Third Time's the Charm - Feb/Mar 2018 PTR

[PrincessAshlee]

This sounds like SO much fun! I would love to try to do that!

I had heard about the 4 parks in 1 day “challenge” before, but I was surprised that I was not really able to find a plan online. A lot of the people seemed to do it because they only had one day to squeeze in all of the parks (Crazy!! ), so their plans were way too busy. I don’t want to be too tired to enjoy the rest of my trip.

I think I’ve just about worked out all of the details for our plan, so I will post more about it soon.

Biggest struggle ever! It is so hard to give up park time to sit and eat

But the food at the TS restaurants is usually better. However, I’m worried that if my timing is off or we get delayed at any point in the plan, we would have to completely re-evaluate to make it to an ADR. Whereas with QS, we just get there whenever we get there. I think that I have found a good compromise though. (More about that in my next post)

I feel like we are the same person.

I thought the same thing when I read your PTR!!

This was 100% our same concern with buying APs..even if we get pregnant I think we'll still get good use of our APs, but I will be super depressed when I can't ride my favorite rides/drink at all

I think we would be able to get our money’s worth with the APs too. We are definitely going in February. Then my ideal additional trips would be Oct & Dec, but I also have May or Feb 2019 as backups. Even if we can only take 2 trips, the annual pass would still be worth it. It’s not official yet, but I think DH really close to yes to APs.

but I will be super depressed when I can't ride my favorite rides/drink at all

Me too!! I’ve started a list of places with fun non-alcoholic drinks, just in case. A lot of the “standard” Disney bars just have lemonade and no-jitos. No-jitos sound like No fun!

If I can find places that have drinks that at least look fun, maybe I won’t care as much that they’re non-alcoholic. I just added Nomad Lounge and Abracadabar to my list.

Zingiber Fizzie and Hibiscus Henna at Nomad Lounge (Both Non-Alcoholic)​

Seashore Sweet at Abracadabar (Non-Alcoholic and it actually comes with the Cotton Candy)​

 

[PrincessAshlee]

4 Parks in 1 Day Challenge

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I mentioned in my last post that we want to try to do 4 parks in 1 day on this trip. However, I was really struggling to come up with a plan. Finding the right balance between too much and too little was tricky. I needed to find some guidelines.

Then I came across a blog post the other day where they did a 4 Parks in 1 Day challenge. The challenge was that they had certain things they had to do at every park (ex: must ride a ride at each park, must take a picture with a character at each park, etc). Then I found another post where someone said that they did 4 parks in 1 day and they met Mickey at each park and I really loved that idea! So, after reading several different blogs/trip reports, this is what we have come up with:

At each park, we must…

• Take a picture with the park icon (Castle, Tree of Life, Epcot Ball, Chinese Theater or ToT??)
• Ride at least 1 ride
• Eat a meal or snack
• Drink an alcoholic beverage or specialty drink
• Meet Mickey

We are going to attempt this plan on our second full day, so we will have already been to Epcot on arrival day and Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on our first full day. I hope that by putting it towards the beginning of our trip we won’t be too tired and I can hopefully go all day without a nap (It’s going to be tough; I really love my naps! )

It's going to be the Best Day Ever!!!​

152 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Lost on Safari

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Ok, I wasn’t on a safari, but you might have thought that I got lost considering how long it’s been since I last posted. There’s so much to update everyone on that I decided to make two separate posts. My first post is more real life stuff, although most of it is somewhat Disney related. The trip planning news will be in the next post, so you can skip ahead if you want...

So, I’ve discovered that I'm becoming a Disney Snob. I went to Cedar Point for a day with my sister last month and for most of the day, all I could think was how terrible it was and how much I miss Disney World. The strange part is that I used to love Cedar Point. I have gone at least once every year since I was about 5. It was something that I looked forward to every year. Then this year, I just kept comparing it in my head to Disney. I missed all of the great theming that Disney has. At Cedar Point, they have stripped away all of the theming and stories behind the rides and now they’re just rides. The coasters are just track and cars; there is no decoration at all. To top it all off, the workers are not very friendly and the food options are limited and most are not very good. I have clearly become spoiled by the magic of Disney and I don’t even know if I will try to go back to Cedar Point again next year or not. I did really enjoy spending the day with my sister though!

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In other news, DH and I had our one year wedding anniversary on October 8th

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but we exchanged gifts on the 6th, since we were gone on our actual anniversary. Here are the gifts that I had for DH, although half of it was stuff that we already had.

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We originally said that we were just going to get something small for each other, since the trip was supposed to be our big gift, so I got him the book. (Although I messed that up and ordered the second edition, which is completely different than the first , so I am going to surprise him with the first edition, today for Sweetest Day.) Then DH told me that he was making my gift, so I felt like I had to do something more. So on our last trip to WDW, DH decided to start collecting pin (he is limited to buying specific pins that have a relevance to our trip though, or else we would own the entire pin store ). So we had been talking about finding a way to display them and had bought the shadow box a few months ago. It sat in our guest room and we hadn’t done anything with it, so I decided to surprise him by making the display for him. I also collected all the pins from around our house. Also I found the happily ever after picture frame that we had bought on our Disneymoon, so I decided to have a picture printed, so that we could display that as well.

We left the next day for our anniversary road trip. We spent our actual anniversary at Niagara Falls and it was beautiful!

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I had been once before, but DH had never been. It was really nice to be able to go there together. We also made several stops on our way back home and had lots of yummy food and drinks.

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We had a great time on our trip, but we both kind of wished that we had gone to Disney instead. By mid-week, DH was looking up flights to Orlando. I love Disney, but if it were up to him when we went, we wouldn’t have any money at all.

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Throughout the last week, social media has been sending me constant reminders of our Disneymoon last year. It is really making me really miss it, even more than I already was! I can’t believe that our trip is still four months away! It seems like forever!!

I was planning to finish my post-trip report for that trip, but I just still haven’t found the time. Then again, I was also going to post my wedding photos on Facebook for our families to see (they’ve seen a few sneak peaks, but have not seen the vast majority of them) and I didn’t get around to that either. Oh well, I was busy planning our anniversary trip and our Disney trip for next year. Maybe I’ll actually get around by our second anniversary.

If we can’t be at Disney, We might as well make our home look like Disney, right? We put out our Halloween countdown and other items that we bought while we were there last year.

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We also bought a new inflatable Halloween Mickey and Minnie for our front porch.

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and even though we didn’t get to go to Disney for the Halloween season this year, I still needed to add to our collection, so I bought the new Mickey Light Up Pumpkin Bucket from the Shop Parks app

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Finally, while I was in a shopping mood (when am I not ), I also got us some new Disney Christmas items.

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126 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Best Update Ever!!!

The most exciting thing that happened while I was away, was that DH and I got annual passes!!! We are still not planning to go again until February, but I am so excited to have a guarantee that we are going to Disney at least twice next year. Right now, we are looking at February, October, and December; although I also mentioned to DH that my birthday falls on a Saturday this year and how cool would it be for me and Donald Duck to celebrate together (since we’re birthday buddies) , so maybe a long weekend trip in June. Although I’m a little nervous about that idea, since we don’t like the heat or the crowds. But waiting seven and a half months between trips also sounds terrible. ​

Now that we are planning three trips instead of one, I am re-evaluating our February plans. Most of my issue is with our ADRs. DH and I tend to just want to go back to a dining location that we know that we liked, but there are also so many new-to-us places that I would like to try. Currently for our February trip, about half of our dining plans are at restaurants that we’ve already been too. So in order to make sure that I get to try all of the new-to-us places that I want to try, I plan to make a big list of everywhere that we want to eat and see what really fits best in each trip. Any recommendations for places that should definitely go on our list? Also, any opinions on dinner shows? They’ve never really appealed to me before, but I’m wondering if I should give one a try.

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In other really exciting news, I called yesterday morning and booked the Keys to the Kingdom tour for our February trip!! This is something that I’ve always really wanted to do, but I was worried that DH didn’t like Disney enough and he might be bored. However, lately he has been really getting into all thing Disney*, but especially the Disney World history and trivia from the book that I got him. He seems to be excited about the tour and as long as it goes well, I think that we will do tours on each of our other trips next year as well. We are thinking of doing the Backstage Tails tour at AK in October and DestiNations Discovered at EP in December. To make room for the tour, I need to move our plans around a little, since I have now taken away almost all of our Hollywood Studios time and even though some people say that there isn’t a lot to do there, it is still DH’s favorite park, so I really need to plan some time there.

*Side note, I think that DH may be turning into a bigger Disney fan than me! He often talks about how he misses it, but the most shocking thing is that he used to hate the character meets and would only reluctantly take the pictures with me, but for our next trip, he actually requested to meet Chip and Dale! We currently have a breakfast planned at the Garden Grill, but if I end up moving that then I might see if he want to go to Chip and Dale’s Campfire Sing-A-Long at Fort Wilderness. I went in 2014 and really enjoyed it.

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126 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[rmw1313]

So, I’ve discovered that I'm becoming a Disney Snob. I went to Cedar Point for a day with my sister last month and for most of the day, all I could think was how terrible it was and how much I miss Disney World.

The Disney struggle is REAL! No where else ever comes close!

In other news, DH and I had our one year wedding anniversary on October 8th

Yay! Happy Anniversary!!

The most exciting thing that happened while I was away, was that DH and I got annual passes!!!

YAY for APs!!

Now that we are planning three trips instead of one, I am re-evaluating our February plans. Most of my issue is with our ADRs. DH and I tend to just want to go back to a dining location that we know that we liked, but there are also so many new-to-us places that I would like to try. Currently for our February trip, about half of our dining plans are at restaurants that we’ve already been too.

Twins once again! We love going back to places that we had amazing experiences at, but there are so many places to try, too! I'm currently re-evaluating our Feb dining plans too after just getting back and it is so hard to make a decision

Any recommendations for places that should definitely go on our list? Also, any opinions on dinner shows?

We had the BEST experience at Tiffins. I was putting off going there for awhile and I was blown away by it. I also LOVE the Hoop Dee Too Revue. We went our last two trips and had a blast- it really is a lot of fun and it was fun to explore Ft. Wilderness before the show started too. We are currently tossing around the idea of trying Spirit of Aloha in Feb since we are staying at the Poly..I have a few friends who recently went and enjoyed it.

since I have now taken away almost all of our Hollywood Studios time and even though some people say that there isn’t a lot to do there, it is still DH’s favorite park, so I really need to plan some time there.

It's Andrew's favorite park, too. And I thought I could get away with a couple of hours in the morning there on this trip but I literally had to drag him out- march of the first order gets him every time

 

[PrincessAshlee]

It's Double Digit Day!!!

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It feels like I've been waiting for this trip for forever and we still have a ways to go, but at least we've hit double digit day!!! With the holidays, I'm hoping that the next month goes by quickly and before we know it, it will be our Fastpass day!! Which is the day after Christmas! DH has the day off, since his work counts Christmas Eve as a holiday and if falls on a Sunday this year, so they are "observing" it on Tuesday. I'm not really sure who came up with that logic, but I like it! Especially since I don't like to work when DH isn't working (since I work from home), so I'm planning to take the day off too. So I can get up nice and early to make our Fastpasses, then we can go out to breakfast, look for discounted Christmas decorations and candy, and then come home and take a nap. It sounds perfect!

In other exciting news, DH's work had their annual day to request their vacations for the next year and he got approved for all of the dates that we wanted!! (My work is much more flexible and I can take off almost any day that I want as long as I have the time saved up.) So we've set our dates for all three of our 2018 trips!

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As you already know, we are going February 24th- March 3rd. I am very excited that they announced the dates for Flower & Garden Festival and it starts on February 28th next year. We had already planned on going on March 2nd, but our schedule for Feb 28th is almost completely open, so now we will likely get 2 days to try the festival food and drinks; which is good because "stuffing" it all into one day was going to be a challenge! I am excited to be going for the 25th anniversary (which is also the 20th anniversary of my first trip to the F&GF, although I first went in April, but I think it still counts! ) I have also moved around some of our ADRs and chosen a couple of new ones, but I'll make a separate post for that.

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After our early Spring trip, then we have a loooong wait before our next trip: October 13th-20th. This trip is only a day off of the dates of our Honeymoon which was October 12th-19th, 2016 so we have decided to call this our Second Honeymoon trip! We were soooo tired from all of the wedding planning & events that we didn't really get to enjoy our first trip together as much as I had hoped, so I am very excited to go back again at that time next year.

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Then our third trip is only six weeks after our Fall trip and the best part is that we will be going for two weeks!!! December 1-15!!! We had originally planned to go for one week and stay at the Wilderness Lodge, because I just love the way it looks when it is all decorated for Christmas. Then when I started making a list of all the Christmas things that I wanted to do and see, I realized that we’d need more than one week (this is the first time that either of us will be at WDW during the Christmas season ). So then we considered adding three days and doing a split stay between the WL and POP. However, once I started pricing things out, I realized that we could stay the full two weeks at POP for less than it would cost for one week at POP and three days at WL. Since DH already had both full weeks approved for vacation and we always want more time at Disney, we decided to go for the two weeks and only stay at POP. Then we’ll have time to visit all of the Deluxe hotels.
I am so excited for all of our 2018 trips!!


99 Days to Go!!! 330 Days to Go!!! 379 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Finally Fastpass Day!!!​

There was wind chill of -6 here this morning. It was nice to have a white Christmas, but I am so ready for some Florida sunshine!!!​

It’s been a very busy December, but we made it through all of our Christmas celebrations! Now it’s time to get back to planning for our next Disney trip and what better way to do that, then making all of our fastpasses!!! I was off work today, but I still got up before sunrise to make all of our fastpasses and it was so worth it, because I got everything that we wanted including SDMT, FEA, and FOP (on two different days)!!

So, I thought this would be a good time for a trip update...

Trip Dates? February 24 - March 3, 2018

Resort? Disney's Pop Century Resort, 7 nights

Park Tickets Purchased? Annual Passes Purchased!!!

Memory Maker? Included with Annual Passes!!!

Room Only Reservation Payment Progress? Paid in Full!!!

Dining and Souvenir Savings? We have $1,150 in Disney gift cards to go towards food and souvenirs. We also have $175 in rewards from our Disney Chase Visa. So that should cover most (if not all) of our food. I wanted to put aside all of our trip money before holiday shopping, but I prefer to put the money on gift cards instead of getting the dining plan.

Airline Tickets? Purchased! We are flying Southwest again this time. We flew SW for our last trip and really liked it. The only downside was that they did not have any direct flights from our preferred airport. We got lucky for this trip though, because they started offering one direct flight each way on Saturdays and the times happened to line up perfectly with what I wanted.

TSA Pre-Check? DH and I talked about it we decided to apply for TSA pre-check, so that we can hopefully skip those really long security lines at MCO. It is good for five years and since we plan to make three trips next year alone, we decided that it would be worth it. We applied online and went a few weeks ago for our “interviews” (we were there for about 15 minutes total and had to show them our passports and be fingerprinted) and about a week later, we received approval! I have added our KTN numbers to our SW accounts and to our existing reservation.

Itinerary? I’ve had my color coded spreadsheets worked out for weeks, but DH was having trouble following what I was talking about when I would ask if he wanted to move ADRs or park days, so he suggested that we get a big dry erase board, so that he can actually see our plans. I love it! It is great having a big reminder of all the fun we are going to have!! I updated it today with all of our fastpasses!

ADRs? I think that I actually may be done changing our ADRS. However, I need to go through and cancel all of our extra reservations now that our plans are basically finalized. I am also keeping an eye out for a Yak and Yeti dinner reservation for one of our days, but if I can’t find one, we may just use our Landry’s card.

FastPasses? All Booked!! We got everything that we wanted within 15 minutes of my preferred times!

Shirts? I think we have decided on all of the shirts that I want to make, but I haven’t actually ordered supplies or started making any of them yet.

Magic Bands? Still trying to decide what colors to order for this trip.

Packing? We still have a lot of our general items (suntan lotion, aspirin, travel size toothpaste, etc.) stored in our suitcase from our last trip, but I should start making a list, so that I know what I will need to get


I’ll hopefully get around to posting later this week with our plans with our updated ADRs and Fastpasses.

Some pictures from Christmas:

Merry Christmas from the Lefflers!!

Disney Gifts from DH

Harry Potter Gifts from DH

DH wrapped separated all of my gifts into three themes and then wrapped them with paper according to the theme and put them in a larger box and then wrapped up that box. He couldn't find any HP wrapping paper, so he wrapped them all like this. So Cute!!!

Definitely one of my favorite gifts! This was given to us from some friends of ours. They got it from a shop that sells limited edition merchandise and items that they get directly from Disney parks and cruises! ​

60 Days to Go!!! 291 Days to Go!!! 340 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[Raeven]

I'm totally behind! I thought I commented on some of the other posts but I guess I didn't.

So, I’ve discovered that I'm becoming a Disney Snob. I went to Cedar Point for a day with my sister last month and for most of the day, all I could think was how terrible it was and how much I miss Disney World.

That's how I felt last time I went to Six Flags! We used to go a lot, the one closest to us holds a special place in my heart even though it's a mess compared to Disney, but we had a really bad experience at another Six Flags we traveled a but to go to and that's when Josh said he only wanted to go back to Disney and Universal

The most exciting thing that happened while I was away, was that DH and I got annual passes!!!

Now that we are planning three trips instead of one, I am re-evaluating our February plans. Most of my issue is with our ADRs. DH and I tend to just want to go back to a dining location that we know that we liked, but there are also so many new-to-us places that I would like to try.

Definitely try new places!

I was worried that DH didn’t like Disney enough and he might be bored. However, lately he has been really getting into all thing Disney*, but especially the Disney World history and trivia from the book that I got him.

Has he ever read any of the Jim Korkis books on Disney history? They're amazing.

So we've set our dates for all three of our 2018 trips!

Yay!

Then our third trip is only six weeks after our Fall trip and the best part is that we will be going for two weeks!!! December 1-15!!! We had originally planned to go for one week and stay at the Wilderness Lodge, because I just love the way it looks when it is all decorated for Christmas. Then when I started making a list of all the Christmas things that I wanted to do and see, I realized that we’d need more than one week (this is the first time that either of us will be at WDW during the Christmas season ). So then we considered adding three days and doing a split stay between the WL and POP. However, once I started pricing things out, I realized that we could stay the full two weeks at POP for less than it would cost for one week at POP and three days at WL. Since DH already had both full weeks approved for vacation and we always want more time at Disney, we decided to go for the two weeks and only stay at POP. Then we’ll have time to visit all of the Deluxe hotels.

2 weeks at Christmas is the best! And we'll be there the first week!

Purchased! We are flying Southwest again this time. We flew SW for our last trip and really liked it

I love flying Southwest.

DH and I talked about it we decided to apply for TSA pre-check, so that we can hopefully skip those really long security lines at MCO. It is good for five years and since we plan to make three trips next year alone, we decided that it would be worth it. We applied online and went a few weeks ago for our “interviews” (we were there for about 15 minutes total and had to show them our passports and be fingerprinted) and about a week later, we received approval!

I really want to do this!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Definitely try new places!

I am still struggling with the new vs. old restaurant debate. We had planned to go to Ale & Compass for lunch one day, but after reading your review of breakfast, I'm not so sure. I know you've said that lunch was better, but I'm not sure if I want to risk it. I know that DH would rather go to Mama Melrose, since it was his favorite on our last trip and I am excited that they brought back the mac n cheese (which is amazing!!) but I'm not sure if I will want to have steak twice, since we already have a dinner planned at Shulas... Other options that I was considering for lunch were Beaches and Cream (which we really liked on our first trip, but there are currently no reservations available) or Le Cellier at EPCOT (but I'm not sure if soup and dessert would be filling enough and would it would take more time to travel from HS to EP).

Has he ever read any of the Jim Korkis books on Disney history? They're amazing.

No, but I will have to look into them for his birthday in May! He's still working on the trivia books for now.

2 weeks at Christmas is the best! And we'll be there the first week!

This is the trip that I am most excited about! I really wanted to go for Christmas this year, but there was just no way for us to make it work, so I'm really excited about next December. I already have a big list of things that I want to do, so it's good that we will have two weeks!

I really want to do this!

The application process was really easy. I'm hoping that using it is going to be just as easy!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

101 Things to Do Before Our Trip

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This has been my life lately. I’ve been so busy it’s crazy. Work has been stressful and I’ve been trying to eat healthier and walk more in preparation for our trip, and I just haven’t had enough for Disney planning.

Our trip is coming up fast though, only 45 days to go!!!

These are our current plans, but I may make a couple of changes still...

Day 1 – Saturday, February 24, 2018
Flight Arrival @ MCO: 1:45pm
DME to Check-In @ Pop Century
PM Park: EPCOT
ADR: Teppan Edo (6:00pm)
FP+: Spaceship Earth (3:25pm) & Test Track (4:25pm)

Day 2 – Sunday, February 25, 2018
AM Park: Magic Kingdom
ADR: Crystal Palace (8:20am)
FP+: Pirates of the Caribbean (10:05am), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (11:05am), & Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (12:15pm)
PM Park: Hollywood Studios
ADR: Shulas (8:30pm)

Day 3 – Monday, February 26, 2018 - 4 Parks in 1 Day
Park 1: Animal Kingdom
Park 2: Hollywood Studios
FP+: Rock n Roller Coaster (10:00am) & Tower of Terror (11:00am)
QS: Tune-In Lounge (around 11:30am)
Park 3: EPCOT
Park 4: Magic Kingdom
QS: Plaza Restaurant (around 5:45pm)

Day 4 – Tuesday, February 27, 2018
AM Park: Hollywood Studios
FP+: Tower of Terror (9:30am), Toy Story Midway Mania (10:30am), & Star Tours (11:30am)
ADR: Ale & Compass (12:30pm)
PM: Disney Springs
ADR: Homecomin’ (6:00pm)

Day 5 – Wednesday, February 28, 2018
ADR: ‘Ohana Best Friends Breakfast (10:00am)
AM Park: EPCOT
FP+: Short Film Festival (11:00am), Journey Into Imagination (12:10pm), Frozen Ever After (2:00pm)
PM Park: Magic Kingdom EMH
ADR: Be Our Guest (9:00pm)

Day 6 – Thursday, March 1, 2018
AM Park: Magic Kingdom - Keys to the Kingdom Tour (8:00am)(includes lunch)
PM Park: Animal Kingdom
ADR: Yak & Yeti (5:30pm)
FP+: Expedition Everest (6:00pm) & Flight of Passage (7:00pm)

Day 7 – Friday, March 2, 2018
ADR: Garden Grill (8:30am)
AM Park: EPCOT
PM Park: Magic Kingdom
FP+: Jungle Cruise (5:00pm), Haunted Mansion (6:00pm), & Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (7:00pm)

Day 8 – Saturday, March 3, 2018
Check Out @ Pop Century
AM Park: Animal Kingdom
FP+: Flight of Passage (9:10am) & Festival of the Lion King (10:30am)
DME to Departure Flight @ MCO – 5:25pm

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45 Days to Go!!! 276 Days to Go!!! 325 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[Raeven]

Yay you're getting close!

I am still struggling with the new vs. old restaurant debate. We had planned to go to Ale & Compass for lunch one day, but after reading your review of breakfast, I'm not so sure. I know you've said that lunch was better, but I'm not sure if I want to risk it. I know that DH would rather go to Mama Melrose, since it was his favorite on our last trip and I am excited that they brought back the mac n cheese (which is amazing!!) but I'm not sure if I will want to have steak twice, since we already have a dinner planned at Shulas... Other options that I was considering for lunch were Beaches and Cream (which we really liked on our first trip, but there are currently no reservations available) or Le Cellier at EPCOT (but I'm not sure if soup and dessert would be filling enough and would it would take more time to travel from HS to EP).

Lunch was better than breakfast, so you could make it work if you wanted to but if you're at HS the restaurants there seem more convenient.

 

[Lesley Wake]

So I’ve been neglecting to read current PTRs and just realized we are going to be at WDW the same time... times 2! I’m going Feb 28-Mar 4, then again Nov 29-Dec 9! I plan on visiting Epcot on Mar 2 if you want to have a dismeet!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Lunch was better than breakfast, so you could make it work if you wanted to but if you're at HS the restaurants there seem more convenient.

The eternal conflict of deciding where to eat ... I am tempted to try Ale & Compass after reading your lunch review and watching your vlog. It definitely seemed like lunch was better than breakfast. The burgers looked good and that was what I was planning to get. However, I know that DH would rather stay at HS and have Mama Melrose, so I think that is what we will do on this trip, but I am going to add A&C to the maybe list for our next trip.

So I’ve been neglecting to read current PTRs and just realized we are going to be at WDW the same time... times 2! I’m going Feb 28-Mar 4, then again Nov 29-Dec 9! I plan on visiting Epcot on Mar 2 if you want to have a dismeet!

That is so cool that we will be there at the same time TWICE!

This part is a kinda weird, so I hope that you can understand... I don't really like to plan dismeets because I have anxiety issues and meeting new people is one of the things that really stresses me out. I would end up spending most of my vacation worrying about every random (albeit unlikely) thing that could go wrong. That being said please do stop me and say hi if you ever see me! I love randomly meeting new people, I just can't handle the lead up to it.

 

[Lesley Wake]

This part is a kinda weird, so I hope that you can understand... I don't really like to plan dismeets because I have anxiety issues and meeting new people is one of the things that really stresses me out. I would end up spending most of my vacation worrying about every random (albeit unlikely) thing that could go wrong. That being said please do stop me and say hi if you ever see me! I love randomly meeting new people, I just can't handle the lead up to it.

Don't worry-I totally get it! I'm definitely an introvert and get anxious in the lead-up to meeting people! I'll watch out for you-I'll be wearing a green "Pretty Flower" shirt (via etsy), if you see me say hi!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

I'm Ready for Some Flower Festival Fun!!​

I have been away from the DISboards for the last month , but for good reason, I have been really busy getting everything ready for our trip!! I can’t believe it is just over two weeks away!! I finished making all of our shirts and I’m really excited about how they all turned out! I may have over done it a little though, as I am packing 10 shirts and 2 dresses for 8 days, but that’s OK. Whatever I don’t get around to wearing this time, I can just pack for our October trip. I’ve also made a few trips to store to pick up all the random little things that we will need: new socks, more disposable ponchos, travel sized shampoo, etc. My list wasn’t really that large, since we had a lot of the essentials from the last trip, but I always seem to think of things that I forgot and then I have to go back.

Also, our MagicBands arrived last week!!​

In other news, I am so excited that they have finally posted the booth menus for the Flower and Garden Festival. We likely won’t get around to trying much of the food, since we have all-you-care-to-eat breakfast reservations both days that I was planning to go to the festival, but I am very excited for all of the yummy slushy cocktails!

My Italian Margarita from Last Year​

Last year, we tried the Desert Violet Lemonade from Pineapple Promenade, the Cider Flight from the Cider House, the Frozen Italian Margarita with Limoncello from Primavera Kitchen, a Strawberry Lemonade Slushy from Joffrey’s, and the Casa Beer and the Desert Rose from Taste of Marrakesh. (Funny story, I told DH that I wanted to try the La Vie en Rose slushy and he came back with the Desert Rose. Oh well, he tried, but I really didn’t care for the Desert Rose, so he ended up finishing it.)

Tropical Freeze, La Vie en Rose, and Kung Fu Punch (Not My Pictures, Thanks Google! )​

I am really excited about all of the different flavors this year. Last year, most of the drinks that I had were very citrusy, which I usually like, but it was just too much tartness. Some of the drinks that I want to try that I missed last year are: Tropical Freeze with Cruzan Mango Rum from La Isla Fresca, Kung Fu Punch from Lotus House, and of course La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy from Fleur de Lys. I am also excited about some of the new drinks: Frozen Pink Guava Topped with Rum or Vodka from Trader’s Port Joffrey’s, Honey-Peach Cobbler Freeze with Blueberry Vodka from Honey Bee-stro, and Frozen Orange Pineapple Topped with Vodka from World Showcase Joffrey’s. I love orange and pineapple together!! There are a couple of others that I have noted as possibly interesting, but I am not really sure what they are. The trouble with going to the festival the first day/week that it is open is that I don’t get to see and read everyone else’s reviews first. But I am sure that we will have a great time being guinea pigs!

We are supposed to get about 9 inches of snow tomorrow (on top of the 4 inches that we already have) , so I am really really looking forward to some warm Florida sunshine!! ​

16 Days to Go!!! 247 Days to Go!!! 296 Days to Go!!! I Can’t Wait!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Don't worry-I totally get it! I'm definitely an introvert and get anxious in the lead-up to meeting people! I'll watch out for you-I'll be wearing a green "Pretty Flower" shirt (via etsy), if you see me say hi!

Great! I'll keep an eye out for you. This is the shirt that I am planning to wear that day. (with the flower in my hair, not weirdly on my neck )

 

[Raeven]

I can’t believe it is just over two weeks away!!

In other news, I am so excited that they have finally posted the booth menus for the Flower and Garden Festival.

Me too!

We are supposed to get about 9 inches of snow tomorrow (on top of the 4 inches that we already have)

Ugh yuck, we got 8" yesterday and it was awful

 

[mommaof3boys]

I love all of the shirts you made. We will be going mid-march for our third trip during flower and garden time. I really want to make some family shirts for us. I have a Cricut and my brother in law owns a heat press. I'm intimidated to try . Your trip is so close!

 

[iheartbelle87]

I'm m late, but I'm here!!

my name is Ashlee. I’m 30 and I love all things Disney!

I could have written this myself

his trip, we will be there from February 24th to March 3rd 2018.

So close!!

Of course, I had to have the matching Minnie ears too.

Adorable!

We loved our meal at Teppan Edo on our last trip.

OOo so glad to hear you liked Teppan Edo! It's on our 'to do' list for May! Can't wait to hear what you eat there and what you think

Mama Melrose
This is one of DH’s favorite restaurants that we went to on our last trip. We actually went there two nights in a row. We really enjoyed the food.

I've never eaten here, but now it's a must for DH and I's next trip (that I'm secretly planning and he doesn't know about lol)

A favorite of both DH and myself, we definitely want to go back to Crystal Palace.

Seriously, we're basically the same person! Well, except that I havent eaten at Crystal Palace since 2002, but we have an ADR here in May. If you like it, I'm sure I will!!

Yak & Yeti
I know that it’s not everyone’s favorite, but we really love the Yak & Yeti Restaurant at Animal Kingdom.

Since @Raeven posted a seriously delicious looking burger, I've been wanting to eat here! Can't wait to see pics of your meal here

Liberty Tree Tavern
I have seen so many good reviews and dining reports for Liberty Tree Tavern.

DH's fav! I like it too, but it's not necessarily a must do for me. I think you'll enjoy it!

I have always wanted to go here, since I first watched the Full House and Boy Meets World episodes where they go to Disney World and eat here!

90s kids for the win!

Garden Grill
We had a reservation for lunch at the Garden Grill on our first trip, but we were running late and opted to skip it. I have been wanting to try again (so that I can meet Farmer Mickey) and we were looking for another breakfast restaurant for DH, so we decided on this one.

YUM! PS- Farmer Mickey looks so darn adorable.

So I decided to go on and book a new room reservation directly through the website for the same dates.

Oh girl, so sorry to hear about all of the issues with the TA! I think you made the right call by making your own reservation. I used a TA for our May '17 trip and got a good deal and had no issues, but you've definitely been given the run around.

So now I have my own reservation booked through Disney that I am in complete control of

So I brought up the idea of annual passes to DH and he seemed to agree that it would be a good idea.

LOVE IT!

could potentially get pregnant sometime within the next year. We’re not really trying, but we’re not really not trying either.

Again... did I write this?! TMI time: DH has been a little hesitant to start 'trying' ... but my clock is TICKING LOUDLY. Last year I thought that I'd be pregnant by this May, but I don't think thats going to happen #theashleesgetpreggo lol

In other news, DH and I had our one year wedding anniversary on October 8th

AHH, Happy Belated Anniversary!

We spent our actual anniversary at Niagara Falls and it was beautiful!

Great pics!

The most exciting thing that happened while I was away, was that DH and I got annual passes!!!

YESSSS!!!

So we've set our dates for all three of our 2018 trips!

You go, girl!

Then our third trip is only six weeks after our Fall trip and the best part is that we will be going for two weeks!!! December 1-15!!!

Awww I love it!

TSA Pre-Check?

What a great idea!

In other news, I am so excited that they have finally posted the booth menus for the Flower and Garden Festival.

So many good options this year!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

I love all of the shirts you made. We will be going mid-march for our third trip during flower and garden time. I really want to make some family shirts for us. I have a Cricut and my brother in law owns a heat press. I'm intimidated to try . Your trip is so close!

Thanks!! Making shirts is addictive. I started out with a plan to just make a few new shirts for this trip and ended up making myself 10 new shirts for an 8 day trip (plus 8 new shirts for DH).

Don't be intimidated, I use a Cricut and heat press too. The heat press really makes a big difference! I just used an iron on our Oct 2016 trip and some of the letters from our shirts were falling off at the parks. I used a heat press for our last trip and I've had no issues even after washing them a couple dozen times.

I'm m late, but I'm here!!

YAY!! So glad you are here!!

OOo so glad to hear you liked Teppan Edo! It's on our 'to do' list for May! Can't wait to hear what you eat there and what you think

These are actually my pictures from when we were there in May. We got the Asakusa - steak and shrimp combo and the Tori - chicken add-on. I'm not a big fan of the vegetables, so there was plenty for us to share. They were even nice enough to split it onto two plates for us, give us each our own sauces, and offered unlimited rice. The only downside was that we only got one small salad, but that really didn't matter. It was all really good!! We loved the yum yum sauce! We don't usually try new things once we find something that we like, so we will likely order this same meal when we go again in 9 days.

I've never eaten here, but now it's a must for DH and I's next trip (that I'm secretly planning and he doesn't know about lol)

I really hope that Mama Melrose is as good as I remember. I think it helped that we had really good service. Our waitress the first night was so nice. She even remembered us when we came back the next night; even remembering what we had ordered! Our waitress the second night was also really nice. She brought us a side of the really good mac n cheese and did not charge us for it.

Seriously, we're basically the same person! Well, except that I havent eaten at Crystal Palace since 2002, but we have an ADR here in May. If you like it, I'm sure I will!!

Since @Raeven posted a seriously delicious looking burger, I've been wanting to eat here! Can't wait to see pics of your meal here

We always order the Crispy Honey Chicken and the House Fried Rice to share. We also got the Pork Egg Rolls and the Fried Wontons dessert on our last trip and they were both really good too! The egg rolls were soooo much better than the egg rolls that they have at the QS Yak & Yeti. I did see @Raeven 's post about the burger and it did sound really good! We may need to plan two trips to Yak and Yeti sometime, so that we can try the burger and still have our usual .

DH's fav! I like it too, but it's not necessarily a must do for me. I think you'll enjoy it!

We ended up having to cancel LTT for this trip, but I will make sure to plan it into one of our trips this year!

90s kids for the win!

YUM! PS- Farmer Mickey looks so darn adorable.

So excited to meet Farmer Mickey!! and that Sticky Bun Bake, YUM!!!

Oh girl, so sorry to hear about all of the issues with the TA! I think you made the right call by making your own reservation. I used a TA for our May '17 trip and got a good deal and had no issues, but you've definitely been given the run around.

We still ended up getting a pretty good deal with a code from Disney in the mail.

Again... did I write this?! TMI time: DH has been a little hesitant to start 'trying' ... but my clock is TICKING LOUDLY. Last year I thought that I'd be pregnant by this May, but I don't think thats going to happen #theashleesgetpreggo lol

Awww sorry DH is hesitant. It's so hard waiting to be pregnant. I thought I would be pregnant by this trip too. We actually decided to take a break for a few months though, so as not to interfere with our October and December trips. I've waited this long, what is a couple more months of waiting. I'll still go to Disney if I'm pregnant, but obviously not if I'm close to delivery or if I had just had a baby. We'll go back to trying again in a few months. #thashleesgetpreggo <--- LOVE THIS!!