"I"m Only Going Because My Teacher Told Me To" Nov. 2016 PTR * update 12/2 TRIP REPORT STARTED! *

[ArielSRL]

Interesting tour for the MBs! I totally would've been annoyed/anxious/freaking out...lol.

Love the MB wreath. I do think they had/have a Minnie watch slider for MBs so I think that's what it is. Not sure if it's still available though or not.

Looking forward to the Day 7 plans, whenever you get a chance to post!

 

[ArielSRL]

I am starting to feel a tad sorry for you that you are in such a quandary. I think it would totally drive me batty to not know for sure what we are doing! I know it can't be helped and as mothers, we do what we can for our children, but it would be tough!

I think your experience is really helpful though bc you seem to have it all down pat. And we all know that you guys will have an excellent time, regardless!

Btw, I watched the new projection show on YouTube. Not impressed.

 

[Whit64130]

The 2016 Magic Band U.S. Tour

Bahahaha this makes me laugh sooo much! Ours did a week long tour around the south east. Literally, like you I could have drove and picked them up quicker. Regardless we had them in plenty of time it is just soooo hard to wait!

And because none of you have ever seen Magic Bands before, I present ours to you:

Lol! I love seeing MB pictures!

I love this! Love the pattern on the wreath, too.

Very Cute!

And as for Black Friday plans... I'm a lot confused about all of your plans now lol. But glad you are able to keep up with them
I did make a note of possibilities for the 19th, 20th, and the 21st.

 

[wdwnut61]

Who's Up For (more) Changes?​

So, I've been sitting here the last couple days trying to work out a plan for the 4 days Steve and Ricky will be with us *if* Ricky makes the team and they only come down Tues. night. I was seriously having trouble fitting in what I considered enough time at all the parks plus bowling plus getting those 2 to DS at night to see the new trees lit up, so tonight I went over the plans I had with Ricky. This included no MK until our departure day. We'd be there from 8am until about 5 but - Ricky wasn't happy. This made me happy because my sweet 14y.o. still loves MK! We discussed a couple things, including not spending their (possible) first day at AK but instead doing MK and only going to AK for Yak & Yeti dinner and a night ride on EE, but instead this is what he decided:

RICKY'S THANKSGIVING PLAN 2.0
if we don't all make it down on 11/19 (16 days BTW!)
instead of hitting Splittsville when they open at 10:30, we will be hitting......
MK WHEN THEY OPEN AT 8!!!
I cannot believe we're going to what will be the busiest park on a holiday! But that's what my baby wants. I went ahead and make some FP's last night and they look like this:
Splash 9:50 (may be chilly!)
Jingle Cruise 10:50
BTMRR 1:35 (earliest available)
we'll try getting on Big Thunder first thing anyway but I wanted to grab the FP just in case. If MK gets too crowded for us or we do all we want to early enough, we'll still head down to DS and see what the wait is for Splittsville. If it's long we'll skip it until next time; the one thing Ricky definitely doesn't want to miss down there is stopping by the Trophy Room, the store M. Jordan's son Marcus opened. Then it'll be back to my original plan of
Trail's End dinner 4:45
HS afterwards for Jingle Bell Jingle BAM dessert party
and hopefully a couple rides!

I feel much better now about this day. I'm happy to bowl if we're all getting lots of park time in, but was hating the idea of doing it when 2 of us may have limited time. I'll be back very soon with Day 7, Black Friday

Sounds like a solid back up plan. Plus you won't be the only crazy one at MK when they open on Thanksgiving Day

Let me know when it gets closer and we can meet up to say hi

 

[wdwnut61]

Day 7 Plans
​

Wow, we're up to Black Friday already! Gee this trip is going fast Last year on the day after Thanksgiving we did MK at RD until about 1:30-2, including breakfast at CRT. Then we spent the rest of the day/night at Epcot in WS, mainly listening to the Holiday Storytellers and watching some of the entertainment. Oh, and Chris got into the act in Norway!



We'll kind of do a similar thing this year for part of the day depending on which schedule I use. And since I'm all messed up as far as my multiple schedules, for our last 2 days let's go with "Plan A", or, "we've all been down the whole time", and "Plan B", or "Chris and I went down alone first". Got it? Good, then you're in a better place than I am!

Day 7, 11/25, PLAN A: HS/EPCOT
FP: TSMM 9:15, TOT 10:30
FOOD: breakfast at either Marketplace or Starring Rolls, lunch Epcot QS/snack booths, dinner Il Mulino
I'm sure you don't remember this, but originally we were doing Il Mulino on Monday. However Steve was just so completely devastated at the thought of possibly not eating there that I changed it to tonight when either way, he'll be there.
Back to HS!
If we're full blown Plan A then we'll only have spent a partial day at HS and possibly been able to sneak in a ride or 2 before JBJB! Ricky and I need to get as many rides as we can on TOT which is why we're spending a little more time here today. But other than our FP's and most likely RD'ing RnRC for Ricky and I and TSMM for Steve and Chris, we'll eat if we didn't grab something at Marketplace first and then go right to Epcot.
Like last year, my main reason for spending this day at Epcot are the Holiday Storytellers! We all enjoy them and there were some we missed last year that we'd like to catch this time around, specifically Morocco, Germany, China and the UK. We'll most likely try to see Norway again also because that one is so good. Plus something I'm TOTALLY psyched about this year is the addition of the Holidays Around the World food booths! So we're definitely going to enjoy some of these and maybe pick up some QS food (I'm sure the kids will), but we won't want to be too full for our 6:00 ADR at Il Mulino . Yup we're exiting the park but we don't care! And then we're returning for 9:30 Holiday Illuminations, which I saw back in 2012 but missed last year because of the *@%* stomach bug.
**Let me add a little side note here. Since we're staying at the BC, if the boys don't want to come back to Epcot for Illuminations with us after dinner, they don't have to! they can go hang out in the room while Steve and I return to Epcot. A nice perk of having older kids, and of course staying at an Epcot resort**

PLAN B: EPCOT/HS
(sigh) You see above that the parks won't change but the order will. This will be Steve and Ricky's first and only day at Epcot if they've only arrived on the 22nd, so I'll want to use FP's here and spend pretty much the whole day here. However HS has evening EMH from 11-1 so instead of going in the morning, I'll cross my fingers that Ricky is up for a ride on TOT after Illuminations. With Plan B we'll actually have less time in HS because Chris doesn't like that park, so my first time will most likely be on Thanksgiving when we go for JBJB! unless I talk Chris into a quick stop there on the 22nd before MK
So the changes under this plan will be: switching FP's from HS to Epcot, hopefully going to HS for pm EMH instead of in the morning, and most likely grabbing breakfast at Marketplace. I'll try to get FP's for TT, SE and maybe Turtle Talk since it might be busy and we'd like to do that with the characters from Finding Dory added. We'd most likely either RD Soarin' or RD TT and then go to Soarin'. Oh man, as I type this I'm getting more concerned with the ability to change my FP's around a few days before we leave. I'd do all the changes now but then I feel like I'm jinxing Ricky's chances of making the team..........OMG!!!!!

Ok Arianne I think I'm with you on your Black Friday plans but now my head hurts
You may have already mentioned it but when do you find out for sure?

 

[kastoney]

Wow, what are those amazing traveling magic bands of which you speak? Love the wreath though. We've got so many we've fashioned a belt from all of them before.

Black Friday in the world? Wouldn't it be awesome if they actually offered sales. Of course that would make 6am at Walmart looks like a nice quiet day at the park.

I do not envy you having to track 2 sets of plans. When are the tryouts again? I'm sure you are ready for the madness to be over!

 

[Saphire5742]

Want to see something else pretty cool? After Christmas I think I'm going to do this with our MB's. Or should I say I'm going to attempt doing this, get real frustrated, and have Steve do it

Cute idea!


Oh my, my head is spinning just thinking about juggling two separate sets of plans. Don't know how you do it!

 

[ariane37]

I am starting to feel a tad sorry for you that you are in such a quandary. I think it would totally drive me batty to not know for sure what we are doing! I know it can't be helped and as mothers, we do what we can for our children, but it would be tough!

I think your experience is really helpful though bc you seem to have it all down pat. And we all know that you guys will have an excellent time, regardless!

Btw, I watched the new projection show on YouTube. Not impressed.

I'm going to have to watch OUAT on YouTube......and read some more reviews. That stinks that you didn't like it On another note, thank you for your sympathy lol. Steve is a little less caring than I am where basketball is concerned, but I can't help it. If he makes the team and practices start right away (which I know they will) and he leaves like 2 days later and misses a whole week of practices, then I'll feel like crap. And also I do agree that having been there often makes it easier with the 2 stupid schedules, but it still stinks

Bahahaha this makes me laugh sooo much! Ours did a week long tour around the south east. Literally, like you I could have drove and picked them up quicker. Regardless we had them in plenty of time it is just soooo hard to wait!
And as for Black Friday plans... I'm a lot confused about all of your plans now lol. But glad you are able to keep up with them
I did make a note of possibilities for the 19th, 20th, and the 21st.

Excellent And you're not the only one confused, I feel like a MB not knowing where to go lol!

 

[ariane37]

Sounds like a solid back up plan. Plus you won't be the only crazy one at MK when they open on Thanksgiving Day

Let me know when it gets closer and we can meet up to say hi

Ok Arianne I think I'm with you on your Black Friday plans but now my head hurts
You may have already mentioned it but when do you find out for sure?

We won't find out for SURE until the 16th or 17th but we should find out on the 14th exactly which day we'll find out for sure, because tryouts start on the 14th and we'll know how many days of tryouts they're having. Sorry for your headache! I get one each time I sit down and try to finish my day-by-day notecards!!
I will definitely PM you next week so we can come up with a couple possible times to meet up

Wow, what are those amazing traveling magic bands of which you speak? Love the wreath though. We've got so many we've fashioned a belt from all of them before.

Black Friday in the world? Wouldn't it be awesome if they actually offered sales. Of course that would make 6am at Walmart looks like a nice quiet day at the park.

I do not envy you having to track 2 sets of plans. When are the tryouts again? I'm sure you are ready for the madness to be over!

Tryouts couldn't be any later, they don't start until the 14th and unless he gets cut, we won't have a definite answer until tryouts are over, which most likely won't be the 16th or 17th I am completely ready for it to be over, because in addition to the Disney stress I have the will-he-or-won't-he-make-it stress, which is like 100x worse!!!
I would love for DS or Epcot to have some Black Friday sales, because I love me some shopping and I'd probably be willing to do a Walmart type stampede for that stuff
A MB belt? Do you wear it to work?? Because I'd love to see a picture.......I guess it goes with everything, right? Does the state have tapstiles at your entryways

Oh my, my head is spinning just thinking about juggling two separate sets of plans. Don't know how you do it!

It's not easy! The things we do for Disney Could have worse problems though, right?? I'll just be happy when I can settle on one set!

 

[wdwnut61]

We won't find out for SURE until the 16th or 17th but we should find out on the 14th exactly which day we'll find out for sure, because tryouts start on the 14th and we'll know how many days of tryouts they're having. Sorry for your headache! I get one each time I sit down and try to finish my day-by-day notecards!!
I will definitely PM you next week so we can come up with a couple possible times to meet

Sounds good looks like we'll have a couple options to meet once your plans are firm. I'm just teasing about the headache

 

[kittylady1972]

This is so funny, because 2 of the dates we're looking at are that first weekend in March or Memorial Day! If we go in March it would just be Steve and I as the boys aren't off at all. I saw the info. on the DVC event, that would be cool to go! For Memorial Day they have off the Fri. before so a 4 day weekend; then if they don't use all their snow days, they'll have the Tues. off so a 5 day weekend. Even though if we choose that time we won't know about Tues. when we book, we'd probably come home Tues. and if they miss that one day, so be it. I think it's kind of crowded.........probably less than Thanksgiving??
Our 3rd option is MLK weekend which we did this year. That's also my 3rd choice but Steve rather go then instead of March.
BTW, your birthday is our anniversary

Oh my gosh...that's awesome! I honestly don't know what our chances will be of getting into the DVC event so I'm not going to count on it for sure, but it does sound cool. My only concern is that my daughter SHOULD be recovered from her surgery by that time but no way to know for sure. We definitely won't go any earlier because of that reason.

Interesting that your school has the snow days built in around Memorial Day weekend. I think our built-in days are around Easter break this year and then at the end of the school year...in June.

Yes I agree that Memorial Day weekend might be a little less crowded than Thanksgiving, but I have no idea.

Cool about your anniversary and my birthday! Another great reason to go that time then!

 

[Jfsag123]

One of the side effects of being gone for a while and then catching up is having the changes come like plot twists in a novel lol. I was feeling all warm and toasty about your laid back thanksgiving day plan and then wham! MK at 8am! Honestly, that's probably what we'd end up doing as well though. You will have to post pics of the madness - live updates, if you dare. I would have been losing it about the magicbands too. Ours were really delayed last year because of the crazy snow storms and it drove me nuts. I love the MB wreath idea! May have to steal that one, as we might have a few extra magicbands lying around. I can't believe you're so close! Almost time to transition from PTR to TR.

 

[fallonkendra]

Good to hear they have lots of new ones this year, the last couple years there were a lot of repeats! We do 2 trees here every year and I would love to do a Disney one but the kids nixed that a couple years ago I tried making the main tree Disney but they wanted all their ornaments on it, and many of them from the time they were babies aren't Disney. They weren't happy when I suggested hanging those on the "secondary" tree lol. So I tried making our slightly smaller tree Disney but all my Disney ornaments don't fit on it, so then I'd have overflow on the bigger tree and it seems silly and like it defeats the purpose then to have a specific Disney tree . So I have the main tree with Disney and all the kids ornaments, and then the other tree in our family room has a jungle theme to match the decor in there. I also am a little anal when it comes to my trees. Possibly when it comes to my Christmas decorating in general I sound like a nut job. Please don't leave me!!

Trust me, you are not a nut job! Growing up, my mom and I would give each room of our house a theme at Christmas... I had a 6 foot tall Disney tree in my bedroom, my parents had a 3 foot tall candy-themed tree in their bedroom, the living room was our family tree, the entryway was Snowman themed (with a 3 foot tree), the kitchen was gingerbread themed (no tree), the dining room was Santa themed (and had a 3 foot tree), the family room was sports themed (with a 3 foot tree)... I loved it! Luke seems to think 6 trees are too many, so I've been easing him into it, and only put up 3 in our house last year - a white tree with glittery, neon coloured ornaments, a blue and silver themed tree and a smaller tree with ornaments we've collected from our trips together. I already have a 4th tree bought for this year though... It will probably be my Disney tree since my mom mailed me a box of some of my old Disney ornaments last time she was back in New Brunswick...

I love this idea! I'm years away from being able to do this though, we currently only have 2 Magicbands... I guess that just means more Disney trips, right?

 

[ariane37]

One of the side effects of being gone for a while and then catching up is having the changes come like plot twists in a novel lol. I was feeling all warm and toasty about your laid back thanksgiving day plan and then wham! MK at 8am! Honestly, that's probably what we'd end up doing as well though. You will have to post pics of the madness - live updates, if you dare. I would have been losing it about the magicbands too. Ours were really delayed last year because of the crazy snow storms and it drove me nuts. I love the MB wreath idea! May have to steal that one, as we might have a few extra magicbands lying around. I can't believe you're so close! Almost time to transition from PTR to TR.

LOL, well I'm glad I could provide some excitement for your return to the Dis! Yup, it's been a bit and I still have at least a week before I'll know anything for sure. And I will definitely post pictures of MK T-day madness, which hopefully won't hit a high point until we're making our way OUT of the park

Trust me, you are not a nut job! Growing up, my mom and I would give each room of our house a theme at Christmas... I had a 6 foot tall Disney tree in my bedroom, my parents had a 3 foot tall candy-themed tree in their bedroom, the living room was our family tree, the entryway was Snowman themed (with a 3 foot tree), the kitchen was gingerbread themed (no tree), the dining room was Santa themed (and had a 3 foot tree), the family room was sports themed (with a 3 foot tree)... I loved it! Luke seems to think 6 trees are too many, so I've been easing him into it, and only put up 3 in our house last year - a white tree with glittery, neon coloured ornaments, a blue and silver themed tree and a smaller tree with ornaments we've collected from our trips together. I already have a 4th tree bought for this year though... It will probably be my Disney tree since my mom mailed me a box of some of my old Disney ornaments last time she was back in New Brunswick...

What's wrong with Luke, thinking 6 trees in the house is too many?? Has he no Christmas spirit Be happy he's good with 3, Steve rolls his eyes that we do 2 big ones! He still helps me though I'm trying to figure out
where I can put a 3rd tree, but I also have WAY too many other decorations and I think I'd have to give up putting some of them out in favor of another tree.......in fact, not counting boxes of ornaments I have 25 boxes of Christmas decorations I put out every year It sounds like I would have loved your house growing up!

 

[ariane37]

Don't Mistake My Confusion for Craziness​

Which is how I think I may have looked today while I was hanging out at Bounce, one of those, um, bouncy-type places for kids. Mine had off for Election Day so while Ricky played basketball for 5 hours with like, 14 of his friends, I took Chris and his friend Finn to Bounce and decided to finish up my day-by-day note cards while they played. Well, since I have 2 "plans" I have 2 sets of note cards, as well as a master list of the different plans, and a note card with park hours. And a big folder all the little note cards are in. And it's all handwritten because I do better that way, so whenever I make a mistake I start over instead of crossing out
As you can probably imagine I'm a tad confused with all this double plan nonsense, and keeping track of what I have to change as far as FP's depending on who goes down when, what I'll have to fit in later in the week instead of earlier depending on that, etc. So what happens when you're trying to keep all this straight and not mess up your cards and mix up your plans, and you're sitting in a public place is you do a lot of talking out loud........except you're talking to yourself. So to other people you look like this

Here's what my 2 note cards say for our departure day; who knows if I got it right!

Day 8, 11/26 PLAN A (we all go down the 19th)
Brunch at Trails End 9:45. This was Chris's request after seeing our pictures from when Steve and I ate brunch there in August. Even though we have Thanksgiving dinner here, I'm fine eating there again for brunch because the food will be different. However, Steve recently said he isn't sure he wants to eat there twice so not sure we'll keep it.
Boat over to MK (if we cancel TE brunch I may ask if they want to run to HS at RD to do a ride or 2)
I had FP's for today but cancelled so I could make some for Thanksgiving; if you remember the boys only have a 7 day hopper right now so I can't make FP's for day 8 until we get down there. I'll make our FP's for this day once we're down there, most likely for BTMRR, Splash, and either HM or Space. Whether we do TE brunch, HS first or go right to MK I won't start the FP's until 11-11:30.
All I want to do this day is revisit whatever everyone else wants to, and if we haven't yet seen the Muppets, Move It, Shake It or Mickey's Royal Friendship Fare I'll be sure we get it in today.
Lunch: This is a sad, sad story. I had us booked for lunch at LTT for the first time in years, and I was so excited!! And then they went to that stupid new menu and pissed me off. While the app and dessert I want are still there, the entrees we all would have chosen are not. I showed Steve the new menu, he isn't excited about it, and so I think we're cancelling. That will mean some QS for lunch. I may try talking him (and Ricky) into Skipper Canteen but after August it's going to be a hard sell for Steve!
Our flight doesn't leave until 9:15 pm; that means roughly 6:00 ME departure which means we can stay in the park till roughly 5. I'm assuming we won't leave MK, but if anyone really wants to go somewhere else, I suppose we can run there for the last like, 2 hours.

Day 8 PLAN B (Ricky and Steve join us the 23rd)
Not much will change, except I'll almost definitely cancel TE in favor of more park time and we most likely will head right to MK and nix a HS RD. However not sure we'll RD MK at 8; might opt for a 9-9:30 arrival.

Now that I've laid out ALL our plans, and by ALL I mean numerous variations that I'm sure none of you remember nor probably care about at this point, I'll tell you 3 of my concerns:
1. Getting the FP's I want next week after I know our travel status
2. Spending enough time in HS (aka getting enough rides on TOT). I feel like our HS time is choppy, especially in Plan B
3. Not getting everything done I (oops! Of course I mean we ) want to do in Epcot on Black Friday in terms of the Storytellers and all the awesome, yummy food booth treats they're having this year. The food excites me almost more than all the other new holiday stuff they're doing this year!! I'd say we'd split our last day between MK and Epcot, but if Steve and Ricky have only been down half the time I know Ricky will prefer more time in MK.

Ah, ok, there it all is! Next week will be a big one for me trip-planning wise and I'll do my best to keep you guys up to date with what's going on with basketball (try-outs start Monday!), switching FP's, etc. I hope you all were able to get out and vote today!

 

[kittylady1972]

Ahhhh...I don't know how you are keeping it all straight but good luck!!! I don't envy you on having to make last minute FPs, but I may be doing some myself even after we arrive.

You know I am totally with you on the LTT stuff...it truly sucks. On the POSITIVE side, I see it as further money savings (especially after spending over $500 on our dog at the vet yesterday...for her annual shots and CHECKUP and supplies of Flea/Tick and Heartworm...OUCH!) so there's that. I figure instead I'd be good with heading to another favorite: Columbia Harbour House or even grabbing a turkey leg for lunch...LOVE those! We do still have the Whispering Canyon Cafe though and I'm even looking forward to that one if we end up there instead. My only issue with that is that I figure after lunch we'll probably take a rest, so we'll probably have to boat BACK to MK just to get our car or catch a bus back to our resort. I don't think they will let us drive to Wildnerness Lodge in the morning, park there, boat over to MK, spend a few hours there, boat back for lunch and then leave but I guess we can try that.

 

[Raeven]

This sounds like so much to keep track of! Sorry people in the park on't understand the importance of Disney planning. They should realize your plans are so confusing you need to talk to yourself.

The food booths excite me the most of the new stuff announced too!

 

[wdwnut61]

Hang in there and yes please keep us posted. Sending some for next week.

 

[Jfsag123]

You're so close to being able to stop stressing about your plans and start living them. Sounds like you've got a busy week leading up to the trip, though.

The MK TS options frustrate me! It's like they're determined to be inaccessible and/or bad. Very thankful for the resort restaurants in the area.

 

[ariane37]

Ahhhh...I don't know how you are keeping it all straight but good luck!!! I don't envy you on having to make last minute FPs, but I may be doing some myself even after we arrive.

You know I am totally with you on the LTT stuff...it truly sucks. On the POSITIVE side, I see it as further money savings (especially after spending over $500 on our dog at the vet yesterday...for her annual shots and CHECKUP and supplies of Flea/Tick and Heartworm...OUCH!) so there's that. I figure instead I'd be good with heading to another favorite: Columbia Harbour House or even grabbing a turkey leg for lunch...LOVE those! We do still have the Whispering Canyon Cafe though and I'm even looking forward to that one if we end up there instead. My only issue with that is that I figure after lunch we'll probably take a rest, so we'll probably have to boat BACK to MK just to get our car or catch a bus back to our resort. I don't think they will let us drive to Wildnerness Lodge in the morning, park there, boat over to MK, spend a few hours there, boat back for lunch and then leave but I guess we can try that.

I have cats, so I completely understand the cost of going to the vet Steve always says, "don't tell me how much" lol. We do enjoy CHH and I'm sure we'll eat there at some point; but, I also think we'll have eaten QS at MK at least once and possibly twice by the time we get to departure day and if that's the case, we'll most likely have already done CHH. The only other QS place we really like is Pinocchio's and I don't know if everyone will want to repeat any place I'd try to get a BOG lunch but my very picky husband didn't particularly like lunch there the ONE time we did it and doesn't want to eat there again. He's truly worse than the boys lol!
I think the boys will really enjoy WCC. It's been a few years but my kids likedit and they were pretty young, plus you'll get to see WL all decorated!

This sounds like so much to keep track of! Sorry people in the park on't understand the importance of Disney planning. They should realize your plans are so confusing you need to talk to yourself.

The food booths excite me the most of the new stuff announced too!

Nobody outside of the Dis understands
My next list is going to be which food booth treats I want to try

Hang in there and yes please keep us posted. Sending some for next week.

I will, and thank you so much I just can't wait until it's over and not just because it means we'll be in Disney!

You're so close to being able to stop stressing about your plans and start living them. Sounds like you've got a busy week leading up to the trip, though.

The MK TS options frustrate me! It's like they're determined to be inaccessible and/or bad. Very thankful for the resort restaurants in the area.

Tell me about it As far as TS goes I think MK is the worst option-wise of the 4 parks, even though one of our very favorites is there. I did consider LTT a good one until now........and we're not big on QS. I'd actually go to a resort restaurant-and we have before-if it wasn't our last day. I just don't want to lose that time, especially if Ricky and Steve only had half as much time as Chris and I.