Our September 2011 Pre-Trip Adventure!! (Update 09/29/2011 - Link to TR!)

[britt_ji]

I'm subscribing! Your plans look great so far...looking foward to reading more.

 

[Reddog1134]

My wife and I are DVC members but we both want to stay at POP because it's so cool looking.

As for ponchos, I say "no thanks.". Water rides lose something when you know you're not going to get wet.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hi Tanz,

I just realized you had a PTR from your link. I am joining in. We stayed at POP in 2009 and had a great time there you will love it. Let me know if you have any questions about it.

I did not see "Nemo" or the "Lion King" shows on your Animal Kingdom itinerary. I highly recommend these shows. You must have a second day in AK if you don't catch them your first day. I like that you are allocating time for the Pangani Trail and the Maharajah jungle trek. It is good to take time and enjoy the theming and the animals in the park. Zaheer will enjoy these trails if he likes animals. I also think he will enjoy Dinosaur if the reason he does not like roller coasters is from the drops and/or the high speed. Dinosaur is not at all like that. As you stated it does jerk you around a lot but it is much different than a rollercoaster. I see you did include Primeval Whirl though. That is a rollercoaster that also spins you around. Zaheer may not like that ride.

thanks for joining in!! I have just looked at your POP pictures and loved them...am looking forward to staying there! I do have a question for you. I bet you regret saying that now!! Anyway I realise you have been to MNSSHP and WWOHP. Our budget means I have to choose between a day at IOA and the party. I know they are two seperate things but in your opinion which did you prefer. Would love to see HP World but have heard the atmosphere at the party can be amazing.

Think we will be spending two days at AK so we can eat at Tusker House and get to see the shows. We are looking forward to the trails and I did think Zaheer would really enjoy them...may persuade him to return again in the future! Thanks for clarifying that Dinosaur is not like a rollercoaster so Zaheer can ride it. Was planning on riding PW on my own...don't think Zaheer would forgive me if I took him on it!

I'm subscribing! Your plans look great so far...looking foward to reading more.

thanks for subscribing!! Am hoping to post more later today...with it being my first visit need as much help as I can get!!

My wife and I are DVC members but we both want to stay at POP because it's so cool looking.

As for ponchos, I say "no thanks.". Water rides lose something when you know you're not going to get wet.

I know...we were debating staying at CBR but the fun involved in POP swayed us!! It is great for a value resort! How cool to stay at the DVC resorts - would love to stay at AKL or BLT one day.

Exactly...that's how I feel. Am glad am not alone in feeling this way! I have always gone on water rides wanting to get wet and think I will stick with tradition at Disney World!

 

[TanzUnited99]

I am putting my third day plans together and am hoping to post them later today. In the meantime remember I said there was one thing I wanted to buy (or be given as a pressie!!) to take to Typhoon Lagoon. Well it was a disney towel! Have had a look at a few and shortlisted to a possible two. I love the bright colours in the Little Mermaid towel but also think the Eeyore one is great! Any opinions??

 

[TanzUnited99]

Today we will be heading to...

We will be trying to get to the park as early as possible today in order to make the mad dash to

The plan is to ride it first and then get a FP for later...am hoping this will work!!

We will then visit Tinkerbell at Mickey Ave (if the line is short). Have heard that Narnia is going Although many of the reviews of this attraction on here are not positive, we were actually looking forward to seeing it as we love the movies!

We will then head to Sunset Boulevard, where I will be walking into

Will I come out alive?!!

I will then get a FP for RnRC so Zaheer is not stranded for too long. We will watch Beauty and the Beast and I will ride after the show - RnRC is the only attraction that worries me as I do not favour upside down loops. Will I be brave and give it a try??

We will then grab some lunch at Starring Roll so I can get

Thanks IheartDDuck for the advice of coming back later if there are no cupcakes left - will definitely do that!

On passing we will see if we can ride the Great Movie Ride but if we have to wait we will probably skip it for now. We will then be heading to Echo Lake to watch a favourite show of mine - The American Idol Experience!! I love the comical moments of the show and also think Ryan Seacrest is hot!! Ssh..don't want that one letting out of the bag! I would love to catch a last performance so I can see all the best performers of the day and have a say in the overall winner - but am not sure how it will fit in with our plans.

Dependent on show times we may also watch Sounds Dangerous and/or Indiana Jones.

At this point we will probably look at returning to Pop for a rest as HS has EMH! However there is no Fantasmic announced for today Am hoping this may change! After our rest the plan is to return to DHS and watch the Lights, Motors, Action show. Zaheer will love this as he is a big fan of action films but am not sure how I feel about it. However, if he is willing to sit through American Idol for me then I will return the favour and watch this with him.

I am looking forward to watching

as I love Kermit the Frog! I have read reviews that this is outdated and needs an update but as it is my first time watching I will be none the wiser!

We will then use our TSMM fast passes (if we were successful earlier!) before eating at 50s PTC.

We are looking forward to being told to take our elbows off the table and eat all our greens before we can get dessert!!

That's our jam packed day at DHS!! Will we manage to follow it through...tbh as it will be our first trip to Disney we know we will not be able to see everything but will just get through whatever we can and plan another trip to see the rest lol!!

We will also be returning to DHS on a later day to meet the characters, attempt to draw a character sketch and watch Block Party Bash and Fantasmic.

Coming Next: A so called relaxing day!

 

[brdlyleon]

Im here! lol figured id listen in on your plans since youre there for mine! lol so far it seems great! we have alot of the same ideas in our planning! cant wait!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oooohhh, that cupcake is bringing back good memories!

You should have no problem getting there early, riding TSM once, and having fastpasses for later.

I like the Eeyore towel. I love him and his pouty face.

Muppetvision is one of my absolute favorites! I just laugh the entire time. Even though it's a little outdated, it's still funny. I hope you like it!

 

[clearskies]

thanks for joining in!! I have just looked at your POP pictures and loved them...am looking forward to staying there! I do have a question for you. I bet you regret saying that now!! Anyway I realise you have been to MNSSHP and WWOHP. Our budget means I have to choose between a day at IOA and the party. I know they are two seperate things but in your opinion which did you prefer. Would love to see HP World but have heard the atmosphere at the party can be amazing.

Think we will be spending two days at AK so we can eat at Tusker House and get to see the shows. We are looking forward to the trails and I did think Zaheer would really enjoy them...may persuade him to return again in the future! Thanks for clarifying that Dinosaur is not like a rollercoaster so Zaheer can ride it. Was planning on riding PW on my own...don't think Zaheer would forgive me if I took him on it!

No regrets Tanz, I am happy to provide any insights that I have. Boy that is a tough decision since we loved both. First I would recommend shaving something else out of the budget so that you can fit them both in but if not then I would opt for IOA. You can experience more there with a full day than the MNSSHP night. If you do that and can't make your way to MNSSHP then I recommend that you make dinner plans on one of the MNSSHP nights at one of the monorail resorts and watch the MNSSHP fireworks from there. I liked the view from the Poly beach the most out of the 3 resorts. You can time a dinner at Kona so that you finish before the show ans then head to the beach and sit on a lounge chair and watch the show.

Good to see you have another day at AK for the shows. You can probably fit them in on your first day since I don't think the crowds will be too bad when you go but you will have the time with a long trip relax to spread it out. Glad to see you are not planning PW for Zaheer

Your DHS day is looking good. If you get there early your TSMM plan should definitely work. Good to see you planned another day for Fantasmic. That is a great show but allocate time to get there early or try to get a Fantasmic Dinner package.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Im here! lol figured id listen in on your plans since youre there for mine! lol so far it seems great! we have alot of the same ideas in our planning! cant wait!

thanks for reading! Not long to go for you and can't wait to hear about your trip on your return!!

Oooohhh, that cupcake is bringing back good memories!

You should have no problem getting there early, riding TSM once, and having fastpasses for later.

I like the Eeyore towel. I love him and his pouty face.

Muppetvision is one of my absolute favorites! I just laugh the entire time. Even though it's a little outdated, it's still funny. I hope you like it!

I know what you mean...was drooling just looking at the picture whilst posting! Don't know how I'm going to react when it's actually in front of me!

That's great to hear - was hoping that would be the case as we will be going at a quiet time.

Yeah I think I am leaning more towards Eeyore...he is cute.

Am looking forward to Muppetvision and hoping it has the same effect on me!

No regrets Tanz, I am happy to provide any insights that I have. Boy that is a tough decision since we loved both. First I would recommend shaving something else out of the budget so that you can fit them both in but if not then I would opt for IOA. You can experience more there with a full day than the MNSSHP night. If you do that and can't make your way to MNSSHP then I recommend that you make dinner plans on one of the MNSSHP nights at one of the monorail resorts and watch the MNSSHP fireworks from there. I liked the view from the Poly beach the most out of the 3 resorts. You can time a dinner at Kona so that you finish before the show ans then head to the beach and sit on a lounge chair and watch the show.

Good to see you have another day at AK for the shows. You can probably fit them in on your first day since I don't think the crowds will be too bad when you go but you will have the time with a long trip relax to spread it out. Glad to see you are not planning PW for Zaheer

Your DHS day is looking good. If you get there early your TSMM plan should definitely work. Good to see you planned another day for Fantasmic. That is a great show but allocate time to get there early or try to get a Fantasmic Dinner package.

Thank you for answering my question. Am going to try my best to get both built into this trip but was leaning more towards IOA if I had to choose one of them over the other. It just makes sense as we will be visiting MK during the day whereas we will not have visited IOA at all. Also thanks for the on scheduling an ADR for a resort where I can still watch Hallowishes...hadn't thought of that. Have just looked at my ADRs and changed them around a little so we will be eating at Kona on a MNSSHP night and still get to watch the fireworks from the beach.

At the minute we have scheduled two days at AK so we can take it easy and relax. However, if we manage to get through more then expected on the first day then we may swap the second day to another park, probably MK. Have heard the crowds are normally okay during September.

Am hoping my TSMM plan will work...this is the only day we are hoping to make it before Rope drop - I know that is pretty lame but we are not morning people so don't think we will have much success at more then one early start! Have heard MK rope drop is worth seeing but will have to see if we can do that one. Apart from 50s PTC there are no other restaurants that grab us at DHS so we will be eating at Captain's Grille on Fantasmic night. Am hoping to get a late lunch/early evening ADR so we have plenty of time to make it back to DHS for the show.

 

[TanzUnited99]

24 days until I can make my ADRs!!

So I will be posting the next day soon but in the meantime the other things I have to do before our trip are:

- Make window clings - have never done this but am hoping to give it a try! If it doesn't work out will just make a sign to put on our window and get some Disney window clings whilst we are on our trip - have tried looking for some in the UK but have not had much hope. They are available on ebay but with shipping charges they are pricey!

- Start a planning binder - am hoping to get going on this after our ADRs are confirmed. At the minute I am going to break it down into the following sections:

Flight information and puzzles etc for the journey
Room confirmation and things we want to see at POP!
Mousekeeping envelopes
Park hours/maps/itineraries - include where to find characters
ADRs/snack lists
Miscellaneous

Let me know if I have missed anything

- Attempt to make a few t-shirts! I am not the most creative person so don't know how they will turn out but have looked into it and it can't be that bad, right?

One of the shirts will be for our DHS day and I'm hoping it'll be similar to

I will post pictures of my results when I start making them. Roll on September...CAN'T WAIT!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

The park that will be visited the most on this trip is

We agree that it has a mixture that both of us can enjoy. I can ride the attractions and eat lots of food whereas Zaheer can visit the countries and explore the different cultures!

Our first aim of the day is to visit The Land to get FPs for Soarin. We will then ride Test Track and I will ride the green side of Mission Space (don't want to throw up so will pass on the Orange side this time!) You never know though I may be tempted to ride this side before the end of our trip

We might visit Ellen's Energy Adventure before going on Spaceship Earth. We are looking forward to seeing our future and how much we have aged!!

Depending on the line we will then stop and meet

We will then climb aboard a clam mobile and visit Nemo and friends. After Soarin over California using our earlier FPs we will go and get some lunch at Sunshine Seasons. I am looking forward to getting

After our lunch we will head to World Showcase. We plan on going on Maelstrom and

I am looking forward to both these attractions. We will then tour the world stopping where we find something interesting. On this first occasion our focus is to meet the characters but we will return later, where we will explore the food on offer in each country!

Some of the characters we are hoping to bump into are

and

We will be visiting Karamel Kuche to get the following snacks

and some caramel popcorn! We may pay OOP for a couple of snacks as we don't want to use all our snack credits in one place!

We will explore a few shops along the way and I may stop to watch someone 'pick a pearl'. After we are done exploring we are hoping to go back to pop and rest before our ADR at Les Chefs de France which I am hoping to get for 7.30pm. This means we will not be watching Illuminations on our first Epcot day as all the best spots will be taken by the time we have finished our meal. We may stay and watch anyway, however if we don't then we will try and get on a couple of Future World attractions before leaving the park.

Coming next: A mad dash!!

 

[britt_ji]

We will be visiting Karamel Kuche to get the following snacks

and some caramel popcorn! We may pay OOP for a couple of snacks as we don't want to use all our snack credits in one place!

Yum! I think I will have to make a stop here, too!

Just catching up on your plans...everything looks great

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yum! I think I will have to make a stop here, too!

Just catching up on your plans...everything looks great

I can't wait to get the snacks at Karamel Kuche!! You def have to make a stop here, if you can!

Thanks - your plans look good too

 

[Disneymoon23]

Oh don't skip shark reef! I loved it last time I was there. The regular attraction only lets you quickly swim through, but there's a way to get more time in the water. There is a separate area where you can surface snorkel with a tank of air for about 30 minutes. I did this last time I was at Disney World in 2009 and it was only like $20 or $25 to do it. They take some photopass pictures for you, and you can take an underwater camera for pictures. You practically get the tank to yourself. I think there may have been two other people in there with me, but I didn't really notice.

 

[brdlyleon]

I will post pictures of my results when I start making them. Roll on September...CAN'T WAIT!!!

oh dear...You're being so brave about the wait!! I don't think I could wait that long before not screaming about it! lol Your plans look great though!! I recommend getting a snack at the bakery in France later on...i'm sure you have that planned already though!

 

[clearskies]

You've planned another great day Tanz. I personally don't think I can be in EPCOT at night and not try to see Illuminations even if the best spots are taken. It is my favorite night time show in Disney though. YMMV.

Don't forget to bring Zaheer to Club Cool to try some Beverly

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oh, Karamel Kuche is so good! I had the cupcake, and it was amazing!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Oh don't skip shark reef! I loved it last time I was there. The regular attraction only lets you quickly swim through, but there's a way to get more time in the water. There is a separate area where you can surface snorkel with a tank of air for about 30 minutes. I did this last time I was at Disney World in 2009 and it was only like $20 or $25 to do it. They take some photopass pictures for you, and you can take an underwater camera for pictures. You practically get the tank to yourself. I think there may have been two other people in there with me, but I didn't really notice.

disneymoon23. Am glad you loved shark reef on your trip...will try my best to ckeck it out! Did not know about the seperate area so thanks for this information. Neither of us have ever snorkelled before so we are a bit apprehensive but it is probably the best place to try this for the first time

oh dear...You're being so brave about the wait!! I don't think I could wait that long before not screaming about it! lol Your plans look great though!! I recommend getting a snack at the bakery in France later on...i'm sure you have that planned already though!

You do not realise how much it is killing me that we have to wait sooo long!! If I could I would go tomorrow! If it wasn't for these boards I would probably have driven most people I know mad by now...think I have done that anyway lol! Thank you for approving my plans...you are right, we definitely have the France bakery featured on a later date

You've planned another great day Tanz. I personally don't think I can be in EPCOT at night and not try to see Illuminations even if the best spots are taken. It is my favorite night time show in Disney though. YMMV.

Don't forget to bring Zaheer to Club Cool to try some Beverly

Thank you clearskies...am glad you approve. Knowing us we will probably stop and watch Illuminations even though we will be late in getting a spot. Have heard great reviews of the show.

I will definitely be taking Zaheer to Club Cool - was planning this on another day when we will also be spending some time in Innoventions. However I am rubbish at keeping a straight face and am pretty sure he will guess that I am up to something

Oh, Karamel Kuche is so good! I had the cupcake, and it was amazing!

Thought it would be!! Will definitely be getting the cupcake, if you thought it was amazing! My main concern is not being able to choose and wanting one of everything...will be like a kid in a sweet shop!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Thought it was time for some more introductions!

I really like this top and it is great in the summer as it is light!

Coming along to learn some French at Les Chefs de France is

So far I have only introduced tops - don't worry I will be wearing some pants with them as well...have no intention of going without them!!

I am hoping to buy some more summer pants for our trip. Still over 6 months to go...counting down and wishing September was not that far away.

 

[TanzUnited99]

This is meant to be our rest day but we will be trying to get up for 7.30 am as we will have somewhere to get to

So after getting ready and having some breakfast we will be getting the bus to MK so we can walk to The Contemporary resort to participate in some Sammy Duvall sports! I am planning on booking a jet ski as a surprise for Zaheer - am hoping he will enjoy it!

After our time at Sammy Duvall we will be heading to our breakfast reservation at 1900 Park Fare for a date with Alice, Mary Poppins and The Mad Hatter! I love The Mad Hatter and am looking forward to meeting him...have heard he is a hilarious character! I have been dropping small hints to Zaheer to get me the

I'll have to wait and see if I have been successful in this quest

We will have a look around GF before returning to explore Pop and have a swim in

After a rest we will head to DTD and spend some time in Disney Quest.

We have a choice of what to do in the evening. We can either head to

and play a round of golf or head to TTC and watch wishes. I think we will see what the weather is like before we make a decision.

Whichever option we choose we will definitely be getting something to eat from Earl of Sandwich. I have read great reviews of this place on these boards and am hoping to enjoy my sandwich!

Coming next - Our Fantasmic Day!!