Universal Adventures of Dreams AND Magic, and an expanding World!

[jenseib]

back from Disney and trying to catch up on trip reports - after this trip, I agree with late hours at the parks - I think the Parks are actually more fun and magical at night all lit up - especially when you are traveling with non-early morning people. Drat, now I have to get rid of my ticker

I hope you had a fabulous time! i just love the late hours. It's so magical

 

[jenseib]

Day 10,~ Nov. 11


Things will be changing this day. The rest of my family leaves for home. My plan is to get up early and take our luggage over to Art of Animation...our next resort, and get us checked in before they have to leave. It will be easier doing this with a vehicle rather than all the transfering.
I'll let Claire sleep while I do this and just keep a carry on for what we made need to change her, etc. I can send that as a transfer to AoA then and not worry about it. If my parents have a later flight, then we can just take it over before they have to get going.

Our package starts today and we are doing it a little different than normal....we are going deluxe dining. I have read mixed reviews on deluxe dining, but it is something I have always wanted to try, and for 3 days I don't think it will tie us down too much.

Once we get Claire going, we'll say good bye to the Beach Club and head over to DTD.

Where we will have lunch at T-REx for the 1st time at 12...another new spot for us.

We'll probably do a little shopping around.

Depending on time, we may head back to AoA for a quick swim.

Then we will head off to Hollywood Studios. The Osborne lights should be going by now, and this is the night I plan to catch them. I also hope to maybe get a cupcake from staring rolls.

Once we have our fill of DHS we still have on more ADR for the evening.....a late one too, at 9PM. It's for Narcoosee's, which will be 2 credits from our deluxe dining. I am still debating this one because of the distance from where we are coming from. I looked at a few around the DHS resort area, but none of the menus are wowing me enough. I asked friends about a few of the places, and I got so many different opinions from best place ever to worse food I ever had....so I went with the menu that looked the most appealing to me. Flying Fish is actually more ideal for distance, but I don't see anything on the menu that makes me want to go there.
MK is open till 11 this night, but i don't know if we would make it with such a late ADR, but if the parade is playing at11, then maybe we would give it a try. I am doubtful though, it's another fairly long day and I have to make sure miss cranky pants gets some sleep during the trip!

 

[dizneeat]

Can't wait for you to review AoA! I am leaning towards it for our first night in February.

You are going to love the Osbourne lights - so pretty!

Jen, have you considered Yachtsman Steakhouse? I know they close in early September and I do not know if they are already open when you are there, but they are a very good value for DDP credits and the food is VERY good - HUGE steaks.
Not a fan of Narcoossees though, but I am sure you know about our experience.

 

[jenseib]

Can't wait for you to review AoA! I am leaning towards it for our first night in February.

You are going to love the Osbourne lights - so pretty!

Jen, have you considered Yachtsman Steakhouse? I know they close in early September and I do not know if they are already open when you are there, but they are a very good value for DDP credits and the food is VERY good - HUGE steaks.
Not a fan of Narcoossees though, but I am sure you know about our experience.

Karin, you are reading my mind.. I was just going to go to your thread and ask you about it.
I see they have a surf and turf there too, which was a draw for Narcoosee's. But if I can save some time and distance, I think I might change. They do have a 8:45 open too. When did you eat there last? I need to go look at your pictures again.
For some reasin I didn't look at their menu. I guess my mind was set on lobster and it didn't dawn on me they might have it....till right now I just looked.

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, you are reading my mind.. I was just going to go to your thread and ask you about it.
I see they have a surf and turf there too, which was a draw for Narcoosee's. But if I can save some time and distance, I think I might change. They do have a 8:45 open too. When did you eat there last? I need to go look at your pictures again.
For some reasin I didn't look at their menu. I guess my mind was set on lobster and it didn't dawn on me they might have it....till right now I just looked.

We ate there last summer and LOVED it!

I just saw the surf and turf on the food pics thread and it looks delish! It is 66$!! so a perfect use of a DDP credit .... oh well, make that two!

 

[jenseib]

We ate there last summer and LOVED it!

I just saw the surf and turf on the food pics thread and it looks delish! It is 66$!! so a perfect use of a DDP credit .... oh well, make that two!

OK,I think I will change. I'll go back and look at your pictures and read some reviews and of course I better check out the kids menu. The only thing is then I'll have to get a bus to DTD and then back to AoA. But I won't feel quite as rushed then.

 

[dizneeat]

OK,I think I will change. I'll go back and look at your pictures and read some reviews and of course I better check out the kids menu. The only thing is then I'll have to get a bus to DTD and then back to AoA. But I won't feel quite as rushed then.

I didn't look at the kids menu, can you tell we are travelling without little ones.
Jen, if it got really late, have you considered taking a taxi? AoA is not far away, so a taxi would not be expensive and it would save you a ton of time.

 

[jenseib]

I didn't look at the kids menu, can you tell we are travelling without little ones.
Jen, if it got really late, have you considered taking a taxi? AoA is not far away, so a taxi would not be expensive and it would save you a ton of time.

OOH,, good idea

 

[pinkxray]

All of your plans sound awesome! We did a split stay between AKV/BCV/WLV last trip. I know some people think switching resorts so many times is crazy, but I love trying out all of the different resorts.

I happen to LOVE deluxe dining. I am hoping to convince my sister to do it if we go in Feb. We did it the last two trips and I thought it was great. DH might not agree but who asked him anyway

We haven't tried any signatures yet, but I am hoping to do a few next time we do an actual week at Disney. I haven't seen many good reviews of Narcoosees or however it's spelled.

 

[jenseib]

All of your plans sound awesome! We did a split stay between AKV/BCV/WLV last trip. I know some people think switching resorts so many times is crazy, but I love trying out all of the different resorts.

I happen to LOVE deluxe dining. I am hoping to convince my sister to do it if we go in Feb. We did it the last two trips and I thought it was great. DH might not agree but who asked him anyway

We haven't tried any signatures yet, but I am hoping to do a few next time we do an actual week at Disney. I haven't seen many good reviews of Narcoosees or however it's spelled.

I figured for 3 days, it would be nice to try deluxe and get a feel. i don't think Skip would like it either. I am only doing 2 TS a day. I don't want to be tied down by eating all day long either. But I do want to try new things.

 

[GoofyWife]

I wish I had bought the Disney dining plan - I was all set on buying it and then read a review on another Disney site that said it wasn't worth it, BUT, now I do think it is really worth it especially to try out new restaurants and when you have to feed an 18 year old boy! We had a one bedroom at OKW so I brought coffee stuff and poptarts and snacks thinking we could just have coffee in the resort and an early-ish lunch, nope, DS didn't want to eat anything before we left but almost as soon as we got to the Parks he was hungry! the QS part of the plan would have been good for a quick breakfast. His favorite breakfast was at Crystal Palace (mine too) even with the characters! But next time I will definitely buy a dining plan.

 

[jenseib]

I wish I had bought the Disney dining plan - I was all set on buying it and then read a review on another Disney site that said it wasn't worth it, BUT, now I do think it is really worth it especially to try out new restaurants and when you have to feed an 18 year old boy! We had a one bedroom at OKW so I brought coffee stuff and poptarts and snacks thinking we could just have coffee in the resort and an early-ish lunch, nope, DS didn't want to eat anything before we left but almost as soon as we got to the Parks he was hungry! the QS part of the plan would have been good for a quick breakfast. His favorite breakfast was at Crystal Palace (mine too) even with the characters! But next time I will definitely buy a dining plan.

I'm a huge fan of the dining plan. I hav done the out of pocket thing for just a few days and it sucks!

We like to sit down for a meal each day and relax. We'll see how this deluxe plan works for us. I'm excited and nervous to try it.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Jen, I think the surf & turf at Yachtsman is an ala carte thing. You get a steak then pay extra for the lobster tail. I don't know if you can get the tail on the plan or if you pay OOP for it. I wanted to try Yachtsman, but it will be closed due to refurbishing when we are there.

DH got the surf & turf at Narcossee's I I got the lobster, both were delicious.

We have an ADR for O'Hana, but I'm starting to get spooked because of all the negative reviews. I will keep it as liking & disliing the restaurants seem to be mostly a matter of taste.

 

[Woth2982]

I have done Deluxe Dining twice and regular dining twice. We loved Deluxe. We would do a TS buffet around 10 am and not be hungry again until about 7 at night when we had our dinner TS. If we were hungry during the day we would use our two snack credits to get a snack and a drink. The last time we did Deluxe we did CRT, HDDR and Yachtsmans steak house (all requiring 2 TS credits). When added seperately getting deluxe ended up being cheaper for us! We also were able to use a TS credit for a CS if we didn't feel like the sit down. We ate so well though that it didn't seem like a complete waste for the few CSs we did with it.

 

[jenseib]

Jen, I think the surf & turf at Yachtsman is an ala carte thing. You get a steak then pay extra for the lobster tail. I don't know if you can get the tail on the plan or if you pay OOP for it. I wanted to try Yachtsman, but it will be closed due to refurbishing when we are there.

DH got the surf & turf at Narcossee's I I got the lobster, both were delicious.

We have an ADR for O'Hana, but I'm starting to get spooked because of all the negative reviews. I will keep it as liking & disliing the restaurants seem to be mostly a matter of taste.

They have an actual surf and turf listed on the Disney site menu, so I assume they do...they also have a lobster listed as a side. We know how menus change though, so we'll see when we get there.

I have done Deluxe Dining twice and regular dining twice. We loved Deluxe. We would do a TS buffet around 10 am and not be hungry again until about 7 at night when we had our dinner TS. If we were hungry during the day we would use our two snack credits to get a snack and a drink. The last time we did Deluxe we did CRT, HDDR and Yachtsmans steak house (all requiring 2 TS credits). When added seperately getting deluxe ended up being cheaper for us! We also were able to use a TS credit for a CS if we didn't feel like the sit down. We ate so well though that it didn't seem like a complete waste for the few CSs we did with it.

I'm glad to hear you liked it. Sounds like you used it the way I plan to. It's only for 3 days, so that should make it better and I won't spend all my time at restaurants. I doubt we'll ever do it again, but I really wanted to see for myself how it is and give it a try.

 

[jenseib]

Things have already changed!

I decided to switch to the Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club.

I just think it will be easier to get there after the Osborne lights. Getting back to AoA won't be super fast, but we can take a taxi if it is too late.

I had originally had 50's Prime Time for this evening, but when I told Claire about it, she had a bit of a panic attack. She was so worried about getting scolded or being forced to eat something she didn't like and I figured it wasn't worth her having anxiety about for 5-6 months before we even got there. So that is when I looked at other options. Narcoosee's won because of the menu options for both of us, but it never sat well with me having to travel so far from one place to the other. I had totally forgotten about the Yachtsman steakhouse until I posted the last update (and thanks to Disfriend Karin for bringing it to my attention as well).

So that is the new plan for now.

Other happenings....I got some more clothing pictures to share.

My wonderful friend Jeanne was selling off some of her DD's outfits. She had a few that would fit Claire and I jumped right on them. These will be going on the trip...eventually I am going to have to make a clothing schedule for her because she will definitly have a LOT of clothes being brought down for the trip and I want to be sure she can wear all the special ones at least once.
It's funny, because my Mom keeps buying the girls sundresses and everytime she buys one she says, " that will be cute to wear on the cruise". Now if Claire wore everything my Mom has said that about, she would need to change about 3 or 4 times a day on the cruise. LOL

Here is the newest we have added to the collection.

I am thinking this will be worn on our Nassua day. Once we get closer to the trip, I'll lay everything out and see for sure.

This will be worn to dinner one night most likely.

And this is for a parks day.

We also have 2 outfits from the Disney store being shipped. My Mom wanted to buy the 3 girls matching outfits. We found 2 that we really liked, both were in Abby's size, but only 1 size 10 was available for the older 2, and of course we had a few tears shed that they wouldn't be matching. When I got home, we looked online and sure enough, they had a 10 in each outfit, so we ordered those and now we have 2 sets of matching outfits in the Minnie line.
Once those arrive, I'll take a picture of Claire trying them on. We are going to use one for "boarding" day. The family has matching T's and now the 3 girls will have something cute too.
Now we need to decide for the 2 little boys in our group. One is a baby, so really it won't matter so much, but Jude is 3, so we'll either make him a T with an iron on or find him a cute Mickey shirt to wear.

My one Aunt, who is NOT going on the cruise with us...because Disney cruises are stupid....is so embarrassed that we are wearing matching clothes, so my Uncle is planning to make a banner at his work that says we are her family and get our picture taken with it and send it to her! We're evil, aren't we?

We are down to 5 months now! Lots more planning to do and of course, I'm sure I'll make a few changes yet.

 

[Caretames1]

Nov 11th, the day we leave, WAH..... I leave you all the awesomeness of AoA!

I think, that Starring Rolls closes at 4pm. I know we missed it in Sept by just a little bit.

I think a steakhouse sounds so yum right now. I can't wait to see you Dining reviews.


Kadence is so freaked about 50's PT. Even talking about it she says No Way! It's too bad, the rest of us really enjoyed out food there. Maybe when she's older.


LOVE, Love the outfits! I'm trying to be "under the radar" while looking at clothes, but the budget is tighter in the summer. My MIL is going to now attempt a twirl skirt. We'll see how it goes, and then maybe I can do some appliques on shirts to match.

 

[jenseib]

Nov 11th, the day we leave, WAH..... I leave you all the awesomeness of AoA!

I think, that Starring Rolls closes at 4pm. I know we missed it in Sept by just a little bit.

I think a steakhouse sounds so yum right now. I can't wait to see you Dining reviews.


Kadence is so freaked about 50's PT. Even talking about it she says No Way! It's too bad, the rest of us really enjoyed out food there. Maybe when she's older.


LOVE, Love the outfits! I'm trying to be "under the radar" while looking at clothes, but the budget is tighter in the summer. My MIL is going to now attempt a twirl skirt. We'll see how it goes, and then maybe I can do some appliques on shirts to match.

It will be a sad day for eveyone. No more Carey!

I think you are right about starring rolls.
We are really liking the applique stuff now. i guess this is the next steop when our girls get older..Costumes no longer want to be worn for a long period of time, but the applique outfits show their spirit!

 

[dizneeat]

you DID go with Yachtsman!
Be sure to try their rolls - they are soooooo good!

I LOVE Claire's new outfits - all of them!
And about your aunt - I would so do the same, have a banner and take a photo with it!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I checked the menu for Yachtsman on AllEars & The Dis. The menu posted on those sites are different than the one on the Disney site. Here's hoping the WDW menu is the correct one.

I really wanted to try Yachtsman this trip, but it will be closed. Darn!