Waiting patiently (NOT) for our Grand Gathering trip in 4 days!

[janloz]

Yay!

I can't wait to read it!!!

Aw, sick is no fun! Everyone here is sick too.

They better be Disney movies!

It was a Disney movie, Cinderella. We are trying to watch the movies DD hasn't seen in a while prior to going to WDW. Helps get everyone in the mood.

 

[janloz]

Ok, more of the fun stuff, here are some the extra things we are planning to do:

Saturday (arrival day): I ordered gift baskets for Shark and Bear from Memories by Betsy to be delivered on Saturday. Here is a picture of the completed baskets she sent me.

Shark is really into Star Wars Legos right now so his has:
Free Birthday Button
Lego Star Wars Kit
Jedi Mickey Plush
Light Saber Keychain
2 Star Wars Trading Pins
Star Wars Action Figure

Bear's has:
High School Musical Minnie Plush
2 High School Musical Trading Pins
Light Up Tiara
Hello Kitty Coloring Book
Hello Kitty backpack velcro friends

I think they turned out great and the kids will be so excited.

Sunday is EMH late in HS so I got a 7:05pm ADR at 50PT so we could go early and see some of the Osborne Lights or if we arrive later then go see them after the ADR, whatever works out better.

Monday we have Candlelight Processional ADR at Teppan Edo so we will see the show and hopefully stay for Illuminations unless we already see it on Saturday night.

Tuesday is the special night out for DH and myself without the kids. I think we will need by then...

Wednesday is Shark's 11th bday. I was able to get an early ADR at Cape May with all of us at one table. This is where Aunt Sue will surprise kids, she is flying in the night before and will meet up with us for breakfast. I booked a Celebration Cruise for that night after ADR at WCC.

Thursday is BBB day for Bear and LEGO store for Shark. Granny Joyce will be doing the Yultide Tour that day. I told her my Dis friends would be expecting a full report so she better take notes. We will be attending the MVMCP that night.

Friday we are doing the Behind the seeds tour in the Land. Then the ladies are doing the Afternoon tea at GF, I think the boys will be riding the small boats out of the marina when we have tea.

Next up, what parks/what days.......

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

I came over when I saw your link from your post in my ptr. Great PTR so far! I can not wait to read more about your plans and then really can't wait for your dining report!
We are excited about deluxe dining too but a little scared. It just seems like SO MUCH food!

 

[janloz]

I came over when I saw your link from your post in my ptr. Great PTR so far! I can not wait to read more about your plans and then really can't wait for your dining report!
We are excited about deluxe dining too but a little scared. It just seems like SO MUCH food!

Thanks for coming over! We are a little nervous about Dxl too but are doing early breakfast each day (8am each day), and a sit down dinner around 6-7pm each night. We have ADRs for lunch each day but if we aren't that hungry for TS, we will cancel and just grab something from CS. We are planning to use our Lunch ADR as the break in our day. We have 3 seniors in our group and figured it was a good alternative to going all the way back to POP mid-day. We will see how it works. My kids eat 3 meals each day anyway so whether TS or CS we will be eating 3 times a day plus snacks.

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Ok, more of the fun stuff, here are some the extra things we are planning to do:

Saturday (arrival day): I ordered gift baskets for Shark and Bear from Memories by Betsy to be delivered on Saturday. Here is a picture of the completed baskets she sent me.

Shark is really into Star Wars Legos right now so his has:
Free Birthday Button
Lego Star Wars Kit
Jedi Mickey Plush
Light Saber Keychain
2 Star Wars Trading Pins
Star Wars Action Figure

Bear's has:
High School Musical Minnie Plush
2 High School Musical Trading Pins
Light Up Tiara
Hello Kitty Coloring Book
Hello Kitty backpack velcro friends

I think they turned out great and the kids will be so excited.

Sunday is EMH late in HS so I got a 7:05pm ADR at 50PT so we could go early and see some of the Osborne Lights or if we arrive later then go see them after the ADR, whatever works out better.

Monday we have Candlelight Processional ADR at Teppan Edo so we will see the show and hopefully stay for Illuminations unless we already see it on Saturday night.

Tuesday is the special night out for DH and myself without the kids. I think we will need by then...

Wednesday is Shark's 11th bday. I was able to get an early ADR at Cape May with all of us at one table. This is where Aunt Sue will surprise kids, she is flying in the night before and will meet up with us for breakfast. I booked a Celebration Cruise for that night after ADR at WCC.

Thursday is BBB day for Bear and LEGO store for Shark. Granny Joyce will be doing the Yultide Tour that day. I told her my Dis friends would be expecting a full report so she better take notes. We will be attending the MVMCP that night.

Friday we are doing the Behind the seeds tour in the Land. Then the ladies are doing the Afternoon tea at GF, I think the boys will be riding the small boats out of the marina when we have tea.

Next up, what parks/what days.......

I love these! What is memories by betsy? I want to get Joshua something like this.

 

[janloz]

Ok, on with the Daily plans:

Saturday, 11/29: Our flight is at 8:15am then we connect through Charlotte and are scheduled to arrive in Orlando at 12:50pm. Sidenote: We booked our flights in January before the airlines started charging for baggage so we get to bring 8 bags for free. I think we will pack 6 bags half full each so we have room to bring back "stuff" without going over weight. We are taking ME to POP.
Inlaws flight is 7am through Chicago arriving in Orlando at 2:35pm. They will also take ME to POP. We are hoping that our room is ready but if not, we will change clothes and take bus over to Epcot since we don't want to be at hotel when inlaws arrive since it is a surprise.

We will see how the lines are at Future World area for Test Track and Soarin, if not too long we will ride a few things there like Turtle talk with Crush and maybe Living with the Land. Then we will head into the world showcase. Since we have our dinner ADR at Le Cellier we will head to the Right. When we were in Epcot in 2006, we really didn't spend alot of time exploring the countries other then the Kidcot locations and the press penny machines. Raise your hand if your family with young kids are the same. We are hoping to spend more time in each of the countries this year and explore them and find the really cool things in each store. We will spend the whole day Monday in Epcot as well.
Around 6:15pm we will head over to Le Cellier to check in, I have to call the manager to see if he has any suggestions about how we can surprise the kids at dinner. DH & I are still trying to figure out the best time to have his parents surprise the kids, before or at dinner. Any suggestions?

After dinner, we will probably just head back to POP to avoid the crowds for the buses since we will be up early in the morning for our flights. We plan to stay at Epcot on Monday night after Candlelight Processional to see Illuminations.

Also, at some point on Saturday we will have to rescue Nemo (the fridge from the fridge swap I organize) from LS. Another reason, I hope our room is available when we get there. I have also placed an order with Garden grocer that will be delivered that day.

Sounds like more then enough for first day and enough for tonight since I need some sleep. More tomorrow.......

 

[janloz]

I love these! What is memories by betsy? I want to get Joshua something like this.

She is actually a Dis Mom. Check out her website: www.memoriesbybetsy.com for all the details. I called her at 10am (she was in Epcot, they live in area) and I explained what I wanted and said DD was big fan of the Hello Kitty stuff in Japan so she even went over there to get some stuff for her. By 9pm that same night, she sent me photo of the 2 baskets and sent me invoice by Paypal. It wasn't cheap but she doesn't upcharge, you pay what she pays and then charges $25 for first and $10 for each additional which includes delivery to resort. She has alot of the items she can include on the site and will tailor to your needs/wants. I asked her to deliver on arrival day so they didn't seem like bday present for DS but more like "Welcome to Disney" presents for both.

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Those baskets sound great! Thanks for sharing I will check them out!

 

[janloz]

Ok, onto next day plan, Sunday, Nov 30th:

We have 8:20am ADR at Crystal Palace so we could get pictures on Main St and in front of the castle without too many people in them. We have planned most of the day in MK and plan to ride: Pirates, BTMR, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mtn, Cournty Bear, HM, Small World, Mic key's Philharmagic, Carrousel, Railroad, Monsters, Space Mtn, and Buzz. According to Ridemax, we can get it all in between 9am-3pm with break for lunch. We are planning to have Lunch at Tony's Town Tavern. I debated a long time between having lunch at TTT and Liberty Tree Tavern. Don't tell but I had made ADRs at both (I know, please no flaming.) and went back and force between the two and finally decided on TTT since Bear's main food group is pasta and there seemed to be more on the menu that appealed to everyone. After lunch, we plan to return to POP for a break and get ready for late EMH at HS. I would like to arrive in time to see Osborne Lights which I think is 5:30pm and walk around HS for a while (maybe get FP for TSM) then we have 50PT at 7:05pm. After dinner we will hit a few rides if park is not too busy then head back to POP for bed.

Monday, Dec 1st:

The girls have 8:30am ADR at Akerhaus Princess breakfast to kick off our day in Epcot. Again before the park opens so cool pictures of empty parks. Boys will be going to WCC for 8:30am then meet us at Epcot. Here is Bear's dress for the breakfast:

We plan to visit Test Track, Mission Space (Green side), Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Turtle Talk with Crush, Soarin, Living with the Land in Future World. According to Ride Max, we should be able to get these done in the morning.

We have 11:40am ADR at Coral Reef. The first bday surprise for Shark will happen here. I worked with Debbi at CR and arranged diver to come down in the tank during lunch with "Happy 11th Birthday" sign plus personalized menus for Shark, Bear, DH, my mom & inlaws. We ate at CR during our last trip for dinner and wanted to include it againt this trip but changed to lunch.

After lunch, I had originally booked the Behind the Seeds Tour in the Land but thought it would be too much for one day so changed it to Friday. This way if inlaws want to go back to POP to rest they have that option. I am hoping the rest at lunch and excitement will give the kids the energy to continue onto the World Showcase. We have 5:30pm ADR at Teppan Edo which includes the Candlelight Processional tickets. Our family love hibachi restuarants and DH & I ate here on our honeymoom so we are dying to try again. We will then attend CLP and hopefully make it to Illuminations if we didn't see on Saturday.

Up next AK day.....

 

[mybabesuz]

We plan to visit Test Track, Mission Space (Green side), Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Turtle Talk with Crush, Soarin, Living with the Land in Future World. According to Ride Max, we should be able to get these done in the morning.

We have 11:40am ADR at Coral Reef.

You're planning on doing all that in TWO hours...
Can't wait to read that RIDEMAX... Put on your running shoes...
Breakfast will take an hour easy... By the time you get seated...Get your food...Eat... Pay...
So say you're out of there by 9:30... Lunch check in 11:30...
Let's see... Rides with a minimum wait...
Test track... 15min. wait..5min. ride...
Mission Space... 10 min. wait...6 min. ride...
SpaceShip Earth... might want to save this one... 15min. wait...15 min. ride...
Add some walking time between rides... Looking at your pictures from the ride...Plus there are the pavilions...Lots to see...
A better plan might be to check out fast pass times for test track and mission space... and don't forget Soaring...

Two hours go by in a flash...
Even just doing Nemo and Crush takes an hour easily...
Just walking through the line to Nemo takes 10 minutes with no line...
12 minute ride...15 minutes to look at the fish and wait for Crush...
10-15 minutes for show...

 

[Mocharilla]

You're planning on doing all that in TWO hours...
Can't wait to read that RIDEMAX... Put on your running shoes...
Breakfast will take an hour easy... By the time you get seated...Get your food...Eat... Pay...
So say you're out of there by 9:30... Lunch check in 11:30...
Let's see... Rides with a minimum wait...
Test track... 15min. wait..5min. ride...
Mission Space... 10 min. wait...6 min. ride...
SpaceShip Earth... might want to save this one... 15min. wait...15 min. ride...
Add some walking time between rides... Looking at your pictures from the ride...Plus there are the pavilions...Lots to see...
A better plan might be to check out fast pass times for test track and mission space... and don't forget Soaring...

Two hours go by in a flash...
Even just doing Nemo and Crush takes an hour easily...
Just walking through the line to Nemo takes 10 minutes with no line...
12 minute ride...15 minutes to look at the fish and wait for Crush...
10-15 minutes for show...

If Ridemax says you can do it, you can! My schedule for Epcot was like that and I was shocked at how right it was!

 

[janloz]

You're planning on doing all that in TWO hours...
Can't wait to read that RIDEMAX... Put on your running shoes...
Breakfast will take an hour easy... By the time you get seated...Get your food...Eat... Pay...
So say you're out of there by 9:30... Lunch check in 11:30...
Let's see... Rides with a minimum wait...
Test track... 15min. wait..5min. ride...
Mission Space... 10 min. wait...6 min. ride...
SpaceShip Earth... might want to save this one... 15min. wait...15 min. ride...
Add some walking time between rides... Looking at your pictures from the ride...Plus there are the pavilions...Lots to see...
A better plan might be to check out fast pass times for test track and mission space... and don't forget Soaring...

Two hours go by in a flash...
Even just doing Nemo and Crush takes an hour easily...
Just walking through the line to Nemo takes 10 minutes with no line...
12 minute ride...15 minutes to look at the fish and wait for Crush...
10-15 minutes for show...

I know there is NO way we will get all that done in 2 hours, but a girl can hope. Last time we spent about an hour in the Living Seas just walking around. I don't think Ride Max takes that into account, just going from Ride to ride. I am using it more as an outline of the order we should do the rides so we have a plan.

 

[janloz]

Another ADR to add to the list:

12/1 8:25am WCC for the boys for breakfast.

When I was going over the plan with Shark & DH and he says, "Well, where are we going to eat while the girls are eating with the princesses? Why don't you call Disney and see what you can get for Dad & I?" Yeah, sure, no problem.

So this morning, back on the phone with Disney Dining and got the nicest gentleman, Don on the phone. We tried Chef Mickey, nothing, no surprise. So I give him the other breakfast ADRs we have and he says, "What about WCC?" I never even thought of it for breakfast since we are going there for dinner. "Sure! What times are available?" "8:25am, 8:45am, etc" I'll take 8:25am, then the guys can take the bus from WL to Epcot to meet up with us. Plus we love the WL so it gives them another chance to see it. I hope to one day stay there. When DS came home from school, he was so excited. And I got the

 

[Mocharilla]

I know there is NO way we will get all that done in 2 hours, but a girl can hope. Last time we spent about an hour in the Living Seas just walking around. I don't think Ride Max takes that into account, just going from Ride to ride. I am using it more as an outline of the order we should do the rides so we have a plan.

That's sort of what we did. We didn't follow the minute-by-minute unless it was all time sensitive stuff. We didn't walk around the LS, so we didn't have to deal with that. You can always schedule "breaks" where you know you'll want extra time. We knew some places we would want extra time for things like that, and just scheduled a "break" then.

 

[janloz]

That's sort of what we did. We didn't follow the minute-by-minute unless it was all time sensitive stuff. We didn't walk around the LS, so we didn't have to deal with that. You can always schedule "breaks" where you know you'll want extra time. We knew some places we would want extra time for things like that, and just scheduled a "break" then.

I still have to spend some time playing on their site, the Dec days of our trip is still not available on RideMax so I will have to do that closer to departure date. We have some "Must Dos" and if we have to give up some of the "want to dos" for those, that's ok. So far, our Friday is open for the purpose of seeing those things we still want to do but didn't have time.

 

[janloz]

Ok, on with the daily plans:

Tuesday, Dec 2nd:

We are starting our day with Boma in AKL for breakfast. I have always wanted to see AKL but knew our family would not eat "african inspired" foods. Then I saw MickeyNicki's dining report which included Boma's breakfast buffet. When I showed Bear the pictures she said, "That looks like heaven, can we please eat there?" So this is where we will begin our day, we will probably take a taxi from POP to AKL so we don't have to deal with Disney transportation and switching buses that early in the morning.

After Breakfast, we will take bus from AKL to AK. We hope to see:

kilimanjaro Safaris
The Oasis
Either Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo
Pangani Trail
Maharajah jungle Trek
Primeval Whirl

Maybe It's Tough to be a Bug but Bear Freaked out when we did this last time so it might be tough to get her back on it.

We are planning to have quick lunch at Flame Tree BBQ and basically explore the park.

Then it will be back to POP for quick rest and change of clothes for Dinner since this is the night we split up for dinner. We will all take the bus over to MK and then take the Monorail to Contemporary to drop off:

Shark, DMIL, DFIL are going to Chef Mickey's, since we cancelled our Bday breakfast ADR here, the rest of us will not eat there this trip.

Then continue to GF for:

DH & I will make sure Bear and Granny Joyce get to 1900's Park Place at 6:05pm, this is a surprise for her since she doesn't know inlaws are coming so I can't tell her they are going here without Mark. I'm not sure if she will wear her Cinderella dress again here but we will see how it goes at the breakfast. I have good and bad about the food here but she is going more for the character interaction and if they have pasta and chicken tenders she is good to go. I am considering ordering the yellow cake with white chocolate castle that I saw on the cake thread since I know Shark will get so many surprises this trip. I'll let you know.

Dh & I will explore the GF for a while before our 6:50pm ADR at Narcoossees alone. I think I had the most problem picking this ADR, I originally had Le Cellier for our night out but then when we got the one for arrival day, I decided to change it. I considered Yachtman's, Tutto Italia, Flying Fish too but decided to try Narcoossees after seeing several great reviews. I still rethink this one every so often but we will keep it. After dinner, I would like to walk over to Poly so we can watch Christmas Wishes and then the Water Parade on the 7 Seas Lagoon then maybe a drink or two at Poly. None of the parks are open past 9:30pm on this night (MK has MVMCP) and No PI so we will probably head back to POP after drinks.

Up next, Shark's birthday!

 

[Mocharilla]

Ok, on with the daily plans:

Tuesday, Dec 2nd:

We are starting our day with Boma in AKL for breakfast. I have always wanted to see AKL but knew our family would not eat "african inspired" foods. Then I saw MickeyNicki's dining report which included Boma's breakfast buffet. When I showed Bear the pictures she said, "That looks like heaven, can we please eat there?" So this is where we will begin our day, we will probably take a taxi from POP to AKL so we don't have to deal with Disney transportation and switching buses that early in the morning.

After Breakfast, we will take bus from AKL to AK. We hope to see:

kilimanjaro Safaris
The Oasis
Either Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo
Pangani Trail
Maharajah jungle Trek
Primeval Whirl

Maybe It's Tough to be a Bug but Bear Freaked out when we did this last time so it might be tough to get her back on it.

We are planning to have quick lunch at Flame Tree BBQ and basically explore the park.

Then it will be back to POP for quick rest and change of clothes for Dinner since this is the night we split up for dinner. We will all take the bus over to MK and then take the Monorail to Contemporary to drop off:

Shark, DMIL, DFIL are going to Chef Mickey's, since we cancelled our Bday breakfast ADR here, the rest of us will not eat there this trip.

Then continue to GF for:

DH & I will make sure Bear and Granny Joyce get to 1900's Park Place at 6:05pm, this is a surprise for her since she doesn't know inlaws are coming so I can't tell her they are going here without Mark. I'm not sure if she will wear her Cinderella dress again here but we will see how it goes at the breakfast. I have good and bad about the food here but she is going more for the character interaction and if they have pasta and chicken tenders she is good to go. I am considering ordering the yellow cake with white chocolate castle that I saw on the cake thread since I know Shark will get so many surprises this trip. I'll let you know.

Dh & I will explore the GF for a while before our 6:50pm ADR at Narcoossees alone. I think I had the most problem picking this ADR, I originally had Le Cellier for our night out but then when we got the one for arrival day, I decided to change it. I considered Yachtman's, Tutto Italia, Flying Fish too but decided to try Narcoossees after seeing several great reviews. I still rethink this one every so often but we will keep it. After dinner, I would like to walk over to Poly so we can watch Christmas Wishes and then the Water Parade on the 7 Seas Lagoon then maybe a drink or two at Poly. None of the parks are open past 9:30pm on this night (MK has MVMCP) and No PI so we will probably head back to POP after drinks.

Up next, Shark's birthday!

Sounds like fun!!!

I read the same DR by MickeyNicki. It did look so good!

 

[mybabesuz]

I Love AKL and Boma...
You really should try to see both Lion King and Nemo...
They are both fantastic...
We did the 1:00 Lion King Show and the 3:15 Nemo Show
and it was perfect timing to walk out and see the Parade...
We did the Tusker house breakfast... Safari, Pangani Trail, Maharajah jungle Trek...Pocahontas (gone)...Lion King... Lunch...
Dinoland stuff...Triceratop spin...Boneyard... Then Nemo...Then the Parade...
We had lots of time to spare...We had 9:00 ADR for Breakfast so didn't even start until 10:00am...
We still had plenty of time... It was probably our most relaxing day...

 

[janloz]

I Love AKL and Boma...
You really should try to see both Lion King and Nemo...
They are both fantastic...
We did the 1:00 Lion King Show and the 3:15 Nemo Show
and it was perfect timing to walk out and see the Parade...
We did the Tusker house breakfast... Safari, Pangani Trail, Maharajah jungle Trek...Pocahontas (gone)...Lion King... Lunch...
Dinoland stuff...Triceratop spin...Boneyard... Then Nemo...Then the Parade...
We had lots of time to spare...We had 9:00 ADR for Breakfast so didn't even start until 10:00am...
We still had plenty of time... It was probably our most relaxing day...

Thanks for the heads up. I don't know if I will be able to get the guys to see both shows but you never know. Weird thing, Dave HATES parades. We didn't see any of them except Spectromagic on our last trip mostly because he doesn't want to see them. But then again, we have my new motto for this trip: "Everyone has a cell phone and if you don't want to go where I am going or see what I want to see, go your own way and call me when you want to meet up!" This way everyone gets to do & see what they want and not feel obligated to stay with the group if they would rather be doing something else. Less hurt feelings and arguements this way.

 

[janloz]

Oh, Forgot important detail about Tuesday, Aunt Sue will be flying in late and arrive at POP around 11pm to surprise Shark for his birthday. Since MIL/FIL's tickets were booked in January, they each get 2 free bags each so they will be bringing Aunt Sue's bag down for her early so she doesn't have to wait for ME to delivery it. She will just have her carry-on bag with necessities for that night and Poppy will deliver her bag Wednesday morning.

You may have noticed a pattern to our dining ADRS, (maybe not )we are going to almost all buffets for breakfast and all non-buffets for lunch & dinner. There is a method to my madness. On our last trip, we had several buffets for dinner which meant: Me taking 2 plates (one for each child) and walking through the buffet with them, filling their plates and then bring the plates & kids back to the table while Dave gets his plate and meets us back at the table. then I am off to the buffet to get my dinner by the time I get back to the table, the kids are done eating and want to go get dessert. Which means cold food for me. Plus it is a lot of running around after long day in the park, not very relaxing. So this time, buffets for breakfast (kids can carry their own plates this time!) and only ADRs where someone brings the food to the table for dinner which gives everyone a nice break after long park days.