Third Time's the Charm! A June, Oct/Nov and Dec '19 PTR complete 12/22!

[lvcourtneyy]

I agree that they need to change up the characters a little at MNSSHP! It's definitely a lot different than it used to be a few years ago

Omg that purse is adorable!! I say it every time, but you find the BEST items at the outlet! I really need to make a trip there for myself!

Right! It would be so easy to switch things up a little!

Thank you! We go to the outlets wayyy too often lol but we live like 15 minutes from Jersey Gardens since the bridge is only like 5 minutes from us and it's hard to resist!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Fastpass Day!

Our trip is now 57 days away, which means our Fastpass day(s) just passed! I say days because I was able to make our FPs for most of our trip on Sunday but I had to wait to do days 15 and 16 until Monday and Tuesday. I won't list them all out cause that would be a terribly boring update but I'll add them in to each days plans when I post them. It was super painless this time because our trip is so long that the plans are much less rigid. It also helped that our Universal days are at the front of the trip so, other than the first two days, our FPs started on day 6 and availability was plentiful!

Fastpass day coming prompted us to really nail down some day-by-day plans and I have to say, Mike was much more into it than he ever was before! I think the constant stream of Disney vlogs on the television might have finally taken effect lol!

Mike really wants to try the Storybook Dining at Artist Point which I didn't enjoy on my trip in February with coworkers. I'm ready to give it another try since I think the company may have influenced how I felt about the meal (they really weren't into it) but it wasn't on my radar at 180 days and was all booked up. I managed to snag a reservation for 4:40 on our second day and figured we could go to Epcot, use some snack credits at Food and Wine, go to the reservation, then come back to Epcot for fireworks.

Clearly that's a lot of back and forth.

Suddenly it occurred to me that we were coming back from Volcano Bay to Disney Springs on day 3 to use our last QS credit but that it would make more sense to do Artist Point on day 3 and do QS in Epcot the night before.

So now, I'm on the hunt for a Storybook Dining reservation on 10/26!

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[lvcourtneyy]

Disney Dining Plan Breakdown

It's been years since we've done the Disney dining plan. As I've mentioned before, our split stay allowed us to add it to just the first 2 nights of our trip and get refillable mugs for our whole stay and maximize our food for the first 3 days of the trip.

Today, I did a breakdown of OOP costs vs DDP to see if we were actually going to come out ahead.

For 2 nights, the DDP is costing us $301.96.

Day 1:

Refillable Mugs: $37.98

Crystal Palace lunch, Sangria, Bud Lite: $122.75

MNSSHP snacks (pumpkin spice milkshake, amuck cupcake, Jack and Sally pushpops): $29.98

Day 2:

QS lunch at Coronado Springs Pool Bar (fish tacos, cheeseburger, margarita fiesta, mojito frambuesa: $42.98

Food and Wine Snacks: (venison stew, wuxi spareribs, le Cellier filet, lobster roll): $30 (prices estimated from last year's pricing)

QS dinner at La Cantina (tacos de barbacoa, empanadas de queso, blood orange margarita, La Cantina clasica): $56

Day 3:

Artist Point dinner, Enchanted Apple cocktail, The Smoking Mirror cocktail: $135

Grand total: $454.69!

So we are definitely coming out ahead using the DDP this way. It wouldn't work for us the entire trip as it would end up being entirely too much food and Mike doesn't typically drink alcohol more than a handful of times a trip but we'll enjoy it for the first few days of the trip!​

 

[amazingact21]

Hopefully an Artist Point ADR pops up for you! Anytime the cohorts in your Disney travels actually suggests something, you gotta jump on it! And I'm sure going with someone who is into it will make the meal more enjoyable.

Wow, the DDP definitely is a savings. It's always smart to break it down and see if there's a significant difference between getting it or paying OOP. Glad you could see that it's going to benefit you guys.

 

[missangelalexis]

I hope you're able to get a Storybook dining ADR! And that's great that the dining plan is working out for you cost wise!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Hopefully an Artist Point ADR pops up for you! Anytime the cohorts in your Disney travels actually suggests something, you gotta jump on it! And I'm sure going with someone who is into it will make the meal more enjoyable.

Wow, the DDP definitely is a savings. It's always smart to break it down and see if there's a significant difference between getting it or paying OOP. Glad you could see that it's going to benefit you guys.

Fingers crossed! Our trip is 16 days long and I've done more rearranging of days 2 and 3 than anything else!

Yup- usually when I ask for an opinion I get blank stares or "I don't care". Then when I do get an opinion, it's after the plans are made and I have to do twice as much work to fit it in lol

I'm impressed by how much we're saving but we're also stacking it with expensive meals to make it worth it lol

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I hope you're able to get a Storybook dining ADR! And that's great that the dining plan is working out for you cost wise!

Thank you! I hope so too!

I'm glad too! I figured we would be saving but it's nice to see it in writing!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Tuesday, October 29 plans

This will be another day at Universal Orlando/Islands of Adventure. We're also going to our 2nd HHN night this night so we'll need to either rope drop and then take a midday break or sleep in and head to the parks later. Halloween Horror Nights goes until 1 am this night and the houses involve SO much more walking than a regular park day. We made the mistake two years ago of trying to go from park opening through the end of HHN and we literally felt like we could not walk another step by midnight.

We will not repeat this error!

Universal dropped a ton of HHN info back-to-back this month and it has me even more excited to go! I can't wait to see the horror themed lagoon show and all the scare zones.

The one thing about the entire event I'm not excited for is the House of 1000 corpses haunted house. 100% not my thing

Wednesday, October 30 plans

Today we'll be checking out of whatever hotel we stay in for the Universal portion of our trip and checking in to Old Key West! I'm super excited to stay at OKW for the first time but I've been studying TP maps to try to decide on a room to request and I'm so overwhelmed by the size of the resort! I'm glad we'll have our car with us while staying here because it truly looks massive!

Our day plans will depend on what Universal tickets we buy. Currently, we're deciding between 4-day, 3 park tickets or getting 2 park seasonal passes and 1 day tickets to Volcano Bay. If we get the seasonal passes and want more Universal time, we'll do that before heading back to Disney property.

If not, I made us FPs for Animal Kingdom since it's the only Disney park we won't have been to yet.

Our FPs are:

10:25-11:25 Expedition Everest
11:25-12:25 Flight of Passage
12:35-1:35 Kilimanjaro Safaris

I also definitely want to check out the new animation class at Rafiki's and possibly see the Up bird show which we've still never seen (before or after the change to Up)!

Then at 4 pm, we have an ADR for Hoop-Dee-Doo!

Hoop is one of my favorite things in WDW and I was beyond sad that I couldn't fit it into our June plans so I can not wait to be back!



After dinner, we plan to walk around to see some of the campsite Halloween decorations and festivities!
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[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

So now, I'm on the hunt for a Storybook Dining reservation on 10/26!

I think you'll find things come up for a party of 2. Those reservation dinners are so awesome! Fingers crossed

So we are definitely coming out ahead using the DDP this way. It wouldn't work for us the entire trip as it would end up being entirely too much food and Mike doesn't typically drink alcohol more than a handful of times a trip but we'll enjoy it for the first few days of the trip!

That's quite a savings. I agree it's too much food for more than a few days but I think you've got it just right for the short part of your trip.

 

[missangelalexis]

Your plans sound great!! yay for getting back to HDDR!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I think you'll find things come up for a party of 2. Those reservation dinners are so awesome! Fingers crossed

I hope so! There's only been one or two times we couldn't find what we wanted with the finders!

That's quite a savings. I agree it's too much food for more than a few days but I think you've got it just right for the short part of your trip.

It really is! I was shocked to see how much of a savings it was. I would gain so much weight if we tried to eat that way for 16 days but it will be nice to indulge for the first few days lol

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Your plans sound great!! yay for getting back to HDDR!

Thank you! I can't wait to go back!!

 

[NJlauren]

I don't think you will have an issue getting artist point, i had some alerts set up and the week or two before my trip i got them non stop!

We ended up keeping the time we had, and i enjoyed the meal minus the fussy baby... and i felt they weren't the most accommodating of Disney restaurants... ok this took a turn into not helping you decide its a good idea to go there...

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I don't think you will have an issue getting artist point, i had some alerts set up and the week or two before my trip i got them non stop!

We ended up keeping the time we had, and i enjoyed the meal minus the fussy baby... and i felt they weren't the most accommodating of Disney restaurants... ok this took a turn into not helping you decide its a good idea to go there...

Good to know! As long as we get an ADR, we'll most likely end up going. Mostly to keep DBF quiet and not complaining that we don't do what he wants to do lol. He doesn't seem to understand he has to decide these things at 180 days ahead!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Happy Halloween!

I've been buying a ton of stuff for our trip, mostly because that's how I cope with stress.

I haven't taken pictures of our new shirts yet but I have a new pair of ears that I'm most excited about!

I was searching pinterest for new autograph ideas and I came across the idea to get a set of ears autographed. I posted on Instagram to find someone to make me a pair and the lovely @missangelalexis responded and put my vision into reality perfectly! I am so excited!



Thursday October 31 plans

Halloween aka my favorite day of the year!

We have an ADR for the Bon Voyage Adventure breakfast at 7:30 am. We've always enjoyed the characters and food here but we may end up canceling, simply in the interest of sleeping in a little later for at least on day of the 16 day trip.

The expo starts this day also for the Wine and Dine race weekend and we'll need to go pick up our packets for the 5k the next day. It opens at 10 am and I'm planning for us to get there for opening because I've heard it can get crazy. I'm overwhelmed by this part, mostly because it's totally new to us and I don't know what to expect.

I'm thinking today might be a good day to get lunch at Disney Springs somewhere. And this donut tower that I just found out exists!!


(photo from DFB)

Our plans for the rest of the day are to resort hop to partake in the Halloween activities and characters! We've done this the last two years and it really is my favorite part of the trip!

Here's just a few of the characters we met last year:


Mike's family lives an hour from WDW and his nephew came and hung out with us a few days so that's the stranger in the photos lol.

Then we've always ended the night with Hallowishes (RIP) from the terrace at Trader Sam's, which hopefully will still be awesome with the new fireworks.




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[missangelalexis]

Yay I'm so glad you like them!!

Your Halloween day plans sound so fun- I always look forward to seeing who you end up meeting!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Wow, what a cool idea with the ears. And excellent execution, @missangelalexis !

 

[amazingact21]

Awesome idea and ears!

I didn't realize the characters were out and about on Halloween; sounds like a solid plan and what could be more relaxing than Halloween fireworks from Trader Sam's?

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Yay I'm so glad you like them!!

Your Halloween day plans sound so fun- I always look forward to seeing who you end up meeting!

I love them! Thank you again

Thanks! It's one of my favorite parts of the trip!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow, what a cool idea with the ears. And excellent execution, @missangelalexis !

She did a perfect job! I'm so excited to wear them and get them signed!