Mother & Daughter's Plan for a Trip with a Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hello,

I just found out a week ago, that my mother will be going to Tampa for work in Nov. and she decided that it would be fun to extend the trip and take me along and go to Disney World for my B-DAY present!

(Cue me screaming and jumping up and down)

Yes that is me screaming....

Background:
My name is Marcea, I am a 28 year old, who has a little 8 year inside of her ready to burst at any moment

I am new to DIS Boards, but I am a big planner and researcher and I do it on all my trips. My feeling is I can rest at home but when I am on vacation I want to get as much done as humanely possible. For my cruise trips I make huge binders with everything and I mean everything in it. I also use to live over on the Cruise Critic Boards back when I was planning for our cruise trips. Anyone else love it over there too?
To give an example on my planning, on one of my trips I had a group of people following me because I was giving my mom a little tour history that I made and printed out about the ruins we were in. They thanked me later and said it was even better than the official tour guide. I think they just liked mine because it was free
Here is a pic from the cruise with my mother and me.

Notice the shirt I am wearing....I am not a Disney fan at all....I swear....

So my day job is something that takes advantage of the fact I loove to plan and researcher things to death and is very stereotypical for a person who loves to plan.....
I am a wedding planner, yep like Jennifer Lopez but a lot less glamorous.
I am the person standing in the background making sure all the magic happens just like the Disney World CMs.

Yep that is me in the background...

But hey you will not see me complaining because I get work at places like this...

I know this place is gorgeous right, I just love living and working in Colorado. They were such a great couple too and I loved working on their wedding.

I am also a part time ski instructor too up here in Colorado. It works well since there are not a lot of weddings during the winter and it pays for my season pass. But if I post pics of that it would give away where I work and some times they get a little picky about that soo.. no pics.

My Mother is a civilian working at a local military base. She travels a lot for work, which means lots of millage points! She is my best traveling buddy. When we have to take our men (ie my dad and my husband) we have to slow down and we do not get to go at our normal fast pace but hey we love them. I just do not think they appreciate all my planning I put into my trip plans as much as mom does.

Here is another fun pic of the two of us since I have none of us in Disney:

I know, I know, why is there no pics of us in Disney? It is not like I am not a huge Disney fan, I am huge Disney fan, I have all the movies, tons of shirts, I have their songs on my Ipod playlist as we speak and watch out when I get near karaoke and they have Disney songs....

So I have only been to Disney World twice and once to Disneyland and that was all before the age of 12. So I have no digital copy of all those pics and I have no idea where those pics are packed away. Man I love digital pics. I do wish we could have gone more but it was that or stop ski racing and I looove skiing.

So I hope you guys will all enjoy the ride, I know I will with my first pre- planning trip report, and hopefully to be followed by my real trip report!

Chapters:
Hotel and Transportation
Sunday Nov 17th, 2013
Tickets, Packing and Overall Plan
Monday Nov 18th, 2013
Tuesday Nov 19th, 2013
And hopefully with some pixie dust...
Going to the Dark Side...
Thursday Nov 21st, 2013
Friday Nov 22th, 2013
And a little bit of Disney Magic...
Saturday Nov 23rd, 2013
A little bit of Disney in the Mountains
Packing Meals?

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

When we started to plan mom said top priority was budget, so I took that to heart when planning this trip.

Transportation
Work will be flying mom out and mom has enough United points to take me along in economy plus with her. I love mileage points
Our original plan was Flying in on Sun Nov 17th and then Flying out Sat Nov 23, but there was no available flights so had to push it back to Sun 24th ooh darn. To bad they where both early morning flights...but hey that is what happens when you plan a trip at the last min.

For getting around in Orlando and Tampa, mom has points in Hertz, so we are going to rent out economy car for a week for free.


Hotel
So when we started looking at where to stay we had a lot of things to look at.
First we are going during the Free Dining program, so I started researching a lot into that, trying to figure out is it worth it.

I thought it might be fun to stay at Art of Animation. I loooove that area. I was thinking of staying in the Little Mermaid area, even though it is far away, it is the best deal I think in all of Disney and then you get to play in the Big Blue Pool!!

The major hiccup happened when I started reading that they said the free dining program really is not a good value if you book in the value hotels since you get a cheaper food plan. You really need to book a least a moderate place to get value from it.

Hmm, I told mom about the problem and then she checked out her points in Hilton. She had a decent amount. She said okay what can we do with this amount of points.

I then looked into Hilton Disney Downtown. Nice place, we get to have most of the perks with a normal Disney hotel, including the magic hours! Has a good shuttle to the parks. We could do a combo of points and paying like $50 a night, not a bad deal at all.

But here is the thing, mom was liking the place but she did not liking the fact we would have to pay for parking, pay for breakfast and pay still for the hotel.

So next after a bit of researching I found the lovely Hampton Inn Lake Buena Vista. They are as close as you can get to being in Downtown Disney without being in Downtown Disney. They have shuttles but looking at the times they are worthless, since they arrive so late after opening, but hey we have a car so that does not matter. Parking is free at the hotel and the rooms have a frig and microwave! That will be good to help save us money.

And did I mention they a free breakfast with Mickey waffles!!

Bingo, we found our place in Orlando.

Next we needed to look for a place when mom had to work in Tampa on Friday. Looking at a map we noticed how close Tampa is to the beach, and we thought perfect! Lets get a place by the beach and while mom is at work I will spend my time at the Beach. So we will be spending 2 nights here Thursday and Friday night.

My key things I had to look for, first a Hilton, always good to get points. Next walking distance to the beach since I will not have the car. Also walking distance to food since again no car and a pool. Work will be paying for this hotel so it also needs to be close enough to where she is working and not be too expensive.
I found this great hotel: DoubleTree Beach Resort by Hilton Hotel Tampa Bay - North Redington Beach

I think this picture really sells it and you get free cookies, need I say more? They also have a great little tiki bar to look at over the ocean, yeah I can live with this.

But we noticed the drive between Tampa and Orlando Airport is over 2 hours and with a early morning flight the next day so we decided to get a room next to the airport on Sat night so that way we do not need wake up as early.

We wanted to be able to drop off our rental car on Sat so we would not have to do it the next day early in the morning. So we needed to go with a hotel that had shuttle to the airport.

So in the searching we found this lovely Embassy Suites, that has free shuttle to airport, free breakfast, and who can forget happy hour at Embassy Suites has free drink and snacks! Mom had enough points for one room night here, perfect.


So as a wrap up:

Nov 17th - 21st Hampton Inn Buena Vista Lake
Nov 21st - 23rd Double Tree Beach Resort
Nov 23rd -24th Embassy Suites Orland Airport

And yes if you have not noticed we have not spent one dime yet, my mom loves this part!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Sunday Nov. 17th, 2013

The first day we arrive in Orlando.

Flight will be dropping us off around 1pm.
So we will be going to Hertz and getting our rental car.

Next we be heading to our hotel, Hampton Inn Buena Vista Lake.
We will then drop off our stuff and head to Downtown Disney

Now we were debating about should we do the Downtown Disney or Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. I could not convince mom that it was worth the price to go to MVMCP. What do you think worth the price?

But hey I think either way we will have fun.
Key things we want to do, shop, drink and eat while we are at Downtown Disney!!

Shopping List:
Minne Mouse Ears: I want to wear something like these when I go into the parks the next day. I really would love something unique!

X-Mas Ornament: I get one from everyplace I visit
Magnet: I get one from everyplace I visit
2 T-Shirts : I plan on wearing it when I go to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood.
And always keeping an eye out for X-Mas Presents for my husband, dad, daughter and son of my cousin who we just love and of my other close cousins too.

ADR:
Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
6:45 PM
I use to do a little Irish Dancing ( I really was a tap dancer) but tap dancing got me into hard shoe Irish, so the moment I heard this place had Irish dancing I put this on my list to see.

Here is a pic with my friends and I at a Irish dance competition

This place covers the eating and drinking portion of the night, thank god for hotel shuttle because we plan on staying here for the rest of the night.

What are we going to eat:
Right now we only know the Bread Pudding, any other food suggestions?

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I almost forgot to talk about the Tickets and the Over All Plan!

(not a lot of pics in this one though, sorry)

Again remember mom does not want to spend too much money, so we are going for has basic tickets. We are getting the three day park pass, no hopper at Disney World. Then we are also getting one day ticket for IOA so we can see Harry Potter. Since my mom works on a military base, on Monday she bought the tickets there, so no taxes and a little bit of a discount, yeah! They are right now being sent to us and we should get them in a couple of weeks.

For the two of us the total came to around $700, it made my mom say this may be your x-mas present too, Merry Christmas!

Over All Plan
Sunday: DTD
Monday: Epcot
Tuesday: MK
Wednesday: Harry Potter
Thursday: HS
Friday: Beach
Saturday: Beach/High Tea at the Floridian
Sunday: Leaving

I know sadly we are not seeing AK, I would love to do it, but mom said only 4 days at the parks, that is as much as her pocket book could handle and I had to see Harry Potter too.

Packing List:
I will slowly be adding to this
1. A drinking around the world shirt for Epcot,

2. My DSLR cannon camera, I need to get it fixed though since at one of my weddings I dropped it and the lens is out of whack now
3. My I pad
4. My laptop (I know I bring a lot of tech but I do need to bring all this stuff, since I own/run my own business so I will be working a bit while on vacation)
5. 3 Capris
6. One nice cotton dress (for when I want to dress up a bit)
7. Sandals with arch support ( I love these things can walk around them all day and they have such good arch support)
8. Sneakers
9. A backpack that I ski with. Since it is made for skiing it is a bit water proof and has a camelback and lots of storage without being to big. I will try to take a pic of it later this week. It is nice and will be able to hold my camera, I will need to de-winterize it though, since the tubing is covered so that way it does not freeze when I ski with it. I do not think I need that part in Florida
10. Blisters/other first aid stuff
11. Rain gear
12. One fleece zip up sweater, just in case it gets cold, but I highly doubt I will use it since, I love cold weather
13. Bathing Suit (it is a cute tanktini, what did we do with out these bath suits, I just love how they cover your tummy but you do not need to struggle when going to the bathroom like you do with a one piece suit)

I think that covers the big stuff....

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So I hope you guys are enjoying my pre-trip, this is getting me even more excited about my B-day trip, have I mentioned that I loove my mom

On to my next Day:

Mon Nov 18th, 2013!

The plan Epcot day.
The reason why we picked this day is the touring plans said this:
Crowd Level: 2.2 out of 10
This is a Best Park
Park Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth at 9:00pm

I love low crowd days

Now supposedly I have been to this park before, but I really just do not remember it because I was young. I remember Magic Kingdom really well though when I was little. My second trip was with my 6th grade class and we only did Magic Kingdom. So I am really excited about building new memories here

Game Plan:
I am using Touringplans to create my game plan, here is what our morning looks like.
1) Soarin' FASTPASS Booth

2) Test Track

3) Mission: SPACE Orange

4) Sum of All Thrills

5) Soarin'

6) The Seas with Nemo & Friends

7) Ellen's Energy Adventure

8) Spaceship Earth

After that we will be going to all the countries to do the Drink and Eat tour around the world.

Now we do not want to get wasted in Disney World, that is not fun anymore and I really do not want to have a hangover the next day since we will be at MK.
So here is our plan, first off we are from an high altitude area and we can drink like sailors and not get drunk when we first go down to sea level.
Second we will start off around lunch time and space out our drinks and drink one water in between every drink.
Third we will be sharing our drink.
Last and most important we will be taking a taxi so we will not be drinking and driving, safety first

We will be checking off on the back of my Epcot shirt at each country we went too.

When it comes to what food and drinks we will have at each country I need to do more research but if any of you guys have any suggestions I am all ears

While we wonder around I plan on taking lots of pictures, I use to be in photography classes back when we still had darkrooms, remember those?

Also if there are any meet and greets I defiantly want to take advantage of them here.
I would love to see Mulan the most here. She was my fav Disney princess till Brave came along. Sorry Mulan, I still love you too!
Why do I love Mulan? She is a great role model for girls and I was the sparkly tomboy growing up, meaning I am the girl who would play tackle football with the guys, get all muddy and then clean up and go to dance practice and wear all the sparkly stuff and love it just as much. So with Mulan I felt she really got me. Anyone else here love Mulan too? I just wish she was represented more, you know? And of course if I could see Mushu too that would really make my day but I have been reading he does not come around really anymore

At the end of the night of course we will do Illuminations. We are still looking at where we want to be for that too, since I just do not remember the area it is hard to figure out a good place too be. Hopefully it will not be crowded, so we can wait closer to the last min to find an okay spot. Anybody here go during Nov, was it easy to get a spot?

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Following along!

Yeah! Thanks!

 

[lazer]

Following! Don't miss the two rides ... In Mexico and Norway. Both pretty cheesy, but we love them! Also, the French bakery and Werther's stores are a MUST-DO, in my opinion!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Following! Don't miss the two rides ... In Mexico and Norway. Both pretty cheesy, but we love them! Also, the French bakery and Werther's stores are a MUST-DO, in my opinion!

We figured we will do them depending on how we feel. We feel like we are getting a little tipsy, then we will just walk around drinking water and taking pics. Do not want to be on a ride and tipsy

And good to know about the bakery and the store!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Nov. 19th, 2013
Magic Kingdom DAY!!!

So again we are following tourplans.com. I love them. Not a lot of time for shopping in this plan but I plan us doing the major shopping in DTD and Epcot because I want to make sure we get as much done as possible. What I find strange with tourplans is it did not have us using fast pass as much as I expected, maybe that has to do with the fact we are doing it during the low crowd period so it is not as needed as much.

1) Space Mountain

2) Mad Tea Party

3) Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

4) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Notes: Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

5) Splash Mountain
Notes:

6) Pirates of the Caribbean

7) Rest
11:30am for 40 minutes
** Staying inside the park
Notes: Eat lunch.

8) The Haunted Mansion

9) it's a small world

10) Mickey's PhilharMagic

11) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin FASTPASS Booth

12) Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

13) Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover

14) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

15) Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

16) Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade

17) Brave Meet and Greet

18) Gaston's Tavern Dinner

19) Wishes Nighttime Spectacular

Tourplans has the crowd level at
Crowd Level: 1.1 out of 10
This is a Best Park
Park Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm

Isn't that crazy? 1.1 Level crowds at MK, I did not think that was possible

Highlights

We defiantly want to get here at rope drop, so we will be waking up early.

This is where all my memories of Disney are in MK. I remember coming here my first time, with my yellow autograph book running around trying to get everyone to sign it. I also remember being too short to get on to space mountain, but I specifically picked out shoes that made me taller for this trip. In fact I measured my self ahead of time out on my door way at home, to pick out the best shoes. Then I practiced standing up on my tippy toes in the mirror seeing how much I could get away with it, with out them seeing what I was doing. I thought I was so clever
Anyways I remember getting on twice, I was soo happy. But there was many times, the CMs would not let me on too. I tired a lot, what can I say but I was a crazy little girl But those two times were the best memories with Magic Kingdom. So I had to do that 1st!

The next ride with the tea cups had to do also since it reminds my mom of her dad, she would always go on this ride with her dad and he would spin her and siblings like crazy.So since grandpa passed away a couple years ago we had to do it.

Now lunch we plan on just eating where ever we end up and has a short line, key here will be speed.

Now also need to research where to stand for the parade, there will be no night time parade so this will be our only chance too see it. Any suggestions on where to stand?

Also here in MK the big person I had to meet is Merida!!

She is my favorite princess, replacing Mulan. She reminds me of myself when I was her age, a free spirit, rebellious but in the end a good heart. And grew into a wonderful woman. It also helps that I also loove all things Celtic too

And then after that we will start saving our spot for Wishes, I want a great spot to take pictures, so I will be willing to camp out a bit to get it. I will also be packing my travel tripod and will be using it here to help get those great fireworks pics. Where do you guys find a good spot to take pics?

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Soo one big thing I wanted to point out, something that I felt deserved its own chapter.

I really, really would love to get a Dinner reservation at Be Our Guests.

Now since we booked this trip just a week ago, I was not able to call up on the 180 day mark. But what I have been to doing, religiously is every time I get on to my computer I have been checking if any open reservations come up.
So I am hoping, that maybe if we have a little Disney magic, we might be able to get dinner reservations there.

If not we will eat at Gaston Tavern which is still cool too just not as much food selection there.

I will let you guys know if I get the ADR to BOG though!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Nov 20th, 2013

So on this day we are going to go to the dark side.....
ie Universal Studies

Why you may ask? Well two words Harry Potter....
I loove Harry Potter, I am huge fantasy lover for example I play DnD and Warhammer Fantasy...need I say more? Hehe.

Now it was not until I started researching, that I realized Universal Studies has two parks I was quite surprised and so was my mom too. I wonder how many people do not realize this, too? So once I realized this, I picked the park that of course has Harry Potter, so Island of Adventure it is

So Tourplans again has the crowd level low, yeah
Islands of Adventure

Crowd Level: 1.1 out of 10
Park Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Early Park Admission at 8:00am

Sad thing is they are allowing people early in that day for the people staying at the Universal Studies hotels. But there is nothing I can do about that.

So I am very confused on what to do today.
My tourplans has me doing this:
1) The Incredible Hulk Coaster

2) The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

3) Doctor Doom's Fearfall

4) Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls

5) Dragon Challenge

6) Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges

7) Jurassic Park River Adventure

8) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

9) The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show

10) Poseidon's Fury

This makes no since to me, everything I read said I need to go to Harry Potter first before it gets more crowded during the day. What have you guys done? Harry Potter first? Or did you got to other rides and then do Harry Potter later in the day?

For food I was wanting to eat at two places,
The Three Broomsticks since I am going here mostly for Harry Potter, so I need to have butterbeer and the whole experience!

Then dinner at Mythos
It has been rated really high for food, it has won best theme park restaurant many years in a row. So that defiantly peaks my interest.

Things I need to buy:
Everything Harry Potter related, I already have a replica of Harry Potter's wand so I do not need to get a wand and I have the tie. But this is where my money could easily disappear....

I am going to skip their parade and their night time show, everything I have read said they are not as good as Disney, so I will not waste my time on them.


So there is my plan for going to the dark side....

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Nov 21st, 2013

This day we are going to Disney Hollywood Studios

Now sadly we are going to go on a crowded day here:
Crowd Level: 2.4 out of 10
This is a Park to Avoid
Park Hours: 9:00am - 8:00pm
Fantasmic! at 6:30pm

The park they recommend visiting that day is AK, but this is our last day and I rather do Studies over AK because I looove Star Wars.

Here is our plan again using Tourplans.

1) Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

2) Toy Story Mania!

3) Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

4) Muppet*Vision 3D

5) Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Fantasmic Package
12:00pm

6) Animation Academy

7) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror FASTPASS Booth

8) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

9) Voyage of the Little Mermaid

10) Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage

11) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

12) Fantasmic!

13) Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

I am soo looking forward to this day, I have never been to this park before

A ride I have always wanted to go on was Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, mom's ride she is looking forward to is Rock n Roll Coaster, since she looves that music.

I am so happy we were able to ADR for the Fantasmic package at Mama Melros since we were booking everything so late. It seems like a good place to take a break and get good food at affordable price because as much as I would love to go to Hollywood Brown and Derby since we are not on the Dining Plan, it would have cost too much out of pocket.

I am also happy we will be able to see Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It looks sooo coool! I heard that is sometimes it snows there, anyone knows when that happens?

On this day we will need to pack up in the morning and leave our hotel and then we will be heading down to our hotel at North Redington Beach. So it will be a long day.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Nov 22nd, 2013

Beach Day!

So the night before we will be checking in at this hotel.
Doubletree Beach Resort by Hilton Tampa Bay / North Redington Beach

I am hoping for some of their famous cookies1

Mom will be heading off to work in Tampa, hopefully she will not be to tired. I feel kinda of bad about that.

Mom is a gold member in Hilton so we will get free breakfast here to even though there is not normally one. Also we are hoping they will upgrade us to Ocean view room. Since work was paying for it, she could not have them pay for Ocean view room. But hey cannot complain about free room.

Here is a little info about North Redington Beach:
The Town of North Redington Beach lies in the heart of the Suncoast's beach communities, halfway between the northern and southern tips of the barrier islands.A mile long beach with easy access highlights its appeal to residents and vacationers. Once the home of the fabled Tides Bath Club, a resort frequented by sports and show business celebrities, North Redington Beach now showcases elegant condos, townhouses and homes on that property. With easy access to all the major cities and attractions in Tampa Bay, it is little wonder that 1500 permanent residents and all the seasonal visitors delight in calling North Redington Beach home.

In my research it is less crowed than other areas but I do not think that crowds will be problem since it is in Nov.

I have also been researching on the Ocean's temp and from what I have read, people who are from warm weather places say in Nov it is too cold and people from cold weather places it is just fine. Since I am from Colorado I should be okay, but if not they have a heated pool right next to the beach. So I will be having fun in the sun no matter what. I think I will probably crash and sleep by the pool. A nice relaxing day to recover from all the park craziness.


For food they have a tiki bar and we will have some snacks that we brought with us.

For Dinner when mom gets back we were thinking of walking down to this local restaurant, Conch Republic Grill, it supposedly has a fun atmosphere with good seafood. Seafood is on our list to eat while we are out here since in Colorado we do not get the best seafood, for some reason

And that is our day.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So excited, the November Reservations opened up today at 5pm Mountain Time for Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party!!

Luckily I have been staking the Fireworks Dessert Party board and I checked it at 5:30 pm and found out about it. I quickly got online and book it.
We are very excited, my mom does not like huge crowds and it is not that expensive only 25 per person esp if we just do Gaston Tavern for dinner.

Here are some of the yummy desserts:

Here is our view:

Anyone else been to this, what do you think about it?

 

[Tigjam630]

Hi! Followed you over here from the Dessert Party thread. Looks like we have similar dates. Following along!

 

[Tigjam630]

When it comes to what food and drinks we will have at each country I need to do more research but if any of you guys have any suggestions I am all ears

I would love to see Mulan the most here. She was my fav Disney princess till Brave came along. Sorry Mulan, I still love you too!
Why do I love Mulan? She is a great role model for girls and I was the sparkly tomboy growing up, meaning I am the girl who would play tackle football with the guys, get all muddy and then clean up and go to dance practice and wear all the sparkly stuff and love it just as much. So with Mulan I felt she really got me. Anyone else here love Mulan too? I just wish she was represented more, you know? And of course if I could see Mushu too that would really make my day but I have been reading he does not come around really anymore

At the end of the night of course we will do Illuminations. We are still looking at where we want to be for that too, since I just do not remember the area it is hard to figure out a good place too be. Hopefully it will not be crowded, so we can wait closer to the last min to find an okay spot. Anybody here go during Nov, was it easy to get a spot?

Love the pretzels in Germany...yum! Love the margaritas in La Cava in Mexico too

You shouldn't have trouble finding a spot for Illuminations. Once they start putting out the barges for the show, just find any spot around the lagoon where you can see the globe. You shouldn't have much trouble finding a good spot with the lower crowds!

Soo one big thing I wanted to point out, something that I felt deserved its own chapter.

I really, really would love to get a Dinner reservation at Be Our Guests.

Now since we booked this trip just a week ago, I was not able to call up on the 180 day mark. But what I have been to doing, religiously is every time I get on to my computer I have been checking if any open reservations come up.
So I am hoping, that maybe if we have a little Disney magic, we might be able to get dinner reservations there.

If not we will eat at Gaston Tavern which is still cool too just not as much food selection there.

I will let you guys know if I get the ADR to BOG though!

Good luck!! We ate there for dinner on our last trip and it was great! Lunch there might be another option if you can't get a dinner reservation.

Nov 20th, 2013
So I am very confused on what to do today.
My tourplans has me doing this:
1) The Incredible Hulk Coaster

2) The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

3) Doctor Doom's Fearfall

4) Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls

5) Dragon Challenge

6) Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges

7) Jurassic Park River Adventure

8) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

9) The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show

10) Poseidon's Fury

This makes no since to me, everything I read said I need to go to Harry Potter first before it gets more crowded during the day. What have you guys done? Harry Potter first? Or did you got to other rides and then do Harry Potter later in the day?

For food I was wanting to eat at two places,
The Three Broomsticks since I am going here mostly for Harry Potter, so I need to have butterbeer and the whole experience!

Then dinner at Mythos
It has been rated really high for food, it has won best theme park restaurant many years in a row. So that defiantly peaks my interest.

Things I need to buy:
Everything Harry Potter related, I already have a replica of Harry Potter's wand so I do not need to get a wand and I have the tie. But this is where my money could easily disappear....

I am going to skip their parade and their night time show, everything I have read said they are not as good as Disney, so I will not waste my time on them.


So there is my plan for going to the dark side....

We did a day at Islands of Adventure last December! I was the same as you...I had to see Harry Potter World! It is amazing! We had gotten a way slower start then I wanted when we went and didn't get into the parks until 10am. It was a slower day luckily, so we went straight back to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We only had a 20 minute wait at that time, so we rode and then ate at Three Broomsticks after. It started to get really crowded in that area around 11am in our experience! I would think it would be better to go straight to Harry Potter at open, then do Spider Man and the Hulk. Also, if you are interested in Ollivander's Wand shop show you might want to do that first thing. It can only hold about 25 or so people at a time and lasts for at least 5-10 min, so the line moves slowly! We got into line before park close and were able to get in with a 15 minute wait, but it was slow moving! In the afternoon and early evening most everything seemed to be a 5 minute wait with the exception of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Spiderman.

Nov 21st, 2013

This day we are going to Disney Hollywood Studios

Now sadly we are going to go on a crowded day here:
Crowd Level: 2.4 out of 10
This is a Park to Avoid
Park Hours: 9:00am - 8:00pm
Fantasmic! at 6:30pm

The park they recommend visiting that day is AK, but this is our last day and I rather do Studies over AK because I looove Star Wars.

Here is our plan again using Tourplans.

1) Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

2) Toy Story Mania!

3) Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

4) Muppet*Vision 3D

5) Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Fantasmic Package
12:00pm

6) Animation Academy

7) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror FASTPASS Booth

8) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

9) Voyage of the Little Mermaid

10) Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage

11) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

12) Fantasmic!

13) Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

I am soo looking forward to this day, I have never been to this park before

A ride I have always wanted to go on was Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, mom's ride she is looking forward to is Rock n Roll Coaster, since she looves that music.

I am so happy we were able to ADR for the Fantasmic package at Mama Melros since we were booking everything so late. It seems like a good place to take a break and get good food at affordable price because as much as I would love to go to Hollywood Brown and Derby since we are not on the Dining Plan, it would have cost too much out of pocket.

I am also happy we will be able to see Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It looks sooo coool! I heard that is sometimes it snows there, anyone knows when that happens?

On this day we will need to pack up in the morning and leave our hotel and then we will be heading down to our hotel at North Redington Beach. So it will be a long day.

You will love HS!! My husband and I are also big Star Wars fans. You should leave time to do Star Tours multiple times because there are 40-50 different show sequences you could get. We rode it 5-6 times our last trip and had a different story each time.

You might want to consider going to Toy Story before Rock n Roller coaster once you enter the turnstyles. You should be able to grab a fastpass at Toy Story and ride, then go to Rock n Roller Coaster and ride immediately with a very short wait. Toy Story will have a 40 minute or so wait starting immediately at open, which won't let up at all throughout the day. While you're down by Rock n Roller you could also ride Tower of Terror immediately after.
Star Tours rarely will have much of a wait...we have never waited more then 5-10 min even during busier times.

It snows during the Osborne lights at different intervals...I can't remember exactly how often, but we spent about 1 hour or so wandering around the lights and it snowed pretty often.

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hi! Followed you over here from the Dessert Party thread. Looks like we have similar dates. Following along!

Yeah, Welcome!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Love the pretzels in Germany...yum! Love the margaritas in La Cava in Mexico too

You shouldn't have trouble finding a spot for Illuminations. Once they start putting out the barges for the show, just find any spot around the lagoon where you can see the globe. You shouldn't have much trouble finding a good spot with the lower crowds!



Good luck!! We ate there for dinner on our last trip and it was great! Lunch there might be another option if you can't get a dinner reservation.


We did a day at Islands of Adventure last December! I was the same as you...I had to see Harry Potter World! It is amazing! We had gotten a way slower start then I wanted when we went and didn't get into the parks until 10am. It was a slower day luckily, so we went straight back to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We only had a 20 minute wait at that time, so we rode and then ate at Three Broomsticks after. It started to get really crowded in that area around 11am in our experience! I would think it would be better to go straight to Harry Potter at open, then do Spider Man and the Hulk. Also, if you are interested in Ollivander's Wand shop show you might want to do that first thing. It can only hold about 25 or so people at a time and lasts for at least 5-10 min, so the line moves slowly! We got into line before park close and were able to get in with a 15 minute wait, but it was slow moving! In the afternoon and early evening most everything seemed to be a 5 minute wait with the exception of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Spiderman.


You will love HS!! My husband and I are also big Star Wars fans. You should leave time to do Star Tours multiple times because there are 40-50 different show sequences you could get. We rode it 5-6 times our last trip and had a different story each time.

You might want to consider going to Toy Story before Rock n Roller coaster once you enter the turnstyles. You should be able to grab a fastpass at Toy Story and ride, then go to Rock n Roller Coaster and ride immediately with a very short wait. Toy Story will have a 40 minute or so wait starting immediately at open, which won't let up at all throughout the day. While you're down by Rock n Roller you could also ride Tower of Terror immediately after.
Star Tours rarely will have much of a wait...we have never waited more then 5-10 min even during busier times.

It snows during the Osborne lights at different intervals...I can't remember exactly how often, but we spent about 1 hour or so wandering around the lights and it snowed pretty often.

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!! Looking forward to hearing more!

Thank you great tips!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Nov 23, 2013

We will be packing out of the hotel today and heading back to Orlando. Since we have a early morning flight we do not want to have to wake up the extra 2 hours to get from Tampa to Orlando on Sunday.

We will go out and spend an hour or two on the beach though before we leave. Mom is very fair skinned being a red head so an hour or two is all she needs.

Then we will be heading back to Orlando for our last goodbye. We decided to do one of our Mother/Daughter traditions which is going to high tea when we are on vacation. Luckily I discovered Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian’s Garden View Lounge.

Now for those who do not know, I struggled for hours to try and figure out how to book ADR for this online, I do not think you can do it online. I suggest to save yourself time just call them, it was easy. We were able to get one at 2:10 pm perfect time enough time for us to get there from Tampa and not have to rush in the morning.

Now I have heard mixed reviews about this place. Sometimes the service is bad where they rush you and you can never find the server, other times people rave about it. So I guess it is just the luck of the draw with your server, I am hopping we get a good one.

We where thinking this package is nice since it includes Sparkling wine

The Grand Tea - $35.00 Per Guest
The classic English tradition of Afternoon Tea, Grand Floridian-style. We offer you a variety of tea sandwiches, scone and jam tart, followed by your choice of our freshly baked tea pastries, strawberries and creme or English trifle. Served with a glass of Domain Ste-Michelle sparkling wine and your choice of tea.

Some of the things I am looking forward too here:
I am hopping to see Mrs Potts and Chip!

A English Trifle!

Before or after just depends on when we arrive, we are excited to take in all the gorgeous x-mas decorations at The Grand Floridian.

And then we will have to say goodbye to Disney

Since we are limited on budget, we again going with another Hilton and will be staying on points.
Embassy Suites Hotel Orlando Airport

We will then head to the airport to drop off our car, so again we will not have to do it in the morning and then take the free hotel airport shuttle back to the hotel.

Next we will end our day with the free Manager’s Reception for free drinks and snacks.

Then going to bed early to head out on a early morning flight back to real life