A DIS Love Story A Year In The Making (COMPLETE!)

[Twilight Sparkle]

This was the best cosplay I saw all weekend, Disney-related or otherwise:

View attachment 343264

Beautiful!!!

 

[adamreisinger]

Chapter Eight - When You Hit Planning Overload...
​

One of my favorite things about a Disney vacation is the planning phase. It's why I love doing trip reports, because I love sharing in that joy of planning out your ADR selections 180 days in advance, your FastPass selections 60 days in advance, and everything in between.

But, largely because I have SO many trips crammed into such a short time frame, I had something weird happen last week: I actually got sick of planning.

Now, that's not to say I was frustrated by it in any way or wished I was doing something else. It didn't exactly manifest like that. It was different.

It started with making the FastPass+ selections for the Rachel Platten fan group trip. That actually went much smoother than I'd expected for making FastPasses for a group of 18, and we ended up with some pretty good selections:

​

(And yes, I know in past trip reports I'd suggested I was "retired" from Space Mountain, but I can't go to WDW six times in one year and not do it even once. I'll just have to make sure I take some good pain meds that morning... and again that night.)

After that, I had the option for making my personal FastPass+ picks for the arrival day of that trip, as well as the two days I'm staying after the 13th, but I ended up putting that off by a day, and eventually when I did go to make the selections, I was finding myself more and more thinking along the lines of "I kind of just want to wing it on those days." I did end up making selections for each day (MK again on the 12th, Epcot on the 14th, DHS on the 15th), but I don't feel tied to them in any way.

That feeling was amplified when I went to make dining reservations for the 12th, 14th and 15th. I still have a list of 58 restaurants or dining experiences that take reservations that I haven't tried yet, but as I was looking through the options for those days, I kept feeling more and more like there was nothing I absolutely had to do on this quick weekend trip. I think part of it is that on this particular trip I'm not going to be there for that long (just two full days, plus my arrival day and my departure day), and I don't want to have to plan entire days -- or at least portions of days -- around ADRs, or even FastPasses. So I ended up not making any dining reservations for that weekend, other than the one big group dinner we have on the night of the 13th (the folks at Akershus have no idea what they're in for).

I also haven't made any dining reservations for the time I'm going to be at Disneyland, though that wasn't for lack of trying or interest -- there just weren't any reservations available at Lamplight Lounge for either of the two full days I'm going to be off from work while I'm in Los Angeles. I'll probably just try to get a seat at the bar there to check it out, but there aren't any major other Disneyland spots I feel like I have to hit (the lack of a Princess character dining option out there is also a real downer).

I think part of my planning fatigue is that for the trip to WDW with my girlfriend, we have SO much planned, even if it doesn't feel like it. We haven't gone full minute-by-minute yet -- though at some point I have to put everything into Touring Plans to get that all worked out -- but we're probably going to end up doing multiple parks on most days, so I think I'm trying to treat the follow-up trip as a more relaxing experience. On my departure day, I could very easily see myself spending most of the day at MK, just walking around, taking interesting pictures, doing some people watching, and maybe just chatting up random strangers about their WDW experiences.

I don't think I'll ever reach the point where I book a full WDW trip and do NO advance planning, but I can definitely see myself scaling back, or leaving more "plan-less" days on a week-long trip. I guess maybe after doing SO MUCH at Disney World the past couple years (seriously, check my signature to see just how many trips I've made since 2015), I'm ready for a vacation that actually feels like a vacation -- just with pixie dust and princesses and potent potables.

 

[adamreisinger]

Quickie costume update (before a full trip report entry coming tomorrow, most likely):

I still have the Mr. Incredible costume option as a backup, but I'm now leaning back toward a Princess-y option... specifically Ariel's "Kiss the Girl" look. Torrid sells a nice one-piece version of the dress that isn't full length (so it complies with Disney's rules) and in a size that fits me. Once it arrives, I'll give it an at-home tryout to see how I feel in it and if I'll be confident enough to wear it for an evening (oh, and I did also get Ariel-themed leggings to wear under the dress, which should help with my overall comfort level).

But even if I fall back on the Mr. Incredible idea, I'm back in full-on excitement mode with only four weeks to go!

 

[adamreisinger]

Chapter Nine - Adding an Extra Enchanting Extra
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I feel like everyone on this board is probably familiar with the Enchanting Extras Collection, at least in passing form, but in case you're sitting there reading this and going "what the heck is this guy talking about?" (and for some reason you also don't want to click on that link), these are the "additional charge" add-ons to a trip like dessert parties, dining packages, special access events, tours, and so on that you can book in addition to your resort stay and park tickets.

For many people, the question of whether to do an enchanting extra comes down to the cost -- specifically adding a pretty hefty price in some cases to an already expensive vacation. For me, it's a matter of cost in a different way, because it means taking a park day that would otherwise be free and suddenly adding a cost to it (beyond food and drink... and more drink... and souvenirs... and more drink...).

That said, I generally like to do at least one Enchanting Extra on each of my full trips, though I generally don't do them on those trips where I have just an arrival day, a full day, and a departure day, because they can be pretty time consuming.

For this upcoming trip, we already had three Enchanting Extras scheduled, none of which I've done before:

- Keys to the Kingdom Tour
- Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
- Dining with an Imagineer

And, just for the record, KTTK is the only one of those three that I'm getting a castmember discount on, though I will admit to regularly stalking the Enchanting Extras CM discount page to see which ones are being offered, especially if it's one I've done before that I really liked.

One extra that my girlfriend and I had been looking at but hadn't booked yet was the Frozen Ever After dessert party, which you might recall from one of my past trip reports, I liked a lot and thought could actually be made into a reasonable value depending on how much you could eat and drink in 90 minutes (spoiler alert for us: it's a lot). However, when we started making reservations for this trip, there were no dates for the FEADP beyond August. A few weeks ago, they added September dates, but our one Epcot Friday was the one Friday in September with no party that night. They did have a party on Thursday, but we already had dinner plans for that night.

Then last night, my girlfriend mentioned to me that she wasn't feeling that excited about our Thursday night dinner plans at Maria & Enzo's anymore; it wasn't that the menu wasn't good, just that it didn't feel like there was anything particularly special on it, and it was kind of costly in relation to our other meals (especially without a discount of any kind). So after talking it over, we realized that the best option would probably be to do FEADP on Thursday night after spending a little more time at Epcot that afternoon and evening, then flip our Disney Springs bar hop to Friday night -- which works better since we had no early breakfast plans on Saturday (trying to do a bar hop until 2 a.m. on Thursday night then waking up for a 10 a.m. breakfast on Friday was probably always going to be an exercise in futility).

Also, my girlfriend said she has never really sat down to watch Illuminations in full before, so this will be a good opportunity to do that in a great viewing area -- in fact, one of the reasons I'm always so quick to recommend the FEADP is that it's the only dessert party at WDW (that I know of) that offers both the ideal viewing position and seating in that position.

So now our day-by-day plan looks like this:

Wednesday Sept. 26: TBD (Determined tomorrow, actually)
Thursday Sept. 27: KTTK at MK, F&W event and FEADP at Epcot
Friday Sept. 28: Ale & Compass Breakfast, Epcot day, Disney night
Saturday Sept. 29: Mini golf, maybe AK, monorail resort bars
Sunday Sept. 30: California Grill brunch, MNSSHP
Monday Oct. 1: Dining with an Imagineer at DHS, AK
Tuesday Oct. 2: BOG breakfast, Prime Time Cafe Lunch, TBD night
Wednesday Oct. 3: No plans yet, fly back home at night

And with four weeks to go, my excitement level is rising again, especially since I got the shipment notification for our MagicBands today. The trip will be here before we know it!

 

[joules12]

Following along and really looking forward to your TR. Your trip plans look wonderful!!! I'm looking forward to our November trip with our young daughters, but your plans remind me that another adults-only trip needs to happen (we took one last November and had so much fun). My husband is also a non-parks CM (working out of Philly).

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Enchanting Extras are my one weakness! Disney knows exactly how to get me to part with the $$$, and they've certainly been adding enough of those extras lately. Looks like you guys have a great plan. I'm glad you guys are doing the FEA party. We're doing it again in Dec. It's my favorite way to see Illuminations. I hope your girlfriend loves it!

Good luck with the Ariel costume. Let us know how it works out.

 

[adamreisinger]

Chapter Ten - (Less Than) Two Weeks To Go...
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I meant to write this entry on Wednesday, when I hit the two week mark in MDX, but I got so swamped with work and preparing for my trip to Los Angeles that I couldn’t find the time. But now my work is done, my bags are packed, and I’m looking forward to being at Disneyland soon and then Disney World soon after that.

Some updates since we last... met? Spoke? Trip Report’d? (The verb choice here confuses me...)

- To get in the Halloween spirit before seeing the parks with that decor for the first time, I watched “Hocus Pocus” tonight. Funny story: my girlfriend and I were watching movies at my house this past weekend and she suggested we watch it... at which point I realized that I didn’t actually own it. D’oh. So I went out and bought it on Blu-ray (surprisingly, cheaper than buying it digitally) and watched it tonight.

- Semi-related, my one day off during the week next week in LA happened to fall on one of the Disneyland Halloween party nights. However, by the time I learned my schedule, the party had sold out. Rather than try and beg some CA-based castmembers to somehow get me into the party, I ended up flipping my days off, so I can go to the park on a full day.

- Back on the East Coast side of this planning, we were among the lucky few to successfully book a reservation for DVC Moonlight Magic at DHS for our arrival night. We’re still tentatively leaving our DHS FP+ selections for that day in place, mostly because there’s nothing pressing with which we want to replace them. But knowing we’ll be able to get a lot done on a lighter Park night at DHS is nice. Toy Story Land here we come!

- My Ariel dress and wig arrived. I tried them on and I look appropriately silly in them, which is totally fine by me. My girlfriend ordered an Ursula dress, but unfortunately by the time they went to fulfill the order it was out of stock, so no matching costumes for us (which is also fine). I’ll obviously share plenty of pictures from party night once that happens.

- I’ve spent some time in the past couple weeks studying the menus for both Food & Wine and the Disney Springs bars that are open late. Then I transferred my “studying” into a massive planning spreadsheet, because I’m a huge nerd. Then I cut a bunch of rows from the Food & Wine portion of the spreadsheet, because spending $400 at that festival is silly. But with our big F&W day being a day with no lunch or dinner reservations, I feel like I can try most of what I want without going too overboard.

- Related, however, is the fact that I haven’t exactly been good food-wise in the past couple weeks. Im basically right around where I was on our last WDW trip, when I was borderline on the FoP test seat. Even having not made much (any?) progress in that department, I’m still going to try the test seat again, and if I’m still borderline, then I’ll try the actual ride. And if I still don’t fit, well, I just have to keep trying, knowing I’ll get there someday.

- Last, but not least, I ordered my new iPhone, and there’s a chance it’ll arrive before I leave for Orlando, which would mean even higher quality photos on this trip. However, it’s a bit bittersweet, because it means none of my phone cases will fit my personal phone anymore (First World Problem, I know). And when it comes to phone cases, I have a lot (probably too many):



Fortunately, they’ll all still fit on my work phone (which right now has a custom case made from one of the PhotoPass pictures of Cinderella’s Castle during Happily Ever After). But once they start making Disney themed cases for the iPhone Xs Max, I’m sure I’ll be buying new designs all over again.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Wow! Great phone case collection.

Looking forward to seeing you as Ariel.

Have fun at DLR!

Yay for WDW trip happening soon!!!!!!

 

[adamreisinger]

Chapter Eleven - Disneyland Detour, Day 1
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Don’t worry, you’re not lost, this is still a WDW trip report. However, as I previously mentioned, I’m out in Los Angeles for work this week, which meant that I had some time to visit that park on the West Coast, to help get me in the full “Disney” mood before next week.

I flew out to LA on Saturday night, leaving me with two days off this week on which I could visit the parks: Sunday and Thursday. My original plan was to do a half-ish (like 7-hour or so) day at the parks Sunday, then a full day on Thursday. However, Saturday night when I got into LA, I started reconsidering that plan. The 6-hour flight had done a number on my back, and because I had a work dinner to attend on Sunday, I didn’t want to push things too much. Still, I set my alarm for 8am PDT, just in case.

As it turns out, that wasn’t needed at all, since I woke up at 7:30 — aka 10:30 eastern, which is around my normal wake up time — then, after briefly considering going back to sleep and skipping the parks entirely, I was struck with a sudden influx of magical feelings (maybe there was fairy dust in the hotel AC), and got ready very quickly for a day at Disneyland.

When I arrived at the park, I was directed to the top level of the parking lot, where I got a good view of the construction on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which I’m so excited to finally see in person next year.



I started the day shortly after 9am at DCA, where I bought MaxPass right after getting through the gate. My first FP selection was for the Incredicoaster, one of the DL-only rides I really wanted to see. I’d done it back when it was California Screamin’, but I was excited to see the redesign.

That FP wasn’t until 9:40, which meant I had time to check out Cars Land before I headed over to Pixar Pier. This was my first time in any of the parks for Halloween season, and I really enjoyed the dedication to the theming in Cars Land. I did a quick ride on Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree, which had almost no wait, before making my way over to Radiator Springs Racers to make use of the single rider line.



I was on RSR within about 2 minutes of getting in line (not counting the time it took to walk the line). This was actually my first time riding it, and I enjoyed it much more than Test Track. The ride itself seems better, and the theming is great. After that, I hopped on Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween, which was cute enough and (more importantly) had no wait.

Then, finally, it was Incredicoaster time. I LOVED this ride. The coaster itself was fine enough before the re-theme, but I felt like the theming brought the ride to another level. I wasn’t quite brave enough to hold my phone and get some first-person video during the ride, but I did at least keep my eyes open during the loop.

After I conquered the Incredicoaster, I rewarded myself in the only appropriate manner: with a Num Num Cookie.



I’d seen a ton of photos of this treat on Instagram before this trip, but I was still pleasantly surprised by both the size and quality of the cookie. It was big... like VERY big... and because they heat them right after you order, it was crispy on the edges and soft on the inside. My only complaint is that the heated chocolate might’ve been a little TOO soft, which led to a post-snack detour to the bathroom to clean a few stray drops off my shirt.

My next FP was for Soarin’, but I also had the chance to grab a second FP, so I picked the Incredicoaster again. I honestly could’ve waited at Pixar Pier for a few minutes, done the coaster, then caught Soarin at the very end of my window, but I decided to do Soarin first.

That turned out to be a bad decision, because by the time I got over there, Soarin was down. It was no big loss for me, since it’s the same ride as at Epcot, and I was able to replace the FastPass, but I did lament a bit the wasted walk (though by this point the Aleve I'd taken in the morning had fully kicked in and my back pain wasn't an issue at all). Rather than wait the 30 minutes for Soarin to come back up, I headed back to Pixar Pier to ride the Incredicoaster again, then checked out the Lamplight Lounge... sort of.



I wasn’t in need of a full meal (nor did I want to wait for a downstairs table), so I didn’t get to see the full redesign. Instead I sat at the old Cove Bar and enjoyed a couple of very good beverages and some unusual-looking but still-tasty potato skins. My favorite of the drinks I tried, for those of you who might be at DL soon, was “The Sequel”, which looks cool in this picture, but looked so much better on video (and in person). The smoky bubbling effect was amazing, and the drink itself wasn't so bad either.



Once I was done getting appropriately buzzed (or Buzz'd, given that it was Pixar Pier), I made my way over to DL, with a brief detour at Starbucks to pick up the new "You Are Here" DCA mug for my girlfriend. I stopped at the entrance to get some PhotoPass pictures taken. Given that the downloads are included with the price of MaxPass, it made sense to take advantage of that opportunity as much as possible. And while I didn't get a ton taken on Sunday, I definitely plan to do more on Thursday.



My first DL FP was Indiana Jones, but rather than head straight there, I stopped at the Hub to take pictures of all the little character statues around the Partners Statue, and -- of course -- Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Every time I see the castle at DL, I'm reminded how much smaller it is than Cinderella's Castle -- it feels so "quaint" (or as quaint and cozy as a "Castle" can be).



Though I know it's the same physical ride as Dinosaur at AK, I was excited to do Indiana Jones, because I'd never done it before -- it was somehow down most of the day on my past couple DL trips -- and my excitement was definitely justified. The theming is so great, especially if you're a fan of the movies, as I am.

While I was exiting the ride, I grabbed my next FP, an immediate availability one for "it's a small world" (another ride that exists at both parks, but I'd say is much better at DL). By this time of day I'd come to the realization that Haunted Mansion -- one of the things I most wanted to see, because of the DL Halloween overlay -- wasn't going to happen on this day. The FP availability was already into the 6pm hour, which was after I had to leave, and the standby wait time was over an hour, which was something I wasn't willing to put up with given the heat (and really just the bright, cloud-less sun-filled sky).

Rather than go immediately to IASW, I detoured to Tomorrowland to try and hop on Space Mountain, which also has a Halloween overlay this time of year ("Ghost Galaxy"). I'd been told that DL's SM had a single-rider line, but as I approached the entrance, I didn't see it. I considered just hopping in the standby line, since it was only a 35-minute wait, but then I remembered my No. 1 Disney Parks rule (well, No. 2, behind "calories consumed at a Disney Park don't count"): When in doubt, ask. So I asked a CM, "Is there a single-rider line here?" and he happily directed me to that line, which can best be described as "go in the exit and eventually you'll see some signs for it, which will direct you to an ill-defined waiting area near the loading zone". Now that I think about it, aside from the lack of sign by the outside walkway, it's really not much different from the single-rider experience at Expedition Everest, and it definitely cut down on the wait. After maybe 10 minutes or so, I was on my way... to back pain! (No, actually the SM ride at DL feels a lot less pain-inducing than the one at MK, though there was still one abrupt stop near the beginning that hit me just the wrong way).

IASW was next, and I paid special attention during the ride to finding the Disney Easter Eggs (like Lilo & Stitch in the Hawaii scene or Woody, Jessie and Bullseye in the American West scene), which was lots of fun. After that, I headed to Mickey's Toontown, to experience yet another part of the park that doesn't exist in Orlando. The standby wait time for Roger Rabbit was posted at 20 minutes, but there was also a FastPass available with just a 10-minute wait, so, of course, I grabbed that. While I waited for my FP window to open, I got to see Pluto roaming around Toontown, interacting with people and even going up to food counters and trying -- unsuccessfully -- to get dog food. It was kind of cute, and the kind of thing you don't see at WDW. I even managed to get a selfie with him as he roamed the area.



By the time I was done with ToonTown, it was approaching 3pm, and I decided to make my way out of the park -- again, after a detour to Starbucks to get more mugs. Also, I knew I had to deal with transportation back to my car, then I wanted to make one stop in the area before going back to my hotel and getting ready for dinner. As it turned out, leaving rather than trying to squeeze in one more ride -- Alice in Wonderland was the one dark ride I didn't get to do last time I was at DL and considered doing Sunday afternoon -- was a pretty good choice. The wait for a tram to go back to the parking structure was surprisingly long, like longer than any ride wait I'd had all day. Once I did get back to my car, I paid a visit to the West Coast version of Company D, the castmember-exclusive store. There turned out to be not a lot of merch that interested me, though I might go back and pick up some 3XL T-shirts as aspirational purchases. I managed to limit myself to two CM exclusive pins, the Finding Nemo anniversary pin and the BB-8 character nametag pin. In fact, those were my only two pin purchases all day, but I'm 100% sure I will go pin overboard on Thursday (there are SO many cool Halloween-specific pins that I want).



Besides buying pins on Thursday, I still need to check out Haunted Mansion, and I'd like to be able to do Guardians of the Galaxy at some point. Other than that, it'll just be about having more fun and getting in the spirit for the big trip next week.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Such a cool photo of Galaxy's Edge!!!! Love it!

Glad you're having some fun this week. The pins you've found so far are adorable. Hope you find some more!

 

[adamreisinger]

Chapter Twelve - A First Time For Everything...
​

As I’m now just three days away from arriving at WDW, I’m getting excited about all the things I’ll be getting to do for the very first time: a backstage tour, Food & Wine, MNSSHP... basically a lot of new stuff.

But something happened last night at Disneyland that I’d never experienced before and couldn’t plan for: a ride I was on was stopped so a guest could be kicked off. Really.

It’s still not quite the full ride evacuation I’ve been waiting for (and yes, I’m aware that’s a weird thing to want to experience), but it was strange nonetheless. I was on Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark (the nighttime version of the GOTG ride at DCA), and — after a 75-minute wait to get on the ride — we stopped just after the first drop.

Let me tell you, when you’re up in the air on GOTG (or ToT, since they’re functionally the same ride) and suddenly the ride stops, it’s FAR more terrifying than the ride itself — especially since the pre-recorded message they played for us at first just explained it as a malfunction.

After a couple minutes — during which time multiple people wondered if this was just part of the ride (since the theme of the After Dark version of the ride relies heavily on “malfunctions”) — they lowered us back to ground level, told everyone to unbuckle their seatbelts, but stay seated, then asked a specific person in the second row to leave the ride.

At first I thought maybe the malfunction had to do with that person’s seatbelt, and I was right, but not in the way I expected. It turned out he’d left his belt intentionally loose and hidden the slack when they did the belt check so that he could fly higher out of his seat on the drops, which is obviously incredibly dangerous. What he (and I) didn’t know is that they actually have security cameras in every ride vehicle, which is how they were able to catch him and stop the ride after just one drop.

They did let the rest of us ride immediately again, though a couple people left the ride even after the explanation that everything was physically fine with it. And in the end I got an extra 1/3 of a ride out of it, plus an interesting story/cautionary tale.

Otherwise, my last two days at Disneyland (I ended up going all day Thursday, then Saturday night after work) went pretty much according to plan. I spent a lot of time on Thursday doing character meets (since my girlfriend isn’t a huge fan of them and I don’t want to subject her to too many this week), and I promise I’ll share a bunch of pictures once I’m not on a plane. I also bought a bunch of Halloween-specific merch, including the Oogie Boogie popcorn bucket, the poison apple mug, the Headless Horseman straw clip, and some fun seasonal pins.

Speaking of pins, I lucked out in that Thursday was the day the new Tangled mystery puzzle pins were released. I normally don’t like collecting the mystery pun sets, since you can spend so much time and money trying to complete the set, but I made an exception this time because I ADORE Tangled and it felt like fate that they were released while I was there.

I ended up buying 12 boxes (with one pin per box), and while I didn’t get the complete set of 10, I did get both of the limited chaser pins (the main set is limited to 900 of each pin, the chasers are limited to 600). I’ll probably end up buying the ones I’m missing to complete the set on eBay, and selling the duplicates there as well, which isn’t really how “pin trading” is supposed to work, but will save me time, if not money (though it’ll definitely save me money over continuing to buy blind boxes until I have a full set).

Hopefully I won’t buy so many pins when I get to WDW this week, but I am excited to see what else the trip brings — though hopefully no one else gets kicked off any rides.

 

[adamreisinger]

Update: We have arrived! After spending last night and this morning with my parents, we visited Cast Connection & Property Control this afternoon and are now checked in to our room at Coronado Springs. My first impression of the new rooms is a good one (it helped that we got a "please excuse the construction" pin set), and right now we're just relaxing before DVC Moonlight Magic, which is when our trip will really begin!

 

[dizneefan13]

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Tell me about the Coronado... We will be there later next month

What section are you in? Is there noise from above you? (concerned the floors will allow more noise than the carpet did)

Is the fridge as TINY as it looks in pictures?

Is the vanity area as small as I have read from other DISers?

Are you using the buses? or Uber/Lyft?

That's a lot of questions. Sorry. Feel free to ignore me. lol

Love your TRs. Looking forward to more!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Happy arrival day!!!!! Wishing you two a fun night at Moonlight Magic. I hope to stay at Coronado one day. How fun that they offer a pin set due to construction. I'm sure you didn't mind that at all! : )

 

[adamreisinger]

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Tell me about the Coronado... We will be there later next month

What section are you in? Is there noise from above you? (concerned the floors will allow more noise than the carpet did)

Is the fridge as TINY as it looks in pictures?

Is the vanity area as small as I have read from other DISers?

Are you using the buses? or Uber/Lyft?

That's a lot of questions. Sorry. Feel free to ignore me. lol

Love your TRs. Looking forward to more!

The new rooms are really nice. We’re in Casitas 3, which is really close to the main building. We haven’t heard a lot of noise from above, but we were really tired last night, so there could’ve been a parade above us and we would’ve slept through it.

The fridge is in fact tiny. I don’t get the use of a fridge with a clear door when it is behind a cabinet anyway. I definitely miss the in-door storage (not that we have anything in there right now other than a melted ice pack).



As for the bathroom, it’s the one thing I have mixed feelings on. The shower is AMAZING (rainfall plus handheld is the best shower combo possible), but the room isn’t split like most WDW bathrooms, so you can’t have one person using the sink area and another using the shower at the same time like at most resorts (well, you can, but then everyone is sharing naked time, which is probably fine for a couple, and less fine for a family or friends). The vanity area itself was reasonably sized, in my opinion (excuse the mess).



We have a rental car, but we’ve also used the bus system and Minnie Van service so far. The latter was great for getting us to Magic Kingdom this morning without having to pile on to a crowded bus or deal with T&TC.

We’re off to the Keys to the Kingdom tour now, so hopefully that’ll be another great day. Yesterday’s DVC event was amazing, and I’ll have a full write-up on it eventually.

 

[dizneefan13]

Adam, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! Much appreciated!
I know they have rooms with bathrooms that are split, with the vanity area outside the tub/toilet. I didn't know they also had them that were all in one room only.
I can't wait to hear more about your fun times! You are a great writer, and photographer too! I look forward to more. Sounds like you are having an amazing time!

 

[adamreisinger]

Hey everyone, big awesome update: I fit on Flight Of Passage! It was as tight a squeeze as possible, but I was able to ride and it definitely lived up to the hype.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Hey everyone, big awesome update: I fit on Flight Of Passage! It was as tight a squeeze as possible, but I was able to ride and it definitely lived up to the hype.

Yay! I love this update. I'm so, so happy for you and so glad you enjoyed it!

 

[dizneefan13]

So happy to hear you got to ride FoP!!!! Thanks for sharing this great news!

 

[adamreisinger]

It’s officially October on the East Coast, so I can say Happy Halloween (month)!

We just got back from MNSSHP and I’ll obviously have a full report at some point in the future, but I had to let you all know that I did in fact go through with my plan to be Ariel, and even met my “twin” (to be clear, I’m the one in the middle here... I know it’s SO hard to tell the two Ariels apart).