ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
All Together Now: CHANGES!
Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been slow going with this PTR, I've just been super busy with work and end of year stuff for the kids. You'd think with high school done I wouldn't have anything to do but between the two of them I'm not just working as a TA, I'm a taxi service...................every time I think I have more than 30 minutes to sit down at the computer I realize I have to drive somebody somewhere or pick somebody up! I drive Chris to and from school every day and during regents they don't run buses often so I was taking Ricky (and numerous friends) down to school for testing a couple days last week. The high school is only 4 minutes down the road but it still interrupts my "flow"! I may bring 3 kids TO the school, I may expect to bring 3 kids HOME from school, but somehow 6-7 kids end up walking towards my car and getting in.................and there goes all my food. It sure makes for busy days! On to the fun stuff-
I've done a few things since my last update! I'll start with the one I alluded to in my title: something most of us planners are all too familiar with - the change Yup, I did one. And I may do it again! Remember how our first two nights were booked at CBR? None of us had any issue with the construction but I WAS concerned about us all eating when we arrive at what will be after 10pm. As of now the food trucks and buffet aren't open after 10 so our options would be the grab n go "rooms" in each section of the resort, and I don't think that will satisfy any of us. We could eat at the airport before getting on DME but I know we'll want to just get there even if now we say that's what we'll do; so I changed our resort. Not to anything that exciting either; we'll now be spending August 5-7th here:Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been slow going with this PTR, I've just been super busy with work and end of year stuff for the kids. You'd think with high school done I wouldn't have anything to do but between the two of them I'm not just working as a TA, I'm a taxi service...................every time I think I have more than 30 minutes to sit down at the computer I realize I have to drive somebody somewhere or pick somebody up! I drive Chris to and from school every day and during regents they don't run buses often so I was taking Ricky (and numerous friends) down to school for testing a couple days last week. The high school is only 4 minutes down the road but it still interrupts my "flow"! I may bring 3 kids TO the school, I may expect to bring 3 kids HOME from school, but somehow 6-7 kids end up walking towards my car and getting in.................and there goes all my food. It sure makes for busy days! On to the fun stuff-
I do keep checking for TA rate availability at WL CL for those 2 nights but so far no luck. I know the boys will like the over the top sports stuff here and while Steve and I will certainly not like the double beds, we'll deal. We'll have the food court to eat in when we arrive and that's probably the only time we'll eat there.
IF we do indeed stay here.
I'm already itching to change it so we'll see how long it lasts. That's the only "change" for now because although I did change a couple ADR's the end of last week, you won't know the difference since I haven't mentioned any of them yet......but now I will! I know I've said this before but when Steve and I go we don't make ADR's for every day. However, we pretty much do at least one TS each day; we've always been able to get something we're happy with same day or the night before. With the boys I don't like to wing too much because they have different likes/dislikes and, unlike Steve and I who can handle being hungry for a bit if we're not sure where we want to eat (kind of, more him than me!) when the boys are hungry they get nasty; then I get nasty; then we don't agree where to eat; then I get hungry, and then we all can't stand each other. Moral of the story is I book most of our meals ahead of time when we all go!
I'm still missing a couple because I can't make up my mind but so far here's what we have:
8/6:
lunch at either LTT or the Plaza (no judging! Yes I'm holding both!)
dinner 1900 Park Fare
I've wanted to eat dinner at Park Fare FOREVER; I've made reservations there numerous times and cancelled because I know the boys won't be thrilled. I also know the stepsisters will be so hysterical with them and we've never met them which is why I want to do it! Back in Nov. 2015 I cancelled our dinner there when I compromised with the boys: they agreed to meet Lady Tremaine and the sisters in MK with me if I cancelled. Well, unfortunately when we finally met Lady Tremaine on our last day her daughters were "entertaining guests at tea" so it was just her. She was awesome and the meet was great, but we still need the sisters!
8/7:
Sanaa lunch
*possibly dinner in Epcot*
8/8:
Mama Melrose early dinner
8/9:
lunch at Splitsville while we bowl
*possibly something for dinner*
I say possibly something for dinner because I booked something else for us tonight and between lunch and this "special surprise" I'm not sure if we'll just eat in the lounge or what. I need to think more, because there are snacks involved with our surprise. The snacks totally won't satisfy Steve and Ricky so regardless they'll need something afterwards from Roaring Fork or Geyser Point. What is this special surprise that only Steve knows about you ask? Something else I've wanted to do for awhile:
You might think between this and Park Fare dinner that I hate my boys but I really do love them. They just tend to not know what will be fun until I force it on them I've heard so many excellent things about this cruise, how it's fun for people without kids as well as families, and I have it booked for a number of clients; I wanna do something new and fun! Plus, it's all in the name of research, right?
8/10:
undecided for AK dinner
8/11:
Be Our Guest dinner
BOG dinner is probably one of our top 4 TS restaurants and that goes for the boys as well. We ate there last Nov. but Steve and I haven't been on our two recent adults trips so I'm ready to go back. I think I posted this picture in my Nov. '16 PTR but it's so good I need to post it again; this is typical Chris at our first visit to BOG in Nov. 2012. I have no idea what he was making a face about but he really doesn't need a reason:
Same attitude, different year:
8/12:
Sci-Fi lunch
Splitsville and Park Fare will be new to us. Sci Fi is one we haven't been to in years and while Steve and I have recently been to Mama Melrose and LTT, the boys haven't been to either of those in a couple years. So I still need dinner on the 7th and maybe a dinner on the 9th, as well as something on the 10th. Here's some possibilities:
-Cape May Cafe: Chris and I ate dinner here last Nov. before Steve and Ricky joined us. We thought it was great as non-seafood eaters and since Ricky and Steve both do eat seafood, I think they'd enjoy it even more.
-Narcoossee's, so we can stick at least one signature in there and both boys love it
-Via Napoli, I've been wanting to return since our 2015 Thanksgiving trip!
-Restaurant Marrakesh, I know it's not popular but we've been there twice and love our meals!
-Tusker House or Yak & Yeti for the 10th. I wanted to go back to TH since it's been awhile and the characters have always been great there, but subjecting the boys to characters a 3rd time might push someone over the edge. We all like Y&Y with the possible exception of Chris who almost threw a fit last Nov. at the age of 11. My gut is to just book it and not give a crap whether he's happy or not. As I said earlier in this update, I do love my boys
Lastly I'm debating ordering matching pirate shirts for us for the fireworks cruise. Nothing fancy, maybe just a pirate Mickey head or something. Of course I have my awesome SMEE shirt but I'd like to match if I can talk the boys into it. I had all intentions of getting us matching shirts for our last Thanksgiving trip but it never happened. In case I do it this time, anyone have any Etsy sites they've ordered from before and been happy? My main concern is not ordering the right size for someone. I've ordered from places like RedBubble, TeePublic, and a couple others, some shirts fit great and others seem to run terribly small and you just never know. Thanks!