Wait, We're Going BACK?!?!?!?! - A May 2016 PTR

[KirbyLouWho]

Hello lovelies!! I wanted to do one of these for our trip in Nov 2015 SO badly, but I never got around to it. Now that it turns out that we are, SURPRISE!, going back MUCH sooner than expected, I guess I finally get my chance. Plus, now I get to get even more of a Disney fix before we get there. This fulfills my insurmountable need to always be talking about Disney without driving the rest of my family crazy. I know y'all get me! So it's a win-win!

Anywho... Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kirby. I'm a 31 year old single mom. I'm a nerd. For real. I have 3 degrees (although I don't really use any of them). I'm snarky, sassy, and have a deep, deep love of commas. And of COURSE I love all things Disney! This is me...

...with a couple of friends, of course! (Oh that's an awful lot of "of course's" right out of the gate (Yeah... did I mention I have a thing for parenthetical expressions?? No?? You'll see. Try to keep up!))

The second major player in my reports will always be my #1 girl. My 4.5 year old daughter, Cloe.

She is truly my everything. She's smart, funny, out-going, and shares my love of Disney without question. Her first trip to The World was Thanksgiving 2013, this May will be her 3rd. I'll write some more about our backstory in another post.

Also in our group will be Sa/Lisa - my aunt, who hates watching animated movies, but *loves* WDW. I know. She's an enigma. She has requested I not post photos of her.

HOPEFULLY rounding out our little troop will be my brother Jonathan (or JP - depends on how lazy I'm feeling when I type stuff up lol). He's 26, lives with me & Cloe, and is a financial advisor for a bank here in town. Thus, the "hopefully," as we are still waiting on the 100% confirmation that he'll get to take off work to come with us.


I guess we'll start there. Keep your eyes peeled for updates including (these will be linked as I write them):
Our Previous Trips
How This Trip Came About
Our Hotel and ADRs
FP+ Frenzy
Packing Packing Packing
etc

 

[KirbyLouWho]

The One with the Flashback​

Hello Lovelies! Welcome back!

Well. I promised you a tiny bit more about me & my Disney history so here we go...

I have loved Disney for as long as I can remember. The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Beauty and the Beast. I *believe* I first visited WDW when I was 6 or 7; and that was it. I was hooked. My family didn't really have a disposable income though, so as I got older, we only went if a) we split the cost with several other family members, or b) my sweepstakes loving mom managed to win a trip (she actually won 3!!). So it was through those avenues that I was luck enough to visit 6 times before I turned 14.



That's me in ~1990. Aren't I cute??



And that's my brother (who FINALLY confirmed with us yesterday that he will for sure be joining us this trip!) in 1995 or 1996.

Then we went on a REALLY long hiatus. There were a lot of reasons for this. For one thing, and this may sound weird, but the advent of the internet and it's becoming more widely available meant more people entering sweepstakes that way, and it made winning trips much more difficult. Also, my brother and I were the kind of teens who thought doing stuff like WDW with our parents was lame. Man we were dumb. Anyway, like I said, it was a long time before I finally made it back to the world. In fact, I didn't make it back until I was 29 and a mom myself!

Thanksgiving of 2013, the University of Memphis men's basketball team had made it into a tournament playing at ESPN-WWoS and the rest of my family (being MASSIVE basketball fans) had decided to go. Luckily it wasn't too difficult to convince them to allow Cloe & me to tag along so we could go to the parks while they were at the games. Boy oh boy! I couldn't believe how quickly the love was rekindled! The moment I stepped onto property with a then 2 year old Cloe I realized that the magic is 100% real, and you never have to grow out of believing if you don't want to. I also momentarily panicked because I was trying to navigate these parks, that I hadn't been inside in almost 15 years, BY MYSELF with a 2 year old. Good lord what was I thinking?!?!? But you know what. It all worked out fine. She and I rocked it. MOSTLY because of the MULTITUDE of kind strangers who helped me out by holding doors, letting me sit on busses & monorails, helped me load and unload our stroller from busses. You name it. I know WDW is one of those places that beings out both the best AND the worst in people, but believe me when I tell you we saw nothing but the best those few days.



That's her first ever photo in WDW & I love it so much!

Of course, basically as soon as we got back home I started trying to figure out how we could get back. I felt like Jack off of the Island. Then last summer, my aunt (who is also my boss btw) found out she needed to attend a work conference in Orlando the weekend before Thanksgiving & with much finagling of airline miles and hotel points she was able to swing taking us with her without altering the cost of the trip by much, so we added on some park tickets & went on our merry way back!!

This time, Cloe was newly 4 and able to do a lot more, and just generally understand and appreciate a lot more (although she really freaked me out with how much she remembered from that first trip. For real. She knew HOW to get from Winnie the Pooh back around to Ariel's Grotto. What even?!?). She saw her first Welcome Show:



Became OBSESSED with the People Mover



Got cast as Chip in ETwB



And had her first experience with Magic Shots



It was basically a practically perfect trip, and just as I did, as soon as we got home she started asking to go back.

Little did we know we'd get to do so SO soon. Exactly 6 months to the day in fact!

HOW?? You'll have to stick around to find out!

 

[KirbyLouWho]

The One Where I Tell You *How*

Hello again Lovelies! Let's get down to it, shall we?
Now that I've rambled on for two full posts with intros and wanders down memory lane, I know ya'll must be thinking, "Come ON woman! Get to the good stuff!" So get to it I shall.

How did it come about that we're going back a scant six months after our last trip?? Pure, unabashed, LUCK. After our last trip I had consigned myself to the fact that it would likely be several years until we were able to be in the world again. In fact, I had started saving for a long trip to be taken when Cloe is 10 (yep, for those following along she's only 4 now). So you can imagine just how flabbergasted I was when my aunt/boss (guess I'll just call her a/b from now on) told me our family business had won a prize for making a certain percentage of sales with another larger company. Specifically, we had WON A TRIP TO DISNEY!
It was like actual, honest to goodness Disney MAGIC

BUT!

There were some hitches. First, it was a trip four 4 people. Well....there's seven in our family, all told. So if we took the trip, who would & wouldn't go? Well, we decided that since the trip was in a/b's name she would go, and obviously Cloe. Then I would get to go by the simple virtue of being Cloe's mom. We wanted my brother to come, but the prize info said "family of 4" = "2 adults and 2 kids under 18." Hmmm. So we talked to the people we won the trip from, explained that there were literally no other kids under 18 in our family and asked what we could do. They said we could pay $75 to turn that kid into an adult. Okay, sold. Next was the issue that the trip was only for flight and hotel, no park tickets. We decided that while tickets ARE pricey, we'd be saving enough on travel and accommodations to justify the expense. So that was it WE WERE GOING!



The company put us in touch with a travel agent who set up our flights & hotel reservations & sent us the info. That's when we noticed that this trip that had been valued at $4500 was so far only costing the company we won it from $2800. So we asked, "what gives?" Well. Turns out that Memphis being the hub that it is, it's a very cheap city to fly in & out of. Also, we decided to go at a fairly off peak time (after the spring breakers, but before the Memorial Day Weekend and summer crowds start rolling in) so our hotel was going to be on the low side too. This meant that they could give us a couple of options. Either we could a) take the trip as-is and pay fewer taxes on it, or b) they could start adding things on and upgrading them until we hit that $4500 mark. Can you guess which option we chose???

DING DING DING! TELL THEM WHAT THEY'VE WON, BOB!


You did guess option 2, right??
Oh, phew, that would have been

But man, oh man. Option 2 worked out totally AWESOME for us! Basically, to cover the remaining value pf the prize, they (1) waived that fee for changing a child to an adult, (2) paid for 3 day park hoppers for us, (3) changed us from an ok room at POR to a very nice room at CBR, (4) paid for our rental car (yes, we know that being on property means we won't need it so much, but a) it's free, b) we're not fans of the DME, & c) we like the freedom NOT to have to wait on WDW transportation if we don't have to) and (5) changed our flights to non-stops. YES!


Thanks big company we do business with!!!


I think this is enough for today. I promise next time my update will include ACTUAL plans!
xx​

 

[ariane37]

Hi KirbyLouWho! Those upgrades are awesome!! Actually the whole winning a trip is awesome
I know how exciting it is to suddenly find out you're going back sooner then you thought. Like you, we were there last Nov. and then just DH and I went last month. That was it-for the first time since 2011 we didn't know when we'd be back again but were 100% certain it wouldn't be this year. Until last week when DH said he wants to go back for Thanksgiving again Nothing in stone yet but it's looking good!
Looking forward to reading more

 

[valerie160]

Wow - How wonderful!! I'm truly excited for you!! I can't wait to read along and see how your planning goes. We are also going in May, but we'll be arriving as you are leaving (we get in on the night of May 20 and stay until June2!). I'm still finagling my dining plans and I keep changing them. Ugh, I just need to make a decision and stick to it, but there are sooo many places I want to eat and just not enough time (and money!).

Also, like you I really like parenthetical expressions and probably use them way too often!

Anyways, looking forward to reading more!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Count me in as another over-user of the parenthetical expression! We're also going around the same time as you (we actually arrive the Saturday before you) and I started my first-ever pre-trip report.

Your contest win is so impressive! I know it involved hard work as well, so that must make it even more rewarding. Also, I love the picture of your little on the People Mover. That is the definition of someone witnessing Magic!

Can't wait to follow along!

 

[KirbyLouWho]

Hi y'all! Thanks for saying hello & checking out my PTR! I'm going to go read up on yours now

Hi KirbyLouWho!

Wow - How wonderful!! I'm truly excited for you!! I can't wait to read along and see how your planning goes.

Count me in as another over-user of the parenthetical expression! We're also going around the same time as you (we actually arrive the Saturday before you) and I started my first-ever pre-trip report.

 

[KirbyLouWho]

The One That's So Close, and Yet, So Far

Let me preface this update by making sure everybody understands that updating things like this on the daily is NOT really in my nature
HOWEVER!!! As of today we are exactly 3 months out from our trip! Which means only 1 month out from making FP+!
Logically, my brain tells me that 3 months is hardly any time at all. But my heart is a whiney little you-know-whatsit that just keeps blathering on about how she wants it to be May NOW. Can't say as I blame her.
Soooo yeah. I don't really know what I should talk about next so I guess I'll just leave it there for now. How about ya'll tell me what you want me to write about and I'll do it tomorrow or Saturday. I can do our ADRs... my FP+ wishlist...I can start running down our basic daily plans...I can do our activity/snack/show wishlist...Help a sister out huh??​

 

[LinderInWonderland]

The One That's So Close, and Yet, So Far

Let me preface this update by making sure everybody understands that updating things like this on the daily is NOT really in my nature
HOWEVER!!! As of today we are exactly 3 months out from our trip! Which means only 1 month out from making FP+!
Logically, my brain tells me that 3 months is hardly any time at all. But my heart is a whiney little you-know-whatsit that just keeps blathering on about how she wants it to be May NOW. Can't say as I blame her.
Soooo yeah. I don't really know what I should talk about next so I guess I'll just leave it there for now. How about ya'll tell me what you want me to write about and I'll do it tomorrow or Saturday. I can do our ADRs... my FP+ wishlist...I can start running down our basic daily plans...I can do our activity/snack/show wishlist...Help a sister out huh??​

Ooh! Do activity/snack/show wishlist! I think that's what's going to be next for me. Or daydreaming about our Eating/Drinking Around the World Showcase day.

 

[kpearl]

Following along! Your daughter is the cutest. She looks just like you! Okay first off I can't believe this trip was a prize. This is the best prize of all prize history! and second if you haven't already stayed, you're going to l-o-v-e CBR. We stayed in Jamaica back in 2011 and I loved waking up every morning and walking through the jungle-y area to the food court. Plus the waterslide in the pool right next to the food court was fun. I may have gone down it one or two, or a dozen times.. I think you should do a snack list - I'm always curious to see what other people enjoy snacking on since there are so many options. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Daa]

Wow!! How amazing to win a trip and to Disney no less!!
Your daughter really does look so much like you. And she is super adorable! Cant wait to hear more of your plans! Oh and I think you should do your activity/snack/show wishlist! Sounds like fun!

 

[ariane37]

I vote for doing your ADR's but I'd take a look at your activity/snack/show wish list

 

[KathyM2]

Joining in here!! So excited for you...way to go on all those upgrades for free! How cool is that!

 

[KirbyLouWho]

The One with All the Wishes!
Hello again my Lovelies!!
Let me start by saying, oh my goodness! Aren't you all so sweet! I am so glad that The Dis is around for me to chat with wonderful people like y'all who just *get it.* I try to tell my brother about our plans but he just rolls his eyes, tell me he trusts me (he probably shouldn't! ) and that he'll just be along for the ride. BORING! Anyway, I know I told y'all I'd try to get my next post up Friday or Saturday & obviously that didn't happen. I've been applying to private schools to get Cloe in for JK in the fall and Friday was the day acceptance letters went out so things have been SUPER crazy. Y'all. This kid got accepted EVERYWHERE. And some of these places had a REALLY limited number of spots. So I guess now it's decision time. We have to turn in a contract somewhere by March 1st to secure her spot and I am kind of at a loss. So yeah. There's a little bit of a real life update for you, but NOW on to the fun stuff! My Wish Lists!! Let's just dive right in shall we? I apologize in advance that there probably won't be much in the way of photos/gifs in this posts as the majority of my wishes have to do with things I've never done/seen/eaten even in all my years visiting WDW. That said, the last list will be things that we HAVE done/had/etc so I might have a few photos with that. I don't know yet, we'll find out together when I get to that point lol.

I know what we all REALLY care about...FOOD! So here's my snack wishlist:
1. School Bread - I know; I KNOW. But y'all. I knew nothing of this when I was a kid, and the last two trips Kringla was so busy we couldn't get in the door.
2. a Dole Whip Float - again. I KNOW. In my defense my mom hates pineapple so that's probably why we never bothered when I was a kid (we shared any snacks in those days). Now as to why I didn't get one on the last two trips? No idea. I plead insanity.
3. Cake Cup
4. Fruit & Nutella Waffle from Sleepy Hollow
5. Churros
*since we'll be there during Flower & Garden the rest are from the list of what the outdoor kitchens will have this year*
6. House-made Potato and Cheddar Cheese Biscuit with Smoked Salmon Tartare
7. Corn Tortilla Quesadilla served with Roasted Mushrooms and Zucchini Blossom topped with Green Tomatillo Sauce
8. Gaoli Beef Bun
9. Mezze Lune Primavera: Egg Pasta stuffed with Ricotta and Spinach in a Creamy Sauce with Spring Vegetables and Pecorino Cheese
10. Warm Chocolate Cake with Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce and Spiced Pecans
11. Tarte à l’Onion Alsacienne: Alsatian Onion Tart with Sautéed Onions, Fresh Thyme and Rosemary on a Flaky Puff Pastry Crust



F&GOK Drink offerings:
1. Sparkling Pineapple Wine, Florida Orange Groves Winery, St. Petersburg, FL
2. Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade (Non-Alcoholic)
3. Oolong Peach Bubble Tea
4. Frozen Lemonade with Firefly Blackberry Moonshine
5. Yuzu Plum Wine Slushy: Sweet refreshing taste infused with the tangy flavor of Citru
6. Desert Rose: Sparkling Wine topped with Pomegranate Liqueur
7. La Vie en Rose Frozen Slush: Grey Goose Vodka Orange, St. Germain Liquor, White and Red Cranberry Juice

Activities & Attractions:
1. TSMM - I KNOW
2. Meeting Kylo Ren, Chewie & the Jawas at SWLB
3. Jungle Cruise
4. Meet Tiana & Merida (the only 2 princesses we've never met)
5. Ride BTMRR WITH Cloe - she'll finally be tall enough!!!!
6. Hug Baymax
7. Mission Space
8. Star Tours

Shows:
1. FOTLK
2. Finding Nemo
3. Fantasmic with Cloe
4. Symphony in the Stars

Things I HAVE to do again:
1. 7DMT - we only did it once on our last day last trip
2. EE - similarly, I was able to do this ONCE before leaving AK and I need to go after that yeti again!
3. Kilimanjaro Safari - we missed this last trip and we were very sad. We won't miss it this time!
4. RnRC - I can never do this enough times
5. TT - I haven't done this one since I was a kid & before they changed it. Time to do it again!


So Nope. I guess I didn't have any good photos to put in this one sorry Here, have a couple cute photos of Cloe from our past trips:







Next time I'll share our ADRs!
Until then,
XX
​

 

[kpearl]

I know what we all REALLY care about...FOOD! So here's my snack wishlist:
1. School Bread - I know; I KNOW. But y'all. I knew nothing of this when I was a kid, and the last two trips Kringla was so busy we couldn't get in the door.
2. a Dole Whip Float - again. I KNOW. In my defense my mom hates pineapple so that's probably why we never bothered when I was a kid (we shared any snacks in those days). Now as to why I didn't get one on the last two trips? No idea. I plead insanity.
3. Cake Cup
4. Fruit & Nutella Waffle from Sleepy Hollow
5. Churros

​

​

You're not alone - I haven't tried 3 (maybe 4? Not exactly sure what a "Cake Cup" Is ) out of your 5. What I have tried is the nutella waffle and it was ah-may-zing! Messy, but amazing. It is definitely something you need to sit down and enjoy with a lot of napkins

I'll be there for F&W as well. Have they announced the 2016 booths or are they usually the same from year to year??

 

[KirbyLouWho]

You're not alone - I haven't tried 3 (maybe 4? Not exactly sure what a "Cake Cup" Is ) out of your 5. What I have tried is the nutella waffle and it was ah-may-zing! Messy, but amazing. It is definitely something you need to sit down and enjoy with a lot of napkins

I'll be there for F&W as well. Have they announced the 2016 booths or are they usually the same from year to year??

This will be my first time there during F&G so I'm not sure if its the same or it changes, but Chip & Co posted this over the weekend: http://www.chipandco.com/2016-epcot...stival-outdoor-kitchen-menus-released-230302/

 

[kpearl]

This will be my first time there during F&G so I'm not sure if its the same or it changes, but Chip & Co posted this over the weekend: http://www.chipandco.com/2016-epcot...stival-outdoor-kitchen-menus-released-230302/

Whoops! I somehow got your dates mixed up and thought it was a Sept. trip. Sorry about that! I still love your snack choices and I hope some of those cocktails are the same for F&W

 

[KirbyLouWho]

Whoops! I somehow got your dates mixed up and thought it was a Sept. trip. Sorry about that! I still love your snack choices and I hope some of those cocktails are the same for F&W

No worries. Understandable little mixup. You'll have to tell us all about all the goodies you have at F&W!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Joining in on the planning. Your trip looks like a lot of fun and your daughter is sooooo cute. I remember when my daughter was cute like that. Now she is just a brat. So after reading you wish lists I must admit I am over here drooling. And I admit that I have not had the School bread either. Can't wait to read more.

 

[KirbyLouWho]

The One Where We Eat ALL the Things

Hello again, Lovelies!
I hope you're all having a happy hump day. I know I am. It's %100 official that Cloe will be attending my alma mater in the fall. We paid the deposit today and everything! While I'm happy to have it decided, and I *KNOW* it's great school, and I know a lot of the people who work there so it feels even more homey, I'll let you guys in on a little secret. While I love my school & am very glad of the education I got there, it just isn't my heart school for Cloe. As it turns out though, the school that IS doesn't offer any financial aid until first grade. And being a single mom & absolute sole provider for our little family I just couldn't swing tuition there right now. On the up side, I know we'll have a great couple of years first, and then my heart school has put Cloe on the top of the pile for admissions into the first grade class in 2018! So yay! I know it'll all work out how it's supposed to. And if Cloe falls in love with my school I would never *make* her leave, but she REALLY liked this other school as well. Anywho, sorry for the little bunny trail. I just thought maybe some of ya'll might be curious about how that was going since I mentioned it in my last post.

But moving right along!

I've told you about the things I know I WANT to try on this trip. Now it's time to tell you what we're for SURE eating! I'm talking ADRs people!

OH, wait...one quick little story..thing about these ADRs I want to tell y'all...

Too bad it's happening anyway

Sorry. Kidding.... Mostly
Annnnnnnyyyyway the point is this. As I've said in previous posts, this is my 3rd time going to WDW as an adult. This is ALSO my 3rd time being the person in charge of our MDE, making the ADRs/FP+ etc. The first time we went, there were seven of us and it was Thanksgiving. We knew the crowds would be bonkers so we kind of just took whatever we could get ADR wise (we were staying off site & it was 2013 so no FP+ for us at all at this point). On our most recent trip, there were only 3 of us and we were going just BEFORE Thanksgiving. SLIGHTLY less busy, but frankly, not by much. That trip was when I discovered the DIS. It was also the trip that my foodie aunt and I KNEW we NEEDED to try some of the restaurants we'd been hearing about that we missed the first time around. Basically imagine me sitting at my computer all day every day for MONTHS hitting refresh on open internet tabs...most for the restaurant/days we wanted, but also for the November ADR thread on here. Just sitting, waiting, wishing that something would come up. By the week of our trip we finally DID get everything we wanted including CRT & ppo BOG (twice!).
This time has been such a different experience I didn't even know what to do with myself. You see, part of claiming the prize of the trip was that it *had* to be taken before August 31st, BUT it also had to be at *least* 45 days out from when we accepted. We were told we won in mid-January. That doesn't leave TONS of options y'all. But we picked our days because they seemed to be off peak times & were happy we got what we wanted. But I was really nervous about trying to make ADRs since I knew that 180 day mark was LONG past. Y'all. We made a list of ADRs we wanted to TRY to get. I figured it would be the same hunt & search & beg & plead & hope situation as last time. Oh contraire mon fraire! Literally EVERY. SINGLE. THING. we wanted was READILY available at ANY time on ANY day we wanted this trip. I mean. What even???? I didn't even have to TRY, I just GOT everything. And then a week or so later when we decided to play with times a little? BOOM. Zero issues. Same story. It's bananas.
So without further ado (I'm sorry I've droned on for so long already), let's look at our ADRs!

Wednesday May 18th (travel/check-in day)
7:20 dinner at Trattoria al Forno
Thursday May 19th
8:25 breakfast at 'Ohana
1:15 lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
7:15 dinner at Raglan Road
Friday May 20th
8:20 breakfast at Tusker House
12:45 lunch at Yak & Yeti
7:30 dinner at San Angel Inn
Saturday May 21st
9:00 breakfast at Garden Grill
1:45 F! lunch at Hollywood & Vine
7:15 dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe
Sunday May 22nd (departure day)
8:10 breakfast at Park Fare
11:30 lunch at T-Rex

Garden Grill will be our ONLY repeat meal. Say what you will but we love it. And while we HAVE been to Tusker House we've only been for dinner so breakfast will be a nice change of pace. We're all really looking forward to trying things we've never done before. Oh! And I forgot to mention. Since we're not spending on the trip itself we decided to splurge and get the DxDP! I know. I know. That's an OBSCENE amount of food. But we want to be able to try a bit of basically, literally EVERYTHING and this is how we're going to do it!

84 days to go! 24 until I can make our FP+! ANy guess what they'll be??
Until next time!
XX
​