Oh, The Horror…of Food & Wine & Lumiere's Challenge! Nov 2017 PTR-Updated 9/22-FOP Fastpass!

[lovingeire]

That's awesome! Come back and post a pic here! I noticed you don't have any TR links…get going! HaHa!

Will do! I have thought about doing a trip report, but not sure I'd be very consistent with it.

Did you see that they released party dates? There's going to be a Halloween party on 11/1 so I am in for that one! But Christmas party won't start till the 8th so I'll miss it this year, which is ok because I'm super excited for the Halloween party!

 

[buzzrelly]

Will do! I have thought about doing a trip report, but not sure I'd be very consistent with it.

Did you see that they released party dates? There's going to be a Halloween party on 11/1 so I am in for that one! But Christmas party won't start till the 8th so I'll miss it this year, which is ok because I'm super excited for the Halloween party!

Don't worry…just update when you can. I get busy and go weeks sometimes without updating. It's all good And it's a great way to relive the trip!

I didn't see that…that's awesome! You mean, I didn't NEED to add an extra day onto our trip?! Don't tell Mike I'm so happy for you that you can go now! I didn't think we'd be making it to the MVMCP…maybe next year

 

[kastoney]

I'm here and all caught up. We're heading down to the world on the 3rd so we'll be there at the same time. My hubby is doing the 10K and half marathon too.I'm not much of a planner, so I'll let you do the countdown for me

Speaking of planning, I think we are going to do the Christmas Party on either the 8th or 9th, as we've never been during Christmas before. If you extend the trip a bit you can do halloween and christmas within a matter of days

 

[buzzrelly]

Thanks for joining in!

I'm here and all caught up. We're heading down to the world on the 3rd so we'll be there at the same time. My hubby is doing the 10K and half marathon too.I'm not much of a planner, so I'll let you do the countdown for me

Awesome! Just 202 short days away now Though I'm REALLY excited that I'm about 25 days from my ADR day Hopefully I'll have some ACTUAL plans to share soon

Speaking of planning, I think we are going to do the Christmas Party on either the 8th or 9th, as we've never been during Christmas before. If you extend the trip a bit you can do halloween and christmas within a matter of days

LOL! Trust me…I thought about it! But with part of the whole point of this to see HHN at Universal, I can't move the date later, and I really can't extend the trip by 3 more days…we are already going for 9 nights and I feel super guilty about that. Plus we don't have enough points for even more night. Sigh…maybe next year. I have a BIG birthday coming up next December (2018). I was thinking of maybe going to my happy place then just so I won't be super depressed about it

 

[buzzrelly]

Some thoughts on running-

So, today was absolutely gorgeous here in CT! 74 degrees and sunny! The perfect day to start running again…as you can see, I hadn't run since February 28.


I mentioned in another post that I had a rough March. I worked a ton and then I ended up getting sick Probably because I was so run down from working so much I also think i have a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder), because every winter I end up in a slump, and honestly it does usually happen in March. I hate March…it's always been my least favorite month. It's cold, snowy, long, there's no holidays, and frankly, I'm just so over winter by the time March rolls around. When I become a snowbird someday, I'm not coming back until April.

Anyway, we are having some amazing weather up here right now and it's only going to last a couple days so I wanted to take advantage of it. Plus, the kids have vacation and since we are not taking our annual vacation this April (did I mention earlier that we bought a new house? We moved in November an decided we hated all of our furniture and needed new stuff. After all that, we just didn't have the $$$ for our big April vacation…much to my kid's dismay. And mine too! Facebook has been taunting me the last couple of days with all of my memories from our past April vacations. I love looking at the memories but it just makes me want to go back all the more!)

I told my friends at work yesterday that today was the day and that I will text them after my run. I just went to a nursing conference and there was a phenomenal speaker there and she said if you really want to change something in your life, make a goal and share it with someone and write it down so you are accountable for making progress towards it. She was really inspiring and my friends and I were discussing her at work so we are going to all try to inspire each there and hold each other accountable. I think that's partly the reason I started this PTR anyway, so that I couldn't just talk myself out of it.

But of course, today rolled around and it was my first day off since last Monday so of course I was being super lazy and sitting around drinking my coffee and reading trip reports here. I almost talked myself out of going…I was tired, my legs and feet ached from working all weekend (12 hours shift are no joke, especially as I get older ), I had a million loads of laundry to do, my house was a mess and I had no food so I needed to go grocery shopping. As you can see, the list of all the reasons I couldn't run was long. But I had made a commitment to myself and after much procrastination, I finally got up and ate a banana and got my sneakers on and headed out.

I have been using Jeff Galloway's app for a couple years. I started with the 10K app, but then I downloaded the 13.1 app and that's what I've been using. I haven't even gotten close to 13 miles, however, the furthest I've ever run is 10 and that was a couple summers ago. I have it set for 2 minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking, and he always starts with a three minute walking warm-up. The walking part at the beginning was fairly easy since I am used to walking, but honestly, as soon as I started running this am, I knew this wasn't going to be an easy run. I was dying going up the first hill and was seriously considering just walking the whole way. But I kept running, albeit very slowly. Just as I was having more negative thoughts and was nearing the top of a hill, I heard something and turned to see a woman running by me, going the same way I was going. As she was passing me, I turned to look at her she raised her arm in the air and pumped her fist, as if to say, "you got this!" I know this sounds SUPER corny, but it honestly gave me the little extra oomph that I needed and I continued on doing my 2 minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking. After I got over that first hill, the running definitely got easier and I started feeling pretty good. I ended up running 3.22 miles in 37.28. That's actually a pretty good time for me. And I think I'll be safe from the balloon ladies if I can do this for the half




I'm sorry…if you don't run this will probably be super boring for you, but I wanted to share in case anyone else was having a hard time finding their oomph.


Also, here is my running playlist. I've had the same one for a while now and if anyone has any other suggestions of great songs to run to, I'd love to hear them!









Shoot! I can only upload 10 pictures per post…I'll post the rest of the play list in the next post…

To be continued...

 

[buzzrelly]

The rest of my playlist…








Anyone have any they would add??

Thanks for letting me ramble on about my running rut!

Only 201 days to go, and 24 days until I can make ADRs! More to come about that soon! Hope everyone is happy and well! Thanks for reading!

Oh, and as for anymore runs this week, I am working the next two days and had fully planned on running again Thursday and maybe Friday, but if not, definitely Saturday for sure. Except…dun, dun, DUN…wait for it... After all my running I was feeling really good…I went to the grocery store, did 4 loads of laundry, and dusted and vacuumed my house. I was feeling REALLY good until my mom came over with my super adorable great-niece. I just her.



I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks and my mom was just dropping by for a few minutes to say hi. Well, because it was such a gorgeous day we had the back slider open for the dog to come in and out and my little niece wanted to go out back so my mom brought her. Well, that little turkey ran out onto my pool cover before my mom even knew what was happening. When I heard my mom calling her, I ran outside to help and she was having the best time running around on the cover, and wouldn't come back when we called her. Thank goodness it's a super tight, sturdy cover, but I still was very nervous with her out on it. She finally came close enough to the edge and I went to pick her up and fell and twisted my ankle. Ugh. It is now killing me, but it isn't swollen so I don't think it's broken or anything, but I am seriously hobbled I can hardly bear weight on it and I'm pretty much limping around. Should make for an interesting day at work tomorrow I'm hoping it's just going to feel 100% better by Thursday so I can run again. Fingers crossed!

 

[ariane37]

So, today was absolutely gorgeous here in CT! 74 degrees and sunny!

Isn't it awesome?? We had 78 here in NY today! We have a really great bridge over the Hudson River, called (appropriately) Walkway Over the Hudson, connecting Poughkeepsie, NY and Highland NY so my friend and I walked it this morning. It's an old railroad bridge that burned in 1974 and stood rotting until a few years ago when they rebuilt it; it's 1.5 miles each way and it's gorgeous. And high lol so as much as I can do roller coasters of any sort I can't look down while we're walking across it. I also can't handle the top of the Empire State Building, I have to stand against the wall while the guys go look over the edge. Anyway glad you got to enjoy the weather! I'm not a runner nor do I really exercise at all but walking I can handle

I went to pick her up and fell and twisted my ankle.

Ugh!!! I hope it feels better soon!!

 

[lovingeire]

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your ankle! Hopefully it heals quickly so you can enjoy the weather and get another run in!

I would have freaked out with a kid on the pool cover. Because I'm a bit of a freaker outer!

I need to start thinking about ADRs. I made a quick list of ones I was interested in this morning on a whim.

I have some of the same songs on my playlist. I have mine set up right now with Disney songs every 4-5 songs. I actually need to add some to my half playlist as it's too short. I have:

 

[buzzrelly]

We have a really great bridge over the Hudson River, called (appropriately) Walkway Over the Hudson, connecting Poughkeepsie, NY and Highland NY so my friend and I walked it this morning. It's an old railroad bridge that burned in 1974 and stood rotting until a few years ago when they rebuilt it; it's 1.5 miles each way and it's gorgeous

I don't believe you…unless you have a picture

I also can't handle the top of the Empire State Building,

I can't believe I have lived in CT my whole life and never gone into the ESB…or The Statue of Liberty, for that matter!

Ugh!!! I hope it feels better soon!!

Thanks!

I have some of the same songs on my playlist.

I love it! Thanks for sharing! I saw at least 10 new songs that I'm going to add. I think I need to rearrange it anyway and get rid of some, and maybe mix in the Disney songs instead of having them all clumped!

I would have freaked out with a kid on the pool cover. Because I'm a bit of a freaker outer!

Trust me, I was! The only ting that saved me was that the dog has gone out on it before too, so I knew how sturdy it was. And they call it an "Elephant Cover," because it's supposed to be strong enough to hold an elephant.

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your ankle! Hopefully it heals quickly so you can enjoy the weather and get another run in!

Thanks!

 

[missjackiemcg]

As she was passing me, I turned to look at her she raised her arm in the air and pumped her fist, as if to say, "you got this!"

I still don't consider myself a "real runner" but I really do love that sense of community when another runner goes by and gives me the nod or a friendly wave like we're in this together Such a great feeling!!

and fell and twisted my ankle

AHHH!! I would have been FREAKING out with her out there, too!!! Sorry about your ankle Glad there's no swelling and really hopeful you're not still hobbling along today!

 

[buzzrelly]

I still don't consider myself a "real runner"

Me, neither…that's why I tell everyone, "if I can run then ANYONE can run!"

hopeful you're not still hobbling along today!

Ugh…I am, but it definitely feels a little better today. Not sure if I'll be running on it Thursday though

 

[kastoney]

We've been enjoying all the nice weather here too. We got away for a couple of days to the Blue Ridge Mountains which was nice (and even better free as we were mooching off my cousins vacation rental). Though it sounds like we've been dealing with the same work/sick issue. I usually work 50-60 hours a week, so exhaustion, combined with allergies, combined with the season change does not make me a nice girl

Good for your and getting out and running though. Maybe I'll download your playlist just to be me some motivation. Seriously loving all the Buffet music! I'm a huge parrothead

 

[buzzrelly]

We got away for a couple of days to the Blue Ridge Mountains which was nice (and even better free as we were mooching off my cousins vacation rental).

Free getaways are the best! Now you've got me singing John Denver because that is tearily the ONLY thing I know about the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sounds like heaven, though

I usually work 50-60 hours a week

Yikes! I've done 60 but not too often. I usually average 44-48. No wonder we're getting sick!

Seriously loving all the Buffet music! I'm a huge parrothead

Me too, but I haven't been to any of his concerts in years. I can't stand being around all the drunk people…last time I went, I saw a drunk girl flip over a fence and smack her head on the pavement. It was so disturbing. I still love his music though, and nothing says summer or vacation to me like he does

 

[buzzrelly]

An update, FINALLY! 155 DAYS TO GO!​

Sorry, everybody! I'm so bad at updating this PTR, but I haven't completely abandoned you! I actually didn't really have much to report on, and then when I did, I didn't really have the time to get here and write.

This is part of the reason I have been too busy to write…


We moved into our new house in November and this pool has been…errr…challenging, to say the least! We didn't know a thing about having a pool and everything took twice (or more) as long to do! We finally got the hang of it all and are now ready to have many, many pool parties!


Anyway, we are at 155 days, and y'all know what that means…our ADRs are done! I've also booked my return flight home last week on the day SW opened their fares and I got a great deal…Here's how my airfare ended up breaking down: If you recall, I had originally booked BDL to MCO on 10/28 for $174. One day while I was waiting for the kids at the dentist, I happened to check the SW fares on my iPhone app and I saw the same fare go down to $134. I called SW right away (because I couldn't figure out how to revise it on the app), and they ended up switching my fare and giving me a $40 travel credit!

On May 18th, SW opened their fares and I booked my return flight first thing in the am when they opened (I was up and checking at 6, but they didn't actually end up showing up until almost 7…I was in a panic because I start work at 7, but I ended up signing onto SW from a work computer…shhhhh….and booking my return flight.) Again, I could have booked from the app, but I couldn't figure out how to apply my $40 travel credit. Anyway, here's how this all worked out…the fare I chose on 11/6 from MCO to BDL was $123! Awesome price for around here! I added the EBCI (because, why not?) and used my travel credit, and ended up paying $99 out of pocket…Woot! So my grand total for my round-trip ticket was $257. That's about as good as it gets around here lately for direct BDL to MCO, and they are actually JUST the flights I wanted…I go down in the am on 10/28, landing at 11:05am, and my return on 11/6 doesn't leave MCO until 8:30 pm, so I'll get to spend the whole day there pretty much

You may be asking, "Where's Mike in all this?" Honestly, I have NO idea…yet! He will be taking the train down earlier than me and staying with his mom for a couple days and then he will go back to his mom's and take the train home a couple days later. I looked up the Amtrak fares and believe it or not, his train ticket will cost more than my plane ticket It looks like his train ticket will be around $300…I don't know if they ever go on sale. We'll have to start working on that soon, but I don't think there's any rush to get it.


More importantly…ADRs!

I ended up choosing park days based on Kenny's crowd calendar, and also, just kind of what was going to work. There were a couple specific things I knew we wanted, and then there are the running events that we had to work around, as well. Here's what our plans look like at the moment.

October 28th:
Land around 11am. Mike will pick me up at the airport and we'll check into HRH.

Since I don't have any set plans for Universal yet, I'll kind of skim over this for now. I know we want to do probably two Halloween Horror Nights, but I'm not sure exactly which two nights we'll do. If I had to guess, I'm thinking maybe go on the 28th and 30th, or maybe the 29th and 30th.

Universal did release some trailers for HHN, and honestly, I have NO idea if I'll be able to go into any of these houses

Here's The Shining trailer…it scares the pants off of me and even Mike watched it and was like, "I don't know if I can go in there?!" HaHa! He's the whole reason we are going here because he loves horror movies! And he's like, "I like horror movies, but I don't want to be MURDERED!"

Warning…Do NOT click on the link if you don't want to be terrified!

The other house that's been revealed is American Horror Story…ALSO scares the pants off me. I just went to copy the link on youtube and I'm home alone and am completely FREAKING out! Here it is…also, fair warning, it's SCARY!

Moving on to things that are more MY speed…

Tuesday, October 31st:
Check out of HRH and head over to BLT

We are going to MNSSHP this night and we already got our tickets in the mail…Yay!! We're going to…Animal Kingdom? Getting a FastPass+? What the…???


I have to stay, I'm REALLY disappointed in these tickets. They couldn't have made them with a Halloween theme? Or AT LEAST use a cute MK picture? Very confusing, Disney

Whatever, I guess. We won't let it stop us from having fun.

I made an ADR for The Plaza this day at 3:05 pm, but I think I may cancel because we are going to be getting annual passes and I don't want to activate them on this day since we already have our MNSSHP tickets. I don't think we can enter MK until 4 which won't work for a 3pm ADR. More to come on the reason I don't want to activate our tickets a day early…and it's a VERY good reason!




Wednesday, November 1st

8:15 am Kona Café (What's up with them getting rid of The Big Kahuna?!)

6:30 pm Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’

We check out of BLT and into the Poly this day, so we figure, why not eat breakfast after we drop off our bags and then we'll head to EPCOT and eat around the F&W booths for lunch.



Thursday, November 2nd

8:00 am Keys To The Kingdom Tour

4:15 pm Mama Melrose

I am SUPER excited to be doing the KTTK tour! It's been on my WDW bucket list for years, but since I usually travel with my kids and they can't go, I've never done it. Mike is actually the one who suggested it. He said he would do as many tours as I wanted since he doesn't love rides. I'm hoping he gets as much out of it as I do since he isn't a nutty WDW super fan like me. Actually, I'm secretly hoping this will MAYBE make him into a bigger fan, or at the very least give him a little more appreciation for WDW, since he tends to think of it as "just an amusement park with a lot of rides."

I don't know if we'll keep the MM ADR. What I would REALLY like to do this day is the Star Wars Galactic Dessert Party, but our dates have't been released yet. I'm almost thinking of skipping MM and going to PizzaRizzo instead. I'm one of the rare people who actually LOVED Pizza Planet and was so sad to see it go. I've been wanting to try PizzaRizzo anyway, and if we are doing the dessert party later, I don't want to fill up too much at dinner. Lunch will be provided with our KTTK tour at MK, so we'll see how this goes. I really like MM too, so I'll be happy either way.

The only other thing for this day, and I KEEP FORGETTING about this…we have to go to the expo at some point and get our race bibs and registration for the races. I'm guessing after the tour we can go there quick before DHS. Don't let me forget to go…haha!


Friday, November 3rd

10:30 am Tusker House

This is our one and only chance to go to AK this trip. We plan on spending the whole day here and going to Pandora at rope drop, and staying until the park closes, hopefully seeing the TOL all lit up and ROL.


Saturday November 4th

10K Day!!

7:00 pm ‘Ohana


We'll be up VERY EARLY this day! After the race, We'll probably go back to EPCOT and head back to the Poly for our 'Ohana reservation. Mike is REALLY looking forward to this one! I am too since I've never had dinner here. Plus, we'll be right at our own resort so we can get to bed early for the 1/2 marathon the next day!

Sunday, November 5th

1/2 Marathon Day!

12:00 pm California Grill

5:55 pm Via Napoli


I have NO idea how we are going to feel after the half, but I'm guessing we'll be hungry enough by noon to enjoy this. Mike and I are BOTH looking forward to this one! I'm guessing maybe we can go back and nap after and possibly head to EPCOT again. But, if you notice, I don't have any time scheduled to see Happily Ever After and this is our last night, i.e., our last chance, so we may have to skip VN and go to the MK instead.

Monday, November 6th

12:00 pm Be Our Guest

Our last day I figured we may as well have a nice relaxing day/lunch, and I really want to end our trip at the MK. As mentioned earlier, my plane doesn't leave until 8:30 pm, so we pretty much have up until 5:30 pm or so to get back to the Poly for the DME.

Yikes! This post took a long time! I promise to try to be a better PTR writer and update more frequently. Also, I will be back in a couple days to fill you in on WHY we want to wait to activate our Annual Passes. Anyone want to venture a guess?
Here are some clues:

If you've stuck around to read this, thanks!! See you soon!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Yay for getting things in order!!! Thanks again for all your Southwest help I was also ready bright and early when the flights should have opened up....I may or may not have booked my flight while I gave my Kindergarten kids seat work to do
I saved $1,040 versus flights at almost the same time flying out of O'Hare on United.

Love that you're doing the KTTK tour!! I really hope I'm able to do it in December. They said it wasn't available last year on our trip, but when we checked in for Marceline to MK it definitely was!!!! I was so mad!

 

[buzzrelly]

Yay for getting things in order!!! Thanks again for all your Southwest help I was also ready bright and early when the flights should have opened up....I may or may not have booked my flight while I gave my Kindergarten kids seat work to do
I saved $1,040 versus flights at almost the same time flying out of O'Hare on United.

Love that you're doing the KTTK tour!! I really hope I'm able to do it in December. They said it wasn't available last year on our trip, but when we checked in for Marceline to MK it definitely was!!!! I was so mad!

Omg! You're welcome! I'm so happy SW worked out for you and that's a LOT of money in your pocket to spend at Disney!

I'd be mad too, if I was set on it. But MTMK sounds fun too!

 

[lovingeire]

Yay for great flight prices! I got a great deal on Southwest too! Woo hoo!

We'll be at Animal Kingdom on Friday as well. We're eating dinner at Tiffins! Nom nom nom!

Are you taking a birthday trip/cruise?

 

[lovingeire]

I totally caved to the idea and made a trip report for W&D! It needs some love though.

 

[buzzrelly]

Yay for great flight prices! I got a great deal on Southwest too! Woo hoo!

Awesome! I love Southwest!

Are you taking a birthday trip/cruise?

Maaayyyyybeeee…stay tuned!

I totally caved to the idea and made a trip report for W&D! It needs some love though.

Yay! I'm heading there now

 

[ariane37]

As soon as I saw that they're doing a Shining house this year, I was almost in tears. I need to get there eventually! Stephen King is my favorite author of all time, I've (briefly and fleetingly) met him, and The Shining is a perfectly wonderful movie. That being said, that's it scares you so much! I'm a huge fan of horror movies

Great idea doing the KTTK tour! We've done 3 tours now on our adults only trips since the kids are still too young for so many of them and we loved KTTK.

Nice pool! Ours is just an above ground one and honestly, I know nothing about it. DH handles it all since I hate swimming and don't even like to go outside when it's hot unless I'm in WDW