Sweet 16 Trip in November! - Nov 2019 PTR

madeline07

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 31, 2019
Hi, my name is Sydney and I'm here to write my very first PTR. I've been reading posts and reports for a while now, but I've just now created my profile and decided to post as a way to express my excitement for my upcoming trip. As a little bit of background, I'm fifteen years old and love Disney with all my heart. My first trip was in 2008 for my fifth birthday. Since then, I've been to Disney world five other times, so six times total. Two trips were family vacations, where I was able to stay at Shades of Green, the military resort on property. The other three trips were immediate family vacations. The first at an off-property resort, and the other two at resorts on Disney property - Art of Animation and All Star Sports.

I love love love planning and researching everything about Disney World, from resorts to attractions to itineraries to dining, and everything in between. In my spare time I plan and budget vacations that I know will never even happen, it's fun for me. Disney World is just a magical place, and some of my best memories have been created there. My most recent trip was towards the end of January/beginning of February 2019. For the past few years my immediate family has been taking annual trips to Disney World - usually in late January - and for the few most recent trips I've stepped into the planning process and planned with my mom.

As our next trip won't be until sometime around 2021/2022 for the 50th Anniversary Celebration, I asked sometime in July if me, my mom, and my dad could possibly take a short trip in November as a Sweet 16 present for me. As I looked more into it to propose the idea to my parents, I realized that my birthday weekend was a long one, as I had a few days off school for some kind of teacher grading days. Early August my parents revealed to me that we could, in fact, take the trip!!

My mom and I immediately began the planning process, as we were wayyy more behind than we normally were. In fact, we had already missed the 180 day mark for making ADRs, so we got started ASAP. The dates for our trip are November 7-November 12. This means we'll be able to visit Galaxy's Edge and be in Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival, which I've never had the pleasure of attending. We will also be able to see Epcot Forever.

We are spending four days in the parks (one for each park) and will be visiting Disney Springs on our arrival and departure days. My actual birthday is November 7th, and my mom's birthday is November 1st, so we'll be able to celebrate both of our birthdays this trip. We'll be flying out of the Reagan National Airport on November 7th sometime late afternoon and arriving in Orlando around two hours later, to catch the Magical Express to Coronado Springs. After we check in and unpack our things, we'll head to Disney Springs for our dinner reservation at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'. We ate here during our last trip and I loved it, so we'll be going back for my birthday dinner!

The next day, we'll be at Epcot. The day after, Animal Kingdom, then Magic Kingdom, then Hollywood Studios. Although my favorite park is Hollywood Studios, I normally like to go to Magic Kingdom on the final day, to close out the trip with a viewing of Happily Ever After. However, our final day of the trip is a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party date. Although I've never been and would love to, I'm just not willing to give up Happily Ever After.

In 8 days I'll be able to reserve my fast passes, which I already have planned. In addition to Homecomin', we have dining reservations for dinner at Via Napoli in Epcot, and breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe on the day we come home. My mom and I are still trying to snatch a reservation for a lunch at Be Our Guest, which we'll hopefully be able to get around the 30-day mark, as that's when people try to cancel before the designated cancellation period ends. I'll be back soon to discuss other dining plans and more about me and this trip!
 
Hi, it's just a few minutes later and I'm back! I just couldn't stay away. I'll be discussing more of my dining plans, mostly just places I'd like to eat that don't require reservations (quick service or snacks). I'll also be discussing the foods from Food and Wine Festival I'd like to try.

The first quick service location is at Disney Springs, Chicken Guy. I'm aware it's just the basics, chicken tenders, fries, mac 'n' cheese, but I'm interested in seeing the many sauce options they present. I've also heard good things about the food itself, however basic. At Animal Kingdom, I'm interested in eating at Satu'li Canteen, as I've heard very good things about it. I'd also love to try the cheeseburger pods. They seem interesting, so I'm hoping we eat there. The third and fourth restaurants are both at Hollywood Studios, so I'm assuming we'd do one for lunch and one for dinner. The first we dined at on the last trip, and it's Woody's Lunch Box. I had the BBQ Brisket Melt sandwich with potato barrels. This sandwich was delicious, with the brisket not being too dried out, and the pickles adding a nice touch. I'm eager to order this again. The fourth restaurant is either Docking Bay 7 or Ronto Roasters at Galaxy's Edge. There are a few options at Docking Bay 7 that I'd love to try, including the Felucian Garden Spread, or the Fried Endorian Yip Tip, both being real foods (plant-based "kefta" and fried chicken) with fictional names from the Star Wars universe. However, I've heard very good things about the Ronto Wrap, served at Ronto Roasters, so I may just have to try that.

The next two locations are snack locations, one I'm very likely to visit and other I'm not so likely to visit. The place I'm likely to visit is the Milk Stand in Galaxy's Edge, as I'll be there anyways. I'd like to try both the green and blue milks and see what I think of them, as I've heard mixed reviews about both. The location I'm not as likely to visit but I'd love to is Ample Hills Creamery. I'd really love to try their ice cream, as a self-proclaimed ice cream connoisseur. However, as it's a little ways away from Coronado Springs and I most likely won't be visiting the Boardwalk resort or any surrounding resorts otherwise, I most likely won't be able to visit that.

The final thing I'll be discussing on this post is items from the Food and Wine Festival I'd love to try. The first is the Brazilian Cheese Bread from the Brazil Booth. Although I'm familiar with this food, as they serve it at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian Steakhouse my family sometimes goes to, I love it a lot, so I'll most likely get it again at the festival. The next item I would like to get is the Canadian Cheddar and Bacon soup, served with a pretzel roll. This just sounds good to me, and I've seen good things about it online. The third item is the Smoked Corned Beef w/ crispy potatoes, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer-cheese fondue from the Flavors from Fire booth, which I'm looking forward to because it seems like an interesting take on nachos. The fourth item is the chocolate hazelnut creme brûlée from the France booth, as I love the sugar topping of creme brûlée but not the traditional custard filling. However, I do love Nutella, so I'm hoping I'll be able to enjoy the whole of this treat and not just the sugar topping. The fifth item is the ropa vieja empanada, from Islands of the Caribbean booth. Simply just because I love empanadas. Next is the teriyaki chicken bun from the Japan booth, as I love roast pork buns (like the kind served at dim sum) and this would be an interesting little change. The seventh and final dish I jotted down is the dark chocolate baklava from the Morocco booth. I've read reviews saying that its good and well made, as baklava is quite a difficult treat to make, so I'm looking forward to trying this.

Although I put these items, I'm sure there are some items on it I won't try and I'll end up trying some items not on the list, but this can help me organize my thoughts at least a tiny bit so I'm not completely overwhelmed. Hope you enjoyed!
 
Hi Syndey! What a nice way to celebrate your 16th birthday! November 7 is my mom's birthday also.

Maybe you can visit Ample Hills on your Epcot day? You can walk there from the IG exit and then come back to Epcot. The ice cream is delicious!
 
Hey Sydney! Your trip sounds awesome! I’m 16 and also love planning Disney vacations and researching the parks! I took my sweet 16 trip in June and it was amazing! Your reservations sound super good too! Via Napoli is my literal favorite place on earth and I just tried Homecoming on my last trip and loved it! I’ve never been to food and wine since all my annual Disney trips are in May for the most part but everything looks amazing! Hope you get some awesome Fastpasses!
 


Hi Syndey! What a nice way to celebrate your 16th birthday! November 7 is my mom's birthday also.

Maybe you can visit Ample Hills on your Epcot day? You can walk there from the IG exit and then come back to Epcot. The ice cream is delicious!
Thats a great idea, I may have to do that. The only issue would be finding enough time to do so!
 
Hey Sydney! Your trip sounds awesome! I’m 16 and also love planning Disney vacations and researching the parks! I took my sweet 16 trip in June and it was amazing! Your reservations sound super good too! Via Napoli is my literal favorite place on earth and I just tried Homecoming on my last trip and loved it! I’ve never been to food and wine since all my annual Disney trips are in May for the most part but everything looks amazing! Hope you get some awesome Fastpasses!
Hi! It's so great finding other people near my age who love Disney as much as I do. I'm hoping to get good fast passes, I have my calendar marked!
 


Hi! It's so great finding other people near my age who love Disney as much as I do. I'm hoping to get good fast passes, I have my calendar marked!
I feel the same way! Not many of my friends are super into Disney and I’d like to change that. Let’s be friends! I have my dining reservation day marked for my trip coming up and I’m super excited!!
 
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Hi Sydney! This trip sounds amazing so far, I'm excited to follow along!
Omg how exciting! I’d love to be friends! Yeah I wish my friends were more into Disney so I had people to talk to, but I could always try to turn them onto it. Do you know which dining reservations you’re making yet?
 
Omg how exciting! I’d love to be friends! Yeah I wish my friends were more into Disney so I had people to talk to, but I could always try to turn them onto it. Do you know which dining reservations you’re making yet?
I’m gonna try to message you later so we can exchange emails or something and talk more if you’d like that! The same things happen to me! I went on a Disney trip with my school marching band earlier this year and so many people just did not understand Disney. I’m definitely gonna make reservations for Star Wars land because I think you need them there and definitely Via Napoli and I think the Grand Floridian Cafe, and maybe more I could add I’m not too sure lol.
 
I’m gonna try to message you later so we can exchange emails or something and talk more if you’d like that! The same things happen to me! I went on a Disney trip with my school marching band earlier this year and so many people just did not understand Disney. I’m definitely gonna make reservations for Star Wars land because I think you need them there and definitely Via Napoli and I think the Grand Floridian Cafe, and maybe more I could add I’m not too sure lol.
I'd love that! I totally get the thing about people not understanding Disney. I'm super excited to visit Galaxy's Edge, but I'm not sure if you need reservations or not, I'm pretty sure the land is open as of right now. Those sound like good reservations!
 
I'd love that! I totally get the thing about people not understanding Disney. I'm super excited to visit Galaxy's Edge, but I'm not sure if you need reservations or not, I'm pretty sure the land is open as of right now. Those sound like good reservations!
Hey!! It won’t let me send a message for some reason but my email is disneyislife240@gmail.com if you wanna talk there!! Yeah I think you’re right I’ll have to look into getting ready to face the crowds at Galaxy’s Edge haha.
 

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