A Celebration Trip Full of Surprises - May 2015 PTR (New 9/15 - New TR Link!)

[afwdwfan]

Finally, I pre-purchased Memory Maker. Just 27 more days!

Inside of a month now! Nice!!!!

Magic Kingdom has really grown on me during our last two trips – while my favorite park has always been Epcot, Magic Kingdom’s attractions and nighttime spectaculars continue to grab more and more of our attention. Most importantly, as Magic Kingdom is Anika’s favorite park, I've planned for us to spend a lot of time there.

I've kind of gone in cycles about my favorite park too. For a while it was MGM... yes, it was that long ago. But you know, back when I was "too old" for MK but not really old enough to get much out of EPCOT. It had the thrill rides...

But then I fell in love with EPCOT. It was my favorite park for a while.

But now I've kind of gone full circle and I'm back to MK. I just can't ever get enough time there.

There are very few attractions that we won’t do during this trip given its length; however, there are a few things that won’t make the list: The Enchanted Tiki Room (I think Anika will only do this about once every ten years), the Tomorrowland Speedway (seeing it from the Peoplemover is close enough), and, of course, Stich’s Great Escape (seriously, who does that attraction?! ).

Ok, I'm still a sucker for those singing birds. But I'm right there with you on the others. If it weren't for the kids, there's no way we'd do Tomorrowland Speedway. In fact, I wish they'd just do us a favor and make it go away!

I seriously don’t know why people skip this. Foolish, foolish people….

I will give myself bonus points if (1) I get a picture of myself sprawled in Gaston’s chair and (2) I follow up a trip into the tavern with meeting Gaston himself. Poor Anika has no idea what she’s up against with all the character meets I have “planned”!

Oh, you definitely have to do both of those!!!!

And the bonus points should be if you're gnawing on a pork shank while sprawled in Gaston's chair.

TALKING MICKEY MOUSE!!! (Don’t worry – I’ve already warned Anika that this is a must-do on the agenda.)

That should be fun!

The rides I’m most looking forward to riding at night include Dumbo:

Good choice!

As well as, “The wildest ride in the wilderness!”

Even better choice!

I love, love, love Wishes. I saw it for the first time during our 2012 trip and can't believe I missed it on all of our prior trips!

While other shows (Illuminations, I'm looking at you) tend to get a little long in the tooth and stale to me after I've seen them so many times, Wishes just gets better every time I see it. I just don't know what it is, but it hits you right in the gut.

I plan for us to spend Anika’s birthday in Magic Kingdom – there is no better place on your birthday than your favorite Disney park! I’m also very excited to share Magic Kingdom with our Uncle Wade – he’s been to Epcot a few times and Hollywood Studios (then MGM) once, but he’s never been in Magic Kingdom. I hope he enjoys all the magic!

I hope he does!!! It is certainly hard to resist all the pixie dust!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Can I just say...you guys are my hero(ines)! 4 ADRs in one day!?!? That's a feat I'd like to accomplish!! Sounds like an amazing day!!

 

[deedee2177]

I'm very late to the party, but I'm following along now! I love the combination of PTR/TR updates. I really enjoyed your overview of CSR...my DH and I will be staying there for our 1st time during our trip in November! I'm so excited and your review was very informative!

 

[Tracy161]

Awesome must-dos!!! I am SOOOOOO excited PotC will now be open during our May visits!!!!!!!!! I really was so heartbroken about that refurb.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

You have some great "must do's" on your list!! Does seeing talking Micket need a FP+? Just wondering how long the wait is....looks like fun!! And of course...the Peoplemover is always on my list too!

Thank you! There are so many wonderful options in MK!

I'm not sure if it requires one (I don't think waits are of the A&E variety, but I'm sure they can get lengthy), but I did nab a FP+ for it. I'm super excited about it! (Anika, not so much... )

The PeopleMover is indeed fabulous.

Hey now, I used to do Stitch’s Great Escape a fair bit. I never really understood the backlash, lol. That said, it has been a while.

Um, given the fact that this is a 2 week trip, AND you'll be staying so close, there really is no excuse NOT to see the Welcome Show. There is no better way to start a day.

Hey, it's your funeral.

Well, I would think that Anika would at least be ok with face characters since if I recall correctly, her aversion was mostly to the "creepers" in the fur costumes.

Ooh boy, I cannot wait to hear the story meeting Mickey. That should be a keeper.

Truth be told, we may lose our minds and try Stitch again (since we'll have so much vacation time). I just think the attraction is strange - not nearly the fun of many others.

Seeing the welcome show will be fabulous! I hope Anika gets up and sees it with me!

True.

She doesn't adore the characters in general (as she says, "I'm not meeting the real character"), but yes, she thinks the fur characters are creepier. She thinks the face characters are better as she can somewhat see what the real person looks like.

It should be a good one!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Inside of a month now! Nice!!!!

SO CLOSE! (Yet, still so far away... )

I've kind of gone in cycles about my favorite park too. For a while it was MGM... yes, it was that long ago. But you know, back when I was "too old" for MK but not really old enough to get much out of EPCOT. It had the thrill rides...

But then I fell in love with EPCOT. It was my favorite park for a while.

But now I've kind of gone full circle and I'm back to MK. I just can't ever get enough time there.

My top parks change as well. Epcot has remained number one, but MK has replaced HS as number two. There are just so many wonderful attractions there!

Ok, I'm still a sucker for those singing birds. But I'm right there with you on the others. If it weren't for the kids, there's no way we'd do Tomorrowland Speedway. In fact, I wish they'd just do us a favor and make it go away!

I don't mind the Tiki Birds, but Anika wasn't a big fan in 2012. In order to get her to do certain things (ahem, character meets), I have to give on a few others.

Anika and I last did the Speedway on her first trip when she was eight. Bringing a small child on that attraction is practically a requirement.

I know. People be crazy.

Oh, you definitely have to do both of those!!!!

And the bonus points should be if you're gnawing on a pork shank while sprawled in Gaston's chair.

I'll do what I can on the pork shank - if I'm hungry enough for the pork shank, I obviously haven't made enough ADRs!

That should be fun!

I'll be pretty sad if he's having a "technical difficulty" and doesn't talk. I'll still be meeting Mickey but it just won't be quite as awesome.

Good choice!

Even better choice!

While other shows (Illuminations, I'm looking at you) tend to get a little long in the tooth and stale to me after I've seen them so many times, Wishes just gets better every time I see it. I just don't know what it is, but it hits you right in the gut.

I'm with you - I like Illuminations, but it doesn't capture me in the way Wishes does. I completely agree that it gets better every time you see it!

I hope he does!!! It is certainly hard to resist all the pixie dust!

He's pretty darn excited about joining us. At least since he joined us for a day last time he knows what he's getting into!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Can I just say...you guys are my hero(ines)! 4 ADRs in one day!?!? That's a feat I'd like to accomplish!! Sounds like an amazing day!!

Oh, thank you! I'm glad my travel buddy is willing to go along with my crazy plans. She also thought it worked really well!

You should absolutely try it sometime - it really wasn't that hard! It was an excellent and wonderful (and tasty!) park day.

I'm very late to the party, but I'm following along now! I love the combination of PTR/TR updates. I really enjoyed your overview of CSR...my DH and I will be staying there for our 1st time during our trip in November! I'm so excited and your review was very informative!

Sandra! I'm so glad you joined in! (And you're not too late - I haven't left yet! )

I'm glad you thought the CSR review was helpful! I took a peek at your plans - congratulations on getting free dining AND being able to save money! What a double bonus!!! As I mentioned in the post, I think you'll really love CSR. The rooms are beyond fabulous and I always thought the bus services was excellent. Although both resorts are big, I think the bus service is better at CSR as there are only four stops instead of eight (or so?) at CBR. I would also highly, highly recommend time at the pool - it was great! As an extra bonus, the toiletries provided are similar to those found at the deluxe resorts - there are definite perks to being at the convention resort!

Awesome must-dos!!! I am SOOOOOO excited PotC will now be open during our May visits!!!!!!!!! I really was so heartbroken about that refurb.

Thanks!

Me, too! Certainly, we could've lived... but I was especially excited since Wade is joining us. I want to make sure he has the chance to experience everything!

 

[Dugette]

Whew, I'm back and caught up! Love the report! What a great sister you are! (I'm guessing Anika doesn't read the DIS w/all your surprises for her?)

Mad mouse coaster or not, we LOVE Space Mountain!

Same here! Love it! Always have.

Other must-do’s in Tomorrowland include several rides on the PeopleMover:

Absolutely a must do!

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! This will be our first time(s) on this attraction as it wasn’t open yet during our last visit. I can’t wait to see all the fabulous theming!

So glad you finally get to ride this! It's so great having a new coaster to enjoy!

I’m also very, very excited that this will now be open during our trip:

Yo ho! I am way too happy about this!

 

[sailored]

I absolutely love all of your must-dos! I might steal this idea from you, if you don't mind. Magic Bands have shipped already?! YOUR TRIP IS SO CLOSE! Ahhhh!!!! Are you excited yet? I would be!!!!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

CAN THIS TRIP JUST HURRY UP ALREADY?!?!?!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Whew, I'm back and caught up! Love the report! What a great sister you are! (I'm guessing Anika doesn't read the DIS w/all your surprises for her?)

Thank you! No, Anika is not on the DIS - she loves Disney, but somehow she doesn't feel the need to talk about it all the time.

I'm pretty confident that she's still in the dark. Just this evening, my mom mentioned that Anika continues to ask her and dad if they could just tell her some of the plans. Thus far, they've kept their lips zipped!

Same here! Love it! Always have.

Space Mountain is seriously awesome.

Absolutely a must do!

I just love the PeopleMover. It's such a relaxing ride, a great seated break, and I love whipping around all the different sections of Tomorrowland!

So glad you finally get to ride this! It's so great having a new coaster to enjoy!

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited about it! I'm not anticipating that it will be 1001 thrills a la Space Mountain, but I'm really looking forward to all the cool details.

Yo ho! I am way too happy about this!

I am, too!

I absolutely love all of your must-dos! I might steal this idea from you, if you don't mind. Magic Bands have shipped already?! YOUR TRIP IS SO CLOSE! Ahhhh!!!! Are you excited yet? I would be!!!!!

Thanks! There are so many fabulous things to do in Magic Kingdom that it's hard to narrow them down! Please, steal away... I totally took that great idea from other DISers!

I KNOW! As you'll see shortly, I've already received TWO SETS of them!

CAN THIS TRIP JUST HURRY UP ALREADY?!?!?!

TELL ME ABOUT IT!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Must-Do’s – The Epcot Edition

Yikes, folks, I’m sorry I’ve been so absent! I’ve been busy almost every day and I spent my weekend helping my family prepare for the big graduation party in two weeks. We did very exciting things such as washing windows, cleaning blinds, and steam cleaning the carpet. Fun times. Things are moving right along!

Speaking of moving right along, we’re only NINETEEN DAYS from our trip!

I received our Harry Potter lanyards for the Universal portion of the trip:

Thank you, Ebay!

I’m planning on claiming the Marauder’s Map lanyard and planning to give Anika the Hogwarts Express lanyard. The only gripe I have with them is they seem so short – perhaps we’ll swap them out if they drive us too crazy.

I have also received two special deliveries from our friends at Disney World.

For our Pop Century stay, our Canadia magic bands:

We have brightly colored bands for our Grand Floridian stay:

I realize they’re interchangeable and all, but I was rather amused by the Canadia bands. I’d already determined who was getting which color (based on preferences and the fact that I wanted them all to be different), and when I realized I’d picked an orange and Anika wanted a blue… hello, Canadia magic bands! It was only fitting that the Canadia bands went with our Pop Century (and Spa!) portion of the trip.

Next up are our Epcot must-do's!

Epcot is my favorite park (although Magic Kingdom keeps inching its way closer). Epcot is also our traditional first park of the trip – we usually enjoy an afternoon arrival followed by dinner in World Showcase. Of course, one of our favorite parts of Epcot is the food (during this trip alone we have five planned ADRs and several “planned” snacks), but we’re also pretty fond of several of the attractions.

Similar to Magic Kingdom, there’s not much that we’ll miss here. We love the classics such as Living with the Land and wandering through the Seas, and we even take a spin on Journey into the Imagination on each trip. Along with the classics, we also are big fans of the headliners…

The two most popular attractions in Epcot are both must-do's for us. We’re BIG fans of "soarin'" over California:

Best soundtrack EVER.

And we also love zooming around the outdoor track of this attraction:

We don’t love Test Track as much as we used to pre-refurb, but we agree that we need to ride it a few times this trip.

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but we’re HUGE fans of this deep space experience:

Orange team all the way, baby!

We also love a tour of history by traveling through the world’s biggest golf ball:

I love Spaceship Earth. Hopefully Anika will give us a good future this time.

Anika and I are also very fond of wandering through World Showcase. We search through the shops in every country - my favorites are in Morocco (so many nooks and crannies!) and Germany (it’s hard to choose a favorite between the Christmas store, the crystal shop, and the teddy bear shop!).

I’m not sure of Anika’s favorite film in World Showcase, but I’m very partial to seeing our buddy Martin Short (a.k.a. Franck, to you Father of the Bride fans out there ):

I just love the Canada movie.

We also love to catch The American Adventure:

We’ll be sure to catch the Voices of Liberty, too!

We might catch it another night as well, but I have plans for us to watch Illuminations from La Hacienda during this trip. We tried to do this during our 2013 trip but we switched our reservation to another night.

As we’ve seen it around the lagoon so many times, I think this should be a fun way to view the show!

Up Next for 2015: Hollywood Studios Must-Do's

 

[bunnyboo]

You're such a sweet sister!! Your trip sounds amazing. So jealous of your GF and Universal resort stays! Having express passes is going to be awesome.

I absolutely love your to do lists! Definitely taking notes for my own trip.

 

[cajunfan]

I have been such a slacker...I missed two whole pages of your report!

It's so exciting getting Magic Bands in the mail!

We will do most of the same things in Epcot (with the exception of the O'Canada film). I have never seen the American Adventure, so that is one that I feel is overdue. I love the Gingerbread Mickeys from the German pavilion. I got so hooked on these, I tracked down the bakery and try to order then every year at Christmas! I love Spaceship Earth...it is my favorite napping place. I have yet to make it though the whole ride awake. Maybe this year!

Lynn

 

[MEK]

Yay for magic bands and your very cool Universal lanyards. Love them.

I have to say that your Epcot day sounds totally perfect and I am right there with you with all the attractions you have planned. I love the film in Canada and I love the American Adventure! Plus who doesn't love Soarin and TT. I'm sort of 50-50 on Mission Space but only because the orange side makes me dizzy. I used to love orange, but had to give it up. Boo!

I am sure the grad party is going to be tons of fun!

 

[KathyM2]

Great plans for Epcot!! I am looking forward to the Canada film too...I haven't seen it since the redo in 2007 I think...and it was so outdated back then lol.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

For our Pop Century stay, our Canadia magic bands:

Jenny, that just made my whole day. It's amazing now how often I see blue and orange together since it was somewhat random in the beginning. But YES!!! Perfect for Pop Century and Spa! You're sure to get some extra pixie dust out of that.

AHHHH YES!!!!! That's something that isn't mentioned nearly enough. The Soarin' SOUNDTRACK!!! I'm all for changing the movie, but they absolutely MUST maintain the soundtrack. Because as you will see, when they change the soundtrack, Rob gets very very upset.

Another under-appreciated area is absolutely Morocco, even without Violin Guy. It really does hide so many amazing little spots.
But obviously I mostly appreciate the love for our national treasure Marty Short.

We’ll be sure to catch the Voices of Liberty, too!

Um... obviously.

 

[Tracy161]

Your plans in Epcot sound great!!! Also, I have to agree about Test Track, I just much preferred it pre-refurb but definitely still a must-do!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

You're such a sweet sister!! Your trip sounds amazing. So jealous of your GF and Universal resort stays! Having express passes is going to be awesome.

I absolutely love your to do lists! Definitely taking notes for my own trip.

Ruby! Thanks so much for joining in! I took a peek at your upcoming trip and your plans look AWESOME!

I'm super excited about staying at Universal! Thanks to all of Katie's pictures, I'm pretty darn excited about staying at the GF, too!

Thank you! More big "must-do's" are coming up!

I have been such a slacker...I missed two whole pages of your report!

It's so exciting getting Magic Bands in the mail!

We will do most of the same things in Epcot (with the exception of the O'Canada film). I have never seen the American Adventure, so that is one that I feel is overdue. I love the Gingerbread Mickeys from the German pavilion. I got so hooked on these, I tracked down the bakery and try to order then every year at Christmas! I love Spaceship Earth...it is my favorite napping place. I have yet to make it though the whole ride awake. Maybe this year!

Lynn

Don't worry, Lynn - you're had a lot going on! You're SO CLOSE to your own trip!

It is! I had no idea how thrilling it would be!

I really enjoyed the American Adventure. I would highly recommend catching the Voices of Liberty in the rotunda before the show - they are FABULOUS! As an added bonus, this creates an extra-long span in the air conditioning!

That's too funny about Spaceship Earth! I don't think I've fallen asleep in any attractions in WDW - although I did once fall asleep in the Imax theatre at the Boston aquarium!

Yay for magic bands and your very cool Universal lanyards. Love them.

I have to say that your Epcot day sounds totally perfect and I am right there with you with all the attractions you have planned. I love the film in Canada and I love the American Adventure! Plus who doesn't love Soarin and TT. I'm sort of 50-50 on Mission Space but only because the orange side makes me dizzy. I used to love orange, but had to give it up. Boo!

I am sure the grad party is going to be tons of fun!

Thanks! I love the lanyards and think we'll really love having them for all those Universal tickets/passes, etc. It's also nice to have a bit of Harry Potter bling!

The film in Canada is fabulous - it really is my favorite. I've always liked Soarin' but I love it more and more each trip. That's too bad about Mission Space - hopefully you can still ride the green side?

It's shaping up really well! Just 11 days until the party and 12 days until the graduation ceremony!

Great plans for Epcot!! I am looking forward to the Canada film too...I haven't seen it since the redo in 2007 I think...and it was so outdated back then lol.

Thank you! Yes, definitely see the film in Canada! I love it!

Jenny, that just made my whole day. It's amazing now how often I see blue and orange together since it was somewhat random in the beginning. But YES!!! Perfect for Pop Century and Spa! You're sure to get some extra pixie dust out of that.

AHHHH YES!!!!! That's something that isn't mentioned nearly enough. The Soarin' SOUNDTRACK!!! I'm all for changing the movie, but they absolutely MUST maintain the soundtrack. Because as you will see, when they change the soundtrack, Rob gets very very upset.

Another under-appreciated area is absolutely Morocco, even without Violin Guy. It really does hide so many amazing little spots.
But obviously I mostly appreciate the love for our national treasure Marty Short.

Um... obviously.

You're welcome! It was definitely ordered with you in mind! I was super excited when it dawned on me that I could do that.

(If I tell Anika I ordered Canadia magic bands, however, I can't imagine the strange look I'd get! )

That soundtrack is so wonderful - change the ride all you want, but change the soundtrack and I'll have a conniption fit. (And, oh dear, what soundtrack did they change?! )

Oh, that violin guy. Seriously, though, I think many people pass by Morocco as many of the shops are less than visible. It's such a hidden gem!

Who DOESN'T love Martin Short?!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Oh Franc... that movie is the best!

Love all your must dos. I'm so curious now about the Test Track refurb! It was still closed the last time we were there. Are there really a ton of differences?

How exciting that you leave soon! Yay for Magic Bands!