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

[ariane37]

Crazy dis!
I was super excited to get BOG for Thanksgiving but they really wanted to WCC since they had BOG for Tuesday. Anyways she is still waiting to find out for the sports schedule so I may have to cancel everything and rebook for October. Which scares me since it is well past the 180 days!!!! Did you still need a BOG for 11/22? I'm pretty sure theirs is for 6:15ish that night if we end up canceling.

I do! Let me know if you cancel and I'll try to grab it when you drop it if I haven't gotten one by then. Thank you
For your sanity though, I hope you don't have to cancel everything and rebook!

 

[Whit64130]

I'll let you know if she cancels!

 

[ArielSRL]

That's crazy! It has found me pretty much everything I've asked for within a couple of weeks of inputting the request, and some of them have been some hard-to-find things. I'll bet something will open up as people get closer and closer. I have trimmed the bulk of my excess ADRs, but I must admit that I still have two Chef Mickeys just because I'm not sure of something yet. I will, of course, be dropping one but it will be very close to the actual ADR date. I hate doing that, but I'm sure it happens a lot! Fingers crossed yours comes through.

I've put in 3 requests because I had existing ressies but wanted to adjust the time (T-Rex, Cape May, and Chef Mickey). I wanted 9:45 at Cape May (had 10am booked), it alerted me to 9:25 so I took it and we are living with it. I wanted 6pm at T-Rex (we have 5:30) and it came back with a 7pm but by then I had decided to go to DHS for SW fireworks so we just kept the 5:30. Chef Mickey's I want 5:30 (we have 5pm) and never, not once, has it dinged back with ANY close time. Craziness.

 

[ariane37]

I've put in 3 requests because I had existing ressies but wanted to adjust the time (T-Rex, Cape May, and Chef Mickey). I wanted 9:45 at Cape May (had 10am booked), it alerted me to 9:25 so I took it and we are living with it. I wanted 6pm at T-Rex (we have 5:30) and it came back with a 7pm but by then I had decided to go to DHS for SW fireworks so we just kept the 5:30. Chef Mickey's I want 5:30 (we have 5pm) and never, not once, has it dinged back with ANY close time. Craziness.

Of the 3, Chef Mickey's is the most sought-after so I guess it makes sense that would be the one that didn't pop up. At least the 9:25 CMC gets you out and started earlier lol! Do you still have your CM going? You might as well keep it active right up until you go

 

[kastoney]

Glad ya got BoG and everything else you wanted. Fingers crossed for ya tomorrow

 

[Karabear15]

I agree...fingers crossed for you tomorrow!

I changed our ADRs a bit this afternoon...took out Sanaa and got Crystal Palace-mainly since we are staying in MK that whole day probably and I definitely want to see Dani's face when she finds out we are doing a winnie the pooh and friends character dinner. Muahahaha!

 

[ArielSRL]

Of the 3, Chef Mickey's is the most sought-after so I guess it makes sense that would be the one that didn't pop up. At least the 9:25 CMC gets you out and started earlier lol! Do you still have your CM going? You might as well keep it active right up until you go

Yes, I definitely will keep it going and am hoping that, at the latest, we get a ding the evening before, maybe!

Good luck tomorrow!!

 

[Karabear15]

I've put in 3 requests because I had existing ressies but wanted to adjust the time (T-Rex, Cape May, and Chef Mickey). I wanted 9:45 at Cape May (had 10am booked), it alerted me to 9:25 so I took it and we are living with it. I wanted 6pm at T-Rex (we have 5:30) and it came back with a 7pm but by then I had decided to go to DHS for SW fireworks so we just kept the 5:30. Chef Mickey's I want 5:30 (we have 5pm) and never, not once, has it dinged back with ANY close time. Craziness.

How do you go about getting requests? I would really like one for 1900 park fare...they have available times however not for the amount of people in our group...

 

[ArielSRL]

How do you go about getting requests? I would really like one for 1900 park fare...they have available times however not for the amount of people in our group...

It's part of touringplans.com. I think you go there and look under dining, then reservation finder. Try that.

 

[Karabear15]

It's part of touringplans.com. I think you go there and look under dining, then reservation finder. Try that.

oh ok, cool!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

Hope everything went smoothly for your this morning!

 

[ariane37]

Hope everything went smoothly for your this morning!

Thank you! I'm going to be staring my update very shortly

 

[ariane37]

Mission: Accomplished ​

This morning I made the rest of my ADR's which included Thanksgiving day, and got everything I wanted . It was so much easier this morning than Monday which surprised me! There was actually TONS for Thanksgiving available, including CRT and CP. Neither of which I wanted but I was surprised they were there since they're popular places.

I changed up our Thanksgiving meal too, and I did something some people don't like too much......I made 2 ADR's for dinner that night Don't be mad, I'll drop one soon! I couldn't resist, I'm just so undecided on what we want. So here's our full schedule as of now:
11/19 Cape May Café dinner
11/20 Mama Melrose lunch; Tokyo Dining dinner to watch Illuminations from deck
11/21 Garden Grill PPO breakfast; Narcoossee's dinner
11/22 Whispering canyon Café lunch
11/23 Captain's Grille breakfast; BOG dinner
11/24 Dinner at EITHER Trail's End or Minnie's Dine @ Hollywood & Vine
11/25 Restaurant Marrakesh dinner
11/26 Liberty Tree Tavern lunch

I didn't go with either of my previously mentioned choices for Thanksgiving, the Wave or Grand Floridian Café. That's a good thing too because neither one had any availability! I found a post on the restaurants forum from Sept. of last year that listed which restaurants had their regular menu offerings plus a holiday entrée and which ones had a holiday buffet in place of their regular menu and decided to try going for Wave, Trail's End or Captain's Grille because a buffet will work better for us. We've never been to any of them. Then for whatever reason, this morning I chose to look at TE first and since they had openings, I took one. After I booked what I needed I took a quick look at what all was available for Thanksgiving just for the hell of it. That's where the Minnie's Dine came in. I love the idea of seeing the characters in their holiday outfits! Back in 2007 we met Mickey, Goofy, and Donald in AK in their Christmas sweaters/scarves and Goofy was Santa. I loved it and used one of those pictures as our Christmas card
Look how tiny they are! So last year when they announced Minnie's Dine I booked it-and then cancelled because the food there is known for not being the greatest. Well, I secretly kind of really would like to go despite being "over" character meals, so I went ahead and clicked "6:20" even though I already had TE. And when I showed Steve the menu he thought it looked really good, so most likely we'll end up there. And if the food isn't good? Hey, any of you that read my TR from last Nov. know a bad meal won't make the day any worse than
the Thanksgiving we had last year!!!
Now all I'm waiting for is to hopefully move BOG dinner to 11/22 and then do Yak & Yeti on the 23rd.

Since I made this post so wordy(again), here are a couple pictures I came across while looking for the Santa Goofy one from when the boys were small and cute 99% of the time ,instead of nowadays when that percentage normally drops to about 15% of the time.

Our 1st time at Chef Mickey's 2006, Ricky was 4.5, Chris just shy of a year:


1900 Park Fare Breakfast 2010, Ricky 8.5, Chris just turned 5:

They grow up fast, people!
Enjoy the holiday weekend!

 

[hokieinpa]

I'm here and getting caught up! Love all the plans and pictures of your boys!

 

[Jfsag123]

OMG, those pictures are adorable. And (probably no surprise given my love for character meals) I fully support your shift toward Minnie's H&V dinner! I especially love the Disney character Christmas card idea. If we ever make it to WDW during the holidays I may have to steal that one. Glad today was so much easier for you!

 

[ariane37]

I'm here and getting caught up! Love all the plans and pictures of your boys!

and thank you for coming over I'm glad you're here. I'm really enjoying your TR also - always happy to "meet" someone who understands the joys of boys!

OMG, those pictures are adorable. And (probably no surprise given my love for character meals) I fully support your shift toward Minnie's H&V dinner! I especially love the Disney character Christmas card idea. If we ever make it to WDW during the holidays I may have to steal that one. Glad today was so much easier for you!

Ha ha thank you for your support! I didn't think Steve would be up for characters on a holiday but luckily the menu excites him. We did another character Christmas card a few years later with a picture of the boys with Santa and Mrs. Claus in Epcot. I tried getting them to recreate it last Nov. but it was a no-go lol!

 

[ArielSRL]

Way to go!! Hope the BOG eventually turns up for 11/22.

Per our convo about Chef Mickey's...apparently I got a ding on a 5:20 one....but it was middle of the night/early morning yesterday and I never saw it until I went to the website today, so it was gone. Oh well. Still hoping something pops up!

 

[kastoney]

Love all the throwback pics!!!! Seeing how tiny your boys once were only reminds me that mine isn't going to be little too much longer

Congrats on getting all the ADRs you wanted! Love the idea of trails end on Thanksgiving. Somehow going to Ft. Wilderness just seems like the closest to Disney the pilgrims would ever get

 

[Whit64130]

This morning I made the rest of my ADR's which included Thanksgiving day, and got everything I wanted . It was so much easier this morning than Monday which surprised me!

Glad it was easier this time around!!!

And if the food isn't good? Hey, any of you that read my TR from last Nov. know a bad meal won't make the day any worse than
the Thanksgiving we had last year!!!

Hopefully it won't be repeated this year!

Love all of the old pictures! I love to look back at ours and see what all has changed and stayed the same!

 

[ariane37]

.
Per our convo about Chef Mickey's...apparently I got a ding on a 5:20 one....but it was middle of the night/early morning yesterday and I never saw it until I went to the website today, so it was gone. Oh well. Still hoping something pops up!

Ugh yes, I got a couple of those middle of the night dings myself when planning our trip last year, it stinks Fingers crossed for you that you get a ding you can use at a decent time lol!!

Love all the throwback pics!!!! Seeing how tiny your boys once were only reminds me that mine isn't going to be little too much longer

Thank you! Yup, people constantly tell you "it goes by quickly". I used to get tired of hearing it but as Ricky gets older (and especially now that he's going into HIGH SCHOOL in Sept.) it really hits home. The day before I posted that, two friends of mine saw Ricky for the first time in almost a year and commented on how "old" he looks. One said "he's like a man!!!" I teared up in the car and Ricky laughed at me

Love all of the old pictures! I love to look back at ours and see what all has changed and stayed the same!

I do, too! I even have a few laying around somewhere from when I was 3 and my parents took me to the MK, early '70's. The big bad wolf and 3 little pics were in the parade! Have to see if I can find them