How Many Surprises Can One PTR Hold!?! (Updated 01/29) Almost There!!!

[Oliquig]

hey there! joining in. I'm a bit of a lurker on trip reports but just wanted to let you know that I'll be reading along

Aww, thanks, I'm more of a lurker myself, but it is good to know people actually read this thing! Really its just fun to type it all out and have it put down permanently.

I did do something Disney related today I went and got the bag I'll be using for this trip, and for our trip to NYC this fall. I also got a matching wallet.

And by I got, I mean it was purchased for me...since tomorrow is my birthday!!!

Its supposed to rain tomorrow, so I won't be doing much, but I will post agian with the next installment, which includes the next BIG surprise.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I had been on hold for 45 minutes on Free Dining day, and thought that was a long time! I'm not sure that I wouldn't have given up before an hour and 13 minutes!!

I've never stayed at Pop, but I've heard great things about it. It always seems so fun and lively. Although now you might be staying somewhere else...? Hmm...did you decide to go with a moderate? I'm excited to see where you chose!

 

[heathsf]

Happy Birthday!

 

[Oliquig]

Happy Birthday!

Thank you. I just wished you the same on your PTR.

I had a good birthday, even though it did rain ALL DAY LONG. I got some gift cards, and the afore mentioned bag and wallet (the Vera Bradley Hipster and the Carry-It-All Wristlet in Mocha Rouge in case you were interested) plus some earrings from my niece Noelle.

Speaking of Noelle, here she is outside the restaurant we ate at for my birthday, disregard the sweatshirt, its from the camp she went to, so she HAD to wear it.

Now onto the plans! Now I really did book Pop and put down my deposit, and all was good.

And then I started thinking. (This is what usually gets me in trouble.)

I was paying $400 to upgrade to the regular DDP, but if memory served me from when I had been playing around with different resort options, I think it wasn't much more than that to the price of a moderate.

I called back the next day, and low and behold the moderate price was within the amount I'd given myself to spend extra!

Now we'd have queen beds, a refridgerator, double sinks, queen beds, a water slide, bigger rooms, and of course queen beds.

You may have noticed a slight emphasis on one of those items, since neither Nina nor I are tiny people and since I will be the one sharing with Noelle (who kicks and steals covers) a larger bed is much preferable.

So where will we be staying??? POFQ!!!! (Um, did someone just say beignets??)

Now ask me; did you tell Nina that you upgraded the resort?

Why no, no I did not.

Just add this surprise to the list. Luckily Pop and Port Orleans begin with the same letters, because I've almost messed up a few times already.

Up Next, ADRs!

 

[disneychic]

Hey Rachel I just noticed on your post on my PTR that you have a PTR started! I'm so happy that I noticed that and came over to read up on your trip! I'm so glad that you're feeling better after last year and I'm excited that we're both going to WDW at the same time next year! Plus we're both living in New England....guess we'll both be watching the weather forecast like hawks! Looking foward to reading more of your PTR! Have you booked your ADR's yet?

 

[ZehnJahren]

Now onto the plans! Now I really did book Pop and put down my deposit, and all was good.

And then I started thinking. (This is what usually gets me in trouble.)

I was paying $400 to upgrade to the regular DDP, but if memory served me from when I had been playing around with different resort options, I think it wasn't much more than that to the price of a moderate.

I called back the next day, and low and behold the moderate price was within the amount I'd given myself to spend extra!

Now we'd have queen beds, a refridgerator, double sinks, queen beds, a water slide, bigger rooms, and of course queen beds.

You may have noticed a slight emphasis on one of those items, since neither Nina nor I are tiny people and since I will be the one sharing with Noelle (who kicks and steals covers) a larger bed is much preferable.

So where will we be staying??? POFQ!!!! (Um, did someone just say beignets??)

Now ask me; did you tell Nina that you upgraded the resort?

Why no, no I did not.

Just add this surprise to the list. Luckily Pop and Port Orleans begin with the same letters, because I've almost messed up a few times already.

Up Next, ADRs![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Oh yay, an upgrade AND a surprise! I couldn't convince myself to upgrade from Pop, but that's mainly because I'm paying OOP for food! I'm sure I would have used Disney logic and Disney math to do an upgrade if I weren't.

That will be a fun surprise! Now, you just have to keep the secret!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

POFQ looks really wonderful, I'm sure you're going to love it there! It's always been the most appealing out of the mods to me because of its smaller size. Oh, and the beignets, of course!!

But even more importantly, I just got my new Vera in Mocha Rouge too! And matching flip flops ! I love that pattern, it's definitely my new favorite! I hope you had a great birthday!!

 

[Oliquig]

Hey Rachel I just noticed on your post on my PTR that you have a PTR started! I'm so happy that I noticed that and came over to read up on your trip! I'm so glad that you're feeling better after last year and I'm excited that we're both going to WDW at the same time next year! Plus we're both living in New England....guess we'll both be watching the weather forecast like hawks! Looking foward to reading more of your PTR! Have you booked your ADR's yet?

Ugh the weather last winter. I haven't really complained about the heat this summer, hoping this will mean a mild winter. I've already told Nina that we will be leaving early if the forcast calls for snow.

That will be a fun surprise! Now, you just have to keep the secret!

Tell me about it, and its not easy.

POFQ looks really wonderful, I'm sure you're going to love it there! It's always been the most appealing out of the mods to me because of its smaller size. Oh, and the beignets, of course!!

But even more importantly, I just got my new Vera in Mocha Rouge too! And matching flip flops ! I love that pattern, it's definitely my new favorite! I hope you had a great birthday!!

I almost bought the flip flops too, I've been debating going back for them all week.

Besides the queen beds, the smaller size is what drew me too, less sprawl to try to map in a week.

 

[Oliquig]

Okay, I have decided to share my plans day by day, instead of all the food at once, because...well because thats how my brain works!

Day One (January 31, 2011)

Technically day one starts the afternoon before, since our flight leaves at 7:00 AM and Nina is not what one would call a "morning person." She's more the "talk to me before I've had two cups of coffee, and a half hour to wake up and I may kill you" type person.

So we will be staying at a hotel near the airport, the Holiday Inn Express in case anyone cares. It has an indoor pool, which should help Noelle burn off some of the extreme excitement Noelle will have at this point.

Another reason for this is, it is winter in New England, and if its anything like last winter, the last thing we want to do first thing off the plane is clean two feet of snow off the car.

All right, so our morning flight should arrive in Orlando by 10:05, which should put us to the hotel at noonish. Now I don't know at which point I will tell them about the resort change. If POFQ and Pop share the same bus, I might not tell them until we're on our way, or I may spill the beans on the flight, it depends on how crazy its making me.

Now once we get to the resort we will check in and see if our room is ready. The rest of the afternoon depends on the weather, if it is hot enough to swim we will grab a quick CS (OOP) at the resort and then swim, if it isn't then we will boat it over to DTD and eat at WPE or EOS (OOP) and shop. Return back to the resort to get ready for dinner at BOMA (DP) over at AKL. I have never eaten here before, so it should be fun. I have an ADR for 5:40, so we should be in for an early night, since it will have been a long day and I want to be up for park opening the next day!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I almost bought the flip flops too, I've been debating going back for them all week.

I really like them! They're nice and comfy.

Last year I had surprised DBF that we were staying at the Yacht Club, not POR. Originally I had been plotting to stave off telling him as long as possible (waiting until we were on Magical Express, etc). And I had happened to make the switch RIGHT when the ME tags were mailed out, so I actually got them for both resorts, making the surprise even more possible.

In the end, I decided to tell him the day before. I didn't want to tell him in the airport (too hectic), and I wanted him to be able to get all excited too, and have some anticipation like I had had!

(How I told him was I was like "oh, here are our luggage tags" (I had given him the ones for POR beforehand), and he's all "how many sets of luggage tags do we get????" before looking at them.)

Waiting until the last moment sounds like fun too, but I honestly don't think I could hold out that long!! Plus, they do say out loud which resort you're going to in the ME line and when you're getting on the bus.

 

[mikkiwikki]

Last year I had surprised DBF that we were staying at the Yacht Club,
excited too, and have some anticipation ..

Waiting until the last moment sounds like fun too, but I honestly don't think I could hold out that long!!bus.

Nice ptr!

I too never have been able to do the surprise thing! I don't know how people do it

 

[heathsf]

Ahh! I love surprises for other people! Except that I'm horrible at keeping them a surprise... Hopefully you'll do better than me! Your plans are looking good so far

 

[heathsf]

Oops - Accidental post. Sorry!

 

[Oliquig]

Ahh! I love surprises for other people! Except that I'm horrible at keeping them a surprise... Hopefully you'll do better than me! Your plans are looking good so far

Thanks! And welcome MikkiWikki!

 

[Oliquig]

Onto Day Two!

The plan is to wake up early and go to our first park: Hollywood Studios! Now by we, I mean Noelle and myself as Nina has no interest in getting up that early.

So Noelle and I will get up dressed and fed by the resort's CS and hopefully off to HS in time for rope drop. Now here is where there is a choice, if Noelle wants to do TSM we will head over there and ride standby. If not we will head straight for ToT and RnR, Nina has no interest in any of these rides so it won't be a hardship for her to miss them.

By the time these are done I'm sure Nina will have joined us, so we will head out to do our favorites, Muppet Vision, The Great Movie Ride, and a new one, Animation Academy. We have seen Beauty and the Beast several times (touring, college, and high school versions), so we will probably skip this one, but we might hit The Little Mermaid.

We have a ADR for Sci-Fi (OOP) for lunch and will spend the afternoon trying to meet Phineas & Ferb, doing the Animation Academy again (Noelle loves to draw,) and hit the main drag for some window shopping. We’re hoping to get some of the yummy looking cupcakes from Starring Rolls, and I have to confess, I am a sucker for buckets filled with popcorn.

Whenever we feel we’ve had enough of park living, we plan to head on over to DTD for more shopping and an ADR at Raglan Road (DP.) I am really looking forward to this one, it is a late ADR so we can listen to music, and see the dancer.

I have a confession to make, up until a couple of years ago, I had no idea what bread pudding was. I assumed by the name that I wouldn’t like it because I was not a fan of pudding. A friend got it at a restaurant, and I tried it and yelled (in the middle of a restaurant) “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that bread pudding is chopped up French toast!!!” My friends found that quite humorous, actually I’m pretty sure half the restaurant found it quite humorous too. So I am really looking forward to the bread pudding here, I’ve read (here on the boards) that it is awesome.

Then back to the room to prepare for the next day!

 

[MylilTink]

I can not wait to ride ToT again!! It's, by far, the best ride ever! When we visited in 2010, the ride was a walk on all day... I literally rode it back to back 5 times. Hollywood Studios is my favorite park.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Your DHS day sounds great!! I really want to try one of the cupcakes from Starring Rolls too - don't forget that they close at 4, and the cupcakes do run out during the day!

Ohhhh the bread pudding from Raglan Road. . It's awesome. You're going to love it. It comes with these sauces (vanilla cream and butterscotch) that are amazing.

 

[Oliquig]

After 3+ days without power, the PTR does get buried!

just a quick pre update, I've started another project to surprise my niece with, a countdown calendar! I will of coure share pictures once its finished.

Noelle (my niece) started school this morning, she was not happy that it was with wet hair, since we still didn't have power. She is in fifth grade, so it is her last year at elementary school.

Here she is with her new teacher, general consenses among my co-workers is "Wow, her teacher is hot."

So its a busy time for me, off to Long Island for the long weekend, then the musical Wicked at our regional theater, plus I lead Noelle's Girl Scout troop and we start up the following week!

I do have the next installment almost done, so if anyone is still reading this, it should be up tomorrow.

 

[Oliquig]

On our third day the plan is... Future World in Epcot! That's right this year we are lucky enough to have two days in Epcot, so we plan to break them up. Once again Noelle and I will wake up early, with Nina joining us later. Its sounding like TT will be down for refurb while we are there, so we will most likely head over to Soarin'. The plan is to cross back to the other side and do Innoventions and M:S, the golf ball and Ellen's Energy. Then cross back to the Land and Seas in time for lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Then do the Nemo ride and Figment, hopefully do Soarin' again, as Noelle loves this ride. Somehow I have to figure out where the back door to Epcot is because dinner is going to be at the Cape May Cafe. We really do like crab legs, so we're hoping this place does not dissappoint. After dinner we will either head back to Epcot, or just back to the resort, depending on how tired we are.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Noelle looks so cute on her first day! I'm glad that you got power back finally!!

To get from Future World to the International Gateway (or, the back door of Epcot), go into World Showcase, and hang a right toward Canada and the U.K. Go through both, and instead of turning and walking over the bridge towards France, keep walking straight past the U.K. You'll see a gift shop on your right (I want to say it's called International Traders), and turnstiles. Go through the turnstiles, and on the left will be the boat landing for the Friendship boats that go between Epcot, Yacht & Beach Clubs (where Cape May Cafe is), the Boardwalk, Swan & Dolphin, and DHS. You can either take the boat to the Beach Club, or you can keep walking to the resort (not really that far a walk). The path will split - you can take either the lower or higher path. The Beach Club will be on your right, the blue first resort (Yacht Club comes second, it's gray).

Hope that wasn't much more complicated than you were looking for ! It's really very simple, you'll find it no problem!