Commencing Operation Pixie Dust - An Oct 2016 PTR (UPDATED 8/28 - Reservations and Shopping!)

[Enchanted]

Psst. Can you keep a secret? Because this Pre-Trip Report is going to be full of secrets. Like the hair of Gretchen Wieners.

This Pre-Trip report will also be full of Mean Girls references. #sorrynotsorry

But before we can get to the secrets, we should probably start with introductions: I’m Emily, and I have an addiction to pixie dust, Dole Whips, and glitter. Oh yeah, and all things Disney.

And guess what? I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!

Okay, that last one wasn’t a secret. Because duh, pre-trip report = going to Disney. But c’mon, we all love screaming that, right? Along with a fist pump of victory?

Just me? Okay then…

Ahem. Where were we?

Oh yeah, I’m going to Disney World! And I’ve decided that I want to make it one of our most magical, thrilling, surprising, and pixie-dust filled trips yet!

(Seriously, y’all. It’s going to be SO. FETCH. That’s right. Our trip is finally going to make fetch happen, just you wait. Gretchen Wieners will be so proud.)

Let’s start with all of the non-secret stuff:

Cast: Me, my mom, and my aunt (Mom’s sister).

Show Time: Oct 21, 2016 through Oct 29, 2016

Stage: Port Orleans Riverside – Royal Rooms! (It’s our first time at POR! I’ve always wanted to stay here!)

Story: My family has been going to Disney for 16 years now. We take a trip at least once a year. My mom, my aunt, and I have gone the most, taking girls only trips sometimes twice a year. We’re old pros at this point. Well…I’m an old pro. They basically just let me take the lead and plan everything, and they relax and go with the flow. We all seem to prefer it that way since I enjoy the planning almost as much as the trip, and they like to just go on vacay and not have to think about anything.

Since the three of us have been on so many trips, we’re always looking for ways to make each trip special and try something new. This trip, we’re excited to stay at POR in the Royal rooms for the first time and explore a brand new (to us!) resort. We’re also excited to see all of the changes that have taken place since our last trip in November 2015. Soarin Around the World! Frozen Ever After! Disney Springs! Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular and Rivers of Light (Lord willing)!

There’s going to be so many new things for us to see and do!

But beyond those exciting things, I love to spread Pixie Dust. I love to be the Fairy Godmother. And I wanted this trip to be full of surprises galore for my mom and aunt, above and beyond all of those cool new things we have to do! So I’ve been planning and plotting. I’m like full-on Yzma over here with the planning and plotting. And I think I’ve come up with some pretty cool surprises. Those secrets I mentioned earlier. And I’m hoping that I can divulge those secrets to all of you as I proceed with Operation Pixie Dust.

Because if I have to wait until October to tell someone about my plans, I might explode. Which would probably ruin the trip.

Help me, DISers…you’re my only hope.

(BTW, there’s a good possibility of Star Wars references as well. Just FYI. )

I think it’ll be a pretty fun ride, and I would be delighted if you joined me. I could use your help coming up with even more surprises, and I’d love to hear about your upcoming trips as well. We can make this one giant planning party! I’ll bring the glitter and sticky notes!

Disney, here we come!!!

​

 

[Enchanted]

Introduction

Cast and Surprise Number One!

 

[Enchanted]

Before I get into the next update, I have to do a short little happy dance. Because I just lucked into a Be Our Guest pre-park opening ADR!!! At a little over 60 days out. THERE IS AlWAYS HOPE, PEOPLE!!!!!

When we booked this trip, we agreed to stick to mostly counter service during our stay. We’re trying to be budget conscious and also weight conscious. (I’m currently in the middle of a Diet Bet to lose weight for the trip as we speak. ) We find we tend to make better choices at CS than TS, where we just yell, “YOLO!” and eat all the appetizers and desserts.

But I’ve been watching Adam Hattan’s last trip to Disney on YouTube (you should totally check it out, his Disney vlogs are great!), and ever since I saw him go to BOG for breakfast, I’ve been wanting to book it as one of my surprises. Less for the food itself and more for the ambiance (because it’s BOG ) and the early entry to the park. (Hitting Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight as soon as they let us. ) So I’ve been checking off and on and hitting refresh for most of this week and almost all weekend, trying to snag an ADR for either our first or last day, when we’ll be doing MK in the morning. I was hoping to get it for our first morning, because I figured it would be a great way to kick off the trip. Also, I figured it was the day most likely for us to get up early.

The problem has been, we only booked this trip at a little over 100 days out. Well past the 180 day window. Not good for BOG or any highly sought after ADR. But I’ve been trying anyway! Just keep swimming!

And lo and behold, I hit refresh and there was an 8:15am ADR. For 3 people. On day one. I literally blinked at it about 5 times, trying to fully register what I was seeing. When it finally sunk in, I was lunging for my credit card. MUST. BOOK. NOW.

So yeah, surprise number one is now officially in place. Breakfast at BOG and early park entry, which we’ve never done before. YAY!

So remember, if you’re way past your 180 day window, just keep swimming! Miracles do happen!

Okay, now that I’m done happy dancing, I now return you to the regularly scheduled PTR update.


Cast

I figured I should probably tell you a little more about myself and my mom and my aunt so that you can get to know us a little better. Here are a few fast facts:

Me – Emily

Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast (but Tangled/Aladdin are tied for a close second)

Favorite Disney Treat: Dole Whips! (I’m kind of bummed they took the swirl away though. They’re not the same.) Also, Mickey Waffles.

Favorite Resort: A tie between AKL and Beach Club (but I have a feeling POR is going to threaten their title!)

Favorite Ride: Expedition Everest

Favorite TS Restaurant: Be Our Guest (because the ballroom )

Favorite CS Restaurant: Columbia Harbour House


Mom – Renee

Favorite Disney Movie: Peter Pan

Favorite Disney Treat: Cronut at Epcot

Favorite Resort: All Stars Music (This is where we used to stay when we were little so she has an emotional attachment to it.) and Beach Club

Favorite Ride: Peter Pan’s Flight

Favorite TS Restaurant: Coral Reef

Favorite CS Restaurant: Columbia Harbour House


Aunt – Trish

Favorite Disney Movie: Cinderella

Favorite Disney Treat: Dole Whips or Premium Mickey Ears

Favorite Resort: Polynesian

Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror

Favorite TS Restaurant: Ohana

Favorite CS Restaurant: Pecos Bill

Like I said before, we have taken a lot of girls’ trips together. It’s our thing. My dad and my uncle tolerate Disney pretty well for the most part, but they don’t love it like we do. My two younger brothers love Disney, but they don’t live for the parks either and can get cranky (even at 20+ years old) if we keep them out too late. So we learned a while back that girl trips were necessary. How are we supposed to hit every gift shop if we’ve got tired, cranky dudes with us? Right? Right.

More to come! ​

 

[absolutmey]

Yay! Can't wait to read more

 

[Enchanted]

Yay! Can't wait to read more

Yay! Thanks for joining me! I'm working on the next update now!

 

[Enchanted]

It’s been a busy week, but I’ve been planning feverishly as we count down the days to FP+ day (two more days!). I’m watching Freeform’s Disney movie marathon to add to the excitement while I do some further planning. Just finished watching Tangled, my second favorite Princess movie after Beauty and the Beast!


First, let’s talk briefly about how Disney has been messing with my emotions. I’ve been working on our itinerary, and I’ve been waiting for them to announce Star Wars fireworks times and make some sort of announcement about Animal Kingdom. Are the evening hours ending? (Currently the park is closing at 7pm while we’re there. Sunset occurs each night at 6:45 so that doesn’t leave any time for evening activities since it won’t be dark yet.) Will they still have the Tree of Life “awaken” if it’s only dusk? Is Rivers of Life EVER going to debut?

The consensus on the DIS has seemed to be that as we get closer to trip time, hours will be extended slightly as more people book trips and Disney finalizes schedules. So I’ve been crossing my fingers that the 7pm AK closing time and 7:30pm DHS closing time might be extended a little bit (even to 8pm) to ensure there would be time for fireworks/AK evening activities. I’ve been checking the calendar on Disneyworld.com pretty religiously to see if the hours have been updated.

And oh they were updated alright…

DHS is now closing at 7pm all week long. No Star Wars fireworks listed yet. This was my reaction:



Seriously? What the French, Toast? (Anyone remember that commercial? )

Disney, you’re supposed to be EXTENDING hours not SHORTENING them!!!

Sigh. Crossing my fingers that they do something soon. I’m going to make plans using the 7pm closing times. But I’m not happy about it.



Okay, moving on! Let’s talk about some of the plans I’ve made so far! We don’t usually have a super detailed touring plan, but I like to plan what parks we’ll be at, when we’ll see parades/nighttime shows, FP+, stuff like that. Some of our favorite memories are the unplanned moments so I try not to schedule every moment of the trip. Even when I want to.

We always do park hoppers so that we can do one park in the morning and another park in the evening and that’s basically our normal plan. That way, if we need to take a mid-day break and go back to the room, we can.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Friday, October 21

I’m off work this day, but my mom is planning on working at least a half day. The plan is for me to make sure everything is ready to go, the car is gassed up and packed, and we’re ready to hit the road as soon as she gets off work. We live in Ohio and my aunt lives in Tennessee, so we’re going to drive down to her house and spend the night. Then all three of us will drive down together the next morning.

I’m hoping my mom only works a half day. I will likely get my nails done that day, and I’m hoping that we can go for manis and pedis together. She’s never gotten a mani/pedi, so I really want to treat her and do some one on one relaxation time before we hit the road. We may do this after we get off work on Thursday…I haven’t decided yet.

Also, once we arrive in Tennessee, I’m planning on unleashing my first round of surprises…a bunch of goodies for our trip! (I’ll talk more about this in a future update!) We’ll go to bed at a decent time so we can get up early.

Saturday, October 22

Road Trip/Arrival Day. We usually try to leave around 7am Central time, and we usually arrive at Disney around 6pm, but I have some things planned for our first night at POR since it’s our first time staying there so I’ve convinced my mom and my aunt to leave a lot earlier than normal. I told them I have some secret surprises planned for our first night and we need to make sure we get to Disney sooner. So they said, “Of course!” So now I’m hoping that we leave around 5am and get to Disney by 4pm – 5pm. That will let us get settled and change clothes and whatever before our arrival day surprises!

I’m planning on doing Online Check In to help speed up the check-in process because I always feel like it takes forrrrrrever.



We’ve booked a Garden View Royal Guest room, and both of those buildings look fairly close to the food court/lobby so I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal about our room placement. If we get some weird room in the middle of nowhere, we can always go to the front desk.

After we get settled and take 14,378 pictures of those beautiful princess rooms, I had originally thought we would just get some dinner at Riverside Mill and check out the gift shop. Because shopping.



But then I watched one of GillianAtHome’s vlogs on YouTube (If you haven’t seen her Disney vlogs, definitely check her out, they’re some of my favorites!!!) and saw where she and her sister went to Boatwright’s one night. The food sounded amazing so I did some research and found rave reviews like this one. Cornbread? Jambalaya? Shrimp and Grits? Pecan Pie? Ummmmm, this Southern girl was like, “YES, PLEASE!!!”



(Charlotte LaBouff is my spirit animal.)

Sooooooo, I booked us a reservation for 7:10pm on arrival night.



I’m sooooo excited about this, and I know Mom and Trish will be too. We love our Southern food. I can’t wait to try the flavors of New Orleans. So that’s Secret Surprise Number Two!

But wait! There’s more!

Ever since we booked Riverside, I’ve wanted to book a carriage ride! Secret Surprise Number Three! I know my aunt and mom will love it. My aunt is OBSESSED with princesses, especially Cinderella, and my mom loves horses so I think they would both get a kick out of it. I’ve been trying to decide when to book it for though, both regarding time of day and which day of our trip we should do it on. I think we could potentially try to fit it in on either Sunday/Monday night since AK and DHS will be closing at 7pm and that’s where we’ll be those nights.

Buuuuuuut I’m hoping to get a reservation for arrival night! Preferably around 6:30pm, before our Boatwrights ressie, but if it has to be afterwards, we can do that too. I haven’t had a chance to call and see what they have available yet, I’m hoping I get a chance to tonight (Stay tuned!). I wish you could book it online like everything else, but alas, you have to call in. I’m hoping to get a reservation before dinner so that we can watch Yehaa Bob after dinner. And of course, we still hit the gift shop at some point. Because shopping.



I think it will be a wonderful evening!


Sunday, October 23

MK morning/afternoon, DHS evening?

Our BOG reservation is for 8:15 am, but I’m hoping they’ll let us eat sooner than that. To be safe, I’m going to try to get us all to the bus stop at 7am. We’ll take the bus to MK, go inside as soon as they’ll let us, and take a leisurely stroll up Main Street. And of course, take some pics of the castle. Here are a few I've taken on previous trips (because who doesn't love a good castle pic? ):








I think I’m going to be sneaky and have Mom and Aunt order beforehand. They don’t know enough about menus to know that I’m talking about BOG (I don’t think they even realize BOG has breakfast) so it’ll still be a surprise that that’s where we’re headed. And of course, I'm hoping to eat in the Ballroom. It's my favorite:




Meeting Beast kind of made my life :



After we eat, I’m hoping that we can ride Mine Train and Peter Pan at rope drop with reasonable waits. I’ve heard some people have come from BOG and ridden Mine Train prior to rope drop/park opening, so I’m crossing my fingers. We’ll probably hang around Fantasyland and knock out some more rides before the wait times increase. I’m going to shoot for FP+ between noon and 3pm so that we’ll have stuff to ride during the busiest part of the day. I also figured around noon, we might go back to Main Street, get a Starbucks and browse the shops. This is our usual “entering the park” tradition so if we are bypassing it to go to BOG, I figured we could do it when rides get a little crazy.

Last, I’m hoping to catch the Festival of Fantasy parade because I love it.









I figured we would probably leave right after the parade. I was hoping we would go to DHS that evening and see the Star Wars fireworks, but…well, see the beginning of this post.



See. Leia is annoyed that Disney can’t get their stuff together too.

Whatever we do, we have to be back in the room by 9pm for the Season Premiere of “The Walking Dead.” My brother got us sucked in a few seasons back, and now we can’t miss an episode. Especially not the season premiere where we’ll finally learned which character died in the season finale. So we will probably grab something at the food court and take it back to the room for dinner so that we can watch. I hear it’s going to be traumatic, but hopefully being at Disney will help ebb our pain.

I’ll go ahead and close this update here, but I’ll continue with more plans for the week in my next update! Stay tuned! ​

 

[Enchanted]

I have to go get ready for work (Booooooo to two hour company-wide quarterly meetings. ), but I just had to stop by and say FP+ Day was a SUCCESS!!!! YAY!!!!

I will talk more about it in detail when I go over the rest of our daily plans, but here's a list of what I grabbed!

Frozen Ever After (THE HOLY GRAIL!!!! )
Soarin (MY FAVORITE! Can't wait to see the changes! )
7 Dwarves Mine Train
Peter Pan's Flight
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Toy Story Mania
Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Kilamanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur
Nemo and Friends
Mickey's Character Spot
Spaceship Earth

WOOHOO!!!! I'm so happy right now. Now I just have to get our carriage ride booked (hoping to do it on my break today!) and we'll be all set!!!

60 more days!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday! ​

 

[Jen4400]

Following along! Your FP+ list is fantastic! We are planning a fall 2017 trip and really leaning towards staying in a RR at POR. Can't wait to see pics and hear all about it.

I’ve heard some people have come from BOG and ridden Mine Train prior to rope drop/park opening, so I’m crossing my fingers.

We did this last November. We had an 8:15 am BOG ADR and had plenty of time to eat and head over to Mine Train for a pre-open ride.

 

[IowaTater]

Hi there!! We're going to be there at the same so I'm following along. I love seeing what other people have planned!

We don’t usually have a super detailed touring plan, but I like to plan what parks we’ll be at, when we’ll see parades/nighttime shows, FP+, stuff like that. Some of our favorite memories are the unplanned moments so I try not to schedule every moment of the trip. Even when I want to.

We're exactly like this too. I plan what parks we'll visit then base our ADRs around that. We have an idea of what rides & shows we want to do (and of course, now, FP+) but I can't bring myself to do a detailed plan. I think it would make me cranky if we got off schedule & we all know that would happen.

Whatever we do, we have to be back in the room by 9pm for the Season Premiere of “The Walking Dead.”

Hahah! It's funny you mention this. This is the night we booked our Fantasmic Dining package and it's the only night we can do it unless we do a massive plan overhaul. We're already planning on hauling you-know-what back to the resort afterwards to hopefully catch the second airing.

 

[Enchanted]

Following along! Your FP+ list is fantastic! We are planning a fall 2017 trip and really leaning towards staying in a RR at POR. Can't wait to see pics and hear all about it.



We did this last November. We had an 8:15 am BOG ADR and had plenty of time to eat and head over to Mine Train for a pre-open ride.

Yay!!! Thanks for joining me! And yes! I'm planning on doing a TR when we get back, and I will probably have 80239495 pictures of the Royal Rooms and POR. So stay tuned!

Awesome! I'm glad to hear you got to go on a pre-open Mine Train ride!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll get to do the same!

Hi there!! We're going to be there at the same so I'm following along. I love seeing what other people have planned!



We're exactly like this too. I plan what parks we'll visit then base our ADRs around that. We have an idea of what rides & shows we want to do (and of course, now, FP+) but I can't bring myself to do a detailed plan. I think it would make me cranky if we got off schedule & we all know that would happen.



Hahah! It's funny you mention this. This is the night we booked our Fantasmic Dining package and it's the only night we can do it unless we do a massive plan overhaul. We're already planning on hauling you-know-what back to the resort afterwards to hopefully catch the second airing.

Welcome!!! I actually started your PTR as well! Still working my way through the posts. I'm like you, I like to see what other people who are going around the same time are planning!

I'll cross my fingers that you get a pre-open Mine Train ride!

You might be able to catch the first airing! I think right now Fantasmic is scheduled for 7:30pm that night. Depending on which resort you're staying at, you may be able to get back in time!

 

[Enchanted]

It’s been a crazy week, but I’ve gotten so much done!!! Fastpass +! Disney shopping! More reservations!!! There’s so much to talk about!

First, let me start with some awesome news! I booked our Carriage Ride for 6:30pm on our arrival night, just like I wanted! Woohoo! And that will be right around sunset so I think it’s going to be gorgeous! Then, we’ll get off the carriage ride and go to Boatwright’s for our dinner reservation at 7:10pm. Yesssssss.



I also have to give a quick shout-out to Laverne, who was one of the best Cast Members I’ve ever spoken to over the phone. She was AMAZING. She was asking about the trip and what our plans were and I told her about the surprise carriage ride and dinner at Boatwright’s and she was like, “That’s going to be PERFECT. You’re going to love it.” It was nice to be able to talk about it out loud to someone who understands the excitement.

She also got me a discount for the carriage ride since I’m a Disney Visa member! She said there’s also a discount for annual passholders (which my aunt is), but you just have to make sure they show your annual pass when you arrive. Just an FYI if you’re interested in booking one as well. Ask about the discounts!

Seriously, by the end of the call Laverne and I were practically Disney BFFs.



So THEN, I was talking to my mom about the trip, and she knows I have something special booked (but she doesn’t know what) so she asked what time this special something was occurring so that we could plan travel time accordingly. I told her we would need to be “somewhere” by 6:30 on arrival day. She did some math and figured we would probably need to leave Tennessee at 4am Central time to make sure we had plenty of time to get there (just in case we ran into traffic or construction or anything), check in, and get settled before the big surprise. I had already told her and my aunt that 4am was my estimate, and they had both said they were fine with it.

Well once my mom thought long and hard about 4am… she wasn’t so fine with it.



She said she was afraid that the long drive would result in all of us being too tired to enjoy the surprise. And she also knows we’re getting up uber early for our first full day at the parks the next day, she figured two early days in a row wouldn’t be good. This would be us in the Royal Rooms:



So the next thing I know, she’s saying, “I think I’m just going to take Friday off completely. Then we can get our nails done early and hit the road to Tennessee by noon or so, meet Trish at her house, and drive halfway to Orlando together and stay overnight in Georgia somewhere. Then we can get a good night’s sleep, drive the last 5 hours or so and get to the resort without feeling exhausted.”

And I was like:



How can you argue with that? Getting to Disney even sooner???? I’m down! My mom called my aunt, and she was just as excited as I was. More time in Disney, even just a couple of hours, is always awesome to us.



So yeah, that’s the new travel plan! Yay! I can’t wait! I figure we’ll get to the resort, maybe have a quick lunch at Riverside Mill depending on what time we arrive, take a walk around to stretch our legs, see the gift shop and stuff. If we have a ton of time to kill before the 6:30 reservation, we’ll probably take a boat to Disney Springs and go explore over there. I. Can’t. Wait.

~~~~~~~~

In other news, I’ve been online shopping. A lot. Because shopping.



I’ve been cleaning out my closet and selling a bunch of stuff on Poshmark, and then I’ve been turning around and using that money (as well as money earned as Cashback on my various credit cards) to pay for things for our trip. I think I will wait and post pictures of everything I bought until the packages arrive because I will be SUPER EXCITED when everything starts coming in and I will need an outlet where I can ooh and aah over everything since I can’t say anything to Mom or my Aunt. But here is a list of some of the things I bought!

- Nylon “Home” Backpacks for Mom and Trish - They have the castle and the word “Home” on them. (I prefer carrying a hipster style bag in the parks so I’m hoping to save up for a new Disney Vera hipster. My old one is getting to be a bit faded and sad looking. )

- Decals for our Magic Bands! - I got each of us a personalized sticker based on our favorite characters and then we all have a matching sticker that says “Girls Trip” in Walt Disney font.

- Various Celebration buttons for all of us from Parkbound Buttons and Crowley Castle (Etsy) – I JUST discovered these a couple of months ago when I stumbled across the Instagram for Parkbound, and now I’m OBSESSED.

- Rapunzel Minnie Ears with a flower crown - Tangled is my 2nd favorite movie/princess after Beauty and the Beast. I’ve been wanting a pair of flower crown ears for a while, and these look GORGEOUS. Can’t wait for them to come in!)

- Sequined Mickey Mouse Minnie Ears for Mom and Trish.

- A neon pink “The Sky’s Awake So I’m Awake” tank from OhYeahApparel. I saw this and was like “TAKE MY MONEY!!!”



It's one of my fave Frozen quotes so I had to have it. (I’ve been showing Mom the things I’ve bought for myself, and she was super jealous of this tank, which I wouldn’t have expected. When they reopen their shop, I may have to buy another one for her.)

- A new suitcase for me - I’ve always used one of my mom’s, and I decided I wanted a pretty one of my own.

There are a few other things that I have my eye on for all three of us, but I’m waiting to see how much money I have first. I’d love to get all of us an Alex and Ani bracelet. And my mom loves wearing hair bows in her hair so I’ve been looking at some of the really pretty handmade character bows on Etsy. They also both love to pin trade so I’ve been checking out some cute lanyards for them too. Just various cute things that aren’t too expensive that will be fun for them to wear/use during the trip. I’ve also got my eye on a couple other pairs of ears and a couple other tanks/t-shirts for myself. We’ll see what I have money for.

~~~~~

Even with all of these goodies, there’s one more surprise I want to create for our trip, and this one will be mostly DIY. I mentioned it in one of my previous updates. I’m actually more excited about this than all of the goodies I’ve bought. Because this surprise is about remembering to make our own magic while we’re on the trip as well as spreading the magic to our fellow guests and the amazing cast members who make our trip possible.

I’m going to make us Disney Trip Bucket Lists, likely on scrapbook paper and tied together with ribbon, but I’m open to other ideas. I’m thinking there will be 50 items on the list and then we will check off items on the list each day of our stay as we achieve them. Some things we may all check off at once and others we may check off individually. I’ve found some adorable Disney stickers on Etsy, and I figured we could use those to mark the items off of our lists, or just to decorate them. I’m thinking we will leave these in the room instead of taking them with us so they don’t get messed up or get wet in the rain or anything. But it will be fun to return to the room each night and review what we did that day while we settle down and watch some Stacey in our room.

Here’s a sample of things I have on the list so far. When I have the whole list completed, I’ll post it in a future update!

1. Eat something Mickey-shaped.
2. Find a quote by Walt Disney in the parks.
3. Take a picture with Mickey Mouse.
4. Ride Cinderella’s Carousel at night.
5. Compliment a Fellow Guest.
6. Enter a park before opening.
7. Watch “The Kiss Goodnight”
8. Eat (or drink) something pumpkin flavored
9. Ride any ride at any park twice in a row.
10. Spread Pixie Dust to a cast member – Fill out a positive comment about them at Guest Services

Basically, my goal with the list is to help us focus on the little things in a fun way as well as get us to do things that we don’t normally do (For example, I can’t remember the last time we rode the carousel or took a picture with a character). I think it will help us think outside the box a bit on the trip and get us to go outside our comfort zone to try new things. The items about cast members and fellow guests are just gentle reminders to ourselves to spread the magic to those around us during our stay.

I’m sooooooo excited about this. We’ve always had “Must-Do Lists” for our trips which usually are rides and restaurants that we want to hit (We have a Must Do List for this trip…will post in a future update!), but we’ve never done anything like this. I think it will be kind of like a scavenger hunt!

I’m still looking at scrapbook paper and ways to make the lists. I think the pages tied together is the cheapest way to do what I’m thinking of. But we’ll see! I’ll keep you posted!

Thank you again to everyone who is reading this! Sharing the details of my trip is making me even more excited (if that was possible!) about it! Hopefully I will be able to post another update soon. I want to post our general itineraries for the parks as well as our Must Do List. So hopefully that will be coming soon!

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great start to your week tomorrow!

​

 

[IowaTater]

You might be able to catch the first airing! I think right now Fantasmic is scheduled for 7:30pm that night. Depending on which resort you're staying at, you may be able to get back in time!

DH & I were actually discussing this Friday night. We booked the Fantasmic dining package so the show is at 7:30 pm. It only lasts 30 minutes so our plan is to sit as far in the back rows as we can. As soon as it's over, we'll fly like the wind to the bus stops. We are staying at All Star Movies and right now, HS is supposed to be closed at 7 pm so it shouldn't take us too long to get back to the resort.

I’m going to make us Disney Trip Bucket Lists

Such a cute idea. I'd also check Pinterest. I saw some Disney Bucket List ideas on there awhile back.