The One Where They Go To WDW - January ‘19 PTR - SINGLE DIGIT DANCE! (1/17 Update)

[disney-inspired]

Here's our final dining reservations list​

• Ohana'​
• Be Our Guest (lunch)​
• Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd Skipper Canteen​
• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater​
• Sanaa​

We still have 3 table service credits that we aren't planning for just yet. I know the Joneses want to do a date night so I'm thinking to plan a character breakfast for one of our off days for just Lola, Vivian, Anais and me.

Both of my nieces LOVE Lilo & Stich and Moana so might do Ohana breakfast. Hmm...

12 days until ADRs!​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following along since I saw you posted on our EPIC PTR!

I'd definitely recommend Boma for breakfast since you will be at AKL! It's definitely once of the best breakfasts on property and is actually very affordable (I think I paid $25 for the buffet (with my AP discount)). They have the normal breakfast foods, but also roasted turkey and ham, some african inspired dishes (but nothing that looks especially weird), waffles (mickey and simba), pancakes (including M+M pancakes), lots of pastries (sticky buns too), and is just great! It's the only Table Service restaurant I've repeated on my trips! You can see my photos here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-completed-4-16.3636518/page-19#post-58977639

Though I don't know if I'd recommend it as a DDP credit, since it's very affordable otherwise!

 

[sheri18]

Following...we are going in January too ..the 12th -19th

 

[disney-inspired]

Following along since I saw you posted on our EPIC PTR!

I'd definitely recommend Boma for breakfast since you will be at AKL! It's definitely once of the best breakfasts on property and is actually very affordable (I think I paid $25 for the buffet (with my AP discount)). They have the normal breakfast foods, but also roasted turkey and ham, some african inspired dishes (but nothing that looks especially weird), waffles (mickey and simba), pancakes (including M+M pancakes), lots of pastries (sticky buns too), and is just great! It's the only Table Service restaurant I've repeated on my trips! You can see my photos here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-completed-4-16.3636518/page-19#post-58977639

Though I don't know if I'd recommend it as a DDP credit, since it's very affordable otherwise!

I hear really good things about Boma, I’m not a huge breakfast person so not sure if it’s my thing.

Following...we are going in January too ..the 12th -19th

Woo!

 

[disney-inspired]

ALL THE DINING!​

I've updated our dining list as things are getting finalized. I make ADRs on Monday and Tuesday (two separate reservations).

• 'Ohana
• Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen
• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
• 'Ohana Best Friends Breakfast OR Chef Mickey's (Me + the girls)
• Boathouse (Jones date night) (paying OOP)
• Frontera Cocina by Rick Bayless (Orozco date night) (paying OOP)
• Sanaa

I will still have two dining credits and if we have a late flight back home, I may just schedule a brunch or lunch for that day at a resort or Disney Springs.

 

[disney-inspired]

Hi everyone!​

I woke up SO early yesterday and today (at 3am!) to get all of our dining reservations. We got everything we wanted the only thing is our dinner at ‘Ohana is too early so I set an alert for Mouse Dining.

I’m surprised how easy it was to get our desired times too!

‘Ohana @ 3:55 - Looking for one closer to 6pm
Be Our Guest @ 1:15pm
Skipper Canteen @ 5:55pm
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater @ 1:35pm
‘Ohana Best Friends Breakfast @ 9:45am
The Boathouse @ 6:45pm
Frontera Cocina @ 7:15pm
Sanaa @ 5:15pm
La Hacienda De San Angel @ 6:15pm

 

[disney-inspired]

Well friends, or readers who happen to stumble across this sadlymdrawn out PTR, now that all the excitement of dining reservations day has passed we are entering a Disney dry period that happens in any PTR. The slow crawl of time between 180 day mark and the 60 day mark.

There isn’t much Disney planning I can do right now that would keep me occupied until it’s time to make fast passes.

What do you guys do during this time? How do you keep yourself excited?

We are still anxiously awaiting the release of discounts but that usually happens in late September, going into October. We are banking our current room reservations on the hope that the military Armed Forces Salute discount comes back (as its never guaranteed) and that our rooms qualify for the discount (availability of the discount is limited by type of room and resort).

Diana and I have already talked about it, and if worst comes to worst, we would rather end up staying the whole week at Art of Animation or Pop Century than changing to a moderate. Right now Port Orleans is the only viable option with serious construction at CSR and CBR and we’ve stayed at POR twice already.

I figure I can start compiling a shopping list if outfits, shoes and things to bring with me. I've been reading that the weather can be flip flop rather quickly and that I should be packing for both cold and hot weather. Anyone else been at the end of January?

 

[disney-inspired]

Hello out there there there there

How is everyone? Doing good? Is this thing on?
​

Not much of an update on the Disney planning front. I set up an alert through Mouse Dining for a later Ohana dinner on our first night but no luck so far.

How about a real life update?​

I'm currently eligible for a promotion to the next 'level' in my current job. It's really a pay bump and title change but I'm doing the same thing I do now but I will take on more mentor and leadership duties. I had my interview last week and I *think* I did well but at the same time I always second guess myself. Ah, anxiety and self-doubt - always there for you

I love my leadership but also I'm not too sure how much longer I want to stay here because while I've learned and grown a lot in the past two years, the pay is lacking . Especially living in LA where the cost of living is RIDICULOUS. My immediate family is talking about moving out of state and it sounds more and more appealing.

Anyone make a big move out of state? Advice or experience you can share would be great!​

 

[gopherdame]

I came over from the fb thread. We didn't go last year as we did the responsible thing and got new windows. We paid them off in a year with the no interest financing. We've been debt free for many years. Our house is paid for and we save to buy new cars. It is a great feeling! We've been many times in Jan. and Feb. We've always been very lucky and maybe had 1 or 2 cooler days in the 60's. We just wear hoodies on the cooler days if we have to. We come from Minnesota so wear light jackets down, but I doubt if we've worn them more than once or twice to the parks in 11 trips. I do remember the year it was cold for an extended time in early Jan. I read trip reports about people buying jackets and gloves to wear. We were so worried but it was beautiful when we went. This year we are going at the end of Feb. for 4 weeks as we're retired now and love to get away from our winters. Hope the military discounts work out for you and you can stay at AKL. I will be watching to see how your fast passes go.

 

[cinderaimee]

What do you guys do during this time? How do you keep yourself excited?

I obsess over crowd calendars, FP plans, read trip reports, constantly refresh southwest looking for cheaper flights, and second guess every decision I've made lol

I've started buying just a few things here and there so it doesn't feel like I'm spending so much when we get closer to the trip. Also, I'm still working my freelance stuff (in addition to my full time job) trying to earn money to actually pay for the trip, so that keeps me busy.

Recently I've really been getting into disney vlogs on youtube - SeeYaReelSoon, TimTracker and DisneyDan are some of my favorites.

 

[disney-inspired]

I came over from the fb thread. We didn't go last year as we did the responsible thing and got new windows. We paid them off in a year with the no interest financing. We've been debt free for many years. Our house is paid for and we save to buy new cars. It is a great feeling! We've been many times in Jan. and Feb. We've always been very lucky and maybe had 1 or 2 cooler days in the 60's. We just wear hoodies on the cooler days if we have to. We come from Minnesota so wear light jackets down, but I doubt if we've worn them more than once or twice to the parks in 11 trips. I do remember the year it was cold for an extended time in early Jan. I read trip reports about people buying jackets and gloves to wear. We were so worried but it was beautiful when we went. This year we are going at the end of Feb. for 4 weeks as we're retired now and love to get away from our winters. Hope the military discounts work out for you and you can stay at AKL. I will be watching to see how your fast passes go.

I'm so excited to be debt free. I can't even imagine what my life will be like not worrying about money.
But after I pay off my consumer debt, I still have to work on my LARGE student loan debt. It will be a relief to finally address that elephant in the room and be completely honest with myself.

As for the weather, I think we will be layering so that way we don't have to pack big jackets - which we don't even have as we live in southern California and it rarely gets super cold here.
I think I'll be fine with a few pairs of pants, maybe some shorts, short sleeves, long sleeve undershirts and light jacket. I normally run hot anyway so don't want to be sweating either.

I obsess over crowd calendars, FP plans, read trip reports, constantly refresh southwest looking for cheaper flights, and second guess every decision I've made lol

I've started buying just a few things here and there so it doesn't feel like I'm spending so much when we get closer to the trip. Also, I'm still working my freelance stuff (in addition to my full time job) trying to earn money to actually pay for the trip, so that keeps me busy.

Recently I've really been getting into disney vlogs on youtube - SeeYaReelSoon, TimTracker and DisneyDan are some of my favorites.

I think I'm going to subscribe to Touring Plans to get access to their extras and see the expected crowd levels. Do find them to be pretty accurate?
I'm currently socking away enough money to pay for my trip as well as $$$ for souvenirs and extras.

Hopefully, we'll be able to book our flights next month and then this trip will feel more 'real'.

 

[disney-inspired]

Hello out there!

It’s been almost two months since my last update. We are STILL waiting on the Armed Forces Salute promotion renewal notice.

We have added on a day!
My BIL didn’t want to do a red-eye on Sunday because he knew his girls would be super cranky and it would start the trip off on a bad food. Also, if we experienced any kind of airline delays or cancellations (happened to me twice before!) we would lose a day and our whole trip would be affected.

So! We are now arriving Saturday 01/26.

More planning news - we bought our airline tickets to get us from LA to Orlando. We bought a one-way because the price was so good and we are still searching for our return flight.

I really don’t want to fly out super early and my BIL wants to fly into a closer airport. Right now return flights are a bit pricier but we’ll see how they look in the next few weeks.

Here’s to hoping our discount renewal is announced in the next week or so!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

I'm chomping at the bit to talk Disney and I can sometime be "too much" for my travel companions.

I can totally relate! DH is in grad school and loves to travel, but the planning part isn’t terrible exciting to him. Whereas, I LOVE planning and obsessing and redoing plans and staring at calendars and menus...

Your trip sounds like it’s going to be amazing!

 

[disney-inspired]

REAL LIFE + TRIP NEWS
​

I forgot to follow up on my post about my job promotion. I got it! I received a little bit more than a 7% pay increase. I'm stoked

I'm still going strong my debt free journey. I'll be consumer debt free by December 15th.

Disney announced their January - April 2019 discounts today for Disney Visa holders as well as the general release discounts. We are STILL waiting to hear about the Armed Forces Salute renewal. It has to be coming soon now that the other discounts are out, IT JUST HAS TO!

We have three separate reservations at the moment:
1. Checking-in on Saturday 1/26 at Art of Animation - room only. We don't want to pay for dining since we will be arriving in the evening.

2. Checking-in on Sunday 1/27 at Art of Animation - room only. Plan on converting this to a package after the AFS renewal is released.

3. Checking-in on Monday 1/28 at Animal Kingdom Lodge - room only. Plan on converting to package after the AFS renewal is released - but ONLY if the discount is the full 40%. If it's less than that, we will modify and stay more nights at AOA to compensate or if the discount is significantly less, just move the whole reservation to AOA altogether.

I was considering using the room only discounts released to the general public but they aren't significant enough for AOA.

UGH DISNEY - COME ON AND RELEASE THE AFS DISCOUNT ALREADY!

 

[missangelalexis]

Joining in!! Congrats on your job promotion!

The restaurants you have picked out sound great. Hopefully you can get your room discounts soon!

 

[cosmicmommy]

*waves* Dropping in to say hello. We'll be at the world at the same time as you, but it looks like our only overlap will be Thursday in Animal Kingdom and we will be avoiding Pandora like the plague that day, LOL. Our plans for that day are to hit up Asia and Africa with an after-close appetizer/dessert kind of dinner at Rainforest.

 

[disney-inspired]

GUYS, I HAVE MAGIC POWERS

Ok, maybe it's just a coincidence but
DISNEY RELEASED THEIR MILITARY PROMO!
​

I'm signed up to receive text notifications for Steve Bell's (Military Disney Tips) tweets. Well, I woke up - no tweet. So I thought I'd just check on the DIS for any updates to my followed threads before getting ready for work. I click on the AFS Watch thread and low and behold - someone confirmed it was posted on Disney's site!

I got dressed in like 1 minute, ran out to drive to work with intentions to call via bluetooth. About 10 min away from home I realize this is probably not a safe thing to do since I'll have to read reservation #s and write down the new package confirmation #s. I pulled over at a Carl's Jr. and spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with Disney to make those changes.

When I get to work, I log into excel to update our numbers and I realize that even with the discount, the whole deal (hotel, dining & ticket) was going to cost my cousin's family MORE than we initially projected. My stomach dropped.

I was bombarding Daniela and Diana with texts about possibilities when I just decided to walk out for about 10 minutes and have a conference call. I found out that they were actually together and having a play date today with the nieces and nephews. This worked out perfectly.

I explained that I realized that if we dropped them from a suite to a regular Little Mermaid room (LM) they wouldn't be able to add on dining only (as you can do with military) because it's disqualified from the offer.

I found them a room a preferred room at Pop Century + dining + 5 day base tickets for LESS than the initial projection. Daniela said she trusted me and told me to do what needed to be done.

I called Disney and canceled the other package w/ the Cars suite and I went online to book the Pop Century package.

Well about 30 minutes later as I'm reviewing our reservations on MDE, I realize I'm short a day on her reservation! OMG

I WAS GOING TO HAVE A CONNIPTION!​

I clicked to update the reservation, extended it one day and then it said there was no availability for those dates with that specific discount
I selected another discount (kids price) to see if it was similar, but more importantly, if it was available.

AND IT WAS AVAILABLE
AND IT COST LESS! ​

We are now squared away with our packages & discounts.

I need a nap.
​

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds so stressful!!! But Glad it all worked out!

 

[disney-inspired]

Joining in!! Congrats on your job promotion!

The restaurants you have picked out sound great. Hopefully you can get your room discounts soon!

Hi! Thanks for joining. I'm looking forward to all the amazing food.

So happy that the discount came out today. I can stop freaking out about it.

*waves* Dropping in to say hello. We'll be at the world at the same time as you, but it looks like our only overlap will be Thursday in Animal Kingdom and we will be avoiding Pandora like the plague that day, LOL. Our plans for that day are to hit up Asia and Africa with an after-close appetizer/dessert kind of dinner at Rainforest.

Hi! Welcome!
Where are you guys staying? AOA is new for me so looking forward to that!
None of my immediate group is doing FoP because either we're too tall or too self conscious about not fitting in the seat and wasting a Tier 1 FP. I'm the latter LOL.

I love the Pangani trails!

 

[cosmicmommy]

Hi! Thanks for joining. I'm looking forward to all the amazing food.

So happy that the discount came out today. I can stop freaking out about it.



Hi! Welcome!
Where are you guys staying? AOA is new for me so looking forward to that!
None of my immediate group is doing FoP because either we're too tall or too self conscious about not fitting in the seat and wasting a Tier 1 FP. I'm the latter LOL.

I love the Pangani trails!

We're staying at All Star Movies this time. We did Pop last time and we loved it, but I wanted some new scenery. And since we got preferred at Movies for the same price as Standard at Music, it was a no-brainer.

We're going to hit Pandora on another day that doesn't have so much packed into it in Animal Kingdom. We're planning to hit it still, but I'm not going to completely stress over it. My middle son gets the DAS pass, so we will use it to virtually wait it out for FOP and then we'll get in line for Na'vi at close if we have to. We're spending that morning in Hollywood Studios doing the Early Morning Magic/Pixar Place/Hollywood Boulevard so because we'll be able to knock out Toy Story Land during the EMM, we should be able to bounce outta Hollywood Studios by 1 or so, so we'll have loads of time to work in Pandora - and we'll wait virtually while hanging out in DinoLand.