Ghosts, and Villians, and Disney, Oh My! An October PTR- Link to TR

[mickeystoontown]

I was just posting on your thread!

Will look into Jameson Inn, we have stayed at the Country Inn and Suites there and that one was nice. I'll have to compare prices!

Yay, glad to hear you like GG. I am leaning that way because I know the kids would enjoy it more.

You may want to look on the Jameson Inn website. They had a $5 off coupon that I was able to use. Do you have AAA? If so, that will get you a discount too.

 

[skier_pete]

15th- drive to Crestview or Marianna and stay the night.
16th- get to WDW by 3pm, check into Pop Century. Probably will head to DTD and eat at EoS.
17th- switch over to POR and head to Epcot for the day.
18th- AK til around 4ish, then to DHS for Fantasmic
19th- MK
20th- DHS til 5ish, then to MK for MSEP and Wishes.
21st- MK, take break, then back for MNSSHP

22nd and 23rd are US/IOA days, still staying at RPR.

Now these are our Adr's:

17th- have 2 that I need to pick between, Garden Grill at 5:15 or Tutto Italia at 6:20
19th- Crystal Palace for lunch at 11:35 and 'Ohana dinner at 6:30
20th- Sci Fi Dine-In at 11:15
21st- 'Ohana breakfast at 9:20
22nd- 1900 PF breakfast at 9:25 (this will probably get cancelled unless we decide to cancel one of the others)

Haven't ever been to Garden Grill or Tutto Italia. Has anyone been to either? Did you like it? Would love input (as always).

Ashley,

You are cracking me up, because you've managed to align your plans even closer to ours! So, I say you should choose the Garden Grill because - we have an ADR there at 6:05 PM on the 17th. Actually, though I haven't been to either restaurant I have heard LOTS of bad reveiws of Tutto Italia (though not universally bad), Garden Grill reviews are pretty mixed too, some love it, some hate it, but I think the rotating restaurant + the characters make this a great experience to go with little ones. Tutto is just Italian food. You can get that anywhere. (At least it's pretty darn common up here in the North.) Besides, this way we could have a little DIS meet, and when we run into each other the rest of the trip, we'll be able to say hi!

Because, we ALSO match up on these days:
Oct 17th - Epcot Day
Oct 19th - MK Day (HDDR for dinner for us, though)
Oct 20th - DHS until 5ish, but to Epcot for Le cellier!
Oct 21st - MNSSHP! (won't be there until 4 pm though...)

Yeah, we might not see each other at all, but we could run into each other a lot. We met this one family at a previous stay at POFQ (not DISers). We were talking to them on the bus to MK one day. Later we saw them in line for Peter Pan, then again at Cosmic Rays. The NEXT day we were waiting in the holding area for the Little Mermaid @ DHS and turned around and they were right next to us, then we saw them a fourth time at Epcot. It was really funny that we kept matching parks, and being at the same place at the same time through no real planning...so it COULD happen.

Of course, maybe I'm giving you a good reason NOT to choose Garden Grill - avoid the crazy DISer and his slightly less crazy family.

SkierPete

 

[laashley]

You may want to look on the Jameson Inn website. They had a $5 off coupon that I was able to use. Do you have AAA? If so, that will get you a discount too.

Will look it up definitely! Don't have AAA though.

Ashley,

You are cracking me up, because you've managed to align your plans even closer to ours! So, I say you should choose the Garden Grill because - we have an ADR there at 6:05 PM on the 17th. Actually, though I haven't been to either restaurant I have heard LOTS of bad reveiws of Tutto Italia (though not universally bad), Garden Grill reviews are pretty mixed too, some love it, some hate it, but I think the rotating restaurant + the characters make this a great experience to go with little ones. Tutto is just Italian food. You can get that anywhere. (At least it's pretty darn common up here in the North.) Besides, this way we could have a little DIS meet, and when we run into each other the rest of the trip, we'll be able to say hi!

Because, we ALSO match up on these days:
Oct 17th - Epcot Day
Oct 19th - MK Day (HDDR for dinner for us, though)
Oct 20th - DHS until 5ish, but to Epcot for Le cellier!
Oct 21st - MNSSHP! (won't be there until 4 pm though...)

Yeah, we might not see each other at all, but we could run into each other a lot. We met this one family at a previous stay at POFQ (not DISers). We were talking to them on the bus to MK one day. Later we saw them in line for Peter Pan, then again at Cosmic Rays. The NEXT day we were waiting in the holding area for the Little Mermaid @ DHS and turned around and they were right next to us, then we saw them a fourth time at Epcot. It was really funny that we kept matching parks, and being at the same place at the same time through no real planning...so it COULD happen.

Of course, maybe I'm giving you a good reason NOT to choose Garden Grill - avoid the crazy DISer and his slightly less crazy family.

SkierPete

I told you before "great minds" or maybe I am just as crazy as you!

Garden Grill was never a restaurant I was really all that interested in until I heard that it rotates, and I know the kids will love chip and dale. Tutto Italia is one I would like to try one day, but I have heard the mixed reviews, so it does scare me a little. I bet we will be seeing you at Garden Grill.

 

[skier_pete]

I bet we will be seeing you at Garden Grill.

Cool. I will keep posted to see if you keep that one. If you do, we'll look for you there. I feel like we gotta meet at least 1 DISer this trip. I was kind of bummed we didn't see any in April.

 

[laashley]

You may want to look on the Jameson Inn website. They had a $5 off coupon that I was able to use. Do you have AAA? If so, that will get you a discount too.

Just looked it up and it is about $10 less than Country Inn and Suites, so Jameson Inn it is! Thanks, Lisa!

 

[laashley]

Cool. I will keep posted to see if you keep that one. If you do, we'll look for you there. I feel like we gotta meet at least 1 DISer this trip. I was kind of bummed we didn't see any in April.

You act as though I change my mind alot.

I will be posting a rough touring plan of each park. Probably will be the week before we leave, because by then the plans should be certain. I am sure we will meet while we are there, would be crazy if we didn't run into each other at some point!

 

[skier_pete]

You act as though I change my mind alot.

I will be posting a rough touring plan of each park. Probably will be the week before we leave, because by then the plans should be certain. I am sure we will meet while we are there, would be crazy if we didn't run into each other at some point!

Well, I'll be here right until the 15th...we'll probably be leaving at very similar times. I am working a 1/2 day on the 15th, our flight leaves at 4:20 PM, so we will be heading for the airport about 2 PM. Nice thing about direct flights - we're in our hotel about 6 hours after we leave our house.

Being DISers, if nothing else we'll probably be sprinting to Toy Story Mania together on the 20th! Maybe I'll even share my secret for getting to the front of the crowd at DHS opening with you! Shhhhh!

 

[skier_pete]

Actually you mentioned touring plans...I didn't really post specific touring plans in my PTR - we go often enough how that we kind of have a basic strategy for each park, but it's not as specific as it used to be. I WILL be putting together a touring plan for MNSSHP....there just seems like so much to do and so little time to do it that you gotta have a plan. I've already worked out a first pass plan...but I am not really happy with it yet...the big variable being "How late can DD stay up?"

SkierPete

 

[Nermel9]

Good idea getting the park hoppers!

I've never been to GG or Tutto, but I'm guessing the kids will like GG much better!

 

[laashley]

Well, I'll be here right until the 15th...we'll probably be leaving at very similar times. I am working a 1/2 day on the 15th, our flight leaves at 4:20 PM, so we will be heading for the airport about 2 PM. Nice thing about direct flights - we're in our hotel about 6 hours after we leave our house.

Being DISers, if nothing else we'll probably be sprinting to Toy Story Mania together on the 20th! Maybe I'll even share my secret for getting to the front of the crowd at DHS opening with you! Shhhhh!

Sounds nice. Unfortunately, we won't be leaving until after you arrive. Have to wait for Chris to get off at 6pm. Then we will drive as far as we can. In April we made it to Crestview which is just 4 hours away. Then the next day we have a 6.5 hour drive, but a time change so it seems like 7.5 then stops. I wish we could fly, but it is too expensive and I really like to have our own car. So, I am guessing that we will be at Pop about 18 hours after we leave. 6 hours sounds so much better!

TSM will definitely be our first stop. Don't know if we will rush though. Not planning on riding right away, just getting fp's for later. May make a stop to see a character at the hat first. Teleporting would definitely get you to TSM first.

Actually you mentioned touring plans...I didn't really post specific touring plans in my PTR - we go often enough how that we kind of have a basic strategy for each park, but it's not as specific as it used to be. I WILL be putting together a touring plan for MNSSHP....there just seems like so much to do and so little time to do it that you gotta have a plan. I've already worked out a first pass plan...but I am not really happy with it yet...the big variable being "How late can DD stay up?"

SkierPete

My touring plan for MNSSHP will be very detailed. V E R Y detailed. This is the one day I am hoping the kids will take a nap. Probably not, but I can hope.

Good idea getting the park hoppers!

I've never been to GG or Tutto, but I'm guessing the kids will like GG much better!

This will be our first time hopping, can't wait!

Yep, I agree when we went to Le Cellier the kids weren't loving it. They are too young to appreciate good food.

 

[skier_pete]

Sounds nice. Unfortunately, we won't be leaving until after you arrive. Have to wait for Chris to get off at 6pm. Then we will drive as far as we can. In April we made it to Crestview which is just 4 hours away. Then the next day we have a 6.5 hour drive, but a time change so it seems like 7.5 then stops. I wish we could fly, but it is too expensive and I really like to have our own car. So, I am guessing that we will be at Pop about 18 hours after we leave. 6 hours sounds so much better!

It is, but remember that's $600 that we have to spend on the vacation just to get there. (Not to mention another $70 for airport parking.) Admittedly it does cost you something to get there and back - hotel stays / food / gas / vacation time.

At 10 hours, it would be hard to argue in favor of flying. We drove to Myrtle Beach last summer, which was 14 hours....that's about the outside distance I would drive on vacation, and that was a bit much...again, it was about saving some $$$. The worst is the drive home - at least on way down you have the anticipation to keep you company. Growing up, our family drove from Massachusetts to Florida for our trips. 24 hours in the car, usually spread over 3 days.

TSM will definitely be our first stop. Don't know if we will rush though. Not planning on riding right away, just getting fp's for later. May make a stop to see a character at the hat first. Teleporting would definitely get you to TSM first.!

Well, we want to ride twice, so intend to get both FP and in the standby line. Our experience is even the FP line is crazy at TSM...5 minutes after opening there's about 200 people in line for FPs. So, even if you want to catch some characters, you might want to send DH for those FP first thing.

BTW, my secret trick doesn't REALLY involve teleporting....

My touring plan for MNSSHP will be very detailed. V E R Y detailed. This is the one day I am hoping the kids will take a nap. Probably not, but I can hope.

Same here. I'll be posting it on my PTR eventually. I think we'll be in line for the 7 drawves early, though. Our DD7 almost never naps anymore, but I am hoping it is far enough into the trip that we can get her to take one. I think we're much more likely to make it late into the night with one. However, the days she needs a nap are never the convenient ones...so who knows how it'll go.

This will be our first time hopping, can't wait!

The ability to hop is a nice one...we typically don't do it. Even with the ability on our APs, I only have 2 days of hopping our entire upcoming trip. Our trip in April we didn't hop once. I prefer to spend most days in a single park...this particularly let's us utilize FP more fully.

SkierPete

 

[laashley]

It is, but remember that's $600 that we have to spend on the vacation just to get there. (Not to mention another $70 for airport parking.) Admittedly it does cost you something to get there and back - hotel stays / food / gas / vacation time.
At 10 hours, it would be hard to argue in favor of flying. We drove to Myrtle Beach last summer, which was 14 hours....that's about the outside distance I would drive on vacation, and that was a bit much...again, it was about saving some $$$. The worst is the drive home - at least on way down you have the anticipation to keep you company. Growing up, our family drove from Massachusetts to Florida for our trips. 24 hours in the car, usually spread over 3 days.

Yeah, never thought of it like that. Atleast with a 10 hour drive we have the option to drive. Don't think we would attempt a 24 hour drive. Atleast not straight thru. This will be the first time we drive home in one day, usually we stop off about 4 hours then continue the 6 the next day. Never has been too bad, but IDK about the 10 hours straight through. I find the trip there takes forever and going home seems like a breeze.

Well, we want to ride twice, so intend to get both FP and in the standby line. Our experience is even the FP line is crazy at TSM...5 minutes after opening there's about 200 people in line for FPs. So, even if you want to catch some characters, you might want to send DH for those FP first thing.

In april that was the plan, but the fp line was so darn long that by the time fp's were in hand the line was all the way to Studio Backlot Tour.

Then the 2nd day we went we didn't get to the park until a few past 9 and headed to TSM, no fp line, and later dh and ds rode with a 30 minute wait.

Both days were fantasmic days and neither were EMH's so not really sure on why the crowds were so different. So for October our plan will be to definitely get a fp and then if the line is short ride it. My main reason for not being in a rush is that I would rather not have to stand in a line just to get fp's. If we wait til a little later the line will be gone and the fp time shouldn't be that late. But now I am 2nd guessing it all. Guess it will really depend on the crowds.

BTW, my secret trick doesn't REALLY involve teleporting....

Please tell!

Same here. I'll be posting it on my PTR eventually. I think we'll be in line for the 7 drawves early, though. Our DD7 almost never naps anymore, but I am hoping it is far enough into the trip that we can get her to take one. I think we're much more likely to make it late into the night with one. However, the days she needs a nap are never the convenient ones...so who knows how it'll go.

That is our plan too. 7 dwarf line by 6:30. Chloe probably won't take a nap and will probably beg to go swimming. Thankfully, both kids will just fall asleep in the stroller if they are too tired. I really do hope that they will get to see it all. Midnight is late for them, but they have been known to stay up late for Disney!

The ability to hop is a nice one...we typically don't do it. Even with the ability on our APs, I only have 2 days of hopping our entire upcoming trip. Our trip in April we didn't hop once. I prefer to spend most days in a single park...this particularly let's us utilize FP more fully.

SkierPete

Yeah the only reason we are hopping this trip is to hopefully avoid some of the worst crowds and to be able to see fantasmic and MSEP. If it was a little bit longer of a trip we would just be spending 2 days in each park and not hopping. Now that Chloe is in school it is going to affect how long our trips are.

 

[therussells08]

I love all of your purchases for your trip!! I can't believe it's only three weeks away!

 

[laashley]

I love all of your purchases for your trip!! I can't believe it's only three weeks away!

Thanks! Glad to see you back on the boards. I know 3 weeks, I am soooo excited!!!

 

[laashley]

April 23- DHS

This was to be our 2nd day at the studios. We slept a little later that morning. Think the swimming really wore us all out. We drove, being at CBR it took us all of 10 minutes to park and walk to the turnstiles. It was about 15 after 9 when we got into the park. First up we wanted to get a picture with the hat.

Then we were off to TSM to get fp’s. Amazing we walked right up and no line to get them! To Great Movie Ride we went.

Enjoyed it as usual. What is all the talk of a cowboy? Never gotten a cowboy, only the gangster.

Chloe had been bugging us about riding ToT. So, I took her to ride her new favorite ride and Chris and Noah went to check out the wait time for TSM. TSM I think had a posted time of 45 minutes, so they decided to ride. ToT was showing a 20 minute wait, so not bad at all. By, 11am we were meeting back up at the Art of Animation building. I wanted to do the animation academy, but no go because the class had just let in, so we headed for the characters. After a little bit of a wait, we saw the Up characters.

The kids really loved Dug! I was so glad that we decided to wait and see them. I think the Up characters were gone less than 3 weeks later!

Next to the hat to wait for Donald and Daisy to show up. I stood in the line and Chris took the kids to get ice cream. They came back with strawberry bars just in time!

Only thing is the kids were facing the sun, so not the best pics. Just a tip, if you want to see the ducks be sure to be in line early- the handler cut off the line right as they walked out. A bit of stalking was required on our part to see them.

Time for TSM!

Could ride this all day! This is a must do of ours. It was only noon and the boys had ridden it twice. After our ride was over we walked across the street.

Noah's getting into character, being stuck in a box!

Ooh, it's the CLAW!!!!

Stuck in the suitcase!

The kids wanted to meet Buzz! Well, and Woody, but we had already met Woody, so Buzz was the main dude to see!

Now our tummies were rumbly. Studio Backlot Express hit the spot. I got the buffalo chicken and Chris got the pressed tuscan deli sandwich. Kids got nuggets, I believe. We all liked the food.

 

[laashley]

day 4 continued...

Chloe and Noah were interested in Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, so Chris hung out with them and I went and explored a little and got fp’s for Star Tours. After the kids had run off some energy, we went to meet some monsters. First, we did play around on the Streets of America.

Then… Mike and Sully!

Mike kept following Noah around. Noah was so oblivious to it all. Mike and Sully weren’t too easy to find, for those of you that would like to see them they are at the exit to Studio Backlot Tours. Then we stopped at the little shop and tried on some lightning Mickey ears for Noah.

Didn’t get any. Noah wouldn’t leave it on. What next? Indiana Jones Stunt Show!

Sorry no pictures of the show. I was manning the video camera and Chris was manning the tired and cranky kids! Chloe and Noah did like the show, they just get a bit gripey when they are tired, they were complaining about how hot it was. It was hot, but it was also nice to sit down.

Now the fp time was up, so Chris and Chloe headed over there.

Noah and I decided to see Playhouse Disney.

I was excited he still wanted to see it (Chloe has already moved on). I enjoyed seeing a little kid show with my little man. It is nice on vacation to be able to split up and focus on one kid.

Well, while we were in Playhouse Disney Chris couldn’t get me on the phone and just decided to go on Star Tours twice, so no ride for me (not that I was that broken up about it, but now knowing we won’t be able to see it this trip it saddens me a little). We all met back up and decided to try one more time for the Animation Academy.

Again, no luck. Don’t know why we didn’t just wait? Guess it wasn’t that high on my list. Again we checked out the characters and yay there was the Incredibles.

Glad Noah got to see them. He loves the movie! Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were so sweet. The kids kept wanting to go back and give them hug after hug. Finally, we said our last goodbye and headed out. Really we had done most of what we wanted to (excluding the Animation Academy which I think I just gave up on) and it was just after 4 pm. The first Fantasmic was starting at 8:30, so we decided to just hang around til then. As we were walking to the sorceror’s hat we ran into Leo.

Leo was all alone. He said that Annie was taking a nap. Here you can see the stroller. I call it the kids limo and it definitely feels as heavy as one!!!

We walked to the hat to look at pins and ended up buying both the kids a lanyard and 2 pins, plus we got a free pin (think maybe Chris bought a pin too). While we were pin shopping High School Musical 3 Stage Show started and Chris took the kids to see it while I checked out.

Don’t think we stayed and watched all of it. It was okay, but the kids really don’t know what High School Musical is, so they weren’t too into it. We decided to check out American Idol Experience.

I loved this. For one it was in a nice cool theatre and two the singing wasn’t horrible. In fact, the girl that won was absolutely wonderful. I still remember that she sang “Midnight Train to Georgia”. I hope she won the finale show for the day and is able to try out for the real AI.

 

[laashley]

still more of day 4...

We still had some time to kill so off to Sunset Boulevard to see Beauty and the Beast.

Chloe loved it. My little princess loves all the princess stuff (she just likes the thrill rides too!).

Dinnertime! Decided upon Rosie’s as it was right there. Not sure what we ate, but I’m sure it was tasty. Do remember getting a couple of frozen lemonades at Anaheim Produce after dinner. We saw that a line was already forming for Fantasmic, so we headed to the theatre.

We sat right in the middle about 6 rows back, in the “wet” area. We had over an hour wait until the show began, but the time went quickly. I remembered to pack some of the glow in the dark sticks/wands/necklaces, but of course the kids tried to talk us into buying them special disney ones. Didn’t work for them though. Finally, time for Fantasmic. Again, I was taking video, so sorry no pictures. We all loved, loved Fantasmic. Noah calls it “Mickey Fights the Dragon”, guess that is the part that he remembers most. Oh, we did get a bit wet, but not too bad. The seats were worth it.

After the show I was ready to call it a night, but the kids wanted TSM one more time. It was our last day there, so off we went.

Some pictures on the way out of the park.

By the time we got to the car it was close to 11pm. Another long, and fun day.


Next up- first day at Epcot and dinner with the princesses!



Looks like I won't get all the way through the April trip before we leave in 3 WEEKS!!!!!
I am having alot of trouble resizing the pictures on photobucket. My computer freezes up atleast every 10 photos. Does anyone have the pro account with no ads? I am thinking the ads are what is giving me the problems. Or what about using shutterfly?

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That day looks like it was so much fun!

I'm not sure what's up with your Photobucket... I never resize my pics in there, though. I used to manually resize mine in Corel Paint Shop.

http://www.onthegosoft.com/shrink_pic.htm I've heard this program is good, though.

 

[skier_pete]

In april that was the plan, but the fp line was so darn long that by the time fp's were in hand the line was all the way to Studio Backlot Tour.

Then the 2nd day we went we didn't get to the park until a few past 9 and headed to TSM, no fp line, and later dh and ds rode with a 30 minute wait.

Both days were fantasmic days and neither were EMH's so not really sure on why the crowds were so different. So for October our plan will be to definitely get a fp and then if the line is short ride it. My main reason for not being in a rush is that I would rather not have to stand in a line just to get fp's. If we wait til a little later the line will be gone and the fp time shouldn't be that late. But now I am 2nd guessing it all. Guess it will really depend on the crowds.

Please tell!

I'm surprised to here the line is EVER short first thing in the morning. As I said, our strategy is I get to the front of the crowd and get the FP, and DD and DW take their time. By the time I have the FP...they are about to get in the standby line. I'm not one of those (many) people that get FP, and then shove through the line to get to their family. Those people p**s me off.

I will share my secret trick for getting into the park, but only by PM, and only IF you promise NOT to share it with anyone else. It's something that if it became common knowledge would either ruin it, or they would stop doing it. (I figure since you might see us there you'll probably learn it anyways - To all others reading this, I apologize...I can't share it with everyone.) Not to build it up, it's not really THAT amazing or anything.

That is our plan too. 7 dwarf line by 6:30. Chloe probably won't take a nap and will probably beg to go swimming. Thankfully, both kids will just fall asleep in the stroller if they are too tired. I really do hope that they will get to see it all. Midnight is late for them, but they have been known to stay up late for Disney!

Then we'll see you there in line!

Great pictures from DHS, BTW. You're kids are so cute. I'm amazed your DD will go on ToT. Ours is basically afraid of any ride she hasn't been on before. And there's no way I'll get her on ToT, even at 7 years old! I still have to ride myself. And she still likes the playhouse Disney show, which I can no longer stand. I've seen it too many times now, plus I liked the older version with Bear and Stanley better. You wanna swap daughters for a few hours? (I'm just kidding!) In December I ended up at PHD with her alone, so I figure DW owes me a showing.

I don't know if you've have done it before, but the animation academy is really worth doing. DW and DD loved it. DW wants to do it multiple times next trip. Not me, once is enough - I figure perfect opportunity for Tot/RnRC for me!

As far as photobucket...I have never had a problem with it, but I don't re-size any photos in there. I simply download them and use them. If I trim/edit a photo, I do it on my computer first.

Amazing that you can get your kids to go all day like that, if we did 9 AM to 11 PM, we would have to take the next day off! Ours gets tired so easy, and when she gets tired, she gets stubborn and only will do what SHE wants to do, or basically refuses to move. She is so super hard-headed!

 

[therussells08]

I love your DHS pictures!! I want to go back RIGHT NOW! DH and I discovered the Animation Academy on our last trip and absolutely loved it! We ended up going back four times in a row!