Two Canadians Take on Disney in the Summer: An August PTR Updated 8/18

[OrangeJuice]

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my first PTR. I am relatively new to the DIS but I am already addicted. I've been to Disney a few times as a young child but this is my first adult trip. Me and my DGF are heading to WDW for 8 days at the end of August. Hopefully the heat won't kill us poor Canucks.

Why am I doing a PTR?
Well it's quite simple... I CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT DISNEY!!... So before I drive everyone around me crazy I figured I needed to find another outlet. The other reason is that I would like advice on my itinerary and plan so far.

Who is going?
ME: I'm a big Disney dork and I love planning trips. DGF has given me permission to plan the whole trip.

DGF: Never been to WDW but has been dreaming about it since she was a kid.

Stay tuned for more about our itinerary, ADR and special plans!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Welcome!! I am also a Canadian (who lovesssss talking Disney) and also going in August! I love the Florida heat though

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[OrangeJuice]

Time keeps on ticking by slowly. I can't wait to board the airplane that'll take us to WDW!!!

So I figured that today I would go over the ADRs that I have so far. We are on the DDP.

Day 1: We land in the afternoon so I didn't want to risk missing ADR. We'll just eat from counter service somewhere.

Day 2:
Breakfast at Kona Café (I want to try the Tonga Toast)
Lunch: Snacking in MK (I've heard a little about the Dole Whip on the DIS)
Supper: Grand Floridian Café for an early supper. We are going during late EMH so I figured it would give us a break from the park.

Day 3: When I first made reservations for Day 3 I did not realize that AK had early AMH so I made 8:00 reservations at Tusker House. I think we are going to cancel this ADR and head to Epcot for the day instead.

Day 4: Going to a Water Park for the day then heading to EPCOT for late supper at Coral Reef Restaurant. As a child I always wanted to try this one out.

Day 5: Late ADR at Captain's Grille for Crab Legs. My DGF is a big fan of sea food but she is skeptical that Disney lobster and crab can rival what we get fresh from the docks back home. Hopefully it'll live up to our expectations.

Day 6: No ADRs for that day. This is supposed to be our EPCOT day so we will be sampling from the different CS restaurants around WS. I'm looking forward to the Fish and Chips from England.

Day 7: Late ADR at Narcoossee's. Again we are going for the sea food. We wouldnt spend that much on sea food normally but we are on DDP.

Day 8: Last day in WDW so we have early (before park opens) reservations at Crystal Palace. We've heard so much about how nice the MK looks before it opens that we want to see it for ourselves.


Day 9: We leave early to head back home

Well that made me hungry! Any tips or comment's on my ADRs are welcomed
Thanks for reading

 

[OrangeJuice]

Welcome!! I am also a Canadian (who lovesssss talking Disney) and also going in August! I love the Florida heat though

Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks

It's good to know that other canadians are able to handle the summer heat. I've never been to the south in the summer months to I have no idea what to expect.

 

[pooksma]

Another Canadian joining in

Your ADRs look great. We once ate the crab legs at Fultons in DTD and they were almost but not quite as good as the ones we get here. They did have PEI mussels on the menu then too

I am looking forward to reading more

 

[OrangeJuice]

Hey everybody!
The sun is shining here. I've spent the morning reading outside so I am in a great mood. In today's post I thought I could go over travel plans and our first day in WDW.
Here's the soundtrack of the Magical Express to help put you guys in the mood

Travel day 1:
My DGF's last day of work for the summer so we will need to have every thing packed before she heads in for her shift. The plan will be for me to pick her up after work and drive 4 hours to a hotel near our airport. I'm hoping that we can get a deal where we stay for a night then leave our car for the duration of our trip.
I don't think we'll sleep too much that night haha. If anyone has tips on how to spend the final night before departure please let me know!

Travel day 2/ WDW day 1:
We leave bright and early at 7:00 AM which means we will need to be up around 5:00AM to head to the airport. We are flying US Airways with one layover in Philly and arrival in Orlando at 2:05PM. We'll be taking the ME to the All Start Sports Resort (unless someone can convince me that taking a cab would be faster). The plan for the day is to get to the resort and check in then head to DHS to catch Fantasmic at 9:00 that night. If we have time to do a ride or two before it would only be icing on the cake.

Would it be realistic for me to expect to land at MCO at 2:00PM and to be at DHS for 6:00PM? We will be using disney transportation.

Thanks for reading my PTR

 

[OrangeJuice]

Today I'll go over my day 2 itinerary.

Day 2:
Early morning. We have 7:30 ADR at Kona Café. I think we will take a taxi from ASsports to save the worry of being late. Like I said earlier I am looking forward to trying out the Tonga Toast. After breakfast we are taking the MONORAIL to MAGIC KINGDOM. We hope to make it for rope drop.

Our MK Day 2 must dos:
All 3 Mountains of MK
Turkey legs
Buzz Lightyear Spin
Dole Whip
Haunted Mansion
Pictures with the Castle in the background

At 5:00pm we leave MK to head to the Grand Floridian Café. Since it is EMH we decided to take supper time as a break from the park. We will head back and spend the night at the park (till 1:00AM). We will probably watch the night time parade then head back towards the rides. We have a special event planned on our last night in the park so we'll have a great view of the fireworks then.... Stay tuned for more!

 

[teekathepony]

Yet another Canadian jumping on the train!
I live in the middle of the Atlantic ocean... braved the heat in September before... (though never August, good luck! lol)

 

[OrangeJuice]

Another Canadian joining in

Your ADRs look great. We once ate the crab legs at Fultons in DTD and they were almost but not quite as good as the ones we get here. They did have PEI mussels on the menu then too

I am looking forward to reading more

I looked into Fulton's but since it's not on the DDP I think we are going to skip it. I noticed the PEI Mussels too. I thought it would be funny to fly all the way to florida to have something that literally comes from back home.

 

[OrangeJuice]

Yet another Canadian jumping on the train!
I live in the middle of the Atlantic ocean... braved the heat in September before... (though never August, good luck! lol)

Thanks for jumping aboard

How did you enjoy your September trip? I heard it's one of the best time of the year to visit.

 

[teekathepony]

Thanks for jumping aboard

How did you enjoy your September trip? I heard it's one of the best time of the year to visit.

Ohh yes, loovvveed my September trip. It was hot, but the crowds were so low and so much is air conditioned that I didn't mind it.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Joining in!!!

I love area music, and never even thought to listen to the Magical Express area music!! Thank you for sharing this, you are totally brightening my morning!

I LOVE Kona Cafe for breakfast! The food there for breakfast is wonderful, and you can just hop on the monorail after and go to MK!

Barring any giant Disney transportation complications, I think that you should be fine getting to DHS by around 6 on your arrival day. A cab would most likely be slightly faster if your resort isn't the first one dropped off, but even if it takes awhile, you should be okay.

 

[OrangeJuice]

Joining in!!!

I love area music, and never even thought to listen to the Magical Express area music!! Thank you for sharing this, you are totally brightening my morning!

I LOVE Kona Cafe for breakfast! The food there for breakfast is wonderful, and you can just hop on the monorail after and go to MK!

Barring any giant Disney transportation complications, I think that you should be fine getting to DHS by around 6 on your arrival day. A cab would most likely be slightly faster if your resort isn't the first one dropped off, but even if it takes awhile, you should be okay.

Thanks for joining in

I actually went looking for the ME video on youtube but found the area music first. I love it .

I've heard a lot of good things about Kona. It should be a good start to our Disney dining experience.

 

[OrangeJuice]

So this week we found out that Disney was going back to having Fantasmic playing every night. At first I thought that this didn't change our plans very much since I liked the ADRs that we had originally booked. But then I realized that adding a nightime show meant that DHS was going to be open later on one of the days we where spending there. We decided to cancel our ADR at the Captain's Grille for that night and spend a few more hours in the park. I'm thinking of adding a ADR for Fulton's Crab House later in the week...We are also going to cancel our Tusker House ADR for Day 3 AM and head to Epcot for the day....

Day 3: EPCOT

Day at Epcot

As a child Epcot was not a favorite park of mine. I loved Test Track but I don't remember much else about our day there. I do remember a lot of walking though. Now though I am looking forward to our day there. We are planning on going for Rope drop and heading straight for Soarin'. Our must do's for the day include:

Test Track (I looooved the high speed part at the end) (The single rider line was great back in 2001, almost no wait time)
The Seas with nemo and friends
Eat around the world (No ADRs for this day, we plan on snacking as much as we can)
Illuminations (I just love the soundtrack!)

I'm hesitant about trying Mission to Mars. I get motion sick quite easily so I'm not sure this is worth it for me. We might try the milder version.

Well that's it for now. Does anyone have any input on how to make the most out of one day at EPCOT?

Thanks

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I am a big adorer of Epcot - your list sounds really good!! Idk how you'd feel about Figment, that's a usual visit for me. And Spaceship Earth. Meandering around World Showcase is DBF and my favorite, we love exploring the shops (Mitsukoshi especially! Oooooh! Pick a Pearl! Do Pick a Pearl in Japan, it's so much fun!) and just enjoying the atmosphere around WS.

 

[Kat in GA]

We are going at the end of August too. That is a little earlier than we usually do - which is mid to late September - and it's really, really hot. BUT - there are a lot of places to cool off.

Epcot is a family favorite - and we love to eat around the world. Actually I am doing a PTR now - and am including a mini TR of our surprise trip at Spring break - and I working on updating our Epcot day. We got a lot done - but not even close to all of it.

Looking forward to seeing more of your plans!

 

[OrangeJuice]

We are going at the end of August too. That is a little earlier than we usually do - which is mid to late September - and it's really, really hot. BUT - there are a lot of places to cool off.

Epcot is a family favorite - and we love to eat around the world. Actually I am doing a PTR now - and am including a mini TR of our surprise trip at Spring break - and I working on updating our Epcot day. We got a lot done - but not even close to all of it.

Looking forward to seeing more of your plans!

Thanks for joining in! I'll have to check out your PTR for ideas

I am a big adorer of Epcot - your list sounds really good!! Idk how you'd feel about Figment, that's a usual visit for me. And Spaceship Earth. Meandering around World Showcase is DBF and my favorite, we love exploring the shops (Mitsukoshi especially! Oooooh! Pick a Pearl! Do Pick a Pearl in Japan, it's so much fun!) and just enjoying the atmosphere around WS.

I only have vague memories of EPCOT from the last time I've been to WDW but I think I saw Figment. I've been hearing a lot about him on the boards so I will definitely check it out.

 

[OrangeJuice]

55 days until we leave for WDW

Is it normal that we are starting to prepare our bags 55 days in advance. After DGF gets back from work today we are going to go to a few stores to start finding the stuff we need for WDW. Stuff like mister fans, moleskin and bodyglide that we are not sure where to find. We figure that if we leave it to the last minute that Murphy's law will kick in and it will be impossible to find what we need. I made a list of stuff to buy but if anyone has tips on what to bring to WDW or stuff that they forgot but wish they'd brought then please reply.

Allright so DAY 4: Typhoon Lagoon and EMH @ EPCOT
Day 4 is the day where we escape the summer heat and head to TYPHOON LAGOON!!! DGF is a big fan of water parks. I'm a little uneasy about water slides but there is so much variety that I am sure we'll find stuff for everyone.

Must Do's at TL include:
: Shark Reef ( I LOVE THIS POOL...as a former biology student I find this sooo cool)
Crush and Gusher (I'll get over my fear of water slides for this one! It looks like so much fun)
Gang Plank Falls ( I come from a big family so the raft would go really fast on this slide)
The white beach... This is also meant to be a relatively relaxing day so we will be sure to kick back on the beach.
.... and of course: THE WAVE POOL ... By far my favorite part of TL.

Last time we went we stayed at TL from rope drop to closing. It was one of my favorite days of the trip.

Typhoon Lagoon closes at 6:00PM while we are there so I made reservations at Coral Reef in EPCOT for later that evening. There are EMH till midnight at EPCOT so the park will probably be busy. We are thinking of taking it easy and just enjoying the atmosphere. Day 5 promises to be busy as we get to my favorite park extra early and join in the stampede to one of our most difficult must do's of WDW...

Thanks for reading my PTR. See you next time,

 

[OrangeJuice]

There are less then 50 days until our trip to the world. 48 days to be exact. I got my passport in the mail today and I found a few more of our must buy before we leave things. I got a nice waterproof container that I can tie to my shorts to keep cash on me in the water parks. I also got some body glide. My sister is a runner and she loves the stuff. I think it'll come in handy in the parks. I'm still on the look-out for a mister fan but I'm in no rush to find it.

On a side note:
I found a very nice collection of Disney Themed products at the Hallmark. I got a very nice coffee cup with Hakuna Matata* (No Worries) written along the side for my DGF as a gift. I almost bought a nice sculpture of Mickey and Minnie hugging it has "And they lived happily ever after" written on the base.


Ok..On to the next part of the PTR.

Day 5: Disney Hollywood Studios ( Can I call it MGM studios?)

On day 1 our goal is to spend time around sunset boulevard maybe get on one ride and then see Fantasmic. So on day 5 we can do rides until closing without having to worry about catching the show. We have no ADRs in DHS. We weren't much interested in our table service options here. We'll just eat where we feel like it. We plan on getting there for rope drop and heading straight to..TOY STORY MANIA!

Must Do's for DHS:
Toy Story Mania
Tower of Terror (Probably my favorite ride in WDW)
Rock 'n' Roller coaster ( I chickened out on this one last time. My little sister has yet to forgive me for that one)
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (great way to relax mid day)
Muppet Vision 3D (This one also scared me as a kid)
Get a cupcake at Starring Rolls Cafe

Thanks for reading my PTR. I would love to spice it up with some pictures but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet.

Also come back next time for day 6 where we head into the wild at Animal Kingdom.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

It's totally okay to start Disney packing way early! I already got our ponchos, and we're not going until January!!

Ahhh 48 days!!! It'll be here before you know it!! Your DHS/MGM/I still call it MGM all the time plans sound great! I really want to try one of the Starring Rolls cupcakes...the red velvet one keeps catching my eye!