Pre trip planning
As I approach ADR day in
about a weeks time, even though my prospects for going
in September isn’t the greatest, I am trying to be optimistic, that I will be
going. So I need to plan my ADR’s, Advanced Dining Reservations. This year, at least for the planning stages,
I am going with the basic dining plan, one quick service, one
table service meal per nights stay. I
usually get the deluxe, but I really hate my dining choices for breakfast. I plan to pay out of pocket for some meals,
appetizers for some. Then I will see if
it pays to get the deluxe plan or not.
There are certain places I
want to eat at, that I enjoy eating at.
In and around the
For Epcot, I like to eat at
Le Cellier, Coral Reef. Le Cellier is
currently two dining credits, so I will pay out of pocket for meals here.
When I go to the studios, aka Disney Hollywood Studios, I like to eat at
When I go to Animal Kingdom,
I like to eat at the lodge, Boma, for breakfast and
dinner. I also like Yak n Yeti, which is
inside the park.
Currently I am booked to
arrive on September 7, departing on September 15, which is 8 nights. So I will have 8 table service meal
credits. Not going to worry about how
that works out now.
Disney recently released
their September 2013 hours. It looks
very close to previous years.
Arrive on Sept 7, do lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, dinner at Boma. Spend the day at Animal Kingdom.
September 8, breakfast at Boma. Late lunch at the
September 9, Since Magic Kingdom had evening emh
the previous night, will go there today too.
I will have dinner at Grand Floridian Café or ‘Ohana. Probably do GFC, as ‘Ohana
is all you can eat and I did those type meals the previous two days.
September 10, At this point
in time, I am guessing it will be a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Night at
the
September 11, Epcot has
evening EMH today. It goes against my
planning, not going to a park that has emh, but rules
are made to be broken, so I will do Coral Reef for dinner.
September 12, Will go to Epcot again, have dinner at Le Cellier, pay out of pocket for
this meal
September 13, I think this also
will be a Not so scary night at the magic kingdom, so I will go to epcot instead. I
think I will park hop to Animal Kingdom to eat at Yak n Yeti
September 14, ‘Ohana at the Poly, go to
Sept 7- DAK, Sept 8-
Studios/Magic Kingdom, Sept 9- Magic Kingdom, Sept 10- Magic Kingdom, Sept 11-Epcot,
Sept 12- Epcot, Sept 13-Epcot, Sept 14- Magic Kingdom. Sounds Good.
Leaving out the double credit
at le Cellier, that is 8 meals, 8 credits. Sounds Good. I will pay out of pocket for Le Cellier.
Lets see counter service
meals. I have September 7 and 8
covered. September 9, breakfast at the
resort, lunch at Be our Guest, maybe or
Tomorrow, will narrow down my
counter service choices, add prices, see where I end
up. While I am saying Be
out guest for lunch, except for the onion soup, not much lunchtime choices
interest me.
T- 2 days and counting to ADR
day, I decided to add a couple of dining experiences.
On Sept 10, I decided to try
The Wave for breakfast. Last year I got
sick and had to cancel.
On Sept 13,
going for Breakfast at Kona.
Hummmm… Breakfast at Kona,
dinner at Yak N Yeti?? Go from
the
That gives me 12 dining
credits. I know I will pay out of pocket
for Le Cellier, that gets me down to 10.
Breakfast is usually the cheapest meal of the day. I am planning on eating at Boma, Kona, and The Wave. So which 2 will I pay for? Lets look at prices.
Boma is a buffet at $24.49
Kona: Steak and eggs $14.49, juice $2.69, total $17.18
The Wave: buffet option
$18.49 or that’s pretty much it.
As I thought, I will pay out
of pocket for Kona and the Wave. If I cant make those places for breakfast. No
big deal.
It was the night before ADR day
and all is at the ready.
My spreadsheet is filled in
with the dates and times and where I want to eat. Another handwritten page has the ADR’s in harder to get, down to no big deal.
#1 Fantasmic
at H&V
#2 ‘Ohana
#3 Le Cellier
then the rest. Think
about this. When calling at the 180 day
mark. You get to give your adr’s from 180 to 190.
I figure the harder ones, ‘Ohana and Le Cellier are planned for later in the week, so I should have
a better chance of getting them as opposed to earlier in the week. I arrive on Satuday,
Fantasmic on Sunday.
Tradition.
I called Disney dining, just
to confirm tomorrow is ADR day, and it is.
I then started to speak to the CM, actually, he wanted to help me plan
how to request my ADR’s, not in daily order, but in
order of harder to easier, which I knew already. He then discussed with me which are the
harder ones, which everyone probably knew, starting with Be Our Guest, followed
my Cinderella’s Royal Table, followed by Chef Mickey, and surprise, surprise,
Le Cellier is still hard to get too in that list.
I then mentioned ‘Ohana,
and he agreed that is also hard to get.
When I mentioned
He also told me at 6 am, the
computers are reset to add the day, which takes 5 minutes to do, so starting at
6:05 am, I should be able to go online and get my ADR’s
including H&V Fantasmic. Last year I had to call to get it because of
credit card needed. I can call starting
at
To call Disney Dining, I will
use my Magic Jack to call long distance.
I could use my cell phone, but don’t want to take a chance on having my
signal fade out. I hardly use it, so I
tested the technology just to make sure it works. I plugged in a spare phone with a speaker
phone on it. I hate being on hold with the phone headset to my ear :)
Dreams of Chedder
Cheese Soup, Kona Kones,
Cheese wontons, pot stickers, and just about every form of steak will be in my
mind as I try and sleep.
ADR Day,
At
As my computer clock starts showing
I give her my resort number
then I start giving her my dining requests.
First up, Fantasmic for
So everything went into the
cart. She gave me the usual warnings
about each one, this one has a 24 cancellation, requires park admission, so on,
so forth. I give her my credit card and
billing address. I also give my cell phone number and email address too. Then she starts giving me my confirmation
numbers. With 5 more confirmation
numbers to go, the phone goes dead……….ugggggghhhhhhhhh. well, Its not too
bad. The ressies
are confirmed, but no confirmation numbers.
So I call back, and while on
hold, I am looking on the website, click on My Disney Experience, and I find
all my reservations, so I click on each one, to get my confirmation
numbers. The only interesting thing was,
for ‘Ohana, she booked me a table for two, not
one. She didn’t even mention to me she
was doing this. Just like last year,
they didn’t have tables for one, so they searched a table for two. No big deal, when checking in at the podium,
will have them adjust that.
I think I am going to go back
to sleep for a couple of hours.
Ok..
what is the fun of planning a Walt Disney World trip
without adjusting things? Not to eat at
The next step is booking a ticket
for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, also known for its initials,
MNSSHP. On May first, they allow you to
purchase tickets, which I do for the first night of the party on
Now the only thing left to
think about is whether to do the Tomorrowland Terrace
Wishes Dessert Party. If I do it, it
would be my third time doing it. The
first two times, I was less then happy doing it. Both times I felt I had to stand by the
fence. Because of leg injuries, standing
by the fence was a painful experience for the previous two times. The last time I did it, I sat down wind from
someone who overdressed for 90 degree weather, long black pants, heavy long
sleeve shirt. When the wind was right, I
was nauseas. But
willing to try it a third time.
This can only be booked 60 days out.
I figure to try this on Sept 9, so I will try to do book this on July 9.
Meanwhile I contact and
reserve Sunray to take me from the train station to the Pop Century and back.
Well, I try and book this
online, then I call in. I was too late, when I called in the CM
mumbles to herself that they just opened up the
booking window for this. Before she told
me, I knew, nothing available. I am not into desserts like that. They have nothing for me to drink except water,
but still I like the experience. The CM
tells me, to try a couple of days before, as people may cancel opening up a
table. Nothing I can do. Oh well.
So I get a
automated message phone call from Amtrak. Due to Sunrail
weekend track work on my return trip from Walt Disney World in mid September,
my first part of my trip home would be a 3 hr bus ride to
Not exactly
thrilled about it. I spoke
to a Amtrak spokesman to confirm this. Yes, a
bus will pick me up at Orlando Station and take me to
At this point, I am leaving
on a Sunday. If I leave the next day, I can still get on the train for
less money, the agent checked and it would cost me $77 less. But what to do for the extra day?
I called Disney and inquired
about adding another days ticket admission and nights
stay. The difference is about $127. With the savings from Amtrak, the difference would be $50.
Oh, I did ask, I booked this
vacation before the recent price change. Would they be do a total rebook
with the new pricing, or use the original pricing and just add on additional
day and park tickets? I was told they use the old pricing.
So at this point, I am
waiting for Amtrak to call me back, and most likely add a day. $50
doesn’t sound that bad. I do have another meal to book for that Sunday :)
Well..
I adjusted everything. The numbers didn’t exactly match below. The
savings on Amtrak was more like $71. Disney cost me more then expected, $23 more to about $151 more. When I spoke to
the agent, we are both guessing even though the first agent did say she
included a additional theme park ticket, which included a upgrade from free
quick service to basic dining too, she didn’t.
Now I just need to add a ADR for Sunday for someplace :) After figuring out
where I will be going.
Well, I did forget two other things, I emailed Bob at Sunray and explain I am now leaving
on Monday, not Sunday. Waiting to hear
back.
I also rented a ECV from
Ok, so now I am leaving Monday,
instead of Sunday. I need a sit down
restaurant for Sunday to eat at. So I
looked over my current spreadsheet of places I am eating at to see if there are
any I want to eat at again. Not really.
Ok, lets
go by where I will be first. I will go with
golden rule #1, avoid the
So I am using their website,
I entered the date and dinner and see what places it recommends.
Most of the places I am
already eating there this trip, or ate there previous trips and didn’t think
the experience was good. Some of the
places gave me pause to think about.
50’s Prime Time?? Nah, not crazy about the food or the experience there.
Captains
Grille. Nothing special eating
there.
Either place in France, nah.
The Garden Grill, maybe.
Never ate there before, didn’t like the food choices, but make this a maybe.
Paradiso 37 at DTD. When I first learnt about
this place, another maybe.
Whispering
Canyon Café. I know it’s a good value on the dining plan,
but its near the magic kingdom, will call and ask. I called, no availability for lunch. Back to thinking.
Coral Reef. Eating there only once.
I can usually do a lunch and dinner there, so I made a mid afternoon ADR
here.
I don’t want to think about
how much extra today cost me :)
8-12 to
Ever since I have been
traveling to the world via Amtrak, I always used Sunray Transportation to pick
me up at Orlando Train Station to take me to my resort. On
Looking for another car
service, I did call up another company and was told since I was using the
train, they don’t take reservations.
When reaching Winterpark, give them a
call. I didn’t like the idea of needing
to call them the last minute and wait for a car.
Bob wrote back and
recommended Murry Hill Transportation. I found their website and asked if they do a
pickup from
On
I am still trying for the
wishes dessert party, but its highly doubtful I will
get it.
Just a
couple weeks to go. The only worry now is the weather.
Someone who I have been
chatting with online said they were able to log into My Disney Experience and
chose there
Fast Pass
+ is a way of reserving 3 events per day, weeks in advance of arriving at Walt
Disney World. A
event can be a ride, meet and greet, or seating for a nightly fireworks show.
The problem is, it is only good for one park per
day. Since I am park hopping, it really
isn’t for me.
I called up and asked, if I plan my FP+, can I still make use of the old
For laughs..
and you never know. At the end of the chat, I was
asked if there was anything else she can do for me. I said, well, I have been trying to get a
solo table for the Tomorrowland Wishes Dessert Party,
but there are no solo tables available.
Not missing a beat, she said one of the events available for FP+ is a
reserved seat for Wishes, but I would have to bring my own Ice Cream. Told her, that wont work, it would melt ;)
So I started to choose my FP+
On Saturday, Sept 7, I will
be at Animal Kingdom. Even though I have
three events available, I can only think of two to do, Kali River Rapids and Kilmanjaro Safari. It
gave me 4 options and included Festival of the Lion King as my third
choice. Since I am arriving hopefully
before
For Sunday, Sept 8, I plan on
being at the Studios, after eating breakfast at Boma
at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am already
doing
Like I thought, Fantasmic was a option. I chose
Toy Story, Muppetvision, and Great Movie Ride.
I am eating at Boma at
I forgot to click on done,
when I did so, I waited too long I guess and it kicked me out. I logged back in, and it brought me to a
screen to customize my magic band, just chose the color blue. When I reentered the three
attractions it gave me different times.
Mental note, before typing this, hit done first J
Great movie
ride
Now onto
Monday. I have
Here things got
interesting. What to chose?? I guess a given is the new Fantasyland
attraction is Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid. Other important attractions
for me is Pirates of the
Tuesday
next. Another MK
day. The Wave at
I chose Mickey’s Philharmagic, Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin.
It gave me a bonus of Under the Sea.
Here is what I chose.
Mickey’s Philharmagic
The only possible problem I
see is eating at Kona at
Wednesday. Just Coral Reef at
It gave me
Thursday. ADR for Le Cellier only for
Nothing for
American Adventure. I went for the same three as yesterday, Test
Track
Friday now. Kona at 10, ‘Ohana at
I chose
Saturday now ADR’s for just Yak N Yeti at
I chose Toy Story, Voyage of
the Little Mermaid, and Muppetvision. The times it gave me for Toy Story on the 4
choices, were not between 2 to 3, but I figure I could change the time after choosing
their times, which I did. I have Toy
Story from
Now my last
day, Sunday. Coral Reef for lunch at
I get a
email this morning that my MagicBand has shipped and
gave a tracking number for ups. I looked
up the tracking number and it shows its on the truck
for delivery already. I looked up the
history and it was shipped yesterday. So
they must have over nighted it.
UPS usually delivers in the
late afternoon, or so I thought. I ran
out to make a errand and got home to find the slip by
my door. I figure I just missed him, so
I went back down to look. I found a UPS
truck parked across the street from me.
I waited about 5 minutes and showed the driver the slip. Yes, he has it. I showed him my state drivers
license and I got the package.
I opened up the box, see
photos.
I do have to say if I chose
my favorite Pixar movie, it would be The Incredibles.
Favorite character is Elastigirl, so maybe
it’s a sign J
Two weeks from today, at the time I write this, should be in North
Carolina.
So I went food shopping today. But first, what would be trip without a new
camera 
Last week, I went through my camera collection that I take with me. I take two
waterproof cameras with me. A Kodak which is palm sized. I used this on Kali
three years ago, I learnt a valuable lesson, when I hit the button to record,
keep my finger away from the button, for as I was going down the first hill, I
tensed up, pausing the recorder This
is a great camera, took nice hi def video, but the still photos is just 5
megapixel. Also the unique battery for this camera is showing signs of not
holding a full charge. I did take 80+ photos the other day with it, but I just
didn't like to see it freshly charged battery not showing a full charge after
only 2 photos. The battery doesn't look like it is lasting. Also sometimes I
have a problem charging the battery from it being totally dead.
Last year I bought a Polaroid waterproof camera. It was a 14 megapixel camera.
But right from the get go, I really didn't like it. I use rechargeable
batteries. While other cameras can take 40 or more photos per day. This one
could only take about 20. Also as soon as I opened up the battery compartment,
even for a couple of seconds, I had to enter the date and time. The photos on
anything less then a sunny day, the object would come out dark. There is a
flash, but other cameras I have take better photos in the same conditions. The
straw that broke the camels back was this. All of a sudden, just shutting off
the camera, it would default to its basic settings, 3 megapixels instead of 14
setting. It never did this before. Anyone want a camera? I will throw in a
case. Just not sure about a memory card, have to see if I have smaller gig card
to place in it. Hey.. its free See
me in Disney in two weeks.
So I was doing some research on new waterproof cameras. I had my eye on a Nikon
S31. Some reviews say its great, some.. not so great. I was in Kmart today,
they had this camera for sale as the same price of other places. I played
around with it, and was happy with how it performed inside the store. But I
wanted to read up on it some more. I tried desperately to use my smartphone to
look it up. I tried doing a websearch, used apps for electronic stores, etc.
But there had to be a cell site problem as I couldn't pull up any useful info
except one website showed 5 and a 1/2 stars out of 6. That was the only thing
that was able to load. Kmart has a 30 day return policy. I can return it after
my trip, but I don't do things like that. So I bought it, and another case, as
my other camera cases wont fit this. This camera does autofocus with a 5x
optical zoom. My Kodak and Polaroid all are fixed focus, with electronic zoom
only. The Polaroid does have a macro setting. Strange thing, but I guess
because it is waterproof, you have to remove the battery to charge it. My
Kodak's battery can be charged with it installed.
I also did food shopping today for the train trip. 2 bags of unsalted pistachio
nuts, one for each way. I bottle of unsalted roasted peanuts, one large bag of
onion/garlic potato chips. Nope, I didn't forget my YooHoos when I am onsite,
that is already bought and in my luggage. Also a four roll pack of Charmin 
Tomorrow, local dollar store for 2 or 3 rain ponchos. I used to buy just one, and
wind up tearing it the first use. And also what other items I may need that I
see going up and down the aisle.
All the local dollar stores, couldn’t find any. Someone suggested Wal-Mart. Ugh.. I was there hours ago, but not too bad
as its on the way home. I only found
expensive ones, costing about $10. At
that price, I will wait and buy Disney’s ones.
One last bit of planning. This trip I am going with the basic dining plan.
Previous trips I went with deluxe. Last couple of years, I felt the choices in
some of the theme parks were lacking for 3 different breakfast sit down meals
during me stay, like Epcot and the studios. So this year I went with just
paying extra for the basic dining plan, and paying out of pocket for some
meals. Some days I will be doing two sit down meals. So that means I will have
more meals planned then credits.
I am going for 9 nights, so that gets me 9 table service meal credits, but I
have about 14 table service meals planned.
I plan on doing Le Cellier for dinner. As everyone knows, that is now two meal
credits. According to a spreadsheet I created, a meal at Le Cellier would cost
me $69. The average cost of other meals for lunch or dinner can average around
$40, give or take a couple of dollars. So those two credits are worth about
$80, but paying out of pocket is $69. Definitely not worth using the dining
plan on.
A plated breakfast can cost less then $20. Buffets are next cheapest between
$20 to $30 range. Plated lunch or dinner meals cost from $36 to $44. So this is
what I figured to do.
I will use the dining plan at the following places: H&V (Fantasmic) dinner,
Boma Dinner, Grand Floridian Café Dinner, Kona Café Dinner, Coral Reef Dinner,
'Ohana Dinner, Yak n Yeti Dinner, Coral Reef Lunch, and Boma Buffet.
I will pay out of pocket for: Trails End, Kona Café Breakfast, Le Cellier
Dinner, The Wave Breakfast, Crystal Palace Breakfast.
I am going to use a meal credit on Boma for breakfast. Even though it is a sub
$30 meal, it is still more money then the places I am paying out of pocket.
What made this hard to do, and I hope I am comparing apples to apples is the
menus I found online don't list what the prices are during specific times of
the year. Disney instituted seasonal pricing some years ago. That means a meal
in the summer costs more then if purchased in the winter
SO I am staying at Disney from the 7th to the 16th, 9 nights, 10 days. Plus
another 2 travel days. Clothes totally packed. !4 t-shirts, socks, underwear, 8
pairs shorts. 3- Bathing suits, Pool shoes, 2nd pair of sneakers. I plan on
changing shirts sometimes mid-day, and even perhaps getting totally soaked
needing to change everything down to my sneakers.
For entertainment on the train, I take with me a DVD portable player and
also my laptop, which is capable of playing dvd's too. I also have loads of
Pixar movies loaded on iTunes like The Incredibles and Up. I also downloaded
Star Trek into Darkness. It is being released while I am at Disney, so when I
get home, will buy the 3D bluray version. I also take at least 4 box sets of TV
shows on DVD. This year I am taking The Naked City, where there are 8 million
stories to be told. Sgt Bilko (I can laugh at the old stuff anytime). Captain
Scarlet, I love the Gerry Ansderson super marionation shows from my childhood.
And finally Star Trek Voyager last season. I wonder if they make it home or
not??
I am laughing here I
just had to share. I was looking for my travel USB charger that I used when at
my house to charge my cell phone. You see before I left my house, I looked
around my bedroom checking and double checking I had all my electronics to
pack.
Well, I am trying to use my cell phone as a alarm clock by my bed tonight. I
went to look for my travel usb charger.... need I say the rest??
I am more bothered by having it plugged in, paying for the electricity, then
not having it for my trip. One thing I do have is plenty of USB chargers I
am more miffed about not having that long USB cable I use with that charger 
Oh
well. If everyone is to forget one thing for any trip, may that be it.
Think if I was flying, I would be over the weight limit.
Right now, I am going to sleep around 2 am, getting up around 9, no good, need
to change my sleeping habits.
It’s a week before I leave, checking out Weather.com.
- Two systems of interest in the
Atlantic
- Overall, rare levels of tranquility
persist
Weather still holding good. Not excited yet, but strangly calm. For the first time in 5 years, no hurricaine
worries. Strange feeling J
Walking out of a local drug store chain, I found
a poncho for $3 and change. No tax, must
consider this clothes. So I have
one. Just need to make sure its packed. J
It was the night before the night before the morning I leave (Does that
make sense?). Tomorrow is the charging of the batteries. I go through each
device, make sure it is fully charged. Then I place all my electronics on my
bed to make sure that every electronic doo dad has its accessories. I will pack
everything except this laptop, its power pack, and my cell phone, and its
charger.
Been going to sleep early around midnight. But the last couple of days, been
waking up around 4 to 5 am. Then going back to sleep around 6 am, waking up
around 9. Oh well.
It was the night before… and
not taking a mouse.
All electronic batteries
charged, check
wallet pruned of unnecessary cards (whole bunch of store
customer cards), check
hotspot on cell phone activated for trip, check
called Disney Visa and told them I am traveling, check
tried one more time for wishes dessert party, check, still
nothing available.
set alarm, check (did accidently
set it for Saturday, not Friday, but caught it)
I forgot to call the resort
to see about room request. Will call tomorrow while at
What does Patrick say at the
end of the Soarin preshow??