An April WDW Birthday Trip with Deluxe Dining

[DLFan123]

Hi to everyone. I'm fairly new to the Dis Boards, but definitely not new to Disney! Having grown up in Arizona, I spent many summers in southern California, always visiting Disneyland many times. I had not been to WDW until May of 2011, and now my DP and I are going back this April to celebrate her birthday. About us:

Me-33 and lover of all things Disney. Devoted to Disneyland but really loved Disneyworld on our first trip there last year. My favorite park will always be Disneyland, but Epcot at WDW is a close second. My favorite country-France-thanks to the Boulangerie Pattiserie.

DP-33 (about to turn 34!) and agreed to come along for the ride on our first trip to Disneyland together in 2010. Found that she loved Disneyland almost as much as me even though she thought she simply "liked it" before. Also really loved WDW last May and can't wait to go back. She enjoyed AK much more than me last year and can't wait to ride Expedition Everest for the second time this April.

We have been planning this trip since we got back from our Christmas Disneyland trip just a couple months ago. After laboring for several days we have decided to stay...

Port Orleans Riverside for 3 nights at the start of our trip! This will be our first time here. We really wanted to stay at a different resort than our last trip, so we chose POR for the location (very excited to visit WDW DTD for the first time and love that we will be able to take a boat instead of a bus) and the ambience. In DL, New Orleans square is my favorite land, so needless to say, I will forever be disappointed that MK doesn't have a New Orleans Square. The decision to stay at POR will hopefully give me a little of the New Orleans flavor that I love at DL but miss at MK. Also, the decision to stay a few nights at a moderate resort helps our budget, too.

For the last part of our trip, we will be staying 7 nights at the Beach Club Resort. We stayed here last May and loved it, especially because of its proximity to Epcot and the Boardwalk. We adored strolling along the Boardwalk, and also really enjoyed the pool complex at BC.

After much laboring, we have decided to purchase the Deluxe Dining Plan. The Dis Boards is responsible for this decision. All the food pics and reviews made us really want to do it. We know we will be spending more money than we ever would if we didn't choose the deluxe plan (we are moderate eaters in general, and also tend to make frugal choices and do a lot of splitting when we normally eat out), but we just thought purchasing the dining plan will allow us to sample more things and really live it up, since we will be forced to eat multiple snacks, meals and desserts etc. We decided on deluxe because often my favorite part of a meal is the appetizer course.

We aspire to post a dining review and take lots of food pics during this trip so you all can vicariously enjoy, as we have immensely enjoyed reading others' dining reviews and seeing all of the pics!

About our eating habits:

We are both ovo-lacto-pescatarians (this means we will both eat dairy, eggs, and seafood) and eat a mostly vegetarian diet at home in Colorado. We do not eat any meat, poultry, or animal derived products like broth or gelatin. We observe these rules very strictly and will not even bend to eat a marshmallow or container of Yoplait yogurt (most people do not know that gelatin is an animal derived ingredient in these foods!).

Me: Love most shellfish (not muscles!), cheese and mushrooms. I eat most fish also. I love almost all vegetables when prepared properly. Creme brulee is perhaps my favorite dessert.

DP: Enjoys seafood perhaps a little less than me, doesn't typically enjoy crab, lobster or scallops, and hates salmon. She enjoys most other fish and especially shrimp. She eats all vegetables also. She loves cheese (not as much as me) and mushrooms, too!

In the next post, you will see all of our ADRs (we have so many, it seems!) and hear how we have come to these decisions.

Thanks for reading along and we look forward to hearing your comments, suggestions and feedback!

 

[DLFan123]

One of the things we really felt we missed out on during last year's WDW vacation was all of the wonderful dining that is offered in WDW. We had made a few ADRs but ended up missing most of them simply because we did not operate well on a schedule while on our trip. We did end up eating a few special meals, but these we decided upon rather spontaneously and simply lucked out in that we were able to walk up and wait for tables. So for this year, we decided we were going to sample some of the great food and restaurants the world offers. As our list of must-do restaurants grew, it started to become apparent that we should book the dining plan.

Here are our ADRs for our April trip, starting with our first day in the world, which is a Friday. We will be eating:

Fri
AM-Tusker House Donald's Safari Breakfast Buffet
Lunch-TBD
PM-Sanaa

Sat
AM-TBD
Lunch-Fulton's Crab House
PM-Boatwright's

Sun
AM-TBD
Lunch-Sci-Fi
PM-50s PT Cafe

Mon
AM-Cape May Cafe Character Buffet
Lunch-TBD
PM-La Hacienda de San Angel

Tues
AM-Chef Mickey's Character Buffet
Lunch-Tony's Town Square Restaurant
PM-Crystal Palace Character Buffet

Wed
AM-TBD
Lunch-Yak and Yeti
PM-San Angel Inn

Thur
AM-TBD
Lunch-Rose and Crown
PM-TBD

Fri
AM-Kona Cafe
Lunch-Liberty Tree Tavern
PM-Kona Cafe

Sat
AM-Captain's Grille
Lunch-Chefs de France
PM-Cape May Clambake

Sun
AM-TBD
Lunch-TBD
PM-on the plane

We have pretty much decided each and every thing we plan to order at the above restaurants, thanks to all the photos we have seen, the menus on allears, and the dining reviews we have read here.

Next up, things we are most excited to do, including meals we are most excited to eat!

 

[johnsonginad]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

 

[DLFan123]

Here are my excuses for why I can still claim to be a)productive and b)cool and still be on Dis boards the entire day today, Super Bowl Sunday.

First, my DP is at work all day. Second, Animal Planet is replaying the Puppy Bowl 2 times so I can catch any action I miss later on when DP is home. Third, I have come down with a cold, so chores and exercise are out. Lastly, we had a major blizzard over the past few days, so there is too much snow on the ground to be out walking the dogs or doing much else, for that matter.

Our itinerary begins on a Thursday in April, when I have the day off but my DP has to work. We both work in healthcare and getting time off of work for trips can be an issue. For me, it is a little easier. My bosses seem to understand how important leisure time is, I think in large part because I work for a local hospice. It is impossible to do this type of work without realizing just how important living in the moment is. I'd rather take my trips now than miss out completely, and the senior management at my job get that. Also, I have been with the company longer so get more PTO. My DP has been with her company for a shorter period of time, and her boss is not so understanding about the importance of vacation.

Back to the trip though...Thursday I will be home with the dogs, showering them with love while DP will be working an abbreviated day. I will pick her up on the way to the airport. We are lucky enough to have a direct flight to Orlando where Disney's Magical Express should be waiting to whisk us away to some POR magic. Thursday night will be such a late arrival for us that I doubt we will do much, but depending on what we eat at the airport, I'm hoping to split a CS meal at the food court of POR that night. The create your own pasta has caught my eye.

Friday, we have an early ADR at Tusker House buffet. My plan is to enjoy entering the AK without having to do the RD. (At DL they are less likely to make you wait behind an actual rope. I prefer this. If you get there early, they usually let you in to the park and you are free to meander to your first stop, without having to participate in the cattle drive that is RD in WDW. For me, starting the day by standing in a long line and being shoved around in a mob of people all trying to get to the same ride simply to stand in line again is just silly.) We are both really looking forward to Tusker House. Donald is one of my favorite characters, and I can't wait to see him wearing his African safari outfit! Plus the food pics we have seen on here have caught our eye. We will be finished eating and can then leave the restaurant at our leisure, sans rope. I'm sure we will head first to Expedition Everest, since DP has been waiting for this moment since our last WDW trip. For lunch, she is hoping for a jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzel, and I'm hoping it won't be too spicy for me to try a few bites. I'm looking forward to a veggie egg roll.

We are hoping to hit all the major rides at AK this day and leave in time to take the bus to Sanaa, where we have made a special request for a table by the window. This is the meal DP is most looking forward to, and it is her birthday trip, after all. We both love Indian food, and I can't wait to try Disney's version! Dessert looks awfully tempting at this restaurant as well.

By evening, we are hoping we won't be too exhausted to make it over to EMH at MK and catch the light parade. I'm also hoping for some yummy snacks late night in the MK, but I haven't decided exactly which yet.

Saturday is a more relaxed day. In my mind's eye, I picture us waking up late, eating some CS breakfast from our food court and perhaps taking a swim at Ol' Man Isle (is that what it's called?). Then it's onto the boat and down to DTD for our lunch at Fulton's! Now I love crab and simply cannot wait to try the Dungeness crab legs here. It is very hard to get dungeness crab in town, unless you want the whole crabs. My DP is less into the cuisine at this restaurant, but I imagine she will be enjoying the portabello fries as a starter and perhaps some fried seafood as her entree. Dining on the riverboat is a magical dream come true for us. I love themed restaurants and especially seafood restaurants with themes. We are also excited to spend some time in DTD, having missed out completely during our last WDW vacation. We really enjoy the area at its California counterpart, so we are sure to have a great afternoon. Dinner is a must-do back at our resort. DP has seen the vegetarian jambalaya on Boatwright's menu, and there is no way she is missing out on that. She loves spicy and cajun food, but often has to skip it because sausage and/or chicken are almost always involved. And it is her birthday trip after all. The apps have caught our eye here as well, including the crawfish bites. I am most excited for dessert--pecan pie and bread pudding are new favs for both of us!

Saturday evening, we plan to relax in anticipation of a big day Sunday. However, if I drag my stuffed a** onto a surrey bike I will have fulfilled a dream of mine. Last trip, I was so psyched to ride a surrey bike in the Boardwalk area, but we just didn't have the time for it. You should know that in general, I am scared of riding bikes. I have never been very good at it, and the last attempt I made, I ended up on a faulty old bicycle that was too tall for me, didn't steer properly and had no brakes. You can figure out how that ended. But I love the idea of riding bikes, wind in your hair, efficiency and exercise all in one while taking in the sights. So I have concluded that a surrey bike ride would provide just the right amount of pixie dust I need to have a successful bicycle riding time. (I'm guessing we won't have the time for the bike, but oh I hope so!) If a hot tub figures into our eve as well as some Mickey beignets from the neighboring POFQ, you won't find me complaining either.

Sunday, we are checking out of our hotel early and heading to Hollywood Studios for the day. Does anyone know if we will be able to leave our luggage with the POR and have it transferred to BC for us? Or do we have to take it ourselves, via taxi, since we will not have a vehicle while in the world? This will affect how early we need to be up so we can make RD at HS. Besides all the major rides at HS (Toy Story Mania is my fav and I'm so glad they added it at DCA in Anaheim!), I am really excited and ready to try my first a)Carrot Cake Cookie and b)Starring Rolls cupcake. I have no idea what flavor cupcake we will try, but I have been drooling over all the pics of the cupcakes on this site. Our lunch will be at Sci-Fi (really eager to try the new veggie burger since last year we were stuck with the tofu entree which was very lacking and mushy, poorly done tofu) and dinner at 50s PT Cafe. I'm hoping they will let me have the crab cake app as my starter and then sub the seafood salad as my entree. DP is being forced to try the spaghetti and "meatballs" (I want a bite!) that have been added to the menu as the vegetarian option. Being a little more on the reserved side, I am not sure we will love the theming here, but we shall see. We plan to catch Fantasmic! last thing of the day, even though we both agree DL's version is by far superior in every way. Now that we know how different WDW's version is, we are sure to be less disappointed than we were last time.

We will end our day by taking the boat transport to BC where we will be checking in for 7 more nights of magic!

Of the first 3 days, almost all our meals will be firsts for us, with the only restaurant and/or snack we have formerly tried being Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre and the veggie egg roll.

Things I am most excited about-eating my dungeness crab legs on a riverboat, walking the paths of POR and swimming/sitting in a hot tub

Things my DP is most excited about-dining at Sanaa and seeing animals, riding Expedition Everest and sampling the jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzel

Next post...10 wonderful nights of magic continue as we begin our stay at the BC and our tour of Epcot.

Things I am most excited about--
trying the banana split at Beaches and Cream
DP's actual birthday day and dinner at San Angel Inn
enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Epcot and the Boardwalk area, where aesthetics and nostalgia abound!

 

[DLFan123]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

Yay! My first reader!

 

[DLFan123]

Is it customary for WDW to change their park hours several times a couple months in advance? Either this has happened (to my benefit!) or I simply misread their former hours. Friday morning, when we have our early ADR at Tusker House in AK, I had thought was an extra magic hours day, meaning the park would already be somewhat crowded when we leave the restaurant that day. Now, it shows a regular entry time. Either way, what this means is that not only do we get in early without having to be herded behind a rope, but we will be starting the day just as early, if not a little earlier, than all the people who will have stood behind that rope! Ever since I made the executive decision to arrive Thursday night instead of Friday, things have just been working out perfectly!

Can't wait to get to more of our days' itineraries, but first, it is time for work.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Joining in! I believe I have read they can transfer luggage for you. We plan on transferring hotels during our stay, so I sure hope so.

Love your plans so far, can't wait to read more

 

[DLFan123]

Where did we leave off? Oh yes! It was Sunday night and we were checking into our water view room at the Beach Club Resort. We actually originally had booked a garden view room for a much better rate, but we lost that when we had to rearrange our travel dates a little. So now we have sprung for both the deluxe dining and the water view room.

Monday morning we are having our character breakfast at Cape May. We did this last year and enjoyed it very much. Minnie was really sweet in her beach wear, and our server (I can still remember her name-Dorothy) was the best. I am hungry just thinking about it! After we get our fill, we plan to head into Epcot through the back entrance and march all the way up to Future World. This is hard for me to do, because so much of Epcot is just so picturesque and lovely, even when the countries themselves aren't open! I'll have to keep my urges to photograph, meander and sit to myself so we can get to Soarin' in time to ride and/or get fps before the rest of the world gets there. We will take in Soarin', Living with the Land and Figment before heading to Test Trak (if it's open while we're there-there's nothing official on WDW website yet, but multiple other sites list the ride as being in refurb while we are there). We will skip Mission Space (bad experience last year ) and this will save us a little time. For lunch, we may have the vegetarian option at the Asian station inside Sunshine Seasons. Their fried tofu was the best tofu dish we had last year while at WDW. We also really liked dessert here. In a perfect world , I imagine we split the fried tofu and a dessert with one CS credit, then move on to Tangeriene Cafe to use another CS credit. Both my DP and I have been wanting to sample the vegetarian plate here, having read so many good things about it. But how about all our snack credits? Maybe time for a little School Bread from Norway, or the lemon tart from Boulangerie Patisserie or the caramel chocolate covered strawberry from the caramel store...? I hope we will have a little time to meander, ride the Norway boat ride and eat some of these yummies in time to get hungry again for our dinner at La Hacienda!

We decided to eat here for dinner this Monday night after seeing the pics and reading the menu on allears as well as WDW website. We then opted to schedule our reservation for a little later, hoping to catch some of Illuminations from our table. We have designated Wednesday night, DP's bday, as our official night to observe Illuminations, but if we see it this night, too, we'll be happy.

We have a big day planned Tuesday with an early start at Chef Mickey's, so we don't want to push too hard. While we are doing all of the Monday afternoon meandering, sitting and eating, mabye we will have a little time for a nap! I'm tired just thinking of all that we must do!

Tuesday morning, I think we will take a cab over to the Contemporary for our very early reservation with Mickey himself. Is it lame that I am in my 30s and excited to eat breakfast with Mickey Mouse and a bunch of 5 year olds? Maybe but I am pretty excited anyway.

After our Tuesday breakfast, we will hit MK for RD, all the major rides and then lunch at Tony's Town Square. Very excited to try the eggplant pasta dish entree. We will probably be skipping the afternoon parade, because we saw it last year and thought it was ok. But wait! Even as I type those words, I feel like I will really miss it if we don't try to catch the afternoon parade. Even though it really hurts my butt to sit on the curb all that time, and even though it is so hot in the afternoon, and even though we have seen the parade and didn't feel it was a must-do, now I feel like maybe we should see it again. Whatever we decide to do, we have a late dinner res at Crystal Palace to hang out with Pooh and eat some salmon and cute little buffet desserts! We will have seen the Main Street Electrical Parade on Friday night prior to enjoying the EMH that night, so we won't sweat that we'll be missing it while we chat with Piglet and Pooh. Perhaps we'll end the night with a last ride on Pirate's the head back to our hotel. The next day, Anne's big bday at WDW!

 

[DLFan123]

Joining in! I believe I have read they can transfer luggage for you. We plan on transferring hotels during our stay, so I sure hope so.

Love your plans so far, can't wait to read more

Thanks for reading along!

Where will you be staying during the trip you are making this summer?

 

[DLFan123]

I have just seen a picture of the cherry cobbler served a la mode at Fulton's and now I know what I will be having for dessert the day we eat there!

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Thanks for reading along!

Where will you be staying during the trip you are making this summer?

Your day in epcot sounds fantastic, now I'm hungry thinking about sunshine seasons and tangeriene cafe, those are two of my favorites I am making a mental note to try the fried tofu

We're staying at CBR for five nights, and later added on a night at AsMu so we can try out a value resort

 

[DLFan123]

In response to MrsDrewsky-
Funny that you say you wanted to try a Value, I have told my DP that we should squeeze in a short trip to one of the Values one of these days! We are just realizing that our annual passes will be expiring at the end of May, and we will be like regular people who have to buy park tickets again, so such a trip may not happen, but I can hope. Last year, when we decided to book our very first WDW vacation thanks to a friend/coworker who loves WDW the way I love Disneyland, we chose to purchase the Premier Annual Pass based on a few things-

1. We were already going to be buying 9 day park hoppers for WDW, which aren't cheap
2. We knew we'd want to go to Disneyland for a quick trip soon after WDW, since I knew being in Orlando and seeing all of Walt's magic on that coast would make my craving for Disneyland that much stronger!
3. We had airline miles and points racking up for a cheap airline, and flying to So Cal is cheap!
4. We could get a good resort discount at our deluxe resort in FL, making the passes even more beneficial (we chose to stay at a deluxe figuring it might be our only WDW vacation ever-trip of a lifetime, right? Yeah, right.)
5. Last, the passes would save us money pretty quickly, even if we took only one 3-day weekend trip to DL in Anaheim

So we did it! Which is why we've been to DL many times over the past year. We originally thought the Christmas trip to DL would be our last for the year, and then all of a sudden, we thought, "Why let the Premier AP go to waste when we could squeeze in another week at WDW and get even more value out of it?!" So here we go.

All of this means that technically, our Disney dream days should be over when the passes expire in May. We should really take a break from Disney and travel to some other destinations like the prudent adults that we are. But now we've sort of compromised and decided maybe we should take just a few months off of Disney, considering an AP again in the late fall. We loved MNSSHP at DL last year, but we regretted not dressing up in costume for it. In my mind, I'm saying maybe we should do it in Florida in late October, dress up, and get Premier APs again...but flying all the way to FL for just a few days is hard for me, because I HATE to fly...which is a story for another day.

More trip details to commence later. It is time to put my nose to the grindstone and do some money making.

 

[DLFan123]

Your day in epcot sounds fantastic, now I'm hungry thinking about sunshine seasons and tangeriene cafe, those are two of my favorites I am making a mental note to try the fried tofu

We're staying at CBR for five nights, and later added on a night at AsMu so we can try out a value resort

If you are going to try the fried tofu at SS, here is what we did. Normally, they serve the fried tofu in a soup, so it looks almost like a vegetarian Pho. We did not do this. (My DP doesn't like most soups-the idea of solid objects floating in liquid. Isn't that funny? ) Anyway, we requested a combo plate with the noodle dish which is vegetarian but wouldn't be too exciting without the tofu, added the fried tofu as our protein and then got the broccoli on the side. We mixed it all up and voila! We had a really yummy veggie dish with some well-made tofu. The tofu is really like little crispy, salty squares with some nutritional value, so it isn't the most fabulous thing in the world, but if you like fried crispy salty things, you will enjoy it.

 

[DawnH]

Loving your PTR! Great restraunt choices ! Can't wait to here your reviews for both La Hacienda (we ended up cancelling this in December) and Sanaa.
Yes, they will transfer your baggage. We have done this a few times even though we have a car.

 

[DLFan123]

So where were we? Oh yeah! It is finally time to say to Anne! It is now Wednesday morning and the day has come! DP's WDW birthday!

For today, we tried not to overplan, wanting to be sure we have plenty of time for relaxing. So far, here is what we will be doing...

Wake up at 6 am, perhaps share a "snack" in the room as we get ready (maybe something from Boardwalk bakery?) before leaving in time to make RD at EMH at AK. We have a lunch reservation at Yak and Yeti. This is one meal we are extremely excited about! Those cream cheese wontons for dessert are just right up our alley. Also, the salmon looks delicious (for me) and DP Bday girl cannot decide between the crusted mahi and the tempura shrimp. (I hope she chooses the shrimp, because I want to try some, and I think this looks so much better than the mahi.) After we get tired of AK, we plan to return to our resort, freshen up, then head to Epcot for our dinner res at San Angel Inn. This was DP's choice for her special bday dinner, but I'm not really sure why. We reviewed the menu and the desserts again yesterday, and she really doesn't even know what she is going to order. Imagine that! Usually if she really wants to eat somewhere, it is because there are things on the menu that sound really good to her. She did say that the ambience of the restaurant is why we will go there. We probably won't ride many Epcot rides, but we will likely take in the Gran Fiesta Tour with the 3 cabelleros since we will be in the mood after sitting in the San Angel Inn watching all the boats float by.

After this, we plan to watch Illuminations, probably from the bridge area near France. Perhaps we will add a lemon tart or other such sweet treat from the Boulangerie Patisserie, since we will be so nearby.

All in all, it sounds like the perfect day to me...

Thursday will be a much more relaxed day for us. We plan to spend time at our resort, perhaps taking a late breakfast at Kouzzina (again, DP's request, and she is the bday girl!). We have a lunch reservation at Rose and Crown, something we are really looking forward to. Last trip, we missed our ADR here in spite of the fact that the food sounds really enticing to us. Specifically, they have a vegetarian shephard's pie at lunch that DP can't wait to sample. We did enjoy the fish and chips from the walk-up window last time, so one of us will certainly be ordering those again! How can fish and chips be so much better here than most other places we've eaten them? After lunch, we plan to relax, swim, perhaps meander the boardwalk and eat a banana split at Beaches and Cream for dinner. That's right--for dinner! Afterwards, we hope to catch the movie on the beach as this is something we never had time for last trip, but really regretted missing.

Friday, we have a very early day including breakfast at Kona Cafe (again, DP can't wait to try this tonga toast), then take the Poly monorail to RD at MK where we will hit our favs and enjoy the ambience of the park. We have lunch planned for Liberty Tree Tavern. This will be another new restaurant for us. There are two reasons we have decided we must try it--1)the crab dip appetizer and 2)the ooey gooey toffee cake! I hope it is as good as people say! We plan to ride some more rides in the afternoon and then finish our day back at Kona where I have told DP what she must order for dinner! I will be having the shrimp and scallops (yum!) and she must order the tuna oscar. The reason for this is that I am a huge fan of oscar! but not of tuna. She loves tuna. So I can eat a significant portion of the oscar topping (I hope) and she can eat the tuna. If it all works out perfectly, I will be incredibly pleased and we will step out of the restaurant to catch the water pagaent on the lake. We didn't see this last trip, but are really excited to find out what it's all about. We're also excited to look around the Polynesian Resort, where hopefully we will be staying during a future trip, yet to be planned.

For Saturday, we have a nice, light day of relaxing around the Beach Club and Boardwalk areas again, with breakfast at Captain's Grille (hoping they will do a veggie benedict or even better! eggs oscar for me) and dinner at the Cape May Clambake (for the all you can eat crab legs!). We have managed to squeeze in a lunch reservation at Les Chefs de France. After all, we want to get the most out of our dining plan! We both look forward to sampling the Macaroni and Cheese, and one of us may order the veg lasagne. We just saw a picture on Dis boards of this yesterday, so now we may be splitting the two entrees. We have not really decided on our apps yet, as we were both so hoping to find the french onion soup was not made with animal broth (but it is). This means we have to choose new apps, and we really hadn't thought about that until recently. We can't decide on our desserts yet, either! For the late evening, I'm not sure what we will be doing, but I know it will involved being sad and blue since we have to leave the next day.

I think I am worse than the average person in my dread over leaving a vacation, and usually the entire last day I am so distraught and mopey it is hard to console me. I'd never go home if it weren't for the dogs (and maybe the fact that I'd completely run out of money pretty fast after my job figured out that I had gone AWOL on them ). So I hope Saturday I can manage to drown my sorrows in really good food and a little meandering in World Showcase and not dwell too much on the fact that we will be leaving.

For Sunday, we don't really have plans. Our flight doesn't leave until evening (I'd just as soon get it over with, but it was either way too early in the morning or this evening flight if we wanted to fly direct), so we have plenty of time still to vacation. I suppose we may do last minute shopping or even look around the Boardwalk resorts, which we didn't really have time to do on our last trip. I am so sad thinking about this day right now, that I should just stop!

That's our itinerary in a nutshell . We expect things to change between now and the trip (which is just over 2 months away). I will post updates of changes as we make them, as well as my pretrip to-do list.

 

[DLFan123]

New reservation-Flying Fish Cafe 8:30 pm on Sunday!

Here is our first major change. Yesterday, I had a great thought! Why in the world wouldn't we eat at the Flying Fish if we will be on the deluxe dining plan? It isn't something we are likely to pay out of pocket for, since I will always think it is too expensive for a theme park vacation meal! So now is our only chance. I have talked DP into eating there with me, but because our plans are so tight already, we have had to make a sacrifice.

The meal to take the hit-50's PT Cafe. Neither of us is very excited to go here (the theme just isn't our thing), and Sunday, the day we were planning to go, is the first day we will be at the Beach Club Resort. Rather than staying in HS until late, we have decided to leave late afternoon, go back to BC and check out our new room, then change for dinner at the FF. What a fancy menu! It is 2 credits a piece, but worth it since there is no way we can eat 3 meals a day every day anyway. We both love the Boardwalk area, so this also gives us a little more time to enjoy the atmosphere and relax. Also sacrificed in this new plan is Fantasmic! We both agree we want to see it this trip, but not sure we will be able to fit it in on another night, unless perhaps it is Thursday or our last night, Saturday night.

I am super excited to eat at FF Cafe, and it certainly is a better way to get the most out of the deluxe dining plan!

 

[DLFan123]

Loving your PTR! Great restraunt choices ! Can't wait to here your reviews for both La Hacienda (we ended up cancelling this in December) and Sanaa.
Yes, they will transfer your baggage. We have done this a few times even though we have a car.

YAY! Glad to have you. Thanks for the answer to our question about bags. I do think for the day we move resorts, I want to bring a backpack or something with us to HS. There are usually quite a few things we leave in our room safe that I won't want to leave with the bag guys, but that wouldn't fit in the little purse we normally carry into the parks.

I will post a pic of the bag I decide to bring so you can see it!

 

[DLFan123]

In preparation for our trip, we are currently involved in a Disney movie watching marathon. Friday night we watched Up, Saturday night the Lion King, and then last night, the Little Mermaid!

Nothing gets you in the mood like seeing all these wonderful movies! I had never seen Up before, but DP had. What a sad and weird movie, but I enjoyed it very much. My favorite character, Kevin.

The Lion King we hadn't seen in its entirety in many years. We tried to watch it several months ago, but the scene where Simba's dad gets trampled is just so awful! So we picked up where we left off and I got to watch the rest of it, which was very cute and good. Love Pumba and Timon! Now I'm ready to see the Festival of the Lion King at AK!

Finally, we watched the Little Mermaid, something neither of us had seen since high school. Now I remember why we liked it so much back then. I'm excited for the musical show at HS, but the movie really made me want to go on the new ride at DCA in Anaheim. That is such a cute ride, and I love the "Under the Sea" scene! Everyone seems to think this is my favorite song-every time anyone I know hears the song, they say, "Oh...your favorite..." So now it really is like my fav, which is why I love that ride and that specific part of the ride. It will be great when the Fantasyland expansion is done and I can make a trip to WDW to go on the ride there!

Uh oh! Trip planning too far in the future...only an unreasonable, obsessed person would start planning that far ahead, right?

 

[DLFan123]

Uh oh. It's happened-we are having serious doubts about purchasing the deluxe dining plan. We have not yet added the dining plan to our coming trip, simply because we have dreaded calling in to reservations and dealing with the automated system...the waiting...then the often incompetent customer service rep...and now we find ourselves doubting if we should indeed purchase the deluxe plan. Two nights ago, we did an analysis of the cost of the food we will order on the plan vs the cost of the plan itself, and purchasing the deluxe dining plan would definitely save some money...if we can actually eat all this food. When we realized how little the dining plan would actually save (after adding up each appetizer, entree, beverage we plan to order, etc), and how much it is actually going to cost, we really are wondering if it is the best thing for us. For instance, there are many restaurants where I want to order an appetizer, but there are also just as many where I do not. There are also many where my DP and I would split a meal happily in order to save room for dessert (which we almost never order). We sat down today and added up what we would spend if we ordered each and every thing we actually want (vs what we would feel we need to order when on the deluxe plan), and it would definitely save us money to pay out of pocket. So what are two Disney Fans to do?

It is also hard because we are not big planners, and we also love to snack and munch on treats and snacks while on vacation. If we are on the deluxe plan, I don't think we will be hungry enough to eat many snacks. I also don't think we will have time to eat snacks! We will be so busy eating every meal at a sit down place that we won't have time for snacks (if we want to ride any rides!). So maybe we will not be going deluxe.

We have considered splitting the trip and purchasing the deluxe plan for our stay at one of the resorts, then going without the dining plan and winging it while at the other. The bottom line is we still haven't decided and may not decide until 5 days before our trip, which is the deadline for adding the dining plan.

Any suggestions, advice, or thoughts welcome! We will be updating our PTR when or if we can make this decision!

 

[DLFan123]

It has been a long time since we visited the Dis boards, and I have been at a bit of a loss as far as whether or not to purchase the dining plan...so this has curbed my enthusiasm a little regarding the PTR. Plus, I am at that point where I am so excited for the trip I can hardly stand it, thus making it very difficult to focus on it.

Since I last posted, we have watched Lady and the Tramp, which got us super excited to eat at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. Neither of us can figure out why Disneyland has no attraction or restaurant to pay tribute to this adorable movie.

We have almost certainly decided not to purchase the dining plan, and I must say I am feeling a little relief about this. It has started to get me very excited about other aspects of the trip, ie the relaxation and the rides and shows, rather than feeling like I have to focus on eating enough to get my money's worth. I think we will still be keeping all our ADRs, except at the Flying Fish, where we had only decided to eat in order to try to get our money's worth. We may also scratch the Crystal Palace dinner, but we will decide on this as the time gets closer. The main reason it may get scratched is simply because it dips into our nighttime entertainment plans and had only been left on the list simply as a way of making sure the plan was worth the cost...again, making the purpose of the trip with the dining plan to eat as much food as possible at the most costly places. I really am happy with our decision NOT to purchase the dining plan. If we had been awarded any version of free dining, we would definitely upgrade to the deluxe, but otherwise it just doesn't seem worth it to us.

Anyway, now we must start focusing on all the little "to-dos" before our trip, but first, we have a quick trip to San Franscisco to visit my sister. That will be this weekend, so between work and the this little weekend trip, I don't have a whole lot of time to think about or plan for our WDW vacation. So when we get back from the bay area (March 5), I will be back and will begin to scratch off items from our to-do list.

So far, we have been...

1. Breaking in new tennis shoes (not sure about my purchases, but DP has two pair that are sure to be better than the ones she wore last trip)
2. Conditioning-walking on the treadmill and walking dogs often (as much as we can stand after long days at work but we are each walking at least a couple miles a day on average)


It's a start, right? We have found it really does make a difference if we are in better physical shape at the start of our trips. We can enjoy it more and not spend so much time aching and swallowing ibuprofen.

Soon to follow is the actual list of our to-dos...