Disney again, yes please! August 11-20/2018 PTR, Update 8/8, pg. 23. COMPLETE!!

[disneyAndi14]

94 days until August trip
181 days until November trip



I need to make my ADR's for our Thanksgiving trip tomorrow yikes!

I am looking at Garden Grill for Thanksgiving Day.


California Grill is being requested by Andi for her 18th Birthday dinner, her Birthday is 11/26 and this would be the only day we can go to the Christmas party so we would need to do an early dinner here

I will have to look at the Disney website to see what time the restaurant opens for dinner.

The rest, I am not sure yet, we will be staying at FQ, so I am thinking about DS places. Morimoto, Homecomin, Paddlefish, and Frontera Cocina are the ones I am considering. I would narrow it down to 1-2 of those.

I will update tomorrow with the reservations I make, wish me luck

 

[mercydisney]

Your ADR's look great! I see you are doing the BonVoyage breakfast as well. I have to start making ADR's for our next trip. Yikes I haven't even thought about it yet.
Your shirt sounds cute! Is this your first Halloween party or have you been before? I have Jack Skellington ears which I wore last party with a HM shirt. It said Welcome foolish mortals!

Good Morning Caroline
I hope you got all the ressies you wanted. Have you eaten in Garden Grill before? If you haven not it has great interaction with the charactors and the service is just as great.

I have a confession to make I am an hr away from Disney, 45 minutes with not traffic.
But it is still my favorite vacation spot. I have done MNSSHHP but is has been awhile since we have done it. The last one was when they stopped sending you the free pics. I think I was just on Strike with them. LOL
I decided to do it this year because my DD's are very close and Cristina (youngest 17) is very derpressed about her older sister, Daniela leaving to Kentucky. Also why we decided to do The FairyTale Dinner.

Another reason we are staying at ASM. Daniela would be very upset if we stayed in a Deluxe without her!
We usually stay here when we do a quick overnight trip. I like the hotel it is very clean and quite especially if we request Broadway section.

Let us know how your reservations turned out!

 

[missangelalexis]

Garden Grill for Thanksgiving sounds so fun! Good luck!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Good Morning Caroline
I hope you got all the ressies you wanted. Have you eaten in Garden Grill before? If you haven not it has great interaction with the charactors and the service is just as great.

I have a confession to make I am an hr away from Disney, 45 minutes with not traffic.
But it is still my favorite vacation spot. I have done MNSSHHP but is has been awhile since we have done it. The last one was when they stopped sending you the free pics. I think I was just on Strike with them. LOL
I decided to do it this year because my DD's are very close and Cristina (youngest 17) is very derpressed about her older sister, Daniela leaving to Kentucky. Also why we decided to do The FairyTale Dinner.

Another reason we are staying at ASM. Daniela would be very upset if we stayed in a Deluxe without her!
We usually stay here when we do a quick overnight trip. I like the hotel it is very clean and quite especially if we request Broadway section.

Let us know how your reservations turned out!

Hi!
Wow how nice for you all to live so close to Disney, we live really far away! We have had breakfast twice at GG and dinner once. I agree with you, the food was great and the characters are so fun.
Are you all excited for Pandora? I have been reading some reviews and it looks very cool and interactive.
Andi and I have stayed at PoP and AOA for values, good to know AS's are nice and clean! We have a quest to try and stay at all resorts someday! Stay tuned for a quick up date on ADR's

 

[disneyAndi14]

Garden Grill for Thanksgiving sounds so fun! Good luck!

I know right, the food is somewhat Thanksgiving like and you can't beat the LWtL scenery and fun characters!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Quick update on ADR quest for Thanksgiving trip.

I booked The Plaza on our first afternoon, Andi saw the new loaded fries and really wants those LOL!

I booked Morimoto for 11/22, we both have wanted to try this, I see some really good reviews then some that are not so great 50/50 I would say. We both like Japanese food and it will be new to us!

Thanksgiving Day 11/23, I booked Garden Grill for a late lunch, really excited about this, Andi wasn't sold so I also made Trails End at 6:30, so will see which we keep. She shocked me with saying she wasn't sure she wanted lunch at GG!

I have Friday and Saturday open yet because I am hoping to book a CP dinner package. We have never done this and would really like it. If anyone out there has done it and has an opinion or advice let me know! We aren't sure of the ADR for this yet. Andi really liked Nine Dragons, so possibly there.

11/26 is Andi's 18th Birthday, I can't believe it, my baby will be 18 The CG does not seat until 5pm and we thought this would start to fringe on our party time. We are doing the MVMCP on her birthday and the menu did not appeal to Andi, (teenagers!) so we are doing CRT at 4:30. We ate here one other time at dinner and we loved it.

Well, this is the line up so far, not much yet, we are thinking of doing some quick service over at DS as well. We would love to try Dluxe burger, WGPE, and Blaze Pizza just to name a few

 

[suse66]

Looks like a great line up for your Thanksgiving trip! So fun! I don't think the boys will be back to Disney for a while. Jack will be in grade 12 in the fall and he really wants to do an Arizona trip for March Break next year. I would love to have a mom/son trip one day but I don't know if they would go for it. The three of them are pretty tight and tend to travel as a pack. On the other hand, I am planning a sweet 16th trip for my niece in 2019 as well as our 20th anniversary trip for DH and I!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Looks like a great line up for your Thanksgiving trip! So fun! I don't think the boys will be back to Disney for a while. Jack will be in grade 12 in the fall and he really wants to do an Arizona trip for March Break next year. I would love to have a mom/son trip one day but I don't know if they would go for it. The three of them are pretty tight and tend to travel as a pack. On the other hand, I am planning a sweet 16th trip for my niece in 2019 as well as our 20th anniversary trip for DH and I!

Thanks, I feel like the ADR's are a little lackluster so far. I am hoping to do the CP Dining package and those don't come out until July from what I have read on the boards.
It sounds like you have some trips planned for the future as well. My parents lived in Tucson for about 20 years so we always went to Arizona for spring breaks, we loved it! I love the desert landscape!
At Disney, are you excited to check out Pandora? I am really looking forward to it after all the recent reviews I have been reading. I hope I don't get motion sickness on FoP ride. I have been okay on Harry Potter at US.

 

[ariane37]

OMG just finding this! Joining and coming back soon to catch up

 

[ariane37]

Caught up! All the ADR's for your trips sound great; awesome line up for August! As for Thanksgiving Day, not sure if you remember but we did TE last year and absolutely loved it so if you go that route I think you'll enjoy it

Love all your shirts from Hot Topic! Once you start filling your shopping cart it's hard to stop, isn't it lol??

We were supposed to do MNSSHP on the 29th also but now we're not Kind of a long story. I won't bore you with it here since I'll eventually get to it in my PTR but I'm not happy I'm missing it!

 

[missangelalexis]

CRT sounds like a great birthday dinner! How can you go wrong with princesses, right?

 

[AliceNDinah]

Hi Caroline, where in MN are you? We are in the Twin Cities and cannot wait to do Disney at the end of August, like you I'm counting the days, which I believe are 89, ha ha ha.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Caught up! All the ADR's for your trips sound great; awesome line up for August! As for Thanksgiving Day, not sure if you remember but we did TE last year and absolutely loved it so if you go that route I think you'll enjoy it

Love all your shirts from Hot Topic! Once you start filling your shopping cart it's hard to stop, isn't it lol??

We were supposed to do MNSSHP on the 29th also but now we're not Kind of a long story. I won't bore you with it here since I'll eventually get to it in my PTR but I'm not happy I'm missing it!

Glad you have joined in, I do remember you all ate at TE that is one of the reasons I chose it, very good reviews

I do love the Disney inspired clothes out there at Hot Topic

I will have to find out on your PTR why no MNSSHP but I am thinking it means we maybe there around the same time, that would be awesome!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Hi Caroline, where in MN are you? We are in the Twin Cities and cannot wait to do Disney at the end of August, like you I'm counting the days, which I believe are 89, ha ha ha.

Hi and we live up in Duluth, so happy to have a fellow Minnesotan joining in and also a Disney lover with similar trip dates as us! Let's stay in touch and we could possibly meet up at Disney What are your dates and where are you staying? Thanks for stopping by!

 

[JuniorSkipper]

i just got caught up on this PTR!! I cannot believe that I will be turning 18 in the most magical place in the world with my best friend . We can never go wrong with a princess meal I hope that everyone is as excited as we are to see pandora!!! I think it will also be good to try all these new places at disney springs; trying new restaurants is always fun for me. I am super pumped to do MNSSHP again it is just so fun, and same with MVCP because I dont really remember the last one we did.

 

[disneyAndi14]

i just got caught up on this PTR!! I cannot believe that I will be turning 18 in the most magical place in the world with my best friend . We can never go wrong with a princess meal I hope that everyone is as excited as we are to see pandora!!! I think it will also be good to try all these new places at disney springs; trying new restaurants is always fun for me. I am super pumped to do MNSSHP again it is just so fun, and same with MVCP because I dont really remember the last one we did.

Such a sweetie, I am so excited for Pandora and our ADR's for August and November, we will have a blast!
I know it will be a dream for you to be in Disney on your Birthday . The parties will be fun. I am going to start talking FP+ soon. Stay tuned!

 

[AliceNDinah]

Hi Caroline!! We will be there August 27--September 2, at the POR! I'm dating myself, but the last time I was in "the World" was 1998, Animal Kingdom was just being built! So I'm excited to see it all again, especially this time with my husband and little boy, both of whom have never been. Do you fly directly from Duluth or do you come down to MSP to fly out? That would be fun to meet up sometime, we'll have to see how everything pans out, I am still planning out our days and trying to decide about FastPasses! June 28th is the day I can start making them, yay! Stay cool this weekend, it's supposed to be HOT out ;----)

 

[disneyAndi14]

Hi Caroline!! We will be there August 27--September 2, at the POR! I'm dating myself, but the last time I was in "the World" was 1998, Animal Kingdom was just being built! So I'm excited to see it all again, especially this time with my husband and little boy, both of whom have never been. Do you fly directly from Duluth or do you come down to MSP to fly out? That would be fun to meet up sometime, we'll have to see how everything pans out, I am still planning out our days and trying to decide about FastPasses! June 28th is the day I can start making them, yay! Stay cool this weekend, it's supposed to be HOT out ;----)

How exciting for you to return after many years, it will be awesome. Your husband and son will love it, I'm sure!
We fly from Duluth in the winter but in August we come down to MSP. I have an American Express from Delta so we always fly Delta. I get pretty decent deals and no fees for baggage.
Yes let's stay in touch and hopefully we can meet up for a hello! I'm also trying to figure out our days and FP+. I will be doing FP for the first time in a long time at AK, with the new Pandora area. We will try to do EMH there as well. I wonder if the night EMH will be continued in August, that would be nice.
We have been cooler here with the big lake, however, it is suppose to be hot today so we will see! We are always 20-30 degrees cooler than you all up here. Lake Superior is a big old air conditioner lol! Keep in touch and let me know how your plans are going!

 

[disneyAndi14]

FP ideas and thoughts!

Hi everyone,

I am starting to think about our park days and FP+, our date is 6/27/17 so we will be up early to get our place in line!
Andi loved when the FP+ was at midnight on your date, because you guessed, a teenager, up late of course! She would always do the reservations because I was in la la land at that hour! She was very bummed out when it was changed to 7 am.
I will be the one doing the FP+ because of the time, I will have her input, of course!
I was so excited to try SDFP+, I did my homework, studied up and was ready, but Disney became wise and as of 6/6/17 it is no more! It figures, by the time I got on the bandwagon it is gone. I read a few articles and did not realize the abuse of this! People could actually hire someone from Craig's list to get them a bunch of FP the same day, they were like runners! I do understand the need to control that. I still wish I would have learned about same day FP awhile back because it would have been nice.
One thing nice about two people traveling instead of a big group, is we can get rolling FP+ fairly easily.

Day 1 will be MK day, we arrive by noon, if all goes well with our flight. We will do FP later in the day. I am thinking 7DMT, Splash, and BTMRR. Splash will be going down for refurb on 8/28 so we have to get a ride or two in on this!

Day 2 will be EMH at HS, I am torn if I should do some FP here in the am or if I should get FP again later in the day at MK. We have our BOG dinner this night around 7:30. What do you all think? I know we could probably get rolling FP at MK for the evening so maybe get FP in the am for HS. Our go to FP at HS is TSMM, ToT, and ST. We try to do TSMM right at RD, then over to RRC for Andi. We are usually able to walk on most things in the early am.

Day 3 will be AK, EMH in the am. I will do FP here for the first time in a long time because of Pandora!!
I am thinking we will try SB line for the river ride, FP FoP, Safari, and Dinosaur. We go often enough that AK has always been 1/2 Day for us with HS. We would do this several days each trip and that worked great. I am thinking we will still do 1/2 Day today but not sure yet. We have an ADR back at our resort this evening. Ohana! Andi may head back to MK later in the PM, I probably will stay at the Poly this night and relax after dinner.

Day 4, this is MNSSHP for us. We will probably head over to Epcot in the later am to look around or maybe DS?? I haven't decided yet. I may do FP at Epcot for later am. In that case, we would FP Soarin, SE, and CS. Epcot is a hard park with FP because of the tier 1 and 2 categories! We have a late lunch at LTT in MK so we will be heading over there by 2:30. I will stop here since so word heavy!

Here are a couple pictures to break up all the text, I love grumpy cat, this is me when I think about FP+ with the tier levels lol!


Andi and I by one of our favorite rides Big Thunder

 

[JuniorSkipper]

For day two I think that it would be good to do fast passes at HS because we seem to be able to get rolling ones pretty easy. Although we seem to be in and out of HS pretty quick and could almost do everything at rope drop lol! But overall I think it'd be wise to do it at HS for TSMM and TOT