OK! A 80 Hour Disney Adventure!! Let the good times roll, prefferably not me?

[Pumba's Truth]

So looks like the whole back and forth element may be put on the back burner. RE: Being the overly detailed trickster.

New plan is to surprise him in the car on the way down. IF we are able to get a room at CSR on the 20th. If not then it will be a wake up to Disney music and a card for him to open that will explain the whole thing. Hmmm .. I think I might try to catch either one on tape.

OH other news. ADR... Finally got Tusker House @ DAK on 11/22 it's later than normal for us, 10:10, but it will allow up to go and do a ride or two before breakfast. We've done this breakfast the past couple of times and we're looking forward to doing it again. It's great. Good character meet as well.

 

[KatMark]

So looks like the whole back and forth element may be put on the back burner. RE: Being the overly detailed trickster.

New plan is to surprise him in the car on the way down. IF we are able to get a room at CSR on the 20th. If not then it will be a wake up to Disney music and a card for him to open that will explain the whole thing. Hmmm .. I think I might try to catch either one on tape.

OH other news. ADR... Finally got Tusker House @ DAK on 11/22 it's later than normal for us, 10:10, but it will allow up to go and do a ride or two before breakfast. We've done this breakfast the past couple of times and we're looking forward to doing it again. It's great. Good character meet as well.

I like the new plan! We've never done Tusker House--we'll have to put it on the list for a future trip.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

As for the Tusker house breakfast. If you've ever done the Boma buffet breakfast it's very similar. The only thing is that the Tusker house has Disney safari characters. :banana

So now we have been looking at what room request to ask for. To be quite honest, I am going to be fine with any of them so I hesitate to ask for any sort of request as it may create a disapointment upon arrival.

But ... One of the things that I have been working on recently is, Myself, I've been working out more and I am looking forward to trying out the fitness facilities at CSR.

I have also seen pictures of what looks to be a lap pool at Casitas, I would assume that it is their quiet pool. But I have asked this question over on the CSR thread so I am sure I will get a firm answer shortly enough .. .LOL

So, I guess if I were to request a location I would probably have to go with Casitas 4 or 5 as they are close to the fitness facility, bus stop #2 and, I think, they are close to the quiet pool as well. Time for some more research.

PS. Still no luck for Nov. 20th, but I will keep checking as the time grows closer.

 

[KatMark]

As for the Tusker house breakfast. If you've ever done the Boma buffet breakfast it's very similar. The only thing is that the Tusker house has Disney safari characters. :banana

So now we have been looking at what room request to ask for. To be quite honest, I am going to be fine with any of them so I hesitate to ask for any sort of request as it may create a disapointment upon arrival.

But ... One of the things that I have been working on recently is, Myself, I've been working out more and I am looking forward to trying out the fitness facilities at CSR.

I have also seen pictures of what looks to be a lap pool at Casitas, I would assume that it is their quiet pool. But I have asked this question over on the CSR thread so I am sure I will get a firm answer shortly enough .. .LOL

So, I guess if I were to request a location I would probably have to go with Casitas 4 or 5 as they are close to the fitness facility, bus stop #2 and, I think, they are close to the quiet pool as well. Time for some more research.

PS. Still no luck for Nov. 20th, but I will keep checking as the time grows closer.

I can't answer on the lap pool, as I've never noticed the lines in the pool as someone mentioned on the CSR thread.

Casitas 4 and 5 would be PERFECT for you. As you indicated, close to the quiet pool, the fitness center and Bus Stop 2. These are our favorite buildings and it takes me about five or six minutes to walk to El Centro and about eight to the main pool from these buildings.

 

[sjs314]

Just read your PTR, plans sound wonderful. I had wondered what conference had all the rooms blocked at CSR, now I know. I toyed with the idea of switching to CSR and getting 2 rooms when FD came out but there was nothing available for our dates, we stayed there on opening day and liked the resort.

Here is hopeing a lil pixie dust comes your way and you are able to get a ressie for the 20th

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Thanks Much. I keep checking daily for that and an earlier ressie at Tusker House on the 22 or even a ressie for Le Cellier (Wishful thinking, I know) but isn't that what this place is all about. LOL

I see you're going to AKV. We stayed at AKL last summer 09. Loved it, it was tough to go with a mod this trip but everyone especially KatMark have been a wealth of information on CSR and I can't see not having a great time there.

That and I don't think the DW would want to stay anywhere else anymore, she's pretty much set on CSR regardless if we had more money to spend. LOL

The only thing we're missing out on during this trip is MVMCP. It doesn't run Thanksgiving week and that's the only week that we can get my son so ... we'll have to enjoy the Osbourne lights instead. No worries.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

So .. me and my dumb planning issues.

Well I managed to finally get a reservation at the coveted Le Cellier.

Unfortunately it's for our arrival day. It's also the day scheduled for DHS and Fantasmic (I've still yet to see it) and the only other evening that it is going to be shown is the day that we are scheduled to go to Teppan Edo. Go figure. Epcot is killing me here.

Toughts? Suggestions?

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Well my DW doesn't think so. Nor do I for that matter, but it still makes things a little interesting.

DW got a new job, well she starts on Thursday .... much better pay. Whoo hoo. And I am due for a raise, well actually I was due for it back at the beginning of June so I am going to get back pay for those hours and and increase going forward. Talk about timing eh?

Now on to the issue at hand. She want to fly down!

Yeah ... so as it turns out the difference between us driving and flying works out to be about $1100 more UGH

I dunno .. but it does save us about 2000 miles of driving.

 

[sjs314]

If it were me I would fly, If I recall when we drove it was like 1200 miles each way took us 2 days with a stop over in North Carolina near the border, Lumberton I think anyhow back then I was afraid to fly since I never had. Our last driving trip early 90's we hit rain all the way down and all the way back, even having to pull off the highway it was so bad.

Our next trip we flew and I never looked back, it was so nice to hop on a plane in in 2 hours be in florida, no acheing back or butt, from 2 days of driving.

I know it seems like a lot of $, money that can be spent on other things but you will reach your resort more relaxed and not so tired not to mention added time at Disney

 

[Pumba's Truth]

I know it seems like a lot of $, money that can be spent on other things but you will reach your resort more relaxed and not so tired not to mention added time at Disney

Exactly one of my thoughts. Mind you this trip we don't have the additional time available. But .... next time?

Well our case is a bit different as we wont be flying into Orlando. In fact, far from it. We're going to be flying into Atlanta. My son lives with his mum just north of ATL and we'll be picking him up. So we'll still have some driving to do but flying cuts that down to about 1500miles round trip ATL - WDW - North Port, FL - ATL. (North Port is where my folks live during the winter).

The whole car rental thing is what's blowing my mind. It ranges anywhere from 270 - 400 for a mid-size for the time that we need it. That's almost the same as it costs for one of us to fly down!

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Looks like we'll be flying. From where? Well that's still to be determined.

Probably going to fly out of Buffalo. It's about a 5.5hr drive from Ottawa but the savings of almost $400 at this point is pretty much worth it.

I also found a couple of discount codes over on mousesavers.com that got my rental car down to $290 for the trip and I joined the Emerald Club at National (For free through mousesavers again) so I can choose any car in the Aisle and still pay the $290.

Things are looking good. The flights right now are coming in around $570 for the both of us to fly out of Buffalo. I'm not sure if that's going to drop much as we are flying around Thanksgiving week.

 

[KatMark]

We're back from our trip and after starting my TR, I'm trying to catch up on all my threads. on the car rental price (it's very hard finding reasonable car rentals; when we first started out we were at over $700 a year ago and got it down to $285 just a month before our trip).

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Trip Paid in full - Check
Flights booked and paid - Check
Rental car booked - Check

So we're good to go. Yeup we decided to fly down to ATL and got a decent deal out of Buffalo $506 CND for the both of us. Then rent the car and all that - ends up costing about $23/hr of driving saved. It's worth it

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Got a nice PM from someone the other day that sent me the link to the conference that is going to be at CSR when we arrive. Turns out that they are "Sold Out" for their conference. Which means there are no blocked rooms that will be released come November.

Oh well, I'll keep my eyes peeled but I think I am going to have to make a booking elsewhere for the 20th. No worries.

 

[KatMark]

Trip Paid in full - Check
Flights booked and paid - Check
Rental car booked - Check

So we're good to go. Yeup we decided to fly down to ATL and got a decent deal out of Buffalo $506 CND for the both of us. Then rent the car and all that - ends up costing about $23/hr of driving saved. It's worth it

Got a nice PM from someone the other day that sent me the link to the conference that is going to be at CSR when we arrive. Turns out that they are "Sold Out" for their conference. Which means there are no blocked rooms that will be released come November.

Oh well, I'll keep my eyes peeled but I think I am going to have to make a booking elsewhere for the 20th. No worries.

Darn....I was hoping something would open up. Any ideas where you are going to try to get a room?

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Darn....I was hoping something would open up. Any ideas where you are going to try to get a room?

Was thinking of trying my luck with Hotwire. Other than that we'll just look for something inexpensive and close, but not run down. You know what I mean?

In all honesty it's only a place to lay our head for one night, we'll prolly arrive around 8 or 9 at night and then we're out of there by 7 in the morning so it doesn't have to be the Ritz or anything. LOL.

I would like to try to keep it around 75$ or less, so obviously we wont stay on property for that night. But honestly I think it's better this way, we start our trip at CSR and finish there. Just going to be a long 4 days.

The only thing left to do is adjust some ADRs and we'll be all set.

 

[KatMark]

Was thinking of trying my luck with Hotwire. Other than that we'll just look for something inexpensive and close, but not run down. You know what I mean?

In all honesty it's only a place to lay our head for one night, we'll prolly arrive around 8 or 9 at night and then we're out of there by 7 in the morning so it doesn't have to be the Ritz or anything. LOL.

I would like to try to keep it around 75$ or less, so obviously we wont stay on property for that night. But honestly I think it's better this way, we start our trip at CSR and finish there. Just going to be a long 4 days.

The only thing left to do is adjust some ADRs and we'll be all set.

We stayed at a LaQuinta and it was clean and not expensive...I want to say $58. This was in 2009 when we only had one night back at the World after Marco Island to go shopping at DTD.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

We stayed at a LaQuinta and it was clean and not expensive...I want to say $58. This was in 2009 when we only had one night back at the World after Marco Island to go shopping at DTD.

We'll have to take a look at the LaQuinta. I remember staying at one several years ago, glad to hear they are still up to par.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Yeah .. so in just goofing around. I checked a couple of vacation sites and was able to find rooms at CSR for my time period - inclusive of November 20th.

Here's my assumption - the large end vacation planners may have bulk space purchased already and will have this available to book through them alone.

I'm wondering if I move my reservation to an agent at one of these locations they might be able to get me the additional day. HMMMMMM

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Thanks to Jessica (Px4) I was able to obtain a resservation for Le Cellier on our Epcot evening.

This means that making the precautionary booking at Teppan Edo for lunch that day was the right thing to do. I know my son would never forgive me if I didn't take him to Teppan Edo, he really loves Japanese steak houses.

But Dad .. ME .. wants to experience Le Cellier in his good ol' Canada. Ok so it's not really home, but I can almost taste that prime rib. mmmmmmm

As for the rest of the shuffle .. Well there is still some thinking to do.

But will be getting rid of Teppan Edo Dinner on 11/23, and Le Cellier lunch on 11/21. However, there is also Raglan Road lunch on 11/22 that we have yet to decide about.

Raglan Road is where my wife and I went on our Dismoon back in April 08. My son has never been there before but I think he would like the atmosphere, the good ol' Irish Pub feel to it. Plus I really like the food.

So, long story short (not really ), we now have 6 TS resservations booked over the 4 days.

New break down:

11/21 - Breakfast @ Boma

11/22 - Breakfast @ Tusker House
11/22 - Lunch @ Raglan Road

11/23 - Lunch @ Teppan Edo
11/23 - Dinner @ Le Cellier

11/24 - Breakfast @ CP - This one is for my DW, she loves Pooh & Co.

So here's the question, currently on FD, do we:

• Just go OOP for the extra TS reservations est. $381.67. That is assuming we actually go to all of them.
• Tailor back to essential TS reservations and OOP for the remainder if any.
• Upgrade the DDP to DxDDP for $270 and cover everything needed, adding in a tonne more snacks to get before we leave MK on 11/24.

Thoughts? Musings? Anything from the wise world of the DIS?