Andy & Annabel Return to Disney World - Updated 6/2 - Day 14 Part 2 About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Great plans Annabel!

[Cheriemek]

Welcome back, Annabell!

[Cam22]

All your plans are working out wonderfully, Annabel! That t-shirt is !

[bsblady01]

I hope that you have a magical time at the world

[chezp]

Great plans! It always amazes me how much a small difference in days makes to flight prices...

[ilovedisney247]

Great plans! Is Le Cellier for lunch or dinner--I think if you have the option I would go for lunch!

[Annabel]

Le Cellier is definitely lunch, I don't want to waste a 2nd credit for dinner. I can't wait to go

[Wendyismyname]

I love it Annabel!! I'm so glad you are going back!

[ilovedisney0_0]

Yay, Annabel!! I am so excited that you are writing again!! I loved your last TR with your hubby, mom, and Jez, so I am really looking forward to this one. Your husband is an amazing man ... there is NO WAY I would give up an opportunity to ride Expedition Everest! I understand your excitement; the last time my DD and I went to WDW was Oct 2007. We are planning our trip now for Dec 2011, and I am pee-my-pants excited to go back! I want the time to be here !

[clio]

Welcome back Annabel. Your plans sound great. We ate at Yak and Yeti last week and really enjoyed it. Can't wait to read more.
Liz

[Annabel]

Part 3:

There have been some changes between March and 8 May 2011.

The ADRs are booked! I did this on 1 April as planned but had to book the first 10 over the phone. We've booked our package through Disneyworld.co.uk and the reservation number they provided is different to the proper booking number I need to book ADRs online. I had a very helpful Cast Member (I lost the bit of paper I wrote her name on) and she actually went away with our check-in date and surname to find me the proper number. I was very grateful and utterly ecstatic. I made sure each booking had a note about us celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is on 24 August and we won't celebrate until our vacation.

The park and Extra Magic Hours were released for our trip during this time. I was disappointed to find the Epcot Extra Magic Hours have been changed around. The original plan for our departure day was to visit Epcot before leaving and the park opening at 8am would have given us more time. Tuesday's EMH at Epcot is now in the evening and the morning EMH is on Friday. I think it's down to the Food & Wine Festival but I'm not sure why the change was necessary.

Tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party were released on 1 May so I booked our tickets online as quickly as I could. We are attending on the last full day, 10 October. We will have to pick them up at Will Call as shipping to the UK has skyrocketed since 2008 when I ordered tickets for the Pirate and Princess Party. There is no way I'm wasting $25 on shipping!

Hubby treated me to a new Passporter refill kit for 2011 which was a lovely surprise. I was also lucky enough to be gifted the Birnbaum Official Walt Disney World Guide 2011 and Unofficial Guide 2011 for birthday presents - do my family know me well or what

As our 180-day window arrived before the hours of our trip were published, I had to base my itinerary on 2010 hours and pray they wouldn't change too much. I enjoy taking advantage of the Extra Magic Hours and we normally find these days aren't overly busy, despite what it says in the guide books. Ok, so a lot could have changed since our last trip in 2008 but for now, we're using the EMH's to plan. I want to maximise our time in the parks. The ADRs I've booked are:

Biergarten - dinner
Tony's Town Square - dinner
Jiko - dinner
Boma - dinner
50's Prime Time Cafe - dinner
Yak & Yeti - lunch
Le Cellier - lunch
Les Chefs de France - dinner
Yachtsman Steakhouse - dinner
Chef Mickey's dinner
Tutto Italia - dinner
Kouzzina - dinner
Crystal Palace - breakfast

The last 3 I was able to book online - I really enjoyed doing that for the first time. About a week later, I found half of our park hours so I was able to go through my itinerary. Despite the change to the Epcot hours on a Tuesday, we will still go in the morning of our departure, unless we are absolutely exhausted and park-ed out! I whiled away the rest of the month, working on more definite plans, checklists, menu checking etc, waiting for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets to be released. I admit that I enjoy the planning process almost as much as the trip itself. The best part of this particular plan? It was for a proper vacation, not an imagined one like I'd been doing for the past 3 years!

On 1st May, I checked AllEarsNet late afternoon and was very excited to see the tickets and dates had been released. I started going through our itinerary and checking the party dates to see when we could fit it in. After discussing it with hubby, we decided to attend on the last night - we may as well end our vacaton on a high note! I'd already booked an ADR for breakfast at Crystal Palace that day as hubby wanted to be in the park before it officially opened to take loads of photos. We decided to eat counter service during the Party. Our past tradition was to book dinner for around 5pm so we'd already be in the park. We used to love going to Liberty Tree Tavern as the food was delicious and the character interaction was amazing. We haven't eaten here since the characters left.I read a rumour about a year ago that Fantasmic may end soon. Personally I think it would be a real shame if it finished as it's an amazing show with lots of characters. It's always been a must-do for us. I know things must change but I dislike a lot of change. I was determined to see Fantasmic at least once this trip, just in case. I cannot understand why it is on so few times a week - I have never been to an empty showing in all my trips. As it is shown so little, I knew I'd stand the best hange of seeing it, without standing in line for a good few hours, by using the Fantasmic Dining Package. I hurt the most when I'm stood still in lines for rides, supermarket checkouts etc so I really don't want to spoil my fun.

While I was making my ADRs no dates were showing for the package. I kept checking back and forth before finally, at the beginning of May, the dates appeared for our vacation. Looking at the available dates, I realised a few changes to our ADRs would have to be made. At first, I couldn't get a single date for the whole 14 days, regardless of whether I looked at lunch or dinner times. To say I felt a little panicked is an understatement! I refreshed the page a few times, convinced the website was playing tricks on me. Finally, one of my available dates showed reservations. We wanted to eat at Mama Melrose which would be a first for us. Hubby was refusing to go back to Hollywood & Vine, which once upon a time had been his favourite. I couldn't get Mama Melrose for dinner, only Hollywood & Vine or Hollywood Brown Derby. I changed my search to lunch times and the only time that showed for Mama Melrose was 2.15pm so I snapped it up. In my excitement, and the fact I was using the Dining Plan to book reservation, I'd totally forgotten that I needed a credit card to guarantee the booking. Big oops! I don't have any cards and hubby was at work. I normally have his bank card written down in case of emergencies but since the card had been changed, I'd forgotten to write it down. I rang hubby's mobile but he didn't pick up - this meant he was driving his lorry. I didn't know if he'd stop to read a text but sent a panicked one anyway. I was typing so fast that I had to keep correcting my typos. I was worried I'd lose the reservation as I have no idea how long they hold them for online. It felt like an eternity without a reply (hubby insists it was only 5 minutes and he's probably right lol) so I frantically called again. This time he answered. "I was halfway through typing out the card number," he said. He gave me the details over the phone (I sure hope his porter covered his ears!) and yes, I wrote them down this time. I hung up quickly and typed in the details. I clicked the "Make Reservation" button and crossed my fingers. I let out a big sigh of relief when I saw the booking was confirmed. We are now eating at Mama Melrose for lunch on 9 October.I had a reservation for dinner that night for Kouzzina for 5.30pm and I knew there was no way we'd be ready to eat again so soon, plus we wouldn't have a rental car to get us back to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic.

It was time to make some changes to our dining plans. We were still 140+ days out so I was pretty sure I wouldn't encounter any problems. I spoke to hubby once he got home. I really didn't want to miss out on any of the meals we'd booked. Hubby suggested just moving some of the reservations round. With this in mind, I decided to move our dinner at Tony's Town Square for the night of the Halloween Party. This is the only day we will have 2 table service meals and both will be out of pocket. Next I tried to get an ADR for dinner at Kouzzina for our 2nd full day. It would fit in well with our plans to pick up the rental car from the Swan & Dolphin that afternoon. We can get the car, park it at the Boardwalk and have a walk round before our dinner. I was lucky and scored a dinner reservation. The last thing I had to do was cancel the other 2 reservations I'd originally booked for Tony's Town Square and Kouzzina, which I did straight away. I love being able to book and cancel ADRs online, it makes it so easy. No hanging on waiting for someone to answer the phone, no confusion as you try to explain what you're trying to do etc.

So our ADR list is 100% complete now and is as follows:

28/9 - Biergarten - dinner
29/9 - Kouzzina - dinner
30/9 - Jiko - dinner
1/10 - Boma - dinner
2/10 - 50's Prime Time Cafe - dinner
3/10 - Yak & Yeti - lunch
4/10 - Le Cellier - lunch
5/10 - Les Chefs de France - dinner
6/10 - Yachtsman Steakhouse - dinner
7/10 - Chef Mickey's dinner
8/10 - Tutto Italia - dinner
9/10 - Mama Melrose - lunch
10/10 - Crystal Palace - breakfast
10/10 - Tony's Town Square - dinner

I am very excited about our meals. Most of the choices are new for us with a few unmissable old favourites thrown in for good measure, which are Jiko, Boma, Le Cellier, Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's. We last ate breakfast at Crystal Palace on Christmas morning 2004. Chef Mickey's is a place we've only eaten at once but it was a memorable dinner back in September 2004. It had been noted on our reservation that we would be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary and they gave us personalised placemats and a celebratory cupcake.

Booking and finalising our meals has made this trip seem even more real now. At this point in time we are about £100 away from paying off the holiday which is a real result. Hubby has really worked hard for us to have this vacation. Life keeps getting in the way at moment, with the small matter of my brother getting married plus our car needs to be taxed and serviced. I'm only excited about my brother's wedding, naturally.I've been checking on and off for dates for the Wishes Dessert Party. Andy loves desserts so I think he'd really enjoy this. Certain dates for October suddenly appeared on the website a few days ago, only to disappear before I could book anything. The dates only go until August now. Very strange. I've not read anything about any more dates for it. I had read a few comments about how they were available during MNSSHP last year but people regretted doing both parties as it hadn't given them enough time to enjoy all the Halloween activities. If the only dates for this October are going to be during MNSSHP then I won't be booking it. Reading the early details for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, I noticed the 3D Disney Dessert Party with VIP viewing for IllumiNations. We will be spending a lot of time at Epcot so this party will be perfect. As of today, we are 141 days out. My itinerary is finished but I will to factor in the dates for the 3D party. Also, I follow the Disney Food Blog and they will be holding the WDW Foodie Fest during our trip so I'm hoping to attend a few of their events.

We wlll do the Behind the Seeds Tour and possibly take the Characters in Flight balloon. To be completely honest, I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to the most - the parks or the food! The last few trips we went with my Mum and her hubby Jez. This will be our first time alone together in 6 years! I'm sure it will feel like a totally different trip with all the new things we have to experience.

The photo I've chosen for this post is from our 2006 trip. We took the IllumiNations Cruise for Jez's birthday and had an amazing night.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you were able to secure all the ADRs Annabel! Looks like you've got some great plans there!

[chezp]

What great ADRs you've ended up with!

[buzzspal2]

2 days till Disney. Are your suitcases packed?

[bearak527]

Oh Annabel-I am so happy to see you posting again. I loved all your prior trip reports and am excitedly reading your current one. I hope you have an awesome time. Welcome back
Betty