"Sausages with Rista" August 2016 pre-trip report

[mobeckwith]

i will look forward to this trippie,especially the food reports mo x

[LaurenPickle]

It has been ages since I updated Sorry! Life has just got in the way a bit recently, but I am back to planning Florida again and I have a few updates.

I booked all of our ADRs and got everything I wanted within 10 minutes or so of my times, which was a huge relief. We're only staying on site for 2 nights so we don't have a dining plan, so we can't book everything we'd like (well, not without robbing a bank ). But we've got a few ADRs that we're really excited about.

Our 1st full day - Crystal Palace for breakfast at 8:05am. I booked this for the quiet Main Street pictures and because the girls love Winnie the Pooh and co. My DH and the girls are not big breakfast eaters, so DH has told me that I need to get our money's worth for the rest of them Well, I'll try!

At 1:10pm, we're going to Be Our Guest. I had wanted to go for dinner, but Penny (5yo) said she was scared of meeting the beast. To keep costs down and to stop her being a nervous wreck all through the meal, we decided to stick to lunch.

Tues 16th, we're going to the Rainforest Cafe at AK for lunch. I may cancel this ADR and just use my Landry's card to queue hop.

Weds 17th is an exciting night for us - the kids are going to Simba's cubhouse and DH and I are going to Sanaa! It's a bit of a rare treat as we don't live near family/have a babysitter, so a date night is 3/4 times a year at best. We're celebrating 8 years of marriage and 10 years together this August, so it will be a special night for us. We wanted to try Sanaa as we both love spicy foods and staying at AK lodge is our Disney dream - so visiting is a good compromise for now.

We're visiting Hollywood Studios on the Saturday, so we've booked lunch at the Sci Fi dine in. DH is a sci fi geek (Star Trek, not Star Wars though) so he's looking forward to it. The girls thought it was hilarious that they will be eating in a car inside a cinema and I like the sound of fried pickles

Sunday is Akershus for dinner. We ummed and ahhed over whether to book CRT or Akershus, but in the end, we thought that the Akershus menu was more our taste - and better value. I know that when I see the castle at MK I will regret it though, but logically, Akershus is better for us.

Wednesday of week 2 is revisiting a favourite - Tusker House at AK for lunch. DH and I visited when we were on our Honeymoon and again 2 years later, and we both still dream about it! We had great servers both times and lots of help finding suitable food (I'm vegetarian and allergic to strawberries). We also thought it would be a great chance to meet Mickey and the gang without queueing.

Thursday 25th is a late start for us as we're planning to stay late at MK that evening, so I've booked Sanaa for lunch. I did this because I really liked the look of the lunch menu, but looking now, I'm not so sure why I liked it I think I might have a look about for an alternative.

Friday 26th is the character meal I'm most excited about - Chip and Dale at the Garden Grill, Epcot. We're going for an early lunch (11:45). DH really wanted this one as he loves 'Living with the Land' so he's really excited to try some food grown there. The girls and I love Chip and Dale, and I hear it's one of the best meals for character interaction. Plus, we've never been in a rotating restaurant so it has a lot of positives!

Our last ADR is a Sunday dinner with Cinderella and co at 1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian. Another good meal for character interaction, or so I've heard, and another beautiful resort to visit!

Back soon with more shopping pictures!

[bettany2001]

Great pre trippie, some good plans there. Looking forward to reading more.😊

[LaurenPickle]

Thank you Bettany, Mo and everyone who has commented

So, two updates.

The first is that our ADR plans have already changed! Well, one has anyway. I was already uncertain about the Sanaa lunch as we're also going there for dinner and I wasn't 100% sure about the lunch menu.
Then I checked our return flights and realised it was later than I'd remembered, so after asking about ideas on here, we decided to have a 'Goodbye to Disney' visit to MK on our last day instead of a half day at Universal. We really wanted a table service meal, both to give us a rest and to make the day extra special, so I had a browse...

Straight away, Liberty Tree Tavern jumped out at me. I love American history (any history really!) and I'd really liked the menu (Vegetarian Proclamation followed by Oooey Gooey cake? Yes please!). I'd decided against it initially because I wanted to try a few other places more, plus I thought DH and the girls might think it boring. But when I showed DH the options, he loved it! And he persuaded me that as we're doing so many character meals and kid meals (Rainforest cafe etc), that a more 'grown up' meal would not be unreasonable. So our last meal on Disney property will be the LTT!

Next, a shopping update. This is all from the Bury branch of Primark about 3 weeks ago - I'm planning a trip to Manchester soon (when I can give DH the slip ).

First, some flip flops - not for day wear (I'm planning to buy some Sketchers go walk trainers), but for the water parks and around the pool. The DDs and I all got Little Mermaid ones, but the girls were very disappointed that there weren't any Prince Eric ones in the menswear department for Daddy £2.50 for mine, £2 for the girls. They also had Frozen ones.

Secondly, some clothes for me! I have been looking at this Mickey top for weeks, but the £9 price tag put me off - which is ridiculous, because in another shop I'd have thought 'Bargain!' ... but in Primark, surrounded by £2/£3 tops, it feels too expensive It was reduced to £5 though, so I went for it. The Mickey head is sequinned, but subtle.

Another top for me reduced to £3 - Ghostbusters! DH is a HUGE Ghostbusters fan and it's his big Florida regret that he never got to ride it. So we're celebrating it by all wearing our Ghostbusters tees one night at Universal! DH and Penny already have Ghostbusters tshirts, so I just need one for Connie (3yo) DD now.

Last, but not least, some hair clips and jewellery ... Princesses for the girls and Alice for the girls too but I'm already planning to 'borrow' some All £1-£2.

Ooh and a non Primark purchase - some 'Rista' (Aristocat) bobbles from the Entertainer toy shop. Hopefully they'll make it up to DD that she probably won't meet Marie now that she isn't doing a meet and greet at MK anymore

I think my next big update will be Fastpasses, which won't be for another 50 days. Although I'm sure I'll pick up some bargains before then

[Guest]

Really enjoyed your pre trip so far.

[2littleboys]

Great Pre-Trip report, sounds like a fab trip!

Loving all your clothing purchases and great ADR plans too, what a treat to get some "you" time too, a date night sounds amazing!

Looking forward to the rest of your report xx

[margyloveswdw]

Great pre trip report! Look forward to reading more.

[LaurenPickle]

I went shopping again Whoops. Well, there is a fancy new guided busway near our house that leads into Manchester which we hadn't yet tried and my plans for Friday fell through, so what could I do? !

First, Primark - kids section.

Connie picked the first item herself - a Baloo from the Jungle book backpack for £6. It's a great size for a 3-6 year old and will hold a book, cardigan, sweeties and a few other essentials for the plane/an evening out.

To co-ordinate, I picked up these very cute Jungle Book t-shirts for £4 each.

Another one of Connie's choices was this Jurassic World velociraptor t-shirt. Again £4, but just the one for Connie as Penny doesn't like dinos much. Connie loved this so much that she insisted that she change into it IMMMEDIATELY

Just one top for me this time - the Lion King for £4.

Next, we went into Sports Direct. I decided to get some Sketchers for Connie from there as a friend had recommended it for selling them cheaply. No photo yet, but they were £12 for leather pink and white chunky trainers.

They also had lots of swimsuits for children on a 2 for £14 offer ... but you cannot mix and match, they have to be the same style. It was ok for me as the girls like to match though. I bought 2 swimsuits for each of the girls - one for the villa pool and one for the waterparks.

The first was this Little Mermaid two piece. I love the bottoms of these! Very cute. They're also so much more practical than a one piece swimsuit for trips to the loo!

The water park swimsuits are two piece, UV 50 cover up ones. I'll let the girls model these

I love these, they're so cute! Not bad for £7 each too.

Last but not least, I picked up a couple of t-shirts for DH. The NASA one is from Primark (£5 I think) and the Big Bang Theory one was £9.99 in Sports Direct.

I'm really enjoying being in 'planning mode' again after a long period when it just seemed too far away to be real! I've done the ESTAs (all passed thankfully) and Connie's passport has arrived. My main concerns now are:

- Planning fastpasses. This is completely new to me, so I'm a bit nervous, but I'm readying myself for a 5AM start for A+E and 7DMT!

- Losing weight. I've lost 3st 7lbs in the last year and just have 16lbs to go to my goal weight. I've got 16 Slimming World weigh ins before we go so I should do it in good time.

- Watching the dollar rate to see when would be a good time to buy. This week hasn't been too bad, so I might leap!

Hope everyone's planning is going well! Thanks for the lovely comments, I'm glad you're enjoying it

[juliab]

Hi, just been reading through your plans, what a fantastic trip you've got planned.

Really love your purchases especially the bits that you've got for the girls. Those minions suits are too cute

I've bought that Lion King t-shirt the other day so good for the price.

You're there the same time as we are. Just looking through your ADR's and seen that we're going to Saana on the same day. How lovely that you'll be having a meal out on your own.

Looking forward to reading more of your plans

[LaurenPickle]

Oh how funny Julia! We're there at 5.40pm - if I spot you, I'll give you a wave I think I'm as excited about the night out as the rest of the trip altogether - the last one was my birthday in October, so it's long awaited!
I really enjoyed your last trip report (fab and your wedding was just beautiful!) so I don't know how I missed you had a new pre-trip report - heading over to read it now!