I finally found a way to get DH excited about Disney! - ADDED LINK TO TRIP REPORT

[amandaw]

Trust me...I don't think you are a lunatic...I love it! There are very few people that I can talk about my Disney obsession with that get it!

I was so happy when my DH stumbled upon this website & showed it to me. I finally had a place to ramble, obsess & plan about Disney.

We will just be going to IOA. We have never been before.

Love IoA! The Potter section is themed really well, although it is a little small in my opinion. If there are any roller coaster enthusiasts in your family, they will definitely love the Hulk & the Dragon Challenge. I love the Dr. Seuss section - it's really cute! And the superhero section is great! We're hoping to get a few meet & greets done there!

We won't be there on my birthday...my b-day is end of October. Like I said, we are scheduling it around the race otherwise we would be there on my birthday. NOt too excited about turning 40 so if I were in Disney ON the day, it would make it much easier!

But it will still be fun to celebrating at Disney in your bday month! Disney makes everything easier, right? If it weren't for Disney, I would have never taken up running.

My husband and I are both running. My parents are coming with us for most of the trip so they will be cheering us on. We all have tickets for the after party. Should be interesting to see how long we hold up! My kids are 11, 9 and 7. My little one is still very little so fits in a carriage so I'm hoping he snoozes in it.

That's so fun that y'all get to run together! I'm hoping to get our son to nap earlier that day so hopefully he can stay up at least a little late with us. I know we won't make it to the end of the party though.

Via Napoli is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay! Another Via Napoli lover! Y'all are making me so happy that I chose that as our EPCOT ADR!

 

[ShannonMarie]

Love IoA! The Potter section is themed really well, although it is a little small in my opinion. If there are any roller coaster enthusiasts in your family, they will definitely love the Hulk & the Dragon Challenge. I love the Dr. Seuss section - it's really cute! And the superhero section is great! We're hoping to get a few meet & greets done there!

My son just woke up this morning talking about the Hulk ride and my littlest will love the Dr. Suess section so it seems like there is enough for everyone! My youngest has down syndrome so we are able to get the guest assistance pass at Disney but I don't think they have that at Universal? I need to do some research. I haven't really looked much at Universal stuff since I prefer to Disney obsess. It's on my to-do list to get our Universal Day all figured out though!

 

[amandaw]

My son just woke up this morning talking about the Hulk ride and my littlest will love the Dr. Suess section so it seems like there is enough for everyone! My youngest has down syndrome so we are able to get the guest assistance pass at Disney but I don't think they have that at Universal? I need to do some research. I haven't really looked much at Universal stuff since I prefer to Disney obsess. It's on my to-do list to get our Universal Day all figured out though!

The Hulk is my favorite ride in all of Orlando! It's definitely one of the best for sure!

The Dr. Seuss area really is cute & has a couple of kid friendly rides. I just like walking around there & seeing all the different things they've put there from various Seuss stories.

Hmmm....surely I would think Universal would have something along the lines of a guest assistance pass but I really don't know. There are Universal threads on the DIS as well. I bet someone on those threads would be able to help you.

 

[marDgreen88]

Haha! I think I did this while you were at Disney. Sooooo......you know how our 1st two nights were going to be spent at POFQ? Yeah.....I changed that. I kept talking about how pretty BC looks & how I thought the pool area would give Reid some fun on those few days since we're not going to the parks. And so.....Ed said, "Well, change it then!" So, yes, we are now at BC for our first two nights!!!

OH MY GOSH!!!! Okay, I swear I read through your updates but I totally missed that! (I really need to start reading between posts, apparently!)

THAT IS AMAZING. French Quarter would have been wonderful but I think as a whole, the Beach Club will be so much better! Especially the pool for Reid. I'm better he'll LOVE Stormalong Bay!!! Ahhh so excited for you!

 

[amandaw]

OH MY GOSH!!!! Okay, I swear I read through your updates but I totally missed that! (I really need to start reading between posts, apparently!)

THAT IS AMAZING. French Quarter would have been wonderful but I think as a whole, the Beach Club will be so much better! Especially the pool for Reid. I'm better he'll LOVE Stormalong Bay!!! Ahhh so excited for you!

Yeah, I didn't post about it one of my regular updates. I just did a quick update that Sunday when I made the switch. We won't be going to DTD on our 1st night now. We'll stay at BC & enjoy SAB. For dinner, we'll probably grab a quick bite by the pool. And that Sunday, before leaving to check in at OKW, I'm hoping we can have lunch at Beaches & Cream.

I'm excited to try out BC. And SAB! We should be able to have pool time the Friday night & Saturday afternoon. I think it will be lots of fun for Reid!

 

[PirateKate]

Reid looks so cute in his karate outfit and his Captain Hook costume! It's so cool that you have a friend who can make your Wendy costume. I hate all the trashy Halloween costumes, too. It shouldn't be that hard to get a costume that's nice. You all will have so much fun at MNSSHP! The Headless Horseman is amazing!

Earl of Sandwich is good, but I think SAB is a better plan. I've heard great things about BC and it'll be so convenient to be right there by Epcot and DHS.

We visited Via Napoli in May and thought that it did live up to all the hype. The pizza there is really good. They don't bring bread unless you ask for it, though, which I thought would be important when eating there with little kids. I find bread helps my boys at restaurants a lot.

 

[amandaw]

Reid looks so cute in his karate outfit and his Captain Hook costume! It's so cool that you have a friend who can make your Wendy costume. I hate all the trashy Halloween costumes, too. It shouldn't be that hard to get a costume that's nice. You all will have so much fun at MNSSHP! The Headless Horseman is amazing!

Hi, there! So good to see you!

Thanks! He is so excited to be Hook for the party. My friend was such a lifesaver in agreeing to make my costume. The women's costumes are just horrible. I just wish there was still a good selection of decent costumes along with the trashy ones. I'm really looking forward to the party....sounds like it's lots of fun!!

Earl of Sandwich is good, but I think SAB is a better plan. I've heard great things about BC and it'll be so convenient to be right there by Epcot and DHS.

I'm really happy that I changed us to BC for those first couple of nights. I think Reid will have a blast at SAB. And the location will be really nice for the race, especially since it's late at night.

We visited Via Napoli in May and thought that it did live up to all the hype. The pizza there is really good. They don't bring bread unless you ask for it, though, which I thought would be important when eating there with little kids. I find bread helps my boys at restaurants a lot.

I am so glad you mentioned that about the bread! I'll have to remember to ask for it. Reid is the same way - bread or crackers always helps when we're at a restaurant.

 

[MEK]

Via Napoli is really yummy and the waiters are so darn cute. Of course, I know you are only going for the food.

Poor Reid and his dislike of loud fireworks. My oldest son was the same way and always had to hold his ears. He still hates Dinosaur to this day because its too loud.

 

[amandaw]

I finally feel like this trip is on its' way to getting here! Today, we got to hang up this little thing that I made for Reid:



Starting tomorrow morning, we'll take a Mickey head off every morning to start counting down the days! Here's a close-up of the Mickey heads:



Reid was so excited to hang up the countdown calendar. All afternoon, he would tell me, "Hold on Mommy, I need to check our days left." And he would run to it & come back & tell me we're still at 45.

So, let's get back to the plans! In our last update, I bored y'all with our evening EPCOT plans. I'm afraid this update won't be too much more enthralling. But, here it goes........

Friday, October 5th

We'll be up & early.....yet again! We'll get up & get ready for the day. Then, we need to head out to the bus stop. We'll need to catch an early bus to go here......



Yep....we're headed back to the Magic Kingdom! But, we're not headed to the castle. My "all-boy" son says he can't eat there, it's only for girls. One day! One day I will eat in the castle.

Anyway.....but we do have an early ADR (810 am) at Crystal Palace. This will be our first time eating here. I'm very excited since I've heard so many wonderful things about the breakfast here. I had thought about doing breakfast here last year but Reid couldn't have cared less about Pooh & friends. Then, we saw their movie last summer & he started liking them. Hopefully, he will still be fond of them in a few weeks.

Once our bellies are full....the day is ours to conquer! Since this will be our 2nd full day at MK, I don't think I'll head in with a strict touring plan. Maybe over breakfast we can decide where we'd like to start. I would guess that Reid will either choose Buzz Lightyear or Peter Pan. But, he has been known to surprise me so who knows. I am thinking that before we hit up any rides, we will get our cards or whatever to play the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game.

I know very little about the game but what I've seen of it looks cool! I think all 3 of us would have fun. I'm thinking/hoping that we can just play around our rides & such. Basically, we'll just (try) to go with the flow this day. I'm not always good at doing that at Disney. But, I'm willing to give it a shot this day.

One other thing that I'm hoping to try out on this day is Columbia Harbour House. I've heard so many wonderful things about this place so I thought it would be nice to try it out especially since it's different than most of the CS places. But, I know it can have wonky hours so I'm thinking lunch would be the best time to try & go there.

Now, this day there is MNSSHP at MK, so the park will be closing at 7pm. Let's all say it together, "BOOOOOOO!!!!" Anyway, as sad as I will be, we will have to leave MK. I'm actually thinking we'll need to leave between 6 & 630pm. Once we're out of the park (& my sobs are starting to slow down), we'll head either to a boat or to the monorail.

WHAT?!? You can't get back to OKW by boat or monorail! Why no, no you can't. But, we have 1 more destination that night. After all, a girl has to eat. And the guys, too. I guess.

But, of course, I'll let y'all speculate on our ADR dinner until my update next week!

 

[amandaw]

Via Napoli is really yummy and the waiters are so darn cute. Of course, I know you are only going for the food.

Oh, of course, I'm only going for the food!

Poor Reid and his dislike of loud fireworks. My oldest son was the same way and always had to hold his ears. He still hates Dinosaur to this day because its too loud.

I feel bad for him that everything seems so loud to him. I didn't think about the noise level of Dinosaur! I'm so glad you mentioned that. He said he wanted to try that this year. I already thought it would scare the living daylights out of him but the noise level might really do him in. I'll have to talk to him about that.

 

[shan23877]

Yay for another MK day!!! I plan MK every other day on our trips!

I hope that you guys enjoy breakfast at CP! Tigger is my fave.

Too bad that Reid won't let you eat in the castle. Maybe you'll convince him one of these days, its' a great meal.

I hope you get to CHH, we've never done it either and I'm really curious!

Love the countdown calendar!! You did a great job!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm glad Reid is excited about the countdown. Poor guy is gonna have a long wait if he's already checking it every few minutes though.

I don't see anything wrong with another full day at MK. I think we're going to end up there for morning or an evening almost everyday next time. It's just a good park with the little ones. And the big kids still have a great time too.

I was going to put my dinner guess here, but it really just ended up being a list of all the restaurants along the monorail loop.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Yum, I whole-heartedly approve of a CP breakfast (and I don't even like pooh ) I think you guys are going to enjoy it!

I also think you'll like SotMK more than you think you will, it does get addictive. Everett really liked it last time, his favorite part was holding the card up to the key reader, so I think Reid will get into it too!

Oh and even though the part will be closing early, I think you're going to be surprised at how much you get done. The crowds will be considerably lighter, especially in the later afternoon. When DH and used to live in FL, we'd always hop over after lunch to the MK on party days, because it was the only time we could get on Peter Pan without a FP!

 

[amandaw]

Yay for another MK day!!! I plan MK every other day on our trips!

I could easily go to MK every day on our trips. But, Ed would be one unhappy camper.

I hope that you guys enjoy breakfast at CP! Tigger is my fave.

I hope we do, too. At least I can finally cross it off my list of places to try if nothing else. Reid loves Tigger, too!

Too bad that Reid won't let you eat in the castle. Maybe you'll convince him one of these days, its' a great meal.

I will definitely have to overrule him one of these days.

I hope you get to CHH, we've never done it either and I'm really curious!

I always seem to forget about it. So, hopefully, since I've put it in our plans, I'll remember to go check it out.

Love the countdown calendar!! You did a great job!

Thank you!

I'm glad Reid is excited about the countdown. Poor guy is gonna have a long wait if he's already checking it every few minutes though.

I know, right?!? Hopefully, the newness of the calendar will wear off & he won't feel the need to check it every 5 seconds. He woke up this morning and started asking right away to take off the 1st Mickey head.

I don't see anything wrong with another full day at MK. I think we're going to end up there for morning or an evening almost everyday next time. It's just a good park with the little ones. And the big kids still have a great time too.

It's definitely my favorite park....and Reid's too. Ed....not so much. But, he tolerates it for us & it's slowly growing on him.

I was going to put my dinner guess here, but it really just ended up being a list of all the restaurants along the monorail loop.

Well, that's a good starting point for guesses!

Yum, I whole-heartedly approve of a CP breakfast (and I don't even like pooh ) I think you guys are going to enjoy it!

I'm excited to give it a try! Most people here talk about how yummy it is. I already know that I have to try the Puffed French Toast. Anything else there that is a must try? Do they have a "made to order" omelette station? I thought I read that but I may be dreaming.

I also think you'll like SotMK more than you think you will, it does get addictive. Everett really liked it last time, his favorite part was holding the card up to the key reader, so I think Reid will get into it too!

I'm excited to try it out & see what it's all about. Reid loves playing the Disneyland game on the Kinect for XBOX which is all interactive. So, I think this will be right up his alley.

Oh and even though the part will be closing early, I think you're going to be surprised at how much you get done. The crowds will be considerably lighter, especially in the later afternoon. When DH and used to live in FL, we'd always hop over after lunch to the MK on party days, because it was the only time we could get on Peter Pan without a FP!

I'm hoping we have low crowds. Thinking that would allow us to get a lot of rides done even with working in the SotMK game. That's great to know that y'all had success with these party days in the past.

 

[pas130]

Your ADRs are sounding like mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We always LOVE CP!! I wanted to do CRT with DH...but he said NO.....

Love the calendar!!!

 

[KatMark]

Amanda, what a great update and a fun-filled one at that.

First, let me tell you my boys never wanted to eat in the castle either...they said the same thing Reid feels...it's for girls! I have YET to eat in that castle.

You are going to LOVE CP for breakfast and don't miss the puffed french toast!

I think a "do whatever you want" kind of day at the MK is a good idea. We've eaten at Columbia Harbor House a number of times and really enjoy it.


Ooooh...forgot to mention, I love the countdown calendar.

 

[PirateKate]

Great countdown calendar! It's fun when kids are excited about Disney, too!

Crystal Palace is really good. We usually do lunch, but I'm sure the empty park as you walk in will be magical.

I don't have anyone to eat in the Castle with either. My boys are too little to protest, but I hate to spend all that money when princesses freak them out. Jeremy says someday he and I will go alone, which isn't quite the same as having a little girl to take, but it'll do.

 

[ShannonMarie]

I just found out about this card game too and we are excited to try it! Another thing on my to-do list is to look more into it. Where do you get the cards? This day will be the saddest day for us too since we have to get the ME early Saturday morning.

 

[marDgreen88]

Thanks for sharing your Beach Club plans with me! That sounds AMAZING.

Your countdown calendar is so cute! Sounds like a really fun way for Reid (and you ) to get excited as each day passes!

I'm betting that yall will love Crystal Palace! It's a family favorite for us. I've been there three times and have always been very happy with it.

Hmm... if you're taking a boat or monorail then there are only a few possible options... I have a guess, but I'll keep it to myself for the time being hahah.

 

[emma212010]

Yay for the countdown!! That is adorable!

I love Crystal Palace breakfasts!!!!!!!

Too bad you can't convince your little prince to eat in the castle! That would be too cute, and the princesses would LOVE him!! I hear the food is good too, although I've never been!

Hmmm, there are quite a few dining choices off the monorail! I'm going to say... either Ohana (I really hope so, so I can drool all over your food pictures ) orrrrrrrr somewhere at the GF! LOL, I really am having a hard time here!!