"One More Waffle!" An October 2011 TR! *Update 4/24, pg 70-The End!*

[Nermel9]

See new update on my TR!

I just did, so I edited my post where I asked about it! I will comment about it there, but I'm so sorry you're not going, however, I understand the reasoning!

 

[Missyrose]

Geez, I go MIA for a little while and you end up having a major Disney dilemma! I can see both sides of your argument and I think both ways can work, it's just a matter of you figuring out if both will make you happy.

As far as the renting points idea, it's a good one, but only under the right conditions. Renting isn't as complicated as some people make it out to be. In fact, Franklin and I are renting DVC points for our October 2012 trip. We're staying six nights in a savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo for $950 total. I priced it out and it's less than half of what that room would have been even with an AP discount. That said, you have to do your homework with finding someone to rent from. Get references and follow through with them. Check for the owner's name on the Florida comptroller's Web site. And make sure you understand how the reservation works (the owner will retain control and any changes must be made by them, including adding DME or dining plans). And get in writing what the owner's policy is for changes to dates or cancellations (usually you have recourse if you cancel).

If you guys DO go in May, maybe make it a very laid-back trip spending a few hours at the parks here and there, but focusing on enjoying the pool, gorgeous weather and yummy Disney restaurants. If Brandon isn't hating it after a couple of days, maybe amp up the parks a little.

I'm a terrible person to be giving Disney trip planning advice at this point because Franklin and I just sent a signed contract back to buy DVC! And when we originally set out on this endeavor, we were going to make 2013 a Disney-free year and bank the points, but somehow we're planning a January 2013 trip and maybe even a May 2013 trip.

After our October 2012 trip, our next Food and Wine trip will be in November 2014, to do exactly what the PPs said: experience the Festival but also get to see the Christmas season at Disney.

I have no idea if I've said anything helpful at this point, but I hope you can figure everything out soon!

 

[Mrs T 2009]

I would say do 2 trips, but I think you secretly would be happier just going in november. You could stay at an EPCOT resort and have a long stay and do F&W. Plus, it's your favorite time to be in WDW and what if you went in May and Brandon felt like he wanted to do some different type of trip in november instead? Remember when he said he wanted to do a trip that wasn't WDW? I know, it's weird, but think about it.. You could do some other type of trip in May and then when November comes to go to WDW everyone would be refreshed and uber excited to go back to WDW!

Just my opinion.

 

[Simba22]

I agree about the one trip in November. I feel like you will BOTH be happier if you go that route.

 

[Merida]

Honestly, I've broken bones in my foot before (thanks ballet!) and, depending on where the break is, doctors can't really do a lot for you. Like, I got a 'don't walk around too much, maybe try crutches if you want' because a break was on the middle foot bone in the worst position possible for 'assisted' healing.

I think if you want to do two trips, a solo spring trip and a longer fall trip sounds like a great idea. Flying alone isn't too bad - I had a series of lonely plane trips when looking at grad school/visiting my out-of-state boyfriend and I got used to it pretty fast. A nice excuse for silly magazines and lots of snacks to take on the plane.

 

[Nermel9]

Geez, I go MIA for a little while and you end up having a major Disney dilemma! I can see both sides of your argument and I think both ways can work, it's just a matter of you figuring out if both will make you happy.

As far as the renting points idea, it's a good one, but only under the right conditions. Renting isn't as complicated as some people make it out to be. In fact, Franklin and I are renting DVC points for our October 2012 trip. We're staying six nights in a savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo for $950 total. I priced it out and it's less than half of what that room would have been even with an AP discount. That said, you have to do your homework with finding someone to rent from. Get references and follow through with them. Check for the owner's name on the Florida comptroller's Web site. And make sure you understand how the reservation works (the owner will retain control and any changes must be made by them, including adding DME or dining plans). And get in writing what the owner's policy is for changes to dates or cancellations (usually you have recourse if you cancel).

If you guys DO go in May, maybe make it a very laid-back trip spending a few hours at the parks here and there, but focusing on enjoying the pool, gorgeous weather and yummy Disney restaurants. If Brandon isn't hating it after a couple of days, maybe amp up the parks a little.

I'm a terrible person to be giving Disney trip planning advice at this point because Franklin and I just sent a signed contract back to buy DVC! And when we originally set out on this endeavor, we were going to make 2013 a Disney-free year and bank the points, but somehow we're planning a January 2013 trip and maybe even a May 2013 trip.

After our October 2012 trip, our next Food and Wine trip will be in November 2014, to do exactly what the PPs said: experience the Festival but also get to see the Christmas season at Disney.

I have no idea if I've said anything helpful at this point, but I hope you can figure everything out soon!

Ahh, I'm so jealous you bought DVC! Congrats! If I had DVC...wow, I'd be living at Disney, so it's a good thing we can't afford it!

Thanks for the advice...a decision has been made, I'll be updating in a minute...

I would say do 2 trips, but I think you secretly would be happier just going in november. You could stay at an EPCOT resort and have a long stay and do F&W. Plus, it's your favorite time to be in WDW and what if you went in May and Brandon felt like he wanted to do some different type of trip in november instead? Remember when he said he wanted to do a trip that wasn't WDW? I know, it's weird, but think about it.. You could do some other type of trip in May and then when November comes to go to WDW everyone would be refreshed and uber excited to go back to WDW!

Just my opinion.

Haha, I don't want to respond to anything because we finally made a decision, and I'm going to do a quick update about it in a minute, but thank you for the advice!

I agree about the one trip in November. I feel like you will BOTH be happier if you go that route.

We'll see!

Honestly, I've broken bones in my foot before (thanks ballet!) and, depending on where the break is, doctors can't really do a lot for you. Like, I got a 'don't walk around too much, maybe try crutches if you want' because a break was on the middle foot bone in the worst position possible for 'assisted' healing.

I think if you want to do two trips, a solo spring trip and a longer fall trip sounds like a great idea. Flying alone isn't too bad - I had a series of lonely plane trips when looking at grad school/visiting my out-of-state boyfriend and I got used to it pretty fast. A nice excuse for silly magazines and lots of snacks to take on the plane.

Yeah, Brandon said there isn't much else he could have done for a broken bone, he said maybe get an air cast or something? But it doesn't matter now, it's almost healed! I'm so annoyed he has to go back to work with those awful hours. Doesn't surprise me though, his job is so ridiculous.

A solo trip would be so much fun! I asked Brandon if he would care if I went and he said "Nope!" I will consider it! I just wish I had someone else who likes Disney that I could go with. My sister does, but she won't go with me now, and one of my friends does, but she just got back from Disney last Wednesday so who knows when she will want to go back!

 

[Nermel9]

Decision Time!​

Well, we have finally decided when to go to Disney this year!

Thank you to everyone who offered advice during this whole one trip/two trip dilemma! I know there are far more important things in the world to worry about than whether or not to go to Disney more than once in a year. I'm lucky I can go once a year. It's nice to go more than once, but it's just not a good idea this year!

So we are going in...September! I'm actually pretty excited about it, now that it's final! The main reasons are the AP's and it's still value season, but we can sneak in a few days of the Food and Wine festival before the prices go up!

Going in May and November would have been nice, but we'd have to save basically all year for Disney and right now, there are just other things I want to do with that money. And going for one trip in November was something I seriously considered, but I couldn't stand the thought of not using our AP's and also, the dates I wanted to go were the end of Jersey Week, the end of the F&W fest, the Wine and Dine marathon, Veteran's Day AND the Festival of Masters. So I'm guessing it would have been pretty crowded. I just didn't want to deal with that. ' I will miss the Christmas decorations, but after seeing them 3 years in a row, I suppose I can skip a year! Maybe we will go next year in November or December!

The resort has already been decided, and I doubt it will change, like most of my other trips, but I'll let you guys know what it is when I book and I can FINALLY make a ticker! Even though I know our dates, I don't like to have a ticker until we're booked. I will probably book it in a few weeks, I know discounts for September probably won't be out yet, but I will just add one once it's released (hopefully)! So hopefully I can book the trip this month (if not, it will be early Feb.) and then September hours will be out in March, and then I can do my ADR's in March! So I should be able to start planning in the next couple of months, which is what I'm really looking forward to!

Thanks again to everyone, helping us decide! You don't know how much I've gone back and forth with this! I know it's not a big deal in terms of real life problems but Disney is my escape, and even stressing about when to go was still part of the escape for me, if that makes sense! It was just something to distract me for a week or so!

I know I'm behind with everyone's TR's, I will try to catch up in the next few days, and finally get an update on this TR going as well!

 

[KatMark]

Jen, glad you made your decision on your dates for your trip. Sounds like a good plan.

 

[ronnmel]

I'm glad you made a decision and that you are happy with it. Plus, it's the option I thought was best, so yay for me too.

I agree that the week in November would have probably be quite crowded. Yikes at the amount of things all going on at the same time!!

 

[Joyciemc]

Count me in!! Except I feel the same way about flying solo. I don't even like flying with anybody except Greg. Joyce, how about you 2 fly to Chicago first and then we can all fly to Disney, together?

I think you should go at the end of October/beginning of November. You can do MNSSHP, Food & Wine Fest and catch some of the Christmas decor!

I would love to! I Chicago! I'm not so great at flying either, but I could be brave

Actually...Joyce, you're flying out of Bradley aren't you? Hmmm...I do live in CT...I could just crash your whole trip!

It's been so long since I've flown with anyone but Brandon, I feel like I might annoy other people, because I'm so nervous, but I do like the thought of a solo/DIS trip someday!

Hey, if you were to show up at Bradley and just happened to join us on a flight, that'd be cool with us!

 

[amazingact21]

Glad you made a decision on when to go to Disney. Although September might still be hot, I think it'll be a good time to visit, because it should still have fairly low crowds.

 

[Nermel9]

Jen, glad you made your decision on your dates for your trip. Sounds like a good plan.

Thanks! I'm happy it's finally settled, it was so annoying going back and forth!

I'm glad you made a decision and that you are happy with it. Plus, it's the option I thought was best, so yay for me too.

I agree that the week in November would have probably be quite crowded. Yikes at the amount of things all going on at the same time!!

Thanks, I am really happy with it, I'm looking forward to this trip, I'm already thinking about ways I can make it different! I might try a whole new touring style this year...but we'll see! I'll figure that out when September hours are released!

I'm so upset that November is getting crowded. We went the week before Thanksgiving in 09 and 10 and in 09 it was dead! The next year it was still low crowds, but you can tell more people caught on that it was a good time to go...and I heard last year it was really busy! So I can't imagine how this year will be! I'm kind of annoyed they moved the Wine and Dine marathon to November.

I would love to! I Chicago! I'm not so great at flying either, but I could be brave

Hey, if you were to show up at Bradley and just happened to join us on a flight, that'd be cool with us!

Haha, I wish I could! Brandon has no problem with me going to Disney alone, so it's all up to me, I'm just not sure I could do it!

 

[Nermel9]

Glad you made a decision on when to go to Disney. Although September might still be hot, I think it'll be a good time to visit, because it should still have fairly low crowds.

Thanks! It will definitely be hot, but I can't imagine it being much hotter than last year, when we were there from Sept. 29-October 8. It was pretty hot that week! The only thing I care about is NO RAIN! Seriously, I've had enough rain in Disney for a couple of trips!

 

[ditsypixie]

Congrats on making your decision! We have been in Sept before and it was hot but manageable. The crowd level was low too. We usually try to go in Sept or early Oct. You write such awesome PTR's and TR's...can't wait to read about your upcoming one

 

[MEK]

Jen - I did not know you were over here stressing about when to go to Disney again.

I think you made a wise decision to go when you can still use your AP's. It would be silly to do it any other way. Get that AP discount on your deluxe resort.

Speaking of resort - you said it wasn't going to change, but you didn't say what it was........

Happy planning!

 

[Nermel9]

Congrats on making your decision! We have been in Sept before and it was hot but manageable. The crowd level was low too. We usually try to go in Sept or early Oct. You write such awesome PTR's and TR's...can't wait to read about your upcoming one

Thanks! I've gone in September too, we went in 2008 and it was hot, but it's not too bad! Actually, you know when the heat was the worst? When we went in May, and everyone says May is so nice, but I had a hard time with it being so hot! I even wore shorts on that trip, and I never do that! Awww, thank you! I can't wait to start a PTR but it won't be until these 2 TR's are finished, which probably won't be for a few months!

Jen - I did not know you were over here stressing about when to go to Disney again.

I think you made a wise decision to go when you can still use your AP's. It would be silly to do it any other way. Get that AP discount on your deluxe resort.

Speaking of resort - you said it wasn't going to change, but you didn't say what it was........

Happy planning!

Ugh, yeah, it got kind of annoying, I was seriously changing my mind every 5 minutes and Brandon was about to kill me if I didn't decide soon!

I'm glad we can still use our AP's it would have been stupid to let them go to waste, and I'm hoping for a really nice AP discount!

Haha, you're just going to have to wait til I book the trip to find out the resort! I don't want to say anything yet, I want to make sure it's real!

 

[Nermel9]

Jalapeno. Pretzel. ​

Monday 10/3

Once I bought my adorable mug, we were off to Asia! We couldn't believe we had been in Animal Kingdom all morning and still didn't go on Everest, so we had to fix that!

On the way, we stopped and took some PP pictures, but they're all awful. Here's the best one and it's terrible:

Great, huh? It was pretty hot at that point and I was starting to really feel gross, and you can tell by the pictures!

I also have to tell Brandon to stop putting his arm around me that way in pictures, like we're just buddies or something, it looks strange!

We took our terrible pictures and went over to Expedition Everest

and grabbed some FP's with a return time of 12:45! It was around 12 at that point, so apparently EE was not busy that day! And the standby line was really short, so we hopped in line!

Of course, we asked to be in the front like we always do, but it still didn't take long before we were racing through the Himalayas!

(I won't do it. I won't say "there doesn't seem to be any track" like I always do. )​

When we were leaving and walking through the shop, I noticed they had a Lotso in their clear Vinylmation box at the checkout! I don't know why, but I really, really wanted Lotso. So we got in line, where there were 2 people ahead of us, and one was shipping everything somewhere, so he had to fill out like a billion papers. Seriously. It took so long for this guy to fill out the paperwork to ship his crap home, you would think he was buying a car or something. It was ridiculous. And there were like, 3 CM's behind the counter, but they were all helping this guy! I didn't even want to buy anything, I just wanted to trade a Vinylmation!!!

Finally, after what seemed like a year of my life, it was our turn. Brandon said to the CM "we want to trade this for Lotso."

The CM said "who?"

Really lady? You work at Disney and don't know who Lotso is?

Anyway, Brandon explained that we wanted the pink bear, pointed to him, and she finally gave him to us! It was kind of ridiculous the how long it took to get him, but I finally had Lotso, even though I don't like him!

Ok, so you can get a good sense of how long all of that took...by the time we were finished in the shop, it was 12:45. Time to use our FP's and go on EE again!

I don't remember if we waited for the front that time, I'm sure we did, it's so much more fun in the front!

It's Yeti time!!! (Sorry, I had to!)
​

We managed to walk through the shop and just leave this time, and for some reason I turned to the left, which I never to, and discovered this little nook where you can watch the coasters on EE! It's so cute!

I love this about Animal Kingdom, especially the Asia section...now I've never been to Asia, but doesn't it look like that could totally be real? Those people could just be random tourists taking pictures of the real Everest? (I suppose they'd be in winter clothes if it was real, but still!)

We decided to do something we've never done (well, ok we did on our first trip together in 2008, but we don't really remember it!) and go to Dinoland! It was seriously like walking into a different world. In 2008 when we did go on the Dinosaur ride, we both hated it, which is why never went back! But we thought maybe we were unfair to it, so why not give it another try?

The standby line was really short, and in no time we were in our little time travel vehicles, or whatever Claire Huxtable tells you they are, and off to catch a Dinosaur!

It was fun, I really liked it! I don't know why we hated it so much in 2008, but we enjoyed it much more this time!

Here's our ride photo:

Don't I look genuinely nervous? That's not fake, I had no idea when that picture would be taken! And see the little girl next to Brandon? She was scared, so she kept hiding her face in his arm, which is strange, because isn't that her dad next to her?

After Dinosaur, we kept going and walked through that weird section, Dino-Rama? It's just strange to me! It's really colorful and cute, and I do appreciate the details

but I don't feel the need to spend any time there, unless I have a kid someday!

We walked through the Boneyard, and came out right near Flame Tree BBQ (I think? It was close by, anyway!) Brandon was hungry, so I suggested he eat there, since I hear good things about it on the DIS!

He got a turkey sandwich, which I had a bite of, and it was really good! I was kind of hungry at that point too, but I was waiting to eat something specific...

Brandon's turkey sangwich
​

Once he was finished, I had to find a stand...I checked my WDW dining app on my Iphone to find out where the infamous Jalapeno Pretzel was, and it said it was located at a stand between Asia and Discovery Island. Ok. There are like 20 different carts and stands right there...but eventually we found it and I got my pretzel!

​

Yum. It is SO good. Brandon tried it, and loved it and kept taking it from me, and at one point I think I might have yelled "get your own!!" kind of loudly! I mean, really...I don't mind sharing, but with this pretzel...you kind of need one each, it's THAT good!

We looked through some of the shops (where I found 50 more of those Mickey head mugs) and decided it was time to go! It was hot, we both felt kind of sticky and wanted to shower and stuff. We had such a great time in AK! That was the most time we've spent there, usually we're there for 3 hours and we're done! It was around 2 something when we left! I love that we keep discovering new things in this park!

Up next...a less crowded Food and Wine festival!

 

[Joyciemc]

Hahaha, did you notice the guy photo bombing your picture of Brandon's sandwich?

I definitely need one of those pretzels! And I will be sure to get my own- I just know sharing it will make me mad!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I love discovering new things in Animal Kingdom too. It's becoming one of my favorite parks.

You know that jalapeno pretzel has my name on it. I want one right now.

 

[klacey1]

Glad you gave Dinosaur a second try! It is fun!
Mmmm, never tried one of those pretzels, but I'll definitely have to next trip! Nobody does snacks like Disney!