POFQ: Experience

I found a couple of good articles today about the Port Orleans French Quarter experience! If you have time, check them out and start getting excited!

http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/07/port_orleans_french_quarter_pa.html
http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/07/port_orleans_french_quarter_pa_2.html

Touring Plan Tuesday: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I don’t have my Unofficial guidebook (it’s at my parents’ house), so I figured that we would skip Universal and go over DHS today. I can find the DHS plans online, but not the Universal.  Here we go! The plan for the park that Evan doesn’t remember because he was sick that day. We only rode a few rides and then left the park, so many things will be new to us

7:00 a.m. Bus to DHS

Boat’s don’t start running until 8:30 ish, so we will walk the 10 minutes to Kouzzina

7:50 a.m. Kouzzina Breakfast. Boat from Boardwalk Resort to DHS

9:00 a.m. Park Opens

            Get FASTPASSES for Toy Story Mania (for later in the day)

            Ride Toy Story Mania

            Hayden, Paula and Ginny ride Toy Story again

            Laura, Dirk and Evan ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster

Meet at Sunset Boulevard

            Laura, Dirk and Evan ride Tower of Terror

            Laura, Dirk and Paula ride Tower of Terror

            Ride the Great Movie Ride

            Take the BackLot Tour

            Ride Toy Story Mania again

11:50 Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre Lunch

            Naps/Swimming/Rest

Animation Tour (character greetings—Lotso, Sorceror Mickey,  possibly Mr/Mrs Incredible and Frozone)

Explore the Streets of America

            See MuppetVision 3D

            Shows: Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, Jedi Training Academy and/or Lights! Motors! Action! (these we will work into our touring plans for the day once we have showtime information).

           

6:50 p.m. Brown Derby Dinner 

Not on List:
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Closed Attractions: Star Tours, One Man's Dream
Playhouse Disney: Live on Stage

Parades?

So I read about the electrical water parade in the book and how it can be seen from

1 Month, 15 Days~

I can't believe it! When we started the countdown we were exactly four months away!

I can't wait. In order to pass the time, I plan on...

• Creating a Pre-Trip Report on the "disboards" I frequent
• Reading about other people's trip plans, previous trips, and dining reviews on the "DIS" to get excited
• Planning out what outfits to take
• Planning what to eat
• Making pocket sized touring plan cards
• Making a list of items to purchase (aka more shorts/Capris-- I will be taking a pair of jeans for "nice dinners", suction cup toothbrush holder)
• Start going on walks every other day to get used to the heat. (Hopefully my white legs will tan by then).

What are your plans for the next 6.5 weeks? 

Wishes Viewing Locations

I found this great article about WISHES, the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. It basically tells you the best viewing locations. We saw WISHES from inside the castle last year, but because our reservations this year are for 6:40, we will probably see WISHES from the park.

I am usually not a huge fireworks fan, but Laura's pictures from the 4th of July and her excitement over fireworks displays are getting me excited! I also posted a link to information about where to view Illuminations (at Epcot).

http://www.waltdisneyworldhacks.com/2008/03/best-places-to.html

http://www.squidoo.com/illuminationsROE

Touring Plan Tuesday: Magic Kingdom Day 2

As stated in my comment, I was able to get a reservation for CA Grill on Friday night (for 5:40 p.m.). I found out today that fireworks are not showing that night because the Magic Kingdom will be closing early. However, I think it actually works out. 


We can go goofy golfing that afternoon at leave 5:00 p.m. for the Contemporary and then eat. We can then go shopping at Downtown Disney that evening when it is cooler. We can take a break after lunch at Wolfgang Puck and then leave around 3:30 p.m. for Goofy Golfing-- we can choose either Winter Summerland or Fantasia Gardens, but I think Fantasia Gardens is more difficult to get to. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here is our second day plans for the Magic Kingdom! I think that Hayden is less than 44 inches, so he will miss Space Mountain. However, he may have fun riding the Buzz Lightyear ride—three times in a row! Let me know what you think…

7:00 a.m. Take bus to Magic Kingdom

8:00 a.m. Crystal Palace Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Park Opening

            Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

            Space Mountain (Paula, Hayden and Ginny ride Buzz again)

            Space Mountain (Evan, Hayden and Ginny ride Buzz again)

            Astro Orbitors

            Tomorrowland Speedway (Hayden can steer if someone else pushes the gas pedal for him) =)

            Goofy’s Barnstormer

            Mickey’s House         

            Donald’s Boat

            Minnie’s House          

            Pirates of the Caribbean

            Jungle Cruise

           

12:30 p.m. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern

           

            Rest Break at Hotel

            Magic Carpets of Aladdin

            Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

            Enchanted Tiki Room

            Laugh Floor Comedy Club

7:10 p.m. Ohana (monorail to Polynesian from Magic Kingdom)

9:00 p.m. Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom


I eliminated Stitch's Great Escape and Carousel of Progress. I am willing to do both, but Evan hates both of these attractions.

List of Movies to Watch~

Evan and I compiled this list of movies that are integrated into rides, character greetings, etc. We want to watch some of these before we go, and thought we would share the list! Only 1 month and 26 days!

• Swiss Family Robinson
• Aladdin
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• The Lion King
• Star Wars
• Peter Pan
• A Goofy Movie
• Cinderella
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Snow White
• The Little Mermaid
• Dumbo
• Alice in Wonderland
• Toy Story
• Monster's Inc.
• Lilo and Stitch
• Finding Nemo
• The Three Caballeros
• Mulan
• Sleeping Beauty
• A Bug's Life
• Any Muppet Movie
• Any Indiana Jones Movie.

Plan for Our Last Day~

Since we will have another day at WDW because of the flight situation, we will want to make tentative plans for that day as well. We already have our meals planned for breakfast and lunch, but I must say that I am questioning the choice of Boma. Essentially, I was planning on a day and a half at animal kingdom, but I am thinking that we should really only plan one full day there… and then we can choose, when we are there, which park we want to see our last day.

As such, Boma is really “out of the way” when it comes to the other parks—it is at Animal Kindgom Lodge. AKL is far away from most of the parks, and it would take some travel time.  I am thinking that we may want to choose something in a centralized location—perhaps something at an Epcot or Monorail resort. We can still go to Animal Kingdom that day if we want, but there would be less “hassle” if we didn’t want to go there.  What do you think?

We are eating at a few places already, but there are others we can choose from. Whether or not we do Boma is really up to you. 

Grand Floridian

Grand Floridian Café

1900 Park Fare

Contemporary

Chef Mickey’s

The Wave

Yacht Club

Captain’s Grille

Beach Club

Cape May Cafe

On that day I am thinking that we could go to a park for half a day, go Miniature Golfing at Winter Summerland or Fantasia Gardens, and then do some shopping at Downtown Disney (some shopping can also be done after we go to Harry Potter and eat at Raglan Road on 9/9).

We already have reservations for Wolfgang Puck Café at noon (9/11). I am thinking of pushing that to 1:00 p.m. so we have three and a half hours in the park of our choice. We can then eat and go back to our hotel for a rest. After that, we might want to go mini golfing that evening (we get vouchers for this in our travel packages) At 5:00 p.m. (when Blizzard Beach closes) we can catch the last bus out of Blizzard Beach and shop for a bit at Downtown Disney. After shopping we could go to dinner at around 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.

Evan is thinking that it might be nice to do another 2 credit place. We looked at the menus, and of the three we don’t have scheduled (see below), we think the California Grill might be fun. We would be eating dinner on the 15^th floor, and afterwards we can go to the viewing deck and watch the fireworks from there. Evan said he wouldn’t mind trying Narcoosee’s again—there are things he would order there, he would just order any sauces on the side and avoid the gratin potatoes.

California Grill

Citricos

Narcoosee’s

Let me know what you think! =)

Touring Plan Tuesday: Magic Kingdom Day 1

This is a day where I planned on taking a break a little later as well (a lot like our day at Animal Kingdom). Since our dinner is actually at another resort (Yacht Club) it will be easier to just leave from our hotel  and go to dinner—as opposed to taking a break right after lunch and then coming back a few hours before dinner. 

I know that Hayden probably won't ride some of the rides he is eligible for. However, I included him as riding them to make the touring plan easier. If he chooses not to ride, we can make changes then. 

7:00 a.m. Take bus to Magic Kingdom, then to Polynesian

8:00 a.m. Kona Café Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Park Opening

            Dumbo

            Peter Pan

            Winnie the Pooh

            Mad Tea Party

            Snow White’s Adventures--- Skip if Hayden isn't interested

            Splash Mountain (everyone but Paula and Ginny)-- Tom Sawyer, Hayden?

            Splash Mountain (everyone but Evan and Ginny)-- Tom Sawyer, Hayden?

            Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (everyone but Paula and Ginny)-- Tom Sawyer,       Hayden?

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (everyone but Evan and Ginny)-- Tom Sawyer, Hayden?

            Country Bear Jamboree

11:30 a.m. take boat to Wilderness Lodge

12:00 p.m. Whispering Canyon Café Lunch

            Take boat back to the Magic Kingdom

            Haunted Mansion

            Hall of Presidents       

            Liberty Belle

            Prince Charming’s Carousel

            Philharmagic   

Go back to hotel and rest

7:00 p.m. Dinner at Yachtsman (bus to DHS, boat to Yacht Club)

Let me know what you think! Just so you know, on the next Magic Kingdom day will will do Tomorrowland, Adventureland and Toontown. 

Thoughts on Kiddos~

I was thinking about the kids today and various things we may want to think about… when you are all unpacked and settled from your Utah trip, let me know what you think.

1)    Diapers, formula and food for Ginny—Do these take up a lot of room—like a whole suitcase worth? I don’t know how much you will need to pack. One option is ordering these items and having them shipped to the resort for when we get there. For example, if we order from Amazon, it would be free shipping, and checking luggage is $15 a bag. That being said, we could also order from gardengrocer.com and order a few things. They are in the Orlando area. POST EDIT: Since you mentioned using G diapers, this may be less of an issue since the inserts are smaller than actual diapers. 


2)    I am thinking about making a sign for Ginny’s stroller and/or designating it in some other way. In a sea of strollers, we want to be able to identify it quickly. Do you have any ideas?


3)    Have you thought about rain? Evan and I brought umbrellas with us last time. I wouldn’t mind getting some “nice” ponchos for this trip though, ones that we can re-use for the wet rides and in the case of rain. I have actually heard that the Disney ponchos are nice and durable and a “good price”. I was thinking about checking out a sporting goods store. If we buy them at Disney we may have a hard time spotting each other in crowds, LOL! Another thing to think about is rain with Ginny—do you have a rain cover for your stroller? What do you think about that idea for her?
  
4)    What is Ginny’s schedule? Does she have one, or is she pretty laid back? I know that she can nap in the stroller, but I am just curious as to what to expect with her. Does she eat with you, between our meals… ? I really don’t know the day to day life with a baby and want to be prepared! =) Just so you know, I confirmed that POFQ has refrigerators in all the rooms. If we needed to heat water/bottles/food, we can always use the baby care stations in the parks.

5)     How does Hayden feel about pirates and looking like a pirate? If he likes pirates and would like to look like a pirate (complete with teeth, sword, bandanna, earring) let me know! There is a special place where they train pirates called the “Pirates League”!