Is it Disney Time Yet?!? December, 2012 PTR

[Valgoof]

Joining in from the Roll Call thread. Congrats on the upgrade!! Very nice gift. My younger brother will be a 5th year senior at OSU this year.

 

[levenhopper]

Joining in from the Roll Call thread. Congrats on the upgrade!! Very nice gift. My younger brother will be a 5th year senior at OSU this year.

How awesome!!! What a great gift!!!

Thanks gals!

My debate now: Leave Monday how it is, or move 1900 Park Fare back a little bit, and add on Yak and Yeti for lunch. There's a 7:30PM at 1900 Park Fare available, and Yak and Yeti is wide open for lunch. But I've heard that being at 1900 Park Fare when it opens is a unique experience, plus the food is fresher. And I don't know if/when we'd do Disney Boardwalk (all we really want to see is Jellyrolls) if we move 1900 Park Fare back to 7:30PM.

 

[niknakk]

Nice PTR so far! I am also going to WDW in December for my first time ever! Soo excited. You guys are going to have a blast!!

 

[krzykramer]

Got to your board from the "Surprise gifts for kids" board. I had posted under my DH's ID 2blondepirncesses. Thought I'd add my 2 cents plus give suggestions for the gifts...

First - Just a shout out to Case W & the Buckeyes - My BIL graduated from Case with a Nurse Anesthetists degreee (great pay) and since I live in Columbus and my hubby got his doctorate at OSU, I just had to help out fellow Ohioians.

I love how you've planned out your trip - I'm just as .... thoughtful (or OCD in my case).... with my planning! As for the dining, skip the Sci-Fi. The ambiance is kind of cool, but the 'movie' they run repeats every 15-20 minutes. It gets annoying and the food is just ok. My DH HATES the 50's Diner, I haven't been, but he doesn't like people yelling at him when he's at a restaurant (the waitresses act like an annoying moms). If you're into beer - we love the Biergarten, in Germany. The music is silly and fun, the food is good and plentiful. We have been disappointed with lunch changes at Le Cellier in Canada (Dinner is still good but is 2 TS), you may want to re-think that. The Chefs de France is FANTASTIC and so is the new Italy pizza restaurant. Also, Cosmic Ray's is ok, but Peco's Bills is better at the MK.

As the mom of 2 princesses, I am a professional Princess hunter. Tips for seeing them all:
- Akerhaus is a MUST!!! We love the lunch and dinner menus, but the breakfast is good too. Great interacting with the main princesses, but they also rotate in the less popular princesses like Mulan, Jasmine, etc... Belle is the main character you get a comp photo with when you come in. She's all decked out in the yellow dress.
- Tiana can be found in the gazebo in Liberty Square. Check for times
- 1900 PF is best at opening (4:30 seating). You don't get rushed with the characters at that time and the food any later than that can be iffy (so is the character interaction). You also get to see all the characters from Cinderella, they can be hard to get in the parks.
- You will also see a variety of Princesses at CRT, but only the classic ones. It is fun being inside the Castle
- You can skip the Meet the Princesses line in Fantasy land since you're doing the CRT(same characters), but check the board to see if they have a special guest (like Merida of Brave) They will occasionally do that.
- Rapunzel is in the new Fantasy Land area, but not sure where, check out the daily sheets when entering the park.
- Check out this link for a full list of all the Princesses and where they can be found in the parks.
- LASTLY - get her a Bibbidi appointment to make her a princess for a day. Do it on a day you'll be eating with the princesses. It may seem childish, but if she's really into princesses that much, she'll have fun.

Finally - for surprise gifts for her? Here are some suggestions:

First, check out the DISigners board for fun printable additions to make the gifts extra special. If you give them enough of a head start, they can custom make logos, letters, invitations for meals and more for you.

Arrival gifts - autograph book (if she's into that) with princess pen;
- tiara - get her a real one, not plastic, they sell them at Flower Factory in Columbus, west side of town;
- let them know this is the first time visiting WDW when you check in and they will give you a button to wear in the parks, little surprises may be in store for you when you wear them;
- good brand of lotions and soaps - hit Bath and Body works and give her a small spa basket;
- single serving wine or those new frozen drink bladder things (your room will have a fridge);
- spf lipgloss and sun block;
- and possibly a sweat shirt - it gets cold a night in Dec.
***You can mail her a package to the hotel before you arrive and they will present it to her when you check in (give yourself a day). Contact guest services at your resort ahead of time to clarify.

Daily gifts - Keep them simple and themed for the day, you can pick things up at the Dollar Tree, Target's Dollar Spot and Michael's crafts Dollar aisle to be thrifty. If they are items for the parks, make them small enough to fit in pockets or what ever you're carrying into the parks. I also add invitations to the gifts for the meals or experiences happening that day. Check out the DISigners board for help with that.
- On fireworks days, get lightup sticks and other silly glow in the dark items. (fun trick - get a small container of bubbles, crack a light stick, cut the top off and pour into the bubble solution. You'll have glow in the dark bubbles!);
- X-mas themed ornaments (DTD has a GREAT holiday store, and they'll ship any item to your resort free of charge). They can personalize them to commemorate your trip;
- small stuffed animals for AK day;
- Pirate swords or eye patches and silly things for the Pirate and Pals voyage (pick them up in November after Halloween)
- Movie star sunglasses for DHS day, possibly a funny shirt like this

I could go on, but I've bored you enough. Hope I've been helpful. Have LOADS of fun on your trip - you will love EVERY minute!

 

[clynngibson]

Your plans sound great!!

 

[levenhopper]

I'm running into some issues allocating dining credits.

As it stands now, we each have three meal credits left, but still have six meals unaccounted for. I'm hoping that we can use some of our snack credits to fill us up for meals/tide us over until our TS meals...we will be getting 24 snack credits total (combined for both of us) for our trip.

Meals unaccounted for: two breakfasts, four lunches.

Thoughts?

 

[navywifetill2002]

For your 2 unplanned breakfasts I'd just eat at the AOA food court. They have lots of pastries as well as oatmeal for a snack credit and with your refillable mug you're set for a drink. I could easily do a quick breakfast for 1 or 2 snack credits!

 

[Valgoof]

Tues, Dec 18. Magic Kingdom. Breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:10AM. Quick Serve lunch at Cosmic Ray's. Dinner at 'Ohana at 4:45PM. MVMCP at night


You might be able to split a meal for lunch or just use snack credits. Buffet for breakfast and then you want to be hungry for Ohana.

 

[BDL]

I'm running into some issues allocating dining credits.

As it stands now, we each have three meal credits left, but still have six meals unaccounted for. I'm hoping that we can use some of our snack credits to fill us up for meals/tide us over until our TS meals...we will be getting 24 snack credits total (combined for both of us) for our trip.

Meals unaccounted for: two breakfasts, four lunches.

Thoughts?

I noticed in your itinerary, that you didn't have a resort hopping day, to take in the decorations. Maybe you could have an early breakfast or late dinner at the monorail resorts. Or maybe even Boma (AKL) or Whispering Canyon (WL).

 

[levenhopper]

I noticed in your itinerary, that you didn't have a resort hopping day, to take in the decorations. Maybe you could have an early breakfast or late dinner at the monorail resorts. Or maybe even Boma (AKL) or Whispering Canyon (WL).

Interesting. I've been going back and forth on whether I think we need 1.5 days in DHS or if one day will work...if we get everything done on the first day, we'd use our last half day to resort hop before getting on DME.

 

[carrie6466]

We land in Orlando at 10:00AM, and our flight leaves from Orlando at 5:45PM. We're taking the Magical Express both ways.


Fri, Dec 21. Hollywood Studios in the AM. Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe at 1:25PM before heading to the resort to catch our shuttle back to the airport.

If your flight leaves at 5:45 PM, that means that Magical Express will be picking you up at your resort at 2:45PM, which means you have to be there by 2:30PM.

If 50's PT seats you on time at 1:25PM, that isn't leaving you much time to eat and get back to your resort. I'd try to get that ADR closer to 12:30pm. Last time we ate at 50's PT, we waited about 30 minutes to get seated.

 

[levenhopper]

If 50's PT seats you on time at 1:25PM, that isn't leaving you much time to eat and get back to your resort. I'd try to get that ADR closer to 12:30pm. Last time we ate at 50's PT, we waited about 30 minutes to get seated.

Good catch! I just moved the reservation to 12:30PM.

 

[rachel09985]

I am in! As a fellow Ohioan I am excited to read someone else's trip report from Ohio! I am from Toledo, but now live in Minneapolis

I love the picture with Brutus at the Schottenstein Center!

I graduated from OSU in 2008 and actually worked the Schott.

Looking forward to more!

 

[rachel09985]

Replying on your plans!

You definitely do need a few hours to tour the resort hotels decked out in their Christmas attire! My favorites are in order.

Grand Floridian(huge gingerbread house), Beach Club(chocolate carousel), Wilderness Lodge(just beautiful!), Yacht Club(cool gingerbread fireplace), Animal Kingdom Lodge(neat resort!), Polynesian, Contemporary.

Now some of those you are already eating at just make sure to see some that you missed.

Regarding your missing some meals and wondering if you can use snack credits on the, I would definitely say yes!! Especially because a lot of your breakfasts are buffets, they will fill you over until lunch, so you might not even want a lunch.

I highly recommend eating at some counter services too, they are very good! My favorites are Cosmic Rays, Columbia Harbor House, Flame Tree BBQ, Sunshine Seasons, and Tangierine Cafe.

 

[levenhopper]

Replying on your plans!

You definitely do need a few hours to tour the resort hotels decked out in their Christmas attire! My favorites are in order.

Grand Floridian(huge gingerbread house), Beach Club(chocolate carousel), Wilderness Lodge(just beautiful!), Yacht Club(cool gingerbread fireplace), Animal Kingdom Lodge(neat resort!), Polynesian, Contemporary.

Now some of those you are already eating at just make sure to see some that you missed.

Regarding your missing some meals and wondering if you can use snack credits on the, I would definitely say yes!! Especially because a lot of your breakfasts are buffets, they will fill you over until lunch, so you might not even want a lunch.

I highly recommend eating at some counter services too, they are very good! My favorites are Cosmic Rays, Columbia Harbor House, Flame Tree BBQ, Sunshine Seasons, and Tangierine Cafe.

Thanks for all the advice! I'm already thinking about dropping Akershus, since Sunday is a big meal day. At first I was going to move it to Saturday lunch, but I think you're right, I have enough meals with the princesses.

 

[Valgoof]

Jordan-----4 months till Disney!!!

 

[BDL]

I saw on the cancelled ADR thread that you cancelled your CP/combo meal. You decide against CP? Thinking about changing your CP meal? Or try to get in the G/A line?

 

[levenhopper]

I saw on the cancelled ADR thread that you cancelled your CP/combo meal. You decide against CP? Thinking about changing your CP meal? Or try to get in the G/A line?

I was only doing CP because I thought Abby would like it (it isn't something that would be my cup of tea), but she wasn't excited for it at all. So, we reworked Saturday and Sunday to make more sense.

Originally, we had Akershus for lunch on Saturday, and Le Cellier for lunch on Sunday with Via Napoli for dinner. Now, we moved Via Napoli to lunch on Saturday (since it doesn't require a credit card guarantee (unlike Akershus does), if our flight is running late we won't be out anything). And we're doing Sunday breakfast at Akershus, with a Le Cellier dinner.

I know Le Cellier is two credits at dinner, but we were already using two credits there for lunch due to the CP package, so there's no change in the credits we'll be using.

This way, we aren't over-eating on Sunday, and we'll have more park time for attractions.

 

[Valgoof]

Oh that's good. When I saw the cancelled thread, I thought he's cancelling some of the most popular/best restaurants!!! But your plan makes sense. CP is in an open ampitheater so you can hear some of it as you're walking by if you wanted, so you don't have to commit a chunk of time to it. DB and I enjoyed it last year mostly because NPH was the narrator. DH went back to the condo and watched football. We aren't planning on doing it this year.

 

[levenhopper]

Oh that's good. When I saw the cancelled thread, I thought he's cancelling some of the most popular/best restaurants!!! But your plan makes sense. CP is in an open ampitheater so you can hear some of it as you're walking by if you wanted, so you don't have to commit a chunk of time to it. DB and I enjoyed it last year mostly because NPH was the narrator. DH went back to the condo and watched football. We aren't planning on doing it this year.

See, I'm getting the hang of WDW planning, finally!