My family thinks I'm crazy..but I know you all won't! Back and my TR is started!

[hurleysweety]

I'm personally not a huge fan of F! package. I don't like that I can only dine at a certain restaurant, and I don't like that it has to be sit down - in the case I splurged on a butterfinger cupcake earlier or had a giant lunch...by accident, of course . Plus, I don't really like where the seating is for the show. To me, it seems just as chaotic to stand in the line for the dinner package as it does for regular people.

We saw in on our Honeymoon in 2008, and got there maybe 20 minutes before it started and sat far right at the top, it wasn't full, and I'm not sure what/where/how the dinner package worked then, so no clue where those people were seated, if they were there at all. We did go on a "green day" (tourguidemike.com), so maybe that helped with crowds. I think that if you want to see it, it might almost be best to take a seat at the top...makes for an easier exit. And try, try sooo hard (this is sooo difficult for me) to keep your expectations low for your spot/waiting for the show.

When we saw it, I had no idea about the lines/crowds/lining up 2 hrs early-crazy-people. Was it the best seat? No. Did I get to enjoy it and then proudly say I saw it? Yes. Will DH have to endure that at some point again, Yes (I can hear his grumpiness already...). But not til October. I'm only doing it once this year and choose to do it with my Inlaws and hopefully that will work better for everyone, and DH only has to wait in line once, and I only have to plan for it once. I have a feeling my future kids will be alot like DH, and I'm already learning to tour around them...line waiting, impatience, and all.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Just so you all know, DH, my aunt and uncle were all making fun of me taking pictures of all the food on movie night...guess they just don't understand And now I also have a pretty good idea of how crazy DH is going to think I am when I'm taking picture of all our food in May!!




As far as trip details go, I'd like to open the floor back up to F! dining package discussions. I don't feel like we adequately covered the topic and since my first experience with the package was *ahem* less than stellar, I feel a little inadequate in making my decision about keeping the package or getting rid of it. And I know some readers who are subbing were interested in other people's opinions too. Come on people--speak up, speak up--Lots 'o us are waiting to hear what you have to say!


Here are my options:

1) keep the package. Eat dinner at 4:05--Mama Melroses.

Pros: seats for F! (or so they say....); line waiting for F! is a minimum (or so they say....); we like Mama's!

Cons: reserved seats may not be so great ...although I'm not sure on this one as we NEVER made it into the theater last time ; not much time to tour DHS by the time you factor in dinner and F!, but we do have a DHS morning planned the next day.



2) give up the package. Still arrive at DHS by 3:30, but tour and eat at our own pace.

Pros: more park time; better seats for F!???

Cons: line waiting for F!; where do we eat dinner??? not sure how I feel about other DHS restaurants




So this discussion could be titled--1) To give it up or not to give it up, that is the question! or 2) The F! dining package: the good, the bad and the ugly! ...whichever topic title you prefer is fine with me , I just want to hear some opinions!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

For what it is worth, we have never done the dining package and have always snagged great seats for Fantasmic. If they end up adding two shows for the night you are going go see the second show. Don't need to wait in line as long and it is not as crowded.

 

[pinkxray]

Okay, I am all caught up.

We are doing the Fantasmic Package in May. DD has requested to see Fantasmic twice so one night we have the package and the other night we will wait in line. Too bad our trip is after yours so I could let you know how it goes. We did the package last year during Memorail Day weekend and I was so happy we did. We walked right in the separate entrance 45 minutes before the show and the whole place was already full. The seating is off to the side but still decent. Since we like to go to bed early there is no way we are going to stay for a second seating. I also really like Mama Melrose so I don't mind having to eat there. If it was only HV and Brown Derby I most likely wouldn't do it.

I love your Incredible movie night. I would love to have Disney movie nights but DH refuses to watch Disney movies with us. I can get him to watch Ratatouille and Enchanted which are two of my favorites but you can only watch those so many times.

AKL is so beautiful. I see that you are eating at Jiko and Saana. Have you tried these places before(or Boma)? Sanaa scares me a little but the reviews so great.

I am happy to see that your kids didn't have the commercail reaction to hearing that they were going to Disney. I know when I tell DD she will not jump up and down or scream. Where can I rent one of those kids to video tape?

 

[Aburns8]

Subbing in! Just found your PTR. What winery in MI was that pic taken at? My DH and I are originally from MI and the wineries in Traverse City area are my favorite!

I loved how you surprised your kids at Christmas. I also enjoyed your movie nights! What a great idea!

We are going the week after you so we will miss you, but have a great time!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Okay, I am all caught up.

We are doing the Fantasmic Package in May. DD has requested to see Fantasmic twice so one night we have the package and the other night we will wait in line. Too bad our trip is after yours so I could let you know how it goes. We did the package last year during Memorail Day weekend and I was so happy we did. We walked right in the separate entrance 45 minutes before the show and the whole place was already full. The seating is off to the side but still decent. Since we like to go to bed early there is no way we are going to stay for a second seating. I also really like Mama Melrose so I don't mind having to eat there. If it was only HV and Brown Derby I most likely wouldn't do it.

I love your Incredible movie night. I would love to have Disney movie nights but DH refuses to watch Disney movies with us. I can get him to watch Ratatouille and Enchanted which are two of my favorites but you can only watch those so many times.

AKL is so beautiful. I see that you are eating at Jiko and Saana. Have you tried these places before(or Boma)? Sanaa scares me a little but the reviews so great.

I am happy to see that your kids didn't have the commercail reaction to hearing that they were going to Disney. I know when I tell DD she will not jump up and down or scream. Where can I rent one of those kids to video tape?

Thanks so much for the vote for the F! package. It seems that so many people dislike it that's it's nice to hear that some people enjoy it! Our kids (and sometime us ) are normally early to bed, so I'm thinking you've just added another PRO to my list!

We have eaten at Jiko, Boma and Sanaa. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Sanaa. It's great because it feels more like a signature restaurant, but isn't priced that way. And at all 3 places you can find dishes that aren't too indian/african flavored if you aren't that adventurous...they are all so yummy, I have loved everything that we have eaten there!! The mustard seed crusted scallops in coconut cream sauce (at Sanaa) were to die for! I tried my hand at making a knock off of these and it turned out pretty good, but I can't wait to go back and have the real thing.

I say you should banish DH from the tv one night and do a movie night just for you and Caitlin. It would be some fun girl time!

Subbing in! Just found your PTR. What winery in MI was that pic taken at? My DH and I are originally from MI and the wineries in Traverse City area are my favorite!

I loved how you surprised your kids at Christmas. I also enjoyed your movie nights! What a great idea!

We are going the week after you so we will miss you, but have a great time!

Thanks for joining my PTR! I am looking forward to getting lots of tips and ideas from my readers in the process of writing this, so please stop by frequently and comment a lot! I'm also hoping that the DIS serves as an outlet so I don't drive my family nuts! I don't want to scare any more of them away from Disney


Now to get a bit ....That picture was taken at Cherry Creek Winery in Brooklyn, MI. It's a fairly new winery in a restored one-room school house. It was the cutest place and they had pretty decent wines....so good that we brought home 8 bottles (sssshhhhh!) I'm not sure where Traverse City is. Is that near Brooklyn (it's in southeast MI, close to Chelsea which is also small I think)?

 

[AKL LOVER]

So, in keeping tally, our totals stand as:


F! DP is a --2


Say yes to the stressfree F! DP--1




I know I have more than 3 people subbing out there (well, at least I hope I do!!! ), so anyone else want to chime in??

 

[AKL LOVER]

Dang double posts! What is going on with the DIS tonight?? It's acting all wonky!

 

[PopArtGal]

Here I am!

 

[Aburns8]

Thanks for joining my PTR! I am looking forward to getting lots of tips and ideas from my readers in the process of writing this, so please stop by frequently and comment a lot! I'm also hoping that the DIS serves as an outlet so I don't drive my family nuts! I don't want to scare any more of them away from Disney


Now to get a bit ....That picture was taken at Cherry Creek Winery in Brooklyn, MI. It's a fairly new winery in a restored one-room school house. It was the cutest place and they had pretty decent wines....so good that we brought home 8 bottles (sssshhhhh!) I'm not sure where Traverse City is. Is that near Brooklyn (it's in southeast MI, close to Chelsea which is also small I think)?

Traverse City is in Northwest Michigan near Lake Michigan. There are dozens of wineries up there. They even have one that is like that one you went to in Brooklyn. When is the next movie night?

 

[amyrella]

i'm so sorry i am NO help! i've seen fantasmic once a long time ago and i just remember arriving super early and waiting... so i'll probably do the same this year as well...

i have a question if anyone could answer. If DHS does have extra evening hours do they always do a 2 show performance??

 

[silverhaze269]

Great PTR! It sucks about your flight issues...I know how annoying it can be, and I'm just hoping we don't have the same problem with our flights. It's good to hear you got a compromise though.

About the F! dinner package...I've never done it, so I can't really help you out there...though, I have seen F! a few times, and every time we've gotten there early and had great seats...but getting there early enough means sacrificing time from rides. Hopefully you'll get more insight than I can offer so you can make a great well-informed decision

 

[jm106]

Im reading along in hopes to be inspired to make my TR. I also have kids near same ages and going in May. I love that you surprised them, I wanted to but couldnt contain it I am a super sap so I got teary reading about it. Off to finish reading your TR. happy planning

 

[Chaitali]

I'm subscribing to the thread And I just have to say that I love the themed movie nights. That looks like so much fun!

 

[teachermommy78]

Ive never done the dinner package. In fact, we aren't doing fantasmic at all this trip. We went for our honeymoon 11 years ago and it was good! However, not something I'm willing to stress about at this point, KWIM? My kids are too young. I think we'll do it for sure in a few years.

 

[fadingjamie]

Thanks for inviting me from the May Countdown! I've just read through your posts and I enjoyed each one. You have such a personality for writing this stuff that I'm definitely subscribing!

You mentioned being a middle school Science teacher when I said I would be getting my license after I graduate in May. (...that reminds me, I still need to get my application notarized) Since you go in the beginning of May, how does your school feel about you taking vacation during the school year? Obviously, I'm not going to to do that in my first few years of teaching but teachers DO get vacation days and who says we have to only use the hottest months for our vacations when everyone else is off?

Also, thanks for talking up AKL so much. My boyfriend has all but two feet in my back pushing me toward booking a stay at AKL as soon as possible. I don't think we'll be able to swing it until we both have our teaching careers straightened out anyway but your positive review has helped!

Oh I have so many other things to ask you like how does one get a PIN from Disney? Do you have ways of getting Disney credits like their credit card to help you pay for yearly trips? What do you think of bus wait times from AKL to the parks?

..Sorry for threadjacking. Carry on!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Traverse City is in Northwest Michigan near Lake Michigan. There are dozens of wineries up there. They even have one that is like that one you went to in Brooklyn. When is the next movie night?

Yes, we were definitely in southeast MI, so no wonder I hadn't heard of Traverse City! Next movie night is next weekend. Can't wait to see what DD will pick and to share it with you all!!

i'm so sorry i am NO help! i've seen fantasmic once a long time ago and i just remember arriving super early and waiting... so i'll probably do the same this year as well...

i have a question if anyone could answer. If DHS does have extra evening hours do they always do a 2 show performance??

I'm not sure if EMHs affect the addition of show performances. I know the last year the day we were in DHS (it was NOT an EMH day), they did add a second performance of F! but my kids are up early and like to go to bed pretty early (especially after a long day at Disney!) so a later show wasn't good for us. I'm thinking that a later show might work better for us this year since they are a year older. Keeping my fingers crossed anyway. And I believe the show was added pretty last minute...like the week (or 2) before we went. Maybe it depends more on crowd levels?

 

[AKL LOVER]

Here I am!

Yay! So glad you decided to join!! us AKL people need to stick together!

Great PTR! It sucks about your flight issues...I know how annoying it can be, and I'm just hoping we don't have the same problem with our flights. It's good to hear you got a compromise though.

About the F! dinner package...I've never done it, so I can't really help you out there...though, I have seen F! a few times, and every time we've gotten there early and had great seats...but getting there early enough means sacrificing time from rides. Hopefully you'll get more insight than I can offer so you can make a great well-informed decision

Thanks so much for joining in! I'm thinking that just getting there early is the way to to. I've seen F! before but my kids and DH haven't so I really want them to see it this time--I think that's why I'm stressing over it so much!

Im reading along in hopes to be inspired to make my TR. I also have kids near same ages and going in May. I love that you surprised them, I wanted to but couldnt contain it I am a super sap so I got teary reading about it. Off to finish reading your TR. happy planning

I was really hoping for a more outward reaction than I got, but it's ok. The way that DS was so in love with the new backpack was just so darn cute. And I know what you mean about not being able to contain yourself...that's what made us surprise them at Christmas, because DH or I wouldn't be able to contain it until May!

You should definitely start a PTR! Let me know if you do and I will definitely join. So see, you are guaranteed at least one reader, so you almost have to start one now! It is so much fun to write about your trip and to hear other people's opinions of your plans. I have gotten some really great ideas from my readers! They are the best and I love it! Not to mention that it's also nice to 'talk' to people who don't think I'm crazy!

I'm subscribing to the thread And I just have to say that I love the themed movie nights. That looks like so much fun!

Thanks so much for joining in on the party! I'm ready to keep things rolling right along and can't wait to share our next movie night. Still not sure what DD is going to pick, so it's still even a surprise for me!!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Thanks for inviting me from the May Countdown! I've just read through your posts and I enjoyed each one. You have such a personality for writing this stuff that I'm definitely subscribing!

You mentioned being a middle school Science teacher when I said I would be getting my license after I graduate in May. (...that reminds me, I still need to get my application notarized) Since you go in the beginning of May, how does your school feel about you taking vacation during the school year? Obviously, I'm not going to to do that in my first few years of teaching but teachers DO get vacation days and who says we have to only use the hottest months for our vacations when everyone else is off?

Also, thanks for talking up AKL so much. My boyfriend has all but two feet in my back pushing me toward booking a stay at AKL as soon as possible. I don't think we'll be able to swing it until we both have our teaching careers straightened out anyway but your positive review has helped!

Oh I have so many other things to ask you like how does one get a PIN from Disney? Do you have ways of getting Disney credits like their credit card to help you pay for yearly trips? What do you think of bus wait times from AKL to the parks?

..Sorry for threadjacking. Carry on!

Woohoo! Let's talk Disney!!

First of all, I'm so glad you decided to join in! Thanks for coming over.

Yes, I am a middle school Science teacher and *gasp* yes I am taking time off school to go on a vacation! I know some people won't understand and won't agree, but it's what works for me and my family and that's all that matters. We don't get any vacation days, but we do get personal days, so I'm using those. I would really really love it if our district went to year round school. I would love to be able to take a vacation when prices aren't sky-high, which is one of the reasons for a May trip. But our biggest deciding factor was that DH got a new job back in the fall (yay for promotions!) and he cannot take off any of the times that school is out because those are his busiest times. So my choices were 1) go in May when he could go, 2) not go on anymore family vacations or 3) take a family vacation without him (which wouldn't really be much of a FAMILY vacation, ya know?). Choice 1 it is and with that, our next Disney trip was born. Now I'm not saying that I'm going to take time off of school every school year...in actuality I probably won't because now DD is in school, so I have that to consider. But for our past trips I have taken off school days. I just use my personal days and there's nothing they can say because they are just that...for PERSONAL use Wow...maybe that was TMI, but I really do like to talk, can't you tell??

And wait, I'm not done...

It's easy for me to talk up AKL because we just love it. I haven't been able to bring myself to stay anywhere else on property yet. For our second trip I had booked a room at the BC, but ultimately ended up changed back to AKL. I just didn't really want to stay anywhere else...DH and the kids were in agreement. DH says "You mean we aren't staying at the lodge again? What's the theme of the new hotel? Why don't you want to stay at the lodge again?" That was enough to push me back I feel like the bus service is more than adequate. Now that they've added Kidani it does add a few extra minutes on some routes, but that isn't important to us because we really LOVE staying there. I don't think that AKL bus routes are really all that longer than other resorts like some people claim, but maybe I'm just biased!


PINs are sent out randomly. But there are a few ways that you can increase your change of getting one. Sign up to the Disney website and create an account using your email address. Make sure they have your mailing address too, because my last few PINs came via snail mail instead of email! Then log into the Disney website. Price out 3 or 4 vacation packages and save them in your account. Once you've done that, sit back and wait . People on the boards have reported that doing this resulted in a PIN shortly after (like I said before, keep an eye on snail mail and email). Some people have created a second Disney log in by using their spouse's email (a different email address) and said that this seems to increase the frequency of the PINs that are sent to them.


We do have a Disney Visa. Generally, when we book a trip, we pay the $200 deposit up front and then make payments to Disney so that the trip is paid off by the correct date. We like the Disney Visa for earning the Disney Dollars that you can get on a gift card to use as spending money while in the parks. Every time you use your Disney Visa (for regular purchases not just Disney purchases) you earn these Disney Dollars. I have almost $60 Disney Dollars that I am going to be redeeming for our May trip And if you have the Disney Visa, there is a special character pic opportunity in Epcot as well.

OK, so I think I answered all of your questions and what did I tell ya?? YES I like to talk, but I LOVE to talk about Disney If you aren't running from me yet because you think I'm a crazy lady feel free to keep the questions coming!


*I didn't have time to proof read, so please ignore any typos; they don't reflect on my teaching!

 

[jm106]

Well you insipred me and I did make my PTR. How do I put the link in my siggy? TIA