Magic Bands, Opinions, and News
30 days after making all the FP selections, our bands arrived. They werent overnighted, but they were shipped from Memphis, so we received them the next day anyway. We ordered DD Pink, DS blue, DW yellow and Red for myself.
We are now thinking that we will wrap these bands up and let DD and DS open them up the night before we fly out when we spend the night in Branson. DD has seen lots of commercials featuring the bands and she always gets very excited anytime she sees them on TV. I always play dumb and have her explain what they are. She seems to have a pretty good grasp of them is it frightening what advertising will do?
I also took the opportunity to check-in early online, while requesting an upper floor in the BLT. We booked a Lake view. Im hopeful for a view of both the lake and the MK, but I also know that sunrise and the view of illuminations can be had with an upper room. That was my thought anyway, as I made the request!
I also tied a CC to mine and DWs bands. I really like the idea of having payment method, room key, tickets, fast passes, and photo pass all on my wrist. I know the bands and FP+ catch plenty of flak here on the boards, but we are VERY excited about the prospects these bands present.
Scheduling FP is honestly a dream come true and represents more park time for our family and less time that I have to spend scampering all over the place. Hopefully I can spend more time soaking in the details and magic!
My view on FP+(I appreciate keeping debate in one of the other million FP+ threads!
) Does it stink that you can only do 3 FP + in a day? Does it stink that two parks are tiered? Maybe.
I know from my profession that change is something that people will always resent, and it is something you have to work through. Disney cannot make everyone happy with any change. However, in my mind, Its much more fun to embrace the positives that change represents and move beyond desperately clinging to an old way. We are thrilled about the FP + bands and cant wait to report our experiences. We are going to try to embrace it!
As you may recall - I foreshadowed in the very first couple of posts the threat of winter affecting out trip. This has been quite a year of snow for NW Arkansas. Our district has logged a whopping 13 days of no school for winter weather far surpassing anything I might have ever predicted. I am so glad we did not opt for an early summer vacation, as we are extending well into June with makeup days now!
However, Spring Break proved to be a bit of a problem too! Our district actually voted to take away the first two days of our spring break, and students and employees are now making up days then as well! Fortunately, our district is allowing those with existing plans to use personal days to cover vacation days. Seeing how we made plans in August to head to Disney, that included us.
Thanks for reading along so far! The next post will be about our Travel day to Branson, followed by our arrival day to MCO! I have been at a leadership conference in Los Angeles the week prior to our leaving, so we really just have one night to pack. Super Excited but man, do we have a lot to do!
I did the same thing with the Memory Maker, but didn't choose FedEx. I wish I would have now. I am worried about getting it set up for the first day in the parks where we have a 8:10 Akershus ADR. Someone said to call and ask them to link it, so I am going to see if that works.
