How much... is too much??? Sep '19

[*tinker*bell*]

Hi all!!!

Welcome to my PTR

I am a long time lurker who occasionally comes out to say Hi. I'm planning my first trip back to the World in four years. Last time I was there was my solo trip in Spring of 2015. This will be my 7th trip to WDW and I'm excited to get to show my best friend my favourite place for her first WDW trip. I thought making a PTR would be a fun way to help pass time until our trip!

So who are we?

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This is Laura. My partner in crime. We are the exact same and polar opposites at the same time. We get along amazingly and have been travelling together yearly since 2015. Usually we just do Vegas, this year for our annual girls trip we did Las Vegas and Disneyland as we both have big birthdays this year (30 & 35 ) Laura has a daughter who is 5, she works as a Travel Agent at a local agency which is where we met. I used to work there as well.

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I'm Lorena, an *almost but not quite* 30 year old mom of two boys who are 2.5 and 10 months. I love all things travel and Disney. I am the big planner behind this trip as I've been before and know the ropes, but there is so much that will be new for me as well!

We love to have fun being silly, take too many photos and EAT

I'm excited to share our plans, I'm leaving hubby at home with the two boys for the second time this year so I attempt to not talk his ear off too much about how excited I am... . I think he's a tad jealous.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Reserved

 

[rosegoldmonorail]

hi lorena! i'm looking forward to reading your PTR! i'm also going to disney with my BFF in august. Btw - is that a PLM sweatshirt in your first pic?

 

[*tinker*bell*]

hi lorena! i'm looking forward to reading your PTR! i'm also going to disney with my BFF in august. Btw - is that a PLM sweatshirt in your first pic?

Hi! Yeayy for trips with besties! It is a PLM sweatshirt. We got matching ones for our Disneyland trip earlier this year.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

The When & The Where​

Laura and I have been talking about a Disney World trip for a while now. We have a huge multi-family trip coming up next fall, but any excuse for an extra trip is good in my books, and I wanted her to have an experience in the parks without the added stress of family and kids. We both have anxiety struggles that can play a big role in enjoying vacation.

We had been throwing around WDW and I found really good flights, we got a good TA rate on hotels, and they had Canadian Resident park tickets so we bit the bullet and booked.

We are flying separately this time. We don't usually do this, however I booked my flights earlier than Laura was prepared to. Her family might have a big move coming up so she needed a more flexible ticket and wanted a Canadian Airline.

We both leave on red eye flights September 19 arriving in Orlando on the 20th. We have two nights at Cabana Bay, and then six nights at All Stars Movies.





I have never stayed at an All Stars. I'm not super thrilled about it but it's really just a bed for this trip. We will be so busy that anything else is really a waste.

We were really hoping to avoid the opening of SW:GE assuming it would be much later in the year that it opened. We both like Star Wars but are not super hard core fans so we will wait to see how things are going to decide if we will tackle that area or if we will just stay away. It's not worth the anxiety and stress it would likely cause us.

We have 120 days to go, our Fast Pass+ day is exactly half that, which happens to be my birthday... Happy 30th to me, get up at some ungodly hour (3am I think? as we are West Coast)

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Hello again!

I thought I would pop over to do a little update whilst my youngest naps. I've been watching WDW vlogs this morning and I figured I shouldn't neglect this PTR.

Life stuff, Laura turns 35 this weekend, we are going to be doing the Foam 5K on Saturday, it's a 5k run with different obstacles, mud and of course foam. Should be lots of fun. Registration pick up is Friday and I think we are going to get matching or coordinating outfits for the run. We are also going to do the drive through challenge as per her request for our vlog. Finally to fill out a very long and eventful day we are going to see Rocketman which I'm excited for.



I thought I would include our tentative dining plans for Universal, and then I'll do our Disney World plans in a later post. We do have a dining plan... kinda goes with the theme, too much... that's all I'll say about that for now.

So I arrive really early on the 20th. I'm not sure if I will grab breakfast somewhere or not. Any suggestions are welcome, airport, Cabana Bay, City Walk or somewhere close. I don't eat eggs though and usually fast until noon-ish so unless there is something super appealing I'll probably wait until lunch.

I'm meeting Laura at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium for lunch. I'm excited to try this place out.



Dinner we are going to do Margaritaville. Neither of us have been there before and I want to try it out.



-We also want to get some voodoo doughnuts. We got them at the City Walk in LA when we were there beginning of March and they were sooooo good.



-Also we have to get Butterbeer, and maybe grab a snack from the Today Show Cafe.



The 21st we have no breakfast or lunch plans yet. Let me know if you have a must do place on Universal property for either of these two meals.

Dinner will be at the Hard Rock Cafe. That evening we want to roast s'mores at the resort.






That's all for the first two days. I have done our dining reservations for WDW, I still may change one around, and we are waiting on one dessert party plus mulling one dessert party option over.

Till next time!

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Food, Glorious Food! ​

Laura and I loooooove to eat. ALOT. Our trips have always had food at the centre of them, we will plan activities and days around where we want to eat, and we talk about snacks, meals, and restaurants a lot leading up to our trips. So of course food was a big thing for this trip. Something I have always wanted to do is the DDxP, and with how many places we wanted to try, and as this is a short trip, it made sense.

We have the DDxP for our six night stay at ASMo, we are not doing the more approved early meal and signature every day, we are mostly doing three meals a day. While it will be a lot of food and a lot of time, we are planning very long days and these will be our breaks. Plus we are okay with a decent amount of time spent on food/dining it usually is for us.

Our 180 day window opened in March, I however forgot about it until late morning, which I was really mad at myself for, but I got everything we wanted with one exception, and I'm actually really, really pleased with how everything turned out.

To go along with our Too Much theme, these are our dining reservations:

Sunday - Arrival in WDW from UA - we will head over pretty early

Kona Café at 10:30am - we plan to pay oop for this one

Whispering Canyon Café - 2pm

Monday

Tusker House ROL package - 8:30am

Yak and Yeti - 12:30pm

Sanaa - 5:25pm
Likely do After Hours at AK this day

Tuesday

Akershus - 9:40am

San Angel Inn - 1:20pm

Ohana - 9:10pm
Hoping to hit Trader Sam's for a couple drinks after.

Wednesday

Trattoria al Forno - Bon Voyage Breakfast - 8:10am

50's Prime Time - 11:15am

Be Our Guest - 4:00pm

Plaza Dessert Party

Thursday

Hollywood & Vine 8:35am F! package

Sci-Fi 11:35am

Via Napoli 4:55pm
Hoping to hit Jellyrolls after Fantasmic or maybe do After Hours at MK

Friday

Grand Floridian Café - 10:30am - I'm considering switching this to 1900 Park Fare but haven't decided as I loved eating here at my last trip. Such a hard call, any advice or opinions are welcome!!! What would you do?

Liberty Tree Tavern - 1:45pm

The Edison 6:30pm
Hoping to add in the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party this evening.

Saturday

Boma Breakfast - 7:30am

After breakfast it will be time for us to leave

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Thought I'd pop over for a quick update. We are finally in the double digits!



We have also purchased our After Hours tickets for Animal Kingdom on Sep 23! I'm really excited for this hopefully we can ride FOP a couple of times and I can't wait to ride EE at night.

 

[kimkwoods]

Following along! We're going at almost the same time!

 

[starann]

Joining in! My BF and I went on a cruise last year together and then this past Feb went on another cruise (and managed to do 2 days at DL). Sadly we live on opposite coasts...her 20 mins from DL and me in PA, so we don't get to see each other often. I keep trying to convince her to come for a few days to my trip, but I doubt it will happen as she just started a new job.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hi there, joining in!

Ooh a trip with your bestie sounds like fun! I was going to do that with mine but she can’t get anyone to mind her little one who’s 2 and doesn’t want to take him with her.

Loving your dining plans for your Disney part of the trip, unfortunately I can’t be of much help with the Universal side of things.

I’m eating at 1900 park fare for the first time on my upcoming trip so if you change your mind and eat there I look forward to hearing your review of the experience.

I love Sanaa and yay on riding EE in the dark!

Hope you had fun at the foam 5k

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Hi all!

woohoo people following along!

I thought I would post a couple photos from our 5k as they are finally available for us to download.











Life has been keeping me busy, I'm helping a friend with planning her wedding, running around after my two littles, my husband had a week long work trip and then we had a stomach flu make it's rounds , just lots and lots always going on!

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Following along! We're going at almost the same time!

Oh, maybe we will see you in the parks!

Joining in! My BF and I went on a cruise last year together and then this past Feb went on another cruise (and managed to do 2 days at DL). Sadly we live on opposite coasts...her 20 mins from DL and me in PA, so we don't get to see each other often. I keep trying to convince her to come for a few days to my trip, but I doubt it will happen as she just started a new job.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

I'm trying to convince Laura we should do a Disney Cruise. Fingers crossed I can find a good rate and she will agree at some point.

Hi there, joining in!

Ooh a trip with your bestie sounds like fun! I was going to do that with mine but she can’t get anyone to mind her little one who’s 2 and doesn’t want to take him with her.

Loving your dining plans for your Disney part of the trip, unfortunately I can’t be of much help with the Universal side of things.

I’m eating at 1900 park fare for the first time on my upcoming trip so if you change your mind and eat there I look forward to hearing your review of the experience.

I love Sanaa and yay on riding EE in the dark!

Hope you had fun at the foam 5k

I set an alert, we decided to change to 1900 Park Fare and there are no open reservations, which seemed a bit odd to me, I didn't think it was that popular. We are okay either way but I will keep checking for openings.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Great pics of the 5k foam fest

Looking forward to reading more when you are able to update and good luck in snagging that dining reservation. I didn’t think it was difficult to get a reservation at 1900 park fare either. I’m sure something will pop up

 

[*tinker*bell*]

Happy Canada Day!!!

​

Thought I would do a quick update and share some of the things I've made for this trip. Laura and I thought it would be fun to match this trip so we have ordered a bunch of tees that match, I ordered one tee that was a pretty light pink for her and mint for me which I loved the combination and decided to make us matching necklaces.







Unfortunately those tees never arrived, but we can wear these with something else.

Then, a few weeks ago I was thinking, and whats better for matching, than matching Mickey ears?
and while we both have a couple pairs of ears, and I think we have one that match, I thought it would be fun to try to make some for us. So I hit up Michael's got to crafting, and these were the three pairs I made.

First set is inspired by my favourite, Tinker Bell:

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For the second set I wanted to do a wire ear with a side bow.

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and finally I love some of the more 'decoden' style with lots of gems.

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I think they turned out pretty decently, I'm excited to wear them in the parks. I'm half way done Laura's set hope to finish them next weekend.

I'm waiting on the last of the tops to arrive and I'll post them once I have them all. Can't believe it's July already! I do my fast passes on the 24th. I've also set myself a weight loss goal of 20 pounds by mid September. Shouldn't be too bad to hit with nice weather and getting out for more exercise.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Ooh adorable necklaces and ears...enjoy wearing them on your trip

 

[*tinker*bell*]

I FINALLY have all our t-shirts, or well I'm actually waiting on one, but I have one from our last trip so I have at least one of all of them, so I will take photos and do an update with that shortly.

Part of our "Too Much" theme is matching, so we are going to be matching every day!

I'll also put my costume on and get a photo to share. Any ideas on who we will be?
Hint: it's a pair/duo, very matchy matchy.

I have to book our fastpasses on the 24th and haven't even begun to make a check list... I have kind of a mental list but really need to get something set in stone for that morning. Any suggestions/tips?

Finally, as food and wine booth menus were finally released we have a shortened, but no where near short enough list of things we want to try.

The combined list is still like 40 things long...

We will eventually sit down and narrow it down more, probably after food and wine starts and we read some reviews.

Current List:

Loaded Mac & Cheese - Active Eats

Caramel-Apple Popcorn - Appleseed Orchard

Apple Blossom Sky - Appleseed Orchard

Pavlova - Australia

Beer Braised Beef - Belgium

Belgian Waffle w/ Chocolate - Belgium

Chilled Coffee w/ Godiva Liqueur - Belgium

Maple Bourbon Cheesecake - The Cheese Studio

Chicken Dumplings - China

Happy Peach - China

Kung Fu Punch - China

Liquid Nitro truffle - Chocolate Studio

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart - Chocolate Studio

Impossible Burger - Earth Eats

Charred Skirt Steak - Flavours from Fire

Braised Beef - France

Creme Brûlée - France

Kir a la Grenade - France

Schinkennudeln - Germany

Apple Strudel - Germany

Kalua Pork Slider - Hawaii

Aulani Sunrise - Hawaii

Sparkling Pineapple Wine - Hawaii

New Brunswick Slider - Hops & Barley

Carrot Cake - Hops & Barley

Korma Chicken - India

Mango Lassi - India

Warm Chocolate Pudding - Ireland

Ropa Vieja Empanada - Islands of the Caribbean

Quesito - Islands of the Caribbean

Frozen Mojito - Islands of the Caribbean

Cannoli - Italy

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - Italy

Italian Margarita - Italy

Teriyaki Chicken Bun - Japan

Capirotada de Chocolate - Mexico

Mexican Sangria - Mexico

Chocolate Baklava - Morocco

Cheesecake Trio - Shimmering Sips

Key Lime Mimosa - Shimmering Sips

Charcuterie in a Cone - Spain

It's my youngest's first birthday today, we did a cake smash, thought I would throw in a few photos. We are doing a combined party for both boys beginning of August between the two birthdays.





That's all for now I think... Sorry kinda a lame post but thought I would at least get an update in.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

I can't believe there is less than 2 months until we leave!!!! I got a job offer to start a new job August 6th, they know about my two trips coming up, this one and a short family trip to the in-laws at the beginning of September. It is 10 minutes from home and Monday - Friday which is awesome, but means leaving my littles which is very very bitter sweet.

I book our fastpasses tomorrow! I thought I would put what I'm hoping for here, and then I can update with what I actually get. Also we booked the Frozen Ever After dessert party which I'm SUPER excited for. Also means I don't need to necessarily worry about a FEA FP+ so that's good.

Our first day we might do EPCOT, or check out the monorail resorts. We have MNSSHP in the evening, so I think I'll book FP for later in the day at MK. I'm not really sure which three to get yet... probably try for 7DMT, maybe Space and a Princess Meet?

The next day is Animal Kingdom Day, I'm going to see about FOP, but we have after hours so I'm not too concerned about it. Otherwise I'll get Safari and Kali. If I can't get FOP then maybe EE or Lion King?

For EPCOT I'm hoping for SE, LwtL, and TT.

Our next day we are going to try to do all four parks so I'm not sure where to do fastpasses this day. I'm split between trying to get SDD or AS2, or maybe MK fastpasses as we end our day there.

Thursday is our dedicated HS day so I'm hoping for SDD, not sure what the other two will be.

Friday is MK so hoping for 7DMT, Space, Thunder. I may change these around though.

Hopefully we can get all our must do's done and we plan on utilizing the EEMH to try to get rides done then without FP.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

So my birthday was this last Wednesday. I did do our fastpass+ selections, got pretty much what I wanted with only a couple exceptions. I am thinking I will do a day by day of our plans instead of a post with just fastpass+ in it. With it having just been my birthday Laura and I decided to celebrate with a girls day out, and we spent the day in Victoria, BC. I thought I would put in a mini TR of our day.

"I found the goat that bit me!"​

Day started pretty early, as all good adventures should. I was up at 6:30am and ready and out the door by 7:30am. I drove to get Laura from Skytrain, hitting almost every light red of course. Soon enough though I had her and we drove to the ferry. We got to the ferry terminal, drove around trying to find parking, and finally found just about the furthest spot away you could park. Once we paid for parking we headed inside to get our tickets for the 9am ferry.



We made perfect timing and other than stopping for the tickets, didn't stop anywhere else in the terminal and walked right onto the ferry.

Once onboard we decided to indulge a little and paid for the buffet. It's nothing super extra, I think it was $23 each.

Morning Selfie


My plate



View



After we ate we decided to go up on deck and walk around a bit. We took a few photos as well.







Soon enough our 1.5 hour ferry ride was over, and we headed out to get the bus into downtown Victoria.

We didn't even need to wait 5 minutes before the express bus pulled up. The bus takes about 20 minutes to get you right into Downtown, and it's so much nicer than paying for a car on the ferry and worrying about parking downtown. Once off the ferry we strolled around, found a Starbucks, and then decided to go to Beacon Hill Park, Laura was on a mission...

I think I'll leave that there for now. I have a lot of photos from in the park so I will do that in a separate post next time.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

woohoo 46 days until we leave!!!

I guess it isn't a long weekend for most? It's BC day tomorrow, my hubby had to work so he had Friday off. Been lovely weather, last time I checked it was 35 degrees out, I'm melting away!

We had a party for both boys yesterday, it was lots of fun and they were spoiled.

I have accepted a new job so I will be ending my mat leave early and back to work on Sept 4. I'll only work a couple weeks before I'm off to WDW!!! I'm SUPER excited for all the upcoming adventures. Time has been whipping past, and I'm sure is only going to speed up for the next 6 ish weeks.

I thought I'd share our costume for MNSSHP. We will be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. My little hat has a flag with DEE on it, but it's turned back in the photo so hard to see.



We wanted to dress up together, something simple, easy to pack, and not terribly hot. This fit the bill perfectly.

That's all for now, I'll get an update up from our adventure last weekend soon. And work on day by day plans and get those up. I also need to make our flash cards soon. Once I'm at work I wont have much time for that kind of thing... Not that I really do now, the kids keep me on my toes!