Can we please do one character meal?! A January '19 PTR! *TR Link Posted 2/12*

[emilyhuff]

Love your Epcot day! It sounds like it'll be a super fun day and I also am a Soarin rope dropper!!! I am equally as mad about the Character Spot going to tier 1 - so dumb!

 

[missangelalexis]

Love your Epcot day! It sounds like it'll be a super fun day and I also am a Soarin rope dropper!!! I am equally as mad about the Character Spot going to tier 1 - so dumb!

Thank you! Soarin is the perfect way to start an Epcot day in my opinion!

Ugh it's so annoying isn't it?!

 

[Tracy161]

The fact that I am in the low 100s and creeping my way to double digits is exciting!

How exciting, indeed!!!

 

[missangelalexis]

How exciting, indeed!!!

I cannot wait!!

 

[missangelalexis]

January 29 - Universal/ IoA

Assuming we do IoA our first day, today will be Universal day!

I think the plan for today will be to try and do Despicable Me, Gringotts, The Mummy, Jimmy Fallon and Transformers all before lunch.

Some options for lunch are the Simpsons Area, Mel's Drive In or Monster Cafe. DBF didn't get to see Springfield all built out, so he might be interested in eating in there!

After lunch I'd like us to do Shrek, ET (despite DBF's protests- come on it's a classic!!), Simpsons, Kang & Kodos, Fast & Furious and Men In Black.

A lot of my favorite rides are in this park, so I hope we can do a few of them more than once. I think the park will be closing at 7pm so we will just stay until we've done everything! Not sure if we will eat dinner here, at City Walk, or just head back to the hotel.

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[missjackiemcg]

A lot of my favorite rides are in this park, so I hope we can do a few of them more than once. I think the park will be closing at 7pm so we will just stay until we've done everything! Not sure if we will eat dinner here, at City Walk, or just head back to the hotel.

It's just SO different than planning for a trip to WDW isn't it?! I love that you can allow the time to just do whatever you have time for and know you'll still be able to get in anywhere you want to eat dinner.

 

[MeghanEmily]

I have a lot of favourites on the Universal side, too! Though I think if I had to choose, I'm more of an IoA fan. It's tough to pick! I hope you get all your priorities in. I love how much more flexible you can be when planning for Universal compared to Disney.

 

[Pluto0809]

Got a little behind again as usual ....

Jimmy Fallon & Fast & Furious

I haven't seen either of these but I have read almost nothing but horrible reviews of them. I'm curious to see what you think.

butter beer is a must!!

Definitely!! The frozen is my favorite.

Since there aren't a ton of rides in this park, I think this would be a good day to take the mid-day break and head to Toothsomes for lunch!

I think that would work well for here.

I honestly think we can be done by 5pm.

I do too. If you haven't done the train in Seuss land I would add that one. It's kind of like the people mover. I like riding it because it gives you some good views of the park.

That's really encouraging! We have an ADR here on our first trip too. Mostly because our son loves all things sea creatures, so I'm hoping we don't need to stress too much about good seating. But DH and I really like seafood and can't really get it where we live now. And that Mousse sounds amazing.

You can request a table near the glass but they always say they will try but can't guarantee anything. I've sat at almost every level and while it is nice to be close, you can still see even from the top and there you get more of a panoramic view of the whole aquarium.

The Festival of the Arts will be going on so it will be nice to see stuff and hopefully take advantage of some of those cool photo ops.

Mom and I enjoyed this a lot last February! If they do the Figment Scavenger Hunt again I recommend doing that, it was a lot of fun.

Illuminations.

You may be able to get an additional FP for this one if you really want to see it. I've read that they are pretty easy to get.

Universal day!

Don't forget about the Horror Makeup show! Definitely my favorite show at Universal.

Not sure if we will eat dinner here, at City Walk, or just head back to the hotel.

Jim and I enjoyed both Finnegan's and Lombard's inside the park and of course there are a lot of good choices at City Walk!

 

[khertz]

ET (despite DBF's protests- come on it's a classic!!)

WHAT?!?! DUMP HIM!!!!



Besides that, looks like you have a solid plan for the day!! We are huge fans of eating in Springfield, although that Simpsons loop starts to drive me nuts after awhile. I picked DS up from school yesterday and he decided to quote the one where Bart is looking at his aunt through beer goggles and says, "Beer goggles. See the world through the eyes of a drunk." Whoops!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love ET, always a must do!
I can’t decide which park I like the best, both have such fun attractions. Glad you are doing both!

 

[missangelalexis]

It's just SO different than planning for a trip to WDW isn't it?! I love that you can allow the time to just do whatever you have time for and know you'll still be able to get in anywhere you want to eat dinner.

It really is! I feel like I don't have to do any work vs Disney planning!

I have a lot of favourites on the Universal side, too! Though I think if I had to choose, I'm more of an IoA fan. It's tough to pick! I hope you get all your priorities in. I love how much more flexible you can be when planning for Universal compared to Disney.

Thanks, I'm pretty confident our days will go smoothly there! It's so easy to plan!

Got a little behind again as usual ....

I haven't seen either of these but I have read almost nothing but horrible reviews of them. I'm curious to see what you think.

Definitely!! The frozen is my favorite.

I think that would work well for here.

I do too. If you haven't done the train in Seuss land I would add that one. It's kind of like the people mover. I like riding it because it gives you some good views of the park.

You can request a table near the glass but they always say they will try but can't guarantee anything. I've sat at almost every level and while it is nice to be close, you can still see even from the top and there you get more of a panoramic view of the whole aquarium.

Mom and I enjoyed this a lot last February! If they do the Figment Scavenger Hunt again I recommend doing that, it was a lot of fun.

You may be able to get an additional FP for this one if you really want to see it. I've read that they are pretty easy to get.

Don't forget about the Horror Makeup show! Definitely my favorite show at Universal.

Jim and I enjoyed both Finnegan's and Lombard's inside the park and of course there are a lot of good choices at City Walk!

I have read pretty bad things about the 2 new rides too, especially Fast & Furious. I definitely gotta try them though!

The frozen butter beer is my favorite too! I want to try the fudge this time too.

I love the train in Seuss Land! It's so cute, hopefully we can squeeze that in too.

Good to hear about the seating at Coral Reef!

OoOoO maybe I will have to do the Figment Scavenger hunt, I loved doing the Remy one at F&W!

I'm not counting on us staying for Illuminations but we'll see how it goes.

I've never seen the Horror Makeup show! Sounds like fun though!

Thanks for the in park dining recommendations!

WHAT?!?! DUMP HIM!!!!



Besides that, looks like you have a solid plan for the day!! We are huge fans of eating in Springfield, although that Simpsons loop starts to drive me nuts after awhile. I picked DS up from school yesterday and he decided to quote the one where Bart is looking at his aunt through beer goggles and says, "Beer goggles. See the world through the eyes of a drunk." Whoops!

LOL I KNOW RIGHT?!

Don't worry he already knows it's happening whether he likes it or not!

OMG I know exactly what you're talking about in the dining area! Hundreds of episodes of that show, you'd think they'd have more of a variety of clips to show!

I love ET, always a must do!
I can’t decide which park I like the best, both have such fun attractions. Glad you are doing both!

I love ET too! And you're right, both parks are great! I think it will be a fun 2 days there

 

[xlsm]

or Monster Cafe

I love the Universal Monsters, and I'm sad we never ended up here on our one-day-both-parks craziness a few years ago

DBF didn't get to see Springfield all built out, so he might be interested in eating in there!

Springfield was my favorite part of the parks outside of the HP areas!! I was surprised by how good the giant pink donut actually tasted

ET (despite DBF's protests- come on it's a classic!!)

I have childhood trauma related to ET - he's scary!! I still rode the ride, and I couldn't get over how there were ETs eeeeverywhere in there!! Everywhere I turned there was another ET. Ahh!! So I understand his protests Matt and the boys torture me with all ET related things.

 

[emilyhuff]

LOL - the ET ride, in high school for my senior trip we kept going on that repeatedly and giving them really long names so ET would have a hard time pronouncing them at the end.. I don't even know if they still do that but we thought it was hilarious!

 

[missangelalexis]

I love the Universal Monsters, and I'm sad we never ended up here on our one-day-both-parks craziness a few years ago

Springfield was my favorite part of the parks outside of the HP areas!! I was surprised by how good the giant pink donut actually tasted

I have childhood trauma related to ET - he's scary!! I still rode the ride, and I couldn't get over how there were ETs eeeeverywhere in there!! Everywhere I turned there was another ET. Ahh!! So I understand his protests Matt and the boys torture me with all ET related things.

I haven't been there in a while! But I agree that the Universal Monsters are cool

I still haven't tried the giant pink donut! And now I have my heart set on Voodoo Donuts so I don't know if I will try it this trip either!

LOL! I guess ET is not for everyone! I think he's cute!

LOL - the ET ride, in high school for my senior trip we kept going on that repeatedly and giving them really long names so ET would have a hard time pronouncing them at the end.. I don't even know if they still do that but we thought it was hilarious!

That's awesome!! I'm pretty sure they still do the name thing!!

 

[missangelalexis]

I went ahead and purchased our park tickets before the new date pricing takes effect. Having park tickets make it so much more real! 46 days until FP+ day and 106 until we leave!

January 30 - Animal Kingdom

Super excited to show him Pandora! Fingers crossed I can get a FoP FP. We will also get FPs for the Safari and Expedition Everest! We will definitely see Festival of the Lion King and explore the trails. If the line is short I'd like to meet Mickey & Minnie and hopefully ride Dinosaur. I would love if all the Dinoland characters are still out meeting in their cute costumes but not sure if that's just a limited time thing or not. If they are, Chip & Dale are high on the priority list! I have us booked for a 12:30 lunch at Yak & Yeti. I will need to make time for a Night Blossom in Pandora at some point too!

Rivers of Light is a question mark. We're not going to be doing a dining package or using a FP on this one. I'm not sure how crazy standby will be? I'm going to leave it up to DBF if he wants to see it since he never has. Personally I could skip it, but if he does want to see it I figure we will just attempt standby and see what happens! Or maybe I will be able to score a same day FP for it!

I definitely want us to watch some of the Tree of Life Awakenings and maybe walk over to see Pandora at night. The park closes at 8 and I hope for us to stay as late as possible.


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[disneyAndi14]

I’m going to go back and read about your dates a little better so we can maybe meet up. I am also debating about RoL, I think my sister would love it but I don’t know if we will do it again. I think it will be a last minute decision.

I think we may do the DAH again on 1/28/19, still undecided.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Smart to buy your tickets now! I'm thinking we might do that this weekend for our potential summer 2019 trip.

I love the tree awakenings.

 

[amazingact21]

Good idea to buy your tickets now! I still find the dated prices a little crazy but maybe they'll help with crowds.

Honestly, I think trying to catch the tree awakenings is a better plan than going for Rivers of Light. I definitely agree with you there on not going after a dining package to see it and just going with whatever your boyfriend wants to do.

 

[khertz]

Good call on buying the tickets before the change. What a headache that is going to make planning when it changes!! We still have a set of tickets we've been holding on to, but I don't know how upgrades are going to worth either with this new pricing structure.

 

[ksromack]

I haven't been there in a while! But I agree that the Universal Monsters are cool

I still haven't tried the giant pink donut! And now I have my heart set on Voodoo Donuts so I don't know if I will try it this trip either!

We just had Voodoo Donuts a few days ago when we were at Universal. I highly recommend the Memphis Dust! It's a fritter with everything on top (caramel, choc chips, toffee, maybe)? The grape was super sour and the mango one was really tart as well. The Voodoo doll donut was really good (it has a raspberry filling inside).