The End is... NOWHERE in sight! - Sept/Oct 2016 PTR *Update 9/14*

[vrajewski10513]

Happy Friday everyone!!!

FINALLY!!

ADR DAY!!

I woke up bright and early, 5:45am to be exact...

I was super nervous this year about ADRs, but I think I managed to work things out pretty well. Had to switch a couple things up. Change a restaurant, switch a couple days around. but overall I'm pleased with how everythigng worked out. I still have a few things I'm going to keep checking on though.

So here is the result of ADR day...

​

Wednesday, September 28th - Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue - 8:30pm This is our travel day and our first day at Universal. We arrive in Orlando around 10:30am, and we will head right to Universal as soon as we get situated in our rooms. We will have lunch once we geto to universal. Our original plan was to go to Ohana for dinner, then hop over to MK for MSEP and Wishes. This, unfortunatley didnt work out. There wasn't much left for reservations at Ohana this day. SO, I did some quick thinking and figured I could swap Ohana with HDDR. Which is fine, but unfortunatley this means we won't be able to see the MSEP or Wishes until halfway through our trip because HDDR starts at 8:30pm.

Thursday, September 29th - Chef Mickey's - 6:20pm This will be our second day at Universal. We will grab something some breakfast at the resort, lunch at Universal. This night DH, DSis, her DBF and I will attend HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS!! So the four of us will just grab something to eat at Universal. DBiL, DSiL, their DS, DFiL, and his wife will not be attending, so they will head over to Chef Mickey's for this ADR.

Friday, September 30th - 50's Prime Time Diner - 6:30pm This will be our third and final day at Universal. We will grab breakfast at CBR, and lunch at Universal. We will probably end up heading out of Universal early to take an afternoon break before heading to HS for our ADR. I was really hoping for Sci-Fi Diner this day, but there really wasn't anything available that would fit into our schedule. I'll be keeping an eye on this to see if anything pops up at Sci-Fi before our trip. Hopefully we will see the Star Wars fireworks this night.

Saturday, October 1st - ?? Club Villian ?? - Nothing booked for this day yet. Waiting to see about Club Villian!

Sunday, October 2nd - 1900 Park Fare - 8:00am(2) Our plan is to have breakfast at 1900 PF, then head over to Magic Kingdom for the day. I had to split up our party into 2 groups to be able to get reservations this early. If we stuck with one group of 9 the first reservation was at 9:45am which was too late for us. QS for lunch. We're heading to Epcot in the evening to eat/drink around the world!! We will also fit in Illuminations this night.

Monday, October 3rd - Cape May Cafe - 8:10am, Tusker House - 4:50pm Early morning breakfast at Cape May, then heading over to HS. QS at HS for lunch. Then a break back at the hotel in the afternoon. This is the night that I have tenatively planned Rivers of Light for us. As of right now the latest reservation you can get at Tusker house is 5pm. I imagine because they haven't changed the AK hours yet. Once RoL packages are released I will try to get a later dinner, or just try to get the package instead.

Tuesday, October 4th - Via Napoli - 11:30am We will grab some breakfast at the resort then head over to Epcot! Our only reservation for the day is lunch at Via Napoli. After an afternoon break, we will head to MK for a QS dinner, then MNSSHP!!

Wednesday, October 5th - 'Ohana - 6:15pm Today is an animal kingdom morning. We will grab breakfast before heading out. We will have QS for lunch at the park, then head back for a break in the afternoon. We will head out in time for our reservation at 'Ohana. After dinner we will take the boat over to MK to see MSEP and Wishes.

Thursday, October 6th - T-Rex Cafe - 11:00am(2), Minnie's Halloween Dine - 5:00pm(2), Beaches & Cream - 9:00pm & 9:10pm This is a busy ADR day. it was also kind of annoying because I had to split up our group for all three ADRs I made this day. We will have an easy morning at the resort before we head over to Disney Springs. We will have lunch at T-Rex Cafe . After an afternoon break we will head over to HS. I booked dinner at H&V with the Fantasmic package. So we will stay for F!, then head over , probably by boat, for a late dessert at Beaches & Cream

Friday, October 7th - Kona Cafe - 8:30am, Coral Reef - 6:05pm & 6:10pm We will start our day out at Kona Cafe for breakfast (TONGA TOAST!) then take the bus over to AK. We will have QS lunch there. We will take a break in the afternoon, then head over to Epcot for the night. I had to split our group up for Coral Reef.

Saturday, October 8th - Be Our Guest - 12:15pm Our final day Fortunately our flight home isn't until 6:55pm so we still get to enjoy one last park day before we leave. Obviously this will be spent at Magic Kingdom. We will have our lunch at BoG and probably have to head out of the park by 2:30pm. ​

Well, there you have it. Now we won't starve atleast. I'm purchasing our Universal/Halloween Horror Nights tickets today, which are more expensive than we had figured.

Everything is finally coming together ​

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Wow! I love all these ADRs! You have some of my favorites on here!! It seems like you really lucked out with everything. I am SO jealous you are going to Minnie's Halloween Dine! I have heard those meals are great - characters and food. I will really looking forward to hearing how you like that

I also forgot how much you are and your group are doing - especially all the U/S stuff, like Halloween Horror Nights - so exciting!

I hope a weight can be lifted off your shoulders now that you have this done!

 

[pkondz]

I woke up bright and early, 5:45am to be exact...

Good for you!
I frequently am up that early (earlier, actually) but never bright, so you have me beat.

So here is the result of ADR day...

Looks good! Very organized too.

This night DH, DSis, her DBF and I will attend HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS!! So the four of us will just grab something to eat at Universal. DBiL, DSiL, their DS, DFiL, and his wife will not be attending, so they will head over to Chef Mickey's for this ADR.

I was wondering about that when I saw it.
"How are they going from Uni to Chef Mickey's to Uni?"

 

[afwdwfan]

Nice job! I hope they appreciate all the effort you put into getting all of the ADRs and don't question you about why the group is split for a few of them...

 

[vrajewski10513]

Wow! I love all these ADRs! You have some of my favorites on here!! It seems like you really lucked out with everything. I am SO jealous you are going to Minnie's Halloween Dine! I have heard those meals are great - characters and food. I will really looking forward to hearing how you like that

I really hope everyone likes it. A big part of the pull to travel in the fall (aside from the free dining) is all the extra special events that are going on!

I also forgot how much you are and your group are doing - especially all the U/S stuff, like Halloween Horror Nights - so exciting!

Yeah, it definitely seems crazy on paper. But hopefully all of the careful planning gives us a smoothe running vacation.

I hope a weight can be lifted off your shoulders now that you have this done!

For a couple months.. until FP+ time!

Good for you!
I frequently am up that early (earlier, actually) but never bright, so you have me beat.

Any day that has anything to do with Disney is the only time my mornings are bright lol

Looks good! Very organized too.

Thanks! Stay tuned for what it turns into once FP+ are scheduled!

I was wondering about that when I saw it.
"How are they going from Uni to Chef Mickey's to Uni?"

I'm not that crazy lol Plus, we won't have a car, so traveling back and forth, back and forth would just be silly. So we opted out of that meal.

Nice job! I hope they appreciate all the effort you put into getting all of the ADRs and don't question you about why the group is split for a few of them...

I really hope so. I explained it to everyone. Hopefully when we get to the restaurants I can speak to the Hostesses and possibly be seated near eachother. If not, we'll live. We have 10 nights/11 days together.. an hours or so apart may be a good thing lol

 

[pkondz]

Any day that has anything to do with Disney is the only time my mornings are bright lol

Good point!

 

[ToyStory90]

Just jumping in now! I love your planning. I do something similar for my trip. Im going to be in the world end of october/early november

 

[vrajewski10513]

Just jumping in now! I love your planning. I do something similar for my trip. Im going to be in the world end of october/early november

Thanks for joining in! I love hearing about other peoples planning techniques as well. Good luck with your planning, and your ADR day coming up soon!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Good morning everyone!! It's a beautiful day here in sunny (but still below freezing) Buffalo! If the weather man is correct (which we don't hold our breath for in these parts) we should be hitting the mid-high 60's this weekend. I can't wait for some warmer weather!

So, I last left off saying I was going to be purchasing out Universal/HHN tickets. I did order them, but it ended up being a headache!

I went right onto the Universal website and ordered four 3-day park-to-park tickets with the HHN add-on which came to about $1,300... Or atleast I tried to. The payment screen kept erroring out. I couldn't figure out why. I knew i had plenty of money on my credit card so I was getting really frustrated. THEN, I got a call from DH at work saying that he just got a text message from Chase about fraudulent charges on our credit card! So, I told him I was trying to buy our Universal tickets. He approved the purchase on his phone and I was able to complete the transaction. Crisis averted!

I made a couple more vacation purchases over the last couple days at my good ole go-to Disney/Harry Potter place Hot Topic! They were having an excellent sale so I was able to get both of these tank tops for $30! The Genie one is an online exclusive and I LOVE IT! I'm so glad I got on to check out what they had. And then, obviously, the other shirt speaks for itself. I'm a Ravenclaw

I also came across these tank tops on Etsy that I think I'm going to buy for my sister and I for our Epcot Food & Wine night. At $12.99, and super cute, its a great deal! Just need to decide on colors

So, this isn't actually a purchase yet. I would already have it if I had any idea where I could possibly put it in my house. We just got these in at my work and I think it's adorable! I love the vintage looking characters! I'm kinda bummed it's missing Goofy though. Hopefully I can figure something out, because I really want them!

The rumor on the Dis is that free dining might be dropping for Disney Visa holders on 4/25/16 so I'll be up and on the phone by 7am and hopefully getting good news! If not then I guess the waiting game continues...

I hope you all have a great day!​

 

[afwdwfan]

It's a beautiful day here in sunny (but still below freezing) Buffalo! If the weather man is correct (which we don't hold our breath for in these parts) we should be hitting the mid-high 60's this weekend. I can't wait for some warmer weather!

I feel your pain. We're nowhere near as cold as you are in that part of the world, but spring just can't make up its mind whether it is ready to hang around or not. We've had some warm days (and I've actually had to mow twice already this spring) but we'll have 3 or 4 days in the 60's and then drop right back to the 20's or 30's. We had hardly any snow all winter, but had flurries falling over the weekend. Just crazy! Hopefully spring will come by the end of the week and stay here for all of us!

I went right onto the Universal website and ordered four 3-day park-to-park tickets with the HHN add-on which came to about $1,300... Or atleast I tried to. The payment screen kept erroring out. I couldn't figure out why. I knew i had plenty of money on my credit card so I was getting really frustrated. THEN, I got a call from DH at work saying that he just got a text message from Chase about fraudulent charges on our credit card!

Yikes! I was worried at first that you were going to say you charged $1300 to your credit card multiple times! I'm glad that's all it was though. Chase seems to do a pretty good job of monitoring fraud.

I also came across these tank tops on Etsy that I think I'm going to buy for my sister and I for our Epcot Food & Wine night. At $12.99, and super cute, its a great deal! Just need to decide on colors

Those are awesome!!!

The rumor on the Dis is that free dining might be dropping for Disney Visa holders on 4/25/16 so I'll be up and on the phone by 7am and hopefully getting good news!

Good luck!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Good morning everyone!! It's a beautiful day here in sunny (but still below freezing) Buffalo! If the weather man is correct (which we don't hold our breath for in these parts) we should be hitting the mid-high 60's this weekend. I can't wait for some warmer weather!

LOL - I'm hoping for the nice weather in NY too...We can really use it!

I went right onto the Universal website and ordered four 3-day park-to-park tickets with the HHN add-on which came to about $1,300... Or atleast I tried to. The payment screen kept erroring out. I couldn't figure out why.

I hate when this type of thing happens...

I knew i had plenty of money on my credit card so I was getting really frustrated. THEN, I got a call from DH at work saying that he just got a text message from Chase about fraudulent charges on our credit card! So, I told him I was trying to buy our Universal tickets. He approved the purchase on his phone and I was able to complete the transaction. Crisis averted!

While annoying, at least Chase was being responsibile about the purchase! Glad the problem was solved quickly!

I made a couple more vacation purchases over the last couple days at my good ole go-to Disney/Harry Potter place Hot Topic!

Oh gosh me too. It's bad. I am very addicted to Hot Topic and their awesome Disney shirts. I love that Genie one...I may have to go on their website and check it out....

I also came across these tank tops on Etsy that I think I'm going to buy for my sister and I for our Epcot Food & Wine night. At $12.99, and super cute, its a great deal! Just need to decide on colors

need to decide on colors

These are adorable as well! I have always heard good things about Disney shirts on Etsy but never actually bought any myself, I guess I'm afraid of getting addicted!

So, this isn't actually a purchase yet. I would already have it if I had any idea where I could possibly put it in my house. We just got these in at my work and I think it's adorable! I love the vintage looking characters! I'm kinda bummed it's missing Goofy though. Hopefully I can figure something out, because I really want them!

I love this - very cute! I have to ask though, what is it exactly?
Also - too bad no Goofy - usually Daisy is the one that is left out of things like this.

The rumor on the Dis is that free dining might be dropping for Disney Visa holders on 4/25/16 so I'll be up and on the phone by 7am and hopefully getting good news! If not then I guess the waiting game continues...

Good luck! I hope it's true for you!

 

[vrajewski10513]

I feel your pain. We're nowhere near as cold as you are in that part of the world, but spring just can't make up its mind whether it is ready to hang around or not. We've had some warm days (and I've actually had to mow twice already this spring) but we'll have 3 or 4 days in the 60's and then drop right back to the 20's or 30's. We had hardly any snow all winter, but had flurries falling over the weekend. Just crazy! Hopefully spring will come by the end of the week and stay here for all of us!

It's actually been quite similar here. On Easter Sunday I was in shorts! We had a VERY mild winter compared to what we normally get, but winter is over and I want some warmer temps now! We haven't had to bust out the lawn mower yet, thankfully. We just had a cold snap the last 2 weeks and I'm over it. We had snow this weekend as well. Like heavy, accumulating snow. Luckily, it melted over night lol

Yikes! I was worried at first that you were going to say you charged $1300 to your credit card multiple times! I'm glad that's all it was though. Chase seems to do a pretty good job of monitoring fraud.

OMG I would die if that happened! Luckily it wasn't that serious, and I am grateful that Chase is so on top of these things

Those are awesome!!!

Thanks!! I've been on the lookout for a Drinking Around the World shirt, but all I've been able to find (until now) are lame t-shirts. So I thought these were cute and would definitely work for us!

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm on pins and needles with all the rumors going around right now. The Free Dining thread BLEW UP last night, so I think it may be coming soon..

LOL - I'm hoping for the nice weather in NY too...We can really use it!

We definitely can! It was a tease those couple of nice days we had, then back to snow

I hate when this type of thing happens...

While annoying, at least Chase was being responsibile about the purchase! Glad the problem was solved quickly!

I completely agree, I'd rather have a slight inconvenience than have a stranger be able to make a $1300 purchase on my credit card

Oh gosh me too. It's bad. I am very addicted to Hot Topic and their awesome Disney shirts. I love that Genie one...I may have to go on their website and check it out....

They've had some great sales going on lately!!

These are adorable as well! I have always heard good things about Disney shirts on Etsy but never actually bought any myself, I guess I'm afraid of getting addicted!

I'm already addicted. You definitely need to check out the shirts they have. And while you're there, check out a couple of the custom Minnie Ears pages

I love this - very cute! I have to ask though, what is it exactly?
Also - too bad no Goofy - usually Daisy is the one that is left out of things like this.

lol They're canvases. 4 separate pictures once you take them out of the cardboard.

Good luck! I hope it's true for you!

Oh, me too! I read another article the other day that the last two weeks of September and all of October would be blacked out from Free Dining. But then yesterday, another reliable soure (AKA the owner of the Dis lol) posted that all of September may be included. So, FINGERS CROSSED!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

lol They're canvases. 4 separate pictures once you take them out of the cardboard.

Ah that makes more sense! I was looking at your picture and thinking, "I really like those, but I'm not exactly sure what it is!"

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

I'm in, as we will be down the same time! Leaving 9/30-10/4. Wish we were going longer, but my BF works for a school and can't miss much time from work. Anyway, maybe we will cross paths, and if not, I will be looking forward to reading all about your report!!

 

[DMGeurts]

All of your ADRs look great!!! I am so excited about ours too - I cannot wait to share them! I wish we were going to be there at the same time - it would be fun to do a meet.

Eeeep to Universal tickets!!!! Allison and I had so much fun there - I am glad you were finally able to get them and the crisis was averted.

CUTE shirts!!!! I love dressing up in Disney!

Your trip is coming together so nicely!

D~

 

[vrajewski10513]

I'm in, as we will be down the same time! Leaving 9/30-10/4. Wish we were going longer, but my BF works for a school and can't miss much time from work. Anyway, maybe we will cross paths, and if not, I will be looking forward to reading all about your report!!

That's awesome we will be there at the same time. Even if we don't cross paths we can play "Where's Waldo" and see if we show up in the background of each others pictures

All of your ADRs look great!!! I am so excited about ours too - I cannot wait to share them! I wish we were going to be there at the same time - it would be fun to do a meet.

Eeeep to Universal tickets!!!! Allison and I had so much fun there - I am glad you were finally able to get them and the crisis was averted.

CUTE shirts!!!! I love dressing up in Disney!

Your trip is coming together so nicely!

D~

Thanks!! I'm really excited to see your list too, I know you said V wanted to do a lot of character meals so I'm excited to see which ones she picks! We didn't plan on a lot of character meals... But somehow we ended up with 5

I have to say I'm just as excited about Universal as I am Disney! I'm a huge HP need, plus we're going to Halloween Horror Nights which I CAN'T WAIT for!

Oh you're the queen of Dressing Disney D~! Lol The extent of my Disney dressing ends with my shirts, maybe some ears. And my bracelets. I might try some Disney bounding this year though

 

[pkondz]

It's a beautiful day here in sunny (but still below freezing) Buffalo!

We finally had a nice day yesterday.
Soooooooo sick of snow.
But we hit 60!
Next few days is supposed to be rainy, though.
Ah well.
Snow in the forecast for the weekend.

Dang it!!!

So, I last left off saying I was going to be purchasing out Universal/HHN tickets. I did order them, but it ended up being a headache!

Oh?

I went right onto the Universal website and ordered four 3-day park-to-park tickets with the HHN add-on which came to about $1,300...

Ouch! Didn't quite realize just how pricey those were!

THEN, I got a call from DH at work saying that he just got a text message from Chase about fraudulent charges on our credit card! So, I told him I was trying to buy our Universal tickets. He approved the purchase on his phone and I was able to complete the transaction. Crisis averted!

Kind of a good news/bad news deal.
You eventually got to make your purchase... but it was a pain... but then again, your CC company is watching out for you.

I made a couple more vacation purchases over the last couple days at my good ole go-to Disney/Harry Potter place Hot Topic!

Ah, Hot Topic. Kay's favourite store.
Which means I've spent a fair amount of time in it.

Nice!

I also came across these tank tops on Etsy that I think I'm going to buy for my sister and I for our Epcot Food & Wine night.

Now those are funny!

The rumor on the Dis is that free dining might be dropping for Disney Visa holders on 4/25/16 so I'll be up and on the phone by 7am and hopefully getting good news! If not then I guess the waiting game continues...

I'm waiting too.
It'll help me make up my mind on even whether to go or not.

 

[vrajewski10513]

We finally had a nice day yesterday.
Soooooooo sick of snow.
But we hit 60!
Next few days is supposed to be rainy, though.
Ah well.
Snow in the forecast for the weekend.

Dang it!!!

Yeah, we had snow this past weekend, but now the weather man is saying almost 70 for this weekend! Gotta find my shorts and flip flops! I'm still not sure I can safely pack away my parka yet though.

Ouch! Didn't quite realize just how pricey those were!

The tickets themselves came to about $260 a person, then the HHN add on was $50-60. It's simliar to disney in the fact that if I wanted to add on another day its only a couple extra bucks for each additional day.. But, were only going for 3 days so it definitely seems pricey!

Kind of a good news/bad news deal.
You eventually got to make your purchase... but it was a pain... but then again, your CC company is watching out for you.

I'm definiltey happy that they're on top of things. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

Ah, Hot Topic. Kay's favourite store.
Which means I've spent a fair amount of time in it.

I would have never guessed! From what I've seen in your pictures she could be a model for the store

Now those are funny!

Aren't they? I felt they were quite fitting for the occasion!

I'm waiting too.
It'll help me make up my mind on even whether to go or not.

When were you looking to go? There's chatter on the Free dining boards that release could be any day now!

 

[pkondz]

I'm still not sure I can safely pack away my parka yet though.

Oh, I know!
Ruby always packs all the winter stuff away way too early.
Every. Stinking. Year.

The tickets themselves came to about $260 a person, then the HHN add on was $50-60. It's simliar to disney in the fact that if I wanted to add on another day its only a couple extra bucks for each additional day.. But, were only going for 3 days so it definitely seems pricey!

It does. Then again... considering what you get, it kind of doesn't.

I'm definiltey happy that they're on top of things. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

I would have never guessed!

From what I've seen in your pictures she could be a model for the store

Really! I'll have to tell her you said that.

Aren't they? I felt they were quite fitting for the occasion!

Loved 'em!

When were you looking to go? There's chatter on the Free dining boards that release could be any day now!

Bear in mind that this is really just idle thoughts at this stage, but...
I'd like to be there on October 19th, there's a few people that've expressed an interest of a DISmeet then. Plus there's another DISer I'd like to meet who's going to be there starting the 23rd.
But... I honestly don't know yet.
Free dining might be the straw that broke my reluctance to book.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Bear in mind that this is really just idle thoughts at this stage, but...
I'd like to be there on October 19th, there's a few people that've expressed an interest of a DISmeet then. Plus there's another DISer I'd like to meet who's going to be there starting the 23rd.
But... I honestly don't know yet.
Free dining might be the straw that broke my reluctance to book.

Based on the rumors floating around right now, October 2nd-November 14th may be one big black out period. Fingers crossed for you that its wrong!