Disneychix
When you wish upon a star...
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The Springs (main Buildings/pool) stop is the last bus stop so you will always be stopping at the main area before you go to any park.
"Let us plan our escape!" - Adults only for F&W/1st DVC-Oct '14 PTR(TR Link Post #99)
- Thread starter skier_pete
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skier_pete
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Oh, awesome, that's a good piece of knowledge too!
I also heard that the Downtown Disney bus takes a different route than the rest of the buses, which means that it's last stop is Congress Park. So in theory, if you are staying there, you could take one of the buses to the main pool and a second bus back to Congress Park.
Don't get me wrong, we probably will just hoof it most of the time, but it will certainly be nice to have the opportunity to take the bus if we decide we want to!
skier_pete
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A big reason that I started writing this trip report when I did was because I had a bit of a Seismic shift in our plans - and it all stemmed from the start of the trip - the Flight to Florida.
As you may recall, we booked the flight before we had even managed to ensure our DVC reservation, and it was based on the best available weekend for when we thought there wasn't anything major going on. (The two weekends before this are the Tower of Terror 10 miler and Columbus Day weekend.)
So, when we booked our flights - we were able to get a very good rate - just $112 each way, and with one flight free on SWA points, we only spent $229 on our flights. Then original plan had been to fly out at 3:40 PM on Thursday, October 16th, arriving at 6:25 PM. This really wouldn't allow us any park time on Thursday, and the thought was we could get away without time off from work.
But as we thought about it, to make the 3:40 PM flight, it really would require us to take a 1/2 day from work. So a few weeks ago, when the 8:30 AM flight went on-sale for $109 (a mighty $3 savings) we decided to just take the FULL day off. This resulted in a fairly extensive restructuring of our schedule, which I will talk about a little as we go.
Then, two days ago, we got a text/phone call from Southwest. They moved our (new) flight to an earlier time. We now have a 6:35 AM flight out of our home airport! YUK! That means we're probably up at 4 AM! UGH. Not looking forward to that, but probably will lead to sleeping on the plane. However, our flight now gets into Orlando at 9:15 AM instead of 10:45 AM or 6:25 PM. So, over the last few weeks, we've added in theory 9 hours and 10 minutes to our vacation!
Well, what to do with that. Our original plan when we only had four days was to spend two days at Epcot, one at MK and one at DHS. While we love AK a lot, we feel for the purposes of this trip that leaving it out was the way to go. Now with an extra day, do we add it back in?
NOPE!
The plan is now to extend our Food and Wine time to THREE days. Or more like two and a half. Our original plan had us doing Food and Wine on Friday and Sunday, but now we are going to hit Thursday, Sunday AND Monday. This will hopefully allow us avoid the crowds better, and to spend more time enjoying the sights, smells, and tastes!
In fact, we can figure we will probably be getting to our hotel by about 10:30 AM, which will make it extremely unlikely that our room is ready. So the plan is to check-in (if necessary) and then head to Epcot for "lunch" - yes it's all snacking.
Maybe we'll make one stop in Future World on the way in, but more likely we will head right for the back of the park. First stop?
At that point, there will be a decision to be made. Do we go right or left? We are almost never spontaneous at WDW, but for once maybe we will be. I'll suggest that we leave our starting direction up to a flip of the coin.
Heads we go left
Tails we go right
For the purposes of the PTR - I will do a practice flip ANNDDDD....tails, we go right. First stop Champage and Dessert Booth??
Honestly it doesn't matter. Here's the plan for our days at Food and Wine:
1) We want to hit every single booth. Yup, all of them. Not necessarily try everything at every booth, but at least ONE thing at every booth. A full passport stamped.
2) We want to see ALL the shows / performers at all the Pavillions. We've seen most of them for sure, but it's been many years for most, and we usually don't have the time in future world to really check them out. Time spent to explore each and every country.
3) We also want to try some non-food booths. In particular...The Patiserrie in France, Karamel Kuchen in Germany and at least one of these bad boys:
What has me most excited about these extra days is that Food and Wine gets BIG crowds on the weekend, but on Thursdays, well I expect the park to look like THIS:
As opposed to THIS:
So we will make our way through one or two or maybe three countries. At some point, I think it likely we head back to the resort to check into our room. Or maybe we will stay right through...but with the early start I think that is unlikely.
IN the evening, we plan on stopping by to "Eat to The Beat" with Billy Ocean. DW and I grew up in the eighties, so while we initially I could only come up with 2 or 3 Billy Ocean songs, when we downloaded his "Greatest Hits" from Amazon Prime, we realized we probably know 6-8 songs, so I think it will be worth a stop. His stuff sounds a lot like Whitney Houston and Lionel Ritchie tunes. OK, not a particularly exciting sales job, but again we'll probably stop to see it.
We plan on using our FastPass for Illuminations tonight. Otherwise we are not planning on a late night because of how early we had to get up. I think overall it will be a fun exploring of the park - hopefully getting to a little less than 1/2 the booths/countries today.
Tomorrow - it might not be Epcot, but there will still be FOOD and DRINK!
As you may recall, we booked the flight before we had even managed to ensure our DVC reservation, and it was based on the best available weekend for when we thought there wasn't anything major going on. (The two weekends before this are the Tower of Terror 10 miler and Columbus Day weekend.)
So, when we booked our flights - we were able to get a very good rate - just $112 each way, and with one flight free on SWA points, we only spent $229 on our flights. Then original plan had been to fly out at 3:40 PM on Thursday, October 16th, arriving at 6:25 PM. This really wouldn't allow us any park time on Thursday, and the thought was we could get away without time off from work.
But as we thought about it, to make the 3:40 PM flight, it really would require us to take a 1/2 day from work. So a few weeks ago, when the 8:30 AM flight went on-sale for $109 (a mighty $3 savings) we decided to just take the FULL day off. This resulted in a fairly extensive restructuring of our schedule, which I will talk about a little as we go.
Then, two days ago, we got a text/phone call from Southwest. They moved our (new) flight to an earlier time. We now have a 6:35 AM flight out of our home airport! YUK! That means we're probably up at 4 AM! UGH. Not looking forward to that, but probably will lead to sleeping on the plane. However, our flight now gets into Orlando at 9:15 AM instead of 10:45 AM or 6:25 PM. So, over the last few weeks, we've added in theory 9 hours and 10 minutes to our vacation!
Well, what to do with that. Our original plan when we only had four days was to spend two days at Epcot, one at MK and one at DHS. While we love AK a lot, we feel for the purposes of this trip that leaving it out was the way to go. Now with an extra day, do we add it back in?
NOPE!
The plan is now to extend our Food and Wine time to THREE days. Or more like two and a half. Our original plan had us doing Food and Wine on Friday and Sunday, but now we are going to hit Thursday, Sunday AND Monday. This will hopefully allow us avoid the crowds better, and to spend more time enjoying the sights, smells, and tastes!
In fact, we can figure we will probably be getting to our hotel by about 10:30 AM, which will make it extremely unlikely that our room is ready. So the plan is to check-in (if necessary) and then head to Epcot for "lunch" - yes it's all snacking.
Maybe we'll make one stop in Future World on the way in, but more likely we will head right for the back of the park. First stop?
At that point, there will be a decision to be made. Do we go right or left? We are almost never spontaneous at WDW, but for once maybe we will be. I'll suggest that we leave our starting direction up to a flip of the coin.
Heads we go left
Tails we go right
For the purposes of the PTR - I will do a practice flip ANNDDDD....tails, we go right. First stop Champage and Dessert Booth??
Honestly it doesn't matter. Here's the plan for our days at Food and Wine:
1) We want to hit every single booth. Yup, all of them. Not necessarily try everything at every booth, but at least ONE thing at every booth. A full passport stamped.
2) We want to see ALL the shows / performers at all the Pavillions. We've seen most of them for sure, but it's been many years for most, and we usually don't have the time in future world to really check them out. Time spent to explore each and every country.
3) We also want to try some non-food booths. In particular...The Patiserrie in France, Karamel Kuchen in Germany and at least one of these bad boys:
What has me most excited about these extra days is that Food and Wine gets BIG crowds on the weekend, but on Thursdays, well I expect the park to look like THIS:
As opposed to THIS:
So we will make our way through one or two or maybe three countries. At some point, I think it likely we head back to the resort to check into our room. Or maybe we will stay right through...but with the early start I think that is unlikely.
IN the evening, we plan on stopping by to "Eat to The Beat" with Billy Ocean. DW and I grew up in the eighties, so while we initially I could only come up with 2 or 3 Billy Ocean songs, when we downloaded his "Greatest Hits" from Amazon Prime, we realized we probably know 6-8 songs, so I think it will be worth a stop. His stuff sounds a lot like Whitney Houston and Lionel Ritchie tunes. OK, not a particularly exciting sales job, but again we'll probably stop to see it.
We plan on using our FastPass for Illuminations tonight. Otherwise we are not planning on a late night because of how early we had to get up. I think overall it will be a fun exploring of the park - hopefully getting to a little less than 1/2 the booths/countries today.
Tomorrow - it might not be Epcot, but there will still be FOOD and DRINK!
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
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YAY! Extra days and time at Epcot for F&W. What a great outcome. And that 4 am wake-up will be a breeze when you know there is snacking at the end of the trip. 
skier_pete
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YAY! Extra days and time at Epcot for F&W. What a great outcome. And that 4 am wake-up will be a breeze when you know there is snacking at the end of the trip.
Yeah, I woke up this morning at 4 AM, and all I had to look forward to was going to work.
skier_pete
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With our first full day but second park day we should be getting into the swing of our vacation. With our original plan of arriving late on Thursday, today was going to originally be at Epcot. But, our change of plans swung things around, and today was the day that changed the most.
Our park today is planned for Hollywood Studios. It's not our favorite park, by any means, and we normally much favor Animal Kingdom, a park that we are skipping this trip. However, the main reason we wanted to hit DHS is that a couple of rides in particular.
One: TSMM is a absolute favorite of DW. She considers this a must do of everytrip, so with the advent of FP+, we will definitely be doing this one at rope drop and also with a FP+.
Two: Rock and Roller Coaster - DW is not a coaster fan, though she likes most Disney coasters with the exception of Everest. However, she has never ridden RnRC! Not once ever! Yet somehow she's decided she wants to try. So, this is our second target ride after TSMM. I've already told her if I am only getting her on this ride one time, then we are going to get the front row as well, even if it means waiting longer!
Three: Tower of Terror - DW won't ride this one, but it is near the top of my list of favorite rides. (Actually usually at #2.) I want to ride this once, and perhaps twice, depending on the line - though I may use this as one of our FP+, and by signing us both up for it, I could use DWs FP+ the second time!
Four: Star Tours - I love the re-do on this ride, and it's definitely a must do, though slightly lower in priority than the first three.
Beyond that, I think we are going to take it easy on this park. We want to check out One Man's Dream, which we've never had the time to see. DW also wants to check out the American Idol Experience before it closes for good. I've done it once with my mom, and once was enough, but for DW I will sit through it again.
The other thing we decided we were going to do is to stop at the Hollywood Brown Derby.
I was reading PrincessInOz's TR a couple months ago and she posted about their meal there. DW and I last ate at HBD in the year 2000, and it will be almost exactly 14 years to the day when we go again. We already have an expensive meal planned for later today, but what we've decided is that we both get the Cobb Salad. There's enough unhealthy food on this trip, and DHS is not really a favorite food-wise, so we thought this was a nice opportunity to eat at the Brown Derby but not spend a ton of money.
In the afternoon, we'll be heading back to the resort for awhile to relax, perhaps a nap, perhaps a swim.
After a few hours, we think we will return to DHS for a little additional park time. Our plans are to eventually head for dinner at Yachtsman's Steakhouse over at the Yacht Club. We have a 7:40 PM ADR, and with the park closing at 7 PM, we figure this will be pretty perfect timing.
We ate at Yachtsman's last trip, and I have to say we discovered a new favorite. Partly because we both love steak, but also because of the many Disney restaurants we've been to, it's one of the few that feels like you are not paying a premium. Sure., the prices here are expensive, but
Once dinner is over, it's then a short walk across the bridge to our favorite adult destination - JELLYROLL'S. Dueling piano/sing-along bars are so much fun, and I recently found out that they usually have "red solo cup" drink specials, so maybe we can drink without spending so much money.
I have no intention of leaving here before midnight - which is why the afternoon nap may be a good idea! Here is where our SSR strategy should pay off, as we can save cab fare by catching the DTD bus from the Boardwalk. It should be noted that the buses in this area go through 5 resorts, the last of which is Boardwalk, so therefore it should be a short ride to DTD, and hopefully an even shorter stumble back to our resort.
Our park today is planned for Hollywood Studios. It's not our favorite park, by any means, and we normally much favor Animal Kingdom, a park that we are skipping this trip. However, the main reason we wanted to hit DHS is that a couple of rides in particular.
One: TSMM is a absolute favorite of DW. She considers this a must do of everytrip, so with the advent of FP+, we will definitely be doing this one at rope drop and also with a FP+.
Two: Rock and Roller Coaster - DW is not a coaster fan, though she likes most Disney coasters with the exception of Everest. However, she has never ridden RnRC! Not once ever! Yet somehow she's decided she wants to try. So, this is our second target ride after TSMM. I've already told her if I am only getting her on this ride one time, then we are going to get the front row as well, even if it means waiting longer!
Three: Tower of Terror - DW won't ride this one, but it is near the top of my list of favorite rides. (Actually usually at #2.) I want to ride this once, and perhaps twice, depending on the line - though I may use this as one of our FP+, and by signing us both up for it, I could use DWs FP+ the second time!
Four: Star Tours - I love the re-do on this ride, and it's definitely a must do, though slightly lower in priority than the first three.
Beyond that, I think we are going to take it easy on this park. We want to check out One Man's Dream, which we've never had the time to see. DW also wants to check out the American Idol Experience before it closes for good. I've done it once with my mom, and once was enough, but for DW I will sit through it again.
The other thing we decided we were going to do is to stop at the Hollywood Brown Derby.
I was reading PrincessInOz's TR a couple months ago and she posted about their meal there. DW and I last ate at HBD in the year 2000, and it will be almost exactly 14 years to the day when we go again. We already have an expensive meal planned for later today, but what we've decided is that we both get the Cobb Salad. There's enough unhealthy food on this trip, and DHS is not really a favorite food-wise, so we thought this was a nice opportunity to eat at the Brown Derby but not spend a ton of money.
In the afternoon, we'll be heading back to the resort for awhile to relax, perhaps a nap, perhaps a swim.
After a few hours, we think we will return to DHS for a little additional park time. Our plans are to eventually head for dinner at Yachtsman's Steakhouse over at the Yacht Club. We have a 7:40 PM ADR, and with the park closing at 7 PM, we figure this will be pretty perfect timing.
We ate at Yachtsman's last trip, and I have to say we discovered a new favorite. Partly because we both love steak, but also because of the many Disney restaurants we've been to, it's one of the few that feels like you are not paying a premium. Sure., the prices here are expensive, but
Once dinner is over, it's then a short walk across the bridge to our favorite adult destination - JELLYROLL'S. Dueling piano/sing-along bars are so much fun, and I recently found out that they usually have "red solo cup" drink specials, so maybe we can drink without spending so much money.
I have no intention of leaving here before midnight - which is why the afternoon nap may be a good idea! Here is where our SSR strategy should pay off, as we can save cab fare by catching the DTD bus from the Boardwalk. It should be noted that the buses in this area go through 5 resorts, the last of which is Boardwalk, so therefore it should be a short ride to DTD, and hopefully an even shorter stumble back to our resort.
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
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I wanna come and hang out with you and your DW on this day. Those are great plans for the rides at DHS and with your FP+, you'll be able to dawdle through this day without any stress.
And then......the food. Enjoy the lunch at HBD; and I'm envious you're having dinner at Yachtsman. I hoped to make it there last trip because I've only heard amazing things about the steak; but I didn't manage to fit it in.
Love that you're maximising your child-free time at Jellyrolls!
And then......the food. Enjoy the lunch at HBD; and I'm envious you're having dinner at Yachtsman. I hoped to make it there last trip because I've only heard amazing things about the steak; but I didn't manage to fit it in.
Love that you're maximising your child-free time at Jellyrolls!
/
skier_pete
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Yes, we really loved Yachtsman. And to think you were right next door! Maybe you just couldn't convince your DH that steak was a worthwhile stop?
We were originally planning on our last day (Monday) being DHS, because we would have to leave the park by 3 PM, and even then we weren't stressing about getting the things we wanted done. Now we have the whole day (less any break we take) so I am sure we will have more than enough time.
I am not sure how late we will stay out at Jellyrolls. Our policy last year for our adults only ABD was "Sleep is not an option", though we utilized the mid-day naps (doesn't count as sleep) to outlast most of our fellow ABDers staying in the parks until midnight. If we last until Midnight at Jellyroll's I will consider that a successful night.
Everest is #3 on my list...I can't put it #1 until they fix the Yeti. We pretty much decided on two nights at Jellyrolls. Three seemed a little much. I can't say it ranks up with the old Adventurer's Club, but with no Pleasure Island it's the best of what's left, that's for sure.
I can't be bothered to know the Piano players names. It's just "Guy on the left" and "Guy on the right".
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
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There was no way I could convince DH to go eat steak. 
Next time, he's on his own in the villa and DS and I will head to Yachtsman.
Next time, he's on his own in the villa and DS and I will head to Yachtsman.
skier_pete
DIsney-holics Anon
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There was no way I could convince DH to go eat steak.
Next time, he's on his own in the villa and DS and I will head to Yachtsman.
PIO!Just a quickie quickie update:
Yesterday I purchased our pack passes from Undercover Tourist. They were running $313 for a 5-day MYW ticket (no hop) where the fifth day is "free". Savings was about $13 over the Disney price, which was the best "deal" I could find out there. I didn't want to wait too long because I wanted to (A) make sure I can get my tickets linked to my existing DME/Magic Band Account - i really don't want to get new MBs if I can help it, and (B) with 85 days to go I want to be set up to get our FP+ around the 60-day mark. (Not real concerned, but definitely before 30 days!)
Anyways, the other news is Food and Wine event registration open tomorrow., or at least it will be announced tomorrow and DVC members will likely get first crack. We haven't decided if we are going to do anything beyond a demonstration or two, but am looking forward to seeing what the choices are. (DW is concerned about taking time away from the food booths....
)First time I've really looked at the timing. 85 days to go!
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
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YAY for DVC and 85 days. Hope you get into the events you want.
Glad you saved on the tix.
Glad you saved on the tix.
skier_pete
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So, today was the first day that you could book events for Food and Wine. We weren't really planning on attending any of the "Special" events. Some of them look interesting, but they seem to mostly be in the $85-130 per person range, and we decided since we are trying to stick to a budget, we would skip all of these.
But, what we DID do was sign up for a few of the low-priced seminars,
which are either under the category of "Culinary Demonstration" or "Beverage Seminar". We decided to sign up for one of each on two of our Food and Wine days. The ones we picked were as follows:
Thursday, October 16, 2014
2:00PM JUSTIN Vineyards & Landmark Vineyards (Paso Robles & Sonoma, California) Category: Wine
3:00 PM Robert Leonardi, Wolfgang Puck® Grand Café, Downtown Disney® Area - Category: Shrimp
Sunday, October 19, 2014
2:00 PM Palm Bay International (Chile and Argentina) Category: Wine
3:00 PM Carl Bertka, Roy’s, Sarasota, FL Category
astry
The nice thing about these seminars is they are pretty reasonable. $15 per person, which gives you a 45-minute presentation, as well as I presume a taste of whatever is being shown off. Being DVC, we were both allowed to book a week before the general public, AND given a $2 discount on the Thursday seminars. So, all told, the 4 experiences will cost us $112, which is not chump change, but again the other things we were looking at would've run as $200-$300 for a single event, so I'm pretty satisfied with what this is costing us.
These seminars take place at the Festival center - the old "Wonders of Life" building tucked away between Ellen's Energy Adventure and Mission: Space, so they are quite far from World Showcase, so we decided to pick them back-to-back so we wouldn't have to trudge there too often.
Since I already talked about Thursday - our arrival day, I will just comment on the expansion of that days plan. Since we are now landing @ 9:15 AM, we figure we will check in at the hotel and come straight to Epcot. Enjoy lunching through food and wine, and now at 2 PM heading back to the Festival Center for our two Seminars. The second seminar will wrap about 3:45 PM, and the latest check-in for our room is listed at 4 PM. So, we're thinking since we are already back near the front of the park, we'll head back to the room for check-in and maybe a short swim/nap. Then, back to the park by 6 PM or so to finish off the evening!
Has anyone tried these Culinary Demos and Beverage Seminars? Are they worth the experience?
But, what we DID do was sign up for a few of the low-priced seminars,
which are either under the category of "Culinary Demonstration" or "Beverage Seminar". We decided to sign up for one of each on two of our Food and Wine days. The ones we picked were as follows:
Thursday, October 16, 2014
2:00PM JUSTIN Vineyards & Landmark Vineyards (Paso Robles & Sonoma, California) Category: Wine
3:00 PM Robert Leonardi, Wolfgang Puck® Grand Café, Downtown Disney® Area - Category: Shrimp
Sunday, October 19, 2014
2:00 PM Palm Bay International (Chile and Argentina) Category: Wine
3:00 PM Carl Bertka, Roy’s, Sarasota, FL Category
astry The nice thing about these seminars is they are pretty reasonable. $15 per person, which gives you a 45-minute presentation, as well as I presume a taste of whatever is being shown off. Being DVC, we were both allowed to book a week before the general public, AND given a $2 discount on the Thursday seminars. So, all told, the 4 experiences will cost us $112, which is not chump change, but again the other things we were looking at would've run as $200-$300 for a single event, so I'm pretty satisfied with what this is costing us.
These seminars take place at the Festival center - the old "Wonders of Life" building tucked away between Ellen's Energy Adventure and Mission: Space, so they are quite far from World Showcase, so we decided to pick them back-to-back so we wouldn't have to trudge there too often.
Since I already talked about Thursday - our arrival day, I will just comment on the expansion of that days plan. Since we are now landing @ 9:15 AM, we figure we will check in at the hotel and come straight to Epcot. Enjoy lunching through food and wine, and now at 2 PM heading back to the Festival Center for our two Seminars. The second seminar will wrap about 3:45 PM, and the latest check-in for our room is listed at 4 PM. So, we're thinking since we are already back near the front of the park, we'll head back to the room for check-in and maybe a short swim/nap. Then, back to the park by 6 PM or so to finish off the evening!
Has anyone tried these Culinary Demos and Beverage Seminars? Are they worth the experience?
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
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Not me.
Enjoy the seminars!
Enjoy the seminars!
Dis_Yoda
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I've done some of the seminars before.
Ice Wine, Whiskey, & Culinary Demo Review:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50085464#post50085464
Robert Irvine Culinary Demo
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43037968&posted=1#post43037968
Ice Wine, Whiskey, & Culinary Demo Review:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50085464#post50085464
Robert Irvine Culinary Demo
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43037968&posted=1#post43037968
skier_pete
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Oh, you're no help at all!
Cool, thanks for the links. It does look like they are worth the money. I was hoping it would mean we would get 3-4 reasonable tastes or a small portion of the dish being prepared! Good to know that's true!
It's funny Inniskillin is probably about 45 minutes from my house! I've never stopped there, but know right where it is. Not a huge fan of ice wines, though.
skier_pete
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On Saturday, we have plans to spend a good portion of the day at Magic Kingdom. Even for a short - Epcot focused trip, we could not at least spend ONE day at the original park.
The main reason I picked Saturday was because I wanted to see Wishes. We missed it on our previous trip in 2013, meaning we hadn't seen it since 2011, and it's my favorite nighttime show. Since Disney is most greedy when it comes to the hard ticket events, so all the other nights we are here (Thursday, Friday, Sunday) are MNSSHP events. So Saturday it is, which is also an EMH night, meaning that the crowds will be lousy large, but sometimes you can't fight city hall. (Or Main Street USA.)
But because we only have one day, and that one day is going to be crowded, we want to make sure we get to do the things we want to do most, and do it in a way to keep us both happy. So, what I did was I printed out a list of all the attractions at MK (totaling 36) and I had myself and DW mark each one as either "Yes","Maybe" or "No" as to whether we should do them or not. As it turned out, we obviously have a lot in common as far as MK tastes go, as we had 13 attractions that we either both said "Yes", or one of us said "Yes" and one of us said "Maybe". We didn't have any that one said "Yes" and the other said "No". Those rides are as follows:
Frontierland
1) Splash Mountain DD doesnt like the big drop, so I always have to go myself.
2) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which was down the last day we were in MK so we didnt get to ride it, and down again in DLR last June. So the last time we rode BTMRR was 2011. And its one of our favorites. Really Im hoping to ride twice, once in the day, and again at night.
Liberty Square
3) Haunted Mansion Cant deny the greatness of this attraction.
Adventureland
4) Pirates of the Caribbean Essential Disney, though admit now that Ive been to DL its not as good here in Florida.
5) Jungle Cruise Not one that I want to wait in a long line, but such a Disney classic!
6) Enchanted Tiki Room Anyone that has followed my TRs for a while knows this is an all-time childhood favorite. Since they destroyed it and resurrected it from the flames (the great Tiki Phoenix) I refuse to miss the Tropical Serenade when I am in the parks.
Fantasyland
7) Peter Pan's Flight Big fan of hanging out with my namesake!
8) It's a Small World DWs very favorite, much like the Tiki Birds with me, she would not want to miss it.
9) Mickey's Philharmagic I admit I have a soft spot for this show. Great for when the park gets crowded.
10) Seven Dwarves Mine Train weve been watching this being constructed for years. I almost think we should skip it so that we are leaving our first ride with DD. But, I think in the end we will give it a shimmy.
Tomorrowland
11) Space Mountain Once is usually enough for this sucker, but it's a cant miss ride
12) Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover A family tradition
13) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin DIE ZURG, DIE!!!
We also have a secondary list, rides that both of us said Maybe to. This list is two rides long:
Astro Orbiter
Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
The other remaining 21 attractions were either voted as a maybe and a no, or two nos.
The only other thing we would like to do should be get the opportunity is to lunch at Be Our Guest. We really enjoyed our dinner there last time, but with all the expenses, we decided that we did not want to try for another dinner ADR. IF we can get in for lunch with a FP, so be it, if not, we will skip.
So, the park hours today are 9 AM to 10 PM, with two hours of EMH after that. I intend to:
(A) open the park and
(B) close the park.
Exactly how we get from Point A to Point B is not certain. However, I am expecting that we are going to stay at the park until around 2 PM, at which point we will head back to the resort. I think we will likely get MOST of the list of rides taken care of before we leave the park between stand-by and FP+.
I am expecting that this to be our longest stay at the resort, as I think we will hang around until 6 or 7 PM. We will definitely grab a nap, probably a swim, and possibly even dinner at the food court. As Ive said before, I DO want to spend a little time at the resort, and I think this is a good opportunity. Theres some good reasons if we were to extend DVC points someday for this to be added as a home resort.
I expect to be back at the park around 7 PM. If weve already accomplished our ride goals, we may spend a little time wandering the park. We dont much care about seeing the parade, so we will probably be coming over to the main hub after the parade is done. We will position ourselves so that after Wishes is over, we wont be fighting the crowd to head into the park. We should have a few hours to catch more rides. This will be our first time doing EMHs in a LONG time, so I will be interested to see how much crowds there are.
IF you think about it, even with a 5 hour mid-day break, the park is open for 15 hours today, so 5 hrs in the morning and 5 hrs in the evening gives us 10 hours of park time, which should be more than enough to see the 15 attractions + wishes that we want to see.
So, what do you think? Good plan or no?
The main reason I picked Saturday was because I wanted to see Wishes. We missed it on our previous trip in 2013, meaning we hadn't seen it since 2011, and it's my favorite nighttime show. Since Disney is most greedy when it comes to the hard ticket events, so all the other nights we are here (Thursday, Friday, Sunday) are MNSSHP events. So Saturday it is, which is also an EMH night, meaning that the crowds will be lousy large, but sometimes you can't fight city hall. (Or Main Street USA.)
But because we only have one day, and that one day is going to be crowded, we want to make sure we get to do the things we want to do most, and do it in a way to keep us both happy. So, what I did was I printed out a list of all the attractions at MK (totaling 36) and I had myself and DW mark each one as either "Yes","Maybe" or "No" as to whether we should do them or not. As it turned out, we obviously have a lot in common as far as MK tastes go, as we had 13 attractions that we either both said "Yes", or one of us said "Yes" and one of us said "Maybe". We didn't have any that one said "Yes" and the other said "No". Those rides are as follows:
Frontierland
1) Splash Mountain DD doesnt like the big drop, so I always have to go myself.
2) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which was down the last day we were in MK so we didnt get to ride it, and down again in DLR last June. So the last time we rode BTMRR was 2011. And its one of our favorites. Really Im hoping to ride twice, once in the day, and again at night.
Liberty Square
3) Haunted Mansion Cant deny the greatness of this attraction.
Adventureland
4) Pirates of the Caribbean Essential Disney, though admit now that Ive been to DL its not as good here in Florida.
5) Jungle Cruise Not one that I want to wait in a long line, but such a Disney classic!
6) Enchanted Tiki Room Anyone that has followed my TRs for a while knows this is an all-time childhood favorite. Since they destroyed it and resurrected it from the flames (the great Tiki Phoenix) I refuse to miss the Tropical Serenade when I am in the parks.
Fantasyland
7) Peter Pan's Flight Big fan of hanging out with my namesake!
8) It's a Small World DWs very favorite, much like the Tiki Birds with me, she would not want to miss it.
9) Mickey's Philharmagic I admit I have a soft spot for this show. Great for when the park gets crowded.
10) Seven Dwarves Mine Train weve been watching this being constructed for years. I almost think we should skip it so that we are leaving our first ride with DD. But, I think in the end we will give it a shimmy.
Tomorrowland
11) Space Mountain Once is usually enough for this sucker, but it's a cant miss ride
12) Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover A family tradition
13) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin DIE ZURG, DIE!!!
We also have a secondary list, rides that both of us said Maybe to. This list is two rides long:
Astro Orbiter
Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
The other remaining 21 attractions were either voted as a maybe and a no, or two nos.
The only other thing we would like to do should be get the opportunity is to lunch at Be Our Guest. We really enjoyed our dinner there last time, but with all the expenses, we decided that we did not want to try for another dinner ADR. IF we can get in for lunch with a FP, so be it, if not, we will skip.
So, the park hours today are 9 AM to 10 PM, with two hours of EMH after that. I intend to:
(A) open the park and
(B) close the park.
Exactly how we get from Point A to Point B is not certain. However, I am expecting that we are going to stay at the park until around 2 PM, at which point we will head back to the resort. I think we will likely get MOST of the list of rides taken care of before we leave the park between stand-by and FP+.
I am expecting that this to be our longest stay at the resort, as I think we will hang around until 6 or 7 PM. We will definitely grab a nap, probably a swim, and possibly even dinner at the food court. As Ive said before, I DO want to spend a little time at the resort, and I think this is a good opportunity. Theres some good reasons if we were to extend DVC points someday for this to be added as a home resort.
I expect to be back at the park around 7 PM. If weve already accomplished our ride goals, we may spend a little time wandering the park. We dont much care about seeing the parade, so we will probably be coming over to the main hub after the parade is done. We will position ourselves so that after Wishes is over, we wont be fighting the crowd to head into the park. We should have a few hours to catch more rides. This will be our first time doing EMHs in a LONG time, so I will be interested to see how much crowds there are.
IF you think about it, even with a 5 hour mid-day break, the park is open for 15 hours today, so 5 hrs in the morning and 5 hrs in the evening gives us 10 hours of park time, which should be more than enough to see the 15 attractions + wishes that we want to see.
So, what do you think? Good plan or no?
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
- Messages
- 108,009
Sounds like a great plan to me. I'm a great believer in taking a break in the middle of the day if you're staying on-site at WDW. And as you won't have DD in tow, I reckon you and DW will knock over your list pretty quick (crowds allowing).
skier_pete
DIsney-holics Anon
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
- Messages
- 13,059
Yeah, I wonder with using FP+ if we couldn't be done with all 13 before our afternoon break. I can't decide (yet) whether to book all 3 FP+s early (before 2 PM) and then shoot for the elusive fourth FP+ for the evening,
Or just book 1 or 2 during the day, and book the third in the evening.
MK is the biggest struggle with the new FP+ system for me. We used to come out of that park with 5-8 FP in a day. Limiting it to 3 really changes things.
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
- Messages
- 108,009
Totally agree. That's my biggest grip about FP+.
I would recommend you book the 3 FP+ before 2 pm (from late morning'ish) and that way you can see if the 4th is available. The only spanner in the works is if you want to use one of those for the parade/fireworks spot. If you book them late morning and get to the park early, you can get in the standby queue and maximise your time that way.
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