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

[eecteacher82]

Those videos are too cute!! My husband does NOT do rollercoasters. We rode Barnstormer last year with our DD thinking it would be just another kiddie ride. I was pleasently surprised that it was a decent rollercoaster for kids. My husband was not as happy But it turned out to be Alyssa's favorite ride. We rode it 6 times in a row and she MADE daddy ride with her

Olivia definitely got the roller coaster gene from me! Olivia made daddy ride it with her about 3 times that first day....he was not a happy camper! He doesn't do well with heights, and even that coaster freaked him out a bit! The things daddy's will do for their little girls....

 

[chunkymonkey]

I figured I would take the time to get an update in while Olivia is being entertained by Lilo and Stitch! (I wanted to make sure she knows at least all of the characters we will be dining with)!

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I am an obsessive planner/organizer/list-maker, so it is no surprise to my family that I have many, many Disney lists going on and have been planning a rough sketch of our days for over a month now! Pretty much as soon as park hours came out, I started. My Disney "list" on my computer is literally (as of now) a 14 page document of charts, tables and misc stuff! The first page is just a list of our ADR times and confirmation numbers, the next page is a chart of our meals and an approximate cost (just becuase I wanted to see a very rough estimate of how much meals would cost vs the cost of the DxDP), next is a chart of all the parks and the hours for the week, then pages and pages of menus to look at and get an idea of what looks good, and a packing list.

So here it is, the VERY rough plan of what parks on what days:
Sunday:
*Leave home around 7:30 to arrive at POP around 9:00ish.
*Check in and hope our room is ready! Grab our mugs from the food court and hop the next bus to Animal Kingdom.
*We have a lunch ADR at Yak & Yeti at 1:30.
*We will probably leave here around 3:30ish and head back to POP to get unpacked and settled and showered.
*Dinner is at 7:45 at California Grill!!! I am super excited for this one! We are hoping to catch the fireworks from MVMCP (which I hear are at about 9:30. Can anyone confirm this?)

Monday:
*This is one of our early days.
*Breakfast is at 7:45 at Kona Cafe. Tonga Toast here I come!
*Monorail to MK...my most anticipated part of the trip is next...BBB!!!! Olivia has a 9:55 appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!!!
*After her princess makeover we plan to do the photoshoot right away to get it over with (while she is still clean).
*Next is lunch at Crystal Palace at 11:55. I'm hoping BBB doesn't run too far behind so we have time to do the photoshoot afterwards, before lunch.
*After lunch we will either hang around MK or head back to POP for some rest. I am not sure which yet. Dinner is at 5:00 at 1900 Park Fare followed by Spectromagic at 7:00 and Wishes at 8:00. This is are only chance all week to see Spectro and Wishes, so this is a definite!

Tuesday:
*This is our Hollywood Studios day. We don't have anything planned until lunch at 11:30 at Hollywood & Vine.
*We will probably hang out at the Studios until 4:00ish when we take the boat to Epcot for our 4:55 dinner at Garden Grill.
*After dinner I am thinking we will hang out at Epcot for a bit and then either hang out at Epcot and get great night time pics or head back to Hollywood Studios to see the Osbourne lights.

Wednesday:
*Another early day.
*Breakfast is at 8:35 at Cape May Cafe.
*After breakfast we will make our way to Epcot
*I really want to hit the as much of World Showcase as possible on this trip. We usually make a mad dash around the lagoon and miss the good stuff!
*We will try and get future world out of the way in the morning and then start the WS after our 1:30 lunch ADR at LeCellier!!!!
*The hotel sounds like a good plan for later in the afternoon since our dinner is until 8:05 at Ohana.

Thursday:
*This morning we are going back to Ohana to eat breakfast with Lilo and Stitch! I heard such good things about both meals at Ohana, I couldn't decide which I wanted to go to, so I picked both!
*After breakfast it's Magic Kingdom time for about half the day.
*At some point we will take the monorail to Epcot and hang out there until our dinner ADR at 4:40 at Teppan Edo (yep, I changed it from Whispering Canyon Cafe).
*Not sure what we will do this evening. Either Stay at Epcot or go to HS and see the Osbourne lights (whatever we didn't do on Tuesday night)

Friday:
So sad...our last day
*We get to sleep in (at least a little bit). Get the final packing done, and load up the car.
*Breakfast is at Chef Mickey's at 9:55. I know it gets a bad rap, but we have never had a bad meal there, and we love it!
*Not sure what the rest of the day holds. Maybe a park? Downtown Disney? I honestly have no plan for this day!!!
*We have a late lunch at 3:00 at Planet Hollywood. If we don't hit Downtown Disney earlier in the day, we will probably do it after lunch and then very sadly head home.

So that is it. Our rough plan for the week. What do you think? Suggestions? Fun things that we may have not done before? Let me know!!!

YUMMY! Your itinerary is filled with such great sounding ADRs! We have many of the same ADRs...Chef Mickeys, Ohana (dinner only), Yak n Yeti, Kona Cafe, Le Cellier lunch...I've never eaten at any one of them so I'm super excited!! Are any of these a first for you or have you been to them all?

 

[eecteacher82]

YUMMY! Your itinerary is filled with such great sounding ADRs! We have many of the same ADRs...Chef Mickeys, Ohana (dinner only), Yak n Yeti, Kona Cafe, Le Cellier lunch...I've never eaten at any one of them so I'm super excited!! Are any of these a first for you or have you been to them all?

It does sound like a yummy trip! I am really excited for all of our ADRs! Of the 14 we have, we have only been to 3-Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's and Planet Hollywood. I really wanted to branch out and try a bunch of new ones this trip. Planet Hollywood is my DH's favorite, Olivia loves Chef Mickeys and we all loved Crystal Palace. I am excited to try them all and report back too see if some of them live up to thier hype (LeCellier in particular).

 

[Overexcited]

Hi just joining in! Love your ADR's. Did the free dining extension help defer any of the DDP costs?

 

[eecteacher82]

Hi just joining in! Love your ADR's. Did the free dining extension help defer any of the DDP costs?

Glad you're joining in! I really wish the free dining would have helped us out!!!! Unfortunately, our whole stay is blacked out!! I am really hoping to get a PIN that includes our dates (I know they are out there), even if I can't get a PIN, I know we will have passholder rates that will give us a bit of a break.

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Those videos are adorable and so is your dd!! I had no idea that the barnstormer was an actual rollercoaster. Oh man. Looks it is such a blast!


Do you know how that compares to big thunder? From the vids it kind of looks similar, but I can't tell for sure.

 

[eecteacher82]

Those videos are adorable and so is your dd!! I had no idea that the barnstormer was an actual rollercoaster. Oh man. Looks it is such a blast!


Do you know how that compares to big thunder? From the vids it kind of looks similar, but I can't tell for sure.

I would say big thunder is MUCH more of a roller coaster. It is longer, faster steeper and a bit rougher. I would say, watch some videos of it on youtube and see what you think. Sorry I'm not more of a help! I love roller coasters, so to me, big thunder isn't really bad at all!

 

[chunkymonkey]

It does sound like a yummy trip! I am really excited for all of our ADRs! Of the 14 we have, we have only been to 3-Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's and Planet Hollywood. I really wanted to branch out and try a bunch of new ones this trip. Planet Hollywood is my DH's favorite, Olivia loves Chef Mickeys and we all loved Crystal Palace. I am excited to try them all and report back too see if some of them live up to thier hype (LeCellier in particular).

Me too! I've heard so much about Le Cellier...so I can't wait until our lunch there. I keep wondering if I have crazy expectations now that I've heard all the hype about it. But I guess for the most part, reading everyone else's reviews, it does seem to live up to the hype!

 

[eecteacher82]

Me too! I've heard so much about Le Cellier...so I can't wait until our lunch there. I keep wondering if I have crazy expectations now that I've heard all the hype about it. But I guess for the most part, reading everyone else's reviews, it does seem to live up to the hype!

I am thinking the same thing! You will have to let me know since your trip is before mine! I have to confess, I am only going for the cheddar cheese soup and pretzel bread! I have to admit that I don't eat red meat at all (haven't it about 10 years)! I'm sure my red meat loving husband will have a good steak though.

 

[jagmom]

Just found your PTR. You guys are so cute!

 

[eecteacher82]

Just found your PTR. You guys are so cute!

Glad you're joining the party! I just hope I can keep everyone entertained for the next 4.5 months!!! Thanks for the compliment, I think DH and DD are pretty darn cute...but I am a bit biased!

 

[Overexcited]

We ate at LeCelliar for lunch and were disappointed. I know WHAT? We had eaten at Coral the night before and preferred their steak! We may have caught them on an off day, we should try them again. I am looking forward to hearing what you guys think. My parents are trying them during our trip. Who knows, maybe we had just caught something wrong. The bread and soup were good!

 

[eecteacher82]

We ate at LeCelliar for lunch and were disappointed. I know WHAT? We had eaten at Coral the night before and preferred their steak! We may have caught them on an off day, we should try them again. I am looking forward to hearing what you guys think. My parents are trying them during our trip. Who knows, maybe we had just caught something wrong. The bread and soup were good!

That stinks that you didn't like your meal! I'm glad the bread and soup were good though....that's all I'm after!

 

[Overexcited]

That stinks that you didn't like your meal! I'm glad the bread and soup were good though....that's all I'm after!

Oh by no means was the food bad. The are so highly rated and the steak was better the night before, we were just disappointed. I think we had high expectations because of the reviews I read. Maybe if I did not know we would have been more impressed. The staff was wonderful, dessert was good.

 

[exwdwcm]

Hi Erin- i am subscribed now! your little girl is simply adorable! and what a little miracle too! as you know from reading my PTR, our kiddos are about the same age- my DS turns 3 on 10/31! we will probably celebrate his bady on the trip too. btw- we did take him to BBB at downtown disney this past december. Him and his cousin got the cool dudes- which was so cute and under $10 (great deal for the boys). my niece got the all out BBB treatment. your DD will love it!

so love all your meals- we eat ourselves sick on most trips! we had FD this past December, but now that we bought DVC and are staying on points, we don't qualify for FD of course. We are going to count on eating breakfast in our room (have a 1bed at BLT with kitchen) and maybe a few other meals too.

you will love Cali Grill- it is one of my all time favorites- I have eaten there probably 5x now, in fact, i used to travel to orlando every march for a tradeshow for work and i would always drag my coworkers there to eat (and Earle at DTD!). Love Kona Cafe too- i think more and more people are discovering how great it is. Le Cellier and Ohana are two more of my favorites- you will really enjoy them. can you tell i am a big meat eater? love me some steak!

can't wait to hear more!

 

[eecteacher82]

Shhh, don't tell my DH! I've been doing more shopping for our trip (yes,even though it is still 143 days away)!

I was at the craft store yesterday and of course the $1 bin caught my eye as usual. I dug through and found these:

For a buck they are perfect! They only had bracelets, but I will be on the lookout for necklaces as well. We also still have the light up necklace we bought Olivia on our very first trip that we take back every time.

Next we went to Toy R Us, where I found this fun light up toy for only $2.50!

She has a bunch of small Disney characters from a play set that are about 2.5 inches tall, and I plan on stealing the Mickey and slapping some super glue on him and sticking him on the top.

After those stops, we hit up the mall. Since we had already found her Cinderella dress, she just needed some shoes. I wanted to get shoes that I knew she would be comfortable in all day. After hitting a few stores, we found these at Payless:

Olivia loved them right away, and since I had a 20% off coupon, they only ended up being about $8.00!

Here is a pic of the Cinderella dress we got:

Sorry it's a bad picture...the lighting in our house is a bit odd... I liked this dress better than the ones from the park and Disney store! I think it's prettier and it's not too heavy. Since December can either be 80 degrees or 50 degrees down here, I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too hot, but also had enough give that if I needed to put a turtleneck under it, it would still be comfy.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I got Livy a shirt from the Disney store online....I finally remembered to take a picture of it!

I think this ended up being less than $10!

I think I am obsessed with shopping online.... I got an email from the Disney store yesterday and they had a deal going for free personalization (normally $7.95 an item)!!!! I tried really hard not to buy anything....I caved this morning though...
I bought Olivia this shirt last year before our September trip:

It was onsale then ($7.99) and she loves it! She wears it anytime it is clean and asks me to wash it when it is dirty. The problem is that she has just about outgrown it!!!

I figured it wouldn't hurt to look since the personalization was free and all... Well they had the polo alright....it was onsale again for $7.99 (from $16.99). Of course this was the breaking point for me! Before you could say "Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious" I was designing one! The only color they had left in her size was red (totally fine with that since our trip is in December), so then I went with a white Tink and "Olivia" written in the Disney font in white under Tink.

Of course I couldn't help myself from looking around the site... As I was looking Olivia saw the backpacks...oh no, I was in trouble now. You see, backpacks are like her crack...she can't get enough of them! I saw that they had the design your own backpack onsale for $15.00 (again with free personalization), so I being the softie I am said sure and let Olivia design her own backpack. She chose the light pink with dark pink trim and Cinderella and then Olivia written in white in the Disney font under Cinderella's picture. After that I had to step away from the computer so we went out for a walk!

I will definitely post pics when the new items come in!

Just remember though...this is our little secret, DH does NOT have to know.

 

[eecteacher82]

Hi Erin- i am subscribed now! your little girl is simply adorable! and what a little miracle too! as you know from reading my PTR, our kiddos are about the same age- my DS turns 3 on 10/31! we will probably celebrate his bady on the trip too. btw- we did take him to BBB at downtown disney this past december. Him and his cousin got the cool dudes- which was so cute and under $10 (great deal for the boys). my niece got the all out BBB treatment. your DD will love it!

so love all your meals- we eat ourselves sick on most trips! we had FD this past December, but now that we bought DVC and are staying on points, we don't qualify for FD of course. We are going to count on eating breakfast in our room (have a 1bed at BLT with kitchen) and maybe a few other meals too.

you will love Cali Grill- it is one of my all time favorites- I have eaten there probably 5x now, in fact, i used to travel to orlando every march for a tradeshow for work and i would always drag my coworkers there to eat (and Earle at DTD!). Love Kona Cafe too- i think more and more people are discovering how great it is. Le Cellier and Ohana are two more of my favorites- you will really enjoy them. can you tell i am a big meat eater? love me some steak!

can't wait to hear more!

Glad you subbed (I hate it when I find a PTR or TR I like and then forget to sub!)! I'll say it again...I am SO jealous that you own at BLT!!! Having the kitchen will be great! We stayed in a 1 bdrm at Saratoga Springs last September, and the kitchen was great! I loved being able make breakfast and dinner one night as well right in the room. It was also great to have a real freezer to freeze water bottles and juice boxes since it was so hot then! I have to say, my favorite thing was the washer and dryer!!!! We got TOTALLY drenched one night at the MK (the water in the streets was over our ankles) and of course DH only brought 1 pair of shoes, and the stroller was totally drenched even with the rain cover, so being able to dry that stuff without payng $2 and fighting with other guests to even get a dryer, was awesome. I also loved that the only dirty clothes we came home wth were what we were wearing that day! It made upacking so much nicer. It was easy to toss a load in before we left in the morning, toss it in the dryer on our midday break and then fold it up real quick when we got back in the evening!

Thanks for your thoughts on some of our ADR choices!!! Cali grill is probably one of the choices I am most excited about! I am hoping that we can catch the MVMCP fireworks while we are there! I'm not a red meat eater at all (haven't eaten any since college about 10 years ago), by my DH can sure eat his share and mine!

 

[ashleykinkade]

Love the shoes that you got to go with her dress! So cute! And have to admit that i did a little sneaky online shopping on Monday that DH doesn't know about yet. lol I wasn't able to resist the backpacks either. And then I bought some things for our trip. But everything that I got was on sale...so hopefully he won't get too mad.

 

[eecteacher82]

Love the shoes that you got to go with her dress! So cute! And have to admit that i did a little sneaky online shopping on Monday that DH doesn't know about yet. lol I wasn't able to resist the backpacks either. And then I bought some things for our trip. But everything that I got was on sale...so hopefully he won't get too mad.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!! Since I am home all day, I am the one who gets the mail, so when a new purchase comes in, I just open the box and put everything away, so when DH notices something new (a few months later), I just say, oh I bought that a while ago. Not sure why this makes it ok (maybe b/c he figures the money has been spent for months so it really doesn't make a difference ). He never cares though. I could probably tell him as soon as I buy things, but I think now it has become a game to see how long it takes him to notice the new things! I always use the "it was on sale" logic as well, just makes it easier to justify! I'll cross my fingers that your DH isn't upset and gets that you really did need everything![/

 

[moparop]

I bought those same glow bracelets at the craft store last week! I figured the kids can take the bracelets apart and make thir own necklaces if they want to.

I love the shirts you've bought for Livy. Too cute!