Madam Mim's New Halloween/F&W/3rd Anniversary PTR!

[westgrove]

Some of you may have seen a PTR I started a while back and since then our plans have changed so much that I decided to start a fresh...​

Who: Me & DH
When: 28 Sep - 12 Oct '13
Where: CSR and last 2 nights at AoA
How: ...I don't know yet! No flights booked and I'm already in DD!

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ME:
Age - 26
Trip to WDW No. - 2
Favourite Character - Ursula
WDW Parks in preference order (Best first) - MK, EPCOT, AK, HS
Favourite Ride - Splash Mountain
One thing to do again which we did last time - Water Parks
One thing to do we missed last time - Fantasmic
MNSSHP Costume - Mad, Mad, Mad Madam Mim!

DH:
Age - 31
Trip to WDW No. - 4
Favourite Character - Thomas O'Malley
WDW Parks in preference order (Best first) - MK, AK, HS, EPCOT
Favourite Ride: Splash Mountain
One thing to do again which we did last time - Go on splashmountain...!
One thing to do we missed last time - Space mountain
MNSSHP Costume - Pirate

 

[westgrove]

Today I've had a lovely relaxed day and just got back from the cinema with DH. We watched Monsters University and as Monsters Inc is DH's favourite Pixar film we were in anticipation. We both really enjoyed it and now I feel like my Disney levels have been topped up so I am doing an update on the PTR.

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Hotels : As previously stated we're having 12 nights at CSR. We stayed here last May and we just completely fell in love!!! the pools are really great. It was never too busy anywhere, we like Mexican theming and food so the general décor etc really appealed to us and the bus services were fab too. We'd like to try another moderate but we just can't imagine any being as good! We stayed in the Cabanas section last time and I've requested this area again. If we don't get in I'll go in Ranchos as even though it's further away I like the theming much better than Casitas. I know a lot of people like it but it looked very large and quite bland compared to the other two areas.

The last 2 nights are at AoA in a Little Mermaid room!!! We booked 12 nights at CSR thinking we'd spend 9-10 days in Canada first. Now our 2 weeks is in Orlando and instead of paying to add nights to CSR I decided we'd try somewhere else. This was easier on the pocket and as you may be able to tell from my signature picture happens to be possibly my favourite Disney film (perhaps top 3 anyway) but certainly my favourite villain by far!!! I think the rooms look really cute and I'll enjoy being somewhere a bit more overtly Disney themed compared to CSR.




Free Dining : we have standard dining for our stay at CSR only



Park Tickets : ultimate pass for Disney, 2 day park hopper with transfers for Universal, 1 day 1 park Seaworld


Extras : MNSSHP, Penguin encounter at SeaWorld and the only other thing which I haven't booked yet is I'd like to the a mixology seminar at the F&W festival

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Wow your trip is really coming together now... you will love Food & Wine, I wish we'd looked into it more and done a class. And yay for CSR! X

 

[Sarah28]

Yay for MNSSHP, you will love it. We had such a great time, would go back in October in a flash. And yay for AoA! Looking forward to hearing your review there - think I may be tempted by the nemo theme on another trip!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[westgrove]

T-63 days!!!​

When we went to WDW last year we hardly planned at all, however, this time I think that the price to pay for having TS meals is having to plan thoroughly.

As it happens this is right down my street... and what I soon realised is that there is so much to consider!
-I wanted to avoid were going to the same park or resort too close together
-Avoid having similar types/styles of food on consecutive days
-If I'm in this park on this day for dinner do I think I'll want an early or late ADR?
-Which days do I leave ADR free for going to malls or other parks?
-Avoid booking early breakfast ADR if I think there's a good chance of heavy drinking!
etc
etc!!!

So the 'final' ADR list looks like this (with comments reasons for choosing):

Day 1 - none
Day 2 - Via Napoli Dinner (l've read great things about the pizza here and really fell for the great looking ovens!!!)
Day 3 - Yak and Yeti Late Lunch (Had the CS version of this and it was completely delicious). Sci-Fi Dinner (Picnic burger for us both I think and even if the food reviews were awful the theming can not be ignored- hope we get in a car!)
Day 4 - Le Cellier Dinner (I once saw a photo of the mushroom risotto and steak and since then this has been a must)
Day 5 - none
Day 6 - 50s prime Time Café Dinner (for DH one item was all that need be mentioned to make this a must- peanutbutter jelly milkshake)
Day 7 - House of Blues Dinner (I purposely wanted to try a non-Disney restaurant and I remember last year DH was curious so we looked up the menu and here it is - plus being a fri night this will be perfect for an evening drinky or two after)
Day 8 - Biergarten Dinner (we did this as our only ADR last year and both liked it. Sadly we were sat with a family of 6 last time who whilst polite provided no opportunity for interaction so hoping for a fun table this time)
Day 9 - O'hana Dinner (What can I say - I'm a tiki lover at heart and not only think the set menu looks super but also think this is one of the more appropriate of our ADR locations for our third wedding anniversary dinner - VERY excited for this one - bring on the lapu-lapus!)
Day 10 - Maya Grill Dinner (as we're staying at CSR this was an easy choice)
Day 11 - Be Our Guest Dinner (I got this ADR straight away because they're so hard to get. We'll go for lunch too and honestly I think I'll prefer the lunch menu but it seems silly to cancel when they're so hard to come by)
Day 12 - none
Day 13 - Tusker House Breakfast (There is no buffet breakfast at CSR anymore and it also means characters and an early start for the animals)
Day 14 - Kona Café Breakfast (To satisfy my tonga toast curiosity)
Day 15 - none

 

[westgrove]

Day 1​

Getting off the plane (hopefully around 3pm) - I'm always a little convinced that I am boarding an ill fated flight so the relief that I'll live to see another day is palpable! Also, last time the weather was rubbish our first two days so I'm hoping to experience the famed wall of heat on arrival.

Next...

Magical Express (Resort Buses) - I love (though toward the holiday end do get slightly sick of) the buses and particularly the announcements... I'm sure we're not the only ones to joke around with each other when you're told to 'take small children by the hand' - even if in reality it isn't all that funny - we are of course like excitable little kids all the time!

Then...

Getting to the resort and settling into our new home for the next 12 days. I cannot say how much I adore this resort.
If we could I'd like to try Wilderness lodge and Poly, DH would go for AK. However, the Mexican theming is something we both like, the pool looks fab and the hot tub is nice after a big day. We like the food too! We stayed in Cabanas section last time and every time I call with a query I check they have a note with our request.
Looking forward to evenings on a hammock with a lovely fruity drink and looking at the stars through palm leaves


After dropping our stuff we'll go straight out on a bus to...

Downtown Disney - here we'll either have a CS dinner at Wolfgang puck express or Earl of Sandwich. Probably WGP where I guarantee now that DH will have the meatloaf

(something you'll notice when I do my TR is that in every picture DH has already started diving in to his before I can take it!!! )

We'll take a stroll down to the other end whilst spending a husband-irritating amount of time in World of Disney.
Maybe buy a few treats from Goofy Candy Co to keep in our room.
I think my favourite is cake pops but crispy treats are a very close second!



After staying out later than advisable considering the long journey and plan to get up super early the next day we'll go back to our room and more than likely watch a bit of American TV before bed

 

[westgrove]

I'm going to Disney World next month!!!!

Feels fantastic- it is the very end of the month but that's incidental

 

[Laurafoster]

Eeek! It will soon fly past. We go just before you

 

[westgrove]

Eeek! It will soon fly past. We go just before you

I saw! You must be super excited too! It suddenly feels like its coming quickly

I have most clothes etc arranged in my head that I'll be packing but might post soon with my recent purchases

 

[westgrove]

I've been writing my packing list already!
I try to take a week or so of clothes and do washes whist we're on hol (and buy new clothes!)
I generally wear dresses - usually with leggings under but not always, or 3/4 jeans/trousers with tshirts etc
I haven't bought any new clothes specifically because I hate having a 'holiday wardrobe' that I don't use the rest of the time so makes sure I buy things I'll wear at home too. But I have bought two new swimsuits.

 

[westgrove]

Plans for Day 2​

Coronado Springs Pepper market Breakfast - we wish that the pepper market still did the buffet breakfast which we enjoyed thoroughly - the a la carte menu still looks pretty good though

MK - we'll arrive at MK for my first ever drop rope!!!
I'm really excited to see the new fanstasyland and I'm hoping to get lunch at BOG.
I hope we get to reserve a lunch as I'm worried what the queue will be like on a Sunday.
I also really hope we get magic bands as we never use fast passes normally (I think we used 3 each in a fortnight last time) so to be able to reserve in advance would be great for us.

I'm not sure what we'll do in the afternoon but in the evening we'll go to...


Epcot - I love the world showcase, I'm looking forward to having a really good mooch around all the countries again but this evening we'll be heading for an ADR in Italy at Via Napoli

Plans for Day 3​

AK - It's EMH so we'll get there for opening time and head straight for the safari I think as DH is always jokes that he's worried that other guests will 'use up all the animals'. He loves animals and gets very impatient about having to wait to see them! We'll stay in AK all morning and have a late lunch at Yak and Yeti where we have an ADR. I'm going to pay oop for pot stickers - yum!!!

Again I'm unclear on what we do on the afternoon - we might get a cab to Walmart if we have time.

HS - in the evening we have an ADR at Sci-Fi Drive In where I believe I'll get the picnic burger and some delicious 'adult' drinkies.

 

[Sarah28]

I love all your clothes Laura, I think we have the same sorta style and taste look forward to reading more

 

[irongirlof12]

Love the clothes you have planned , dining choices are al good, we have stayed at CSR and loved the food court, also ate at maya grill and enjoyed it, some reports aren't great but we like it well enough. your plans sound great

 

[westgrove]

Love the clothes you have planned , dining choices are al good, we have stayed at CSR and loved the food court, also ate at maya grill and enjoyed it, some reports aren't great but we like it well enough. your plans sound great

I've read mixed reviews about Maya Grill, however, there are also very few reviews around. It looked nice when we were there last time but the opportunity just didn't come up so I'm looking forward to it

 

[westgrove]

It's now 33days away and the excitement is building quickly!

It seems that when we go CSR will not have rolled out magic bands etc and we are not in the test so we will have standard kttw and fp selections which I'm ok with. For our last days when we're at AoA we have magic bands. I've gone for red and DH has gone for grey. Online I have the option to make fp+ reservations but as we're using the same park ticket for the whole stay I worry that having fp+ on the last two days will mean we can't use the normal fp for the first 12 and I'd be gutted so I'm not doing anything!

We'll be ordering our $ online to be delivered and I'll do that in the next week or so but I'm trying to hold out to get the better rate.

Here's a summary of the plans for the rest of our days;

Plans for Day 4​

Water Park- we left the water parks 'til week 2 last time and regretted not doing them more so we'll be getting in a visit early on. Probably to Typhoon Lagoon as it's our favourite

not sure about the afternoon but in the evening we'll go to
EPCOT - have an ADR for Le Cellier which I am really looking forward to. I've read that it isn't worth using two credits on however the fillet mignon with risotto and the crème brulee look great to me! I had it in mind to get the famous soup oop, but , as it's the f+w festival whilst we're there we might get it from the Canada stand another time.

Plans for Day 5​

UNIVERSAL- We're going to go mid-week to try to get the most out of our visits here. We have two days planned. This will be our 'big' day and the other day will just be re-doing our favourites etc.

With all the new attractions in the Universal Studios park I imagine we'll start there and get there ready for opening time.
DH likes the ET ride from his childhood memories and I like the Mummy ride. We did them all last year and this time we won't be sad to miss out Twister or Disaster ... and certainly not Beetlejuice's Graveyard review! that was simply awful - I'm yet to meet anyone who enjoys it!

We're looking forward to a look around the Simpsons area and will probably have lunch there.

In the afternoon we can go to Islands of Adventure and do as many rides as possible - except perhaps Poseidon's Fury which I thought was rather a let down.


The plan is then to have our dinner at Hard Rock Café before going 'home' to CSR

 

[westgrove]

UH-OH...
I've really neglected the PTR and now it's only 12 sleeps 'til Disney!!!

I'm never going to get the time to write up the rest of the days as I have been doing previously so here's quick a synopsis:

Day 6 - EMH at MK so opening at 8am. Then we have Dinner at HS on this evening at Prime Time Diner

Day 7 - Not sure but probably Blizzard Beach and Winter/Summerland golf. We then have an ADR in the evening at House of Blues so will spend an evening in DTD. Since reading the menu we're both really looking forward to HoB!!!

Day 8 - I think we'll go to Florida Mall as this will be a Saturday so the parks will be busier and at the mid way holiday point I'll have a better idea of how much budget I can blow on clothes!!! In the evening we have a ressie at Biergarten then plan to go to the Boardwalk and poss. the dancehall for some more drinks....

Day 9 - WEDDING ANNIVERSARY day!!! I'm sooo excited. We have no plans at all until the evening - which is good as I imagine I'll need a lie in after the night before! I plan for us to go into MK for a few hrs before it closes at 7 for mnsshp as I've read the queues are less at this time. Then we'll get the monorail over to Poly for Lapu-lapus and a meal at O'hana

Day 10 - Early day at SeaWorld for the day, then back to CSR resort for a 'night at home' and dinner at Maya Grill.

Day 11 - We'll get to EPCOT at opening time at 8am then probably make the most of the F&W festival and stuff our tummies
But we have to leave room for dinner at Be Our Guest and more MK fun

Day 12 - a full day planned at Universal with a break to go for dinner at either Hard Rock Café or Hash house a go-go

Day 13 - Check out of CSR. Early admission into AK with breakfast at Tusker House and our first and only character dining event - I'm a little sceptical but planning to go with an open mind! If we're done early at AK we'll go to a waterpark until it's time to go to AoA and check in then spend the rest of the day here including trying food at Landscape of Flavors

Day 14 - Tonga Toast here I come - breakfast at Kona Café then probably over to HS for a few hours until going back to AoA to make sure we have time to have a power-nap and get ready for...
MNSSHP!!!

I'd like to get there by 5pm and stay right through til closing time. It seems like such a loooong day but I'm sure the reality will fly by!

Day 15 - from extreme high to extreme low - it's time to go home. Our flight to Atlanta as at 16:30. I hope that Magical Express will leave us enough time for a few hours in DTD in the morning. I think it should be fine as long as we get up early.

Day 16 - I'll be home but my heart will be in WDW *boo-hoo* commence feeling sorry for myself

 

[westgrove]

As for a general update:
I'm really excited to find out that there are so many people from the UK boards in WDW at the same time as us. I can't wait to read all the trip reports.


Yesterday I spent 6 hours making a lilac top and raspberry pink skirt yesterday for my MNSSHP Mim costume.
It isn't perfect and the wig I bought is simply awful but this outfit is not about being the best or looking the nicest - I'm just getting ready for some fun!!!
... and my first ever try of candy corn

​

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

I cant wait to hear about this trip when you return! (Not that im wishing your trip away of course!) Nice to see your spending at night "at home", if i could redo our october trip, thats one plan id add!

Also, MNSSHP, we got there at 12pm, had an adr at crystal palace, and we didnt leave till nearly 1am! We took it at our own pace, and it definately didnt feel like 13 hours!!
Xx

 

[westgrove]

Qucik post to say;
It's HERE - SDD!!! It seems sooooo long in coming and now I know the next 9 days will fly by but it's dragging so much