How Many Sleeps Until Disney Mommy?! August 2009 PTR **WE'RE BACK!!!**

[Lady Lallie]

I'm joining in.

Your family is beautiful! I love all the pictures from your past trips.

I went to Flame Tree BBQ in May and I have to say...the birds really freak me out. They can get awfully close in their outdoor seating area. I don't like birds, unless I am inside and they are outside so maybe it's just me. There were even some bigger crane type birds that were poking around for food while we were there. I ate as fast as possible so I could leave.

I can't wait to read more.

[Mickey_Mom]

OK so I haven't done my post yet about this years ADRs but I thought I'd throw in some random pics just for fun.


This is the calendar we've been using to count down to our vacation.




Notice that May is fairly mangled and Demetri was drawing on it by months end.




Demetri wanted his picture taken with the month we actually go.




And this is how it looks on our fridge. Notice the letters?




Earlier this week we went shopping to get my DS13 sunglasses for his school trip to Montreal. After we all had a blast trying on seventeen millions of pairs of sunglasses , we finally found what we wanted and headed to the checkouts. On the way, we spied this awesome find for my daughter.



She tried it on and that was it, she had to have it.


Lastly, just a pic of my favorite bag.

Our first year I hadn't packed an empty bag to bring back souveniers in and so at the last minute I had to run to the POP gift shop. This was my pick and I've used it just about everyday since then.

[Mickey_Mom]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

I'm joining in.

Your family is beautiful! I love all the pictures from your past trips.

I went to Flame Tree BBQ in May and I have to say...the birds really freak me out. They can get awfully close in their outdoor seating area. I don't like birds, unless I am inside and they are outside so maybe it's just me. There were even some bigger crane type birds that were poking around for food while we were there. I ate as fast as possible so I could leave.

I can't wait to read more.

Hi Lady Lallie and thank you!

Mmmmm, I'm a little worried now. I'm definately not a bird person and it sounds like my kids (OK and me too) would not be diggin 'em. What makes the Flame Tree a great place? The food or the surroundings? Can you take advantage of the scenery from the inside?

[MinnieNurse]

Originally Posted by Mickey_Mom

New post coming up, but I wanted to ask people's opinion about the Flame Tree BBQ in AK. I'd heard much good things about it, but l've also heard now there are lots of birds. Is it still a great place to go? Or do the birds bother too much?

We love Flame Tree but there are birds there. They never have really bothered us. If you feed them they will come over to your table, but nothing like swarming you like I have read. Maybe we have just been lucky, we have eaten there 3 times and DH loves the food.

[MinnieNurse]

Love the Tink hat and your bag. That may be worth forgetting my extra bag for, I really like that bag.

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by Mickey_Mom

New post coming up, but I wanted to ask people's opinion about the Flame Tree BBQ in AK. I'd heard much good things about it, but l've also heard now there are lots of birds. Is it still a great place to go? Or do the birds bother too much?

We had heard so many great things about Flame Tree BBQ before we went on our last trip that I knew I wanted to at least give it a try Although we did enjoy the food, having the birds around really freaked the boys out.They spent the whole time looking around and they barely ate. Even if you didn't feed them, all it took was one other person to do it near you and then they kept circling around the area. I believe that it only has outdoor seating and we sat closest to the building. Maybe if we had went a little further out it wouldn't have been so bad.

Your countdown calendar reminded me that we have to start ours very soon!! Oh, and I love the bag!!

[ZeroToHero]

I love the picture itinerary by the way - that's so cool! I forgot to mention it earlier.

[Mickey_Mom]

Well I said I would do it today and gosh darnit, I'm going to do it today.

So I've said before I'm a planning freak right? Well, when it came time to start thinking about which ADRs I wanted to make, I started early. Polling the kids, surfing DIS recommendations, pouring over menus, random Google searches... you name it.

My husband's only request is that he get a good steak so .... not much help there, thanks honey! So after much, much deliberation, I narrowed it down to fifteen (yes fifteen) places I wanted to try. Then I played "Yes, No, Maybe" with the kids. I would tell them each place, where they were and what was on their menus. They each had to give me a yes, no or a maybe answer if they wanted to go. It kinda really came down to what my DS13 Alex wanted because Ariana and Demetri answered "yes" to everything

So our choices ended up being:
Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast
Rainforest Cafe at AK (new)
Teppan Edo (new)
Chef Mickey
Ohana
Planet Hollywood (new)
Le Cellier
Sci Fi Dine-in Theatre (new)

Half of our choices were places we hadn't been before so we're excited to try them and you'll note that all of the places offer a good steak. Happy hubby, happy home

So all that was left was to book our days around those meals (or was it booking the meals around the days?!) I had to wait and wait and wait for the August hours to come out and when they finally did, I was ready to book!!

I found a fairly simple scheduler on a random Google search and created a modified version for myself so I could have everything at a glance in front of me should I need to change my plans because I couldn't get an ADR.



Not quite the souped up picture itinerary I made last year, but we'll see if I need to make it this year or not. Anyways, I had another sheet that I could record the confirmation numbers on and take with me when we check in to make sure all was well, and then just had to wait until May 18th for my 90 day window.

Turned out May 18th was a Canadian holiday so I didn't even have to worry about taking time off work. Which was a blessing given what happened when I called.

So it kinda blew that I had to get up early on a holiday to make the reservations, but I was excited too that we were that much closer to actually going. While visions of sugarplums danced in the heads of my family all snugged in their beds, without a clatter I tip-toed downstairs to settle a matter. At 6:59am I was dialing the number and realized three attempts in that I was dialing the wrong freaking number to access our long distance savings plan. So at 7:04am I actually dialed correctly and heard the music welcoming me to the happiest place on earth. After pushing the right buttons I was on hold for 18 minutes listening to Laughing Place, Grim Grinning Ghosts and Its a Small World. Then, at 7:22am I was disconnected. What happened???

I immediately called back and kept getting this bleeping recording about how all the circuits were busy. What?!? All circuits are busy?! What circuits and how dare they be busy at this freaking time in the morning when I'm trying to make this most important call?!? I'd never made the reservations on the first day before and it also turned out that May 18th was the first day for everyone for free dining starting on August 16th... what, I wasn't the only one? I thought the problem was with "my" phone so I actually called WDW technical support and the lady I spoke with patiently explained that she takes care of the WDW web site and has no ability to make my dinner reservations for me

So I jumped back on the phones and for the next hour and a half tried to get back to the Laughing Place. Eventually I was excited to hear the music again and after pushing the right buttons I was back on hold Then can you guess what happened after I got to the exact same spot of Its a Small World? Disconnected again!!

Luckily it was only another 15 minutes before I heard the music, I pushed the right buttons and I was talking to a real live cast member! She was great and I got all the reservations I wanted around the times I had asked for with the one exception of the Rainforest Cafe in AK. Turns out its not part of the dining plan so we cancelled that one.

Whew! And now, just for fun, more pics from past trips keeping with the ADR theme:


Chef Mickey's - One of my DS13's classic memories is the 'jube-jube sundae' he made for dessert at the self serve ice cream. I'll try to find the pic that has him chowing down on it like it was the last item of food on earth.


Found it!


Ohana - My DS13 is a budding photographer and he loved taking scenery shots.


This is in the Polynesian Resort right outside Ohana and as you come in from the Monorail.

And lastly, this pic is in the Canada pavillion (eh?) outside Le Cellier. I had it as my desktop pic for a long time.

[Mickey_Mom]

One more bonus pic from my DS13. I really need to get more shots of this when we go back, its so beautiful.

[Lady Lallie]

Flame Tree only has outdoor seating. I was in a section pretty far from where you get your food and the birds were still a problem. And like someone mentioned, it only takes one other person to start feeding them near you and then they are all over your table too. That happens often in Disney! The food is good, but I've only eaten at AK twice and both times were at Flame Tree so I don't know a whole lot about the other options.

What a frustrating time trying to get connected to make your ADRs! I am so glad you were able to get everything. Rain Forest Cafe is meh so I don't think you are missing much, the atmosphere is cool but it's really really really loud and noisy in there. Did you replace it with something else?

[Mickey_Mom]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

Flame Tree only has outdoor seating. I was in a section pretty far from where you get your food and the birds were still a problem. And like someone mentioned, it only takes one other person to start feeding them near you and then they are all over your table too. That happens often in Disney! The food is good, but I've only eaten at AK twice and both times were at Flame Tree so I don't know a whole lot about the other options.

When we've eaten at AK it was CS at the place by the Dinosaur ride. We liked it but I thought it would be fun to try the Flame Tree. I think we'll check it out when it comes time to eat and just see how it goes. My daughter will start screaming if the birds come remotely around her so... we'll see.

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

What a frustrating time trying to get connected to make your ADRs! I am so glad you were able to get everything. Rain Forest Cafe is meh so I don't think you are missing much, the atmosphere is cool but it's really really really loud and noisy in there. Did you replace it with something else?

Oh I would have been so upset if I'd lost an ADR I wanted because I was disconnected. Really, the only thing that was affected was LeCellier... we got it on the day we wanted but a little bit earlier than expected. But hey! I'll take it! Its freaking Disney World!! We didn't replace the Rain Forest Cafe, we figured we'd just play it by ear. I'm really running with the relaxed schedule this time around

[Lady Lallie]

Originally Posted by Mickey_Mom

When we've eaten at AK it was CS at the place by the Dinosaur ride. We liked it but I thought it would be fun to try the Flame Tree. I think we'll check it out when it comes time to eat and just see how it goes. My daughter will start screaming if the birds come remotely around her so... we'll see.

Oh I would have been so upset if I'd lost an ADR I wanted because I was disconnected. Really, the only thing that was affected was LeCellier... we got it on the day we wanted but a little bit earlier than expected. But hey! I'll take it! Its freaking Disney World!! We didn't replace the Rain Forest Cafe, we figured we'd just play it by ear. I'm really running with the relaxed schedule this time around

Playing it by ear is good though! I can't tell you how many times I call while I'm down in Disney to change our dining or cancel ADRs just because we are going more with the flow. You never know how you are going to feel once you are actually there.

[Mickey_Mom]

Originally Posted by ZeroToHero

I love the picture itinerary by the way - that's so cool! I forgot to mention it earlier.

Thanks! It was truly a life saver on our last trip but I'm not sure if I'll need it this time. I think she trusts me now that whatever we do will be fun!

Because it worked so well though, we started incorporating it into different things for her, like her school schedule. Moving from class to class was different for her once she reached middle school but just knowing what to expect made it easier for her. Same could be said for me too!

[Mickey_Mom]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

Playing it by ear is good though! I can't tell you how many times I call while I'm down in Disney to change our dining or cancel ADRs just because we are going more with the flow. You never know how you are going to feel once you are actually there.

That's definately the way we're going to do it this year. I've intentionally left several of our days wide open for impulsive things to do. Leaving more of the decisions up to the kids will make them happier and less stressful for me worrying that they're not enjoying the plans I made. No complaining!

[MinnieNurse]

Originally Posted by Mickey_Mom

Well I said I would do it today and gosh darnit, I'm going to do it today.


And lastly, this pic is in the Canada pavillion (eh?) outside Le Cellier. I had it as my desktop pic for a long time.

I have a similar picture and it is one of my favorites. I love the colors in this area.



Glad you got most the ADR's you wanted. I have found with places like Rainforest that are not Disney owned I have better luck calling them for an ADR than going through Disney. We did T-Rex at DTD in December and DS really liked it, did ya'll consider that?

We really liked Planet Hollywood abd Teppan Edo. Sci Fi and Rainforest are 2 of our favorites, I had to make DH and DS let us try new stuff this time.

I have some pics from inside T-Rex if your interested.