East Coast Antics aka We're not doing Disney this year... Yeah right!!

[Lizzybear]

Morning/afternoon/avening all! Since my holiday is now less than 6 months away I thought now would be as good a time as any to start my third pre-trip report so first things first, the cast:

Me (Lizzy) 24/will be 25 when we travel: Holiday planner/obsessor and Disney freak. Totally impulsive.. if I get even the slightest hint that I can go on a Disney trip i'll run with it! This will be my fourth WDW trip. I don't tend to do the character trip report names but if I did I would be Minnie


The boyfriend (Steve) 26/will be 27 when we travel: As ever, along for the ride. My Disney brainwashing is clearly working though as he is partly to 'blame' for the fact that we're going to WDW this year! This will be his second WDW trip and his Disney character would be Sully


This trip started out as being an east coast driving tour, starting in Boston and ending Washington DC and visiting various states/cities in between. We were taking a break from Disney this year, we had been for the last 3 after all and in my case 4... I was OK with that, or so I thought, until Steve happened to hint that I should price up a DLRP short break for some time off he had booked for May. Once i'd got over the shock of my previously Disney indifferent leaving all the planning to me boyfriend initiating a Disney trip I jumped online and found a not too bad price BUT (isn't there always a but!) I couldn't shake the feeling that i'd rather use that money for a WDW trip. THEN I got to thinking that I wasn't all that excited about some of the places we'd planned to visit in October so I had a talk with Steve about this and surprisingly he agreed. We decided that our two absolute must-dos were New York and Boston and I casually hinted that we could do both cities then drive down to Orlando, because you know free dining is on at WDW and so is HHN at Universal! Those two things were all the convincing Steve needed (though not without some added laughing and headshaking and 'I knew this would turn into a Disney trip'-ing!) We were going to WDW this year!! Like any good planner I dutifully drew up a rough plan, which as of today looks something like this:

1st October: Fly Manchester to New York, arriving around midday. Probably not doing the airport hotel this year as we're trying to keep unnecessary costs down but this may change if I get a mega deal! We're going with Continental again as we had a good experience last year, the price is good and we get Virgin miles! Check in to our New York Hotel which I think will be the Hampton Inn Madison Square Gardens which gets great Tripadvisor reviews and has an included hot breakfast.
2nd October: New York. No concrete plans for what we want to do as yet but i'm sure we'll do the usual landmarks and a tour of some description, get pizza from one of the many 'Rays' and we'll be getting the train to Red Bank (New Jersey) one day to visit Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash east side (Kevin Smith's comic shop) and just explore the town that was featured in some of our favourite films.
3rd October: New York
4th October: New York
5th October: Pick up rental car (Hertz are looking to have the cheapest one way drop fee so more than likely i'll book with them) and drive to Boston, stopping in Hartford (Connecticut) on the way. Check in to our Boston hotel which is looking to be the Holiday Inn Express as, again, it gets great TA reviews and has an included hot breakfast.
6th October: Boston. We're pretty much using Boston as a base to visit various places in New England.. We will spend a day exploring the downtown area and go on a Boston Duck Tour but we also plan to drive to Portland (Maine), Providence (Rhode Island), Cape Cod, Salem and possibly Waterbury (Vermont) to visit the Ben and Jerry's Factory. That last one is about 3 hours each way so i'm sure any sensible person wouldn't even consider it, though i'm sure we've established by now that this is not me..!
7th October: Boston
8th October: Boston
9th October: Boston
10th October: Boston
11th October: Drop-off rental car and get an internal flight to Orlando, think this will be with Delta as they have the best price and time combination. The road trip to Orlando idea was unfortunately put to rest mainly as i'm the only one of us who can drive and since Boston to Orlando is 20 hours without stops I really think i'd need someone to share the driving with from a safety point of view. The flight takes 3 hours and we should get to Orlando around 6pm. Pick-up hire car number 2 (just trying to hold out for a price below £150 at the moment!) and drive to Coronado Springs resort. We're both looking forward to staying in a new resort as it looks so different to POFQ even though they're both moderates.
12th October: WDW. We have 14 day tickets (since they cost the same as the 7 day tickets I upgraded so we could have 8 park days rather than 7) and are only doing Disney, aside from one evening at Universal for HHN (which i'm a bit apprehensive about since i'm a big wuss but I know Steve is dying to go so i'm willing to give it a try) so we have a fair bit of time to spend in all the parks. Hoping to do some of the stuff i've overlooked on previous trips like Tom Sawyer Island and the trails in AK. I'm also considering a tour (did KTTK in 2005 which I loved) and an Illuminations Cruise if I can find one someone wants to share/get others to share one I book. Ooh and we'll be doing MNSSHP again and i'll be making my costume this year. Since we have free dining i'll be making our ADRs in July.. Definite is Boma (breakfast and dinner) but also considering 50s Primetime, Le Cellier, Ohana breakfast, 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Beaches and Cream (probably OOP), Coral Reef (repeat visit), Whispering Canyon and a signature place we haven't eaten at (Artist Point, Citricos, Narcoosees and Flying Fish)
13th October: WDW
14th October: WDW
15th October: WDW
16th October: WDW
17th October: WDW
18th October: Morning/afternoon in WDW then drive to St Petersburg. This was previously going to be Miami and I haven't actually changed my ticker yet but we wanted somewhere closer to Orlando as it was a fair bit more to fly out of Miami for some reason, plus the hotel prices were higher than I wanted to pay considering New York and Boston aren't cheap either!
19th October: St Petersburg. We definitely want to visit the Dali museum but aside from that it'll be a very chilled day after all the running around in WDW. Check-in online for tomorrow's flight home.
20th October: Our flight is around 1-2pm so we'll be leaving for the airport quite early, drop off the hire car then fly home. We connect in Newark which hopefully should be as easy as it was last year. We're due home at 7:40am on the 21st and Steve is back in work the day after!

So that's us and that's our trip! I'll be posting the non-Disney portion of my planning/trip report aswell for anyone who has a shred of interest but i'll completely understand if most people only care about the Disney stuff, this being a Disney board and all! Regardless, thanks for reading and hope you stay with me for the trip report.

[raph_b]

Sounds like an amazing trip you have planned there

I've never been to NY but would love to go one day.

And HHN too, I'm so jealous.......

[scottish mum]

WOW what a holiday. You will have a lovely time. When the kids are older I want to drive across America.

[irisheyes123]

Sound like you have a great trip planned and Nyc is great never been to boston but plan to one day sounds like you's are going to see lots of places on your way up to boston sounds like a great plan. We did the whole driving from nyc to florida back in 2007 but as dh has family in Kentucky we went that way and down and drove back up to nyc boy was that crazy but nice to see different places...

[wickesy]

That's going to be a great trip Lizzy. New England is high on my list of must-do's so the more planning info you give the better.

[irongirlof12]

SOUNDS AMAZING!

[Lizzybear]

Just to update what i've booked so far...
All flights (Manchester-New York/Orlando-Manchester and Boston-Orlando)
New York hotel (Hampton Inn Madison Square Garden)
Boston hotel (Holiday Inn Express)
Disney package (7 nights CSR with tickets and regular dining plan)
St Petersburg hotel (America's best Inn)
Travel insurance

Only the 2 lots of car hire to go, still shopping around for that one. I'm pleased with the deals i've got so far, though I won't deny that this trip is turning out pricier than we perhaps intended (always happens!) We'll be OK to afford it but there's always that initial 'HOW much?!' moment when you tot everything up! (Boston and New York ain't cheap cities and it's easy to forget how much tax can add on to a room price..) With that said all our meals in Disney plus breakfast in New York and Boston will be paid for in advance so that's a big saving for the ol' food budget and overall this hol should even out to what we paid for California last year. It all feels real now and i'm soo excited

[Lizzybear]

With about a month to go until I can make my ADRs these are the choices so far:

50's Primetime dinner (definite, ate at HBD last time and wished we were eating here instead..!)
Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner (almost certain, we both have no issue with the antics of here or 50s but just wondering if both in one week would be a bit much. The menu looks good though and i'd love to visit WL)
Le Cellier dinner (definite, couldn't fit it in last time)
Boma dinner (definite, ate their last time and it's Steve's favourite restaurant in the world... Not just the Disney one either!)
Ohana breakfast (almost, another one we couldn't fit in last time though Steve wants Boma instead... Hmm!)
Flying Fish Cafe dinner (almost certain, debating over this or Narcoosees... Any opinions?)

We plan to eat at Beaches and Cream aswell but will be doing this OOP. Obviously it can't be booked but as 2 adults we have no issue with waiting. Not planning on the kitchen sink but the no way jose looks amazing!

[Shyvioletisme]

Originally Posted by Lizzybear

We plan to eat at Beaches and Cream aswell but will be doing this OOP. Obviously it can't be booked but as 2 adults we have no issue with waiting. Not planning on the kitchen sink but the no way jose looks amazing!

DH and I LOVED the sundaes from here!

we created our own, but we could have easily eaten all of the ones on the menu and more!

[Snowy-girls]

You have done well with all that you have booked .
We loved O Hanas for brekkie .x.

[Pegasus928]

Originally Posted by Lizzybear

With about a month to go until I can make my ADRs these are the choices so far:

50's Primetime dinner (definite, ate at HBD last time and wished we were eating here instead..!)
Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner (almost certain, we both have no issue with the antics of here or 50s but just wondering if both in one week would be a bit much. The menu looks good though and i'd love to visit WL)

Whispering Canyon is a good choice and we love the food there - but be aware they have toned everything down quite a lot due to some complaints (at least thats what our server told us last time we were there and disappointed that it was quieter than we remember)
This was back in Feb though - so if someone has been recently they may have something to add.

[Lizzybear]

Originally Posted by Pegasus928

Whispering Canyon is a good choice and we love the food there - but be aware they have toned everything down quite a lot due to some complaints (at least thats what our server told us last time we were there and disappointed that it was quieter than we remember)
This was back in Feb though - so if someone has been recently they may have something to add.

Yes i've read something about that too, bit of a shame really as there are loads of other places people can eat at in WDW if they prefer a less 'full on' meal. I've already told Steve to ask for a LARGE soda so hopefully our server takes the bait!


In other news i've done a bit of rejigging with my ADRs and the revised list is:
-50's Primetime dinner
-Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner
-Le Cellier dinner (or lunch if need be)
-Boma dinner
-Boma breakfast
-Flying Fish Cafe dinner
-Ohana dinner (new addition replacing Coral Reef! I was previously put off by the meat-centric menu as there was very little Steve could have but since the amazing Chef TJ from Boma has now moved there things have apparently changed: Just been reading some dining reports of people with vegetarian/vegan diets and allergies having multi-course meals specially made for them so it's now become a must do! This guy had 2 vegan meals by Chef TJ at Ohana and both sounded fabulous: http://vegansatori.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html)
-Now that we have dinner planned at Ohana i'm rethinking eating there for breakfast, considering Kona Cafe and 1900 Park Fare instead... Any opinions? I'd quite like to keep it as a character breakfast but the tonga toast is swaying me, hmm!

[Pegasus928]

Originally Posted by Lizzybear

Yes i've read something about that too, bit of a shame really as there are loads of other places people can eat at in WDW if they prefer a less 'full on' meal. I've already told Steve to ask for a LARGE soda so hopefully our server takes the bait!

This was exactly the scenario that caused to ask questions in the first place. When we went last year I ordered the large coke (diet of course) and it was brought to our table with some comments made to the whole restaraunt about making way if anyone sees me rushing to the bathroom.
We did the same again purely to try and capture it on video as it caught us by surprise last time, but it was just put on the table and the server left.
I hope they do bring the whole atmosphere back as I feel it lost a little something without it. You'll have to let us know how it goes

[Lizzybear]

Just made my ADRs and got everything I wanted and at the times I wanted or very close to so i'm happy not to mention relieved!

Flying Fish Café dinner 535pm (wanted 600)
Whispering Canyon Café dinner 720pm (wanted 730)
Ohana breakfast 930am (changed from Kona Cafe as their times earlier/later than I wanted and I think I was having second thoughts about no character meals anyway!)
50s Primetime dinner 700pm
Boma dinner 535pm (wanted 630 but no later)
Ohana dinner 500pm (was worried I wouldn't get this as I wanted this exact time before MNSSHP so really pleased I got it)
Le Cellier lunch 140pm (wanted 130)
Boma breakfast 840am (wanted 900)

[tinks_1989]

Hello

Just caught up on all your PRE TRIPPIE!

and all I can say is WOW! What a trip you have planned! Sounds amazing cant wait to hear more and see all your piccies for when you return :D

x x