Ben and Kyle's Super Awesome, Grown-Up Vacation! Updated 3/18

[BenKling]

"Oh, you got a blue envelope with a train on it..."
This made me LOL so much! I don't know why.

And as far as the bag, what were you planning on carrying around? I went for a cotton, over the shoulder purse but I don't know if they make messenger bags or man bags with those qualities.

I say you suck it up and go full fanny pack.

Ooooh, a fanny pack would be SUPER ATTRACTIVE!

I'm actually looking at this bag:

It's supposed to be super lightweight and durable. IT'S ALSO ORANGE!!!!

Another option is this one:

I'm looking for something to haul around a couple of water bottles, snacks, as well as our maps, ponchos and stuff.

Hmm.
(PS, i have no idea why these pictures are so big. So sorry about that.)

 

[Sam33]

I thought hipsters were bringing the fanny pack back!

I like both bags. Patagonia is excellent. I can afford that in my dreams! Baha but that bag is probably super durable and it looks like it can take the roughness of a park day well! The second one looks like the one I use but if I got to re-choose I would definitely go orange. Because it's orange!

 

[BenKling]

I thought hipsters were bringing the fanny pack back!

I like both bags. Patagonia is excellent. I can afford that in my dreams! Baha but that bag is probably super durable and it looks like it can take the roughness of a park day well! The second one looks like the one I use but if I got to re-choose I would definitely go orange. Because it's orange!

The second one is actually significantly more expensive. The orange one is only $45 online, which is much better than I was expecting it to be.

They're both adorbs, I think I've got to go with the orange one, because let's be real. I'll NEVER lose that sucker.

 

[Sam33]

Only $45?!?!?! I have LITERALLY seen a plain hat at Patagonia more expensive than that. Buy that immediately

 

[BenKling]

I ended up buying a bright blue one. I figured it was a more Disney appropriate color

Well, that's one thing off the my list! We won't need to worry about carrying things now!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Haha! I lol'd at breaking in the new shoes. I bought myself two pairs of Teva sandals for this trip. Last trip I tried to go the fancy sandle route and gave up on Day 2. I ended up in running shoes the rest of the trip. So. not. attractive. I have been struggling with ways that I can break in my new sandals...and now Wisconsin decides it wants to snow. We just got another inch last night.

 

[BenKling]

Haha! I lol'd at breaking in the new shoes. I bought myself two pairs of Teva sandals for this trip. Last trip I tried to go the fancy sandle route and gave up on Day 2. I ended up in running shoes the rest of the trip. So. not. attractive. I have been struggling with ways that I can break in my new sandals...and now Wisconsin decides it wants to snow. We just got another inch last night.

I have resigned myself to the fact that sandals just aren't gonna cut it for 7 days. But it'll be BlisterCity if I don't break those shoes in

And you're totally right about the snow last night... It was kind of pretty, but now it's warm again? I don't think Wisconsin knows what it wants right now...

 

[BenKling]

So yesterday was officially day 60 on the countdown. We're getting closer and closer!

It decided to snow on my walk home from work yesterday, and this was the photo I managed to get from outside the office.

My phone's camera can't do it justice, but I thought I'd try!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

UGH! Snow!! Ha ha...I live in Canada and even though it's Feb I was still sooooo mad when we got dumped on the other day! We have had such a mild winter that I should consider myself lucky, but it almost made it worse when we finally got that snow. KWIM? Anyways, all I do when it's cold and snowy is look at my old WDW pics and dream of the sun and heat!

Love that park bag, BTW! I would have picked the orange, but blue is definitely a more WDW'ish color. I carry a Baggallini in green and I love it. I have a family of four worth of crap to carry around and it's perfect!
Here's a pic of me wearing it..

Isn't it exciting to buy things for a vacation?

 

[BenKling]

Ack!
It's been a while. Between work getting crazy, and me getting over this gross bug that's been sweeping through the office I haven't had a lot of time to write.

My bag came in the mail last week, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be perfect for our needs. Just the right size!

I also bought the "Unofficial Guide" book this weekend, and I was reading through. It's got some great tips!

We're almost to the 50 day mark, which is so so exciting! I'm going to finalize our day-to-day plans soon, and then I'll make sure to post them here.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[BenKling]

Hey Everyone,
Sorry for being so awful on the whole updating thing... It was mostly because I was busy, and partly because I've been putting off the vacation planning. I didn't want to get too burned out from trying to figure out every little detail.

So, I've basically read the Unofficial Guide from cover to cover, and that will be a big help when it comes to ironing out my day to day plans. I've also got the Lines phone app, and plan on using that when it comes to daily schedules.

Tomorrow will be 30 days until the trip, and I'm planning on doing some sort of countdown to get ready! I've seen some really great examples on other PTRs, so I might humbly emulate them

On a slightly related note, I might soon be starting to plan ANOTHER trip for this summer.

My baby sister (who is actually 22) graduates from college this year. She's also just been accepted into a Master's program. So there's lots of things to celebrate!!

On our last trip, she REALLY wanted to go on the Pooh ride. She loves everything Pooh related, and that was the one ride she stated she wanted to try. However, we just didn't seem to make it work on the last trip (Remember, it was a whirlwind, try to do everything at once kind of trip)

I've been racking my brain for a while now trying to figure out what I was going to get her for a graduation/grad school gift. Then I saw the banner ad for Free Dining this summer...

So the plan is to go the last week in August, from Sunday-Thursday for a quick visit before her program starts the first week in September. I've already told her I'm looking, but nothing has been set in stone yet.

Though I did tell her, "I can't let you go to grad school without riding on the honey pots."

However I am wondering how bad the weather is going to be... am I being totally crazy for trying to go in August??

 

[Sam33]

We went the first week in September and it was kind of hot, really humid and rain every day. But the rain only lasted 10-20 minutes and we didn't have a single day where it rained more than 20 minutes. I didn't mind it at all, but I prefer going in the winter.

Lines were non-existent. Walked onto Soarin at 7pm on Labor day. Worth it for short lines, especially since you're going on a short trip!

 

[BenKling]

We went the first week in September and it was kind of hot, really humid and rain every day. But the rain only lasted 10-20 minutes and we didn't have a single day where it rained more than 20 minutes. I didn't mind it at all, but I prefer going in the winter.

Lines were non-existent. Walked onto Soarin at 7pm on Labor day. Worth it for short lines, especially since you're going on a short trip!

That's about how I expected it would be. I'm definitely used to humid, and I figured that about the rain, which I wouldn't mind one bit... I'm just a little concerned with it being hurricane season and all, but historically it doesn't seem to get that bad at the parks.

The low crowds are what I'm most interested in. Touring Plans have them scheduled to be SO LOW! Like, around 2 out of 10 for the whole trip (Except for 2 days at DHS, where it's significantly higher... I wonder why that is? )

I'm hoping it will be similar to my trip to Universal last May. With the exception to the Harry Potter rides (which we had early access to anyway, thank goodness) we pretty much had the parks to ourselves... it was sort of strange actually.

My Day 30 countdown will happen some time today. Stay tuned, and as always thanks for reading!

 

[BenKling]

Hey Everyone.
Welp, the countdown didn't happen. It's been unseasonably warm here in Madison (getting up to the high 70s!) so I've been outside quite a bit, and not on the computer

Pretty good excuse, eh?

I'm happy to say that I think I've finally figured out our day to day plans. This was after using both EasyWDW and Touring Plans. I finally just decided that it wasn't a do or die situation, and that we'd probably be able to do everything we wanted to do as it is. *whew*

So, here's the plan!

Friday, April 13
Fly from Milwaukee at 3:40pm
Get to Orlando at 7:17pm

Take ME to POP, settle in and unpack. Then explore the resort, and maybe head over to DTD for shopping and Disney.

Saturday, April 14
Hollywood Studios Day!
- This is one of the only days that DHS was expressly recommended according to the touring plans, but I also just really like this park Nothing like starting a vacation by doing a mad dash to TSMM!

Sunday, April 15
Animal Kingdom!
- I've only spent about 4 hours at AK before, so I'm really looking forward to taking the time to enjoy the environment. Also, it closes early, which is good, because Kyle and I are taking a nap before...

Magic Kingdom EMH!
- MK is supposed to be open until 3am, and that's just not a opportunity I can pass up. The plan is to get to the park sometime around 11 (or after the last parade)

Monday, April 16
Epcot!
- After what will most likely be a long night, Epcot is going to be nice and relaxing. The crowds are supposed to be pretty good this day, which should give us time to just enjoy ourselves a bit. Also, the 9pm close time will let us catch up on sleep a bit!

Tuesday, April 17
Magic Kingdom Day!
- We aren't going to get to do everything during EMH, and I also want to visit the park during the daylight hours. I know a lot of folks like to do this park first, we're getting a good dose earlier in the week. The plan is to do the whole day, and take off after the fireworks. (Which we'll miss on the EMH day)

Wednesday-Friday
Once we've been to all the parks once, I'm going to let Kyle pick which ones he wants to visit again. He seems pretty interested in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, so maybe we'll do that one of the days. I won't be depending as much on crowd predictions, but mostly just our whims I haven't decided, but I might even let him sleep in a day... but no promises!

Friday April 20
- Get on ME around 5pm, and head back to the airport!

 

[BenKling]

So, yesterday I finally got the day-to-day plans set up. I knew as soon as I did that, something would happen to make me want to change them up. Of course, that happened...

Reading some of the other threads, it looks like Test Track is set to close on April 15... Which means that we wouldn't get to experience that if we do our scheduled Epcot day on the 16.

My only qualm with switching is that DHS doesn't have another recommended day according to the crowd calendars I'm using... But the park couldn't be THAT bad on other days, right??

Hopefully I'll get some feedback before the trip to decide for sure. TT is a great ride, and I definitely don't want to miss it. But if it turns out that it's going to be open for a little while longer, I'd rather just keep my schedule the same.

BTMRR and TT closed on the same trip is a BUMMER!

Going to the zoo today. I wanted to get up early and get going, but Kyle is not having it. Makes me a little nervous for Disney time. I've told him that I WILL leave him behind if he can't get going in the mornings

Well, I PROBABLY wouldn't... but still. I told him to treat today like rope drop practice!

 

[Sam33]

Rope drop practice! That's so cute! And the zoo rocks. I've been itching to go to the zoo lately because the weather has been so great! I may have to drag DH along...but he doesn't like the zoo

 

[BenKling]

Getting closer and closer!
Today was really nice. Got to work early, left early. Went on a 5 mile walk because it was so beautiful outside!

I'll have to do this more often, so I'm prepared for the mega amount of miles that are required when at WDW. Unfortunately there were no rides on this walk

 

[BenKling]

So, we just passed the 7 day mark! I am so excited.

Of course, some of my plans need to be altered. Touring Plans changed some of their recommendations, which is making me a little bit crazy (Example, DH was recommended on Saturday, and now it's not, etc.) The ever-mysterious TT refurb looks like it won't be starting while we are on vacation, so I won't have to change those dates around.

Also, we have decided NOT to get the park hopper tickets like we originally planned. This is because besides 1 day of hopping for sure (AK to MK EMH until 3 am!) we might only change parks one other time. That just isn't work the extra $55 per ticket. I'd much rather spend that money on a nice dinner or something.

So, we're changing up the plan a little bit, but I'm I haven't finalized it. As busy as things have been lately, it honestly might get done the night before! AHHHH!

Anyway, this hasn't been much of a PTR, but I promise it will get better once the trip happens

I'm trying to remember to get my lime green mickey to put on the bag. I guess that makes me official!

 

[Sam33]

I hope you're doing a TR!

 

[BenKling]

I hope you're doing a TR!

I plan to! And I think I'll be better at that, because I'm recapping instead of trying to talk about plans

Yay! Two more days!

This morning I called and made the last payment on the hotel, and I'm excited that it's all taken care of. Now all we have to do is buy the tickets when we check in!

I also did the online check in, and requested a room close to the POP transportation (I can't remember what decades those would be, but that doesn't really matter...) I'm very excited to try that system, as I hear it's just so much faster!

After work tonight, Kyle and I will be running to the grocery store to pick up some last minute breakfast/snack things. We figure that putting sandwiches and stuff in our bag everyday will keep us from wanting to eat all over the park

Other than that, we're just gradually packing over the next two nights to make sure we don't forget anything. (Like chargers, which seems to happen EVERY TIME we go somewhere...)

Kyle has been WAY more excited this last week about everything. He's been reminding me about stuff to do, and has actually started conversations about it (instead of me always bringing it up ) So that makes me really happy, because now I don't feel like I'm the only one getting excited! That being said, he hasn't had to get up early yet

ALSO! I found out through Facebook that one of my good friends from college will be in Orlando for part of the same week! She was an international student from England that studied for a year at my university, and I haven't gotten to see her since she went back home. We're currently working on trying to do something Friday evening, and understand that it might not work out with everyone's schedules... But what a crazy coincidence!