My First PTR - Leaving 8/31 and can not wait!

[CMA21]

Hey!!! So this is my first pre-trip report and I am soo excited to share all my details with everyone about my upcoming trip to WDW! Our trip is planned for Aug. 31 - Sept 8 of this year, so it's coming up fairly soon, but I've been planning it for a while now, so they'll be lots of catching up I have to do for this report!

Before I get too much into all my trip details I'll give you a little background info. I've been to Disney World 8 times before, but every time I've gone with my family...this time, however, I'm going with my boyfriend!! His name is Mike and we've been together for 2 1/2 years so we're really excited about our upcoming trip together! We live together in Philadelphia and we are both in the computer graphics industry. Mike is 23, and I (my name is Christine by the way) am 24.

(I can't post images yet, but once I can I'll upload one here).

Anyywayyy...onto the good stuff now...all about our trip!! I am a HUGEEE Disney fan, and although Mike likes Disney, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm nuts with all the planning i'm doing for the trip, but I just love planning for Disney Vacations. So we decided in December as of last year that we wanted to plan a trip together, just for us, to get away once he finished school (he's graduating this weekend ). So we decided September would be a good time because it's a little cheaper then going during the summer, less crowds, but still warm enough to enjoy all the pools and stuff. So since he left all the planning up to me, I decided that we should go for nine days hahaha. (He's still wondering how he got roped into a 9 day vacation, but I tell him to just go with it).

We're staying at Port Orleans Riverside, in thew new Royal Suite rooms! I'm so excited to actually see them in person, because every picture I see of them looks amazing!! I've only ever stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club in the past, so I'm kinda excited to actually try out a new hotel. If anyone's stayed there before I'd love to hear any more info, tips, or just general knowledge about POR, because I really know very little about it!

I'll leave this post here for now, but I'll follow up shortly with all our flight plans, ADRs, and all our other little plans for the trip! Looking forward to sharing it all with everyone, and please feel free to talk back so I know I'm not just talking to an empty internet hahaha

 

[BearcatsFan]

Hi Christine ... welcome to the DIS!

Congrats to your BF and his graduation - how exciting!

We also love going in September - looks like you will be checking out just a few days before we are checking in. We are staying at POFQ, but my brother is on his way to Riverside this morning. I'm going to get the low-down from him once he returns.

I'm doing my first trip report also - my biggest fear was talking to myself, too, so I figured I'd jump in and say hello to you!

Sounds like you're a planner like me - look forward to reading more details!

 

[CMA21]

Thanks for reading! You'll definitely have to let me know how your brother likes Riverside! POFQ looks really nice too, we didn't know which part to stay in, but we chose Riverside just so we could stay in the Royal Rooms, haha.

I will definitely check out your PTR just so you know you're not talking to myself, and that people are def. listening haha!

I've been a little busy with work, but I"m hoping to get more details up in the next day or two!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Thanks for reading! You'll definitely have to let me know how your brother likes Riverside! POFQ looks really nice too, we didn't know which part to stay in, but we chose Riverside just so we could stay in the Royal Rooms, haha.

I will definitely check out your PTR just so you know you're not talking to myself, and that people are def. listening haha!

I've been a little busy with work, but I"m hoping to get more details up in the next day or two!

He will be home on Friday or Saturday, and I know I'll be one of the first people he calls.

From everything I've read about them, I bet you'll really love the Royal Room - lucky you (I'm jealous)!

 

[CMA21]

Ok, so I've already covered when we're going and where we're staying, but I thought I'd share a little more specifics of what exactly we're doing.

Flights
First off, I'm super exciting about the flights we got! For Christmas (I know that was a while ago) my parents actually bought my bf and I our flights!!! That was a huge help us to us financially but they also bought us the perfect flight times! We are flying out of Philadelpha at 7:30 in the morning, super early, but we get to Orlando by 11:00am, which means we still get the whole day to spend in the parks basically!! And on the way home, our flight doesn't leave until 5:00pm, which means I can still sneak in one more quick trip to see the castle that morning! I'm so happy that our travel days don't actually cut into any of our time in WDW, and hopefully all travel will just go super smoothly!

Itinerary
Secondly, I thought I'd just briefly list out my plans for each day of the week. I'm a super planner, so of course I have my excel spreadsheet all made with what park we should go to each day, and where we have reservations, and so on. I"ll save all my ADRs for another post, since that is a whole topic in itself, but I'll go through a quick run-down of our plan here.

Friday, 8/31 (day of arrival) - We get in around 11, so after checking into POR, and probably exploring the hotel we're heading to Epcot for dinner and taking advantage of the EMH that night.
Saturday, 9/1 - A full day at the magic kingdom!!
Sunday, 9/2 - Planning a day at animal kingdom, leaving early to get ready for dinner, then heading over to the Magic Kingdom again to catch the light parade and take advantage of the EMH that night.
Monday - 9/3 - A day at DHS (still MGM to me), with a nice dinner in between, and back to the park for EMH again.
Tuesday - 9/4 - We're starting with a breakfast reservation this day, but then heading over to Epcot and making sure we catch illuminations this night (since we will have missed it when we were at Epcot before because of dinner reservation times).
Wednesday - 9/5 - Going to magic kingdom for breakfast reservations (can you guess where those are ) and then over to Animal Kingdom in case we missed anything when were there earlier. Then the rest of the day will be spent a downtown disney.
Thursday - 9/6 - Planning another day at DHS (mgm), which includes two in park dining reservations, and making sure we catch fantasmic.
Friday - 9/7 - The one and only day we have no plans for, to make sure we leave time open in case we want to re-visit or missed anything in the week prior.
Saturday - 9/8 - One last stop at the magic kingdom, then time to head back home

I mean we'll probably still spend time at the pool and stuff in between there, but I'm much more of a park person, so I just had to make sure we'd get all the important stuff in there first. Now 9 days seems like a lot, but I know once I'm there it will still FLY by.

And since we're staying at POR, that has the ferry over to Downtown Disney, I'm sure we'll making a few late night visits over there if we aren't still at the park, or visiting the Boardwalk also in between visits to Epcot and MGM, since I love it over in that area too. Just so much to do!!!

Next up - I'll share all my ADRs!!

 

[disprincessesmom1012]

I'm here! Plans look great so far. Cant wait to read more. We are going end of Sept. Feel free to follow my PTR.

 

[CMA21]

Hey! Thanks for stopping by! I just went and read your PTR so far and it sounds like you're planning an amazing trip for your whole family! I'll be sure to comment over there too to make sure I keep up to date on all the details!

 

[cbeeindisney]

(I can't post images yet, but once I can I'll upload one here).

Anyywayyy...onto the good stuff now...all about our trip!! I am a HUGEEE Disney fan, and although Mike likes Disney, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm nuts with all the planning i'm doing for the trip, but I just love planning for Disney Vacations.

Yay! Another nutty planner You can count me in with you!

Joining In! Your plans look great so far!

Where are you having dinner on your Epcot days? I LOVE the restaurants in the WS! My DBF and I can't stay away from them during our vacation!

 

[CMA21]

Hey!! Thanks for stopping by! I really have to get on posting what all of our ADR plans are, but the days we're in Epcot we're planning to eat at The Coral Reef (which is my favorite restaurant!), and then a few other days we're eating right outside of Epcot.

It looks like you have a trip coming up really soon too, can't wait to go check out our PTR!

 

[CMA21]

Well we paid off the balance for our disney vacation today, so I figured what better way to celebrate then making another post in the PTR!!!

I've been a little busy with work, so I haven't been on here nearly as much as I want to be, but I'm finally here again, so I think it's time I get all our plans for our ADRs out there!

When we first made plans for our vacation we were actually planning on getting a discount through AAA, but when the Free Dining Plan promotion came out in April we had decide if it was better to forego the AAA discount and chose the Free Dining Plan instead or to stay with what we had. Wellll, me being the planner I am, I went through all of our reservation plans and figured out if what we were planning to eat would be more than what the AAA discount was...and it turned out that the Free Dining Plan was the winner!! So, we switched our reservations over so we could get the free dining plan and now I'm excited for all the extra food we'll probably be getting that we normally wouldn't have spent on before!

Sooo now onto the big reveal of our ADRs (not really, but it just seems like I kept saying I would put them up and now I finally am)

Friday, 8/31 (Day of Arrival): We're getting into Orlando around 9am but since we figured we'd spend most of the day getting settled we decided to make reservations over at Epcot that night since they have EMH. So we made reservations for The Coral Reef Restaurant, which is one of my all time favorite restuarants

Saturday, 9/1: We actually didn't plan any ADRs for this day, but we are planning on doing the MK Dessert Party. It's something I've never done before, and sounds like it gets pretty good reviews. I don't think we can sign up for it though until either 60 days or 1 month before...so one of the few things I have left to do.

Sunday 9/2: We're planning for dinner at Narcoossee's at the GF. I've been there alot with my family, but I figured it'd be a nice place to go with my DBF too. It'll take up 2 of our Dining Meal points, but it'll be worth it.

Monday 9/3: This day we're actually going to go over to the Swan and Dolphin hotel and have dinner at Todd English's Bluezoo. I've never been there, but heard really good things. Also, way back in December when we were planning I found a really good deal online that was offering $25 towards Bluezoo for only $2. So I scooped that up, and can't wait to finally use it after all these months of waiting!

Tuesday 9/4: We have two ADRs today! We're going to have breakfast at the Cape May Cafe. This is the first trip i'm not staying the Yacht or Beach Club, so I'm excited at least one day we'll get back over for a visit. Then we're having dinner at Teppon Eda, the hibachi restaurant at the Japanese pavillion in WS. Both places I've been too, but still love the atmosphere at both!

Wednesday 9/5: I can not wait for this day because I actually got in for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. Yes I am 24, with no kids, but I love anything sparkly, pink, or princesses related so I'm still as excited as when I was little to eat there. This place takes up 2 of our meal points too, but once again it's worth it to me. That night we're planning to visit Downtown Disney, so we're heading at the T-Rex Diner (the DBF's pick), but we aren't using the meal plan for that one since we had to use up more points on other dinners.

Thursday 9/6: We have two reservations this day too. Both of these are at DHS though, so we're having lunch at the Sci-Fi Resturant and then dinner at the Prime Time Cafe (Mike's never been to either, but I've always enjoyed both so I thought he would too).

Friday 9/7: This is our last full day there , so we're leaving it pretty open to do anything we missed or want to do again. Therefore we're planning on having dinner at Kimonos at the Swan and Dolphin. I had gotten a certificate for $25 for $2 here also, so that's what we're planning to use. They don't take reservations, but I'm not overly worried about this restaurant.

Saturday 9/8: The day we have to go back home, and even though we don't leave till later, we didn't make any ADRs for this day.

So overall, I have been to alot of the places we made ADRs at with a few new ones in between, but I still look forward to going back to the familiar places every time I go! I'm a super picky eater, so I like not having to worry whether or not there is food I am going to like, so going back to the same places leaves me a little less stressed on vacation, haha. Let me know if you have any suggestions for any of the places though or if there is something maybe I missed that I should consider!

 

[CMA21]

I was just writing my post for all my ADRs, and when I responded to your message earlier I totally forgot we were eating at one of the restaurants in WS. We actually have reservations at Teppon Eda in the Japanese Pavilion. Hibachi restaurants are always fun, so me and the DBF thought it'd be a good place to go back to.

 

[GGCATS]

Hi - I'm in. We are also going to Port Orleans Riverside and staying in the Royal Guestrooms. I can't wait, we will be there in August. A little warm but it's the only time we could do our trip. This is our first time there and from everything I've read it sounds wonderful. Love hearing about your plans. You are dining at a couple of our favorites, Narccossee's and Teppen Edo, we also have ADRs there. Look forward to hearing more.

 

[cbeeindisney]

It looks like you will have some good meals I love the Sci-Fi Dine-In, we tried some new restaurants this time, so we couldn't find anywhere to fit this in, but it's such a good one!

Congratulations on paying your trip off, it really starts to feel real when you get that out of the way!

 

[CMA21]

So I'm getting super excited now since I'm only about 24 days away from our trip!!! I still have so much to do during the month of August, that I'm hoping it goes by quickly so that the 31st first will come in no time!!

We made a few more plans last week, some very exciting , and some super disappointing

First off, when we first made the trip we wanted to do the backstage tour that brought you through all 4 parks and showed you all the different behind the scenes stuff. We found out that they only ran it on Mon and Fri. during the off season, and that since we were going over Labor Day, the week we were going they were only going to offer it on Friday. We didn't really want to give up our whole last day to do the 6 hour tour, so we regrettably decided to pass, but instead decided to spend our money toward going to see La Nouba in DTD. Me or the DBF have never seen it, but heard wonderful things! So last week we made reservations for that show on that Sat. Sept 1st and our tickets came in the mail over the weekend!! So that was super exciting!

The bad part about the planning last week that I was suppper disappointed about was the Magic Kingdom Fireworks dessert party. When I first made our ADRs they told us we couldn't book this until one month before the date we wanted to attend. So I was waited o-so patiently, and decided a few days before the actual one-month prior date (last week, I forget which actual day now) we decided to call and see if we could a reservaction. Well they told us the day we wanted to go was already completely booked, and didn't have room for 2 people. I am sooo bummed! Since our schedule is already pretty packed, we didn't really allow any room to do it another night. I read so many other places before that people could get in 2 weeks before the event, and they told us we couldn't do until month prior, so naturally I was a little mad it was already booked before the one month point (or that somebody in WDW Dining give me the wrong information).

Everything else is pretty much coming together though, and I am getting more and more exciting. I even got another Disney shirt this weekend that has Rapunzel on it from Tangled (which is my favorite movie) and it was a shirt I hadn't actually seen before, so that was pretty exciting too!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Sorry to hear about the dessert party, but excited for you and La Nouba! We saw it last year. It's different, but really neat. What category tix did you get?

 

[CMA21]

We got category 3 tickets, I think in section JJ? I looked on the seating chart and they are a little off to the side, but I'm hoping the view will still be pretty decent. We were just hesitate to go and spend the money for the higher categories, but hopefully it'll still be great! I'm glad to hear you thought it was cool, I've never really seen any type of cirque du soleil act, so I'm not really sure what to expect!

 

[BearcatsFan]

We had category 3 tix as well and were high up and off to the right side of the stage. The seats/view were GREAT, so don't worry about that. I don't think there is a bad seat in the entire place.

The show is different as I said ... a little darkish if you know what I mean. But the artistry is incredible, and make sure you look up at the stuff happening above the stage. You'll understand when you are there. I have a favorite part of the show, but I won't spoil it for you!

Hope you enjoy!