Celebrate Good Times Come On! An Oct 2013 PTR - Link to TR 10/29!!

[DMGeurts]

And now that I've read your most recent update... I just love seeing all those pictures of your honeymoon and how young both of you are... It's so sweet. We were married the same year you were - I would have loved to go to Disney for my honeymoon.

Thanks for sharing, I can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans.

D~

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Ariana...that is so terrible. As others have stated, there are just no words!!!! Definitely praying for her!

 

[smile4stamps]

Thanks for joining in! What are your dates for this October?

I leave San Jose On October 17th but we don't get to MCO till almost 11pm so will be on Disney Property on the 18th lol. We are then staying through the 28th!

So sorry to hear about your friend! MY jaw just dropped when I read it. I pray for her to have healing and peace. I am sure it will take some time!

 

[cheekypoppins]

OMg I loved Body wars that and Horizons were 2 my fave rides,I miss them like crazy!!! If they were brought back ffor even a day i'd do almost anything to be there

 

[Pluto0809]

Ariana, I enjoyed the flash ack to your honeymoon trip immensely. Amazing how much is different, yet the same. The only thing I can think of restaurant wise at DTD might be Empress Lily which is now Fultons.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I am so stumped as to what restaurant it was. Maybe it was the Empress Lily. Jim swears it was a steak restaurant but I don't remember one in DTD at all.

That was a wonderful honeymoon story!!! We thought about doing a Disney cruise for ours but ended up going to Gatlinburg, TN. It was great though...

In hindsight it turned out to be a great decision. we went to Disneyland a few years later and Greg HATED it!!! I am hoping that WDW will be better for him as we have kids now!!! Time will tell

I am so sorry about your friend. I can't imagine how horrible that would be to go throughAt least she has support

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the story. I hope your husband likes WDW better than Disneyland! Jim tolerates my obsession with Disney. He just shook his head last night while I was watching the live stream of the Halloween party.

What a great honeymoon report! I love looking back and seeing how much everything has changed.

I'm glad that you are feeling more hopeful for your friend and that she has a great support network - that is incredibly important when you go through a loss.

Thanks! I do hope everything works out for her. I saw the obituary today and even though I knew he was young it was still shocking to see his age as 33.

Oh my gosh Ariana, I just don't even have the words for your friend. How unbeliveably sad and heart breaking. My thoughts and prayers go out to them, and to you.

D~

Thanks, it's going to be a tough road for her.

And now that I've read your most recent update... I just love seeing all those pictures of your honeymoon and how young both of you are... It's so sweet. We were married the same year you were - I would have loved to go to Disney for my honeymoon.

Thanks for sharing, I can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans.

D~

Glad you liked it! I am lucky enough to have a Great Aunt who spoils me and she paid for the trip to Disney. She did not have kids so when I was born (first great niece/nephew) she pretty much adopted me. I spent as much time at her house growing up as I did at home.

Ariana...that is so terrible. As others have stated, there are just no words!!!! Definitely praying for her!

Thanks for the prayers, she definitely needs them.

I leave San Jose On October 17th but we don't get to MCO till almost 11pm so will be on Disney Property on the 18th lol. We are then staying through the 28th!

So sorry to hear about your friend! MY jaw just dropped when I read it. I pray for her to have healing and peace. I am sure it will take some time!

We will be there at the same time then! My dates are Oct 19th - 26th. I wanted to be there on our actual anniversary, Oct 17th but free dining won out as you'll see in my next update.

OMg I loved Body wars that and Horizons were 2 my fave rides,I miss them like crazy!!! If they were brought back ffor even a day i'd do almost anything to be there

I can't remember what I thought for sure about Body Wars other than Jim getting sick. I'm sure it would bother me today though since it was similar to Star Tours and that one makes me sick now! I'm sure I rode Horizons as a kid but I have no memory of it at all. They just need to open a fifth park and bring back all the old rides that are gone!

 

[smile4stamps]

We will be there at the same time then! My dates are Oct 19th - 26th. I wanted to be there on our actual anniversary, Oct 17th but free dining won out as you'll see in my next update.

We were there at the same time last year! I would have been excited about Free Dining except we use the TiW card which works a lot better for us. We went for our 5 year anniversary! Loved celebrating at Disney!

 

[Pluto0809]

We were there at the same time last year! I would have been excited about Free Dining except we use the TiW card which works a lot better for us. We went for our 5 year anniversary! Loved celebrating at Disney!

Excellent! I've thought about the TiW card but free dining has always seemed to work well for me.

 

[Pluto0809]

As you can probably tell by the title, picking dates and a resort has been a little crazy this time around!

When I first started thinking about this trip over a year ago, I wanted to be there during our anniversary in October 2013. I didn’t really consider my birthday month of August because of the heat and circumstances at work. Plus I really wanted to see the Halloween stuff. They didn’t have the elaborate decorations back in 1998. I ran two weeks by Jim, either Sat to Sat, Oct 12 – 19th or Weds to Weds Oct 16th – 23rd. He preferred the Sat to Sat because it was one less day to take off of work. So we settled on 12th – 19th.

Once we picked the dates we both checked with our bosses at work to make sure they were ok (remember this for later) and then started looking at resorts. My plan was to stay at a Moderate with free dining so I sent Jim links to the four Moderate resorts without any commentary or opinions on them. Jim is very much a creature of habit so I was not surprised when he picked Port Orleans Riverside. Even though the name had changed, he recognized the resort and wanted to stay there again.

Then around November 2012, my boss decided to change her mind and told me I couldn’t take off time in October and would need to move my trip to Nov or Dec 2013. I was pretty mad about that because it was mostly due to other people not doing their jobs as to why she said I couldn’t take off. I kind of had it out with my boss (which I never do, I’m usually a turtle when it comes to conflict but she was messing with my Disney time!) and went home that night planning to polish up my resume.

Jim and I talked the whole situation through that night. He will only take time off in January, April, August and October due to his work schedule so I cooled down a little bit and started planning a trip for April 2013. January was too soon and August too hot. I even made a schedule and dining reservations. After a few days though, my boss came back to me and we ended up changing the entire budget process to work around my Disney trip. What can I say, she likes me and knows I do a great job. The trip was still tentative but I was determined to crack the whip at work so everything would be done by October 1st. I kept the April reservations for a few weeks but then cancelled them.

The next obstacle to the trip was the rumors that free dining would not be offered for the fall. Paying for dining out of pocket and staying at a Moderate put the trip a bit out of my price range. So I started looking at the Values. Since I stayed at All Star Music in March and knew we would be staying at All Star Sports in Feb 2014, I sent links for POP and AOA to Jim. Once again I was not surprised by his choice. He picked POP with a request to stay in the 80s section. Jim loves everything about the 80s. I think he would time travel back there if he could. So I booked our trip! We would be staying at POP for 7 nights with the regular dining plan. And finally I can post a picture since I stayed with my family at POP in 2010!



It was at this time that the PTR title was born. We would be staying in the 80s section and celebrating both my birthday and our anniversary. So a Cool and the Gang song from the 80s fit. Of course, POP was not where we ended up but I liked the title and decided to keep it.

I made a schedule and did our dining reservations at 180 days and then sat back to wait for any discounts to come out. I can’t remember exactly when, but my Mom got a Pin Code in the mail for free dining. She mailed it to me thinking I could use it but of course I couldn’t. What I did see though, was that my original dates were not included in the offer. Yikes! I immediately started to scramble and made a whole new schedule and dining reservations for the following week of Oct 19th – 26th. I did ok with dining reservations, ended up getting everything that I wanted except BOG of course. I also called multiple times to see if I had a pin code but no such luck. So for about two months, I sat on two weeks of dining reservations and waited to hear about a free dining offer for the public.

When the offer finally came out on August 1st, I was on the phone right at 7 am and by some small miracle got straight through to a CM! I didn’t even get the usual hold music or the mechanical voice. I read later that day that some people waited on hold for two hours. Even with getting through right away, there was zero availability at POR. My second choice was POFQ because I’ve never stayed there but it wasn’t even included in the offer. The CM said there was availability at both CBR and CSR. Since I stayed at CBR with Mom the year before, I ended up going with CSR. I have stayed at CSR before but that was back in 2011. The move to CSR saved me a grand total of $5 over the original price at POP. But at least we are at a nicer resort now! I also officially moved the trip to the second week. Later that day, I posted all of my dining reservations from the first week on the DIS and a lucky DISer managed to snag my BOG reservation.

Sometime in the middle of August, everything fell into place at work and my boss officially approved the trip!

So there you have it. Have you managed to follow along through that whole mess? I applaud you if you did! So here’s the bottom line on the trip:

Dates: October 19th – 26th, 2013
Resort: Coronado Springs Resort with a King Bed (Water View or King Bed was the only two options still available with the free dining)
Dining Plan: Regular Free! Dining Plan

Up Next: Dining With Two Picky Eaters

 

[missangelalexis]

That certainly sounds stressful, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end! Yay for free dining

 

[smile4stamps]

Your TR title is actually one of the things that drew me in! One of my husbands favorite songs!

 

[Pluto0809]

That certainly sounds stressful, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end! Yay for free dining

It was! I was so glad to get free dining and an upgrade to a moderate. I am fine at values but Jim likes a quieter experience.

Your TR title is actually one of the things that drew me in! One of my husbands favorite songs!

Glad I was able to draw you in! I was pretty happy with that title even though it doesn't really fit as well now.

 

[KatMark]

I'm exhausted just reading all of that with your boss taking away your days, giving them back, going from a mod to a value back to a mod. But at least you are at my favorite mod.

 

[Pluto0809]

I really wanted to try out the Magic Bands on this trip. I will be going in February with family and the Magic Bands & FP+ should be fully live then. Since I'm the Disney expert in our family, I wanted to have one trip under my belt so I know what I'm doing. I kept checking and checking the web site but it wasn't offered for our dates at CSR. Then on Thursday I logged on and there it was! I was able to customize our Magic Bands and book all of our FP+. The MB should ship later this week and I will include the FP+ that I scheduled in each day update. I'll also post a picture of the MBs once they get here. I agonized about my color choice but in the end went with my favorite color. You'll get to see what that is when I post the pictures!

On Saturday, I got my DME package!





Everything is finally falling in place for the trip. I haven't started packing yet because I've got two trips BEFORE the Disney one. Next weekend I'm headed up north for a cousin's wedding and then the weekend after, about 1 1/2 from home for a work conference. Once those are done, packing will begin.

Today, we stopped at CVS Pharmacy and I found this:



Of course, there was no way Pluto wasn't coming home with me! He plays a song and "dances" around in a circle. He drove the dogs nuts when I turned him on earlier.

And finally, I got a new camera for my birthday (a Canon Powershot S110) so I have been playing with it a lot. Still can't figure out the Wi Fi thing, I am not good a techy stuff! But I did get this cute shot of Sierra that I had to share!



Up Next: Dining With Two Picky Eaters

 

[KatMark]

Congrats on getting the Magic Bands. I'm still not sold on that whole idea and was glad not to have them in August.

Love the picture of Sierra.

I saw that Pluto when I was at CVS last Friday but he did not come home with me.

 

[smile4stamps]

It sounds as if almost all resorts will have the MB in October.. Kinda scary as I think it will be hard to get FP+ times if there aren't booked before you get home with more and more people using them!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Caught up!

Trying to keep everything straight with your date and resort changes was a task, but I'm glad you finally got it all sorted and scheduled.

Your picture of Sierra is adorable!

I'm very curious what you think about FP+ and mostly the Magic Bands. I was very glad to not have them my trip since they still seem to have several glitches. I don't know yet if you are going to a MNSSHP, but if so do not add your party ticket to your MB!!! It's been advised even by a ticket CM on here (CheshireFigment) not to as it messes with your regular park tickets and causes a huge mess. Maybe they will have that fixed by the time of your trip, but I'd wait to find out.

 

[Luvchefmic]

YES do NOT add MNSSHP tickets to your MB as pp stated, just go with your will call voucher or the actual ticket you have

I responded to your CVS Pluto find in my PTR/TR Also your MBs & wish to collect all the colors

Now your PTR Title, just so you know Fred & I married in 1986 and that song was played Everytime I get into your report I hear it over & over in my head, and for many hours after I log off

CSR Beautiful resort, did you pick water view or king sized bed ?

you mentioned the stress of planning your FP+s rides, wow if you can get through the stress of value-mod changing dates etc that will be a piece of cake !

Living here I haven't ridden DME in a very long time, so what does the AK on the tags mean ? I thought it meant Animal Kingdom at first glance

Loving your report, looking forward to meeting you soon Your trip is very close

Awww Sierra so cute ! Love to all the doggies ...Hi ! to Jim too

 

[DMGeurts]

Yay for getting to do FPP and MBs! That will be really cool to be able to check them out. The girls and I missed it by just a matter of days - but in a way, I am glad we were able to tour the "old way" one last time.

And congrats on the new camera! I think you are taking some really awesome pictures! Great job!

D~

 

[Pluto0809]

I'm exhausted just reading all of that with your boss taking away your days, giving them back, going from a mod to a value back to a mod. But at least you are at my favorite mod.

It was exhausting! I just blame the DIS because before I got on here, I didn't know about free dining and other discounts!

Congrats on getting the Magic Bands. I'm still not sold on that whole idea and was glad not to have them in August.

Love the picture of Sierra.

I saw that Pluto when I was at CVS last Friday but he did not come home with me.

I'm not quite sold on the Magic Bands & FP+ myself but they are going to be necessary in February. Thanks to the wedding our schedule is crazy and we will not have any morning time that trip at either Epcot or HS. Being able to schedule rides will mean we will get to ride Soarin', TSM and others without huge lines.

Thanks, I can't stop looking at that photo, she just looks so cute!

I am shocked that the Tigger version did not come home with you!

It sounds as if almost all resorts will have the MB in October.. Kinda scary as I think it will be hard to get FP+ times if there aren't booked before you get home with more and more people using them!

Yeah, I did see that all of the resorts will be using the MBs starting in October. While I was scheduling, I did notice that there were some rides that, while there was availability, the times were limited. I imagine it's going to be just as bad as doing ADR's once people catch on.

Caught up!

Trying to keep everything straight with your date and resort changes was a task, but I'm glad you finally got it all sorted and scheduled.

Your picture of Sierra is adorable!

I'm very curious what you think about FP+ and mostly the Magic Bands. I was very glad to not have them my trip since they still seem to have several glitches. I don't know yet if you are going to a MNSSHP, but if so do not add your party ticket to your MB!!! It's been advised even by a ticket CM on here (CheshireFigment) not to as it messes with your regular park tickets and causes a huge mess. Maybe they will have that fixed by the time of your trip, but I'd wait to find out.

The resort/date fiasco was definitely a task!

I will give a full unbiased report on the MB/FP+ when I get back. Like I said to Kathy above, I'm not 100% sold on them yet but I'm willing to give them a chance.

Thanks for the info to not attach my MNSSHP tickets. I hadn't even thought about attaching them but I will make sure not to do it now!

YES do NOT add MNSSHP tickets to your MB as pp stated, just go with your will call voucher or the actual ticket you have

I responded to your CVS Pluto find in my PTR/TR Also your MBs & wish to collect all the colors

Now your PTR Title, just so you know Fred & I married in 1986 and that song was played Everytime I get into your report I hear it over & over in my head, and for many hours after I log off

CSR Beautiful resort, did you pick water view or king sized bed ?

you mentioned the stress of planning your FP+s rides, wow if you can get through the stress of value-mod changing dates etc that will be a piece of cake !

Living here I haven't ridden DME in a very long time, so what does the AK on the tags mean ? I thought it meant Animal Kingdom at first glance

Loving your report, looking forward to meeting you soon Your trip is very close

Awww Sierra so cute ! Love to all the doggies ...Hi ! to Jim too

I will definitely not attach my MNSSHP tickets!

I'm the same way every time I see the PTR title, I start singing the song in my head!

I went with King Sized bed because I really don't care about the view. We are in our room for so little that a King Sized bed was a better deal for us.

Well, my FP+ are done and I decided I'm not touching them any more! I looked at them several times over the weekend and made some tweaks but I need to stop! I am still trying for Wishes for our first night but it's not available right now. Don't know if it's already filled or if they just haven't added it to the system yet.

The AK does actually mean Animal Kingdom so you were right! It really stands for "Animal Kingdom area" I think. All of the resorts in that area have the AK on the tags. My All Star Music ones did in March.

We definitely need to try to get together when I am down there. Let me know if you see somewhere in my schedule that would work for you as I post the days.

Yay for getting to do FPP and MBs! That will be really cool to be able to check them out. The girls and I missed it by just a matter of days - but in a way, I am glad we were able to tour the "old way" one last time.

And congrats on the new camera! I think you are taking some really awesome pictures! Great job!

D~

I am excited but also apprehensive to try the new FP+ and MBs. It's already crazy trying to make ADRs and now I have to worry about making ride times too. I guess it's not that much different than regular FPs other than having to decide way ahead of time what rides you want to do when.

Thanks on the new camera, I've had fun trying to figure it out. Gonna take it this weekend and play with it some more at the wedding.

 

[Pluto0809]

Yikes, I just realized that I only have 33 days till my trip and 9 of those I will be out of town. I better pick up the pace a little on this since I haven't even made it to our day to day plans yet! One more planning update then I'll get into the details next.

If you have read my previous two TRs you will know that I am a very picky eater. I don’t think there is a signature restaurant at WDW that I will eat at other than Le Cellier. And even there I struggle a bit and have to do some substituting.

Jim on the other hand will eat just about anything. That being said, he has a strange pickiness about which restaurants he will eat at. A few weekends ago we were at a local outlet mall and the only options for lunch were the food court or a Greek restaurant. The Greek restaurant had a menu that was four pages long but he could not find anything he wanted to eat on the menu. So we ate at the food court where he got a Cheese Steak sandwich which was one of the options on the restaurant menu! He does that all the time and I can never get a straight answer out of him as to why he won’t eat at certain restaurants.

Knowing that about him, I figured I had better let him pick where we were eating on this trip. I e-mailed him menus from all the restaurants that I would eat at and asked him to pick. Well, he didn’t really end up picking except for two but I’ll get to that on the actual days. What he did do is tell me yes or no to each restaurant and then I picked from there. The restaurants he said yes to were:

Cape May Café
Beaches & Cream
Big River Grille
O’Hana
Garden Grill
Rose & Crown
Via Napoli
Rainforest Café
T-Rex
Raglan Road
Crossroads
Paradiso 37
Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
Liberty Tree Tavern
Plaza Restaurant
50’s Prime Time
Sci-Fi Dine In Theater

He said no to these:
Boma
Chef Mickey’s
The Wave
Kona Cafe
Whispering Canyon Café
Tutto Italia
Chefs De France
Coral Reef
Cap N Jacks
Portobello
Tony’s Town Square
Hollywood & Vine
Mama Melrose

So can anybody find a pattern in any of that and explain to me what he is picky about? I knew he would eliminate most seafood and Italian restaurants because although he likes those cuisines, he rarely will go to a restaurant specializing in them. Other than that, nothing jumps out to me. I was disappointed with Kona and Boma as I really wanted to eat at one of those two but I’m not sure if I could have fit them into the schedule in the long run any way.

He also came back and asked why there was nothing from Mexico or Germany on the list. I went and really looked at the menus for San Angel Inn and Beirgarten again. I could not find a thing at San Angel Inn that I would eat but decided I would be ok at Beirgarten so I added that to the list of yeses. Then I got down to the task of narrowing down the yeses to 7 choices for the week. I will reveal the choices as I go through each day of the trip.

Up Next: Day 1 Plans