havingadisneyday
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
- Messages
- 97
I'm here too! Keep up the mad planning... we're only a few days after you!
BOO TO YOU, SANTA!! A November 2012 PTR!-Upd 10/24,pg.14-#205 Costumes and T-Shirts!
- Thread starter DisneyDad79
- Start date
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
Hi. Your PTR is hystericaland quite entertaining!! I cant wait to hear more. My family and I are traveling to Disney the first week in Dec 2012. We will also be celebrating my daughters 10th birthday and taking my 2yr old for her first visit. I hear with those "special buttons" you get "prizes" occasionally...so wear them allll week
. I can't Wait to see what kind of "prizes" the kids rack up for Me...ummmm...I mean Them (of course). Cant wait to hear More
to my PTR and thanks for joining in!! We absolutely plan to milk those buttons for all they are worth! I've already put the kids on a two cupcake per day diet so they will be prepared for the sugar rush.
! I'm glad you joined in! Are you going to MVMCP also?
havingadisneyday
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
- Messages
- 97
AAAAAHHHHHGGGGGG --- blasphemy!!!! Please go back to bed and wake back up on the right side. Your original excitement was certainly warranted and not ridiculous in the least despite what naysayers may nay about -- and you need to write 101 times (of COURSE with a black pen on a white pad -- are you mad sir?), "All things Disney are new, fresh, and exciting every time I go".
OK, is that done? Well carry on, I'm loving "our" pre-trip planning!
(and OF COURSE we're off to MVMCP -- and we're going to be very merry indeed!)
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
AAAAAHHHHHGGGGGG --- blasphemy!!!! Please go back to bed and wake back up on the right side. Your original excitement was certainly warranted and not ridiculous in the least despite what naysayers may nay about -- and you need to write 101 times (of COURSE with a black pen on a white pad -- are you mad sir?), "All things Disney are new, fresh, and exciting every time I go".
OK, is that done? Well carry on, I'm loving "our" pre-trip planning!
(and OF COURSE we're off to MVMCP -- and we're going to be very merry indeed!)
Rest assured my excitement has not been tempered, I just acknowledge that it might be a tad ridiculous. I actually think accepting the absurdity of it all makes it easier to let yourself fall down the rabbit hole of Disney planning! That said, I think you are just what this PRT needs, someone who is willing to put me in my place as needed.
AAAAAHHHHHGGGGGG --- blasphemy!!!! Please go back to bed and wake back up on the right side. Your original excitement was certainly warranted and not ridiculous in the least despite what naysayers may nay about -- and you need to write 101 times (of COURSE with a black pen on a white pad -- are you mad sir?), "All things Disney are new, fresh, and exciting every time I go".
OK, is that done? Well carry on, I'm loving "our" pre-trip planning!
(and OF COURSE we're off to MVMCP -- and we're going to be very merry indeed!)
I concur!
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
Holy cow! It’s been a month since my last official post! 
Hopefully that will be the longest gap!! Between work and planning fatigue I think I kind of lost me steam at some point, but I feel like the excitement is back and I am ready to be a more consistent PTR-er!!! I can only hope my use of exclamation points in each sentence conveys how serious I am about this!!!! If the exclamation points aren’t working let me know and I can start bolding and underlining the statements I really mean and use ALL CAPS ON THE STATEMENTS I REALLY REALLY MEAN!!!!! I WILL DO BETTER!!!!!!
(Thats me on the left and you on the right.)
Before I start I want to give a quick preview of what I plan for this post, the next, the next after that, and then subsequent posts after that. For this post I’m going to go over the counter service restaurants we are interested in and I hope to get some feedback/suggestions from everyone on that. The next post will be a general, comprehensive update of where we are at this point in regards to booking, ADRs, and general preparations/plans/goals. The next post will be our general itinerary for your consideration and approval. After that the posts will generally be shorter, more random, and HOPEFULLY, a lot more frequent that in the past couple of months!!
As we get a little closer I will go ahead and post our actual touring plans for each day. Glad that’s out of the way. We have our heading. Here we goooooooo!
With counter service restaurants I figure everyone should have some insight. Oddly enough we did not eat a single counter service meal in the parks during our brief first trip, so we have no frame of reference other than reviews, menus, and suggestions. In all honesty I am not planning to trudge us across a park for a particular CS meal, but I am willing to plan our day with the idea of being in a particular area for lunch/dinner time. For this post I am going to break this into the places we are most interested in per park with a fifth group for DTD and the resorts. I will rank them within the group as to how interested we are in each place. Again, I am counting on you to confirm how genius my selections are or how much my family will hate me if I make them eat at a certain establishment. (Anyone who knows my mom and sister knows how full of hatred they truly are.
)
(She just found out that they no longer hide paint brushes at Tom Sawyer Island...and we aren't even planning to go there. Now do you understand what I;m up against?)
Group #1: Magic Kingdom
1.Be Our Guest
2.Pecos Bill
3.Columbia Harbor House
4.Pinocchio Village Haus
5.Cosmic Ray’s
6.Casey’s Corner
7.Sleepy Hollow
Corndog Nuggets!
Waffle Sandwiches!!
FIXINS BAR!!!
Magic Kingdom is the toughest place due to how many interesting CS places there are and the fact that we will probably only eat two (possibly 3) CS meals here.
That said we might get a “snack” at a couple places that would satisfy the desire for a particular item (Corndog Nuggets from Casey’s/Waffle Sandwich from Sleepy Hollow). As with the TS group, Be Our Guest is a wildcard and if it is open we will probably try to eat there for a meal one way or another.
Group #2: Epcot
1.Sunshine Seasons
2.La Cantina de San Angel
3.Lotus Blossom Café
4.Tangerine Café
A virtual lock!
Epcot is another tough one in part because of all the options and in part because it is a little harder to plan around being in a certain area without doing a lot of backtracking. We are also considering using dining plan snack credits to eat around the world, but are unsure if the portions are comparable to what you could get using a snack credit on something else and we don’t know what the lines are like at the food booths. We will probably eat 2 CS meals here, but it could be just one if we make a meal out of snacks.
Group #3: Hollywood Studios
1.Starring Rolls
2.Toy Story Pizza Planet
3.Backlot Express
4.Farefax Fare
5.Rosie’s All American Cafe
An absolute, stone cold, lead pipe LOCK!!
I hope I see Sid! He's my hero!!
HS is a little easier than the rest because we are strongly leaning toward Starring Rolls for the cupcakes and Pizza Planet for the theme. We will probably have two CS meals here.
Group #4: Animal Kingdom
1.Flame Tree BBQ
2.Yak & Yeti
I'll take the ribs, with a side of chicken please!
AK is the easiest of all as we are only planning one CS meal here and it will very likely be at Flame Tree BBQ. That said, there is a possibility for two CS meals hear and we are open to suggestions.
Group #5: DTD/Resort
1.Earl of Sandwich
2.Mara (AKL)
3.Wolfgang Puck Express
4.Riverside Mill (POR)
It says the worlds greatest hot sandwich and a sign has never steared me wrong yet!
Mmmmm...Zebra meat....
This is a rather diverse group and I think we will end up eating at three of the four listed places. Since **Spoiler Alert** Boma did not make the cut we are planning to try Mara so we can check out AKL and try some Zebra Domes. I think we will end up eating at least one meal at our resort and one CS meal at DTD. I’ve hear great things about both our DTD options so I would love some additional feedback on those if you have tried either.
All in all we are looking at 9-10 CS meals with one being out of pocket. One potential game changer is if free dining is not offered, in which case DW and I will be getting the QS dining plan and DM and Dsis will have to decide if they want to do that or just pay OOP for all their food. I really want a dining plan of some kind because food cost is always one of my biggest stresses when we go on vacation. Having most of our food covered in advance will be a huge relief, even if we could dine a little cheaper paying out of pocket.
I’m also looking forward to having snack credits to use on a bunch of bottled water or maybe on Dole Whips, funnel cake, cupcakes, and giant pretzels. I haven’t decided yet, but the bottled water is really calling my name…
As always I really appreciate any feedback!! If you have a few minutes I would love for you to answer the following two questions:
1.What is your favorite CS restaurant in each park?
2.What are your 2-3 favorite snacks?
Next up…A GENERAL UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (But you already knew that since you pay close attention…)
Hopefully that will be the longest gap!! Between work and planning fatigue I think I kind of lost me steam at some point, but I feel like the excitement is back and I am ready to be a more consistent PTR-er!!! I can only hope my use of exclamation points in each sentence conveys how serious I am about this!!!! If the exclamation points aren’t working let me know and I can start bolding and underlining the statements I really mean and use ALL CAPS ON THE STATEMENTS I REALLY REALLY MEAN!!!!! I WILL DO BETTER!!!!!!
(Thats me on the left and you on the right.)
Before I start I want to give a quick preview of what I plan for this post, the next, the next after that, and then subsequent posts after that. For this post I’m going to go over the counter service restaurants we are interested in and I hope to get some feedback/suggestions from everyone on that. The next post will be a general, comprehensive update of where we are at this point in regards to booking, ADRs, and general preparations/plans/goals. The next post will be our general itinerary for your consideration and approval. After that the posts will generally be shorter, more random, and HOPEFULLY, a lot more frequent that in the past couple of months!!
As we get a little closer I will go ahead and post our actual touring plans for each day. Glad that’s out of the way. We have our heading. Here we goooooooo!
With counter service restaurants I figure everyone should have some insight. Oddly enough we did not eat a single counter service meal in the parks during our brief first trip, so we have no frame of reference other than reviews, menus, and suggestions. In all honesty I am not planning to trudge us across a park for a particular CS meal, but I am willing to plan our day with the idea of being in a particular area for lunch/dinner time. For this post I am going to break this into the places we are most interested in per park with a fifth group for DTD and the resorts. I will rank them within the group as to how interested we are in each place. Again, I am counting on you to confirm how genius my selections are or how much my family will hate me if I make them eat at a certain establishment. (Anyone who knows my mom and sister knows how full of hatred they truly are.
)
(She just found out that they no longer hide paint brushes at Tom Sawyer Island...and we aren't even planning to go there. Now do you understand what I;m up against?)
Group #1: Magic Kingdom
1.Be Our Guest
2.Pecos Bill
3.Columbia Harbor House
4.Pinocchio Village Haus
5.Cosmic Ray’s
6.Casey’s Corner
7.Sleepy Hollow
Corndog Nuggets!
Waffle Sandwiches!!
FIXINS BAR!!!
Magic Kingdom is the toughest place due to how many interesting CS places there are and the fact that we will probably only eat two (possibly 3) CS meals here.
That said we might get a “snack” at a couple places that would satisfy the desire for a particular item (Corndog Nuggets from Casey’s/Waffle Sandwich from Sleepy Hollow). As with the TS group, Be Our Guest is a wildcard and if it is open we will probably try to eat there for a meal one way or another. Group #2: Epcot
1.Sunshine Seasons
2.La Cantina de San Angel
3.Lotus Blossom Café
4.Tangerine Café
A virtual lock!
Epcot is another tough one in part because of all the options and in part because it is a little harder to plan around being in a certain area without doing a lot of backtracking. We are also considering using dining plan snack credits to eat around the world, but are unsure if the portions are comparable to what you could get using a snack credit on something else and we don’t know what the lines are like at the food booths. We will probably eat 2 CS meals here, but it could be just one if we make a meal out of snacks.
Group #3: Hollywood Studios
1.Starring Rolls
2.Toy Story Pizza Planet
3.Backlot Express
4.Farefax Fare
5.Rosie’s All American Cafe
An absolute, stone cold, lead pipe LOCK!!
I hope I see Sid! He's my hero!!
HS is a little easier than the rest because we are strongly leaning toward Starring Rolls for the cupcakes and Pizza Planet for the theme. We will probably have two CS meals here.
Group #4: Animal Kingdom
1.Flame Tree BBQ
2.Yak & Yeti
I'll take the ribs, with a side of chicken please!
AK is the easiest of all as we are only planning one CS meal here and it will very likely be at Flame Tree BBQ. That said, there is a possibility for two CS meals hear and we are open to suggestions.
Group #5: DTD/Resort
1.Earl of Sandwich
2.Mara (AKL)
3.Wolfgang Puck Express
4.Riverside Mill (POR)
It says the worlds greatest hot sandwich and a sign has never steared me wrong yet!
Mmmmm...Zebra meat....
This is a rather diverse group and I think we will end up eating at three of the four listed places. Since **Spoiler Alert** Boma did not make the cut we are planning to try Mara so we can check out AKL and try some Zebra Domes. I think we will end up eating at least one meal at our resort and one CS meal at DTD. I’ve hear great things about both our DTD options so I would love some additional feedback on those if you have tried either.
All in all we are looking at 9-10 CS meals with one being out of pocket. One potential game changer is if free dining is not offered, in which case DW and I will be getting the QS dining plan and DM and Dsis will have to decide if they want to do that or just pay OOP for all their food. I really want a dining plan of some kind because food cost is always one of my biggest stresses when we go on vacation. Having most of our food covered in advance will be a huge relief, even if we could dine a little cheaper paying out of pocket.
I’m also looking forward to having snack credits to use on a bunch of bottled water or maybe on Dole Whips, funnel cake, cupcakes, and giant pretzels. I haven’t decided yet, but the bottled water is really calling my name…
As always I really appreciate any feedback!! If you have a few minutes I would love for you to answer the following two questions:
1.What is your favorite CS restaurant in each park?
2.What are your 2-3 favorite snacks?
Next up…A GENERAL UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (But you already knew that since you pay close attention…)
havingadisneyday
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
- Messages
- 97
Holy cow! Its been a month since my last official post!
Group #5: DTD/Resort
1.Earl of Sandwich
It says the worlds greatest hot sandwich and a sign has never steered me wrong yet!
First off, WHEW!! I was afraid I had bummed you out by making you write 101 times...
.... but then I see it wasn't MY fault at all -- yay! 
Anyway, I only have a couple of things to add -- CRT - we went in 2006 and will def go again (for breakfast). Princesses = fun!
And then if you go to http://www.earlofsandwichusa.com you sign up for their e-club and ON YOUR BIRTHDAY you'll get a FREE sandwich (sign up your birthday kidlet)... how very exciting is that? (I KNOW, right?)
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
First off, WHEW!! I was afraid I had bummed you out by making you write 101 times...
Anyway, I only have a couple of things to add -- CRT - we went in 2006 and will def go again (for breakfast). Princesses = fun!
And then if you go to http://www.earlofsandwichusa.com you sign up for their e-club and ON YOUR BIRTHDAY you'll get a FREE sandwich (sign up your birthday kidlet)... how very exciting is that? (I KNOW, right?)
I got hand cramp, but it didn't crush my spirit!
We ate at CRT last time and while the atmosphere was awesome, we didn;t care for the food (lunch). I think we have decided to go for Akershus to get a princess fix this time so we should be covered there. Thanks for the tip on EoS! DD4 will be turing 5 during the trip so maybe we will make a special trip to get her a free sandwich!
minniesmommie
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2011
- Messages
- 3
I want to let you know that you have kept me up waaaaaaaay past my bedtime since I just finished reading the entire thread!!!
We live locally in Tampa and I have two toddlers (DD3 and DS2) and a currently deployed husband. We head up to the world for a few hours every other week or so.
There are so many things I wanted to post on, but am too tired right now!
I'm going to be following along though cause you've all been cracking me up!
We live locally in Tampa and I have two toddlers (DD3 and DS2) and a currently deployed husband. We head up to the world for a few hours every other week or so.
There are so many things I wanted to post on, but am too tired right now!
I'm going to be following along though cause you've all been cracking me up!
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
I want to let you know that you have kept me up waaaaaaaay past my bedtime since I just finished reading the entire thread!!!
We live locally in Tampa and I have two toddlers (DD3 and DS2) and a currently deployed husband. We head up to the world for a few hours every other week or so.
There are so many things I wanted to post on, but am too tired right now!
I'm going to be following along though cause you've all been cracking me up!
to the party and thanks for joining in! It sucks that your husband is deployed, but awesome that you get to live so close to WDW! How much longer will he be away? How much longer do you have in Tampa until the next stop?1.What is your favorite CS restaurant in each park?
MK, that is hard, a lot of good ones.
Casey's, more out of tradition than anything.
Pecos Bills. I like the taco salad, great fixins bar.
Cosmic Rays. The chicken dinner is a good non fast food dinner.
Snacks, Aloha Isle and Main Street Bakery.
Epcot
Mexico CS place, love the nachos!
Sunshine seasons, lots of great options.
I liked the Morocco CS place but I was the only one.
My hubby loves the Germany CS place.
I like France and Germany for snacks too! Passteries and Carmels!
And Norway's bakery is yummy too. School Bread!
Animal Kingdom
Flame Tree BBQ - yummy, they have a great salad!
Yak and Yeti CS, god food, terrible seating on hot sunny days.
Restaurantasaurus is good because they have free refills on drinks! Great place to get ice!
Hollywood Studios
Backlot Express, decent food and another free refill drink place. Good seating and COOL on a hot day.
Pizza Planet standard Disney pizza but FUN!
Fairfax Fare - Fairfax Salad is YUMMY< my FAV!
Writers Stop is my favorite snack place. CARROT CAKE COOKIE!!!!
2.What are your 2-3 favorite snacks?
Carrot Cake Cookie
CARROT CAKE COOKIE
carrot cake COOKIE
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
I plan this trip to try the following that we have never had.
Tortuga Tavern In Magic Kingdom.
Columbia Harbor House Magic Kingdom
Starring Rolls for cup cakes - Hollywood Studios - red velvet cup cake
Katsura Grill - Japan CS place
Epcot American Pavilion - for American Dream
Yorkshire County Fish Shop UK CS - EPCOT
MK, that is hard, a lot of good ones.
Casey's, more out of tradition than anything.
Pecos Bills. I like the taco salad, great fixins bar.
Cosmic Rays. The chicken dinner is a good non fast food dinner.
Snacks, Aloha Isle and Main Street Bakery.
Epcot
Mexico CS place, love the nachos!
Sunshine seasons, lots of great options.
I liked the Morocco CS place but I was the only one.
My hubby loves the Germany CS place.
I like France and Germany for snacks too! Passteries and Carmels!
And Norway's bakery is yummy too. School Bread!
Animal Kingdom
Flame Tree BBQ - yummy, they have a great salad!
Yak and Yeti CS, god food, terrible seating on hot sunny days.
Restaurantasaurus is good because they have free refills on drinks!
Great place to get ice!Hollywood Studios
Backlot Express, decent food and another free refill drink place. Good seating and COOL on a hot day.
Pizza Planet standard Disney pizza but FUN!
Fairfax Fare - Fairfax Salad is YUMMY< my FAV!
Writers Stop is my favorite snack place. CARROT CAKE COOKIE!!!!
2.What are your 2-3 favorite snacks?
Carrot Cake Cookie
CARROT CAKE COOKIE
carrot cake COOKIE
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
I plan this trip to try the following that we have never had.
Tortuga Tavern In Magic Kingdom.
Columbia Harbor House Magic Kingdom
Starring Rolls for cup cakes - Hollywood Studios - red velvet cup cake
Katsura Grill - Japan CS place
Epcot American Pavilion - for American Dream
Yorkshire County Fish Shop UK CS - EPCOT
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
1.What is your favorite CS restaurant in each Casey's, more out of tradition than anything.
Pecos Bills. I like the taco salad, great fixins bar.
Cosmic Rays. The chicken dinner is a good non fast food dinner.
Snacks, Aloha Isle and Main Street Bakery.
Mexico CS place, love the nachos!
Sunshine seasons, lots of great options.
I liked the Morocco CS place but I was the only one.
My hubby loves the Germany CS place.
I like France and Germany for snacks too! Passteries and Carmels!
And Norway's bakery is yummy too. School Bread!
Flame Tree BBQ - yummy, they have a great salad!
Yak and Yeti CS, god food, terrible seating on hot sunny days.
Restaurantasaurus is good because they have free refills on drinks!
Backlot Express, decent food and another free refill drink place. Good seating and COOL on a hot day.
Pizza Planet standard Disney pizza but FUN!
Fairfax Fare - Fairfax Salad is YUMMY< my FAV!
Writers Stop is my favorite snack place. CARROT CAKE COOKIE!!!!
2.What are your 2-3 favorite snacks?
Carrot Cake Cookie
CARROT CAKE COOKIE
carrot cake COOKIE
Thanks for all the suggestions. I looked up a picture of the Carrot Cake Cookie and it looks amazing! I will definately put that on my list of must-haves!
WDWMommyof3
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2012
- Messages
- 16
The Writers Stop has lots of good stuff, including REAL coffee!! But the carrot cake cookie is AWESOME!!
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
The Writers Stop has lots of good stuff, including REAL coffee!! But the carrot cake cookie is AWESOME!!
So two votes for the carrot cake cookie! Between your recommendations and the pictures I saw I am sold. I figure we will have 9 snack credits each and if I could choose any 9 snacks (based solely on descriptions, pictures, and recommendations) I think I would choose:
Dole Whip Float
Zebra Domes
Butterfinger Cupcake
Carrot cake cookie
Mickey Peanut Butter Cup
Funnle Cake
Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel
Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel
Now I might be able to turn the Butterfinger cupcake and/or the zebra domes in to a CS dessert so there might be some extra spaces to fill. Or I might just go with my original idea and have 9 sweet sweet bottles of water. It's a tough choice!
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
As promised I am back with the most highly anticipated update in the history of PTR updates: the GENERAL UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I beg of you; if you are trying to read this on your smart phone, please pull over as the excitement will be too great for you to successfully operate a motor vehicle. The most powerful vehicle I would be comfortable with you using while reading would be one of the tiny cars the Shriners use. I assume most of you are Shriners so this will probably not be an issue.
ABSOLUTELY NO HOTDOGGING!!!
On a serious(ish) note, if ECVs looked like those Shriner cars I would fake a handicap to get to ride one around the parks.
So now that my plea/warning is out of the way I have several things to cover. First off, our trip is officially booked!
It was fortunate that someone was available to take those totally candid booking/celebration pictures! It has actually been booked for a couple of months, I just hadn’t gotten around to downloading our celebration pictures off of my camera. We are officially staying at the Port Orleans Riverside from 11/1-11/10, year of our lord 2012. If no discount (especially free dining) ends up being offered we will strongly consider switching from one room here to two rooms at Pop Century or Art of Animation because the price of two rooms at one of those resorts is about the same as our one cramped room at POR. We are confident that we can get along, but all things being financially equal, more room space would be more important than a nicer resort.
We also got all of our ADRs booked!!
We will be dining at the following places at the following dates/times:
1900 Park Fare-10:15 AM -11/3
Ohana-7:00 PM -11/3
Garden Grill-6:45 PM -11/4
Akershus-6:30 PM -11/5
Tusker House-8:00 AM -11/6
Crystal Palace-11:30 AM -11/7
1900 Park Fare-6:15 PM -11/7
T-Rex-8:00 PM -11/8
Chef Mickey’s-10:45 AM -11/10
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre- 2:45 PM -11/10
With Sci-Fi we are planning to just get desserts or shakes so that we can check out the restaurant. I have heard the food is bad, but the restaurant itself just looks so amazing! These things are of course very fluid and if we managed to get into Be Our Guest we would almost certainly drop the 1900 Park Fare dinner.
(I know the consensus is that the food is bad, but how can this chunk of heaven be anything less than spectacular?)
In addition to booking the meals I have made a reservation at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for 11/7 at 8:00 AM! That is DDs actual 5th birthday so we wanted to do something extra special. We are super stoked about being able to walk down an empty main street an hour before the park opens!
We have made a lot of progress on the costumes and t-shirts. Wait, “lot” is not right word. What is the word I am looking for? Oh yeah, “no” is the word I was searching for! We have made “no” progress on the costumes and t-shirts. At this point we are strongly leaning toward reducing out matching t-shirt days from 8 to 4. We are planning a family outing to the fabric store (Can’t wait!) over Memorial Day weekend, so I should have some news to report then.
We have bought some pins for trading. I have been conflicted about it because I found out after the fact that most of these are probably “scrappers” as are most of the large pin lots on eBay. I have come to the conclusion that I’m not going to stress about it. I figure everyone will just be trading for what they like, not making a concerted effort to trade “fake” pins for authentic pins. We will probably be passing off some scrappers and getting some back in return. We did each one special pin so far and I imagine we will end up buying several while we are there.
We are also in the early stages of making autograph books for the kids as well as buying small prizes for “Tinker Bell” to leave for them each night while they sleep. If we don’t get through making books we will just buy the generic premade ones. You know, the kind that parents who don’t love their kids as much purchase.
I have made numerous touring plans and then reworked (and reworked, and reworked, and reworked) them several times over, but those will have to wait till we get somewhat closer to the trip.
Ok, so have I covered all my bases? Is there any glaring thing I have not started planning for? What have you started to do to get ready for your next trip? Any activities you do to get/stay excited during the long wait?
Next up…..Itinerary!
I beg of you; if you are trying to read this on your smart phone, please pull over as the excitement will be too great for you to successfully operate a motor vehicle. The most powerful vehicle I would be comfortable with you using while reading would be one of the tiny cars the Shriners use. I assume most of you are Shriners so this will probably not be an issue. ABSOLUTELY NO HOTDOGGING!!!
On a serious(ish) note, if ECVs looked like those Shriner cars I would fake a handicap to get to ride one around the parks.
So now that my plea/warning is out of the way I have several things to cover. First off, our trip is officially booked!
It was fortunate that someone was available to take those totally candid booking/celebration pictures!
It has actually been booked for a couple of months, I just hadn’t gotten around to downloading our celebration pictures off of my camera. We are officially staying at the Port Orleans Riverside from 11/1-11/10, year of our lord 2012. If no discount (especially free dining) ends up being offered we will strongly consider switching from one room here to two rooms at Pop Century or Art of Animation because the price of two rooms at one of those resorts is about the same as our one cramped room at POR. We are confident that we can get along, but all things being financially equal, more room space would be more important than a nicer resort.
We also got all of our ADRs booked!!
We will be dining at the following places at the following dates/times:1900 Park Fare-10:15 AM -11/3
Ohana-7:00 PM -11/3
Garden Grill-6:45 PM -11/4
Akershus-6:30 PM -11/5
Tusker House-8:00 AM -11/6
Crystal Palace-11:30 AM -11/7
1900 Park Fare-6:15 PM -11/7
T-Rex-8:00 PM -11/8
Chef Mickey’s-10:45 AM -11/10
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre- 2:45 PM -11/10
With Sci-Fi we are planning to just get desserts or shakes so that we can check out the restaurant. I have heard the food is bad, but the restaurant itself just looks so amazing! These things are of course very fluid and if we managed to get into Be Our Guest we would almost certainly drop the 1900 Park Fare dinner.
(I know the consensus is that the food is bad, but how can this chunk of heaven be anything less than spectacular?)
In addition to booking the meals I have made a reservation at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for 11/7 at 8:00 AM! That is DDs actual 5th birthday so we wanted to do something extra special. We are super stoked about being able to walk down an empty main street an hour before the park opens!
We have made a lot of progress on the costumes and t-shirts. Wait, “lot” is not right word. What is the word I am looking for? Oh yeah, “no” is the word I was searching for! We have made “no” progress on the costumes and t-shirts. At this point we are strongly leaning toward reducing out matching t-shirt days from 8 to 4. We are planning a family outing to the fabric store (Can’t wait!) over Memorial Day weekend, so I should have some news to report then.
We have bought some pins for trading. I have been conflicted about it because I found out after the fact that most of these are probably “scrappers” as are most of the large pin lots on eBay. I have come to the conclusion that I’m not going to stress about it. I figure everyone will just be trading for what they like, not making a concerted effort to trade “fake” pins for authentic pins. We will probably be passing off some scrappers and getting some back in return.
We did each one special pin so far and I imagine we will end up buying several while we are there. We are also in the early stages of making autograph books for the kids as well as buying small prizes for “Tinker Bell” to leave for them each night while they sleep. If we don’t get through making books we will just buy the generic premade ones. You know, the kind that parents who don’t love their kids as much purchase.
I have made numerous touring plans and then reworked (and reworked, and reworked, and reworked) them several times over, but those will have to wait till we get somewhat closer to the trip.
Ok, so have I covered all my bases? Is there any glaring thing I have not started planning for? What have you started to do to get ready for your next trip? Any activities you do to get/stay excited during the long wait?
Next up…..Itinerary!
debrapagliasotti
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2011
- Messages
- 2,500
Caught up on your PTR...I got behind for a while
Congrats on getting all those ADRs situated
DD and I are going as Alice in Wonderland characters for MNSSHP too...DD is going as Mad Hatter (a cute girlie version) and I am going as Queen of Hearts.
You asked what things we do to help with the long wait...we do Disney dinner & movie nights. We have been doing them since Oct (usually 2 a month). My kids really look forward to them and it really does help make the time a little more bearable.
Congrats on getting all those ADRs situated
DD and I are going as Alice in Wonderland characters for MNSSHP too...DD is going as Mad Hatter (a cute girlie version) and I am going as Queen of Hearts.
You asked what things we do to help with the long wait...we do Disney dinner & movie nights. We have been doing them since Oct (usually 2 a month). My kids really look forward to them and it really does help make the time a little more bearable.
DisneyDad79
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
- Messages
- 197
Are you planning to make your costumes or purchase them? When you do dinner and a movie do you make a meal themed to the movie?
havingadisneyday
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
- Messages
- 97
I have been diligently copying down everything you are doing, as really, its a pretty darn good itinerary... I will leave off the funnel cake as we would rather spend the calories on one of those mouth-watering monstrosities, aka Main Street Bakery's cinnamon roll (with extra "sauce") that I have gazed at longingly on Disneyfoodblog. 
debrapagliasotti
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2011
- Messages
- 2,500
I purchased all the kids costumes (all 3 boys are going as pirates, DD cute Mad Hatter) and I will be purchasing mine as well. I am SOOOO NOT crafty in that department! Not sure what DH will do, but he mentioned a pirate.
For our dinner & movie nights we do try and theme the dinner to the movie.
Here are a few ideas on what we have done...
Cars 2 (race track food...we did nachos, chili dogs, cracker jacks and Mater's motor oil sundaes)
Lady and the Tramp (spaghetti and meatballs, ciabatta bread, I made an italian ricotta cheesecake for dessert)
Tangled (angel HAIR pasta, braided scali rolls, blue jello with orange slices made into sailboats...for the scene in the movie with the lanterns)
Up (cheeseburgers, fries, beans, grape soda, vanilla ice cream with chocolate bars crumbled on top)
Lilo and Stitch (Polynesian style feast...Hawaiian marinated chicken breast, coconut shrimp, Hawaiian rolls, fresh pineapple, pineapple upside-down cake)
Those are just a few of what we have done. There is an awesome thread on here with dinner & movie night ideas. Lots of the posts they decorate and play games and such for movie night too, but we dont typically do all that.
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