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

[Sam33]

I would go with Epcot. DBF & I live 8 hours away and somehow managed to get to disney ~6.5 hours last time. We arrived around 12:30, dropped our bags off & headed straight to Epcot. We were able to hit all the big rides & then hop to DHS to hit all the big rides there & eat dinner! I was kind of surprised at how much we were able to get done in less than 1 day

On our honeymoon we went straight to Epcot for an 8PM ADR. We got to Epcot at 6 and were able to ride Soarin (only 20 minute wait on Labor Day!), the Mexico boat ride, got margaritas and chips and guac, rode Nemo and looked around at the Aquarium. All in 2 hours before our dinner! Our goal for the time before dinner was to get a margarita lol

 

[Sam33]

This is sort of relevant so I thought I'd share it:

Last night I had a dream that my entire extended family decided to join us on our mother/daughter trip

At first I was just thinking about how hard it would be to plan for 15 people but then I started to get nervous because the title of my PTR is now inaccurate!

 

[Sam33]

Hey girl! I just wanted you to know I am here to follow along! Now I have to go back and read

Welcome!

 

[stasijane]

This is sort of relevant so I thought I'd share it:

Last night I had a dream that my entire extended family decided to join us on our mother/daughter trip

At first I was just thinking about how hard it would be to plan for 15 people but then I started to get nervous because the title of my PTR is now inaccurate!

How funny. Although that is not a dream. Planning a trip for 15 is a NIGHTMARE

 

[Sam33]

How funny. Although that is not a dream. Planning a trip for 15 is a NIGHTMARE

TRUE DAT! That sounds awful.

We almost had my cousin and aunt join us, though. They're Disney vets (and 90% of the reason that i wanted to go to WDW so much as a kid. My cousin's other grandma took her every year!) That would have been fun. But we didn't follow up on that. Kinda just wanted to go just us two

 

[Sam33]

Happy trade deadline day! YAY. Woke up at 7AM on my day off to watch Trade Centre (oh, Canada spellings...*sigh* )

I may be REALLY pissed at 3PM eastern or really happy. We shall see

 

[tofubeast]

Of your options you presented:

1. Epcot would be the one I would go for. Enjoy the food and wine booths for dinner. Watch Illuminations OR if doing Illuminations another night, go to Future World. It empties out a bit as people secure their viewing spaces and you can hit up a few rides/attractions that are open. OR if tired, get on the bus before or during Illuminations and skip the crowds emptying the park.

2. DTD This is a nice way to start a vacation if you don't want to do a park. But it will be quite crowed on a Friday night, especially if you are going a long weekend.

3. The first time I went to MK was at night. I regret not having my first experience at day time, seeing the castle in all its glory. It will be crowded. I would wait till rope drop the next morning.

 

[Sam33]

Of your options you presented:

1. Epcot would be the one I would go for. Enjoy the food and wine booths for dinner. Watch Illuminations OR if doing Illuminations another night, go to Future World. It empties out a bit as people secure their viewing spaces and you can hit up a few rides/attractions that are open. OR if tired, get on the bus before or during Illuminations and skip the crowds emptying the park.

2. DTD This is a nice way to start a vacation if you don't want to do a park. But it will be quite crowed on a Friday night, especially if you are going a long weekend.

3. The first time I went to MK was at night. I regret not having my first experience at day time, seeing the castle in all its glory. It will be crowded. I would wait till rope drop the next morning.

This is definitely what I was going towards, as well. Nice to get that backed up!
I just have a hard time thinking I'll be able to go to DTD when I could be in a park. Maybe later in the trip when I'm tired but the first night? Going to be itching for some Disney parks!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Hey girl! So...how did the trade deadline day go for you?? Happy or sad?

I think park for you on your first night! With it being a Friday, DTD will be crazy so enjoy yourself at a park....

 

[Sam33]

Hey girl! So...how did the trade deadline day go for you?? Happy or sad?

I think park for you on your first night! With it being a Friday, DTD will be crazy so enjoy yourself at a park....

It was alright! Boring league-wide, but I didn't want my team to do too much. I get too emotionally attached to the players! We just got rid of some guys that we were having issues re-signing! BUT I have started to realize I'm a TOTAL jinx to my team Every game I see live is absolutely AWFUL. They've been shutout in 4 out of the 7 games I've been to. NO GOALS! Ugh. And two blowouts where we got one goal. But one win! Woohoo? So no more live hockey for me this season



I definitely think we'll just HAVE to do a park the first night there! It would just seem too weird to be in Disney but not REALLY in Disney. Ha!
Do you think Magic Kingdom will be too busy for our second day? It's a Saturday during a 3-day weekend...I don't want to have to wait to go there, though! Urgh.








Another little update, the NHL announced a new program offering support for gay athletes! I don't want to start debates about whether people support it or not, but I simply love to see the NHL sticking up for these athletes! Several players jumped on board with Brian Burke and his son. I think it's pretty cool!
I have a hard time accepting that some people value me and my husband's relationship more than my SIL and her girlfriend's. They're just as in love as us! Here's the AD if anyone was curious! It's not about taking a stance it's about treating everyone equally, no matter what! Love my NHL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXoTRTAw6Dc&feature=player_embedded

 

[BDL]

I'll start with a list of places I've eaten before with a short review


I think that's it!
I surveyed my mom a bit and determined that she's not a fan of Mexican food (boo! Mexican is some of my favorite), she doesn't like spending money for things like breakfast food so none of our ADRs will be breakfast. And she doesn't like buffets. So on those notes we're the same. She also said that she cares more about ambiance than food. So basically we want ambiance with at least mediocre food.

I want to do mostly new restaurants but I'm having trouble letting go of Tony's! Also, my mom thinks Coral Reef sounds awesome with the tank so that will probably be a repeat. The rest of the restaurants I've been considering:

- Kona Cafe the wings and potstickers mmm and the coffee! Love the coffee! We have to go over to the poly at some point anyways because we have to get Lapu Lapus!


MAYBE a signature. If we do I'm debating between Narcoosee's and Citricos so we can go watch Wishes from the beach afterwards but we may non do a signature.


basically I want to do 5 meals at least. MAYBE 6. 2 in the MK area (MK or monorail resorts), 2 in Epcot, 1 in DHS and maybe one extra.
We also decided we're going to do mainly lunches because it's a little cheaper and we don't want to fill up on counter-service when we have a delicious table service to look forward to! On our honeymoon we did mostly dinners and weren't very hungry for them. And we ended up canceling one because we got tired. We probably won't be too tired at noon!

How do...?

Jumping on. Great PTR so far. Must say, the 1st thing that caught my eye... AWESOME Nordiques hat (followed by the Roy sweater. Amazing what a change of laundry can do for a Bruins fan ). I think I've gone over your thread and hope that I'm right in saying that you are still going over Vet's Day weekend. If that is the case, I REALLY hope that the monorail resorts will have their Xmas decorations and gingerbread displays up for you and your mom to enjoy (and maybe MVMCP).

As for me quoting your dining post, I have a couple suggestions. If you're going to the Kona Cafe (and who can resist the siren call of THAT coffee), go in the morning. 1 of you get the Tonga Toast and the other get the macadamia nut butter pancakes and share. You won't be disappointed. I know you said that you would try to stay away from resort eating, but Boatwright's at Port Orleans Riverside is really good and very cozy. And, if you are trying to guage your mom about what "Signature" place she'd like, do what I did with BDLsGal. I took Disney out of the equation.

"Hey mom. If you could have any kind of premium meal you want would you like ..." and then just put in a few of the entre's from the "Signature" eateries, without saying the places' names. That's how I decided what to book for our Candlelight Procession dinner.

Great thread. Gonna keep checking back.

 

[Sam33]

How do...?

Jumping on. Great PTR so far. Must say, the 1st thing that caught my eye... AWESOME Nordiques hat (followed by the Roy sweater. Amazing what a change of laundry can do for a Bruins fan ). I think I've gone over your thread and hope that I'm right in saying that you are still going over Vet's Day weekend. If that is the case, I REALLY hope that the monorail resorts will have their Xmas decorations and gingerbread displays up for you and your mom to enjoy (and maybe MVMCP).

As for me quoting your dining post, I have a couple suggestions. If you're going to the Kona Cafe (and who can resist the siren call of THAT coffee), go in the morning. 1 of you get the Tonga Toast and the other get the macadamia nut butter pancakes and share. You won't be disappointed. I know you said that you would try to stay away from resort eating, but Boatwright's at Port Orleans Riverside is really good and very cozy. And, if you are trying to guage your mom about what "Signature" place she'd like, do what I did with BDLsGal. I took Disney out of the equation.

"Hey mom. If you could have any kind of premium meal you want would you like ..." and then just put in a few of the entre's from the "Signature" eateries, without saying the places' names. That's how I decided what to book for our Candlelight Procession dinner.

Great thread. Gonna keep checking back.

Thanks! We took our engagement pictures in Avs jerseys! That's what the Roy picture was (I have no idea how I convinced my husband to do that...he thought it was weird, lol!) We also had a puck drop at our wedding! After he pronounced us husband and wife my pastor dropped a puck between us and said "game on!". We had no idea he was doing it, it was a total surprise. It was awesome!


And I'm totally down for resort eating for THIS trip. We usually don't because we don't like to leave the parks but my mom is not one to go-go-go! Good to hear that Boatwrights is good since we're staying at POR. I've never really read any reviews on it. I'll definitely have to consider that one. And maybe since it's not super popular we can get in without an ADR!

I hear such good things about Kona breakfast but I'm just not hungry in the mornings. I usually have to force myself to eat breakfast and I don't get seriously hungry until lunch. Maybe if they have brunch!


I also saw on easywdw that the Christmas decorations should be up after Vet's day so I'm REALLY excited about that. We'll get a day or two of normal Disney and the decorations! When we went in January the Osborne lights were still up and so were all the decorations. Disney Christmas is truly amazing. And my mom is a big Christmas fan (like me!) so I think she'll LOVE seeing the decorations! We were planning on going around to all the monorail resorts anyways if MK gets too busy so maybe I'll delay my MK day to make sure the decorations are up?


I hope Cali Grill is open when we go. I heard rumors of it closing for refurb. I have a feeling that's what my mom would pick between that and the two GF signatures.

 

[Sam33]

Update time!

My mom told me she would jokingly complain about me dragging her to Disney World to her co-workers sometimes and she keeps getting surprised at the fact that every time she does someone new tells her how much they LOVE Disney World and how they think she'll have a great time!
The other day, she was going to dinner with their friends who go to Disney a lot and she got really excited to talk to them about our trip and asked me to write down all the restaurants we were thinking about so she could ask them if they'd eaten there! I think she's finally starting to realize that she's going to have a great time.



Anyways, we got together the other day and I went through most of the attractions and we categorized them in to Must Do's (if we go home without having done them it will be a sad, sad day); Maybes (We want to do them but if we miss it it's no big deal); and Skips (not even going to do them if we have time). It's going to help me over-plan AND help me feel less anxious when I'm trying to relax. This way I don't feel like we're missing something since we have already deciding we're not going to do it anyways.

MAGIC KINGDOM​

Must Do's
Space Mountain (at least once)- She doesn't like thrill rides but she says she'll try them all unless they go upside down. I don't think she'll like Space Mountain, but we HAVE to try at at least once!
Splash Mountain
BTMRR
Haunted Mansion
Country Bears- My first time in WDW, my FIL forced me to watch the Country Bears. It was awful. So now I'm going to force my mom to endure it as well!
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean

Maybes
Pooh
Peter Pan
Monsters Inc.
People Mover
COP
tiki room
Philharmagic
It's A Small World

-I'm pretty sure we'll get all of those taken care of.

Skips
Buzz Lightyear- neither of us like the game thing. I'm REALLY competitive but I also suck at arcade games. It's a bad mix
Stitch
Dumbo/aladdin/astro
Speedway
Treehouse
Tom Sawyer
Tea party- We both get motion sick

EPCOT​

Must Do's
Soarin (as many times as possible!)- I think my mom will LOVE this
Test Track
The Seas with Nemo
Spaceship Earth
Living with the Land
Maelstrom

Maybes
Mexico Boat Ride

Skips
Innoventions
Universe of energy- if we're tired we may do this. My mom loves Ellen
Circle of Life
Mission: Space
Journy into Imagination
Turtle Talk
Captain EO

AK​

Must Do's
Kilamanjaro Safaris (multiple times)
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur
Animal trails
Festival of the Lion King

Maybes
Nemo Show
Primeval Whirl
Flights of Wonder

Skips
Bug's Life- worst attraction EVER
Conservation Station
Rifiki's Planet Watch
Triceratop spin
Kali River Rapids- we hate being wet

Hollywood Studios​

I'm hoping we get this all done before lunch
Must Do's
TOT
Star Tours
Great Movie Ride
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
One Man's Dream

Maybes
TSMM- not worth the rush for us
Beauty and the Beast
Muppet Vision

Skips
RnRC
American Idol
Both stunt shows
Backlot tour



We should have a pretty easy time getting all the must do's done and still having plenty of non-park time.

 

[BDL]

Update time!

My mom told me she would jokingly complain about me dragging her to Disney World to her co-workers sometimes and she keeps getting surprised at the fact that every time she does someone new tells her how much they LOVE Disney World and how they think she'll have a great time!
The other day, she was going to dinner with their friends who go to Disney a lot and she got really excited to talk to them about our trip and asked me to write down all the restaurants we were thinking about so she could ask them if they'd eaten there! I think she's finally starting to realize that she's going to have a great time.

MAGIC KINGDOM​

Must Do's
Space Mountain (at least once)- She doesn't like thrill rides but she says she'll try them all unless they go upside down. I don't think she'll like Space Mountain, but we HAVE to try at at least once! Don't worry about Space Mtn. It's only 27 mph now
Splash Mountain
BTMRR
Haunted Mansion
Country Bears- My first time in WDW, my FIL forced me to watch the Country Bears. It was awful. So now I'm going to force my mom to endure it as well! I can almost hear the comic book villain laughter with that statement
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean

Maybes
Pooh
Peter Pan
Monsters Inc. I actually had to do a dance when I was projected on the screen
People Mover
COP
tiki room
Philharmagic
It's A Small World

-I'm pretty sure we'll get all of those taken care of.

Skips
Buzz Lightyear- neither of us like the game thing. I'm REALLY competitive but I also suck at arcade games. It's a bad mix
Stitch I miss ExtraTERRORestrial. It was way better
Dumbo/aladdin/astro
Speedway Hated this as kid. Kept on slamming into the center rail
Treehouse
Tom Sawyer
Tea party- We both get motion sick

EPCOT​

Must Do's
Soarin (as many times as possible!)- I think my mom will LOVE this BDLsGal hates this
Test Track
The Seas with Nemo Make sure you take in the dolphin show
Spaceship Earth
Living with the Land
Maelstrom

Maybes
Mexico Boat Ride

Skips
Innoventions
Universe of energy- if we're tired we may do this. My mom loves Ellen
Circle of Life
Mission: Space They do have a non-centerfuge version of this
Journy into Imagination BLASPHEME!!! How dare you shun Figment
Turtle Talk
Captain EO

AK​

Must Do's
Kilamanjaro Safaris (multiple times)
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur
Animal trails
Festival of the Lion King

Maybes
Nemo Show
Primeval Whirl
Flights of Wonder

Skips
Bug's Life- worst attraction EVER
Conservation Station
Rifiki's Planet Watch
Triceratop spin
Kali River Rapids- we hate being wet

Hollywood Studios​

I'm hoping we get this all done before lunch
Must Do's
TOT
Star Tours I can't wait for this. It was being refurb-ed last time
Great Movie Ride Which version are you hoping for?
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
One Man's Dream

Maybes
TSMM- not worth the rush for us
Beauty and the Beast
Muppet Vision

Skips
RnRC Too bad no thrill rides
American Idol
Both stunt shows
Backlot tour



We should have a pretty easy time getting all the must do's done and still having plenty of non-park time.

You better tell your mom to be careful. When my coworkers found out that I was going to Disney, all of sudden I became THE foremost Disney expert in the world. It may sound nice. But it gets real annoying real quick.

Anyhoo, I threw a couple of comment up top on your list.

By the way, thanks for putting that list up. This was the exact thing I was trying to explain to the others that are in our group. It was rough. I kept getting "Whatever you plan will be fine." So thanks for posting the list.

 

[Sam33]

THERE'S A DOLPHIN SHOW?!?!?! Oh my God I have to see it. I didn't know they had a show!

And I'm pretty bummed about missing RnRC. I love that one. I suppose I could do single rider and leave me mom somewhere. We'll see.

And my issue with Mission: Space is that I'm super claustrophobic. I've seen the area you sit in! NOPE not for me. I don't have too many issues with motion.

Star Tours is awesome now. I can't REALLY remember the first time, but I remember the last time being way better than I expected. Very fun.

I'm hoping for the cowboy version. I've only ever had the gangster one!

 

[Sam33]

LIFE UPDATE OMGOMGOMG!
My husband is at a job interview right now! It's the THIRD round of interviews for the position and it will be the last! It's a FOUR hour interview. I'm sitting at home dying of nerves right now. He gave me a couple updates in between segments of the interview and it sounds like it's going really well, but who really knows! I so hope he gets it. I'm sick of being super poor. Especially since I'm really craving steak right now!

 

[Sam33]

So I had a dream last night that I just HAD to share.

So we got to POR but my brother decided to tag along with the trip apparently. We decided to go to Epcot (like my real life plan) and I remember it being around 3 (like my real life plan). My brother decided to stay back at the resort and play basketball (?) because he'd already been to Epcot as a kid (he hasn't). So then me and my mom WALKED to Epcot from POR (don't think it's posssible) and we passed a hair salon and my mom forced me to get a haircut (I do need one right now) And the girl there took FOREVER and did my makeup, too. And I was like "mom we HAVE to get to Epcot for food & wine, we don't have time for this!" and she ignored me and such. We finally finished and kept walking and then we came across the boardwalk and watch a wedding

And then a woke up. We never made it to Epcot! Ugh

 

[collyflower]

Can I just say I'm slightly bummed I won't be in WDW the same time as you- the boyfriend and I were contemplating bringing down a bomber of Dark Lord to drink and celebrate our first trip to the Diz together, but splitting the bottle between only two people would most likely end up a raging hangover and a wasted day spent in a dark hotel room. Sharing it with another Disney/beer lover would've made it so much more worth it!

 

[Sam33]

Can I just say I'm slightly bummed I won't be in WDW the same time as you- the boyfriend and I were contemplating bringing down a bomber of Dark Lord to drink and celebrate our first trip to the Diz together, but splitting the bottle between only two people would most likely end up a raging hangover and a wasted day spent in a dark hotel room. Sharing it with another Disney/beer lover would've made it so much more worth it!

Never heard of Dark Lord! Is that a Chicago local beer?
If it's a super dark heavy stout (which it sounds like) then I'm sad I'm not splitting it with you! Haha!

MMM now I'm craving stout...my husband home brewed stout but it's about a week away from being done!
I can practically taste it!

 

[eastatlantaguys]

Great post!