A Grand way to Graduate! May 2016 PTR - Updated 5/14

[Sarahh1027]

After breakfast, will hop in line for the Safari, hopefully before RD. This also means we won’t have to use a FP on it.

Genious! I love the Safari, and not having to fastpass it is awesome!

Hopefully this year we actually get to ride DINOSAUR. Our first year we were just too tired to continue on at AK and left, and last year the ride went down that morning.

Aww I'm sorry about it being down last year!! I adore this ride, and during my first trip to Disney it was definitely one of the biggest surprises. I just never heard much about it. It's such an underrated ride.

This REALLY depends on the time of RoL… I’m thinking we’ll do 8:00am – 2:00pm in the park, leave, and then come back.

I wonder when they plan on extending the park hours and planning a time for Rivers of Light? It's killing me not knowing!

I know we definitely want to see FoLK and Nemo (we’ve never seen the Nemo show before).
Our plans are still up in the air for the whole day though… Which is hard because AK is my favorite park!

I'm with you here! Animal Kingdom is definitely my favorite and not being able to plan the entire day is bothering me!!

 

[kadrachb]

I wonder when they plan on extending the park hours and planning a time for Rivers of Light? It's killing me not knowing!

I think they'll have to, because it won't be dark by 6:30pm in May, and it's a nighttime show with lights. And they'll add a nighttime safari, too.

 

[Saphire5742]

I'm anxiously awaiting the time for RoL too. In fact I changed my dinner reservation at Boma to an earlier time so I wouldn't feel rushed. FP for RoL sounds like a good idea. Didn't think of it.

 

[kadrachb]

Its official, I’m sick of winter and the cold and I am soooooo ready to be back in WDW!

Tentative Plans – Day 7 – 5/23​

Park: Epcot
Park Hours: 9:00am – 9:00pm

Today is just a partial park day for us! Our first thing is a pre-park breakfast at Garden Grill at 8:15am. Thinking we will take an Uber or taxi to get to it, but I am soooooo excited to dig into the cinnamon bun bake.

Pictures from Disney Food Blog's review of Garden Grill Breakfast​

Plus, with them removing the one Chip and Dale meet outside of the Character spot now, we have to meet them at this breakfast!

After breakfast, we’ll do Future World West, with our main FP+ going to Test Track. But if we haven’t been on The Land yet, we’ll hop on that right after breakfast.

Our lunch will be what we did on our earlier Epcot day, with was F&G booths. In the World Showcase we will do the second half we didn’t do earlier in the week.

After that, we’re done for the day! I assume we’ll be done by 3pm, and we’ll head back to the resort.

We’ll have some combination of swim / relax / nap before getting ready for dinner at the California Grill at 8:45pm. We love dinner here, and seeing Wishes from the viewing deck is so magical!

Then off to bed with us – we have another early morning tomorrow with early EMH at MK.


Only 92 days to go! I’M IN THE DOUBLE DIGITS, GUYS!!



Since I'm slowing compiling a list of characters I want to meet during our trip, are there any no miss characters for you guys? One of ours is Merida! But one was also Chip and Dale, but now they have removed them from Epcot . We've never met the Toy Story characters, mostly because I'm not super attached to them, which I think is something we may try this year. Also, since we aren't eating with princesses this year, we'll now have to wait in line for them. I guess since they removed Aurora from France in Epcot it just is a better reason to stand in line for Belle!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

But one was also Chip and Dale, but now they have removed them from Epcot .

YOu can find them in frontierland at MK. I'm just hunting for an alternate for Aurora. Little Miss has been asking to meet her and she has been on the radar.

 

[kadrachb]

YOu can find them in frontierland at MK. I'm just hunting for an alternate for Aurora. Little Miss has been asking to meet her and she has been on the radar.

Good to know! I think Aurora still meets by City Hall? I'm not 100% sure on that one, but what I've read it seems to be Aurora was removed from France because you can still see here there.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Its official, I’m sick of winter and the cold and I am soooooo ready to be back in WDW!

Ugh SAME! Get this New England weather though: It was so cold two days ago on Valentine's day (I don't think it hit Zero degrees and say it did-well it was still -20 with the windchill! Infact early in the morning where James lives it hit -52 with windchill!) and as for today? It's currently 51 degrees! If we weren't in a high wind warning right now, I'd probably be out there in a teeshirt. Well, no, because it's not sunny and I've actually been really sick lately.

Our first thing is a pre-park breakfast at Garden Grill at 8:15am. Thinking we will take an Uber or taxi to get to it, but I am soooooo excited to dig into the cinnamon bun bake.

YUM! I actually had Garden Grill planned for dinner on our Epcot day but changed it after finding Via Napoli...but it's definitely on my list of restaurants to try!

We’ll have some combination of swim / relax / nap before getting ready for dinner at the California Grill at 8:45pm. We love dinner here, and seeing Wishes from the viewing deck is so magical!

​

Sounds like an awesome afternoon/evening and night plan! California Grill is another one that I was considering! There's just not enough days in my trip to go everywhere I want!

Only 92 days to go! I’M IN THE DOUBLE DIGITS, GUYS!!

YESSSS! Fastpass time is approaching as well...I'm so excited!

We've never met the Toy Story characters, mostly because I'm not super attached to them, which I think is something we may try this year.

James mentioned meeting the Toy Story gang so I was thinking of doing that at Hollywood Studios. If you met them, where do you think you'd meet them? I know Buzz doesn't meet at Magic Kingdom (Atleast not with Woody?) so that's why I was thinking HS. I'm not a big Jessie fan.

Anyways, your plans look amazing for this day! Our trips are so close!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Count me in as another one waiting for the RoL times. At this point in our planning, we've left two opportunities open for fitting it in.

I also very much would like to meet Chip & Dale, but we already have 3 breakfast ADRs and while I LIVE for breakfast foods, my husband and sister-in-law are not really breakfast people (at least not in the morning). Another time...

 

[kadrachb]

Ugh SAME! Get this New England weather though: It was so cold two days ago on Valentine's day (I don't think it hit Zero degrees and say it did-well it was still -20 with the windchill! Infact early in the morning where James lives it hit -52 with windchill!) and as for today? It's currently 51 degrees! If we weren't in a high wind warning right now, I'd probably be out there in a teeshirt. Well, no, because it's not sunny and I've actually been really sick lately.

Thats what happened here today! Snow and ice over night (it was also FREAKING COLD) and then a downpouring of rain until 1pm, and then like 50 degrees and sunshine for the rest of the day.

I hope you feel better soon!

Count me in as another one waiting for the RoL times. At this point in our planning, we've left two opportunities open for fitting it in.

I also very much would like to meet Chip & Dale, but we already have 3 breakfast ADRs and while I LIVE for breakfast foods, my husband and sister-in-law are not really breakfast people (at least not in the morning). Another time...

Me too! Breakfast foods are a favorite of ours. I think one thing we will miss out on at our ADR at garden grill is that you don't meet Chip and Dale together.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yum! I'm really looking forward to breakfast at Garden Grill. We're eating there on our Day 7 as well! That cinnamon bun bake thing-y...that looks sooooo good.
And I'm happy that we booked GG too since we can meet Chip n Dale.

I think this is also one of the first years we're not dining with princesses...so I'm not sure I will get to meet them. I get so discouraged when I see lines....hahaha.

Will Soarin' be open again while you're there? It's closed for us. Boo. But excited to ride it in the future!

What a great way to end your day with California Grill! One day I will eat there, for sure!

 

[kadrachb]

I think this is also one of the first years we're not dining with princesses...so I'm not sure I will get to meet them. I get so discouraged when I see lines....hahaha.

I also get discouraged when I see lines. Most of our princess meets I plan out so we get in line right away! Not sure how it will go with trying to see ALL the princesses (especially Belle in France...)

Will Soarin' be open again while you're there? It's closed for us. Boo. But excited to ride it in the future!

I don't think so
But the new ride movie sounds really cool, so I can't wait to ride it next time we go!

 

[kadrachb]

Tentative Plans – Day 8 – 5/24​

Park: Magic Kingdom
Hours: 9:00am – 11:00pm
Morning EMH at 8am

I was really debating if we should even try to get to the morning EMH at MK. But I figured if we miss it, we miss it. If we don’t, we’ll just head on over.

What I have planned for this day is Frontier and Adventureland; also, if we want to meet any characters we haven’t seen yet.

Our FP+ will include Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise (Since BTMRR will be down still, or maybe not - I think I saw they moved it to August...?), and Anna and Elsa.

We will still take a midday break – especially if we try to make it to EMH! And we have an ADR for Kona Café at 1:30pm. I’m debating maybe moving this to tomorrow morning for breakfast instead before leaving. But I’m not really sure. Or I might end up changing it to a character meal? While we liked Crystal Palace, its not anything super special. We’re already doing 1900 PF, and Chef Mickey’s is kinda ehh to us. Originally we were doing CRT for dinner, but due to paying OOP we decided to cancel it. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Does anyone know how Kona Café compares to the GF café or The Wave? I think we might like to stick within the monorail route.

We will go back to MK due to being so close. This was our plan last year, but we were exhausted.


76 more days to go! 16 more for FP+!!!

Apparently Tusker House is going to be getting a RoL package, and its rumored to even be for Breakfast. So hopefully I'll be able to change over our reservation once it happens without losing our pre-park ADR.

Also some news, since this is a graduation trip, I got accepted to American University in DC for their Professional Master's of Science in Biotechnology program! While I still have a lot to decide on (like... how I'm going to pay for it and swing living so close to DC or if I'll even attedn AU), super excited about it!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Tentative Plans – Day 8 – 5/24​

Park: Magic Kingdom
Hours: 9:00am – 11:00pm
Morning EMH at 8am

I was really debating if we should even try to get to the morning EMH at MK. But I figured if we miss it, we miss it. If we don’t, we’ll just head on over.

What I have planned for this day is Frontier and Adventureland; also, if we want to meet any characters we haven’t seen yet.

Our FP+ will include Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise (Since BTMRR will be down still, or maybe not - I think I saw they moved it to August...?), and Anna and Elsa.

We will still take a midday break – especially if we try to make it to EMH! And we have an ADR for Kona Café at 1:30pm. I’m debating maybe moving this to tomorrow morning for breakfast instead before leaving. But I’m not really sure. Or I might end up changing it to a character meal? While we liked Crystal Palace, its not anything super special. We’re already doing 1900 PF, and Chef Mickey’s is kinda ehh to us. Originally we were doing CRT for dinner, but due to paying OOP we decided to cancel it. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Does anyone know how Kona Café compares to the GF café or The Wave? I think we might like to stick within the monorail route.

We will go back to MK due to being so close. This was our plan last year, but we were exhausted.


76 more days to go! 16 more for FP+!!!

Apparently Tusker House is going to be getting a RoL package, and its rumored to even be for Breakfast. So hopefully I'll be able to change over our reservation once it happens without losing our pre-park ADR.

Also some news, since this is a graduation trip, I got accepted to American University in DC for their Professional Master's of Science in Biotechnology program! While I still have a lot to decide on (like... how I'm going to pay for it and swing living so close to DC or if I'll even attedn AU), super excited about it!

Congratulations on your acceptance to AU - whether you decide to take it or not!

I am with you in anxiously awaiting ADRs/FPs for RoL. I have still left two evenings open for it, so far.

 

[Saphire5742]

Congrats on your acceptance!!!!

I admire anyone who manages to make it to morning EMH. I'd rather sleep the extra hour. Then again I'm not planning any breaks either.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Our FP+ will include Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise (Since BTMRR will be down still, or maybe not - I think I saw they moved it to August...?), and Anna and Elsa.

When I made my fastpass reservations this past week, BTMRR was an option! At first I noticed when a ride would be down (such as Soarin) it stated that it'd be down for refurb and you couldn't book it. But I was able to book BTMRR! So excited!!!

76 more days to go! 16 more for FP+!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!!

Also some news, since this is a graduation trip, I got accepted to American University in DC for their Professional Master's of Science in Biotechnology program! While I still have a lot to decide on (like... how I'm going to pay for it and swing living so close to DC or if I'll even attedn AU), super excited about it!

Congratulations!!! That's awesome news! Although the decision will be tough, having options is good!

 

[kadrachb]

Congratulations on your acceptance to AU - whether you decide to take it or not!

Thank you!!

I am with you in anxiously awaiting ADRs/FPs for RoL. I have still left two evenings open for it, so far.

I'm hoping I can just change my pre-park ADR for Tusker House over to the rumored dinning package. If not, my next thing will be Tiffins for dinner with the package or a FP+.

Congrats on your acceptance!!!!

Thank you!!

I admire anyone who manages to make it to morning EMH. I'd rather sleep the extra hour. Then again I'm not planning any breaks either.

Yeah, by the end of the week I'm not sure how we'll be doing. We've never done early EMH before... I think I'll end up drinking a lot of coffee that morning.

BTMRR was an option!

Yay!

I'm really happy to hear this, I think it got pushed back to Aug - Nov.

Congratulations!!! That's awesome news! Although the decision will be tough, having options is good!

Thank you!!

 

[kadrachb]

Fastpass Day!
​

So last night I stayed up till 12am (I mean, I do that anyways most nights) and made our FPs! Heres what we have:

Wednesday, May 18th:
9:00am - 10:00am Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel
10:05am - 11:05am Space Mountain
11:05am - 12:05pm 7DMT

The reason I went with 9am meet and greet is because I think we may do the same thing we did last year with meeting Merida, these two, and then Gaston.

Thursday, May 19th:
12:05pm - 1:05pm Star Tours
1:15pm - 2:15pm Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
3:05pm - 3:20pm For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along

Friday, May 20th:
9:20am - 10:20am Character Spot
10:20am - 11:20am Spaceship Earth
8:40pm - 8:55pm: Illuminations

Saturday, May 21st:
7:30pm - 8:30pm Meet Anna and Elsa
8:30pm - 9:30pm Peter Pan's Flight
9:35pm - 10:35pm 7DMT

Sunday May 22nd:
12:35pm - 1:35pm Expedition Everest
2:35pm - 3:35pm Kali River Rapids
5:30pm - 6:30pm Kilimanjaro Safaris

So since RoL FP or dining isn't out yet, this is what I have. The Safari will changed to a later time so we can do the nighttime/sunset one. If I don't do a dining package for RoL, Kali will change to an RoL FP.

Monday, May 23rd:
9:00am - 10:00am Test Track
10:00am - 11:00am Journey Into Imagination
2:10pm - 3:10pm Spaceship Earth

Tuesday, May 24th:
10:40am - 11:40am BTMRR
12:05pm - 1:05pm Splash Mountain
2:45pm - 3:05pm Festival of Fantasy

Overall I'm pretty happy with what we got. If we end up seeing FoF on our first MK day, I'll change that FP to something else on our second day.

60 more days!

 

[NJlauren]

So close!!! Great FP!

 

[kadrachb]

Day 2: Wednesday, May 18th​

Park: Magic Kingdom
Hours: 9:00am – 11:00pm, EMH 11:00pm – 1:00am
FP+: Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel , Space Mountain, 7DMT
ADRs: BOG, 1900 Park Fare


Hey guys! Since we aren’t 100% of our arrival plans yet (we know flight times, but are unsure about some other things), I thought I’d just start out our final plans for our first park day!

Since we’re on the monorail loop, I’m thinking we’ll get up by 7:10am (Kenny will probably get up before me, he likes to shower in the morning), and get ready, eat in at club level, and catch the monorail over to MK by 8:30am. Hopefully in time for us to catch the welcome show.

Once getting into the park, we’ll head to get in line for Merida. After Merida, we’ll use our FP on the Cinderella and Rapunzel meet, and then head over to get in line for Gaston. After Gaston, we’ll head over to Tomorrowland to use our FP+ on Space Mountain.

After this, it’s a do-whatever scenario. Mostly sticking to Tomorrowland, I’d like to go on the People Mover, Laugh Floor, and meet Buzz Lightyear, all between 10:30am – 11:30am. Maybe also ride the teacups and meet Alice, as we make our way up to 7DMT to use our FP. All of this I have us getting finished by 12pm.

At 12:15pm we have our BOG lunch, which is one of our favorites! Maybe before lunch we’ll make a new FP, or during since now you can apparently do this on your phone! Our next one will be for meeting Ariel (I plan on wearing my “part of your world” tank and my Ariel bow), which we’ll try to get around 9pm.

After lunch, we’ll do some Fantasyland rides, and meet Donald and goofy, maybe also Minnie and Daisy, depending on wait times. Then it’s time to head off to get a spot for the parade! I did end up making changes to our last day FPs for MK, and changing the parade out for something else.

Once we’ve seen FoF, we’ll head back to the Poly for swimming/napping from 4:00pm – 7:00pm. At 7:30pm we have our dinner at 1900 PF, another favorite of ours. We’ll head back to the park after dinner (I’m thinking around 8:45pm), use our last FP, and head over to see Wishes.

Since there is EMH tonight we may stay in the park until midnight, since we get to sleep in some tomorrow. Just depends on how we feel and how tired we are.


49 more days to go! So close!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Since we’re on the monorail loop, I’m thinking we’ll get up by 7:10am (Kenny will probably get up before me, he likes to shower in the morning), and get ready, eat in at club level, and catch the monorail over to MK by 8:30am. Hopefully in time for us to catch the welcome show.

I plan on seeing the Welcome Show for the first time this May! I'm so excited, probably a little too excited....
YAYY! Once you reach 50 days, the rest seems to fly by!!!