The Stars are Aligning (Or we have all the ADR's we hoped for basically)

[krc99080]

I'm going to start by saying this is my first PTR. So I'll do my best.

I'm Kim and my Disney travel buddy is Tristin, one of my best friends.

Here we are with the Mouse himself. I'm on the right and Tristin is on the left. She is on loan from her husband as it's busy season for him and his hours are long. This way Tristin isn't bored plus he doesn't worry about us getting into too much trouble at Disney...



We decided on a whim to go to Disney World last fall and realized that we truly are Disney fan's. It was a great trip with many memories made. It just so happened that we went during the time they were changing over from Halloween to Christmas so our first night we have pictures in front of the Castle with pumpkins and our last night we have Christmas and the Castle. Just seeing the beginning of Christmas gave us the desire to see what Disney with the full Christmas decorations up looks like. That's where the inspiration for this trip came from.

As spring came we kept talking about how badly we wanted to see Disney World all decked out for Christmas. Finally we decided to just go. Might as well go now before either of us has kids and we have to do things on their schedule not ours.

We will be at Disney from December 2-8. Our original plan was to leave November 30 and return December 6 but we saved 150 on flights by moving it back those two days.

Our home away from home (we decided staying on property is because neither of us wants to mess with driving around):


Check back as I update with our ADR's and the plans we have so far.

 

[krc99080]

I didn't mention it before but we do have the Regular Dining Plan. Tristin and I like the ability to have our meals already paid for and we both tend to like the more expensive entrees. Since we don't have kids to worry about our days are spent on the go go go. We use rides as breaks because we want to see and do as much as possible. Sleep is not overly important. Our plans for this trip are as follows:

December 2 - Arrival Day
We will get to Orlando around 12:30 p.m. provided our flight is on time. Then we gather our bags, grab a sandwich and head to the Magical Express. Last year Tristin and I figured we'd grab something at Pop and it never happened. By our dinner reservation we were ready to eat anything. This year we know better and will eat. We know they'd deliver for us but since we'll be coming from a colder climate it's possible we might need to change upon arrival at the Pop.

Once we've checked in, went to the room to drop off our bags and changed we'll head for the buses and go to Epcot and begin our adventures. Epcot is our first stop since we have dinner reservations at 6:10 at:

We both had delicious meals there last year so Chefs de France became a must for this year. I still dream of the Lobster Bisque. We knew it'd be an easy one to get at 180 days too so made a good choice for day 1.
After we'll continue to explore EPCOT or maybe hop over to Magic Kingdom since they have EMH that night and we love MK so much we went every day on our last trip even if for just a couple hours. Enough time for Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid and just to see everything we can! Like the parade and Wishes if possible.

December 3 - Day 2 - Magic Kingdom - MVMCP that night
We may not start our day at Magic Kingdom but it's where we'll end it. With tickets to MVMCP that evening and a 4:15 reservation at Tony's Town Square. This is a new TS for us this trip. We needed a TS in MK with an early enough time we'd finish well before it was time to start getting in line for MVMCP events.

December 4 - Day 3 - EPCOT - Candlelight Processional
For our first EPCOT day we have a Via Napoli Candlelight package at 11:30 for the 5:00 show. We will pay out of pocket for this meal because we didn't want to use two credits on one meal. Then wee have a 7:00 p.m. reservation for Garden Grill. Both of us are big fans of Living with the Land and the opportunity to see it from this view along with characters was impossible to pass up. We went into our 2014 trip thinking we were too old to mess with characters... until our first character experience when it then became a mission to get our pictures with as many characters as possible! Any time not spent eating or at the Candlelight show will be spent exploring EPCOT to our fullest that day. We most likely will see Illuminations to end our day.

More to follow...

 

[MataHari22]

How awesome that you got all the ADRs that you wanted. I am going to try Les Chefs on my next trip, too. I will also be staying at Pop again. Wanted to go back to POR, but it wasn't in my budget this year, so had to stick with a value.
Last year was the first time I did any character meets as an adult. I got Memory Maker last year, and I wanted to get the most value out of it, so I decided to push past my shyness and awkwardness and give it a go. I'm glad I did. I see you're also going to Tony's. A lot of people are always bashing it, but I've always had good luck there. I need them to cook me a version of the Shrimp Scampi, and it always turns out good, and I like the Pistachio Crème Brûlée, mmmmm. My friend also enjoyed her meals. We have eaten there last two trips.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[krc99080]

Continued...

December 5 - Day 4 - Plans still slightly uncertain
Our day plans are still pretty up in the air. We might get FP's for the highlights we must do at MGM (I mean Hollywood Studios). Then explore the monorail resorts with a stop for lunch at the Contemporary for the Contempo Cafe. But who knows, this is one day that's not too scheduled. For dinner that night we are trying Akershus at EPCOT at 5:20. While I'm excited to see Belle in her yellow gown I also loved meeting her in EPCOT last year:


For the rest of the evening we will explore EPCOT

December 6 - Day 5 - Epcot/MK then Hollywood Studios
Tristin and I will begin the day at Epcot so we can do whatever we've missed or must do again (Spaceship Earth - we love this one!). It's also required that we eat at Sunshine Seasons at least once so this will be the day!
If there's time we'll hop over to MK to do and see a few things there (Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid...)

Then we must hop on the monorail for a short ride to the Poly because we have a 6:50 dinner reservation at 'Ohana. A favorite meal from 2014. It can also be nice to get out of the parks for a meal. From here we plan to hop on a bus for Hollywood Studios because they have EMH that evening and we want to see the Osbourne Family lights.

December 7 - Day 6 - Magic Kingdom
The final full day at Disney has arrived. Where else but the Magic Kingdom to spend it? We will take this day to see and do all of our favorites again! There is so much to see and do in this park. We have both lunch and dinner reservations at Be Our Guest this day. It's the only way we could eat both meals there and that was a must. Last year we went into the parks thinking lunch at BOG would be fine. Then we decided no, we must try for dinner there. Well one day we were standing in France at EPCOT waiting to get our picture taken at a fountain:

I pulled up the MDE app on my phone just to see and found a BOG reservation for the following evening. I whipped out my Credit Card and made the reservation on the spot. Then Tristin cancelled the ADR we had previously made for day. It was such a memorable experience and meal. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie from childhood so it was a dream to eat in the castle.

December 8 - Day 7 - Heading home
We have no park plans this day since our flight leaves early enough the Magical Express will pick up around 9.