2018 is shaping up to be MY YEAR! A September '18 PTR

[windcriesamy]

Hello, everyone! I'm here to try my second ever PTR. I seem to never finish trip reports, but pre-trip planning?! I'M ALL ABOUT THAT DISNEY PLANNING LIFE!

So heeeeeeere weeeeeee goooooooooo!

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[windcriesamy]

Hi, I'm Amy, and this is my DH Thomas!

We're 30-somethings who live in NC. I work in management at a US retailer, and he runs an after-school program for K-5 children. We love Disney (though I'm more of a Disney freak than he is), and we've made a few trips over the years. We honeymooned at WDW almost FIVE YEARS AGO (WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!) and went back for a Disneyversary last spring.

Last summer, we had to move for my job. We went from living in a great city where we had put down roots for almost 15 years to...well, a kind of lame town located half-way between our two jobs. We have to endure a long commute to work each day (though mine is longer than his) and my schedule is very changeable because it's based on business needs. Combine that with the fact that we don't know anyone here and haven't really had time to go out and meet anyone...let's just say it's been a rough 8 months. He's been such a great sport, and I honestly don't know what I would have done without him. Work has been extremely stressful and he's always there to give me a glass of wine and let me complain at the end of a long day.

After our trip in April 2017, we told each other we probably wouldn't go back to Walt Disney World until 2019 or 2020, when all the Star Wars construction would be complete. But all this stress left me longing for a certain happy place with a certain castle, so I pretty much told my DH that I was GOING to find a way for us to go back to WDW in 2018!

In the past, we've always scheduled our trips around DH's spring break, since we know the weather will be good and it's much easier to coordinate my PTO with his time away from school. But we are both foodies, and for years I have longed to visit during the International Food & Wine festival. I'm also a big fan of Halloween (but don't make me watch a horror movie!) and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party sounds just my speed. So we talked about it and I told him I really wanted to make this work, and we agreed to schedule our trip for September 15-20!

 

[windcriesamy]

On our previous trip, we stayed at All Star Movies, which was fun! We spent a lot of time in the parks and really only slept at the resort, so it served us well. However, since this was a little more of a "dream trip" I decided to research my dream resort: Animal Kingdom Lodge! Of course, it was out of our price range, so I started to consider Coronado Springs, which is where we stayed on our honeymoon. But I remembered reading that renting DVC points could make a deluxe work out to be about the same price as a moderate. I had stalked the DVC rental store special emails for funsies, but now I made a serious inquiry about a Kidani studio standard view and my pie-in-the-sky Kidani studio savanna view. When we got the pricing email back, I was shocked! The savanna view was only about $100 more than a standard view AND was cheaper than the CSR rooms I had priced for the same dates!

I told my DH and we booked right away! And since I wasn't getting a room and ticket package from Disney like usual, I was able to buy discounted park tickets online as well! I've estimated that we've saved about 40% over rack rate for our room and tix so far. I told DH the rest of what we would've spent can go toward our food budget!

TL;DR: we're staying at AKL:Kidani in a savanna view room September 15-20!!​

 

[windcriesamy]

Tentative itinerary:​

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Saturday, 9/15 - Arrival day!
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We're keeping an eye on flights. I've seen some decent deals, but most of the arrivals I see are for 5 p.m. or later. I'd really like to get to MCO by 2:00 (or even earlier, of course!). I know our room probably won't be ready until 4:00, but if we get there early enough I figure we could get some more park time in. So here's the IDEAL plan for the day:

- Arrive at MCO, wait for the ME
- Arrive at AKL. If room is ready, go check it out and drop off our stuff; if not, head straight to HS bus
- FP+ plans: Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and maaaaaaybe TSMM. I know Toy Story Land will still be the new hotness, so we may avoid the area altogether. I'm crossing my fingers for shorter lines at ToT and Star Tours, since they're two of my favorite rides on property!
- HS until 8:00? I want to leave before the park closes (presumably) at 9:00, but I also don't know when the Star Wars extravaganza will be, and that's a must see for us this time!
- Head back to AKL for a late dinner at Jiko
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Sunday, 9/16 - Explore AKL and attend MNSSHP (we hope!)
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I'm basing these plans on the assumption that this will be a party date. I understand that most Sundays are party days, and I'm hoping attendance will be a bit lower since it'll be a school night and sort of in the middle of the party season.

- Sleep in a little? JUST KIDDING! More like get up early and sit outside and watch animals!!!
- Breakfast buffet at Boma
- Explore AKL; watch some animals, go for a swim...whatever strikes us!
- Late lunch at the Mara? Or we might swing by Disney Springs if we feel we want something there.
- Get to MK around 4:00
- Party!! I'll have a better idea of what to do once the 2018 info comes out, but I definitely want to see Boo to You and HalloWishes. I'm not sure about M&Gs yet, but I know DH and I will want to sample the seasonal goodies and probably get lots of Halloween candy! Oh, and ride Haunted Mansion over and over!
- Head back to AKL and collapse
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Monday, 9/17 - Food & Wine!
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I feel like I might be front loading our plans a little too much, but it just seems like an early weekday will be one of the best for attending F&W.

- Quick breakfast in the room (and by breakfast, I mean a bottle of water and maybe a Kind bar!) while I say good morning to the animals
- Bus to Epcot!
- FP+ for IllumiNations, Spaceship Earth, and Disney/Pixar film festival; we might RD TT? We plan to skip Soarin' and FEA this time.
- Eat and drink around the world!
- End the day with IllumiNations (since this might be our last chance to ever see it!)
- Head back to AKL
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Tuesday, 9/18 - AK and AKL
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- Another quick breakfast on the balcony while I watch for animals
- Bus over to AK
- FP+ for FoP (fingers crossed!!!) KS and EE; if we don't manage to get FoP, we may adjust our plans and RD it, but I'd really rather not have to do that!
- Wander around and watch the animals between rides
- Lunch at Satu'li Canteen? Or maybe Nomad Lounge. TBD!
- We're not too interested in seeing RoL again, so if all goes well and we get FoP out of the way early, we'll leave the park in the mid- to late-afternoon
- Head back to AKL for exploring, animal watching, swimming, whatevs
- Dinner at Sanaa (or maybe Sanaa Lounge)
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Wednesday, 9/19 - MK
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We probably (but not definitely) have friends from Miami driving up and joining us on our trip. They haven't committed to anything yet, but I'm guessing that if they're coming they'll definitely be here by today! They may arrive earlier, but I don't think it'll change our plans too much up to this point.

- Eat a Kind bar and watch the animals for a bit
- Bus over to MK
- FP+ for HM, PotC, Splash
- Lunch will probably be at Cosmic Ray's, because tradition
- Gotta make time for the dole whip!!
- Trying to decide if we should do the HEA dessert party. We haven't seen HEA yet, but there will probably be four of us at this point and I don't know if I can sell our friends on the extra expense
- If we don't do the dessert party, I will insist on staking out a decent viewing spot for fireworks!
- I'm hoping to monorail resort hop after fireworks and get food and drinks at each stop
- Back to AKL to crash
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Thursday, 9/20 - departure day
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- Sad breakfast in the room; say goodbye to the animals
- Check out
- If our friends are joining us, they'll have driven up from Miami and will drive us back down with them for a day or two before we fly home. I'll ask that we drop by Disney Springs for a little shopping before we head out.
- If I haven't already, I'll stop by the Pandora store and buy another charm for the bracelet DH started for me on our last trip
- If our friends don't end up joining us, we'll try to work in a DS trip before today, or try to make it work this morning before having to board the Tragical Express back to MCO.​

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

We’re taking a long weekend trip in Sep for HHN/F&W/MNSSHP/Toy Story Land, and if everything works out we’ll be at the same MNSSHP!

 

[windcriesamy]

Following along!

We’re taking a long weekend trip in Sep for HHN/F&W/MNSSHP/Toy Story Land, and if everything works out we’ll be at the same MNSSHP!

Welcome! That sounds like an action-packed trip! I so wish we could plan a long weekend trip now and again, but DH usually has a lot going on during the weekend and it can be hard to coordinate a free Saturday!​

 

[windcriesamy]

So, the other thing I haven't really mentioned yet is...I'm getting a promotion at work!

I am very excited about this for many reasons, but the biggest reason is...we get to move back home! Back to our lovely city with all our friends and no more hour+ commutes to work! That is, when our lease is up...which is in July...so we'll still have a long drive every day until then...but it's so worth and and I'm very happy!

Related to this topic...we bought our plane tickets to MCO! I had previously been pricing flights from an airport about an hour away, and we were trying to figure out the logistics that came with that. Would we have to beg a ride? If we did that, who would drive us? We could go to DH's parents' house the night before our trip and have them take us to the airport, but they're just as far away from the airport as we are and that just adds more time and frustration. I guess we could pay to park at the airport...

BUT! When I realized that we'd be moving back, I priced tickets at the airport in town...and got a better rate AND an earlier flight than I had previously hoped for!

So we are now flying out at 5:30 in the morning and arriving around 9:30! That will give us SO much more HS park time than I was originally hoping for! I wonder how many times we'll be able to ride Star Tours...​

 

[Araminta18]

Yay for September trips! We're doing the same thing--want to eat at Food & Wine and do the Halloween party. Assuming the dates for the party are the dates we think they'll be, we're going to be at the same party! I'm super excited--never done one before.

Also, CONGRATS! on your promotion

 

[Raeven]

I so wish we could plan a long weekend trip now and again, but DH usually has a lot going on during the weekend and it can be hard to coordinate a free Saturday!

Aw, yeah they can be hard. We usually don't do them, and at first we didn't think we'd ever be able to make a weekend trip be worth it, but we ended up doing one last year to still go to HHN after the hurricane made us move our longer vacation, and it worked a lot better than we thought so we're trying it again this year!

So, the other thing I haven't really mentioned yet is...I'm getting a promotion at work!

Congrats!

 

[windcriesamy]

Yay for September trips! We're doing the same thing--want to eat at Food & Wine and do the Halloween party. Assuming the dates for the party are the dates we think they'll be, we're going to be at the same party! I'm super excited--never done one before.

Also, CONGRATS! on your promotion

Yay for another first party goer! Are you going to be doing M&Gs or just riding rides? I keep going back and forth between whether or not to stand in a line to meet some of the villains, but I sure know I want to see the parade and fireworks!

And thanks to you both for the congrats! We're officially announcing it tomorrow and I know it will be bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to the familiarity of my old coworkers at my old store!​

 

[Araminta18]

Yay for another first party goer! Are you going to be doing M&Gs or just riding rides? I keep going back and forth between whether or not to stand in a line to meet some of the villains, but I sure know I want to see the parade and fireworks!

And thanks to you both for the congrats! We're officially announcing it tomorrow and I know it will be bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to the familiarity of my old coworkers at my old store!​

We're not really into M&Gs (it's just my husband and me), so the only M&G we'll do is Tarzan and Jane, I think (cause I love Tarzan and Jane and usually their line is short!). Other than that, it's riding rides, trick or treating, and eating the party specific treats. I really wanna see the parade (mostly for the Headless Horseman) and the fireworks too!!

 

[windcriesamy]

We're not really into M&Gs (it's just my husband and me), so the only M&G we'll do is Tarzan and Jane, I think (cause I love Tarzan and Jane and usually their line is short!). Other than that, it's riding rides, trick or treating, and eating the party specific treats. I really wanna see the parade (mostly for the Headless Horseman) and the fireworks too!!

Yes! I'm so excited to see Headless Horseman and the Cadaver Dans!! ​

 

[Araminta18]

Yes! I'm so excited to see Headless Horseman and the Cadaver Dans!! ​

Right?! I was originally thinking we'd do the party the Friday after, but I got worried since we leave Saturday and if it gets rained out, no chance for a make up party. And I *really* want to see the Horseman

 

[windcriesamy]

Well, I just ended my second week in my new job! It's been so great to be back with my old coworkers, but holy buckets, am I tired! The early mornings + commute + hard work prepping for a huge project = SO TIRED!!

But really, it's truly wonderful. PLUS, I get weekends off now!! WHAT? Amazing!


Anyhow, we hit our 180 day mark on Monday and I was super stoked to be able to make our ADRs. I took a break at 7:00 a.m. to try to book our Sunday lunch and maaaaaybe a BOG dinner for Thursday, but I kept having issues with the app and website. I tried periodically throughout the day and never had any luck. I finally managed to book Sanaa for our arrival day dinner, but I kept getting error messages when I tried to reserve our Homecomin' lunch for Sunday.

After searching the DIS boards, I saw that many other folks had run into the same issue and had had luck calling Disney directly and booking their dining over the phone with them. I had a little time before a Google Hangout I had scheduled that night, so I called. I was on hold for around 30 minutes, and when I finally got a CM, she was very nice but told me she couldn't see any available times for Homecomin' on Sunday and that they probably hadn't released their September hours yet. I explained I was online and could see the time slots available, I just kept getting errors when I tried to book, and she said I should probably just try again the next day.

I was frustrated, but I didn't have time before my call, so I thanked her and hung up. I checked again later that evening, and I could no longer check for reservations beyond the 180 day mark. It has remained that way for me in the app AND on the website ever since. Sooooo...I've logged on every morning to book reservations for each day as we hit each 180 day mark.

Today is 180 days from our departure day, so here's what we've ended up with so far!

Saturday: Sanaa, 9:00 p.m.
I went on and booked this in case we want to do the full dinner experience rather than eating at the lounge. Obviously we'll have to decide by the day before, but I wanted to have the safety.
Sunday: Homecomin', 1:10 p.m.
I really wanted a later time since we plan on going to the party and I want to be able to skip dinner. Something more like 2:30 would be ideal, but this was the latest slot available before dinner. I'm hoping to be able to change it down the road if something opens up. I put out a request on the Touring Plans reservation finder, so we'll see what happens. It's not the end of the world if we can't get a later time. I am really looking forward to trying the shine cake, though!
Monday: FOOD & WINE!
No ressies because we are gonna eat and drink ALL DAY!
Tuesday: Jiko, 8:00 p.m.
This is our AK day and I want to follow it up with a really nice signature dinner. I booked for four in case our friends want to join, but they're really not adventurous eaters and I don't know that they'll really go for African/Indian cuisine. I wouldn't be surprised if they left us alone for dinner and went to find cheese pizza somewhere. More bobotie mac & cheese for me!
Wednesday: Skipper's Canteen, 1:10 p.m.
Again, reservation for four, not sure if they'll want to eat here, yadda yadda...I booked it just in case. DH and I are very interested in the fare and atmosphere here! I would love to be able to take our friends to Be Our Guest for dinner, but again, they're picky eaters and flavors scare them. I love them, but it's true! I don't think they would get any kind of value out of the upcoming prix fixe dinner, but that ballroom...we will see what happens.
Thursday: Boma, 9:15 a.m.
I am hoping that having a fantastic buffet for breakfast will help ease the heartache of leaving my happy place.

I tried not to overdo it with reservations, but we also have our eye on some of the lounges (Tambu, Nomad's, maybe Cali Grill?) so we definitely plan on enjoying even more primo cuisine! Food gets me very excited!

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[Araminta18]

Glad you're enjoying your new job! Though bummer about being so tired--hopefully it eases up soon!

And wasn't that IT issue the worst? Good grief, so frustrating. Then to get a...not-helpful CM on top of it, I'm sorry. Hopefully you get the time moved for Homecomin--I've always had good luck with the touring plans reservation finder (even for BOG/Cinderella's Table), so I'm crossing my fingers for you!

But you have great ADRs! I love Skipper Canteen--so fun, and the food is just different enough to be interesting. You should tell your friends that there's always chicken nuggets and fries for the kids if they don't like the main menu!!

 

[maryr1oz]

Wowwwww so many similarities between our trips!

I will be travelling with my DH, we arrive at MCO on 15th September at 9.30am, and will take Magical Express
We are staying at AKL (Jambo) on rented DVC points
We will attend MNSSHP on 16th September
I also had issues with the ADRs at 180 days out, but fortunately I got a helpful cast member on the phone and I got just about everything I wanted

Happy planning - maybe we'll see you on the bus!

 

[windcriesamy]

Oh. Em. Gee. Y'all...it has been a crazy several months! The new job has been kicking my butt and we moved last month, but now we're only 27 days out from our trip and I'm able to spend time getting excited about things again!

I set an alarm on my phone for FP+ day so I would be sure to take a break from whatever I was doing at work and make sure I got FOP booked...and it worked! I'm SUPER stoked!

Other updates: our friends from Miami are no longer coming to spend time with us in the parks, but they are going to come pick us up on check out day, have brunch, and drive us back to Miami with them for a couple of days! So I'm looking forward to that! Because of the change of plans with them, and our FP+ bookings and last-minute tweaks to our ADRs, here is Itinerary #626 (the most up to date!)

Saturday, 9/15 - Arrival day!​

- Arrive at the airport @ 4:30 a.m. (This won't be an issue for me since I have to get up so early for work, but I will have to probably carry my husband to the car...)
- Fly out @ 5:45 a.m.
- Arrive in MCO @ 9:20; find the Magical Express line (I need to check back with our DVC Rental Store person to make sure ME got booked properly...)
- Arrive at AKL. Crossing my fingers for early check in but definitely not banking on it. We'll store our luggage with the wonderful CMs and check out the resort for a bit.
- Bus to HS! I'm guessing we'll get there around 12:30 or 1:00?
- We'll have plenty of time for exploring Toy Story Land and eating lunch (hopefully at Baseline or maaaaaaybe HBD Lounge)
- FPs for TSM @ 3:00, Star Tours @ 4:55, ToT @ 5:55
- I would LOVE to stay to see Galactic Spectacular since we missed it last year. We'll have to see how we feel, because it's going to be a loooong day!
- Back to AKL for a late dinner at Sanaa lounge (gotta get that bread service!)

Sunday, 9/16 - MNSSHP!!​

- Sleep in a little, get up and enjoy watching animals, poke around the resort
- Brunch at California Grill @ 12:05 - I am SUPER EXCITED about this!! Our trips typically run Sunday or Monday thru Thursday, so we have never even had the chance to do brunch anywhere in the World. I argued that event though it's pricey, this might be one of our only chances to have brunch (a meal we love!) at Cali Grill (a restaurant we love!), so rather than add another nice dinner ressie, we are splurging for brunch! I think the Bloody Mary bar helped win my hubby over too
- We'll be pretty full after, so we will probably have to go back to AKL and take a nap afterwards.
- If we're feeling up to it, we might go to Disney Springs for a bit. If we're lazy, we might hit the pool.
- PARTY!! I'm planning on getting to MK around 5:00 and seeing if we're able to get in. Things we want to do include: Boo to You parade, Jafar M&G, HalloWishes, Space Mountain IN THE DARK, PotC, and lots of Haunted Mansion rides! Oh, and SNACKS! Have you seen the adorable doom buggy cream puff?!
- Head back to AKL and collapse

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Monday, 9/17 - Food & Wine!​

- Quick breakfast in the room (and by breakfast, I mean a bottle of water and maybe a Kind bar!) while I say good morning to the animals
- Bus to Epcot!
- FP+ for Test Track @ 10:45, Short Film Festival @ 12:05, Spaceship Earth @ 1:45
- We'll visit F&W booths around Future World and shop for pins in between FP reservations. We'll also get our Hide & Squeak maps/stickers!
- Once we're done in Future World, we'll start in Canada and eat/drink around the world! I'm going to be compiling a list of booths to visit based on the menu offerings we're most interested in because we simply won't be able to go to each one!
- End the day with IllumiNations (since this might be our last chance to ever see it!)
- Head back to AKL

Tuesday, 9/18 - AK and AKL​

- Another quick breakfast on the balcony while I watch for animals
- Bus over to AK
- FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris @ 10:15, FOP @ 11:30!
- Wander around and watch the animals between attractions
- Lunch at Satu'li Canteen? Or maybe Nomad Lounge. We still haven't decided!
- Standby for EE, since we never miss it!
- We're not too interested in seeing RoL again, so we're planning on leaving mid-afternoon or early evening.
- Depending on what we did Sunday, we'll head to Disney Springs or back to the resort for relaxation
- Jiko @ 8:00

Wednesday, 9/19 - MK​

- Breakfast/animal watching in the room
- Bus over to MK
- FP+ PotC @ 10:10, HM @ 11:15, JC @ 12:35
- Skipper Canteen @ 1:15
- See what other day-of FP we can get. Hopefully Splash and BT, maybe another HM...
- Gotta make time for the dole whip!!
- I'm insisting on staking out a great viewing spot for Happily Ever After. I've watched the show BUNCHES of times on YouTube but we haven't seen it in person yet!
- I'm pretty sure MK is staying open late for EMH, so we'll hang around for a while.
- Back to AKL to crash

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Thursday, 9/20 - departure day /at least friends are coming to get us!​

- Say goodbye to the animals.
- Check out
- Boma @ 10:55 with friends!!
- If we simply haven't been able to fit it in before leaving, I'll beg them to stop at Disney Springs for a bit before we drive to Miami.
- If not, onward to the next leg of our trip!

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