Practically Perfect in Every Way - UPDATE-3/1 -- LINK TO TRIP REPORT!!!!

[ChefMickey123]

You are gonna love Flower and Garden, especially as Epcot Fans. Even your son will like it. I went on a solo trip before I got married and F&G was great. My mom and my aunt, who live in FL spent some time with me there and we did "Behind the Seeds" green house tour. The character topiaries are amazing. Have a great trip.

 

[amandaw]

Great plan for day 2! Those are some great ADR times you got (CP & O'Hana). I think with your plan y'all will get a lot done that morning. Hopefully, the weather will be nice for y'all to at least get a little bit of pool time.

Thanks! And...hey...did you change to POP?!

I did. At the end of last week, we ending up signing a purchase agreement on a house that's being built. Well, I crunched numbers & we could afford both the closing costs & downpayment for the house along with staying at Contemporary. However, I started thinking about all the things I want/need to buy for the new house and decided I should downgrade our accommodations to save money. So...now we are at POP. But, I'm still keeping an eye out to see if something will come up where I can trade our Hilton timeshare thru RCI & into DVC. *fingers crossed* We will stay at Contemporary one day!

 

[eandesmom]

Dinner at Kona, YUM! The tuna was to die for and the sugar free apple tower thing?

WTG on the Ohana re-book, sounds like a much better time fit for your crew. Morning plans look really really good and ending the day with a Lapu? perfect.

 

[teetee830]

Okay I have to subscribe! I'm a Tina too with a son named Max, I'm just missing the husband, Mark or otherwise LOL.

 

[Moira222]

Day 2 sounds fun - lots of rides and no stressful crazy schedule to meet. Lapu Lapu and maybe Wishes from the beach? Oh Yeah!

 

[dizneeat]

Great plans for your second day! Is that Tuesday? I need to keep track so I can see what you are up to on the days we will go back to WDW, so we can finally figure out when and where to meet!

I admire you for being able to get up so early for breakfast at CP - the things we do for Disney!

Cannot wait for the rest of your days!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

A CP breakfast sounds like a great plan! We got some very empty in-front-of-the-castle shots doing that! And you definitely need to check out the new HM queue, it's AWESOME.

 

[KatMark]

Tina, plans for Day 2 sound great; and you are going to my favorite character breakfast too.

 

[tinacaplan]

You are gonna love Flower and Garden, especially as Epcot Fans. Even your son will like it. I went on a solo trip before I got married and F&G was great. My mom and my aunt, who live in FL spent some time with me there and we did "Behind the Seeds" green house tour. The character topiaries are amazing. Have a great trip.

I'm sure I'll love Flower and Garden.

I did. At the end of last week, we ending up signing a purchase agreement on a house that's being built. Well, I crunched numbers & we could afford both the closing costs & downpayment for the house along with staying at Contemporary. However, I started thinking about all the things I want/need to buy for the new house and decided I should downgrade our accommodations to save money. So...now we are at POP. But, I'm still keeping an eye out to see if something will come up where I can trade our Hilton timeshare thru RCI & into DVC. *fingers crossed* We will stay at Contemporary one day!

Congrats on the new house! That seems like a GREAT reason to skip the CR this time around. And pretty much everyone who's stayed at POP seems to love it, so I'm sure you'll have a great trip.

Dinner at Kona, YUM! The tuna was to die for and the sugar free apple tower thing?

WTG on the Ohana re-book, sounds like a much better time fit for your crew. Morning plans look really really good and ending the day with a Lapu? perfect.

Yeah, I knew I was pushing it with an 8:00 p.m. ADR. Everything worked out really well, actually. Being in that really gives you a ton of great dining options.

Okay I have to subscribe! I'm a Tina too with a son named Max, I'm just missing the husband, Mark or otherwise LOL.

What are the chances??? I rarely meet other Tinas, let along Tinas who have sons named Max.

Day 2 sounds fun - lots of rides and no stressful crazy schedule to meet. Lapu Lapu and maybe Wishes from the beach? Oh Yeah!

Oh...I can taste the pineappley-goodness already!

Hi, Karin! You get your own special section, because I totally messed up your quote. Anyway, we're on Tuesday right now. We leave Friday evening. Maybe I'll have an update up tonight. Let me put it this way; in typical planning fashion, I have much less set in stone for the last couple days then I do for the rest of the trip. If you would like, I can PM you my plans for Thursday and Friday and we can see what works.

A CP breakfast sounds like a great plan! We got some very empty in-front-of-the-castle shots doing that! And you definitely need to check out the new HM queue, it's AWESOME.

I love how empty the park is at that hour. Its really cool. And breakfast at CP isn't too bad, either. Looking forward to checking out the HM queue. If its even half as cool as the Winnie queue, I'm sure it will be awesome.

Tina, plans for Day 2 sound great; and you are going to my favorite character breakfast too.

Thanks, Kathy. I will certainly be thinking of you that morning. And hello...SINGLE DIGITS!!!

 

[amandaw]

Congrats on the new house! That seems like a GREAT reason to skip the CR this time around. And pretty much everyone who's stayed at POP seems to love it, so I'm sure you'll have a great trip.

Thank you! We are very excited! It does seem like POP has quite a following. One of my best friends loves it. That's the only place her & her DH stay when taking their kids to WDW. As long as I'm in Disney, I'll be happy!

 

[pinkxray]

You have managed to plan my perfect day. Crystal Palace breakfast at 8am is my favorite breakfast and Ohana is my favorite dinner.They are the two meals that are on my must do each trip from now on.

Looks like you planned the best day ever.

 

[tinacaplan]

Thank you! We are very excited! It does seem like POP has quite a following. One of my best friends loves it. That's the only place her & her DH stay when taking their kids to WDW. As long as I'm in Disney, I'll be happy!

So very true! Believe me, I'll stay anywhere if it means I get to go to WDW!

You have managed to plan my perfect day. Crystal Palace breakfast at 8am is my favorite breakfast and Ohana is my favorite dinner.They are the two meals that are on my must do each trip from now on.

Looks like you planned the best day ever.

Thanks! I didn't try to do it on purpose... It will be a fun day, now that I think about it. We won't be too tired out to enjoy 'Ohana.

 

[glennbo123]

Yes, you look like you're enjoying meeting Pooh also.

Love the lapu lapu photo!

 

[tinacaplan]

Yes, you look like you're enjoying meeting Pooh also.

Love the lapu lapu photo!

Thanks! Its also my FB photo right now. Although I supsect that most of my non-Dis friends have no clue what the picture is of.

 

[tinacaplan]

Wednesday will find us heading to DHS, hopefully in time for rope drop.

I really love the architecture here. I think it would be fantastic if DIsney did a resort in the same theme. I would absolutely love to stay there. Think about it...how cool would it feel like a movie star in the golden age of Hollywood?

Then we will head here for a light breakfast:

And by light breakfast, I mean a carrot cake cooke. YUM!

No doubt we’ll hit up the Muppets, hopefully we’ll do some sort of swap to ride Start Tours, and then back to TSM to use our FPs. Not sure what we’ll do after that I’d love to stick around for the new version of Lights! Motor! Action! starring none other than Lightening McQueen. And Mark has made it his mission to meet Phineas and Ferb, so we’ll probably seek them out, too.

Beyond that, whatever else we decide to do, we’ll do. Perhaps Voyage of the Little Mermaid, or Beauty and the Beast, or I”ll get to sneak away to ride the RnRC. Or we’ll head back to the Poly.

At some point by mid-afternoon, we’ll have to head back to prepare for our dinner at the California Grill.

Me, enjoying the lobby at the Contemporary. I was so thrilled just to be there!

Our lovely anniversary dessert.

I know that Cali Grill has been getting some seriously mixed reviews as of late, but it still stands out as the best meal we’ve ever had at Disney. Period. I know we won’t be there for Wishes! But 5:45 was the best time I could get.

I know what many of you might be thinking: hasn’t she planned an ADR here for every trip since 2010 ? Well, yes, yes I have. Only this time, I’ve added something in to ensure we’ll make it. We’ll drop Max off at the Neverland Club. I figure he’s old enough by now and he’ll enjoy spending some time with some other kids. Plus, we won’t be leaving him for that long. We could be picked him up by eight and maybe go back to the MK. Or spend another evening relaxing at the Poly!

 

[Lidian]

I really love the architecture here. I think it would be fantastic if DIsney did a resort in the same theme. I would absolutely love to stay there. Think about it...how cool would it feel like a movie star in the golden age of Hollywood?

Then we will head here for a light breakfast:

And by light breakfast, I mean a carrot cake cooke. YUM!

I've been thinking the same thing for years .... a DHS-themed resort would be awesome!

And carrot cake cookie sounds like my kind of breakfast! (Only, no carrot cake ... maybe chocolate chips instead. DH loves the carrot cake cookie though!!!)

 

[glennbo123]

You said earlier that Max is listening to the muppets a lot these days, so yes, you'll definitely have to hit the muppet theater. Has he seen it before?

Regarding California Grill, I haven't made it there yet. And it's not in the cards for this next trip either.

I don't think my parents would be into it. But I know Judy and I and the kids would....so it'll make the list on some future, yet-to-be-identified trip.

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like yet another great planned day!

I was thinking of trying California Grill on our next trip. But, then I saw on the CR thread that it will be closing later this year for some refurb work that has to be done at CR. So say they're going to re-theme it & re-open it as something new. But, who knows for sure. I'm going to keep an eye on it & maybe we'll get to try it.

I think the Neverland Club sounds like a wonderful idea for Max. I've read great things about it on here. He'll have so much fun!

 

[eandesmom]

I haven't made it to Cali either, but I have a feeling that could change in Oct I don't know why but every time I look at the menu I can't get all that excited but I think that I need to give it a try!

I think if you are trying to do it with just the 2 of you, your chances of making it just went up a bunch!

 

[annmarieda]

What a great day you have planned. I have to say your comment

I really love the architecture here. I think it would be fantastic if DIsney did a resort in the same theme. I would absolutely love to stay there. Think about it...how cool would it feel like a movie star in the golden age of Hollywood?

Your picture in the lobby of the CR... you would look not look out of place in a DHS themed hotel! No wonder you would like it! Personally, while I am not so sure I would fit in... I too think it would be an awesome hotel.