That was fun, let's do it again! - TR Link added - 12/11

[FreezinRafiki]

Two of those three CAME to Chicago.

Yup. And Kathy liked me so much that she came up to Milwaukee to visit me!

 

[shan23877]

The trip is so close now! Sounds like you guys have some good plans, can't wait to hear how everything turns out!

 

[amandaw]

The plans are really coming together nicely!

I can't believe how close it is!!

 

[afwdwfan]

Sounds like you have a lot going on in a few short days (so far!) But is sounds really fun! Can you take us with you? I know we just got back, but I wanna go again!!!!!

Well, you know, I'd be happy to take you, but you didn't take me when you went ...

Seriously, your plans are sounding good, despite that "dig" I felt at Animal Kingdom. I love that park (much more than the Studios!).

We just don't care much for AK. We tried to give it a chance last year and spent more time there than normal, but it apparently just isn't for us. It's not like I'd skip it, but I just don't need to spend a lot of time there.

I'm with you on DHS though. I don't love that park, but a few of our favorite rides there, so between those, Osborne Lights and Fantasmic, we'll be spending a proprtionally larger amount of time there than we ordinarily would.

Plans are looking good so far. I'm looking forward to the part where it says having THE BEST DIS MEET OF ALL TIME with KatMark!

WHAT?????????????

First Barry, then Mark, now Andy?????

I hate to disappoint, but I really don't think there will be any DISmeets. DW isn't exactly on board with the idea of meeting people we don't know from the internet, and I don't know that I'm going to be doing any solo stuff this time like I did last year.

Yup. And Kathy liked me so much that she came up to Milwaukee to visit me!

Barry, you give yourself too much credit. I think she was more interested in Bambi, Ryder, Madison and Evan.

The trip is so close now! Sounds like you guys have some good plans, can't wait to hear how everything turns out!

This month really has been flying by. In a way, I'm glad I've been so busy because otherwise I'd be counting minutes until we leave.

The plans are really coming together nicely!

I can't believe how close it is!!

It is starting to feel real. Especially the other night when I started putting some things in the park bag.

 

[KatMark]

I hate to disappoint, but I really don't think there will be any DISmeets. DW isn't exactly on board with the idea of meeting people we don't know from the internet, and I don't know that I'm going to be doing any solo stuff this time like I did last year.

We could at least pick a morning to meet at the coffee window to say hello.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I hate to disappoint, but I really don't think there will be any DISmeets. DW isn't exactly on board with the idea of meeting people we don't know from the internet, and I don't know that I'm going to be doing any solo stuff this time like I did last year.

Your DW need to meet me. Nothing like reinforcing your already held beliefs.

Barry, you give yourself too much credit. I think she was more interested in Bambi, Ryder, Madison and Evan.

Well duh. But I drove them to the restaurant.

 

[afwdwfan]

We could at least pick a morning to meet at the coffee window to say hello.

We'll have to see how things work out between now and then, but I think the options will be pretty limited. Friday will probably be about it.

Your DW need to meet me. Nothing like reinforcing your already held beliefs.

Well duh. But I drove them to the restaurant.

And that van wouldn't have gone anywhere without your chewing gum and duck tape holding the coolant lines together.

 

[khertz]

Great to see that your plans are coming together and your trip is getting so close!

With two small children, I can see you getting everything done at US/IoA relatively quickly and being able to head to MK for the parade that night. Unfortunately, there is just not much for the little ones to do at those parks!

 

[afwdwfan]

Great to see that your plans are coming together and your trip is getting so close!

And the plans seem to change by the day. Not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

With two small children, I can see you getting everything done at US/IoA relatively quickly and being able to head to MK for the parade that night. Unfortunately, there is just not much for the little ones to do at those parks!

Well, the thing is, there's one big kid that's going too, and he has a fairly long list of rides that he wants to do there.

 

[afwdwfan]

Ok, I'm sure I could go to the CSR thread and do some searching and find this answer, but I'm going to be lazy, especially since I have Kathy and Tim popping in here, and I'm sure they can answer this question.

With the Pepper Market being a buffet, is it possible for someone to go there in the morning, pick up a couple of breakfasts and take them back to the room?

If they won't allow that, it might be a really big strike against this resort. This is our normal way of operation in the mornings. There is no way we will ever be able to eat breakfast and make Rope Drop, unless I can do this. I'm the only early riser in my family.

 

[glennbo123]

Your plans are shaping up nicely, and they look like you've put a lot of thought into them. Good luck on the drive.

How cute that your son is "cited to ride Dumbo"!

I hope that you're able to get in to Be Our Guest. I look forward to hearing about that one.

 

[that's nice]

I hate to disappoint, but I really don't think there will be any DISmeets. DW isn't exactly on board with the idea of meeting people we don't know from the internet, and I don't know that I'm going to be doing any solo stuff this time like I did last year.

Why would you meet with people you DON'T know from the internet... wouldn't you meet people you DO know from the internet?

Ok, I'm sure I could go to the CSR thread and do some searching and find this answer, but I'm going to be lazy, especially since I have Kathy and Tim popping in here, and I'm sure they can answer this question.

With the Pepper Market being a buffet, is it possible for someone to go there in the morning, pick up a couple of breakfasts and take them back to the room?

If they won't allow that, it might be a really big strike against this resort. This is our normal way of operation in the mornings. There is no way we will ever be able to eat breakfast and make Rope Drop, unless I can do this. I'm the only early riser in my family.

Kathy probably would know this better than I but I would say you can't take items to go. Rix has all kinds of pastry's, muffins, donuts, fruit, yogurt, and a few hot items (we saw egg & cheese on croissants, french toast sticks, etc).

You can always order room service which isn't much more than Rix but still less than the buffet. Order it 1 hour before you plan to eat it.

 

[afwdwfan]

Why would you meet with people you DON'T know from the internet... wouldn't you meet people you DO know from the internet?

Kathy probably would know this better than I but I would say you can't take items to go. Rix has all kinds of pastry's, muffins, donuts, fruit, yogurt, and a few hot items (we saw egg & cheese on croissants, french toast sticks, etc).

You can always order room service which isn't much more than Rix but still less than the buffet. Order it 1 hour before you plan to eat it.

I was really afraid of that. In a way, not a big deal, but we have QSDP and like to get it partly for that reason. If we'd get stuff at Cafe Rix, it will be a waste of credits, and if we get it at Pepper Market it will be a waste of time.

I guess this might take some creativity...

I appreciate your help though.

 

[afwdwfan]

Your plans are shaping up nicely, and they look like you've put a lot of thought into them. Good luck on the drive.

Thanks, we're going to need a lot of luck. I'm really hoping everyone will be tired and sleep most of the way.

How cute that your son is "cited to ride Dumbo"!

Yes, yes it is. He's getting pretty quick to identify it on TV commercials too, which I'm impressed by, because I wouldn't have thought there was any way he would remember our trip last year.

I hope that you're able to get in to Be Our Guest. I look forward to hearing about that one.

I do to. We're not planning to do dinner there anymore, but I'm sure if we happen to be in the area at 11 am some day, we can get lunch. If not maybe we can at least snoop around.

 

[afwdwfan]

Final Plans, Part 1.1

Ok, my plan was to get Final Plans, Part 2 out of the way before Thanksgiving, but as it turns out, I'm the only one in our office not on vacation this week so I haven't had quite as much free time. Thankfully the place is a ghost town so far today.

Anyway, I saw some scheduling changes that apparently came out over the weekend, so it has modified our plans somewhat. They have added a second Fantasmic! on Sunday night, so I think we're going to be canceling our Mama Melrose ADRs now and just go to the second show on Sunday. We'll plan to be in the Streets of America before the Osborne Lights come on at 6 and then we'll make our way over to Sunset Blvd and see the second Fantasmic!

Also, there will be 2 MSEP's on Monday night. So now we don't have to rush to get from US to MK by 7 pm (even though we will probably be long gone from US by then anyway). We can see the parade at either 7 or 9 that evening and Wishes at 8. It is making things come together a little nicer, but really messing up my plans for AK...

Now, I think we might be going to AK on Tuesday morning instead of DHS. We could do Wednesday, but AK is EMH and we aren't too crazy about trying an AM EMH park the day after we go to MVMCP, so we'll probably do AK Tuesday and DHS Wednesday... which leads me to Part 2.

 

[KatMark]

Final Plans, Part 1.1

Ok, my plan was to get Final Plans, Part 2 out of the way before Thanksgiving, but as it turns out, I'm the only one in our office not on vacation this week so I haven't had quite as much free time. Thankfully the place is a ghost town so far today.

Anyway, I saw some scheduling changes that apparently came out over the weekend, so it has modified our plans somewhat. They have added a second Fantasmic! on Sunday night, so I think we're going to be canceling our Mama Melrose ADRs now and just go to the second show on Sunday. We'll plan to be in the Streets of America before the Osborne Lights come on at 6 and then we'll make our way over to Sunset Blvd and see the second Fantasmic!

Also, there will be 2 MSEP's on Monday night. So now we don't have to rush to get from US to MK by 7 pm (even though we will probably be long gone from US by then anyway). We can see the parade at either 7 or 9 that evening and Wishes at 8. It is making things come together a little nicer, but really messing up my plans for AK...

Now, I think we might be going to AK on Tuesday morning instead of DHS. We could do Wednesday, but AK is EMH and we aren't too crazy about trying an AM EMH park the day after we go to MVMCP, so we'll probably do AK Tuesday and DHS Wednesday... which leads me to Part 2.

These changes sound good. I've not looked at park hours recently...wonder if I should go check them out?

I wish I could help on the food dilemna at Coronado with the buffet, Cafe Rix, etc. But we've not stayed there in two years and the buffet wasn't there when we were last there so I have no idea about the changes.

 

[amandaw]

Final Plans, Part 1.1

Ok, my plan was to get Final Plans, Part 2 out of the way before Thanksgiving, but as it turns out, I'm the only one in our office not on vacation this week so I haven't had quite as much free time. Thankfully the place is a ghost town so far today.

Anyway, I saw some scheduling changes that apparently came out over the weekend, so it has modified our plans somewhat. They have added a second Fantasmic! on Sunday night, so I think we're going to be canceling our Mama Melrose ADRs now and just go to the second show on Sunday. We'll plan to be in the Streets of America before the Osborne Lights come on at 6 and then we'll make our way over to Sunset Blvd and see the second Fantasmic!

Also, there will be 2 MSEP's on Monday night. So now we don't have to rush to get from US to MK by 7 pm (even though we will probably be long gone from US by then anyway). We can see the parade at either 7 or 9 that evening and Wishes at 8. It is making things come together a little nicer, but really messing up my plans for AK...

Now, I think we might be going to AK on Tuesday morning instead of DHS. We could do Wednesday, but AK is EMH and we aren't too crazy about trying an AM EMH park the day after we go to MVMCP, so we'll probably do AK Tuesday and DHS Wednesday... which leads me to Part 2.

Those changes sound good! Especially not having to rush to get to MK.

And I really like the idea of just going to the 2nd Fantasmic showing. The Osborne lights are so pretty. You'll be so happy to focus on them and not worry about dinner at Mama Melrose.

 

[afwdwfan]

Final Plans, Part 2
Wednesday-
This day was supposed to be somewhat flexible and now it actually is moreso due to the changes in plans for the first half of the week.

Since we will be out late the previous 3 nights, we could use this day to sleep in if we need to. Otherwise we'll plan to hit DHS at RD to hit the busy attractions there. We could take a long break, spend more time in DHS, AK or even MK. MK closes at 7 to prepare for the Fantasyland opening on Thursday, DHS closes at 7 for the Pop Warner folks, I believe and AK closes at 7 as well. EPCOT is the only park open late, so we'll probably plan to stay away from there.

Our only solid plan for this day is a dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We'll get to enjoy these sights..

And I'm sure I won't be too willing to leave under my own free will after we're done eating.

Thursday-
This is a huge day at Disney World. The official opening of the Fantasyland Expansion will take place, as will the new Test Track. Fantasyland was announced first, and we had already decided that MK might be a good park to avoid that day, so we are planning to be at EPCOT for Rope Drop on what is now going to be an EMH morning there. Before the Fantasyland expansion was announced, MK was scheduled for EMH. The plan will be to head to Test Track and ride it, then maybe FP it. We'll probably then head over to Soarin to either ride or FP, or possibly just skip it and come back another time depending on what the times are.

Now, we were going to be leaving here to go over to DHS for a Fantasmic Dining Package. By passing on that little thing, we'll have a little bit more flexibility on this day as well.

We could do a last minute change up and head to MK for rope drop just to see the Fantasyland official opening, if we don't get up early enough for EMH. We could then just head over to EPCOT later in the day, or maybe DHS. Since BiL won't see Fantasmic! or Osborne lights with us Sunday, we'll probably still use this evening as a chance to see the lights and let my sister and him go to Fantasmic, if they so choose.

That said, DW and I won't have to go where they go, so we could even take this evening to do our own thing.

As much as I love planning a trip, I really do appreciate having flexibility to just do whatever we feel like at the moment.

Friday-
Our last whole day in the parks... never fun to say that. As you can tell, MK is a priority for our family, especially with DS. Therefore, we'll likely head there first thing in the morning and see the "offically opened" Fantasyland and ride our favorites one last time... unless we did that on Thursday.

We'll then probably take a break before heading over to EPCOT for the afternoon. There is evening EMH, so it will probably be crowded, but we'll kind of see how things are going and decide how late we want to stay. Our main priorities will be our dinner ADR at one of our favorite restaurants on Disney property, Via Napoli, and then we'll plan to catch Illuminations. Whatever else we do after that will just be a bonus.

Saturday-
Our last day for any time in the parks... that's even worse than saying the part about Friday.
Depending on whether we feel like we want to do TSM or Rock n Rollercoaster again, we might get up early to load the vehicles and head to DHS for EMH. Otherwise, we'll just plan to load up and then head over to EPCOT. We'll do anything else that we didn't get done there yet and probably linger as long as we can after we're done with everything, because there's no way we're going to be too excited about walking out the gates.

We haven't made any hotel reservations yet, but we'll probably stay in the park until mid to late afternoon and then head north and stay somewhere near the FL/GA line.

Sunday-
Not much to say here, we're going to get up and drive... the longest, most excruciating part of the trip, because there's no Disney to experience on the other end of this drive.



Ok, I'm sorry there's not too many pictures, but I had a little bit of time and wanted to get this thrown together and done before Thanksgiving. I've got plenty of things I'll need to get done this weekend and then next week will be all about packing and preparing to leave next Friday evening!

 

[KatMark]

I think your plans sound great (except for WCC ). I like that you have a little flexibility and can play it by ear if you like. I can't wait to see the new Fantasyland...so exciting...but glad we don't arrive until the 6th and won't be going to a park that night.

Hope you and the family have a great Thanksgiving.

 

[afwdwfan]

Thanks for the reminder, Kathy...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I can't wait to eat myself into a turkey and football coma tomorrow.