Seriously, Disney Again? A F&W Festival & MNSSHP PTR! *Updated 8/11*

[livsmom04]

Seriously, Disney Again? A F&W Festival & MNSSHP PTR!

Welcome to those who are in for a wonderful ride on our PTR to Disney World Again. We get asked all the time why we go back to Disney every year but we honestly love it and it's just our favorite place. We live close to the beach but it's not where we want to spend our vacations at...we want thrill rides, characters and all inclusive food! Now let's meet the cast of our family vacation:

Charlotte, 33. That's me!!!! I'm the mastermind of our trip planning and of our household trips. I am the one who spends my time planning a fake trip rather than doing housework, homework or sleeping. I am in college full time at Liberty University going to get my Bachelors in Business with a focus of Healthcare Management and a minor in Accounting. I just added the minor in accounting and while some people might think I am crazy for doing it I feel it is the best for me. I am a SAHM for now and am getting into running which is another big trip that will be coming up in February 2015 to run the Princess Half Marathon! I am just in the beginning stages of training but hey I'm ready to run it and have some fun! I love to crochet and do some graphic design on the side as well. My favorite ride is a tie between Splash Mountain and Space Mountain!

Jason, 36. Hubby!!! Jason is the supporter for my crazy ideas of going to Disney! He pays for the trips and helps makes all my dreams come true when I say I want to go back! Yeah he knows that his girls get whatever they want no matter what! He will go without on several things in order for us to have a trip to Disney World instead! Haha! That sounds kind of selfish on our part but he wants to go to Disney just as much as we do! He just doesn't want to admit it!!! He's a truck driver and I only get to see him maybe once a week so for him to be home for an entire week at Disney is the perfect trip to be at!!! His favorite ride is Space Mountain!

Olivia, 10. She's the Princess!!! She is the one who will look at Jason and will bat her pretty little eyes and she gets what she wants when we're at Disney World! She loves Disney World not only because she can ride everything. She is very petite for her age and she has Asperger's and ADHD. She will drive everyone nuts in line if we have to wait in line so this year we will be taking advantage of the DAS Card for her because she might drive some people crazy like she did last year. It's worth a shot to try it out. Olivia's favorite things to do is read, ride bikes and play with her littlest pet shops. Her favorite rides are Splash Mountain and Everest!!!


We are going to Disney World from September 22-28th and will be attending our very first Food & Wine Festival! We will also be attending our very first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party as well on September 26th which we are very excited about!!! So stick around for the ride and journey while we plan this wonderful trip!!!

 

[livsmom04]

I'm reserving this for the chapter list

Where Will We Stay? Where Will We Eat?
Must Do's On This Trip!!
FastPass+ Selections Made
Crafting Projects 1 & 2 Done
MNSSHP Costumes?
Talking Friends into Going...

 

[kaelalala]

ahhhh our trip has overlapping dates with yours, and we'll be going to food & wine and MNSSHP too! (our party is two days later but I digress!) we're super excited for F&W too. can't wait to hear all the fun things you have planned

 

[livsmom04]

Where Will We Stay? Where Will We Eat?​

We are staying at Pop Century Resort which happens to be our favorite value resort out there! We have stayed there before and Olivia loves the "flower" pool. So we had to stay there, plus we were trying to save money as well on this trip! When I first started planning this trip back in January the trip was going to cost us $3700 but after the Free Dining Deals came out we took it and I figured out that it was cheaper for us. I calculated that we saved almost $400 just by doing the free dining and upgrading our dining plan to the deluxe dining. We had already booked all of our ADR before the deal came out and I didn't want to lose them so we decided to just upgrade because we want to eat at signature dining and we want to enjoy our meals.

Where Will We Eat?​

Here are my ADR's for our Trip:

Sunday, September 21, 2014:

6:45pm: Trails End Restaurant

Monday, September 22nd:

12:55pm: Liberty Tree Tavern
6:50 pm: Whispering Canyon Cafe (New for us)

Tuesday, September 23rd:

8:45 am: Tusker House
1:00 pm: Yak & Yeti
6:15 pm: Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue

Wednesday, September 24th:

8:55 am: Kona Cafe (*New)
1:30 pm: Teppan Edo
7:00 pm: San Angel Inn Restaurant (*New)

Thursday, September 25th:

8:20 am: Hollywood & Vine (*New)
1:25 pm: 50's Prime Time Cafe (*New)
7:00 pm: Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe (*New)

Friday, September 26th:

8:30 am: The Crystal Palace
1:40 pm: Beaches & Cream Soda Shop (*New)
5:10 pm: The Plaza Restaurant

Saturday, September 27th:

10:15 am: Cape May Cafe (*New for Breakfast)
7:55 pm: Yachtman's Steakhouse (*New)

Sunday, September 28th:

Travel Day back home!!!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Following

 

[livsmom04]

Following

Thanks for following along!

 

[livsmom04]

ahhhh our trip has overlapping dates with yours, and we'll be going to food & wine and MNSSHP too! (our party is two days later but I digress!) we're super excited for F&W too. can't wait to hear all the fun things you have planned

Yay to overlapping dates! I'm beyond excited about our first F&W Festival. I know we're not going to be doing any extra expos but we plan on taking advantage of other things like the cranberry bog or the kiosks. lol

 

[livsmom04]

Must Do's on This Trip!!!


I have several Must Do's on this trip and I will list them out! Some hopefully I will get to do some and I will not miss out on any that I really want to do.

1. Try a Dole Whip!
2. Get something from Boardwalk Bakery.
3. Eat at Kona Cafe.
4. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Ride.
5. Start Pin Trading.
6. Meet Anna & Elsa.
7. Ride Ellen's Adventure
8. Try to Ride Dinosaur again.
9. Visit Port Orleans Riverside Resort.
10. Visit Animal Kingdom Lodge.
11. Visit Wilderness Lodge.
12. Try a new wine at the F&W Festival.
13. Get a Funnel Cake in America at Epcot!
14. Try a Carrot Cake Cookie at Hollywood Studios.
15. Get a Kitchen Sink.
16. Get a Soft Pretzel & Cronut.
17. Get a Avocado Margarita.
18. Visit Bay Lake Towers.
19. Get a Sundae from Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop in Downtown Disney.
20. Get a Candy Apple from MK.

That is my Top 20 list that is a must do on this trip! Some will be done on this trip and so I can't wait to get some of them checked off but some of them might be a little difficult to get done but we will see what I can do!

 

[RachelNinja]

I'm here!

PIN TRADING! Haha, that and Vinylmation trading has seriously become one of my favorite parts of the trip. I think it's just the perfect thing to do when places get really crowded. Plus, it gives us plenty of opportunities to interact with CMs.

 

[bluechic03]

We are there at the same time AND will be at that MNSSHP

 

[livsmom04]

I'm here!

PIN TRADING! Haha, that and Vinylmation trading has seriously become one of my favorite parts of the trip. I think it's just the perfect thing to do when places get really crowded. Plus, it gives us plenty of opportunities to interact with CMs.

Yay! You're Here!!! I'm so happy that I will finally know someone who does Pin trading! I actually did pin trading back in 1996 when I went to Disney World with my family as a teenager but then it wasn't cool enough to pin trade! Now I plan on going onto ebay and seeing what kind of cool pins I can get to trade. We also will get Olivia a new set when we go down there or before at the local Disney Store or online. We shall see. It will give her an opportunity to meet new people since we homeschool her too.

We are there at the same time AND will be at that MNSSHP

Welcome and yay to being down there when we are! And to going to the MNSSHP too! I still need to figure out what I'm going to go as but I'm pretty sure I will figure that out soon! My hubby wants me to dress as my Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Cup that I made one year but I threw it away because it was gross looking and someone in my family (my brother) decided to put his dirty tires on top of it and so it smooshed it.

 

[livsmom04]

FastPass+ Selections Made...​

Now that we have our must do's, I have done the FastPass+ Selections and I'm still on the hunt for Elsa & Anna FastPass+ but so far we haven't found any yet. I'm on the hunt for them and praying that we can get to see them on this trip! That's Olivia's one thing she really wants to do!!

So here are our FastPass+ Selections:

Monday, September 22nd:

10:55-11:55am Splash Mountain
11:55-12:55pm Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
1:40-2:40pm Peter Pan's Flight

Tuesday, September 23rd:

10:35-11:35am Expedition Everest
1:35-2:35pm Kilimanjaro Safaris
4:30-4:50pm Festival of the Lion King

Wednesday, September 24th:

11:55-12:55pm Mission:SPACE
2:30-3:30pm Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot
4:25-5:25pm Soarin'

Thursday, September 25th:

2:30-3:30pm Star Tours
4:05-5:05pm Toy Story Midway Mania
5:45-6:45pm Tower of Terror

Friday, September 26th:

12:40-1:40pm Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
2:40-3:40pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
4:00-5:00pm Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Saturday, September 27th:

11:10-12:10pm Mission:SPACE
12:15-1:15pm Test Track
2:10-3:10 Maelstrom

We are still hoping that we can get FastPasses for Elsa & Anna but if we don't we will understand.

 

[livsmom04]

Crafting Project 1 & 2 Done​

So for every trip I like to get creative and craft something for it. Last year was the first year I didn't actually do anything for the trip. I was trying to keep it a big surprise and well it was harder to keep it a secret but after I did for almost 6 months it was so awesome and such a good and memorable trip!!!

This year I decided to get crafty again and while in the middle of I should be packing up the house; I decided to start making projects instead for our trip!! This year I have been helping out with a group that my best friend has on Facebook and I decided to try my hand at making a boutique bow for Olivia. I was a little nervous since it had been at least 3 years since making my last boutique style bow. But I finally decided to have at it and decided on a few ideas. I came up with two ideas and went ahead and made them. The first one that I'm going to post took forever to make after having to view a ton of youtube videos but I finally got the hang of it. Here is the result:

And on Olivia (pardon the mess in the background as for we are packing up our house to move):

And then here is the 2nd one that I came up with:

So far that is all I have come up with but I'm sure I will be making more soon. I have friends and family members who want me to make them some and I'm trying to destash some of my ribbon since I had to pay out of pocket for most of it because it wasn't going to make the buy in we had going on. But this helps with my running obsession and Disney obsession so I'm good!!!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Charlotte. I'm just now back on the DisBoards and saw your PTR! Thanks for the invite. Our dates definitely would have overlapped if I hadn't had to cancel our September trip.

I love your list of must-dos. If you even do half of those you will have a great (and yummy!) trip. You have so many of my favorites listed for the new to you restaurants. San Angel Inn was one of my favorite Epcot restaurants last trip.

Those Frozen bows are awesome! You have some skills there! Olivia will be styling with those. I wish you luck with the Anna and Elsa FP+. We ended up ditching ours this last trip. I was a little bummed but Em really didn't care about them and I'd seen them before when they were still in Epcot so it wasn't devastating or anything.

Happy planning!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Yay to overlapping dates! I'm beyond excited about our first F&W Festival. I know we're not going to be doing any extra expos but we plan on taking advantage of other things like the cranberry bog or the kiosks. lol

Wow, I didn't know they had a cranberry bog! This is new since my last visit to F&W. Now this will be one of my must-dos for my trip this October! Although it looks like if you're not a member of the press corps, you don't get to wade through the cranberry bog, so what can guests do there?

This reminds me of my visit years ago to the Ocean Spray Cranberry World West in Henderson, NV (don't know if it's still open). They had advertised that you could get your picture taken with a giant cranberry character, but I must have been there on Mr. Cranberry's day off.

 

[livsmom04]

Hi Charlotte. I'm just now back on the DisBoards and saw your PTR! Thanks for the invite. Our dates definitely would have overlapped if I hadn't had to cancel our September trip.

I love your list of must-dos. If you even do half of those you will have a great (and yummy!) trip. You have so many of my favorites listed for the new to you restaurants. San Angel Inn was one of my favorite Epcot restaurants last trip.

Those Frozen bows are awesome! You have some skills there! Olivia will be styling with those. I wish you luck with the Anna and Elsa FP+. We ended up ditching ours this last trip. I was a little bummed but Em really didn't care about them and I'd seen them before when they were still in Epcot so it wasn't devastating or anything.

Happy planning!

Thanks so much! I am looking forward to all the new restaurants we have planned. I am hoping that my nephew can find us a way to meet Anna & Elsa since he works for Disney World and works inside the MK. But we shall see. He sometimes can do things for us if we can't get into them.

And thanks about the bows. I plan on making a few more for her and a few for me so that we can wear them. Now I just need to figure out what to be for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? I have figured out what to make my hubby although he might not go with the idea but he's working a lot anyways so he has no say in the matter!!!

Wow, I didn't know they had a cranberry bog! This is new since my last visit to F&W. Now this will be one of my must-dos for my trip this October! Although it looks like if you're not a member of the press corps, you don't get to wade through the cranberry bog, so what can guests do there?

This reminds me of my visit years ago to the Ocean Spray Cranberry World West in Henderson, NV (don't know if it's still open). They had advertised that you could get your picture taken with a giant cranberry character, but I must have been there on Mr. Cranberry's day off.

I believe all you can do is grab a packet of Craisins but still I'll grab some and will walk by again to grab more! I would love to get into the bog and run around like a crazy person but you know that's not gonna happen!

 

[livsmom04]

MNSSHP Costumes?​

So now that we have a few of our must do's, FP+, and ADR..it's time to talk about Halloween Costumes to wear to MNSSHP!!!

Olivia has told me she really wants to be Elsa but the problem is we are having a hard time finding her an Elsa Dress. We normally get the dress before we head to the parks like at the local Disney Store but we haven't been so lucky to find one as of yet. Bummer too. I would sew her one but I have packed up my sewing machine already since we are getting ready to move. So hopefully we will find one before we go if not then I'm hoping and praying we can find one when we're down there at Disney World! If not then I will bring a few other options for her to chose from which I'm pretty sure a meltdown will happen but it will be alright...I'm used to them!

As for Jason, I have his costume all picked out and he will be...

Russell from Up! I am going to make all of his costume using felt and bottlecaps or something like that. He should be quite pleased with what it will look like. What's the sad part about it is he has no say in his costume. He's lucky I didn't choose to make him Olaf or Kevin! I had another idea to make him something else but he probably would yell at me so that was a no go! So Russell it is! He will love it and won't say a word about it! Or he better not!! Because if he does then he has to get me a really expensive souvenir and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to do that!

As for my costume...I'm still trying to figure that out. Jason and Olivia both want me to be my Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Cup that I made years ago but I had to throw it away because my brother decided to put old tires on top of it and it looked so bad! So I cut out the design that I drew and painted on it and will think of something else to be. But here is what the costume did look like:

I don't think I could ride many ride's at MNSSHP so I am looking for another cute costume to make and wear!

 

[livsmom04]

Talking Friends in Going...​

So last Thursday, I decided to head to my best friends house who lives near Wilmington, NC. We only live an hour from her so it was nothing for me to drive down for the night for some shopping the next day in Myrtle Beach. Well she had asked me a few weeks ago to price out a vacation to Disney World so she could talk her husband into going this year when we go. We are doing the Free Dining this year which is a first for us but hey it's all good for us..we actually upgraded to the Deluxe Dining plan because we like to eat at good restaurants! Anyways, I priced out a few days for them to go because she really wants to take her kids there.

Well he started to bawk over the prices of the meals, park, and all that. So their not going this year with us but Next year we WILL be taking a trip with them to Disney World! We are trying to plan out a good time for them to go and since he didn't want to go this year that means next year no cruise for them and only Disney World! I think he's going to be wishing he took the few days to go this year because next year we had planned on going on a cruise with them as well! Oh well, tough luck for Dave! Well now I get to plan out one big vacation for next year for two families. And we are hoping that next year we will be expecting a new little one or have one to go with us. Yeah I'm looking forward to it! Her daughter we took to the Disney Outlet this past Friday and I got her a little Stitch...it's her favorite character and so I had to get him for her. We called Jason and she said to Jason "Thank you Uncle Jason! I love you!" It was perfect! I love my Emma and I consider her mine because she loves to dip everything in ketchup just like my own daughter!!!

A cute picture of Emma or two!

 

[livsmom04]

Where to Stay the Night Before?​

We have been looking at staying at Bay Lake Tower Magic Kingdom View for the night before we check into our Vacation but we might not get to. I am now looking at Beach Club so that I can take advantage of Stormalong Bay or Animal Kingdom Lodge. One other resort we're looking at is Riverside or even Wilderness Lodge. We have plans of eating at Trails End Restaurant the night before and so it would only be nice to stay somewhere we could take advantage of Disney Transportation instead of driving over there. We did that last year and let me just say that was a disaster and very confusing.

I will be updating this slowly for the rest of the month due to us moving. We have cut off our internet since we are moving in roughly 2 weeks. We are thankfully moving in with my parents and we will be able to save money and be able to save to be able to either build a home or buy a house in the area. We really would love to move to the Wilmington, NC area but we just can't afford to while I'm still in school. Once I'm out of school it will happen or we will move somewhere else. I am using my phones hotspot until then. But I have been packing and finishing up my summer class. So any help would be nice for figuring out a nice place to stay with Disney for the night.

 

[RachelNinja]

If it's possible, going to the Disney outlets in Florida are the best places to buy pins, I think. You know for sure that they're all real (some of the ones on ebay are "scrappers"), AND you'd get to trade with the CMs there. They sometimes have better finds since they don't get as much traffic as the parks. I got the pin lanyard sets really cheap, so we have a TON of lanyards for when I need to change it up (the thinner ones get full of holes), but each pin was much cheaper (maybe only $1 each or so). Even though the ebay lots are cheaper, you just have to be careful which ones you get. Howard surprised me at the beginning, and we found a lot of fake pins that we couldn't trade.

Ooo, can't wait to see how you're going to put together the Russell costume! I think if we were ever going to do MNSSHP, I'd be stressing out about what costume to wear, but I guess I don't have to worry about that since I'll never be there at that time or go to the party. I love seeing how creative other people are though!

Good luck with the move!