O.K, I've got to admit I'm kind of scared to invite you into the madness that is my Disney planning head. I am a SUPER PLANNER. Everything is planned down to a T. My DH makes fun of me all of the time for it, but then deep inside he loves it
No really here is what he thinks of my planning:
O.K., where to begin where to begin. . .
First of all you need to know I am a HUGE Tour Guide Mike fan. Who wouldn't be a fan of this guy :
A friend of mine at work last year before my trip told me all about it and showed me some of the touring plans she had printed off of his website and when I saw how detailed he was I GOT ON BOARD!
Hey, a handsome detailed gentleman who is going to help me with my Disney planning, DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT?
So, we tried him out last year for the first time and LOVED it. He saved us SO much time in the parks, I do swear by his advice. Now, of course I can't give his advice out on here or he would hunt me down and kill me
(o.k., hopefully nothing that graphic) but it would go against the agreement on his site. I will share my own plans with you though, budget, meals, etc. etc. and HIGHLY recommend you give Tourguide Mike a try on your next trip, man, I really pitched him didn't I. I swear I have no investments in his company, although I wish I could have his job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So every year I wait for his "best days" list to come out for the months we will be going so I can decide what parks to visit each day. Ever since we started doing the dining plan and enjoying Disney food our days seem to focus around what park we'll be in and where we will be eating. So once we know what parks are least crowded we make the ADR's based on that.
Every year we compile a list as a family of where we want to eat. Tim does have a lot of input in that part of the planning
. I pull up the menu's online and we remember good times we had at restaraunts we've already visited. We try to come up with a balance of restaraunts we haven't been to before with those that we LOVED and want to visit again.
This year the restaraunts we are going to visit that we've gone to before are Whispering Canyon (because we ARE STAYING at the WL and because of memories like these):
Lauren riding her pony around the restaraunt.
Did someone say Ketchup??
O'Hana's (one of our favorites last trip, the food is amazing and here)
Lauren shakin' it around the restaraunt.
Concourse Steakhouse (we'll be going here for our Anniversary dinner this year- nine years together
) We LOVED this dinner last year. The kids loved the desert:
O.K. I loved my keylime pie tart desert also:
We also are going to repeat Animal Kingdom breakfast Donalds Breakfastasaurus this year as well, we loved it two years ago.
New places we are going to try are: LeCellier, can't wait to give this one a try but I am nervous about the atmosphere and the kids behaving.
We are going to give Wolfgang Puck Cafe in Downtown Disney a try. The menu looked incredible, any insights here??
We are going to try Coral Reef as well on an Epcot night, I think the kids will love the fish tanks, I will love the food, there was a steak on the menu so it meets Tim's standards, and with the recent positive reviews of it on this board I feel good about it.
Of course I have to get my princess in to see the princesses:
Lauren at her 3 year old b-day party in October (she's getting so big):
We've already tried Cindy's castle, and now that it's moved to 2 credits we aren't doing it. We did Grand Floridian 1900 Park Fare for Dinner last year and LOVED it, but it's under refurbishment this year and we want to try something new for Lauren so we decided on the Askerhaus breakfast with the princesses, she will go nuts with all of the princesses. We weren't impressed with the lunch menu so we're going to give breakfast a try.
So, now you know where we will be dining. Next time I will share with you the details of the parks we are going to, what times I got those ADR's for, etc. Still to come, MY DETAILED planning report including budget for each day. Still on the hunt for airfare, stroller rental questions and planning as well as the HUNT FOR THE CARS (to be explained later).
Man I love this planning thing, don't you??
Until later. . . .
Lesley
I so want to do Whispering Canyon Cafe, but I'm not sure how many meals we're going to actually end up doing there since we have a time share with a full kitchen, and a total party of 16!
We must be long lost cousins!!
We're trying TGM for the first time and will be eating at lots of the places you are so I'm hoping to pick up lots of tips - no pressure or anything 
I was trying to think of something to relate how our money compares to yours, for £6,000 ($12,000) over here we could buy a brand new small ford car, but who needs a new car when you could go to the world for 2 weeks. 
Also last summer we had a week in a caravan in Scotland so we could afford another WDW holiday, feeling even better now? Especially as it was so cold DD's had to sleep every night fully clothed with jumpers and socks on and it was August. 
Anyways, your kids are still just adorable! I love that picture of Lauren at her 3rd bday party, its precious! Your plans sound amazing of course and you TOTALLY sold me on TourGuideMike. Im actually really regretting not purchasing it earlier. I think it may be a little pointless now since there is only 22 days to go for me and I REFUSE to change my plans AT ALL! 
Also, she just updated her trip report and said that Wolfgang Puck's was wonderful!
I don't even have the papers from work or from the mortgage company... I wish I were that on top of it.
I'm glad that your refund will pick up the WDW tab. 
getting settled in to hear your details!!!
