What's It To You!?! The First of three AP Pre-Trip Reports - Updated 9/30

[Quacktatty]

I won those Universal tickets too! And I am bummed I have to let mine go to waste. We thought we could fit it in our August trip but it just isn't working out. I haven't been there in years!

I haven't been to Universal since before it was anything worthwhile so I am pretty excited. I bought a season pass to Six Flags this year and it's getting me really amped up for some good coasters.

Will you tell us about your email correspodence with Len? I have been listening to WDWToday for ages (from around show 40 or so) and think he is very funny. But I am also extremely impressed with his scientific approach to touring plans.

I haven't talked to Len yet - although I still might. He basically answered my question on one of the live shows (somebody else asked it). I think he's a totally awesome guy and I have a secret crush on him

 

[Quacktatty]

AP Rates came out today!!!! I was down in my basement watching some TV and logged onto the boards to check up on what's going on - much to my surprise there were the AP rates for the rest of the year!!!

It is incredible timing since I am dragging my sorry butt out of bed tomorrow morning at 5:45am to make my dining reservations. I was worried about having dining associated with a room reservation that would eventually be canceled, but no worries now. I ended up sticking with POP for the first 4 nights. I priced out AKL for 10 nights, but unless I stayed in a Standard room it just wasn't feasible. I also considered POFQ which I loved on my 2007 trip, but POP won out. I ended up saving over $40 a night which is awesome. I figured with all the eating all be doing it'll be worth it to save the cash where I can.

Speaking of dining reservations - here's the plan:

10/22: Whispering Canyon Cafe (Lunch): This is part of the Backstage Magic tour. My understanding is that you get some variation of the skillet which is served family style to the group.
10/23: Sci-Fi (Lunch)
10/24: Ohana (Dinner)
10/25: TRex (Lunch or Dinner): This one is tentative. This will be my rest day so I don't know where I will end up for dinner ultimately. I think I'll be forgoing an actual reservation and will try to sit at the bar if I go.
10/27: Jiko (Dinner)
10/28: LeCellier (Lunch): If I can't get into LeCellier on this day I will try Tutto Italia or Teppan Edo.
10/29: Boma (Breakfast)
10/30: Kona (Dinner)

The big question is if I will be able to book my entire schedule tomorrow morning. I have heard conflicting reports about not being able to book dining for the second part of a split stay on your 90 day mark. I'm prepared to book through the 25th tomorrow and then do the rest on Monday morning.

I can't believe my trip is (almost) 90 days away!!!

 

[Quacktatty]

All my ADRs are now officially booked!! It went REALLY smoothly - I love this online thing. I woke up at quarter of 6 as planned and hopped online - right at 6 I started my booking. I guess I got lucky because I was able to book for my whole trip with no problems.

Here is the first take at my itinerary. It's subject to change, but I don't think it will by too much.

Day 1 - Arrival - DTD (to exchange AP voucher) and MK
Day 2 - Backstage Magic including lunch at WCC
Day 3 - DS w/ lunch at Sci-Fi (2:30pm)
Day 4 - AK, dinner at Ohana (8:05pm)
Day 5 - DTD, Mini Golf, hang out at AKL, possible lunch at TRex
Day 6 - Islands of Adventure, F&W Festival at EP for dinner
Day 7 - Universal Studios, dinner at Jiko (8:20pm)
Day 8 - EP, lunch at LeCellier (1:40pm)
Day 9 - Breakfast at Boma (7:30am), DS in the morning, AK in the afternoon
Day 10 - MK, dinner at Kona (9:10pm)
Day 11 - No scheduled plans, do whatever I didn't get enough of, flight out at 7:00pm

 

[If U Had Wings]

Congratulations on getting all the ADR's you wanted. It looks like you have a great plan set.

 

[Flossbolna]

Congratulations on your ADRs! And your plan looks great! I would be interested to hear about your minigolf experience. My sister and I are thinking about doing that in January. Which course are you considering?

 

[Quacktatty]

Congratulations on getting all the ADR's you wanted. It looks like you have a great plan set.

Thanks!

Congratulations on your ADRs! And your plan looks great! I would be interested to hear about your minigolf experience. My sister and I are thinking about doing that in January. Which course are you considering?

I am planning to do both courses actually. I have always wanted to go but never had enough time So I purposely planned a rest day away from the parks to try it out.

 

[Quacktatty]

Changes already!! I just checked the crowd calendar on Touringplans.com and there have been a few things that got switched around. For the most part I was not impacted except that I ended up need to switch days 8 and 9 around. I jumped on the dining website preparing for the worst and anticipating that I might be stuck going to Epcot on a bad day because I couldn't get a new LeCellier reservation, but no problems!! I was able to get Boma on Day 8 at 7:30 and LeCellier on Day 9 at 1:45...almost exactly what I had before.

So here is the new itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival - DTD (to exchange AP voucher) and MK
Day 2 - Backstage Magic including lunch at WCC
Day 3 - DS w/ lunch at Sci-Fi (2:30pm)
Day 4 - AK, dinner at Ohana (8:05pm)
Day 5 - DTD, Mini Golf, hang out at AKL, possible lunch at TRex
Day 6 - Islands of Adventure, F&W Festival at EP for dinner
Day 7 - Universal Studios, dinner at Jiko (8:20pm)
Day 8 - Breakfast at Boma (7:30am), DS in the morning, AK in the afternoon
Day 9 - EP, lunch at LeCellier (1:45pm)
Day 10 - MK, dinner at Kona (9:10pm)
Day 11 - No scheduled plans, do whatever I didn't get enough of, flight out at 7:00pm

 

[Quacktatty]

I'm going out of my comfort zone here...I have changed my dining reservations once again! I am loving the online booking though - it's so easy to make changes! I moved Boma to my rest day and later in the morning and moved Kona to my DS/AK day. I was worried about having a 7:30 reservation and being able to make DS rope drop to ride TSM. Now I have nothing to worry about!


Day 1 - Arrival - DTD (to exchange AP voucher) and MK
Day 2 - Backstage Magic including lunch at WCC
Day 3 - DS w/ lunch at Sci-Fi (2:30pm)
Day 4 - AK, dinner at Ohana (8:05pm)
Day 5 - Check-in at AKL, Breakfast at Boma (10:05am), Mini Golf, DTD, hang out at AKL, possible dinner at TRex(?)
Day 6 - Islands of Adventure, F&W Festival at EP for dinner
Day 7 - Universal Studios, dinner at Jiko (8:20pm)
Day 8 - DS in the morning, AK in the afternoon, dinner at Kona (7:10pm)
Day 9 - EP, lunch at LeCellier (1:45pm), probably F&W for dinner
Day 10 - MK
Day 11 - No scheduled plans, do whatever I didn't get enough of, flight out at 7:00pm

 

[Quacktatty]

Even though I am going during Food & Wine, I hadn't really even considered booking any of the events. That changed when I read a post from another DISer about her friend not being able to go on their trip. I decided that this was my chance and I offered to go to one of the events with her (thanks Constance!!). We'll also be meeting up for dinner at Jiko later in the trip.

Then I kind of went crazy and booked a bunch more events (and I might not be done )

This means that some ADRs will have to go - bye bye Kona and bye bye Sanaa (I had booked a lunch there for my "off" day).

The itinerary now looks like this:

Day 1 - Arrival - DTD (to exchange AP voucher) and MK
Day 2 - Backstage Magic including lunch at WCC, F&W booths for dinner
Day 3 - DS w/ lunch at Sci-Fi (2:30pm)
Day 4 - AK, Claire Clarke F&W demo, dinner at Ohana (8:05pm)
Day 5 - Check-in at AKL, Breakfast at Boma (10:05am), Mini Golf, DTD, Robert Irvine F&W Demo w/Constance, Barry-Callebaut Chocolate F&W Demo, back to DTD, more mini golf maybe
Day 6 - Islands of Adventure, F&W Festival booths at EP for dinner
Day 7 - Universal Studios, dinner at Jiko (8:20pm)
Day 8 - DS in the morning, AK in the afternoon, dinner at Jiko (8:30pm) w/Constance
Day 9 - EP, lunch at LeCellier (1:45pm) and probably F&W booths for dinner
Day 10 - MK, Andrew Zimmern F&W Demo
Day 11 - EP, Andrew Zimmern F&W Demo, go home

I'm absolutely ecstatic that I get to see Robert Irvine and Andrew Zimmern!! It almost makes up for the fact that I have to miss Jamie and Bobby Deen and Jacques Torres.

They are doing book signings as well after their demos so I'll probably buy their books on Amazon before my trip and bring it with me the day of.

My only remaining dilemma is:

I'd like to do the Chopin Vodka tasting, but so far it really doesn't fit with my schedule. I'm not a big wine drinker, although I am looking forward to tasting some good wines with good food, but I AM a big vodka drinker I don't think it'll end up working out, but I'm still playing around with ideas.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Sounds like fun!

 

[Quacktatty]

Sounds like fun!

I hope so!!

 

[Quacktatty]

Good news!!! I was able to move my Sci-Fi ADR up an hour so that I can now make the Chopin Vodka Spirit Seminar. Yahoo!!!! 45 minutes of Vodka learning and drinking, awesome.

I think I have made all the changes I can possibly make at this point. My relaxing trip is turning out to be not so relaxing haha.

Today I ordered the 2010 Unofficial Guide as there are Universal Studios touring plans in the book and I certainly will need one as the last time I went to Universal the only ride was Jaws

I also ordered Robert Irvine and Andrew Zimmern's books. I am hopeful that I will get to go to their book signings and meet them in person, really cool!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Oooh I can't wait to hear how the Andrew Zimmern thing is! I like him!

Allyson

 

[Quacktatty]

Oooh I can't wait to hear how the Andrew Zimmern thing is! I like him!

I'm excited about that one! I got his book earlier this week and hopefully I will get a chance to get it signed. I'm just praying he doesn't make anything icky to eat haha

 

[Quacktatty]

I don't think my plans can possibly change anymore at this point. I have "finalized" my itinerary as best I can and even put it on paper, so there is *almost* no going back.

I am vowing not to use a touring plan except for Universal Studios since I haven't been there in forever and I have never been to Islands of Adventure. I ended up with fewer ADRs than I had originally planned, but I think it's for the best. There is so much going on with Food and Wine that I don't really need any more places to eat

So without further ado...the daily schedules

 

[Quacktatty]

Day 1 starts painfully early...around 3:30am probably. My mom will bring me to the airport for my 5:50am flight. I have a very short layover in Philadelphia before finally arriving in Orlando at 10:30. I have to pick up my rental car and then it's off to Downtown Disney to exchange my Annual Pass Voucher and get some lunch at my second favorite counter service on property, Earl of Sandwich.

After that I am going to head to Pop Century to check in. I have an annual pass room discount which is why I'm going to DTD first instead of the resort.

After checking in, if my room is ready I will drop off my bags and park the car near my building, and if not, I'll get on a bus to the Magic Kingdom. This plan is already not the norm for me. I usually make my first main park and my first meal at Animal Kingdom. But, this trip is all about trying new things so Magic Kingdom it is!

The only things on my schedule for this day are to ride the TTA and Buzz Lightyear. Otherwise, I will just let my feet take me where they want to go. I plan to have dinner at Casey's but may try Columbia Harbour House instead, I guess it'll depend on where I am in the park when I get hungry.

After I have had my fill for the day, I'll take the bus back to POP and relax since inevitably I'll be uber tired from my travels and I have a big day planned for the next day.

 

[Quacktatty]

Day 2 is a day that I am both looking very much forward to and a day that I fear. If you read my last trip report you might recall my experience on the Backstage Safari. If you didn't read it, I'll sum it up for you - I didn't have a great time. I still can't pinpoint what it was, but it made my vacation start on a not so great foot.

So what do I do? I scheduled another tour for the second day of my trip. I will be doing the Backstage Magic tour, 7ish hrs of Backstage stuff. Including lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe which is a restaurant that has always been on my "list". So my hope is that the last trip was a fluke and that I didn't have a great tour guide or group or something and it's not that taking a tour on Day 2 of a trip is a bad idea.

I have purposely avoided reading a lot about Backstage Magic as I'd like to be a little surprised and not disappointed. I had read so much about groups that got to touch a White Rhino on the Backstage Safari that I was really disappointed when we didn't.

The tour starts at 9:00am and meets outside of Epcot. It's one of the few tours that doesn't require park admission. Of course, the cost is more than 2 days of park admission, but who's counting? Thank goodness for Annual Passes is all I'll say.

I'll have to arrive in the Epcot parking lot by 8:30 at the latest I figure so I have time to walk over to Guest Relations and check-in by 8:45.

The tour will wrap up probably around 4:00 back at Epcot. I plan to take this opportunity to explore the F&W Festival Welcome Center and then start my food walk! I'll start on the Mexico side and just eat as I walk, probably not going in any particular order.

I doubt that I'll make it a late night and I'll most likely leave Epcot well before Illuminations to head back to POP and get a good night sleep before my first full park day the next day.

 

[Quacktatty]

I guess I'm talking to myself at this point...but I'm going to keep going anyway!

Not a lot of new updates on the trip planning although I did get a few new things to bring with me:

Keens! I had wanted to try these shoes but was having trouble finding them in stores. I finally found that Cabela's had them, but not in my size. So I went online and ordered them to be picked up at the store. So far they seem pretty comfortable, but I haven't gotten much wear out of them.

Pins - I went through my pins from last trip and realized that there were only one or two that I would want to trade. I went on EBay and ordered 20 traders for only about $25. Most of them I will be trading but a couple might be keepers!

Books - I got all my books from Amazon. The 2010 Unofficial Guide, Mission: Cook by Robert Irvine and The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern. The latter two I will bring to hopefully get signed by the authors at their F&W book signings.


I have also started packing - sort of. I got my suitcases down from the attic and picked out my main clothes for the week. Hopefully it's going to be warm enough everyday for shorts since that's pretty much all I'm packing!

I can't believe that my trip is in 3 short weeks! At this time 21 days from now I will probably be in Philadelphia just boarding the second leg of my flight to Orlando!

 

[Quacktatty]

So I have more or less abandoned this pre-trip report and it seems that everyone else has too. But...I am 9 short days from my trip

I probably will post a couple more times at the most, but expect a new thread for the Trip Report and a Dining Review when I get back!