Here goes, my first PTR.....*UPDATE 9/27* only one day left!!

[MARsMama]

Moving right along, before Karen lets out all my secrets

As my ADR day approached the more I was online looking and checking to see if somewhere, somehow I could find some sort of schedule for October. Lo and Behold on these very DISboards I came across a thread with a link to an October schedule by Disney Travel Agents (see link above! lol) I was overjoyed and could not wait to sit down and get a schedule worked out!!!
Let me tell you, 11 days with waterparks is harder to schedule than 7 days of just parks, not to mention throwing in the F! dinner and MNSSHP, I was beginning to think it wasn't going to work out at all!!

First off I noticed there would be no F! for MJ's birthday, so I thought we would go with the next best thing....MK and breakfast at CP, after all it was her favorite place/meal from before. After a bit I worked out a tentative schedule, using information from DISers and the crowd predictions from easywdw and it looked good. I avoided Epcot on weekends, stayed away from EMH for the most part, and even avoided the parks that was recommended to avoid for nearly all my days. I also hit most of the parks that were considered best park for that day. It was starting to come together!!! All I needed was my ADRs and my schedule would be a go!!

As the ADR date approached I started to get nervous. What if we didn't get the places we wanted?! So, just in case I decided I had better choose a few back-ups that would fit into the schedule ok. After all, you can never plan too much, can you?!

 

[MARsMama]

Welcome, Candace. I'm glad to have you following along

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Moving right along, before Karen lets out all my secrets

I'm glad you found those hours b/c 11 days is a long time to plan without hours!!!!! I predict you didn't need ANY of those backups!

 

[PixieMama]

Who knew just figuring out where to eat a meal would be so stressful?

Boma is my favorite, too. I also rank CP high on my list!

Of the "new to you" restaurants, I've only been to 50sPTC. My family had lunch there last year and we enjoyed it. I've heard good things about O'hana and 1900PF. I may have to keep those places in mind when we go back!

 

[MARsMama]

Karen, are you psychic?!
PixieMama....it is stressful planning out where to eat 180 days before you are going to, isn't it?! But, it's even more stressful if you don't and try to figure it out when you're at the park!! lol We did that on our last trip with the counter service meals, and were wandering around the park trying to figure out what we wanted for what seemed like hours....such a waste of time. Hoping not to do that this time around!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Karen, are you psychic?!
PixieMama....it is stressful planning out where to eat 180 days before you are going to, isn't it?! But, it's even more stressful if you don't and try to figure it out when you're at the park!! lol We did that on our last trip with the counter service meals, and were wandering around the park trying to figure out what we wanted for what seemed like hours....such a waste of time. Hoping not to do that this time around!

I could just write the PTR for you if you want?!?!

 

[MARsMama]

Before I continue on to the much anticipated ADR date I need to add a minor detail here....the kids are unaware of the trip!!!
Yes, that's right, we have not told the kids that we are returning to WDW, the place where we told them would be a once in a lifetime trip for us (as we very much thought so at the time of our last trip, atleast until we left and I was determined to try to get back! lol).
We tossed around the idea of not telling them at all until the morning we left to head to the airport, since we're flying this time, but decided against it after having input from the kids without their knowledge!!
Then came the big dilemma....when and how to tell them?! Since we booked the trip a year ahead of time we knew then that it was way too soon to tell them. We had debated Christmas, like last time, but it was much further away (9 months instead of only 3) and it still seemed too long. Three months was great the last time, although they had no idea what WDW was all about then so there wasn't too much excitement until it came right down to leaving, especially from RT who was 'too old' for the Mickey Mouse clubhouse and all those types of characters!!LOL (he wasn't long changing his mind when we stepped into MK, and was actually the one who was after the autographs and photos the most!)
The 3 month mark sounded pretty good once again. After all, I do want to have time to get some input from them in all the planning. They will need to know why we're not taking our family camping trip this year and they could use the summer to save up some spending money as well. Now this part probably sounds corny, but last year the month of June was horrible for them. Mom went downhill pretty fast (in one quick week actually) and being the end of the school year for the kids it was pretty tough. June sounded perfect, a nice way to put some happiness into that month, so June it is!

I still have no idea how we're going to tell them. We want to make it fun for them, and are leaning towards a scavenger hunt....but I'll touch more on that as I figure it out!!

 

[MARsMama]

I could just write the PTR for you if you want?!?!

Sure, might get a little harder though once I get caught up!! lol

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

What fun! I think a scavenger hunt sounds great! I could never totally keep it from mine either, planning with them, talking about it, counting down, and the anticipation, is half the fun! 3 months sounds perfect!

BTW, I was the same way, thought we would have this one time trip, only b/c my IL's paid for it, and once I got there with my family, I just knew I had to find a way back!

 

[MARsMama]

I know, I can't wait to start a countdown with them and get them more involved in the planning!! They've helped me out some, unknowingly, as I am conveniently working on scrapbooking our last trip to Disney, which brings up lots of memories....and thus lots of questions!! lol
They are not suspicious about me working on our Disney scrapbook now as I had put my scrapbooking on hold when Mom got sick and once she passed we had some renovations we had to do on the house. One of those reno projects was turning the walk-in closet that was in Mom's bedroom into an office/scrapbook room for me and we just finished it up a few weeks ago

 

[MARsMama]

So now we're quickly approaching the ADR date of April 1 and I realize that it's a Friday morning. Being on Atlantic time, 7am is the magic time when I can start booking ADRs online. Sounds great, except for the fact that the kids are home and I am needing to be getting them ready and off to school at that exact time!! Popping back and forth to the computer while doing so would not only raise many questions from the kids, but also risk missing a desired ADR. What to do?!
Well, Dh risked being made fun of and asked if he could go in late for work so he could get the kids off to school while I booked our dining reservations for 6 months down the road! I don't know if he got any funny looks, but he was able to! lol So we were all set, I had my list all made and ready, along with my back-up list, and I didn't have to worry about going back and forth!!!
Did I mention that this was the very first time I'd booked ADRs online, and this far out?! It was, and I didn't sleep a wink the night before! LOL It's amazing what nerves, stress, and excitement will do you ones sleeping abilities!!

The time had come, I went online, got everything ready, put in my confirmation number and tried to book CRT. It came up that my dates weren't in the time frame Oh no! Did I get the date wrong?! Nope, it was definately the right date. I was so deflated, but I thought I'll try again so I did, without much hope (have I ever mentioned I'm a pessimist?! lol). I really figured that Dh would have to phone (I'm not a phone person to say the least) them in and since he had to be to work it would have to wait until later in the day, on his lunch break, and our chances of getting what we wanted would drop. HOWEVER, much to my surprise everything went off without a hitch. Dh ended up having to call in to get T-Rex and the F! dining pkg, but we got them too!!

We did it!! We got all the ADRs that we wanted and for the dates and times that we were wanted, with the exception of a late time for Garden Grill, which wasn't a big deal to us. No back-up list needed!!

Everything fit nicely into our schedule, and here it is.....

Day1 - arrive at POR, dinner at TRex
Day2 - Epcot day, late dinner at Garden Grill (unless I can get a bit earlier between now and then)
Day3 - Hollywood Studios day, 50s PrimeTime lunch
Day4 - Magic Kingdom, dinner at 1900 Park Fare
Day5 - back to the Studios, F! dinner pkg at Mama Melrose
Day6 - back to Epcot, Le Cellier lunch
Day7 - Animal Kingdom, 'OHana dinner
Day8 - Waterpark day, Boma b'fast
Day9 - back to Magic Kingdom, no TS this day....MNSSHP in pm
Day10 - back to Animal Kingdom for our last day there, Tusker House lunch
Day11 - Dd's birthday, last day at Magic Kingdom, b'fast at Crystal Palace and surprise dinner at CRT for dd!!
Day12 (had to do this ADR the following day as it was past our 10days) - or final Epcot day, Chef Mickey's for b'fast
Day 13 - checkout day, and head to a hotel close to airport. Hopefully hit a waterpark or DD after all settled in the hotel.
Day14 - possibly fly out, but if not another waterpark/DD day
Day 15 - if we're not already home this will be our fly home day!

Can you find the days we are in the same place, Karen?

Our last trip we were there for 8 days and didn't feel like we had enough time. We especially wanted more time at Epcot as well as time to be at the resort more. We are hoping to get in some extra time at the waterparks, and spend some evenings/mornings at Downtown Disney as well as the resort as we don't feel we'll need two full days at HS or AK.

We left it open so that if F! is cancelled due to weather on the day we're supposed to see it we can scrap Epcot and head to HS that last day and have a second chance at catching it. Also, if the day we're scheduled for the MNSSHP isn't looking so great, weather wise, we left it so that we can go the following day instead (as we're planning to wait to purchase those tickets until close to the day....unless I panic about missing it altogether by waiting too long to get the tickets and end up getting them early, then our day for it will be set)

So how's it sound so far? Still a lot of planning left as I want to figure out counter services and have them all listed and in a binder like MissStitch's that I'm hoping to get started on! lol There's also "big reveal"to plan, and of course our flight home to book, passports to get, hotel to book for the days following our Disney stay. I want to learn more about the F&W and of course, ironing out all the kinks that are likely to pop up!!! So much fun still to have!!!!!

 

[PixieMama]

I had to "plan" our QS meals, too... because if I didn't, it would go something like this:

"Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't care, where do you want to eat?"

"It doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want is fine."

"Well, it doesn't matter to me, either. So just pick a place and let's go there."

"Well, I don't know what you want, so why don't you just pick a place."

"I don't care where we go. Just PICK SOMETHING BECAUSE I AM STARVING."

DH and I may (or may not) have had that exact conversation.


So, to avoid the above situation, I looked at QS menus and based on what I thought my family would like, chose 2 or 3 places. At least this way we had options and I knew no matter what the choice was, it would be a place my family would like.


Surprising the kids is such a great idea! I wanted to do that for our trip last year. Considered it, but since we were traveling with my bro-in-law and his family... and none of them had been to WDW before, leaving all the planning up to me... I figured it would be too hard to plan between our 2 families and still keep our kids in the dark. Especially since their kids knew we were going.

Your plans look good. We did MNSSHP back in 2007 and it was fun. I don't think I've read anything negative about any of the TS places you've chosen (except TRex, I'm not familiar with that one.) In fact, the only thing I think I would personally do different is not get the F! package. But that's just me!

 

[MARsMama]

I had to "plan" our QS meals, too... because if I didn't, it would go something like this:

"Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't care, where do you want to eat?"

"It doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want is fine."

"Well, it doesn't matter to me, either. So just pick a place and let's go there."

"Well, I don't know what you want, so why don't you just pick a place."

"I don't care where we go. Just PICK SOMETHING BECAUSE I AM STARVING."

You know, I think Dh and I did have that exact conversation, with the added "I'm hungry" added in between from the kids!! I also can't forget the hunt we went on the day Ds1 really wanted a hotdog for lunch!!! So in hopes of avoiding atleast some of that I'm doing more planning, and having more time to do so is certainly a help!

As for the F! package, I really didn't want to use my credits for that, would have preferred to go to Sci-Fi, but it's something I really wanted to do for MJ as she loved it so much. I'm too chicken to take the chance of getting in and missing it, then having to use another day at HS to try to get it again! lol Which is probably why I will likely give in and purchase the MNSSHP tickets in advance, it's the chicken in me!!!

 

[DizneyDreams]

Joining in!
Loving the PTR!!!

 

[Corrine 1973]

So much planning in just one day. I am loving your ADR's and am so glad that you got all the ADR's you wanted. I can't wait to hear some revues of some of them in your TR since there are some that I want to take my DD to in 2013.

At first I had planned on doing the QSDP and had done a lot of research to figure out what to have each day for lunch and dinner so there was no confusion when it was meal time and I got the most bang for my buck. I have since upgraded to DDP, but still have our meals planned for each day. Some might say that I am overplanning, but I would rather be prepared.

I already got my green mickey head from home depot and can't wait to pin it to my bag while at WDW. I also got diffrent colors and made a countdown calendar with them.

 

[MARsMama]

I already got my green mickey head from home depot and can't wait to pin it to my bag while at WDW. I also got diffrent colors and made a countdown calendar with them.

Do they sell actual Mickey Heads, or do you make your own from the color samples? There's no HD in our area so it'll be a while before I get to one to check.

 

[MARsMama]

Joining in!
Loving the PTR!!!

Welcome!! Glad you're enjoying it! Can you tell I've learned how to use the quote feature?! There's hope for me yet!!!

 

[DizneyDreams]

Welcome!! Glad you're enjoying it! Can you tell I've learned how to use the quote feature?! There's hope for me yet!!!

It took me a while to figure it out too!! Haha. I'd see people quoting others and I was like "How on earth!?" It sure is handy though!

 

[MARsMama]

Now here I am going through CS restaurants and menus trying to come up with a list to have on hand of places that we'd could stop for a bite to eat when we get hungry and I'm not having much luck. Seems like a lot of places no only have one option for kids, and still having two who will be eating off the kids menu it makes it tough for us as they are the fussiest of the bunch and never seem to like the same thing!
Are the menus found on here incomplete, or are the places changing things up and making there only one choice for kids now? I'm sure it wasn't that way when we were there in '09, the kids had some options, not as many as the adults, but usually 3 or 4.

Here's the places I'm considering putting on the list....
Magic Kingdom -
Cosmic Ray's: but says only chicken nuggets for kids
Tortuga Tavern: there was no menu online, and it might not be open when we're there
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn: only hamburgers for kids?
Animal Kingdom -
Flame Tree Barbecue: seems like the best choice for us
Pizzafari - only cheese pizza for kids?
Hollywood Studios -
Backlot Express: not sure as only chicken or chicken nuggets for kids
Toy Story Pizza Planet: only cheese pizza for kids here too?
Epcot -
Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Sunshine Seasons - seems like a good variety
Lotus Blossom Cafe
Boulangerie Patisserie - looks like a good dessert selection so might just pop in for dessert here

Any thoughts/input would be appreciated. It looks like we might have to eat at the resort a lot more.....


On a bit of a side note about Cosmic Rays, we went there last year on our very first day and we LOVED it!! We got hamburgers/hot dogs and it was all so good. A week later when we were at MK, RT wanted to go there again as he really wanted a hot dog for lunch again. We went there and were told that they didn't have hot dogs there, and when we said we had just had them there one week ago they looked at us like we were crazy!!!

 

[PixieMama]

Not sure where you've been looking for menus... you should check out the "Dining" section on AllEars.net. They have menus for every single restaurant at WDW!


Examples:

Pizzafari has cheese pizza and macaroni & cheese on the kids' menu.

Cosmic Ray's has chicken nuggets, turkey sandwich, and PB&J for kids.