DLR veterans visit WDW for the first time! September 2015 PTR (UPDATED 6/5 HE'S FINALLY HOME!!!)

[sailored]

Hello everyone! Join me as I plan our (My husband and I's) first trip to the world! Let's get straight to introductions so we can get to the fun stuff, PLANNING!

That's me! Evie! It's from Halloween, when I was attempting to pass out candy. We didn't get very many trick o' treaters. I don't usually have a lot of pictures of me, I'm usually the one behind the camera. But, more about me! I (as well as my husband) live in California. I grew up going to Disneyland usually once a year, and more frequently when I turned 18 and started going with friends. I've been obsessed with Disney ever since I could remember.

That is my husband, Phil. He went to Disneyland a few times prior to meeting me, but he didn't become obsessed until we met. We were AP holders until our move, the Navy moved us further away from Disney. We were in San Diego, and PCSd to Lemoore. The drive went from 1.5 hours to 4 hours. Also, the Navy decided to send him out to sea for ten months. He will finally be home in about three months, and I couldn't be more excited. I don't know if you could tell from the picture, his favorite ride is Space Mountain. Especially Ghost Galaxy, which is what Space Mountain turns into during the Halloween season. He also likes to wander the parks eating turkey legs, churros, and ice cream from Main Street.

We have talked about getting AP's again for Disneyland when he gets back, but we are putting off returning home until we can experience Disney World. It's been about a year since we last went to Disneyland, and are going to try to make Disney World as magical as possible!

This trip will be our post-deployment vacation and a belated disneymoon! Planning this trip has been a HUGE distraction and I believe is what has helped me get through this deployment. It's my distraction. Although, I do wish he were here to help with the planning. Luckily he will be here when it comes time to pick FP+ selections.

I'm going to try my best to make this interesting and not boring. Also, if you have any suggestions/tips, please please please share them! This is our first trip and I want it to be wonderful!

Stay tuned! There will be more coming VERY soon!

 

[sailored]

Introductions
Resort Selection
Preliminary Park Plans
ADR Wish List/IPO Concerns
Spa or Universal?
ADR Day is here!!!!
Change of Plans!
DETOUR!
9/16 Magic Kingdom Overview
SURPRISE!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!

 

[sailored]

I'm sorry for such a LONG delay on posting again!

We will be visiting September 15th - 22nd of 2015. (I don't think I could wait any longer, I'm already dying!) We couldn't make up our mind on where we wanted to stay on our trip, and went back and forth between three different locations.

First on our mind was Shades of Green. It looks like a BEAUTIFUL resort, allows us to use Disney transportation, and is very affordable.


Next one on our minds was Animal Kingdom Lodge. I've been looking at pictures, videos, threads, everything about this resort. It looks beautiful! The idea of being able to wake up and sit on our balcony to watch the animals sounds so amazing.


The final contender was Port Orleans Riverside. I fell in love with this resort as well from pictures, and the royal rooms look fantastic! I feel like it would make our trip very magical if we were to stay there.

What did we decide on? Drum roll please. . . . . . *drum rolls*

Animal Kingdom Lodge! We decided to book a Savanna view room, mainly because we absolutely love animals! I also booked the Disney Dining Plan with it, more so for convenience. A couple months after I booked our vacation I kept hearing about club level and became very curious. I did my research on club level, decided it was something we might possibly want to do. I called Disney to see how much extra it would cost us to upgrade, and was shocked that it was only an additional $300 or so. That seemed totally worth it to me! I emailed Phil and asked him his thoughts on it and if he was on board with the upgrade, he was! So, the next day I called and upgraded us to club level.


I'm still debating if I want IPO to book our dinging reservations, I'm afraid to give up the control. So, I'm probably going to make the reservations myself and just forward the reservations to them so they can put it in our itinerary. I'll probably be a zombie when I'm booking them though, because it'll be around 3 AM my time.



Stay tuned for more!

 

[lilmape]

Following along! We are planning on going around the same time. Haven't pin pointed our week yet. Animal Kingdom Lodge looks amazing.

 

[sailored]

Following along! We are planning on going around the same time. Haven't pin pointed our week yet. Animal Kingdom Lodge looks amazing.

Welcome! Thank you for following along. I know quite a few people are struggling with picking a week, especially with the closing time confusion for the first week or so.

 

[sailored]

Annnnnnd I'm back. I'm just so excited and want to keep updating!

Here are my which park/what day plans as of right now. I'm going off of what I find on touringplans, I'm still waiting for easywdw to release their detailed crowd calendar before I finalize anything. I'm hoping it's put out before my ADR day (March 19th, eeek! )

Tuesday, September 15th: Arrival day. Our flight has us landing at MCO around 3:00-5:00 PM, so we won't be doing a lot that day. I think we will just check into our resort and head to Downtown Disney for dinner.

Wednesday, September 16th: Magic Kingdom!

Thursday, September 17th: Epcot!

Friday, September 18th: Hollywood Studios!

Saturday, September 19th: Animal Kingdom!

Sunday, September 20th: Relax around the resort until MNSSHP, enter Magic Kingdom around 4 PM when they start allowing party guests inside.

Monday, September 21st: As of right now, we plan on exploring all the different resorts and spending our last day relaxing. Maybe "window shopping" for which resort we would like to stay at for our next visit. Then do dinner at California Grill and watch Wishes from there. But, I've been playing with the idea of visiting Universal Studios that day. I'm still unsure of what to do.

Tuesday, September 22nd: Departure day, our flight leaves around 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. So, we will be checking out and heading back to MCO. Sad day.

This is all preliminary, and might change depending on what easywdw says when the detailed crowd calendar is posted. But, ADR day is quickly approaching and I'll need to have plans set in stone.

That's all for now. Stay tuned!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I am following along. Hopefully Josh will come out with the 2nd half of September soon. It will probably be ready before the 19th.

Animal Kingdom Lodge and Club Level...lucky you. Someday, I will get to do that.

Enjoy your planning.

 

[Sisa]

Hey Hey! I am joining in! Okay so I didn't know your DIS name, but totally realized after reading your report that you are from the Sept FB group. Oh and I totally love your PTR report name much more so than mine, so good job!

Totally agree with your DH on Ghost Galaxy SM, it is SO awesome!

AKL with Savanna view and club level...that will be so incredible! Super jealous!

Your plan looks super! Looking forward to hearing all your dining choices!

 

[beckyx3]

I'm here! We're overlapping but none of our park days meet!! We were thinking about doing the Halloween Party that night, but it would be our first full day so we decided against it. Any idea if you are going to dress up?

 

[sailored]

I am following along. Hopefully Josh will come out with the 2nd half of September soon. It will probably be ready before the 19th.

Animal Kingdom Lodge and Club Level...lucky you. Someday, I will get to do that.

Enjoy your planning.

Hello! Josh made my life semi-complete today when he released the remainder of September. He teased me a few days ago when he posted until the 15th, my trip starts on the 15th. But, he delivered today. Luckily, all the recommended stuff matches up with what touringplans gave me. So, no changes to our park days.

The only reason we are able to do Animal Kingdom CL is because of the military discount. Without it, we wouldn't. I was playing price match the other day to see how much we saved. Definitely would not be able to afford the full price. I *almost* fainted when I saw the price. I'm really grateful that Disney is generous when it comes to that.

Hey Hey! I am joining in! Okay so I didn't know your DIS name, but totally realized after reading your report that you are from the Sept FB group. Oh and I totally love your PTR report name much more so than mine, so good job!

Totally agree with your DH on Ghost Galaxy SM, it is SO awesome!

AKL with Savanna view and club level...that will be so incredible! Super jealous!

Your plan looks super! Looking forward to hearing all your dining choices!

Oh really? I'm going to have to do some stalking to find you in the group. There are SO many members now! Your PTR name is super cute! We will just be name buddies.

Ghost Galaxy is life for my husband. I think that's the only time we don't start our days in Adventureland, because he just HAS to ride Ghost Galaxy first 5 times.

I'm here! We're overlapping but none of our park days meet!! We were thinking about doing the Halloween Party that night, but it would be our first full day so we decided against it. Any idea if you are going to dress up?

Hello! Well, darn on the park dates. As of right now we are TOTALLY going to dress up. I have a couple costume ideas, but it more so depends on the time/effort we (okay, me) wants to put into them. I'll probably share my ideas later on.

Thank you all for tuning in!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I did see that Josh came out with the entire month calendar. I saw lots of 1's for when you will be there. We went last year and had a few days that were 1's. It was really nice. The kids were on Dumbo for a good 30 minutes, because the guy got tired of waiting for them to get off and run through the line again. There was noone else in line. However, the bigger rides still had lines, but still really not bad at all.

 

[sailored]

I did see that Josh came out with the entire month calendar. I saw lots of 1's for when you will be there. We went last year and had a few days that were 1's. It was really nice. The kids were on Dumbo for a good 30 minutes, because the guy got tired of waiting for them to get off and run through the line again. There was noone else in line. However, the bigger rides still had lines, but still really not bad at all.

I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the crowds remain low.

 

[sailored]

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Yesterday I received another email from IPO asking for my arrival information, dining wish list, tours, etc. I've been kind of slacking on providing them that information, mainly because I've been debating if I want them to book the dining for me or if I want to do it myself. I've been reading about the site being all glitchy for people the past few days and decided to let them go ahead and book my dining. Well, except for one. I already booked that one myself.

I've emailed them back with what my husband and I want, here is to hoping they get everything!

There have been a few hiccups with IPO today, so I'm hoping it was just an off day for them. They told me that MNSSHP party dates hadn't been released yet, but that there would most likely be parties on the 15th and 18th. I politely let them know that dates have been released, and that I would actually be attending the party on the 20th. I also sent them an email asking about three different things, they respond back with one thing and I have to email them again to inquire about the other things. So, I'm really hoping today was an off day for them and that they will be on their game when it comes to booking my ADRs. I might just have to start calling them instead of emailing. That might be the better option.

Anywho, onto the next part of my PTR. Our ADR Wish List!

Josh (easywdw) released the September calendar and everything matched up with touringplans, there will be no changes to our park days posted above.

September 15 (Arrival Day): T-Rex, that is actually the one I called and booked myself. DH is obsessed with Dinosaurs, so we absolutely had to start our trip with dinner here. It'll be a late dinner, so we might explore DTD or we might not. Not entirely sure yet, it'll probably be a decision we make that evening.

September 16 (Magic Kingdom): We will be eating breakfast in the club lounge, doing a quick service lunch and will *hopefully* have dinner at Be Our Guest.

September 17 (Epcot): Breakfast in the lounge, quick service lunch, and will be doing dinner at Via Napoli. I keep seeing pictures of their pizza and my mouth waters every time. I think that's the meal that I am most excited for.

September 18 (Hollywood Studios): Breakfast in the lounge, quick service lunch, and we will be doing dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In.

September 19 (Animal Kingdom): We are hoping to get a pre-park opening breakfast reservation at Tusker House and then a quick service lunch. Once the park closes/we finish Animal Kingdom, we will head to DTD to eat dinner at Raglan Road. We will most definitely spend the remainder of the evening in Downtown Disney.

September 20 (MNSSHP): We won't have any ADRs this day. We plan on hanging around the resort/pool until it's time to head to the party! We will grab quick service lunch at the resort and quick service dinner at the party.

September 21 (Explore): We haven't decided what exactly we want to do yet this day, but we won't be visiting any parks. We will most likely explore different resorts on property and see what activities are offered. We will be doing a quick service lunch and ending the day at California Grill for dinner along with Wishes from there.

September 22 (Departure Day): This will be the saddest day ever. We will probably just eat what's offered in the lounge before leaving late morning.

That's all for now. Stay tuned!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Love the plans so far. Hopefully, your ADR wishes are met and the IPO is on the ball today.

 

[iheartbelle87]

So exciting can't wait to read more!!

Side note: when I first Read your title I was "instead" was "inside" and I kept waiting to hear about how you managed to get INSIDE the castle! #disneyproblems

 

[sailored]

Love the plans so far. Hopefully, your ADR wishes are met and the IPO is on the ball today.

I have my fingers and toes crossed that we get all of our ADRs! But, I'm really worried about Be Our Guest. So, we picked Tony's as our backup.

So exciting can't wait to read more!!

Side note: when I first Read your title I was "instead" was "inside" and I kept waiting to hear about how you managed to get INSIDE the castle! #disneyproblems

Hi! I really wish I could get inside the castle. Maybe one day! A girl can dream, right?!

 

[sailored]

Hello! It's been about a week since I last gave an update on our upcoming trip, so here I am with an update!



It's just a bit after midnight here in California, making it a new day. This new day brings our trip countdown to . . . . 182 DAYS! We are SO close to our ADR day! I'm trying my best to contain my excitement, but it's very difficult. My dog, Lily, doesn't seem to understand why I'm so excited.


Phil and I are having a very hard time deciding what we would like to do with our last full day of our trip, which is a non-park day. Here are the two options below.

Option A: Spa Day at Senses (Grand Floridian) as well as dinner at California Grill to watch Wishes. I'm sure we would also explore the other resorts and such, but the two main things of the day would be the spa visit and dinner.

Option B: Go visit the Universal Studios parks. We have been to Universal Studios Hollywood and enjoyed it, but we aren't sure how we will like it after a magical week at Disney. We both aren't majorly into Harry Potter (to be honest, I've seen probably one movie and read zero books), but it would still be neat to check out the Harry Potter section as well as other stuff there.

I believe we are going to go with Option A as of right now, but we could always change our mind later on. We still have a long six months to change it. If we do change our minds, it definitely won't happen until after he returns home. We are going to overload ourselves with YouTube videos and that *might* change our mind. But, for now we will be booking a spa day at Senses and dinner at California Grill.

I can't believe that ADR day is this Thursday! I'm reallllllly hoping that IPO gets us everything we want, the only thing I'm concerned about is Be Our Guest. A couple people have already said that nothing is available for the date I'm wanting it for. I'm really hoping something comes up, I would LOVE to experience a dinner here.


Let's move onto something slightly off topic, my husbands homecoming! People might have thought I was crazy booking a homecoming photographer before he left, but they don't think I'm crazy now. I keep seeing so many other spouses struggling to find one because homecoming is in a couple months. It's a small town here in Lemoore, and three commands will most likely be returning on the same exact day. You HAVE to plan ahead because there are so few photographers here. It feels good to not have to stress about finding someone to capture that moment for us.


That's all for now, I'll probably have another update towards the end of the week after ADR day.

Stay tuned!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I would probably go with Option A. Sounds more relaxing. We went to UA on one of our trips and we loved it. But we went for 2 days. It takes more planning to get yourself over there and back (unless you are renting a car). We liked many of the non-Harry Potter rides as well. If it were me, I would want to end with a day of relaxing over another jam packed day.

Glad you thought ahead and got that photographer. It is always nice to have one less thing to worry about.

Good luck on your ADRs. If you don't get BOG to begin with, you can keep on trying. They sometimes open up more spots or people cancel their trips. I have heard if you go on 45 days before you want you the day you want to eat there, you might get lucky, because that is the last day that people can cancel their Disney Vacation package without penalty.

We have had lunch there twice and loved it. I really want to go for dinner and see the Beast. They are going to be serving Breakfast there soon. As of now, they are not expecting it to be a character breakfast.

Have a great day!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Following! Your trip sounds glorious I'm sure AKL will be just amazing; it's definitely on my "someday" list, just not this time So jealous that you get to do the Halloween Party! We tried to book in October, but couldn't get the Boardwalk for the whole visit, so we just decided to save the Party and F&W for another time.

Hope you get your BOG reservation too! We snagged one for lunch, but they seemed pretty plentiful a few days ago when we got it. Dinner probably books up faster, sadly :/ . Good luck, and can't wait to read more!

 

[DisneyHoover]

I'm so jealous of your club level at AKL! We were going to do club level through DVC but all the club level rooms were already gone by the time we books. I can't wait to see pictures of the yummy food and cool club level area! Holy smokes some of our plans are similar! We're planning to be in Magic Kingdom Wednesday the 16th and have dinner at Be Our Guest, be in Epcot on Thursday and eat at Via Napoli for dinner, and then be at Hollywood Studios on Friday! Maybe we'll see each other . Good news on Be Our Guest--this morning they opened up a whole slew of new reservation times after 6 p.m. for September and I'm seeing times still available for Wednesday 9/16 (as of right now) at 6:55, 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, and 8:25. I was able to call in this morning and get a BOG ressie for 9/16 at 6:25 pm. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that some of those slots are still open for Thursday morning!