Can we? Should we? A Spring 2009 PTR - New 5/6 - The TR has begun!

[DisMomAmy]

I need everyone's help...

Our itinerary is done (for now) and I've made our ADRs, but it's way too early to pack. So now what? I thought I'd try to pull together a list of counter service spots and hidden favorites for the parks.

What are your favorite counter service dining places in each of the 4 parks?

What are some of your favorite things to do in each of the 4 parks- that aren't the usual headliners?

 

[Hedy]

MK-Columbia Harbor House
Epcot-Sunshine Seasons

 

[MRYPPNS]

Thanks for the update on Zach!

Counter Service;

MK- Pecos Bills (I like CHH too, but I think Pecos Bill's would be better for the boys)

EP- Yorkshire Fish and Chips shop, France pastry shop

DH- Sunset Market food court

AK- I have no favorite here.....I loved Tusker House when it was CS. I want to try Restaurantosuar the next trip for CS.

 

[mrsksomeday]

I second Hedy's suggestions, we like both those places. We also enjoy Cosmic Ray's at MK.

Well one of our favorite things to do after Illuminations is just linger in the World Showcase. Just sit back and watch the crowds rush out. Then when we leave we feel like we are the only people there. It is so wonderful to just walk together, hearing the music from each country, not having to weave through everyone.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Some of our favorite CS places ~

Casey's Corner
Electric Umbrella
Boulangerie Patisserie
Wolfgang Puck Express
CBR Food Court

 

[mousescrapper]

to you Amy and your family. My eyes well w/ tears after reading the update about Zach. I so wish we could meet for coffee...I'm so glad we've been blessed through this forum for each other

I will be thinking of you leading into that March 9th appt. I'll be pm-ing you soon about that and an update for Michael we did see his Psychiatrist last week and we did up one of his med's

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

to the report: the dreaded limbo stage huh?

Ok some of my favorites:

MK: FOOD: upstairs room of CHH, smoothie stnad near the tea-cups and I think Cosmic Rays Secret spots: the path to/from Toontown and Tomorrowland, the wishing well on a small path from the castle toward Adventureland I think? and the cartoons in the Exposition Hall on MS

Epcot: Food: Lotus Blossom in China, Funnel Cake stand in America and I love the atmosphere of the Sunshine Seasons-the balloons Secret Spots: the Coca-Cola cooling Station, the robot/toy muesum in Japan, the quiet walkway from FW to WS via the Odessey Center, I used to love the Goofy cartoons in the old Wonders of Life (sorry that isn't very helpful, but had to mention it), taking the boat taxi from the International gateway over to DHS

DHS: Food: the pastires in Starring Rolls Cafe oohh yummy!, Studio Catering Co. near HISTK playground, the upstairs dinning area in Pizza Planet, Secret Spots: HISTK go at the right times and a great place for kids to run off some steam!, the back path near MV3D by the gift shop..., sitting on the benches by Echo lake, the villians gift shop

AK: Food Restaurantsaurus you can get McD style nuggets here like a big box of them to share, plus you can (or at least I did on 05) get a double burgar ask for a extra bun and use the fixings bar to make up 2 yummy burgers for the $ of 1, plus lots of seating Secret Spots: take time to walk the tree of life garden I can give you a link to the thread lisiting all the animals, Flights of Wonder, the character meet & greet trails to see Mickey and gang in safari gear.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Lots of pixie dust for all of you!!!

Favorite CS places:

MK: Pecos Bill's, but we are planning on trying Columbia Harbor House in June.
Epcot: Cantina San Angel, but we are planning on Sunshine Seasons and Tangierine Cafe in June.
DHS: Backlot Express
AK: We have tried Restaurantsaurus and Tusker House in the past, but want to try Pizzafari this time around.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi Amy!

I think we have actually "met" on several other PTRs! I've read bits and pieces of your report before, but today I sat and read all 29 pages!! You have a beautiful family!

I know this is silly, but I took notes so I could read all the way through and then post! I wanted to remember what I wanted to comment on! LOL!

First, my youngest DS, Jonah has an October birthday and could have started Kindergarten at 4. (The cut-off here is Dec. 1) We chose to let him wait another year and have NEVER regretted that decision. He is now in 2nd grade and doing great! He just wasn't ready and, as his mom, I knew that. I got some comments from others, but I just did what I knew was right for him and never looked back! I think you will feel the same way about Zach.

Second...April vs. Feb. This is a debate that we also had this year when we were planning our trip. I took the boys out of school in 2007, but with DS14 being in 8th grade, it just wasn't going to work that way this year and so we needed to go over a break. We have a week in Feb (next week) and a week in April (20-24). Our deciding factors were two things....money and weather! DH gets a significant bonus in March and we can use that to pay for the trip with cash. And..if I'm in Florida, I want to enjoy the pools......so February is just to iffy. April it is! We will actually be overlapping your trip by a few days! (We leave on Tuesday the 28th.)

Third....AIRFARE!! I was so freaked out about buying airline tickets so I totally get it! We got a great deal on SW flying out of Buffalo....$205 RT per person. Actually saved money over 2 years ago.

Fourth....Ticket options. We don't do PH and we are just adding the WP option for the first time. My DS14 is so looking forward to the waterparks.
I think if I decided to do PH I would feel like I needed to hop every day to justify the cost. Too much stress for me so we prefer not to hop.

Last....I just read about Zach's upcoming appointment. My DS14 also has generalized anxiety disorder that we had diagnosed when he was 8 and in 2nd grade. He struggles with ADD as well, mostly with impulsivity, but it adds to the difficulty of dealing with the GAD. He is on 2 meds right now and has been on them for several years. He does really well and has developed some great coping techniques. Hang in there!

I SO enjoyed reading your report and can't wait to hear more...now that I can keep up one post at a time! See ya around the PTR board!

 

[DisMomAmy]

MK-Columbia Harbor House
Epcot-Sunshine Seasons

On my list!

Thanks for the update on Zach!

Counter Service;

MK- Pecos Bills (I like CHH too, but I think Pecos Bill's would be better for the boys)

EP- Yorkshire Fish and Chips shop, France pastry shop

DH- Sunset Market food court

AK- I have no favorite here.....I loved Tusker House when it was CS. I want to try Restaurantosuar the next trip for CS.

Thanks! We're not doing any TS at MK so we should have time for both CHH & Pecos Bills! I need to explore my Epcot options - We have 3 TS meals planned here so I'm not sure how many CS meals we'll have here. But since we are so picky we usually just get chicken nuggets & chicken nuggets... I'd really like to eat at some CS places that offer a little more variety - Epcot seems like the place to do that.

I second Hedy's suggestions, we like both those places. We also enjoy Cosmic Ray's at MK.

Well one of our favorite things to do after Illuminations is just linger in the World Showcase. Just sit back and watch the crowds rush out. Then when we leave we feel like we are the only people there. It is so wonderful to just walk together, hearing the music from each country, not having to weave through everyone.

I love Cosmic Rays too - but we ALWAYS go there - so that'll be third on our list for MK if we get to it.

Great idea to "linger"... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to rush, rush, rush to just wait in a crowd does it? This is something I'll have to remind myself, since my first instinct is to run for the doors after a show ends.

Some of our favorite CS places ~

Casey's Corner
Electric Umbrella
Boulangerie Patisserie
Wolfgang Puck Express
CBR Food Court

Glad to hear you mention the CBR food court! I'm sure we'll be eating there at least once. DH loves Casey's Corner for a quick "snack".

to you Amy and your family. My eyes well w/ tears after reading the update about Zach. I so wish we could meet for coffee...I'm so glad we've been blessed through this forum for each other

I will be thinking of you leading into that March 9th appt. I'll be pm-ing you soon about that and an update for Michael we did see his Psychiatrist last week and we did up one of his med's

Just wait for the update on Alex... hopefully later on tonight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

to the report: the dreaded limbo stage huh?

Ok some of my favorites:

MK: FOOD: upstairs room of CHH, smoothie stnad near the tea-cups and I think Cosmic Rays Secret spots: the path to/from Toontown and Tomorrowland, the wishing well on a small path from the castle toward Adventureland I think? and the cartoons in the Exposition Hall on MS

Epcot: Food: Lotus Blossom in China, Funnel Cake stand in America and I love the atmosphere of the Sunshine Seasons-the balloons Secret Spots: the Coca-Cola cooling Station, the robot/toy muesum in Japan, the quiet walkway from FW to WS via the Odessey Center, I used to love the Goofy cartoons in the old Wonders of Life (sorry that isn't very helpful, but had to mention it), taking the boat taxi from the International gateway over to DHS

DHS: Food: the pastires in Starring Rolls Cafe oohh yummy!, Studio Catering Co. near HISTK playground, the upstairs dinning area in Pizza Planet, Secret Spots: HISTK go at the right times and a great place for kids to run off some steam!, the back path near MV3D by the gift shop..., sitting on the benches by Echo lake, the villians gift shop

AK: Food Restaurantsaurus you can get McD style nuggets here like a big box of them to share, plus you can (or at least I did on 05) get a double burgar ask for a extra bun and use the fixings bar to make up 2 yummy burgers for the $ of 1, plus lots of seating Secret Spots: take time to walk the tree of life garden I can give you a link to the thread lisiting all the animals, Flights of Wonder, the character meet & greet trails to see Mickey and gang in safari gear.

Great suggestions!

Lots of pixie dust for all of you!!!

Favorite CS places:

MK: Pecos Bill's, but we are planning on trying Columbia Harbor House in June.
Epcot: Cantina San Angel, but we are planning on Sunshine Seasons and Tangierine Cafe in June.
DHS: Backlot Express
AK: We have tried Restaurantsaurus and Tusker House in the past, but want to try Pizzafari this time around.

Thanks - we haven't eaten at any of those... (except Sunshine Seasons a long time ago & Tusker House when it was CS).

Hi Amy!

I think we have actually "met" on several other PTRs! I've read bits and pieces of your report before, but today I sat and read all 29 pages!! You have a beautiful family!

Thanks!

I know this is silly, but I took notes so I could read all the way through and then post! I wanted to remember what I wanted to comment on! LOL!

I did the same thing reading yours last night!

First, my youngest DS, Jonah has an October birthday and could have started Kindergarten at 4. (The cut-off here is Dec. 1) We chose to let him wait another year and have NEVER regretted that decision. He is now in 2nd grade and doing great! He just wasn't ready and, as his mom, I knew that. I got some comments from others, but I just did what I knew was right for him and never looked back! I think you will feel the same way about Zach.

I know we'll never regret it - especially now that we've made our final tuition payment!

Second...April vs. Feb. This is a debate that we also had this year when we were planning our trip. I took the boys out of school in 2007, but with DS14 being in 8th grade, it just wasn't going to work that way this year and so we needed to go over a break. We have a week in Feb (next week) and a week in April (20-24). Our deciding factors were two things....money and weather! DH gets a significant bonus in March and we can use that to pay for the trip with cash. And..if I'm in Florida, I want to enjoy the pools......so February is just to iffy. April it is! We will actually be overlapping your trip by a few days! (We leave on Tuesday the 28th.)

I'd be pretty bummed to be wearing long pants and sweatshirts every day at Disney! (Not that I could ever be really bummed to be at Disney..)

Third....AIRFARE!! I was so freaked out about buying airline tickets so I totally get it! We got a great deal on SW flying out of Buffalo....$205 RT per person. Actually saved money over 2 years ago.

Great find! I could never wait it out that long - I always buy too early because I worry about fares going up or tickets being sold out!

Fourth....Ticket options. We don't do PH and we are just adding the WP option for the first time. My DS14 is so looking forward to the waterparks.
I think if I decided to do PH I would feel like I needed to hop every day to justify the cost. Too much stress for me so we prefer not to hop.

We were going to do waterparks this year, but since we are staying onsite and can enjoy the resort pools we decided to wait a little longer until Zach is older. Waterparks would be primarily for Alex this time around - and he'll be thrilled with the CBR pools.

Last....I just read about Zach's upcoming appointment. My DS14 also has generalized anxiety disorder that we had diagnosed when he was 8 and in 2nd grade. He struggles with ADD as well, mostly with impulsivity, but it adds to the difficulty of dealing with the GAD. He is on 2 meds right now and has been on them for several years. He does really well and has developed some great coping techniques. Hang in there!

Thanks for sharing!! I know A LOT about impulsivity - just wait until my Alex update tonight!

I SO enjoyed reading your report and can't wait to hear more...now that I can keep up one post at a time! See ya around the PTR board!

I'm glad you made it over to read my PTR! It's fun to have someone traveling at the same time. Maybe we'll see each other at Epcot on the 27th? Do you wear a DIS tag?

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I plan on making a LGMH this trip. I know of at least two other DISers who will be there at the same time so I thought I'd give it a try!

Monday the 27th is our "open" day so we very well may end up at Epcot! It would be awesome to run into each other!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I plan on making a LGMH this trip. I know of at least two other DISers who will be there at the same time so I thought I'd give it a try!

Monday the 27th is our "open" day so we very well may end up at Epcot! It would be awesome to run into each other!

Cool! I'll have mine on - so I'll definitely look for yours!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm not going to get into a whole long thing, but basically Alex has had some escalating behavioral issues over the past few weeks. We're not sure if it's related to his diet (he used to avoid dairy and gluten but has been eating those foods again - at first he took digestive enzymes to help, but now he doesn't). Could it be a medication issues - or lack of... we've experimented with many different medications over the past year to help with his impulsive, rigid behavior but nothing has helped - is it time to try something else??

Behavior problems always start at home - and usually stay at home - but this time the difficulties have shown up at school and in therapy. Yesterday his teacher was there at pick up - as soon as I saw her I knew there was trouble. We talked for 10-15 minutes about his impulsiveness at school - which apparently has included some teasing of first graders. He is calling them names... but not the kind of names you would expect. See he has a fixation with people's names - he wants to know first, middle, last names, nicknames, parents names, cousins names, siblings names, maiden names and on and on and on... Apparently he asked a little girl her middle name and now he always calls her by her first AND middle names - it drives her crazy and he won't stop. There's another little boy and Alex calls him the right name, but pronounces it funny - it's not a speech issue - he is doing it on purpose, but not to be mean - it just really irritates people. I blame a good part of it on the lack of extra supervision and assistance he receives during lunch & recess - which brings me to the meeting I need to attend at school next week.

So it's been a long week & to top it off I had to take him to the doctor today for suspected peri-anal strep! We have to wait for the culture to come back, but the doctor thinks that's what he has - he has had it once before. I'm actually hoping it is strep - we saw behavioral problems when he had it last summer so if he has it again, we can give him some antibiotics and hopefully his behavior will clear up right along with his red bottom.

Up next: change the tone of this PTR and start talking about what we want to do and see at Disney!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Sorry to hear about the issues happening. Hopefully it will clear up along with the red bottom.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Sorry to hear about the troubles with Alex. Here's hoping that it's just the strep that's causing the behavior issues and it can be cleared up quickly and easily!

 

[Charleston Princess]

So sorry that Alex is having behavior issues! I know it must be so nerve-wracking!

Since I am relatively new to your PTR, I don't know all of the background on Alex -- is he high-functioning autistic? Does he have a parapro that follows him throughout the day? What grade is he in -- second or third grade? Sorry for all the questions -- it's my teacher-side coming out.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Good luck with that school meeting.....

 

[Hedy]

 

[carissanboys]

I can understand you hoping he does have strep and that way there'd be a reason for his current behavior issues. It's always frustrating when things like that creep up and we try to figure out why. Good luck with the meeting.

 

[mousescrapper]

I blame a good part of it on the lack of extra supervision and assistance he receives during lunch & recess

Not that I'm glad but glad that someone else thinks the same thing as me....this has always been a problem for Michael too I had his 504 school meetin review today, this actually is the 1st one in a long time that I haven't went to w/out feeling all and I'll pm or email you soon w/ some updates.

Up next: change the tone of this PTR and start talking about what we want to do and see at Disney!!

Looking forward to it!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Sorry to hear about the issues happening. Hopefully it will clear up along with the red bottom.

Sorry to hear about the troubles with Alex. Here's hoping that it's just the strep that's causing the behavior issues and it can be cleared up quickly and easily!

Good luck with that school meeting.....

I can understand you hoping he does have strep and that way there'd be a reason for his current behavior issues. It's always frustrating when things like that creep up and we try to figure out why. Good luck with the meeting.

Looking forward to it!

Thanks Everyone!! I have to call the pediatrician this morning too find out about the strep...

This last couple of days were an improvement behavior-wise - maybe it's a little Valentine's Day gift for me!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!