Can We Ride the Boat 1st? A first timer's Jan 2015 PTR - link to TR

[ach222]

Quick question for all of my new readers.

On Monday, we'd like to make RD at MK - we have a 7:30 at CM - we have a car. So what would be your preferred method of getting to CM and then MK?

Should we

1. Do a bus from POFQ to MK and walk to CM?

2. Drive to CM - if we do this should we
a. park at MK and walk to and from CM
b. park at CM and then drive and re park at MK

Thanks! And if you have a better plan all together, let me know!

 

[annegirl]

I'm sure there will be others that will know more about this than me. I do know when we ate at Chef Mickey's on our last trip (for dinner though) we rode the monorail over. That was pretty easy and fast.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Somebody probably knows better then I do, but I think if you park at the contemporary for a meal reservation, you have to move your car after (I think there's a special parking area and you wouldn't be able to leave your car there all day, so you'd end up having to move it). I wouldn't want to be reparking and wasting time, so if it were me, I'd take the bus over to MK, walk or monorail to CM and then take the bus back at the end of the day. It probably wouldn't be as convenient as having your car, but I think it would be easier. If you really want to have the car, I'd park at MK if you can get in the lot that early and then go eat, etc. Since I drive A LOT for work, I love not having to worry about it when we're on vacation--I'd always vote for letting Disney do the driving!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Hi! Following along!

 

[ach222]

Hi! Following along!

Hi! Glad to have you!


Thanks for the POFQ > CM > MK suggestions. I'm leaning towards parking at MK if I can that early and then monorailing (not a word) to and from CM

 

[ach222]

Found some pics of my 1st trip to WDW as a kid - I think it was '88 or '89 - Grant loved looking at these, enjoy!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love those throwback pictures! Thank you so much for sharing.

I especially love that in a few of them you're wearing a shirt that says "Disney MGM Studios" - they certainly don't make those anymore!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

The pictures are great! Wow--that Mickey just never ages, does he?!?

 

[ach222]

Alright - I'm going to start hashing out my daily plans and see how it goes.

We will leave early Saturday morning and I'm hoping we will drive 12 hours - we've done 12 hours in a day with Grant before and he was fine so I think this is realistic.

That will leave us about 5 hours to go on Sunday!

I'm hoping we are on the road by 8, but realistically let's say 9. That puts us at POFQ between 2-3 so I'm thinking we can go ahead and get into our room. We'll dump our things and then catch a boat to DTD (bad weather, we'll drive over).

This will be the only day we really explore much of DTD - I have a few things I want to do. Complete with some lovely stock images

- The Lego Store which also could be known as "DS' fantasy location"

pic from all ears

- after DS comes down from cloud 9 I want to hit World of Disney and the Christmas Store

pic from mouse planet

As my souvenir I would like to have DS do pick a pearl and add the pearl to my mother's necklace or just have it on a separate chain (and have him pick one for my mom to take back) - I'm debating going ahead and doing this in DTD when we are there as I've heard it can take forever in Epcot. I might try and do it in Epcot and if it's nuts, we could try again in DTD Thurs night when we are back for dinner.

We have a 6pm res at T-REX which I'm sure will be followed by build-a-dino - so after I've spent all the money we'll head back to POFQ for a (hopefully) early night!

pic from touring plans

pic from wdw info

Any thoughts on pick a pearl in DTD vs Epcot?

 

[ach222]

I love those throwback pictures! Thank you so much for sharing.

I especially love that in a few of them you're wearing a shirt that says "Disney MGM Studios" - they certainly don't make those anymore!

I'm so glad you liked them! I wish my parents were bigger pack rats and I could find that shirt - that would be fun!

The pictures are great! Wow--that Mickey just never ages, does he?!?

Thanks! - his outfit is pretty special in that one

 

[annegirl]

That's what we like to do when we drive too- one long day followed by a shorter day. We have done many 13 hour driving days in the past.
I haven't done Pick a pearl at DTD but we did do it at Epcot and we only had a little wait. It worked out fine because we paid and then one would hang out close by while we browsed the store. It was maybe a ten minute wait.

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 1 plans look great! I love the idea of having your DS pick out a pearl for your mom, it's so sweet. I'm sure she'll really appreciate it.
I wish I could help you decide which location to do, but I've never done either one. From the research I've done, it looks like people really love the Epcot one.

I can't wait to see what you've got planned for the rest of the week.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

we haven't done pick a pearl yet, but I think it'd be fun at either place.

you're plans sound good for arrival day! (my husband's favorite place is the lego store too! gotta love legos!)

 

[Denovagirl]

Oh gosh, ADRs! Honestly, my ADRs are what led me to the Dis - I LOVE picking out restaurants whenever we go places - I love food, it's a problem! So once I knew we were going to WDW I immediately started looking at places to eat. Now, I am a true WDW novice and had NO IDEA about the 180 day window or that you really even had to make reservations at all! Luckily, my obsessive googling brought me to the Dis where I learned about all things Disney dining (well, not all things) and by the time my 180 day mark rolled around (not too long after my Dis finding) I was ready. I have a 4 month old who does not sleep through the night, so checking in on my app to see if the system was up and running at 5am was no problem! I quickly found that I didn't like the app interface for this and switched over to my computer. Now, I had spent hours on the Dis dining boards but hadn't yet learned about recommended park days, looked at crowd calendars and EMH so they are not perfect but when it was all said and done, this is what I ended up with : (VERY subject to change) : Sunday - Arrival Day Dinner at T-Rex I know this might draw an eye roll or two from dining board gurus but I showed this place to DH and DS and they were so excited. I don't plan to have park tickets this day so DTD it is. I need to remember to watch the walk through of the restaurant on YouTube that I saw someone here mention to prepare DS. I somehow think I'll be roped into a build-a-dino too! I mean it does look cool! Pic from orlandocity.com Monday - MK Breakfast - Chef Mickey Dinner - BOG Again, my dining friends will shake their heads at CM but DS is very excited to meet the fab 5 and I have accepted that the food will not be 5 star! The BOG res is the reason this is still a MK day for us, it's not recommended, (I kind of forgot all about it being MLK day) but obviously I'm not going to get another 6:45 BOG res so we are sticking with it! pic from disney food blog Tuesday - Epcot Lunch - Coral Reef Dinner - Biergarten pic easywdw.com This is kind of my nostalgia day. I kind of remember eating at both of these places as a kid and I think both will be fun for DS. People seem to be split on CR food quality so I'll just cross my fingers. This is also a non recommended park day so I may switch these around at some point Wednesday - HS/Epcot Lunch - 50s Prime Time Dinner - Via Napoli Depending on budget and the way the schedule works out, I could get rid of 50s PT without being too upset but we'll see. Via Napoli was a late addition last week after reading some great reviews. I think if we split a pizza it will also be a fairly reasonable TS dinner. pic wdwforgrownups.com Thursday - WWoHP Dinner - Raglan Road We plan to be at Universal during the day and not use Disney tickets. I am really excited to try RR - The bread pudding especially! pic raglanroad.com Friday - park hopping/DS choice Breakfast - Kona Dinner - Chefs de France This is the day we added onto the trip. I really want some macadamia nut pancakes as well as some french onion soup haha - DHs favorite dessert by a mile is creme brûlée so i figured Chefs would be a good way to end the trip - both of those are subject to change though! pics wdwinfo.com ok that's it - any thoughts!?

Love your ADRs!!!

Were doing TRex this time too! We watched the YouTube video and it looks fun! We love the theming! We also love Rainforest, but have one here in San Antonio. I do agree on watching the video! My girls were hesitant and I was able to point our how the Dino's were bit real, etc, then they saw the build a Dino and were so excited!

Chef Mickey: LOVE! Who cares if people say the food is not amazing. It's a buffet, and as far as buffets go I thought it was wonderful! Especially breakfast! They had a giant selection and you can never go wrong with a Mickey waffle! And of course, meeting the fan 5 was great! Were eating there again this time, we liked it so much!

Epcot- Coral Reef: my friends just went recently and are here and enjoyed it immensely. They loved the atmosphere. I think it's the sorta place if you're drawn to eat there you'll probably enjoy it! And Biergarten! Again, we ate here last time and it was FUN! So much food! My DD loved going down and dancing to the oompah music!!

50s!!! You should def keep this! What a fun meal! You can get shakes as your drinks and the comfort food was SO GOOD!!! I loved how the waiters get into the theme and the desserts are awesome!

Were doing Via Napoli this time too, we have the same plan, split a pizza, a fairly reasonable TS meal!

Oooh! WWoHP! Funnnnn! FYI- food in that area is pretty good too

How funny that you guys are familiar with Boerne! We do love it here!

Ok, going to read the rest of your updates!

 

[Denovagirl]

Quick question for all of my new readers. On Monday, we'd like to make RD at MK - we have a 7:30 at CM - we have a car. So what would be your preferred method of getting to CM and then MK? Should we 1. Do a bus from POFQ to MK and walk to CM? 2. Drive to CM - if we do this should we a. park at MK and walk to and from CM b. park at CM and then drive and re park at MK Thanks! And if you have a better plan all together, let me know!

We had a 7:10am ADR at CM last trip and no car! The buses start running about 6:45, so we got on one then and went to MK. From there we took the monorail to the Contemp and made it there on the dot! It's also walking distance from MK too. If you want to take your car though I'd just drive to MK and get a good spot there and then take the monorail or walk over so you don't have to move your car again!

 

[Denovagirl]

Great day 1 plans! I say def do pearl in Epcot! We did it in Aug and it wasn't too crowded, so Jan should be even better! It was a very cool experience! They have a whole tradition they walk you through in epcot and it is just amazing! I think at DTD they just open it up, no big hoopla. FYI, we bought a pearl cage necklace (a Cinderella carriage one) on ebay for like $6 before we went to house it in and thank goodness! The same one was like $50 there!! Eeep!

 

[Tracy161]

Subscribing!!! So happy to hear you'll be reacquainted with Disney after so long!!! It will live up to your very wildest dreams and expectations, I promise! The only bad part of Disney is the leaving...

Your plans sound great so far! I also think that DTD is a great way to start a Disney vacation - you'll ease into the sensory overload before hitting the parks! I think that's good for kids especially.

Looking forward to following along and reading more!

 

[ach222]

That's what we like to do when we drive too- one long day followed by a shorter day. We have done many 13 hour driving days in the past.
I haven't done Pick a pearl at DTD but we did do it at Epcot and we only had a little wait. It worked out fine because we paid and then one would hang out close by while we browsed the store. It was maybe a ten minute wait.

I am thinking I'll try and do Epcot, glad you didn't have much of a line!

We may try and do the entire trip back in a day (and we'll gain an hour) but I like breaking the 1st day up for sure.

Day 1 plans look great! I love the idea of having your DS pick out a pearl for your mom, it's so sweet. I'm sure she'll really appreciate it.
I wish I could help you decide which location to do, but I've never done either one. From the research I've done, it looks like people really love the Epcot one.

I can't wait to see what you've got planned for the rest of the week.

Thanks! I'm thinking Epcot if possible

we haven't done pick a pearl yet, but I think it'd be fun at either place.

you're plans sound good for arrival day! (my husband's favorite place is the lego store too! gotta love legos!)

Legos are the best - DS will sit and play for hours! My dad is building him a lego table at the moment, I'll have to post a pic when he's done!

Great day 1 plans! I say def do pearl in Epcot! We did it in Aug and it wasn't too crowded, so Jan should be even better! It was a very cool experience! They have a whole tradition they walk you through in epcot and it is just amazing! I think at DTD they just open it up, no big hoopla. FYI, we bought a pearl cage necklace (a Cinderella carriage one) on ebay for like $6 before we went to house it in and thank goodness! The same one was like $50 there!! Eeep!

I read about your pick a pearl and loved your necklace! I'm thinking of adding mine to my mother's necklace (has both boy's birthstones and initials) so I may just do a plain setting. I think for sure we'll try Epcot after everyone's feedback! Thanks for ALL of your comments - I got done with your last TR the other day, loved it!

Subscribing!!! So happy to hear you'll be reacquainted with Disney after so long!!! It will live up to your very wildest dreams and expectations, I promise! The only bad part of Disney is the leaving...

Your plans sound great so far! I also think that DTD is a great way to start a Disney vacation - you'll ease into the sensory overload before hitting the parks! I think that's good for kids especially.

Looking forward to following along and reading more!

Hi and welcome! Thanks for joining in and saying hi! Can't wait to get back to WDW and see it though a child's eyes

 

[ChgoMusicGirl]

Joining in! We took my DS5 last June for his first trip and we had a blast. 5/6 is the perfect age IMHO.

He loved T-Rex, in fact it was probably his favorite restaurant at WDW (go figure!). We like Rainforest Cafe, too, but we have 3 of them here in the Chicago area, so we save that for home.

For your Chef Mickey's ADR, if you drive and park at MK, just remember that you have to take the monorail or the ferry to get to MK first, you can't walk from the parking lot to MK. I'm not up to date on this process, so if that's your plan, you might want to research a little about how much time to allot for the extra step. You can walk from MK to the Contemporary, I believe it takes about 10 minutes or you can take the resort monorail.

Your trip sounds like it's going to be a blast! Looking forward to reading more about your planning, and yes, I am living vicariously through PTR's and TR's in order to get me all the way to next June. (I'm a teacher so I get the choice of the busy, busier, or busiest seasons)

 

[ach222]

Joining in! We took my DS5 last June for his first trip and we had a blast. 5/6 is the perfect age IMHO.

He loved T-Rex, in fact it was probably his favorite restaurant at WDW (go figure!). We like Rainforest Cafe, too, but we have 3 of them here in the Chicago area, so we save that for home.

For your Chef Mickey's ADR, if you drive and park at MK, just remember that you have to take the monorail or the ferry to get to MK first, you can't walk from the parking lot to MK. I'm not up to date on this process, so if that's your plan, you might want to research a little about how much time to allot for the extra step. You can walk from MK to the Contemporary, I believe it takes about 10 minutes or you can take the resort monorail.

Your trip sounds like it's going to be a blast! Looking forward to reading more about your planning, and yes, I am living vicariously through PTR's and TR's in order to get me all the way to next June. (I'm a teacher so I get the choice of the busy, busier, or busiest seasons)

Welcome! Good point about the MK parking - maybe I need to just give in and use disney transport - I just hate giving up control of exactly when we leave and when we get places - it's an issue haha.