free dining again! - a mom and daughter jan 2012 PTR

[laur roo]

Hello! welcome to my first ever PTR. i spend most of my time on the dis reading trip reports and ptrs, because if i can't be at disney all the time, i like to read about other people who are there! i'm a bit of a lurker around here, but having other people who love disney as much as i do for some input on trip planning seems like an awesome idea!

I love to plan and travel, so this ptr is all about that! this will be my second mom and me trip. my disney history includes 5 trips with my family as a kid, and then some friend trips in the last few years. mom and i went together in dec 2009 for her birthday trip with free dining. i planned it and we had so much fun! since then she's been asking me about going back, lol. i work seasonally from march-november in an amusement park, so january seemed like a great time to go...lower crowds, free dining, oh yeah!!! we are thinking about the end of january/early february.

so that's where we're at. i'm looking into resorts right now and trying to price out some different ideas. we are thinking of doing a split stay, with a moderate and a deluxe. if anyone has any insight into a split stay, i'd love to hear it. never done one before, but financially it seems like it's a good way to experience more and save a little by doing a moderate at first.

coming up, i'll post some introductions and photos from our last trip, as well as some ideas i have for this trip!

 

[disneykrit]

I have never stayed in the deluxe but have stayed at the POR and CS and enjoyed them both but prefered POR. I would definitely stay there again. Enjoy your trip!!

 

[laur roo]

so time for some more information about the trip. i actually sat down with my mom today and talked over our options. it looks like our plan right now is to stay 6 nights at POFQ and 4 nights at BC!!! aw yeah! we haven't booked anything yet because i need to get the time off approved by work. [but that didn't stop me from making a few ADRs already....]

and some introductions

i'm lauren, i'm 27, and i love disney! [but then again, who on dis doesn't??] my last trip to disney was the week before christmas 2010 with my best friend melanie. i have been the last 3 years in december, and that's part of the reason why january is our trip time. i like christmas, and i like disney, but after 3 years in a row of the decorations, i'm ready for the classic disney experience of my childhood...except without the 90 degree weather, lol! here's a picture of me from my last trip with mom in 2009...my hair is so much longer now i probably look like a different person!

that was from our first day of our trip waiting for the boat at the yacht club. and my mom, julie, is an awesome mom! i'm so happy we took trips to disney as a family when we were younger and i still remember them fondly. she is the one that wanted to go on this january trip since i'm so busy most of the year and don't get to spend a lot of time with her. here she is on our last trip in 2009:

i can't wait until we can actually book this trip and then i can go into planning mode! i'm such a pre-planner when it comes to disney. not so much the exact details but the ADRs, which parks to go to, and the fun extras like DTD and maybe a tour or 2...sigh, a girl can dream, right? but for now, that's all the details i've got!!

 

[laur roo]

well, i got the official word from work that my trip dates won't interfere with anything, so we're clear to go!!! now all we have to do is book the trip!!!

of course what that means is i've gone into planning mode. you know, where you sit online all day and play around with the "what ifs"...what if we ate here and then hopped over here? what if we did breakfast at DTD and then went to the parks? i can't stop the disney dialogue in my head, lol! and of course i started booking ADRs. mom is a vegetarian who sometimes eats vegan, so i have to take that into considerations when i plan where we will eat. we will have the regular dining plan for free, which we had last trip as well. here's where we ate last trip:

50's primetime cafe for dinner
kona cafe for breakfast
mama melrose for dinner
san angel inn for dinner
crystal palace for breakfast
tusker house for lunch
the wave for dinner
les chefs de france for dinner

mom's requests were "we have to eat at the wave again!" she loved the food, the atmosphere, and the organic nature of the restaurant. i loved the food, the awesome flavors of tea [it's not twinings there, it's something else and it's amazing!], and the dessert! so the wave is a must do for us on one of our MK days.

my request was sanaa, because i ate there last december with melanie on our girl's trip. it was sooooooooooooooo good!!! i seriously loved that place. we went on our first night there after checking into the hotel, and i'm pretty sure that exactly what we are going to do this time as well. they have plenty for vegetarians to choose from, and i just remember mel and i both loving our meals there.

other than that, i've just been reading menus online to find out where we would want to eat and then booking some ADRs based on those. i'm sure that they will change a handful of times before we go based on park hours and where we are staying, but our current ADR list for this trip looks like this:

sanaa for dinner
tusker house for dinner
the wave for dinner
garden grill for dinner
whispering canyon cafe for lunch
afternoon tea at the grand floridian
kouzzina for dinner
cape may cafe for breakfast
via napoli for dinner
kouzzina for breakfast

if there's any vegetarians/vegans out there, do you have any other suggestions as to where to eat? my mom will eat a lot of different foods, but she dislikes mushrooms, so places that have heavy mushroom veg dishes we tend to stay away from. or any dining advice would be great!!! i love trying new restaurants, especially when they're free!! :

 

[laur roo]

ahhhhhh, the disney planning phase! so much has changed in just a week! my mom is on the phone with disney now booking our reservation! we're actually going to skip the free dining since there is the disney visa offer for a percentage off your room instead!!! it's going to save us more money in the long run so that is awesome.

we're booking room only and still doing a split stay. unfortunately, they didn't have french quarter available [they didn't have it available for free dining either, hmmmm....] anywho, we are staying at riverside for 5 nights and then the beach club for 5 nights!!!

just wanted to do a quick update before i have to head to work because WE ARE BOOKED FOR DISNEY!!! plus i'll have to replan since we aren't doing free dining and are staying different days/places than we had originally thought. but that's okay, i love to plan when it comes to disney!

i'll probably need to rename this PTR now, lol!