The WHY Am I Doing PTR?!?!?

Steve here, and thanks for reading! a few days ago, as i was sitting in front of the computer, i noticed our most recently mailed Disney Pin Code sitting on the edge of the desk and I took another look at it...i immediately start crunching numbers and trying to find the perfect dates to use the Free Dining i was being offered. At first it seemed crazy, i am not going to be able to afford this! this is a joke! why am i even wasting my time? But as the numbers came back i was astonished that it could be done!!! am i doing?

i recently got a new job, which i am making a little more money than i previously did. i have some extra money on my paychecks that im not used to having, so if saved, will make this entire trip possible!

Plus i am even more excited because for the first time ever we dont have extended family coming with us! its just Me, DW Megan, DS4 Landon (will be 5 when we go), and DS2 Declan. this will be Landon's 4th trip and Declan's 3rd. We will be in WDW, Nov 12-19 2013. We are looking to stay at Port Orleans Riverside so we can get the free dining plan.

We originally were planning to head back in May 2014, so i highjacked my itinerary from that trip and applied it here. Everything worked out perfectly including all of our ADR's except one, Be Our Guest. Which the DW is kinda bummed about That is until i showed her the MVMCP page! she has been to WDW many times before like i have been, but she never knew about the party! that changed her mind real quick! Here are our plans as follows. We are driving from IL.

Nov 12 - Tuesday
-arrive at Port Orleans Riverside
-resort and pool day and take the ferry to DTD in the evening for QS Dinner at Wolf Gang Puck and to shop around!

Nov 13 - Wednesday
-Breakfast ADR at Kona Cafe.
-Epcot
-Dinner ADR at Garden Grill.

Nov 14 - Thursday
-QS Breakfast at resort
-Animal Kingdom
-ADR Dinner at Boma.

Nov 15 - Friday
-ADR Breakfast at Ohana
Magic Kingdom
-QS late lunch at Be Our Guest
-Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!
-Late QS dinner/late night snack!
(ohana bfast then mk is a family tradition of ours. Also, this is our very first time in wdw during xmas and first xmas party! i cant wait to meet all the rare characters!!!)

Nov 16 - Saturday
-no plans till the evening. swim, relax, resort hop, dtd.
-QS breakfast or Lunch depending on our moods.
-ADR early Dinner at ??? We still need to choose one more!
-Magic Kingdom after dinner for a few rides, but most importantly the Electrical Parade! Both sons' favorite!

Nov 17 - Sunday
-QS Breakfast at resort
- Magic Kingdom
-ADR Dinner at Chef Mickey's.
(we are trying for rope drop. the xmas party is that night so MK closes early.

Nov 18 - Monday
-ADR Breakfast as Hollywood and Vine
-Disney Hollywood Studios
-QS Dinner at Pizza Planet

If anyone has any tips or suggestions, please chime in! we are very excited for the Xmas party and we are even more excited that all our ADRs worked out! several are new for us! i hope i made good choices! never did a last minute trip like this.

 

[abeachchick]

Sounds pretty awesome to me!

Have a great time!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

How cool for you! I am looking forward to hearing how your trip goes, especially what you think of your Boma dinner.

 

[JourneyGirl13]

Have fun and safe travels! The Christmas Party is AMAZING we've done it twice. You're going to love it!

 

[Zman-ks]

Hope you have a great time!

 

[Poofiesdream]

Enjoy the trip!

 

[stevehousse]

How cool for you! I am looking forward to hearing how your trip goes, especially what you think of your Boma dinner.

This will be our first time at Boma an I am hoping it is as good as everyone says. We did Sanaa 2 trips ago, and we didn't like it, and I like exotic foods!!!

 

[Shere_Khan]

My votes for the ADR you haven't decided on yet are Coral Reef, Biergarten, Cape May Cafe, Kouzzina, or Grand Floridian Cafe.

 

[stevehousse]

My votes for the ADR you haven't decided on yet are Coral Reef, Biergarten, Cape May Cafe, Kouzzina, or Grand Floridian Cafe.

We want to try grand flo cafe heard its good. Really want to try kouzzina, but coral reef and biergarten no thank u!

DW doesn't really care for seafood and we both do not like German food.

 

[Shere_Khan]

Grand Floridian Cafe is amazing! I like it better then some of the more expensive options at GF. I think it offers just as much fine dining for lower price (or lower credits)
Kouzzina was also amazing! We had the nicest waitress as well. My husband does a lot more dining then I do. With his job he has to take customers out to really nice restaurants in large cities. Kouzzina was his favorite meal of our entire trip (his first time ever at WDW) and we went to California Grill that trip! The food was really awesome!

 

[stevehousse]

Grand Floridian Cafe is amazing! I like it better then some of the more expensive options at GF. I think it offers just as much fine dining for lower price (or lower credits)
Kouzzina was also amazing! We had the nicest waitress as well. My husband does a lot more dining then I do. With his job he has to take customers out to really nice restaurants in large cities. Kouzzina was his favorite meal of our entire trip (his first time ever at WDW) and we went to California Grill that trip! The food was really awesome!

I have always wanted to try the lobster burger they have there!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

This will be our first time at Boma an I am hoping it is as good as everyone says. We did Sanaa 2 trips ago, and we didn't like it, and I like exotic foods!!!

We had dinner there a week ago Sunday. It was fantastic.

 

[stevehousse]

Just got off the phone and we booked our vacation package!!! We are sooo excited! We changed our plans slightly, but just where we are staying! We originally were gonna stay at Port Orleans Riverside, but we did some digging and more number crunching and now are booked at All Star Movie Resort with upgraded dining package, and it saved us over $500 dollars!!! Which is a win for me!

We dont really care where we stay, since we will be doing the parks and we r driving so we won't have to worry about busses! How is All Stars? We were able to get a preferred room and we put in a request for the Toy Story buildings for the boys! (It's their favorite!)

We haven't stayed on property in years and are very excited! We have never seen the "world" for the holidays so that will be a plus!

 

[stevehousse]

On a side note, WDWMagic, stop being lame and changing my Thread Title!!! Is writing really that bad? I've seen a lot worse written on here! LAME

 

[stevehousse]

We changed our dates a little and aren't staying as long as originally planned. The only day that worries me a little is that HS has early morning hours opening at 8am. Our breakfast ADR is at 8am. So once we check in for breakfast I will have Imto leave and run and get TSMM FP and then sign up Landon DS4 for Jedi training! Will I be missing our breakfast entirely? Does Jedi training not open till 9am or is it open at 8? Do they do fast passes that early or not until 9am? Please help answer my questions! I need to know!

 

[stevehousse]

So a small update as we are now 80 days and counting! We are contemplating just going to MK on our arrival day and only doing the party at MK on Friday. I think this would help ensure we get all we want done at MK if we do it that way? I do not know what crowds are like at the time we are going, but we will see.

I also haven't heard of any magic band testing going on at All Stars yet, and we really want to be part of the test! Should I switch to POP so I can ensure a magic band or stick with all stars? Also, am I able to change my resort after I am paid in full?

 

[Kristia]

Not totally sure about being able to switch after being paid in full. I think you can but if there is a change in price you will have to pay the balance. The real problem is that they only release a certain number of rooms for a free dining promotion. Once those rooms are scooped up, they are gone and there are no more available for that promotion. They usually go quick for more popular resorts which of the values, Pop definitely is a bit more popular.

Don't know if you got an answer to your previous question but I just got back from Disney and did an EMH morning at DHS. They definitely start fastpasses at opening. I can't really answer your question about Jedi training, but I did see people lining up for it. I am not sure what time the actual choosing process began though.

 

[stevehousse]

Not totally sure about being able to switch after being paid in full. I think you can but if there is a change in price you will have to pay the balance. The real problem is that they only release a certain number of rooms for a free dining promotion. Once those rooms are scooped up, they are gone and there are no more available for that promotion. They usually go quick for more popular resorts which of the values, Pop definitely is a bit more popular.

Don't know if you got an answer to your previous question but I just got back from Disney and did an EMH morning at DHS. They definitely start fastpasses at opening. I can't really answer your question about Jedi training, but I did see people lining up for it. I am not sure what time the actual choosing process began though.

Thanks for the info!

 

[stevehousse]

I've been to Disney the week you're planning to go and am planning to go again that week next year. Crowds have always been minimal, pretty darn light actually.

I am so glad to hear that. Like I said before this is our first time going in November. All the crowd calendars said it would be slow.

We usually always go the first or second week of May, so we are used to very low crowds...

 

[stevehousse]

Yes that does help greatly...my kids can't wait to stay at the "toy story" hotel they keep calling it. We made sure to request rooms over there... I just wish they would announce magic bands for my resort already!