An obsessive planner's 2nd annual Once-in-a-lifetime trip CANCELLED :( 3/22

[-Hope-]

 

[-Hope-]

Well, if you follow Karen's PTR you've already heard that we started doing Disney days again! We can't really call them Disney Movie Days anymore because the girls rarely want to watch the movies. That's fine with me... and it means we can expand our themes to include rides and restaurants as well.

Kya found a Disney Channel movie on Netflix titled Read it and Weep about a girl who's journal is lost, found by an editor, published and becomes a smash hit. It seemed like a good choice because it wasn't a cartoon (which our girls are outgrowing) and neither of the girls had seen it. I wasn't really sure how to theme it but figured it was about a book getting published so a bookstore/coffeehouse theme would make sense- right??

We had pastries and cookies...

Cocoa in to-go style coffee mugs...

And the girls decorated their own journals...

Kya is using hers as an art journal right now... she loves journaling and already has several journals, each with their own specific purpose.

After their activities they had the opportunity to watch the movie but chose to play instead. Karen and I sat on her deck and soaked up the sun while drinking wine and talking Disney. It was a great day and I'm looking forward to more Disney days to come.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

It sounds like a very fun day, Hope!!! And even though I'm jealous of the warm weather you had, I'm glad you all could enjoy it!!

 

[-Hope-]

It sounds like a very fun day, Hope!!! And even though I'm jealous of the warm weather you had, I'm glad you all could enjoy it!!

It was a fun day! The weather here has been pretty great lately- I hope some of it comes your way soon!

 

[-Hope-]

I just found out that the Lego Store at DTD is in the process of being remodeled. They're adding 3500 sq feet and new Lego Disney characters. You can read all about it here. Jace is so excited and was practically drooling when I told him how much space was being added to the store!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I just found out that the Lego Store at DTD is in the process of being remodeled. They're adding 3500 sq feet and new Lego Disney characters. You can read all about it here. Jace is so excited and was practically drooling when I told him how much space was being added to the store!

 

[-Hope-]

Well, our plans are really starting to come together. I have a confession that this trip is technically supposed to be a "maybe". We have two other mini-vacations planned for this year- 4 days in Chicago in July and 3 days in Kansas City in December. The kids have actually said that if we can only do two of the three trips they prefer Chicago and KC! However, I get so into the planning that I prefer Disney. I blame it on the DIS and Allears... it's just not as much fun to plan trips to other places. I have pretty much done all of the planning I can do for Chicago and KC and it was completed in an afternoon. But thanks to the dis and allears the planning for WDW is endless if you want it to be.

So I have some tentative park days and touring plans but what I've really been obsessing about is... table service meals. We're staying off site so no DDP but I've budgeted two table service meals because these special Disney meals are a really big part of the whole experience for us. We don't need one every day- in fact in September we only had one- but one or two is nice.

So, I've spent a lot of time pouring over the restaurant boards reading reviews (both food and experience), looking at menus and prices on allears and talking with the kids about what they want. And we've settled on...

Lunch at Sci-fi on our DHS day. I know the food gets mixed reviews but I know my kids will enjoy the burgers and milkshakes, pair that with the ambience, movie trails and cartoons and this one was a no-brainer. (This isn't my picture but I had to include one!)

At first I thought this was going to be it for our TS meals... but then Karen and I decided to do the house share and I realized that I'd be saving money on meals since I'd have a kitchen and could cook some of my own. I decided to use that money to upgrade one of our planned CS to a TS meal. I already knew (though I haven't posted much here about my touring plans yet) that we wouldn't spend much time at AK and would hop later that day to Epcot for Illuminations. Originally I thought we'd have a big, late brunch at the house before going to AK for a few hours then hop to Epcot for a late lunch. I poured over menus and was, again, looking for something that would provide an experience as well as a meal. I had it narrowed down to Biergarten, Marrakesh and Teppen Edo. Jace isn't really interested in helping plan- he wants a fun meal but trusts that I'll figure it out- so I asked Kya what she thought about these three places. After talking it over for a while she finally asked if any of them had characters and seemed disappointed when I said no. So, after much deliberation we decided to skip the brunch at the house and do it at Tusker House instead for Donald's Safari Breakfast. Then we'll just go back to the house for a light meal before Illuminations (and some snacks from F&W). Again, this isn't my picture but I had to have one, lol.

I'm pretty excited about both of these meals- I think they'll be lots of fun and something we'll all enjoy.

ETA: I'm also really happy with the idea that we're dining at DHS and AK. These parks both have things we really want to do but certainly aren't "all day parks" for us so having a nice sit down meal in these parks just makes sense.

 

[lledman]

So, after much deliberation we decided to skip the brunch at the house and do it at Tusker House instead for Donald's Safari Breakfast.

We did this on our last trip and loved it. Buffet offers lots of options and the character interaction was great.

 

[DrMomof3]

Do you ever watch the movie when you have these movie events????
I've heard good things about Tusker House. Sounds like a great choice!

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

LOVE LOVE LOVE Tusker House!!!! I've only had lunch there twice, but I'm sure the brunch is amazing as well. Mmmmmm! Uh...what day are you going to AK again? If I move my days around b/c of the party, we might end up going to TH on the same day. It's like I can't get away from you, even when I try!

 

[-Hope-]

We did this on our last trip and loved it. Buffet offers lots of options and the character interaction was great.

Glad to hear you liked it! Our only character meal has been at 1900 PF and it will be a hard act to follow as far as character interaction is concerned, so it's always good to hear that others enjoyed themselves.

Do you ever watch the movie when you have these movie events????
I've heard good things about Tusker House. Sounds like a great choice!

Amanda

It has become quite silly to even call them movie days. Next time we're going to just skip even pretending and do something entirely different... I don't want to give it away but its should be fun.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Tusker House!!!! I've only had lunch there twice, but I'm sure the brunch is amazing as well. Mmmmmm! Uh...what day are you going to AK again? If I move my days around b/c of the party, we might end up going to TH on the same day. It's like I can't get away from you, even when I try!

We're going Thursday- don't tell me that's what you're doing too!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We're going Thursday- don't tell me that's what you're doing too!

Uh....

 

[ronnmel]

Yay! For a character breakfast! I almost planned a breakfast there for my next trip, but decided to go to Boma instead for a more romantic meal (it is, after all, my honeymoon).

I can't believe your kids would prefer Chicago and KS over Disney!

 

[-Hope-]

Yay! For a character breakfast! I almost planned a breakfast there for my next trip, but decided to go to Boma instead for a more romantic meal (it is, after all, my honeymoon).

I can't believe your kids would prefer Chicago and KS over Disney!

Boma looks so good and lovely- if this trip wasn't just me and the kiddos it would have been on my short list for sure.

Chicago didn't surprise me, Kya has been wanting to go to the American Girl Place for a long time and we have reservations to eat there (they even bring out a high chair that clips to the table for your doll to "eat" with you). Jace is excited about the Legoland they have there (it's indoor so not as elaborate as Legoland in Cali or the one coming to Orlando but it still looks pretty cool) and they are both excited about visiting the Field Museum and seeing Sue the T-rex.

However I never really expected either of them to choose KC over Disney- when I asked their top two of the three I figured KC would be the odd man out. But KC has a MagiQuest which we did in Tennessee and they loved it so I guess that's the big draw- plus the horse drawn carriage ride we have planned around Country Club Plaza to see the Christmas lights.

I think they've both heard me say (a lot) that life is too short to take the same vacation twice. And that is true of MOST places- but not Disney! At any rate I think we'll be able to swing all three- in fact I'm about 95% sure of it.

 

[-Hope-]

So, we have beautiful weather and I'm laying on the couch sick. I feel fine when I'm not exerting any energy- which makes me think I'm better so I get up and do something like load the dishwasher and then I just feel exhausted again. So, I figured I'd take advantage of this forced vegetation and update my PTR.

First, a confession- I've been holding out on you guys because I didn't want you to think I was completely nuts in planning so much so far in advance. But we had some very bad weather that kept me in with nothing to do but obsess about Disney. The weather has been nicer lately so I've just been tweaking what I already had planned but still, I've been planning! So...

Our itinerary:

Saturday, October 1: We'll get up early on this day and begin the drive to Orlando. I'll pack snacks and drinks in the car as well as some breakfast foods so we should only need to stop for gas and lunch. I've done long drives with my kids before and they are both really good about using the bathroom at our regular stops so we don't have to make a lot of extra stops. We'll drive to Tifton, GA where we'll stay at a Day's Inn and we can swim and have pizza delivered that evening to unwind after a long day of driving.

Sunday, October 2: The Days Inn has free continental breakfast and the reviews and pics are pretty good so hopefully we'll be able to just eat there, otherwise we'll grab something to go once we're on the road. We'll probably also need to grab some fastfood for lunch on the way. Since we're driving it might also be fun to stop at the FL welcome station for some free OJ (do they still do that??)

Tifton is about 4 hours from Orlando so we should be at the house we're sharing with Karen and her family by early afternoon. I think Karen has a pretty busy day planned so I don't think we'll see her right away. Instead we'll get the car unpacked, rest as need and then head to DTD for dinner and some shopping.

Monday October 3: First day in the parks!! We'll be headed to EPCOT at rope drop. Our musts for the day include Soarin', Sum of All Thrills and Kim Possible. Kya is excited to meet up with Savannah for a KP mission.

We'll be hopping to MK that eveing for Wishes/MSEP.

If we're tired or want a break we may head back to the house for a light dinner first. But if we feel like staying in the parks we'll just grab dinner at Casey's to enjoy while waiting for the parade. I'm also open to a third possibility depending on what the kids want. We aren't really parade people and Jace especially didn't enjoy the crowds at MK during Wishes so IF the kids want we may have dinner at the CS at the Poly and enjoy the fireworks from the beach. I'm trying to be more flexible with my planning while still having a rough idea of what's going to happen so we'll see.

Tuesday October 4: Magic Kindgom!!

By far my favorite park- I wish it had worked out for us to see MK on our arrival night like we did on our last trip but it just didn't work no matter what I did (short of paying for MNSSHP which is just not in the budget this time). No worries though because we'll get there and when we do it will be worth the wait.

Our musts for MK include: Philharmagic, Carousel fo Progress, Pirates, TTA and a Dole Whip. CoP and the Dole Whip are things we wanted to try on our last trip that didn't work out, the others are favorites that we MUST do again. We have a long list of "really, really want to" but these are the absolute musts.

We'll stay as long as we want (so far no party scheduled) and then head back to the house for a quiet evening hanging out by the pool.

Wednesday, October 5: DHS We aren't going to rush for RD at this one but won't be laying around all morning either because we don't want the FP for TSM to run out.

We'll do our first TS of the week here and have an early lunch at Sci-fi Dine In. In addition to TSM and lunch our musts for this park include: Star Tours, LMA! and meeting Phineas and Ferb.

We'll probably take the Friendship over to Boardwalk when we're finished at this park.

I really wanted to explore it and have the opportunity to take pics last time but it just never worked out. Depending on the time we'll either grab a snack or dinner while we're there before heading back to the house for another quiet evening.

Thursday, October 6: Our last day in the parks. I figure we'll be tired at this point so we'll sleep in before heading to AK for a late breakfast/brunch with Donald and Friends at Tusker House. We really only have a few things to do at this park: safari, Kali River Rapids, and FotLK.

I figure we'll grab FP for Kali before we eat and should be able to do these things pretty quickly then we'll head back to the house for a light dinner before hopping to Epcot for more WS touring and Illuminations.

Friday, October 7: Finish packing and then head to DTD for lunch and more shopping.

We'll have time to explore as much as we want before starting the first leg of the trip home since we'll be staying in Tifton, GA again and driving the rest of the way home Saturday.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Just realized that we may not be headed to Orlando on the same day, but we're headed HOME on the same day with the same plans! I'm actually not positive that we'll stop in Tifton on the way back. Last year we were really itching to just get home, but I think I may want to put in more than 4 hours on the first day driving back. I'll have to think about it. We'll be at DTD together tho.

 

[-Hope-]

Just realized that we may not be headed to Orlando on the same day, but we're headed HOME on the same day with the same plans! I'm actually not positive that we'll stop in Tifton on the way back. Last year we were really itching to just get home, but I think I may want to put in more than 4 hours on the first day driving back. I'll have to think about it. We'll be at DTD together tho.

I actually thought about wanting to drive further on the way home than Tifton but decided I'd rather have more time to spend at DTD. We only saw a little bit of it last time plus they're going to have an even bigger Lego store so I figured we'll be there a while. I'd rather have a long drive home Saturday and more time at Disney Friday.

 

[DrMomof3]

Your plans look great!!! I'm so excited for you!

Amanda

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I just found your PTR this morning. I read your last PTR and your TR so I knew I had to sub to this one!

I love your plans so far. I've always wanted to know what it was like to stay in a house instead of on property so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on that.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[-Hope-]

Your plans look great!!! I'm so excited for you!

Amanda

Thanks Amanda! I'm starting to get excited too, in spite of myself.

I just found your PTR this morning. I read your last PTR and your TR so I knew I had to sub to this one!

I love your plans so far. I've always wanted to know what it was like to stay in a house instead of on property so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on that.

Can't wait to hear more.

I'm excited to see what staying off-site vs. on-site will be like. I think we're going to love it.