Great site, Been a member for over a year now. I love all the contributions and posts. Basically everyone is great here, even Grumpys.
BUT, I don't have time to write a book, and I am not nearly as articulate as many of the fine members here, so here's my PTR Executive Summary Style. Enjoy (or not). Comment (or not). I very much welcome feedback and constructive criticism to the plan. Thanks!
No matter what, we're excited!
1. Cast? We're a family, with young kiddos. My DD, who is the Disney Tinkerbell will be over 2.5yo's. We went earlier this year in March not knowing how that would go given her age, but she freakin-loved-it! So now we're hooked.
I grew up lucky enough to go to Disney almost every other year in the 80's and so I'm still nostalgic and freakishly addicted to it. My DW is agnostic. She likes it alot, believes there's something going on out there, but does not have ashes on the forehead like myself (and many of you). She occasionally checks the temperature of my koolaid for me.
2. We're staying off site. As a kid, we did Poly every year and then when I "grew up" and we could afford to pay our way, we did Dixie Landings (Gasp, I' mean PORiverside), Grand Floridian, and Poly. In 2008 we did Marriott Harbour Lake and "kind of liked it" and said, hey, let's maybe do that again. So last year we did Floridays and loved it.
3. Now I'm officially an off-site groupie . There's absolutely no comparison bang for the buck to onsite. The only thing with onsite is convenience and Pixie Dust experience, which I concur is great and worth it on rare occassions. So when kiddos are older I could see going back onsite maybe once ever three to five years and most likely off-season and at the expense of my children's education.
4. Anyway, this year we're going to try Windsor Hills. We want to have our own heated pool to try that out because DD takes after her dad and loves swimming.
5. Offsite 3BR 2BA, full kitchen, $1200 for a week. I know I can get it cheaper but we're renting through someone who I could not find a bad thing said about him or the management, while most was glowing. Soke with him personally and he seems totally legit. Worth the extra couple hundred. Disney 2BR at OKW was $3,600. 1BR at OKW or SS or BCV was $2,500 to $3,000. That's with a pin. What a joke!
6. Okay, now onto the itinerary:
Day 1 - Epcot, goal is to cover the whole park since with DD we can't do most of the rides.
Day 2 - MK catch all the parades, which is DD's favorite.
Day 3 - HS - more parades and mickey mouse club kids singing, bugs life playground, ariel thingy.
Day 4 - AK - what more do I have to say about that place.
Day 5 - Possibly Seaworld if I can get reasonable tickets (any feedback on this?).
Day 6 - No plans, perhaps DTD or Epcot again.
Day 7 - MK because we like to end it that way.
Day 8 - head home.
7. Now the meals.
Before I get to that, let me be Grumpy for a second. . . the quality of Disney dining over the past 5 years (and maybe longer) has deteriorated greatly in my opinion. It's a major disappointment. Last year, we did all of our favorites. We were still loving CaliGrill - awesome, Citricos food was great, but service was, eh., Le Cellier just okay (super overhyped in my opinion), and Flying Fish (our historical all time favorite) was a total bomb to the point I sent the food back and upon getting new food, just as bad. Their wine selection was so weak they should have been embarrassed. And no, I'm not a wine snob. In fact, the reason I knew it was weak is because I could ID half of the bottles as stuff I can pick up at my local grocery store for $14 or less.
Anyway, we just don't do 100% Disney dining anymore like we used to. We discovered Doc Phillips area for awesome meals and now mix it with Disney food.
Okay, here's the plan (feedback is most welcome):
Day 1 - Epcot day BF at condo, Norway Counter Service lunch, Date Night (Kids Nite Out!) Yachtsman since we've never been.
Day 2 - MK day, BF at condo, Lunch at Grand Floridian Cafe, Dinner Turkey Legs.
Day 3 - HS day, BF at condo, Lunch at Brown Derby, dinner at MoonFish at DocPhillips.
Day 4 - AK day, BF at condo, Lunch counter service (need suggestions), dinner at CaliGrill (great place for kiddos since it's so loud)
Day 5 - Possibly Seaworld if I can get reasonable tickets. If not, at least lunch at Seasons 52. Datenight #2 (Kids Nite Out!) Bluezoo, never been. Thoughts?
Day 6 - Suggestions? We're open to anything and anywhere on and off site.
Day 7 - BF at condo, lunch at Wave, dinner likely counter service at MK before fireworks and parade. Any thoughts?
Closing:
I know, not nearly as creative and exciting as many here, but I enjoy reading others, and appreciate the feedback and really like this site.
Cheers!
AKADada
BUT, I don't have time to write a book, and I am not nearly as articulate as many of the fine members here, so here's my PTR Executive Summary Style. Enjoy (or not). Comment (or not). I very much welcome feedback and constructive criticism to the plan. Thanks!
No matter what, we're excited!
1. Cast? We're a family, with young kiddos. My DD, who is the Disney Tinkerbell will be over 2.5yo's. We went earlier this year in March not knowing how that would go given her age, but she freakin-loved-it! So now we're hooked.
I grew up lucky enough to go to Disney almost every other year in the 80's and so I'm still nostalgic and freakishly addicted to it. My DW is agnostic. She likes it alot, believes there's something going on out there, but does not have ashes on the forehead like myself (and many of you). She occasionally checks the temperature of my koolaid for me.
2. We're staying off site. As a kid, we did Poly every year and then when I "grew up" and we could afford to pay our way, we did Dixie Landings (Gasp, I' mean PORiverside), Grand Floridian, and Poly. In 2008 we did Marriott Harbour Lake and "kind of liked it" and said, hey, let's maybe do that again. So last year we did Floridays and loved it.
3. Now I'm officially an off-site groupie . There's absolutely no comparison bang for the buck to onsite. The only thing with onsite is convenience and Pixie Dust experience, which I concur is great and worth it on rare occassions. So when kiddos are older I could see going back onsite maybe once ever three to five years and most likely off-season and at the expense of my children's education.
4. Anyway, this year we're going to try Windsor Hills. We want to have our own heated pool to try that out because DD takes after her dad and loves swimming.
5. Offsite 3BR 2BA, full kitchen, $1200 for a week. I know I can get it cheaper but we're renting through someone who I could not find a bad thing said about him or the management, while most was glowing. Soke with him personally and he seems totally legit. Worth the extra couple hundred. Disney 2BR at OKW was $3,600. 1BR at OKW or SS or BCV was $2,500 to $3,000. That's with a pin. What a joke!
6. Okay, now onto the itinerary:
Day 1 - Epcot, goal is to cover the whole park since with DD we can't do most of the rides.
Day 2 - MK catch all the parades, which is DD's favorite.
Day 3 - HS - more parades and mickey mouse club kids singing, bugs life playground, ariel thingy.
Day 4 - AK - what more do I have to say about that place.
Day 5 - Possibly Seaworld if I can get reasonable tickets (any feedback on this?).
Day 6 - No plans, perhaps DTD or Epcot again.
Day 7 - MK because we like to end it that way.
Day 8 - head home.
7. Now the meals.
Before I get to that, let me be Grumpy for a second. . . the quality of Disney dining over the past 5 years (and maybe longer) has deteriorated greatly in my opinion. It's a major disappointment. Last year, we did all of our favorites. We were still loving CaliGrill - awesome, Citricos food was great, but service was, eh., Le Cellier just okay (super overhyped in my opinion), and Flying Fish (our historical all time favorite) was a total bomb to the point I sent the food back and upon getting new food, just as bad. Their wine selection was so weak they should have been embarrassed. And no, I'm not a wine snob. In fact, the reason I knew it was weak is because I could ID half of the bottles as stuff I can pick up at my local grocery store for $14 or less.
Anyway, we just don't do 100% Disney dining anymore like we used to. We discovered Doc Phillips area for awesome meals and now mix it with Disney food.
Okay, here's the plan (feedback is most welcome):
Day 1 - Epcot day BF at condo, Norway Counter Service lunch, Date Night (Kids Nite Out!) Yachtsman since we've never been.
Day 2 - MK day, BF at condo, Lunch at Grand Floridian Cafe, Dinner Turkey Legs.
Day 3 - HS day, BF at condo, Lunch at Brown Derby, dinner at MoonFish at DocPhillips.
Day 4 - AK day, BF at condo, Lunch counter service (need suggestions), dinner at CaliGrill (great place for kiddos since it's so loud)
Day 5 - Possibly Seaworld if I can get reasonable tickets. If not, at least lunch at Seasons 52. Datenight #2 (Kids Nite Out!) Bluezoo, never been. Thoughts?
Day 6 - Suggestions? We're open to anything and anywhere on and off site.
Day 7 - BF at condo, lunch at Wave, dinner likely counter service at MK before fireworks and parade. Any thoughts?
Closing:
I know, not nearly as creative and exciting as many here, but I enjoy reading others, and appreciate the feedback and really like this site.
Cheers!
AKADada
