What's better than celebrating your 40th @ WDW?!? Single Digits!!

[1Grumpy9]

I will be seeing the girls tomorrow for a hockey game and we can chat more about what days we want to go to what parks. I found a link to the TA November hours (which I know will probably change), but it gives us an idea on what parks will have EMH and which days we want to have as our "off" days. It looks like we will only have one or two back to back days in the parks.

I also am trying to avoid going to EPCOT during the weekends because of it being crowded with F&W.

I definitely know that are we are going to MNSSHP on Oct 31st (just waiting for the tickets to go on sale to purchase them).

 

[1Grumpy9]

173 Days away!!

We have made our lunch ressie for BOG on November 9th at Noon!!

I also called the other day and got our MNSSHP tickets. They were a little more than I was hoping, but I got Halloween night for all 4 of us.

Here is our preliminary plans:

Oct 31 - Travel and MNSSHP
Nov 1 - Off Day (day to rest after a long day before with travel and halloween party)
Nov 2 - Animal Kingdom
Nov 3 - EPCOT
Nov 4 - Hollywood Studios
Nov 5 - Off Day - Spirit of Aloha Show (8:15pm)
Nov 6 - Off Day
Nov 7 - Off Day
Nov 8 - EPCOT
Nov 9 - Magic Kingdom
Nov 10 - MVMCP
Nov 11 - Travel Home

We are going to use those three days in the middle to do laundry and go to the outlets to shop. We may also explore International Drive a little.

The only things I need to get yet are HDDR reservations, MVMCP, and Memory Maker.

The one other thing that I am waiting on is for Southwest to open up the rest of the year, so we can check our travel back to BWI.

 

[1Grumpy9]

I finally have a flight booked home for our trip. Southwest opened up the their dates for the end of the year a couple of days early and I had a friend text me with the info that they had opened up the dates.

I looked at the prices and for us to fly home in the middle of the day it would be expensive, so I check the early flights and the later flights. The early flights were cheap, but we didn't want to be up and moving at 3am to go to the airport for a 6am flight out of MCO. So the last flight out that day is 10:10pm, and it was one of the cheapest flights for the day. I checked with the girls and since it is a Friday that we are leaving it wasn't a problem and we would have Saturday to recover from the trip.

Our last day will be checking out of the hotel, lounging around for a little bit and then I am thinking about heading to Disney Springs and getting a little final shopping done and grabbing some lunch and dinner. I am figuring some Earl of Sandwich to head to the airport.

The only things we have to get is photopass and our MVMCP tickets. I think those two will be last minute things. We have until beginning of October to buy those.

I am getting super excited for this trip and we still have 159 days until we get there.

 

[1Grumpy9]

After I booked my flight, I checked the next day and they lowered the price. I called SWA and they changed the price and gave me a credit for each person. They have a year to use the credit by May next year.

We have 3 months until we schedule our FP+ and I have to get with the girls to figure out what they want to ride. I definitely know that Soarin' will be on the list and we could hit it a couple of times with the two days we are going to EPCOT.

 

[momabaarjo]

Yay for flights booked! I was glad that SW actually released them early. It is so hard to plan right now with Disney dragging heals on any kind of schedule. I like using touringplans and easyWDW...Josh has yet to put out a November schedule. Sigh...I just know Disney is going to mess up any plans that I have right now because I like them...

We bought our MVMCP tickets a few weeks ago...going on November 8th. I had talked more about opening night, but decided to wait a day and have Wishes Christmas be our last night!

 

[1Grumpy9]

Sorry I have been MIA lately, I was on vacation in Nashville last week for CMA Music Fest.

No new news for our trip coming up...I am going to meet up with the girls sometime over the summer and start planning out our FP+ selections.

I had talked to a friend who Stephanie and I met during our Christmas trip in 2013 that lives down there and they are going to come up for the weekend to hang out for a little. Their daughter is moving from NC to FL so we will get to see her also.

The only news I do have is when I was on my trip last week, I decided to try out my ebags packing cubes and my new suitcase. I packed clothes for 8 days and I only used up half of my suitcase...So I am thinking now that I am not going to order from Amazon Pantry and just put things in my suitcase (snacks, shower items). I am only taking clothes for 6 days, so my packing cubes won't be as bulging.

I am going to pick up drinking around the world cards for our two days at Epcot. That is one thing I want to do while we are there (along with Food and Wine).

 

[1Grumpy9]

Yay for flights booked! I was glad that SW actually released them early. It is so hard to plan right now with Disney dragging heals on any kind of schedule. I like using touringplans and easyWDW...Josh has yet to put out a November schedule. Sigh...I just know Disney is going to mess up any plans that I have right now because I like them...

We bought our MVMCP tickets a few weeks ago...going on November 8th. I had talked more about opening night, but decided to wait a day and have Wishes Christmas be our last night!

We haven't bought our MVMCP tickets yet. I am trying to spread out the costs for everyone. So the last things I have to get are those and the Memory Maker.

 

[1Grumpy9]

I had a nice surprise yesterday in the mail...

We got our Magical Express yellow tags for our bags:


IMG_0898 by brynfn95, on Flickr

For me this was the moment that things started getting real...I can't believe that we are 121 days from arriving.

The one things that has been a glitch is that I went looking for HDDR for the weekend that we have days off (and even the other day we have off) and there are no times available. I am still going to be looking, but I talked to the girls and they were up for anything. I was checking and the Spirit of Aloha show has times available and we may try something new. I could also get O'hana for 10:05pm for the nights, but I don't know if I want to eat that late. If I am going to do something like that, I might as well go to Trader Sam's.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Well, I decided to book the Spirit of Aloha show on Saturday night. I booked the 8:15 show, but I am still on the lookout for a reservation for HDDR.

Now that the Food and Wine menus are out, I have been going over them to see what I want to get and where. We are going to EPCOT twice, so I don't have to stuff myself in one day. I know there are things we will want to share, but I know of a couple items that are not going to be shared!!

 

[1Grumpy9]

I just emailed my TA about getting Spirit of Aloha and she said that there has been an issue getting HDDR past August. I will keep checking, but I am not sure it will happen for this trip.

On another note, my parents and I have decided what we are doing for their 50th Anniversary trip next Oct. We are looking at Oct. 15 - Oct 20. We are going to drive down and stay at our camper in Daytona for the night before arriving at WDW. I also let them decide on what resort they want to stay at and they have picked POFQ. It is a smaller resort and would be great for them.

 

[1Grumpy9]

I can't believe my countdown is in double digits!!! Only 97 days to go!!!! Next big milestone is picking my FP's on Sept 1.

 

[1Grumpy9]

I contacted my TA and had her add another park day onto our reservation so we can have our 2 days at EPCOT. Now, I just have to get through the FP+ selections and buy our MM. I also am starting to get together a list of snacks I want to take along and start buying the stuff for the shower to share.

I want to get together with the girls sometime before the end of Aug.

We are all starting to get really excited about this trip.

 

[1Grumpy9]

So yesterday was a big day...I made the final payment!!!

WE ARE PAID IN FULL!!

Now it is on to finalizing what FP+ we want, buy Photopass and getting items for the room (shower supplies to share).

 

[1Grumpy9]

So on Thursday, I get to pick our FP's

So far on the list we have:

7DMT
HM
Splash Mountain
Space
Pirates
PP

Frozen Ever After
Soarin'
TT
Spaceship Earth

ToT
RnRC
TSM

EE
Dinosaur
KS

We will get three different times for MK. I just don't have our tickets for the Christmas party yet. I am not too worried about that night too much because we will most likely hit everything we want to ride the first two times.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Well, I guess change of plans with the rumors I have seen of RnRC going down for rehab the whole time we are there.

In good news...I got a HDDR ADR!!!! I also cancelled our SoA ADR as it was just an ADR to be the replacement if I couldn't get HDDR.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Yesterday was the big day for picking FP+. I think I did pretty well for what was available.

Oct 31 - (I got three before the start of MNSSHP)
Splash Mountain 3:15 - 4:15pm
Haunted Mansion 4:15 - 5:15pm
Peter Pan's Flight 5:20 - 6:20pm

Nov. 2 - Animal Kingdom (Morning EMH)
Expedition Everest 9:00 - 10:00am
Kilimanjaro Safaris 10:05 - 11:05am
Dinosaur 11:40am - 12:40pm

Nov. 3 - EPCOT (Morning EMH)
Mission Space 9:40 - 10:40am
Character Spot 10:40 - 11:40am
Frozen Ever After 1:55 - 2:55pm

Nov. 4 - Hollywood Studios (evening EMH)
Toy Story Mania 9:15 - 10:15am
Frozen Sing-Along 11:00 - 11:15am
Tower of Terror 12:15 - 1:15pm

Nov. 8 - EPCOT (evening EMH)
Soarin' 9:05 - 10:05am
Spaceship Earth 10:15 - 11:15am
The Seas w/Nemo and Friends 11:15am - 12:15pm

Nov. 9 - Magic Kingdom
Journey of the Little Mermaid 9:00 - 10:00am
Winnie the Pooh 10:05 - 11:05am
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 11:05pm - 12:05pm

I haven't purchased MVMCP tickets, and I am thinking about just buying them when we get there.

The last thing I have to buy is our memory maker. That will complete our whole trip. We are 59 days away and I am getting more and more excited!!!

 

[1Grumpy9]

I was having issues doing online check-in, but with a quick call to the IT help desk, they helped me to the correct website. I got that all completed, and I am coming up on the last days to customize our magic bands...I know that my friend, Stephanie and I are super excited!!

I did learn the other day that hours were extended for both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. The day we are planning on HS, the park will be open until 8 with EMH until 10:00pm and AK will be open until 8:30.

 

[1Grumpy9]

The last part of the trip was purchased on Friday afternoon...Memory Maker!!

I also picked up some snacks that were on sale the other day. I picked up two boxes of Belvita breakfast bars. I know we want to pick up some other snacks (crackers, pop tarts, granola bars, and rice crispy treats) before we go. I also have to pick up some gallon zip lock bags to help with water rides.

I did make some changes to our FP+'s. It was more just times, but I did change our Dinosaur FP to FotLK. We can make the 4th FP after we see FotLK. We are 34 days away from leaving!!!! I can't wait.

 

[chunkymonkey]

The title of your TR caught my eye. Happy early birthday! It's a great feeling to be spending your 40th b-day in WDW. I did so in February of this year. IMO, there is no better way to ring in a new decade!
Your plans sound wonderful and what a nice plan it is to be there for such a long time with some down time built in.

 

[1Grumpy9]

The title of your TR caught my eye. Happy early birthday! It's a great feeling to be spending your 40th b-day in WDW. I did so in February of this year. IMO, there is no better way to ring in a new decade!
Your plans sound wonderful and what a nice plan it is to be there for such a long time with some down time built in.

Thanks!! I am celebrating early because my birthday is in December, and I didn't want to pay the holiday prices. Although, we should have planned a little better because we missed free dining by a couple of days (Nov 15th).