They get it now! They really get it! - A November 2019 PTR (updated 11/18/19 - TTFN!)

[kimberwee]

Evening Drinks at Oga's...

So the TP Reservation finder came through again! Because of the 2 drink limit at Oga's and the extensive menu, I was thinking about how we might want to go back to Oga's on our 2nd DHS day. SO, of course when I looked, there were no reservations to be had and I immediately went to the TP site and entered my info for an evening reservation at Oga's for a party of 7. It only took 2 days for the system to find one. I honestly think that Disney has started to drip out reservations, instead of having everything available at 180 days. There were several evening time slots available, leading me to believe that it wasn't just someone dropping reservations.

Wonder if they do that for FP?

 

[DISNEY4XMAS]

Do you have a picture of your band from last year? I LOVE BLING!!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Nice snag on the magicband upgrade! Any of your Magicbands can be used interchangeably so you can even reuse yours from last year!

 

[kimberwee]

Do you have a picture of your band from last year? I LOVE BLING!!!

I will get a pic posted tonight!

 

[kimberwee]

Nice snag on the magicband upgrade! Any of your Magicbands can be used interchangeably so you can even reuse yours from last year!

Thanks! I didn't think about that. I could bring the one from last trip just to have options!

 

[kimberwee]

Change in hours...

Disney just released a change in park hours for us. It seems that the only major impact to our group is a modification for Sunday, the 24th. DHS has morning magic hours now and they will be open until 10. SO, that day we may opt to go back to the hotel after brunch for a while, before heading back to the park. DH, DD and I are somewhat early risers, so we may head over to DHS before brunch. Then head to brunch at Homecomin' and return to DHS as a group. OR, maybe we will still sleep in and then come back to the hotel after brunch to chill until later that day. I love the parks at night.
Who knows...so many options now! At the very least, maybe the morning hours will thin out the crowds in the evening at DHS.

 

[kimberwee]

bands from last trip...mine is the grey andDD had the purple

 

[DISNEY4XMAS]

I love these. Hmm maybe I'll be hitting Michael's up and doing something like this too. I should be finishing up our shirts, we have 30 days!!

 

[kimberwee]

MERRY CHRISTMAS MICKEY!!

We bought our MVMCP tickets today. There was some discussion on events possibly becoming sold out. With our plan being so great at this point, I didn't want to chance not getting tickets. And, while I was logged into the discount ticket site (UT) we use, I got a pop-up on a secret discounted 1 day 2-park Universal Studios Ticket. After all of this, I calculated that as a group, we saved over $650 from purchasing directly through Disney or Universal.

 

[kimberwee]

Pray for me...

Seriously.
I got a phone call today from the W's, that they might need to back out of the trip. They will let me know by tonight.

Luckily, we are 35 days out and not 30. Why is this important? I can still modify DVC reservations and retain full use of my points.

Unluckily, remember those tickets I was excited about yesterday...and the fixed date Disney tickets?

 

[kimberwee]

Back to regularly scheduled programming...

The W's decided that they were still in for the trip. Crisis averted...back to planning. I was thinking of making little gift boxes for the littles. Last year, our Disney Outlet had fantastic Christmas ears. There were the red sequin ears with the green bow and also some light up ears for less than $7 a pair, so we bought them. Now, I am trying to come up with some other inexpensive things to throw in there with them...ideas?

 

[kimberwee]

Starting Our Final Touches!

So, I love the magic of Disney and love to help create some of our own. We've been collecting a couple of Mickey Ears for the littles to wear and I have been poking around the internet to find little things to box with them. The last time we went with the W family, I got the littles matching Halloween pj's. Today, on Kohl's website I found these pj's and 19" Minnie stuffed animal. I had a 15% off, 20% off and then $15 in Kohl's cash to use, so I went for it. These should go great with the Holiday ears and some candy! I plan on using my Cricut to do a vinyl initial on the bottom of Minnie's foot, so the girls can tell whose is whose. Should be cute! Now, I am on the hunt for a good bag to put them in. I was going to do cute boxes, but think that would be a waste and pain due to travel limitations.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm joining in! I realize most of your planning (and thankfully, the stress) is basically done... but I can't wait to see how your plans turn out! I hope you plan to write a trip report!

 

[kimberwee]

I'm joining in! I realize most of your planning (and thankfully, the stress) is basically done... but I can't wait to see how your plans turn out! I hope you plan to write a trip report!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[kimberwee]

Bouncing in for a life update...

As you probably remember, life was going to be insane between October and our trip. I am happy to report that I have survived, and now we have reached the day of the wedding I was going to help with. It turned out that the Bride didn't really need me for much more than invitations and the wedding tonight will be my last big obligation/event, other than work, before the trip! I actually have a day tomorrow with nothing planned other than catching up on some household chores. I've got some shirts and koozies to make before the trip...DD wants to add some flowers to a wire mouse-ear headband we found last year at Target...so, it will be a crafty cozy weekend for us.

Speaking of cozy, I don't know about where you live, but it is downright freezing here in Oklahoma and it makes me think of what to pack for DW. I am a legging/jean legging kind of girl, but was wondering if I will regret not wearing shorts. Thoughts? To me, I would think leggings/jean leggings, with a tshirt and flannel or sweater is perfect for November...right?

And on a last note for today...DD is getting extremely excited about the trip. She counts down days now when she wakes up in the morning and today she said "Mom, we get to go to Disney World this month..." and then smiled a giant gorgeous smile. Love her.

 

[piglet1979]

I heard Disney is still in the 90's. I have a friend that lives in the Orlando area and she has been talking about how hot it is. I would keep an eye on the weather there as you get closer to your dates to make a decision.

 

[kimberwee]

Anyone else stalk crowd calendars when you are waiting for your trip?

The crowd calendar we use just lowered every single day of our visit by 1-2 levels. Our DHS day just went from a 2 to a 1 and Epcot went from a 3 to a 2. Not sure how much stock to put into this, but I've never been on a day with that low of a rating and can't wait to see how it is. It definitely makes me glad that we switched a couple of our days up, by coming in a day early!

To recap:
11/19 - regular day for DD at school...we are making her and the twins "Disney Bound" shirts. We fly out at 5-something and have a layover in St. Louis, where we will be able to grab dinner. We land at MCO just after midnight and will grab our bags from baggage claim and head to ME for our ride over to Beach Club. (I really am sad that we won't get to spend much time in this 2 bedroom, but it will be nice to check out).

11/20 - I cancelled our 10am morning dining reservation at Ale & Compass, because I don't want to rush anyone after such a late night. Checkout is at 11, so we will grab something whenever we get around. I've heard the marketplace isn't all that great, so we may just wait until we get over to DHS. My plan is to be on our way to DHS by 11. So, we will drop our luggage for transfer to the Poly and head that way. Our first fastpass is at 10:50 for RNR and we will be cutting it close to make it by 11:50. Afterwards, we will see how long the line is for ToT, before heading to our reservation at Oga's set for 1:25. At Oga's we will bounce around the park, trying to get new FP reservations for our favorites until its time to head over to Sunset Seasons greetings. I am hoping to grab a drink and wait for a spot at the Brown Derby Lounge for dinner, followed by more rides, until we go to get a spot at Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam... or if we are tired, we may skip and head to the Poly early... we have another DHS day to watch Jingle Bell Jingle Bam if we want. After a long day at DHS, we will head to the Poly

11/21 - I am an early riser, so this is the morning I will meet my Walmart delivery of groceries. Once I get those settled in our rooms, I will get my family around to head to Epcot, which is having EMH that morning. We will meet the W family for our first FP, Test track, sometime between 11 and noon. Afterwards, we will probably ride Mission Space and then head over to Soarin'. Then it will be lunch time and we will start our snacking around the world, riding Three Caballeros and maybe Frozen, before heading back to finish with another possible round of Test Track and Soarin'. I really also want to check out Living with the Land. I think CCW would find it really interesting and its a good way to relax. The goal is to leave by 3:30 so we can get back and relax a bit before heading to MVMCP. We do have a dinner reservation at the Grand Floridian Cafe at 5:20...still on the fence about keeping it. The MVMCP will be our first time in MK this trip, so we will have priority to get certain rides done, but without FP, I will be interested to see how it goes. If the resort crowd predictors are close, it should be a lower attendance party in comparison to the ones later in the week. We will see. After rides, the next priority is parade and then snacks.

11/22 - I planned for a later start, due to the MVMCP, but not sure we will get it. The EE fp we have is from 10-11, but I've read that same day FP aren't hard to get for this one, so we may just skip it and just hop in line when we get to it. We do have a Kilimanjaro Safari FP for 11:20-12:20, so that may be our first ride of the day, followed by lunch/snack/drinks at Harambe, before heading over to our Na'vi River Journey FP. We will be stalking the wait for FoP to see when we should bounce over to that line throughout the day, but aren't worried if we skip it because of our FoP FP on our 2nd AK day later in the trip. I plan on skipping DinoLand until later in our trip, but we will see if the kids let us. Dinner is at 6pm at Yak & Yeti, and with the park closing at 8, we may be able to squeeze in 1 or 2 more rides before heading back to the Poly

11/23 - UNIVERSAL DAY! Holy cow, I need to bump up my planning on this. I told the W family that this is the ONLY day that I am going to insist they get up early and that we leave for the park, via UBER, by 8. We are going to grab donuts at Voodoo before heading into the park after it opens at 9. We won't have Express Passes and who knows what we will get to and what we won't, but I really do want to see the Macy's Parade... Lunch will be at 3 Broomsticks and park closing is 8pm, so dinner will be at Toothsom's after park close. I am working on reservations, but it seems like every time I call the system is updating or unable to process the request. If we feel up to it, I may suggest we head somewhere for live music before heading back to the Poly. I love Bob Marley, soooooo....

11/24 - We have a late brunch at Homecomin' in DS and then I want to get through the Christmas trees and find out if Santa is available for pics, before heading to DHS for the second time this trip....if I can get everyone around. If not, we will be back to DS on Monday night. We have FP for SDD from 2-3 and that is really our only obligation, besides another Oga's reservation at 5. Waits should be longer, so we won't be able to ride as much, but this will be our Jingle Bell Jingle Bam day if we miss/skip it on our previous visit. The park doesn't close until 10, so we will have to wait and see. A resort evening back at the Poly does sound nice as well.

11/25 - We will head back to AK for our FoP FP at 10:40. I really want to grab snacks and drinks at the Nomad Lounge. This wasn't on my radar, before someone (maybe DFBLOG) posted about the food a few weeks ago. If it's packed, we will find some QS before heading over to our EE FP sometime by 1:45. This will be followed by a FP on DINOSAUR by 2:45. Depending on the crowd levels (which are predicted to be a 9), we may try to ride some more or just head back to Disney Springs for shopping/drinks before our reservation at The Edison around 7pm. I am kind of disappointed that there isn't entertainment here outside of the weekends, but I've heard its "mature" anyway...

11/26 - Departure Day is always hard, but because we have a late flight, we actually made this a MK park day. We chose MK because of its proximity to the Poly and the ability to get back easily for our ME ride to the airport. The morning will start with an Ohana breakfast (appropriate for my next TR..AULANI 2020) and then we will head out to get to our 7DMT FP by 12:50. BTMR FP by 2:15 and SM by 3:40...by then, it will be time to catch ME home.

The big question is how all of this will really pan out. This is my first PTR and I can't wait to turn it into my first TR...

BUT FIRST, we've got to pack! Stay tuned...

 

[SimplyGoofy]

It's always so interesting to see how your plans turn out... it will be interesting to see how closely to stick to your original plans!

The good news about Universal is it doesn't require much planning. It's a very strange feeling compared to Disney which requires SO MUCH planning! I would recommend getting to the gates early - and enter the park that does not have the early entry for the onsite Universal folks (one park always has early entry, and it's usually advertised on Universal's website). This will mean you'll be at the beginning of lines with everyone else entering that park and you can switch to the other park via the Hogwarts Express later in the day. You mentioned leaving Disney property at 8:00 - if you can manage it I'd leave closer to 7:30 as the hike to get through security and into City Walk is much longer than it looks. Every time I've been to Universal they seem to open the gates prior to the official "opening" time, so you want to be in line no later than 8:30 for a 9:00 opening in order to have your best shot at entering when they open the gates. I know that will be tough with the family you're traveling with, but that will really help you maximize your day since you don't have Express Pass.

Three Broomsticks is great, but the Leaky Cauldron is also great if you find yourself in Diagon Alley near lunchtime. I also highly recommend ice cream from Florean Fortescue's - it's excellent!

 

[kimberwee]

It's always so interesting to see how your plans turn out... it will be interesting to see how closely to stick to your original plans!

The good news about Universal is it doesn't require much planning. It's a very strange feeling compared to Disney which requires SO MUCH planning! I would recommend getting to the gates early - and enter the park that does not have the early entry for the onsite Universal folks (one park always has early entry, and it's usually advertised on Universal's website). This will mean you'll be at the beginning of lines with everyone else entering that park and you can switch to the other park via the Hogwarts Express later in the day. You mentioned leaving Disney property at 8:00 - if you can manage it I'd leave closer to 7:30 as the hike to get through security and into City Walk is much longer than it looks. Every time I've been to Universal they seem to open the gates prior to the official "opening" time, so you want to be in line no later than 8:30 for a 9:00 opening in order to have your best shot at entering when they open the gates. I know that will be tough with the family you're traveling with, but that will really help you maximize your day since you don't have Express Pass.

Three Broomsticks is great, but the Leaky Cauldron is also great if you find yourself in Diagon Alley near lunchtime. I also highly recommend ice cream from Florean Fortescue's - it's excellent!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ADVICE!!! I really appreciate it, as I have no experience planning Universal. This will be our first trip. How can you tell which park is early entry? I was planning on starting in Islands of Adventure and then crossing over to Universal. Fingers crossed that will still work. We went to dinner with the W family last night, and I think I have them convinced to wait for Hagrids no matter what. The plan will be to do that last and then go to dinner at Toothsome's. I tried calling to make reservations 4 different times to find that their reservation system was down. I called again this morning and of course they are booked. This might be a blessing in disguise, if we decide that we've snacked enough and aren't interested anyway....or if our Hagrids wait is going to make it impossible.

 

[kimberwee]

It's time to get the suitcases out and finalizing the grocery list!
6 days from this very moment, we will be on our way to the airport!