Mom & Son Oct. 2023 PTR (Completed with link to start of trip report 10/20/23))

[Becky2005]

Link to trip report here

Looking forward to starting this PTR as I know it is quite a bit of time before we go so there isn't a lot to do yet but play around with planning. I don't think I have done one before but I have done a trip report in the past.

The last time I went to Disney World was in 2021 with my siblings staying off-site. My other 2 trips were when I was a kid that I barely remember and then 2005 & 2011. Quite a bit has changed! I have kept up with the changes though. We have always gone in the summer. I have never gone in October so I am looking forward to seeing it all decked out for Halloween.

How this trip came about

My youngest (who is 19) randomly commented that it would be neat to be in Disney World on their 100th Anniversary since it is also his 20th birthday. I think he forgot who his mom was at that moment (or knew very well what he was doing! LOL). Once we found out that it was on a Monday the idea was set in motion as we have airline credits that we have to use before the end of the year. It had to be short (he is in college on a scholarship so didn't want to miss too much school) & cheap by Disney standards since we already have a vacation planned this summer elsewhere. So, a Friday - Tuesday trip is planned. Way shorter than I am used to so it is going to be rough but doable.

Who is going?

Myself . I enjoy Disney but we don't go very often but research enough to know what is going on and won't feel completely overwhelmed. Probably over research but I'm not sure that is a thing. My favorite Disney character is Eyeore but there are many that are close.

My youngest DS . He is not a super big Disney fan, he likes traveling all over and is a big history fan. He does like it but wouldn't want all his vacations to be Disney. His last time at Disney was in 2011 when he was 7 and remembers bits & pieces. He was all about Toy Story growing up. He also doesn't like coasters so that will work to our advantage as a lot of the big rides are ones we won't be doing. He is however getting very excited about this trip.

Where are we staying?

We will be staying at All Star Movies which will be the first time staying at a Value. We have stayed at the Contemporary & Ft. Wilderness Cabins before, so I am hoping I won't regret it too much but it is just the 2 of us and I'm OK dealing with the busses. In the past there were 6 of us each trip and younger kids, so made more sense for the upgraded accommodations then.

Next up - What our plans are so far!

 

[Becky2005]

Quite a bit of this trip will be winging it. I am trying not to get Genie+ or LL since we aren't trying to get many of the hard to get rides. We have hoppers but not 100% we will use it, decided it was better to have it and gives us options.

Our plans so far:

Arrival day
We don't have anything specifically planned as anything can happen timewise. The general plan is to check out Disney Springs and the hotel.

Day 2 - EPCOT day with a possible AK hop.
My son wants to check out World Showcase, so that is the plan. We are planning for a princess breakfast as my favorite picture of him from our 2005 trip is with Snow White (his favorite) and I know it is just starting back up so thought we would try for it again. We are NOT doing Mission: Space or Guardians, so no need to worry about those. I would like to do Remy. Probably Test Track those are the big ones but quite a bit of today will be winging it. My thinking is we will probably be done early afternoon and then we can hop over to AK to see some of the shows.

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom & MNSSHP

This is our LONG day! We have tickets for MNSSHP for tonight but we are still going to do MK during the day. The plan is to go back and take a rest before coming back for the party. We are going to try to get a Cinderella's Castle breakfast reservation. DS thought it would be neat to eat in the castle since he doesn't remember it. I know it is hard to get a reservation so if we don't, we are OK with that.

The main attractions to complete here are the Hall of Presidents and the Carousel of Progress. There are several others but we are going to see what is open at the party and skip those during the day (or maybe see how long the line is).

Not sure exactly when we will leave to go rest but at some point. We are thinking of possibly having a late dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern but I did realize that I don't have to rush back by 4 pm (I was thinking that originally) since we will have already been in the park, we could come back anytime. Might be better to just eat dinner at the food court before going back. Not sure how long we will last until the very end at the party or not.

Day 4 - Hollywood Studios & Birthday Day!

We don't have any breakfast plans and are not really sure how early we will get up after the party. On the one hand, I believe there is early entry and that would be good if we want to get on ROTR and other things but on the other hand, sleep is a needed thing too.

Still not sure if we will do ROTR or not. My DS doesn't like coasters because of the drops & I heard there was a drop but feel like it might be one of those, you have to try it once and then decide from the videos I have seen. I feel like we definitely have to hit some of the Star Wars stuff considering my son is named after a main character.

Definitely want to hit Toy Story Land, skipping Slinky Dog.

We will be having either lunch or dinner at 50's Prime Time as that was his request for his birthday meal.

Departure

Time to go back to reality. Probably have breakfast and then time to head out to the airport and see what delays await us this time. It seems to be a trend on our return flights.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Team Happy Haunts]

Following. We’re going in September and this will be our first time for MNSSHP. just bought our tickets today!!

 

[Becky2005]

Following. We’re going in September and this will be our first time for MNSSHP. just bought our tickets today!!

How fun! It will be our first time too. We have never been at this time of year. We have done the summers before. My daughter went last year for her first time, so I have been asking her for pointers even with research there always seems to be a learning curve about things.

 

[Becky2005]

I received my MNSSHP tickets in the mail today! So excited. On the flip side because of this, I had to casually mention to my DH that I am going to Disney for my DS's birthday. DH doesn't like Disney and gives me a hard time anytime I go so I was keeping this on the quiet side, still not 100% sure he caught what I said but that's OK. We have been married a long time, it's all good. LOL!

Also in the meantime, it seems I may be taking each of my adult children on their own Disney trip at some point. That's a story for another time but it all stems from starting this trip.

This is the hurry-up and wait time for trip planning. It's too early to make any concrete plans other than the basics (hotel, park tickets) but I still want to. I'm also curious to see what changes Disney might make that will change our plans so I am keeping an open mind on that at this point (specials, dining, tours? Who knows!).

 

[Becky2005]

Flights have been booked! I am unsure how we are getting to & from the airports yet, however, one more thing marked off the list for our Disney trip.

We have also decided we probably don't want the princess breakfast in EPCOT as I'm not sure we want to take that much time for it and we can see Snow White in other places. I have not been since they have been doing this early morning for all parks and would rather use our time for that.

 

[Becky2005]

Plans are still being tweaked a little here and there. I finally got a list of attractions my son would like to do both the must rides and if we have time which has made a bit of planning better. I was trying to decide about Genie+ I was also playing with the free Disney Genie plan your day and I put October hours in there but I think it was just historical ones since I didn't see on the website it going out that far yet.

Based on what rides he wants, it doesn't make sense to do it for Epcot but Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios I think we are going ahead and getting it.

What will be a bit fun for me this time is since my DS isn't that much of a thrill ride person, I will get to explore more take it slow and see things that normally we don't have the time for.

EPCOT Must do's - World Showcase, Living with the Land, Test Track, Remy (OK this is for me!). I am curious if Journey of Water will be open when we go.

The plan is to hop over to AK depending on our mood at that point. We only want to see the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows and possibly It's Tough to be a Bug. These are not must do's as we will have to see how the day goes.

Magic Kingdom Must do's - Carousel of Progress, Enchanted Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, It's A Small World, Liberty Square Riverboat, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic, Laugh Floor, Pirates, Railroad, TTC and Journey of Little Mermaid

Hollywood Studios Must Do's - Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railroad, Muppetvision, Star Tours, Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Walt Disney World Presents, and Vacation Fun.

The Tower of Terror is an interesting choice as he wants to try it. One of the main reasons he doesn't like coasters is he doesn't like the drops but Tower is a straight drop vs. a hill type of drop.

I have been watching a bunch of youtube videos on different ways to make the most of your vacation (early entry, Genie+, etc...).

 

[Becky2005]

It has been a bit since an update since not much has been happening. We had a family trip planned for South Dakota this month and I was concentrating on that trip. We recently got back so 1 trip checked off. I do have another short one that is just me going to a convention in TX which is in early August. Then it will be onto Disney.

However, I'm always researching Disney and I hadn't really thought about Hoop Dee Doo Revue. I have many picky eaters in my family (including me) and would never pay for our entire family but it dawned on me that it could work for the 2 of us.

The only day we could do it is our arrival day. We arrive sometime around noon and I know with flying/travel anything can happen, so we are thinking of attempting to get the middle show and if not then the last show of the evening.

Nothing like wanting 2 of the hottest meal tickets around for a quick weekend trip.

Our arrival day plans will be to go to Disney Springs and do a couple of shops we want to check out, get the soda flight at the Coca-Cola store, and if we are lucky, go to Hoop Dee Doo.

 

[Becky2005]

ADR day has arrived!!

We were able to get everything we wanted with just a few tweaks.

HDDR with a level 3, hoping for level 1 but at least we got in.

CRT breakfast is a little later than I wanted but it may end up working better as we can do early entry and get in a couple rides before heading off to breakfast. My son doesn't really like to eat right after he wakes up anyway. I, on the other hand, may need a snack before our official breakfast

Fantasmic dining package with 50's Prime Time which we decided may as well do the package since we planned to eat there anyway.

The only thing left for reservations is attempting to get a haircut. It somehow came up that they had a barber shop there and since it would be around the time my son likes to get his haircut anyway, thought it would be fun to do it there. It is an extra that if it works, great, if not, not that big of a deal.

I have also decided on my costume for MNSSHP unintentionally. I wanted something easy to deal with for heat and frankly comfort. I had originally thought I would do Giselle and possibly get a skater dress or order a shirt, etc... but then I came across the perfect dress at Wal-Mart for Boo from Monster's Inc. and that is my costume. I still need to get purple leggings and the hair ties but those *should* be easy to get. I really need to start looking seriously vs. just casually, I will get there as I have been.

It is starting to get so much closer now and once school starts the time will fly by so I'm getting super excited.

 

[Becky2005]

I got the Barber Shop reservation and although it was a day earlier than our MK day and I was going to try again but wanted at least something booked, my son said just leave it. The more I thought about it the more it made sense to get it done as early in our trip as possible since he will be way overdue for a haircut at that point.

We do have park hoppers, so I made the reservation for after 2. We had lots of choices as it popped up available about 10 minutes before midnight EST.

Nothing left for me to book at this point, so now it is just a slow countdown and finishing finding the rest of my MNSSHP costume (which is simple so should be easy).

 

[Becky2005]

A small blue envelope came in the mail today from Walt Disney World! It was a large Mickey sticker and a general informational booklet regarding our trip. That was exciting. It is getting closer! Just a little under 2 months at this point.

 

[TeachLuvsDisney]

Flights have been booked! I am unsure how we are getting to & from the airports yet, however, one more thing marked off the list for our Disney trip.

We have also decided we probably don't want the princess breakfast in EPCOT as I'm not sure we want to take that much time for it and we can see Snow White in other places. I have not been since they have been doing this early morning for all parks and would rather use our time for that.

Have you decided on your airport transportation? I used Sunshine Flyer/Mears back in April and it was great! Great price and All Stars are some of the first stops so it didn’t take that long to get to our resort. We were staying at Sports but I think Movies was just 2 more stops. It really wasn’t bad at all but then again I’m much more patient and relaxed when I’m at Disney than I am at home.

 

[TeachLuvsDisney]

I haven’t posted an online pre-trip or trip report in so long! You’re inspiring me to do that for my upcoming trip Sept 28-Oct 4.

 

[Becky2005]

Have you decided on your airport transportation? I used Sunshine Flyer/Mears back in April and it was great! Great price and All Stars are some of the first stops so it didn’t take that long to get to our resort. We were staying at Sports but I think Movies was just 2 more stops. It really wasn’t bad at all but then again I’m much more patient and relaxed when I’m at Disney than I am at home.

We haven't decided. I do think we are just going to do Mears to the hotel as I'm not really worried about when we get there as long as it is before our HDDR show but if we are that late, something went terribly wrong!!!

Going back we will probably private transportation somehow since it is more critical to get there in plenty of time to not miss our flight.

 

[Becky2005]

We are *almost* at the 1-month mark. I paid off our package a couple of days ago, so now I wait and wonder will I get anything else in the mail or was the previous mailer it?

I was reading through and noticed we did change some of our plans as we went along. I'm sure more of it will change as we get closer. It is a little easier to plan now that we have reservations in place.

I did reserve the Mears shuttle both ways for the airport but I think I'm going to change the one taking us back. It makes me nervous reading other experiences to take stops & traffic into consideration. I would much rather sit in an airport waiting for my flight than cut it close.

Arrival day
Disney Springs with the plans of getting a Coke flight, World of Disney, hat store (if I recall I read about one there), and the Christmas shop to get a personalized birthday button. Dinner that night is Hoop Dee Doo so I don't want to eat much for lunch, probably just grab a snack at some point. Our thinking is after dinner we will be wiped out as we will be leaving for the airport somewhere around 3 AM for our flight and then we lose an hour with the time change.

Day 2 - EPCOT
We plan to do early entry and I'm still conflicted on how we are going to do this as we will not be doing the international gateway and it was 50/50 if we wanted to do Test Track. I want to do Remy but I also am not planning on G+ for this day. It will probably be a lot of see how things work out. I know we do have to park hop to Magic Kingdom for my son's haircut. The question is will we hop back to Epcot to finish off looking at the countries or will we do some attractions and/or park hop somewhere else?

Day 3 - MK & MNSSHP
Still a long day! Our plan is to do early entry and get a couple of rides in before our breakfast reservation. I am also thinking perhaps some pictures if we have time, I know not necessarily the greatest use of early entry but probably fewer people and we aren't trying to do the coasters. I'm also thinking of getting G+ just because even though we don't do the coasters there seem to be a lot of other things that get long lines and it can help.

We were debating if we would take a break back at the hotel before MNSSHP but that looks like it makes the most sense with what we want to wear, plus we aren't planning on meeting Jack & Sally so we don't have to deal with that. I would like to meet the 7 drawfs but we will see.

Day 4 - Hollywood Studios
I would like to do early entry here but realistically we will probably be wiped out and won't get up in time to do so. I feel like it might be a situation of setting the alarm and then seeing what shape we are in. This is probably another G+ day just because it seems it is needed for this park. I know DS wants to ride TOT even though he thinks he will hate it. Should be interesting.

We will be having dinner at 50's Prime Time with the Fantasmic dining package which I'm excited about as I have never seen the show.

Then we depart the next day which will be an early morning send off to get to the airport.

 

[Becky2005]

It is getting so close!!!

I recently checked times because I have become a bit obsessed with it along with starting to check the weather reports.

Magic Kingdom is now open until 11 PM on our first official park day. We will be hopping over to get my son's haircut, but we don't think we will be done with the countries by then. This gives us some extra time if we want to bounce back. I know it is a lot of park hopping and much of it is just going to be see what happens.

I remember when World Showcase didn't open until 11 AM years ago it appears there is quite a bit that opens earlier now so that will be good to get a head start.

They added a 2nd Fantasmic show on our Hollywood Studios day so we may be cancelling our dining package. We have a 6 pm reservation and if we have to go to the 8 pm show, that is cutting it way too close for timing in my opinion. Our travel agent is double-checking on that. In the meantime, I made a lunch reservation so we still get to eat at 50's Prime Time and we will just walk into the 2nd showing which shouldn't be as busy. I would rather give myself more time that way. One of the reservations will be canceled, my gut is saying the dining package one but I don't want to do that until I know for sure.

The weather so far says thunderstorms most of the days but it is Florida so I do expect some storms. Just hoping our MNSSHP doesn't get rained on too much. It is still too early to trust the reports and the whole vacation isn't posted yet.

 

[Becky2005]

Just over a week before we leave! Yikes! I'm not even close to ready! Slowly getting there.

I finally found a Magic Band+ that I liked on the pre-order option. I didn't *need* one as I have an older Magic band but I kept looking in case one showed up that I wanted to purchase. It is the Disney Mom one.

I canceled my Fantasmic! dining package reservation, we will now be eating lunch at 50's PrimeTime instead. It stressed me if I had to get to the 8 pm show with a 6 pm dining reservation.

I'm going as Boo for the Halloween party and ordered some glow in the dark hair ties to complete the outfit. Those recently arrived. Started buying some snacks to take with us to the hotel.

I know I'm over preparing but I did make myself a loose itinerary based on what we want to get done in the parks, which things are available during early entry & what has G+.

I know we won't necessarily stick with it but I have learned I tend to forget everything I have ever read as far as tips/tricks once I'm actually in Disney. It's as if my mind goes mostly blank. At least this way I have a reference guide so I don't forget the important things and am prepared to throw it out the window if needed.

 

[Becky2005]

My Magic Band+ arrived today! Hurray!!

Excited that the Journey of Water is in soft opening, which means I had to actually take a look at how the virtual queue works! LOL! I hadn't been paying any attention since we would not be riding any of the rides with one. I know it is still a big question mark if we will get to experience it but hopeful.

I have been watching the weather and it is supposed to thunderstorm when we arrive. I expect it to rain but I'm hoping weather doesn't delay our flight too much. It does look like it is only the first days and then the rest look great but I know it is early and things can shift within the week. I will be happy to deal with the storms early and then have it be nice for our Halloween party day.

 

[Becky2005]

Getting excited it is right around the corner now! My aunt had a serious surgery a couple days ago so I was concerned we might have to cancel but she is doing wonderfully so once we knew that was the case, time to really get a moving on things.

Looks like we didn't get luggage tags in the mail. I wonder if that is because we went with a TA instead of going directly through WDW. Who knows. I do have tomorrow that they can come in the mail, but I think the chances are slim to none. I will ask at the front desk and see what happens.

Tomorrow is my last day of work, and we *have* to finish packing! I did start packing and realized there is still quite a bit of room in the larger suitcase we are taking, so my son can use that one instead of his. Our plan is to use this for snacks and such on the way there and souvenirs on the way home. It does seem like we have a ton of snacks, more than necessary but we also probably won't have time to eat any breakfast on the way to the parks since most of the time we have to get up and be at the bus stop fairly early! I will still have my carry-on so there should be plenty of room and I know even with all of this I'm going to forget something. You would think we are taking a 2 week trip or something even though it is only 4 days.