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Wycked's trip planning spot!

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 16:54
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Wycked's trip planning spot!

Hey all! So, I was going to wait till I hit 100 days (so I am a day off...) to create a "pre-trip report/planning" thread but I have some questions that I would like all of your opinions on and I can't wait to long, one of the things I have to book a time slot..

So a few trip details first! My husband Andy and I are going for our 5 year wedding anniversary. This is our first time ever at WDW and we will be there for 9 days (7 actual full days and 2 partial/travel days) from October 25th - November 2nd. We are staying at POP cause, being a value resort, it made the trip possible for us and we kind of like the theme to it. We have park tickets for 5 days (1 for MK, DHS, AK and 2 for Epcot), 1 park free day (our actual anniversary) and 1 day we are heading to Universal to see Harry Potter. There are more details, such as our ADR's and all that, that are already set but I will share those later.

So I have 2 big questions I am hoping you guys can give me some input on ...

First.. When we booked the trip I got the Park Hopper option on our tickets just in case and, it was last August! I didn't know what our plans would be like and I wanted to have the option open to me.. It's really starting to look like we won't need that option after all. Having never been there before we plan on staying at the park planned for that day the whole day.. Is there a way to cancel this option on my tickets? Is there a change fee and would it make canceling not worth it? What do you guys think?

Also, I really want to go for a horse drawn carriage ride at Port Orleans. I was thinking that our first night at Epcot (second day) that we can head over to POR after dinner and go for one of the last rides of the night. This would mean we would miss IllumiNations but we still have another day at Epcot to see it. What do you think? And is we did plan it what is the best way to get to POR from Epcot? I was also thinking after the ride to take the boat to Downtown Disney. Any thoughts?

Sorry to make this a really long post! I totally sound like a psycho nervous over planner, LoL! This is just (literally) a once in a lifetime trip for us and I want to do as much as possible. Thank you guys so much for putting up with me in this! silly

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 17:06
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I dont know much about the second question, but with the Park Hopper, unless your wanting to take it off to save money, then id just call them up and ask. With the time period your going... you could possibly be done with everything you want to do by lunch. But if your wanting to save the money, then id say go for it. Its one of those options that you wont realize you like until you actually get to use it.

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 17:16
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Mase, yeah I wasn't sure but I thought it was best to include them just in case. We get hoppers every time we go to Disneyland and do DL and DCA in one day but we get to go there a lot more. I guess I should mention that all our dinner ADR's are in the parks except our day off and AK day cause it closes at 5pm, haha.

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 17:20
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WyckedPhoenix wrote:
Mase, yeah I wasn't sure but I thought it was best to include them just in case. We get hoppers every time we go to Disneyland and do DL and DCA in one day but we get to go there a lot more. I guess I should mention that all our dinner ADR's are in the parks except our day off and AK day cause it closes at 5pm, haha.

Yeah... I would say unless you want to save money... keep the park hoppers. They really are a great feature.

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 17:49
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Mase wrote:
WyckedPhoenix wrote:
Mase, yeah I wasn't sure but I thought it was best to include them just in case. We get hoppers every time we go to Disneyland and do DL and DCA in one day but we get to go there a lot more. I guess I should mention that all our dinner ADR's are in the parks except our day off and AK day cause it closes at 5pm, haha.

Yeah... I would say unless you want to save money... keep the park hoppers. They really are a great feature.

I agree...we didn't do PH's one trip because we wanted to save some cash and we were going to be there for a long time so I didn't think we'd hop around as much.
Big mistake. We missed the option of being able to leave and go back and forth to where we wanted. Also, I remember one day we planned to do MK all day and then we got to MK and it was crazy busy..we wanted to leave and go somewhere else but we couldn't. We ended up going to Guest Services and adding park hoppers on to our ticket..then it was so worth it.

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 18:20
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Bella - I totally understand that. I want to ask Andy what he think cause, honestly.. if we remove the option and take that price off our trip will be paid off. I just don't know if we would hop to another park.. I think we would be more likely to go to DTD, Boardwalk or check out the sights at other hotels (which is not in the plans right now and I kinda wish it was..).

Another random question... does anyone know of places that sell bookmarks on property? My aunt has a collection and asked if I could keep an eye out for some for her.

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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 18:32
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WyckedPhoenix wrote:
Bella - I totally understand that. I want to ask Andy what he think cause, honestly.. if we remove the option and take that price off our trip will be paid off. I just don't know if we would hop to another park.. I think we would be more likely to go to DTD, Boardwalk or check out the sights at other hotels (which is not in the plans right now and I kinda wish it was..).

Another random question... does anyone know of places that sell bookmarks on property? My aunt has a collection and asked if I could keep an eye out for some for her.

At the resorts you can. Anywhere really... I just know at AKL in the gift shop they had some because my son about bought one last year.

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- 2013 Trip Report!
- My Int3ractiv3 Trip R3port '12 - CLICK HERE!
[url='http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/pick-mases-dinner-disney']- My Interactive Trip Report '11[/url]

Sat, 07/16/2011 - 18:42
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Awesome. Thanks Mase!

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Mon, 07/18/2011 - 01:27
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We got the hopper just for convenience as well we are doing the carriage ride so I can report back if you like.

Remind me to post a pic of out 5th anniversary t-shirts we got for this trip

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Mon, 07/18/2011 - 18:58
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JustCar - I would love to hear how your experience goes, thanks!

On another note..... ONLY 99 MORE DAYS!!! I have hit double digits! yay

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Mon, 07/18/2011 - 22:06
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anytime
We have offered to try just about anything for people that aren't headed down quite yet

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Oct 2009 POP
Sept 2011 POP
Oct 2013 Coronado
May 2014 AKL , Magic, AoA Girlie Trip
Oct 2014 CBR Pirate Room Girlie Trip
Nov 2014 DCL Fantasy 7 Night Eastern Caribbean, Girlie Trip, POR Royal Guest Suite, GF Concierge
August 2015 DCL Magic 7 Night Mediterranean
October 2015 DL Grand Californian, DCL Wonder Panama Canal

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Mon, 07/18/2011 - 23:42
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I really want to try it cause POR and POFQ were two resorts that I really wanted to see and think this is a good excuse to go, haha. I want to looking into the hours for the place that sells the beignets there, I can't remember the name at this moment, and see if we can get some after.

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Tue, 07/19/2011 - 17:05
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WyckedPhoenix wrote:
I really want to try it cause POR and POFQ were two resorts that I really wanted to see and think this is a good excuse to go, haha. I want to looking into the hours for the place that sells the beignets there, I can't remember the name at this moment, and see if we can get some after.

W P The place that sells the Beignets is called The Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory and the Beignets are on the menu for the breakfast time AND they are also on the lunch and Dinner menu's as well.

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Tue, 07/19/2011 - 19:14
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Thanks Vettelover! I kind of thought that was what it was but I didn't want to write that and be wrong, lol.

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Tue, 07/19/2011 - 20:54
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W P if you happen to go there, look for an elderly CM who works there almost every day (I think she has early in the week off.) named ETHEL. If you happen to spot her, start up a conversation with her and you will find her a MOST fascinating and friendly person. She is the BEST CM in all of WDW. We go to see her and talk to her every trip down there and she actually remembers us. Heck when I get her age I will be lucky to remember my own name.

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Wed, 07/20/2011 - 01:05
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Vettelover wrote:
W P if you happen to go there, look for an elderly CM who works there almost every day (I think she has early in the week off.) named ETHEL. If you happen to spot her, start up a conversation with her and you will find her a MOST fascinating and friendly person. She is the BEST CM in all of WDW. We go to see her and talk to her every trip down there and she actually remembers us. Heck when I get her age I will be lucky to remember my own name.

I love hearing about CM stories like that!

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Wed, 07/20/2011 - 14:39
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We are going in the latter part of September (just before you) and we decided to forgo the park-hopper option. Now we may regret this later, but here was our reasoning.

1. It is just the two of us...we are able to move at a pace as quickly or as slow as we want. If we get tired in the parks we can sit down and get a beer and people watch.

2. Also the two of us wake up at 5:30 in the morning (P. has to be at work by 7 and has a 30 min commute) so sleeping in until 7 will feel like a treat and making rop drop will not be difficult.

3. The park hours are pretty limited that time of year...there isn't a whole lot of time to spend switching parks because they close early and by only allowing ourselves to see one park a day we will be able to take time and enjoy things that we may not have taken the time to if we were rushing off to another park.

4. Crowds shouldn't be an issue, at least when we are going there isn't an estimated crowd level over a 3 (according to touringplans.com)

5. It is an expensive option if we don't think we are going to use it, and we can always add it later.

Now I am not goign to pretend to be an expert and we could get down there and regret this decision entirely...I just wanted you to know that you aren't alone in wondering if it is worth it...we can tell you if we regretted it after our trip if you want.

L.

P.S. BEIGNETS!!! Yes please!!! I hope I can work that into our trip too Smile

Wed, 07/20/2011 - 14:49
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PandL wrote:
We are going in the latter part of September (just before you) and we decided to forgo the park-hopper option. Now we may regret this later, but here was our reasoning.

1. It is just the two of us...we are able to move at a pace as quickly or as slow as we want. If we get tired in the parks we can sit down and get a beer and people watch.

2. Also the two of us wake up at 5:30 in the morning (P. has to be at work by 7 and has a 30 min commute) so sleeping in until 7 will feel like a treat and making rop drop will not be difficult.

3. The park hours are pretty limited that time of year...there isn't a whole lot of time to spend switching parks because they close early and by only allowing ourselves to see one park a day we will be able to take time and enjoy things that we may not have taken the time to if we were rushing off to another park.

4. Crowds shouldn't be an issue, at least when we are going there isn't an estimated crowd level over a 3 (according to touringplans.com)

5. It is an expensive option if we don't think we are going to use it, and we can always add it later.

Now I am not goign to pretend to be an expert and we could get down there and regret this decision entirely...I just wanted you to know that you aren't alone in wondering if it is worth it...we can tell you if we regretted it after our trip if you want.

L.

P.S. BEIGNETS!!! Yes please!!! I hope I can work that into our trip too Smile

Gosh - I think that sounds great. I love the fact that you're focusing on slowing down and seeing everything. I can't wait to hear how it works out.

PS...now I want to plan a Sat trip to Sassagoula Floatworks!

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Wed, 07/20/2011 - 19:19
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PandL - That's is how I feel too! It's just Andy and I, the crowd levels (according to Touring Plans) are pretty low every day (knocks on wood it stays that way) and having never been before I too hope to slow down and really enjoy where we are.

I hope it all works out on your trip and I can't wait to hear about it!

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Wed, 07/20/2011 - 19:59
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OMG!!! I will be there October 24 - november 1 for my honeymoon.... cant wait... I've stayed at riverside years ago and port orleans is definatly a great one... we will be staying at the french quarter this time... we were at disney last october and still think park hopper is esential.... sure its not busy but with some of the parks closing early you can always head to mk and catch the fireworks...

Thu, 07/21/2011 - 05:32
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Some more details for my trip! I mentioned all this in another thread but I want to post it here as well.

So all of our ADR's have been booked. Here is what our days are looking like.

Wednesday Oct. 26th: breakfast - Crystal Palace; dinner - Pecos Bill's
Thursday Oct. 27th: lunch - Sunshine Seasons; dinner - Chefs de France
Friday Oct. 28th: lunch - Earl of Sandwich; dinner - California Grill
Saturday Oct. 29th: lunch - Flame Tree BBQ; dinner - Kouzzina
Sunday Oct. 30th: Universal Studios day.. not sure about lunch; dinner - Margaritaville
Monday Oct. 31st: lunch - Studio's Catering; dinner - Brown Derby
Tuesday Nov. 1st: lunch - Tangerine Cafe; dinner - Rose and Crown

After dinner at Kouzzina we are planning on getting a second dessert (bad I know!) at Beach's and Cream. We were considering trying the "Kitchen Sink" but we are not sure if all the stuff in it sounds good together.. We are thinking of sharing a "No Way Jose" instead.

I'm trying to decide on what to do the night we get in. I know we are going to be hungry but we land at 8:30 pm so I don't know what time we will get on property.. We may just see what we can get at the food court at POP or maybe take a bus somewhere to eat. Wherever we go it will be a counter service place. What do you all think?

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Thu, 07/21/2011 - 06:17
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WyckedPhoenix wrote:
Some more details for my trip! I mentioned all this in another thread but I want to post it here as well.

So all of our ADR's have been booked. Here is what our days are looking like.

Wednesday Oct. 26th: breakfast - Crystal Palace; dinner - Pecos Bill's
Thursday Oct. 27th: lunch - Sunshine Seasons; dinner - Chefs de France
Friday Oct. 28th: lunch - Earl of Sandwich; dinner - California Grill
Saturday Oct. 29th: lunch - Flame Tree BBQ; dinner - Kouzzina
Sunday Oct. 30th: Universal Studios day.. not sure about lunch; dinner - Margaritaville
Monday Oct. 31st: lunch - Studio's Catering; dinner - Brown Derby
Tuesday Nov. 1st: lunch - Tangerine Cafe; dinner - Rose and Crown

After dinner at Kouzzina we are planning on getting a second dessert (bad I know!) at Beach's and Cream. We were considering trying the "Kitchen Sink" but we are not sure if all the stuff in it sounds good together.. We are thinking of sharing a "No Way Jose" instead.

I'm trying to decide on what to do the night we get in. I know we are going to be hungry but we land at 8:30 pm so I don't know what time we will get on property.. We may just see what we can get at the food court at POP or maybe take a bus somewhere to eat. Wherever we go it will be a counter service place. What do you all think?

Now that sounds like a good time!

__________________

- 2013 Trip Report!
- My Int3ractiv3 Trip R3port '12 - CLICK HERE!
[url='http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/pick-mases-dinner-disney']- My Interactive Trip Report '11[/url]

Thu, 07/21/2011 - 15:36
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I'm jealous Earl of Sandwich and California Grill in one day! If you are going to be in Islands of Adventure (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) I would eat at the dining place in WWHP...it was pretty good and I ended up just getting a kids meal so it was cheap too! The POP food court is open til midnight so that would probably be easiest but I would try and grab a snack at the airport before you get your bags to hold you over mickey

Thu, 07/21/2011 - 18:42
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kayb wrote:
I'm jealous Earl of Sandwich and California Grill in one day! If you are going to be in Islands of Adventure (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) I would eat at the dining place in WWHP...it was pretty good and I ended up just getting a kids meal so it was cheap too! The POP food court is open til midnight so that would probably be easiest but I would try and grab a snack at the airport before you get your bags to hold you over mickey

Yeah, we were thinking of eating at The Three Broomsticks but, if that happens to be to busy cause I heard the seating is kind of on the minimal side (what did you think when you were there) there are other good options in the park. I hope really hope we can eat there however, LoL!

I was looking on the airline website to see what is allowed in a carry on and I was thinking of packing some crackers or granola bars or something. We have a tight layover in Dallas so this could be a good quick snack while we are there.

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Mon, 07/25/2011 - 01:42
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I envy your Tuesday November 1st--Tangerine Cafe and Rose and Crown are my number 1 & 2 favorite restaurants..anywhere..not just Disney.

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Sat, 07/30/2011 - 02:53
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Bella wrote:
I envy your Tuesday November 1st--Tangerine Cafe and Rose and Crown are my number 1 & 2 favorite restaurants..anywhere..not just Disney.

I am really excited for that day too Bella! It's our last night there and I am going to try to get IllumiNations view seats at Rose and Crown. I'm telling you... the food is some of the things I am looking forward to this trip, lol.

So an update for you guys...

WE ARE OFFICIALLY PAID IN FULL! yay Sent an email today to my travel agent and had her pay off the final balance and she wrote me back right away and said we were good to go!

I also bought our tickets to Universal today as well! I day park hopper tickets with shuttle transportation to and from our Disney resort. I'm really excited about that too. Yay Harry Potter!! (don't hurt me...)

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Sat, 07/30/2011 - 03:00
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WyckedPhoenix wrote:
kayb wrote:
I'm jealous Earl of Sandwich and California Grill in one day! If you are going to be in Islands of Adventure (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) I would eat at the dining place in WWHP...it was pretty good and I ended up just getting a kids meal so it was cheap too! The POP food court is open til midnight so that would probably be easiest but I would try and grab a snack at the airport before you get your bags to hold you over mickey

Yeah, we were thinking of eating at The Three Broomsticks but, if that happens to be to busy cause I heard the seating is kind of on the minimal side (what did you think when you were there) there are other good options in the park. I hope really hope we can eat there however, LoL!

I was looking on the airline website to see what is allowed in a carry on and I was thinking of packing some crackers or granola bars or something. We have a tight layover in Dallas so this could be a good quick snack while we are there.

We were there during September and we easily found a table at The Three Broomsticks. And if I remember correctly we ate during peak lunch hours so you should be good Smile

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:07
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Congrats Wycked yay hey US isn't Disney, but we still like hearing about it!

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 10:42
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Congratulations! So happy for you, and can't wait to hear all about it!

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Sun, 07/31/2011 - 00:28
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Are you kidding me..I only hate you about Harry Potter in the sense that I am insanely JEALOUS. My inlaws and sister in law just got back from there and all they have talked about is how great it was. They said they ate at Three Broomsticks and it was great. My sil loved the Sheppards Pie..I think?

Getting a Illuminations table is pretty simple if you are willing to wait. Depending on the time of year they close out the bottom section and allow any customer to go down to the bottom and watch..they might only do that in the colder months though..i am not too sure. We have eaten there maybe six times and only once did we have a side table with a not so great view and weve never requested a water view.

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Sun, 07/31/2011 - 00:29
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Another question...have you picked out what you are having at Tangerine Cafe? I highly suggest the schwarma platter..they are ahhhhmazinnnngg!

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