Peekaboo, I see Pluto! A 1st Birthday TR; Wrapping up PTR and TR 10/02!
- Thread starter Missyrose
- Start date
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
Wow! So many friends, both old and new, chiming in. I tried to get a response post up yesterday, but I ran out of time before going to the Bruce Springsteen concert last night. It was AWESOME, but then again, Bruce always is. 
Here are some fun pics I snapped last night (just remember, I'm nowhere nearly as talented a photographer as Franklin! 
)
And now, onto the responses...
Hi Tina!
Glad you dropped by! I can't believe you get to go back to Disney in two weeks, I'm soooooo envious.
Got any big plans for the trip?
Hey Joyce,
Everyone in the crew was VERY excited, it made for an awesome trip! 
Rachel, I can't wait to take a peek at your TR to see how much your little one loved Disney.
Yay! You finally chimed in.
Hey Dee! Thanks for joining the party, sounds like you had quite the hectic week!
I don't think Tanner ever fell asleep on the plane, there were too many people he was interested in looking at.
Packing that car with us and all of our luggage was like the championship level of Tetris. Seriously, we had bags crammed in every available space in that SUV, I'm still a little in shock that we could fit everything in.
We usually like to get to MK at some point on our first day, even if it's just for a quick peek at the castle.
But we were total rebels on this trip, so I can officially rule out MK as our first park!
Speaking of all those Photopass photos, there's a reason I haven't put up the next chapter yet... the Photopass CD hasn't gotten here yet!
There was a little bit of an "issue." When a week had passed since I'd ordered the CD, I email the gues support team to see if there was a problem since my order still hadn't shipped. I got an email back saying that since we'd purchased our pre-ordered CD after our photos were taken, they'd have to charge us the full amount before sending the CD. It then dawned on me that we'd purchased another pre-ordered CD the week before when it was announced the price was going up at the end of March, so I called guest support and they looked at my account and saw the other pre-order and got my CD order moved along. Phew. So, hopefully, the CD will be here tomorrow or Wednesday and I can get the next chapter up and running!
Hi Dara, glad to have you join in! I can't wait to give your TR a look, since we've got a January trip planned for 2013.
I'm just as excited to have you following along!
Here are some fun pics I snapped last night (just remember, I'm nowhere nearly as talented a photographer as Franklin! )
And now, onto the responses...
Hello! I'm here!I know I wasn't all that present on your last TR, but I did try and keep up!
Hi Tina!
Glad you dropped by! I can't believe you get to go back to Disney in two weeks, I'm soooooo envious. Got any big plans for the trip?
Hey Joyce,
Everyone in the crew was VERY excited, it made for an awesome trip! Joining In! Taking little ones is a whole different and amazing experience!
Rachel, I can't wait to take a peek at your TR to see how much your little one loved Disney. Thanks everyone for joining in!
There will be plenty of Tanner. He was just so happy to see everything.
The camera holds 2 cards, 32GB and 64GB, and they were both full by the end of the trip.
Yay! You finally chimed in.
Had a very busy week and I couldn't keep up with TRs, but it looks like I didn't get too far behind.
Good start to your trip. I am so glad Tanner's first flight went so well. Do you know if he napped at all or was he just too excited?
Loved your comment comparing packing the car to playing Tetris.
What cute room themes!!! That's funny that they are based on Disney resorts. Sounds like this was a great choice for your group.
Do you start your trip with a visit to MK? We always do. It just seems like the right thing, even if it is crowded, soaking in the atmosphere of Main Street and beyond is the perfect way to start someone's Disney adventure.
700 photopass pictures?!? LOVE IT!!!
I preordered the CD for the class trip in June and I will be inviting all of the classmates to join in, but I still don't think we will have that many photos.
Hey Dee! Thanks for joining the party, sounds like you had quite the hectic week!
I don't think Tanner ever fell asleep on the plane, there were too many people he was interested in looking at.Packing that car with us and all of our luggage was like the championship level of Tetris. Seriously, we had bags crammed in every available space in that SUV, I'm still a little in shock that we could fit everything in.
We usually like to get to MK at some point on our first day, even if it's just for a quick peek at the castle.
But we were total rebels on this trip, so I can officially rule out MK as our first park!
Speaking of all those Photopass photos, there's a reason I haven't put up the next chapter yet... the Photopass CD hasn't gotten here yet!
There was a little bit of an "issue." When a week had passed since I'd ordered the CD, I email the gues support team to see if there was a problem since my order still hadn't shipped. I got an email back saying that since we'd purchased our pre-ordered CD after our photos were taken, they'd have to charge us the full amount before sending the CD. It then dawned on me that we'd purchased another pre-ordered CD the week before when it was announced the price was going up at the end of March, so I called guest support and they looked at my account and saw the other pre-order and got my CD order moved along. Phew. So, hopefully, the CD will be here tomorrow or Wednesday and I can get the next chapter up and running!Hi Dara, glad to have you join in! I can't wait to give your TR a look, since we've got a January trip planned for 2013.
I'm just as excited to have you following along!
Hi Dara, glad to have you join in! I can't wait to give your TR a look, since we've got a January trip planned for 2013.
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we were there mid january and the crowd levels were great! we got so much done in the short time we were there. I heard the crowds really picked up towards the end of the month though!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
We left off with us unpacking and exploring our Disney townhouse. Before we could head to the parks, we needed to go grocery shopping.
So we piled into the car, which was soooooo much easier to do sans luggage, and headed out into the Florida sun. Our rumbling tummies forced a detour for lunch.
It was a little windy, its a wonder that Tanner didnt blow away!
Considering it was Buffalo Wild Wings, our lunch order was pretty self-explanatory: wings for everyone! Plus some fries and onion rings. We must have been REALLY hungry because Franklin took exactly zero photos at lunch.
With our bellies full, we got back on track and scooted over to Publix.
We had a pretty basic shopping list. We needed breakfast items for a few of our mornings, snacks and drinks for our afternoon breaks and baby food for Tanner. Lala had spent hours making all of Tanners food for the trip and in the craziness of our early-morning departure, forgot to pack it! So for the first time in his year-long life, Tanner would be trying store-bought baby food.
But enough of the boring stuff. Once wed brought the groceries home, I was getting antsy. Wed been in Orlando for hours and I hadnt even made my way into the Disney bubble! Time to rectify that. As for your guesses for our first park? No one got it right! We headed off to
Thats right, Animal Kingdom! If youve read my TRs or PTR youll know that Animal Kingdom isnt exactly my favorite park (and on several of mine and Franklins trips, weve skipped it altogether), but I figured there was lots of stuff Tanner would like and Franklin was itching to ride Expedition Everest.
Tanner, youre about to go into your very first park on your very first trip to Disney World, how do you feel?
Um, well check back with you once you see something other than a parking lot.
Yay! First family pic at Disney World!
Grandma and Tanner each rocking their own set of wheels. With our photo shoot over, we made our way through the turnstiles. I was in a Disney park, finally!
Id forgotten how lush and gorgeous the scenery is at AK.
Our first animal sighting, some sort of bird that I still havent looked up the name.
We came into a clearing and saw this beautiful sight.
Seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some Photopass pictures taken.
With about a bazillion pictures taken it was time to do something. My first thought was to go to the safari, but my Lines app said the wait was an hour. Um, not with a 1-year-old. So we headed back toward Dinoland.
The plan was for me and Kotkham to take Tanner to the Dig Site to play while the thrill junkies (Franklin, Keith and Lala) would head for Everest. But when we got to Dinoland, we saw there was virtually no wait for Triceratop Spin, so we couldnt resist taking Tanner on his first ride.
He was mesmerized watching the flying dinosaurs while we were waiting.
Soon it was time to climb aboard, whos ready?
He may not look all that excited, but he seemed to really like the ride and the breeze blowing through his hair. No meltdowns though, phew!
Continued in next post.
So we piled into the car, which was soooooo much easier to do sans luggage, and headed out into the Florida sun. Our rumbling tummies forced a detour for lunch.
It was a little windy, its a wonder that Tanner didnt blow away!
Considering it was Buffalo Wild Wings, our lunch order was pretty self-explanatory: wings for everyone! Plus some fries and onion rings. We must have been REALLY hungry because Franklin took exactly zero photos at lunch.
With our bellies full, we got back on track and scooted over to Publix.
We had a pretty basic shopping list. We needed breakfast items for a few of our mornings, snacks and drinks for our afternoon breaks and baby food for Tanner. Lala had spent hours making all of Tanners food for the trip and in the craziness of our early-morning departure, forgot to pack it! So for the first time in his year-long life, Tanner would be trying store-bought baby food.
But enough of the boring stuff. Once wed brought the groceries home, I was getting antsy. Wed been in Orlando for hours and I hadnt even made my way into the Disney bubble! Time to rectify that. As for your guesses for our first park? No one got it right! We headed off to
Thats right, Animal Kingdom! If youve read my TRs or PTR youll know that Animal Kingdom isnt exactly my favorite park (and on several of mine and Franklins trips, weve skipped it altogether), but I figured there was lots of stuff Tanner would like and Franklin was itching to ride Expedition Everest.
Tanner, youre about to go into your very first park on your very first trip to Disney World, how do you feel?
Um, well check back with you once you see something other than a parking lot.
Yay! First family pic at Disney World!
Grandma and Tanner each rocking their own set of wheels. With our photo shoot over, we made our way through the turnstiles. I was in a Disney park, finally!
Id forgotten how lush and gorgeous the scenery is at AK.
Our first animal sighting, some sort of bird that I still havent looked up the name.
We came into a clearing and saw this beautiful sight.
Seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some Photopass pictures taken.
With about a bazillion pictures taken it was time to do something. My first thought was to go to the safari, but my Lines app said the wait was an hour. Um, not with a 1-year-old. So we headed back toward Dinoland.
The plan was for me and Kotkham to take Tanner to the Dig Site to play while the thrill junkies (Franklin, Keith and Lala) would head for Everest. But when we got to Dinoland, we saw there was virtually no wait for Triceratop Spin, so we couldnt resist taking Tanner on his first ride.
He was mesmerized watching the flying dinosaurs while we were waiting.
Soon it was time to climb aboard, whos ready?
He may not look all that excited, but he seemed to really like the ride and the breeze blowing through his hair. No meltdowns though, phew!
Continued in next post.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
While we were in line for Triceratop Spin, we saw Pluto and Goofy were doing meet and greets right across the way. So after getting off the ride, we hopped into line...just as Pluto and Goofy headed off to take a break. We only ended up waiting about 10 minutes though. Much like when we took Tanner on his first ride, I held my breath again as we walked up to Pluto and Goofy, Id seen the screaming and crying horror some kids feel when meeting characters and I had no clue how Tanner would react.
Success! He was more intrigued than scared. And when Pluto played peekaboo with him? It was over, Tanner was in love!
That is how peekaboo became the go-to move to get Tanner to smile and thus, our trip report found its name!
Tanner was especially taken with Plutos nose and whiskers.
Everyone join in!
Couldnt someone have told me I was out in front of everyone? But the cutest thing about that photo is Tanner is holding Plutos hand. Heres a closeup:
How freaking adorable is that?
We began to make our way out of Dinoland.
And toward Asia.
The thrill junkies took off for the single rider line, while I grabbed a spot on the curb outside the dump shop with Tanner and Kotkham.
Tanner then proceeded to flirt with every girl who passed by and he got lots of attention! Franklin, Keith and Lala were on and off very quickly. It was after 6 at that point and the sun was beginning to set. The only other thing on my to-do list was to see Festival of the Lion King. But the last show was at 6:30 and Keith and Lala had made plans to meet up with friends at around 7:15, so going to the show wouldnt work. Oh well, theres always October.
We made our way up through the park.
We stopped and took more Photopass photos too, and they turned out fabulous!
With the sun setting, it had gotten just a tad chilly. So I made a quick stop at
I got a Honey Vanilla Rooibos, the menu read We added the luscious taste of sweet clover honey to our already decadent Vanilla Rooibos and the result is a tea lover's dream come true.
It was delicious! Two thumbs up. While I was waiting in line, there was a family in front of me and the two kids were looking at my pin lanyard. You could tell they had just started collecting pins, they only had a couple each on their lanyards. So I offered to let them each pick one off my lanyad. They were so excited!
I just loved spreading little bits of pixie dust like that. It felt great to make those kids so happy!
While we had been in the car that afternoon, I had gotten an email saying that our Boardwalk Villas Disney Vacation Club contract had finally closed. So when we passed the DVC kiosk at AK, I squealed! We were members!
As we came upon the Tree, it was so pretty bathed in the sunset.
So we just HAD to take another Photopass picture!
We took a spin through Island Merchantile. Everything is so cute in there! But I held off, knowing my Disney shopping problem would rear its head soon enough. But we did get to try some birthday ears on Tanner... for about three seconds before he threw them off.
We made our way to the exit, bringing an end to our lovely afternoon at AK.
So what do you think? Were we crazy to spend a few hours at AK and only get two attractions in? Whats your favorite part of AK?
Up next, well have a grand homecoming and a sporty dinner.
Success! He was more intrigued than scared. And when Pluto played peekaboo with him? It was over, Tanner was in love!
That is how peekaboo became the go-to move to get Tanner to smile and thus, our trip report found its name!
Tanner was especially taken with Plutos nose and whiskers.
Everyone join in!
Couldnt someone have told me I was out in front of everyone? But the cutest thing about that photo is Tanner is holding Plutos hand. Heres a closeup:
How freaking adorable is that?
We began to make our way out of Dinoland.
And toward Asia.
The thrill junkies took off for the single rider line, while I grabbed a spot on the curb outside the dump shop with Tanner and Kotkham.
Tanner then proceeded to flirt with every girl who passed by and he got lots of attention! Franklin, Keith and Lala were on and off very quickly. It was after 6 at that point and the sun was beginning to set. The only other thing on my to-do list was to see Festival of the Lion King. But the last show was at 6:30 and Keith and Lala had made plans to meet up with friends at around 7:15, so going to the show wouldnt work. Oh well, theres always October.
We made our way up through the park.
We stopped and took more Photopass photos too, and they turned out fabulous!
With the sun setting, it had gotten just a tad chilly. So I made a quick stop at
I got a Honey Vanilla Rooibos, the menu read We added the luscious taste of sweet clover honey to our already decadent Vanilla Rooibos and the result is a tea lover's dream come true.
It was delicious! Two thumbs up. While I was waiting in line, there was a family in front of me and the two kids were looking at my pin lanyard. You could tell they had just started collecting pins, they only had a couple each on their lanyards. So I offered to let them each pick one off my lanyad. They were so excited!
I just loved spreading little bits of pixie dust like that. It felt great to make those kids so happy!
While we had been in the car that afternoon, I had gotten an email saying that our Boardwalk Villas Disney Vacation Club contract had finally closed. So when we passed the DVC kiosk at AK, I squealed! We were members!
As we came upon the Tree, it was so pretty bathed in the sunset.
So we just HAD to take another Photopass picture!
We took a spin through Island Merchantile. Everything is so cute in there! But I held off, knowing my Disney shopping problem would rear its head soon enough. But we did get to try some birthday ears on Tanner... for about three seconds before he threw them off.
We made our way to the exit, bringing an end to our lovely afternoon at AK.
So what do you think? Were we crazy to spend a few hours at AK and only get two attractions in? Whats your favorite part of AK?
Up next, well have a grand homecoming and a sporty dinner.
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Hope you had a great time at the Springsteen show. Namedropper! Your pictures of Bruce are not too shabby BTW!
Very nice start to your trip. Your comment about AK being Tanner's first park made me remember that AK was the first one we took our boys to on our first trip back in 2004!
Great photopass pictures so far! I'm glad that Tanner seems ok with the characters.
Very nice start to your trip. Your comment about AK being Tanner's first park made me remember that AK was the first one we took our boys to on our first trip back in 2004!
Great photopass pictures so far! I'm glad that Tanner seems ok with the characters.
marDgreen88
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2011
Looks like yall had such a nice first day! I'm glad Tanner enjoyed his first ride and character meet! Wow, Animal Kingdom looks beautiful at dusk. Amazing!
teekathepony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2009
Sounds like a great first day at the parks! Very happy to hear that Tanner enjoyed everything so far. Love those PhotoPass pics!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
Thanks, the afternoon worked out just perfectly. I think Tanner was really happy!
Bruce was fabulous, as always! I was shocked the pictures turned out so well, my pictures NEVER look that clear!
Do your boys like Animal Kingdom? I just feel like I'm missing something when it comes to that park. So many people seem to LOVE that park and it just doesn't click for me.
Looks like yall had such a nice first day! I'm glad Tanner enjoyed his first ride and character meet! Wow, Animal Kingdom looks beautiful at dusk. Amazing!
It was a wonderful first day! Nice and relaxed, totally "go with the flow." Tanner really loved the characters, which was such a relief!
Thanks! With so many Photopass photos to choose from, it isn't hard to pick some good ones!
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Animal Kingdom is not our favorite. We enjoy the safari. Only Nate will do Everest with us. Ben loves dinosaurs, but that interest is starting to pass.
The boys are too old to appreciate the Boneyard. They don't really enjoy the shows, which is a bummer because the Lion King, Nemo and from what I understand, Flights of Wonder, are awesome!So AK is a half day park for us. We love what we have done the past two trips.
AK in the morning
Bus to Blizzard Beach in the afternoon
Bus to AKL to eat at Boma
Bus to HS to enjoy a few attractions before walking back to the Beach Club.
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
Animal Kingdom is not our favorite. We enjoy the safari. Only Nate will do Everest with us. Ben loves dinosaurs, but that interest is starting to pass.
So AK is a half day park for us. We love what we have done the past two trips.
AK in the morning
Bus to Blizzard Beach in the afternoon
Bus to AKL to eat at Boma
Bus to HS to enjoy a few attractions before walking back to the Beach Club.
Glad to hear that I'm not on the "don't love AK" island on my own. Nemo is an awesome show, though, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing FotLK (whenever that may be). I like the AK/BB/AKL/DHS combo you've come up with.
Our basic AK plan for October is to hit that park on arrival day (again!). We'll have a very basic to-do list (mainly Expedition Everest for Franklin and FotLK for me) and anything else we can do in the early afternoon will be gravy. We'll then head back to AKV for the early evening Sunset Safari/dinner at Jiko (hopefully I will be able to book this on Monday, I can't believe we're 180 days out already!)
Anyway, I have to get back to work. Hope your family is having a lovely holiday weekend!
2xcited2sleep
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
Hi! Climbing aboard to join in the fun. Looks like the trip got off to a great start!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
Hi! Climbing aboard to join in the fun. Looks like the trip got off to a great start!
Christine, thanks for joining in. Lots and LOTS of fun still left ahead of us. 
tinacaplan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2009
OK...how did you get such good shots of Bruce? Where were you sitting???? Glad to hear the show was great. He's one of the last musicians on my concert bucket list...someday! On a side note, I have a close friend who was an RA at Boston College, where one of Bruce's sons goes. Said RA friend have the privilege of being the RA who helped move the kid in. Apparently, they showed up a day early to avoid any unwanted craziness...and get this...Bruce actually moved his kid into the dorm, just like a real dad. So, yeah, definitely a case where the man lives up the legend.
Your first park looks like fun. I am not a huge fan of AK and it is the one park we skipped in February. My husband doesn't like it very much and Max would spend the whole day in the Boneyard if he could, which can get a little boring...
But its also the park I think I'm looking forward to the most when I go next week
woohoo
I want to see if being able to do the park at my pace, with time to stop and take pictures whenever I want, will change my opinion at all.
Plus, I do think EE is pretty awesome!!!
Your first park looks like fun. I am not a huge fan of AK and it is the one park we skipped in February. My husband doesn't like it very much and Max would spend the whole day in the Boneyard if he could, which can get a little boring...
But its also the park I think I'm looking forward to the most when I go next week
woohoo I want to see if being able to do the park at my pace, with time to stop and take pictures whenever I want, will change my opinion at all. Plus, I do think EE is pretty awesome!!!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
OK...how did you get such good shots of Bruce? Where were you sitting???? Glad to hear the show was great. He's one of the last musicians on my concert bucket list...someday! On a side note, I have a close friend who was an RA at Boston College, where one of Bruce's sons goes. Said RA friend have the privilege of being the RA who helped move the kid in. Apparently, they showed up a day early to avoid any unwanted craziness...and get this...Bruce actually moved his kid into the dorm, just like a real dad. So, yeah, definitely a case where the man lives up the legend.
Your first park looks like fun. I am not a huge fan of AK and it is the one park we skipped in February. My husband doesn't like it very much and Max would spend the whole day in the Boneyard if he could, which can get a little boring...
But its also the park I think I'm looking forward to the most when I go next week
Plus, I do think EE is pretty awesome!!!
The Bruce concert was A-MAZING, as usual. I've seen him nine times in my life and he only seems to get better with age. The coolest part of the show was when he came out to sing on this little platform in the middle of the arena and then CROWD-SURFED back to the main stage. Our seats were awesome, we were on the second level, right next to the stage so we had a great vantage point. I love that story about Bruce moving his kid into the dorm.
I've always said it must be hard being the kid of someone famous, especially with a last name as recognizable as Springsteen.
You're going to Disney next week!
It sounds like you have a good plan for AK. I feel like if I keep doing the park in small doses, I may find parts of it that I really like. Now that I've conquered Rock-N-Rollercoaster, I'd love to try Everest. But that gigantic drop coming out of the mountain terrifies me! Are you going to add this trip to your current TR or start a whole new one? Can't wait to hear all about it!
Missyrose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
Since writing this TR will probably take me clear through the spring and summer, I figured instead of starting a PTR for our upcoming October trip, I could pepper my planning for that trip into this TR. Okay by you? Let's begin, then!
I'll start with the basics:
Who: Just me and Franklin
What: Our third annual Food and Wine Festival Extravaganza!
When: October 6-12, 2012
Where: Animal Kingdom Villas -- Jambo
You see, back when we returned from our October 2011 trip, I had the bright idea to rent DVC points for our next fall trip. This was before buying DVC had even entered my radar. I wanted to stay somewhere new and somewhere totally different. So I found a lovely DVC owner on "the other boards" who owned at AKV and we came to a deal for a six-night stay in a Savannah View studio (which cost me less than half of what a regular resort room would have cost at AKL even WITH an AP discount).
And so, even after we bought our DVC contract, we decided to keep the rented reservation "as-is." We were both pretty excited to try AKV and we knew we had plenty of Boardwalk stays ahead of us anyway.
Today was my magical 180-day mark. So I woke up at 6 a.m. to attempt to make my ADRs online, knowing full well the Disney Web site has seemingly stopped being able to recognize DVC confirmation numbers when signing in for the 180+10 ADRs. And what did I find? Oh, wait, the Disney Web site didn't recognize my DVC confirmation number. So I watched a Tivoed episode of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" and waited for 7:00 to roll around so I could call Disney Dining.
I dialed at 6:59 but was too early. So I hung up and called back and was put RIGHT THROUGH to an agent. In all my attempts at making ADRs, this was the first time I got through without any sort of wait. That has to be a good sign, right?
I had a lovely CM (whose name I can't remember, it was early people!) who was very helpful. We started with a search for a pre-opening breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. I had my choice of times, starting with the earliest available (8:05 a.m.), but I wanted to give ourselves a bit more of a cushion to enjoy the empty Main Street. So I took an 8:15. One down, six to go!
Next up? Dinner at 'Ohana.
"Hmm" says the CM.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"It seems 'Ohana hasn't had its tables for dinner loaded into the system yet."
What?!?! I had seen the threads about Le Cellier lunch and Cape May breakfast not being loaded yet, but I'd seen NOTHING about 'Ohana. She said to keep checking over the next few days.
We made a few more ADRs and then got stuck with the same "not loaded" error for our Boma breakfasts.
Very strange. Sigh, I finished up the call and went about adding the confirmation numbers to my Disney Web site account. I then, on a whim, decided to check the online site to see if 'Ohana had any dinner reservations on our arrival day. It did, lots of 'em. So I dialed Disney Dining back and explained to the new CM what the previous CM had said. New CM chuckled and said "Oh, no, 'Ohana is definitely loaded into the system, I've made several October ADRs for there." So she found me the exact ADR I wanted and we made the reservation. We also did the same for both Boma breakfasts I was missing. 
My ADRs were complete!
I only had one more thing I had to do before I could go back to sleep...
Wait until 9 a.m., then call the AKL IPO office to reserve our Wanyama Safari. For those of you who don't know, the Wanyama Safari is a sunset safari offered to guests staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Space is limited to 12 people per day. They take you out into the resort's savannas in a truck and explain what all the animals are and how they came to be at AKL. Then everyone shares a family-style dinner at Jiko. I figured this would be a cool way to learn what animals we'd be looking at all week and also that Franklin would loooooove
taking photos of the animals from close-up.
I called at 9 a.m. and easily got through to IPO. I had no problems setting up the safari, which will be what we do the evening of our arrival! Just to give you an idea, here's how our trip is shaping up (meal-wise, at least):
Saturday Oct. 6 -- Safari, dinner at Jiko
Sunday Oct. 7 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks
Monday Oct. 8 -- Breakfast at CRT, late lunch at The Plaza, MNSSHP
Tuesday Oct. 9 -- Breakfast at Boma, Pool morning, lunch at Mara or DTD (Earl of Sandwich is calling my name!), Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks
Wednesday Oct. 10 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Columbia Harbor House or Casey's, Dinner at 'Ohana
Thursday Oct. 11 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, Dinner at Via Napoli
Friday -- Breakfast at Boma, maybe Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, then time to go home.
We've got a good mix of old favorites ('Ohana, The Plaza, 50s PTC) and first-timers (CRT, Boma, Via Napoli). All in all, everything went about as smoothly as I could have hoped! Now we'll just have to wait and see if any of these ADRs change once the Food and Wine Festival events schedule gets released!
What do you think of our lineup? It's fewer TS meals than we normally do, but we wanted to focus on F&W and save the bulk of our TS favorites for the trip in January. Has anyone eaten at any of the places we're going? What did you like? What did you hate? And what have you been dreaming of eating since the last bite?
Let's begin, then!I'll start with the basics:
Who: Just me and Franklin
What: Our third annual Food and Wine Festival Extravaganza!
When: October 6-12, 2012
Where: Animal Kingdom Villas -- Jambo
You see, back when we returned from our October 2011 trip, I had the bright idea to rent DVC points for our next fall trip. This was before buying DVC had even entered my radar. I wanted to stay somewhere new and somewhere totally different. So I found a lovely DVC owner on "the other boards" who owned at AKV and we came to a deal for a six-night stay in a Savannah View studio (which cost me less than half of what a regular resort room would have cost at AKL even WITH an AP discount).
And so, even after we bought our DVC contract, we decided to keep the rented reservation "as-is." We were both pretty excited to try AKV and we knew we had plenty of Boardwalk stays ahead of us anyway.
Today was my magical 180-day mark. So I woke up at 6 a.m. to attempt to make my ADRs online, knowing full well the Disney Web site has seemingly stopped being able to recognize DVC confirmation numbers when signing in for the 180+10 ADRs. And what did I find? Oh, wait, the Disney Web site didn't recognize my DVC confirmation number.
So I watched a Tivoed episode of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" and waited for 7:00 to roll around so I could call Disney Dining.I dialed at 6:59 but was too early. So I hung up and called back and was put RIGHT THROUGH to an agent. In all my attempts at making ADRs, this was the first time I got through without any sort of wait. That has to be a good sign, right?
I had a lovely CM (whose name I can't remember, it was early people!) who was very helpful. We started with a search for a pre-opening breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. I had my choice of times, starting with the earliest available (8:05 a.m.), but I wanted to give ourselves a bit more of a cushion to enjoy the empty Main Street. So I took an 8:15. One down, six to go!
Next up? Dinner at 'Ohana.
"Hmm" says the CM.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"It seems 'Ohana hasn't had its tables for dinner loaded into the system yet."
What?!?! I had seen the threads about Le Cellier lunch and Cape May breakfast not being loaded yet, but I'd seen NOTHING about 'Ohana. She said to keep checking over the next few days.
We made a few more ADRs and then got stuck with the same "not loaded" error for our Boma breakfasts.
Very strange. Sigh, I finished up the call and went about adding the confirmation numbers to my Disney Web site account. I then, on a whim, decided to check the online site to see if 'Ohana had any dinner reservations on our arrival day. It did, lots of 'em. So I dialed Disney Dining back and explained to the new CM what the previous CM had said. New CM chuckled and said "Oh, no, 'Ohana is definitely loaded into the system, I've made several October ADRs for there." So she found me the exact ADR I wanted and we made the reservation. We also did the same for both Boma breakfasts I was missing. My ADRs were complete!I only had one more thing I had to do before I could go back to sleep...
Wait until 9 a.m., then call the AKL IPO office to reserve our Wanyama Safari. For those of you who don't know, the Wanyama Safari is a sunset safari offered to guests staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Space is limited to 12 people per day. They take you out into the resort's savannas in a truck and explain what all the animals are and how they came to be at AKL. Then everyone shares a family-style dinner at Jiko. I figured this would be a cool way to learn what animals we'd be looking at all week and also that Franklin would loooooove
taking photos of the animals from close-up. I called at 9 a.m. and easily got through to IPO. I had no problems setting up the safari, which will be what we do the evening of our arrival! Just to give you an idea, here's how our trip is shaping up (meal-wise, at least):
Saturday Oct. 6 -- Safari, dinner at Jiko
Sunday Oct. 7 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks
Monday Oct. 8 -- Breakfast at CRT, late lunch at The Plaza, MNSSHP
Tuesday Oct. 9 -- Breakfast at Boma, Pool morning, lunch at Mara or DTD (Earl of Sandwich is calling my name!), Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks
Wednesday Oct. 10 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Columbia Harbor House or Casey's, Dinner at 'Ohana
Thursday Oct. 11 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, Dinner at Via Napoli
Friday -- Breakfast at Boma, maybe Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, then time to go home.
We've got a good mix of old favorites ('Ohana, The Plaza, 50s PTC) and first-timers (CRT, Boma, Via Napoli). All in all, everything went about as smoothly as I could have hoped! Now we'll just have to wait and see if any of these ADRs change once the Food and Wine Festival events schedule gets released!
What do you think of our lineup? It's fewer TS meals than we normally do, but we wanted to focus on F&W and save the bulk of our TS favorites for the trip in January. Has anyone eaten at any of the places we're going? What did you like? What did you hate? And what have you been dreaming of eating since the last bite?
Nermel9
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2009
Hi I'm here, sorry it took me so long to sub, I kept forgetting! 
Great start, Tanner is too cute! I love the picture of him holding Pluto's hand! Animal Kingdom looks so beautiful with the lights on, I need to go there later in the day, we're always there so early!
Your F&W trip sounds great! I'm trying to figure out when I want to go in the Fall, we were going to do the end of October, but now I'm thinking mid November, to catch the end of F&W and the beginning of the Christmas season! I need to decide though, because I have to do ADR's! And what's going on with ADR's!! Why is there such a problem with the 180+10 thing right now, it's freaking me out! I've never had to call, I hope they fix it soon! Ughhhh!!! So you never ended up getting 'Ohana?
Everything you did get sounds good, I LOVE breakfast at Boma!
Great start, Tanner is too cute! I love the picture of him holding Pluto's hand! Animal Kingdom looks so beautiful with the lights on, I need to go there later in the day, we're always there so early!Your F&W trip sounds great! I'm trying to figure out when I want to go in the Fall, we were going to do the end of October, but now I'm thinking mid November, to catch the end of F&W and the beginning of the Christmas season! I need to decide though, because I have to do ADR's! And what's going on with ADR's!! Why is there such a problem with the 180+10 thing right now, it's freaking me out! I've never had to call, I hope they fix it soon! Ughhhh!!! So you never ended up getting 'Ohana?
Everything you did get sounds good, I LOVE breakfast at Boma!
teekathepony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2009
Love the plans for the next trip!
Sounds like a good lineup to me! I like that you've got some old favourites and some new ones, that's my favourite way of doing it!
Saturday Oct. 6 -- Safari, dinner at Jiko -- Oh how I would love to do this!
Sunday Oct. 7 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks -- 50's PT
Monday Oct. 8 -- Breakfast at CRT, late lunch at The Plaza, MNSSHP
Tuesday Oct. 9 -- Breakfast at Boma, Pool morning, lunch at Mara or DTD (Earl of Sandwich is calling my name!), Dinner at Food and Wine Festival kiosks -- Breakfast at Boma is one of my favourite restaurant experiences in all of Disney!
Wednesday Oct. 10 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Columbia Harbor House or Casey's, Dinner at 'Ohana
Thursday Oct. 11 -- Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, Dinner at Via Napoli
Friday -- Breakfast at Boma, maybe Lunch at Food and Wine Festival kiosks, then time to go home.
Sounds like a good lineup to me! I like that you've got some old favourites and some new ones, that's my favourite way of doing it!
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