Taking the Leap! My first PTR! TR link posted 11/19

[taaren]

Soooo...anyone been reading the Theme Parks boards lately? It's getting pretty depressing over there. The reports this week of various headliners being completely out of regular FP so early in the morning (10 minutes after opening!), causing inflated standby times is pretty scary. Our park strategy is to rope drop and ride pretty much all of the major rides standby in the first two hours of opening. If this FP "glitch" thing happens during our trip, that probably won't happen for us.

However... I continue to remind myself that we are lucky.

• We have FP+, so we'll definitely get to experience our three most anticipated attractions in each park.
• We've had absolutely zero technology problems (so far) with MDE. (Knock on wood!)
• Even if we can't experience every ride, it's not like we won't experience any rides.

That about sums it up! Keeping it short and simple today. Just a reminder to myself that it's going to be ok. We're going to be on vacation after all! Any day I don't have to go to work is a good day. 15 days to go

Oh wow, that is scary. 15 days to go is awesome though!

Fortunately my week is still at level 2 crowds predicted ... much as I want to go to F&W one of these years, I think we'll be sticking with lower crowd weeks for awhile ... or at least until we're tired of headliner rides ... (so never!)

 

[missangelalexis]

Soooo...anyone been reading the Theme Parks boards lately? It's getting pretty depressing over there. The reports this week of various headliners being completely out of regular FP so early in the morning (10 minutes after opening!), causing inflated standby times is pretty scary. Our park strategy is to rope drop and ride pretty much all of the major rides standby in the first two hours of opening. If this FP "glitch" thing happens during our trip, that probably won't happen for us.

However... I continue to remind myself that we are lucky.

• We have FP+, so we'll definitely get to experience our three most anticipated attractions in each park.
• We've had absolutely zero technology problems (so far) with MDE. (Knock on wood!)
• Even if we can't experience every ride, it's not like we won't experience any rides.

That about sums it up! Keeping it short and simple today. Just a reminder to myself that it's going to be ok. We're going to be on vacation after all! Any day I don't have to go to work is a good day. 15 days to go

I'm glad you're keeping things positive! It definitely is nerve wracking! You have FP+ so that should definitely ease your worries regarding the craziness that seems to be going on this week. Additionally, you are doing rope drop which is also very helpful! Hopefully all of this crazy stuff will be resolved before your trip but just remember you will have fun and get to experience a lot no matter what!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Hi! Hopped over from my PTR. I know I've read some if your PTR but I guess I never subbed and have missed a lot! I'm back! And off to read!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Ok-all caught up! Your plans sound great and I did not realize you are SO CLOSE!! how excited are you?!?

I can't wait to hear how the FP+ and magic bands go for you. That is totally giving me anxiety too!

I love all the shirts you made--pascal hiding on your sleeve? Too cute!

And I love the mousekeeping envelopes! Very creative!

 

[kayemgi]

Oh wow, that is scary. 15 days to go is awesome though!

Fortunately my week is still at level 2 crowds predicted ... much as I want to go to F&W one of these years, I think we'll be sticking with lower crowd weeks for awhile ... or at least until we're tired of headliner rides ... (so never!)

Yeah, I think if we plan another trip in the next couple of years, we will go during another time. From the boards it seemed like mid-September was a good time to go! And maybe February? I'm going to be keeping an eye out for low crowd reports for sure.

I'm glad you're keeping things positive! It definitely is nerve wracking! You have FP+ so that should definitely ease your worries regarding the craziness that seems to be going on this week. Additionally, you are doing rope drop which is also very helpful! Hopefully all of this crazy stuff will be resolved before your trip but just remember you will have fun and get to experience a lot no matter what!

Yes, that's what I'm trying to remember! Even if we only ride a few rides, there is so much else to do and see besides rides. We love the rides, but the atmosphere and details are what make Disney so magical. I want to be sure we soak plenty of that up, even if we somehow end up with no crowds at all!

Ok-all caught up! Your plans sound great and I did not realize you are SO CLOSE!! how excited are you?!?

I can't wait to hear how the FP+ and magic bands go for you. That is totally giving me anxiety too!

I love all the shirts you made--pascal hiding on your sleeve? Too cute!

And I love the mousekeeping envelopes! Very creative!

So excited! I will definitely be taking notes so I can report back on how the MBs and FP+ work out for us. I've seen reports across the board though -- amazing experiences and just the worst ever experiences. I hope we fall somewhere in the middle to good range! Thanks! Pascal is my favorite part of those shirts. I can't wait to wear them! And I almost don't want to give the envelopes up, I love them so much, but of course, that's the whole point!

 

[kayemgi]

My ticker is covering up poor Snow White's face! Haha I feel kind of bad about that. But that means we are soclose!! Nine days to go, and for me, only three more days of work. Three. More. Days. I took off the week before we leave because I had a ton of vacation I wasn't going to use otherwise. And boy am I glad I did. Work is always a nightmare before I go on vacation because I'm the only person at my job who does what I do. So I have to basically work ahead two weeks to make sure all of my clients are taken care of for the time I am away before I go. It's great job security, but not so great when it comes to the weeks before vacation. I'm really glad I will have some extra time to decompress, clean our house, do last minute vacation errands, and spend some time with our fur babies before we leave. I hope I feel motivated to make my tie-dye Mickey shirt. That's the last thing I wanted to make, and I so far just haven't felt like dealing with the PITA that is tie-dye. But I also really want that shirt! We shall see.

I haven't been doing a lot of Disney stuff because most of it is already done. I've been stressing about FP+, of course, but I think that sticking with our original plan is the way to go, and as I mentioned in my last post, to just keep in mind that rides are not the only thing to do at Disney. The details and atmosphere are the best, and I want to spend lots of time just enjoying that.

I did find some time this weekend to go get pumpkins and carve jack-o-lanterns! Of course two of them are Disney themed this year, in honor of our vacation. I thought I'd share those with you!

I hope to have some better updates once I'm finished work and have time at home to finish my last couple of projects. Before I know it, we'll be at the airport! (And two weeks from today will already be our last day at Disney. Trying not to get sad about vacation being over before it's even begun! That is one of my bad habits.) Positive thinking is the name of the game!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Love the jack skellington pumpkin! He's one of our faves!

 

[missangelalexis]

3 more days of work, how exciting! I know what you mean about being the only person at your job who does what you do. It always makes things more stressful :-/

Love your pumpkins!

 

[kayemgi]

We are down to less than one day to go! In 24 hours I hope we will be on a bus to Downtown Disney, maybe even be there already! Our flight lands at 11:05, so I'm hopeful we can get to our resort and on a bus in less than three hours.

I am surrounded by my furbabies right now, and I'm so happy that my in-laws are so kind as to house- and pet-sit for us. It really eases my mind about leaving them, especially our pup, he needs so much attention!

I did manage to finish my last few projects!

My tie-dye Mickey tee:

The colors came out a little muddier than I had hoped, and the Mickey didn't come out AT ALL. I had to go back in with bleach to put it in! But I'm still happy with how it turned out.

My grape soda pin, from Up:

I just wanted something Disney to pin on my park bag, and this was super easy to make.

And my park notes mini-booklets:

These are 3x4" mini books that I put together. Inside them are fun trivia to share with my DH, information (like park hours), any relevant ADRs and our FP+ selections and times for each park. I have the informational stuff on my phone, but I like having stuff on paper -- I think it comes from being a designer, I just love a printed piece!

I spent the week relaxing, doing last minute errands, putting together the above, and cleaning our house. This morning we packed, and my suitcase is only half-full! I don't even know how that happens. I overpacked too, I definitely brought stuff I'm not going to need. I kept going through my stuff again and again thinking I must have missed something, but it's all there! I guess I just have a large suitcase. Oh well, plenty of room for souvenirs!

I also got a gel manicure this morning, and it was nice to sit and relax for a little while and also to know that my manicure will definitely last through my entire vacation! I rarely get a gel manicure, but I think they are awesome for vacations. No need to bring my nail polish in case I need a touch up.

And I guess that's about it! I just hope nothing bad happens on or to our flight. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow and flights out of the awful Philly airport have been canceled for less. I'll be worrying until we land in Orlando, to be honest. I wish I could relax before then, but it's just not in my genes! Keep your fingers crossed for me that all goes smoothly. I'll update when we get back! Thanks for following along on my PTR!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

sounds like you're all prepared and ready to go! how awesome to find extra space for souvenirs in your suitcase! have a great time! can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!

 

[deedee2177]

Hope you have a great time and can't wait to hear all about it when you get back. Sending pixie dust your way so you can have a smooth travel day and you can finally take a breath and start enjoying yourself!!

 

[kayemgi]

We made it and are on the ME right now! Disney here we come!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm so sorry I didn't see this yesterday!!

Your tye dye shirt came out great and I absolutely LOVE your booklets, what a great idea!!

I'm glad you treated yourself to a gel manicure

HAVE A WONDERFUL & MAGICAL TIME!!!! I really can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[kayemgi]

Live report!

We went to AK today. We managed to get a ride on the Safari before it started raining. It rained pretty steadily until early afternoon which changed our touring plan. After KS we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch, hoping the rain would lighten up. It didn't, so we did ITTBAB, ate lunch and then headed to FOTLK to use our FP+. FP+ there only gets you in a few minutes early and by then crowds were already giving up so there was plenty of seating.

Then the rain finally stopped! It was about 1:10 by then. We headed to Flights of Wonder, which was so awesome, and then we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek, EE, Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Nothing had a wait longer than 5 minutes. We saw Finding Nemo and then rode EE 4 times in a row, no waiting! They were even letting people go through the FP line because they couldn't fill the cars fast enough. It was a great day overall. Waiting for our Sanaa reservation time now! HS tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[dismom9761]

Sounds like an awesome AK day!

 

[kayemgi]

Hey everyone, we are back, and I'm gearing up to write a TR. I needed a few days to recover and get over the sadness of leaving WDW! I will post a link when I start it, I hope you'll join in again!

 

[deedee2177]

Glad you had a safe trip. Looking forward to the TR!!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Welcome back! I will look for the TR!

 

[missangelalexis]

Can't wait for you to start your TR!

 

[kayemgi]

Ok, I've finally started my TR! Sorry it took so long, I just took soooo many photos! I had to at least start sorting them before I could start the TR, and I ended up sick and not wanting to do much the week after we got back. Probably caught something from someone on the airplane! At least it happened on the way home and not on the way to Disney.

Click here to start reading my TR. I hope you enjoy reading!