Disney: It's For Adults, Too! (finally booked!!!)

[Sam33]

Easywdw has their crowd calendar up for our dates, finally...and all my worst fears have come true!

Now, we were expecting a couple of high crowd days. That's just the nature of having to go over a holiday. But all the parks I want to go to on specific days are pretty much the least recommended parks!
I didn't use a crowd calendar on our honeymoon so I'm kind of hoping that the numbers I'm seeing aren't as bad as I'm imagining. Does anyone know if there's a way to see past crowd predictions? I want to compared their predictions to days I've been to see if I remember them being busy or not. I have nothing to compare it to and of course I'm irrationally freaking out of that 8/10 crowd!

So Saturday is our first full day in WDW and I REALLY want to go to MK first. I was expecting it to be bad that day since it's a Saturday of a holiday weekend and it looks like I was correct on that. It's an 8 that day and the least recommended park. I think I'm still going to plan on MK for that day and just make rope drop, not worry too much about rides since we'll be back and leave for lunch at a resort, look at all the decorations on the monorail resorts and have some cocktails in the lounges.
I think we'll have plenty of time to ride the rides we want to ride, especially because I don't think my mom will care too much for riding the headliners over and over again like DH likes to do. I think we'll spend an hour or two doing some rides that morning and then just shop and meander until lunch time. I want to buy her some Mickey Ears and plan to give her a coupon for them in the gift bag I'm planning!
And maybe go to DTD for some shopping and dinner in the late afternoon and come back to MK for Wishes and EMH until 11 or 1 (I can't remember which).

Sound like a good plan for dealing with the crowds yet still getting to do MK first day? I hope so!
We'll get all the magic but it will still be low key.


Luckily, from Monday to Friday, crowd levels are all 4 or lower so we'll just have a packed weekend and super low crowds the second half. That's pretty much exactly what I was expecting to happen.

 

[Sam33]

I JUST HAD THE MOST GLORIOUS CONVERSATION WITH MY MOTHER!

Her job is secure. She's staying at the same school. And I'm on my way to the Disney website to book!

YAY!

Only one slight change to the days. She decided she doesn't want to take 3 whole days off work so instead she's taking a half day Thursday so we'll fly out after 1PM and we'll come back Wednesday night instead. So basically we're just sacrificing the half day we'd have on Friday night.

This also works better for Food and Wine because I have a feeling it will be a lot less busy at 11AM on Friday than it will be at 6PM on Friday.

I'm so excited!

She's also signing me up for a Disney Visa card right now because you get a $200 Disney gift card and I need a credit card anyways. And she checked out the rates and they aren't awful.
And if I don't get approved for it she's gonna get one.

Good day

 

[Sam33]

A lesson to myself to not freak out about everything:
Now that we're leaving Thursday night instead of Friday, everything is going to be okay crowd-wise. That 2 hour period of time where everything sucked was silly!

So I'm going to post my day to day park plans closer to the trip even though I'm working on them right now. They change weekly. But there's one day that's set in stone now that we're booked!
We want to do Food & Wine which ends the Sunday after we arrive. It will be busy all weekend but we figure Friday afternoon will be our best opportunity compared to Saturday or Sunday.

The Recommended park on Friday is MK! So we're going to wake up, hit MK for rope drop, and spend our morning doing MK stuff. Then, we're going to Epcot for the rest of the day! Hopefully around 11:30 or noon we'll head over there and do world showcase all night. Food and Wine snacks for lunch and either Coral Reef or Chefs for dinner. (We want to do both those restaurants during our trip so either will work; most likely Coral Reef this night because I would prefer doing Chefs for lunch since the ambiance appears more lunch-y).
Epcot will probably be soooo busy this day but it really is our best chance at Food & Wine. It will be so much worse over the weekend!

The only things in Future World we'll do (test track is closed we can pray for an early opening!) is Soarin, Livin with the Land, and Club Cool. So we should be able to fit those in today even. But either way I'm going to schedule another Epcot day later in the trip. My mom is most looking forward to AK but I bet by the end of the trip, Epcot will be her favorite!

That's our first full day in Disney and it most likely will not change! We're getting 6 day passes instead of 7 so Thursday night will either be straight to bed or DTD if we happen to get the perfect flight out!

 

[glennbo123]

I'm glad your plans are coming together. I'd love to get there for Food & Wine sometime. With my wife teaching, I'm not sure when that will be....oh well.

I've never been on that easywdw site, I'll have to check it out -- thanks!

 

[Sam33]

I'm glad your plans are coming together. I'd love to get there for Food & Wine sometime. With my wife teaching, I'm not sure when that will be....oh well.

I've never been on that easywdw site, I'll have to check it out -- thanks!

May have to hold off until retirement! Although it may not be around by the time that rolls around!
My mom's about five years off but since we moved her first years didn't count towards her retirement in Colorado.
But I'm assuming she's several years older based on looks and age of kids haha

 

[Queenofallthings]

I love when a plan comes together! I freak out sometimes too but everything always has a way of working out doesn't it!

 

[Sam33]

I love when a plan comes together! I freak out sometimes too but everything always has a way of working out doesn't it!

There was about a 95% chance my mom would stay at her school and we good book her trip but I was still freaking out trying to come up with a plan B (going over a big holiday )
I was SO relieved when she called me to say "BOOK IT!!" And she's starting to seem a lot more excited about it, too. She's been picking on me pretending like she's not excited and even though I know she's just messing with me I still get all worked up So my grandma called to yell at her (me and my mom and my grandma are all the exact same people only different ages, we're all spending a week together in June and I couldn't be more excited to be in a town of a couple of thousand doing nothing!)
So after getting scolded she's being nice

 

[Sam33]

I'M 186 DAYS AWAY! That only means one thing...ADR TIME! ​

We're officially not getting the dining plan unless it's free; and we decided we'd rather have two meals for a similar price as one nice meal so no signatures!

The following are our final decisions (lol, bets on how many of these I change in the next 6 months )
-Coral Reef for dinner (mostly for the atmosphere; the food wasn't too impressive for the price but the aquarium is too awesome! And my mom is REALLY excited about this one despite my warning about the food. As long as the keep the lobster ravioli I'll be good [it's delicious])
-Tony's for dinner (can't NOT do this one. It's my favorite for some reason...)
-Raglan Road for lunch (I wasn't going to do a DTD table service but when I was planning our days I realized that we were going to have more DTD time that I originally thought [yay shopping!] and hear such good things about this place. AND IT'S BEER)
-Sci-Fi OR Mama Melrose. I can't decide yet. I WANT Sci-Fi but we may do the F! package instead. If I know us we'll want Sci-Fi because we'll be too tired to stay for F! ahah
-Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch
-Chefs De France for lunch
-Plaza for dinner

I MAY be adding one more. I have a vacant evening that probably won't be spent in a park. I'm thinking of doing a resort ADR since that afternoon is our plans to visit all the lounges on the monorail! Maybe Kona or The Wave?

 

[glennbo123]

That's a nice looking ADR list!

In a decision between Kona and The Wave, I'd go with Kona.

 

[Sam33]

That's a nice looking ADR list!

In a decision between Kona and The Wave, I'd go with Kona.

yeah, that's what I'm leaning towards! The bread looks amazing. That's our afternoon of touring the monorail resorts to visit the lounges and look at decorations so we can just plan on ending up at the Poly lounge!

The Wave looks cool on the interior but Kona's food looks more interesting and we really don't have anything else like it planned.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great ADR list hon! Hands down Kona!! We are doing Chefs du France for lunch for the first time and I cant wait!

 

[Sam33]

Great ADR list hon! Hands down Kona!! We are doing Chefs du France for lunch for the first time and I cant wait!

We were supposed to eat t chefs the last night of our honeymoon but I didn't feel good so we cancelled last minute. I'm SO excited to eat there!

And if I remember correctly, your tr is the reason I decided in raglan road! Those crab spring rolls sound soooooo good

 

[Sam33]

Friday, November 9th at 6:45 PM: Coral Reef (my mommy's b-day dinner!); doing food & wine booths for lunch


Saturday, November 10th at 6:15 PM: Tony's; lunch will probably Flame Tree at AK

Sunday, November 11th at 12:30 PM: Raglan Road! The only popular rides we're doing at DHS is TOT and Star Tours so we should survive by arriving after lunch time!

Sunday, November 11th at 5:50PM: Sci-Fi. I wanted a much later reservation so that Raglan Road could be a late lunch and we could spend the morning at DHS but neither option was available so now we'll have a normal lunch at Raglan and then go to DHS right after

Monday, November 12th at 1:50 PM: Grand Floridian Cafe. I was hoping to get a 3PMish lunch here but I don't think it's open between lunch and dinner. MK closes at 7 so the plan was to leave for good at 3PM for lunch but now we'll probably have lunch and then go back to MK afterwards

Monday, November 12th at 7:30 PM: Kona! I got talked into this one by all you people. It will cap off our monorail cocktail tour!

Tuesday, November 13th at 1:10 PM: Chefs de France. Wanted 11AM. boo
We'll probably just have dinner at Columbia Harbor House as we're spending our last night in MK. I was going to do the Plaza but decided I'd rather do Kona the night before than the Plaza tonight. That way we can just enjoy our last night without having to worry about the time.


There you have it! Odds are I'll change them all around. But that's them for now

 

[Momof3dogs]

I am absolutely loving reading your PTR.... My mother and I have done multiple mother/daughter trips to Disney! We love it! This time, we are going with 20 other family members! Big group!
Mom and I ALWAYS have to eat at Tony's! It's our thing and we love the food! I'm sure we are hitting it up a few times!
Have fun planning!! I'm 2 weeks away from the happiest place on earth! I can't wait to read more from you though!

 

[Sam33]

I am absolutely loving reading your PTR.... My mother and I have done multiple mother/daughter trips to Disney! We love it! This time, we are going with 20 other family members! Big group!
Mom and I ALWAYS have to eat at Tony's! It's our thing and we love the food! I'm sure we are hitting it up a few times!
Have fun planning!! I'm 2 weeks away from the happiest place on earth! I can't wait to read more from you though!

Thanks so much for letting me know you're reading!
I'm at that awful stage where there's nothing to do planning-wise but I'm SO far away from the trip. I can't think of how to keep this a float until stuff starts to happen!

Love Tony's lovers as well. There's so few of us!

Good luck with your group of 20! I hope you do a TR. Sounds incredibly interesting. I love studying group dynamics! Haha



I have already figured out my plans for everyday. Down to the hour. But I decided I'd wait until closer to the trip to post them since I have six months, still. I've already changed them 3 times.

 

[BDL]

Thanks so much for letting me know you're reading!
I'm at that awful stage where there's nothing to do planning-wise but I'm SO far away from the trip. I can't think of how to keep this a float until stuff starts to happen!


I have already figured out my plans for everyday. Down to the hour. But I decided I'd wait until closer to the trip to post them since I have six months, still. I've already changed them 3 times.

Don't worry. With that much time, you'll reconsider your ADR's, change them. And since you've changed your ADR's, you'll have to adjust your park schedule to accomodate the new dining arrangements. THEN... a month after that, you'll realize you were better off before and change everything back.

Lather... Rinse... Repeat.

 

[Nermel9]

Hi, I'm joining in! Read your whole PTR this morning, and realized we're going at the same time! (I'll be there from 11/9-11/17! ) I can't wait to start a PTR, but I just started a TR for my recent trip earlier this month, so I want to wait a few months and finish that up first!

 

[WDisneyMom]

Hola! Followed you over from Queen's PTR and I have to let you know I'm loving your report!! So fun! I live in Denver as well, for 9 more days anyway! Then it's back to my hometown of Chicago. We have been here for almost 5 years and you will be proud to know that the one and only game we have ever been to was an Avs game...my husband won the tickets at work and even though we had no idea who anyone was, we had the best time! I will miss Denver, so many great things here as you have mentioned...home of Crocs, Otter Box, Frontier, and yes! Best margaritas at The Rio!! I must try that cherry cricket place you mentioned before we leave.

Ok, to the report!! I think you and your mom are going to have the best time! Can't wait to read all about it! Also, I am now dreaming of that avocado margarita! To date my favorite drink from WDW is the grey goose slush....such goodness!!

Off to read the the rest of your report!!

 

[Sam33]

Hi, I'm joining in! Read your whole PTR this morning, and realized we're going at the same time! (I'll be there from 11/9-11/17! ) I can't wait to start a PTR, but I just started a TR for my recent trip earlier this month, so I want to wait a few months and finish that up first!

NEAT! Hopefully we both have excellent trips and nice weather! I wish I had your dates, though. My birthday is the 16th and we're leaving the day before worst birthday present ever! Haha

Hola! Followed you over from Queen's PTR and I have to let you know I'm loving your report!! So fun! I live in Denver as well, for 9 more days anyway! Then it's back to my hometown of Chicago. We have been here for almost 5 years and you will be proud to know that the one and only game we have ever been to was an Avs game...my husband won the tickets at work and even though we had no idea who anyone was, we had the best time! I will miss Denver, so many great things here as you have mentioned...home of Crocs, Otter Box, Frontier, and yes! Best margaritas at The Rio!! I must try that cherry cricket place you mentioned before we leave.

Ok, to the report!! I think you and your mom are going to have the best time! Can't wait to read all about it! Also, I am now dreaming of that avocado margarita! To date my favorite drink from WDW is the grey goose slush....such goodness!!

Off to read the the rest of your report!!

YAY! DENVER!!! There are so few Denverites on the Dis! I grew up two hours west of Chicago in Iowa. I LOVE Chicago. It's one of the few places we "vacationed" as kids. Great city! And great hockey
Glad you liked the game. They're so great even though they suck.

I can't wait to try the grey goose slush. Had the grand marnier one and it was okay. I gotta say the avocado one is the best.




Sorry the responses took so long! We went to Iowa for my Grandma's 80th b-day. It was fun and all but unfortunately, the gate next to us at the airport was headed to Orlando. REALLY hard to watch people board a plane to Orlando and then get on one to Des Moines! Haha

 

[Sam33]

WE GOT FLIGHTS BOOKED! And tomorrow we're only 5 months away!
We got the perfect flights, though. We couldn't leave before 1PM because my mom didn't want to take a full day off of work. But too late and we wouldn't get to WDW early enough to catch the yee-haw bob show before bed.

We found cheap flights for only $220 roundtrip per person but there was a layover in Atlanta and it wasn't until 3PM meaning we wouldn't get there until after 10PM.

So we sacrificed savings and got flights for $330 (still better than the $400+ ones we were finding for EVERYTHING) so we leave at 1:30 and should arrive in Orlando around 6PM. Plenty of time to get to the hotel and to the river roost for yee-haw at 8:30




Trips seem so much more real when you have transportation booked