"For the first time in forever, I'm getting what I'm dreaming of." Sept 2015 PTR

[Sisa]

So we are officially less than a year away from our trip, that is super exciting to say I've been counting down for so long that I was looking forward to being under a year mark and now we're here Next, I will be happy to get out of the 300's

We haven't officially booked and I keep rethinking our dates. My DD who will have just started first grade by the time our trip is here, will end up missing 9 days of school. That worries me a little, that's a lot of time gone right at the beginning. Thankfully, it is only first grade. I feel if she was in any higher grade level, I'd have a really hard time pulling her out.
My DH already put his time off request in, so I feel like we are pretty set.
I've also contemplated bumping the trip up a little, the food and wine crowd worries me a little. But if I did that, my DD wouldn't even go to the first day of school. I am not liking Labor Day being so late next year, it's making planning more challenging.
I think we will be fine with the dates I chose, I just keep second guessing myself which I need to stop doing.

Another one I keep messing with is our ADR choices, I kind of did a rough draft of our park days based on this years hours and such. Obviously, I will be doing a lot of reworking when the actual hours are released.

So far our ADR choices are
Akershus (BF)
Cape May Cafe (D)
Chef Mickey's (D)
Crystal Palace (BF)
Garden Grill (D)
Hollywood & Vine (L)
Mama Melrose (D)
Ohana (Bf & D)
Teppan Edo (D)
Tusker House (BF)

Offsite meal: TMNT (BF) at Nickelodeon Hotel

Clearly we are big fans of character meals, especially with our young kiddos. We did 2 character meals in DL and the kids still talk about that being one of their favorite parts of the trip. I really like visiting with the characters while eating (kill two birds with one stone) and not waiting in lines during our park time. There will be some must meet characters that we can't dine with, so we will track them down.

I am really contemplating Mama Melrose F! Dining Package, I like the idea of not waiting around in line for Fantasmic! and having that FP for it, but I've also heard it may not be necessary. I've read so many good things on Via Napoli, that I am wondering if I should switch that out

 

[missangelalexis]

I understand your worry about the heat, but October can be pretty hot too! So don't let that deter you!

I wouldn't be concerned about the F&W crowd. Just try to avoid Epcot on Friday/Saturday and you should be fine!

Your ADR choices sound great!

Congrats on reaching the less than a year mark!!

 

[Sisa]

I understand your worry about the heat, but October can be pretty hot too! So don't let that deter you!

I wouldn't be concerned about the F&W crowd. Just try to avoid Epcot on Friday/Saturday and you should be fine!

Your ADR choices sound great!

Congrats on reaching the less than a year mark!!

Thank you, I feel much better about it all with your feedback

 

[Sisa]

Lady and the Tramp Family Night. The kids thought it was hilarious that I put our food in dog bowls. They also felt really special drinking from the fancy cups.

 

[missangelalexis]

So cute, I love the stuffed Lady on the table!

 

[Sisa]

So cute, I love the stuffed Lady on the table!

Thank you, she joined us for the movie too. My son was upset that we didn't have a Tramp, LOL.

 

[vleeth]

We stayed at Pop the last week of October last year. We loved Pop! And we loved free dining! The only other onsite hotel we have stayed at is All Star Movies.

We are looking at September next year also. A cold snap arrived the week we were there and we missed out on waterparks so we want to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Your movie nights are super cute!

 

[Sisa]

We stayed at Pop the last week of October last year. We loved Pop! And we loved free dining! The only other onsite hotel we have stayed at is All Star Movies.

We are looking at September next year also. A cold snap arrived the week we were there and we missed out on waterparks so we want to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Your movie nights are super cute!

Awesome, glad to hear of another POP fan, that makes me super happy.

Thank you so much for giving me your feedback on your trip. I've been so worried about making sure we pick the right month for us to go. I never would have thought about a cold snap hitting in October. That would put a damper on things. Sorry you missed out on the water parks. Your input makes me feel good about us picking September.

Thank you, we are having so much fun with our movie nights. My son woke up this morning and first question he asked was if it was family night tonight, he is EXTREMELY excited about tonight's pick.

 

[Sisa]

So I wanted to just say that I am slightly bummed that I will never get to experience Maelstrom or Studio Backlot Tour. I've read that many people enjoy these rides. I was looking forward to seeing these on our trip. I am hoping that whatever they do decide to put in their place, will be some what finished by our trip so we can experience it.

Onto the main reason for this post, our sixth family movie night was chosen by my son. He has a major Captain America obsession, he requested tonight's theme. While not technically considered Disney, Disney does own Marvel and the Disney Store carries Marvel characters so I figured it was okay. We watched the new movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.





So I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to this movie night so much. Mostly because I haven't seen a Captain America movie night done before, so I was clueless what I was going to prepare for dinner. I eventually gathered a few ideas and while none of the food goes together and having Mexican food for an American type movie seemed totally off, it seemed to work okay. The kids loved it all, which is really all that matters in the end.

My DS was excited from the minute he woke up knowing it was his Captain America family night. He got dressed in his CA shirt, gathered his shield and CA toys for me. He was ready for it at 7:00 in the morning.

My DD wanted to dress properly and asked to wear her brother's shirt. I thought that was pretty neat as she is such a girly girl.

During the movie my DS had his CA shield, and when a fighting scene came on, he would do all sorts of moves with it. He was CA's helper, it was so cute.

This actually became my favorite movie night so far. Seeing my son light up the way he did was so much fun.

 

[vleeth]

You really aren't missing much with the Backlot Tour. The fire/water thing was cool, but the rest of the ride really wasn't very good. So it made for a long ride with a short good part.

I wouldn't count on the replacement being done in a year. They are slow about these sorts of things and they haven't even announced what will take its place.

 

[Sisa]

You really aren't missing much with the Backlot Tour. The fire/water thing was cool, but the rest of the ride really wasn't very good. So it made for a long ride with a short good part.

I wouldn't count on the replacement being done in a year. They are slow about these sorts of things and they haven't even announced what will take its place.

Good to know that I won't miss much with Backlot.

Yes, I am not counting on any replacements being done, just wishful thinking I think I remember seeing 2016 as a finish date.

 

[ChanFO]

I agree with previous poster about you not missing much where the Backlot Tour is concerned. There is so little to see on that attraction now.

Maelstrom is one of those things that I don't understand WHY people love it, other than I know some folks don't like that it's becoming Frozen'd. It was an okay ride, but so outdated that it was comical. I wouldn't be too bummed about this. Your kids will probably like the new version more if it's ready by the time of your trip.

 

[Sisa]

I agree with previous poster about you not missing much where the Backlot Tour is concerned. There is so little to see on that attraction now.

Maelstrom is one of those things that I don't understand WHY people love it, other than I know some folks don't like that it's becoming Frozen'd. It was an okay ride, but so outdated that it was comical. I wouldn't be too bummed about this. Your kids will probably like the new version more if it's ready by the time of your trip.

Y'all are making me feel better about missing these. Maybe being a newbie at this time is a good thing. I love classic rides, like Tiki room and It's a Small World that a lot of people don't care for. But it's what I grew up knowing and enjoying. So since I haven't seen Backlot or Maelstrom, maybe it's not such a big deal.
I am anxious to see what they put in place of them, my kids would love more Frozen and Pixar rides, so I am hoping for something like that.

 

[Sisa]

Cinderella was our movie for tonight, trying to go with a Fall/Halloween theme this month. My daughter wanted a more "girly" movie this week, since last week was Captain America. I thought, hey there is a pumpkin in Cinderella, let's go with that.

I've been really wanting to make something with pumpkin because that's just screams fall to me. So I incorporated some pumpkin food in here. My DH was like "What's with all the pumpkin food? I mean I get it,but what's with all the pumpkin food?" LOL, my response "Because I want to." Haha, I create them how I want them





On a side note, one of my daughter's school assignments was to draw a picture for her teacher, to show her what she loves to do with her family. Guess what she chose?! She drew a picture of our family night, shocker right? It made me so happy, it showed how much she truly loves these nights.

 

[missangelalexis]

Such a cute setup for Cinderella night!

 

[Sisa]

Such a cute setup for Cinderella night!

Thank you!

 

[vleeth]

Cute set up for movie night!

 

[Sisa]

Cute set up for movie night!

Thank you so much!

 

[Sisa]

Our latest FMN was Spooky Buddies. The kids really enjoyed the decorations for this movie night. We also had a guest with us, the kids thought it was really neat having their cousin join them.

I took the time to make Muddy Buddies and I am not sure why. I threw in some candy corn and that's the only thing anyone ate...grr. I could have thrown a bowl of candy corn on the table and saved some time and mess.






Another hit was the bugles, or witchy fingers. Digging through the bowl, to find ones that had openings big enough to fit over fingers, became our activity for the night.

 

[vleeth]

Is that movie about dogs?