Pre-Trip Halloween, a birthday and Christmas! The ever-changing planning of our November 2014 trip!

Hello everyone!

This is a spur of the moment thing since I've never done a trip report before, much less a pre-trip report! But some of you guys seems so nice that I finally decided to bit the bullet and start my PTR.

We went to Disney this past February and on our last day, after much crying and wishing I could just say screw the world, I'm moving to my room on POFQ permanently, we decided that we'd be coming back ASAP. As we set there waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport I already had my phone calendar opened and we're looking around dates. Would we want to come back in February? Could we afford a trip as big as this one knowing we had a trip to Italy planned for the end of the year already? After much talking (we did have a 11 hour plane ride home after all!) we decided on November 2014. Over 600 days away! Both the MNSSHP and MVMCP played a big part on our decision and after we finally set on our dates we finally could breathe a bit better, we're coming back to our second home!

 

[Wikkler]

So I know you're spending a day at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, and Wet 'n' Wild.. but what will the other days be like?

 

[LucyK]

I'm back!

Had an amazing time at Trento, I love my family there, so much good energy!

I checked the boards a few time but couldn't reply a lot. Those magic bands sure are making people go cuckoo! I hope everything is done by next November!

 

[LucyK]

So I know you're spending a day at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, and Wet 'n' Wild.. but what will the other days be like?

Is it sad that I have a spreadsheet? It's basic information, breakfast here, lunch there, if there's anything special happening that day. I like to look at it and imagine how our days will be like.

We're doing more than one day for each park though, so our off days are not that many. There are 9 days that we either have marked as off days, shopping or half park days. Two of those are party days, November 1st for MNSSHP and November 23rd for MVMCP, our is to sleep very late and veggie at the pool before going to MK around 4PM. Shopping days are exactly that, we plan to hit Florida Mall, Millennia and the outlets for some serious shopping, I expected to be exhausted by the time we get back to the hotel! And on the really off days we plan on resort hopping and seeing all the Christmas decorations. I hope the GF gingerbread house is done by the end of our trip. And I'm really looking forward to seeing the decoration at Wilderness Lodge and AKL.

BTW, we're not doing Wet 'n' Wild but we're doing Discovery Cove! This is one of the things I'm most excited about, I've always wanted to see a dolphin up close and actually having the chance to touch one? It'll be a dream come true to me!

 

[LucyK]

For some reason I'm now able to customize my MBs!

I picked green while my mom is deciding between blue and orange, she's picked blue but asked if she could still change her mind. I actually laughed and said yeah, at least a thousand times!

Just 333 more days till Disney!

 

[LucyK]

Happy New Year everyone!

After a day of leisuring around and watching the fireworks, it's back to planning our Orlando trip. I can happily say we're going back to Disney within the year!

And guess what? We're now at

Just 300 more days and we're be on our way to Orlando! I'm extremely excited about this trip because we have so much happening! Mom nows wants to do Discovery Cove (she was on the fence because she can't swim, but she saw pictures of the Dolphin encounter on her sister's facebook page and now she must do it!) and I want to do either Keys To The Kingdom or the Marceline tour. Only problem with that is that I'm still trying to figure out if they offer the tour in Portuguese, not much luck going in that department, I called Disney the other day and the CM actually said I had stumped her, she had no idea if they did it. She even tried connecting to the tour offices at MK but no one picked up.

I made a Excel spreadsheet and it looks amazing! So good to see all our plans laid out like that, I love spreadsheets . My plan is to print it and laminate it so we can use it as a guide when we're there.

With 120 days to go before we can make our dining reservations, I'm still torn about some choices. I now dropped Narcoossee's and added Flying Fish, which we'll pay OOP instead of using the DDP.

Universal dining is still up in the air, but we know we want to go back to Mythos, try Tchoup Chop, eat at Leaky Cauldron at least twice. Plus all the new options at Citywalk! They're saying Red Oven Pizza is as good as Via Napoli pizza, so it's definitely on our to-do list.

Have a wonderful day guys

 

[LucyK]

Watching NFL playoffs and messing around with our ADR's wishlist:

Dropped a bunch of stuff, add some others. Here's what I have for now:

BREAKFAST - Cape May, Crystal Palace, Kona Café, Chef Mickey's.

LUNCH - Afternoon Tea at GF, Beaches and Cream, Mama Melroses, Raglan Road, Tusker House.

DINNER - California Grill, Boma, Via Napoli, Rainforest Café, 1900 Park Fare, Flying Fish Café.

I'll probably pay OOP for California Grill, Raglan Road and Tusker House. The Afternoon Tea will for sure be OOP, we'll be at Universal at this point but we'll go to the last MNSSHP on the 1st (or 2nd) and eating at the Grand Floridian before the party.

 

[FitzherbertFreak]

FOOD:

I'm a piscatarian, I don't eat any meat besides fish and seafood. I also eat dairy and egg although I try to make sure that all eggs and meat are free range and cruelty free. Before my first visit in 2005 I thought it would be harder to eat at Disney but I found they do carter rather well to different dietary needs. And while I'm there I simply don't care about calories and sugar and all that stuff that is bad for you. I actually lost 8 pounds on my last visit and that was eating 2 snacks a day plus a table AND a quick service meal!

I rather prepay most of our dining expenses beforehand so I always get the DDP. It's worth the price for us even after paying for appetizers and tips. Last trip we saved around $250.

We do lots of TS dinners and some character breakfast, saving the QS credit for our lunch. Some of them are repeats of the one we went once and loved it or it's our favorite place to eat while others we're trying for the first time. I realized we didn't do much resort hopping to eat which is something I plan to rectify next time. After looking through menus and asking a lot of questions, I decided on these restaurants so far (of course they are all subject to change because I'm as fickle as they come):

Table Service:
Via Napoli, California Grill, Rainforest Café, Mama Melrose's, Citricos, Boma, Cape May, Boatwright's, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Kona Café,

Counter Service:
Be Our Guest, Tamu Tamu, Boulangerie Patisserie, Cantina de San Angel, Wolfgang Puck Express, Main Street Bakery, Columbia Harbour House, Flame Tree Barbecue, Earl of Sandwich, Bongos Cuban Café Window, Pinocchio Village Haus.

That's it for now!

Piscatarian all the way!

 

[LucyK]

Piscatarian all the way!

Yep, I feel thousands times better since becaming a piscatarian 7 years ago. It helped shed a lot of weight as well! I sometimes wish I could give up seafood, but I have a love relationship with shrimp and garlic that I can't seem to shake it off!

 

[FitzherbertFreak]

Yep, I feel thousands times better since becaming a piscatarian 7 years ago. It helped shed a lot of weight as well! I sometimes wish I could give up seafood, but I have a love relationship with shrimp and garlic that I can't seem to shake it off!

I love when you tell people you're piscatarian and there like "what?" I've resulted in saying vegetarian + fish...

 

[LucyK]

What lovely plans!

Thank you! I truly want this vacation to be a really amazing time to my mom.

Sounds like an ambitious plan, but you have a long flight to try to get some rest afterward.

9 to 10 hours, depending where we make the connection flight. We usually choose Detroit even though Atlanta is near. But Detroit is a lovely place and their airport is pretty amazing. Usually we can upgrade to business class using miles, so the flight becomes less of a nuisance and more of a relaxing experience.

What a great trip. Love your plans, as I too am a planner. Enjoy!

Planning time is so much fun! I love to have a notebook with me when it's board games night at home because my mom always says something new and give me ideas.

I love when you tell people you're piscatarian and there like "what?" I've resulted in saying vegetarian + fish...

So much easier! And being a piscatarian gives you so many options, I never go hungry anywhere!

 

[LucyK]

Did anyone else watched the webcast for the Diagon Alley? I'm SO excited about it, I can't wait to walk around the place and feel exactly how I did when I first walked down Hogsmeade: exhilarated! The place was fantastic, I couldn't believe how much details from the books they had captured so well! And Diagon Alley promises to be ten times better than that! SO EXCITING!

 

[njDizFan]

Did anyone else watched the webcast for the Diagon Alley? I'm SO excited about it, I can't wait to walk around the place and feel exactly how I did when I first walked down Hogsmeade: exhilarated! The place was fantastic, I couldn't believe how much details from the books they had captured so well! And Diagon Alley promises to be ten times better than that! SO EXCITING!

I haven't seen the webcast, you have a link?

 

[LucyK]

I haven't seen the webcast, you have a link?

Yep! Here you go:

I loved the look inside the train and all the new stores, I need to save some more money LOL

 

[njDizFan]

Yep! Here you go:

I loved the look inside the train and all the new stores, I need to save some more money LOL

Wow that is awesome, I'm so excited for you and your upcoming trip...definately save all you can and don't forget a few souvenirs for a special wdwmagic member.lol

 

[LucyK]

Wow that is awesome, I'm so excited for you and your upcoming trip...definately save all you can and don't forget a few souvenirs for a special wdwmagic member.lol

Thank you! I'll have to get you something cool then! I see you as either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, uhm... I'll have to see about that!

 

[njDizFan]

Thank you! I'll have to get you something cool then! I see you as either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, uhm... I'll have to see about that!

Oh come on Ravenclaw all the way!!!

 

[LucyK]

Oh come on Ravenclaw all the way!!!

I put Ravenclaw first, didn't I?

I wonder if I can buy a Firebolt replica? And a time-turner. OH, and golden snitch! Good lord, I might need a fourth bag this time around! don't judge

 

[Minnie_girl]

Following along!

 

[LucyK]

Following along!

Welcome! We're still a few months away but once we hit 180 days I'm sure I'll be posting more.

Do you have any plans yourself?

 

[ILDisneyFan]

Two of those are party days, November 1st for MNSSHP and November 23rd for MVMCP

Sounds like you've got everything all planned out and it sounds like fun! Just keep in mind that the dates for the 2014 parties haven't been released yet so you might have to change your plans a little bit. I think the dates are usually released around May? I'm going to MVMCP this year as well and I'll also be there in November!