Did Somebody Say Free Dining? - Sept 2014 at Beach Club **FP+ and Touring Plans**

jiminykrikkit

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Hey y'all!

I am so excited to be starting this pre-trip report today! We are a little over 6 months out (Almost ADR day woohooo!). We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside (changed to Beach Club, see chapters 11 & 12!) on this trip, and we're crossing our fingers that Free Dining will be announced for use during our stay. We love the dining plan (almost as much as we love to EAT!).

Allow me to introduce your cast of characters, my dear family, in the form of our 2013 Christmas card photo:



There's me, the short brunette on the right. I'm Kristan, nice to meet you! I've been into Disney as long as I can remember (haven't we all?). I'm the one that cries just because a WDW commercial comes on TV. I love love love planning and I can be pretty Type A about it (trying to break myself of that so I can enjoy the actual trip a little more).



And my husband, T, he's the tall guy. We were married in September 2007 and Disneymooned at WL (his first trip!), then celebrated our first anniversary Club Level at GF (he surprised me - I was told we'd be staying at Pop! Haha). T is the opposite of me in that he's so not into planning. He loves WDW, though he's so um, frugal, that it can be hard to get him to agree to go on a trip.



Then we had our little guy, LT, in September 2010 (2 days after our anniversary). He's that curly-headed kid hamming it up on my husband's shoulders. We celebrated his first birthday (and our 4 year anniversary) at WDW in September 2011, and brought him back again in April of 2013. Our trip this year in September will be his 3rd trip at the ripe old age of 4. His favorite princesses are Ariel and Rapunzel. You can see the "OMG I'm totally meeting Ariel" look on his face in the pic below (April '13 - 2.5 yrs old). Pure Disney joy.



My parents, Mom and P, will be joining us on this trip, but I can't seem to find a photo of them together at the moment.

I hope I've not bored you or inundated you with pictures too much (be prepared - I'm obsessed with pictures).

Stay tuned for my ADR planning strategy. 180+10 starts on March 10, so I gotta get my ducks in a row ASAP.​
 
I'm back with my ADR plans!


Our arrival date is Sept 6, making our 180+10 date March 10. I've read on here that sometimes, with a little pixie dust, some folks have been able to get ADRs early by speaking to CMs on the phone. Seems far-fetched because I am never that lucky, but I tried this morning (Feb 28) anyways. No dice! Haha. I may try a couple more times before then, but at 5 AM Central on March 10, it's go time!

I made the mistake of thinking I could get a BOG ADR for our arrival night. I am still going to try, but I won't be surprised if I can't get it.

So here's my ADR plan so far. These go in order of importance, not date.

Priority ADRS:
9/6 Saturday
Be Our Guest - any dinner time
if not, try for 9/9 any dinner time

9/9 Tuesday
Chef Mickey’s - LT Birthday Meal - any breakfast time
if not, and if BoG isn’t booked on 9/9, try for dinner around 5pm (predicted MNSSHP night)
if not, try for breakfast any day 9/7-9/11

9/7 Sunday
Rose & Crown - 7th Anniversary dinner - around 740pm to see Illuminations

9/10 Wednesday
Fantasmic! Dinner Package - Mama Melrose’s around 530-6pm

Then, as-needed:
Garden Grill - Character (Epcot) - Dinner only
1900 Park Fare - Character (Grand Floridian) - Breakfast or Dinner
Via Napoli (9/7 or 9/9 preferred)
Mama Melrose’s (9/10 only if Fantasmic! package not available)

Greatest Hits if others aren’t available:
Crystal Palace
Sci-Fi Dine In
Hollywood & Vine
Tusker House - Breakfast only


Gosh I can get wordy. Stay tuned for shopping, packing, park bag, & stroller lists! Still with me?
 
You're getting there on my birthday :cool1: I'm sure you will have an awesome trip!!
 


Following along! We're taking our first trip as a family in October with our 3 boys - 4, 2, and 1. Love the plans so far!
 
Like I said earlier, I'm super Type A, especially when it comes to planning. I love me some lists. So bear with me, this list is going to be long.

I have this saved as a Google Doc from our last trip, and I've tweaked it a little for our needs this trip. I'll link to specific products that I find have been useful for us so you know what I'm talking about (these things go in our carry-on, but I can't get the link to turn red). I like my packing lists broken down for each person because then I can do each all at once (or hand T his portion to do himself!) without running all over the house. We check our bags. Items with red text go in the carry-on bags (mine is our small park bag, plus LT has a tiny backpack, T doesn't carry anything).

Kristan

Clothes:
  • Shorts x 5
  • Jeans x 1
  • Sundress x 2
  • Flip Flops (usually wear on the plane)
  • Tennis Shoes
  • Tees & Tanks x 8
  • Hoodie x 1
  • Underear/Bras/Socks
  • Bathing suit x 1
  • PJs x 1
  • Hat x 1
    [*]Sunglasses x 1
Toiletries:
  • Toothbrush & Toothpaste
  • Makeup
  • Makeup wipes & moisturizer
  • Deodorant (get clinical strength) & body spray
  • Hair products & brush/comb, clips & elastics
  • Hair tools
  • Razor and shave gel
  • Ibuprofen
Electronics & Miscellaneous
  • Postcard stuff: stamps and pre-printed address labels
  • Park bag
  • Phone charger
  • Nook & charger
  • DSLR Camera & charger
  • Brita water bottle

T

Clothes
  • Shorts x 6
  • Swim trunks x 1
  • Flip Flops x 1
  • Sneakers x 1
  • Tees x 7
  • Basketball shorts x 1
  • Underwear x 8
  • Socks x 8
  • Hat x 1
    [*]Sunglasses x 1
Toiletries
  • Toothbrush & toothpaste
  • Deodorant & cologne
  • Hair gel
  • Razor & shave gel
  • Dramamine
Electronics & Miscellaneous
  • Phone charger
    [*]Brita water bottle

LT

Clothes
  • Shorts x 6
  • Tees x 6
  • Jeans x 1
  • Hoodie x 1
  • Underwear x 8
  • Pull-Ups (for overnight) x 6
  • Socks x 8
  • PJs x 2
  • Flip Flops x 1
  • Swim Trunks x 1
  • Sneakers x 1
  • Full change of clothes for bag x 1
  • Hat x 1
  • Sunglasses x 1
Toiletries
  • Toothbrush & toothpaste
  • Flushable wipes (for room & travel sized)
  • Bubble bath
  • Medicine (ibuprofen & allergy)
Miscellaneous

General Items
  • Power strip for charging
  • Purex laundry sheets
  • Small sponges soaked in dishsoap
  • Gallon ziplocks for wet bathing suits
  • Stroller & stroller bag - gate check
  • Ponchos, stroller cover (stay in stroller for gate check)
  • Hidden Mickey book
  • Moleskin & bandaids
  • Wipes
  • Tide pen
  • Sunscreen (cream & travel sized stick)
  • Tablet, headphones & charger
  • Collapsible backpack

Coming up: Discussion of our park gear, including what goes into the bag and what gets stowed in the stroller. Ooooh, riveting! ::yes::
 


You mean business sister. Great posts. Makes my report seem like mental ramblings. :)

We do more snacking/splitting then we do sit downs. But we do try to do one TS a day.
 
You mean business sister. Great posts. Makes my report seem like mental ramblings. :)

We do more snacking/splitting then we do sit downs. But we do try to do one TS a day.

Haha! I can't help it, my mental ramblings all come out in color coded lists! :rotfl2:

I think we are going to try to do a World Showcase snack crawl on our EPCOT day instead of lunch at a specific restaurant.

I love the packing list!

Your ADR is coming up fast!! So exciting!

Thanks! And yes, very fast...5 more days! :cheer2:
 
Now that y'all know what we bring with us in the suitcase, I figure I'd bore everyone with even more details! Don't worry, we won't talk about underwear or anything. ;) Unless there's like special Disney underwear I don't know about, in which case, hook a sister up!

Here's our park bag. The Baggallini Messenger Sling.Bagg in Rip Stop Nylon.

rgbar678933_333426_jb.jpg


This bag gets talked about a lot on these boards, and it has for years, because I heard about here it before I even started planning our 2011 trip. For those of you that cringe at spending $55 on a small bag, please know that this thing has never failed us in any way. It still looks and works as it did when we bought it. No falling apart, no ripping, no failing. After our 2011 trip, this bag was used every single day for over a year as my diaper bag/purse as well. I use it any time we travel anywhere, whether it's by car or plane. It goes to the zoo, museums, playdates...basically anywhere I need a hands-free bag to lug a bunch of stuff around. It also drapes over our stroller handle nicely when I'm sick of wearing it. So it still gets plenty of use. Worth every penny. The only regret I have is not getting it in a more neutral color, but the orange is still super fun (and matches our stroller).

It also has a zipper phone compartment on the strap that does not fit my phone. Back when I had a Samsung Galaxy S2, that just barely fit, enough for it to not zip up completely, which made me nervous. My Samsung Galaxy S4 definitely does not fit. I use that compartment for room keys instead. And now that we will have Magic Bands, I'll have to play around to see what fits there instead (maybe cash). But my phone DOES fit in the Velcro-flap pocket on the side. Good for easy access without digging around in the main pockets. I thought this info might be handy for someone looking for specifics about that kind of thing. The bag is small enough to go on rides with you, it fits in those mesh pocket things in the seats, so I don't worry about keeping valuables in it since it doesn't stay on the stroller when we do rides (well, it will this time since my mom will be with the stroller - she doesn't do rides and prefers to play with her grandbaby!).

Okay enough about the bag.

We got these Brita Soft Squeeze Water Filter Bottles (Kids Version) for our previous trip and it was the best decision! We refilled them at the water fountains all the time. It was nice to have free water that didn't taste nasty at our fingertips with no lines. We bought them on Amazon, but you can get them at Target as well (the aisle with the kid's plastic plates in the dinnerware area, not the aisle with the lunch containers near the plastic baggies).

We have the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters for our autograph book.

61tSrisVjUL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


This is another thing I've learned about here on the boards. We haven't done this yet, but you can take the book to Staples (or similar) and have the binding cut off, the covers laminated, and then get a spiral binding attached. It was so awesome having this as our autograph book. It felt like we got extra interaction from the characters because they just wanted to look at it! If you look at the pic of T in my first post, he's having Mr. Incredible sign his page, well Frozone was on that page too and Frozone was SOOO excited to have his own pic to sign (even though Mr. Incredible was rubbing it in that Frozone didn't have his OWN page). It was a super fun experience. And don't get me started on how thrilled the princesses at Akershus were. Like I said, it really added a lot of magic to the meet & greets. Totally worth it. We didn't find that we needed the spiral or laminating last trip, because this just lives in the bottom basket of the stroller...it's not getting beat up in a backpack. It's pretty heavy too, so keep that in mind if you don't have a stroller to store it in.

Speaking of strollers, we use the Baby Jogger City Mini in orange and grey. Yep, the same one that is all over the parks for rentals. We've never had an issue identifying ours at a glance. This thing is perfect for bus travel. Here's why:

folding_stroller.jpg


One-Handed Folding Up. The best. I'm sure there's threads all over the family boards about which stroller to get. This is the one.

Thing to keep in mind for this stroller:
1. If you have anything bulky in the basket below, it won't fold up flat, so have that out while waiting in line for the bus.

2. There is no caddy for you by the handles. You can get a fancy one from Baby Jogger, but we bought the Sunshine Kids Stroller Accessory Buggy Buddy. It has been perfect, holds our water bottles and our DSLR camera perfectly while we're pushing the stroller. This is something I think would be worth it to bring along if you're renting this stroller (not sure if they provide that stuff at the rental place).

3. There is no tray for the kid. We bought the Baby Jogger one separately. It stays attached when you fold up the stroller. It goes on and off easily (snaps in). It swings open from one side to get the kid in and out easily. It has a cupholder. We like it and think it was worth the money. It's really meant for older/taller toddlers though. The shorter your kid is, the more likely it's going to be right in their eye level. Just FYI.

Okay, so that was (as usual) long-winded. I just like to provide lots of details, in case there's someone out there like me that really wants to know these things. :flower3:

Next time I think I'll be talking about food again. We're coming up close to our ADR day, so I'm still firming some things up and trying to get requests in. Plus I've been looking at CS because of course I already know what I want to eat 6 months from today. :lmao:
 
Posting to keep tack of your thread. Great posts. Happy planning. You sound a lot like me and my hubs. We're planning the same for October. Also hoping for free dining. Best of luck!
 
Following!

We just got back from Disney, and had a Jeep umbrella stroller, it was sort of a pain in the butt (But we're kinda cheap... :rotfl: ). I saw someone with a double City Mini and when she folded it up, I tried really discreetly to show my husband. The lady totally noticed and went "It's worth every penny!"

I think I might invest in one of those bags too, for our next trip (Oct 2015, wooo! Ahaha.)
 
Following!

We just got back from Disney, and had a Jeep umbrella stroller, it was sort of a pain in the butt (But we're kinda cheap... :rotfl: ). I saw someone with a double City Mini and when she folded it up, I tried really discreetly to show my husband. The lady totally noticed and went "It's worth every penny!"

I think I might invest in one of those bags too, for our next trip (Oct 2015, wooo! Ahaha.)

Hello and welcome! The stroller is so great! If we had another child, we'd definitely go for the double. They also make a little board to attach for a child to stand and ride. Pretty fun! Maybe look into renting one on your next trip at the very least!
 
Last time I said I'd be talking about ADRs again, but we still haven't firmed them up. Still trying for mostly the same ones as before, but we may do something different for the Rose & Crown evening (possible signature for me & T only to celebrate our anniversary), and we've got to fit a Raglan Road lunch or dinner in somewhere (request from stepdad!).

Still going to prioritize and try for BOG for our arrival night (or really any dinner ADR we can get that week).

We've been looking at flights this week as well. We had originally planned on using Delta SkyMiles for two of our tickets and paying OOP for the other. But turns out Delta has awful flights from Houston to MCO. If we were to use our miles, we wouldn't get into MCO until around noon (after a 2+ hr layover), which would put us in the parks maybe around 3ish (I'm guessing). But we want to do MK first, and it closes early for Night of Joy that evening. So getting from POR to MK and then only getting a few hours in the park wasn't appealing. And then the return flights would make us be on Magical Express at like 9am, so a whole day wasted.

Houston is a major hub for United, so we have plenty of nonstop flights to MCO to choose from. A little more expensive per flight and not enough miles to cover any, but we'd gain so much more park time, the whole point of being there! And with only 6 days including travel days for WDW, we really need those extra hours.

So that's what we've been working on. Exciting stuff. Monday is ADR day! Fingers crossed we get what we want. :banana:
 
Good luck with your ADRs!

It always seems like that sets such a tone for a trip when you get exactly what you want!

Not that it's bad when I don't get what I want, but gosh doesn't it seem like magic when everything you dreamed of just falls into place?
 
Good luck with your ADRs!

It always seems like that sets such a tone for a trip when you get exactly what you want!

Not that it's bad when I don't get what I want, but gosh doesn't it seem like magic when everything you dreamed of just falls into place?

Yes! Gotta love that Disney magic. :wizard:

I called this morning to add my flight info to my reservation (wish we could just do that in MDE still, oh well). I asked the CM if she would look to tell me if a restaurant is booked (BOG of course, and not trying to make an ADR, just checking availablility), and she said no. Haha, always trying. :)

Tomorrow is ADR day!
 
Up bright and early this morning. :surfweb:

We got everything we wanted! :banana: :woohoo: :yay: :wizard: :cloud9:


We've got:

Saturday: Dinner at Raglan Road
Sunday (Anniversary): Dinner at Rose & Crown late enough to catch Illuminations from the patio
Monday: Dinner at Be Our Guest
Tuesday (LT's bday): Breakfast at Chef Mickeys
Wednesday: Fantastmic! Dinner Package at Mama Melrose's

I was surprised at how many tables I had to chose from for Be Our Guest. I originally wanted BOG for our arrival night and that didn't happen, but since MK is closing early that day for Night of Joy, we will just go to DTD and have Raglan Road by special request from my stepdad.

I used the website, and it was a little laggy, but I was done making like 8 ADRs (before cancelling some) within 30 mins. I found it was faster and easier to search by selecting my date and time then finding a table and scrolling through all the available restaurants to find what I was looking for. When I tried to choose the restaurant first and then pick the date and time from the restaurant page, it kept getting stuck.

I tried to run the MDE app on my phone at the same time and it wouldn't let me pick any dates past my arrival date.​
 
It's amazing how much less stressed I feel about planning now that ADRs are done.

This year, I'm really trying not to over-schedule. I just want to go with the flow and have a relaxed, non-commando trip, but I do kind of want to have a loose time frame in my head because we obviously have some ADRs to make, other appointments that involve park hopping, and a possible need for nap/downtime at the resort.

For now, here's the loose schedule:

September-2014-Schedule_zps583b1e0b.jpg


You can see that Tuesday is pretty jam packed with an early ADR, RD at Epcot, Pirate's League, and MNSSHP. I'm a little concerned with that, so I do have Chef Mickey's booked for our departure day as well. I'm also not sure if my kid will be interested in Pirate's League by the time we take our trip. It's six months out but he thinks of a different costume for MNSSHP just about every day. If we end up cancelling that, then we will do CM that morning and go back to POR for a nap after FW that morning. We just really wanted to celebrate his birthday on the actual day at Chef Mickey's.​
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top