Week After Turkey Day Shenanigans

[heath92681]

Lol! I hate when I get sucked in! Speaking of, did you hear about the man who verbally assaulted a mom breastfeeding at Target the other day? She took a video clip after other customers and employees came to her defense. So glad to hear when people come together to help out like this.
Yeah, as far as my trip, I'm at a losses to what to do for the next couple weeks. There is no point at even looking at FP since we don't know what is going on with AK, or even HS, I suppose. I did schedule a sleigh ride at Ft Wilderness and appointments at Harmony Barber shop for my kids. That's about all I've got.
What "extras" is everyone else doing?

Last year we did the Pirates League. It was awesome and we got great photos. My little one got chosen to go on stage with Jack Sparrow afterwards, which is something I will always remember! So fun!

We contemplated doing the Pirates and Pals cruise this time, but it's a lot of money. If we splurge on the resort, I think we will opt for some pool/relaxing time there instead. Maybe we will take the monorail to the GF to see the gingerbread house.

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

Yes, I have found that there are 'trolls' even on the Dis, unfortunately. Some of them just live to be negative and condescending, and you will never win an online argument with them, because they are masters at making any who disagree with them out to be stupid and shallow. THEY are the ones that need the hobby.

There are a few SAFE HARBORS for us, this is one of them (Thank you Meeko5 for starting this thread) - another is the Rumors of Light (http://www.disboards.com/threads/ru...g-package-is-showing-up-as-an-option.3486308/) which was started by ArielSRL, in February as we started hearing about the Rivers of Light show at Jungle Cruise. That one is much like this, in that everyone is supportive and posts on any and all topics. We started calling it the ROL Lounge as it feels like a place to gather with friends. Sometimes we even talk about news and trip reports.

All are welcome.

Yup! I found that one as well!

 

[Meeko5]

My 7yo would FLIP if I planned a dessert party. I considered it and surprising my husband with it too but the logistics of the late night and the toddler plus the cost made me not. But man the Star Wars dessert party reports make me want to so bad!

 

[jlundeen]

My 7yo would FLIP if I planned a dessert party. I considered it and surprising my husband with it too but the logistics of the late night and the toddler plus the cost made me not. But man the Star Wars dessert party reports make me want to so bad!

If it makes you feel any better, we did the SW dessert party in April, and while it was nice to have our space/table, I don't think I would do it again. The desserts were meh, drinks too, and the fact that it is standing only, for us, it wasn't worth the time waiting to get in, and then standing for two hours more, and still having to try to merge in with the masses to get out of the park, just to get a Chewy mug as a gift. Next time, we plan to just sit in the open plaza space along with 1000s of our closest friends .

 

[Meeko5]

If it makes you feel any better, we did the SW dessert party in April, and while it was nice to have our space/table, I don't think I would do it again. The desserts were meh, drinks too, and the fact that it is standing only, for us, it wasn't worth the time waiting to get in, and then standing for two hours more, and still having to try to merge in with the masses to get out of the park, just to get a Chewy mug as a gift. Next time, we plan to just sit in the open plaza space along with 1000s of our closest friends .

That does make me feel better actually

 

[MonaMN]

DH wanted to do the Christmas Party, so to make him happy, I got tickets for Nov. 29. Now he has the bright idea to wear Santa hats, get our pictures done if front of the castle and use the Photopass photo as our Christmas card this year. I'm trying to talk him out of this, oh yeah, theme park hair, Disney tshirts and Santa hats, great family photo for a Christmas card! We normally do a more posed sort of Christmas family portrait to send out with Christmas cards. People we think we've gone senile, I think.

We have had Disney Christmas cards - well, part of a collage style photo card - for the last couple years. I am totally planning on doing one this year with Disney Christmas decorations! But we are not a family that gets professional photos done regularly, so people would probably wonder what was wrong with us if we did that.

 

[kimyinpink]

I agree! I'm a teacher on summer break! I need some entertainment

Ditto! What grade do u teach? I teach Kindergarten.

 

[Iowamomof4]

My heart is so heavy today with recent events.

Having said that, I was finally able to book a flight to Orlando on SW today. I'm hoping to be able to switch later to a better time, but for now we arrive after 11 pm on 11/28. At least we have something booked.

 

[kimyinpink]

I kinda want to hear everyone's "finalized" plans now that we've all at least gotten our preliminary dining done. From heath92681 post the other day I think we will be together at our Fantasmic meal and 2 BOG PPO breakfasts

 

[heath92681]

Ditto! What grade do u teach? I teach Kindergarten.

5th grade!

 

[heath92681]

I kinda want to hear everyone's "finalized" plans now that we've all at least gotten our preliminary dining done. From heath92681 post the other day I think we will be together at our Fantasmic meal and 2 BOG PPO breakfasts

Maybe we will run into each other!

 

[Melwhit16]

So excited, just found this thread!

I am Melissa from Murfreesboro TN. We will be there Nov 26th-dec 1st. This will be my 4th Disney trip but I am finally getting my nieces on this trip! We have a family group of 13 total. Because I am the only one who has been to Disney in the last 30 years, I have become our trip coordinator and I love it They keep thanking me for all the work I am doing and I keep trying to tell them that I really enjoy doing it!

Looking forward to reading all the fun everyone has planned for their trip!

 

[kellyjeanie]

My TP reservation finder is going nuts - of course it's finding BOG during party hours which doesn't help me. But obviously some new reservations are being released! I'd love some opinions on my plan, I can't decide if I even want a BOG dinner anymore.

We fly in on Friday so we'll be at Disney Saturday morning, 11/26. Which reminds me, I need to add another day to our tickets. I can do that if they were purchased directly from Disney, right?

Sat 11/26 Epcot half-day
12:50p Garden Grill
6:45p Marrakesh
Hopefully do a couple of fast passes and generally just wander around, low-key.

Sun 11/27 MK
8:25a Be Our Guest

Mon 11/28 HS
6:00p H&V Minnie's Seasonal Dine
Hoping to get to HS early enough to get a decent JTA slot, and then possibly leave in the afternoon to go back to the resort or maybe go to Disney Springs. Then back to HS for dinner and fireworks.

Tue 11/29 MK (or whatever day)
12:55p CRT
Husband and oldest are going to see Harry Potter so I'm going to stay back and hang with the littles. Have these lunch reservations but otherwise hope to follow their lead.

Wed 11/30 Epcot
1:40p Biergarten
Possibly head back to MK for fireworks?

Thu 12/1 MK
8:20a BBB
7:25p 'Ohana
Originally hoped to see water parade from Poly beach after 'Ohana but who knows now.

Fri 12/2 AK
1:30p Sanaa
Probably going to be a sleep in day, get to AK whenever and hopefully stay late for nighttime show.

Ok so I had originally hoped to get a BOG dinner, but then on a whim I booked a Garden Grill lunch for our first meal and now I'm kind of excited about it, to open with a character lunch. And we've never done Garden Grill. My younger two love Mickey and anyone who has ever been on his Clubhouse. We have a BOG breakfast, I could get by without a BOG dinner, right? DH is really looking forward to Marrakesh, Biergarten, and 'Ohana. I am very excited about Sanaa. I suppose I could cancel CRT for BOG if it comes up...or GG...or I could just leave it as-is?

 

[Meeko5]

Ok so here are my plans as of now

Fri 11/25 arrival. Check into sports. Swim, have a quick service dinner OOP since our FD doesn't start until next day

11/26- check in again for FD portion. Hope we don't have to move rooms. Plan to do mini golf with our package voucher. Early dinner at T Rex.

11/27 - HS for AM EMH. Plan to do Jedi training, use 3 FP then maybe head back and rest a bit before 5:10 Dinner at H&V. Plan to stay for whatever Star Wars fireworks assuming they are going to be nightly still (fingers crossed!!)

11/28 - Epcot day but maybe go back to HS at some point since to my oldest sons fave park. He wanted to ride ToT every day of our last trip! 6:35 dinner at Via Napoli.

11/29 MK day - 8:20 breakfast at BOG. 6:50 Dinner at WCC since we won't be doing the party.

11/30 - don't know for sure yet. Any park is game haha. We have a 6:20 at Teppan Edo for dinner. Really need to get this plan figured out. Definitely need to spend some more time touring the World Showcase this trip so maybe a slow morning and Epcot for the afternoon? Maybe back to HS for more ToT at some point haha? Probably head to MK with the masses for fireworks and evening EMH.

12/1 - AK. Dinner at Boma (either 5:15 or 6:25, holding both until we see what hours will be with the nighttime stuff).

12/2 - MK again, last day. Dinner at Ohana since no party for us.

12/3 - catch the tragical express back to MCO for our 9:45 flight home. Boooooo.

 

[rere101399]

All right, I think I've weighed all the possibilities and this is looking like it will be the itinerary we go with:

11/26: Drive from NC to non-Disney Orlando hotel

11/27: MK day/check-in at CR
(No ADRs)

11/28: HS morning/Epcot afternoon
(11:15 lunch at Sci-Fi)

11/29: AK day
(9:10am 1900PF breakfast)

11/30: MK day
(9:40am bkfst at BOG, 6:25pm dinner at CM)

12/1: relaxed day, return to TBD park
(9:40am bkfst at Ohana, 4:55pm H&V Holiday Dine)

12/2: checkout, MK
(BOG 2pm lunch before hitting the road-maybe)


The only thing up in the air is I still feel torn about choosing Minnie's holiday dinner over H&V lunch. I'm positive I only want to eat one meal at H&V, and having to choose the Disney Jr characters for lunch (which the kids would love) or the Minnie dinner (which I also think they would love, who doesn't love holiday stuff?) is the one little detail that keeps me up at night.

 

[Meeko5]

The only thing up in the air is I still feel torn about choosing Minnie's holiday dinner over H&V lunch. I'm positive I only want to eat one meal at H&V, and having to choose the Disney Jr characters for lunch (which the kids would love) or the Minnie dinner (which I also think they would love, who doesn't love holiday stuff?) is the one little detail that keeps me up at night.

I vote the holiday dine! But my kids don't care about Disney Jr at all. Minnie's is the only character meal we are doing

 

[rere101399]

I vote the holiday dine! But my kids don't care about Disney Jr at all. Minnie's is the only character meal we are doing

That's what I lean towards too and would personally prefer. But of course my younger DS' bff just got back from a poly trip last week and the only thing he has been talking about is the Disney jr lunch. I'm hoping we can hunt down the Disney jr characters to get some face time and pics outside of H&V because I really want to do the holiday dine instead.

 

[Meeko5]

Ok so I had originally hoped to get a BOG dinner, but then on a whim I booked a Garden Grill lunch for our first meal and now I'm kind of excited about it, to open with a character lunch. And we've never done Garden Grill. My younger two love Mickey and anyone who has ever been on his Clubhouse. We have a BOG breakfast, I could get by without a BOG dinner, right? DH is really looking forward to Marrakesh, Biergarten, and 'Ohana. I am very excited about Sanaa. I suppose I could cancel CRT for BOG if it comes up...or GG...or I could just leave it as-is?

I've not done garden grill it it gets pretty good reviews! We did breakfast and dinner at BOG last trip and the two meals are VERY different. Breakfast ambience was less "magical" for sure. We all really enjoyed our dinner there, and I would be going back if DH wasn't wanting to try something different. Boma and Ohana are the only meals we are repeating this trip.

If you just want to go see the castle and don't care about the food or meeting the beast I say just keep breakfast. But our steak and that braised pork dish was deeeeelicious and sitting I the west wing with the storm and the rose was a highlight for me.

 

[Meeko5]

That's what I lean towards too and would personally prefer. But of course my younger DS' bff just got back from a poly trip last week and the only thing he has been talking about is the Disney jr lunch. I'm hoping we can hunt down the Disney jr characters to get some face time and pics outside of H&V because I really want to do the holiday dine instead.

When we were there last fall Doc, Sophia, and a few others all had short meet lines outside the Disney Jr show. Maybe see if that's still an option??

 

[rere101399]

My TP reservation finder is going nuts - of course it's finding BOG during party hours which doesn't help me. But obviously some new reservations are being released! I'd love some opinions on my plan, I can't decide if I even want a BOG dinner anymore.

Ok so I had originally hoped to get a BOG dinner, but then on a whim I booked a Garden Grill lunch for our first meal and now I'm kind of excited about it, to open with a character lunch. And we've never done Garden Grill. My younger two love Mickey and anyone who has ever been on his Clubhouse. We have a BOG breakfast, I could get by without a BOG dinner, right? DH is really looking forward to Marrakesh, Biergarten, and 'Ohana. I am very excited about Sanaa. I suppose I could cancel CRT for BOG if it comes up...or GG...or I could just leave it as-is?

I vote for leave it as is! GG lunch beats BOG dinner if your kids would love those characters. Plus everyone I know apparently did Disney in the last month and all I've heard is disappointment in BOG dinners.