A Bucket List Year!

jennab113

X-wing Pilot
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
501
Hello!
My name is Jenna. This PTR is all the planning I am doing for several trips coming up this in the next year.

About me:
I'm an early 30s single girl that loves to travel. About a week ago, I finished a big Bucket List item that I'd been working on for 12ish years - I've been to every active Major League Baseball stadium (plus a few now inactive ones). While working on this, basically all my travel has been baseball related, though I have been to lots of cool places in conjunction with the stadiums.

As I neared completion this year, I started thinking about what I'd like to do to celebrate this accomplishment (besides cry at in #30 Comerica Park like a crazy person). In May, I went to #27 Angels Stadium. As I planned that trip, it slowly morphed from "going to Anaheim for an Angels game or two and maybe go to Disneyland" to "going to Anaheim for 3 days at Disneyland and squeeze in a baseball game one night." It was crazy hot (100+), but I had a blast.

When I got back, I started looking at Disney World trips. I haven't been to WDW in a long time. The last time I was at MK was New Years Day 2004. The last time I was at Epcot or MGM (as it was called then) was 1989. I've never been to AK. So I decided I wanted to go. This could be my celebration! But while I travel alone a lot and was fine alone at DLR, I kind of wanted the celebration to be with someone else.

Enter the BFF. BFF and her family are WDW fanatics. BFF has been down at least once every year of her life and she's passing that tradition on to her boys. So fun. I started pricing out a trip and discovered Free Dining in November. I sent her an e-mail asking if she was in. I thought it was a long shot - she's a preschool teacher and would have to take time off work and she'd have to find child care for her boys while her husband was at work. She worked out the logistics and decided she was in! YAYYYYYY! November trip was officially on and we started planning away.

So while this seemed like a fantastic celebration of my MLB accomplishment, I started thinking bigger. What baseball related stuff would I do in 2015? I've only been to one Spring Training game ever and it would be cool to spend a week down there. Where's Braves spring training, you might ask? It's at Wide World of Sports! That would be convenient for another Disney trip. I discovered Star Wars Weekends. Yeah, I need to do that, too.

Suddenly, it made sense to get an Annual Pass and make this a year of Bucket List items!

Step 1: Make a Disney Bucket List
In no particular order, here's the list I made:
Wild Africa Trek
Ultimate Day of Thrills
Star Wars Weekend/VIP Tour
Stay at a deluxe resort
MVMCP
MNSSHP
Spring Training
Epcot Divequest
Surf Lessons at Typhoon Lagoon
Keys to the Kingdom tour
Backstage Safari
Backstage Magic tour
Dolphins in Depth
4 Parks in One Day
Eat at CRT
Pre-rope drop Crystal Palace
24 Hours at MK
Disney Cruise

Some of them I immediately knew I wouldn't do in the next year, like a cruise and Divequest (I'm not scuba certified, but would like to be eventually).

Step 2: Prioritize
There were some things I definitely wanted to do - MVMCP (already part of the November plan), SWW, and Spring Training were at the top of the list.

Step 3: Start planning!
So that's where this PTR comes in. I have several trips planned and will dedicate a post to each of them.
 
Trip 1: The BFF Trip

November 16th - November 22nd
All Star Sports with Free Dining
Six day Base tickets (mine will be upgraded to an Annual Pass during this trip)

Bucket List Items to Accomplish: MVMCP

Sunday 11/16: Epcot
Drive down to Orlando (approx 7 hours)
Check in to ASSp
Evening at Epcot
FastPasses: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Illuminations
Dinner at Rose & Crown 6:50pm

Monday 11/17: Hollywood Studios
FastPasses: Rock N Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania
Fantasmic 6:30pm
Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater 8:20pm

Tuesday 11/18: Magic Kingdom
FastPasses: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Dinner at Be Our Guest 7:05pm
MSEP 8pm (probably will be skipped because of dinner)
Celebrate the Magic 8:45pm
Wishes 9pm

Wednesday 11/19: Epcot
FastPasses: Soarin', Test Track, Mission: Space
Dinner at Biergarten 6:35pm
Illuminations 9pm

Thursday 11/20: Magic Kingdom
Breakfast at Ohana 9:55am
FastPasses: Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
MVMCP 7pm-12am

Friday 11/21: Animal Kingdom
FastPasses: Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris
Dinner at Boma 7:10pm

Saturday 11/22: Downtown Disney
A little shopping and pick up lunch for the road
Head home!
 
Trip 2: Birthday Extravaganza!

January 10th - January 18th
Old Key West (1/10 - 1/13)
Cabana Bay (1/13 - 1/15)
Animal Kingdom Lodge (1/15 - 1/18)

Bucket List Items to Accomplish: Stay at a Deluxe Resort, Wild Africa Trek, Ultimate Day of Thrills, WWoHP

Saturday 1/10: OKW
Drive down
Hang out with BFF and her family

Sunday 1/11: OKW
Hang out with BFFFam (cheer for their Marathoners)
Dinner with BFFFam

Monday 1/12: Animal Kingdom and Epcot
AK EMH 8-9am (Ride Everest a bunch of times and eat QS breakfast)
Wild Africa Trek 10:15am
Hop to Epcot after WAT
FastPasses TBD
Unsure about dinner - will probably do QS/snacks instead of sit down
Watch the National Championship Game somewhere

Tuesday 1/13: Magic Kingdom (my actual birthday)
Ultimate Day of Thrills 8:15am
Lunch at resort provided during tour
FastPasses TBD (some MK things that aren't on the tour - probably Peter Pan, not sure what else)
Wishes Dessert Party 7pm
Wishes 8pm
Check in to Cabana Bay

Wednesday 1/14: Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure
Early Entry at Universal
Universal VIP Tour 10-5
Lunch at Three Broomsticks
Dinner at Universal somewhere

Thursday 1/15: Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure
Early Entry at Universal
Lunch at Leaky Cauldron
After lunch at some point, check in to AKL
If time, Hollywood Studios for the afternoon
Dinner at AKL

Friday 1/16: Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom
Rope Drop HS until around lunch or so
Hop to Magic Kingdom
FastPasses TBD
Dinner at Be Our Guest 6:20pm
Main Street Electrical Parade (11pm) is a priority this evening because we will probably miss it in Nov and it isn't running my other MK day this trip
Wishes (10pm)

Saturday 1/17: Animal Kingdom
Breakfast at Tusker House 10:15am
FastPasses TBD... I may not end up doing any. This day is mostly going to be a exploring all the trails and Rafiki's Planet Watch. I may at least plan for the Safari and Everest.
Spend time at the hotel
Dinner at Sanaa 7:50pm
Night Safari 9:45pm

Sunday 1/18: Heading Home
Breakfast at AKL (probably Mara) and enjoy the hotel before I check out and head home
 
Trip 3: Princess Half Marathon

February 19th - February 23rd
Art of Animation - Little Mermaid Room

Thursday 2/19: Race Expo
Drive Down
Check in to AoA
Go to Race Expo/Packet Pickup
Dinner TBD

Friday 2/20: Princess 5k
Bus to Race Start 3:30am
Princess 5k: 5:30am
Not sure about what to do the rest of the day. I won't be that tired from the 5k but I don't want to wear myself out for the rest of the weekend either. Will go to a park for a little while for pictures with my medal and characters
Will plan an early dinner somewhere I can get a steak. (I don't eat pasta, so can't carb load)

Saturday 2/21: Enchanted 10k
Bus to Race Start 3:30am
Enchanted 10k 5:30am
Same as above - would like to go to a park for a bit and get some pictures with my medal and characters
Early dinner, early to bed

Sunday 2/22: Princess Half Marathon (and completing the Glass Slipper Challenge!)
Bus to Race Start 3:30am
Princess Half Marathon 5:30am
Quiet recoup time at the hotel, then head to MK for the evening

Monday 2/23: a park
Check out before heading to a park TBD
 

Trip 3.5: Spring Training!

February 23rd - 28th
Pop Century

This trip may be moved depending on when Spring Training actually starts. Until I know the schedule for the games, I can't really plan anything in the parks. Tentative plans for this week include pre rope drop Crystal Palace and Surf Lessons at Typhoon Lagoon.
 
Trip 4: Star Wars Weekend

Dates TBD (I currently have a reservation at AoA for May 14-17 but will move this depending on when Star Wars Weekends are actually scheduled)

This trip will be all about SWW. SW character meals and the VIP Tour are in the plan.
 
Trip 5: Food and Wine/Halloween Party

Dates TBD
All plans TBD

This is a difficult time of year for me because I am a big baseball fan and college football fan. September and October are full of sporting events, so I won't be able to schedule this until the UGA football schedule is out. And there is no way of knowing what the Braves post season (October) schedule would be, but I'll just have to do my best to plan around that.
 
/
Adding an extra planning post in case I add another trip. Other possibilities for trips are Expedition Everest Challenge or the 24 Hour event
 
Have been messing around with my birthday trip this week!

Highlights -
-Changed from All Star Sports to AoA Little Mermaid - so excited! LM is my favorite.
-Moved my Tusker House ADR a little later in hopes of sampling lunch in addition to breakfast
-Moved my Sanaa ADR a little later so I can just hang out there until the Night Safari

My 180 days mark is coming up soon for PHM weekend/Spring Training, so I guess I need to start deciding on what I want to do.
 
I like how you work :thumbsup2 When you want to do something you dive right in :goodvibes I can't wait to see how your trips go.
 














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