Official May 2011 thread!

[BelleTinkMom]

How do people get pin codes???? I feel I'm pretty Disney savvy and yet I never get one. We go every year, sometimes twice!!!! We always stay at Wilderness Lodge.

Don't feel bad. I've never received one either. I've only been three times.

 

[koalensis]

Any news about the wishes dessert party DDR´s for May??

 

[Stargazer]

Just booked our trip last night, so happily joining in! Already called in this morning and have all the ADRs I was hoping for (but I'm sure I'll tweak them a few times or more).

But, for right now, we're staying at CBR (our 1st time there) and have the following planned:
Sat, 5/28 - 'Ohana 6:45p
Sun, 5/29 - Whispering Canyon 6:05p
Mon, 5/30 - Chefs de France 6p (wanted Tutto Italia, but CM said it's not uploaded in their booking system for any times on 5/30, so I'll keep trying for that one)
Tues, 5/31 - Tusker House 8:15a
Wed, 6/1 - Crystal Palace 6p
Thurs, 6/2 - SeaWorld day
Fri, 6/3 - SciFi 1:30p

 

[3Leafs]

Is anyone else having trouble booking their dining ressies online? It won't let me do the 180 plus 10.. I even had them try and walk me through and it wouldnt' let me.. I ended having them book it over the phone.. I still feel like i was doing something wrong..

 

[shera]

I think right now they are only letting you book day 180 online then +10 has to be by phone.So what did you get?Did you get everything you wanted?

 

[iggler]

does anyone plan their dinner reservations to co-ordinate with the evening magic hours?\Just wondering, I can make ressies tomorrow, am srill having concerns about where to book.
Iggler

 

[3Leafs]

I am trying something different this trip.. I went by most days that TGM suggested with a few just because.. We don't do EMH because my kids won't last that long..

Ok this is what I have for adr's

25th Shutters for dinner
26th T-Rex
27th WCC
28th Sci Fi for lunch and H&V Fantasmic for dinner
29th Coral Reef for dinner
30th Kouzzina's for breakfast and Kona for dinner
31st Crystal Palace for breakfast and 1900 Park Fare for dinner
1st Nothing planned but counter service and I let the kids pick them


I may upgrade to delux dining.. So I may be adding more meals..

 

[shera]

I am trying something different this trip.. I went by most days that TGM suggested with a few just because.. We don't do EMH because my kids won't last that long..

Ok this is what I have for adr's

25th Shutters for dinner
26th T-Rex
27th WCC
28th Sci Fi for lunch and H&V Fantasmic for dinner
29th Coral Reef for dinner
30th Kouzzina's for breakfast and Kona for dinner
31st Crystal Palace for breakfast and 1900 Park Fare for dinner
1st Nothing planned but counter service and I let the kids pick them


I may upgrade to delux dining.. So I may be adding more meals..

looks good to me,glad you got what you wanted,we did dxdp last trip,we were so stuffed,no one wanted to eat anymore.We didn't do any signature dining so we had too many regular adr's .Most of the time we didn't even get the appetizer.Don't think we will do it again.

 

[2girlsmom]

I am thinking about doing deluxe too, T. I always seem to want too many meals otherwise...IF we both do deluxe, we could CONSIDER if we wanted to change H&V to brown derby? I haven't really looked at them closely, since they were 2 credits, but we COULD if we wanted to... though I am sure it will be WAY lots of food for all of us.

 

[3Leafs]

Kristi here is the menu

Appetizers

Creamy White Onion Soup - with cripsy olive ciabatta, Pecorino cheese, and basil oil $8

Cremini Mushroom Chevre Tortelloni - with Tomato-Fennel Sauce and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano $9.00allearsmenu

Seared Day Boat Sea Scallop - with black bean corn pudding and a mango papaya salsa $10

Blue Lump Crab Cake - with Potato Crust, Green Cabbage Slaw, Cognac Mustard Sauce, and Rémoulade $12.00

Baby Greens Salad - with grape tomatoes, candied pecans, Midnight Moon goat cheese and cabernet vinaigrette $8

Spicy Sashimi-grade Tuna Tartar - with Cucumber, Daikon and Pepper Salad, Avocado Wasabi Sauce, and Crisp Lotus Root Chips $14.00

Our Famous Brown Derby Cobb Salad - with finely chopped greens, turkey breast, egg, bacon, tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado, chives and Cobb dressing $15


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Entrees

Sterling Silver Pork Chop - topped with Smoked Gouda and Apricot Preserve served over Napa Cabbage, Bacon, and Potato Hash with Apple Cider Jus $33.00

Pan Seared Asian Barbecue Lamb Chops - with Citrus Crumbs, Red Thumb Potatoes, Shiitake Mushrooms, Smoked Bacon, Yellow Wax Beans, and a Minted Shiso Pesto $35.00

Duck Two Ways - House-cured Pastrami with a Vanilla-White Balsamic Melon Pear Salad, and Braised Leg with a Ginger-Carrot Puree, and Natural Reduction $28.00

Noodle Bowl - with Wok-fried Coconut Tofu, Soy Beans, Sugar Snap Peas, Bok Choy, and Shiitake Mushrooms in a Red Curry Broth $23.00

Spice-rubbed Black Grouper - with Sautéed Haricots Verts and Sunchokes, Rainbow Carrot Slaw, and Citrus Butter $31.00

Herb-marinated Spit-roasted Half Chicken - with Orzo, Calamata Olives, Feta, Prosciutto Salad, Preserved Lemon, and Heirloom Tomato $28.00

Char-grilled Filet of Beef - with Herb-roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Cremini Mushrooms, Cippolini Onions, and Cabernet Wine Syrup 6 oz. $36.00 or 8 oz. $40.00

Loch Daurt Salmon Glazed - with Scotch Whisky over Arugula, Watercress, Local Peaches, Bleu Affiné, Walnuts, and a Fig and Orange Blossom Honey Dressing $33.00


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Desserts

Chocolate Three Ways - Dark Almond Buttermilk Cake Layered with Milk Chocolate Truffle Creme and White Chocolate Chambord $9.00

Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower - on Cocoa-Almond Cookie and Bananas "Foster" $9.00

Double Vanilla Bean Créme Brulée - with Dark Chocolate-dipped Biscotti $7.00

Warm Seasonal Fruit Cobbler - with Creme Fraiche and Orange Blossom Honey $6.00

Shortbread-crusted Cheesecake - with Grand Marnier Macerated Strawberries $9.00

Grapefruit Cake - A Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit Cream Cheese Icing $7


Appetizers

Chicken Noodle Soup $3.00

Chopped Salad - with tomato, cucumber and carrots $3.00

Celery and Carrot "Dippers" with ranch dressing $3.00


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Entrees

Grilled Chicken Breast - with barbecue sauce, red potatoes, and green beans and carrots $9.00

Meaty Macaroni - Macaroni, ground turkey, marinara and mozzarella with broccoli $7.00

Grilled Cheese on Whole Wheat Bread - with brown sugar apples $6.00

Tempura Fish Strips - with steamed broccoli and dipping sauce $11.00

Grilled All-Beef Hot Dog $6.00

French fries and soft drinks available upon request


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Desserts

Fresh Cut Fruit - with mango ice $3.00

Hidden Treasures - Vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookie crumbles and gummy snakes with a Tollhouse cookie $4.00

Strawberry and Yogurt Parfait - with granola $3.00

 

[3Leafs]

Shera we loved the deluxe dining. We just went last month and it was great. Only difference this time around is I won't book a breakfast everyday. That made it too much for us. With the adr's i've booked it ends up being a LOT cheaper to do delux than oop..

 

[MNmama]

We just booked our ADR over the phone.... I got what I wanted, but now have to decide if we want to use Disney transportation. This is our first trip and I am soooooo overwhelmed with planning We wanted some breakfast times, but the guy on the phone said that DT can take 30-40 plus minutes to get anywhere and only begins an hour before the parks open. We will be traveling with a 4.5 year old and a 2 month old and will be up early so we wanted to get some early DR... I just dont know... thoughts?

here is what we got:

Friday 27: Travel day
Saturday 28: Tusker house - breakfast ( was going to do Chefs mickey but heard the food was horrible?)
Sunday 29: Akershus - lunch
Monday 30 : Nothing- planning a resort day
Tuesday 31: 9 am BBB for daughter, then CRT at 530 for dinner
Wednesday 1 : Figured 2 days at MK to see everything so Crystal Palace for dinner
Thursday 2 : Travel Day

 

[AKL LOVER]

We just booked our ADR over the phone.... I got what I wanted, but now have to decide if we want to use Disney transportation. This is our first trip and I am soooooo overwhelmed with planning We wanted some breakfast times, but the guy on the phone said that DT can take 30-40 plus minutes to get anywhere and only begins an hour before the parks open. We will be traveling with a 4.5 year old and a 2 month old and will be up early so we wanted to get some early DR... I just dont know... thoughts?

here is what we got:

Friday 27: Travel day
Saturday 28: Tusker house - breakfast ( was going to do Chefs mickey but heard the food was horrible?)
Sunday 29: Akershus - lunch
Monday 30 : Nothing- planning a resort day
Tuesday 31: 9 am BBB for daughter, then CRT at 530 for dinner
Wednesday 1 : Figured 2 days at MK to see everything so Crystal Palace for dinner
Thursday 2 : Travel Day

Don't worry about the Disney transport. The busses are up and running early enough to get you to your early ADR's. We always schedule ADR's as early as we can in the morning (8 am in the parks) and we've never had a problem getting to them. Just make sure that you leave your resort about 40-60 min prior to your ADR time and you should be good (the time you need to leave depends on what resort you are at and where you are going) . You can ask about the bus schedule at the front desk of your resort if you are worried. They will tell you when the busses will start running the next day. The CM's at the resort were very helpful when we were worried about this on our first trip.

By the way, we LOVE Tusker house. The character interaction is good and they play fun songs and let the kids dance with the characters, so my kids really love it. And eating here early puts you right next to the safari ride for rope drop, so as soon as you are done eating, hop right in what will most likely be a short line and enjoy! And we also love Crystal Palace--good food and good characters.

You look like you have a good plan for your first trip. You haven't overloaded yourself with ADR's or park time and you've planned a day to rest in the middle of your stay. Don't forget it's important to go back to your resort to rest, nap or use the pool to relax each day. This is always important for our kids

The planning right now might seem overwhelming, but it will make your vacation that much better! And believe it or not, for some of us crazy people on here, the planning is part of the fun!

Hope you guys enjoy your first trip!

 

[pjennings]

We are heading back to WDW in May, the 28th-June 3rd to be exact. It is our second trip and we plan on surprising our 6 year old twins this time around. Last time they knew the entire time we were going. My TA got all my ADR's this morning for us and I am getting excited. I could really use a vacation

I hope the crowds are not to bad this week. Our last trip the crowds were not bad at all.

 

[iggler]

I can make my ressies tomorrow, this is what I am planning, does this sound ok?
May 29 arrival day, /dinner at Crystal palace
may 30th/ Kona Cafe or Ohana
May 31st/dinner at Tutto Italia
June 1st/ dinner kona cafe or ohana (opposit of whtever we get on the 30th)
June 2nd/Hollywood and vine with Fantasmic pkg
June 3rd/ Shutters at our resort wind down for departure Saturday morning.

I am thinking of dinner around the 6-7ish time frame, spend afternoons at resort swimming, relaxing and get ready for dinner.

we are thinking of doing all our lunches with the quick service meal tickets.
Is is hard to get to the other resorts for Dinner?

 

[MNmama]

Don't worry about the Disney transport. The busses are up and running early enough to get you to your early ADR's. We always schedule ADR's as early as we can in the morning (8 am in the parks) and we've never had a problem getting to them. Just make sure that you leave your resort about 40-60 min prior to your ADR time and you should be good (the time you need to leave depends on what resort you are at and where you are going) . You can ask about the bus schedule at the front desk of your resort if you are worried. They will tell you when the busses will start running the next day. The CM's at the resort were very helpful when we were worried about this on our first trip.

By the way, we LOVE Tusker house. The character interaction is good and they play fun songs and let the kids dance with the characters, so my kids really love it. And eating here early puts you right next to the safari ride for rope drop, so as soon as you are done eating, hop right in what will most likely be a short line and enjoy! And we also love Crystal Palace--good food and good characters.

You look like you have a good plan for your first trip. You haven't overloaded yourself with ADR's or park time and you've planned a day to rest in the middle of your stay. Don't forget it's important to go back to your resort to rest, nap or use the pool to relax each day. This is always important for our kids

The planning right now might seem overwhelming, but it will make your vacation that much better! And believe it or not, for some of us crazy people on here, the planning is part of the fun!

Hope you guys enjoy your first trip!

Thank you thank you thank you for your feedback! I am a total planner and type A personality, so I guess its just making sure everything is "perfect" haha!

Glad to hear about the Tusker house! I am excited to try it.

Any other first timer tips???

 

[iggler]

Ressies are made!!!!! I am so nervous, having never been there before, I sure hope I made the right choices!

May 29 Crystal palace
May 30 Sci-fi
May 31 Tutto Italia
June 1st Kona cafe
June 2nd Hollywood and Vine with Fantasmic
June 3rd O'hana
All are sceduled in the 6ish time frame except for H&V is a little earlier due to fantasmic.

I tried to make my choices based on fun factor, and something for everyone in the family, and based on comments in this thread.
Any thoughts?

 

[AKL LOVER]

Thank you thank you thank you for your feedback! I am a total planner and type A personality, so I guess its just making sure everything is "perfect" haha!

Glad to hear about the Tusker house! I am excited to try it.

Any other first timer tips???

Use fastpasses if lines are long! And don't forget to use rider swap at the rides that have height requirements, since your daughter will be able to ride some of these but your baby won't.

Have you thought about renting a stroller while you were there? This way you don't have to bring a stroller from home. We have used Orlando stroller rentals a few times and really enjoyed having a stroller delievered to our resort (you can arrange for it to be there by the time you arrive) and just leave it at the resort when you check out. You're 4 1/2 year old may use a stroller more than you think at Disney--it's a lot of walking! You can rent the city mini double stroller so both your kids can ride. They are easy to push around in the parks and fold up nice and quick for the busses. If you rent strollers in the park you only get them in the park. By renting through an outside company you can have it between parks and at your resort. Depending on what resort you are staying at, you may need a stroller there too--some of the resorts are rather large! Not to mention, if you are going to rent a stroller its cheaper to rent through and outside company than it is to rent in the parks from Disney.

Get a book for your daughter to collect autographs in from all the princesses and characters she will meet. I bought a plain spiral bound book from a craft store before we left. It was a hard covered artists journal about 6 x 9 (shaped like a rectangle). Then while we were in Disney each character we met I had them sign the page and left the page next page to it blank. After we returned I printed pictures we took of my daughter with each of the characters. I glued the pictures to the pages next to their signature. Then I bought scrapbook stickers at the craft store (different themes to match each character) and used those to decorate the pages along with making a title page! I also made one for my son with pictures of him (and me or DH) with the characters, even though he was not even 1 yet. Both of them love to look at their book--even my son who doesn't really remember it. He enjoys seeing pictures of himself as a baby with the characters. In fact, we take it back with us every trip just in case and any time we meet a new character that isn't in the book, we add them! (we have blank pages in the back where we add them)

Really, you can see that I could go on and on about Disney (like most people on here)...My whole family thinks I'm ridiculous! But they sure do love the Disney vacations I plan!!

 

[2girlsmom]

I've got a good start on my adr's now, here's my current plan:
5/27 Donald's Safari bfast 8am
Tusker House lunch 1pm
WCC group 6:35
5/28 LeCellier 1:15pm
H&V Fantasmic 4:50pm
5/29 CP 8:15am
Via Napoli 12:45pm
Coral Reef 6pm
5/30 Kouzzina bfast
Kona supper

 

[3Leafs]

Wow kristi most of those meals look very familiar