So this is what mid-life crisis feels like? Dec 2011 PTR

[shocky5]

GRRRRRR I just typed out the biggest update/refresher on our trip and LOST IT!

 

[shocky5]

Okay, instead of retyping all of that - I pulled from an old post... Should have done this in the first place!!

We will arrive on the 16th, be at the resort about 10:30p. I know we should have probably stayed offsite the first night because of the late arrival but simplicity won out.

Sat 17:
Epcot - rope drop
This is a take it easy day. I'm going to try out a tp for the rides - that is what my kids love to do here. Anything else we fit in is 'bonus.' Plan on leaving the park around 5p.
6:30p Whispering Canyon Cafe - my one chance to see this resort at Christmas time.
After dinner -Plan on watching the regular Wishes at MK before it becomes the Holiday Wishes (have no idea the difference between the two, by the way... ) but I keep reading it's different...

Sun 18:
Magic Kingdom
8:05a Breakfast at Crystal Palace - this will put us in the park an hour early. I want some photo ops!!
4:30p 1900 Park Fare - Grand Floridian - see the decorations as well as give us a break before....
7:00p MVMCP!!!
This entire day is devoted to the MK! I want to do as much as we can in the way of rides during the day so we can do the 'party stuff' that night.

Mon 19: STILL IN LIMBO HERE
DHS - rope drop
4:00p Sci Fi Diner
7:15p Sci Fi Diner
**NO, we aren't planning on eating here twice. I'm stuck... I will be with my children, no DH, and want to see the Osborne lights. Do I hit the 4p ressie and be there when the lights come on or do I hit the later ressie and enjoy the lights and less of a crowd after dinner as we leave the park... Really leaning towards the later ressie... and I feel totally guilty having two ADR's right now... please don't me!

Tues 20:
Animal Kingdom - rope drop
Again, another lazy day - easy going, experiment with tp some. When the kids are ready to go, we will go. ANOTHER DILEMMA I know we won't stay at AK all day. Currently, I have a dinner ADR at Chef Mickey's. Have never been but reviews are icky more than they are good. Another thought... DTD or resort hopping... is there a resort out there that is a must-see at Christmas time that I don't already have figured in? (will already be seeing Poly, GF, Beach Club, AKL and will monorail through Contemporary if we don't eat at CM's) but we could eat at a resort if we knew which one to pick. DH will arrive later this night as well so we want to be there to meet him!!

Wed 21:
Epcot - rope drop!! This is when I'm going to use a tp without DH realizing I'm using a tp! Hope he is ready to run for fastpasses when I say "GO!"
5:10p Cape May Cafe - chance to visit Beach Club, eat some good seafood, and take a break from Epcot before going back to find a watch spot for Illuminations.

Thurs 22:
Animal Kingdom - again use tp without DH realizing we are!
8:00a Tusker House - before park opening!
6:00p Boma's
We've never stayed at AK very late - usually leave after the parade and that should give us plenty of time to get to Boma's from there. Then we will go wherever DH wants to go after dinner! Could be our DTD night.

Fri 23:
Magic Kingdom - rope drop and our final full day! We will again be secretly using tp to maneuver this park. No ADR's until dinner.
5:55p 'Ohana - I think this will give us a good break and we can go back to MK after dinner for the evening festivities. Want DH to see the Christmas parade and holiday Wishes since he will miss them at MVMCP. Then I saw Epcot was open until 12:30p... perhaps if we have enough juice, we can go back there and ride some of our favs!

Sat 24:
Departure day... ADR at O'hana for breakfast. It is Christmas Eve and all... so something nice before we are in the airport for the better part of the day. Good news is we will be home for family gathering that evening at my mother's... and home and in bed before this guy comes...

OPINIONS are always welcome!

 

[KatMark]

I HATE when that happens. That is why I've learned to type it in Word and copy and paste it and then add pictures if needed.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Crystal Palace at 8:05 and getting those unobstructed photos on Main Street.

I would go with the 7:15 p.m. dinner at Sci Fi and then do the lights.

We used to love Chef Mickey's for breakfast and dinner. The last time we did dinner at CM's was in 2004 for our oldest son's high school graduation with his then girlfriend. The food was so-so, but the character interaction was great!

What is tp?

 

[shocky5]

I HATE when that happens. That is why I've learned to type it in Word and copy and paste it and then add pictures if needed.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Crystal Palace at 8:05 and getting those unobstructed photos on Main Street.

I would go with the 7:15 p.m. dinner at Sci Fi and then do the lights.

We used to love Chef Mickey's for breakfast and dinner. The last time we did dinner at CM's was in 2004 for our oldest son's high school graduation with his then girlfriend. The food was so-so, but the character interaction was great!

What is tp?

tp is touring plans from the unofficial dudes. I read their books each year, have never used their tp's but was concerned with holiday crowds making the parks a little bit more crowded. However, prediction as of now has them actually less than the other times we've been (end of June). But my DH only 'secretly' shares our love for WDW... and if I were to tell him "This is the order in which we are going to tour this park today" he would probably, no not probably, he would DEFINITELY take charge of 'teasing' me about my obsessions the remainder of the trip.

 

[swwake]

Wow! We are going to be running in to y'all coming and going. See below.

Sat 17:
6:30p Whispering Canyon Cafe - my one chance to see this resort at Christmas time. We have 8pm WCC this night when we get to WDW from US/IOA. Maybe we'll see y'all in the WL lobby!

Sun 18:
Magic Kingdom A MK day for us too! We might do Epcot in the morning though
7:00p MVMCP!!! Same!!

Mon 19: STILL IN LIMBO HERE
DHS - rope drop We have a lunch ressie at 50's Prime Time! (P.S. we also have duplicate ressies at 50s PT - today and Wednesday)

Tues 20:
Animal Kingdom - rope drop Our AK day! We currently have Boma for dinner.

Wed 21:
Epcot - rope drop!! Sorry, we won't be shadowing y'all this day. We'll be at DHS

But we will be different. Our family is a bunch of late sleepers so probably no rope drops for us. We may be passing you coming out of all the parks as we are entering them.

 

[Monknmom]

Oh yay, your DH gets to enjoy more Disney! I am a little bit questioning even taking my DH! LOL He has been makig me so mad that I said I need a break- then my son started to act up and I said "That's it I'm going alone!" So I'm glad that you are ejoying the thought of having DH there!
DHS-I think that the later reservation would be nice so that your not in the jumble to keeep moving and there is less of a crowd I hear so you'll be able to take your time more and really ejoy the work that took for that stuff and what's up!
AK- I am honeslty not sure, I hope that someone helped you out!
I like the other plans though and the fact that you still saved lots to do with DH and not do too may repeats with the kids!

 

[annmarieda]

Mon 19: STILL IN LIMBO HERE
DHS - rope drop
4:00p Sci Fi Diner
7:15p Sci Fi Diner
**NO, we aren't planning on eating here twice. I'm stuck... I will be with my children, no DH, and want to see the Osborne lights. Do I hit the 4p ressie and be there when the lights come on or do I hit the later ressie and enjoy the lights and less of a crowd after dinner as we leave the park... Really leaning towards the later ressie... and I feel totally guilty having two ADR's right now... please don't me!

Tues 20:
Animal Kingdom - rope drop
Again, another lazy day - easy going, experiment with tp some. When the kids are ready to go, we will go. ANOTHER DILEMMA I know we won't stay at AK all day. Currently, I have a dinner ADR at Chef Mickey's. Have never been but reviews are icky more than they are good. Another thought... DTD or resort hopping... is there a resort out there that is a must-see at Christmas time that I don't already have figured in? (will already be seeing Poly, GF, Beach Club, AKL and will monorail through Contemporary if we don't eat at CM's) but we could eat at a resort if we knew which one to pick. DH will arrive later this night as well so we want to be there to meet him!!

Overall, your plans look awesome! I notice you changed around a couple things. Looks good

As for Sci Fi. I would choose when the crowds are going to be the lowest to see Osbourne Lights.

As for AK and what to see after.. You mention seeing WL if you eat there. If you don't early on then maybe eat there that night? I know I love POR and POFQ. (I think FQ might be better decorated) We are planning a dinner at Boatwrights and then going between the two and DTD. So Maybe take the bus from AK to POR... then the boat from POR to POFQ and from there the boat to DTD. I know Boatwrights has had some not so great reviews... but on my last trip it was a highlight.

 

[swwake]

OK I have read and caught up on all 21 pages. I know it's old news, but it was interesting (and fun seeing the positive outcome) watching you sell your house and find the new one. You thought the summer flew by, but when I read it all in 1 morning, it REALLY flew by!

I figured out that you are also staying CL, so I am sure we will see you in the lounge. I also noticed that you downgraded to GV and will get the new dining room furniture. That's awesome! We booked GV also, because I'm secretly hoping for a pixie dust upgrade to TPV. In any event, a friend who stayed CL at the Poly last year told me that watching Wishes from the lounge is just as nice as a TPV. She said GV won't matter. I'm so excited!

Also, along the way I saw your reference to easywdw, a new (to me) planning site. Now I have to go look at it and compare to TP and see if I need to change anything.

I also picked up another few of your followers' PTRs. I'll have to try to catch up on those later.

 

[shocky5]

OK I have read and caught up on all 21 pages. I know it's old news, but it was interesting (and fun seeing the positive outcome) watching you sell your house and find the new one. You thought the summer flew by, but when I read it all in 1 morning, it REALLY flew by!

I figured out that you are also staying CL, so I am sure we will see you in the lounge. I also noticed that you downgraded to GV and will get the new dining room furniture. That's awesome! We booked GV also, because I'm secretly hoping for a pixie dust upgrade to TPV. In any event, a friend who stayed CL at the Poly last year told me that watching Wishes from the lounge is just as nice as a TPV. She said GV won't matter. I'm so excited!

Also, along the way I saw your reference to easywdw, a new (to me) planning site. Now I have to go look at it and compare to TP and see if I need to change anything.

I also picked up another few of your followers' PTRs. I'll have to try to catch up on those later.

Susan - I wondered if you were staying CL! I know in your report you said to someone that you knew which longhouse you would be in but that was a surprise. We are excited about the lounge. Sometimes in the morning, we are lazy and I think the lounge will be great for quick grab and go food. I laughed when you said you were a family who likes to sleep in... we will attempt to hit all of the rope drops I have put in my PTR... but realistically, I'm not sure it will happen. The morning ADR's I'm sure we will make but it will be tempting to want to sleep in on the days without!

So happy to have the insight into GV and TPV. I did get my dining room furniture and am happy to have it! (yes, I need to post pics and from my report you will see I'm awful at that!) But I secretly hope for pixie dust upgrade, as well! But definitely not a deal breaker for me!

What are your thoughts on swimming while there? I've had so many different answers to this question...

 

[shocky5]

Okay - dilemma #1 solved... I've cancelled the earlier Sci Fi ressie and am keeping the later one!

Thank you for the insight and opinions, friends!

Still chewing on dilemma #2.... Ann's idea intrigues me... heading over to POFQ/POR and dining there and then taking the boat to DTD... I think my kids would love that!

 

[annmarieda]

Okay - dilemma #1 solved... I've cancelled the earlier Sci Fi ressie and am keeping the later one!

Thank you for the insight and opinions, friends!

Still chewing on dilemma #2.... Ann's idea intrigues me... heading over to POFQ/POR and dining there and then taking the boat to DTD... I think my kids would love that!

Or go there and then eat in DTD. I know Raglan Road is yummy. Their bread pudding is to die for!!!

 

[KatMark]

Or go there and then eat in DTD. I know Raglan Road is yummy. Their bread pudding is to die for!!!

Amy, I agree with Ann. We've not done Raglan Road yet, but we are in September as we've read awesome reviews of it. I think you'd all enjoy visting DTD and seeing the new Lego decorations.

 

[swwake]

Susan - I wondered if you were staying CL! I know in your report you said to someone that you knew which longhouse you would be in but that was a surprise. We are excited about the lounge. Sometimes in the morning, we are lazy and I think the lounge will be great for quick grab and go food. I laughed when you said you were a family who likes to sleep in... we will attempt to hit all of the rope drops I have put in my PTR... but realistically, I'm not sure it will happen. The morning ADR's I'm sure we will make but it will be tempting to want to sleep in on the days without!

So happy to have the insight into GV and TPV. I did get my dining room furniture and am happy to have it! (yes, I need to post pics and from my report you will see I'm awful at that!) But I secretly hope for pixie dust upgrade, as well! But definitely not a deal breaker for me!

What are your thoughts on swimming while there? I've had so many different answers to this question...

We aren't talking about the CL ressie on my PTR bc my niece is supposedly reading it. But I doubt she'll figure out how to follow where I post and see it over here. It is a big surprise for her and for Katie (my daughter). I am hoping that when we get there, they will whisk us off in a golf cart and the girls will be asking why we aren't going to check-in. I know they'll love the turn-down and the CL.

Swimming - we don't plan to swim. We figure with only 5+ days we will more likely be park-hopping and Haley wants to go to DTD bc she's never been there. We also plan to use some down time to explore resorts and see Christmas decorations. I sure wish we could figure out a way to see all the campground decorations at Fort Wilderness, but without a car, I don't know how to do that. Maybe we could do it by bus?

I have read that people swim virtually year-round and that most, if not all, of the pools are heated. Poly doesn't have a hot tub, but I think GF does. I wonder if we get access to that one?

Also, wanted to note, we did Raglan Road on our 2008 trip and really enjoyed the atmosphere. Great for all ages. I highly recommend it. Get an ADR though.

 

[shocky5]

Okay... here I go tweaking the trip... AGAIN! Why do I do this to myself....

What do you all think about the following... Instead of WCC on our first full day (Epcot), my kids have not been to Ashkerhus (sp?) and we could feed our faces there for dinner... then back to Poly for evening down time as planned....

THEN... on the AK day when we want to be around for DH's arrival, instead of CM's, we could eat at Raglan Road in DTD, then do some resort hopping... POFQ, WL to see some Christmas decor?

Opinions are most welcome!

And on a side note... we are breaking records left and right for the heat we are having... we have been 31 days out of the previous 33 for 100+ temperatures... today's high is 112! It was 100 by 10 a.m. UGH! That being said... my happy self <insert sarcasm> still woke up DH this morning at 5:55 a.m. and said "Go run with me..." Bless his heart, he did... it was a toasty 89 degrees... but we did it and all I could think about is it better be much cooler come Feb. '12 at the Princess Half Marathon or I will pass out for sure!

 

[annmarieda]

Okay... here I go tweaking the trip... AGAIN! Why do I do this to myself....

What do you all think about the following... Instead of WCC on our first full day (Epcot), my kids have not been to Ashkerhus (sp?) and we could feed our faces there for dinner... then back to Poly for evening down time as planned....

THEN... on the AK day when we want to be around for DH's arrival, instead of CM's, we could eat at Raglan Road in DTD, then do some resort hopping... POFQ, WL to see some Christmas decor?

Opinions are most welcome!

I think that looks great! RR is very yummy.

 

[swwake]

But you will miss maybe seeing us at WL the first night!

I like the Raglan Road idea.

Our heat is also ridiculous. 107 gets old very fast. Plus, we desperately need rain. Our lakes are sooooo low.

Kudos to you for the early morning running!!

 

[momabaarjo]

Or go there and then eat in DTD. I know Raglan Road is yummy. Their bread pudding is to die for!!!

My comfort food...

 

[momabaarjo]

And on a side note... we are breaking records left and right for the heat we are having... we have been 31 days out of the previous 33 for 100+ temperatures... today's high is 112! It was 100 by 10 a.m. UGH! That being said... my happy self <insert sarcasm> still woke up DH this morning at 5:55 a.m. and said "Go run with me..." Bless his heart, he did... it was a toasty 89 degrees... but we did it and all I could think about is it better be much cooler come Feb. '12 at the Princess Half Marathon or I will pass out for sure!

Right there with you on the temps...and records. I am so tired of this heat...last Saturday morning it was 49 at the cabin...I almost decided to move. Then we came home to no air on Sunday....not sure when it stopped the house was 93 inside, and of course no repairman on Sunday night! We had to endure...at it was not easy!

 

[shocky5]

Right there with you on the temps...and records. I am so tired of this heat...last Saturday morning it was 49 at the cabin...I almost decided to move. Then we came home to no air on Sunday....not sure when it stopped the house was 93 inside, and of course no repairman on Sunday night! We had to endure...at it was not easy!

OH YUCK! That would be miserable! Almost better to sleep outside than in! We had 12 heat related deaths in the area yesterday. Today is our hottest yet... anticipate between 115-118. My heart goes out to those who are definitely affected and suffering. Supposed to drop back to 107 tomorrow and then down to 102-103 through next Tues with a slight chance of rain... very hopeful! STAY COOL!

 

[shocky5]

Okay ladies... I'm going to see if I can get a ressie at Epcot for that first day! I will let you know here in a bit!