You Want to Stay Where?! A July PTR* TR LINK 8/8!

[shan23877]

OMG, that Jessie outfit is adorable! (well, of course that sweet model helps! )

Jill in CO

Thank you. She does enjoy modelling!

So I haven’t been paying much attention with the tournament of food stuff, but I’m still going to give you my input lol.

LE CELLIER!! Seriously one of my favorite places to eat!

Crystal Palace wins my vote, I know you guys didn’t really have a great experience last time but its such a classic!

AHAHAHAHAH I don’t even know why BOG and Pop’s foodcourt are in the same bracket there!?WHAT?! NO, there is no thinking, BOG is too beautiful to not eat at, it’s absolutely amazing and beautiful and has a great menu, including the kids food, Paige and I both ate off the kids menu and it’s delicious!

Your sewings coming along fantastic! I love the dresses/outfits, and I love that they’re different characters you don’t see all over the place!! Yay!! Maddie’s photo shoots are adorable!!


P.S. when we were going through Paige's photo's we couldn't find the video from Belle! I don't know how it got lost, but we're down one vid...boourns!

Thanks for voting Katt!

Thanks! That's why I wanted to make them-those characters are hard to find cute costumes for.

Darn! That's ok though. Maddie hasn't stopped talking about how the princesses 'video called' her. It seriously made her day! You rock!

Oh my gosh, that is just perfect! Perfect! Perfect! I can not wait to give it to her! PMing you after this. Thank you so much! Love how Maddie has the poses down perfect. You were so quick, too! I don't know how you managed to keep your other trip a secret because I can't even make it from keeping this outfit a secret! Eep!!!

I am so relieved that you like it! I thought it turned out really cute! LOL. Let me know what she thinks!

And, if you haven't received an email from me yet check your spam folder. I have a tracking # for you too! It's on it's way!

Loving the Jessie outfit and Maddie rocks it!

Thank you! She loves to pose!

Nice job. Obviously Maddie's pretty pleased with her outfit.

Thanks Pozilurker! I knew I'd get you out of hiding.

That outfit is adorable!!! I'm sure LilAnn's DD is going to LOVE it!!!

Thank you! I think LilAnn's DD will look adorable in it!

Love, love the Jessie outfit!!! It's perfect! And Maddie is destined to be a star
You are very talented, you should definitely open an Etsy shop! Though I bet us moms on the Dis could keep you busy LOL!
Looking forward to hearing the plans!

Thank you! I may just open a shop yet. You ladies may keep me from having to though! I just agreed to make a high school graduation dress for our favorite "niece" (really a cousin but more niece relationship) too!

The Jessie outfit is the cutest...LOVE it...you're mondo-talented, girl! And, of course, Maddie's expert modeling just emphasized the outfit's perfection!

You are too sweet. Thanks so much! She is a little ham isn't she?

TOO CUTE!!!! Obviously we're big Lilo fans here , but if we were that big of Jessie fans, I'd hit you up for this, too!

Poor sewing fingers! You should really charge a ton for your work! You are amazing.

And now for the meal choices:

Signature and Celebrity Chef

Le Cellier, because I'm not a sports person...isn't it themed after some sports guy??



Character and Dinner Shows

Perfectly Princess Tea--We've never done this, and yes, CP is a MUST on every trip...but I know my girls would ADORE THIS!!!



Counter Service

Be Our Guest--A castle wins hands-down.



Table Service

Cape May Cafe--Beach Club smell. 'Nuf said.

Thanks Jenn, and thanks for voting!

Wow that Jessie costume is so adorable. And Maddie is obviously an excellent and adorable model!


Good thing you had a daughter otherwise you'd never have had all these opportunities to perfect your sewing lolol!

Looking forward to hearing the plans and seeing the American girl dress!

I know right? If I had a boy I'd just be making quilt after quilt.

Thanks Courtney! AG dress in the next set of updates!

Wow, how adorable is that?!?! You did such an amazing job! You have one of the CUTEST daughters ever, and considering LilAnn's daughter is absolutely adorable as well, I think it's going to look wonderful on her!

Thanks Marissa! Won't that outfit be adorable on her?

How sweet is that Jessie outfit!!! Love it, wish I was as talented with my sewing machine.


My votes:
Le Cellier (just made an ADR for our Sep. trip...yum!)
Crystal Palace
BOG
Via Napoli

Thanks! And thanks for voting. For me sewing has all been trial and error. Keep trying-you'll get there!

Cute Jessie outfit, you have mad skills.


My votes:
Le Cellier
Crystal Palace
BOG
Via Napoli

Thanks so much! Thanks for voting too!

That dress is soooooooo cute!

Thanks Mel! A few years now and maybe I'll be making costumes for Claudia!

Oh wow, that Jessie outfit is too cute!!

Here are my votes for 2-15 match ups:
Signature and Celebrity Chef
Le Cellier

Character and Dinner Shows
Perfectly Princess Tea- My girls would LOVE this!!

Counter Service
Be Our Guest

Table Service
Via Napoli

Thanks so much! and thanks for voting!

Maddie would love that Tea so much. I'm still considering adding it...

 

[shan23877]

It's finally time to start talking about trip plans!

This last weekend I finally admitted to myself that flights were not going to get lower and booked our tickets for the trip. It wasn't without drama though. I found some flights with Southwest that I liked, and as I was on the payment step, the site froze. Irritated I went back in and found the flights that I was trying to book had jumped $300 in the 5 minutes it took for me to find them again! We ended up booking some other tickets for flights that didn't leave at a time we were quite a happy with. A few minutes after that I happened to check my bank account. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I was the proud owner of 2 sets of round trip tickets to Orlando! I called Southwest immediately and the agent that I spoke to couldn't have been nicer. She immediately refunded my money and wished me "a wonderful visit to the happiest place on Earth!". The best part about Southwest having the best prices? Bags fly free! And when you travel with as many princess dresses and return with as many stuffed animals as we do-that's a very big deal. We (Bryan) are kind of cheap about paying for luggage, so usually we shove everything into 2 suitcases. I am so happy that we won't have to do that this time. However, now I'm thinking that we could use some new luggage...

I may have already covered this, but last month I found that Friday evening flights are much, much cheaper than Saturday morning ones so we added a room only reservation to the beginning of our trip. By doing so we saved $200 vs. flying Saturday!

We'll get into MCO around 8:30 and let the Magical Express folks grab our (plentiful) baggage for us. I figure that we'll arrive at POR around 10 pm local time. Since we'll likely have eaten dinner on the plane we may pop into the food court to grab a quick bite to take back to the room with us (it's open 'til midnight right?). After that we're just planning to go to sleep though I suspect we won't be able to do so without watching the fireworks go off on our headboard a couple dozen times.

Bryan is pushing for a sleep in day on our official Day 1, but since I'll have to go to the main building to check out/check in I think we'll have to get up earlier than he'd like.

Has anyone ever done the check out/in thing? I know that we aren't guaranteed to stay in the same room. Do we have to be ready to vacate the room when I check us out, or can Bryan and Maddie stay in the room and snooze while I take care of this? Will they grant us an hour or so in the room in the event that we have to switch?

Anyhoo, once I've gotten that out of the way we'll officially be on the DxDP. I'm hoping that we won't be changing rooms and that I can just make my way to the food court to collect our mugs, fill them with caffeinated goodness and grab something for Maddie to have for breakfast on my way back to the room.

I don't have big dreams of making Rope Drop, but I would like to get to the Magic Kingdom as early as we can. I know that MK on a Saturday in July is ill-advised, but what can I say? We are people who start our trips with a castle. Touring Plans be damned!

I'm not glutton enough for punishment to make any specific plans for this day. I'm pretty sure that as usual we'll go where Maddie tells us to. I do plan to gently nudge her into making Enchanted Tales with Belle a priority first thing in the morning. I assume that if we're doing that we'll grab some LM fastpasses while we're back there.

Chances are good that we'll meet a princess or 12 that day as well. Merida is a must meet for Maddie, but hopefully she'll listen to logic and put that off until our next MK day when we can get in that line at rope drop.

Readers of my previous TRs will be surprised to hear that (for now) rides are a priority for Maddie this trip as well! She's pumped to ride the Barnstormer and BTMRR again. And, she's decided that Space Mt is going to be her new favorite ride. Maddie aficionados will recall that she pretty much HATES dark rides. Somehow (I blame Stacey) though she's gotten into her head that this will be awesome. I've shown her a youtube video of it (lights on) and she still thinks she'll love it. She's also watched a few videos of Splash Mt. and doesn't think that looks so scary anymore. We'll be goin' to the laughin' place. In fact, the list of rides that she doesn't want to try is much, much shorter than the one of 'must dos'. It's pretty much just the Haunted Mansion sad1 and Stitch's Great Escape yay. She's on the fence about PoTC, but at press time says she will ride.

At some point we'll need to eat lunch. Since I had our ADR made before we found out we'd be in the MK for the full day (we usually fly in first thing in the morning and make it to the park around lunch time) we don't have and ADR until dinner. For lunch we'll likely head to Tortuga Tavern to get Maddie her 'cheese 'dillas'. Bryan and I enjoy the taco salad there as well.

The only other plans that day are to have dinner and see Wishes.


Speaking of dinner....


Our Day One ADR is for 'Ohana! Congrats to Daisy8869!

I assumed when I made our ADR that we'd be running on absolutely no sleep having taken a 6 am flight from Chicago on this day that we'd need a break from the park for a bit. Hence, 'Ohana. As it turns out, we'll have gotten some sleep-but when you just made 16 reservations you don't mess with them.

Here are the updated scores for the Guess My ADR Game-Congratulations again Daisy8869!

I think a lot more people will score in the next round.

Speaking of that-here is the hint for Day 2's ADRs


Day 2 is our only full DHS day


Good luck! You'll have 2 full weeks to make your guesses in the Guess My ADR Game!

 

[shan23877]

Once again we had some landslide victories in the Tournament of Food. There were a surprising number of votes cast for the Perfectly Princess Tea and for Bryan's beloved Cape May Cafe, but in the end the favorites held on to win.

Advancing to the next round are: (all photos courtesy the internet)

Signature/Celebrity Chef

Le Cellier

Character/Dinner Show

Crystal Palace

Table Service

Via Napoli

Counter Service

Be Our Guest

Here's a look at the updated bracket:

In the next round the match-ups are:

Signature/Celebrity Chef

Artist's Point vs. Todd English's Bluzoo (again, anyone eaten here?)


Character/Dinner Show

Cinderella's Royal Table vs. Les Chefs de France (we're counting Remy as a character here to keep the regions even)


Counter Service

Sunshine Seasons vs. Cap't Cook's


Table Service

Biergarten vs. Rose and Crown (I never said this would be easy people)


Vote for your favorites, and if you haven't tried either one vote for the one you'd most like to try! I hope that everyone is enjoying the ToF! Hopefully it will be fun!

 

[shan23877]

I've been hard at work on a couple of Lilo dresses for Fantasylandmom's little girls, but before I got started on them I had a promise to keep. Maddie's been after me for a month to start making some princess dresses for her American Girl Doll Carissa. I finally kept my promise, and Maddie chose Belle for the first dress. Once I get done with the real life girls' Lilo dresses Carissa is getting one as well.


I swear it looks better when it's not rumpled Here are the results:


Carissa as Belle and her dog Meatloaf of course

You didn't think that Maddie wasn't going to get in on the action did you?

I only did a bit of shopping this week. Bryan's been wanting a pair of deck shoes for 2 years now, but I keep putting him off. Since he caught wind of Maddie and I making plans for summer/trip shoes he decided to put in an order for a pair for himself. Crocs sends me daily emails so luckily I knew that they were offering 25% off sightwide this past weekend. Here are Bryan's new shoes

 

[nebo]

we have had a room only reservation in front of a package. make sure you call ahead of time, and "connect them" . tell them you want it to be a "cintinuing reservation". it isn'e a guarantee, but they will look at that when they assign you your room.

ah! herein lies the rub! would you rather have the same, not so good room for the WHOLE trip, or one room the first night and a great room for the rest of the trip?

no one really knows for sure how it all works (even thought they say they do). and we all have our own "philosophy", if you will.
we have enver done online check in. (maybe it's better, don't know.) I am big on putting in my requests early, and then count on beig really nice (and a mite persuasive) during the chheck in process. did I mention being really nice?
we (as youknow) don't have kids in our party, so we would rather wait for the better room for the entire trip, than take a room that's ready right now, but not what we wanted.
so I guess I would rather switch rooms after one night,(just don't unpack much) than be in a crappy room for the whole trip. but if you call and tell them "continuing reservation" and mention it at check in, that might not be necessary.
and, unfortunately, tyou will have to come down to the check in desk to re check in the 2nd day. no way to avoid this. does everyone have to be there? they say you all do, if you have the dining plan. ask them when you check in the first time. and ask them if you can wait another hour after official checkout, if you have to move. (it's not until 11, anyway. (but watch out for rogue maids!!! looking to clean you room ASAP! lol

 

[smidgy]

ok, that last post was me, not nebo!

 

[1000HappyWishes]

My votes for the next round:

Artist's Point
Cinderella's Royal Table
Sunshine Seasons
Rose and Crown


That Lilo dress and that Jessie outfit are so kawaii 0__0

 

[merbobear]

Oooh Carissa's new dress is beautiful! Do you sell your creations? If not, you should (well, time permitting, of course) I need to go through my fabrics...Adison has a ton of Disney tees, and I have to try some on her to be sure, but I suspect that a lot of them would fit her except they are going to be belly shirts..she is so tall. I had an idea the other day though, of taking her tees and adding a simple skirt to them to make them into empire waist dresses. So I have to look through my fabrics and see what will coordinate with her shirts...have you ever sewn this type of dress before? I am thinking it would be a simple cut and stitch, but of course things that I feel would be simple often leaving me up cursing myself in the middle of the night!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

My votes are for

Artist's Point
Chefs de France
Sunshine Seasons
Rose and Crown

 

[cheshirecatattack]

I vote for:
artist point
Chefs des France
Sunshine seasons
Rose and crown

For your day two ADRs:
Hollywood and vine breakfast
Mama melroses for dinner

 

[Cinderella909]

I actually thought about the PPT this trip, but nixed it at the last minute. Now you've got me thinking...

Maddie would love that Tea so much. I'm still considering adding it...

. There were a surprising number of votes cast for the Perfectly Princess Tea and for Bryan's beloved Cape May Cafe, but in the end the favorites held on to win.

I'd put the Perfectly Princess Tea right up there with dining at CRT. It was so much fun for both DGD and myself. She remembered the sign language story and enjoyed the parading. She wore her Merida dress and looked so cute. Briar Rose is delightful and does such a wonderful job entertaining the princesses. I even made autograph cards for the PPT (Aurora, Briar Rose and The Baron). If you are interested, just PM and I'll email them to you. If the PPT wasn't a once experiencem, I'd love to repeat when DGD isn't exhausted from the day before. We almost didn't make it, she was so difficult to wake up. But, once up and there, she had a wonderful time. Do hope you'll go, as they are little for such short time.

Love the belle dress for AG!!! Too cute!

Enjoy Karen

 

[Avery&Todd]

My votes:

Signature/Celebrity Chef
Artist's Point - we LOVE some WL!!!

Character/Dinner Show
Cinderella's Royal Table - how can you miss the Princesses???

Counter Service
Cap't Cook's

Table Service
Rose and Crown - one of our FAVORITE meals on our last trip!!

 

[danielle79]

Ok so my guesses for the for the brackets are Artists Point, Le Chefs de France( I want to go there and see Remy) Sunshine Seasons and Biergarten. And my guesses for your only full DHS day are Hollywood and Vine breakfast and Mama Melrose for dinner. The Belle dress for the AGD came out really nice! I have to pick on you a little bit now, I read that the last update had sewing and shopping and was all excited to see the cute things you bought for Maddie or yourself and/or from the Disney store online and much to my dissappointment there is one picture of men's shoes!

 

[afwdwfan]

Ok, first of all and most importantly, your Illini better beat IU for the second time this year this afternoon.


I'm sorry for you difficulties with booking the flight, but I'm glad you got some good customer service from SW and got it worked out.

We are people who start our trips with a castle. Touring Plans be damned!

Couldn't agree more!

I do plan to gently nudge her into making Enchanted Tales with Belle a priority first thing in the morning. I assume that if we're doing that we'll grab some LM fastpasses while we're back there.

If you're not there the first hour the park is open, I don't think it will make any difference. Don't want to be a downer, but no point rushing there if you're passing on shorter lines for other things.

Chances are good that we'll meet a princess or 12 that day as well.

Readers of my previous TRs will be surprised to hear that (for now) rides are a priority for Maddie this trip as well!

Your Maddie??????

Well, I'm glad that she's excited about experiencing more rides. Hopefully she doesn't lose that desire and will actually follow through with it, and enjoy them.

I think a lot more people will score in the next round.

Speaking of that-here is the hint for Day 2's ADRs


Day 2 is our only full DHS day


Good luck! You'll have 2 full weeks to make your guesses in the Guess My ADR Game

You'll probably prove me wrong here, but I guess I'll go ahead and lock it in...

Hollywood & Vine - Breakfast

Mama Melrose - Dinner



Now for the tournament:

Artist Point - just because it is in the WL and everything about the WL is pure awesomeness

CRT - Never been there, but even as a 31 year old guy, I kind of want to eat in the castle. Yes, I just admitted that.

Capt. Cooks - I just don't like Sunshine Seasons as much as most people, and Capt. Cooks has self serve Dole Whip.

Biergarten - Haven't tried either one, and want to try both. I think I'd really like the ambience of Biergarten though, so I guess that's my vote.

 

[KatMark]

I love the Belle dress for the American Girl doll.

I'm not in the official contest, but here are my thoughts on your latest entries:

1) Not picking a signature because we've not eaten at either one so no idea

2) For character meal, we've never done Cinderella's Royal Table, but we fell in love with Chef's deFrance in December so I'm picking that

3) Captain Cooks if it is lunch or dinner (not a fan of Sunshine Seasons except for breakfast)

4) DEFINITELY Rose & Crown; we ate at Biergarten back in 2010 and it used to be a favorite. The food had declined so much in our opinion.

 

[Li Li]

My husband and I went to Bluezoo last September. I loved it; my husband was more meh about it but I think he was just being stubborn because he had been "dreading" it because he thought he wouldn't find anything to eat because he doesn't like fish. He likes shellfish and there are non-fish options, but I think he just decided to be a big baby about it!

Anyway, we went at night and it struck me as
Very dark and very full of adults probably because Dolphin always has conventions going on. But the food was great as far as I was concerned!

 

[Izzieheartscindy]

Make sure you check out the POR resort thread if you haven't already. They have some amazing info on the resort and rooms an how to send in your room request fax 3-5 days prior to check in. I followed their advice and it worked! Also portorleans.org is an amazing site. Having just returned from an 8 night stay I have to say the royal guest rooms are amazing!! Best themed room in Disney and so worth the bus hassle!!!

Love the AG dress!!!

 

[aras4007]

You are so talented! Love all the dresses!

My picks for this round-
I've done neither, but if I had to pick one, it would be Artist Point
Cindy's!
Sunshine Seasons- my favorite!
Rose and Crown

 

[shan23877]

Hey guys! I'm sorry that I should have left a better hint for the Guess My ADR Game.

Day 2 is our only full DHS day, and we have 3 ADR. Anyone who's already guessed can feel free to change your guesses!

 

[shan23877]

Ok, first of all and most importantly, your Illini better beat IU for the second time this year this afternoon.

.

I'll comment on everything else later, but they're killing me right now! With the Illini this year, you just never know which team is going to show up.

At least the national media has caught on to the strength of the Big Ten this year, they're saying 7 or 8 teams will go to the dance