Plan, plan and plan some more-AKA Mom's driving her son nuts- A September 2017 PTR

I feel your pain!! 2 years ago, my son and I went on a mom / son only trip to Universal Studios / IOA for 4 days on Spring Break. We literally were in the same boat as you! I weighed the options over and over about hotels and Express Pass. In the end, we stayed at Royal Pacific Resort, WHICH WAS AMAAAAAAZING!!!! The front of the line passes were so so so so so worth every penny of the high priced resort room. I will say that the resort was absolutely gorgeous too. My personal opinion is, if you can afford it, stay on property.
I've decided to go ahead and do it. We are staying at Royal Pacific. Figuring the cost of everything. Between parking and the Express Pass, it was about $500 more. And that was with me buying only 1 day of the Express Pass. So, I went ahead and did it. LOL!! Now I just have to keep it a secret. LOL!!
 
Okay, so now I'm having second thoughts about everything. My ADR's. What days to do what parks. Whether or not to do EMH. Ugh... I hate when I get like this.I know that there are a few restaurants that we absolutely have to do ADR's for and some that you can walk up to. Since we have park hoppers, I'm wondering if it's smart to do all my ADR's in one park? I honestly have no idea. I think I need to quit overthinking things.

Don't overthink things! I always do that and it's worst, I think your plans so far are good. I do like doing night EMH though.

I think I mentioned this, but I'm going to visit my Aunt at the end of this month. I'm hoping to take a day to visit Epcot. Another friend that lives in Orlando wants to meet with me. We've met her before on a previous trip and have had fun.

Yay a day at Flower and Garden! :flower1:

I've decided to go ahead and do it. We are staying at Royal Pacific. Figuring the cost of everything. Between parking and the Express Pass, it was about $500 more. And that was with me buying only 1 day of the Express Pass. So, I went ahead and did it. LOL!! Now I just have to keep it a secret. LOL!!

:thumbsup2
 
I've decided to go ahead and do it. We are staying at Royal Pacific. Figuring the cost of everything. Between parking and the Express Pass, it was about $500 more. And that was with me buying only 1 day of the Express Pass. So, I went ahead and did it. LOL!! Now I just have to keep it a secret. LOL!!
Yay! You're going to LOVE it! :Pinkbounc
 
Don't overthink things! I always do that and it's worst, I think your plans so far are good. I do like doing night EMH though.



Yay a day at Flower and Garden! :flower1:



:thumbsup2
I'm thinking about doing the evening EMH. Simply because then we won't be rushed into eating breakfast and there are a few places that I want to eat at for breakfast.

I feel guilty for going to Disney without Chris. LOL!! Even though he tells me it's okay. I'm still feeling terrible. LOL!!
 


Okay, so a lot happened since yesterday. Not with the Disney part. That still stayed the same. However, I've changed hotels for the Universal portion. I was weighing the pros and cons of staying offsite versus onsite and decided that for the extra money, it was worth it. Because you get the Express pass for every day and not have to buy it. That alone was going to cost me almost $300 for just 1 day. Well worth the extra cost of the hotel.

I asked my sister her opinion. She laughed and told me to ask Chris. Okay. Bad idea. Why? Because my son is the worlds worst cheapskate. Unless of course it's for video games. Lol. He hates to spend money. I guess we taught him that. He literally researches every game before deciding whether to buy it or not. It can be frustrating at times. Lol. So no. I'm not going to ask him. Because he would tell me to stay at the original hotel. I'm just going to set my GPS and let him think we are going to be going to City Walk for dinner. Lol. The things I have to do. Lol.

However, I have no idea how their systems work. Can you view your reservation in an app like you can with Disney? Can you make dining reservations in advance? So much to learn. LOL!! I guess I need to visit the Universal forums here. LOL!!
 
Okay, so a lot happened since yesterday. Not with the Disney part. That still stayed the same. However, I've changed hotels for the Universal portion. I was weighing the pros and cons of staying offsite versus onsite and decided that for the extra money, it was worth it. Because you get the Express pass for every day and not have to buy it. That alone was going to cost me almost $300 for just 1 day. Well worth the extra cost of the hotel.

:cheer2:

I asked my sister her opinion. She laughed and told me to ask Chris. Okay. Bad idea. Why? Because my son is the worlds worst cheapskate. Unless of course it's for video games. Lol. He hates to spend money. I guess we taught him that. He literally researches every game before deciding whether to buy it or not. It can be frustrating at times. Lol. So no. I'm not going to ask him. Because he would tell me to stay at the original hotel. I'm just going to set my GPS and let him think we are going to be going to City Walk for dinner. Lol. The things I have to do. Lol.

:rotfl:

However, I have no idea how their systems work. Can you view your reservation in an app like you can with Disney? Can you make dining reservations in advance? So much to learn. LOL!! I guess I need to visit the Universal forums here. LOL!!

Not as far as I know. I don't really like their app, but it's nothing like MDE. Plus the reservation is technically a Loews hotel reservation. I just hold onto the emails, and you can check them by entering it into the Loews site.

For some of the restaurants. Which ones do you have in mind? The ones you can you'll be able to see that you can on the website there will be a "click to reserve" button. Usually you can only do them 1-2 months ahead. I know in park we've only reserved Mythos and that's less than 30 days, but I think at 30 days you can call to make them. So you can call to make them. All the in park places, a lot of the citywalk, and some places in the hotels accept reservations. A lot of people say you don't need to make them ahead, but I always like to. Off the top of my head I know Toothsome and Cowfish don't take advance ones. Both will text you when the table is ready though so you don't have to stay super close if you don't want to.

The Universal forums will be helpful! Also if you've ever watched the DisUnplugged podcast they have a Universal edition and I'm sure there's been some in the past with tips and such.
 
:cheer2:



:rotfl:



Not as far as I know. I don't really like their app, but it's nothing like MDE. Plus the reservation is technically a Loews hotel reservation. I just hold onto the emails, and you can check them by entering it into the Loews site.

For some of the restaurants. Which ones do you have in mind? The ones you can you'll be able to see that you can on the website there will be a "click to reserve" button. Usually you can only do them 1-2 months ahead. I know in park we've only reserved Mythos and that's less than 30 days, but I think at 30 days you can call to make them. So you can call to make them. All the in park places, a lot of the citywalk, and some places in the hotels accept reservations. A lot of people say you don't need to make them ahead, but I always like to. Off the top of my head I know Toothsome and Cowfish don't take advance ones. Both will text you when the table is ready though so you don't have to stay super close if you don't want to.

The Universal forums will be helpful! Also if you've ever watched the DisUnplugged podcast they have a Universal edition and I'm sure there's been some in the past with tips and such.
Yeah, I've been watching their podcasts. I really don't get why they say they like the Universal App over the Disney one. To me there seems like so much more on the Disney App.... The Universal one is very confusing to me. LOL!!
 


Yeah, I've been watching their podcasts. I really don't get why they say they like the Universal App over the Disney one. To me there seems like so much more on the Disney App.... The Universal one is very confusing to me. LOL!!

Maybe because the MDE app gets glitchy often? But I do think you can do more on it.
 
Okay, so I FINALLY got my Minnie Mouse back packs. It only took forever. They are pretty cute. I was teasing Chris and told him that He gets the pink one. He laughed and said HA, I don't think so.

I'm trying to figure out what to do as far as the Universal part of the trip. We have 4 days worth of park tickets. Since we are driving down on the 11th I know that we are going to be getting in late. I'm planning on leaving at 3 a.m. Central time. God. That seems so freaking early. So anyway, it's a 10 hour drive. So, figuring in stopping for bathroom breaks and such, I figure that we will get there late in the afternoon. Probably about 3 or 4. Because Chris says we are stopping at McDonalds to eat. I told him we can drive while I eat. Oh no. My child won't let me eat while I drive. He doesn't like me eating while I drive. :rolleyes: So we will stop and I will eat.

So, what I'm trying to figure out is since we have 4 ticket days should I just check into our Disney hotel late on the 15th and go to Universal for the 15th? Since I'm staying at a hotel that offers Universal Express and we will have it for that day, I think we might do that. Because I'm not planning on eating anywhere until dinner. Ask Chris you say. Yeah. Tried that. He said, I don't know. Really? Ugh.... My child....

I told Chris that we don't have any shirts to wear to Universal. He shrugged and said, So....I do have a Jurassic Park shirt. I also have a Hogwarts shirt.So I might wear one of those. Giggles...He's so unimpressed by my planning obsession.

I'm pretty sure I have all of my dining reservations figured out. Most of them are easy to get. I'm wanting BOG for dinner. My ADR day is Sunday. So I will be up early that morning.pixiedust:

Other than that, not much has happened. I'm just waiting for Sunday.
 
Okay, so I FINALLY got my Minnie Mouse back packs. It only took forever. They are pretty cute. I was teasing Chris and told him that He gets the pink one. He laughed and said HA, I don't think so.

Yay finally!

since we have 4 ticket days should I just check into our Disney hotel late on the 15th and go to Universal for the 15th? Since I'm staying at a hotel that offers Universal Express and we will have it for that day, I think we might do that. Because I'm not planning on eating anywhere until dinner. Ask Chris you say. Yeah. Tried that. He said, I don't know. Really? Ugh.... My child....

Yeah why not use the day of Express pass!

I told Chris that we don't have any shirts to wear to Universal. He shrugged and said, So....I do have a Jurassic Park shirt. I also have a Hogwarts shirt.So I might wear one of those. Giggles...He's so unimpressed by my planning obsession.

Uso shirts are a little harder but I have a lot of HP ones. You could also do Marvel ones and those could be worn at Disney too.

I'm pretty sure I have all of my dining reservations figured out. Most of them are easy to get. I'm wanting BOG for dinner. My ADR day is Sunday. So I will be up early that morning.pixiedust:

Other than that, not much has happened. I'm just waiting for Sunday.

Adr day is almost here! :cheer2:
 
So tomorrow is my ADR day. I think I have everything figured out. Here are my plans....

T-Rex-Dinner

Crystal Palace-Breakfast
Either Be Our Guest or Skipper Cantina for Dinner

Ohana's Best Friend Breakfast
Mama Melrose- Lunch
Chef Art Smith's Homecoming-Dinner

Tusker House- Breakfast
Sanaa- Dinner

Garden Grill-Breakfast
Le Cellier-Lunch
Via Napoli-Dinner

Crystal Palace-Breakfast
Tony's Town Plaza-Lunch, not 100% sure on this one. I might change it.
Be Our Guest or Skipper Cantina

The next day is our off day. So I've planned to do some things we don't normally do.
Trails End-Breakfast
Chef Mickey's-Lunch
Hoop Dee Doo-Dinner

Akershus-Breakfast
Via Napoli-Lunch
Teppan Edo-Dinner

Tusker House-Breakfast
Boma-Dinner

Liberty Tree Tavern Dinner

I do have Crystal Palace for lunch on a few days, but I'm not 100% sure about that.I like it and all, but it's kind of repetitive. So I'll wait and see what happens.

Obviously I don't have every single meal planned out. Mostly because we do like some spur of the moment places.

This goes to show you how little my son cares about where he eats. Chris' birthday is Monday. I laughed and said he's going to be 20 and the 20th. Well, I asked him 2 weeks ago where he wants to eat. His response? I don't care. Really? I point blank told him I'm not choosing. I've picked every single meal for our trip. You're going to pick one meal. He tells me, it's not my fault you are obsessed. Really? You are making one dang decision. LOL!!

Still watching April the giraffe. She hasn't had her baby yet. I told my sister she's going to have it on the 20th. And it's going to be a boy. Why? Because Chris was 2 weeks late. LOL!!! She just rolled her eyes at me. LOL!!

I wanted to go somewhere special, but he'd rather spend the day at home playing video game. Really? I remember when he was younger we went to the Nashville Zoo and we got up close and personal with the elephants. A friend of mine knows the animal keeper and we got to go to see them up close. The video of it is amazing. I love it.
 
Boys :rolleyes2

I ask Josh his opinion on decisions for the trip and he tells me "it's your birthday we'll do whatever you want" :rotfl: but I want to discuss it!

I remember when we went for Dine with an Animal Specialist and they told us the elephant was due any day and had been for some time and I think she had the baby over a month later!
 
Got all the ADR's that I wanted. Well, except one for T-Rex. Going to have my Travel Agent see if she can work on that one. Did some moving around and changed a few things, but i'm pretty happy with everything. Of course I didn't sleep well last night. Too excited. LOL!!

Gonna roll myself back into bed....
 
Boys :rolleyes2

I ask Josh his opinion on decisions for the trip and he tells me "it's your birthday we'll do whatever you want" :rotfl: but I want to discuss it!

I remember when we went for Dine with an Animal Specialist and they told us the elephant was due any day and had been for some time and I think she had the baby over a month later!
Chris came home from work last night and tells me, You're going to kill me. I already knew what he was talking about. He said that he narrowed down his choices to a place that has steak. Really? That's only like every place in town....LOL!!

Yeah, animals are tricky. LOL!!They have their own timetables.
 
Got all the ADR's that I wanted. Well, except one for T-Rex. Going to have my Travel Agent see if she can work on that one. Did some moving around and changed a few things, but i'm pretty happy with everything. Of course I didn't sleep well last night. Too excited. LOL!!

Gonna roll myself back into bed....

Yay! :cheer2:

You can call for Trex! Call the restaurant directly and you'll get one I had to do it before.

Chris came home from work last night and tells me, You're going to kill me. I already knew what he was talking about. He said that he narrowed down his choices to a place that has steak. Really? That's only like every place in town....LOL!!

Yeah, animals are tricky. LOL!!They have their own timetables.

:rotfl:
 
Yay! :cheer2:

You can call for Trex! Call the restaurant directly and you'll get one I had to do it before.



:rotfl:
I went ahead and called and got the time I wanted. I didn't want to wait until almost 10 at night to eat.

I decided that we are going to a steakhouse here in town. The steaks are yummy and they have veggie skewers. Yummy!! I'm exhausted but it was worth it. Lol.
 
So one of the drawbacks to planning the dining so far in advance is that sometimes the hours of the park change. Example. Animal Kingdom is now staying open until 9 while we are there. Which is great, because it's one of my favorite parks. The drawback is, I had dining planned for 8 because the park was originally supposed to close at 7. So now I have to decide whether to keep the dining reservations for change them. Ugh!! I might keep Sanaa. Because I've been looking forward to eating there.

Nothing else has really changed. Except when we went to dinner on Chris' birthday. The service was soooooo slow. It literally took us 2 and a half hours from start to finish. Thankfully the manager came over to explain that our orders were in between 2 huge parties. That I can understand. What I can't understand is why it took them 10 minutes for dessert. Really? Did they make it from scratch right when we ordered it? UGH!! LOL!!

And I did get Be Our Guest for my birthday!! Nice!! LOL!!
 
So one of the drawbacks to planning the dining so far in advance is that sometimes the hours of the park change. Example. Animal Kingdom is now staying open until 9 while we are there. Which is great, because it's one of my favorite parks. The drawback is, I had dining planned for 8 because the park was originally supposed to close at 7. So now I have to decide whether to keep the dining reservations for change them. Ugh!! I might keep Sanaa. Because I've been looking forward to eating there.

Ooo thanks for that. I ended up moving my AK night reservation to 9 pm so we could see Pandora at night but still leave in time to get to it before the park closing crowds. (We won't be seeing ROL then since we'll see it in May).

Nothing else has really changed. Except when we went to dinner on Chris' birthday. The service was soooooo slow. It literally took us 2 and a half hours from start to finish. Thankfully the manager came over to explain that our orders were in between 2 huge parties. That I can understand. What I can't understand is why it took them 10 minutes for dessert. Really? Did they make it from scratch right when we ordered it? UGH!! LOL!!

So slow! :confused3

And I did get Be Our Guest for my birthday!! Nice!! LOL!!

:cheer2:
 
Ooo thanks for that. I ended up moving my AK night reservation to 9 pm so we could see Pandora at night but still leave in time to get to it before the park closing crowds. (We won't be seeing ROL then since we'll see it in May).



So slow! :confused3



:cheer2:
I have Sanaa booked for 8:10 and am wanting to change it, but I'm not sure how long it takes to the to the AKL from AK.
 
I have Sanaa booked for 8:10 and am wanting to change it, but I'm not sure how long it takes to the to the AKL from AK.
It's only a mile away and in a taxi it was under 10 minutes with a bus it depends how long you wait for one but I'd still say under 20 if there wasn't a huge line. But I guess you should always estimate more time.
 

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