"I've Waited A Long Time for a Mother/Daughter Extravaganza" 9/8 Update!

[2xcited2sleep]

Sounds fantastic! I am especially excited to hear about Discovery Cove! This is going to be such a special trip and very unique.

Oh- I don't want to be the bearer of bad news or misinformation but I *think* I read that they removed the slushie machines from Pop...

 

[ILuvCrush]

wow!! what a great plan! I hope that DC is all that I've read it was...it sounds amazing!!

P

 

[Charleston Princess]

Discovery Cove is going to be such a neat experience!!! Not to mention, it will make for great photos for your trip report!

Seven days at Pop will be lots of fun! We love it there, too!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Sounds fantastic! I am especially excited to hear about Discovery Cove! This is going to be such a special trip and very unique.

Oh- I don't want to be the bearer of bad news or misinformation but I *think* I read that they removed the slushie machines from Pop...

Say it isn't so! No slushies! Bummer.

wow!! what a great plan! I hope that DC is all that I've read it was...it sounds amazing!!

P

I hope it is too!

Discovery Cove is going to be such a neat experience!!! Not to mention, it will make for great photos for your trip report!

Seven days at Pop will be lots of fun! We love it there, too!

It sounds great, DC, and I am excited about doing something that is completely new to both of us.

Allyson

 

[MomofCKJ]

So we are at Pop Century on a PIN Code and staying for 6 nights/7 days. We are doing one day at Discovery Cove and one at Sea World. We do plan to hit all four Disney parks.

Now I did actually win during the Universal Super Bowl contest and have a coupon to turn in for a 7 day Universal pass. I thought all about how to make this work. Could we do a day or two at Universal and condense our Disney time? It is a place I have not been in years and Belle has never been. I think she might like it. There was the problem of the Front of the Line thing. I would want to have that and you need to stay at a Universal hotel to have access. Well that would mean a hotel change, their hotels are expensive for just one night, do you see where this is going? There was no way a Universal visit was going to fit in here. No way. But that is okay. If we'd had more time it would have been nice but we'll just have to try it some other time in the future. Might be nice to wait and go once the Harry Potter section is opened anyhow.

So Ixnay on the Universalay. Since we were planning on hitting the 4 Disney parks we needed tickets right? Well I still have 3 days left on my No Expiration ticket from my solo trip. I used 5 then, 2 in January with Grumpy and still have 3 days left. So I only need to add a day. For Belle we'll get a 4 day hopper. So I felt like I was saving money since I already had 3 days worth of tickets for one of us. Disney math!

So hotel, check.
Tickets, check.
Discovery Cove reservation, no check but I am booking it, no worries.

How to get there? Well has to be fly, I am not driving down from MA and I'm cerrtainly not driving alone. Again, Disney math comes in to play. When Grumpy and I flew in January we were on Jet Blue. Our flights ended up changing a few times and along the way we accumulated $250 in credits from our flight dropping in price. So I had that to put towards tickets for us. Felt like almost one flight was free! Prices were high and stayed high for our dates. I did book on Jet Blue (fell in love with them in January, how can you not love the TVs, good snacks and chillin' flight attendants?) at like $298 per person. YOUCH! But remember with a $250credit that brought it way down. We got non stop flights. We will get to Orlando around lunch time on the way down and coming home we'll leave Orlando mid afternoon. Pretty good!

Now we had to decide Dining Plan or no Dining Plan. And while we were deciding there was that little rumer called "Free Dining" that was floating around. Would it be offered? Would our dates be included? Would our amazing TA be able to get it for us if it were to be offered? So much suspense!

Food requires it's own post, we all know that. So I'll leave it at this. Besides I am exhausted! Grumpy and I worked at Field Day for the kids today and it was indoors thanks to the disgustingly poor weather we have had this month (field was just too saturated to use). I am SO tired. Anyway, I digress....next up will be the Dining Plan/On our own/Free Dining question!

Allyson

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I googled and it looks like "no slushies" was confirmed- at least at one point.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2191508

Your plans look great. HAVE to hit all four parks, clearly. I agree with waiting on Universal for Harry Potter... won't that be fun??

Dining definitely deserves its own post! I forget, is Belle a big eater? Looking forward to hearing your plans!


PS- hasn't the New England weather been terrible? I am so ready for some real summer weather. Cross your fingers - sounds like maybe this weekend!

 

[Charleston Princess]

We're holding out for the new Harry Potter park as well!

 

[MomofCKJ]

CP, what ever happened to that other trippie. She was a teacher in NY, was going with her nephews, she had a great pre trippie and then she got back and we never seemed to hear from her again. You must know who I mean, you seemed quite friendly with her? I always wondered how the trip was and what happened to her? Do you know?

Allyson

 

[Charleston Princess]

CP, what ever happened to that other trippie. She was a teacher in NY, was going with her nephews, she had a great pre trippie and then she got back and we never seemed to hear from her again. You must know who I mean, you seemed quite friendly with her? I always wondered how the trip was and what happened to her? Do you know?

Allyson

NativeNYer -- yes, she was such fun, but once she was back from her trip, she just kind of dropped out of sight!

 

[MomofCKJ]

So food. Isn't that what we all care about so much on a Disney trip?

At the time I booked I had my PIN code and there was no official announcement on Free Dining for my dates....yet. But the rumors were flying. It was in the window of FD years past, with the economy so bad surely they'd offer again to try and reel people in right?

RIGHT! The announcement came, our dates were included. Now what? Disney math time. Belle and I sat at the counter with the laptop and went over menus. We picked the places we'd like to go and what we'd order if we went. Adding, adding, calculating, calculating. Would FD be a better deal than my PIN? Belle is going to be 12 on this trip so she is an adult in Disney's eyes. She does have a penchant for steak and higher end desserts. Hmmmm, what's the verdict?

The verdict is Free Dining does in fact save us dollars over using the PIN and paying OOP for food. And I have always loved having the bulk of the food prepaid anyway. I think it is a nice little feature to not have to worry about once you are there. Jessica was able to move us to the Free Dining package and voila! we were all set!

But now where to go? Where to eat? What to have? ADRs would be important during Free Dining time, not the time to try and wing it. Our ADR date was Memorial Day. Should I get up early and call myself? Ask Jessica to do it? So many decisions. I went with Jessica. All of my kids were in the small town Memorial Day parade so our morning was going to be busy as it was getting them ready and to where they needed to be. Sitting on the phone at 7am for an unknown length of time was not on the agenda. So I emailed Jessica and she went to bat for me.

What did we want? What did we get? What do you think? I'll tell you this, Belle wanted California Grill for her birthday dinner. And guess what?


Allyson

 

[ILuvCrush]

What??? What??? What!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wow! What a cool place to have a birthday dinner! I hope you were able to snag it!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Such a cliff hanger! I am guessing!! Tell me what!

Hope Belle had better luck with CG than I did. And awed that Belle has such foodie tastes at such a young age!

 

[mkmommy]

I do not venture to the trip report section much these days, as I seem to have gotten a case of "cruise sick" mommy I need to go on a cruise to get better( as my daughter says) and spend all my time in the cruise section but for some reason I thought of your solo trip report and I found this

I am so jealous of you doing a mother/daughter trip, I so want to do that when my girls hit 13.

I am looking forward to hearing all about this trip.

Lisa

 

[MomofCKJ]

Welcome back! I just returned from our annual week in Maine. What a week. Grey, cold and rain. The only nice days were Fri and Sat (we left Sat at noon). We were with friends so that was fun but Mother Nature was so cruel.

I'll be back to catch up on the reports I read this week (you know who you are!) and add an installment. 7 weeks from today we leave!

And I finally got my tattoo last week! Guess what it is of?????

Allyson

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Welcome back! I just returned from our annual week in Maine. What a week. Grey, cold and rain. The only nice days were Fri and Sat (we left Sat at noon). We were with friends so that was fun but Mother Nature was so cruel.

I'll be back to catch up on the reports I read this week (you know who you are!) and add an installment. 7 weeks from today we leave!

And I finally got my tattoo last week! Guess what it is of?????

Allyson

Welcome back to you! Sorry that the weather was so yucky for you. Hurrah for your tattoo- you've been wanting that for a long time. But I forget what you were going to get... something Disney related?

7 weeks!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Sorry to hear that the weather in Maine didn't cooperate.

Can't wait to see the tattoo!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Take two, just had my window close and I hadn't saved it. Grrrr, hate when that happens!

So we are here to talk FOOD! We'll just stick with the ADRs for now and tackle CS later okay? I had Jessica make the ADRs just because that was going to be too busy of a morning. I had heard stories of late that wait times were long and that wasn't going to jive with our Memorial Day parade plans. So I waited to see if Jessica could get us what we wanted.

I mentioned Belle asked for Cali Grill for her birthday dinner. We ate there on our March '08 trip and she loved it (I did too and Walter was the BEST waiter!). Well no more suspense......we couldn't get it. We COULDN"T get it! I was so bummed.

All week we kept trying. I called in the morning, Jessica tried at night. Nothing. Nada. Finally that Thursday night Jessica was able to get us a 9:45pm ADR. Belle would be sleeping in her soup at that hour. She is not a late night girl and even if she stretched it that night I'd be paying for it big time the next day with overtired, cranky 12 year old. No thanks! Not to mention cutting into a Filet Mignon at say 10:30pm doesn't much do it for me either. So we got ourselves over to the menus on allears and came up with a Plan B.

So what ADRs did we get? I'll tell you!

Arrival day we are not doing any. We'll be in Epcot that day and planning a little CS in WS. Might it be Mexico? Might it be England? Don't know! But the plan is to meander and each grab whatever tickles our fancy that night for dinner.

Monday is our Discovery Cove day. They are feeding us breakfast and lunch (and all drinks and snacks!) so I didn't think we needed a sit down dinner this night.

Tuesday is our first ADR. We have a dinner date with Cindy, her Prince and that Evil Stepmother and Stepsisters...yes 1900 Park Faire! We've enjoyed breakfast here but not dinner. I like the characters, I think they are a hoot, and a buffet is always good with Belle so she can try a little of this and a little of that. And two more words...strawberry soup. 'Nuff said.

Wednesday we are busy Free Diners. We start the day with an 8:05am breakfast at Crystal Palace. Oh how I love those early breakfasts. Heading into the park feeling oh so special that you are getting in early, walking down an empty Main Street, nothin' like it!

Dinner that day will be at Kona! I can't not go there. Kona is my new Le Cellier. The food is so divine and I know Belle will enjoy. She has her eye on a Kona Cone.

Thursday we are cheating on the Mouse again and hitting Sea World. You get a free visit with the Discovery Cove ticket so we couldn't very well pass it up. At night however is our birthday dinner. Where did we end up?

Boma! Yes she chose Boma! She liked it last time and I really did too so I was all for it. I do hope they have the Mulligatawny again, soooo good! And it will give us some time to explore AKL and take a look around. We didn't do that last time, more like just ate and left.

Friday we are having lunch at Sci Fi Theater. She loved the burgers and milkshakes so that was the reasoning behind this one. I could take it or leave it but I'm sure it will be fine.

And Friday night we are going to a new to us place, Tony's Town Square. I've read mixed things but we kind of wanted something Italian and it fit the bill. We'll try it ourselves and make our own judgement.

So those are our ADRs. We got the times we asked for within 10 minutes on all of them. And it still makes me giddy that we are eatin' for free!


Next up: CS, Snacks and other Goodies!

And I will throw a little mini report on the Half Marathon trip in here for kicks. It was a great week with the race, the last minute suprise upgrade and the vow renewal in the Bahamas. A week I'll always remember!

Allyson

 

[MomofCKJ]

What??? What??? What!!!!

I know, what a cliffhanger huh? LOL!

Wow! What a cool place to have a birthday dinner! I hope you were able to snag it!

As you see in the post prior, no such luck, however it is all good!

Such a cliff hanger! I am guessing!! Tell me what!

Hope Belle had better luck with CG than I did. And awed that Belle has such foodie tastes at such a young age!

She loves Filet Mignon and Creme' Brulee!

I do not venture to the trip report section much these days, as I seem to have gotten a case of "cruise sick" mommy I need to go on a cruise to get better( as my daughter says) and spend all my time in the cruise section but for some reason I thought of your solo trip report and I found this

I am so jealous of you doing a mother/daughter trip, I so want to do that when my girls hit 13.

I am looking forward to hearing all about this trip.

Lisa

Nice to see you Lisa! Oh a cruise sounds wonderful! I have cruised but never Disney style. Someday I hope! Glad you are here and I think every Mother/Daughter needs some quality time as they venture into those rocky teenage years. I think it should be a rule across the land, not just at my house! LOL!

Welcome back to you! Sorry that the weather was so yucky for you. Hurrah for your tattoo- you've been wanting that for a long time. But I forget what you were going to get... something Disney related?

7 weeks!!

It is Disney related but of course! I will post a pic soon. Grumpy took one tonight but the battery died and I can't load it. I'll say it's a little artsy/a little Disney.

Sorry to hear that the weather in Maine didn't cooperate.

Can't wait to see the tattoo!

The rain in Maine stunk and I do hope that Orlando in August treats us better. Last year I had Tropical Storm Fay on my August trip. I could do without that again! LOL!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Even without Cali Grill, your ADRs look very yummy -- we always love Boma! Haven't had a bad meal there ever! Have a zebra dome for me!