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

[jandlinz]

Yippee for fast pass day. 45 minutes is a long time. I was very stressed doing our
Fast passes. My DH helped and started at the beginning of the trip and I started at the end and then moved towards the middle. We'll be in Frontierland around the same time as you on the 19th. Right now we have Jungle Cruise from 12:20-1:20, but hoping some of us can get a BTMRR at that time. Hopefully we can plan to bump into each other.
Love your last day! I'm sure those Vikings brightened that little girl's day. That must have been touching to watch.

 

[Elevationist]

Your photos with the characters are just wonderful! I love them!

 

[kittylady1972]

GREAT updates! Love your photos with Jack and the rest of the characters.

Your FP+ look good!

 

[ArielSRL]

Hmm...not sure what I think about the avocado margarita. I am not an avocado fan AT ALL, but I'm a huge margarita fan....so who knows. May have to check out the Vikings next trip. Sounds so fun! I bet my boys would love it. Awesome on all the meet & greets. I have got to get to work on working that stuff into our schedule next trip. One - I love the not-so-usual characters and two - we are doing a few less character meals this trip. I have my KtP subscription but I didn't make very good use of it last trip. Oh and you did great with the characters! I love all the poses. That's another thing we need to work on! We pretty much did the standard hugging and such this past trip.

Great timing on the end of your park time! And I bet it was nice to be in the warm, cozy environment of WL during the storm. I'm going to have to plan some time, maybe while the boys are at the pool, to do some resort touring! I'm just really afraid I will get spoiled there and then we will be addicted to WL!

Looks like a nice peaceful morning! Great finish to your quick adults only trip!

 

[Raeven]

I can't wait to try the avocado margarita

It's awesome you got to see some rarer characers in training too. Your Jack Sparrow encounter made me laugh.

 

[Jfsag123]

Ok, I missed a lot (again!) and forgot a bunch of stuff I wanted to reply to as I was catching up, but OMG, I have to comment on your character meets! Jack Sparrow! (!!!) It totally would have been Johnny Depp for me too. I love that you caught all of those characters and also that you met them by yourself!

Also exciting that you're getting so close to your November trip! Can't believe you're already past your FP+ date.

Finally, the empty WL pics are really cool. I find those moments in WDW when almost no one else is around to be so special and magical. We went to a 7am EMH at MK last year and pretty much had New Fantasyland back by Gaston's Tavern all the way to the Little Mermaid ride to ourselves with the exception of a couple of CM's.

And I'm with Renee on the avocado margaritas - love margaritas, hate avocados. I was so conflicted looking at that picture lol.

 

[ariane37]

Yippee for fast pass day. 45 minutes is a long time. I was very stressed doing our
Fast passes. My DH helped and started at the beginning of the trip and I started at the end and then moved towards the middle. We'll be in Frontierland around the same time as you on the 19th. Right now we have Jungle Cruise from 12:20-1:20, but hoping some of us can get a BTMRR at that time. Hopefully we can plan to bump into each other.
Love your last day! I'm sure those Vikings brightened that little girl's day. That must have been touching to watch.

The Vikings were a real nice surprise. I remember reading a thread on here when they first started appearing and people were kind of making fun of them, saying they served no purpose and were only there to divert peoples' attention from the long FEA line (which may have been true). I also thought the idea was silly since they aren't "disney" characters. But seeing how they interacted with that girl changed my mind; I think they're a perfect addition to Norway
Glad your DH helped with your FP's and hope you got what you wanted. I would love to meet up so as it's gets closer (it's going so fast!) we'll talk more

Your photos with the characters are just wonderful! I love them!

Thanks, Billie!

GREAT updates! Love your photos with Jack and the rest of the characters.

Your FP+ look good!

Thanks! I enjoy meeting characters but prefer doing it with someone - Steve prefers NOT meeting them lol. Hoping in Nov. I can talk my youngest into doing some M&G's with me!

Hmm...not sure what I think about the avocado margarita. I am not an avocado fan AT ALL, but I'm a huge margarita fan....so who knows. May have to check out the Vikings next trip. Sounds so fun! I bet my boys would love it. Awesome on all the meet & greets. I have got to get to work on working that stuff into our schedule next trip. One - I love the not-so-usual characters and two - we are doing a few less character meals this trip. I have my KtP subscription but I didn't make very good use of it last trip. Oh and you did great with the characters! I love all the poses. That's another thing we need to work on! We pretty much did the standard hugging and such this past trip.

Great timing on the end of your park time! And I bet it was nice to be in the warm, cozy environment of WL during the storm. I'm going to have to plan some time, maybe while the boys are at the pool, to do some resort touring! I'm just really afraid I will get spoiled there and then we will be addicted to WL!

Looks like a nice peaceful morning! Great finish to your quick adults only trip!

I'll tell you and Kelley @Jfsag123 that the avocado margarita actually, IMO, doesn't taste at all like avocado! I do like avocado but wasn't sure I'd like this since I prefer sweet drinks, and couldn't see how this would be sweet. But it actually is, and not overly sweet. I can't even figure out exactly how to describe it, but if it interests you even in an "ew" kind of way, I'd try it lol.

I think your boys would enjoy the Vikings! After they finished interacting with the little girl they took pictures with a few little boys, even pretend "fighting" with one. Then they pretended he scared them and they ran into FEA. I assume their "set" time was up. I hope they stick around, I do like these little "extra's" that can entertain kids.

If you do end up at WL in June (fingers double-crossed!) you should definitely try to spend a decent amount of time checking out the resort. I miss it, and it's the only resort thread on the Resorts Forum that I've continued to read regularly after a stay there. I'm hoping whenever Steve and I do our next adults-only trip next year, to get one more use out of our AP's, that we can stay there again - not even considering another resort at this point!

 

[ariane37]

I can't wait to try the avocado margarita

It's awesome you got to see some rarer characers in training too. Your Jack Sparrow encounter made me laugh.

Put that margarita on your list for December

Ok, I missed a lot (again!) and forgot a bunch of stuff I wanted to reply to as I was catching up, but OMG, I have to comment on your character meets! Jack Sparrow! (!!!) It totally would have been Johnny Depp for me too. I love that you caught all of those characters and also that you met them by yourself!

Also exciting that you're getting so close to your November trip! Can't believe you're already past your FP+ date.

Finally, the empty WL pics are really cool. I find those moments in WDW when almost no one else is around to be so special and magical. We went to a 7am EMH at MK last year and pretty much had New Fantasyland back by Gaston's Tavern all the way to the Little Mermaid ride to ourselves with the exception of a couple of CM's.

And I'm with Renee on the avocado margaritas - love margaritas, hate avocados. I was so conflicted looking at that picture lol.

I thought you'd be impressed with my character meets I'm hoping we hit a few random/rare characters in Nov. by the IG since we'll be going through there quite often!

One of my favorite memories is from our 2012 Nov. trip. We got to MK early, no big crowd, headed right to Frontierland via Adventureland. We weren't rushing and there was literally NO other guests in front of or behind us, just us and some real friendly CM's wishing us a good morning. It was a little breezy but not cold, we rode Splash and BTMRR like 3x each with nobody else and then like 2 other cars/boats filled. Love those empty-ish times in the park

As for the margarita, between that and some foods I really tried a number of things I wasn't sure I'd like on this trip, and wasn't disappointed once! I say go for the margarita in June!!

 

[cinderelly828]

Following along and finally caught up! My DH & I will be there 11/17-12/3 so we have a few overlapping days! My FP day is in a few hours (4 am since I'm in Seattle...maybe don't need to be up that early? First time FP, so I don't know but I'm erring on the side of caution ) and I was excited to see your FP picks!! Love seeing your photos with the characters and your family is so sweet! Looking forward to reading more as you (we!) get closer to November!

 

[ariane37]

Following along and finally caught up! My DH & I will be there 11/17-12/3 so we have a few overlapping days! My FP day is in a few hours (4 am since I'm in Seattle...maybe don't need to be up that early? First time FP, so I don't know but I'm erring on the side of caution ) and I was excited to see your FP picks!! Love seeing your photos with the characters and your family is so sweet! Looking forward to reading more as you (we!) get closer to November!

WOW, you guys have an awesomely long trip planned! Thanks for the comments about my family November is coming quick, isn't it?? Or maybe since it's your first trip with FP+ that means you haven't been there for awhile, and so time is going slow lol?? I hope your FP selection went well! The first time I used the new system I was nervous but it's not as hard as you think (I hope that's what you found). Now it's more a pain in the butt than hard

 

[cinderelly828]

WOW, you guys have an awesomely long trip planned! Thanks for the comments about my family November is coming quick, isn't it?? Or maybe since it's your first trip with FP+ that means you haven't been there for awhile, and so time is going slow lol?? I hope your FP selection went well! The first time I used the new system I was nervous but it's not as hard as you think (I hope that's what you found). Now it's more a pain in the butt than hard

Yeah, we're super excited! We are able to do such a long trip because we'll be staying with my MIL & FIL for most of the trip - saves a ton on hotel! I haven't been since I was about 15...so many years ago now ...and my DH has never been to Florida! Time is going fast and slow at the same time! On one hand it's like, OMG, we're only 50 days out...on the other it's like HURRY UP! FP went pretty decently I think, though my brain wasn't it's sharpest at 4 am... . I'll be posting on my PTR later this evening. I'm curious about the Princess M&G not being available, but we'll see! Excited to hear more about your trip!!!

 

[ariane37]

Yeah, we're super excited! We are able to do such a long trip because we'll be staying with my MIL & FIL for most of the trip - saves a ton on hotel! I haven't been since I was about 15...so many years ago now ...and my DH has never been to Florida! Time is going fast and slow at the same time! On one hand it's like, OMG, we're only 50 days out...on the other it's like HURRY UP! FP went pretty decently I think, though my brain wasn't it's sharpest at 4 am... . I'll be posting on my PTR later this evening. I'm curious about the Princess M&G not being available, but we'll see! Excited to hear more about your trip!!!

OMG I just noticed your PTR in your signature! I'll be getting over there

 

[cinderelly828]

OMG I just noticed your PTR in your signature! I'll be getting over there

Yeah...I just figured out how to put it in there...LOL!

 

[ariane37]

So While We Wait For November​

I'm trying to get Steve to figure out when our next trip will be! Visa dicounts came out Wed. and the room only goes through 4/8/17 although it's really not that good Since we have AP's we know we'll go at least one more time before they expire next August. We also know over the summer we'd like to take the boys somewhere other than Disney, so not sure if we'll do an adults only trip, another family trip, a short family trip in the summer and an adults only trip before that, or what. I'd really like to go for F&G so I'm pushing for that. On the other hand, surprisingly flights over Memorial weekend are on the inexpensive side and the boys have a 4 day weekend.......so hopefully in the next month or so he'll decide when he wants to go!

DAY 2, 11/20
HS
As much as I want to make sure we do lots of RD's this trip after our attempt to not do them last November, today will not be one of those days. As previously mentioned we'll be up super early on the 19th to get to the airport, so today I'll let the boys sleep in a bit. I haven't planned any FP's until 10:00 and don't plan to arrive much before that, unless for some reason everyone is up and ready.
Thinking we'll grab breakfast here



whether we all go down, or Steve and I go down and bring stuff back to the room. I do intend to pack Pop-tarts and granola bars and such but since we won't be rushing this morning we'll most likely save them for another day.
FP's
10:30 ToT
11:45 RnRc (Ricky and I) TSMM (Steve and Chris)
I'd like to do ToT towards the end of the window so we can go right over to RnRc, which means we'll do some other things when we first get there. If we happen to see any Citizens of Hollywood out we'll definitely stop to watch like we usually do.



If the line isn't long for GMR we might try getting on there; we'll have to do it at least once because Chris loves it and given the rumors about it possibly going away, who knows if it'll be around the next time he's there The park does open at 8 so we might already be looking at a long line for GMR; if so, watching the Muppets is always an option!
While Ricky and I go on ToT first, Steve will hang back with Chris. Then Ricky will take Chris's MB and ride with Steve, and then we'll split up for our last FP's. Assuming we did wait until close to 11:30 for ToT, we may now be close to our lunch ADR - 1:00 at Mama Melrose. Steve and I are both looking forward to this because it's been a few years since we've eaten here and the reviews lately seem more positive; plus they have mussels for Ricky so 3 out of 4 of us will be happy!

After lunch I'll give the boys the choice of going back to the resort to swim (depending on weather) or staying in the park a little longer. If we didn't do GMR earlier I'll have tried to get a 4th FP after our 3rd and if we did ride it, I'll try for either another TSMM or ToT. Maybe we'll use whatever I got (if any), maybe not. One of 2 negatives we found last year over Thanksgiving was that getting good FP's after our first 3 was crappy; I have no reason to think it'll be any better this year.
Anyway, that covers everything the boys will want to do there and the only other thing I'd like to do is the BaTB show, which we've skipped on our last few trips. Chris enjoys this too so if anyone does feel like staying after lunch we'll try to do this, too. I don't see us staying any later than 4ish before heading back to BCV. We'll have to head out again by 6 the latest, in order to make our 7:05 dinner ADR at Narcoossee's.

If you remember from WAY early in this PTR, I showed Ricky the Citricos menu and the Narcoossee's menu, kind of hoping he'd choose Citircos since we all ate at Narcoossee's last Nov. (and loved it). But alas he chose to go back to what he knows, mostly for this


Narcoossee's lobster mac n cheese
And these


Mussels
Since Steve and I went to Citricos in August I'm ok with this, especially since it means I'll get to have this again, the most bestest dessert anywhere in the World!


Almond-crusted cheesecake

Mmm-mm! However I must say, the flourless chocolate cake I had at Il Mulino comes pretty darn close to this!
Wishes this night is at 10, so I don't know if we'll watch from the restaurant or not; I do have plans to watch Wishes later in the week so it won't matter if we do or don't.
I have to figure out transportation to Narcoossee's too; last year from BWV we took a bus from there to MK and then the monorail to GF and the same back, and it worked fine so we'll probably do the same thing unless we feel like walking through Epcot to the bus there and going right to GF.
Pretty sure once we get back to our room, we'l call it a night. Our meal last year was almost 3 hours so I don't see us getting out much before 9:30; add in travel time plus plans for an early morning the next day and that'll be enough!

​

 

[Raeven]

Seeing the Flower & Garden festival was a big part of why I want to go in May too.

 

[Elevationist]

I'm trying to get Steve to figure out when our next trip will be

Of course you are!

our lunch ADR - 1:00 at Mama Melrose. Steve and I are both looking forward to this because it's been a few years since we've eaten here and the reviews lately seem more positive; plus they have mussels for Ricky so 3 out of 4 of us will be happy!

This one always makes it into my initial plans, but never makes the final short list (usually just due to scheduling conflicts). I really hope to fix that someday!

Narcoossee's lobster mac n cheese

Gosh, that sure does look delicious.

Almond-crusted cheesecake

So does this! YUM!

 

[kittylady1972]

Aren't we all just constantly planning the next Disney trip here? We are also considering Memorial Day weekend but we think we will fly for that one and so far the flights that are our are pretty expensive. SWA won't release their Memorial Day weekend fares until next month so we will wait. I know we want to go back next fallines for F&W and MNSSHP though.

I has been so long since we've had a meal at Narcoosee's but DH and I ate there on previous adults only trips so I'm quite jealous. We are also mussel fans here even my picky kids. Enjoy!

Love your plans so far!

 

[amalone1013]

flourless chocolate cake I had at Il Mulino

I should have added to your dining report... But your picture of this talked DF into wanting to try this dessert. A day or two before we saw it on a menu and he was like, Ewww. I couldn't get him to understand what it was until I showed him your picture!

Visa dicounts

How does this work? I got this card allot a month ago, and I was trying g to watch for the discounts because I was hoping too sneak in a 4 day weekend in Jan our Feb... I'm to New, I missed it!

 

[ariane37]

Seeing the Flower & Garden festival was a big part of why I want to go in May too.

Have you ever seen it before? It's so beautiful The food and drink booths aren't as extensive as F&W but still nice additions and really good!!

This one always makes it into my initial plans, but never makes the final short list (usually just due to scheduling conflicts). I really hope to fix that someday!

I think the last time we at at MM was in 2011. We've had it booked 2 or 3x since then, and like you we end up dropping it because either we don't find ourselves in HS for lunch, or we have to cut down because I've booked too many ADR's I'm trying my best to keep it this time!

Aren't we all just constantly planning the next Disney trip here? We are also considering Memorial Day weekend but we think we will fly for that one and so far the flights that are our are pretty expensive. SWA won't release their Memorial Day weekend fares until next month so we will wait. I know we want to go back next fallines for F&W and MNSSHP though.

I has been so long since we've had a meal at Narcoosee's but DH and I ate there on previous adults only trips so I'm quite jealous. We are also mussel fans here even my picky kids. Enjoy!

I want to go down for F&G, F&W, MNSSHP......lol, basically all year! It's a bit easier for Steve and I to get away without the kids in the winter and Spring though, and my kids don't have a fall break so they'd definitely miss school if we did MNSSHP - all they get is Columbus Day. Well the get the Jewish holidays, but they normally don't fall near Columbus Day; this year is an exception.
As for the flights I was surprised Jetblue already has flights released through June and that they're so reasonable for Memorial Day! Steve is a procrastinator though, so I don't really think we'll book anything soon.......
Ricky LOVES mussels, had them 5x on our trip last Nov. Narcoossees was one of his favorites!

I should have added to your dining report... But your picture of this talked DF into wanting to try this dessert. A day or two before we saw it on a menu and he was like, Ewww. I couldn't get him to understand what it was until I showed him your picture!

How does this work? I got this card allot a month ago, and I was trying g to watch for the discounts because I was hoping too sneak in a 4 day weekend in Jan our Feb... I'm to New, I missed it!

That's awesome DF wants to try the flourless chocolate cake!! I didn't quite understand what it would taste like either until I tried it; I figured, how bad could any cake with chocolate be lol??
So with the Visa discounts: to be honest, it's been awhile since we booked one. It used to be that you could only book on the phone so you probably still have to. They're never advertised on Disney's site; Visa does send out an email to cardholders but 1. not every cardholder gets one (we get it 50% of the time) and 2. the email usually comes a day or so after the discounts are released. Apparently the discounts are listed on their website too, but not right on the home page. You have to click "special offers" or something like that. The only way I ever know they're coming is by watching the threads on the boards here, on the Resorts forum there's a sub forum on discounts. And now that I'm a TA there's always talk about the discounts coming out on there. For instance, since Visa discounts came out Wed., general public discounts are supposed to be released Monday

 

[Raeven]

No next year would be my first time at the Flower and Garden fest.