Nikki and Tom take on F&W and MNSSHP-Take 2! LINK TO TR pg. 55

[Tinkerbellie16]

Just asked DH about walking from TTC to the raceway - he said it was a short enough distance to walk but he did not look to see if there were walkways.

 

[knewton64]

Emma looks adorable!

take plenty of pics - she will grow up fast.


P.S. so.....what pavillions do ya plan on hitting up while @ F&W?? Any particular new foods ya wanna try? your fav?

Reason why is I got the biggest kick out of tasting some Bunratty Meade Honey wine while out at the Ireland pavillion last year.

Flash forward to my next adventure: Ireland (June 2011).

Guess where I will be staying day 1?

Bunratty castle and Yup - ya guessed it....

they serve B Meade Honey wine....YUM!!



T.T.F.N.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Oh Nikki - Emma is just precious!!! Love, love, love the wings!! Did I ever tell you Ashley was Tinkerbell for her first Halloween? She was also Pooh Bear, and Marie the Cat - do we detect a theme here??? Disney costumes are the best! Hope you and Tom are well - say hello from us!

Aww, so cute! Emma is on the same path...she was Tink her first Halloween too and Cinderella last year! She's going to be Cinderella for MNSSHP, not sure about actual Halloween. I will tell Tom you said hello! Say hi to everyone from us too!

Your plans look great so far You must be really excited to be doing F&W

What a great birthday gift idea for your dad, he is going to love it

Awww how cute is Emma in her tee. So cool with the wings

Thanks Stef. We are very excited about Food and Wine. I'm really excited about my dad's gift too. Can't wait to give it to him!

Emma looks adorable!

We did not go with him but anyone can go and watch for free! We just didn't think the kids at the time would be good for two hours sitting in the stands.

Can you walk there? Hmmm...I don't know. I did walk from TL to DTD and it was possible...but stupid because there aren't any walkways. I'm not sure if there is a walkway to the race track. I'll ask DH but he might not have paid attention. You can actually hear the cars zooming around the racetrack when you take a bus to the Poly or TTC!

We did not have reservations but we called a couple of times..JUST to make sure! I'll warn you now that they do offer some souvenirs you can pay for. In fact, my DH's plaque is sitting just above this computer It is a picture of him in the car with the raceway information. I believe it was $40 or so. He also got a tshirt and hat so you can get those types of things as well.

My sister works for Mopar and does all the car racing marketing so she got to do both the ride-along and the driver experience for free. She said the ride-along made her a little queazy but driving was better - but she gets extreme car sickness as a passenger. My DH did not agree with her. He really liked the ride-along and thought it was awfully $$$ to do the drive if you had to pay full price.

He left the Poly around 9am and was back in like 2 hours. He said there weren't that many people when he went (April 2009).

He's working right now but if you have more questions, just let me know and I'll ask him!

Thank you so much for all that information! It was very helpful!

As always, Emma is absolutely ADORABLE!!! She's really growing up, I barely recognized her from past pictures! What a great aunt you are!!!

Isn't it amazing how much she has grown? On our trip last Oct. 2009, she was just learning to walk and barely talking. Now she is a complete talker and is soooo funny! The things she says is just too much!

That is the cutest shirt!!!!

I was wondering if you had heard about Epcot having a "soft" opening for F&W on the Thursday before it opens. I have read this on a couple threads but so far I haven't heard any hard facts. Have you ever heard about this?

Ummm, I actually think I just read something today or yesterday about soft opening Thursday night, like for CMs to test and make sure everything is working smoothly for Friday...but who knows!

Just asked DH about walking from TTC to the raceway - he said it was a short enough distance to walk but he did not look to see if there were walkways.

Thanks! I'll advice my dad to just take the bus.

take plenty of pics - she will grow up fast.


P.S. so.....what pavillions do ya plan on hitting up while @ F&W?? Any particular new foods ya wanna try? your fav?

Reason why is I got the biggest kick out of tasting some Bunratty Honeymeade wine while out at the Ireland pavillion last year.

Flash forward to my next adventure: Ireland (June 2011).

Guess where I will be staying day 1?

Bunratty castle and Yup - ya guessed it....

they serve Honeymeade wine....YUM!!


T.T.F.N.

What pavilions?? All of them, of course!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Successful planning day today!!

We drove to PA and Erin and I got down to business right away while Tom and Gary started drinking!

I am such an obsessive control freak, that it was a little...well, I don't want to say it was difficult because Erin is soooo good about my insanity but internally, it felt weird to be deciding things and still trying to make sure everyone will be happy. Erin assured me they are totally happy with what we've decided so (for all you SNL fans) "that's pretty cool!!" I couldn't stop singing that all day!!

So here's how the plans have changed since I last posted them....

Wednesday night - Arrive at MCO at 9pm...Epcot has EMH that night so if things go perfectly with the flight and bus, we could potentially hit up an hour or two of that but will most likely just go to bed and be ready for a full day!!

Thursday - DHS in the morning since it's our least fav. We just want to bang it out. Conor (DN5) is obsessed with cars so they want to see LMA. The guys (and maybe Erin too , but especially Tom) want to see Star Tours. I don't really care about Star Wars but it is a new Disney upgrade so, in that aspect, I am interested. Last time Gary and Erin didn't get to ride TOT or RNRC so we'll hope to hit those up too.

Depending on what time we leave DHS (hopefully around noon) we may go to the MK for a while.

Thursday Night - Tom and I are meeting my family (parents, DSis, DBIL and DEmma )) for dinner at Epcot. Since Jamie checks in before me, she will be making that ADR, which will most likely be for Beirgarten. Dinner is, of course, followed by my favorite Illuminations!!!

Decided to totally skip MK that day and just head straight to Epcot after DHS. Other than that...SAME!



Friday - FIRST DAY OF FOOD AND WINE!! Enough said!

Friday Night - Hoping to get a 5pm ADR for 'Ohana with Gary and Erin, followed by a fun-filled night of MNSSHP!!

SAME!



Saturday Morning - 5K! So excited for this!

Saturday - Not exactly sure! Most likely AK in the morning (after the 5K). It's MK's 40th that day so I'm really thinking I want to be there for that. So probably late afternoon/evening in MK. Maybe eat at Tony's? Not sure. Gary and Erin enjoyed that restaurant on their trip so perhaps they'll want to do it again. I'll know more after we meet with them this weekend.

Saturday Night - Still in MK. I really want to see the castle The Magic, The Memories and You show, and of course, Wishes and this is the only night to do that.

Gary and Erin want to do the early morning Tusker House breakfast but since this is our 5K day, that's out of the question. We decided it would be better if they did their AK on one of the days before we get there and just do something else this morning. Tom and I contemplated just skipping AK completely but we really love it! So we might just hit up AK for a couple of hours after the race.

Gary expressed that he'd like to do Biergarten with Tom so we decided to meet them at Epcot for a late lunch around 2pm. Since we'll have been in Epcot all day the day before, we don't have to stay long and can make it to MK for some 40th festivities and the parade and fireworks.

This all, of course, is pending any announcements about potential 40th celebrations that may be going that day. If we have to skip our Epcot Beirgarten lunch to be in MK earlier, we'll snag an ADR for Tony's. So for this day, we have a plan AND a back-up plan!


Sunday - Gary and Erin have a flight around 2 so will most likely only have a couple of hours in the morning. Not sure if we'll stick together or go our separate ways. I'm pretty sure Tom and I will go back to Epcot for some more Fooding and Wining that day!! Our flight is not until 7:30 so we have pretty much all day! Was thinking about Le Cellier for lunch but, as much as we want to do that, we think it would be best to save that for a longer trip, when there aren't a multitude of delicious snacks from around the world at our fingertips!!

SAME!

On another note, I had an amazing idea!! My sister, Erin and I are all going to go in on a photopass cd together!!! GENIUS, if I do say so myself! So that's three trips on one CD...four, if you count my parents but we'll just print their pictures for them but I'm thinking of them with my sister. I'm sure we'll have tons of photopass cards and might even fill up multiple discs!!! Yay!!

 

[Stefy]

New changes sound good and not that many either which I am betting you are pleased about

Yay for doing the PP CD you are going to get so many pictures and so many memories

 

[ronnmel]

Getting a photopass CD all together is a great money saving idea!

All these talks of 5Ks on this PTR and other PTRs and TRs are making me want to run a 5K myself. I'm not a runner by any means, but fiance is. I think a Disney 5K would be a great motivator for me. Something to keep in mind for in a few years. I have a question though. How long exactly is a 5K? I'm confused because in the states you count in miles, but this one has a K like Kilometers, which is the unit of measure we use in Canada. So is it 5 miles or 5 kilometers?

 

[photographymom517]

Hey Nikki! Your plans sound great so far!!!

I completely understand what you mean about being an obsessive planner AND crying over Disney things all the time at home! I am the same exact way!

That's a great idea for a gift for your dad!

I also think the PhotoPass idea will be great to save money!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

New changes sound good and not that many either which I am betting you are pleased about

Yay for doing the PP CD you are going to get so many pictures and so many memories

Haha, yes. Definitely happy not too many changes.

Getting a photopass CD all together is a great money saving idea!

All these talks of 5Ks on this PTR and other PTRs and TRs are making me want to run a 5K myself. I'm not a runner by any means, but fiance is. I think a Disney 5K would be a great motivator for me. Something to keep in mind for in a few years. I have a question though. How long exactly is a 5K? I'm confused because in the states you count in miles, but this one has a K like Kilometers, which is the unit of measure we use in Canada. So is it 5 miles or 5 kilometers?

Haha, yes it still means 5K as in kilometers! It's something like 3.2 miles.

Hey Nikki! Your plans sound great so far!!!

I completely understand what you mean about being an obsessive planner AND crying over Disney things all the time at home! I am the same exact way!

That's a great idea for a gift for your dad!

I also think the PhotoPass idea will be great to save money!

So glad you feel the same way! The gift for my dad just arrived the other day and I'm very excited! Too bad his b-day isn't until July!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Happy Birthday to me! I can't believe I'm 30! So far I've had a great birthday weekend!

On Friday, my work friends got me this!!!

Totally unexpected! It was so nice of them!

Friday night, we had a retirement party and when I got home, I found the apartment decorated for my birthday!! This is my favorite part!

This morning Tom made my favorite Disney breakfast...PUFFED FRENCH TOAST!!

It was super delicious!

Tom also got me so many awesome presents!

First of all, this is a cd set I had when I was younger. It came out in the early 90s and it was one of my most prized possessions. This is how I was always so good at the "song" category in every Disney trivia game! Over the years, the discs got lost, scratched, etc. and I have been talking about it for a while. He found it on ebay, unopened!!

Next, he got me this PlayStation racing game! Also very old-school, from the 90s. I've never played it before but apparently, you race through the Magic Kingdom! How cool is that?! Good thing we still have an old PlayStation!

Some Disney candy....

And last, I opened this! A Poppins umbrella ornament!

But look closely!!! What is that in there with the ornament????

Tickets for Poppins on Broadway!!! For next weekend!! We saw this show when it first opened a few years ago and it is the best musical I have ever seen. I remember clapping so hard at the end that my hands hurt the rest of the night. I am so excited to be seeing it again, especially since they recently brought back the original Bert and Poppins.


So anyway, that's what happening on the 30th birthday front so far! I'm going to digest my delicious breakfast, probably watch a few Disney Sing-a-long videos (thanks to Kara for bringing it up in her TR!) and relax. Then tonight, we are going out to dinner, then bowling, then to my parents for cake!

Oh and totally birthday unrelated, I registered for the 5K yesterday!! Complete bummer though, it's in the AK this year!! Very disappointing but still looking forward to it.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Happy Birthday Nikki!!!

What lovely surprises and presents and so nice of Tom to do so much for you! Have a great day and enjoy!!

 

[irishdancer86]

Happy birthday Nikki!

great presents, that was very nie of your work friends! and good work Tom on all those lovely disney surprisess...hope you have a lovely day!

 

[Tracy161]

Happy Birthday Nikki!!! What amazing gifts you got! I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway last March and it was SO amazing! You'll love seeing it again!!!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Happy Birthday!!

Okay, so I finally think I get the bag discrepancy...yours is the WDW - the one online is the Disneyland...yours, of course is better ...

 

[disneybarbie]

Happy Birthday Nikki!

It looks like you've had the perfect day with amazing presents!!

Love that Disney music set.. my parents had a 4 disc set that sounds similar to what you had - I also learnt most of my disney lyrics from those!



Emma x


ps - very jealous about Mary Poppins.. I saw it in London in 2007 but it closed soon after to move to Broadway

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Happy Birthday Nikki!!!

What lovely surprises and presents and so nice of Tom to do so much for you! Have a great day and enjoy!!

Thanks!!

Happy birthday Nikki!

great presents, that was very nie of your work friends! and good work Tom on all those lovely disney surprisess...hope you have a lovely day!

Wasn't that so nice of my work friends!? I couldn't believe it! Tom did good too!

Happy Birthday Nikki!!! What amazing gifts you got! I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway last March and it was SO amazing! You'll love seeing it again!!!

So great, isn't it? I can't wait to see it again.

Happy Birthday!!

Okay, so I finally think I get the bag discrepancy...yours is the WDW - the one online is the Disneyland...yours, of course is better ...

Ah...that makes sense!

Happy Birthday Nikki!

It looks like you've had the perfect day with amazing presents!!

Love that Disney music set.. my parents had a 4 disc set that sounds similar to what you had - I also learnt most of my disney lyrics from those!



Emma x


ps - very jealous about Mary Poppins.. I saw it in London in 2007 but it closed soon after to move to Broadway

Thanks Emma! Disney music is the best, isn't it??
Oh you saw it in London? We got your Bert! He was amazing and so glad he's still there. Happy Poppins is back. Did you ever see Sweeney Todd? Fun Fact: The woman who plays Mrs. Barker was Poppins when the show was in London.

 

[ronnmel]

Happy Birthday Nikki!
Congrats on hitting the big 3-0. You are on month older than I am.

You received some pretty incredible gifts! You are one lucky girl, to have such thoughtful co-workers, and of course an amazing husband.

Haha, yes it still means 5K as in kilometers! It's something like 3.2 miles.

Oh thank god! It makes it much more realistic that I could one day run it.

Oh and totally birthday unrelated, I registered for the 5K yesterday!! Complete bummer though, it's in the AK this year!! Very disappointing but still looking forward to it.

Though running through the Magic Kingdom would be, well, magical, Animal Kingdom is a very pretty park and I'm sure you'll have a blast.

 

[athenna]

Happy Birthday, Nikki
Congrats on the great gifts!

 

[anjalee6]

Happy Birthday Nikki. The Mary Poppins tickets are so cool. I haven't been to broadway since living in NJ. It's been a long time. I keep telling my husband that we have to do a trip to NYC just because he has never been. I really want to see the Lion King. If we could do that, I would be happy!

 

[tinkerbell60]

Happy Birthday Nikki!! And kudos to Tom - what great gifts!!! Enjoy your 30s - they really are a fun time!

 

[knewton64]

Enjoy



P.S. A little bit of DISney humor for yer birthday:


.......just about 3 nights ago I am driving around town in my car when I look up and see a 1/4 moon out that night. I had to have looked at it atleast a dozen times when suddenly...

....for some strange reason I started to get a case of the giggles and had thoughts of the Alice in Wonderland movie while humming outloud -

1-888-864-0458.


(I have never seen the moon in that way before until that night).


Now THAT'S when you rreeaallyy miss the Disney parks




T.T.F.N.