All My Bags Are(n't) Packed(But I'm Ready to Go)~My 1st PTR (11/2014) - TR Link (p.8)

[SarahDisney]

Hello there, world! I’m Sarah and this is my pre-trip report. I’m a compulsive over-planner, so … you are now officially warned. This is my first ever pre-trip report, so … it may not be as polished as others, and I may be missing a few things (if I forget to mention something that you want to know, feel free to, y’know, ask). Also, I’m pretty new to the forums in general, so … I apologize in advance if I commit any message board faux pas (and if I do, please let me know so that I can correct them and/or try to prevent them in the future).

I wasn’t sure if I should post this PTR, but after reading (and enjoying) a few PTRs on here, I figured “why not?” Maybe someone else will benefit from or enjoy seeing my planning. Worst thing that could happen is that people point and laugh and I stop posting because I’m embarrassed. I think that’s not particularly likely (or at least in my perusing of the boards I haven’t seen anyone do that to other PTRs), so I’m going to keep posting until either I get bored or my readers do.

Even though any and all pictures you may see on here will be just me (and, of course, my favorite Disney characters and landmarks), I’m taking this trip with my sister (who we will call SW, because Snow White is her favorite princess). This will be our 6th trip just the two of us – 4th to Disney World (we’ve done 2 Disneyland). The first one was in 2008, and we’ve done one every year since (with the exception of 2010), at various times of year. We also went in 2000 with our whole family, when we were in middle school/high school.

This trip almost didn’t happen. In a little over a week from when I write this, I will have been unemployed for a year (wow), and it’s been really hard on me. The decision to spend money on a Disney trip was not one that I took lightly, but ultimately I think it will be a good thing. The planning keeps me busy, and if I am still unemployed by trip time, I will probably need some cheering up. Either way, tickets and flight are paid for (or at least I know how they will be paid for) , and my spending at the parks will be on a budget.
So now that we’ve got that slightly uncomfortable info out of the way …

The trip is a little over 100 days away, so I’ll be posting details every so often. Expect posts every day or two in the beginning while I post details of the trip, and then once a week or so while I plan. The planning will be told as Weeks 1-15 (with Week 1 being in progress and Week 15 being the week before the trip). Week 1 will mostly be the introduction week, but hopefully there will be a little more action in future weeks.

If you’re reading this, please say hello! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment, ask a question, or to just say hi!

Also, when it gets close to trip time … someone remind me to pack my allergy medication (it sounds crazy, but it’s not something I take every day and I will need it on the trip – I forgot it last time, and ended up paying way too much buying it at the hotel).

After each new post gets added to the ToC (below) I will try to post an approximate time when to expect the next post … but it may be a little earlier or later. I have expected dates for the rest of the intro stuff posted below (much of it is at least partly written, so I should be able to get stuff up relatively soon).

Table of Contents:
- About Us
- Our Previous Trips
- About This Trip
- Other Random Facts
- What’s in a Week/Week 1
- Interlude - My Version of Creativity
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Interlude - Finally, an ADR!
- Week 4
- Interlude - More Creativity - Posting for Stress Relief
- One-Third Planned!
- Week 5
- Week 6 & FP+ Hopes
- Interlude: Creative Craziness & Shopping
- Week 7 - The FastPasses are In!
- Interlude: One Less Worry & A Few Other Things
- Week 8
- Interlude: Half Planned/Lessons Learned from Planning
- Week 9
- Week 10
- Week 11
- Week 12
- Week 13
- Week 14
- Week 15

Daily Plans:
- Day 1, Part 1
- Day 1, Part 2
- Day 2, Part 1
- Day 2, Part 2
- Day 3, Part 1
- Day 3, Part 2
- Day 3, Part 3
- Day 4, Part 1
- Day 4, Part 2
- Day 5
- Changes to the Plan

 

[freckles04]

Hi Sarah! I think you are off to a great start so far. I'm excited to read more. I am sorry about your work situation right now and I hope things look up for you soon.

 

[Stepster]

Have a great trip sarah

 

[SarahDisney]

Thanks, guys!
I'm glad you're reading. I hope to have more for you to read posted either later today or early tomorrow.

 

[SarahDisney]

ABOUT US​

(picture quality isn't great ... it's from my phone)

Me: Sarah, late 20’s, unemployed (mostly) but looking for full-time work (job searching is what I do when I’m not Disney planning). Neurotic, compulsive over-planner (and over-packer). Occasional coffee drinker, aspiring runner, and generally considered strange.
Favorite Princesses: Ariel, with Belle as a very close second
Favorite Non-Princess Character: Winnie the Pooh & Friends
Favorite Ride: Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Test Track, Toy Story Midway Mania!
Favorite Disney Accessory: Mickey Mouse earrings (I have two pairs, gold and silver)
MagicBand Color: Green (from our last trip; haven’t decided yet if we will get new ones)
Random Fact: I get an allergic reaction to hotels … I believe it’s the starch in the sheets (although I’ve never actually been tested). I can survive with allergy medication, but it ain’t fun. That’s why you have to remind me to bring my allergy medication.



Sis: SW, early 30’s, works in an office (she’s very important there). Very awesome, super fun (known as “the fun lady” at work), and coffee addict.
Favorite Princesses: Snow White and Cinderella
Favorite Non-Princess Character: Mary Poppins (she can say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards)
Favorite Ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Toy Story Midway Mania!
Favorite Disney Accessory: Mickey Mouse Earrings (she had them first)
MagicBand Color: Blue
Random Fact: Broke her foot 3 weeks before our last trip to Disneyland (2012), and got the soft cast off the night before we left. She was in a boot the whole time, and we got to skip a few lines where there were stairs (she couldn’t do stairs at all).

 

[SarahDisney]

OUR PREVIOUS TRIPS:​

February 2000 (President’s Week) – A family trip. Our first trip to FL, my first time on a plane (my first international trip would come later that year), and my first time at Disney (SW’s too, but not her first time on a plane). We did Epcot, Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Universal Islands of Adventure. I don’t remember much of the trip other than Seuss Landing in IoA, Millenium Village at Epcot, and dinner at Akershus. Oh, and my brother liked Spaceship Earth (I mention it now every time we go). I think I liked it, but I was probably cranky by the end. We stayed off-property (at a Holiday Inn in Kissimmee, I believe) and have an infamous picture of me lying in bed in my pajamas holding the TV remote.

January 2008 – Right before finals week in my second to last semester of college, my sister asked if I wanted to go to Disney World during break. I said yes, and the rest is history. This 3-day trip (planned in less than 2 weeks) included our first trip to Hollywood Studios (which I think still said MGM in a few places because it had just been renamed) and was tons of fun. We stayed at Pop Century (50’s area), met some Brits in the elevator, and started a (mostly) yearly tradition! Technically we had a smartphone (a Palm Treo), but it was SW’s work phone and was not allowed in the parks with us (this becomes relevant as smartphones become a part of our lives at later trips). We also learned on this trip that we’re not big fans of Maelstrom.

February 2009 – My first trip to California (SW had been before, for a work trip, bur hadn't been to Disneyland). It was our first trip with a smartphone on us – SW had just gotten her first BlackBerry, so we got to look up ride wait times online. I learned that jet lag isn’t fun (I slept through watching Coldplay’s performance at the Grammys on TV… and woke up at about 5 the next morning). This was also our first trip with unlimited picture taking … I got a brand spanking new (point-and-shoot) digital camera a few weeks before the trip (I still use this camera to this day – although the screen is dirty and you can’t really see it in the sunlight). This was more of a general Southern CA trip than just Disneyland … we spent one day exploring LA, one day each at Disneyland and California Adventure, a day at Universal Studios Hollywood, and a day at SeaWorld. It was cool to see the differences between LA and CA parks (I actually really liked Matterhorn Bobsled, which they don’t have in Florida).

March 2011 – Spring Break Trip (4 days). This trip we hit 5 parks in 4 days – AK and Epcot on arrival day, Universal IoA (I’m a big Harry Potter fan) on day 2, MK on day 3, and HS on departure day. Parks were more crowded than I thought they’d be (I forgot that if I had spring break that week other schools probably also did). Harry Potter was fun, I had a rough day on day 3 (I was exhausted and cranky, and didn't really have the patience to wait on lines much). But it was our first time going to AK, and we enjoyed it a lot. We stayed at All Star Movies (in the Love Bug section), which was cute (but I wish I had been in either Mighty Ducks or Toy Story). On this trip I also got made fun of by a Disney Cast Member – when they were searching my bag at security, I was mocked for bringing schoolwork with me (hey – it was the week before midterms!) That’s a story I still tell to this day with a smile on my face.

December 2012 – California, Take 2. We did 2.5 high-intensity days at Disneyland (in which we visited both parks every day except arrival day), and then flew up to SF for 2 days. The whirlwind 2.5 days at Disney tired us out (which meant SF wasn’t as great as it could have been), but we enjoy. Highlights of the trip included Cars Land (seriously awesome – see picture below), not waiting on line for Big Thunder Mountain (SW had a boot on her foot and couldn’t do stairs), and World of Color (which is really an incredible show). This was also our first trip where I had a smartphone – which meant that when we wanted to know something, either one of us could look it up and I never had to borrow SW's phone when I wanted to know something, but also meant that I was driving my boss nuts by checking my work email every night (have I mentioned that I’m a bit of a workaholic?).

October 2013 – Food, Wine & Friends (3 day trip) – Our first time at the Food & Wine festival, as well as our first trip that even remotely involved others – we met up with someone SW knows who was in the park at the same time as us (didn’t do everything with them, but we did a few things together). We didn’t do much Food & Wine stuff, but we did enjoy an “Eat to the Beat” concert and take refuge in the Chase Cardmember Lounge when it started to rain. This was also our first trip with MagicBands, which I found super useful, but a little complicated because we wore them on different wrists (SW wore it on her left, but I wear a watch on my left so I wore it on my right), so one of us had a hard time every time we went into the parks. We also used the MyDisneyExperience app a lot (I actually got a new phone right before the trip because the app wasn't working on my old phone), which I thought was a super useful thing to have, both with figuring out where characters were and with adjusting our plans based on wait times. We also discovered a few new things this trip, including the boat ride in the Mexico pavilion at Epcot (we had never tried it before … we didn’t know how much awesome we were missing out on), the wonderfulness of new Fantasyland, Fantasmic! (our first time seeing it … definitely worth it), the fact that SW doesn’t like roller coasters (really, I think it’s just upside-down roller coasters and Expedition Everest that she doesn’t like). We stayed in the Little Mermaid section at Art of Animation - and LOVED it! It's now our #1 accommodation choice in Disney World (although we would like to try the Contemporary when our budget allows it). We also tried something new with our scheduling – instead of leaving Day 3 in the afternoon (making departure day a half day), we left on the morning of day 4 – it gives us another half a day in the parks and makes the last day so much less stressful!
Best joke of that trip:
SW: (about Spaceship Earth) Look, it's a giant golf ball!
Me: Where's the giant golf club?

 

[SarahDisney]

About This Trip:​

Who: Sarah & SW (See “About Us” for more about who we are)

What: Disney Trip 2014!

Where: We’re staying at Art of Animation (Little Mermaid Room), and doing 4 days in the parks (Epcot on Day 1, Magic Kingdom on Day 2, Hollywood Studios on Day 3, and Animal Kingdom on Day 4 … although Day 2 and Day 3 are a bit interchangeable and probably won’t be official until it’s time to pick our FP+). Day 1 is a partial day (because it’s when we fly down), but all the rest are full days (we fly back home the morning of Day 5). We stayed at AoA last year and LOVED it, which is why we’re going back there.

When: I probably shouldn’t share the exact dates of the trip, so I’m going to just say that it’s in November. If you’re super sleuth-y you may be able to figure out when, but … please don’t post it here. You’ll probably find out the dates from later posts, as it gets closer, but I’d like to maintain some privacy just for now.

Why: Why not? (Seriously) We hadn’t been yet in 2014 and we want to try to go every year when we can. This was basically the only week when SW was able to get off from work and I didn’t have classes.

How: We’re flying down from our local airport to MCO (and getting back the same way(, and taking DME to/from the hotel. We’ll be taking resort transportation the whole time we’re there (we don’t drive, so renting a car is not an option).

Additional Details: So far no ADRs, but I’m thinking about asking SW if we can make one or two – I’m still trying for BOG for dinner on MK day, and I might want to do a nice one (probably at a resort) on HS day (because the park closes at 7 that day, so we should be able to get to an 8 or 8:30 reservation). Mostly we bring PB&J and tuna for lunch and then grab dinner when we’re nearby.

A few must-dos for the trip:

• Wishes – we missed most of it last time we were there and heard from friends of SW that it’s worth seeing
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – Ideally I would like to get the FP+, but if we can’t … we’ll wait on line (I actually do want to see the queue area, but I long lines are incredibly difficult for me). When we were in CA we waited almost 2 hours for Radiator Springs Racers (twice), and I survived (although part of surviving the first time was the great friends we made).
• Mickey's PhilharMagic – SW says we did it once before, but I don't remember (and I keep forgetting to check our marked maps). Either way, we want to make sure to see it this trip
• Peter Pan’s Flight – It was closed last time we were there and we love it
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – We like to go on twice per visit, but it’s not always possible – but we have to do at least once
• Rock n Roller Coaster – We’ve been to HS 3 times and still haven’t been! We had a FastPass+ for it last trip but didn’t make it, and couldn’t reschedule because it was already too late in the day and we had a FP+ for Fantasmic! SW is not wild about upside-down roller coasters (I am), but she’s willing to do it for me. (I’m not willing to do Tower of Terror for her, but, like me, she’s not at all interested in TOT, so it’s a moot point)
• Fantasmic! – after seeing it last trip, it’s a must see for us
• Toy Story Mania! – we love it so much that I bought it for Xbox – so we have a practice day scheduled for before we go
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – We skipped it last time we were there because the lines were long, and we regretted it - planning to FP+ it if we can
• Test Track – Always a must do for us
• Illuminations – We didn’t see it on our last trip, so we really want to see it this time (but we’ll be okay if we don’t because we’ve seen it a few times before)

We really wanted to see Main Street Electrical Parade, because we decided not to last time (decided to use the time to hit some rides instead) and we love it, but it’s not playing on our MK day (it’s only playing on our first day, which is travel day, and our last day, when we don’t want to stay up too late because we have an early flight the next morning, and MK is always a long full day thing for us).

So, that's what we have of the plan so far. Still not sure when we're doing DTD, and if we get a free mini-golf voucher (in past years we've gotten them as part of the package), we may leave a park in the middle of the day to mini-golf

 

[SarahDisney]

Other Random Facts:​

• We’ve got another sibling (who doesn’t come on trips with us) – he’s great, but not a Disney guy
• We’ve discussed buying our first pair of ears on this trip (well, her first pair – I have a pair from the 2000 trip that I don’t wear) – at first we had said Minnie ear headbands, but now SW is talking about a hat that she can get her name embroidered on … I still want the headband (I almost always wear my hair down and I don’t like hat hair … a headband actually works perfectly with my current hairstyle, which I assume I will still have (just probably shorter) in November)
• We’re signed up for the Princess 5K in February, which would be both of our first race as adults (we ran local races as kids), but we’re not sure if we can make the trip so soon after our November trip. I am hoping to get 1-2 runs in while I’m in Florida just for training purposes.
• We love it when they give us the ride wait time determining card thingy (I have no idea if anyone knows what I’m talking about). It makes us feel special and important, and we treat it like an important job!
• Despite Ariel being my favorite princess, I didn’t meet her for the first time until my 2012 trip (my 5th trip), because the lines for Ariel’s Grotto were always too long for me (we actually used FP+ for the 2013 trip, so now I’ve met her as a princess and as a mermaid).
  
  
  
  Ariel and Me - for the first time! (not my best picture ever, but I'll survive)
• We have pictures and maps from most/all of our previous trips waiting to be made into scrapbooks … but we haven’t actually gotten around to the actual scrapbook-making thing

More random facts may be added later!

 

[SarahDisney]

What’s in a Week/Week 1:​

First, let me define my week. Because our trip begins on a Monday, weeks last Monday-Sunday. Makes sense, no?
So, over the course of a week preparing for Disney, what do I do?
Well, every week has a movie night and a character (movie nights may get cancelled or rescheduled based on our schedules). Movie night is when me and SW watch the same movie at the same time (although not usually in the same place). The character is relevant in that we each have to do at least one activity related to that character. Beyond that … it depends on the week. I’ve got a fun calendar I’m making, as well as a “Road to Disney” Board Game board that I’ve already made, that give different amounts of detail. Right now, the weeks are a little more “boring,” but as we get closer, there will (hopefully) be more action.

To give you a hands-on idea, here’s week 1 (7/23-7/28).

MOVIE NIGHT: Tangled (Tuesday night at SW’s apartment- both of us had seen parts of it before, but not the whole thing. We liked it.)
CHARACTER: Mickey Mouse
Our character activities:
- SW: Changed her computer background at work to alternating Mickey pictures
- Me: Watched Steamboat Willie

Here’s a recap of the week: (edited from its original form to fit my new format)
Dining/ADRs:
*Thursday I started thinking about food and dining reservations … I’m just gathering info and will make decisions in a few weeks. We’re kosher-only, which changes dining a little bit and gives me extra things to think about. We’ve never done ADRs before just the two of us (we did one on our 2000 trip with the fam), but I really want to do one. SW doesn’t. I understand her argument (and mine is really just “I want to”), so we usually go with no ADRs. I think my current plan is to try for a BOG dinner ADR (because we really want to see the restaurant and it may be easier for us than trying to get in for lunch). Anything else we’ll decide on in a few weeks (we wouldn’t really be going anywhere that sells out 180 days in advance … we’ll go where we can get reservations).

Disney “Spirit”:
*I finished my game board on Monday … it’s posted below

* I spent some time Sunday looking online at various DIY Disney ideas … I really need to get a life (or better yet, a job). I may head down to Michaels one day this week to see if anything there jumps out at me as good pre-trip crafting ideas/supplies, but I need to be careful, because I can get carried away at a store like that and I need to be on a budget. I also should probably look at scrapbooks while I’m there, because working on our scrapbooks could be a good idea for when SW is around. And I need to look at canvas bags and possibly colored sharpies … but I suppose I’ll explain that at a later point in time.

* I’ve been working on our 100-day countdown calendar. It’s getting hard and I’m getting discouraged, especially because we’re getting to the point where I’m running out of things to put there. But it is something I want to do, so I’m going to try to stick with it. (This won’t be getting posted on here, because it’s too personal, but some of the less personal stuff may be mentioned in posts).


Parks & Plans:
*Wednesday I called up Disney to ask a question about the MagicBands (do we have to get new ones – I don’t see a reason to get new ones when we’re fine with the old ones). I never cease to be amazed by how great Disney customer service is most of the time (I have had a few bad experiences, but those are rare). I also started writing my PTR on Wednesday, with the intention of posting the beginnings of it Thursday (which I did).

 

[ZehnJahren]

Just wanted to say hi to you and let you know someone else is reading along. It gets lonely when no one comments!

I'm the same way about my trip dates - you'll probably figure it out as it gets closer but I am going to MAKE you figure it out! haha

 

[SarahDisney]

Just wanted to say hi to you and let you know someone else is reading along. It gets lonely when no one comments!

I'm the same way about my trip dates - you'll probably figure it out as it gets closer but I am going to MAKE you figure it out! haha

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!

I used to be one of those people who posted travel dates and everything online ... but I stopped that a while ago. People don't need to know everything - if they want to know when I'm travelling, they have to work for the information!

 

[SarahDisney]

I've seen other people post examples of their creativity on PTRs ... so here is my version of being creative. I don't sew (at least not in a straight line ... and I don't have a working sewing machine), I don't draw, I don't decorate things (well, sometimes I do, but not regularly), I don't make bags ... I do computer graphics. This is the first of a few things I came up with for the trip:

Basically, the planning is divided into 15 weeks (15 "squares" on the game board), and each week has a movie and character. Where there was room (if the movie and character didn't take up the whole space), I also added a Disney-related graphic, something happening in our lives (both of our birthdays are on there), something as part of the planning, or an event in Disney history (the opening of a favorite ride, premiere of a TV show I like, etc).
It's game board inspired, but can't really be played as a game (in the planning stages I wanted it to be, but it just became too much of a hassle to execute)

Of the things I've done so far for this trip, this is the one I'm most proud of. I was a little afraid to post it because I was afraid of getting bad reactions (or no reactions), but ... everyone I know who has seen it likes it, so if the people here don't like it, I know you guys must just have bad taste (kidding...mostly).
It took some planning and isn't exactly what I wanted it to be, but I like how it came out. There was a lot of thought and experimentation that went into it, and that's always a component of my favorite projects.

(The original version, which I sent to my sis and is the background on my computer, has the dates on it ... but I removed the dates to post it here)
(The movie schedule has already changed from what is on there, but may be back to normal in a few weeks)
(Yeah, I know, some of the movie selections aren't great, but we wanted to go with mostly movies we've never seen (with a few we just haven't seen in a while), and mostly tried to choose ones that would be relevant to the trip)

Back to my regularly scheduled PTR early next week.

 

[SarahDisney]

Week 2:​

MOVIE NIGHT: Frozen (watched Tuesday night, each at our own home, texting during the movie; we liked it, but still don’t understand the hype)
CHARACTERS: Kermit and Miss Piggy
Our character activities:
- SW: Changed her computer background & got a Kermit Pez dispenser as a birthday present
- Me: Wearing my Kermit and Miss Piggy pajamas

Dining/ADRs:
* While my sis was home we dealt with the ADR issue – we’re going to look for Be Our Guest dinner and a Fantasmic dinner package – if we can get one (or both) of those, we’ll do it, otherwise, no ADRs. I’m okay with that – I had been thinking of doing an ADR at a resort after we leave HS, but we’re doing our shopping at DTD that night, which makes more sense.

Disney “Spirit”:
*Tuesday I went to Michaels to get some ideas for pre-Disney crafts and activities. The only thing that really jumped out at me was “make your own Disney necklace,” which SW has modified to “make your own Disney keychain.” I may still make a necklace by myself. I saw a lot of cute polka dot ribbon that I liked, but I don’t really know what I would use it for. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t come up with a lot of ideas… anyone have good pre-Disney craft ideas for adults? I also looked at canvas bags and scrapbooks, but didn’t buy anything.
To explain the canvas bags – on our last trip, we saw someone getting character autographs on a canvas bag. We thought it was brilliant, so we’re doing it on this trip. We’ve never gotten autographs before, so it will be extra fun. I had originally thought to go with white bags, but at Michaels I also saw beige and black … so I’ll ask SW what she wants (I think I might want black, but then I’m basically limited to a silver marker that will show up on there, so it’s a tough decision).

* Wednesday I finished my 100-day planning calendar. It’s not exactly what I thought it would be … but it’s okay. I’m glad that I finished it. Next step is … a collage(s) using the photos I jazzed up for the calendar (mostly) – I’m doing a 9-picture collage (based on a template I downloaded) with a picture of us in the center and pictures of 8 of our favorite rides. The collage should be easy, because I downloaded templates and I already did the photo editing. I need to scale back the obsessive planning, though … I have three months until the trip, and I’m going to run out of things to do.
Here’s an example of one of the individual days (with the number of days left removed to make it harder to figure out when I’m going) on the calendar (the calendar itself is 3 pages with 35 of these individuals days on each page):

Parks & Plans:
*On Thursday my sis suggested that we make customized maps (http://customizedmaps.disney.go.com/), so we started on them – we both logged in to her account so that we could see the changes at the same time, and I made changes based on our conversations and suggestions. We started them, but didn’t finish – we’ll finish it when she’s at the house Saturday night. I also came up with the idea of playing “character bingo,” and SW said that we should come up with ideas what we can do while waiting on line (any suggestions in that area are welcome – “annoying things that people do on line” bingo might be a little bit too mean, even for us). So … after the collage I’m working on, my next project will be character bingo boards. Shouldn’t be too hard to do in either Illustrator or InDesign (the hard part is figuring out whether my father’s printer can handle printing on cardstock, which is ideally what I would like to print the bingo cards on to make them a little sturdier … not even gonna try printing on cardboard, which would really be the best option)

*SW was by me Saturday night & Sunday morning, so we got some planning done. We finished our customized maps, decided on our preferences for FP+ selections (I’ve got our top choices and some alternates in case we don’t get our top choices – but I’m planning to stay up to make the selections, so I expect to get most of my top choices), and watched the planning DVD I ordered (which was fairly useless, seeing as how we knew most of what it said already). I also learned that she has a blue MagicBand (I could have sworn she had pink … but blue does make more sense for her), so there goes my idea to get a blue one to match my new shoes (we don’t want to have the same color bands for fear that we will mix them up).

Other:
*Monday I was out and about, so I didn’t do much planning. I did go to the Pez Visitors Center … and while looking at a display of Disney Pez dispensers, I was a little surprised by how many Disney characters I didn’t know. I guess I need to bone up on characters from movies (and Disney Channel shows) I’ve never seen.
Some Disney Princess Pez dispensers:

Meanwhile, I realized that I’m getting way too involved in Disney planning, and I’m sort of neglecting other stuff. I made myself a “non-Disney” to-do list today, and hopefully it’ll help me figure out how to balance everything that I have to do.

Ah, the ups and downs of planning a Disney vacation …

 

[ZehnJahren]

Thanks for the customized map link!

Also, please know that your name is in your magic band, so if you both want blue you will have your name in there to distinguish whose is whose.

Your board game is pretty good looking too!

What about printing onto sticker paper and sticking it onto cardboard? Then you could have the sturdier backing. Heck, then you could even put it onto plastic if you wanted.

Love all the pez dispensers; look at all the princesses! I can't imagine having a collection of them, though; but I know some people do. I have weird collections myself - I keep a coin collection and a rock collection. And the rocks aren't even pretty rocks, they're random rocks from places I've been. I have a small part of a paving stone from outside the Coliseum in Rome, and a piece of the Berlin wall (I bought it, I didn't chip it myself), and a rock from the place I lived in Germany... these things wouldn't matter to anyone but me!

I'm stuck in planning mode too, but most things are planned for us!

 

[SarahDisney]

Thanks for the customized map link!

Also, please know that your name is in your magic band, so if you both want blue you will have your name in there to distinguish whose is whose.

Your board game is pretty good looking too!

What about printing onto sticker paper and sticking it onto cardboard? Then you could have the sturdier backing. Heck, then you could even put it onto plastic if you wanted.

Love all the pez dispensers; look at all the princesses! I can't imagine having a collection of them, though; but I know some people do. I have weird collections myself - I keep a coin collection and a rock collection. And the rocks aren't even pretty rocks, they're random rocks from places I've been. I have a small part of a paving stone from outside the Coliseum in Rome, and a piece of the Berlin wall (I bought it, I didn't chip it myself), and a rock from the place I lived in Germany... these things wouldn't matter to anyone but me!

I'm stuck in planning mode too, but most things are planned for us!

I know the names are on them, but I'm much too lazy to look at a name ... I like being able to grab it based on the color. I may still consider getting a blue one and just keeping mine in my suitcase so that it doesn't get mixed up with hers.

The sticker paper idea is brilliant - I hadn't even thought of that! I've printed labels on that printer, so it should be able to handle sticker paper with no problems. Thanks for the suggestion!

I've heard about people who have thousands of pez dispensers ... I don't know that I've ever had more than one at a time (I usually break them ... which is why I stopped buying them). I went to a "museum" once that was someone's collection, which was pretty crazy. The Pez visitors center had a lot of really cool ones that I had never seen before (two whole displays full of Disney ones, including some pretty old ones).
I collect keychains - both from places I've been and ones that other people buy me. Every time I go to Disney I make sure to get a keychain with the year on it, and I like to get a few others too (assuming I can find ones that I don't already have!). I have at least 20-30 Disney keychains by now, probably even more. I like the rock collection ... I think it's really nice to collect something that's meaningful to you, even if it doesn't have any meaning otherwise.

You're closer to your trip than I am ... I haven't even started to think about what shoes I'm bringing yet! (Although it will probably be the same shoes I bring on every trip - sneakers, chuck taylors, and flip flops). Happy planning!

 

[SarahDisney]

Week 3:​

MOVIE NIGHT: Aladdin (Wednesday night) … such a great movie (GENIE!!!)
CHARACTER: Cinderella
Our character activities:
- SW: Changed her computer background
- Me: Cleaned the house (well, a little … less than I usually do, actually, but I think scrubbing the bathtub counts double)

This week has not been a huge week for planning and Disney. I did actually finally sit down and make a collage of our favorite rides (and even that I only did because I was trying to distract myself from something else), but that was all of the action for most of the week. SW was around for the weekend, so we did a little planning over the weekend, but not too much. We now have our nighttime entertainment schedule officially in the MDE app … but that’s all subject to change if we switch our MK and DHS days (which we might if I get a BOG reservation). We also watched Saving Mr. Banks, which I didn’t particularly like. Oh, and I now have more Disney music on my computer ... including the Macarena mix of The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room (I'm not joking, such a thing actually exists and is the only version of that song that I've ever heard).

Nighttime Entertainment Schedule:
Night 1 - Illuminations: Reflections of Earth (EPCOT)
Night 2 - Wishes Nighttime Spectacular (Magic Kingdom)
Night 3 - Fantasmic! (Hollywood Studios)
Night 4 - NONE (as of right now - we're at AK that day, which doesn't have a night show, with no Park Hoppers, and we wanted to call it a night early anyway because we have an early flight the next day … but I might still want to come up with a nighttime activity – we’ll sleep when we’re dead)


I'm trying not to be too stressed about not getting much done because, honestly, I have a lot of time to plan. Anything that needs to get done, I still have plenty of time to do it.

Despite not actually doing much, I did have some Disney thoughts randomly pop into my head (yes, I am always thinking about Disney). Here are the highlights of what I’ve been thinking about:
*Came up with an idea - polka dot ribbon in the side holes in my chucks (I saw a lot of polka dot ribbon at Michaels last week … reminds me of Disney). Will probably try it out with whatever ribbon I have in the house before going out and buying polka dot ribbon. (I tried to find a picture online to demonstrate what I mean, but people seem to mostly use ribbon instead of laces, and that's not what I want to do)

* One of the things we put on our map (I asked as a joke, but SW said to put it on) is the tequila place in the Mexico pavilion. However, between not being sure what we can drink and the fact that I don’t know if/how F&W will affect it, I don’t think it’ll happen. I’m fine with that (especially because I’ve never had tequila in my life), but I am going to keep doing research (in terms of what we can drink) just in case.

*I keep forgetting that we have these “Seven Dwarfs Mine Train” miner certificate things … when I first got it, it said something about print and bring it there, but I don’t remember the details, it’s not on the certificate, and I don’t know if it’ll still be a thing in November … so that’s another thing to check out shortly before we go

What am I supposed to do with this thing?

*I think WDW will be getting its “holiday” decorations while I’m there, which I’m not happy about. From what I’ve seen, it looks like they may go straight from Halloween decorations to Christmas decorations. I’m not thrilled, but honestly, I’m sure I’ll survive. I've gotten used to America’s obsession with Christmas. A few years ago we did DL in December, and the only thing that really bothered me was the lack of regular Disney music (it was all Christmas music) and the lack of other holidays in “it’s a small world” (I don’t get the impression that IASW at MK turns over for the holidays, so that shouldn’t be a problem).

Christmas season 2012 at Disneyland – apparently we’re supposed to believe that it snows in Southern CA

*I just learned that Anna and Elsa are greeting separately (strangely enough, I’m pretty sure my sister tried to tell me this last week, but I didn’t understand what she meant). Sad, because I wanted a picture of the two of us with Anna and Elsa (that would have been a great picture to give the relatives), but whatever. I still don’t know if we will get to see them at all – depends on if we get the FP+ and what wait times are.

*I kinda wish we were going for Flower & Garden Festival, not Food & Wine. I can’t really partake in Food & Wine. Flower & Garden was beautiful (we went in 2011) and we really enjoyed it a lot. Oh well, maybe next trip?

Flower and Garden Festival 2011

* We ALWAYS do EPCOT on arrival day. I’m really not sure why, other than that we can do it in less than a full day (unlike MK) and it’s always open late (unlike AK, which is never open late, and HS, which is only occasionally open late, and rarely as late as EPCOT). But we are a little stressed about getting everything done. I wish we could do HS on arrival day (and have a full day for EPCOT), but, alas, it’s not open late enough that we’d have enough time to do much of anything. (One year we actually did both AK & EPCOT on arrival day ... that was nuts)

Extra Special Tidbit:
So … now it looks like I may be planning two trips – our trip and my parents’ trip in January (I think our Disney craziness has rubbed off on my dad, and my mom seems willing to go). They’re talking 5 days, but with no ADRs and no roller coasters, I don’t know that they’ll have 5 days’ worth of stuff to do. We say 5 days is the ideal length for us (not that we’ve done 5 days, but it’s what we think), but we do roller coasters and more characters than they do (although they also won’t be quite as intense as we are and will probably have shorter days and/or breaks in the middle, so 5 days may actually work really well for them).

So, that was week 3. Hopefully week 4 will be a more exciting week.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I'm here...I'm here!!!!!! sorry for being late......

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm here...I'm here!!!!!! sorry for being late......

Welcome! Better late than never

Awesome news:

That’s right, we now have plans for lunch on HS day, after which we will get some Fantasmic passes. Yay! Although it will be weird to not just be eating our PB&J/pretzels & PB in ABC Commissary like we usually do – instead we’ll be having a (hopefully) nice & relaxing sit-down lunch here:

The time seems good as a midpoint for the day. It’s a little earlier than I’d usually eat lunch (I’m a late eater – today I had lunch at 3), and very early if we’re having a 10 PM ice cream dinner at Ghirardelli, but it’s going to be a somewhat early day anyway with Fantasmic being at 6:30, and if we finish lunch on the earlier side, we can think about doing dinner earlier (we usually do Ghirardelli at the end of DTD, but if we’re hungry, we can think about doing it earlier).

I have to call Disney Dining about our dietary restrictions anyway (our specific needs weren’t there as an option when making the reservation and I know they need at least 24-48 hour notice – I think a few months’ notice and confirming before we go is the best bet), so I have a list of questions I have to ask. Always more to do.

I really hope we can get any (non-alcoholic) drink off the menu (I can’t see why we wouldn’t be able to, but you never know). Here’s what I want (yes, I was looking at just the drinks part of the menu):

Ariel or Lightning McQueen Punch
Minute Maid® Light Lemonade Punch served in a souvenir Ariel or Cars 2 cup with a glowing Ariel or Lightning McQueen Clip-on Light

And this is coming from someone who almost exclusively drinks water (mostly I want the cup and clip-on light … I’d get Ariel and encourage my sister to get Cars 2)

So, there’s today’s update #2. It’s been an exciting day.

 

[ZehnJahren]

Good call on the Fantasmic passes with Mama Melrose! I've never eaten there, but when we were at 50s PT I got the glow cube that came with a kid's drink and it was one of my most favorite souvenirs ever. I plan on buying all drinks with the glow cube and using them until the batteries run out. So far, my other one has lasted two years!!

 

[SarahDisney]

(Updating a little early this week ... any plans that get made today will go into next week's update - it's already been a busy enough week!)

I’m trying to write all of this out in a more coherent way, because I don’t think I’m being very understandable (which makes going back and rereading this not as easy as I want it to be, which interferes with my compulsive over-planning). If I find that this format works for me, I may end up going back and editing old posts to make them more consistent … but we’ll see. (I’m also going to track down all of my random interludes and try to add those to the ToC in the first post).

Week 4:​

MOVIE NIGHT: Beauty and the Beast (Tale as old as time … awesome as it could be)
CHARACTER: Peter Pan & Tinkerbell
Our character activities:
- SW: Changed her computer background, was mean to people (in honor of Tink’s true nature)
- Me: “Colored in” (in Photoshop) some Peter Pan coloring pages, watched Peter Pan clips online, wore my Tink sweatshirt (from Disneyland, see pic of me wearing it while meeting Goofy and Pluto below) when it was chilly out.
Sweatshirt Front:

Back:

Here’s what got taken care of this week:

Dining/ADRs:
*

After much trying (hence the “just keep swimming”), I was able to get a Fantasmic Dinner Pacakge (as I posted when it happened). I also called up and added kosher to the reservation (and picked out the food already, which you have to do when you make a kosher reservation). We went with the only entrée and dessert options we had (2 entrée options, we got one of each, and only one dessert option). As of right now we’re skipping appetizers, because the only option was soup and it won’t be soup weather (but I can change that later as long as I give them 24-48 hour notice), and drinks we can get off the menu. Adding the kosher was not my best customer service experience, but I know it’s a difficult thing to do and the woman was very courteous (just very quiet and didn’t seem very knowledgeable). I’m still not 100% sure I actually want to do this (it’s a lot of money for crappy airplane food just to be able to show up at the theater a little later and not have to wait on line), but we have a few months to decide. SW seems very interested, so we’ll probably do it.

*Still hoping for a Be Our Guest ADR for our MK day. I check every day (most days multiple times), but so far no dice. I’ll keep trying, but if we don’t get it we may just go for lunch. I actually found a glitch in the app which might have allowed me to book a BOG dinner on our MK night, but I didn’t do it. Why, you ask? I was already having a pretty rough day (and I knew that), and the stress of booking via glitch and what would have happened afterwards (would the reservation have gotten cancelled, would it have gone through at all, etc) probably would have stressed me out too much, so I decided to just “Let It Go.” (and I don’t even like that song … not a big Idina Menzel fan)

*I was checking to see if AK and HS have gotten Starbucks yet (no luck so far) … and from what people are saying, it looks like you can use a Starbucks card/app to pay at MK and EPCOT. When I went to Main Street Bakery last year, I was told that I couldn’t use my app to pay. Has this changed (or was I told the wrong thing)? Or do the people on the internet have it wrong? I would really like to know … if I can get a star (or redeem a reward if I have one), I’d rather do that than pay with my MB or CC where I don’t get the same kind of rewards. I gotta look into this more.

The coffee highlight of last year’s trip…


Disney “Spirit”:
*Have I mentioned that my sister now doesn’t want any ears at all? I may get the headband anyway, depending on my budget and how I’m feeling. (Of course, I could just wear the ears I have and see if anyone comments on the fact that they say “2000” on the front – but they are a little big on me, which is annoying). I do kinda want the ears, but we shall see in November.

*Look what came in the mail a few days ago:

It’s our customized maps (or at least the envelope they came in)! So excited to use them for planning! We went over them a little over the weekend, and it definitely got us in the Disney mood!

*I said something to my sister yesterday about a Mickey Mouse waffle iron (because I always want waffles but don’t have a waffle maker … and if I’m getting a waffle maker, why not get a Mickey Mouse one?) … so apparently I’m getting it for either my birthday or Hanukah. I’m a little entertained. Now I just have to see if I can find the Disney waffle recipe … (not that I've ever had waffles at Disney (they're not so much kosher), but if I'm making Mickey Mouse waffles, I want them to be as authentic as possible

Parks & Plans:
*I’m starting to think about planning day-by-day – not really a specific order for each day, because we do that at breakfast, but at the very least a list of what we want to cover at each park [which I will also be making into a checklist of for us – easier than marking them on the maps like we usually do (I’ll mark the maps at night or the next morning)]. I’m planning to run them by SW when I have agendas all written out, and will post them (hopefully with pictures) once I’ve got that all planned out.

*One thing that I’m looking into for the first time is length of rides. Most of them are short enough that it doesn’t matter, but there are some longer rides & shows that time needs to be taken into account. Why is this suddenly an issue, you ask?
Last year, we had a FP+ for RnR at the end of our HS (half-)day. We had a little bit of time (like 5-10 mins) before the FP+ window opened, and we saw a ride with a 20 minute wait on the way (and it was something we had never done before), so we decided to do it, figuring that we’d be out in time for the later part of our FP+ window.
That ride was …

As anyone who has ever been on the Great Movie Ride knows, it’s not very short. So between a longer than advertised wait and a long ride (we didn’t know how long it would be), we got off the ride without enough time to make it to our FP+ window. Since it was the end of the day and time to go to our seats for Fantasmic!, we missed out on going on this guy:

I know most things are not as long as GMR (and we’re not planning to do it on the next trip – once was enough for us), but I still want to know approximate ride times (and show times for shoes we may want to see – that could be relevant) to help with planning and deciding what “impulse” ride decisions we can make.

*It looks like a lot of things are changing at HS – AFI Showcase closing (don’t care about that), American Idol closing (super happy about that because I don’t care for American Idol at all) … I can’t help but wonder if HS will just be a giant construction zone when we’re there, or if there will actually be something new. I really hate not knowing.
On a similar note, Maelstrom also seems to be closing (at least it seems that people can’t get FP+ past September) … which is no loss for me, as I don’t like it (creepy Vikings). However, I am now interested to see what comes next there (whether it will actually be Frozen or just an update to Maelstrom) – but I’m assuming nothing new would be open by my visit.

*I want to look into the Electric Water Pageant as something to maybe do Thursday night … go to one of the resorts and watch it (assuming they let people not staying there watch from the resorts … which I think they might). Problem is, it’ll be late … AK closes at 7, so we could be back at the hotel by 8 … and then do we want to go out again to be at another resort at 9, leave there at 9:30ish, get back to the hotel who knows when and then have to be up at 4ish the next morning to catch our flight? It might be too much, but I do want to look into it as an option (I’d rather have it as a possibility and not do it than sit around twiddling my thumbs not ready to go to bed and wondering what to do – although we could always go to the arcade and play air hockey).

Other:
*Does watching TV shows where they go to Disney World count as Disney prep? The episode of Boy Meets World where Cory follows Topanga to WDW was on recently, so, of course, I watched (not that I need an excuse to watch BMW…).

A pavilion that played quite a role in that particular BMW episode

*I’ve seen a number of people mentioning bounceback offers. I’m wondering if that’s something I should try to find out if we could be eligible for (aka I should remember to look around the room when we get there for something about it)… since we may be going for a day or two in February (we’re registered for the Princess 5K – our first race as adults!), maybe booking a bounceback could help save money on that trip. I don’t know if we’ve ever gotten an offer before, but I’ve never really looked for one. (Better yet – can I book a bounceback for someone else – meaning can I book the bounceback for my parents’ vacation?)

*One day this week I watched Frozen as background music. I wasn’t in the mood for actual music (which is bizarre for me, but happens occasionally), and while I still don’t get all the Frozen hype, I did really like it – I thought it was super cute. I needed some cheering up (it’s been a rough week), so I wanted to watch a movie that made me smile (I skipped the parts I didn’t like). I think that’s perfectly okay!

Okay, this seems to be more coherent (to me at least) than previous weeks … at least it’s subdivided, which will make my reviewing it easier. Stay tuned to see what planning happens this week, and where I think I'm at 1/3 of the way through my planning!