Squeak, Squeaker, Squeakin'.....October 2014 PTR

[MidnightParade]

Welcome one and all to my first ever PTR! I know you were all expecting a meeting of the Junior Chipmunks, unfortunately Kronk got called away to clean Yzma’s kitty litter box. For those of you who will stick with me I promise action, adventure… probably won’t be found here, just the plotting of some! Muahahaha!

As I mentioned this will be my first PTR. I have read through a few and hopefully will make this easy, fun and perhaps a little interesting for everyone. If anything goes wrong the evil kitty did it!

When! October (I feel strange giving out exact dates so please excuse me)

Where! Animal Kingdom Lodge – Villas – Jambo House! Oh and Cabana Bay (Yup the Darkside!)

Introductions!

Amber: That’s me! I’m in my early thirties and live in beautiful Ontario Canada. I’m also the Disney nut driving this magical express! As a child we went as a family a few times to the World, even Disneyland once I think. My memories are very few and I don’t think I have seen any pictures of those trips sadly. Then at age 24 I went on the International Program to represent Canada in the World Showcase by working at Le Cellier. Yes, it was awesome! While I loved Disney before it really forged my love even more now!

Favorite Characters: Chip and Dale
Favorite Disney Movie: Hercules, Little Mermaid and Lilo & Stitch….ohoh and Robin Hood!
Favorite Non-Disney Movie: Yeah, I can’t choose, TV and books are another matter but maybe that’s a post for later.

Andy: Boyfriend and love of my life(maybe not so much if he see's which picture of him I posted! hee!). He’s in his mid-thirties and will be celebrating his birthday during our trip!! He does enjoy Disney, not quite the nut I am but he's happy to go. While he won't get excited until a few days before we go he's been bringing up Disney things lately, such as pressing pennies when we are there! Yay, I'm so rubbing off on him! His first trip to Disney World was in 2010 when we went together.

Favorite Characters: Kronk, Dug
Favorite Disney Movie: Emperor’s New Groove (hence the title of this PTR)
Favorite Non-Disney Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Fifth Element

Us: By the time we go down in October we will have been together 6 years! I’m so incredibly lucky to have him in my life! This will be our second trip together to the world and I know it will be even more magical then the first one! (especially cause I was not on the DIS the first time around!)


I'm looking forward to having a place where I can just share my excitement and planning. Even if it just ends being me who reads it! lol
​

 

[MidnightParade]

Table of contents

The Resort - How did we end up here?!
Flights! (Of Fancy)
Da Plans! Da Plans!
Cabana Bay and Luggage!!
ADR's
Tickets and new ADR!
Cabana Bay - Done!
Those Left Behind
Tickets - Done! Woot!
Random and Memory Maker
Froggy Mail and Must eats
Pin-sational! Vinyl-tastic!
Pins and Problems
Shoes and Timetables
EMH Changes and Pretty Disney!
Southwest makes a change!
Shoes, Bags and Scanners
Days 1-4!!
Days 5-10!
The One with lots of T-Shirt talk!!
Disney Things
FP+
Disney Decal Day!
5K! Mail! Kronk!
7DMT
Is it October yet?!
Achey Food & Wine
Recs Before it ends
​

 

[MidnightParade]

Firstly let me just say…

AnimalKingdomLodge!! AnimalKingdomLodge!! AnimalKingdomLodge!! Animal FreakingKingdomLodge!!

Okay thanks, had to get that out of my system. Lol

How did we end up at AKL? When we visited back in 2010 we were originally going to stay at Pop, then my mother upgraded us as a Christmas gift and we moved on over to Port Orleans – Riverside. After that we definitely wanted to stay moderate again this trip, especially as I promised Andy this trip would be a little more relaxed and calm with more resort time. (Last time we want commando in the parks….lol and just saying that makes me a giggle a little still. Lol)

So we, well I, started looking into the moderates. There’s really not a great selection for moderates I find, is that just me? Anyways I had stayed at Coronado Springs before as well back on the IP (International Program), it was nice but I wasn’t crazy about it(except the pool), and Caribbean Beach just wasn’t calling my name either.

The only real moderate I wanted to stay at was French Quarter. I’ve wanted to stay there for a long time. And so started the number crunching and research. Unfortunately it wasn't looking good. We had been planning/hoping to get atleast a room discount or free dining and those aren’t typically offered at FQ because they don’t need them to fill the rooms. So made the choice to switch Riverside, yes we went there last time but it was very nice aaaaand we had stayed in the mansions but this time planned on Alligator Bayou atleast giving us a taste of a different resort a bit. I started getting excited.

And then looking historically at the numbers they may not have any FD or RO for the dates we were arriving/staying. What the heck?!! We could have changed our dates I suppose but we just seemed set on these dates already(and there was no way I could push our Disney vacation out further, I think it would have sent me into a fit to make it a longer wait to go!)

We could have waited till summer to see what the discounts were but I just couldn’t wait….or just didn’t want too! So that’s when I finally looked into what this “renting DVC” was really all about.

Went to David’s site, recognized that guy with the sorcerer hat from allears newsletters and set about reading through the site. Then I got to the calculator. Whoa! We can stay at a Deluxe for less then a moderate? I mentioned it to Andy that evening and in the morning he agreed to give it a shot so I submitted for the AKV – Value. Figured I wouldn’t hear anything until the next day as it was a Sunday. 2-3 hours later they came back! The Value studio wasn’t available but they provided what would be available and so we tried for the AKV-Standard Studio, which was still saving money and you know, suddenly being able to stay at a deluxe for a great price was worth it! That evening they came back with our reservation number! That was it! We were booked! Holy Guacamole! Pretty amazing and surreal. I did a little dance…more then once! Lol.. Staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge! Seems too amazing to be real, but it is!!! Feeling pretty lucky!

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[Suelala]

I am going in October too! Yay for October trips! I have subscribed and will read along.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Joining in! October is my favorite time of the year at Disney!

 

[MidnightParade]

I am going in October too! Yay for October trips! I have subscribed and will read along.

Thanks so much for following along! We can compare notes along the way! 6 months until its October!

Joining in! October is my favorite time of the year at Disney!

Yay, thanks! I had read your Oct'13 trip report(I tend to lurk more then comment, but I'm working on changing that!). You're TR was inspiring! I'm hoping to one day to do runDisney myself and its always great to see other people doing it!

 

[MidnightParade]

Happy Monday! Not that mondays have much to be happy about unless your in the World, but a week today I will be getting ready for ADR day the next morning(Tuesday!)! I'm looking forward it and hoping it all goes smoothly. Plus its the perfect excuse to skip the gym that day! Normally i feel guilty if I skip a day but as long as I go a minimum of 4 days a week I can't feel too bad.

This was the sunrise from the plane on our last trip. We had gotten up in that 3am-4am hour. Thankfully this trip will not be starting as early. It will actually be starting late!

So we are trying something new this trip. We are going to make the trek across the border and fly out of Buffalo! Initially the times and prices made it not worth it but thanks to the disboards I was there when Southwest released their October flights and got us booked for a little less then $600usd round trip total(opposed to the $1150.00CAD westjet would have cost)

We're going to drive down the night before after work and stay overnight at one of the hotels and do the ParkSleepFly. So for $100-$130 we can stay a night catch the shuttle to the airport in the am and leave the car at the hotel until we return. In total, including hotel and gas we're going to save about $250-$300 doing so. And one of the best parts is skipping customs at the airport!! Such a pain in the butt, it can take so long, and if I'm going to stand in line its going to be at Disney in an awesome queue line or have a Dolewhip at the end of it. It also means not having to be at the airport as early. So getting up at the usual 5:30am won't be too bad for us.

So really our adventure will start late the night before, I'm pretty excited!

When we arrive in Orlando it will be Universal (Cabana Bay) for two nights and then off to Animal Kingdom Lodge for seven nights!! Thinking of this is what is getting me through work I tell ya! Which is a difficult two weeks right now as I'm backing up for someone on vacation. Nice to have the PTR to help distract me! Oh the plotting! The plotting!!!

Hope everyone else's plotting it going well too!! Any ADR days coming up?!

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[Riles_and_Gabe]

I am joining in! October is such a great time of year to be in Florida. I am so jealous that you are staying at AKL. I am staying at Riverside this year and that is an upgrade for us. Last year we were at All Stars Movies. Looking forward to hearing more details of your trip.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Yay, thanks! I had read your Oct'13 trip report(I tend to lurk more then comment, but I'm working on changing that!). You're TR was inspiring! I'm hoping to one day to do runDisney myself and its always great to see other people doing it!

Thanks for the kind words. Towards the end I wasn't sure how much people were reading but knowing there were lurkers makes me smile

This board is super supportive of new runners so hopefully one day you will join in


~~~~

We enjoyed AKL in the past. That is a great choice for a trip! Are you going to do HHN at Universal or just enjoy the parks? I had to do customs through Montrael in December & I agree with you that it is awful! Coming into Canada was easy as it was 11:30PM at night & we were the last flight of the day but leaving even at the first flight in the morning was rough & we got to customs prior to their 4AM opening.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Please include cabana bay in your report! I want to hear about it.

 

[MidnightParade]

I am joining in! October is such a great time of year to be in Florida. I am so jealous that you are staying at AKL. I am staying at Riverside this year and that is an upgrade for us. Last year we were at All Stars Movies. Looking forward to hearing more details of your trip.

Riverside is beautiful, we will absolutely be staying there again one day. I'm still kinda blown away we'll be at AKL, plan on enjoying every moment while we can! Thanks so much for reading along!

Thanks for the kind words. Towards the end I wasn't sure how much people were reading but knowing there were lurkers makes me smile

This board is super supportive of new runners so hopefully one day you will join in
~~~~
We enjoyed AKL in the past. That is a great choice for a trip! Are you going to do HHN at Universal or just enjoy the parks? I had to do customs through Montrael in December & I agree with you that it is awful! Coming into Canada was easy as it was 11:30PM at night & we were the last flight of the day but leaving even at the first flight in the morning was rough & we got to customs prior to their 4AM opening.

I think its safe to say that with how many people are on these boards there are always lurkers! I'm trying to be more chatty now though! No plans on HHN strangely enough. I did it a few times when I was on IP program and had such an amazing time I always wanted to go back but now find myself not that interested(at this moment of time) plus it would probably be an extra $200 as we would need to get the express pass for it as well to make sure we got to see enough of it. Plus I think it would just tire us out right at the start of vacation. Of course so much can change in 6 months too! lol Hope you enjoyed your time in Montreal, or atleast found it interesting!

Please include cabana bay in your report! I want to hear about it.

Absolutely! lol, actually I wasn't sure if I would need to split it up to the Universal boards, not sure if Disney folk would want to be tainted with the Darkside but I have seen a few TR's that do include so I'm just going to go for it. Have you seen any of the new pics out now that its open? Looks incredible! I am ao excited!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Came over to say hello! I'd love to stay at AKL one day. We always visit Jambo House for some Boma breakfast on our trips! I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[MidnightParade]

Came over to say hello! I'd love to stay at AKL one day. We always visit Jambo House for some Boma breakfast on our trips! I'm looking forward to reading more!

Thanks for stopping by! Our trips are so close we'll have to compare notes. It's pretty crazy that we're staying at AKL, have to enjoy it as much as we can.

 

[MidnightParade]

So we all know why you’re here, you want to see the plans, the itinerary, the schedule, how do they compare to yours, maybe there’s something you didn’t think of that you can use or maybe you want to see just for general Disney squee! It is the most exciting part of the PTR!

So I’m trying to figure out how to best post this in an easy way to read but not be "too much". I hope it works…..if not, don’t tell me! Lol I colored the “vital” info so you can skim it if you don’t want to read all my prattling, which I still tried to keep to a minimum.

Side note: When we booked this trip I promised the boyfriend this time would be more relaxed, more time to enjoy the resort. So I tried to allow for that and we can always add more resort time with this more "easy" schedule.

So here we are…

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Day 1
Universal Studios – Cabana Bay
We’ll arrive at the resort 12:30-1pm. Probably head to the Studios right away as the park will more then likely close at 5-6pm for Halloween Horror nights, which currently we are not attending. So will enjoy Cabana Bay and City Walk.
Eats: Not sure yet

Day 2
Universal Studios
Up early for early entry to Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Start at Hogsmeade and then board the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley and the Studios which is where most of the rides we want are. And maybe hop back to IOA if we have time.
Eats: Krusty Burger in Springfield USA!!!

Day 3
Disney world – Animal Kingdom Lodge – Magic Kingdom
Up early and heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge, with a quick grocery/booze stop on the way. Check in, stow the goods and head to Magic Kingdom!! MK will close early for MNSSHP but that means we can relax and explore AKL!
Breakfast: Room
Lunch: Sleepy Hollow for Buffalo Chicken Sandwich!
Dinner: Be Our Guest (probably just for apps and dessert and we will just fill up on MK snacks)

Day 4
Epcot
Sleep in a little as it will be a looong day. We will be skipping Illuminations and hopping to MK for 10pm Wishes and EMH! Very excited, don’t think I have ever done EMH.
Breakfast: Room or Mara
Lunch: San Angel
Dinner: Food & Wine Fest


Day 5
Typhoon Lagoon
Sleep in a little after a long night and then head for the Polynesian to get some Tonga Toast at Captain Cooks! Yummm! I love Tonga Toast. And then head to TL. Afterwards we will either chill at the resort or hit up some more F&W at Epcot.
Breakfast: Captain Cooks
Lunch: Leaning Palms or Typhoon Tillys
Dinner: Food & Wine Fest or Mara

Day 6
Animal Kingdom
Love this park so hope we can spend the whole day! Maybe try to go to the Boardwalk after.
Breakfast: Room or Mara
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner: Mara?

Day 7
Downtown Disney – DisneyQuest
This is supposed to be an easy day so sleep in and then head to the Polynesian for Kona Café and more Tonga Toast and then DTD for Disney Quest and shopping. Maybe hit up the Boardwalk if we don’t on Wed.
Breakfast: Kona
Lunch: Food trucks! Or Wolfgang Puck Express! Or Earl of Sandwich
Dinner: Depends on where we are! (Maybe F&W?!)

Day 8
Hollywood Studios
Up early(maybe rope drop?!) and planning on a mid day break back at the resort before heading back for dinner and Fantasmic! Never done a mid day break so looking forward to trying it out. Makes me nervous for some reason.
Breakfast: Room or Mara
Lunch: SciFi Drive In
Dinner: 50’s Prime Time

Day 9
Park Hop!! (Last full day)
I’m thinking we will just do two parks. Boyfriends pick is probably going to be Epcot and I will pick Magic Kingdom. I’m hoping to plan dinner to be done in time to watch Hallowishes from the Poly beach.
Breakfast: Room or Mara
Lunch: Depends on where we are
Dinner: Ohana ( for Boyfriends birthday!!)

Day 10
Magical Express
No park today. Early Breakfast at Boma and then the Magical Express to MCO for our 11am flight.
Breakfast: Boma


Any suggestions or ideas I will happily accept!

 

[Denovagirl]

I'm in!!

Yay for another PTR to follow!!

I am so excited about Cabana Bay! I cant wait to see your TR! You must do one now!!

All your plans looks awesome, and woohoo on saving some $$$ and no customs!!

I love eating at Margaritaville on the CityWalk, so there's a suggestion for your first night! Try the cheese curds for the app, omg....

I am so jealous of everyone who is going to Diagon Alley! I want to go!! But it's just not in the cards this trip..

Your plans at Disney look pretty laid back to me, lots of room to add things in as you feel and lots of yummy food planned, love it all! I vote for food trucks at DTD! I have heard amazing things about the hand dipped corn dogs!

How awesome that you were a CM!!! And at Le Cellier!! Soooo cool! I hope to eat there one day but not when my kids are so small... but I am SO excited to finally try that cheese soup at the F&W booth!!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Okay, I followed Terri over here, but YAAAAAY! I can't wait to hear more! (even though I am hopelessly behind on all of the ptrs that I am reading.......) Sadly we will be leaving on your arrival day, but I am super excited to hear about the animal kingdom lodge, it looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

 

[MidnightParade]

I'm in!!

Yay for another PTR to follow!!

I am so excited about Cabana Bay! I cant wait to see your TR! You must do one now!!

All your plans looks awesome, and woohoo on saving some $$$ and no customs!!

I love eating at Margaritaville on the CityWalk, so there's a suggestion for your first night! Try the cheese curds for the app, omg....

I am so jealous of everyone who is going to Diagon Alley! I want to go!! But it's just not in the cards this trip..

Your plans at Disney look pretty laid back to me, lots of room to add things in as you feel and lots of yummy food planned, love it all! I vote for food trucks at DTD! I have heard amazing things about the hand dipped corn dogs!

How awesome that you were a CM!!! And at Le Cellier!! Soooo cool! I hope to eat there one day but not when my kids are so small... but I am SO excited to finally try that cheese soup at the F&W booth!!

Thanks for joining in and the feed back! Its so hard to not just pack the day with stuff! So good to hear that its laid back. And I think for sure the TR will happen. Cabana Bay is just so exciting! Everytime I see pictures of it I'm blown away by it a little. I'm very thankful now that we will have two nights there to get to experience it and enjoy. I didn't know about the cheese curds at Margaritaville! Will definitely keep it in mind!

I'll probably do a post about being a CM. It was pretty amazing! And Le Cellier is great, I was there before it was a 2 dinner signature restaurant(that always surprised me). I almost just want to go for the pretzel bread, cheese soup and more importantly the maple creme brûlée!

Okay, I followed Terri over here, but YAAAAAY! I can't wait to hear more! (even though I am hopelessly behind on all of the ptrs that I am reading.......) Sadly we will be leaving on your arrival day, but I am super excited to hear about the animal kingdom lodge, it looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Yay!! Thanks for coming! I'm pretty posty right now cause I just started and just kind of catching up. Where are you guys going to be staying? AKL is gorgeous, I'm pretty excited to see the DBF's reaction to it. I'm definitely considering ourselves very lucky to be staying there! Thank you again for joining in! Always awesome to have people join in and help me along!

 

[Denovagirl]

Thanks for joining in and the feed back! Its so hard to not just pack the day with stuff! So good to hear that its laid back. And I think for sure the TR will happen. Cabana Bay is just so exciting! Everytime I see pictures of it I'm blown away by it a little. I'm very thankful now that we will have two nights there to get to experience it and enjoy. I didn't know about the cheese curds at Margaritaville! Will definitely keep it in mind! I'll probably do a post about being a CM. It was pretty amazing! And Le Cellier is great, I was there before it was a 2 dinner signature restaurant(that always surprised me). I almost just want to go for the pretzel bread, cheese soup and more importantly the maple creme brûlée!

That would be awesome to see a post on your CM experience!!

Cabana Bay does look sooo so so fun!! I was just looking at more photos of it and watching some HP Diagon Alley videos- so excited for you!

 

[MidnightParade]

Hope everyone is having/had a great weekend. Its beautiful and sunny our today so hopefully it will melt some of the snow/dirt piles out there. So ready for spring!!

So had to geek out a little about our new luggage! I know its only luggage but I feel so grown up buying brand new suitcases. It had come up a few weeks ago that maybe we could look into getting new luggage before our trip if we had enough money saved. Randomly I decided to see what airmiles had, which was mostly nothing so I decided to look elsewhere and thats when I came across that Hudson's Bay was having 60% off some of their collections!!! How could we pass that up? So we looked online and there was some nice choices, I really liked the London Fog Canterbury selection in blue. So I headed to the store after work that day and now we own a new set of luggage at 65% off! Crazy!

Decided to try hard shell luggage this time. I know they "could" crack but they have warranty and they more then likely will just be awesome. Soft shells have their cons as well. Plus I love the color of them which will make them easier to find on the carousels(with some extra ribbons on them as well to help!). I love the four wheel 360 spin technology as well. Going to make it so much easier then our old two wheelers. I pulled our old ones out, they were just big and awkward and the handle on one did not work anymore. I was pretty gleeful pulling them out to the street on trash day.

I know some of you are excited for/interested in Cabana Bay. Someone over on the Universal threads found this video. Disney bloggers doing a walk through. Its pretty good and very interesting. They do some comparisons to Disney which was interesting. And not in a bad or snotty way. I saw some Disney bloggers not being too nice about the resort but these guys were great.

After watching the video I'm thinking of maybe paying the extra for a poolside room. Just to avoid being on the noisy road side. Although it will depend on the resort layout. That room was a family suite and we'll be doing a standard room. Will have to wait until resort/room maps start popping up to decide 100%. I do like this part of the room description on the Uni website though "Open the curtains and enjoy views of the lush foliage surrounding the expansive pool area that leads to the lazy river." Seeing as both nights we are there the parks will close early for HHN, besides citywalk, it will be hanging out at the resort. we shall see!!


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[MidnightParade]

Oh ADR day! What a pain in the butt you turned out to be!

Yes, today was ADR's, I was up at my usual time as I like to be at the gym when it opens at 6am. Unfortunately Disney dining wasn't up with me! Yep the system was down for "enhancements" and even at 7am when I called in to the DINE line they were down as well. So much for spending 15 minutes making ADR's and then either 1) going to the gym or 2) crawling back into bed for some snuggle time with boyfriend(and I mean snuggling!).

Finally at 8:10am the system was back up and I got everything I wanted at the time I wantedish(I always hem and hah and worry if I'm leaving enough time to get there/leave there)! Got everything except for BOG which I knew would be unlikely to get for my first day. I made a back up appt on our last day at 4:15pm to just walk in and get some grey stuff(it's delicious!). Should be enough time to digest it before Ohana at 6:45pm that day. Although I'm still hoping I can trade it in for a lunch Fastpass for our first day. We'll see!

Also this afternoon I called in to add Andy's birthday to our Ohana reservation and the very nice woman actually ended up adding it to all our reservations! (I guess all the reservations are connected). Thought that was very nice of her! Any extra little bit to help Andy drink a bit more of the Disney kool-aid says I!

So ADR day was bumpy but I really can't complain since I got 95% of everything I wanted.

Day 2 - San Angel - 12:10pm
Day 5 - Kona Cafe - 10:15am
Day 6 - Sci Fi - 11:15am
Day 6 - 50's Prime Time - 5:30pm
Day 7 - BOG - 4:15pm
Day 7 - Ohana - 6:45pm
Day 8 - Boma - 7:30am

Lol, really doesn't seem like a lot, especially if you take BOG out. Just means a more relaxed schedule for us which is nice.
Hope everyone is having a nice week!​