We can stay an extra night for HOW much? New Years 2012/13 NEW 12/24

[lisatav]

So Ive never posted a trip report or anything like this online so here it goes. My first ever PRE-TRIP REPORT! Whoo! Maybe someone will read it?

The cast
I'm Lisa. I'm 21 (will be 22 on the trip). I'm currently a senior in college, finishing up my degree is nursing. Ive been a huge Disney fan all my life and have been over 12 times. My real Disney passion began three years ago when I started listening to a certain podcast, ever since then I've been a huge Disney nerd and have loved being in this fandom. I'm also a huge foodie so I can't wait to try all the holiday snacks!
Favorite movie- It has always been Beauty and the Beast. I love to read and have brown hair so it was a match made in heaven. When I was 10 years old I saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway and I told everyone that when I grow up I was going to play Belle on Broadway!!! Ready for some pictures?

Me then

Me now (on left)

Who will I be traveling with this time?

My mother that is!


Mom- Mom has been to Disney almost more times than I can count. Her first time was in 1971 and has gone almost every year since then. Mom lives in FL so she has an AP and takes good advantage of it! (If only I lived in Florida too) Moms favorite time to be in WDW is the Epcot flower and garden show, since it always falls over her birthday! I'm extremely jealous that she gets to visit so often and try to live vicariously through her!

Other cast you may see- My brother Michael (20) and sister Ashley (17)-
Its a tad complicated but my siblings and I are flying down to Florida to spend Christmas with mom. Dsis and DBro will be flying home the day that Mom and I check in to our resort& however, there may be a chance I get to do a solo day at the parks since Dbro and Dsis may want to venture over to the dark side (IOA yeiks!) They will be joining us on one of our ADRs (Hint hint wink wink!)
Us then-

Us now-

Sorry no Disney pic!




The Dates!
We will be in WDW from 12/30/12-12/3/13 Our first real new years in the parks!
(short trip but something is better than nothing!)
Okay so we've got introductions and the dates down- Next time Ill do the resort!

I'm still figuring out this who posting business so please bear with me while I learn!​

 

[lisatav]

I'm going to attempt to do update links here.
THE CAST
THE RESORT
THE TITLE IS EXPLAINED!
THE ADRs
Day 1, Tea and MK
Day 2 & 3
A TRIP TO THE DISNEY STORE NYC

 

[lisatav]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Now onto the planning!

The resort!

Like any good Dis-er we are staying at……..

Pop Century!


Mom and I love this resort. It will be my 3rd time (last two were January 2010 & 2012) and mom’s first. In 2010, she drove down to meet me and a friend, so she go to tour it with us. We’ve staying at the All-stars but always prefer Pop. We’ll probably venture over to AOA. Mom and I agreed to save as much money so we can have nicer meals.

As its Christmas time the hotel prices are out of control. At first mom and I agreed we would stay on property for two night and move off the last night. Well just a few days ago mom called and said she could switch my flight from the 2nd to the 3rd for the same price! An extra day in Disney? How could I pass that up? Unfortunately, I didn’t think we could afford another night at Pop so we’d be off property for the last two nights however that changes! That story I’ll save for the next post! It’s also the reason for the PTR title!!

Next time- THE REASON FOR THE TITLE!
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[lisatav]

We can stay an extra night for HOW much?!?! The Story.

Our original plans were two nights at Pop and one night off. We were going to do the 3rd night off since my original flight back to NY was at 7:30 am Mom called me a week ago and said that she could switch my flight for no difference in price and it’s a later flight? Whoo hoo! Who would pass up an extra day? So like I said in the previous post, I figured there was no way we could afford the holiday prices to stay on property again. BUT!!!!!! Mom called me and told me to book the 3rd and 4th night! My mom never ever offers to pay extra for anything so this was a huge shock!

I called that day and the Disney agent was so super helpful with extending our trip, it was beyond easy. What’s the best part of this? … There is an AP discount on the night of the 4th! When she told me the AP discount price I started freaking out. Who would have thought that the price drops by more then 50% from one day to another! So if you were wondering, we went from 195 to 74 dollars (with tax) for the 4th night!! After I booked that reservation I was gitty and called my mother right away. She knew about the AP discount when she told me to extend but didn't realize the rate was that good (especially after New Years).

The bad part is we have to check out and check back in for the AP discount but for saving that much money who cares! The agent put in a request that we would not like to move rooms so fingers crossed. That extra 100+ dollars will definitely be spent on food and souvenirs


Next update will be my favorite part- The ADRs
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[lisatav]

Food time!

So we don’t have too many ADRs but the ones we have I am very happy with.
We originally had an ADR at raglan Road for Christmas night but that was cancelled since my mom doesn’t’ want to stay in Orlando that night. Oh well.

The other ADRs are:

Afternoon Tea @ the GF

So the tea is a surprise for my mom. I think she knows now what we’re doing but she’s keeping quiet about it. I'm treating mom to the tea for her Christmas gift. I think I will probably get the Grand Tea. From AllEars-
The Grand Tea - The classic English tradition of Afternoon Tea, Grand Floridian style. We offer you a variety of tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts, followed by your choice of our freshly baked tea pastries or English trifle, accompanied by a glass of Domaine Ste.-Michelle sparkling wine and your choice of tea.

I have a feeling mom will get the same. Although I'm not sure if she will have tea since we both prefer coffee. I’ve heard of people getting a pressed pot of coffee instead of tea so I think mom will do that. If mom gets coffee I’ll probably get a black tea. Since my trip to England I’ve loved black tea with milk/cream. After this we’ll tour the resort and head over to spend the night at the Magic Kingdom.


Dinner at via Napoli

This ADR is for New Year’s Eve. Everyone kept saying how important it was to have an ADR for New Year’s Eve so Via Napoli it is. I wanted to go to beargarten but my mom’s already been there. We’ll probably slip the individual pizza and get a few apps to go with it. We are really big pizza snobs since mom and I are from NY, so I hope this lives up to what everyone says. Since mom moved to Florida she hasn’t found pizza she likes so let’s hope this is amazing! I also want to try the Arancini. My grandmother makes a similar dish with rice and mozzarella in the middle. From the pictures I’ve seen it looks the same except Via Napoli’s has meat. We may try the Eggplant Caponata or the Fritto di Verdura - crisp fried vegetables. Honestly, I think the appetizer menu looks better than the entrees.

and

Breakfast at Kona

This one was a last minute addition. It’s for the morning after New Years. I'm not sure we’ll actually make this ADR but I'm going to try very very hard to. We made it for late morning, 9:30AM. I'm thinking I’ll have the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes but if mom doesn’t get the Tonga Toast I might order that instead.
Something you should probably know about my mom is although she likes food, she’s just not a foodie like me. She rather save money then spend it on good food. I'm lucky I got her to agree to 2 ADRs this trip. When I go without her one day I’ll eat at the places I want more.


I'm thinking I will try and make one more ADR but I'm not sure. I would really like to eat at Boma my last night but we want to see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights too.

Next time I think I’ll do our Itinerary.
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[shalom]

Like any good Dis-er we are staying at……..

Pop Century!

I must be a bad Dis-er.

We'll be visiting there for the tie-dyed cheesecake, though.

Afternoon Tea @ the GF

Rumor has it they no longer use the Old English Rose china there. But I'm going to see if we eldest and I can get in there one day anyhow -- don't like making ADRs so we'll see how that goes.

New Year's Eve in Epcot -- you guys are brave!

Honestly, I think the appetizer menu looks better than the entrees.

I think that about most TS menus. The appetizers and desserts look interesting, the entrees just do nothing for me. Although when it comes to dinner, if I've spent the day in the park, appetizer and dessert will likely be enough of a meal for me anyhow.

I'm thinking I’ll have the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes but if mom doesn’t get the Tonga Toast I might order that instead.

I haven't had them at Kona, but I made the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes with the recipe in the Official Disney Recipes thread here, and they are deadly. Have you ever heard the Bill Cosby thing about cake for breakfast -- those pancakes are cake for breakfast! They were really good, but I made them for dinner, because I am not into that much decadence for breakfast.

My husband hates eating out, which is a problem, because I'd like to try a few bites of Tonga Toast but I think he's the only one I could ever convince to get it! Maybe I could talk him into a romantic breakfast for just the two of us at Kona. Make the reservation late enough it could be "second breakfast", and I could order the pancakes! Now I gotta track down my Unofficial Guide and find out what the breakfast hours are there... I'll give you the credit for this genius inspiration if it ever works out.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Joining in!

 

[lisatav]

New Year's Eve in Epcot -- you guys are brave!

I won't lie and say i'm not nervous for NYE in Epcot but then i'm only in college once so I might as well do it now! Thanks for the responses!

Joining in!

Thanks so much!

 

[lisatav]

So not only was yesterday my 22nd BIRTHDAY but it was also a day of tragedy . As a soon to be nurse I give my condolences to those effected and my prayers are with the Newtown community. I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing sick children these past few months I spent at the children’s hospital. To hear of children that aren’t sick losing their lives is sickening.

Now onto the fun stuff!

Our first day’s plans:

We are driving down to Orlando sometime this morning or the night before. My mom hasn’t finalized that detail yet! Get on it girl! Okay so we say goodbye to Dbro and Dsis around 12AM since their flight is at 2ish. After we drop them off and know they are through security its Disney time BABY! We’ll head over to Pop and check in. I assume we’ll have lunch after that but not too much because we have BIG plans for later! After we are settled in, assuming our room is ready we’ll hop the bus to the MK. But that won’t be our first destination. It’s time for a tea party! By this point Mom will know about my surprise Christmas gift of the Afternoon Tea at Garden View Tea Room. Our ADR is for 3:40. I'm assuming we’ll be there for an hour max. I wrote about our food choices above so feel free to take a look at this if you haven’t already. After tea we’ll spend some time around the GF looking at the Christmas decorations and the gingerbread house.

Then, we’ll hop the monorail back over to the Magic Kingdom for the night. Let me preface this by saying we don’t expect to do a ton of attractions this trip. We’re conscious of the crowds and have agreed to take it slow and not stress if we don’t do everything. My goals for this first night is to ride the TTA, make mom sit through Carousel of Progress (I'm a sucker for a catchy tune), ride the haunted mansion, the Jungle Cruise and, see the pre-new year’s eve fireworks, and hopefully check out new fantasyland. Anything else we do this night will just be a bonus if you ask me. We’ll be back to the MK on our last day, and hopefully the crowds will be less then.

Our next day in New Years Eve in EPCOT! Until then!

<3 Lisa
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[lisatav]

It’s been a crazy few days. I leave for FL in 3 days and I check-in in 8. Woooo whooo!!! Funny story, I went to the Disney store yesterday to get a giftcard to put some money aside and the cast member checking me out will also be at Epcot on NYE. What a small world. She’s staying at AKL though.

Our next day is 12/31/12.

EPCOT!

(This is mom and I in 2010)

My mom is not an early person and I am (well only at Disney) so the plan for the day is for me to make it to epcot by 9:30 while mom spends the morning in the hotel room. I have created a touring plan to get through epcot on New Year’s Eve. The only attraction I really want to do is test track. This touring plan is more ambitious than it should but go hard or go home right? The touring plan has the majority highlight attraction so start by grabbing a FP for test track and then heading to world showcase to do maelstrom,. Then I’ll go to the land pavilion and grad a FP for living with the land or hop on if the line isn’t longer than 30 minutes. By then I’ll get some food too. Then use the test tract FP and do journey into imagination (which I have never done!). Hopefully by this point mom will join we and I’ll stop using the TP. Other attractions I’ll do are the seas pavilion, the movies in WS and spaceship earth. This night we have a 7:45 ADR for Via Napoli. I'm sure the night will be spent in WS with all the DJs set up and having a few of my favorite adult beverages, France slushy I'm looking at you . I have a feeling mom won’t make it all day or else she’ll just get to the park later in the day. That’s no worries for me though since I can do more stuff on my own. We’ll stay until the 11:50 illuminations and probably head back after fighting the crowds.


1/1/13
Hollywood Studios

Today starts out with a late breakfast at Kona Café. Breakfast ADR is at 9:45. After breakfast we’ll head over to the studios. Touring plans put this part at a 9.4 and the best part to visit today. I doubt any TSMM FPs will be left but if there are any that will be the first thing we grab. I also made a customized touring plan to follow for this day. We plan on seeing the highlights and especially the Osborne family spectial of dancing lights. There are three showings of fantasmic this day. The touring plans is suggesting going to the first one and see the lights during the second however I have a feeling we’ll swap that around or even see the last showing at 10. Other things I want to see today are the beauty and the beast stage show, VOTLM, tower of terror, RRC, and the great movie ride. Things I will be happy to see but okay if we miss are Muppets, star tours, and one man’s dream. Not sure where we’ll eat as choices are limited. We may leave the park to eat.


I’ll write more tomorrow about our last day and the surprise day at the beginning of the trip we just added yesterday.​

 

[lisatav]

So i'm going to NYC tomorrow and will probably stopping at the most amazing Disney store, aka the one in time square. Wish me luck that I don't ruin my bank account before I leave! I'm hoping to find a holiday themed shirt or something with long sleeves. When I was in WDW in January it was freezing at night!

 

[lisatav]

Mini update 2

I had an amazing time in the NYC today and loved the Disney store as always. I took some pictures of the great decorations! Also we found the coolest Merida toy that converts from being her brother to as bear! I’ll put the video of that at the end! I also walked out without buying anything!!! Their adult section is quite lacking if you ask me.

 

[lisatav]

Merry Christmas!

I can’t believe tomorrow I will be on a plane to Orlando!

Our last day of the trip will be spent at the Magic Kingdom. I always like to start and end my trips at the MK. Touring plans rates the day at a 9 but the MK at 8.6 and a neutral park. I can live with an 8.6! We have a full touring plan for this day which includes the top attractions, new fantasyland and hopefully lunch at BOG. My must do-s for the day include the carousel of progress, BTM, enchanted tales with belle, space mountain, buzz lightyear, TTA-people mover, the new little mermaid ride, philharmagic, jungle cruise and the haunted mansion. Attractions I would like to do but won’t be mad if we can’t get to are pirates, the tiki room, the dream along with mickey show, the laugh floor and peter pan, splash mountain and it’s a small world. Looks like it will be a long day!!! I'm hoping the touring plan will help us get through all the attractions without waiting too long.



Oh yeah! So mom and I are going to hit AK on 12/26 while by siblings go over to IOA. Our must do-s at AK are FOTLK & Finding Nemo the Musical. Anything else we do will just be a bonus. I would like to do Everest, Kilimanjaro’s safari and dinosaur too. We’ll only be here for a few hours. According to Touring Plans it is the recommended park at a 9.6. Yieks!
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