Two Chicks and...a Mouse!~ADRs, a wedding, and Property Virgins? 9.25.09

[Disneyfan71]

Ha ha. I hope your planning dvd arrives before you leave! Although, if it doesn't...I guess you just use it to start planning the next WDW trip! Can't let a good planning dvd go to waste!

It would be pretty funny if it showed up AFTER we get back...Then I'd have to watch it and say, "we already did that." I keep looking in the mail every day.

 

[jewels1916]

It would be pretty funny if it showed up AFTER we get back...Then I'd have to watch it and say, "we already did that." I keep looking in the mail every day.

I am too. And my roomies think it's funny.

I had a minor freak out about this trip this weekend. I found out this weekend that my cousin Josh has set his wedding date for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In Mexico. Oh no! How was I supposed to afford a trip to Mexico, and take time off work, and then turn around and have a trip to WDW and take time off from work for that as well? Oh no! But, it is ok. Apparently, most of the family is thinking that the timing is just not good for them, so we will celebrate when they return from their honeymoon. Phew. I was worried for a few minutes there. Josh (my senior by 4 years) proposed to Sara at Christmas, infront of the whole family. It was really very sweet, and he was very nervous. I have a large and in charge family, of which I am the most quiet, so for Josh to be as quiet as he was that night, I am surprised none of us knew something was up. It just shows you how loud we can be, that we made up with excess noise of our own. Anyway, we opened gifts, and then my Dad, who plays Santa every year brought out one more and handed it to Sara. The all of a sudden Josh gets down on one knee. He messed up what he was going to say and we all laughed, which in hindsight wasn't very nice, but then he started over, and she said yes. It was nice. And I have one pic. My cousin Misty was playing with her new video camera and got the whole thing on video! So lucky for them, I think it is rare to get a proposal video taped, since usually it is a more intimate thing. (I assume...I've never been proposed to.) Kelly! You should tell the story of your proposal! And share some of the photos! That's a great story. Here is Josh proposing.

His wedding will make me the oldest un-married grandchild in the family...no pressure....
All of my Gma's grandchildren still go by the Grandkids, Josh being the oldest, and my sister, at age 17 being the youngest. I am 5th in line, as far as blood relatives, although now everyone older than me is coupled, so it pushes me farther down in the line of succession. Remember when you were a kid and there was a kid's table for Thanksgiving? Yeah...we still do that. All...15 or 20 of us (I've lost count now) still squeeze around the kids' table, and are now joined by my cousin Larissa(same age as Josh)'s two little boys.

Ooo...I think I went off on a tangent...apologies...but it all started with this wedding which is attempting to mess up my trip plans, so it all works out in the end.

Suffice it to say, the wedding has not changed any plans for No Boys Allowed Disney 09!

 

[Megablocks]

Yay, I'm caught up! The picture of your dad wearing the Princess hat is hilarious, I was cracking up!

Good luck with TBM. I, too, am a huge pack rat, and have a few large totes stored down in my cellar with stuff that I found and put away while doing a huge overhaul on my room. Those totes don't include all the clothes and things that I donated. Honestly, the next time my aunt has a yard sale, I'm thinking of asking her to sell the stuff in those totes, because I can't remember what's in them, and if I haven't missed any of it in all this time, I'm sure I won't later on.

I love all the pilfered soap! And the picture of your cousin proposing, awwww.

Looking forward to more!

 

[jewels1916]

Yay, I'm caught up! The picture of your dad wearing the Princess hat is hilarious, I was cracking up!

Good luck with TBM. I, too, am a huge pack rat, and have a few large totes stored down in my cellar with stuff that I found and put away while doing a huge overhaul on my room. Those totes don't include all the clothes and things that I donated. Honestly, the next time my aunt has a yard sale, I'm thinking of asking her to sell the stuff in those totes, because I can't remember what's in them, and if I haven't missed any of it in all this time, I'm sure I won't later on.

I love all the pilfered soap! And the picture of your cousin proposing, awwww.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks! I appreciate it. I am really not a big fan of moving.

Yeah, my Dad. He tolerates it. What can I say I am his or at least one of them. I didn't even realize, but I think in every single one of the Disney pics I put in that post, we are all wearing hats. It's kinda our thing.
Anyway, welcome to the fray!

 

[tinkerbell87512]

joining in! Your trip sounds like such a blast!!! Can't wait to hear more of the planning!

 

[creativeamanda]

I am enjoying your PTR, and am so glad I am not the only one who wants to start a PTR a year in advance, LOL. (I'll be starting it real soon).

I saw the vote Grumpy shirts in October and was sooo tempted. But I didn't.

As far as the restaurants go, I have a few recommendations, with a couple of them being off the beaten path, so to speak:

Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace (okay, not so off the beaten path, but it is always a solid choice)

Epcot: Princess Storybook for breakfast--it really is an awesome breakfast!!!

Resorts: Grand Floridian Cafe--you can almost always get a reservation here, and it is a beautiful restaurant that imo, gets overshadowed by the other restaurants at the Grand Floridian.

For counter service:
Magic Kingdom: Cosmic Ray's
POR: Take a walk from POFQ to POR to see Riverside Mill--it's worth it
Epcot: Visit some of the beverage booths if you are able--the Grey Goose Slush is awesome
Animal Kingdom: Flame Tree Barbeque--enough said

Looking forward to reading more

 

[jewels1916]

joining in! Your trip sounds like such a blast!!! Can't wait to hear more of the planning!

Thanks for joining!!!

I am enjoying your PTR, and am so glad I am not the only one who wants to start a PTR a year in advance, LOL. (I'll be starting it real soon).

I saw the vote Grumpy shirts in October and was sooo tempted. But I didn't.

As far as the restaurants go, I have a few recommendations, with a couple of them being off the beaten path, so to speak:

Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace (okay, not so off the beaten path, but it is always a solid choice)

Epcot: Princess Storybook for breakfast--it really is an awesome breakfast!!!

Resorts: Grand Floridian Cafe--you can almost always get a reservation here, and it is a beautiful restaurant that imo, gets overshadowed by the other restaurants at the Grand Floridian.

For counter service:
Magic Kingdom: Cosmic Ray's
POR: Take a walk from POFQ to POR to see Riverside Mill--it's worth it
Epcot: Visit some of the beverage booths if you are able--the Grey Goose Slush is awesome
Animal Kingdom: Flame Tree Barbeque--enough said

Looking forward to reading more

Welcome aboard!! I saw the Vote Grumpy shirts when I was there in September!! I had too abstain as well, but couldn't resist the pin. Thanks for the great ADR suggestions. I loooove Crystal Palace. It's definitely a favorite. Haven't been to the others. And you can bet we will be sampling some of the adult beverages at WS!

Let me know when you get started on your PTR!

 

[jewels1916]

I have been a planning machine tonight!! Well....not so much planning as making a few changes to the plan and coming up with several options!

Kelly and I have been kicking around the idea of driving, as a way to alleviate some of the cost (thanks, DisneyFan71 for putting the idea in my head!) The drive for she and I would be 17 hours, which is a loooong drive. But neither of us are strangers to long drives...I've driven to DC from Dallas, and will be driving the reverse soon enough, and Kelly drives all over the place, Dallas to Ohio, Dallas to Destin....

We've also been playing with the number of days that we are going to be gone. There are some rumors floating around that they may resurrect the 4/3 deal for the Fall value season, so we are playing around with some different days. Here is what we've come up with.

Scenario 1: This is the original.
Fly down Thursday (Dec. 3) night, hit the parks Friday-Tuesday, fly back Tuesday night (Dec. 8). (Miss 3 days of work.)

Scenario 2: 5 park days.
Driving - leave around 11am Saturday (Dec. 5) drive all day, through the night - (we have faith that we can do this!!) Arrive at POFQ around 6pm, check in, have dinner....SLEEP! Parks Mon-Fri, check out and leave 5am Saturday morning, arrive home after midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. Have Sunday to recoup. (Miss 5 days of work)

Scenario 3: 7 park days.
Fly down am Sunday (Dec. 6) Park Sun-Sat. Fly back pm Saturday (Dec. 12) Have Sunday to recoup. (Miss 5 days of work)

Scenario 4: 7 park days. (this one sounds the most unrealistic)
Driving - Leave 5am Saturday (Dec 6), drive all day, arrive after midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. Sleep in, go to parks Sun-Sat. Check out Sunday (Dec. 13) 5am, drive home - arrive after midnight.
(Miss 5 days of work)

Driving saves between $150-$200 apiece. Plus, we actually like road trips. Probably because we like to sing really LOUDLY in the car. Plus, we would be able to bring our own food/beverages and plently of room for luggage, and it would give us a car at the parks just in case we wanted one.

So, here I am, trusty calculator in hand trying to figure out what really is the best deal. 17 hours just sounds like a really, really long drive.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I have a few pics of Disney at Halloween to share!!

The last pic was end of the day, totally sweaty and gross (I forgot that Florida was even more humid than the swamp I live in!!)

Thanks!

 

[creativeamanda]

jewels1916, I vote for scenerio 3--7 days in the park, but giving you a day to recouperate. Best of all worlds.

 

[Disneyfan71]

I can honestly tell you from working in the airline industry, flying in December can be quite expensive..not trying to discourage you or anything. But if you can get your tickets in advance, go for it. Then again you never know what the airlines will do

If it means having more days in the park and flying, go for it. But if it means saving money, then by all means do that too.

With two of us flying it is more expensive; somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 or cheaper. I'm looking at Southwest right now as well as Airtran to see if we CAN get a cheaper flight.

The good thing about driving, we can leave Saturday morning, drive all day and stop outside Disney and then get up EARLY Sunday morning, check in to our hotel and have a full day!!!

 

[jewels1916]

Guess what???

We're BOOKED!! Yes, I just got off the phone with the Disney Reservations and Kelly and I have booked our December trip! We made a few changes along the way...

I first have to say that we decided to go on this trip under the assumption that there would be some sort of discount, because there seems to always be some sort of discount during value season. If we get to September and we still aren't seeing anything, we will shorten the length of our stay. But here it is....drum roll please!

Booked: December 5th-12th 2009 at Port Orleans French Quarter + DDP

Must...change...ticker....

Ah...life is good. It always feels like it is more official once the trip is actually booked, and you can get on with the other plans. Which is what I am off to now.

Courtney

 

[Disneyfan71]

You'll be down there on my Birthday which is the 11th...I'd LOVE to go at my b-day but can't

 

[kellbelle0618]

Ok,

Since Courtney and I are both home from work today due to ice/snow, we have been talking Disney all day.

As Courtney told you already....WE BOOKED OUR TRIP TODAY!!

We have since been working on a list of places to eat. And since there are so many great places to eat at WDW of course we have way too many places on our list. It appears that alll we will be doing at disney is eating!

Anyways, here is the list. Now we have the task of narrowing it down. Our dining plan has 7 table service meals a day; so it looks like we have our work cut out for us.

Our Dining List

Animal Kingdom
• Pizzafari-counter service…lunch

Hollywood Studios
• 50’s prime time café-table service…lunch
• Studio Catering Company-counter service…dinner OR
• Toy Story Pizza Planet-counter service…dinner
• Backlot Canteen…drinks!

Epcot
• Electric Umbrella-counter service
• Les Vins des Chefs de France-drinks!
• Margarita Stand-drinks
• Rose and Crown Pub-drinks
• Tutto Italia-drinks
• Le Cellier-table service
• Lotus blossom café-counter service
• Nine Dragons-table service
• Boulangerie Patisserie-snacks
• Yorkshire County Fish Shop-counter
• Teppan Edo-table service

Magic Kingdom
• Aloha Isle-snack
• Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café-counter service
• Crystal Palace-character breakfast
• Liberty Tree Tavern-table service…lunch
• Main Street Bake Shop-quick bite…breakfast
• Pinocchio Village Haus-counter service
• Tony’s Town Square-table service
• Pecos Bill’s
• Plaza Restaurant-table service

Resorts
• Boma-table service…breakfast…animal kingdom lodge
• Big River Grille-table service…dinner…boardwalk
• Chef Mickey’s-table service….contemporary
• Grand Floridian Café
• Kona-Polynesian
• Whispering Canyon Café
• Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory

Downtown Disney
• Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant
• Earl of Sandwich
• Ghirardelli
• Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop
• Planet Hollywood
• T-Rex
• House of Blues


So, what do you think? Obviously a work in progress..but at least it is a start. Now we are looking at rides....I'm sure that means another list will be coming soon.

I still owe you guys my engagement story with pictures, but that will have to be another post.

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Wohooo congratulations on being booked!!! It so feels more official when it's finally booked!

Your dining list looks great. But you have tuttio Italia just as drinks. Let me just say the food was fabulous if you have time or an extra dining credit give it a try!!!

 

[jewels1916]

You'll be down there on my Birthday which is the 11th...I'd LOVE to go at my b-day but can't

That's like me! I can never go on my birthday! But, I will have a Dole Whip in honor of you while I am there!

Wohooo congratulations on being booked!!! It so feels more official when it's finally booked!

Your dining list looks great. But you have tuttio Italia just as drinks. Let me just say the food was fabulous if you have time or an extra dining credit give it a try!!!

Our dining list is waaaay to long! We need some help paring it down. One thing I am concerned about with Tutto Italia is that I heard they were going to be doing some major refurbishing of it this year, but I don't know when! So...we may not get to go there.


Kelly says it looks like all we will be doing is eating. I think it looks like all we are going to be doing is drinking! If you look at that list....ha ha ha. I was giving her a hard time about it. But we will be sampling some of the beverages at various places, especially at World Showcase.

 

[Disneyfan71]

Thank you for having the Dole Whip for me I'll be on the boards about that time..probably finishing up our TR!!! It's going to take that long to get it all done

 

[Charleston Princess]

Congratulations on booking your trip yesterday!!!

Eating and drinking are two of my favorite activities at WDW! You have some great choices on your list!

 

[jewels1916]

Thank you for having the Dole Whip for me I'll be on the boards about that time..probably finishing up our TR!!! It's going to take that long to get it all done

Yes....really twisting my arm there to get me to eat that dole whip...heh.

Congratulations on booking your trip yesterday!!!

Eating and drinking are two of my favorite activities at WDW! You have some great choices on your list!

Thanks! And eating and drinking at two of my favorite WDW activities as well. It's becoming a big joke about why we really go to Disney. The hardest part now is going to be paring down the list to the 7 we can ACTUALLY have time to eat at. Yeah....

 

[jewels1916]

More preparations for TBM ensued this weekend (notice my new ticker?!) There is now an official date for TBM, March 15th! It's rapidly approaching, and I am realizing that I have more and more to do for it. I am really not the biggest fan of moving.

I spent almost all day yesterday en route to the bridal shop to pick up my bridesmaid dress for the wedding that I am in in April. Of course the only dress shop (for this particular designer) was 2.5 hours away, so that took pretty much all day. Here is a photo of the dress, although it's not green and pink, it's black and pink.

In other news, Kelly and I are kind of at a standstill for Disney planning, because now that we have booked, we are going over restaurants and attractions, and coming up with lists of what we want to make sure to hit, as well as a list of goals that we want to accomplish while we are there.
Plus with my TBM planning, and her wedding planning...we've just got alot going on!!

Here are a few more pics of past Disney trips!

(In line for Soarin')

Figment!!

A few from the MK parade in 2006...

And Kelly, this one is just for you! I found a photo of the ORIGINAL MOVIE CHAIN!! Although looking back over these, I am having a hard time remembering how we connected these...

 

[Charleston Princess]

Do tell about the movie chain!