Celebrating My Health || April 2015 PTR (Update: BACK FROM THE WORLD AND BACK TO THE WORLD 4/24)

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Hi everyone! This is not my first time writing a PTR but, this one if probably the most exciting.

A quick introduction. My name is Kelsey, I am 19. I live in Florida, have an annual pass and go to Disney either with my friend or my mom, both of whom have annual passes as well. Since I was 14 I have had some severe health problems that resulted in a lot of pain. It has been years and years of pain and frustration and getting my hopes up by a doctor only to be let down.

This is me. I recently cut my hair to this length.

Well, I finally had a surgery that was successful and they think it should fix between 95-100% of my pain and health problems!! It still doesn't seem real and I am still only a week post op so I am dealing with that pain, but I have never been so excited. Logically, the way to celebrate? Disney World.

It isn't going to be a long trip because both my mom and I have had to take so much time off of work with my surgery and everything, but it will be amazing. I am also excited beyond words because this will be the first time that I have been able to go to Disney without a wheelchair since I was 13.

On to the trip details!

Who? My mom and I! A mother-daughter celebration trip.
What? A trip to WDW to celebrate finally having my life back
When? April 21-23
Where? WDW Florida!
Why? CELEBRATE!

A picture from my last trip to Disney, this was right after I bought my first pair of ears! Other than those I had when I was little.

I know it is sort of late to start a PTR and to start planning, but I obviously didn't know until now that the surgery worked and I would wait for the trip, but I want to see a certain special something more on that in my next update.

I hope maybe some of you will follow along with me. I am always excited to plan a Disney trip, but planning one for this reason is just so amazing. I have to stop now because I am starting to cry thinking about it (happy tears of course!) There will be plenty of updates coming this weekend as I get the basics together!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

It's official! The hotel is booked! I was a little worried that trying to book less than a month in advance, I may run into some problems. I was so thrilled to find a good price on a room!

Now, you may be asking, "Where are you staying?!"

Ta da! The beautiful Pop Century Resort it is!

I will be honest and say that I was hoping to stay at All Star Movies because I have never stayed there, but the Spring Passholder rate wasn't available for Movies so it would have been almost $40 more a night. Don't get me wrong, I love Pop and am happy to be staying there again, I just hope to get to see some of the other resorts as well! Next time

Also as a nice plus, when we stayed at Pop in December, both my mom and I found the beds really comfortable.

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Sounds like an exciting trip! So happy for you that you should hopefully soon be pain free. I agree that WDW is the BEST place to celebrate!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Sounds like an exciting trip! So happy for you that you should hopefully soon be pain free. I agree that WDW is the BEST place to celebrate!

Thank you! There really is no better place to celebrate anything!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Ahhh! I got my countdown for this trip and it is in my signature! That is always such a fun part for me!

So I thought maybe I would do a breakdown of where we are going each day! I also got a reservation somewhere I have been DYING to eat!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015:
Magic Kingdom
Lunch reservation at Be Our Guest @ 12:30 pm (!!!)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015:
Epcot
First time seeing the Flower & Garden Festival

Thursday, April 23, 2015:
First time ever at Animal Kingdom!

Now, I am the kind of person that plans out EVERYTHING. I make touring plans for each day. However, I am also totally flexible when I am in the parks. I have just always found that I get to do the most that I want to accomplish with plans. Maybe I'll share my plans for this trip in my next few posts!

I am so excited to be finally eating at Be Our Guest. I wasn't able to eat there during my trips in September or December and I wasn't able to eat there the day I was at the Magic Kingdom in February. After so much waiting, it is finally happening! I am also really glad to be having lunch there instead of dinner. I am not a huge fan of fancy meals in the park so lunch fits much better for me!

Also, believe it or not, I have never been to Animal Kingdom. This is the only US Disney park that I haven't been to yet. I was supposed to go in September, but one of our park days got rained out. Then I was supposed to go in February, and my friend and I overslept and just ended up going to the Magic Kingdom. Oops. #TeenagerProblems

Today was crazy. We almost pushed the trip back a week. I found a better deal on a hotel for that week. I booked the hotel. Then I remembered that I am going to a concert one of those nights and that it is something too important to me. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the band, Paramore, but they are my all time favorite.

I am trying really hard not to make any single update too long so I am going to go. I am thinking that my next post will be my Magic Kingdom plan!

I also go back to work tomorrow, for the first time since surgery. I'm not going back for full days yet, but I am going back for short days. I am both excited and nervous. I'll let you know how that goes!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Side tangent real quick. I don't know if I am working today and won't know until my ride does or doesn't show up in an hour and a half. So that's weird.

I have all of my FASTPASSES BOOKED! That part always makes it so real and fun to me. I thought I would do a day by day of FP+!

Tuesday, April 21:
4:55pm-5:55pm Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
7:55pm-8:55pm Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
10:55pm-11:55pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Wednesday, April 22:
9:20am-10:20am Soarin'
10:40am-11:40am Meet Disney Pals
7:50pm-8:50pm Mission Space

Thursday, April 23:
10:05am-11:05am Kilimanjaro Safaris
2:30pm-2:50pm Festival of the Lion King
6:00pm-7:00pm Kali River Rapids

I'm excited. There are a lot of things I haven't done on here. Obviously since I have never been to AK, all of those are new. Also I have never done Mission Space or met any characters at Epcot.

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

I can breathe such a sign of relief. My mom got confirmation that she is off the days of the trip!

Also the trip is 3 weeks from today! I still have to tell my boss that I need the time off, but it won't be an issue. I am very lucky to work in a flexible enviornment.

I thought I would do a bit of a Disney introduction today, if that's alright. Some of the stuff will be repeat, but I just wanted to put all of the info together.

Name: Kelsey
Age: 19
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom (With Epcot as a very close second)
Top 3 Favorite Rides:
1. Thunder Mountain
2. Soarin'
3. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Honorable Mention: Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story Midway Mania
I am also a sucker for the Carousel of Progress, I go every time. My mom normally falls asleep of just enjoys the AC (and the huge smile on my face)
Favorite Disney Movie: Cinderella. It has always been the animated one, but the new live action is my favorite movie I have EVER seen.
Favorite Princess: Belle or Cinderella (I have always loved both. I identify more with Belle's character, but I love Cinderella with all of my heart as well)
Favorite Disney Character, non Stitch and Winnie The Pooh
Favorite Hotel I have stayed at: All Star Music (as a singer I LOVE it)
Favorite Disney Table Service Restaurant: Crystal Palace
Favorite Quick Service: Cosmic Ray's
Favorite Disney Snack: Mickey Pretzel! I basically live off of them during trips
Parks I have been to: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Disneyland, California Adventure
Me:

My hair is not that long anymore. Let me look for a picture of it shorter.
Tada!

I am so excited! I have been looking over my touring plans and making some adjustments. I can't wait!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Day 1:

Magic Kingdom
Park Hours: 9 am-12 am

I got a rough idea of my plan for today. Keep in mind, I am not someone who insists on going exactly by a plan in the park, I just find I get the most out of my time in the parks when I go in with a plan.

1) Magic Kingdom Welcome Show
2) Prince Charming Carrousel
3) Peter Pan's Flight
4) it's a small world
5) Pirates of the Caribbean
6) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
7) Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
8) Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
9) Lunch Reservation at Be Our Guest @ 12:30 pm
10) Enchanted Tales With Belle
11) Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
12) Festival of Fantasy Parade
13) 3 Hour Break @ Pop Century
14) Liberty Square Riverboat
15) Big Thunder Mountain (FP+)
16) Enchanted Tiki Room
17) Dinner @ Pecos Bill's
18) Main Street Electrical Parade
19) Celebrate The Magic
20) Wishes (FP+)
21) Meet Tinkerbell at Town Square
22) Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square (if time)
23) Dumbo
24) Under The Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid
25) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+)
26) Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh
27) Mad Tea Party
28) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Sounds like a busy, awesome, crazy, fun day! I am so excited!

Also, I have never used FP+ for Wishes, can anyone let me know if it is worth it?

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

All caught up! Sounds like you are well and truly organized. I'm the same when it come to planning, it's still like 18 months until my trip and I pretty much have all my days planned!
I think you will love Animal Kingdom it's my second favourite park mainly because of Expedition Everest. Last time I rode that puppy 7 times in a row. Gotta love low season!
Only 3 weeks to go! So jealous! You are going to have a blast!

P.S I love Paramore! Jealous about that about that as well!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

All caught up! Sounds like you are well and truly organized. I'm the same when it come to planning, it's still like 18 months until my trip and I pretty much have all my days planned!
I think you will love Animal Kingdom it's my second favourite park mainly because of Expedition Everest. Last time I rode that puppy 7 times in a row. Gotta love low season!
Only 3 weeks to go! So jealous! You are going to have a blast!

P.S I love Paramore! Jealous about that about that as well!

I am an obsessive, over planner. I accept it. I feel like it makes it more fun and plus it makes the vacation feel closer when I am planning!

I am SO excited for Animal Kingdom. I haven't decided if I want to ride EE. I love roller coasters, but I am not a fan of going backwards and I know that it does. I think it will be one of those things I decide in the moment.

And I so agree about low season. When I was at the park in early December it was pretty dead and my mom and I rode Thunder Mountain 4 times in 30 minutes.

It makes my heart feel good to find other Paramore fans. I have been a fan for 9 years and just saw them for the first time this summer when
they were on tour with fall out boy. And then my dad surprised me with tickets to this tour which I am forever thankful for.

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am so excited.

I am beyond excited.

Something exciting happened. First a little back story.

I have always been in love with the Grand Floridian. From the day I saw it I was just overwhelmed by how beautiful it was. Staying there is so expensive, I am not sure I could ever justify it to be completely honest (maybe when I someday because as famous as Taylor Swift but that is about it).

Well, a while back I realized that I could get an amazing taste for the hotel by having a meal there. The thing is that it has just never worked out. We tend to book our trips to late to get the meals/times I would want.

I decided today that I wanted to book one table service meal for the time we are there. I tend to shy away from dinners because they are just so high a lot of the time. I typically go for lunch, but then it hit me. What about breakfast?

I did a quick search and guess what I found?

An 8:15 reservation for 1900 Park Fare for our Epcot day!

I am so excited I can't contain myself. Also I'm not telling my mom, it's going to be a surprise. I think she will love the restaurant. I know I will.

I did have to move around some fast passes but that is okay, I think it is so worth it! Now I have to redo my Epcot touring plan....

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Okay, so some not so great news.

I'm not doing as well post surgery as we had hoped and I had to come to the conclusion that I really am not well enough to do Disney for 3 days as I had planned.

My choices were

a) cancel the trip
b) risk pushing myself way too far and possibly hurt myself badly
c) rent a ECV

I really didn't want to cancel my trip. As my dad agreed, there was no reason to punish myself for my surgery taking longer than expected to heal. And it didn't make sense to risk what I knew would make me so much worse.

So I rented a scooter.

Looks like it isn't going to be my first trip to Disney without being a wheelchair.

I cried for a while, I guess I am okay now. At least my trip isn't canceled..

Sigh, not what I was hoping.

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Okay, so some not so great news.

I'm not doing as well post surgery as we had hoped and I had to come to the conclusion that I really am not well enough to do Disney for 3 days as I had planned.

My choices were

a) cancel the trip
b) risk pushing myself way too far and possibly hurt myself badly
c) rent a ECV

I really didn't want to cancel my trip. As my dad agreed, there was no reason to punish myself for my surgery taking longer than expected to heal. And it didn't make sense to risk what I knew would make me so much worse.

So I rented a scooter.

Looks like it isn't going to be my first trip to Disney without being a wheelchair.

I cried for a while, I guess I am okay now. At least my trip isn't canceled..

Sigh, not what I was hoping.

Oh no I'm so sorry to hear that. But at least you haven't had to cancel your trip. It might not be exactly how you were hoping it to be but you will still be in Disney and who knows when you get there you might feel like doing more than you thought. Sending positive thoughts , hugs and pixie dust your way!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Well, I fell off the face of the earth. I have lots of updates for later but for now I am at work and falling asleep at my desk because I got no sleep last night.

I will say that there has been a decline in my health since my last update and I am SOOO glad I booked the scooter. Had I not, I would now be canceling my trip.

Yay for technology lol.

3 DAYS

Or as Siri told me.....

69.3 Hours!!!!

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Okay, this is going to be an update heavy day because I have a ton but don't want to make any too long. I'll start with a fun one. I ordered some Minnie ears online and thought I would show them to you!

Um....I was home alone so I had to improvise. I used a melon sitting on a Yankee Candle jar as a head.

And then I also have my blue ones which are missing in my room at the moment but I will find before my trip. No, they are not as nice as the disney ones, but I got the set of 6 for $10. For that price I thought it would be fun for my mom and I to switch up our ears each day and also not worry about something happening to them!

I just got off work and only have about 30 minutes to rest before I have to head back out to my next thing so I think that will be it for this update but there are more to come!!

 

[goofymimi]

Hi..I hope you enjoy your trip and that your health continues to improve..just take it easy and let the healing do its thing in its own time..your plans all sound very good..I know you will enjoy the AK, I love it..besides the MK, its my favorite..but I like it because of the safari, I don't do roller coasters at all..i really enjoy the trail with the tigers too.

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

38 Hours!!!!!
​

I am officially into hours for the countdown!! I am so excited!

When it gets under 24 hours I'll probably start counting minutes

We are dog sitting right now and have to drop them off before we go to Disney. When I did my initial plan it was with getting to Magic Kingdom at 8:15 after stopping at the Pop Century to pick up the scooter. That meant leaving home by 5:45 am at the latest. Then it looked like we couldn't drop the dogs off until after 7am. I figured that made for an arrival time of about 10 am at Magic Kingdom. After lots of work, I finally got the scheduling reworked last night.

Well.....

Today my mom tells me we are dropping off the dogs at 6! Looks like we won't be getting there all that much later than initially planned.

I have never seen the Welcome Show and want to so bad. If we don't get there for it on Tuesday, we are going to go see it Thursday morning before we head to Animal Kingdom.

Now I have to make a new schedule again!! Oh well, an extra hour is a good problem to have! Especially opening hour when so much can be accomplished!

Oh geez, there is so much to do but at least it is for Disney! I still need to pack, straighten my room, finish schedules, hook up a printer so I can print all of my confirmations and I am most likely working all day tomorrow! Craziness here!

I am so excited though! Less than 38 hours and I will be on my way to the most magical place on earth!

Tonight I am going to finish up each day's plans and will be posting them here! I hope some of you will follow along the end of this PTR! And I will be doing a trip report when I get back!

 

[AshBriSmi]

Ahhhh!!! So happy and soooo excited for you Kelsey!! Can't wait to hear more. Will you be doing a live TR or just waiting until you return to do a TR or maybe both??

 

[MouseketeerKelsey]

Hi..I hope you enjoy your trip and that your health continues to improve..just take it easy and let the healing do its thing in its own time..your plans all sound very good..I know you will enjoy the AK, I love it..besides the MK, its my favorite..but I like it because of the safari, I don't do roller coasters at all..i really enjoy the trail with the tigers too.

Thanks! I am so excited about the Safari! I'll have to make sure to check out the tigers, they are such beautiful animals.

Ahhhh!!! So happy and soooo excited for you Kelsey!! Can't wait to hear more. Will you be doing a live TR or just waiting until you return to do a TR or maybe both??

Thanks! I am so excited too! I'm not totally sure. I am kind of new to the idea of a live TR. I might start updating each night at the very least. For sure doing one after. I haven't decided about the live one.

 

[AshBriSmi]

Thanks! I am so excited too! I'm not totally sure. I am kind of new to the idea of a live TR. I might start updating each night at the very least. For sure doing one after. I haven't decided about the live one.

Either way- I will be here eagerly waiting