probably sign up closer to my trip. It'll be nice to have both a new member reward as well as a birthday reward available during the trip!

 

[DLR29]

Following! I went this past year during that time. I ran the Goofy Challenge but was at WDW in the parks for a few days beforehand. It's a great time to go because crowd levels are pretty low and some of the Christmas decorations are still up. But last year it was HOT!

And I'm glad one of your friends might be able to join you. I've never been to WDW by myself (I've been to DLR and USO solo though), but being able to make memories with a friend will be awesome.

 

[katiee37]

Following! I went this past year during that time. I ran the Goofy Challenge but was at WDW in the parks for a few days beforehand. It's a great time to go because crowd levels are pretty low and some of the Christmas decorations are still up. But last year it was HOT!

And I'm glad one of your friends might be able to join you. I've never been to WDW by myself (I've been to DLR and USO solo though), but being able to make memories with a friend will be awesome.

I'm hoping that at least some decorations are still up when we arrive! I read something that they usually keep the castle decorated since they needed some sort of light source during the full marathon since parts of it are before the sun rises. Not sure if that's true but I can't wait for the trip! Thanks for following!

 

[DLR29]

They definitely still had the castle lights up during both the half and the full marathons last year. Not sure if it's for that purpose but it'll be up. And earlier in the week they had the tree and wreaths up along the rest of Main Street.

 

[katiee37]

They definitely still had the castle lights up during both the half and the full marathons last year. Not sure if it's for that purpose but it'll be up. And earlier in the week they had the tree and wreaths up along the rest of Main Street.

I didn't about the trees and wreaths possibly still being up! Awesome!!! I assume a lot of the resort decorations would be taken down by the time I get there though

 

[katiee37]

My 2014 package is booked, and now so are my ADRs! I deviated a bit from my original list mainly since I'll have a friend with me now.

I was able to book half my ADRs online and then I started getting no availability for the other half--the ones that most definitely wouldn't be fully booked at the 180 day mark at the time I chose. (Crystal Palace was easier to book than Yak and Yeti...) So I called, booked the rest and got the birthday indication noted on all reservations. It should be interesting to see what happens as a result of that!

Now for the list...

Tuesday, January 7--Via Napoli dinner

Wednesday, January 8--Rainforest Cafe, Downtown Disney dinner

Thursday, January 9--Yak and Yeti late lunch

Friday, January 10--Sci-Fi Dine-In dinner

Saturday, January 11--Nine Dragons dinner

Sunday, January 12--Crystal Palace breakfast before the park opens (what better way to start off my birthday?) and Teppan Edo early dinner

Monday, January 13--Cape May Cafe dinner

Tuesday, January 14--Kona Cafe breakfast

Any thoughts or menu suggestions?

 

[Denovagirl]

Thought I would take a ride over to your PTR!!

Looks good so far, some really good ADR choices! I love that you pick Rainforest! I too, love them! I actually ate at the DTD a while back and it was great! The food was good and of course the atmosphere is always awesome, but even better being in Disney! I think peoples main beef with that place is they feel that its quite pricey for food that's good but not excellent, however on the dining plan who cares about all that stuff right?

I hope your friend gets to come along too, just so you have someone to share in the fun with, although Disney solo sounds appealing also.

And I see you're staying in AoA LM rooms too! Just like me! I am so excited for these! Have you seen the inside of the shower?!?! Ahhh-mazing! I can not wait!

Waiting for more updates!!!!!

 

[katiee37]

Thought I would take a ride over to your PTR!!

Looks good so far, some really good ADR choices! I love that you pick Rainforest! I too, love them! I actually ate at the DTD a while back and it was great! The food was good and of course the atmosphere is always awesome, but even better being in Disney! I think peoples main beef with that place is they feel that its quite pricey for food that's good but not excellent, however on the dining plan who cares about all that stuff right?

I hope your friend gets to come along too, just so you have someone to share in the fun with, although Disney solo sounds appealing also.

And I see you're staying in AoA LM rooms too! Just like me! I am so excited for these! Have you seen the inside of the shower?!?! Ahhh-mazing! I can not wait!

Waiting for more updates!!!!!

Thanks for reading! And yeah I've seen the shower! I personally think the Lion King suites have the coolest one though!

 

[Kaykool101]

Joining in. This looks like a great birthday trip!!!

I am glad you have a friend going with you. Mostly because the best pictures are always the ones with people in them and if it is just you, we wouldn't get to see as many pics with you in them.

I can't imagine not being able to squeeze a Disney trip into my schedule. But then again, I am a crazy fan. Someone says Disney and I am like, "just let me tell my boss I am gone."

I love Yak and Yeti. Now, some of it could be that it came at the perfect time in my touring both times I went. AK is a super hot park without alot of air conditioning, so when you walk in, it is like a little piece of heaven. But all the food I have had is good. We LOVE the Wok fried green beans. They are AWESOME!!! The Honey Chicken is good, but I haven't had a bad entree there. The wonton dessert is delicious. I just love that place. I seem to remember there being spring rolls and chicken wings too that were really good.

 

[katiee37]

Joining in. This looks like a great birthday trip!!!

I am glad you have a friend going with you. Mostly because the best pictures are always the ones with people in them and if it is just you, we wouldn't get to see as many pics with you in them.

I can't imagine not being able to squeeze a Disney trip into my schedule. But then again, I am a crazy fan. Someone says Disney and I am like, "just let me tell my boss I am gone."

I love Yak and Yeti. Now, some of it could be that it came at the perfect time in my touring both times I went. AK is a super hot park without alot of air conditioning, so when you walk in, it is like a little piece of heaven. But all the food I have had is good. We LOVE the Wok fried green beans. They are AWESOME!!! The Honey Chicken is good, but I haven't had a bad entree there. The wonton dessert is delicious. I just love that place. I seem to remember there being spring rolls and chicken wings too that were really good.

Thanks for joining in! I wholeheartedly agree about the picture aspect of having a friend there--I had held off on character meals and PhotoPass until I found out she was able to go.

I've never been to Yak and Yeti but I'm excited to try it, especially the fried wonton dessert!

 

[katiee37]

Well it's been a while!

I go back to college in a few weeks so I'm not too sure how often I'll be able to post once I head back. My goal was to have general plans posted by the time I left but life got in the way so although I have them all written down in my Disney notebook, they aren't neatly typed and on here yet To make it easier for you all to read this rather lengthy text post, I have underlined the key points.

However, as you may have noticed I have a new ticker!!! One of my cousins ran the full marathon this past January and although he won't be running when I'm there in 2014, he's running the Half Marathon January 2015 with two of my other cousins. I'm starting to get myself into running (I'm doing my first 5K this October--Komen's Race for the Cure!) so I figured I might as well at least do the 5K in Disney in 2015...and maybe the Half Marathon with them. We'll see. I can't do much training until I go back to college and use their amazing gym (my area isn't the safest to run around alone with) and I want to see how I do on my 5K this October before I commit myself to training for something that's over a year away. My aunt and uncle (two of my cousins' parents) are DVC members and often get a two or three bedroom villa for extended family so I assume I would be staying with them (their usuals are OKW, BWV and BLT) but we'll see!

My birthday trip originally had the mindset of "this is probably my last trip to Disney until my honeymoon or I have kids" so I somewhat expected that would be on my mind in the event we don't get to do something or can't fit everything in on my rather long to-do list (I can't help being a to-do list girl ) Part of the reason I decided on a full week instead of my normal five days was because I assumed the earliest I would be back would be 2020 or something else waaaaay too far from here and I wanted to make sure I had ample time to hit every park and to hit both new and old favorite restaurants. I'm keeping the length of my 2014 trip, but it looks like this mindset isn't the case anymore!

Hopefully soon I'll be back with my latest ADR list (I can't believe how many places still have openings for two throughout the week of my trip. I'm so used to traveling in July when ADRs everywhere are difficult--I'm not used to Be our Guest being the only thing I can't book!)

 

[katiee37]

Being a party of two during the value season definitely has its perks!

I'm honestly surprised how much is still available. I'm used to traveling in July (back when I believe ADRs only had a 90 day window) and my first trip we couldn't get even one character meal. Granted my mom (who was the one booking ADRs back in the day) probably wasn't as flexible with times as I would be, but really nothing was available.

Be Our Guest is the only restaurant booked solid throughout the week, and 'Ohana dinner is booked solid a few nights concentrated around the marathon weekend. Other than that, EVERYTHING is open! I'm pretty sure I saw some pre-park opening times open too for Crystal Palace, Tusker House and CRT!

With that said, every time I log into MDE I feel the need to look through available dining times (the site has replaced Netflix in my most frequently visited list) and as a result a few more ADRs have been made

I still have to sit down and talk with Emily about our dining budget since we aren't doing DDP and although I'm someone who will only order an appetizer and be full, she has a much larger appetite so she may or may not want more buffets, may or may not want certain price ranges for meals, etc.

So although I have a decent list now, I only have a few that I for-sure don't want to change. Many of the other ADRs will probably be rearranged once I get more of Emily's input.

The ones that are staying include:
Tuesday, January 7--Via Napoli dinner
Wednesday, January 8--Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney dinner
Saturday, January 11--'Ohana breakfast
Sunday, January 12--Crystal Palace breakfast, Teppan Edo dinner

My other must-dos are Kona Cafe breakfast and Sci-Fi Dine-In dinner although the days of those are still up in the air. I tentatively have Tusker House booked before Animal Kingdom opens on our planned day there, and 1900 Park Fare on our last day before the non-magical DME picks us up, but I might drop those for budget reasons.

Other possibilities include:
Yak and Yeti
Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch only)
Garden Grove (Friday night seafood buffet only)
Cape May Cafe (a family favorite, but won't do if we choose Garden Grove)
Nine Dragons
Boma (breakfast only)

Any opinions on Garden Grove's seafood buffet vs. Cape May Cafe's? I know Garden Grove will give us a few characters, and the close price range between the two makes that seem worth going. However, Cape May is a bit more convenient to Epcot, it's a family tradition, and I have a better idea of what would be on the buffet. Decisions, decisions.

 

[katiee37]

It's about time I introduce to you the other half of this trip, isn't it?



Meet Emily!

This beautiful girl was my next door neighbor in our college dorm this past year. At first glance, we're a lot different--she's louder when I'm quiet, she's a devoted Criminal Minds fan while I go for The Newsroom, she'll eat anything and I'm the pickiest eater ever....etc.

HOWEVER, this girl here is my best friend. She's got the most contagious laugh you ever heard, and she instantly brightens a room with her presence. She shares my love for Disney (although I think I have her a bit beat in that regard, especially when it comes to my stuffed animal collection...) and we've already traveled together.

From day trips to Washington D.C.


to multiple trips to Ocean City, MD


to a drive down the street for some good food


We've had some great times (and some trying times too) together, and I'm sure our friendship will continue to grow this year as roommates and especially this January in Disney!!!

Now I hope she's okay with all of the Disney door decs I've been working on for our room...