The 13th Birthday "let's be a kid again" Celebration Pre-Trip Report - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Yay!!! I'm so excited for you. I like seeing how your decisions were made. I love Halloween, too, not just for the holiday, but it is my DDs birthday. We are so looking forward to MNSSHP! We went to the party at DLR for our DDs 12th birthday and loved it, so we know we'll like it at WDW. More please....
Vicki, the start to your TR is very touching! for sharing the background as this will be a very special trip for all of you. And I hope each of you finds the kid inside.
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I'm sure this will be a magical trip for your family. Sounds like you're planning a fantastic time. Looking forward to hearing more of your plans. Hurry back.
I can't wait for you to get there. You are going to have such a magical experience and will want to go every year from this year on. (I know I did!)
My DSis and DN love Pop. They stay there most of the time and she says the buses are better here than at the other values.
Can't wait to see where you picked to eat!
Thank you all for the comments. The only thing I question about on MNSSHP is if one night will do it for me!
I think we're going to like Pop too. DS is already looking forward to getting his picture taken while he gets "run over" by the big-wheel! Although, he had seen a picture of someone's vacation on here where they did that pose... his comment was..."Great, now I can't do that!" I asked him why he couldn't and he said because someone else all ready did it. I rolled! Told him he could do it anyways since they ( the people in the pic) wouldn't be the wiser to his shot at it. Gotta love their way of thinking sometimes.
So now I was getting to the nitty-gritty of the planning; what parks on what days, and where were we going to eat each day. My plan of attack was to get everyone to participate in picking out the places they wanted to eat. This was no small feat as everyone kept telling me it was my plans, pick them out and let them know when the time came. My mom was and still is having a hard time understanding why we need to make ADR’s in the first place. She keeps saying she’s never had to make reservations anywhere on any vacation so why would Disney require that when everything is secluded to just vacationers and not the whole world. I tried to explain that restaurants fill up fast and I didn’t want to get stuck not being able to eat in the places we had picked, she still doesn’t get it. Oh well, I was doing it so she didn’t care.
We debated over eating at the Castle but as a group (yes! I got them to give some input!!) we decided it just wasn’t worth 2TS credits. If my DS was a DD, it may have turned out differently but he just doesn’t have interest in the princesses at this time. After finally convincing at least DS to participate in helping to pick out the restaurants, we came up with a list of places we wanted to eat at. I also got some input on LTT from a friend of my mom’s (Bev) who said it was the best TS her DH and her had while there so that got added to the list as well.
Our list included: Liberty Tree Tavern, Sci-fi, 50’s Prime Time, Chef Mickey’s, Crystal Palace (a must do for me ), Donald’s Safari Breakfast (another input from Bev), O’hana’s (another must do for me), Tony’s Town Square (DS insisted for his B-day dinner), and Garden Grove. Now Garden Grove, I was given the impression that on Monday and Friday nights, Rafiki and Timon do a character dining there so I wanted to go. After further investigation, I found this is not always the case so we opted out of that and switched it with 1900 Park Fare. I had heard some great things about the step-sisters and I thought DGP would have a blast here as he’s quite the character himself with jokes and such. I thought the interaction between him and the step-sisters would be worth it. I am still really trying to make this a magical time for him as well and in doing so, I hope to convert him into a Disney lover by the time we leave. So far, he just doesn’t get it.
So how do I get all those places to match our days and park times. Another, WOW, I had no idea what was all involved moment! Over a period of 3 months, I think I made at least 5 or more different plans. It was crazy and I think I was driving everyone nuts with all the Disney talk and questions. Part of why I started my PTR so early I guess, I had to talk to someone and no one here is listening anymore!
I house-sit a client’s cat when they go on vacation and they happened to have a few weekends they were going to be gone. This turned out to be the perfect time to get most of my planning done. Hal, the cat has diabetes so he has to be given insulin twice a day so on weekend get-a-ways, I usually just stay the night. It turned out that DS was going to be spending some quality time with his other grandparents both those weekends so I would have all that time myself to make the plans. Score for me!
In those 2 weekends, I switched the plans 2-3 more times before finally coming up with the “master plan”! So here it is, now complete with ADR times. Now before everyone gets going on “too many breakfasts” let me explain how my parents do vacations. They normally go for a good breakfast then hit up something for dinner, skipping out more on lunch. Normally they would eat breakfast around 10 or so making it more of a brunch instead but this being Disney and needing to make rope-drops, most of our times are earlier. With hearing about how much food is served in WDW, I’m not too worried. We plan on getting snacky things from Garden Grocer along with bottled water as well (not taking a chance on anyone getting sick from the water change!).
Arrival Day: Friday, Oct. 16th approximately 3pm.
Nothing really planned here. Either eat at Everything Pop or head to DTD for Earl of a Sandwich for dinner. My mom really really wants to eat at EOS so this would work. Not hitting any of the parks but will probably head down to DTD after exploring the resort for a bit.
Saturday, Oct. 17th:
Breakfast at Donald’s Safari Breakfast 8:15am. Park opens at 9 so we’ll be there early. We’ll spend the entire day in AK and end it with dinner at Flame Tree BBQ right before park closing at 6pm. Afterwards, we will enjoy the resort, swim, and relax for our next day.
Sunday, Oct. 18th – Leo’s Birthday
Breakfast at 8:30am at O’hana’s. From there we will stay at MK all day, taking time to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of it all!
Dinner will be at TSS at 6:50pm. The park closes at 7 this night so we’ll be getting out a little later then close. Again, after dinner, we will probably go back to the resort and have down time.
Monday, Oct. 19th:
The day will be spent at DHS. No breakfast plans but we have reservations at Sci-fi at 5:35pm. DS is really wanting to try a turkey leg so we may have one of those for lunch. Although not sure if this would be better in Epcot or not?
After dinner, we will head down to DTD for shopping and leisurely seeing the sights down there.
Tuesday, Oct. 20th – MNSSHP day!!!
Late breakfast at Chef Mickey’s at 10:30. This will be a very leisure morning/afternoon. Nothing really set in plans except to be at MK by 4pm for the pre-party. Didn’t plan too much here because I knew we are going to be out late tonight.
Dinner reservations at LTT at 5:25pm with the party to follow. I can’t wait for this!!
Wednesday, Oct. 21st:
Another late morning here due to being up most the night. Breakfast will be in the room with items bought from Main St. Bakery the day before.
We’ll spend the entire day in Epcot today with no dining plans what so ever. I guess I shouldn’t so NO plans because we plan to eat around the world enjoying F&W Festival all day. Epcot has EMH evening hours tonight so we’ll be taking advantage of that.
Thursday, Oct 22nd:
Will be going back to DHS today to hit what we haven’t or do more of what we liked. Breakfast in the hotel with lunch planned for Pizza Planet. For dinner we have reservations at 50’s Prime Time at 6:45. Open to going to DTD after park closes if we’re up to it and if we didn’t get enough time earlier in the week.
Friday, Oct. 23rd:
Leisure morning then heading back to AK. Today will be mostly for seeing Lion King, character greets, and doing anything we might want to hit again. I know many say this is a ½ - 1 day park but we are nature fanatics so I believe we will do fine with 2 days. If not, we can choose to go somewhere else. No real plans for meals here except to maybe hit up Rainforest Café for an appetizer lunch, oop. AK has PM EMH this day too so we may possibly stay for that. If we decide we don’t need to stay longer or we leave early, we will definitely make it to DTD to look around. One of our open days to choose what we want I guess.
Saturday, Oct. 24th:
My day finally comes to have breakfast with Tigger and Eeyore! I saved it until the last day so I could completely take it all in. Reservations are set for 8:15am. From there, we either stay in MK or have a free choice to do what we want to do. This is our last touring day so I kind of left it up to choice.
Dinner we will be going to 1900 Park Fare at 6pm. After dinner, it becomes free choice again. Sadly, we’ll have to pack and get ready to leave early morning on the 25th.
The only park we won’t hit 2 days is Epcot. I talked with everyone before making this decision and all of us agreed. If we do find we want to go back to Epcot, we can do that on the last Friday or Saturday of our trip. It’s not that I don’t think we’ll like it it’s just I don’t think it will keep DS’s attention long enough. We’ll be there all day on an EMH night as well. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong and one of our last days will change.
I am working on a laid out plan for each day but I’m not expecting to follow it to a T. I just want something where we can get a start and have an idea of what attractions we want to see in the area we are headed. I don’t want to rush around like chickens with our heads cut off, hence why basically 2 days in each park. I’m sure we will miss quite a bit because I’m guessing I will be stopping all the time to take pictures!
From all the veterans, does it sound ok or are we biting off more than we can chew?
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Pixie Dust
for sharing the background as this will be a very special trip for all of you. And I hope each of you finds the kid inside. 
PassPorter Guide Author
You'll love the Halloween Party - it's our favourite. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Liz 
The only thing I question about on MNSSHP is if one night will do it for me! 
Although, he had seen a picture of someone's vacation on here where they did that pose... his comment was..."Great, now I can't do that!" I asked him why he couldn't and he said because someone else all ready did it. 
I rolled! Told him he could do it anyways since they ( the people in the pic) wouldn't be the wiser to his shot at it. Gotta love their way of thinking sometimes. 
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