A Super Duper Two-fer! ~ An Oct/Dec 2017 PTR! [Update 10/11/17 - FP+!]

[afwdwfan]

Hurricane Matthew during our trip that made for a fairly dull vacation recap.

Yeah, because weathering out a hurricane is totally dull...

Connor will be 3 when we get down there so he is at a great age to really start to enjoy a lot more Disney has to offer. At his last check-up he was at 37.5" so fingers crossed he can grow those last 2.5" in the next 7 months and be able to hit up some roller coasters! He's a little dare devil so I'm sure he will love them.

Awesome... so just at that point where you have to pay for him to get in, but still may or may not be tall enough to ride.

Been there, done that. Hopefully there's a growth spurt coming on in the next few months!

I didn't mention any meal plans yet because... I DONT NEED TO- THATS THE BEAUTY OF A UNIVERSAL VACATION!! No getting up at the hoo haa of dawn to make dining reservations for places you may want to eat 6 months from now (I'm not hating on Disney. I actually enjoy the planning for Disney. It's just nice once in a while to take a vacation that doesn't need uber planning ahead of time)

I totally agree. I like the planning process, but I don't like to have it down to the hour or moment. Sometimes you get there and you feel like doing something... but you can't because we have this ADR that we made 6 months ago and we didn't decide yesterday that we wanted to cancel it to go swimming because it was so hot today and we're tired so we're stuck with it.

The HARRY POTTER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!!!!


With Christmas décor scattered through Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, special food offerings, live entertainment and a special nighttime show at Hogwarts Castle we are literally over-the-moon excited for this short visit to Universal.

That looks really awesome. I don't get why they never did this sooner.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort & Villas!!! This will be our first stay in a deluxe resort.

Well, no better way to make your first stay at a Deluxe than to go big!

I’m still working on our "official" itinerary for Disney because they haven’t released park hours yet for December. Heck, they haven’t even released AK’s extended hours for Rivers of Light yet for September. It really irks me that its almost mandatory to plan your whole Disney vacation 6 months in advance but they can’t release hours in time for you to adequately do so… But, I digress…

I hate the way they do it. For our July trip - July, a month they know it is going to be busy every damn day - they didn't release Rivers of Light hours until maybe a couple of months after we made ADRs. I mean that's just stupid. Don't make me plan my trip 6 months out if you can't even plan your park schedule 6 months out.

So, here we are.. you want a dining plan, you’ll get THE king of all dining plans. Anyway, here is our tentative list of ADRs I’ll have the joy of seeking out on June 7th.

Go big or go home...

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! The only ones who have been to the party before are Mark and Amanda so it’ll be a new experience for most of us.

I love that party!

You know how I was SOOOOOOO excited about being able to stay at the Hard Rock for a night and getting those Express Passes for two days??

I love the Express Pass! It makes such a huge difference in getting through the park. But now that you've changed your plans again... I agree with your thoughts. You'll be fine. If it was a 1 or 2 day trip, then the Express Pass is pretty much priceless. But for 7 days... yeah, just take it all in stride and enjoy.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, because I really do LOVE Disney, and I LOVE planning our vacations… But having to schedule these things blindly because Disney can’t release schedules for things in time really STINKS!

Yeah... I totally agree. I've ranted on it myself and I find myself wanting to start dropping all the 4 letter words I know and maybe even make up a few new ones.

But alas, we really love the parties and would have paid more if we needed to. I have no restraint when it comes to Disney. And no shame.

By the way, nice spreadsheet. I made one for our trip, sent it to everyone and asked for input. I don't think anyone even looked at it. Which is why we now have RnRC FP instead of Toy Story.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Yeah, because weathering out a hurricane is totally dull...

It actually was VERY dull lol We we're stuck in our room from about 2pm on Wednesday to about 5pm on Thursday where we ate $12 cold ham and cheese sandwiches, ate all of our candy from the Halloween Party, played "the floor is lava", and went through a whole bottle of Captain Morgan and a case of Coca Cola. Then once the ban was lifted we took a bus to Disney Springs and stood in line for almost 2 hours to get burgers and fries from D-Luxe burger

Awesome... so just at that point where you have to pay for him to get in, but still may or may not be tall enough to ride.

Been there, done that. Hopefully there's a growth spurt coming on in the next few months!

Luckily, he's not my kid But I definitely heard about it from my BiL. Full price for plane tickets.. kids park tickets aren't much cheaper than adults either. The dining plan however is a HUGE savings compared to the adult plan. Especially for a kid who is a really good eater.

I totally agree. I like the planning process, but I don't like to have it down to the hour or moment. Sometimes you get there and you feel like doing something... but you can't because we have this ADR that we made 6 months ago and we didn't decide yesterday that we wanted to cancel it to go swimming because it was so hot today and we're tired so we're stuck with it.

We've actually had meals scheduled that our exhaustion level outweighed the cancellation fee to last minute cancel.

That looks really awesome. I don't get why they never did this sooner.

Neither do I! Christmas plays such a big part in the movies. Plus they literally have snow on the roofs of the buildings in Hogsmeade!

Well, no better way to make your first stay at a Deluxe than to go big!

We tried to stay at THE Deluxe hotel, but even at 11 months we couldn't make it into the VGF. But, I guess the Poly is a good second. I actually prefer the laid back theming. Surprisingly my husband is the one that tends to gravitate towards the fancier digs.

I hate the way they do it. For our July trip - July, a month they know it is going to be busy every damn day - they didn't release Rivers of Light hours until maybe a couple of months after we made ADRs. I mean that's just stupid. Don't make me plan my trip 6 months out if you can't even plan your park schedule 6 months out.

Exactly! I'm hoping that by booking the ROL package at Tusker House will give us the info we need to atleast plan a night at the park. BUT, I did end up changing our schedule around when I heard they were only having ROL shows Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sundays in September. So lets hope, in the very least, that they still have those days in December.

I love that party!

I'm excited! We're big fans of MNSSHP, so I have high hopes for MVMCP. Plus, I'll get to bust out my "Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal" Christmas sweater

I love the Express Pass! It makes such a huge difference in getting through the park. But now that you've changed your plans again... I agree with your thoughts. You'll be fine. If it was a 1 or 2 day trip, then the Express Pass is pretty much priceless. But for 7 days... yeah, just take it all in stride and enjoy.

Exactly. I think we will have MORE than enough time to get through what we want and hit up our favorites more than once.

Yeah... I totally agree. I've ranted on it myself and I find myself wanting to start dropping all the 4 letter words I know and maybe even make up a few new ones.

By the way, nice spreadsheet. I made one for our trip, sent it to everyone and asked for input. I don't think anyone even looked at it. Which is why we now have RnRC FP instead of Toy Story.

Thanks! I got the same thing. We have a "Vacation" group text message going on, and I literally sent the spreadsheet and said "Here is the plan. If you would like to see any changes, speak now or forever hold your peace!" and all I got was a response from my SiL saying "looks good" So I really hope I don't hear any complaints later on!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hey everyone who is still following along!!!

I'm sorry the updates have been few and far between, we hit a lull in the planning process. Total snooze-fest.

BUT! We FINALLY hit a milestone in our Disney planning!!

The 180 day mark!!!

I wish I could tell you everything went smoothly while making our dining reservations this morning... but I'd be lying.

I had my alarm set to wake up bright and early at 5:45am. I've done this numerous times before and have never had any issues making our reservations online. This time, however, would be different.

I pulled myself out of bed when it was pretty much still dark out. Turned on my computer and got my list ready. Promptly at 6am I signed into MDE and started looking for my first reservation. I normally do the harder to get reservations first but for some reason it was only showing up to 12/4/17 available for booking. So I figured maybe I just need to book a reservation for our first day, then everything else would open up. I pulled up San Angel Inn, and searched for a reservation around lunchtime. I had no problem, 3 times popped up right around noon. I selected one and promptly got this message....

This continued for the next 45 minutes!!!!

I was ready to pull my hair out. I finally chalked it up as a loss and hopped in the shower really quick. I got out in time to call the Disney dining line at EXACTLY 7am. From there I was on hold for another 40 minutes!!

FINALLY at 7:40am I was able to get on the line with a CM. I started down my list. San Angel, check. Coral Reef... nada. Ok, fine, how about Teppan Edo? No? Rose & Crown? No. Well ok, then. Apparently there is very limited availability at Epcot restaurants until the Candlelight Processional dining packages are released... so that makes me venture to guess that if we want any decent TS meal we would need to book that package. Which we're not doing. So chances are, our first night in Disney we will be eating Quick Service.

I was able to get everything else on our list fairly close to the times we wanted except for Ohana. Nothing available besides a 9:40pm. Which definitely wouldn't work with us having a 3 year old in tow. So in its place I booked Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and put Ohana into two seperate reservation finders. Hopefully something pops up in the coming months and we can get into Ohana. I also booked a regular Tusker House reservation for the time being, because they haven't released River of Lights dining packages yet.

So, here is the BEFORE ADR day schedule:


And here is the AFTER ADR day schedule:


Only slightly different.. So, even though I had a highly frustrating morning, I still think things worked out pretty well. Can't complain TOO much.

On another planning front, I bit the bullet and finally made an official planning binder. I usually work by spreadsheets and file folders, but with two trips on the horizon it was starting to be a lot more to keep track of than I'm used to. I have a tendency to take things to the extreme when I get it into my head... so here is my planning binder...



Along with spooky spiderweb dividers for our October trip....



...and christmas light dividers for our December trip.



I also made personalized tabs, bought page protectors, and ordered park maps

Moving onto some news for our October trip.. Universal finally released multi-day tickets for Halloween Horror nights!!!



We opted for the Frequent Fear Plus pass which ran us about $119 +tax per person. We could have saved about $12 if we would have waited until we got there and activated our AP's, but I like to have things paid off before we go and it wasn't a huge price difference.

We've been working really hard to get everything paid off ahead of time. The only thing left that we have to buy are our Disney tickets for our December trip. We will probably end up buying those sometime in September.

On a personal front, yesterday was my birthday. My first 29th birthday to be exact. We didn't do anything crazy as this was literally the only night all week that Jeremy and I both had off from our second jobs. We did go over to my parent's house because my sister said she made me a cake. It turned out to be my favorite birthday cake EVER!



Jeremy's first words were "She may have sat on it at some point. But I'm sure it'll taste fine just the same." Gosh, I love that man

I had also mentioned to him that there were a lot of travel things on sale at Vera Bradley that I liked so I was able to get all this stuff, which was a REALLY great deal after my employee discount..



Pretty much all the pink stuff is travel items, plus I got a new tote bag and lunch bag for work. And some new sunglasses. Also there is the notebook I'm going to use for my trip report notes



I haven't been to the gym since my last update because I have some sort of allergy/sinus infection thing going on and this cough I simply can't shake. I tried to go to the gym earlier this week and ended up hacking to the point I could barely breathe 10 minutes in. Really hoping this clears up soon so I can get back on track!

I ordered Magic Band decals for Jeremy and I a few days ago. I'll be back to check in once they show up!! ​

 

[MeghanEmily]

BUT! We FINALLY hit a milestone in our Disney planning!!

The 180 day mark!!!

WOOOH! So exciting!

I pulled up San Angel Inn, and searched for a reservation around lunchtime. I had no problem, 3 times popped up right around noon. I selected one and promptly got this message....

OMG no!! I hate the online system when it doesn't work!!

From there I was on hold for another 40 minutes!!

GAH Double no!!

I was able to get everything else on our list fairly close to the times we wanted except for Ohana. Nothing available besides a 9:40pm. Which definitely wouldn't work with us having a 3 year old in tow. So in its place I booked Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and put Ohana into two seperate reservation finders. Hopefully something pops up in the coming months and we can get into Ohana.

Well at least things worked out mostly as planned in the end. Too bad about Ohana, hopefully something will open up between now and then. But if not, at least Hoop Dee Doo is a great alternative

Along with spooky spiderweb dividers for our October trip....

...and christmas light dividers for our December trip.

Oh my gosh so cute! And so functional!

I also made personalized tabs, bought page protectors, and ordered park maps

Wow...sounds like someone is excited for planning!

On a personal front, yesterday was my birthday. My first 29th birthday to be exact. We didn't do anything crazy as this was literally the only night all week that Jeremy and I both had off from our second jobs. We did go over to my parent's house because my sister said she made me a cake. It turned out to be my favorite birthday cake EVER!

Jeremy's first words were "She may have sat on it at some point. But I'm sure it'll taste fine just the same." Gosh, I love that man

Oh yay! I absolutely love your cake, and it seems that your Jeremy is basically perfect.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Well at least things worked out mostly as planned in the end. Too bad about Ohana, hopefully something will open up between now and then. But if not, at least Hoop Dee Doo is a great alternative

Yes, it devotedly is. We love HDDR, but Ohana was a request from my FiL who is the birthday boy on this trip so I'll keep trying! Either way we will have a great meal.

h my gosh so cute! And so functional!

Thanks!!

Wow...sounds like someone is excited for planning!

Just a bit

Oh yay! I absolutely love your cake, and it seems that your Jeremy is basically perfect.

Thank you Yes, I got pretty lucky in the husband lottery

 

[afwdwfan]

Hey everyone who is still following along!!!

I'm sorry the updates have been few and far between, we hit a lull in the planning process. Total snooze-fest.

That's just how it goes...

I wish I could tell you everything went smoothly while making our dining reservations this morning... but I'd be lying.

That sucks...

I'm sorry it was so difficult to schedule your ADRs. I'm glad it at least worked out for the most part though.

Apparently there is very limited availability at Epcot restaurants until the Candlelight Processional dining packages are released... so that makes me venture to guess that if we want any decent TS meal we would need to book that package.

Why is it that you don't want to do a CP package? It looks like you're planning to see CP that evening anyway, and I really feel like it is worth doing just so that you don't have to camp out in line and you're guaranteed to have a seat.

I was able to get everything else on our list fairly close to the times we wanted except for Ohana. Nothing available besides a 9:40pm. Which definitely wouldn't work with us having a 3 year old in tow. So in its place I booked Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and put Ohana into two seperate reservation finders.

That stinks. But even if it doesn't work out, I'm sure your group will love Hoop Dee Doo.

Hopefully something pops up in the coming months and we can get into Ohana. I also booked a regular Tusker House reservation for the time being, because they haven't released River of Lights dining packages yet.

Yeah... sounds about right. I know when they finally opened up RoL packages for our trip there was plenty of availability and we didn't even book a placeholder ADR before they did it.

I still think things worked out pretty well. Can't complain TOO much.

Yes you can. That process sucked.

I also made personalized tabs, bought page protectors, and ordered park maps

You're far more dedicated to organization than I am. I don't think anybody cares to listen to me at this point anyway, so I'm about to reach the eff it stage in my trip planning.

On a personal front, yesterday was my birthday. My first 29th birthday to be exact.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

We did go over to my parent's house because my sister said she made me a cake. It turned out to be my favorite birthday cake EVER!

That's pretty awesome.

I had also mentioned to him that there were a lot of travel things on sale at Vera Bradley that I liked so I was able to get all this stuff, which was a REALLY great deal after my employee discount..

Looks like you and my wife would get along great...

 

[vrajewski10513]

That sucks...

I'm sorry it was so difficult to schedule your ADRs. I'm glad it at least worked out for the most part though.

Yeah, I've never had any issues while planning prior trips, so I guess I was due.

Why is it that you don't want to do a CP package? It looks like you're planning to see CP that evening anyway, and I really feel like it is worth doing just so that you don't have to camp out in line and you're guaranteed to have a seat.

We're going on the dining plan and really didn't want to spend the two credits. But, I think we may just end up doing it anyway.

That stinks. But even if it doesn't work out, I'm sure your group will love Hoop Dee Doo.

Oh, definitely! We all went last year and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Yeah... sounds about right. I know when they finally opened up RoL packages for our trip there was plenty of availability and we didn't even book a placeholder ADR before they did it.

That's good to know! Hopefully we don't have any problems getting a package whenever they decide to release them.

You're far more dedicated to organization than I am. I don't think anybody cares to listen to me at this point anyway, so I'm about to reach the eff it stage in my trip planning.

I'm in the same boat actually. Hey, if people don't wanna give input, then tell them you don't want to hear ANY complaining if you didn't plan something they wanted to do.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Thank you!

Looks like you and my wife would get along great...

Your wife has good taste!!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated in.. 3 weeks!? Life has been a little crazy. But I do have some updates on our October trip, some big job news, and something else that I'm SUPER excited to share with you guys!!! I'm trying to get caught up on everyone else's trip reports now, so I'm hoping to be back here tomorrow with an ACTUAL update. Stay tuned!

 

[MamaCoop]

Impatiently waiting!!!!!!!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Welcome back!! As promised I'm back to give you guys a little update on whats going on with my trips, and also in my life.

I'm sorry its been so long since my last update. As I stated yesterday things have been a SUUUUPER busy in this household. I'll get the less exciting, non-vacation related things out of the way first...

I found out last week that my full-time office job will now be a full time work from home position. Not only that, but its effective AUGUST 1ST!

We've always had the option to work from home periodically. So I would do it if I was feeling under the weather, or the weather was really crappy, if someone had to be home for the cable guy etc, etc.. But I never thought I would have to do it permanently. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I mean it'll be great in the middle of winter being able to roll out of bed in my PJ's and take ten steps across the hall to my office and start work for the day. But on the other hand I'm really going to miss my co-workers and getting out of the house everyday. BUT, I still have a job. So I guess that's a positive. I told Jeremy I was going to hold on to my part time job longer than anticipated just for the social interaction and for the sake of getting out of the house to someplace other than the gym (which I've SERIOUSLY been slacking on lately). Anyway, since I'll be working from home full-time, my regular basic computer set-up just isn't going to cut it. My current desk isn't even big enough to hold the dual monitors I'll be bringing home. So we've been on the search for office furniture and getting my home office set up. Until then I won't take for granted my commutes, co-workers and office coffee....

So onto vacation things!!!

This is what our planning list looks like:

October - 108 days to go!
Flights - done
Hotel - done
Transportation - done
Universal AP's - done
HHN Tickets - done
MNSSHP Tickets - done
Epcot Tickets

......YES! I said Epcot tickets!! Our original plan included a day at Epcot for Food & Wine. But, with rising costs of everything my sister said she really couldn't afford the roughly $250 for the one day ticket for her and Josh. SO that plan was nixed. Well, my sister was messing around on the Universal website one day and came by a promotion that ended up saving them $200 on their reservation/ticket combo! So here we are! on Monday, October 16th we will be spending the whole day at Epcot! I;m super excited that this is back on the table since we had such an excellent time last year. PLUSSSS Eat to the Beat that night will be featuring Postmodern Jukebox!! If you haven't heard them, take a look!!

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So that was the big development for our October trip. On to our next trip...

December - 156 days to go!
Flights - done
Hotel - Universal - done
Hotel - Disney - done
Transportation - done
Disney Tickets - done
MVMCP Tickets- done
Dining Reservations - done
Fast pass+

Well, dining reservations are MOSTLY finished. I'm still waiting on ROL packages and CP packages for December to be released. CP packages are usually released in early-mid July so I should lock those in soon, but ROL I'm not expecting until late August probably. Our FP+ day isn't until October 5th (mine and Jeremy's wedding anniversary!)

So that's where we sit for our planning of both trips!! I feel really accomplished! We don't normally have that must stuff checked off our list this far in advance.

Now onto my big announcement!!

Jeremy and I have FINALLY decided that we are going to start.... looking into purchasing into DVC!!!

I'm soooo excited about this!! It's something I've wanted to do since we went on our honeymoon and we are finally in a really good position to be able to do it. We decided our best option would be to buy resale, so we're on the lookout for a good deal. Based on prices we've seen and our personal preference I think we're going to end up buying into either Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. I'd prefer OKW, but Jeremy is pretty indifferent about either. He would prefer to buy into VGF, but that is ALOT more money than we want to spend. Either way, whatever we end up with WE'RE GOING TO BE DVC MEMBERS!!!​

 

[MeghanEmily]

I found out last week that my full-time office job will now be a full time work from home position. Not only that, but its effective AUGUST 1ST!

Woah! Big changes!

I mean it'll be great in the middle of winter being able to roll out of bed in my PJ's and take ten steps across the hall to my office and start work for the day. But on the other hand I'm really going to miss my co-workers and getting out of the house everyday. BUT, I still have a job. So I guess that's a positive. I told Jeremy I was going to hold on to my part time job longer than anticipated just for the social interaction and for the sake of getting out of the house to someplace other than the gym (which I've SERIOUSLY been slacking on lately).

There will definitely be perks! But I'm sure it will feel different and there will be things you'll miss. I'm not sure whether I'd love working from home, or if I'd find it hard not to get distracted and have trouble getting work done. Good you're still getting a little social interaction though! Getting out of the house on a regular basis makes a huge mental heath difference.

This is what our planning list looks like:

October - 108 days to go!
Flights - done
Hotel - done
Transportation - done
Universal AP's - done
HHN Tickets - done
MNSSHP Tickets - done
Epcot Tickets

So many things checked off the list!

on Monday, October 16th we will be spending the whole day at Epcot! I;m super excited that this is back on the table since we had such an excellent time last year. PLUSSSS Eat to the Beat that night will be featuring Postmodern Jukebox!! If you haven't heard them, take a look!!

Yay for Epcot!! That's so wonderful that you won't have to cancel the Epcot day plan. And Postmodern Jukebox will be so cool to see live! I love some of their youtube videos.

Jeremy and I have FINALLY decided that we are going to start.... looking into purchasing into DVC!!!

Wow! So exciting for you both! I say if you're going to WDW a lot anyway, and you're in a good place to purchase right now, this is an awesome idea!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'd be totally excited if I was told I could work from home... but I understand your mixed feelings about it. Good luck making the change.

That's awesome that you're going to be able to work an EPCOT day into the October trip!

I hope you find a good DVC contract to buy! That's great news! No matter where you buy I'm sure you'll enjoy it and since you can use those points at other resorts anyway, maybe you can get into VGF sometime.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I'm not sure whether I'd love working from home, or if I'd find it hard not to get distracted and have trouble getting work done.

That's going to be my biggest issue. It's really hard for me to sit still at home. I feel like there's always things to be done so I'm going to have to get myself out of that habit during work hours.

Postmodern Jukebox will be so cool to see live!

I hope so! I've only seen them on YouTube

Wow! So exciting for you both! I say if you're going to WDW a lot anyway, and you're in a good place to purchase right now, this is an awesome idea!

Definitely! We rented points this year and the cost of buying into DVC will save a lot of money in the long run!

I'd be totally excited if I was told I could work from home... but I understand your mixed feelings about it. Good luck making the change.

It'll definitely have its Plus sides. I think it's more of an adjustment than anything else.

That's awesome that you're going to be able to work an EPCOT day into the October trip!

Yes! Especially during Food & Wine!

No matter where you buy I'm sure you'll enjoy it and since you can use those points at other resorts anyway, maybe you can get into VGF sometime.

Yes, that's a great perk to Disney's vacation club. Only downfall is that you can only book at your home resort 11 months out. All of the other resorts you have to wait until 7 months out.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hey everyone!!

Looks like I've been hit by the dreaded Photobucket failure! I'll have to find time to get switched over to another site... which idk when that'll happen seeing as I'm just now finding time to give you guys an update after over a month!! ...and the only reason I have time now is because I'm stuck sitting at our county court building in juror selection

The last month has been extremely eventful as I'm sure summer usually is for all of you as well. Between all the parties, appointments, and two jobs I've been transitioning into my new work-from-home position at my full time job. It's definitely something I wasn't looking forward to, and it'll definitely take some getting used to, but hopefully it starts growing on me. I'm sure I'll love not having to leave the house during our snowy Buffalo winters.

Anyway, another reason I haven't done an update is due to the fact of not really having anything to update. I'm in the lull stage of planning. Everything is done until fastpass day. Which now, since we are spending a day in Epcot on our October trip, we have two fastpass booking days. I'm nervous for our October fastpasses. I've never stayed offsite and had to book at 30 days out. I'm really hoping there is a decent selection. I'm think we will probably do Test Track for our tier one. I know there is a single rider line, by being able to design your car is half the fun so we definitely want to do that. I'm thinking hit up either Frozen or Soarin at RD, and whichever one we don't do we will try to get to during illuminations (none of us are really big fans. IMO they need to do an overhaul on that show). None of the the tier two attractions even really need fastpasses so we will just figure out what we're most interested in and book a fastpass for it.

We also get to select fastpasses for our MNSSHP night. No idea on those yet. No one has given me any suggestions. We all love HM, and BTMRR so we will probably do those two and probably ether Space Mtn or Pirates. Splash Mtn will be down when we are there in October.

We're holding a big family meeting about our December fastpasses soon. It'll be interesting what everyone wants to do now that Connor will be tall enough for most of the rides. Obviously we're not going to be taking him on ToT, RnR, or Space Mtn anytime soon.. but we're planning on taking him on BTMRR, 7DMT, Star Tour etc..

On another note, I was able to get a reservation for Coral Reef at a perfect time with the Candlelight Processional package. They became available the day after my lst update lol Our narrator will be Pat Sajak Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised...

Still waiting on those River of Light packages..

About a month ago HHN launched a website "collecting souls".. it kept count of the number of people surrendering their souls and also had a countdown.. nobody knows that the countdown means.. but(!!) we will find out today! The countdown expires today around lunch time. I'm really hoping it's to announce the rest of the mazes and scare zones! So far, they've announced:
American Horror Story
The Shining
And Ash vs. Evil Dead

Fingers crossed for some more info today!!​

 

[MeghanEmily]

Good to see you back here! I get it about being in a planning lull though. I remember having times like that for our trip. But now we're less than two weeks away, and no more lulls! It goes soo fast! I'm sure your trips will be here before you know it too!

Hopefully things will settle a bit for you soon and you'll warm up to working at home.

Pat Sajak! I've spent way too many evenings watching him hosting Wheel of Fortune!

 

[afwdwfan]

Obviously, I've been away too. Sorry about the jury duty... hopefully it was just a one day thing and you're done.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hi Dis Friends!!

Long time no talk!

I'm sorry this PTR has been significantly lacking. Along with ignoring my own PTR I've fallen WAAAYYY behind on all of your TRs as well. I apologize. Life has been a little nuts the last few months.

Along with planning these two vacations, DH and I continue to both work two jobs. We also decided that now would be a GREAT time to start on a home renovation!! AND DH will also be starting a new full time job when we get back from our October vacation. This new job he will be working overnights so that will definitely take some getting used to, but its a great opportunity and will definitely be best for our family in the long run.

Any, enough with the boring.. Lets talk about fun stuff!!

We're only FOUR DAYS from our October trip! I've started doing laundry and getting all my things together in my suitcase but I feel like I have so much stuff that I use on a daily basis that it makes it really hard to pack early. Anyone else have that issue? I try to get a head start but I always end up pulling everything out of my suitcase and re-packing the morning we're leaving to make sure I have everything. I;m going to try and get as much done on Friday/saturday morning as I can because Saturday we have a full day of events planned. I have a manicure/pedicure appointment with my sister at 10am then we have my nephew's birthday party at 2pm. I'm hoping to have everything packed before I leave for the party. Most of the reasoning for that is because on Saturday night we will be sleeping over my in-laws. My FiL will be watching our fur babies for us during this vacation and he is also taking us to the airport Sunday morning.

I've double checked that we have all our tickets.
I've confirmed our hotel and transportation.
I have an alarm set to check in for flights Saturday morning.
I've made our FP+ for our Disney days..

OH YEAH! I haven't told you guys about that yet!

SO since we are obviously off-site for this trip I had to wait until 30 days out to make fastpasses for our single day at Disney and the night of MNSSHP.

I got Flight of Passage!!

I don't know what Disney was doing, but barely anyone could get FoP for October, then one day they just released ALLLLLL the FoP fastpasses. They must have been holding them back for something? but what? Anyway, I was excited we were able to get them.

Moving onto our December trip, I had a little bit more of a task ahead of me. Making 6 days of fastpasses for a group of 8!

On 10/5 I woke up at 6:45am and headed into the office aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand my computer wasnt working.

Luckily I had the tablet charged up so I hopped on that and started making our fastpasses with no issues at all. I got all the way to the last day and for some reason it was saying that DH and I had used up all our days for fastpasses.. but everyone else didnt?

SO I made the fastpasses for everyone else and had to call Disney to figure out what the issue was with mine and DH's tickets. After being on hold for almost 30 minutes they said it had something to do with the fastpasses we made for October, but they were able to straighten it out and get us the same fastpasses I made for everyone else in our group.

SO here is the final product...

I managed to get everything we wanted, on the days and times we wanted! It was definitely much more successful than last year. I'm gonna call it a win!

We still have our two days at Universal at the start of the vacation, but there isn't any planning that needs to be done for that so its not on the spreadsheet.

I think this will probably be the last update before we leave for our first trip! I will try and check in periodically with you guys!

Hopefully the next update will include a link to my October TR!!

I hope you guys all have a great rest of your week and I'll catch you on the flipside!!

P.S. I know I still need to fix all the pics at the beginning of the PTR ​

 

[MeghanEmily]

I'm sorry this PTR has been significantly lacking. Along with ignoring my own PTR I've fallen WAAAYYY behind on all of your TRs as well. I apologize. Life has been a little nuts the last few months.

No worries, it happens! Life is busy...especially yours!!

Along with planning these two vacations, DH and I continue to both work two jobs. We also decided that now would be a GREAT time to start on a home renovation!!

WOAH! Yeah...cuz...why not!? haha

I feel like I have so much stuff that I use on a daily basis that it makes it really hard to pack early. Anyone else have that issue?

Absolutely! I try to pack so far in advance, and then half of the packing always has to wait until the hour before I leave.

I got Flight of Passage!!

No way! SO exciting!! I hope you love it!! I was shocked to see it when you said you only had a 30-day window.

I managed to get everything we wanted, on the days and times we wanted! It was definitely much more successful than last year. I'm gonna call it a win!

That's awesome! And your spreadsheet is a thing of beauty!

Have the most amazing trip!

 

[Raeven]

We're only FOUR DAYS from our October trip!

I got Flight of Passage!!

Yes! We make Dec FPs on Fri, and I'm hoping we can get it!

 

[afwdwfan]

Have a great trip!