Two Trips in ONE year...again PTR **MUST READ -- Updated 11/14

[Luv0fDisney]

Right now it is 10:29pm and My parents and I just got home from the NY Giants Vs. Patriot game and so I decided what fun it would be to start my Pre-Trip Report tonight for my upcoming Disney Trip.

This is not my first PTR. I have done one before that was unsuccessful...and by unsuccessful, I mean hardly no one replied to it like I have seen other PTR get many replies.. I guess You can say I'm a bit jealous. lol. But at least people read it...right?

As my title says: Two Trips In One Year...again, this is a PTR for my 2nd Disney trip in 2014...another mother daughter trip. We recently went in May when i thought there were no extra events going on since I have done my research but there was a marathon AND a cheerleading squad competition. So it was a bit more crowded than I would have liked... but it lead to a 2nd trip, so something came out from it. lol.

I had many ups and downs from the last trip, which I will post next or sometime in this PTR report.

So please join me in this PTR...

Who, What, When and Where
My ADR's
Day 1 Plans
Day 2 Plans
Day 3 Plans
Day 4 Plans
Magical Express Dilemma
Day 5 Plans
Day 6 Plans & Call to Disney
Wishes & Hopes
Weather Forecast

2 Days to Go!!
Last Minute Things​

​

 

[Luv0fDisney]

The 4 W's: Who, What, Where, Why....
The Who
Who? Us? Okay. this is yet another Mother Daughter trip. Our 11th trip since 2005. Yey.

My mom worked in a university as an administrator for over 25 years. She has been to Disney more times than I have. Her favorite Ride/Character/Movie is Peter Pan. Favorite park has to be Magic Kingdom.

Then there's me. (I'm on the left)
My name is Megan. I am in my 20's.
I rarely like my picture taken because I always seem to look like a ragamuffin... Not good.

My favorite rides Tower of Terror, and Splash Mountain. Favorite movies Beauty and the Beast & Lilo and Stitch Favorite parks Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, and Favorite Characters: Figment & Stitch.
The When & Where

We always go in November when Disney offers FREE Dining Reservation, but being as we're staying at Pop Century we had to upgrade from the FREE Quick Service to the Basic which did cost a bit, but still less then normal.

We are going from Saturday November 15th to Thursday November 20th. This time we have park tickets for ALL the days. Our previous trip in May we did not have tickets for all the days we were there. We are flying a new airline: Frontier out from Trenton NJ. We usually leave from Newark but given as Frontier was cheaper we decided to go with them. We leave at 7:30am and get to MCO at 9:00/9:30am which gives us the entire day at Disney.
yey!

 

[Luv0fDisney]

As I just paid the final payment for our trip I see that Disney has made a mistake with our reservation. It seems like Disney put us down for 1 child, 1 quick service plan and 1 adult plan. There's only 2 of us and both of us are adults. lol.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Disney Advance Dinner Reservations! Aka ADR's

Okay. Here's an Update! Sorry the delay in this addition to my Pre-Trip Report. I have been busy and it didn't come across my mind to update.
There are only 24 days until my Disney trip! Yes! 24 days, despite what my count-down timer says in my signature, it never works for me. lol.
Yesterday 10-20-2014 I received my Magic Bands. At first I didn't know what it was. It was a card board box and I didn't remember buying anything from amazon or any other website. But when I opened the box, I was really surprised and happy.

Okay, back on track.

It was tough choosing my restaurants at the 180 day mark, where do I want to eat, which park has EMH to co-side with the dinner reservations and what not. The other tough choice was, what NEW restaurant did I want to chose? So here are my selections.

November 15
Captain's Grille @ Yacht Club Resort
This is my new restaurant for the trip. Perhaps someone can give me an insight about what is good/bad and just okay here.

November 16
Liberty Tree Tavern
I got a lunch reservation right at 12pm. I am looking forward to the ooy gooy cake again. My mouth is just watering right now just talking about it.

November 17th
Coral Reef
I remember when this restaurant was new and HARD to get into. I love the pasta and lobster dish. I just hope the service is better than we had in May.

November 18th
Nothing
Nothing? I know what you are thinking, you are probably out of luck with restaurants by now. But I left it blank for a reason, just in case Be Our Guest opens up. If not this slot will be taken by Raglan Road (maybe) or another NEW restaurant... Any suggestions??

November 19th
Planet Hollywood
I loved eating at this Planet Hollywood for the food and atmosphere. I love the movie memorbilia's that surround the inside (and outside).

That's about it. November 19th is our last full day, as we have to go home on the 20th...I don't even want to THINK about it.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

Great ADR selections! If BOG doesn't open up, I personally love Portobello at DTD. I have also been pleasantly surprised with my meals at Boatwright's and 1900 Park Fare. Not sure if you've been to any of those before

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Thanks for the suggestions . We haven't tried the restaurants you suggested. We don't really do character meals or 2 table services meals where they use 2 of our credits for one meal. We did that with brown derby at the studios...what a waste that was.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Day 1 - 11.15.2014

This year we depart from Trenton, NJ (not Newark) via Frontier Airlines at 7:30am and arrive at MCO around 9:30am (without any delays I hope). That will give us most of the day at the parks. I expect we will arrive at Pop Century at 10:30am given that there is NOT a huge line at Magical Express. (For some reason I am always sooo excited when we land in MCO knowing that we are going to be in Disney shortly. lol.).

Our first park of the trip will be Studios (as usual). Majority of our past trips was that we would normally head to the park that has the least amount of people on line for the bus (normally Studios) but the stupid Fastpass+ wouldn't allow that any more. Sooo we have to plan ahead.

Our fastpasses are mostly in the afternoon, starting with Star Tours, followed by Toy Story Mania! and ending with Tower of Terror, which is my favorite.

Our ADR is at Captain's Grille, which is our NEW restaurant this year. I am also it will be followed by Be Our Guest on the 18th. Anyway, I noticed MK is open till 1am so I am planning to go there after dinner from Captain's Grille.

Our ADR is at 6:45pm but knowing from past experiences, if we show up early there is a big possibility of being seated early. hehehe.

I find it funny that our first day at Studios the MK is open late, and the 2nd day we're there we are at MK and the Studios is open late the 2nd day. But I don't think we'll park hop the second day because Studios is only open till 10pm -- which sucks.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Day 2 Plans

Day 2 of our trip is on Sunday 11-16-2014. The 16th is my brother's birthday as well as my best friend's birthday. On Day 2 you can find my mom and me in the Magic Kingdom. We don't go to rope drops. We went once but that's all we could take. Very crowded.

We were unfortunately we were unable to grab a fast pass for the Seven Dwarfs mine on this day, so we grabbed fast passes for: Peter Pan's Flight (1:05pm-2:05pm) Splash Mountain (2:40pm-3:40pm) and Space Mountain (4:40pm-5:40pm).

I grabbed all afternoon FP because I wasn't sure if we would get there on time either because we over slept (Over sleeping at Disney? ) or that the transportation would be crowded.

I got Peter Pan's Flight for my mom since it is her favorite ride in the park, since we were unable to go on it on our last trip in May. I love Splash and Space Mountain along with Big Thunder of course.

Our ADR for this trip is for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. I could not skip the Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake that is served at lunch. Plus there is more options to pick from at Lunch then at the dinner. hehehe. I rather have my turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. The last time I was at LTT I had the hamburger with the mushrooms which was really good. Not sure if I'll be picking it again.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Right now it is 4:39pm on November 4th only 11 days to go until our Disney Trip. It feels more like 10 because we have to sleep over a realitives house on the 14th to catch the flight at 7:30am in South NJ.

Today on voting day, my mom dad and I went to vote and then my mom and I spent a girls day at the mall.Spent a few bucks at the Disney store for Christmas gifts, bought a new shirt at Dress barn and treated ourselves to lunch at Apple Bee's.

Anyway...onto Day 3.

Day 3 Plans
November 17, 2014
Today's EMH is at Animal Kingdom from 8am-9am​

But today's plan(s) is for Epcot as all of our fast passes are there. My first fast passes are Mission Space and Spaceship Earth. I might be giving them two up. The last one is for Soarin between 3pm and 4pm so I'm looking forward to that.

Our Dinner reservation is at Coral Reef. I love the lobster pasta dish. But might have to try something new for a change. Also a fan of the turtle cheesecake. The last time I was there it wasn't 100% decorated and when I saw other people's dessert with the blue sugar icicle on top, I was disappointed. Mine didn't have that. Then again our waiter sucked.

Normally we park hop so I'm thinking we'll start out the day at Studios (or even Animal Kingdom) or even check out the Art of Animation resort prior to Epcot in the afternoon. Epcot was one of my favorite parks because it had a few things I liked. But after my experience with Mission Space and Test Track last time I knocked those rides off my list of "to do."

I'm not a fan of the new Test Track because of the blahness of the scenery...lack thereof of course. I could have seen them doing a "cars" theme and still making us able to create our own ride.

Anyway...
That's about it for Day 3. We'll probably have lunch at the Electric Umbrella, walk around the countries, shop (of course) and go on Soarin, Imagination with Figment, and The Land.

If anyone is wanting the two fast passes for the two rides (Mission Space & Space Ship Earth) message me!or post! I love people posting on my PTR. It makes me feel included in the forum, where people post on other people's PTRs. lol.

There has been a recent change to this day. I recently found out that my favorite dish at Coral Reef is no longer offered (the orchiatta lobster dish) which was taken off the menu for the Baked Cheese Manicotti, which is a lasagna noodle wrapped around cheese.) Not my favorite pasta, so I decided to change my ADR from the Coral Reef at 5:30pm to La Hacienda at 4:00pm, which will be another new restaurant on this trip.

If anyone has eaten dinner at La Hacienda, can you tell me your experience? Those who are going to post about La Hacienda not being on the plan, yes it is on the plan for dinner. Lunch at the Hacienda is NOT on the plan.

 

[kcount]

We will be down there at the same time. I am just starting my PTR (never have done one before) and we just decided to make a trip to Disney World last week, trying to secure all reservations and plans for 5 days 18 days out! Yikes!!!

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Well, I have officially less than 10 days to go... like 9 if you don't count the 14th travel day to South Jersey which isn't really a vacation. Part of me feels like this trip will feel indifferent compared to other trips. It just feels like it'll be just another day in my life and won't really experience anything new or exciting. But anyway...

Our morning ritual includes getting, up and dressed and getting breakfast at the food court at Pop Century. My favorite dish is the French Toast. We also tried the breakfast platter (eggs, sausage, bacon etc). It usually arrives cold. I usually get either Orange Juice or Soda...yes I'm bad. I don't normally have soda for breakfast at home. I guess that's why they call it Vacation. lol.

Day 4​

Our plans include the Magic Kingdom. Our fast passes start at 12:35pm with Big Thunder Mountain followed by Jungle Cruise at 3:25pm and ending with Space Mountain at 6:25pm. Yey.

No Big out of the ordinary plans for this day. Looking forward to pin trading and trading vinylmations most of the days.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Magical Express Dilemma!!​

So it's lunch time on November 7th, only 9 days away from our Disney trip and I'm sitting here wondering why we haven't gotten our Magical Express package. Then to my horror I realize...

I forgot to do the Magical Express form!!

So I quickly looked on Frontier and realized our flight info was missing from our account so I called them to add it to the account online and then I filled out the Magical Express form on Disney World.com.

Now, I'm wondering will it get here on time? We leave a day early because we have to stay over my grandparents house on the 14th to catch the flight at 7:30am down in South NJ.

While at the same time I am worrying I'm kind of glad I did not put any info in. "Why?" You ask? Well our flight home from Disney was delayed by like 3 hours, so if I had put our information in we would have had to leave at 2pm and wait in the airport for 5 hours instead of 3. So now we leave at probably 4pm for an 8pm flight. (or even 5pm).

So that's my dilemma. All Fixed, but now still wondering will it get here on time? Does Magical Express even cater to Frontier Airlines? Just looked on the Info Disboards gives out about Magical Express and didn't see Frontier on it. But it was included in the form on DisneyWorld.com

 

[dreamseeker9]

Hi, I'm subbing!

We have a lot in common - I live in New York, so we're practically neighbors. My two favorite attractions are also ToT and Splash Mountain! And I'm going to WDW Nov. 16-19! I'll be staying across the lake from you, at AOA!

I'm catching up on your PTR now!

 

[dreamseeker9]

We will be at MK and EPCOT at the same time, fun! I also have a FP+ for Splash Mountain around that same time, maybe I'll see you in line!

If you like some great African and Indian food, go to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's a great excuse to check out that awesome resort, and the lunch I had there was one of the best meals I've ever had at WDW.

I got my DME luggage tags and vouchers two days ago. You're leaving a day before me, so I suggest if you haven't received the DME info by mid-next week, to call Disney and see if they can express mail it to you. Or call now if that will help put your mind at ease. I bet they will get it out to you right away, though - I'm sure a lot of people fill in their flight info for the DME later than they make their room reservations.

 

[dreamseeker9]

We will be at MK and EPCOT at the same time, fun! I also have a FP+ for Splash Mountain around that same time, maybe I'll see you in line!

If you like some great African and Indian food, go to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's a great excuse to check out that awesome resort, and the lunch I had there was one of the best meals I've ever had at WDW.

I got my DME luggage tags and vouchers two days ago. You're leaving a day before me, so I suggest if you haven't received the DME info by mid-next week, to call Disney and see if they can express mail it to you. Or call now if that will help put your mind at ease. I bet they will get it out to you right away, though - I'm sure a lot of people fill in their flight info for the DME later than they make their room reservations.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Hi, I'm subbing!

We have a lot in common - I live in New York, so we're practically neighbors. My two favorite attractions are also ToT and Splash Mountain! And I'm going to WDW Nov. 16-19! I'll be staying across the lake from you, at AOA!

I'm catching up on your PTR now!

Hey Dreamseeker9,
Glad to have a follower...at last!!
That would be awesome if we met up at Splash Mountain by pure coincidence. Imagine if we're in the same boat. lol.

anyway, I try to update this PTR every day or so.

 

[kcount]

If you like some great African and Indian food, go to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's a great excuse to check out that awesome resort, and the lunch I had there was one of the best meals I've ever had at WDW.

I'm just catching up on this PTR as well. Thank you so much for the dining suggestion at AKL. I'm learning a lot of tips by following everyone's trip reports!

9 days to go for us!!​

 

[Luv0fDisney]

I'm just catching up on this PTR as well. Thank you so much for the dining suggestion at AKL. I'm learning a lot of tips by following everyone's trip reports!

9 days to go for us!!​

9 days here as well kcount. So excited...kind of.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

Right now it is 8:59pm on November 8th...this time next week I'll be in the Magic Kingdom..probably. But I know I will definitely be in Disney World.
There has been more changes to the dining since my last update...

Day 5 Plans:
Animal Kingdom​

Wednesday, November 19th is day 5 and our last full in the parks and on vacation...boo. Don't even want to think about it. Day 5 is our Animal Kingdom park day.

Our fast-passes don't begin until 12:05pm, starting with Kilimanjaro Safari. Our second Fast pass is Everest at 1:05pm through 2:05pm which is followed by Dinosaur. So practically we can do 2 parks in one day. hehehe.

Our ADR was for Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney, but I decided that trying to go to Downtown Disney from AK was going to take us time so I changed it to Yak and Yeti. We have eaten there before so it won't be another new restaurant. We loved the duck there but I'm going to try the sweet and sour chicken/pork followed by the fried wontons for sure.

Our ADR is for 4:30pm so practically when we are done eating the park will be closed. I love this. It's like we have the whole park to ourselves.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

I can't believe that the trip is almost here! It feels like yesterday we just booked it.

We are going in November mostly because of the FREE dining...or at least near free for us because we upgraded from the Free Quick Service plan to the basic.

Day 6
Hollywood Studios...and New Jersey ​

Well, Day 6... The sad, depressing day that we have to leave Disney. .. I don't even want to think about it, but we all do have to come home eventually...

Anyway, the morning will start with breakfast at the Pop Century Food court, after we lug our luggage to the front of the hotel. Then we are off to our last park which also happens to be the first park we went to on this trip....Hollywood Studios.

We have Fast passes for Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror and Star Tours (in that order). Not sure if we will be able to use all 3 since this is our last day and have to head back to Pop Century in order to catch the Magical Express...again.

We fly home via United to Newark, NJ instead of Frontier to South NJ.

Also Just got off the phone with Disney regarding our Resort Confirmation package that we never got. She was really great and helped emencely even though we won't be getting our package through the mail. It will be waiting for us at the hotel. She also did say it was sent October 10th, but we never got it...