The Huskers are in the Big Ten and We're Going to Disney World!9/22-10-1 ADRs added

[HuskerFaninIL]

Alright all you dis-sers! Bear with me this is my first PTR. I have really enjoyed reading a lot of PTRs, TRs and Dining Reports! So I'm going to try my hand at writing one for us.

Let me introduce us

My name is Michelle, I live in Illinois with my DH and 2 DD's. We are huge Husker Fans, DH grew up in Nebraska until he moved to Indiana for college!

I've never been to Disney before, and was honestly freaked out when I started planning this trip in January. I am a huge scrapbooker and am really excited to scrapbook our trip.

DH has been to Disney one time, he went when he was in the 2nd grade and they only had Epcot and MK, so AK and DHS will be all new for him.

Here we are at the end of April on our 10th anniversary.

Celebrating their first trip to Disney are my two DD's. Lindsay just turned 7 (4 days ago ) and is super excited to meet Minnie Mouse and any and all Disney Princess, most of all Rapunzel. She has her heart set on being Rapunzel for Halloween and has been growing her hair in honor of this costume. You'll notice it's quite long and once it's straigtened it's even longer, oh what a joy that is to comb every day.

This is my 2nd DD, Lydia. She is 4.5 and I have one more year at home with my baby before she goes off to Kindergarten! She is most excited to meet Handy Manny and the princesses. She is also really hoping to see Zebra's when we visit AK and AKL.

The in-laws are also going with us, they have had the same Disney experiences as DH.

Here is a pic of DMIL at Easter.

And since the In-laws live 8 hours away from us we rarely see FIL, usually just at Christmas.

So here is a quick snapshot of DFIL.

And one disclaimer--- I adore my IL's, so I'm a lucky girl !!!

More details on our planned 10 day adventure soon! (especially if I can figure out chapter linking)

Chapter 1eciding to Disney


Chapter 2: Where to Stay

Chapter 3: Booking Flights

Chapter 4: Touring Plans and ADRs

Chapter 5: Day 0 and Day 1

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

We recently moved 3.5 hours from our last home (we were there 7 years). That was very hard on me, being a SAHM with our families being so far away, my friends are my family. So lonlieness set in.

DH decided that the perfect distraction of planning our first Disney trip would be just the ticket to entertainment. (Little did he know the obsession that I'd develop.)

We originally were looking at October because of the weather, but then there was a 40% off rack rate for the rooms that worked in late September and the crowds seem lower at that time.

So Sept 22 through Oct 1st was on the calendars, yay! Will those days stick, maybe, maybe not?

 

[dixie06]

hi im joining your girls are so cute ive been to disney a few times and it gets better every time. i also have a PTR called billy's first trip to WDW. cant wait to see the details of the trip

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Now that we finally had decided on when to go, we had to decide where to stay.

First I had to get myself a handy dandy notebook, I take notes; on paper, on the computer, my Ipad, my Iphone, I enjoy taking notes.

I played around and played around with various resorts and the fall travel code, it was something like 25 % off of value, 30% off moderate and 40% off of Deluxe (the first two #'s might be wrong, but the 40% off it correct).

For a while we considered POR, for 2 rooms, but we quickly discovered that if we went with a deluxe villa and the ILs stayed with us that we'd only be spending a little more for a whole lot more space, plus it enables us to have a little more snacks and such at the room and I can do laundry if needed (doesnt doing laundry just SCREAM vacation!)

We were able to use the PIN on a 2 bedroom Deluxe Villa at Old Key West. Can't wait until we get there and can see the newly renovated rooms. I am still trying to figure out what building to request, so if you all have any suggestions let me know, I've seen other TR and the Turtle Pond area seems nice.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Now that we had our OKW resort booked I had to start hunting down flights. I bugged the snot out of DH to get our tickets booked (he travels a ton for work, so he's more familiar with booking and whatnot).

We had the option of fly out of our town because we have a small "vacation destination" airport. I waited and waited and waited for the dates to open up. Finally they did and it ended up that Florida is apparently not a vacation destination in September! They don't fly to MCO at ALL in September... so I was annoyed that I had waited and waited and waited for NOTHING! Ugh.

We ended up researching flight from O'hare for early in the morning on 9/22. We kicked that around for a while and realized that by the time we boarded the bus to O'hare that we'd have to be out the door at 2:45 AM!! Eeeegads, not happening.

For actually less money (about $300 total) we booked a flight that leaves at 6:15 in the evening on the 21st. That added an entire extra park day, yay!!!

We fly home early on Sunday, October 2nd. So we ended up with 10 whole days in WDW.

I left it to the IL's to book their flights from Omaha, NE on their own. They will get in on Thursday late afternoon the 22nd, so we get one day on our own.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

After much research online, bugging friends that have been and stalking the Disney section of the local library, I joined disboards and Touring plans.com.

I learned all about ADRs from those 2 sources and also sketched out what parks we will be at on which day.

I consulted and reconsulted Touringplans.com for crowd calendars and selected our park days.

With such a long trip we have a lot of flexibility once our vacation is actually here, we figure if we decide not to a second day at DHS then we can chill at the resort and whatnot.

ADRs, boy I had such a fun time reading all the dining reviews (especially those with pics) and scouring the food porn thread. There is some yummy looking stuff out there!

It took a while but I finally came up with my wants!

So I had my list and was (im)paitently waiting for my 180 day mark. It ended up being Saturday the 26th of March. Well we were out of town, visiting our old neighbors. I had to get up at 4:30 AM (central time zone ) to get prepared!

I was able to get all my ADRs and was thrilled with that, not too thrilled to get more sleep though!

So here is what I got and the parks we are at each day.

Thursday 9.22- Morning at AK- dinner at Chef Mickey's

Friday 9-23- First DHS day- Lunch at Hollywood and Vine (Manny obssessed DD is thrilled) Dinner at Boma with a friend from Tampa

Saturday 9-24- First MK day- Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table and BBB before that

Sunday 9-25- Epcot ( most likey WS) lunch at Le Cellier

Monday- 9-26 AK day with IL's (maybe just another morning to avoid the heat) Dinner at WCC and hopefully Campfire Singalong with Chip/Dale.

Tuesday- 9-27 Another MK day, this time we are doing MNSSHP and was have late lunch ressies at LTT for 2:50, I originally got them at 11:30 but we decided we'd be lazy this AM and not head over til about 2 to the park.

Wednesday- 9-28 2nd DHS day, if we want, we have 7 pm ressies at Ohana and hopefully will be done just in time for fireworks at MK viewed from the Poly Beach!

Thursday- 9-29 We are going to Universal today, so no ADRs. We are using this meal credit at CRT.

Friday- 9/30 2nd Epcot, first day of F&W. We will probably concentrate on FW but may pop by the booths at WS for snack credits used.

Saturday- 10/1 Last day, last RD at MK. We have 8:05 ressies at Crystal Palace for just DH, the girls and I. The IL's have an early flight home.

So those are our plans, what do you think? How'd I do?

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Day 0- Pack up mini van, pick up DD1 at school, hop on coach bus to airport. Fly from Ohare to MCO! Get our rental mini van and check into Hampton Inn on Lake Buena Vista!

Day 1- Wake up early (that's saying I fell asleep in the first place)!!! Eat a little breakfast at the hotel and head off to OKW to check in. Assuming there is no room available just yet we will leave our stuff in the mini van and collect our KTTW cards. Head off to AK!

Once at AK we plan on getting fast passes for the Safari and exploring a bit. We will ride a few rides and visit with lot of characters. We will probably stay there until about 12:00. I do for sure, 100%, plan on getting 2 cupcakes at Kusafari. We want the zebra cupcake and the elephant cupcake. I am sure we will share these among the 4 of us! YUM!

Then for lunch we may head over to DTD and try out WPE if I have my say, after lunch we are hoping we will for sure have a room #. Once we have that we will go to our room, settle in a bit and then head to the grocery store.

Since we are staying in a villa we have a full kitchen and will probably make a few breakfasts in the room.

After the store it will probably be 3 or 4, just enough time to chill at the resort (maybe swim) and wait on the IL's to arrive.

When booking their flights it was cheaper to fly into MCO and arrive at 4:20, well I have 6:15 ressies at Chef Mickey's, so they may or may not make it in time. We are considering having them take a car service and that would hopefully make them arrive on time. If not they will eat something at OKW, maybe Olivia's.

But either way DH, the girls and I will head to the CR and have dinner at CM!!!

Hit the sack early and be ready for rope drop at DHS!

 

[afwdwfan]

I was skimming PTR titles and yours caught my eye. Welcome to the Big Ten, and Boiler Up!

I hadn't seen those cupcakes before, but they look great. Might be something I'll have to look into trying.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

This morning we are planning on making RD at DHS. Of course our plan is to make haste and get our fast pass runner (hopefully DH) back to TSMM and get our fast passes. I've read a lot of reports and as or right now, I'm debating between just getting the fast passes and doing some other stuff, like seeing characters by the hat and such. Or if we want to all head that way, ride stand-by once and then pocked the FP's til later.

We will ride whatever rides strike our fancy, the girls are most interested in Art of Animation and Disney Junior on stage. Dh and I want to do Tower of Terror, the girls not so much (that's the great thing about taking the in-laws)

Dh and DFIL are super excited to scope out Star Tours, they are both huge SW fans.

So our must do's for this day are---

Art of Animation
Disney Jr
Tower of Terror
TSMM
Star Tours
Characterpalooza at 4:50

Food for that day!

My youngest is a Huge Handy Manny fan!

Here she is with one of her 3rd birthday cakes (she has 3 cakes every year because her b-day is right around Christmas and we celebrate with friends, my family and Dh's family all seperately).

When our trip came up she was most excited to meet the Tool Man himself! So I knew I had to book Hollywood and Vine. I know it gets stinky food reviews, but the character interaction is supposed to be great, so we'll deal.

I am excited to get over to Starring Rolls and order some cupcakes! yay

These are the two I have my eye on, I figure if the 6 of us share 3 cupcakes I may also be able to throw another one in

 

[disneylovin24]

Your daughters are beautiful!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Now are are under 30 days! Yay!!!

Where'd I leave off...

Day 2 evening. After a fun-filled day at DHS we are meeting DH's best childhood friend. Their moms are BFF's and we havent seen him since our oldest was 18 months old. He is an attorney in Tampa so he is going to meet us at Boma for dinner.

This worked out perfectly for me, because when we (I mean me) were planning ADR's I had to cut one and it was Boma, my brother said it was their favorite when they went to WDW.

So now Boma is back on and we have an ADR at 8pm. I am excited for all of us to try some different items, and hoping that my girls will be a little adventurous. I think that they will be super excited to see the Zebra domes.

Day 3..................

Now this is the day my girls have been waiting for FOREVER! Magic Kingdom.

And the angels sing and the girls cheer

Today is a fun filled princess extravaganza!

We start the day doing whatever rides float our boat and the girls have appointments for beauty make-overs just after lunch. I'm not sure they could be any more beautiful but I think those FGiT will try!

I will be the proud momma of my very own Belle and Rapunzel. The original plan was to buy dresses there, I have been saving my Disney reward dollars and $200 incentive card for just this day at BBB. But my oldest panicked that they wouldn't have Rapunzel and she's been growing her hair for so long that a different princess just wouldn't do.

The youngest was actually pretty easy going about the whole thing and had a list of 3 or 4 prinesses that would have been fine, but I didnt want her to shop for her dress while DD1 watched.

So using $160 in Disney store gift cards (Curtosey of Sam's club deal) I bought them each their dresses! I'm glad too, because Belle is a little big and Needs a little work.

They are beyond excited to get to actually wear these instead of just trying them on for Mommy and Daddy. These are also their Halloween Costumes for MNSSHP and actual Halloween. Talented MIL is making a white faux fur caplet for DD2 since Belle has bare arms, and that just won't do in the town that winter visits for 6 months!

After make-over mania they will have 1,000,000 pics taken (honestly I just got a new camera for our trip and the 16 GB memory card holds 5200 pictures! yay for me!

Depending on the timing we will find something to do for a bit or head straight to our ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table!

We are all super excited about this ADR, it will just be so magical for my girls (and momma too).

I did order two of the chocolate glass slippers to be presented at the end of the meal. One is white chocolate and one is dark chocolate. Both plates will say "For Our Princess"

I thought it was an okay DIsney deal at $12.50 (not a normal world deal though )

After dinner we will probably exit MK and DH and DFIL are probably going to head to BW3 on Lake Buena Vista Pkwy to catch the Huskers. I think they are playing Wyoming, so unless our coach has lost all control I dont think it's going to be an especially exciting match-up. (sorry Wyoming fans!)

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Today is our first Epcot day. Because our next Epcot day is the start of Food and Wine, we will be doing the World Showcase today. We may very well pop over to WS on Food and Wine day, but it will not be explored as heavily!

My girls are super excited to meet Duffy and get a stuffed Duffy bear to snuggle. I created passports in photoshop and printed them at Snapfish. They turned out great and are small and easy to carry around.

We will start in FW at RD, then around 11 mosey on over to WS. We will probably start in the general area of Canada. We have lunch reservations

.

Right now I'm looking at trying the hamburger on the prie fix menu. It sounds yummy and gets good reviews! Plus I like that you can get an appy as well. We'll see though, because the menu could shift in the next two weeks.

After a yummy lunch we will just tour the countries and hopefully do a KP mission of two. Our goal is to get to every country on our trip, it doesnt have to happen today, we will have to get to Norway on our second EP day for a very special reason!

I also know that DFIL and DH are excited to try some different beers and MIL is excited to try some wines. I told them that if they want to drink around the world that was fine, but the DD's and I would eat dessert or chocolate around the world!!!

We may end up taking an afternoon break and chilling out for a bit and returning later in the evening for a QS dinner and illumminations. Not sure yet where we may eat, we'll probably split up and join back up because we have different tastes.