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

[Luvchefmic]

Hi! Just posted an update above so don't miss it!

I LIKE it ! What do you think of this...first meet join you & Jim at Flaming tree for that same fabulous lunch, together pictures at Dinoland and if we all still like each other F & W ? I'll take off right before the eat to beat concert ... thoughts ?

Should have work schedules for your time here by end of next week, we are up to the week before right now

 

[PhoenixStrength]

AK!!!! Sounds like you have it all planned out nicely. I can't wait to see the picture from Dinosaur if Jim makes unintentional funny faces. And EE too if he winds up riding.

That whole meal at Flame Tree looks familiar, like maybe I ate that exact thing there less than 2 weeks ago! Definitely yummy.

I went to Food and Wine in 2010, but I think I only tried 1 or 2 things. Of course I was there on a Saturday and there were lines of 30-50 people at each place so I didn't want to waste time in lines versus doing everything else I wanted to do. I hope since you're going later in the day on a Sunday the locals should be clearing out by then so the lines won't be so bad for you!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great fan! I love Flame Tree Barbecue too!

And yum all the foods you want to try at F&W sounds good, hopefully you won't be disappointed by them!

 

[smile4stamps]

We will also be in Epcot on part of the day on the 20th and going to the Night Ranger concert! After we are heading to Citrico's for dinner though so definitely no Illuminations!

My husband would not be pulling into character lines and would be interested in the trails if it wasn't so much walking lol

 

[Pluto0809]

I LIKE it ! What do you think of this...first meet join you & Jim at Flaming tree for that same fabulous lunch, together pictures at Dinoland and if we all still like each other F & W ? I'll take off right before the eat to beat concert ... thoughts ?

Should have work schedules for your time here by end of next week, we are up to the week before right now

Whatever works with your schedule is fine with me!

AK!!!! Sounds like you have it all planned out nicely. I can't wait to see the picture from Dinosaur if Jim makes unintentional funny faces. And EE too if he winds up riding.

That whole meal at Flame Tree looks familiar, like maybe I ate that exact thing there less than 2 weeks ago! Definitely yummy.

I went to Food and Wine in 2010, but I think I only tried 1 or 2 things. Of course I was there on a Saturday and there were lines of 30-50 people at each place so I didn't want to waste time in lines versus doing everything else I wanted to do. I hope since you're going later in the day on a Sunday the locals should be clearing out by then so the lines won't be so bad for you!

I do think his faces will be hilarious. When we when to that "other" park in Orlando a few years ago, the face he made on the Harry Potter ride was so funny. I'm still kicking myself for not buying it but they were like $25 or something.

I am hoping that the Food and Wine will be cleared out some by the end of the day on Sunday. Our only other full day in Epcot is going to be on a Friday and I know that won't be an option for Food & Wine!

Sounds like a great fan! I love Flame Tree Barbecue too!

And yum all the foods you want to try at F&W sounds good, hopefully you won't be disappointed by them!

Flame Tree is one of my favorites! I'm sure all of the F&W will be yummy, just not sure how my pickiness will handle them! I'm sure that Jim will finish anything I don't like.

We will also be in Epcot on part of the day on the 20th and going to the Night Ranger concert! After we are heading to Citrico's for dinner though so definitely no Illuminations!

My husband would not be pulling into character lines and would be interested in the trails if it wasn't so much walking lol

Cool! If you see me, come say hi. I'm not sure at this point which one of the Night Ranger concerts we will go to, I think there are three different times. It will depend on what time we make it to Epcot and how fast we get around to the theater.

Not sure why Jim is so facinated by characters, he's always been that way. At Universal last year, he meet The Simpsons, Marilyn Monroe, Lucy, Doc from Back to the Future, Scooby Do and several others I'm not remembering right now!

 

[KatMark]

I like your plans. I'd be sitting on a bench with hubby for EE, but I'd totally be with him getting character pictures. I love how "opposite" you are on things but make it balance/work out.

We love Flame Tree but we keep missing it because we've booked Tusker House the last two trips and in December we are eating at Yak & Yeti. Have to rectify that next September.

 

[Pluto0809]

First of all, our Magic Bands came over the weekend! Jim was laughing at me because I was sooooo excited to open that box I was ignoring the dogs who wanted their dinner. So here they are:





I know you were all holding your breath to find out what color I got. Well as you can see, I got green! I went back and forth between blue, green and pink for a long time. Since Jim picked blue, that left me with two choices. I almost ended up changing to orange for Halloween and Pluto but in the end, my favorite color won out.

And now onto some pictures from the wedding. I'm still learning my new camera so these aren't the best. The wedding was for my Cousin Sydney. My Mom and her sister lived next to each other for many years so I got to watch Syd grow up. I even baby sat for her, her sister, Morgan (the one getting married at Disney in February and planning the family trip with me) and their brother Jordan. My poor aunt has been going nuts this year with both of her daughters getting married!

The wedding was downtown Pittsburgh at the Center for Arts so we stayed at a Springhill Suites nearby. The hotel was beautiful and our room was really nice. I didn't get any pictures of the room, but I did get a few in the lobby.





Here's the garden where the wedding was supposed to be.



Unfortunately it rained all day Saturday so they had to move it inside the Arts Center.





It was still a very pretty setting. We were on the first van from the hotel because we had my Great Aunt with us and she was in a wheelchair. You can see her and my Mom in the one picture above. So I took some time to walk around and checked the place out a bit. I didn't take any more pictures of the Center but I did get this cute one of my Cousin's kids:



The little girl is Jordan's and the boy is Morgan's stepson. The guy she is marrying had two children from his first wife. She was killed in a car accident when they were 3 and 1. Then they have a little girl together. I'll post a picture of her two girls in a minute as they were both flower girls in the wedding.

Right before the wedding started, my Cousin Jordan came out to tell us no photography during the ceremony. So the last picture I took was of him telling me not to take any pictures.



Jordan actually officiated his sister's wedding and he did a really good job. It was very small, only two bridesmaids and groomsmen and the two flower girls. Sydney's dress was absolutely gorgeous. It was a pale pink, almost blush color with lots and lots of layers and a long train. Very Princess like! You can tell we are a Disney family. The funniest part was when Jordan, rather than saying "You may now kiss the bride" said, "You may now kiss my sister".

After the ceremony there was a short cocktail party then we moved out to the enclosed porch for the reception.









The cake:



My seat mate at the reception:



Jim couldn't go with me so I got to sit next to Jordan's little girl. Thank goodness my dress was black because I had a few strawberries land on me. She is a sweetheart though and I enjoyed sitting with her for the meal. I was also slighty envious of the chicken tenders she got to eat!

Before the meal started they introduced everyone. Unfortunately we were seated right on top of the door and since they were coming in from a lighted room into the darker porch, my pictures are horrible. I am going to share one of the two flower girls since it's the only one I got of them. The older one is the one I often refer to as my "mini-me" because she loves Pluto like I do.



They also had the cake cutting and the first dance before the meal. You finally get to see a picture of the bride and groom!







The last picture I took that night was of my fellow Disney nut, Morgan. She was Maid of Honor and gave an extremely funny speech.



And then I put my camera away, drank too much wine and danced the night away! Well not really, I did get out on the floor for a few numbers though.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting with family and watching both the Pirates and the Steelers loss spectacularly.

I only took one more really bad cell phone picture. I alway bring my Mom's little dog a new toy. Check out what I brought her this trip.



Up Next: Day 3 - Hollywood Studios

 

[Luvchefmic]

Well Semper Fi to the USMC groom and his beautiful bride The children are gorgeous What no one could take a picture of you ?? What a pretty hall, too bad about the rain though that's supposed to be lucky on a wedding day I've always heard Too funny Jordans' " You may now kiss my sister"

For goodness sake you get all the good Pluto stuff by you..even a dog rope chew toy, here I live in Pluto land and....nothing

Nice updates Ariana

 

[KatMark]

Beautiful wedding pictures.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Just thought of something between my Yellow MB and your Green MB together we ARE





okay I am obviously sleep deprived

 

[missangelalexis]

Looks like it was a beautiful wedding! Nice pictures!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Beautiful wedding! Congrats to the happy couple.

And love the toy for your Mom's dog.

 

[smile4stamps]

We will be going to the middle concert as we have a seminar before and an ADR at Citrico's after! WE are going to get our exercise criss-crossing Epcot!!

 

[Pluto0809]

I like your plans. I'd be sitting on a bench with hubby for EE, but I'd totally be with him getting character pictures. I love how "opposite" you are on things but make it balance/work out.

We love Flame Tree but we keep missing it because we've booked Tusker House the last two trips and in December we are eating at Yak & Yeti. Have to rectify that next September.

Yeah, we do balance each other out well. The big hill on EE is going to scare him, I just know it!

I have the opposite problem as you, I haven't made it to Tusker House because I always want to eat at Flame Tree!

Well Semper Fi to the USMC groom and his beautiful bride The children are gorgeous What no one could take a picture of you ?? What a pretty hall, too bad about the rain though that's supposed to be lucky on a wedding day I've always heard Too funny Jordans' " You may now kiss my sister"

For goodness sake you get all the good Pluto stuff by you..even a dog rope chew toy, here I live in Pluto land and....nothing

Nice updates Ariana

That's right, I forgot you are a Marine Mom! Kevin, her new husband is a really nice guy. They actually went to school together all the way from elementary on but only recently reconnected.

I'm sure there are some pictures out there of me taken by one relative or another! If any make it my way, I'll post them for you.

I got the Pluto dog toy a few months ago at Petsmart. They had a whole wall of Disney dog toys! There were actually three different versions of Pluto. I got two for my dogs then decided to go back a week later to grab one for Izzie (Mom's dog). They were almost cleaned out at that point! I haven't been back in there recently to see if they restocked them or not.

Beautiful wedding pictures.

Thanks!

Just thought of something between my Yellow MB and your Green MB together we ARE





okay I am obviously sleep deprived

You are so right! Maybe that's why I was drawn to the green one, it looks like Pluto's collar! Now they just need to release some Pluto accessories for the Magic Bands and I will be all set. I haven't seen any yet, have you?

Looks like it was a beautiful wedding! Nice pictures!

Thanks!

Beautiful wedding! Congrats to the happy couple.

And love the toy for your Mom's dog.

Thanks! Izzie loved the toy too! Took her about 5 minutes to "kill" the squeaker. That's her favorite thing to do with a new toy.

We will be going to the middle concert as we have a seminar before and an ADR at Citrico's after! WE are going to get our exercise criss-crossing Epcot!!

Wow, you will be doing a lot of criss-crossing!

 

[Pluto0809]

I am headed out of town next week for a work conference so I thought I'd post one more update this week. It will probably be at least a week before I get the next one done.

Monday, October 21 we will be spending all day at Hollywood Studios.



I want to get there very early so we will be on a bus no later than 7:45 am. I’m hoping for the same pixie dust I got during my March trip. I got let in ½ early and got two rides on TSM before the actual opening time.

Here’s the FP+ schedule:
10:00 – 11:00 am – Rock n Roller Coaster
4:20 – 5:20 pm – Toy Story Mania
6:55 – 7:15 pm – Fantasmic

Yep, I went with Fantasmic instead of one of the other thrill rides, more on that later.

Hopefully we will get let in again at 8:30 am and will head straight to my favorite ride at HS, TSM.



I want to get two rides in before the line gets too long. I’ve decided that if Jim hates this ride I may have to disown him! Well, not really but I will be very disappointed if he doesn’t want to ride more than once.

Next, we will head down Sunset Blvd where I will most likely be finding a bench for Jim while I get in line for TOT. He claims at the moment that he is going to ride it but I think he is remembering the ride wrong. When I explain to him that the ride drops more than once, I’m pretty sure he will back out of riding. If not, that’s going to be one funny ride photo (one of the main reasons I decided to get PP+). One way or the other I didn’t want to waste a FP+ here since I only ride TOT one time (all my stomach can handle) and I’m not sure if he will ride at all.



Jim will be riding RnRC with me, he’s ridden plenty of faster, more intense roller coasters at Six Flags.



He may not love the ride but he’ll get through it. If all goes as planned, we should be getting in line for that right at the start of our FP+. I want to eat lunch around 11:30 am so we should have about an hour after RnRC. An animation class or the Great Movie Ride might work in that spot or maybe Voyage of the Little Mermaid if Jim wants to see it, he does love Ariel after all. Something slower here will give my sometimes queasy stomach a break from the thrill rides.



Right now I’m planning lunch at Pizza Planet but I may also give Jim the option of Pizza Planet, Backlot Express or Studio Catering Company. I want him to think he has some say during the trip.

After lunch we will be going to the 1 pm Lights, Motor, Action! Stunt Show. Jim is a huge fan of spy movies so I think he will love seeing how the car chases are done.



The rest of the afternoon is kind of up in the air. I know Jim will want to do Star Tours so I might give that ride one more try. If you didn’t read my last TR, I got very sick on Star Tours but had ridden it previously with no problems. I do know if I get sick again, I will be done with the ride for good. Once again, I didn’t want to waste a FP+ here since don’t know for sure if we will ride.

I want to ride GMR, do the animation class and see Muppet Vision 3D for sure so if we didn’t get those done in the morning, we will do them in the afternoon.



I don’t really have a desire to do the Backlot Tour, the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow or American Idol but if Jim shows interest (doubtful) I’ll do them with him. I’ll also see if he is interested in seeing Beauty and the Beast or Indiana Jones again since we saw them on our Honeymoon. I know we can’t get everything done but we will see what we can fit in before our TSM FP+ at 4:20 pm.

Dinner this night is at 5:20 pm and is at one of the restaurants that Jim actually picked. He has very fond memories from 50s Prime Time from our Honeymoon and requested we eat there again.

After dinner, we will head to the Fantasmic Theater to use our last FP+. I am very curious to see for myself how the FP+ works for the night shows and since I wasn’t able to get Wishes, I thought we would try Fantasmic.





Hollywood Studios closes at 7:30 pm that night which is the same time as Fantasmic. After the show, I’ll probably do some shopping rather than wait in long lines for a bus. Then we’ll head out and back to CSR for an early night.

Up Next: Day 4 – No Parks, what?

 

[Pluto0809]

Yep, you read the title right, on Tuesday, October 22nd we will not be going to any parks! Instead we will be heading to DTD for the day. We’ll probably get a little later of a start on this day but probably not too late as Jim will be up at 5 am any way. I might sleep in till 7 am if he doesn’t wake me up before then moving around the room.

My plan for the morning is some shopping!



Jim can only tolerate so much shopping so I’ll try to be quick in each store. I definitely want to visit The Christmas Store, World of Disney, the Art Store, Trend-D and Arribas Brothers. Jim will want to check out the Lego Store.

Lunch will be a new experience for me, Wolfgang Puck Express. I’m really excited to try WPE because I’ve heard so many good things about it. I don’t know for sure what I want to get but the Mac & Cheese and the Cheese Pizza look really good. The menu seems diverse enough too that Jim should be able to find something to eat without any problem.

After lunch we are going to try out Disney Quest. Jim loves video games so I think he will be in heaven here. Now me, I’m not so sure about it. I don’t do so well on simulator type rides so I don’t know how much I will be able to handle. And video games are not really my thing. I have a feeling that after about an hour I may leave him in “80s Arcade Heaven” and go do some more shopping.

We’ll have to meet back up by 4:30 to catch a bus to our dinner destination. When I was planning this trip, I wanted to do something nice for our anniversary. Problem is, neither one of us are fancy restaurant people. So instead, I decided to book us for the Hoop De Do Revue. That is way more our speed than say California Grill.



We are going to the 6:15 pm show. Unfortunately we are in Category 3 seating because Category 2 was sold out when I moved all of our dining reservations by a week. I’ve never sat up in the balcony but hopefully it will be ok.

After dinner, we’ll catch a bus back to the resort for an early night. We’ve got a couple of long days coming up and I want to get some sleep on this night.

Up Next: Day 5 - Back to my Happy Place!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great day, shopping for you and video games for DH- so both of you are happy! Dinner at Hoop De Do Revue sounds like a fun choice for your anniversary dinner!

 

[KatMark]

I'm sorry I missed your previous update.

But your Studios day plans sound great (curious why FP+ for the show and not another thrill ride?).

And your DTD day sounds wonderful. I mean how can it not? It includes shopping which is one of my favorite things to do. I wouldn't last in DQ for 30 minutes let alone an hour. More power to you my friend.

We've never done Cali Grill or the HDDR.

 

[Luvchefmic]

okay TROUBLE on the horizon with the shopping NEW Pluto merchandise coming this fall to WDW...adorable bank, if I see it before you get here I presume I should pick one up for you ? I think they will go fast

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/09/new-novelty-toys-coming-to-disney-parks-for-fall-2013/



this is a big weekend on my end with the Oct Dismeets and MNSSHP tomorrow been adding updates to my report too ( see you there when you can catch up )

So glad to see you are back I missed you and to answer your question re-Pluto things for magic band nothing yet..we can hope

 

[DMGeurts]

Great update! Your DTD day sounds great!

I think Jim will love his "80s arcade heaven" Hahahha...

And I've always wanted to do HDDR - I totally agree - that is more our style than California Grill.

D~