Birthday Trip, Saratoga Springs 01.12.14 - 01.18.14

Below is the Readers Digest version of our last trip. The full report (with pictures) can be read here

Cast of Characters:
My wife and I. (not pictured, our daughter who will is scheduled to become an air-breather in May) I did most of the planning.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs. We borrowed DVC points to cover our trip in September (read about that trip here), but we had enough left over for a week in a studio during off-peak season. We wanted to fly down on Saturday because Southwest has direct flights from ROC to MCO that depart early in the morning, but due to the RunDisney events that weekend, everything was booked up Saturday night, so we flew down Sunday (SWA flights direct from ROC to MCO are in the afternoons on Sundays, so we lost most of the day, another reason we wanted to fly down Saturday).

After our last 2 trips, we decided not to go for the dining plan and save money by not getting ADR, we would pack some food, buy some at the shop at the hotel and just eat at QS places when we are hungry. It was a nice way to do it. When we are on the DDP, I tend to overlook the lower costs items on the menu in attempt to make my moneys worth. It also saved us a lot of money.

We landed a little after 5.30p. That late in the day, they were waiting for more people to show up before the DME left the airport, and Saratoga is the 2nd of 4 stops. We got into the resort about 7. After we checked in, and dropped off our bags and headed to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We arrived at the park right as Wishes was starting for the night. After the fireworks, we were able to squeeze in 5 rides (Pooh, Pirates, Jungle, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan) before the park closed for the night.

Monday took us to Hollywood Studios. I'm not much for the thrill rides, and my wife being 5 months pregnant can't really do them either, so our FP+ were for the Movie Ride, Toy Story and Lights! Motors! Action!. We also were able to take in the Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, Beauty and the Beast Stage Show Fantasmic and a 2nd run on Toy Story during EMH. We ate lunch at Backlot Express.

Tuesday we found ourselves at EPCOT. Our FP+ were for Soarin', Spaceship Earth and Finding Nemo. We were also able to take in an extra trip on Soarin' during morning EMH. I did Test Track on my own. Illuminations is one of the best things about EPCOT, and I found a spot and camped out. For food, we grabbed a fish and chips from Britain, I also tried the new Spice Road Table. I don't know much about Mediterranean food, so I really can't comment on the quality or not, but I wasn't a big fan of the Tingis sampler platter. It wasn't much food for $16. I don't think that we will be back on future trips. We did however, really enjoy the fish and chips. We will do that in the future and the Cronut (doughnut croissant) was very good. Highly recommended.

Wednesday found us at Animal Kingdom. We had FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safari, Kali River, and Finding Nemo. My wife always likes seeing the Festival of the Lion King, but since that is dark while they build the new theater, we couldn't do that. We were able to do the Safari a 2nd time during morning EMH. When it came time to do Kali, my wife didn't want to ride it. It was on the cool side, so she didn't want to go on a water ride. I went alone. When I went to scan in my MB, the CM at the gate told me not to waste it, there was no line. So I went in on the standby line and re-scheduled the FP+ for Bugs Life. As I said earlier, I am not usually one for the thrill rides, but I did want to ride it, just so I could say I had. As expected, it was done well. I would have moved the Yeti to somewhere where it could be appreciated. Perhaps put it where the tracks are broken out, and the car is stopped while the track switches before you go backwards. That way you can see it better and appreciate the work that went into making it. We ate lunch at Restaurantasorus, I had the corndog nuggets. I wanted something small, my stomach was still a bit off from the Everest ride. Since AK closes so early during the weekend, we didn't take a break, we called it a day a little before it closed at 5 and went back to the room. We had dinner at Artist's Palate. The Wednesday special was chicken parm with penne. It wasn't bad. We wandered around the resort for a while, and went back to the room for the night.

Next up was MK. Our FP+ were for Peter Pan, Little Mermaid and Pirates. During the morning EMH, we did an extra ride on Peter Pan, Small World and Haunted Mansion. Breakfast was a cinnamon roll from Gaston's. I had one of these on my last trip, and it has become a 'must do', as much as a Dole Whip float. Lunch was a ceasar salad at the Village Haus. We found a nice table on the balcony overlooking the main dining hall. Dinner was a taco salad at Pecos Bill's. After dinner, we went over to the Bay Lake Tower to watch Wishes from the Top of the World lounge. Thursday was my wife's birthday, so we got the 7 layer cake, and watched the fireworks from the balcony. It is a great place to watch the show, especially since they play the same music as in the park. It was a nice place to spend her birthday.

We hadn't planned on doing any table service meals this week, but on a whim, Thursday night we decided to see if we could get a table for breakfast Friday morning. While we were waiting for the bus to go back to the park after our afternoon break, I opened up the MDE app on my phone and booked breakfast at 'Ohana the next morning. We had eaten there for dinner on our last trip, and I didn't love it. It was high quality food, but I am just not a fan of sweet flavorings on meat (although the bread pudding was amazing). I had heard good things about 'Ohana for breakfast, so we gave it a shot and we are glad we did. It was a lot of fun. Plenty of food, and and Mickey, Pluto Lilo and Stitch joined us.

Friday was originally scheduled to be an EPCOT day, but we got everything we planned on doing done on Tuesday, so we changed all of our FP+ over to MK. We did Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion and Mickey's Philharmagic. When we tapped our MB at the Haunted Mansion, it had a spooky sound instead of the generic jingle that it has everywhere else. During the day, we were able to knock out everything else (Carrousel of Progress, People Mover, Monster's Inc, Small World, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruse and Pirates) we wanted to to hold us over until our next trip, which will probably be until fall/winter of 2015 or spring of 2016. Dinner was a taco salad again at Pecos Bill's. After a quick run through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, we staked a claim for the light show and Wishes. It was pretty crowded on Main St USA, and the single CM trying to direct foot traffic was fighting a losing battle. People were coming and going where they pleased, and it was a bit distracting. After Wishes, most of the park cleared out, despite the park being open for 2 more hours. It made it easy to get to most of the rest of the attractions we wanted to hit. In our last trip to the Laugh Floor, I was picked to play Sully.

Overall, the FP+ and MB worked fine. We had no issues with them, and were able to make changes without a hitch. Now begins the process of planning our next trip, which we plan on taking my brother and his family (wife and 3 kids who will be 10, 9 and 5 by then) and my parents. It should be a lot of fun, and who knows what the FP+ will be like then!

Thank you for reading. Again, if you would like to read my full report, it can be found (with pictures) at my site, http://yedliw.blogspot.com