Best Way to Cure Disney Depression? Plan Another Trip! A Solo PTR *Updated 5/13 TR Link

[SarahDisney]

As someone who hates birthdays, I don't entirely understand why it would be so important to you ... but I can tell birthdays are a big deal for you, so I'm glad you get to spend your birthday at the best place in the entire world. Hopefully this birthday will be awesome enough to make up for the past few birthdays (and maybe even to tide you over in case of a few bad birthdays in the future - not that I think that will happen).

 

[Elevationist]

DISNEY BIRTHDAYS ARE THE BEST BIRTHDAYS EVER.

Truth fact.

Your Disney birthday will totally make-up for all those less-than-stellar ones. I've had some pretty crummy ones in the last few years too, so I get it. For me, I finally had one this year that was pretty darn good, and next year's birthday will be spent cleaning my apartment and packing and getting ready to leave for Disney World early the next morning!

Have you made any plans specific to your birthday while at Disney? Like, things you want to do on the actual day?

 

[PippiDancer]

DISNEY BIRTHDAYS ARE THE BEST BIRTHDAYS EVER.

Truth fact.

Your Disney birthday will totally make-up for all those less-than-stellar ones. I've had some pretty crummy ones in the last few years too, so I get it. For me, I finally had one this year that was pretty darn good, and next year's birthday will be spent cleaning my apartment and packing and getting ready to leave for Disney World early the next morning!

Have you made any plans specific to your birthday while at Disney? Like, things you want to do on the actual day?

Very true! Right now I don't have anything planned for my actual birthday. I already have my birthday dress picked out though and I'm planning on buying a tiara to wear because every Princess needs one. MK has EMH until midnight, so I will spend the night there, most likely seeing Celebrate the Magic/Wishes because I'm in love with them. But besides that, nothing. I kind of want to leave my plans open so I can just go wherever I feel like. I've thought of a few things, like trying for a FP for Anna and Elsa or the FP spot for Wishes. But I don't really want to use my FP's for night and then be fastpassless the entire day. I also considered doing lunch fastpass at BOG or maybe Yak & Yeti (I'm having withdrawals from the cream cheese wantons) but its hard to plan things like that without knowing what park I will end up in. It is a puzzle. Suggestions would definitely be helpful

 

[PippiDancer]

I’ve been trying to figure out plans for my birthday. I know I will be spending the night at Magic Kingdom for late EMH, but besides that I wanted to leave the day open so I can go wherever I feel like on that day. And since it is my last park day I can go to parks I want to spend more time in (I’m guessing I’ll probably end up in Epcot). I kind of wanted to something sort of special on my actual birthday. I was thinking of doing a lunch ADR somewhere (or BOG fp) but the open schedule makes it difficult to plan something like that. And then it hit me, breakfast! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. For some reason, the Grand Floridian Cafe popped into my head and after doing some research I decided it is perfect! I absolutely love the atmosphere of the GF and the prices are very reasonable. I made an ADR for 8:50am. There were plenty of times available, so I doubt it will be packed. It should make for a quiet, relaxing start to my day.


Now, a quick real life update

This year I participated in my first real Secret Santa and had a lot of fun doing it. It turned out that my Secret Santa is a Disney AP holder, so I got a lot of fun Disney gifts.

On the first day I got a pack of Disney park pens and some chocolate coins. Another day I got a Mickey coin purse (perfect for pressed penny supplies) and a bottle of Beautifully Disney nail polish. I also got an old Disney World coloring book and some cute Mickey socks. I thought my Secret Santa might actually be magic


I hope you all have a magical Christmas!!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love the idea of a breakfast ADR for your birthday - what a great way to start the day!

Those Secret Santa gifts are great!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

A fellow Mainer joining in!!!

 

[PippiDancer]

I love the idea of a breakfast ADR for your birthday - what a great way to start the day!

Those Secret Santa gifts are great!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

I am very excited for that ADR! It will be a wonderful way to start my birthday and will make the day a little more special. And best of all, it is very reasonably priced

A fellow Mainer joining in!!!

Welcome!! Thanks for reading! It is always nice to find a fellow Mainer on the Boards!

 

[PippiDancer]

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Our tree (before presents) and my nutcracker collection. How many Disney ornaments can you spot? There are quite a few

We did our family Christmas (with my mom’s side) on Christmas Eve, as always. But this year we decided to stay home by ourselves this year instead of doing dinner with my dad’s side like we usually do. So we had a nice relaxing day of watching The Santa Clause movies in our pajamas. It was very nice.

I got a few things for my Disney trip. Such as a few gift cards and a portable battery charger so I can charge my phone in the park if I have to. And the Hidden Mickey book! This will come in handy when I’m waiting in a long line or want something to do while I’m eating.

I really like how it is set up. You don’t have to follow the “scavenger hunt” and can easily look up the area you are in in the index. There are vague clues of where to look if you want to find it yourself and another section that explains exactly where to look if you are having trouble locating one or just don’t feel like hunting.

And my favorite gift. A Disney Vera Bradley hipster bag!! I love Vera, so I was very excited when they announced Disney patterns. I have wanted one since they came out, but just couldn’t bring myself to spend so much money on a purse. Needless to say I was very excited when I opened it.

Front. I love this pattern, but I wish there were a few more Mickeys/Minnies. I’m happy with the pattern placement, but I wish that half of Minnie was moved over a little so you could see the whole thing. That would make it perfect!

Back. I really like the pattern on the back, so many Mickeys! I may wear it backwards once in a while

I love the inside too! The pattern is adorable, pink and orange is my favorite color combination. I kind of wish I could flip it inside out.

I’m hoping to use it as my park bag. Having a small cross body is perfect because I wouldn’t have to take it off to get on rides, just slide the bag to the front when I sit down. Not to mention it is super cute. But I’m worried it might be too small. I like to be able to bring everything I might need with me to the parks. And I like being able to stick purchases or left over snacks in my back instead of carrying them, but I can deal with not being able to do that. I think I’ll end up bringing the back pack I used on the last trip with me and I can use that on days that may be colder so I can put my sweatshirt in it.

Sorry for the huge pictures, I tried to resize them on photobucket but it didn't work for some reason.

 

[PippiDancer]

110 days left to go! Which means I am very close to the double digit dance!

I happened to check the park hours for my week again and found out the extended them! Magic Kingdom is now open an hour later every night, Animal Kingdom is open and hour later on most nights (including the day I planned for AK), and Hollywood Studios is open an hour and a half later on some nights, including the EMH I was planning to attend. I am a night owl and would much rather stay up late than wake up early, so I was very excited about this. But the best change is that EMH at Magic Kingdom has been extended to 2am on my birthday! I was ecstatic at this change, if you recall it was on my trip wish list to stay in MK for late night EMH. It isn’t uncommon for me to stay up until 1am on weekends and in college I used to stay up until 3am binge watching netflix when I didn’t have early classes. So, staying up until 2am isn’t going to be a problem for me, I am much more awake at this time of night than I am at 7 or 8 am. I am so excited to get to experience the park at this time!

I also realized that Magic Kingdom will be open until 2am on the 18th, the day I arrive. I wasn’t planning on going to a park that day since it wouldn’t be worth it to get to the park after 7 and leave by 10. But I can’t pass up the opportunity for late night EMH, so I’m pretty sure I’m going to add another day to my tickets. I figured if I’m in the park by 8 and stay until 1am (or whenever I get tired) it will be well worth the extra $10. My next day is a MK day, so I don’t mind sleeping in and not getting to the park until 10, especially since I’m sure I’ll get to do a ton of stuff the night before.


And now the less happy part of this update...

The specials for April came out today. Up to 30% off room plus a free park day with 4-day tickets. Of course, the Little Mermaid rooms aren’t eligible for this offer, which I expected since they never are. Being the planning addict that I am, I had to price out the different options with the discount. For only $300 more a week I could stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge or a studio at Saratoga Springs. I’m not going to spend that extra money, but it is nice to think about a deluxe as an actual possibility. And all of the moderates would be a little cheaper per night than a LM room, but for this trip I’d prefer AoA. The biggest difference is that I could switch to a preferred pool view (standard views are booked) at Pop and save $500 for the week.

The problem is, I don’t really want to switch. Pop is pretty underwhelming to me and I’ve been dying to stay at AoA. But $500 is a lot of money. For me, everything at AoA is better than Pop; theming, pool, food court. But, again, it is a lot of money. If the price difference was this big when I booked my hotel, I would have done Pop. But now that I’ve planned on AoA and have gotten so excited about staying there, Pop just seems like a disappointment. But, I’m don’t know if I’ll be at the resort enough to justify the extra money. I have no idea what to do. I keep going back and forth. I really don’t want to move from AoA, but my brain keeps telling me to stop being stupid and save the $500. Ugh, I just don’t know.

 

[ursalita]

Hi! Just caught up on your last few updates. It's so great that you get to spend your birthday at Disney especially since your last few have been underwhelming.

Grand Floridian Cafe's breakfast looks amazing, great choice! Jealous. I wanted to have breakfast there but for our trip I made it a priority to try to get to RD most days so instead of breakfast I scheduled a lunch at GFC instead.

Your Secret Santa gifts are perfect and that bag is beautiful. Even if you don't get to wear it at the parks you can carry a little bit of Disney with you every day.

I didn't realize discounts were already out. How exciting! I can't wait to call tomorrow to see if I can get a discount. I can relate to your angst over choosing a room. I feel like if I stay at a less expensive resort I can save so much money but I know that if I have my mind set on a certain experience. If I book something I don't really want to save money I won't be happy and it would take away from the fun of the vacation. I don't know if you're looking for advice but I would say go with AoA and have a great time. It's worth it if it will make your birthday and your vacation everything you're wishing for.

 

[PippiDancer]

Hi! Just caught up on your last few updates. It's so great that you get to spend your birthday at Disney especially since your last few have been underwhelming.

Grand Floridian Cafe's breakfast looks amazing, great choice! Jealous. I wanted to have breakfast there but for our trip I made it a priority to try to get to RD most days so instead of breakfast I scheduled a lunch at GFC instead.

Your Secret Santa gifts are perfect and that bag is beautiful. Even if you don't get to wear it at the parks you can carry a little bit of Disney with you every day.

I didn't realize discounts were already out. How exciting! I can't wait to call tomorrow to see if I can get a discount. I can relate to your angst over choosing a room. I feel like if I stay at a less expensive resort I can save so much money but I know that if I have my mind set on a certain experience. If I book something I don't really want to save money I won't be happy and it would take away from the fun of the vacation. I don't know if you're looking for advice but I would say go with AoA and have a great time. It's worth it if it will make your birthday and your vacation everything you're wishing for.

I am very excited for my GFC birthday breakfast. It is the perfect atmosphere for the type of morning I was looking for. The Grand Floridian is my favorite resort. I really want to stay there one day, but I don't know if I could ever justify spending $600 a night on a hotel room. I'm not really a rope drop person, mainly because I am NOT a morning person. And I don't really like the idea of fighting a huge crowd making a mad dash down the paths. But I have to make rope drop at MK at least once this trip to see the morning show!

I will definitely be using the Vera bag as an everyday purse. It is perfect for keeping my Disney love close by.

If you go on the Disney site and click on special offers it will give you a list of all the resorts that are included and what the discount rate is (they are all different). It might save you some time waiting on hold, I heard the phone lines were crazy today because of everyone calling about the discounts.

I'm most likely going to stick to AoA, it is just that nagging voice that keeps telling me to switch and save the money. I am a bargain hunter and am very finicky with spending money, so it goes against my instincts to pass up the savings. But I think if I switch to Pop I will probably end up regretting it. It actually helps ease my mind to hear someone else agree with staying with AoA, it makes me feel less crazy.

 

[SarahDisney]

Your tree & nutcracker collection are both beautiful!

I LOVE that Vera Bradley bag! It's gorgeous.

Yay for extended park hours! Staying in MK until 2 AM on your birthday will definitely be an amazing experience.

Deciding whether to switch to Pop is definitely a hard decision. If you decide to switch, remember this: the two hotels are "attached" by a bridge. You could always walk over to AoA to go to the food court or pools (although I don't know if you could get into the Finding Nemo pool if you're not staying at AoA).
On the other hand, AoA is amazing and I definitely recommend staying there at least once. I don't think you can truly appreciate the Little Mermaid rooms until you've taken a shower there. In the past I've stayed there even though it was the more expensive choice. If you really want the experience and are willing to pay for it, I say go for it. Since you're already booked at AoA, you might as well stick with the experience you're signed up for.

 

[lisagyo]

I'm jealous of your Vera! I want that one so bad! I have the Midnight with Mickey hipster so I can't justify it.... yet

I would switch to Animal Kingdom Lodge!

 

[PippiDancer]

Your tree & nutcracker collection are both beautiful!

I LOVE that Vera Bradley bag! It's gorgeous.

Yay for extended park hours! Staying in MK until 2 AM on your birthday will definitely be an amazing experience.

Deciding whether to switch to Pop is definitely a hard decision. If you decide to switch, remember this: the two hotels are "attached" by a bridge. You could always walk over to AoA to go to the food court or pools (although I don't know if you could get into the Finding Nemo pool if you're not staying at AoA).
On the other hand, AoA is amazing and I definitely recommend staying there at least once. I don't think you can truly appreciate the Little Mermaid rooms until you've taken a shower there. In the past I've stayed there even though it was the more expensive choice. If you really want the experience and are willing to pay for it, I say go for it. Since you're already booked at AoA, you might as well stick with the experience you're signed up for.

Thank you! I was very excited to see that they extended the hours to 2am! I can't wait! It will be so much fun to be in the park that late. I decided to stick with AoA. I'm dying to stay there and I think I'll really regret it if I switch to Pop.

I'm jealous of your Vera! I want that one so bad! I have the Midnight with Mickey hipster so I can't justify it.... yet

I would switch to Animal Kingdom Lodge!

I think Disney Vera may be an addiction I would love to stay at AKL, I would probably switch if I were going with other people, especially since it is such a small difference. But since it is just me and I'll only be at the resort to sleep and maybe an hour at the pool, I can't justify the extra money. Even if it is a great deal. Someday...

 

[PippiDancer]

99 days to go!!​

And you know what that means...

It's time for the double digit dance! ​

It is so close, yet so far!​

 

[ursalita]

Yay for double digits!!

I get to do my 99 day dance tomorrow. We're getting close.

 

[SarahDisney]

Double Digit Dance - Yay!! So exciting!

 

[PippiDancer]

I’ve already posted all of my must do lists for each of the parks, but it occurred to me that I have several things I want to do that aren’t tied to a specific park. So I compiled them into one last must do list.

Miscellaneous Must Do

-Go to Downtown Disney

-Eat at Wolfgang Puck Express
-Shop in the Christmas store
-Go to the Co-op store
-Get a Mickey rice crispy from Goofy’s Candy Co​

-Eat Mickey Waffles (because they are the best breakfast food in existence)
-Explore the different sections at Art of Animation
-Relax by the pool
-Swim in the Big Blue pool
-Pin Trade

-Find a birthday themed pin
-Find a Little Mermaid pin (in honor of staying at AoA)
-Find a pin to represent the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour (Haunted Mansion perhaps?)​

-Ride the monorail at least once
-Buy a tiara to wear on my birthday


A lot of things on the list aren’t absolutely need to do, but are things I hope to do if I have time. I plan on getting in a little pool time after Animal Kingdom since the park closes so early. I was really hoping to get to DTD this trip because I love looking around all the shops (especially the Christmas one), but couldn’t figure out where to work it into my plans. I figured I might make it over there for a few hours one afternoon if I decided to leave a park early. But I decided that I wouldn’t be heartbroken if I didn’t make it there this trip.

 

[SarahDisney]

I love that you compiled a miscellaneous list! All good items on there.

In terms of DTD - if you get out of a park around 7-8 (I don't know exact park hours for when you're there, but HS or AK may close somewhere in that time frame), you can get a few hours at DTD. It doesn't give you so much time for exploring (and I wouldn't recommend it if you're at all exhausted), but it gives you some time. I highly recommend Marketplace Co-Op, they have such amazing stuff there!
In terms of pins - if you can't find a good Little Mermaid one to trade for - you can buy a pin at AoA. They have a really cute one which has all of the sections of the hotel and has Crush (from Finding Nemo) on it - or at least they did in November.

I definitely recommend trying to set aside a little time to explore the hotel - the details really are amazing. We did an hour last year and another 45 minutes on our most recent trip, but that's because we took a lot of pictures. 30-45 minutes should be enough if you're not taking as many pictures. Also make sure to look at the chandelier when you're in animation hall - it's pretty awesome.

 

[PippiDancer]

I love that you compiled a miscellaneous list! All good items on there.

In terms of DTD - if you get out of a park around 7-8 (I don't know exact park hours for when you're there, but HS or AK may close somewhere in that time frame), you can get a few hours at DTD. It doesn't give you so much time for exploring (and I wouldn't recommend it if you're at all exhausted), but it gives you some time. I highly recommend Marketplace Co-Op, they have such amazing stuff there!
In terms of pins - if you can't find a good Little Mermaid one to trade for - you can buy a pin at AoA. They have a really cute one which has all of the sections of the hotel and has Crush (from Finding Nemo) on it - or at least they did in November.

I definitely recommend trying to set aside a little time to explore the hotel - the details really are amazing. We did an hour last year and another 45 minutes on our most recent trip, but that's because we took a lot of pictures. 30-45 minutes should be enough if you're not taking as many pictures. Also make sure to look at the chandelier when you're in animation hall - it's pretty awesome.

Right now my plans are to stay in parks until closing or hop to a park with late EMH. AK closes at 7, but I'm planning to use that evening for some pool time. I'm sure there will probably be a day when I decide to leave a park early, so I'll go to DTD then. Just no concrete plans. I know I can buy all sorts of wonderful pins in the stores, but I think it will be more fun to trade for them. And I think it will make trading more fun if I have a some specific things I'm hunting for. I'm planning on exploring AoA on my arrival date, I can't wait to see all the beautiful details!