Loosen your belt buckle-We're doing Deluxe Dining!Our 12/10 PTR!Update 12/18 TR Start

[eecteacher82]

I'm back for another PTR! This will be our 4th "big" trip (not counting many, many day trips over the past 2 years).

Let me start out with the cast of characters:
Me, Erin. A 28 year old, former kindergarten teacher turned stay at home mom to my princess Olivia and wife to my DH. I have loved all things Disney since my first visit when I was 4. I was born in Wisconsin and moved down to Florida when I was 8 and have been here ever since. We live about 1.5 hours from the mouse on the west coast of Florida, just south of Tampa. I am the total anal Disney planner and start planning the next big trip on the way home from the last one! Here I am with Olivia on our trip last September:

DH, Toby. A super hard working 24 year old daddy to Olivia! Toby works extremely hard so that I can stay home with Olivia! Toby will be the first to tell you that I am totally obsessed with Disney, although he does not share in my obsession (yet!). We went to Disney while I was pregnant with Olivia and I have been dragging him along ever since. He says Disney is just "ok", but while we are there he is having a blast and loving every minute of it (as evident in this picture of him)...

DD, Olivia. Our 3 year old princess who, like me, loves all things Disney! She is our little miracle baby. Olivia was born at just 32 weeks, weighing 4 pounds and measuring 16 3/4 inches long and spent 3.5 weeks in the NICU more than an hour away from home. She made a total turn around, and now you would never know (other than being a bit on the small side) that she was a preemie! Olivia loves every minute of our Disney trips and asks on a daily basis to go back! Here are a few pictures of her: In the hospital at about a week old, her first birthday, and of course at Disney!

That is it for introductions! Coming up next, when are we going? How long are we going for? Where will we stay?

Chapters:

Chapter 1: The "when" 6/2

Chapter 2: The "why" 6/3

Chapter 3: The "where" 6/3

Chapter 4: The "what" 6/5

Chapter 5: ADR's! 6/8

Chapter 6:A few trip details and TS3 6/28

Chapter 7: Mini TR from Sea World 7/1

Chapter 8: Mini TR Continued 7/1


Chapter 9: Initial VERY rough daily plan 7/9

Chapter 10: Barnstormer Video 7/13

Chapter 11: Trip Shopping 7/15

Chapter 12: Pictures of purchases 7/23

Chapter 13: Yeah! Mini trip in 1.5 weeks!/Countdown 8/10

Chapter 14: Twitter/Facebook 8/11

Chapter 15: Update on the mini trip this weekend 8/16

Chapter 16: Woo Hoo! AP rates! 8/17

Chapter 17: Mini TR started! 8/24

Chapter 18: Mini TR-Part 2 8/26

Chapter 19: Double Digits!!! 8/28

Chapter 20: Mini TR-Part 3 8/31

Chapter 21: Mini TR-Part 4 9/2

Chapter 22: Life Updates 9/2

Chapter 23: Mini TR-Part 5 9/5

Chapter 24: Mini TR-Part 6 9/9

Chapter 25: Misc 9/17

Chapter 26: Mini TR-Part 7, Finishing Up 9/17

Chapter 27: Day 1 Plans 9/21

Chapter 28: Saving up Gift Cards! 9/29

Chapter 29: Mini, mini TR 10/7

Chapter 30: More misc life stuff 10/15

Chapter 31: PAID! 10/21

Chapter 32: Halloween stuff 10/26

Chapter 33: Bummed 10/27

Chapter 34: Day 2 Plans 11/2

Chapter 35: Day 3 Plans 11/8

Chapter 36: Happy Birthday Olivia!!! 11/11

Chapter 37: Birthday Fun! 11/15

Chapter 38: Day 4 Plans 11/16

Chapter 39: MORE shopping! 11/21

Chapter 40: Day 5 Plans 11/22

Chapter 41: Woo Hoo!! 12/2

Chapter 42: Day 6 Plans 12/3

 

[eecteacher82]

Since you already have the "who", I thought I should give you the "when".
Olivia is turning 3 on November 11, but we decided to push the trip back to a slower, less expensive time.

We are arriving on Sunday December 5th and (sadly) departing on Friday December 10th. Depending on what type of passholder discounts come out, we might extend the trip by one night at leave on Saturday the 11th.

We also decided to book our trip for December because of all the holiday decorations! We are huge Christmas people and caught just a hint of the holiday decor when we were there in January for my DH's birthday weekend.

Another reason we decided on December, is the weather. We have been to WDW in just about every month. Last September was brutally hot and DH's birthday trip in Janary was literally freezing, and living in Florida, we know that December is as perfect of weather as we are going to get! Here is a peek at just a few of the decorations we saw in January

Now we have the "who" and "when" covered, up next, the "why"!

 

[eecteacher82]

Since you have met our small cast of characters and know when we are going, you should get the "why".

I mentioned that Olivia was a preemie, born 8 weeks early, her original due date was December 31, yep, New Years Eve! She obviously did not want to be born so close to Christmas (or actually my body did not want her to be born so close to Christmas since most of my organs pretty much shut down)! She made her grand entrance on November 11, 2007 at 12:55am via c-section since she was breech.

Ever since Toby and I went to WDW while I was pregnant with Olivia, I had been dreaming about bringing her to one of my favorite places in the world! I finally got that chance when she was 15 months old and we went for a long weekend. From the moment we drove under the arches, I was beyond excited to show her the "world"! We had an amazing time that weekend! Here are a few pics from that first trip:
First ride on Dumbo!

Getting a ride from Daddy

First Minnie Mouse!

So, to make an already LONG story a bit shorter, we are going to celebrate Olivia's 3rd birthday (just a little late). We have decided to make a huge production (well not super huge...we're not staying deluxe this trip)! One of our most anticiapted events is taking Livy to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to become her favorite princess Cinderella! I have been looking forward to doing this with my princess since she was about 6 months old! This experience is only fitting since Olivia walks around the house with her crown on claiming she is a princess!

I will get into more details later, but this should do for the "why"....to celebrate our little princess' 3rd birthday!!!

Coming up next, the "where".

 

[BippityBoo]

Joining in We were there in January as well...AND..we are missing you by one day this December!!! I am so excited to join along. I LOVE your PTR title I am so jealous..dying to see what ADRs you pick!!

 

[eecteacher82]

Yeah! I have at least 1 reader!!!! Let me start by saying

That stinks that we are missing you by just a day!!! I have never had the chance to meet up with other DISers, but I am hoping to on this trip!

I did finish the last of my ADRs this morning and will probably get that post up either this afternoon or tomorrow morning! I love sharing ADRs and seeing where others are eating! Thanks for following along!

 

[eecteacher82]

Since this trip is for Olivia's birthday, I decided to let her pick the hotel. On trips with her, we have stayed at Coronado Springs, Saratoga Springs, POP, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. In my mind, I already knew which one she seemed to like the most, but I wanted to make sure.

I showed her our pictures from all of the above, plus the videos from the Disney Vacation planning video to help refresh her memory (we stayed at Coronado just after she turned 1, Saratoga Springs at about 1.5, AKL around 2, and POP just this past March). She ended up doing just what I thought and picked POP! She was totally in love with the HUGE characters and decorations around the hotel (although the jacuzzi tub in our 1bdrm at SSR was a huge favorite of hers as well)!

I am totally OK with this decision as it leaves more money for spending on fun stuff (as well as upgrading our dining plan....???)

Here are a few pics from our stay at POP in March. We were in the 50s building 1, 4th floor, pool view.

I am definitely going to request the 4th floor again, it just seems so much quieter up there! I really like the 50s bldg 1 as well, it is SUPER close to the lobby and bus stop!

Up next, the "what": dining plan, ADRs, BBB...

 

[eecteacher82]

I'm finally back to update! This update will kind of be a hodge podge of misc. things.

Dining:
Last September we for our big trip of the year to celebrate Olivia's birthday (about a month and a half early), and our anniversary (about 3 weeks late) to take advantage of the free dining. This was our first time using the DP, and we loved it! It was so nice knowing that pretty much all of our food was taken care of ahead of time and we didn't have to worry about budgeting for that. Since we stayed in a 1bdrm at Saratoga Springs we did bring a few things and ate breakfast in our room when we didn't have an ADR or made lunch, and one night we threw a pizza in the oven and relaxed and enjoyed in the room.

Fast forward to April. We went for a long weekend with some friends and decided to try the quick service plan. Once again, I loved this plan (almost more than the basic DP)! I really LOVED the mugs as we are big soda drinkers and that saved us tons of money! I also loved that there were 2 snacks as opposed to the 1 on the basic DP. Overall, I give the QSDP 2 thumbs up, but I have to admit, I did miss the table service meal each day!

After considering the options, we decided to splurge and go for the deluxe dining plan (DDP) this trip. We figured since we go so often (usually at least once a month) and have done pretty much everything, we could take it a bit easier this time and really enjoy everything. Also, since we will be there almost a week, we figured that spending more time enjoying meals would be a nice new experience (that and my DH loves his sit down meals)! I am very excited to see how this works for us, it seems to be the best of what we love from the other two plans!

BBB
I cannot say enough how excited I am to take Olivia to the Bibiddi Bobbidi Boutique!!!! She has always been our little princess and now she is old enough to tell us that a hundred times a day! She loves every princess movie, but by far her favorite is Cinderella. We watch that movie at least twice a day (although she is currently watching Mulan as I type this). I have shown her many pictures and videos of other little girls being turned into their favorite princess, and every time she tells me she wants to be Cinderella! I am so excited to go! The plan is to go early in the trip and have a special meal later that day (but more details to come on that later)!

Touring
I already mentioned it, but since we go to WDW so frequently and all of our past trips and been super planned, I am thinking of taking a different approach to this trip and not really planning!!!! This is about as unlike me as you can get, but I think that since we have already done everything, and December crowds aren't bad at all, we will be ok with this. I will of course have rough outline (that I will share with you later) of times so we can make it to ADRs and such, but other than that, we will go where the World takes us!

Well, I think this update has been long enough! Next time: our ADRs are all booked (even before my 180 mark)!!!! Where are we eating? Who are we eating with?

 

[eecteacher82]

First of all...is there anyone out there reading??? Speak up!!!

Well, today is officially my 180 day mark, but I have had our ADRs booked since last week thanks to the new beta version Disney is testing on the main dining website! We were originally going to go with with QS plan, but then once I realized that I could get EVERY SINGLE ADR I wanted (and had NEVER been able to get in the past), DH suggested we upgrade to the DDP!

So here they are:
Sunday December 5th
Lunch: Yak & Yeti 1:30 (new)
Dinner: California Grill 7:45 (new)

Monday December 6th
Breakfast: Kona Cafe 7:45 (new-I SOOO want to try Tonga Toast)!
BBB: 9:55!!!
Lunch: Crystal Palace 11:55 (favorite from 9/09 trip)
Dinner: 1900 Park Fare 5:00 (new-of course our newly made princess has to eat with Cinderella)

Tuesday December 7th
Lunch: Hollywood & Vine 11:30 (new)
Dinner: Garden Grill 4:55 (new)

Wednesday December 8th
Breakfast: Cape May Cafe 8:35 (new)
Lunch: LeCellier 1:30 (new, and SUPER excited for this one)!!
Dinner: Ohana 8:05 (new)

Thursday December 9th
Breakfast: Ohana 9:30 (new)
Dinner: Teppan Edo 4:40 (new)

Friday December 10th
Breakfast: Chef Mickey's 9:55 (a HUGE favorite from EVERY trip)
Lunch: Planet Hollywood 3:00 (DH's only request, he loves this place and I hate it)

So, that is what we have. Keeping in mind that we have been to WDW many, many times and don't have the "need to see it all" mentality, what do you think? Have you eaten at any of our "new" restaurant choices? What did you think of them?

 

[lyncecelia]

Hey Erin!

Those ADRs rock! I totally wish we could do that on our big trip next summer! Sounds like so much fun!

Olivia is adorable! Can't wait to hear more about her trip to Disney and her experience with BBB. My younger sister did that a few years ago, and she had a blast!

 

[spiroff.natasha]

I'm in

I'm excited to see the pictures of Olivia after visiting BBB

Your ADR's look awesome -- I haven't done the dining plan yet but hope to on a future trip

 

[Nermel9]

Hi I'm joining! Congrats on upgrading to the DDP! I'd love to try that someday but I don't know if I could handle all those TS meals!

 

[eecteacher82]

Hey Erin!

Those ADRs rock! I totally wish we could do that on our big trip next summer! Sounds like so much fun!

Olivia is adorable! Can't wait to hear more about her trip to Disney and her experience with BBB. My younger sister did that a few years ago, and she had a blast!

Thanks for joining in! I can't say enough just how excited I am for all of our ADRs, both new and old favorites! I don't know that we will ever do deluxe dining again, but I really wanted to try it, and lucky for me, my DH pretty much thinks I know best when it comes to all things Disney and I usually get my way! So glad your sister loved the BBB!!! I haven't heard of anyone who did not love it, and since Olivia loves getting her hair done pretty and wants her nails polished daily, I think she will love it as well! Hope you keep reading along!

I'm in

I'm excited to see the pictures of Olivia after visiting BBB

Your ADR's look awesome -- I haven't done the dining plan yet but hope to on a future trip

I can't wait to see my little princess looking like a princess either! I plan on take 2 extra memory cards and making sure the photopass guy takes tons as well!!! We are also planning on doing the photo session when she is all princess-y! You haven't done the DP yet??? I cannot say just how much I love it!!!! I think my favorite thing is that I know all of our food is already paid for and I don't have to worry about a budget for that!

Hi I'm joining! Congrats on upgrading to the DDP! I'd love to try that someday but I don't know if I could handle all those TS meals!

to you as well!!! I don't know that we can handle all the food either!!!! I think I have them spaced our far enough that we wont be too full! I figure we have to learn if the plan is good for us, and the only way is to jump in full force! I am excited to try it and let everyone know what we think! I have been spending lots of time on the "food porn" threads of the DIS and can't wait to take some yummy pics of my own!

 

[eecteacher82]

Wow! I have not updated for 3 weeks! Right after our last update Olivia got really sick. She was running a fever, coughing horribly, and had a nasty nose. Off to the peditrician we went. Dx: Double ear infections, bronchitis, strep throat and sinus infection!!!! When she gets sick, she gets sick. Part of this goes back to her being a preemie and her immune system not working quite perfectly. This illness took almost 2 weeks to work itself out, and she was miserable every minute of it! After about a week, it hit my DH as well!!! Knock on wood, everyone is back to normal and feeling great, so that means I can give more time to my PTR! I have a couple of updates to do today (and maybe into tomorrow), including more planning, Toy Story 3, and a VERY mini TR from this weekend!!!! Hope I still have readers!!! PLEASE speak up if you are here!!!!

 

[eecteacher82]

So far we have discussed, our dates, hotel, and dining plan (and I am still waiting to hear your thoughts on our dining choices...PLEASE!). I thought I would throw in a few more little tidbits on what we have been doing regarding our trip.
I know we are still about 5 months out, but I can't help myself when I am out and see something that I think we "need" for our trip! Lucky for me, my DH knows I am obsessed with all things Disney and just lets me buy rather than question me! I already have Olivia's dress for the BBB. She wanted Cinderella, and we found a really nice one and only ended up paying about $25 for it! Olivia and I were really excited to find the dress! I can't wait for her to wear it to BBB. Last weekend we went to the Disney store and they were having some awesome sales!!! I got two spill proof cups, a straw cup, 2 plates, a Tinkerbell bathing suit, a GIANT reuseable bag, and 2 new t-shirts for Olivia and I only paid $21!!! It was a great day! While we wer eat the mall that day, I found some luggage tags that I loved and they were only $2 for the set of 4 so I got those as well. When we got home I took out the name paper it came with and created our own with the Disney font, and colors and Minnie mouse. I also used one to make a personalized stroller tag. I also ordered a personalized shirt for Olivia from the Disney Store website. It is pink with almost all the characters on the front in a group with Mickey ears behind them, and under that it says "It's My Birthday!" It was onsale with free personalization so I went ahead and got it. I will take a picture of it and post after she wakes up from her nap. I think that is all I have got......so far!
Last week we went to see Toy Story 3!!!! I have been so excited to see this! When I bought TS&TS2 on DVD in March each had a free ticket to see TS3 inside so Olivia, DH and I got to go for free! We all LOVED it! Olivia sat really nicely through the whole movie and still talks about the mean bear! I cannot wait until this comes out on DVD! I thought it was a nice wrap up to the series, and I have to admit that I got a little teary eyed at the end!
Well, I think that is all for this update. I will try to get our mini TR from our Oralndo adventures this weekend up today (the pictures are uploading to photobucket as I type), but if not today then definitely tomorrow!

 

[eecteacher82]

Have my small handful of readers that I actually had, leave me? I hope not!! If you are still here.....SPEAK UP...PLEASE!!!

I am working on our mini TR right now and it should be up in an hour or two.

 

[eecteacher82]

Well, where to begin? I have lived in Florida for 20 years (although I still consider myself a Wisconsonite), and have visited every theme park in the state multiple times. The same cannot be said for my DH thouugh. In fact, he had never vistited Busch Gardens or the Universal parks until we met. An even more depressing fact: he had only ever visited the Magic Kingdom!!!! And that was only once!! No Epcot. No Animal Kingdom. No Hollywood Stuios. Of course all of that has since changed and we now are passholders at Disney and Busch Gardens (and only recently let our Universal passes expire). So, any keen observers out there notice a park missing? Come on, think hard, you can do it....


Yep, Sea World is missing from that list! This is the last park in the state that Toby has not explored. I figured now was as good a time as any to go, so Happy Father's Day Toby!

On Saturday after Olivia had gone to bed, I began my theme park packing ritual:
1.)Put bottles of water and juice boxes in the freezer.
2.)Pack snacks in the small cooler. (fruit snacks, cereal, granola bars...)
3.)Pack the park bag: sunscreen, 3 changes of clothes for Olivia, fan for the
stroller, baby wipes (they are great to clean up just about anything!),
camera & extra batteries, and a pull-up just in case.
4.)Lay out clothes for DH and myself (easier than trying to pick something
out in the morning while still half asleep).
5.)Pack up the stroller and load it in the car. We keep our ponchos and
stroller rain cover in the basket of the stroller all the time, so we always
know where it is.
6.) I also went ahead and added Sea World on to our Busch Gardens APs so I
wouldn't have to deal with that in the morning when we arrived.

Sunday Morning:
**The plan was to leave the house around 7:00 to make it to Sea World around 9:00.**
I had finally gone to bed around 2:00, and my alarm not so politely woke me up at 6:15! Despite being incredibly tired, I hopped right out of bed and headed to the kitchen to finish packing the cooler. After I finished the last minute things, I went ahead and loaded it all in the car and got myself ready to go.

I was good to go at about 6:40, which is when I made the first attempt to wake up Toby....notice I said first attempt? My next stop was Olivia's room. She was MUCH easier to persuade to get up. I sat down on her bed and rubbed her back and she popped right up and said "Oh goody, let's go to Sea World"! That is my kind of kid! Olivia was dressed and ready in about 10 minutes. Now her mission was to wake up Daddy!

Olivia climbed up on our bed and literally started jumping on Toby telling him to get up so we could go see dolphins and whales. It was the cutest thing! That got him up pretty quickly and at about 7:15 we were all in the car and on the way!

Here are a couple of pics from the drive up. Just before the Disney exits start we saw a skywriter and I actually got a good picture!
Olivia was quite excited!

Toby...taking the driving seriously!

The skywriting:

We arrived at the park just a few minutes after 9:00 and got out of the car and packed up the stroller and headed to the entrance! On the way in we grabbed a map and decided to head to the dolpin show first. This has to be my favorite show in the whole park! I love how it is almost a circus with the divers and other acrobats in addition to the dolphins. At the end of the day, Toby said this was also his favorite show. Here are a few pics.
Waiting for the show to start.

Olivia was in love with the dolphins after the show and asked if we could buy one!

Next stop: Sting rays! Toby was really excited about getting to touch them, so that is where we headed. It is really hard to descibe what a sting ray feels like, kinda of wet and slimy; not gross though. Olivia wasn't too sure at first, but then she wanted to touch them just like Daddy.

After our sting ray adventure, we followed the path along to the manatees. Surprisingly, I think this was one of Olivia's favorite things we did all day! She loved looking at them from above and then walking down the ramp to see them under the water. We spent about 15 minutes here and she would jump up and down every time she spotted one.

Look! A manatee!

After our play time with the manatees it was about 11:15 and we were starting to get hungry. I handed Toby the map and told him to pick a place to eat lunch. He decided on Sharks Underwater Grill, so we set off that way in hopes of getting a table.

When we arrived at the restaurant I went to see about getting a table while Toby and Olivia watching the little sharks outside.

They were able to get us in at 11:30 which was only about a 5 minute wait! We waited in the lovely air conditioned lobby and Olivia loved the fish tank!

We got a nice booth near the tank, but not right next to it (which was fine). Can you believe that I did not get a single picture of the tank?! In fact, I only took 2 pictures during lunch:
Olivia giving daddy a wet willy:

And Olivia eathing her rolls and salad:

I know I am a bad DISer for not taking pictures of our food, but Olivia had chicken fingers and fries, and Toby and I each had the shrimp pasta with peas and mushrooms and caesar salads. We could have easily spilt our entree. The portions were huge and we had TONS leftover! When we finished eating I took Olivia to change her dress because she had spilled ketchup all over it, and combed her hair because it was a hot mess! Toby paid the bill (which was $73.12 for our meals and drinks).

By this time it was 12:40 and the sea lion show right next door was due to start in about 5 minutes, so we headed on over. We got pretty good seats up at the top and enjoyed the show (but not nearly as much as the dolphin show). The show ended and we began to make our way towards Shamu stadium and the kiddy area over that way. When we got to the carousel, I went to get Olivia out of the stroller and saw this:

It was on to Plan B. Sit in a nice air conditioned building while Olivia slept! Off to the Wild Arctic gift shop we went!

Continued in next post!

 

[2kids2luv]

Hi! I just found your PTR and am subbing in. Your DD is adorable. She will have a magical experience at BBB. You're ADR's look wonderful. I would love to try deluxe DDP sometime. We are going to WDW 11/28 - 12/4 for our first stay at AKL.

 

[eecteacher82]

We let Olivia sleep for a little over an hour before we woke her up so we could go see the Shamu show "Believe". I was once again horrible and only took one picture during the show. Olivia was not ready to get up and was having a mini tantrum, so I was trying to deal with her. After about 5 minutes she was better and enjoyed the show. I have to say, I understand that for now they cannot allow the trainers in the water, but the show suffers terribly! Toby looked at me when it was over, and said "that's it?". Here is my one picture from the show...and there isn't even a whale in it!

After Shamu, we headed to Wild Arctic to see the polar bear and beluga whales. Olivia loved this area!!! It was nice and cool and she could run around. When we were done exploring, it was about 3:00 and we were all hot and ready to hit the road (not to mention it looked like it was about to rain). Of course we had to stop in the big gift shop for some goodies! We actually did pretty good. All we bought was some Shamu jammies for Olivia (they were actually cheaper than a t-shirt!). Here is a pic of her modeling them later that night at home.

We also stopped to take a bunch of pictures on the way out at the little water feature at the entance of the park. Olivia saw the whales and asked us to buy them because they are so cute!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, end our day at Sea World! But.....it doesn't end our day in Orlando!

When we got back to the car, I changed Olivia into a sweat free dress, gave her a cold drink and thought she would just go to sleep for the drive home. I was wrong. After Toby got the stoller and all of our gear loaded in the car, Olivia said "Daddy, can we go to Disney?". He tried to say, no, that we had just spent the day at Sea World, but then she said it. The only thing she knows Daddy can't say no to....."Pretty Please Daddy. I love Mickey". Yep, she did it! So, he turned to me and asked if we wanted to go to dinner at Downtown Disney. Duh! Of course we wanted to! So off we went!

We parked near the World of Disney of store so I could do some shopping and then we would head to get some dinner. It was actually a pretty quick stop in the store. I knew exactly what I wanted. Olivia absolutely loves Crocs and about the only style she doesn't have is the ones with the holes in the shape of Mickey heads, and I was in love with the new design (it's now the "crocsband" style) so we headed to the little girl area and I found them right away. Olivia grabbed them from my hands and started hugging them and saying she loved them! Good purchase! The other thing I knew we had to get was a stuffed animal. It has become tradition for her to get a small stuffed animal on every trip that is Disney related at all. She has 2 Minnie's (1 big and 1 small), 4 Mickey's (1 big and 3 different styles of small), Donald, Gus Gus (from Cinderella, that we got when we went to Disney on Ice), and Cinderella. This trip, she chose Pluto. That's it, 2 items bought!

After shopping it was time to take some pictures of places/things we have never taken pictures of before:

After our picture time we started to head in the direction of Rainforest Cafe and that side of the Marketplace. Since Olivia had slept though her chance to ride the carousel at Sea World, I figured we should let her ride the one at DTD.

Once the princess had ridden the carousel, we headed towards our dinner destination, Earl of Sandwich. We decided on this because it was someplace new and I had heard rave reviews here on the DIS. Toby and Olivia got a table and I got in line to order some dinner. Toby and I had the Club and Olivia had the kids turkey sandwich. I also got 2 bags of chips, 2 sodas and a lemonade, plus 3 strawberry shortcakes. The bill was about $33.00 and well worth it! The food was so amazing for just a sandwich place! All the reviews I read were right! Here are a couple of pics from dinner. (Sorry no pics of the food again! I promise I will take tons of our actual trip in December!).

Proof I was actually there (although it's a crummy picture!)

After dinner we were tired, hot and stuffed and more than ready to head home! It was an amazing, fun day and we can't wait to go back to Sea World, and most of all DISNEY!!! One last picture, Olivia still smiles after a long, hot 1 hour nap day!

 

[eecteacher82]

Hi! I just found your PTR and am subbing in. Your DD is adorable. She will have a magical experience at BBB. You're ADR's look wonderful. I would love to try deluxe DDP sometime. We are going to WDW 11/28 - 12/4 for our first stay at AKL.

I'm always glad to have more readers! Thanks for the compliment on my DD, we tend to think she is adorable too-unless she is having a typical 2 year old fit! I have been looking forward to taking her to BBB since her first trip just after she turned 1! I am So excited to try the deluxe plan! We have done all the others, and since DH is such a fan of sit down restaurants he is actually the one who mentioned upgrading to the deluxe! Since we booked at the very beginning of March it gave us plenty of time to pay off the balance, and that is pretty much the only reason we were able to upgrade! We are also counting on either a good AP discount on the hotel to bring some of the cost down, or even better if the extend free dining and then we only have to pay the difference from the QSDP that would be offered with POP Century which is about $40 a day as opposed to the $70 per person we are paying now. Either way, I know we will get a discount to bring the cost down a bit! Let me just say that you will LOVE AKL!!! It is definitly one of my favorite hotels of all time! Thanks for joining in!

 

[eecteacher82]

I have Whispering Canyon Cafe booked for dinner one night. After reading more reviews, I am not sure about it. I know the food is fantastic, but it is the atmosphere I am worried about. I am not sure that after a long park day, my DH (or maybe even me for that matter) are going to want to be subjected to the hijinx that are WCC. My DH is definitely not one who likes any extra attention on him, and I am thinking that WCC is not the place to aviod that! So, what do you think? Any other ideas for alternate restaurants? We would prefer a buffet or family style, but are open to just about anything! Thanks!