First Time Planning the Magic - PTR - Updated 17/05 - ADRs Done and Some Other Disney Magic!

[xxpeplyxx]

im sorry you had to change yours plans, but it does seem as though you got a much better deal and the fact you have always wanted to stay at the AKL makes it that much more special, and at least you didn't have to wait months upon months or cancel all together, just a little bit longer to wait, when I started reading I was really worried but glad it had a happy ending

 

[MeganAndOwen]

im sorry you had to change yours plans, but it does seem as though you got a much better deal and the fact you have always wanted to stay at the AKL makes it that much more special, and at least you didn't have to wait months upon months or cancel all together, just a little bit longer to wait, when I started reading I was really worried but glad it had a happy ending

It did work out better in the long run really, just a little bit longer to wait! I'm glad it had a happy ending too haha!

 

[MeganAndOwen]

Rough Plan & ADR Choices

Hi everyone!
Hope you're all well!

We are finally under the 200 day mark, woohoo! That means one thing of course: ADR day is fast approaching!
We need to book our dining reservations on the 10th of May and so I thought now would be about time to sit down with Owen and figure out where we might like to eat, especially since some of the planning sites now have the park hours, crowd calendars etc up for our dates.

Here's our rough plan, would welcome any feedback!
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Saturday 5th November
Flight departs Manchester at 11.15am. Not going to book anything for this day, will just explore AKL and maybe pop to Disney Springs in the evening if we're not too exhausted.

Sunday 6th November
Magic Kingdom-Dinner at Be Our Guest

Monday 7th November
Hollywood Studios-Lunch at Sci Fi Dine In

Tuesday 8th November
Universal-We want to eat at Krusty Burger, not sure if we'll do this for lunch then pick somewhere on City Walk for dinner?

Wednesday 9th November
Epcot-Food and Wine Festival & Drinking around the world

Thursday 10th November
Animal Kingdom-Rainforest Cafe for Dinner

Friday 11th November
Typhoon Lagoon-Shulas for Dinner

Saturday 12th November
Room service breakfast, rest/pool day, shopping at Disney Springs & Planet Hollywood for Dinner

Sunday 13th November
Universal-We want to eat somewhere Harry Potter related, either the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head

Monday 14th November
Hollywood Studios-Dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe

Tuesday 15th November
Breakfast at Ohana. Rest of day unplanned.

Wednesday 16th November
Epcot-Beaches & Cream for Lunch

Thursday 17th November
Universal-Dinner at Hard Rock

Friday 18th November
Magic Kingdom-Dinner at California Grill then Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Saturday 19th November
Breakfast at Tusker House, a few hours in Animal Kingdom then time to go home

Would love any feedback on our plans! Super excited, just hope I manage to get all the reservations. ​

 

[xxpeplyxx]

Looks good to me, should be so much fun, and you get to enjoy the Christmas party! I must do this one year as it looks amazing, looks like a good plan a good mixture the Simpsons area Marchandise and food/drinks are expensive! So take plenty of money, we went when it first opened my partner had a duff beer I had a duff beer, and we both had a flamming moes and it came to over $70 plus tip, I was shocked about the tip (my jaw may as well have hit the floor) as he had poured us 4 drinks and it was $15 or so tip I gave less (I never give less always more but then again I've never been charged tip for someone pouring drinks before) as I really didn't think pouring 4 drinks warranted an extra $15 I was shocked, after the cost of drinks we decided to leave the Simpsons area lol!

 

[MeganAndOwen]

Looks good to me, should be so much fun, and you get to enjoy the Christmas party! I must do this one year as it looks amazing, looks like a good plan a good mixture the Simpsons area Marchandise and food/drinks are expensive! So take plenty of money, we went when it first opened my partner had a duff beer I had a duff beer, and we both had a flamming moes and it came to over $70 plus tip, I was shocked about the tip (my jaw may as well have hit the floor) as he had poured us 4 drinks and it was $15 or so tip I gave less (I never give less always more but then again I've never been charged tip for someone pouring drinks before) as I really didn't think pouring 4 drinks warranted an extra $15 I was shocked, after the cost of drinks we decided to leave the Simpsons area lol!

We will definitely be sure to take enough spending money then! That does seem very expensive!!

 

[LiquidSunshine]

Can't believe how many changes you guys have been through, but glad you have got sorted. AKL looks amazing, we would love to stay there if our budget, costs etc worked out.

Your plans look great! I would love to do Mickey's Christmas Party - it is bound to be as good, as the Halloween party - which is fab!

For Universal - we ate at the Three Broomsticks which was very good, really well themed and the food was good! Pack light though. Unlike Disney, if you are planning to do any of the main rides (HP or not) you will have to put everything into a locker - there are lockers near all the main rides. We didn't realise this beforehand and took a backpack full of stuff, next time we won't take near as much seeing it goes into the lockers!

 

[MeganAndOwen]

ADRS Are Done! And Some Other Disney Magic
Hi everyone! Hope you're all well!

Our 180+10 day was last Monday, and so by Friday I was finished booking all of our ADRs. We pretty much have the same plan as above, with a few things shuffled around for timings/availability.

Here's how our plan looks:
Saturday 5th November - Arrival day. Settle in to AKL. Possibly do a trip out to Walmart for snacks for the room if we're not too tired, otherwise just quick service at resort and relax.
Sunday 6th - Magic Kingdom. Lunch at Be Our Guest. Late dinner at California Grill.
Monday 7th - Hollywood Studios. Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In.
Tuesday 8th - Universal. Lunch in park. Dinner on City Walk (maybe Bubba Gump's as we signed up for a Landry's card)
Wednesday 9th - Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
Thursday 10th - Animal Kingdom. Dinner at Rainforest Cafe.
Friday 11th - Typhoon Lagoon. Dinner at Shula's.
Saturday 12th - Unplanned day. Dinner at Be Our Guest.
Sunday 13th - Universal. Lunch at Three Broomsticks. Back to AKL for late dinner at Sanaa.
Monday 14th - Hollywood Studios. 50's Prime Time Diner for dinner.
Tuesday 15th - Ohana Breakfast. Disney Springs later in the day for shopping. Dinner at T-Rex (This might get changed once we see some reviews of the new places in Disney Springs)
Wednesday 16th - Epcot. Beaches and Cream for early lunch. Le Cellier for late dinner.
Thursday 17th - Universal. Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.
Friday 18th - Cinderella's Royal Table for late lunch. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Saturday 19th - Tusker House late breakfast. Some Animal Kingdom time then home

ADRs went pretty much as I expected. I would have liked to get BOG for the 6th at Magic Kingdom, but I'm happy with California Grill for sure! We might swap that out for BOG if it becomes available though, so that we can free up the 12th to be completely unplanned and see where the day takes us.

Other Disney Magic
As you'll see from the info above, we got our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tickets booked for our final night. I'm really excited about that as we both love Christmas and it will be something different to end our time in the Magic Kingdom. I'm also excited to eat at CRT!

I've also booked another Disney related surprise. You may know Aladdin is opening in London's West End this month? Well our anniversary is in July and we've just booked a week off work near then, so I've booked tickets to go see Aladdin as a holiday/anniversary treat. Owen doesn't know so I'm excited to surprise him! We both loved the Lion King stage show, and Aladdin is Owen's favourite Disney film, so we both really wanted to see it. He thought we might go when we're in London in October, so I'm excited to surprise him with the tickets a little earlier!

That's all from me for now!



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[MeganAndOwen]

Can't believe how many changes you guys have been through, but glad you have got sorted. AKL looks amazing, we would love to stay there if our budget, costs etc worked out.

Your plans look great! I would love to do Mickey's Christmas Party - it is bound to be as good, as the Halloween party - which is fab!

For Universal - we ate at the Three Broomsticks which was very good, really well themed and the food was good! Pack light though. Unlike Disney, if you are planning to do any of the main rides (HP or not) you will have to put everything into a locker - there are lockers near all the main rides. We didn't realise this beforehand and took a backpack full of stuff, next time we won't take near as much seeing it goes into the lockers!

Glad you enjoyed the Halloween party! I've heard the parties are fun events so I'm excited to check it out!

Good tip reacking light for Universal. Will probably just see what we can fit in our pockets I think! Or just take stuff we don't mind leaving in lockers. Can you hire a locker for the whole day, or do you need to put stuff in a different locker at each ride?

 

[LiquidSunshine]

You can hire lockers for the day. I believe there are 4 blocks of lockers that can be hired for the day -located beside the exit turnstiles and after the entrance turnstiles. I think the daily rate is about $10 a day for a locker, and you can open and close them as often as you like.

For some rides, you will get a free 50mins of storage time - this is at rides that don't let you on with loose items (lockers are located beside these rides, i.e Gringotts, The Hulk etc).

For other rides were you can go on with loose items, you don't get free storage time, you would pay to use those lockers if you want to.

A website called Orlando Informer has a whole article dedicated to the lockers at Universal. Google LOCKERS AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO – A COMPLETE, UP-TO-DATE GUIDE (sorry, not sure if I am allowed to link) - but that should bring you up the link on Google.

 

[MeganAndOwen]

Hi all!
Been totally off the radar, but we had the most amazing trip in November. Something super exciting happened - we got engaged at California Grill! It was magical and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect proposal.

We loved Animal Kingdom Lodge, managed to do all the parks and have some chill time. It was really wonderful - thanks to everyone who helped me plan!

I am going to do a full trip report but things are mad with Christmas coming up so will probably be the new year before I get started.

Looking forward to sharing with you all soon!
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