Welcome, Foolish Mortals...to an October 2011 PTR! *Trip Report link is up, pg 71!!*

[Nermel9]

Am fashionably late, but totally here! Yay for October trips!!!

Now to go catch up...

Yay, you're finally here!!! Gotta love October trips! Literally counting down the days!

 

[Pixiedust530]

I think I will chime in here. I've been a little behind, so I'm just now catching up. I have never been to MNSSHP so I can't speak from experience, but I personally think one woud be enough. IDK?

That being said...I LOVE thrill rides so I think fitting in Universal is a GREAT idea. After reading your responses to others I noticed a common theme....you want to go to Universal, but you DON'T know if it's worth giving up a Disney Day for. I TOTALLY get this. I think my son would LOVE Sea World, but I'm not about to give up a day at Disney to take him!

SO.....here are my thoughts. Plan & purchase tix for ONE MNSSHP & if you feel like you didn't get enough/as much accomplished as you want then pick up tix for another and go again later in your trip. If you get enough done then $$ saved by not going to a 2nd party. Regardless of how many MNSSHP you attend, SKIP Universal THIS TRIP! Maybe when planning a future trip to Disney plan to stay the first night offsite and go to Universal, THEN move to onsite at Disney for the rest of your trip. This way you get to go to Universal, but you don't feel like you've lost a day at Disney because technically you haven't arrived yet!

Whatever you decide, all that matters is that you and Brandon have fun!

Keep your head up and stay on track with you dieting/exercise! You'll figure it out eventually.

 

[blancah76]

I have to agree with the previous post. You seem really concerned about seeing everything in mnsshp so go ahead and leave time open so if you don't get to do everything in one night you can go again.
Also as above I would plan for universal for another trip, do the first day or two there and then go to disney.
I personally wouldn't really want to interupt my disney trip. Universal is fun but is not magical like disney is
I have not been to mnsshp but have been to the christmas party and although i loved it, there was a lot i did not get to see so i understand about wanting to go twice.

 

[MEK]

Can I just say - I hate drinking water, too! I know its the right thing to do, but it's just - so- TASTELESS! MY GF just told me about this new sweetner - Truvia - which is all natural and sugar free. supposed to take the place of splena and all the chemical sweetners and the best of the bunch!

 

[Nermel9]

I think I will chime in here. I've been a little behind, so I'm just now catching up. I have never been to MNSSHP so I can't speak from experience, but I personally think one woud be enough. IDK?

That being said...I LOVE thrill rides so I think fitting in Universal is a GREAT idea. After reading your responses to others I noticed a common theme....you want to go to Universal, but you DON'T know if it's worth giving up a Disney Day for. I TOTALLY get this. I think my son would LOVE Sea World, but I'm not about to give up a day at Disney to take him!

SO.....here are my thoughts. Plan & purchase tix for ONE MNSSHP & if you feel like you didn't get enough/as much accomplished as you want then pick up tix for another and go again later in your trip. If you get enough done then $$ saved by not going to a 2nd party. Regardless of how many MNSSHP you attend, SKIP Universal THIS TRIP! Maybe when planning a future trip to Disney plan to stay the first night offsite and go to Universal, THEN move to onsite at Disney for the rest of your trip. This way you get to go to Universal, but you don't feel like you've lost a day at Disney because technically you haven't arrived yet!

Whatever you decide, all that matters is that you and Brandon have fun!

Keep your head up and stay on track with you dieting/exercise! You'll figure it out eventually.

Thanks! I think I've decided what to do about the Universal/MNSSHP problem, which I will talk about in my next update!

And thanks for the encouragement with the dieting/weight loss! Another thing I will address in my next update!

I have to agree with the previous post. You seem really concerned about seeing everything in mnsshp so go ahead and leave time open so if you don't get to do everything in one night you can go again.
Also as above I would plan for universal for another trip, do the first day or two there and then go to disney.
I personally wouldn't really want to interupt my disney trip. Universal is fun but is not magical like disney is
I have not been to mnsshp but have been to the christmas party and although i loved it, there was a lot i did not get to see so i understand about wanting to go twice.

Thanks! Yeah, I've kind of been thinking that about Universal...it looks like fun, but it definitely does not seem magical like Disney World!

I felt the same way about MVMCP! Luckily, I got to go 2 years in a row, so the things we didn't do the first year, we did the 2nd, but I don't think we will be going back to Disney in October next year (as of now, that is ) so I feel like I need to see it all now!

Can I just say - I hate drinking water, too! I know its the right thing to do, but it's just - so- TASTELESS! MY GF just told me about this new sweetner - Truvia - which is all natural and sugar free. supposed to take the place of splena and all the chemical sweetners and the best of the bunch!

LOL, I hate drinking water! The ONLY time I actually like it is during/after working out, other than that, I need some flavor in my water! I just tried Truvia, it's pretty good! I usually use Splenda, but I might switch!

 

[Nermel9]

Random little things here and there!

Hi everyone! I'm just warning you now, I have no direction for this update! It's a bunch of stuff I'm just cramming into one update, but none of it is really important! Next week I'm going to either start doing my day by day itinerary, or start doing some countdowns like I did last year, not sure yet, but it will be something fun (I hope!)

1. As of now, we're not going to do Universal this year. That could change as the trip gets closer, but I just don't feel like rearranging our schedule any more. If I'm going to spend all that money, I don't want to squeeze 2 parks into 1 morning, which is what I'd be doing, I'd want at least one full day for Universal, and we just don't have the time this year. Next time, maybe! I'm probably going to stick with doing 2 MNSSHP's! I just don't want to miss anything!

2. I LOST 3 POUNDS!!! Sooooo excited! I seriously followed weight watchers so exactly this week and it worked! I was getting so nervous that there was something wrong with me, but apparently it was just laziness. So now I'm super motivated to stay on track and lose some weight for this trip!

3. I had to change some things in our schedule, since I noticed that Disney changed Epcot's magic hours from Tuesday, 10/4 to Wednesday, 10/5!!! As you guys know, I love Epcot and I just cannot miss magic hours there, and we had the Haunted Carriage Ride booked for Wednesday night at 10. Wednesday was supposed to be Brandon's no park day, but...well, now that's not happening!

I called Disney this morning and changed our Haunted Carriage Ride to Tuesday, 10/4 at 10:00. We have to be there by 9:45, so I'm guessing we will have to leave Epcot around 8:30, just to be safe. I was planning on spending the whole day at Epcot, with a break in between, but now I'm thinking we will get there around 11, have lunch at Le Cellier, and just stay all day until the Carriage Ride. We'll see, we're not really good with not taking breaks so I'm not sure how it will work out!

I made a breakfast ADR at the Grand Floridian Cafe for Wednesday morning

because I can't find any other time to squeeze it in and I really want to go there and see the Grand Floridian again! So I'm thinking we will do that, hang out at WL for a while, go into Orlando, maybe find that Disney outlet everyone always talks about, have dinner somewhere that Brandon picks, and then go to Epcot magic hours. I didn't want to do a park this day, but...I can't pass up Epcot magic hours! I just can't!

4. Have you guys seen the new additions to the Food and Wine festival this year???

You can go to the Disney Food Blog for all the details, but they are adding a Hawaii booth, a Caribbean Islands booth, and a Portugal booth! They're also bringing back a Scandinavian booth, which I guess hasn't been there for a few years. I'm so excited about the Hawaii and Caribbean Islands booths, it seems like they are going to have some yummy things to try! I can't wait til they release the full menus of all of the booths, that should be sometime next month, I think!

That's it for today! Sorry if this update was all over the place! Have a great weekend!

 

[Spoogle]

I just wanted to give you a little advice on Universal. My husband is a big fan but I would much rather spend my time at Disney. We have gone in early November the last two years and have spent Tuesday of each week at Universal. The crowds were low! We arrived early so we were there a few minutes before the parks opened and did everything in both parks and were done by 2-4 each day. So, you could probably spend a day in Universal, accomplish EVERYTHING you would want to see and could still do a MNSSHP that night if you wanted. Also, I would head to Islands of Adventures first and head back to Harry Potter first thing. That's what we did last time. First Islands of Adventure, then Universal, then back to IOA for one more look at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter one last time and we were on a bus back to Disney at 4!

 

[jenbear123]

Congrats on losing 3 pounds! Keep it up!

Don't you hate it when Disney throws a wrench in your plans and changes hours or EMH on you?! So annoying! At least you were able to reschedule the Haunted Carriage Ride.

Hawaii should be neat to see for F&W!

 

[Joyciemc]

3 pound- go you!!!!

I can't wait to read all about this year's F&W... I am obsessed with it! Even more so know that I think we're going in 2012!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Congratulations on the 3 lbs! I am joining you not only in having an Oct trip but in wanting to lose weight before the trip comes. And it IS hard. Why is it that it feels like the weight appears overnight and then it takes "forever" to take off?? If you find any great tips, techniques, recipes/snacks etc. along the way, please share!

I am SO excited for F&W! Some more menu items were posted yesterday, I think. Seems like a bigger selection of speciality drinks in addition to wine. Including a mai tai! And HGTV doing some seminars on home entertaining that I think could be cool.

I really can't wait! Hate to wish the summer away but......

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Congrats on the 3 lbs!!!!

I'm glad you guys are going to go to GFC - I think you'll really enjoy it. That's a good idea to do it on the Epcot morning, there's not too much of a show there that you would miss if it ran a bit long.

The new Food and Wine booths sound awesome!

 

[MEK]

Congrats on the 3lbs!!!! That's awesome. I keep telling myself just to join and get the app so I can do it all on my phone. Soon! As soon as I can't stand how much weight I gained back through poor eating.

Yummy to all the new booths. Carriage ride sounds great!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay for the three pounds! Also, I'm glad you decided to just wait for IOA. That's my main problem, too, is the money involved and the fact that we'd have to try and get to WWOHP in the middle of the afternoon, which I don't think we can do.

 

[KatMark]

Jen, I think the new plans sound great! I think doing MNSSHP twice is great idea...you can see the parade twice and get lots of photos and Hallowishes is absolutely spectacular!

Congrats on the weight loss--that is awesome!!!!

We go to three Disney outlet stores in the Orlando area; there are two that you can get really good deals, the third is iffy on the deals and the available merchandise.

 

[TarzansKat]

Thanks for the heads up on the new Food and Wine booths, I'm always interested in reading about that kind of stuff!

I think I would go to two MNSSHP's. If you can afford it, and you want to, why not? When I go, I like to do a lot of the meet and greets, see the parade, and the fireworks...I don't really care how many rides I get on, but I really like to make sure I hit my favorite few, so I can understand why you'd want to go twice, heck, I've always wanted to do that!

I think you've made a good decision to leave Unviersal for when you have more time for it.

I got a little choked up reading about your ressie at the Grand Floridian cafe. First of all, let me just say that the resort is beautiful, and if you're going there, you must must must shop at Basin! It's awesome. The reason I choked up a bit is that I ate there with my mom on our last trip. We actually had tea there once, and had an impromptu breakfast at the cafe on our last day. It was really nice....wow...I wasn't expecting to just lose it for a moment there, probably because you and I have shared so much about losing our parents. Well, big for us both!!!

I'm so excited for your trip, because even though sometimes it's hard to go and remember them, it's also great too.

 

[PirateKate]

Disney changed the EMHs that week! I don't think they should make changes past 180 days out. I'll have to check out my schedule, too and see if that messed with anything. I'm glad you were able to reschedule the hayride. That sounds like fun.

I'm also glad to hear there is some more information about F&W this year. I'll have to check out the Disney Food Blog, too.

 

[klacey1]

Congrats on the three pounds!! I need to start my butt exercising and eating better-- hearing other people doing well is definitely a motivator!
I do understand putting Universal off. For us, we HAD to do it this trip-- but we're also devoting a whole day (open to close!). Squeezing in both parks in less than a full day gives US a disservice, I think.
The Grand Floridan Cafe's breakfast menu looks sooo yummy! Those are fun additions to the F+W festival! I'd love to go in the fall our next trip-- so many fun things during that time of year!

 

[TanzUnited99]

on losing 3lbs!!! A positive result sure helps in keeping on track

Am glad you decided to stick with 2 MNSSHPs and will be visiting Universal on your next trip.

Have heard that park hours have changed - need to check them as will probably impact our plans as well!

Yay on booking an ADR at GFC! You are making me jealous now talking about the new booths at the F&W festival! Wish I was able to get to experience it...oh well will just have to read about it in your TR!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Yay on three pounds!!

When that happens it's a good way to keep you motivated throughout the process.

I've eaten at GFC for dinner, but not breakfast, but it's good.

I'm watching for the releasing of the information on the booths too. I can't wait to know what other ones are going to be there.

 

[Stefy]

on losing 3lbs

GFC for breakfast is yummy, you won't be disappointed.

The new additions to F&W look great and am so disappointed we are missing it this year as the Hawaii booth is rumoured to be doing the delicious pineapple bread that you can only get at Ohana