Dole Whip or Die!!!...October 2015 Pre-Trip Report Updated 10/5/15! Check out my poll!

[Carrie Gruber]

Hi! First pre-trip report for this Disney geek! Please excuse any minor defects in my posts, I'm fairly new to posting instead of just reading! After reading through some other PTRs, I guess I’ll start with my intro. I live in PA with DH, DD (8), DS (turning 6yo in Aug) and DS (turning 1yo in Aug). I’m a lifelong Disney fanatic and I’m proud to say that my children are following in my footsteps. My DD loves the princesses, Nightmare Before Christmas and the Pixar films. Older DS loves Pixar and Star Wars, while my younger DS is crazy for Mickey Mouse and the gang. DH is a Disney convert after his first trip to the World in 2013, although he’s always liked the movies/TV shows, and he’s slowly learning the ins and outs of planning a Disney vacation. I’m a tad bit obsessive when it comes to Disney and I have been keeping myself VERY busy the past year or so planning our trip for this October. I’ve been down to WDW 3 times: 1st trip was May 1992 when I was 5, 2nd trip was June 1998 when I was 11 and 3rd trip was June 2013 (you can figure my age). The 2013 trip was my DH, DD and older DS’s first trip to Disney and we had a blast, but I am doing WAAAAYYYYYYYYY more planning this time around.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: Haunted Mansion, followed by Big Thunder Mountain

Favorite Disney Movie: The Little Mermaid (I have several other “favorites” but this is the movie I have been obsessed with since age 3!)

Favorite Disney Character: Belle because she loves books as much as I do

Favorite Disney food: I’m a turkey leg kind of girl, but once I try a Dole Whip, I’m sure that’ll be my new favorite!

Favorite Disney Restaurant: TREX because of the theming (we have BOG booked next trip, so that will probably trump TREX)

Favorite Resort: Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach (we hope to try other resorts over the next several years, definitely want to try the Poly and Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower)

We’re booked Oct. 16-26, staying at Art of Animation again, Cars Family Suite again (because we loved it last time) and we have the DDP (1 TS, 1 QS, 1 S per day). Our party consists of me, DH, our 3 kids and my father.

We’re flying out of Philly via Southwest (roundtrip fares totaled less than $300 per person, much lower than what we paid last time through JetBlue, which ran us around $500 per person) I’m excited to be flying with Southwest because we each get 2 free checked bags (even the baby since he has a seat - more room for souvenirs!!!!) plus we each get a carry-on and a personal item. Last year I brought books to read on the plane – not this time as I know I’ll be too excited to concentrate on reading!

Also this year, we’re planning to get a hotel room near the airport (thinking of Springhill Suites by Marriot) where they participate in Park Sleep Fly and includes up to 14 days of free parking plus free shuttle service to the airport.

SIDENOTE – Does anyone know what these airport shuttles look like? We had to take a shuttle from long-term parking at Newark Airport last time, and I believe it was a van and the kiddos didn’t have carseats. It was less than a 10 minute ride and not on any major roads, but our hotel is about 5 miles from the airport this time, so not sure if they’ll let the little guy ride in the shuttle without a seat or not.

SIDENOTE #2 – I plan to get a CARES harness for the little guy for the plane rides. Anyone had experience with one of those? He already meets the weight requirement at 10 months (22 lbs) but I am hoping someone can help me figure out how to make a crotch strap for the device as it lacks one…

What follows is a detailed description of each day of our trip as I have it set up right now. My “official” itineraries are MUCH more detailed than this (I also have transportation details, park operating/show/parade/character times, “extra” magic, Hidden Mickey and shopping locations on the actual plans) I’ve included the ADR times I have already booked; the FP+ selections are “hopefuls” for those times, can’t book them until August 17th so I’ll have to update those once I have set times.

Day 1 - Arrival
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Day 4 - Magic Kingdom
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom/MNSSHP
Day 6 - Blizzard Beach
Day 7 - Hollywood Studios
Day 8 - Epcot
Day 9 - Epcot
Day 10 - Magic Kingdom
Day 11 - Departure

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 1 (10/16) – Arrival

We’ll be departing PHL at 8:10 AM and arriving at MCO around 10:40 AM.

Take Magical Express and arrive at AoA resort. I’ll be doing online check-in again, since that was easy and saved us time at the front desk. I’m also requesting a Pack N Play for our room and plan to order some basic staples from Garden Grocer this time around (No more breakfasts at the food court if it can be avoided…wastes too much time in the morning for our group). Collect our celebration pins, bus schedules, park maps, resort activity information and head to our room.

The plan is to unpack if our bags are at the room, go explore the resort and get our refillable mugs at Landscape of Flavors. Our kids really enjoyed taking in the sites at AoA last time so we want to make sure we get to walk around the entire resort the first day to “settle in” and take pictures before we’re worn out by touring. After that, we’ll head down to the Big Blue Pool for a swim, then change and go down to catch a bus to Downtown Disney (Disney Springs). We have dinner reservations at Planet Hollywood (DH’s choice, he enjoyed it last time and really wanted to do it again this trip. I don’t mind the food and the atmosphere is neat, but it definitely needs the refurb…)

We’ll spend the rest of the evening having fun checking out the new sights and sounds of DTD/Disney Springs and doing Disney Quest. Then it’s back to the resort for a good night’s rest so we can be recharged for Day 2…

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 2 (10/17) – Magic Kingdom (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 6

We’ll start our day off with a bus/taxi to the Polynesian for character breakfast at Ohana (ADR at 7:35 AM) then hop on the monorail to MK. (The kids got a kick out of the monorail last time, so it was a must-do this trip)

Arrive at MK for rope-drop (hopefully!) to see the Welcome Show. Proceed to get our SotMK cards (may wait until we’re around Liberty Square to get them at Sleepy Hollow) and head up through Adventureland to cut through to Frontierland. Hit the following rides in order:

Splash Mountain (shouldn’t need FP+ if we’re there first thing in the morning) (9:40)

Meet Woody and Jessie

Big Thunder Mountain (shouldn’t need FP+ if we’re there first thing in the morning) (10:25)

Pirates of the Caribbean (11:00)

Jungle Cruise (11:20)

Enchanted Tiki Room (12:00)

Magic Carpets (Meet Aladdin & Jasmine) (12:20)

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (12:45)

Stop at Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip (1:00), then proceed back through to Frontierland to see Country Bear Jamboree (1:20) and if there’s time before the parade, go to Tom Sawyer Island (1:35). Grab lunch/snack at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Café or Turkey Leg Cart (around 2:00?) and do some shopping while we wait for the afternoon parade:

Festival of Fantasy Parade (3:00)

Liberty Square Riverboat (3:35)

Haunted Mansion (4:00)

Try to meet Tiana & Naveen at Heritage House, then a bathroom break at Rapunzel’s Tower area.

Peter Pan’s Flight (FP+ 4:10 - 5:10) (meet Peter Pan)

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel (4:45)

Mickey’s PhilharMagic (5:00)

Meet Merida

Dream Along with Mickey (5:15) and Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party (5:40)

Then head back into Fantasyland for:

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (meet Tigger & Pooh) (FP+ 5:20 – 6:20)

Mad Tea Party (6:15)

7 Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+ 6:20 – 7:20)

Do some shopping/exploring before we head to Casey’s Corner for Dinner at 7:00 PM

Watch Main Street Electrical Parade (9:00) from Casey’s Corner (hopefully we can grab a spot) followed by Celebrate the Magic (9:30) and Wishes fireworks (10:00). Then it’s back on the bus and back to the resort to get some much needed rest!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 3 (10/18) – Animal Kingdom (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 8

With the park opening at 9, we’ll grab breakfast in our room and fill our mugs on our way to the bus. Once we arrive at the park, we plan to hit the following attractions in this order:

Oasis Exhibits, then pick up Wilderness Explorers stuff and meet Russell & Dug (9:00 – 10:00)

Kali River Rapids (FP+ 10:00 - 11:00)

Meet King Louie & Baloo at Upcountry Landing (10:45)

Maharajah Jungle Trek (11:20)

Expedition Everest (FP+ 11:30 – 12:30)

Finding Nemo the Musical (12:45)

Triceratop Spin (1:40)

Meet Goofy, Pluto & Donald in Dinoland USA, then on to Restaurantosaurus for lunch/snack.

Dinosaur (FP+ 2:00 – 3:00)

The Boneyard (2:35)

Meet Pocahontas on bridge to Discovery Island

It’s Tough to Be a Bug (3:10)

Winged Encounters (3:35)

Discovery Island Trails (meet Tarzan)

Rainforest Café for Dinner (ADR for 4:30 PM)

Festival of the Lion King (5:45)

Then back on the bus and back to the resort to rest our tired piggies!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 4 (10/19) – Magic Kingdom (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 7

This is an EMH day, and while I originally planned to avoid EMH altogether, MNSSHP reduced the number of days we’d be able to do MK ALL DAY, so we decided to go forward with attending MK on Monday and take our chances with the crowds. Honestly, we were in Disney in June 2013 and the crowds at that time were either 9/10 or 10/10 according to crowd calendars, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to deal with October attendance levels.

We have no TS meals scheduled for this day, so we’ll have more time to devote to touring and not eating.

After dragging our butts out of bed early to be at the bus by 7 (going to try to have them out of the room by 6:30, but that’s pushing it!), our plan of attack for this day is as follows:

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, meet Ariel at her grotto and stop at Prince Eric’s Village Market (8:10 – 9:30)

Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP+ 9:10 – 10:10, may change this to something else if the standby line is short)

Head over to Gaston’s Tavern to meet Gaston (9:30) and explore the Beauty and the Beast area. We didn’t spend too much time over here our last trip and I’ve been kicking myself ever since, so I’m taking my good ole time taking in the sights and sounds (and shopping, but don’t tell DH - I’ve seen some things online that they sell at Bonjour! Village Gifts that I just HAVE TO HAVE!)

After getting my fill of Belle’s world, we’ll proceed to:

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (FP+ 10:20 – 11:20)

Dumbo (10:50)

Barnstormer (11:00)

Casey Jr. Splash N’ Soak Station (11:20)

Meet characters at Pete’s Silly Sideshow (11:40)

Tomorrowland Speedway (12:00)

We’re going to try The Lunching Pad or Cosmic Ray’s for Lunch/Snack (12:45). We did Cosmic Ray’s last time and were less than thrilled with the line setup and seating availability, although the food was pretty good.

After a break, we’re headed back into Tomorrowland for:

Astro Orbiter (1:20)

Space Mountain (FP+ 1:05 – 2:05)

TTA People Mover (2:15)

Carousel of Progress (2:25)

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (2:50)

Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (3:20)

Dream Along with Mickey (4:15) (if we didn’t catch it the first day)

Then we’ll head down Main Street towards Town Square Theater to meet Mickey and Tinker Bell (4:20) Then I plan to go back up Main Street to do some shopping, let the kids do some more SotMK and see the Flag Retreat (5:00)

Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party (5:40) (if we didn’t catch it the first day)

Then we’ll hit either Columbia Harbor House or Tortuga Tavern for dinner (6:05) and do A Pirate’s Adventure: Treasure of the Seven Seas (6:40) before the parade and fireworks if we decide we want to see those. I plan to do some shopping and let the kids finish any SotMK they may have missed (Liberty Square area, let kids decide what they’d like to do, I really want to get their silhouettes done at the shop in LS). After the parade and fireworks (9:00 – 10:00) we’ll schlep our way to the buses and drag our tired behinds into bed again to recharge for tomorrow’s festivities!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 5 (10/20) – Animal Kingdom/Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: AK – 4, MK – 2

We’re doing our first MNSSHP on this trip and we’re REALLY excited! We LOVE Halloween so getting to see Disney World all done up for the occasion will be a very special treat. We plan to wear costumes to the party, although we haven’t decided what we’ll wear just yet. My plan is to hit AK for the morning/early afternoon, then head back to the resort for a swim/rest before getting ready to catch the bus to MK around 3:00 or 3:30 for admission at 4:00. We plan to get on the bus/taxi to AK by 7:00/7:15:

Tusker House Character Breakfast (ADR for 8:00 AM). Park opens at 9:00 AM, head to the following attractions:

Kilimanjaro Safaris (FP+ 9:20 – 10:20, may change this to something else if standby line is short)

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (9:45)

Ride Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch (10:15)

Habitat Habit (10:30)

Conservation Station, meet Chip & Dale and Rafiki (10:35)

Affection Section (10:55)

Ride train back to Africa Station (11:15)

Kali River Rapids (FP+ 10:25 – 11:25)

Expedition Everest (FP+ 11:25 – 12:25)

Head back to resort for swim/rest and get ready for MNSSHP. Get to the bus for MK by 3:30 at the latest. We may take a bus to TTC and get on the ferry to go to MK to try something new. I haven’t ridden the ferry since I was 5, so I think the kids will get a kick out of that. Our plan for MNSSHP is:

4:00 – 6:00 – Get SotMK cards, complete any of the portals we missed the other days, go on rides (especially the Haunted Mansion), Dance Party in Tomorrowland, Mayhem at the Mansion Game

6:00 – Get in line for Jack and Sally, shop

7:00 – SotMK, try to meet the Seven Dwarfs, head to parade spot and to kill time we can shop/eat, other character meets

8:00 – Boo to You Parade (try to get spot that we used for the other parades in Frontierland/Liberty Square if it’s too crowded at Casey’s Corner) get to spot no later than 7:30. After parade, Trick or Treat and meet characters.

9:00 – 11:00 – Hocus Pocus Spelltacular, Castle Show and Fireworks

11:00 - 12:00 – 2nd parade, trick-or-treat, meet other characters, SotMK, Mayhem at the Mansion Game, shop

We’ll be grabbing something to eat at a snack cart or QS location, probably one that’s offering Halloween themed treats. Since we’re not familiar with the flow of MNSSHP, I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to see everything there is to see, but we’ll give it our best shot. This is the list I’m going off of from one of the websites I frequent:

• Jafar (Magic Carpets): 7:00-10:30pm
• Alice and Friends (Mad Tea Party): 7:00-11:00pm
• Aurora and Maleficent with Snow White and the Queen (Behind Carousel): 7:00pm-12:00am
• Buzz and Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (Tomorrowland): 7:00-11:00pm
• Captain Jack Sparrow (near Pirates of the Caribbean): 7:00-10:30pm
• Meet Your Favorite Pals (Storybook Circus): 7:00-11:00pm
• Jack Skellington and Sally (Storybook Circus): 7:00pm-11:00pm
• Tarzan and Friends (near Adventureland Bridge): 7:00-11:00pm
• Seven Dwarfs (near the Castle Wall in Fantasyland): 7:00-11:00pm
• Tinker Bell (Town Square Theater): 7:00pm-12:00am
• Anna and Elsa, Cinderella, Rapunzel (Princess Fairytale Hall): 7:00pm-12:00am
• Tigger and Friends (near the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh): 7:30-10:00pm
• Gaston (near his Tavern): 7:00-10:30pm
• Mickey Mouse (Town Square Theater): 7:00pm-12:00am
• Ariel (in her Grotto): 7:00-11:30pm
• Tiana (Liberty Square): 7:45-10:30pm
• Merida (Fairytale Garden): 7:00-10:30pm
• Aladdin and Friends (Swiss Family Tree House):
• Chip n’ Dale (Frontierland?):
• Goofy (Barnstormer):
• Cruella DeVil (Storybook Circus Train Station):
• Donald, Daisy & Minnie (Storybook Circus?):

Then it’s back to the bus/resort before we have a sugar crash! Thankfully we can sleep in a bit tomorrow.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 6 (10/21) –Typhoon Lagoon & DTD/Disney Springs (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 4

Since my dad and I are sentimental about Caribbean Beach, we ate breakfast at Old Port Royale food court before going to Typhoon Lagoon on our last trip and we’re doing the same thing this trip. Since Blizzard Beach is forecast to be closed for refurbishment during our stay, we’re going to Typhoon Lagoon again. Our original plan was to do Blizzard Beach, but a couple of weeks ago their refurb schedule was bumped up a couple weeks and unfortunately that includes our vacation dates. Our game plan for this day is to try to relax after a few days of heavy touring and being up late the previous night at MNSSHP:

Take a cab to breakfast at OPR, and then catch the bus to Typhoon Lagoon. Rent a locker when we first get in, claim a couple chairs by the Surf Pool, then head to the attractions:

Surf Pool

Bay Slides

Ketchakiddee Creek

Keelhaul Falls

Mayday Falls

Gangplank Falls

Humunga Kowabunga

Storm Slides

Shark Reef

Pearl Factory

Typhoon Tilly’s for Lunch

Crush N’ Gusher

Surf Pool

Wrap up the day and catch bus back to resort to shower/change. Then take the bus to DTD/Disney Springs for TREX dinner (ADR for 6:00 PM)

After dinner, shop/do Disney Quest before heading back to resort.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 7 (10/22) – Hollywood Studios (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 4

This is the park we’ll only be doing one day at, mostly because there’s ongoing construction and the park just isn’t that big, so we can probably fit everything we want to do into one touring day.

We’ll be doing breakfast at our resort and be on the bus by 7:30 since the park opens at 9:00. Once we arrive, we’re heading for the Jedi Training to sign up and hope to squeeze that in at some point in the plan. Other than that, we plan to tackle the park in this order:

Rock N’ Roller Coaster (going to head here first thing, so we won’t do FP+) (9:05)

Disney Junior Live on Stage, meet Sofia and Jake (9:30)

Voyage of the Little Mermaid (10:10)

Beauty and the Beast Live (11:45)

The Great Movie Ride (12:15)

Toy Story Mania (FP+ 1:05 – 2:05)

Go to Studio Catering Co. for Snack and explore Streets of America, meet Mike & Sulley (1:20), then proceed to:

Streets of America/Mulch, Sweat and Shears

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set (1:30)

Muppet Vision 3D, meet Cars characters (1:45)

Frozen Sing-Along (2:45)

(Try to get Jedi Training in here for the 3:45 or 4:10 show)

Star Tours (FP+ 4:00 – 5:00)

50’s Prime Time Café for Dinner (ADR for 5:00 PM)

(If we don’t get the morning slot for Jedi Training, hoping to do it in between dinner andTower of Terror)

Explore Sunset Blvd. and Hollywood Boulevard on our way to:

Tower of Terror (FP+ 5:55 – 6:55)

Fantasmic! at 7:30 PM. Then head back to bus/resort.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 8 (10/23) – Epcot (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 6

We plan to split Epcot up into 2 full days like we did last time. With F&W going on, we know there will be more of a crowd but we are SSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be attending this event for the first time. We are all hoping to try some new foods, and both my husband and I are itching to Drink around the World and sample some craft beers. We only stopped at Rose & Crown last trip for hubby to get some Guinness and I had a margarita in Mexico and something with vodka in Italy I think (?) It was just way too hot to be drinking all day long in June, so we’re hoping to be able to savor the offerings in *somewhat* cooler temps this fall.

We are going to do breakfast at our resort and try to be at the bus no later than 7:30 AM. Then we plan to start off on the left side of Future World before heading up along the right side of World Showcase:

Spaceship Earth (if there is no line, we have FP+ for it later that we will cancel if we can get on it in the morning)

Test Track (FP+ 9:40 – 10:40)

Mission:Space (FP+ 10:45 – 11:45, but TP lists this as having a low wait time at the time we’d be getting off Test Track around 10:15, so I may be changing this one in park and just use standby queue. If the standby queue is longer than TP says, then I’ll keep the FP+ and we’ll do Innoventions/Club Cool while we wait for the window to open)

Innoventions East (10:40)

Club Cool (11:10)

Canada (11:25)

United Kingdom (meet Alice & Mary Poppins) (11:35)

France (meet Aurora & Belle) (11:50)

Morocco (meet Aladdin & Jasmine) (12:00)

Japan (12:15)

American Adventure (12:25)

Italy (12:40) (see Sbandieratori Di Sansepolcro @ 1:10)

Outpost (1:30)

Germany (1:35) (see Oktoberfest Musikanten @ 2:15) (Meet Snow White 1:30 or 2:30)

Biergarten Dinner (ADR for 4:15 PM)

Eat to the Beat Concert Series (Fuel) @ American Gardens Theater @ 5:30 PM

Spaceship Earth (FP+ 6:30 – 7:30) (only if we didn’t do it in the morning)

According to TouringPlans, we’ll have A LOT of time between here and when Illuminations starts, so we may backtrack through WS, as I don’t want to proceed to China/Norway/Mexico since we want to save those for tomorrow, but this is all based on their times. I can easily see us spending more time in each country than TP allots so we may not get to all of the countries listed before our dinner reservation, which is better for the backtracking plan anyway.

Illuminations (9:45)

After we fight the post-show crowds all trying to exit through Future World, we’ll climb back on the bus, get some rest before returning to Epcot the next day.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 9 (10/24) – Epcot (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 7

Okie dokie, second day plans for Epcot…breakfast in our room, head to the bus bound for Epcot and start our second day of touring. We plan to start off on the right side of Future World today and then work our way up the left side of WS:

The Seas with Nemo & Friends/Tank & Exhibits (9:00)

Turtle Talk with Crush (9:40)

Soarin’ (FP+ 9:50 – 10:50)

Living with the Land/Pavilion (10:40)

Journey into Imagination (11:15)

Imageworks (11:30)

Meet Duffy before heading into the countries

Now, depending on what we get accomplished one day 1, we may be squeezing other countries in before China, Norway and Mexico, but for now I’m just listing those two countries:

China (12:00)

Norway (12:35)

Mexico (12:50)

Teppan Edo for Dinner (ADR for 4:10 PM)

We probably won’t be staying for Illuminations this evening, so we plan to go back to Future World for rides and shopping if we feel like it:

Friendship Boats (5:15)

Mission:Space (FP+ 5:30 – 6:30)

Test Track (6:20)

Spaceship Earth (FP+ 6:30 – 7:30)

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 10 (10/25) – Magic Kingdom (times listed next to each step is what TP has listed for my plan)

Crowd Level: 4

This is our last full day at Disney and we decided to spend it at MK. There is MNSSHP this night, so we plan to leave before 7:00. This will allow me time to pack up some of our things at the resort before going to bed, and it’s a great way to end our stay. No EMH today, park opens at 9:00, plan to get either a cab or early bus to MK for breakfast:

Crystal Palace Breakfast at 8:00 AM (So happy I got this! Will be great to be in the park before the hordes of people arrive, although with it being a party day, the crowd level is only expected to be 4/10 so we may have a decent shot at low wait times. I just want some nice shots of the castle with only a few people around and be able to walk down Main Street and really soak it in. After breakfast, we’re heading over to Tomorrowland:

Space Mountain (9:05)

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (9:25)

Tomorrowland Speedway (9:40)

Dumbo (9:55)

Barnstormer (10:10)

Winnie the Pooh (10:30)

Meet Anna & Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall (FP+ 11:10 – 12:10)

Visit the Rapunzel restroom area and take pictures, find Pascals

Haunted Mansion (11:35)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (FP+ 12:15 – 1:15)

Tom Sawyer Island (12:30)

Splash Mountain (FP+ 1:15 – 2:15)

A Pirate’s Adventure/Pirate Tutorial (only if we haven’t done it yet) (1:45)

Pirates of the Caribbean (2:05)

Magic Carpets (2:35)

Festival of Fantasy Parade (2:45)

Walk around, take pictures, find more Hidden Mickeys, SotMK, Royal Majesty Makers (3:30)

Be Our Guest Dinner (ADR for 4:55 PM)

After dinner, we’ll work our way back through the castle, take pictures, do some shopping and say goodbye at the entrance.

The rest of the evening we’ll spend swimming in the hotel pool, packing our bags and relaxing before we leave tomorrow morning.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Day 11 (10/26) – Departure

Sadly, our trip will be at an end. Our return flight is booked for 2:15 PM, arriving back in Philadelphia at 4:40 PM. Plan to eat breakfast at the food court, take our bags to the Airline Check-In desk and our ME bus should be picking us up around 11 AM. This is going to be a very sad day for me, but we’ll have a lot of good memories to take back with us.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Well, another refurbishment has altered my plans...bye-bye Primeval Whirl! Maybe we'll finally get to try I tout on our next trip (yes, I'm already planning the next one... ) Oh well, it frees up time for the kiddos to enjoy the Boneyard a little longer. With the rumored closing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid and One Man's Dream, they're really starting to worry me...We lucked out with Pirates opening up shortly before we arrive and Blizzard Beach refurb pushed back until the day before we leave...keeping my fingers crossed!

P.S. - 60 day window opens this Sunday evening (midnight) so guess who'll be on MDE instead of sleeping......this girl! At least I took off on Monday! Anyone else going to be booking their FP+ this weekend???

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Well, I’ve made some adjustments to our plans! I made my FP+ selections on August 17th so I’ve added those into my plans and I was surprised that I didn’t have to adjust my plans very much to accommodate the times I got. Pretty much everything I wanted and the times I wanted, I got, even Anna & Elsa on our last full day and 2 rides on 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. I’ve also discovered some other things I’d like to experience, like the Flag Retreat at MK, and with the release of the MNSSHP map and guide, I have updated our plan for that as well.

The major changes were switching our reservation at Planet Hollywood to Raglan Road and our reservation at San Angel Inn to Teppan Edo. Primeval Whirl was removed since it will be undergoing a rehab during our stay.

Today marks 34 days until we leave and we made our countdown chain last night. I can tell you my excitement is almost unbearable! It’s finally sinking in that we will be in Disney World in 5 short weeks…I’ll be walking on Main Street in just 35 days…I actually am getting teary-eyed just typing this! I can only imagine how my nerves will be the day we arrive!

It’s hard to believe that I booked our trip a year ago and how quickly the time has gone. The excitement is mounting by the hour, it seems, as I keep recalling all of the little details from our last trip. Like the feeling of stepping off the Magical Express and walking into the lobby of your resort. The sense of wonder and awe that comes over you as you come through the tunnel beneath the train station, and your eyes drift down Main Street to find that beautiful, iconic centerpiece. The look on my kids’ faces everywhere we went, even if it was just to the food court or the bathrooms – it was all new to them, and a lot of it new to me – how they laughed and jumped and danced with anticipation.

It’s been so much fun to plan this trip, despite the frustrations and occasional headaches…I hope my future trip reports will help to inform and entertain you, so stick around and keep an eye out for new posts in the coming weeks!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Ok Disney, you can stop closing things for my trip now! The latest to hit the chopping block are Mulch Seat and Shears and Flights of Wonder, two things we didn’t get to see last time and were hoping to catch this trip. I’m really hoping that they don’t close anything else until after our trip, but it seems like that’s not likely. I’m holding out hope for One Man’s Dream to still be there for the ONE day we’re doing HS, but we’ll have to wait and see. My dad was really hoping to see the Indiana Jones show, it’s something he always wants to catch because it’s special to him, but it looks like that’s not going to be open when we’re there either. He is not going to be a happy camper when I break the news to him! I know we’ll still have a fantastic trip, but they better make all of this worth it with improvements and new attractions for our yet-to-be-determined 2018 trip. 30 days until we leave home, and yes I do count that first day of traveling as part of my vacation…any time away from work is vacation to me!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Well DD will be disappointed to learn that Duffy will not be doing his Meet and Greet in Epcot for our trip. She was really looking forward to this, as she plans to buy the Duffy bear with her own money the first night we arrive. I tried to find more information on whether Duffy will be moving to another location, but it seems that lack of sales/interest is the cause and I don’t think it’s likely that he’ll be popping up anywhere else. I’m sure DD will deal with the disappointment and it will not discourage her from purchasing the cute little bear (and his many costumes…) but it’s just another item to add to the growing list of things Disney is taking away before my trip .

I’m usually a positive thinker, and when it comes to Disney I try to look at their decisions from all perspectives. But do they really think Daisy Duck is going to garner more attention than Duffy? Given the choice between the two (and also the fact that Daisy can be met in other parks), I’d take Duffy and I think this was a bad decision on their part. Any thoughts???

 

[Carrie Gruber]

And yet another closing... now Jedi Training Academy is scheduled to close on October 4 and no re-opening date has been announced. I'm not even going to hold out hope that it will re-open before we get there, although I would be relieved if it were since this was something I was hoping my kids would be able to do this year. I'm leaving it in my plans for now until I know whether it will be open for us or not, so now I guess I just sit back and hope that they hold off on the closures for a while. This PTR has become more of a downer than I'd ever have thought, and I'm trying to stay positive but they're really testing my loyalty!

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Well my hopes of getting to see One Man’s Dream have been dashed as it was announced over the weekend that the attraction will be closed so we can have a sneak peek of The Good Dinosaur. Not a fair trade-off, but can’t do anything about it. I’ve adjusted my touring plan and now have even more free time at HS. I’m very disappointed, if they had just postponed it by one week, we’d have been able to see it!

But I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not a big deal compared to the trip overall. We have 10 days until we leave home and my nerves are going haywire. I’ve started waking up at night thinking of items I forgot to buy. That’s minor compared to the nightmares about the parks being closed, losing our Magic Bands, our flights being re-routed and losing all of our reservation information due to a system glitch (this is my biggest fear after the anxiety I’m experiencing over flying).

Does anyone else freak out during the days leading up to a trip? Last time we went, I did less planning and felt less stressed. I had hoped that planning more would decrease the stress, but I think I feel more stressed this time with all of the added information. Here are a few things that I’m worrying about:

1. Flying – didn’t have an issue last time, but for some reason I’m really nervous about flying next week. The whole process is stressing me out – catching the shuttle to the airport, bag check, security, what we’re going to do while we wait to board, getting 6 seats together, installing the CARES harness... Is this normal?!
   
   
2. Forgetting things – Can’t forget to: buy/pack the things on my lists, take pictures as much as possible, look for Hidden Mickeys and most importantly have fun…We’re definitely going to have a lot of fun, but if my mommy brain could just get it together and remember things for once, that’d be great!
   
   
3. Morning Wake Ups – Worried that we won’t wake up early enough to make it to the buses on time. This is minor but it’s a concern of mine with my slow-poke DH, DD and DS. Getting the little guy up is easy, but those three? This is going to take some practice…
   
   
4. Park touring bags – am I forgetting anything that we will need? I’ve gone over my lists with a fine-toothed comb, read advice from fellow DISers and considered our personal needs, but I’m afraid I’m going to miss THAT ONE CRUCIAL ITEM and I’ll be going crazy…
   

There’s so much that I’ve had to wait until closer to the trip to take care of, and I’m trying so hard to keep it together. But everyone should know that this is just part of who I am. I plan and make lists because if I didn’t, our family would be in disarray. I know I’m over-stressing (it’s what I do) and I know that this trip will probably go off without a hitch (well, maybe one or two) and in a few weeks I’ll be posting PTR’s about all of the fun things we did (fingers crossed). I have to keep reminding myself that this trip is about being together and having fun, whatever will be will be and someday we’ll laugh about the things that go wrong.

Does anyone else feel this kind of anxiety before traveling?

 

[Carrie Gruber]

This may be a jumbled mess of a post, but I had to find someplace to let my excitement spill over. It’s too much to keep inside! Making final preparations for our trip which begins tomorrow…I cannot focus on anything other than my trip. I may be obsessive, but I can’t remember being this excited for anything other than my wedding and the births of my children. I wasn’t even this excited for my last trip to Disney. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve done way more planning for this one, that I’ve been listening to the podcasts for the past 2 years in preparation, that I’ve been watching YouTube videos practically every day trying to memorize every detail of the parks. I’ve been doing serious research, way more than I ever did for projects in school. I’ve been scouring all the Disney guidebooks for ideas to build my plans. I’ve been counting down the days since I booked this thing! Over a year of waiting, researching, reading, itinerary planning, restaurant booking, Fastpass+ choosing, schedule checking and stress have culminated into this gigantic, epic, momentous vacation…and it’s only a day away!

I’m well on my way to becoming THE source for Disney information in my circle of family and friends. I’ve learned so much on this journey and will continue to do so even after this trip is over. I’ve dedicated myself to learning as much as I can about the parks and all there is to do. It’s my hobby, and if you would have told me this two years ago, I’d have said there’s no way I’d get to this point. But you know what? It makes me happy. It’s my escape and it genuinely, honestly makes me my best self. Maybe the magic is ingrained in me, something that I wish more people would understand. There’s no feeling in the world that makes me feel as giddy as Disney does.

So right now, I’m sitting here going through my mental checklist of the things I have yet to do before we leave tomorrow and in between the spurts of panic, I’m reminding myself that in 2 days, I’ll be setting touching down in Orlando. I’ll be stepping off the plane and onto Magical Express, we’ll be taken to our resort and I’ll walk into the lobby. They’ll give us our pins and we’ll wear them proudly. We’ll unpack, we’ll eat lunch, we’ll swim and then go to Disney Springs. Hopefully we’ll get to do and see everything I’ve been planning for, and if we don’t it’ll be on our list for next time. We’ll be in Disney…in a little over 48 hours…how am I not bouncing off the walls right now??? I want to get up and dance down the hallway but I don’t think they’d appreciate that where I work. 6 hours left of work today, 4 tomorrow and then I’m out of here!

Excitement overflow complete, back to trying to focus on work…yeah right!