3 Years in the making! **Complete**

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Three: 9/19/11

Today was originally slated out to be Magic Kingdom, however... Harry Potter has been managing some mischief in our plans and we are now using today for the Animal Kingdom!
Our Itinerary this day:
6:30am - Wake up and get ready for the day (DH will love this early rise. )
7:00am - Grab some breakfast at the POP food court
7:20am - Hop on the bus for Animal Kingdom
8:00am - EMH begins at AK.. we're headed for...
EVEREST!!!
....
....
Ok, let me rephrase. I'm heading for Everest and DH will sit and take pictures while I ride it. But hey, single rider.. last time I got the front row!
8:20am - Trek on over to ride the Safari. We love to do this early. Usually the animals are more active.
9:00am - We will wander the trails of the Pangani Forest
9:30am - Head on over to Camp Minnie Mickey and poke around with the characters before..
10:00am - Festival of the Lion King
10:30am - Head back into Asia and wander the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I love tigers and we have missed this two times now. It is a mission.
11:30am - Flights of Wonder show (we seem to miss this every time, too )
12:00pm - Grab fastpasses for Dinosaur before finding lunch
2:00pm - Finding Nemo the Musical
After this we will use our fastpasses and then head on out. We have seen this parade before and can deal with not catching it this time around.

--Late afternoon is left for a nap or swim followed by...
6:15pm - Dinner ADR at Nine Dragons
7:00pm - Take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom

We are doing an evening at MK so we can see the standard Wishes fireworks and the MSEP. The only other evening we have at MK is for MNSSHP.


Here as expected are our May AK pics:

 

[mrssmith06]

Love your pictures!! An your PTR is looking great!!!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Four: 9/20/11

7:00am - Wake up and get ready for the day (early riser once again)
7:30am - Catch the bus to Magic Kingdom
8:25am - Crystal Palace ADR
9:00am - The mad dash to rope drop so we can meet Rapunzel and Flynn!
9:30am - Head into Fantasyland and grab fast passes for Peter Pan
9:45am - View Mickey's PhilharMagic
10:15am - Ride it's a small world traditions...
10:45am - Beat myself senseless to get that song out of my head....
..........
.......... Nope, it's still there. Ah, well, we may as well just head over to the Haunted Mansion and socialize with some grim grinning ghosts.
11:45am - Grab a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain before returning to ride Peter Pan's Flight.
12:15pm - Moving on into Tomorrowland we will hop in line for Buzz Lightyear!
1:00pm - Laugh it up with a few friends at the Monster's Inc. Comedy Club
1:30pm - Ride Big Thunder Mountain
2:00pm - Grab some lunch at Cosmic Rays
3:00pm - Leave the park for a nap and to change for the night's festivities

6:45pm - ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern
8:00pm - Journey with some Pirates of the Caribbean
9:00pm - Snag a spot for the fireworks
9:30pm - Hallowishes... in which we will stay put for...
10:30pm - Halloween Parade
... some where in here we will also catch a showing of the stage show depending on when it runs?
11:00pm - Trick or treating trails of course!

We will make this a late night, but it will be well worth it.


Some Magic Kingdom May 2010 images for you...

Our niece loves Belle and was THRILLED to meet her

What happens when you hug Woody with a camera in hand...

 

[KELLY]

I'm in all caught up. We were originally booked at pop then just upgrade to CBR. Now we are not sure. Are pop package is paid in full thanks to tax refund but we still owe 750.00 on CBR. Not sure if is worth the money?

 

[DisneyLifer87]

I'm in all caught up. We were originally booked at pop then just upgrade to CBR. Now we are not sure. Are pop package is paid in full thanks to tax refund but we still owe 750.00 on CBR. Not sure if is worth the money?

We love POP. We originally stayed there in 2009 and then went to CBR in 2010. DH hated CBR. I enjoyed the beautiful resort and also how quiet it was, but the buses for CBR take forever. Perhaps we were just unlucky but it seemed we would wait at the stop for 30-45min each morning for a bus to our park.

Best of luck in your decision!

 

[KELLY]

We love POP. We originally stayed there in 2009 and then went to CBR in 2010. DH hated CBR. I enjoyed the beautiful resort and also how quiet it was, but the buses for CBR take forever. Perhaps we were just unlucky but it seemed we would wait at the stop for 30-45min each morning for a bus to our park.

Best of luck in your decision!

We have stayed at pop the last 2 years and have had the best of everything. Best bus serivce,mouskeeping,foodcourt ect. We stayed at POFQ alot and the last 2 times we stayed there we had bad mousekeeping. We couldn't afford to go back deluxe so we tried POP and we loved it. Choice choices.

BTW love your pics of Flower Garden. I wanted to go back this May instead of September but Dh wanted September again. I pefer the flower Garden over F&W we did that last year it just made Epcot crazy. Lucky for us we miss it this year.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Well if you stay at POP you will surely see us there

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Five: 9/21/11 - You're a wizard, Harry!

The moment I have been waiting for has finally arrived! It's time to journey to Hogwarts!!... and of course, IOA and US.....

6:30am - Wake up... oh yeah. This will be a long day already...
7:00am - Head down to Pop for some breakfast
7:45am - Hopefully schedule for Mears Transportation. According to a fellow DISers last report, this was their selected time and it worked wonders.
8:30am - Roughly when we will reach US/IOA and head down to the gate armed with our tickets.
9:00am - Park open and the mad dash to get into WWoHP
--We will head to the FJ immediately and then spend a good while taking in the sights and shops. I want to see the shows, try some butterbeer... you name it, we'll do it. --
11:30am - Estimated time we'll be out of Harry Potter. Crazy, I know. But from here we will head into Jurassic Park and ride the main ride. DH will also want to walk around a bit and take in the sights.
1:00pm - Grab some lunch at IOA
1:30pm - Poseidon's Fury
2:00pm - Pass over to the Marvel area and ride with Spiderman

3:30pm - Moving on over to US we will start out with Terminator 2: 3D
4:00pm - Time to join up with the Men In Black II
5:00pm - After we have forgotten what we just did.... we will fight with Jaws
5:30pm - Move on over to take on the Mummy
6:15pm - Take a crazy ride with the Simpsons
7:00pm - Park closes, so we will head over the Margaritaville for some dinner. We went here after our wedding so it's pretty much a given that we will do this.

We will call up Mears and be picked up most likely around 9:00pm. It will be an early to bed evening for us. If crowds play out and we have time to kill, we may head to Downtown Disney.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

So DH and I have decided to swap out our ADRs for Nine Dragons and Liberty Tree Tavern. We are just swapping their days with one another primarily because it is easier to have dinner in the MK after an afternoon break prior to MNSSHP so we do not have to make extra trips to change into our costumes.

Also, we have decided to visit Planet Hollywood after Animal Kingdom on day 5 and use our $15 coupon so we can pay out of pocket. Why are we doing this? Well... because we have decided to add an ADR breakfast at Crystal Palace! Yay! MK before opening!

I've updated the appropriate itineraries. Now... let's plug on...

 

[DisneyLifer87]

We made our ADRs today so I have updated the plans with specific times. I'm very excited that we were able to get everything we wanted!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Six: 9/22/11

7:00am - Wake up, get ready, and get some breakfast from Pop!
8:15am - Catch the bus to DHS
9:00am - Rope Drop at DHS and the sprint to TSM!
9:15am - Ride TSM then grab a fastpass for later
9:45am - Head over to ride/watch the Backlot Tour
10:30am - Catch a showing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid
11:00am - Return to TSM for our Fastpass time
11:45am - Ride the Great Movie Ride
12:30pm - Grab lunch at Pizza Planet
1:00pm - Watch Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
2:00pm - Scope out a spot for the Countdown to Fun! Parade
3:30pm - Shop around and sight see before...

5:15pm - Sci Fi Diner ADR
6:00pm - Watch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show
7:00pm - Line up for Fantasmic!
*Note to self: pack the nook and android phone for entertainment
8:30pm - Fantasmic!

After the show we will join the masses and head back to the hotel room for an early night.
I do not have many pictures from DHS in May 2010 due to it being Star Wars weekends and insanely busy/hot/crowded. We were too worn out. But.. here you go...

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Seven: 9/23/11

7:00am - Wake up and grab breakfast at Pop!
8:00am - Catch the bus to DHS
9:00am - Rope drop and head to TSM
9:45am - Move on the ride Star Tours
11:00am - Watch Muppet Vision 3D
11:30am - Grab lunch
12:30pm - Get in line for Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show
1:00pm - View LMA Stunt Show
2:00pm - Leave for a nap/swim

5:00pm - Catch bus back to DHS
6:30pm - ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe


This night is left open to stay in DHS or head to another park and do our last Disney must-dos. We intend on being back in the hotel by 10pm to pack and head to bed.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Have just come across your PTR and your plans look great!!

Firstly, congrats on your wedding...the pics look gorgeous

Good luck with getting your teaching certificate - I did it last year so understand how hard it is and how it can take over your life. Hope you manage to get through it and find a job afterwards

Am doing supply whilst looking for permanent work - my course was in Business and Computer studies.

on paying off Disney, booking your flights (getting the same flight numbers is confusing) and getting all your ADRs!!!

Hope kitty Nala remains happy and healthy. Am looking forward to reading more (when you have time to post) and will keep an eye out at Pop as you will be there the same time as us!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Welcome to you and thanks for stopping by!

As much as I hate to do this, I must fill in one last itinerary....

Day Eight: 9/24/11

.... Leaving Disney Day

Our flight is scheduled for 12:18pm. A sad day. We will simply pack in the morning whatever we did not pack the night prior and head out to catch DME. Chick-Fil-A for breakfast?! Haha...
Luckily for both DH and I we have requested off the Sunday following our return. Once we hit MSP airport and meet my mom for a ride back to her place. Afterward, we will head over to my sister's house and visit with my two nephews and baby #3 who is due August 30th
The boys Adam (2) and Christopher (1) have so many Disney items from previous Disney trips. Example: Our May 2010 trip for the wedding my sister and her husband traveled sans the boys. However, they returned with Mickey ears and DH and I bought them "Thing One" and "Thing Two" shirts from City Walk. Regardless, there will be gifts for both of them and for the new little one. We should know if baby #3 is a boy or girl come April 18th. I'm very happy for my sister and her every growing family
Finally we will drive back from Minneapolis to Duluth that evening and greet our presumably attention starved kitties.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Disney To Do:

Countdown? Check...
OCD Problems? Check and Check....
Fun Color Text? You BET!

Alright, now let's go and plan out what we have left to do...

• Budget out our spending money
• Find a sitter for the cats
• Pick out and purchase our Halloween Costumes for MNSSHP
• Do a little "Spring Cleaning" on DH and mine's clothing so we can see what we need to buy
• ...Buy said clothes from list made in previous to-do
• Read through all of the physical books I own so I only need to take my nook on the trip
• Finish the May 2010 trip scrapbook
• Make our packing lists
• PACK!!!!

I just realized that within that list of to-dos exists at least 5 mini-lists that I will have to make. I think I have a list sickness.... So, I suppose my next plan in this pre-trip is to make mini-lists and complete everything? Good thing you're all here to give feedback!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Grab a chair... we're about to discuss the lists of items to complete as mentioned in my master Disney to-do list. I figured it's much easier to get them all done here than to make individual posts. This way I can also cross them off as I go! Help keep me encouraged, because a lot of these will need dedication to complete!

Physical Books left to read:
(A list to complete so I only need to bring my Nook on the trip. These are in order of how I would like to read them.)

That's 21 books in 26 weeks Going to be one heck of a ride.
4 down, 17 to go as of 6/7/11

Finishing the May 2010 Scrapbook Pages:

• Animal Kingdom Safari Pages -- FINISHED!
• Animal Kingdom Parade Pages -- FINISHED!
• Magic Kingdom Page -- FINISHED!
• Magic Kingdom Stage Show Pages -- FINISHED!
• Magic Kingdom Parade Pages -- FINISHED!
• Family Dinners/Character Meets Pages -- FINISHED!
• Wedding photos scrapbook (10-15 pages) -- FINISHED!

This is a tedious project that I am having a hard time encouraging myself to finish. I have the pictures, pages, stickers... everything but the patience!

Budget Savings Plan:

• March: $100 to savings -- Got it!
• April: $100 to savings -- Got it!
• May: $100 to savings -- Got it!
• June: $100 to savings -- Got it!
• July: $100 to savings
• August: $100 to savings

I will post another section breaking our spending budget down, but this is how I wager we will save for it. $600 is all I imagine we'll need.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Congrats on your sister adding to her family!

Your to do list sounds great! You sound so organised...have not even though about half of them things yet!

Wow that is a lot of reading to pack in...good luck with getting through your reading list.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

A small update....

Still working on completing the list mentioned above. DH and I have been taking on extra shifts at our jobs to gather some more spending money for Disney (of course). Currently I'm working on my Excel spreadsheets and other various planning paraphernalia.

Bought the guide to hidden mickey's for DH. He's into that type of stuff... so it should be a fun little thing for us to enjoy.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Well, one book from the list has been completed, however I have slacked on everything else. Oh well, but I better get my butt in gear.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Last night brought about the finishing of our wedding scrapbook from May 2010!!!

Very exciting to have this task out of the way. Now it's time to read, read, READ