November 2017, party of 7 or 9 or 11 or 13

[Shrfleen]

Sorry if I gave to much info on your trip report.. still figuring out how to use this thing

No problem just wanted to let you know where you can usually get more responses. I wish you all the best in your planning! We will be at Disney that time too!

 

[Shrfleen]

I've been watching a giraffe to much lol when I read that april would speed up that's where my mind went first.

@Bethislucy did you see that April had her baby this weekend? I was like, now that April has finally given in maybe Disney will share some information lol

 

[Bethislucy]

@Bethislucy did you see that April had her baby this weekend? I was like, now that April has finally given in maybe Disney will share some information lol

I did he's so cute. lol but I'm like you ready to get some Disney stuff going.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 193 days

Hello everyone! It is almost time to make our dining reservations, only 13 days away!

Here are some life updates:

• We have to make some renovations to our main bathroom due to a water leak...fun. We are not cancelling our trip but we are planning to pinching pennies do the the renovations. We might also see about taking out a small loan to pay for the renovations.
• Kristi has also had home issues. She had her drains cleaned and when the people cleaned it, they busted her sewage pipe! Along with that her washer gave out and her roof needs replaced. Kristi is very worried about all the additional cost along with our Disney trip, she told D that she may have to cancel! Well D was very upset and Peggy told Kristi not to worry about it and she would pay some of her portion of the trip.
• This is when free dining would have come in handy but our dates don't cover free dining and we can't move our dates due to D's school and Peggy's work.
• Fingers are crossed that a room discount gets announced for our dates so we can save some money!

Disney updates:

• This weekend is D's birthday, she is officially turning 9! We are going to verify our dining plans before her party. We have to make them in 13 days!
• I'm most worried about getting CRT for breakfast and D not liking anything on the menu. It is a great way to get photos with the Princesses and not stand in line. I know she would not like Akershus.
• Park hours are kinda out so we have a rough schedule of our days and know when to schedule reservations:
  • Sunday November 12- arrival day for Sarah, Mom and I. MVMCP
    
  • Monday November 13- arrival day for Peggy, Kristi, D and K - dinner at 1900 Park Fare
    
  • Tuesday November 14- Epcot - breakfast at Garden Grill
    
  • Wednesday November 15- Magic Kingdom- breakfast at CRT- following breakfast D's trip to Pirates League
    
  • Thursday November 16- Magic Kingdom AM. Hollywood Studios PM.
    
  • Friday November 17- Animal Kingdom- breakfast at Tusker House - family joins us?
    
  • Saturday November 18- Departure day
• We are going to make reservations for Crystal Palace and maybe Sci-Fi Dine-In as our extra 2 credits if we do not get CRT. We are going to go ahead and make them and just cancel if needed.

That's all I have right now but I'll be back soon!

 

[dnllmz]

Sorry that you guys have had some problems with house stuff. That's never fun. I hope a room discount comes out for you guys.

If you can't get CRT, could you do the new Bon Voyage breakfast at the Italian place on the Boardwalk? It might out of the way and it is new so it may be hard to get.

 

[Shrfleen]

Sorry that you guys have had some problems with house stuff. That's never fun. I hope a room discount comes out for you guys.

If you can't get CRT, could you do the new Bon Voyage breakfast at the Italian place on the Boardwalk? It might out of the way and it is new so it may be hard to get.

Thank you.

I thought about going, we will just need to get over there from WL. Maybe Uber? I'll bring it up this weekend during our planning meeting.

 

[dnllmz]

We ubered from Pop to the Poly for an O'hana breakfast last year and it worked out great. I had never used uber before and had no problems. I think it cost maybe $10. Totally worth it.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 189 days

Today we celebrated this little stinker!

D is turning 9 years old this week. She got her Pirates League letter, her Donut ears and a Mickey necklace. Before we started the party we had D and Peggy look at the menus for all of the restaurants that we were planning on eating at. We have officially made our decisions:

Sunday November 12- No TS
Monday November 13- Dinner at 1900 Park Fare
Tuesday November 14- Breakfast at Garden Grill
Wednesday November 15- Breakfast at Crystal Palace and lunch at Be Our Guest
Thursday November 16- Breakfast at Tusker House
Friday November 17- Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In
Saturday November 18- No TS

We also made a list of all the characters we would like to meet. Now I just have to update my touring plans.

We have 9 days until we can make our reservations and I will be up bright and early! I will also have to call in D's Pirate League appointment, I want it as early as possible.

Once we have our reservations, we can finish nailing down specifics.

Southwest will also be releasing flights in a few weeks as well. I'm getting so excited! Hopefully we can fly out early and fly back late. We are going to try and head to Disney Springs before we leave.

Things are beginning to fall into place. Once flights are booked we will continue to save for tips and souvenir money!

 

[dnllmz]

Awww she's a cutie. Sounds like she had a great birthday. Your dining plans sound great. I'm also getting excited. Can't wait for flights to be released by SW. I really want to have any idea of flight times.

 

[Shrfleen]

Awww she's a cutie. Sounds like she had a great birthday. Your dining plans sound great. I'm also getting excited. Can't wait for flights to be released by SW. I really want to have any idea of flight times.

Yes we went Duck Pin Bowling and all of her friends had a lot of fun. Her mom had to help her little brother bowl though because he could barely pick up the small bowling balls they use.

I just hope Southwest opens up another non stop flight from Indy to Orlando. They had them this past fall but when I look in October they are only down to 3 maybe 2 non stop flights.

 

[Shrfleen]

Quick update: 186 days

Disney released tickets for MVMCP! I went ahead a purchased them because I do not want to risk the party selling out! @SarahSnow and myself will be attending on November 12th!

Also we are almost done with fixing the bathroom. The estimated cost from the man who is doing the work said about $1,000 on his end, we spend around $500 or so (I think) on the supplies and stuff. We have submitted an insurance claim to see if they will cover any cost, hopefully they do.

We are about a week away from Southwest releasing flights for our dates. I just want to know how much its going to cost and when we are flying in and out!

List of things to do:
-ADRs - 6 days
-Flights- 8 days (would like to purchase sooner rather than later..maybe)
- Pay off trip (want to have this done by September)
-Fast Passes

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 180 days

Today is ADR day! I got up bright (well it was still kind of dark) and early (5:30am) to make our reservations!

First my credit card was declined which I updated prior to getting all the pages up. Then I didn't hit confirm so I lost a couple reservations. At this time it was 6:15am and I was in a bit of a panic.

I was able to get:
11/13- The Wave (breakfast) and 1900 Park Fare (dinner) we are working on getting a little bit of an earlier reservation...we will see
11/14- Nothing! Garden Grill was not working. I spent almost an hour on hold and she told me something was wrong and to check back later online or call!
11/15- Same thing happened with Crystal Palace! It wasn't pulling up any reservations after November 12th.
We do have a temporary reservation at BOG for breakfast if needed and we also snagged a BOG lunch!
11/16- I made my initial Tusker House reservation for 11 people at 8:30am (that was kind of late for us). Then I was playing around for an earlier reservation and I found an 8:15am for 9 people. So I cancelled my 8:30am for 11.
**Note: Uncle Jamie and Aunt Kim are currently not going on our trip. It is opening weekend for shot gun season and my Uncle is an avid hunter and doesn't want to miss. My Aunt tried to convince him but he hasn't budged. If they do come we will try to get them a reservation time close to us.
11/17- We got Sci-Fi Dine (dinner)

I was also able to make D's Pirates League reservation with the same cast member who tried for my Garden Grill and Crystal Palace reservations, that was nice.

I have a reservation tracker on for Garden Grill and Crystal Palace....here is hopping!

 

[dnllmz]

I'm sure GG & Crystal Palace will open up soon. I read a great review on the Wave recently. It sounds so good. Actually I've read quite a few good ones about the Wave. I'm glad you were able to get the Pirates League reservation.

I wonder if Disney is holding some reservations. Just seems like people are having problems with restaurants that aren't the super popular ones. I can understand the BOGs & CRTs going so early but seems like everything is hard.

 

[Shrfleen]

I'm sure GG & Crystal Palace will open up soon. I read a great review on the Wave recently. It sounds so good. Actually I've read quite a few good ones about the Wave. I'm glad you were able to get the Pirates League reservation.

I wonder if Disney is holding some reservations. Just seems like people are having problems with restaurants that aren't the super popular ones. I can understand the BOGs & CRTs going so early but seems like everything is hard.

It feels like they are holding reservations and its frustrating We went for free dining last year and never had any trouble getting our reservations and that included a BOG dinner.

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 177 days

Huge update!

I received a call from my cousins wife today. We had asked them if they would like to join us at Disney World when we originally stared planning. They didn't know if you could get time off so they said just go ahead with out them. Fast forward to 5 months later, they want to go!

Talk about stressin'! They are going to talk about it and let us know soon if they decided to go and then we will set up a reservation for them.

Now I'm kinda freaking out about the dining. Hopefully we can get multiple reservations around the same time.

We are still waiting on Crystal Palace, so that is ok.

Boy, its been an eventful week!

 

[crewsn]

Try Garden Grill again now. I am helping my sister in law plan (her first trip) and when I went to book her ADRs for this week could not get Garden Grill so set that up for alerts and all day today was getting notifications. It seems they didn't release the times right at 180 days so hopefully you can get one now??

 

[Shrfleen]

Try Garden Grill again now. I am helping my sister in law plan (her first trip) and when I went to book her ADRs for this week could not get Garden Grill so set that up for alerts and all day today was getting notifications. It seems they didn't release the times right at 180 days so hopefully you can get one now??

We were able to get one the other day, thankful. My touring plan went off and I was on the computer as fast a lighting lol. We had to split the party into two separate reservations but we got them at the same time.

Now only if Crystal Palace will do the same.

 

[paradesintherain]

Hi there! Just caught up on all your trip planning! Sounds like a wonderful trip, though super stressful trying to figure out who is actually going lol!

Also, I am so jealous that you got to see Hamilton!

 

[Shrfleen]

Hi there! Just caught up on all your trip planning! Sounds like a wonderful trip, though super stressful trying to figure out who is actually going lol!

Also, I am so jealous that you got to see Hamilton!

Thanks for joining in. Yes it's very stressful haha

Maybe a need another trip to Hamilton to relax lol It was a great show

 

[Shrfleen]

Days until Disney: 174 days

Dining
Finally this morning we were able to make a Crystal Palace reservation. We couldn't get one for November 15 any earlier than 9:10am for a group of 11. I really hoped we could get a 8am or 8:30. D's Pirates League reservation is at 10:10am and I don't want to rush everyone to make it there on time. I was able to make a 8am reservation on Friday November 17th but that is Extra Magic Hours and we planned on using that time to get a few things marked off our list.

Oh well...

I went ahead and made a Crystal Palace reservation for 11 in case my cousin and his family decided to join us. If they do plan on joining us, I plan on just trying to make a reservation for 4 or 5 for their family to eat around the same time as our other reservations.

Flights
I planned on booking on Tuesday but we haven't received the insurance money for our home repair and the man who did the work wanted some money. Well I have enough money in my savings now to give my half of the home owners deductible and get a plane ticket (I will be broke after). However the Wanna Get Away fare for our ideal departure is sold out. Does anyone know if SW adds more tickets for those fares? The next option would leave at 10 pm, 6 am or make a stop in Atlanta.

I personally don't want to stop off in Atlanta. I've heard many horror stories about people missing flights and plans getting delayed. However we will do what we have to do I guess. I want 2 free checked bags! Haha

Things left to do

• Tweak reservations: 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace and Sci-Fi.
  
• If my cousins family decides to join us make their dinner reservations and put on touring plan alerts. Also set up Pirates League reservations for their two boys.
  
• Book flights! I would rather get this done sooner than later even if I do end up broke!
  
• Play around with Touring Plans in case we cannot get certain reservations moved.

My plans to destress from Disney Planning (you have to have some non Disney time in your life, right? )

• May: Sarah won tickets to the Indy 500. As long as they come in the mail on time we are going to go. Living in Indiana, I've always wanted to attend the 500 but haven't really had the money. I'm glad we will be able to go this year!
  
• June: A good friend of mine and Sarah's is getting married in June in Northern Indiana. This will be a good day to relax and enjoy the summer.
• July: Mom, my Aunt Peggy and D are all going to go and visit my Grandparents in Florida over the 4th of July Holiday. I really want to go on vacation but I also want to get paid for my vacation in November haha
• August: No destress activities planned
  
• September: Ed Sheeran concert
  
• October: Ed Sheeran concert
  
• November- It will be Disney month, you can't destress from that haha