The Fee Is Forty Lets Do Disney Sept 2018 **FINAL UPDATE 20/09**~ Pre-Trip Report

[Kat11]

I think you have a great looking first week planned, it's not to busy which I think is important.

The only observations I would make are the ones you have mentioned, firstly the late 'Ohana ADR on your 2nd day. I'm usually too tired in the first could of days and not do it justice. And since you have one later in the week I'd stick with that one. Also your BOG dinner Ressie is quite late but still doable being later in your holiday. Have you tried using touring plans reservation finder to get a better time? Lastly I would probs cancel the early Cape May ADR as later in the week it's more difficult to drag myself out of bed! 😴 😂 Although you might be a morning person?!

Maybe consider getting a landrys card if you are wanting to go to Yak and Yeti then you can go there when you like?

If you are interested in plans feel free to check out mine under the calendar icon on the left?

Lol, you did ask for thoughts 😂 Feel free to ignore me if you like!

Looking forward to following your 2nd week update.

Kat

[Sweets]

Originally Posted by Kat11

I think you have a great looking first week planned, it's not to busy which I think is important.

The only observations I would make are the ones you have mentioned, firstly the late 'Ohana ADR on your 2nd day. I'm usually too tired in the first could of days and not do it justice. And since you have one later in the week I'd stick with that one. Also your BOG dinner Ressie is quite late but still doable being later in your holiday. Have you tried using touring plans reservation finder to get a better time? Lastly I would probs cancel the early Cape May ADR as later in the week it's more difficult to drag myself out of bed! 😴 😂 Although you might be a morning person?!

Maybe consider getting a landrys card if you are wanting to go to Yak and Yeti then you can go there when you like?

If you are interested in plans feel free to check out mine under the calendar icon on the left?

Lol, you did ask for thoughts 😂 Feel free to ignore me if you like!

Looking forward to following your 2nd week update.

Kat

See more...

Thanks Kat

I agree about the first O'hana reservation and I probably will cancel. I've just been holding out... for no reason whatsoever

I can't get an earlier reservation for BOG dinner unfortunately I'm going to keep checking though because I would prefer an earlier sitting. I think I'll give Touring Plans a go, though I've not used that tool before. Is it easy to use?

I'm definitely not a morning person and you're probably right that we'll be lucky to be up and out at that time!

I've got a Landry's card - and it'll have $25 on it as it's my husbands birthday in September. Can I use that to get a table even though I don't have a reservation? That'll be great!

Thank you so much for your comments. You've reassured me my thoughts were right and gave me some good tips. I'll check out your plan too.

[Kat11]

Hiya, yes if you’ve got a laundry’s card you can go straight to the counter, show your card and get straight in that way. You don’t need a adr with a laundry’s card.

Regarding Touring plans, it’s fairly easy to navigate. You need to sign up to it but you Do Not need to pay the subscription to use this particular tool. You can set a reservation finder for 2 different restaurants at a time. Just google the procedure to find it.

I’ve recently properly subscribed to TP so I can do a room request through them, which you need to be a full paid up member for.

Hope that helps. 😁

Kat

[Sweets]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Hiya, yes if you’ve got a laundry’s card you can go straight to the counter, show your card and get straight in that way. You don’t need a adr with a laundry’s card.

Regarding Touring plans, it’s fairly easy to navigate. You need to sign up to it but you Do Not need to pay the subscription to use this particular tool. You can set a reservation finder for 2 different restaurants at a time. Just google the procedure to find it.

I’ve recently properly subscribed to TP so I can do a room request through them, which you need to be a full paid up member for.

Hope that helps. 😁

Kat

See more...

I'm a member - I've put in a room request though I don't really mind where we're located. It's one of those things I've done just because the dibb talk about it I'm so easily led!

I found the reservation finder and have put in a search. I didn't know it existed, so thank you. And I've cancelled those meals we both talked about and amended others so now my first week ADRs are a bit different from my post

I am SO happy about the Landry's Card and Yak & Yeti. I used it at Bubba Gumps on City Walk a couple of years ago and it was fantastic, so I'm so pleased I can use it there.


ETA: Kat your plans look great! You've given me some ideas to add to my plans.

[Kat11]

I know what you mean about the Dibb! I’ve had some fantastic advice from fellow dibbers, I wouldn’t know the half of it if it wasn’t for them!

Glad you liked my planner, I’m tweaking it slightly all the time but I’m pretty solid on my adrs. Any fast passes will have to fit around them as we are a party of 7 this time (usually 4) so tables for our size are hard to find. 😆

Let me know if you manage to get a earlier BOG ressie... hope so. 🤞🏼

Kat x

[Sweets]

OUR DAILY PLANS... PART 2!

Since I posted our first week plan, I have tweaked and cancelled and changed stuff. I felt that our first week was TS heavy and the second week was a bit bare. I was also in danger of needing to pay for 9378375 meals oop so changes were needed


On Monday 24th, our second full day, I’ve now cancelled O’hana’s as I really don’t know if we’ll make it after what will inevitably be an early start and a full on day at the parks. We have it booked on the Saturday evening after all, so I’ve been sensible. First time for everything!

I’ve also learnt that I can use our Landry’s Card to get a TS walk up at Yak & Yeti so I don’t need to worry about an ADR so that QS has now became a TS (thanks Kat!)

I’m really pleased with this. We used our Landry Card at Bubba Gumps on City Walk a couple of years ago and it worked fantastically well. We all felt like superstars being led past a huge queue of people with waits times of up to an hour.
I’ll never forget Chris’s face when we’d approached the podium we were told it would be 45-60 mins, but then I mentioned the card and they seated us immediately Chris was in awe! The manager also came and checked we were ok part way through the meal which was a nice touch. We’ll also have $25 on the card as Chris’s birthday is in September. Result.

Back to this trip… I’ve also cancelled Teppan Edo which was on Tuesday 25th, as we as we plan to eat and drink around the world on that night so probably won’t need a sit down meal. We plan to be suitably stuffed. I’ve made sure Teppan Edo is still in our plans, but it’s now in our second week.

On Friday 28th I’ve cancelled Tuskers and now I don’t have it in my plans at all. There were other places I wanted to visit and so there wasn’t room for another Character buffet.

We’ve decided that on that on that evening we’d like to pop over to Disney Springs so I’ve booked Splitsville. I think Dylan will like it there and it’ll give us a chance to have a little wander, maybe have a cocktail or 9 and do some shopping (while Chris is tipsy and agreeable ). I expect it to be busy as it’s a Friday, but that’s ok.

I’ve also cancelled Cape May breakfast on Saturday 29th because, let’s be honest, what’s the chances of us being up and ready for a character breakfast at 7:45am a week into our break - especially after an evening at DS? I’ll tell you. Nee chance! We’ll have already visited earlier in the week so we’re not missing out.

I’ve also been able to bring some of my FPs closer together so that’s good

I am still hoping to get an earlier BOG dinner reservation but if not I’ll keep what we have. I’ve used Touring Plans reservation finder for this.

I’ve spent hours tweaking the plan but I’m finally feeling a bit more content. I kept looking at my plan and that the first week is TS heavy in comparison to the second week, now it feels more balanced.

I’m so excited about the food I’m tempted to do a food trip report because I don’t think I’d manage a full one.

Just a little boring update for you there

Still to come… week 2 plans and clothes shopping

[Sweets]

OUR DAILY PLANS... PART 3 - WEEK 2

It's been a little while since my last update and we're less than 5 weeks away. Woohoo! On with the plans...


The second week, like the first, has saw A LOT of changes. And I’ll be honest, I’m still not 100% happy with what we have. Mainly because I feel like FP panic booking has dictated where we’re going and therefore the ADRs. I have to keep reminding myself that after the first week, hopefully we’ll have rode everything we really want to, and so the second week FPs times aren’t that important, so we shouldn’t be tied to these plans. I’m pretty much content with my ADRs.

As already mentioned I had (secretly) planned to visit US/IOA so I had blocked the Monday and Tuesday out with no Disney plans. But now I’ve decided to give it a miss. As decisive as ever, eh?!
I told Dylan (DS17) my plans and asked what he thought. He said it was a lot of money for a couple of days and I could use that for a week away another time. “It’s meant to be just Disney this time, Mam”. He talks sense. So no US/IOA. This time.



Sunday 30th Sept ~ HS (EMH)

ADRS:
Yachtsman @ 7pm


FPs:
Alien Swirling Saucers @ 9:35am
Tower of Terror @ 10:50am
Star Tours @ 11:55am

A leisurely walk over to HSM planned this morning. It’s EMH but as we’re now in our second week, I’m not banking on us being up in time to get there for 8am but we’ll see. After a morning in the park we’ll probably come back and spend the afternoon around the pool before heading to our one and only signature restaurant tonight. Yachtsman Steakhouse is somewhere both Chris and I are keen to visit. Dylan not so much but he’s been great telling me not to worry, he’ll find something on the menus to eat. Afterwards we plan to spend the evening along the Boardwalk.

I am very tempted to book MNSSHP for this night so I’ll cancel/rearrange if I need to. We did this the first time we visited in 2012 and it was so much fun.



Monday 1st Oct ~ AK (EMH)

ADRs:
No ADRs booked

FPs:
Flight of Passage @9:40am
Kali River Rapids @ 10:40am
Expedition Everest @ 11:55am

My original plan was for us to head to US/IOA this day but I’ve scrapped that, and that resulted in us having no ADRs planned this day but as we’re heading over to AK we may do Yak & Yeti again using the Landry Card, if we enjoy our first visit. I’m sure we will.

Our faves for FPs today then head off site to do some shoppppppingg! I haven’t researched where yet but I’m excited to start.




Tuesday 2nd Oct ~ Pool

ADRs:
Teppan Edo @ 4:50pm


FPs:
Soarin’ @ 6:10pm
Mission: Space @ 7:15pm
Spaceship Earth @ 8:25pm

POOL DAY! I think we’ll use this day to resort hop too. I can’t wait to visit Wilderness Lodge and have heard they have a great QS restaurant so I want to try that.
Epcot is late opening tonight so we’ll probably take advantage of that and spend some time around Boardwalk. Who knows, after a couple of cocktails I might actually not chicken out of Soarin’.



Wednesday 3rd Oct ~ HS > BB/TL

ADRs:
Liberty Tree @ 7:30pm


FPs:
Toy Story Mania @ 9:05am
Star Tours @ 10:05am
Tower of Terror @ 11:15am

Another day, another visit to HS and then.. TO THE WATERPARK! I think we’ll all parked out by this point and be welcoming more lying around and swimming than we will be queuing for rides. I’ll still be waiting to shovel my face with food though, that’s a given.
MK has another late night - only the second of the whole 2 weeks we’ll be there. I love MK on an evening so I can’t miss it.

We’ll be heading to Libery Tree Tavern for our evening meal and I cannot wait! I’ve read lots of great things about it and we’re all looking forward to it.



Thursday 4th Oct ~ AK & HS

ADRs:
Hollywood & Vine @ 3:20pm

FPs:
Flight of Passage @ 9:05am
Safari @ 11:30am
Expedition Everest @ 12:30pm

We’ll start the day off in AK and hopefully re-ride our favourites and do some wandering and take lots of pics. Then on the afternoon we’ll head over to HS and Hollywood & Vine for our Fantasmic dining package meal.

Really looking forward to this, purely because I never get to see any shows so this will be a first for me.



Friday 5th October ~ MK

ADRs:
Crystal Palace @ 12:45pm

FPs:
Space Mountain @ 9:05am
Seven Dwarf Mine Train @ 10:35am
Haunted Mansion @ 11:35am

Last full day. Gutted. I’m sure Chris and Dylan will be all Disney’d out by now but TOUGH. Last full day means we need to visit Magic Kingdom to ride our faves and have one last character meal at Crystal Palace. This was one of the first ADRs I booked and although I already have it booked on the first day, I haven’t changed it because I’m not sure what we’ll want or where we’ll want to go. So I’m leaving it for now.

Not sure where we’ll spend the afternoon and evening. We’ll just play it by ear. Might even let the men make a decision. Might...


Saturday 6th October ~ Fly home

And the dreaded day we fly home
No plans today. We’ll probably spend some time around the pool and maybe visit Epcot. Last time we were here we also spend some time at Disney Springs so we’ll probably head there to spend the last of our credits before getting the ME back to the airport.

Thanks for reading


[Kat11]

Great update! Nicely planned out second week. Love YSH and Teppan Edo. We've got them for our hols. Really fancy LTT but can't fit it in anywhere!

Not long for you now, you must be getting very excited?

I've done all our fastpasses now so our plan is pretty much sorted now. 😃

Kat

[Sweets]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Great update! Nicely planned out second week. Love YSH and Teppan Edo. We've got them for our hols. Really fancy LTT but can't fit it in anywhere!

Not long for you now, you must be getting very excited?

I've done all our fastpasses now so our plan is pretty much sorted now. 😃

Kat

See more...

I can't believe how quick it's come round!
I think I'm done now with the fast passes and ADRs - I might change them but probably not until we're actually there and have a feel for what's working for us and what isn't.

I'm so glad you're all sorted. It's really not long for you either is it?!

[Sweets]

UPDATE


Well, it's not much of an update really

I still haven’t booked car parking at Manchester Airport or any additional tickets such as MNSSHP or Universal or Discovery Cove (I’m sure I’ll fold and book at least one of them )… I also haven’t found a new job yet after being made redundant and allowing myself the month of August off. But *shrugs* I’m enjoying being a lady of leisure so no complaints. Yet.


And it’s really very obvious that I’m enjoying my time off a little too much as one thing I have done is gain a half a stone - in addition to the 2 stone I wanted to lose for this trip and have been telling myself to shift since the beginning of the year. Oops

Give me strength


The additional weight gain is really starting to impact how I feel about the trip - which I know is stupid but I’m worried about being nothing but a moon face with multiple chins and an extra belly in each picture, rather than being able to look back at all of the lovely memories we’re going to make.

I find I'm like this on the run up to any and all events. Whether it be a holiday, a night out, a special occasion.. anything. I completely overthink everything and stress myself out, overeat and then hate myself and it's a vicious circle. Anyone else get like that? I’m trying to change my mindset, but it’s proving to be as easy as changing my eating habits. Impossible.

Saying that, this week I’ve decided to cut the carbs in the hope of losing some bloat over the next 3 weeks.

My dieting failure has also meant I haven’t really bought anything other than a couple of pairs of shorts and a couple of ebay panic bough playsuits which I don’t like. But some (Chris) might say this is a good thing and I should just stick with what I already have. What would he know?!


On more positive note (I think, anyway), I have FINALLY trained myself to like coffee. This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it is to me. I feel like I’m missing out with all of these fancy coffees and trips to Starbucks and Costa. But now I’m on the Coffee Train, people. ON. IT.

Currently on my 4th mug of the day, so you can thank that for this update.

I've also been very persuasive with Chris that we need additional nights away. This is also partly to blame for my weight gain as it usually includes amazing food and lots of wine. Most recently we stayed at Rockliffe Hall in Darlington, which is less than an hour from us.

This was us in the Spa Garden at Rockliffe Hall.

Living our best life!

There were some issues during our stay and we felt it wasn't on par with Seaham Hall which is also in the North East. Look at it!

So if you're in the area and looking for a luxury spa stay, we recommend both but prefer Seaham over Rockliffe.



Aaaaanyway, back to the trip - I still need to get:

~ Car parking booked at Manchester Airport
~ Complete the API info on the Thomas Cook Airlines website
~ Print off all of the bits and pieces we need
~ Maybe do a little bit of shopping...

And then I’ll be done! Other than packing of course, but with packing cubes I’m not worried at all.


While being a lady of leisure I've spent some time looking at the offerings on at the Food & Wine Festival which I’m really looking forward to. I’ve picked out some must-haves and even got Chris and Dylan in on it. So I might share those on my pre-trippy

So, really, I feel like I have it all under control. Famous last words.

3 weeks to go and between now and then all I have to get through is my niece's baby shower, my grandson’s christening, my husband’s birthday and him running a half marathon...