Pre-Trip Gonna end up fat and single...

Hey guys, :p

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I finally am getting around to writing a true pre-trip report. Usually, my Disney plans are set in stone oh, you know, 180 days out…. But planning this trip has been so different! I have changed my mind constantly about what day we’ll go to what park, what time we’ll eat at what restaurant, and even what restaurants to book an ADR for. Disney has not been cooperating either, as I have no idea when the Star Wars fireworks will be, or what time Animal Kingdom will stay open until, and if Rivers of Light will even be a nighttime show in the fall. I have been pulling out my hair, driving myself (as well as my boyfriend) completely and utterly crazy. He just doesn’t understand the struggle of planning THE ULTIMATE DISNEY TRIP. My boyfriend has literally given me NO input, so I’m on my own. Okay, maybe he did suggest T-Rex and returning to Teppan Edo and I shut him, but that’s beside the point. ;);)

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Myself and my BF, Joe

Now don’t get me wrong, I think of one the best parts of any Disney trip is the planning process! I sit at my computer with butterflies in my stomach looking at menus, and park hours, and firework show times. I probably have ten tabs open at all times of solely Disney websites. I wake up every morning and refresh my app to check on my reservations, just to make sure this is all real and not one big dream. I get myself all giddy and try to share my Disney planning accomplishments with people in my everyday life and they just don’t feel the same way!

Me: “Babe, I scored us a Be Our Guest reservation at 12 noon on our first day! TAKE A LOOK AT DEM APPLES.”
BF: “Nicole, what?! Are you talking Disney to me?”

So here I am, to share with you good people who understand my love and obsession with all things Disney and Disney planning. Without further ado, here are my pre-trip plans!
I’m too excited to sleep!!

My boyfriend and I are going to Disney from Friday, November 4th until Sunday, November 13th. That’s 10 days, 9 nights in my most favorite city in the world, the one, the only, Orlando!

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We have gone once before together, back in 2011, and we had an absolutely amazing time. I was not as knowledgeable back then, and we ended up just stumbling upon the Food and Wine Festival, and completely missing the Christmas Party. (Who knew these things existed? Who was I?)

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I moved last year to the Philadelphia area, so we will be flying out of Philadelphia at 6:10 PM, arriving in Orlando at 8:57 PM.

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Here’s hoping I can find my way around the Philadelphia airport, because as we all know, I am severely directionally challenged.
We plan to do 6 days at Disney, with the magic your way tickets with park hoppers and the water park add on, check out the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and spend 2 days at Universal (the dark side). Last Christmas, I read the Harry Potter series, for the first time, and I just could not put the books down. My boyfriend dragged me to his work Christmas party, after just finding out Dumbledore freaking dies, and I had everyone at his dinner table consoling me. We had a movie marathon, and I just think it’s time I checked out these other parks in my beloved city of Orlando.

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Since we fly in at night, and are trekking over to the dark side, this leaves us with an abundance of table service credits. Seems like such a great predicament to be in (right?!), but this has made planning my dining so tough! Where to eat, where to eat!? Now, a girl is not complaining, because after moving out of my parents’ house, I now know how hard it is to make dinner every night. (Mama, I miss your home cooking.) You must plan out what is needed at the grocery store, and you never realize the time and effort that goes into a meal that you devour in less than ten minutes flat. Is it strange that I am most looking forward to not cooking for ten days? I APPRECIATE YOU DINING PLAN.

I went back and forth between Coronado and Port Orleans Riverside. I was even pricing out All Star Sports and Art of Animation. After much debate, with myself, I finally settled on Riverside. The resort looks super gorgeous with a touch of romance, and I still can’t decide if I want to be in Alligator Bayou or The Mansions. It’s all just too beautiful that I think I may leave that decision up to the Disney Gods.

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So there’s the basics, the flight, the hotel, the tickets. Now onto the details!
 

Tom

Beta Return
Riverside! Great choice!

We're very partial to the mansions. I've stayed in a Bayou twice, and the mansions....oh....too many times to count. It's my favorite non-DVC resort. First on-site stay there when I lived at home still. Several fun family and friends trips staying there. And then my wife and I stayed there on our honeymoon.

You're gambling with the bayou buildings, because some of them are a hefty walk to the main building, and can also be a hefty walk to a bus stop.

Two of the mansions are standard rooms, and two are Royal Rooms. I'll admit, the Royal Rooms are pretty cool. But what I like about the mansions is that they're a decently short walk to the pool and main building, because of all the bridges. And 3 of them are pretty handy to a bus stop (85 & 90 are close to the East Depot and 80 is really close to the North Depot).

But if you just take luck of the draw, you'll love it anyway, I promise. The atmosphere at Riverside is just awesome. One of the few resorts where you actually feel completely secluded from real life.
 

prfctlyximprct

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here’s the nitty gritty:

November 4th: Arrive in Orlando at 8:57 PM, take the Magical Express to our hotel, check into our room, and maybe grab a drink at River Roost lounge, or use up a quick service credit at the Riverside Mill!

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Get to bed, because tomorrow is my birthday!

November 5th: The first day must be spent in none other than Magic Kingdom! The park is open from 9 AM to 12 AM!! What a great birthday present :) We have reservations for lunch at Be Our Guest for 12, will hopefully take a mid-day break, then back for dinner at ‘Ohana at 7:10 PM.. Want to try eat and to make it back into Magic Kingdom for Wishes and some late night rides!

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November 6th: Daylight Savings, an extra hour in the world! :) :)
Animal Kingdom day. Oh be still my heart. Here’s hoping Rivers of Light is FINALLY ready. Heard a clip of the soundtrack and was moved to tears. AK is currently open from 9-6 but I am wishing on every star that I see that the hours go later! Hoping for Flame Tree for lunch and booked Yak and Yeti for dinner at 5:30. I think the drink menu swayed me. Then, who knows. Disney Springs? Back to the resort? Maybe head to Hollywood Studios if they ever release their freaking firework schedule. :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

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November 7th: Universal Day- I didn’t plan anything because I do not know the first thing about Uni! Got the park hopper pass, so where ever we wander we can ride and eat! I didn’t want to put us on any sort of time restraint, because I am a Uni newbie! Taking an uber and both parks currently have hours until 7 PM. We can stroll through City Walk for dinner, or head back and eat at our resort, or again go to Disney Springs. I am optimistic that I will have an abundance of energy, but we shall see! Any ideas?

November 8th: Lovely, lovely Election Day. No politics on the forums, but thought this would be a perfect day for Epcot, and drinking around the world! Epcot has extra magic hours so its 9AM to 11 PM of pure Epcot bliss. The food and wine festival will be going on, so I’m trying to save up my snack credits for this! Might do a quick serve for lunch, might not! Dinner is at Le Cellier, and I am soooo excited to finally try this place! GIMME SOME SOUP. Dinner is at 6:50, let’s hope we are hungry!

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November 9th: Hollywood Studios! I struggled most with planning this day, and still don’t know if I am 100% with these results. The hours are 9-7, which I wish was SO MUCH later! I booked the Fantasmic lunch package at Mama Melrose because, you know, FOOD. I wanted to try and fit in 50s Primetime Café, but it would just be too much food in too little time. WAAAAAAA! One day I will get a PB&J shake! You mark my words, Disney friends. Mama Melrose is scheduled for 12:25PM.

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I am still not sure if you can manage Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks in the same evening, but I’m hoping so! If not I must fit it in on my AK day! I need to see this firework show! I hear it's a must Also, with the abundance of TS credits still to go, I decided to book Narcoossee’s at 9:05 PM. (Hello, lobster.) Really hoping I can get to the Grand Floridian in time, but checking out their new GPS directions on the app, it seems doable. I hope we can catch the electrical water pageant too!
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November 10th: This is our “rest day.” And by rest, I mean Typhoon Lagoon and then MK for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!! Will try to do two quick services today, gotta use up those credits

November 11th: Universal Day 2. Hours are 9-7 again and I better start doing my research. Will eat in the park, maybe Citywalk for dinner, or go back to PORS. I saw that there is a Fat Tuesday at Citywalk, and let me just tell you, alcoholic slushies sound right up my alley. If we’re ubering, why the heck not!

November 12th: This is our last full day, and I tried not to plan anything too structured, so we can do whatever we feel we missed out on. Maybe Epcot for more Food and Wine Festival? Maybe a little Epcot then a little MK? Maybe do all 4 parks in one day if I not too burned out and my boyfriend hasn’t killed me yet… We have dinner at California Grill scheduled for 7:40 PM, this was the closest I could get to the fireworks time of 10, so either we’ll eat extremely slow before going out on the balcony, or we’ll grab a few drinks while we wait for the finale of our vacation.
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November 13th:
Departure Day. Flight is at 10:20 AM. I don’t like to speak of this evil, evil day so let’s just stop right there!

So there you have it! My pre-trip plans! Constantly stalking the Disney website and app, to see if firework show times for Hollywood Studios ever get announced, if Rivers of Light will ever see the light of day, and if Disney decides to give me more time in my parks. Any tips, comments, thoughts, criticism, gimme it all. Lay it on. I want this trip to be perfect! I’ve been with my boyfriend for over 9 years now, so maybe all my (Disney enagement hint hint) dreams will come true. Just kidding. But not really.

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(this could be me!)

Final TS Tally:

‘Ohana -1
Yak & Yeti- 1
Le Cellier- 2
Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano- 1
Narcoossee’s- 2
California Grill -2
Total: 9

:p:p:p
 

AliceJaina

Member
Your plans sound so fun!
We go down in the beginning on December. I read your 2013 and 2014 TR right before we went in 2014. Which means you'll have to write your TR as soon as you get back, so I can continue the tradition.

I'm pretty sure you can get the Pb&J milkshake at the bar area at 50's Prime Time. Maybe you can grab one while in the studios.

I know you'll have a great time with your boyfriend. My husband and I wish we knew as much about Disney as we do now. We would have gone down more often before we had kids.
Also, you better come back with a ring!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
UM.. WHAT!? We now live in the same state!? How did I not know this before now! :eek:

I cracked up at the title of your report. :hilarious: With the amount of food we all consume at Disney, the fat part may come true. But the single part I think is more likely to become engaged instead. ;) I mean that Ariel picture looks just like you...

If you hate cooking and more importantly, PLANNING to cook.. You need to check out Tastefully Simple's meal collections. I just recently became a consultant and I'm OBSESSED. Like.. I don't even know how to cook and I make these crazy "fancy" meals now. There's my plug. :rolleyes:

So excited to follow along and cure my Disney blues until I can really get into the planning of my own trip!
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
SO EXCITING!!!
Lovely, lovely Election Day. No politics on the forums, but thought this would be a perfect day for Epcot, and drinking around the world!
This sounds like the best way to spend Election Day, tbh :joyfull:

November 9th: Hollywood Studios!
My birthday!! Have a cupcake from Starring Rolls for me :p

We have dinner at California Grill scheduled for 7:40 PM
You'll love dinner there! Perfect way to use up those credits. When we went, we just left after dinner and walked around the Contemporary. We went back up there a little before the fireworks and we went out to watch from the balcony on the left. I liked the view better from over there and there weren't people with tripods set up :D

I’ve been with my boyfriend for over 9 years now, so maybe all my (Disney enagement hint hint) dreams will come true.
If he doesn't propose, I'll be shocked! You're handing him a perfect opportunity on a platter!!
 

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