A Long Time Ago - A September 2019 PTR

[aaylasecura]

Updated Plans - Day 5 (Thursday, September 12, 2019)

Here are my updated plans for day 5:

5:45 a.m. - Wake-up
6:45 a.m. - Drive to Disney's Contemporary Resort
7:30 a.m. - Breakfast @ Chef Mickey's
8:15 a.m. - Walk to Magic Kingdom
8:30 a.m. - Explore Magic Kingdom

Space Mountain (FP+)​

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (FP+)​

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+)​

11:50 a.m. - Lunch @ Be Our Guest
12:45 p.m. - Drive to Disney's Pop Century Resort
1:15 p.m. - Nap
3:45 p.m. - Wake Up
4:15 p.m. - Drive to Disney's Animal Kingdom
4:45 p.m. - Explore Animal Kingdom

No plans, just roam where FP+ are available or waits are short​

7:15 p.m. - Dinner @ Yak & Yeti
8:15 p.m. - Rivers of Light
9 p.m. - Drive to Disney's Pop Century Resort
9:30 p.m. - Bed Time

Touring Plans currently has Magic Kingdom at a Level 3 and Animal Kingdom at a Level 1, with WDW at a Level 3 overall. Basically, optimal crowds. This is where I start to not plan out my days so heavily. I've already been at MK for numerous hours and will most likely have done everything I want to except for a few shows. So I'll use the FP+ that I have just wander for the rest of the time. I definitely want to go to the new animation classes at AK. I miss the ones from DHS so much. It might be a little tight getting to Rivers of Light on time with a 7:15 p.m. ADR, but I'll be right there in Asia, so it won't be a long walk.

 

[aaylasecura]

Updated Plans - Day 6 (Friday, September 13, 2019)

Here are my updated plans for day 6:

6:30 a.m. - Wake Up
7:30 a.m. - Drive to EPCOT
8:15 a.m. - Breakfast @ Garden Grill
9 a.m. - Explore EPCOT

Mission: SPACE (FP+)​

Spaceship Earth (FP+)​

Soarin' Around the World (FP+)​

12 p.m. - Lunch @ Food & Wine Festival

India (Korma Chicken)​

Islands of the Caribbean (Jerk Chicken)​

Thailand (Marinated Chicken)​

12:30 p.m. - Drive to Disney's Typoon Lagoon
1 p.m. - Explore Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
2:30 p.m. - Drive to Pop Century Resort
3 p.m. - Nap
4:45 p.m. - Wake Up
5:15 p.m. - Drive to Transportation & Ticket Center
6 p.m. - Dinner @ Skipper Canteen
7:30 p.m. - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
12 a.m. - Drive to Disney's Pop Century Resort
12:30 a.m. - Bed Time

Right now, Touring Plans is forecasting a Level 1 for EPCOT and a Level 1 for MK, with WDW at a Level 1 overall. Those are some ridiculously light crowds for a Friday, but I'll take it!!! Just like Day 5, I'm not going to plan too much out. I'll go back to EPCOT and use the FP+ that I've scheduled, but I'll spend some more time walking around and really enjoying the atmosphere. I'm going to spend my afternoon out of the 4 main parks and go to Typhoon Lagoon. Since I don't have to be back at MK until my 6 p.m. ADR, that gives me plenty of time to hang out there. I won't do much at the water park because I don't do the large drops and I don't do enclosed slides, so I'll enjoy Crush 'n' Gusher, other tube rides, and the lazy river, then hit the road. I don't have a plan for a costume at MNSSHP yet, but I'm working on it. I'll post about that later.

 

[aaylasecura]

Updated Plans - Day 7 (Saturday, September 14, 2019)

To put it simply - I don't have any plans for Saturday! I know I have to be out of my hotel room by 11 a.m., but beyond that I can do whatever I want. I'll probably want to be home by 10 p.m., so that means I need to leave Orlando no later than 2 p.m. BUT, I'm also considering adding another day and spending Saturday at Kennedy Space Center, then driving home on Sunday. I mean, I really only have to be back at work by 9 a.m. on Monday.

I do plan to have breakfast at Everything Pop Saturday morning, that much I know. I will have two leftover dining credits from using snacks credits at the Food & Wine Festival, so that will cover Saturday morning breakfast and lunch. I'll only need to get myself dinner on the way home. Generally on my exit day, I hit up Disney Springs. I do some shopping and just put all of the bags in the back seat for the ride home. However, I really don't like Disney Springs because, well, I'm not a shopper. I pick up a few things at World of Disney for myself and gifts for family, but I don't have the desire to visit all of these specialty boutiques. So, maybe I'll just go to Disney Springs on Thursday night and get it out of the way then.

 

[aaylasecura]

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

This trip I will be joining a MNSSHP for the FIRST TIME!! I'm really excited to try something new. I thought about trying a new tour, but this was about the same price and wouldn't involve lots of standing around. I've seen pictures of MNSSHP before and it looks like so much fun.

Costume
I'm leaning towards going as Megara. I have a purple skater dress, so if I throw that together with some gold sandals and put my long, curly hair into a pony tail, I've got a costume. My biggest things about wearing a costume to the party are 1) I'm going to be alone so I need to feel comfortable in my own skin, 2) it's still going to be hot in Florida so I can't wear anything that's going to make me sweat profusely, and 3) I hate standing out, so once again, I need to feel comfortable in my own skin.

Things I Want to Do
I definitely want to see the new fireworks show. I've seen HalloWishes before from California Grill, so I'm ready for a new spectacular. I'm also on board for the Boo To You Parade. This has always looked like fun. The question is, where should I watch it from? And then I'm mostly interested in the Villain's Spelltacular. I'm not a Hocus Pocus fan, so that's the only thing that's really turning me off.

I do intend to hit up some of the trick-or-treat locations. I don't need too much candy, but stashing away my take for when Halloween actually rolls around will help my sugar cravings!

I'll bop between rides and characters. I've heard that character waiting lines can be seriously long, so I'm not going to use valuable time waiting in line. Same goes for rides. 7DMT will definitely be an end of the night attraction. Other than that, I really want to enjoy the atmosphere.

Since I will have already spent lots and lots of time at MK, I don't intend to show up early for the party. I have a 6 p.m. ADR at Skipper Canteen, and that should let me out just in time for the party to "start."

Snacks
I don't intend to try any of the special offering snacks at the event. It feels like just about all of them are super sugar loaded and I'm trying to be good. Like I said, the candy from the trick or treat locations is going to come home with me for little treats to satisfy sugar cravings.

 

[aaylasecura]

Payment Day
It's been a while since I've posted an update...sorry.

Today was payment day! Well, technically, Friday is when my final payment is due, but I didn't want to leave anything until the last minute. So, I made my final payment today! It feels good to be fully booked in. I'll do the pre-check in eventually. I'm not a huge fan of giving them my credit card information in advance as I've been hearing some weird things about Disney putting $100 holds on cards.

In other news, Oga's Cantina reservations went live today. I do not intend to make a reservation because I only plan to spend a tiny bit of time in SWGE, if I can even get in there. But, I am about to head over to the website and just see what's available and things like that.

 

[aaylasecura]

Travel Day Hotel Booked and Timeline Set
I booked my travel day hotel last night. I'll be staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando Kissimmee Celebration. This hotel is right off 192, so just on the other side of I-4 from Disney World.

Now that I have the hotel booked, I've finalized my travel day plans.

8 a.m. - Leave Home
1 p.m. - Lunch Break in Pooler, GA
1:30 p.m. - Back on the Road
6 p.m. - Arrive at Fairfield Inn & Suites
6:30 p.m. - Dinner in Kissimmee
7:30 p.m. - Visit Disney's Character Warehouse
8:30 p.m. - Return to Hotel
9 p.m. - Bed Time

I know, what a boring day! However, I know I'm going to be antsy from sitting in a car all day so the walking around in the evening will be good for me physically and mentally. But I'm going to need an early-ish bed time to handle the early start the next day.

In other news, it was food ordering day for my lunch at Be Our Guest. I ordered the Carved Turkey Sandwich on Baguette with fries. So, when did the dining plan remove a dessert from the quick service meals? it definitely wasn't like this the last time I went on vacation (albeit 4 years ago, but I do keep up with news even when I don't have vacations planned). I'm kinda peeved about that because it reduces the value of the plan.

 

[aaylasecura]

Magic Band, SWGE, and MNSSHP
First, my magic bands arrived!!! Or at least that's what the package tracking says. I don't get home for a few hours, but I'll be skipping over to the mailbox to open that package! Eeep!

Also, in case you don't follow Walt Disney World News Today on Instagram, they were able to do a preview of SWGE and took lots of videos. My favorite part - Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Single Rider Line. Like, I know I'll probably miss some of the pre-show (I'm posting a question about this on the SWGE boards), but not having to wait with everyone else would be amazing! I intend to ride it at 6 a.m. on the Wednesday morning of my trip, so maybe I can get in two runs. Really don't intend to make a lightsaber, visit droid depot, or have a drink at Oga's, so after I snap some photos of the land, I'll be outta there. Ooh, and maybe I'll be able to single rider it on Sunday or Monday night as well.

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my MNSSHP costume. I don't want to go full out, but I'm also not a minimal effort kind of person. So, I've been thinking a Rapunzel, Mickey Mouse, or Snow White disneybound. It's pretty much going to be determined by what pieces I can find at Goodwill. But the excitement is growing, especially since many of the non-official WDW groups were able to attend the MNSSHP media event last week and I got to see some cool things from the event. I'm starting to rethink my plan of attack - basically I'm thinking that I might need one now because with the shows and parades plus the attraction overlays and trick or treating, the list of things I want to do is growing.

I also started working on my packing list. In sum, I need more athletic bottoms. Cause it just won't be jean season yet. Ugh. I'll start packing the week of September 2nd, so we'll see how that goes. For those interested in know, I'm an event planner and have a major event (attendance of 60,000 guests) coming up this weekend and I'll be going through most of my athletic wear for that, so I'll need a week to wash everything to wear again.

Ooh, and I'm almost ready to commit to going to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, September 14th. I need to do some more research to find a good by cheap hotel to spend the night at in Canaveral. Worst case, I drive the hour back to Orlando and stay there Saturday night. But it is a more direct route to head home from Canaveral than from Orlando (95 vs. 4).

19 days until I begin my journey to Florida and I'm so excited.