Ok, since I've been slack, I've missed out on an ADR for Be Our Guest. So, anyone planning trips who wants to try this, be sure you hit the 180 marker!
Don't be a slacker like me!
However, Be Our Guest does not do reservations for lunch, so the kid and I will probably try to squeeze in for a Lunch seating, and of course will check for ADR cancellations closer to the trip.
So, I've got everything registered in the My Disney Experience App on my iPad and iPhone, but I used the website to link everything together.
I must say, I do like the new layout of the site. It was fairly easy to use. However, it did not bring over all the hotel reservations that I had already booked and set up on the website, even though it tried to do an import of them.
Not a major issue tough, as it took only a few minutes to re-link everything.
The planner utility looks rather nice, and allows you to assign parks to various days, gives you park hours and event times, etc. I am going to keep playing with it, but I think I may rely on this app instead of loading everything into Google Docs as I have done in the past.
For those not familiar, for the trip I put everything into Google Docs linked to a special email account I created just for trips. This is hours of data entry, but it's nice to have all that information at my fingertips.
It appears that the My Disney Experience will alleviate this requirement, which I think is fantastic!
My only issue so far is that it doesn't integrate with Disney Cruise Lines. That would make it a perfect app for planning the whole trip, in my view. Hopefully they are heading that direction sometime in the future.
There is a neat utility on the Disney Cruise site which allows you to schedule a call from either Goofy or Mickey. I chose Mickey. The neat thing is that you can either have the call go out immediately, or pre-schedule a time. I chose to pre-schedule it for 9a on August 3. The Kid and I should be at Chef Mickey's around that time eating breakfast before the DCL Magical Express picks us up to take us to Port Canaveral.
The inbound phone number is 866.882.5010, so I have put this number into my phone and saved it as a contact called "Mr. Mouse", that way when the call comes in, I will know exactly who it is (I don't like answering weird phone calls from 8xx numbers), plus the kid, who now reads quite well, will see Mr. Mouse on the caller ID, which I think is a nice touch.
I am trying to picture her face when she gets a call during breakfast from Mickey Mouse welcoming her on her new cruise. Mind you, I have decided I am not telling her anything about a Disney trip this year. Since we go every year, she may suspect we are doing something, but I haven't told her what, and I am quite sure she would never guess a Disney Cruise!
So, updating the itinerary here's what I've got so far. Things will probably change between now and August, but this is a general layout. By the way, any restaurants I mention, I will note if they are ADRs or not.
In 2010, I had no issues getting into restaurants without ADRs, except for Le Cellier. But, in 2011 we had a lot of trouble. So, in 2012, I booked us to the gills with ADRs. My experience with this was horrid.
I felt like the whole trip became focused not around what we wanted to relax and enjoy together, but making sure we rushed around to make our ADRs. So, this year I will not be making quite as many ADRs, focusing only on restaurants I really want to eat at, rather than trying to plan lunch / breakfast / dinner every day.
So, here's the general plan...
8/1 - Fly to DC, Eat Dinner at Pentagon City Mall (There's a Diner there she likes) and Stay in DC
8/2 - Fly from DC to Orlando International, early flight, arrive around 10a. Magical Express to Contemporary. If the room is not yet available, check our bags with Bell Services and head over to the Magic Kingdom.
Bell Services is a neat feature, for those who have not used it. Official Check In is around 3p, as I recall, so they may not have a room ready for you if you arrive earlier. I have never experienced this, but if that ever happens, it's not a big deal. Bell Services will hold your luggage in a monitored / secure location until your room is ready.
Now, you may ask why I don't use the room bag delivery option included with the Magical Express. Quite simple...I don't trust it. Something about making sure my bag gets put on the right bus and delivered to the right hotel is important to me. But, the service does exist, and I've heard is rather nice, as you can show up, check-in, and go to the parks. When you get back, your bags will already be in your room.
But, as I said, I don't trust it.
For this first leg of the trip, I am doing one night at the Contemporary. I've added a one day base ticket to this (for Friday at Magic Kingdom), and the Deluxe Dining Plan. This means, for this leg of the trip, I will have 6 table service credits and 4 snack credits.
I plan to use 4 of the dining credits for our traditional first meal at Disney at Cinderella's Royal Table. We always do this on the first and last nights of our trips since 2010, and it wouldn't feel right not to kick off what is certainly our longest trip, and most varied trip, without getting pictures with the Princesses.
Magic Kingdom is likely to have nighttime Extra Magic Hours on Friday (it does most years), so we'll just spend the whole day there. I doubt we'll finish out Magic Hours, as we need to be up early the next day.
8/3 - 8:45 ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickeys will use up our final two table credits. Disney Cruise Lines will be sending a bus to pick us up and take us to Port Canaveral. The bus should arrive between 10a and 12:30p, so that's plenty of time for a quick meal with Mickey. As I mentioned before, I also pre-scheduled Mickey to call at 9a, and I'll let him tell her about the Cruise. Of course, I plan to have the video camera primed for this!
That afternoon, we'll be taken to Port Canaveral and board the Fantasy. Off to the waves!
8/4 - At Sea - No plans right now outside of exploring the ship
8/5 - Grand Cayman Island - Grand Cayman Island Tour
8/6 - Costa Maya, Mexico - Dolphin Swim Port Adventure
8/7 - Cozumel, Mexico - Atlantis Submarine Expedition Port Adventure
8/8 - At Sea
8/9 - Castaway Cay - Castaway Cay Stingray Port Adventure
8/10 - Early arrival back to Port Canaveral. Disney Magical Transit will then take us to Port Orleans French Quarter. We'll leave the bag with Bell Services if our room is not ready and head out to EPCOT. No dinner plans (though I'd like to do Coral Seas or Germany Pavilion...we'll see how we feel).
8/11 - Breakfast at the Hotel, Animal Kingdom, Lunch wherever we like (I'd like Tuskers or Yak and Yeti), leave mid afternoon and head back to the hotel to hang out for a bit. Get freshened up and go to Jikos (ADR) for dinner.
8/12 - Breakfast at Hotel, Hollywood Studios, Dine with an Imagineer Lunch at Brown Derby (Yes, I want to do it again...though I may change my mind. This is the only day they are doing it during our trip).
8/13 - Free Day, possibly Universal Studios
8/14 - Wild Africa Trek at AK, then more AK or do whatever, like Water Parks. Dinner at EPCOT.
8/15 - Free Day, Possibly Legoland
8/16 - Richard Petty Driving Experience (afternoon) - Bowling at DTD for dinner.
8/17 - Free Day, Possibly Sea World
8/18 - Disney's Family Magic Tour at Magic Kingdom. Rest of the day wide open.
8/19 - Check bags with Bell Services. Crystal Palace for breakfast (before park opening ADR). Magic Kingdom. Leave after the 3p parade to catch a late flight back to DC. Drop off the kid.
8/20 - Head back to Atlanta, and start planning the trip for 2014!
As you can see, it's not all fleshed out, but I am also trying to hold myself back from overplanning the trip. I learned my lesson last year!
Anyhow, there's my pre-trip update so far!
Don't be a slacker like me!
However, Be Our Guest does not do reservations for lunch, so the kid and I will probably try to squeeze in for a Lunch seating, and of course will check for ADR cancellations closer to the trip.
So, I've got everything registered in the My Disney Experience App on my iPad and iPhone, but I used the website to link everything together.
I must say, I do like the new layout of the site. It was fairly easy to use. However, it did not bring over all the hotel reservations that I had already booked and set up on the website, even though it tried to do an import of them.
Not a major issue tough, as it took only a few minutes to re-link everything.
The planner utility looks rather nice, and allows you to assign parks to various days, gives you park hours and event times, etc. I am going to keep playing with it, but I think I may rely on this app instead of loading everything into Google Docs as I have done in the past.
For those not familiar, for the trip I put everything into Google Docs linked to a special email account I created just for trips. This is hours of data entry, but it's nice to have all that information at my fingertips.
It appears that the My Disney Experience will alleviate this requirement, which I think is fantastic!
My only issue so far is that it doesn't integrate with Disney Cruise Lines. That would make it a perfect app for planning the whole trip, in my view. Hopefully they are heading that direction sometime in the future.
There is a neat utility on the Disney Cruise site which allows you to schedule a call from either Goofy or Mickey. I chose Mickey. The neat thing is that you can either have the call go out immediately, or pre-schedule a time. I chose to pre-schedule it for 9a on August 3. The Kid and I should be at Chef Mickey's around that time eating breakfast before the DCL Magical Express picks us up to take us to Port Canaveral.
The inbound phone number is 866.882.5010, so I have put this number into my phone and saved it as a contact called "Mr. Mouse", that way when the call comes in, I will know exactly who it is (I don't like answering weird phone calls from 8xx numbers), plus the kid, who now reads quite well, will see Mr. Mouse on the caller ID, which I think is a nice touch.
I am trying to picture her face when she gets a call during breakfast from Mickey Mouse welcoming her on her new cruise. Mind you, I have decided I am not telling her anything about a Disney trip this year. Since we go every year, she may suspect we are doing something, but I haven't told her what, and I am quite sure she would never guess a Disney Cruise!
So, updating the itinerary here's what I've got so far. Things will probably change between now and August, but this is a general layout. By the way, any restaurants I mention, I will note if they are ADRs or not.
In 2010, I had no issues getting into restaurants without ADRs, except for Le Cellier. But, in 2011 we had a lot of trouble. So, in 2012, I booked us to the gills with ADRs. My experience with this was horrid.
I felt like the whole trip became focused not around what we wanted to relax and enjoy together, but making sure we rushed around to make our ADRs. So, this year I will not be making quite as many ADRs, focusing only on restaurants I really want to eat at, rather than trying to plan lunch / breakfast / dinner every day.
So, here's the general plan...
8/1 - Fly to DC, Eat Dinner at Pentagon City Mall (There's a Diner there she likes) and Stay in DC
8/2 - Fly from DC to Orlando International, early flight, arrive around 10a. Magical Express to Contemporary. If the room is not yet available, check our bags with Bell Services and head over to the Magic Kingdom.
Bell Services is a neat feature, for those who have not used it. Official Check In is around 3p, as I recall, so they may not have a room ready for you if you arrive earlier. I have never experienced this, but if that ever happens, it's not a big deal. Bell Services will hold your luggage in a monitored / secure location until your room is ready.
Now, you may ask why I don't use the room bag delivery option included with the Magical Express. Quite simple...I don't trust it. Something about making sure my bag gets put on the right bus and delivered to the right hotel is important to me. But, the service does exist, and I've heard is rather nice, as you can show up, check-in, and go to the parks. When you get back, your bags will already be in your room.
But, as I said, I don't trust it.
For this first leg of the trip, I am doing one night at the Contemporary. I've added a one day base ticket to this (for Friday at Magic Kingdom), and the Deluxe Dining Plan. This means, for this leg of the trip, I will have 6 table service credits and 4 snack credits.
I plan to use 4 of the dining credits for our traditional first meal at Disney at Cinderella's Royal Table. We always do this on the first and last nights of our trips since 2010, and it wouldn't feel right not to kick off what is certainly our longest trip, and most varied trip, without getting pictures with the Princesses.
Magic Kingdom is likely to have nighttime Extra Magic Hours on Friday (it does most years), so we'll just spend the whole day there. I doubt we'll finish out Magic Hours, as we need to be up early the next day.
8/3 - 8:45 ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickeys will use up our final two table credits. Disney Cruise Lines will be sending a bus to pick us up and take us to Port Canaveral. The bus should arrive between 10a and 12:30p, so that's plenty of time for a quick meal with Mickey. As I mentioned before, I also pre-scheduled Mickey to call at 9a, and I'll let him tell her about the Cruise. Of course, I plan to have the video camera primed for this!
That afternoon, we'll be taken to Port Canaveral and board the Fantasy. Off to the waves!
8/4 - At Sea - No plans right now outside of exploring the ship
8/5 - Grand Cayman Island - Grand Cayman Island Tour
8/6 - Costa Maya, Mexico - Dolphin Swim Port Adventure
8/7 - Cozumel, Mexico - Atlantis Submarine Expedition Port Adventure
8/8 - At Sea
8/9 - Castaway Cay - Castaway Cay Stingray Port Adventure
8/10 - Early arrival back to Port Canaveral. Disney Magical Transit will then take us to Port Orleans French Quarter. We'll leave the bag with Bell Services if our room is not ready and head out to EPCOT. No dinner plans (though I'd like to do Coral Seas or Germany Pavilion...we'll see how we feel).
8/11 - Breakfast at the Hotel, Animal Kingdom, Lunch wherever we like (I'd like Tuskers or Yak and Yeti), leave mid afternoon and head back to the hotel to hang out for a bit. Get freshened up and go to Jikos (ADR) for dinner.
8/12 - Breakfast at Hotel, Hollywood Studios, Dine with an Imagineer Lunch at Brown Derby (Yes, I want to do it again...though I may change my mind. This is the only day they are doing it during our trip).
8/13 - Free Day, possibly Universal Studios
8/14 - Wild Africa Trek at AK, then more AK or do whatever, like Water Parks. Dinner at EPCOT.
8/15 - Free Day, Possibly Legoland
8/16 - Richard Petty Driving Experience (afternoon) - Bowling at DTD for dinner.
8/17 - Free Day, Possibly Sea World
8/18 - Disney's Family Magic Tour at Magic Kingdom. Rest of the day wide open.
8/19 - Check bags with Bell Services. Crystal Palace for breakfast (before park opening ADR). Magic Kingdom. Leave after the 3p parade to catch a late flight back to DC. Drop off the kid.
8/20 - Head back to Atlanta, and start planning the trip for 2014!
As you can see, it's not all fleshed out, but I am also trying to hold myself back from overplanning the trip. I learned my lesson last year!
Anyhow, there's my pre-trip update so far!
so, I have to keep it very creative. He seems to be far more receptive to all things Disney if I can get him a non-Disney trip in the mix... so hopefully NOLA will get him into a good place for WDW.
