Third Time's a Charm PTR - May 2012 - I should give up on planning trips.

[ACDSNY]

Dinner looks yummy!

 

[lisaviolet]

We will return to your regularly scheduled pre-trip report programming after this.

BEYOND jealous.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a great meal. Gibsons, lobster and chocolate. What more could a girl ask for?

 

[Pinkocto]

I hadn't heard about the Aladdin ride, but no one was killed on Splash at DL. It has been years since there was an accident out there. I think the only person killed in recent times was on BTMRR and that was in 2003.

Thank you for this. Our guide told us someone at DL had been decapitated when they stood up on Splash Mountain which caused them to put safety bars on both DL's and DW's.

A great big thank you to Fran for her choices. That's exactly what I would have ordered. Thank you for the pictures

The presentation next week sounds fascinating.

 

[franandaj]

Well enough of the OT posts, let’s get back to planning this trip! So we left off with Thursday May 3rd, we picked up the Rental Car, hung out at the resort enjoying the animals, took the 4PM Culinary Tour and then headed over to DTD for our dinner at Raglan Road.

So we’re talking about Friday May 4, 2012. This is our change day, why leave AKL you ask? It’s a hard decision, but AKL is fairly remote, and we’re switching to BLT which is sort of in the “thick of things”. I never thought that I would like BLT until we stayed there last year for the Destination-D convention. It turned out to be a great choice. A monorail resort is very convenient if we’re not using our rental car. Plus we have a MK view and I’m thinking that will be pretty magical too!

Originally when planning this trip we were going to get up early, go to Discovery Cove via BLT check in, spend the day at DC and return to the Villa to make ourselves dinner and enjoy the fireworks. Fran has decided that this might be too intense for her as her mobility is still somewhat limited. If we’re going to spend that much money on an experience, she wants to be in better shape. So now what to do?

The next thing that came to mind was Kennedy Space Center, it’s only an hour from WDW and we’ve done it before, but there’s plenty to do even if you’ve visited numerous times before. We are still keeping that in mind, but our trip to DLR has also changed a little bit of our thinking. Neither Fran nor Arline could make it more than 3-4 hours without needing to go back to the room, so my thought is that the KSC is too big a trip for one day.

We’ll leave it up in the air until it gets closer. In the meantime I made us a reservation for lunch at Le Chefs de France at 1:30PM, that way if we decide that a one hour drive each way to KSC is too much, we can hang out at AKV until our 11:00AM check out, even longer if we just want to watch the animals. That gives us plenty of time to get to Epcot and have a nice relaxed lunch. We could even swing by BLT on our way to Epcot to get our room keys so that when the room is ready they will just send us a text.

At Chef’s de France here are some of the items that I’m looking forward to trying:

French Onion Soup

Lobster Bisque

Macaroni & Cheese AuGratin

And the Croque Miseur

And the Crème Brulee

This will probably be our first day at Epcot (if we follow this itinerary), so we will have to check out the Karamel Kuche shop. We’ll probably do one of the passive attractions like, American Adventure, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, maybe Spaceship Earth or Finding Nemo. If Arline is up to it, maybe we’ll even do Mission to Mars, or we might just check out the countries. By about 3:30PM we will probably head off to the resort since the room is supposed to be ready at 4PM.

This will be our home for the next four nights

We have a Magic Kingdom View Room, and these are our dinner plans

Wishes is programmed to begin at 10PM, so hopefully we can stay awake late enough to watch the show from our room. We have a long day for the next day, so we’ll need to get a good night’s sleep for strength for the day ahead.

 

[Pinkocto]

I like that you've thought up alternatives already. Best to be prepared for any situation, I find I'm less disappointed that way. That mac and cheese looks so delicous, I might just get to Chef's de France one day just to be able to try it.

Your trip is coming up soom

 

[lisaviolet]

This will be our home for the next four nights

Smart choice. It's the only one I haven't been to yet at WDW. Smart smart choice. Can't wait to hear.

I'm not sure how I'll feel. I should take a picture of my kitchen. It's the same colour scheme with stainless. Laughing. In fact, my entire suite (smaller though) kind of looks like the BLT - the floor to ceiling windows - the colour scheme etc. Too funny. I wonder if I'll feel like I'm on vacation or home.

 

[franandaj]

A Gimlet is a martini made with gin and lime juice instead vermouth. I don't like gin though. Horrific! I prefer my martinis dirty and with vodka.

No wonder it was so nasty, I don't like gin either.

Dinner looks yummy!

Thanks! :

BEYOND jealous.

Well you'll just have to come out for a visit and we'll all go out to the park and have a fabulous lunch or dinner.

That's a great meal. Gibsons, lobster and chocolate. What more could a girl ask for?

Exactly!

Thank you for this. Our guide told us someone at DL had been decapitated when they stood up on Splash Mountain which caused them to put safety bars on both DL's and DW's.

A great big thank you to Fran for her choices. That's exactly what I would have ordered. Thank you for the pictures

The presentation next week sounds fascinating.

I can't believe that a guide told you that! Disney is good at keeping some stuff out of the media, but deaths and maimings are not the kinds of things ggst even they can keep quiet.

I like that you've thought up alternatives already. Best to be prepared for any situation, I find I'm less disappointed that way. That mac and cheese looks so delicous, I might just get to Chef's de France one day just to be able to try it.

Your trip is coming up soom

I learned on this last trip that Fran has objectified Arline as her mother. What mother wanted mother got. Even if mother didn't want it and Fran thought it was in her best interests, that's what she got. I know Aline won't have the stamina to go an 8-10 hour day without a break. We will probably do shorter itineraries with lots of breaks rather than long commando days.

Smart choice. It's the only one I haven't been to yet at WDW. Smart smart choice. Can't wait to hear.

I'm not sure how I'll feel. I should take a picture of my kitchen. It's the same colour scheme with stainless. Laughing. In fact, my entire suite (smaller though) kind of looks like the BLT - the floor to ceiling windows - the colour scheme etc. Too funny. I wonder if I'll feel like I'm on vacation or home.

Well I bet your apartment doesn't have a view of Cindy's Castle! That might add to the vacation magic!

 

[Pinkocto]

I can't believe that a guide told you that! Disney is good at keeping some stuff out of the media, but deaths and maimings are not the kinds of things ggst even they can keep quiet.

I know, I was absolutely horrified. One of my first thoughts after the shock wore off was more shock that he actually told us, especially if it was true. I thought they'd try to keep something like that as secret as possible. So if it's not true what was he thinking starting a terrible rumor like that!

I learned on this last trip that Fran has objectified Arline as her mother. What mother wanted mother got. Even if mother didn't want it and Fran thought it was in her best interests, that's what she got.

Oh my. I think that would bother me. Were you ok with that?

 

[PrincessInOz]

The good thing about the resort change is that if the others are tired and you're not, you can always zip back to MK after you get them settled in the room.

 

[rentayenta]

BLT looks nice.

 

[franandaj]

I know, I was absolutely horrified. One of my first thoughts after the shock wore off was more shock that he actually told us, especially if it was true. I thought they'd try to keep something like that as secret as possible. So if it's not true what was he thinking starting a terrible rumor like that!

Oh my. I think that would bother me. Were you ok with that?

Yeah, I can't believe that, he should have been reported!

No, I really am not so OK with that, but what can I do? If I tell her that's what she's doing, she will deny it. Her job is to take care of all the baby birds with broken wings (even if they are adults). It's one of the only things that makes her feel like she is "doing" something.

The good thing about the resort change is that if the others are tired and you're not, you can always zip back to MK after you get them settled in the room.

I figure rather than go to MK, I'll put on my bathing suit go down to the pool for a while and have a drink! I'll need some down time after worrying about the two of them all day!

My plan is to make the meatloaf the day before when we are spending down time at the resort. I figure put it on delay bake once we get there, I'm taking it easy with instant mashed potatoes, and hopefully I can get green beans that are already cut in a bag ready to steam.

Should I order a brownie mix from the grocer?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yes to the brownie mix. You can make it and then have it to snack on for the rest of the time.

 

[Pinkocto]

I agree with the brownies, yummy!

I must say that you are a most wonderful, patient, and loving wife. Kudos to you for all you deal with, and gracefully deal with I might add.

(sorry if that was too mushy)

 

[bangzoom6877]

I know what you mean about AKL being so isolated from everything. We also prefer to be more in the middle of things. A Magic Kingdom view room at BLT sounds great!!! A nice easy trip to both MK and Epcot! I would be in awe of Wishes every night!

We loved Chefs de France on our last trip and we're also going back there in July. We had lunch there last time too, and I had the quiche...it was a tough decision as so many foods on the menu looked great, including the croque monsieur and the flatbreads from the app menu. So many choices, so little time right?! Life should always be so hard!

 

[Leshaface]

A MK view?! Waaaaaaah! So stinkin' jealous.

Ugh, that Croque Miseur looks AMAZING right now! I vaguely remember from when I had in in 2010 (seems like ages ago) how incredibly cheesy it was. That french onion soup looks magnificent too.

I was just telling Bonnie, I can't believe that it's March already and everyones trips are coming up SO fast...except for mine

 

[franandaj]

Yes to the brownie mix. You can make it and then have it to snack on for the rest of the time.

I agree with the brownies, yummy!

I must say that you are a most wonderful, patient, and loving wife. Kudos to you for all you deal with, and gracefully deal with I might add.

(sorry if that was too mushy)

OK Brownies are now on the list! Thanks Pam!

I know what you mean about AKL being so isolated from everything. We also prefer to be more in the middle of things. A Magic Kingdom view room at BLT sounds great!!! A nice easy trip to both MK and Epcot! I would be in awe of Wishes every night!

We loved Chefs de France on our last trip and we're also going back there in July. We had lunch there last time too, and I had the quiche...it was a tough decision as so many foods on the menu looked great, including the croque monsieur and the flatbreads from the app menu. So many choices, so little time right?! Life should always be so hard!

I thought the last time we were there was in 1997, but I found our ressie list from the concierge stay in 2007 and evidently ate there on that trip. I wasn't into food porn pictures except for V&A's on that trip, so I have no recollection of what we ordered!

A MK view?! Waaaaaaah! So stinkin' jealous.

Ugh, that Croque Miseur looks AMAZING right now! I vaguely remember from when I had in in 2010 (seems like ages ago) how incredibly cheesy it was. That french onion soup looks magnificent too.

I was just telling Bonnie, I can't believe that it's March already and everyones trips are coming up SO fast...except for mine

You have your own trip of a different kind and it's much more important in the long run!

 

[franandaj]

So I have an unexpected update here! Today Fran received an email from American Airlines regarding our flight. I always loved the flights that we take because they were always so convenient. The Orlando arrival got us into the airport at 4PM, so our room will always be ready.

The return flight was always at 1PM, so no rushing around in the morning. Meet DME at 10AM for a smooth trip home. Well the new departure time was 9:15AM We got back to California before noon, but at what price? Running around crazy to get our luggage together and on our way to the airport at 6AM!

So I checked around and there was a non-stop flight leaving Orlando at 5:40PM! We had to call to make any changes, and there were three seats still available on the flight at 5:40PM! Now we have an extra half a day of vacation!

What to do? Make an ADR? No I think we'll just wing it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

AA changed that 1 pm flight??? That used to be my flight out of MCO of choice as well.

Maybe the 5.40 won't be too bad.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I never see non stop flights. Do they usually cost more?