"We're going wild - Disney style" - A Oct 15-25th Pre-TR (10/12...for the ladies!)

[skier_pete]

We are up to Thursday of our trip. This is the day we are booked for MNSSHP! My original plan for this day was to do absolutely nothing...or at least just do things around the hotel. We would get dressed up in our costumes (more on this later) and head over to MK for our 4:50 PM dinner ADR at Crystal Palace. We would then spend the night enjoying the halloween specific shows and character meets, as well as hopefully riding a few rides along the way.

However, recently DW said she really wanted to make sure she had a chance to go to DTD. I really didn't schedule time for it this trip - I figured with so many trips recently, ship wouldn't want to devote that much time to the shops down there...silly me, I know. And DD wants to go to the Lego store for a little bit. So, I don't know, this could possibly be a day that we could go there for a few hours, certainly DW, but maybe not DD and I? Alternately, she could head over there one of our (many) early evenings...perhaps on Tuesday.

I don't know how late we'll stay at the party...I think between 10 and 11 PM is the latest DD will be able to take, even with a fairly restful day. This past weekend we were out on Friday until after 10 PM and again on Saturday she was up until about 10:30 PM. While I'd like to stay until the end, I doubt that is even possible.

 

[Overexcited]

Love the numbers!

 

[Disneychix]

ooo, Thursday of your trip is the day I arrive! :excited:

We went this week (or the week after depending) in 2005 and we hit what was Hurricane Wilma in the keys but just Tropical Storm Wilma by the time it got to WDW. They actually closed the parks and there was no WDW transportation happening. Then, about 1pm, we got word that they were opening MK and EPCOT for resort guests only!! It was the best day! There were NO people in any lines at MK and the temps was a balmy 62. The previous day it was in the 90's with 100% humidity. 62 sure felt good!!

 

[skier_pete]

Love the numbers!

Thanks - I thought that would be fun to do! The one number I left out was the total we've spent on our 3 Disney trips this 12-month....

ooo, Thursday of your trip is the day I arrive! :excited:!!

Hey, hey! Keep reading to see if any of our last couple of days matches your plans - perhaps a quick "Hey Howdy Hey!" can be worked out.

We went this week (or the week after depending) in 2005 and we hit what was Hurricane Wilma in the keys but just Tropical Storm Wilma by the time it got to WDW. They actually closed the parks and there was no WDW transportation happening. Then, about 1pm, we got word that they were opening MK and EPCOT for resort guests only!! It was the best day! There were NO people in any lines at MK and the temps was a balmy 62. The previous day it was in the 90's with 100% humidity. 62 sure felt good!!

Oooh...I was thinking the hurricane likelyhood drops pretty low in October, but you remind me there's still a chance. We have had pretty good whether fortune IN Disneyworld, but have not had good fortune GETTING to Disneyworld for these October trips. In 2000, we took off in the evening Friday October 13th, and the plane had to be turned around in mid-air after one of the engines had to be shut-down. We turned that lemon into lemonade : when we got onto the ground - everyone one crowding at the gate to reschedule, I saw that there was an employee at another gate and told DW "Let's go over there.", we ended up scheduled out first thing the next morning and upgraded to First Class. We were out of the airport before practically anyone else, and actually ended up being interviewed on the nightly news..."Were you scared you were going to die?"

And, October 13, 2006, should go without saying, is one of the more memorable dates in Buffalo weather history...the famed "October Storm"...we didn't get out on-time for THAT trip either.

Maybe since this year is not a Friday the 13th, we'll be OK.

 

[Disneychix]

And, October 13, 2006, should go without saying, is one of the more memorable dates in Buffalo weather history...the famed "October Storm"...we didn't get out on-time for THAT trip either.

Maybe since this year is not a Friday the 13th, we'll be OK.

Hey, were you nervous leaving during that storm? Was someone watching your house? You really don't have great luck flying out! But great that you finally got there!
BTW, my family left FL the morning Wilma hit. Everyone (3 different flights, 2 diff cities) got out all within maybe 2 hours of the original flight times! MCO really knows how to work their airport!

 

[skier_pete]

Hey, were you nervous leaving during that storm? Was someone watching your house? You really don't have great luck flying out! But great that you finally got there!

Well, the LONG version of the story...

...so the storm hit on Thursday night - it just so happened I took Thursday off because my mom was visiting from Arizona. We lost power on Thursday night, and were without power all day Friday and my work was shut down. We only had maybe 2-3 inches of snow at our house, and have underground power lines. (For others reading this, they had 22 inches of snow at the airport, which is about 15 miles from my house.) We kept calling the airport, being told our flight was all set to go on Saturday morning. (My mom was leaving Saturday morning too.)

Well, come Saturday morning we call - our flights canceled (most were still going, including my mom's) and the earliest they could get us out was Monday. Now, we were only going to Disney until Thursday morning, so this would take our 4.5 day trip down to a 2.5 day trip...so I looked at where else I could have flown out of, and we were able to get a direct flight out of Pittsburgh at 2:30 PM in the afternoon. The power was still out when we left, but had asked the neighbors to keep an eye on the house. (We have cats that they were watching for us.) We dropped my mom at the Buffalo airport and headed to Pittsburgh, thinking we had plenty of time...we stopped for breakfast a little too casually...turned out that while the weather had cleared out in Buffalo, it was still snowing all along Lake Erie...the weather was terrible about 2/3 of the way to Pittsburgh...I could only go about 50 MPH, which was actually still too fast for the conditions...when we got out of the snow, I drove as fast as I ever have (probably 75-80).

We got to the airport about 30 minutes before our flight - I dropped the family off and went to park. I didn't know if I could make the flight, and stopped the first shuttle and begged them to take me directly to the terminal - she said she couldn't (even though I was the only one on it) and I would have to run. Ran (as best I could - so not a runner) then 1/2 mile from parking to terminal...got right through security luckily, and caught up with family on the train to the gate. We got to the gate and they literally closed the door behind us. One of the worst days of our lives to this point honestly. However, the flight went without incident (except it was SWA so we couldn't sit together...we were able to convince someone to switch seats so our 3.5 year old DD didn't have to sit by herself). We got in OK, and ended up still getting dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh. (We changed our Dining reservation twice.)

As far as the house went, the power came back on sometime just before we arrived in Pittsburgh. While everything was good when we left, it turned out we did get a little bit of water damage in the basement, though oddly enough when we returned there was no WATER in the basement, only water damage.

 

[Overexcited]

WOW! Lucky to get out. My DB lost ALOT of trees with that storm. That was such a freak thing in October!

 

[skier_pete]

You know, I was thinking when I was listening to one of the podcasts earlier, and the team was talking about how people go nuts with planning. I admit to being one of those people...I really enjoy the planning part of a Disney vacation.

But, now that I've reached veteran status (6th trip in 4+ years coming up) I realize that my planning is much different. Yes, I still slave over which parks which days and making my ADRs @ 180 days out...but the difference now is I don't plan minute-by-minute like I used to. The first couple of trips (well, not the first one in 2006) I had spreadsheets detailing each days plans and at what time we would be going where. Maybe not minute by minute, but certainly hour-by-hour. Even in December, I did this a little bit, seeing as we wanted to see so much Christmas stuff. Now, my third park-touring rule is "have a plan but be flexible", and I was always perfectly willing to throw these plans out the window if necessary, but I always made them.

As I'm typing up this trip and my plans...yes I still know roughly what we're going to do each day....but I don't feel any urge to make out a detailed DAY plan for each day. I think it all comes down to two things: familiarity and frequency. I am now so familiar with the parks and good touring strategies, we don't really need to plan it out in advance. Plus we've been often enough now that if we miss something, we just will catch it next trip, and with a full 9 days + hoppers, we can always make up for it on the last day.

So, here's a question for anyone out there that reads this and has gone to Disney more than once: How, had your planning strategies changed over the times you've gone? Discuss

 

[skier_pete]

So, inspired by a post on "overexcited"'s PTR, I thought I would post my own Top 10 list. But, whereas she was listing the things she was most looking forward to / excited about, I decided against that. That would be to me all the new things, staying at AKL, MNSSHP, HDDR, the new restaurants, etc. Instead, I thought I would post the 10 things that I really want to make sure to do this trip. These aren't necessarily my top 10 favorite things either, but things I don't want to miss this trip.

1) Soarin' - Not a fanatic about this ride, in fact I have a fear of heights over water that makes this ride very uncomfortable for me, but I discovered upon returning from this last trip that I really, really was sorry we blew it off.

2) M:S - Only ridden it once back in 2007, and I want to try it again. Not sure if I'll try "orange", I was thinking maybe if I did it late in the day...or maybe I can convince the family to try the "green" side.

3) Antimation Academy / Character spot @ DHS - Last trip this was a new experience for us that we loved. We plan on going after characters whenever the lines are too long, and we can hopefully get a bunch here.

4) ToT / RnRC - Skipped 'em in April, which I NEVER do...definitely want to catch them this time.

5) Jungle Cruise @ night - we did this once back in 2008, but had a lousy skipper. DD wanted to do it again in December, but it wasn't quite late enough when we did it.

6) Ice cream sandwhich at Main Street Bakery - I see pictures of these and just DROOL, with fresh baked cookies and Edy's Ice cream.

7) Teamboat Springs @ Blizzard Beach - can't wait to take DD on this one. Partly why we skipped BB in April was this was in refurb.

8) IaSW post-refurb - Small World is scheduled to reopen on the 2nd to last day of our trip. I intend for us to be one of the first ones on it! DW and DD both love this ride, and I even like it a lot. There is so much to look at that it never gets old.

9) Spend at least one 30-minute strech sitting on our balcony with a drink in my hand watching the animals on the Savannah.

10) Get out to Rafiki's Planet Watch in the morning to watch the vets check out the animals. This is one of the most fascinating things you can do at AK. I think we will head out there first thing after we ride the safari our first day.

So, will I do them all? We'll see...

 

[Overexcited]

Great list! All sound interesting, some I have not done and think it may be fun.
I got my DM and DH to make a list I just have to put them in!

 

[skier_pete]

Great list! All sound interesting, some I have not done and think it may be fun.

Which ones?

 

[Overexcited]

So, inspired by a post on "overexcited"'s PTR, I thought I would post my own Top 10 list. But, whereas she was listing the things she was most looking forward to / excited about, I decided against that. That would be to me all the new things, staying at AKL, MNSSHP, HDDR, the new restaurants, etc. Instead, I thought I would post the 10 things that I really want to make sure to do this trip. These aren't necessarily my top 10 favorite things either, but things I don't want to miss this trip.

1) Soarin' - Not a fanatic about this ride, in fact I have a fear of heights over water that makes this ride very uncomfortable for me, but I discovered upon returning from this last trip that I really, really was sorry we blew it off.

2) M:S - Only ridden it once back in 2007, and I want to try it again. Not sure if I'll try "orange", I was thinking maybe if I did it late in the day...or maybe I can convince the family to try the "green" side.

3) Antimation Academy / Character spot @ DHS - Last trip this was a new experience for us that we loved. We plan on going after characters whenever the lines are too long, and we can hopefully get a bunch here.

4) ToT / RnRC - Skipped 'em in April, which I NEVER do...definitely want to catch them this time.

5) Jungle Cruise @ night - we did this once back in 2008, but had a lousy skipper. DD wanted to do it again in December, but it wasn't quite late enough when we did it.

6) Ice cream sandwhich at Main Street Bakery - I see pictures of these and just DROOL, with fresh baked cookies and Edy's Ice cream.

7) Teamboat Springs @ Blizzard Beach - can't wait to take DD on this one. Partly why we skipped BB in April was this was in refurb.

8) IaSW post-refurb - Small World is scheduled to reopen on the 2nd to last day of our trip. I intend for us to be one of the first ones on it! DW and DD both love this ride, and I even like it a lot. There is so much to look at that it never gets old.

9) Spend at least one 30-minute strech sitting on our balcony with a drink in my hand watching the animals on the Savannah.

10) Get out to Rafiki's Planet Watch in the morning to watch the vets check out the animals. This is one of the most fascinating things you can do at AK. I think we will head out there first thing after we ride the safari our first day.

So, will I do them all? We'll see...

Animation academy, Jungle cruise at night, and Rafiki Planet in the am to see the vet. Oh yea never stayed at AKL so I have never sat for 30min watching

 

[PrincessInOz]

You know, I was thinking when I was listening to one of the podcasts earlier, and the team was talking about how people go nuts with planning. I admit to being one of those people...I really enjoy the planning part of a Disney vacation.

But, now that I've reached veteran status (6th trip in 4+ years coming up) I realize that my planning is much different. Yes, I still slave over which parks which days and making my ADRs @ 180 days out...but the difference now is I don't plan minute-by-minute like I used to. The first couple of trips (well, not the first one in 2006) I had spreadsheets detailing each days plans and at what time we would be going where. Maybe not minute by minute, but certainly hour-by-hour. Even in December, I did this a little bit, seeing as we wanted to see so much Christmas stuff. Now, my third park-touring rule is "have a plan but be flexible", and I was always perfectly willing to throw these plans out the window if necessary, but I always made them.

As I'm typing up this trip and my plans...yes I still know roughly what we're going to do each day....but I don't feel any urge to make out a detailed DAY plan for each day. I think it all comes down to two things: familiarity and frequency. I am now so familiar with the parks and good touring strategies, we don't really need to plan it out in advance. Plus we've been often enough now that if we miss something, we just will catch it next trip, and with a full 9 days + hoppers, we can always make up for it on the last day.

So, here's a question for anyone out there that reads this and has gone to Disney more than once: How, had your planning strategies changed over the times you've gone? Discuss

For my first trip to WDW in 2005, I spent a lot of time lurking on the DisBoard without ever signing up. I did all my research vicariously and avidly read everyone's PTRs, every forum and wrote SHEETS of paper lists.

For my trip in May this year, I signed up on the DisBoard and then slavishly completed a PTR with details, details, details.

I might (not) have the opportunity to head back in October....and my PTR for October is much more irreverent to the whole planning thing and relaxed. And for someone who is might be going in October, I've managed to get a share in two ADRs because I'm planning on meeting some Dis-er friends over there. One of them booked the ADR for me....is that good planning or what?!!

And you can tell from my signature, that I've been to DLR a lot. I don't ever plan for DLR and just go with the flow...but it is a much smaller resort to vist than WDW.

 

[skier_pete]

For my first trip to WDW in 2005, I spent a lot of time lurking on the DisBoard without ever signing up. I did all my research vicariously and avidly read everyone's PTRs, every forum and wrote SHEETS of paper lists.

For my trip in May this year, I signed up on the DisBoard and then slavishly completed a PTR with details, details, details.

I might (not) have the opportunity to head back in October....and my PTR for October is much more irreverent to the whole planning thing and relaxed. And for someone who is might be going in October, I've managed to get a share in two ADRs because I'm planning on meeting some Dis-er friends over there. One of them booked the ADR for me....is that good planning or what?!!

And you can tell from my signature, that I've been to DLR a lot. I don't ever plan for DLR and just go with the flow...but it is a much smaller resort to vist than WDW.

Interesting...I think when we finally make it out to DLR someday, I will have a pretty detailed plan in my head. We will probably only have 2 or 3 days at DLR, and this is hopefully after "cars-land" opens, so we'll want to make sure to fit in everything.

 

[khertz]

6) Ice cream sandwhich at Main Street Bakery - I see pictures of these and just DROOL, with fresh baked cookies and Edy's Ice cream.

It is just as good as it looks in the pictures!!!

 

[skier_pete]

It is just as good as it looks in the pictures!!!

Then I am definitely having one!!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Day 8 is Friday, but it is Thursday that we will be out partying with Mickey. (Why anyone that is on a week's vacation would choose a Friday MNSSHP, when all the locals come out, I am not sure...) So, I have no concrete plans to be up by X time in the morning. The day is devoted to AK because of Thursdays plans. At first, I thought this was clever because AK has evening-EMH, so we could stay there longer if necessary....but then I decided that we would do dinner at Saana tonight, and I wanted to have dinner before it got dark, so we actually have dinner scheduled for 5:45 PM, as this is the only restaurant that actually looks out on the Savannah, and this it will be getting dark around 7 PM, I thought pre-dusk was the perfect time for dinner.

I figure we can afford missing the early hours of the park because we will have already done that one day. This day is more for seeing FotLK and maybe Finding Nemo musical. The other day DD was watching the old Disney Top 7 with Stacy on my Zune (yes, I am that much of a Disney geek), and after seeing a clip for Finding Nemo, the Musical she said - we didn't see that last time. I admit both DW and I just thought it was OK when we saw it back in 2008, and wouldn't want to see it every trip anyway. (A good show, but a bit too long.) Again, we'll have done a lot of AK on our first full day, so my thought is getting to the park as late as 10:30 AM, and staying until maybe 5 PM or so. If DD really really LOVED Camp Kidani on monday, we could actually bump up our Dinner ADR to 5 PM, and get her into another session here tonight. Either way, we definitely want an early night tonight, after last nights late late night.

 

[skier_pete]

Wow, ninth day. I always seem to struggle with the plans late in the trip. This is our last night at AKL...should we be spending it in the room? But it is also our only oppurtunity to see Spectro / Wishes...should we be at MK late?

But, that's for later. The day starts out with two main goals...we want to be one of the first ones on It's a Small World after it re-opens from the refurb, and at 10 AM I have us booked in our first ever Disney "Tour". No, not Keys to the Kingdom, DD is way too young for that yet. I have signed us up for the "Family Magic Tour". From what I gather, this is a 2.5 hour tour that basically goes around the Magic Kingdom in an attempt to find Caption Hook's Hook, sort of like a scavenger hunt. You follow clues, and eventually end up winding your way around the park. I think you learn a little about MK along the way, but it more sounds like goofy fun. DD has for quite some time been very much into playing Peter Pan / Wendy / Captain Hook / Mr. Smee, and this tour seems to play right into what she would love. At the end, you get to meet and ride a ride with Peter Pan, which I think she would go gaga for. With our Disney Visa discount, the tour only costs $83 total for the 3 of us, so I figured let's give it a try.

After the tour is over, this is where I struggle. Again, our last day at the hotel...do we go back to the hotel right away for a while? Do we stay a little and go back later? I have a dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fare @ 6 PM, but I am not 100 % sold on this. While we actually ate at this restaurant 4 years ago, it was before Cinderella was joined by her Step-Mother and Step-Sisters, and I am really curious to see the interaction. This is the only Princess meal we have, and DD, while not being big into Princesses, likes meeting them...but I am not sure she will like very much meeting the bad guys - she is mostly afraid of them...and again, will we just want to go back to the hotel? Do we want to see Spectro and Wishes? If that's the case, I am sure we would go back to the hotel for a while in the afternoon. But do we come back for our ADR, or wait until later? I just don't know. It's tough for me, because when I come up on these conflicts, I usually talk them out with DW, but because this entire trip is a surprise, I can't. I am thinking of booking an alternative dinner ADR for Sunday night, in case we decide not to do this one. (I understand there is a lot of "don't dare booking extra ADRs" sentiment on the DIS, but sometimes you need an extra one because you just don't know.)

Our last night staying at AKL...possibly ever. I really can't see us affording to do this again for many, many years. I'm already sad just thinking about it.

 

[Overexcited]

Being newer to the DIS board, why do people have problems with booking an extra ADR?

 

[skier_pete]

Being newer to the DIS board, why do people have problems with booking an extra ADR?

People get upset that you are "taking" an ADR that someone else can use. Especially during busy times of year, the holidays or free dining, getting ADRs at certain restaurants are extremely difficult, and if you are holding ADRs you won't be using, that gets some people upset.

While I would agree you don't want to have excessive ADRs booked, sometimes there are situations where you might not be sure which path you want to take...and as such it may be necessary to have an alternate ADR...I personally have no problem with this. However, to me it is important to CANCEL your unused ADR as soon as you know which one you are choosing, even if it only a few hours beforehand. This cancelation will give someone a chance to eat at that restaurant that might not otherwise. However, I think keeeping an ADR and just not showing up is just plain rude...rude to Disney, and rude to your fellow guests that are trying to get a table.

Side story: Last trip, we had an ADR for Rainforest Cafe at AK. DD decided she just wanted to go back to the hotel, so even though it was only 30 minutes before our ADR, I went to the restaurant to tell them we wouldn't be using it. The restaurant was super crowded (there was a cheerleader group there that evening) and as I waited in line for the podium, there was a couple behind me I heard talking that they weren't sure if they would be able to get a table. I turned to them and said: "I'm canceling my Table for 3, would you like to use mine?" They said sure, if the server would let them...I said no problem, when we got to the podium, I lied and said "I have an ADR for 3 people, but I really can't stay...my friends here would still like to have dinner, though..would it be OK if they still took the ADR?" The server said no problem. I really made their evening!

Anyways, back to the point...I will often make one or two extra ADRs at 180 days out, and usually as plans firm up closer will cancel the extras, though we have occasionally come on the trip with one extra in hand. Right now, I have the exact # I need, but as mentioned, I might end up wth one extra...we'll see.

Other topics that will cause a lot of ire if you ask about them on the DIS are:
-Re-using the refillable mugs for more than one trip. (A Disney no-no that they NEVER enforce.)
-Using your FPs after the return window. (An accepted Disney policy that still angers about 50% of the DIS population.)
-Pool hopping , i.e. going to a pool at different resorts. (Illegal by Disney rules but still attempted by many.)

Can't think of any other "hot-button" topics right now...it's past my bedtime.