Earning My Fairy Godaunt Wings: September 2016 Trip

[rosysubmarine]

Introduction:
Fairy Godmothers get an awful lot of credit for an awful lot of work, but my goal is to be the Best Aunt Ever™-- hence, Fairy Godaunt.

I have wanted to be the Best Aunt Ever™ since I was a little girl, there was just one problem- I'm an only child! Luckily, one of my cousins and I decided that if/when we have kids, we would be their aunts.

Well, her eldest daughter-- my niece, Ivy-- is eight years old. She's eight years old and for the past two years her birthday wish has been to go to Walt Disney World. Her mother told me that her daughter asked her one day: "Mommy, why hasn't my birthday wish come true?"

Cue my heart shattering into a million pieces.

I have wanted to take this niece to WDW since before she was born. I was a CP when she was just born, and all I could talk about was my little niece waiting for me back home. Unfortunately, my only experience with the pricing at Disney was when my mother made (wonderful) reservations for my cousin and I-- Concierge Level at the Polynesian for 6 Days/5 Nights. We're talking $10,000 here! Of COURSE I thought WDW was out of my reach.

Until I realized that Ivy was growing up. She was growing up and if I wanted to have my dream of seeing her face light up when she walks on Main Street, U.S.A. then I knew I had to act.

My aunt mentioned having a timeshare near Disney for a week in September, and that got my gears rolling. After doing lots of price comparisons, I realized that cost vs. on-property benefits.... well, tl;dr it just made more sense to stay at a Moderate Resort!

After almost giving Ivy's mother and grandmother a heart-attack (not the best reaction to being told you're going to WDW) and a lot of family drama and shenanigans, I made the reservations.

I'm doing most of this on my own... first-time planner, first-time trip for my niece!

Oh, and did I mention that this trip would be on my birthday? Yeah.

When and Where:
September 20-24, 2016
Port Orleans Riverside - Alligator Bayou requested

Special Events and ADRs:
Spirit of Aloha - 9/20, 5:15 PM
Mama Melrose's Fantasmic! Package - 9/22,
MY BIRTHDAY - 9/23, 12:55 PM
Be Our Guest - 9/23, 10:45 AM
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - 9/23

The Cast of Characters:
My cousin would kill me if I ever posted photos of her or her daughter online, so y'all are just going to get images of me. Sorry!

Rosy
(real name: Stephanie)
Favorite Park: Between MK and EPCOT
Favorite Rides: Haunted Mansion, the original Journey into Imagination, Test Track
Favorite Characters: Donald, Dreamfinder, Figment, the Nautilus, Joe Carioca, Madam Mim, and more!

The Niece
(real name: Ivy)
Favorite Park: Unknown
Favorite Rides: Unknown
Favorite Characters: Peter Pan, Tinkerbell

The Cousin
(Ivy's mother, real name: Jordan)
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Rides: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, Spaceship Earth
Favorite Characters: Alice​

 

[rosysubmarine]

Updates and the Like
6/23 - Waiting Without Driving the Family Batty
6/28 - Fantasmic! Dining Package and the Nautilus Badge
7/1 - ADR Cancellation
7/22 - Akershus, Itinerary, and FP+​

 

[rosysubmarine]

Waiting Without Driving the Family Batty

I'm a little... crazy... about Disney Parks. It's an obsession, really. My family is very casual about it compared to me, which means I have to hold back a lot of my sparkling Disney Magic or else I will get some eye rolling or, worse, burn them out before our vacation!

So, I'm trying to distract myself with costuming and crafts to help me count down the days. Here are some examples:

WDW Planning Tumblr
A blog where I put down my thoughts and plans as well as reblog others' posts based on various Disney interests.

100 Day Countdown Calendar!
I helped my niece make one, too. We put stickers on the numbers to help count down the days. We're currently on Day 89.

Reservation Scrapbook
A fun way to keep track of my reservations.... oh, heck, it's just an excuse for some early scrapbooking.​

 

[rosysubmarine]

With 84 days until our trip, thinks have kind of slowed down to a lull. I've been working filling up my scrapboo-- er, "reservation" book, and I feel like it's been forever since I touched my art tablet or usual videogames. Disney kind of has a way of sucking my brains out.

(Look, you get a blurry photo of Cousin and Niece!)

Dining Updates
The biggest update to report happened Sunday, when I was reading up on the changes that have happened to Fantasmic! since FP+. The last time I was at WDW was 2008, New Fantasyland wasn't a thing and neither were MagicBands.

I didn't want to waste a FP+ when I know we'd be going on the Great Movie Ride (say what you will, I love it) which is also a Tier One attraction. Fantasmic! is also my favorite nighttime event at WDW. Yes, I love Illuminations and Wishes makes me cry, but there's something about Fantasmic! that just sticks with me. Maybe it's the villains? Maybe it's the steamboat filled to the brim with fun characters? I don't know. But I love it.

The first time my mother took my cousin and I to WDW, we ate at Mama Melrose's for the Fantasmic! Dining Package and had a great time. Again, I know people are like "bleehhh it's an Olive Garden" but we don't have an Olive Garden around here and I had a lot of fun here and I want front row seats to Fantasmic! so boom. Reservations made.

A few minutes before I made this post, I looked online to see if I could switch my GG ADR to before EPCOT opens (I forgot that you could dine before park opening), but no such luck. I'll keep on trying, and even if I can't, it'll still be fun even if we do eat at 9:20. I know people are worried about 'wasting time' in the parks, and... I'm a little worried too, because we won't be there that long. But I also really want to do this, because I love The Land and it'll be relaxing and a fun character breakfast so you know what? I'm going to do it even if we do eat at 9:20. I'll sprint around World Showcase if I have to in order to make up the time, just watch me!

Costume Updates
This technically happened last week, but oh well. My hat came in for my Missus Ned Land costume as well as a big surprise!

See, I really wanted my hat to have the cute Nautilus badge on it from the 20k ride back in the day. I have fond memories of this ride, even though my parents hated it. Of course, my memories boil down to 'serpent, MERMAIDS, giant squid' (which for some reason tiny me thought was a giant crab? I don't know, tiny me was scared of crabs and I think I was afraid we'd get attacked by one).

ANYHOO the actual badges and even the pin versions are monumentally expensive. So, my mom told me she'd get a cute patch with the Nautilus on it and I was like, okay, that could be cute.

So it came in the mail.

It wasn't a patch.

My mother managed to get a great deal on the Nautilus badge pin, so she ordered it for me. It even has a serial number on it, I'm so happy. It was such a wonderful surprise!!

I felt SO cute in that hat, so I had to post it. I am so excited about MNSSHP!

 

[kclark9830]

What fun, and what a great aunt you are!

 

[rosysubmarine]

What fun, and what a great aunt you are!

Aw, thank you so much! I really want to make this magical for her.

 

[rosysubmarine]

Short update, since it's late and I'm tired.

Cancelled the Garden Grill reservation. I talked about it with my cousin, and we figured it'd be more fun to focus on EPCOT's rides instead of risking the lines with a late breakfast. Besides, it's going to be the Food and Wine Festival! Time to graze around the world!

 

[rosysubmarine]

Super late-night update! I called and requested Building #16 at POR. Fingers crossed... though I've heard some people mention that you should put in your request again like five days out from your trip? Isn't that kind of beating a dead horse? Thoughts?

 

[rosysubmarine]

Holy toledo it's been awhile! My costume is almost done (except for the giant squid on my skirt) and today marks 60 days until our vacation!

You know what that means? FastPasses!

Also, an 8:20 PPO ADR at Akershus Restaurant, woo-hoo!

Here is a potential itinerary I sent my cousin with ADRs/FP+s.

Any advice I could get for FP+ reservations would be great! I couldn't get 7DMT on our first MK day or Frozen on our EPCOT day, so that's why those rides aren't on there.

Monday, September 19
Head down to Richmond with my mother, maybe after Ivy gets out of school? We have two rooms reserved (next to each other) at the hotel... that means you and Ivy get a room all to yourself!


Tuesday, September 20
Magic Kingdom
Roll over to the airport (across the street) to catch our 7:42 flight. We land in Orlando at about 9:41 and take the Magical Express to our resort. There, even if our rooms aren't available, we can drop off our luggage and head over to the Magic Kingdom!


FP+ for Peter Pan's Flight 11:50-12:50
FP+ for Enchanted Tales with Belle 1:30-2:30
FP+ for Space Mountain 2:45-3:45 (I want to try to convince Ivy to let me take her on this one instead of Splash Mountain. I've ridden it before, it's a lot of fun and there are no huge drops, yay! She'll still like it, though, because it's a roller coaster in the dark. Exciting!)
Dinner at the Polynesian Luau at 5:15

I figure after that Ivy want to get some pool time before bed


Wednesday, September 21
EPCOT
Okay, here's the bad news. I wasn't able to get a FP+ reservation for the new Frozen Norway ride. It is COMPLETELY booked. Unless you're up for waiting an hour (or more) in line, we probably won't get to ride this one. We could get lucky, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. I'm really sorry.


Here's the exciting part, though! We'll get into EPCOT before it opens for a breakfast at Norway's Akershus (that's ah-ker-shoos... I had to look it up) restaurant with the princesses! Usually they have Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Aurora and Ariel but it might change up. Our reservation is at 8:20, but I'd recommend getting there a little earlier so we can get some empty-park photos! Maybe be there by 8:00? I don't know, we'll have to see.


After breakfast I would recommend immediately heading over to Test Track while the line isn't long. It's one of my favorite rides, hehe, but I wanted to get the FP+ for Soarin' over that because the line will be longer and I think Ivy will LOVE it.


FP+ for Soarin' 9:45-10:45
FP+ for Living with the Land 10:45-11:45
FP+ for Spaceship Earth 1:25-2:25


Thursday, September 22
Disney's Hollywood Studios

I've spoken to a lot of people about Tower of Terror. They said that we would be able to wait right by the exit elevator for Ivy to finish, that way we won't miss her when she gets off the ride.There's also only one exit and it's pretty closed-off, so there isn't a way for her to get lost or into trouble. I went ahead and made a reservation in case she still wants to ride it.


FP+ for The Great Movie Ride 9:25-10:25
FP+ for Tower of Terror 10:35-11:35
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Lunch 12:55
FP+ for Star Tours 3:15-4:15
VIP Fantasmic! 8:00 (but they recommend you get there around 7:15 to get the best seating)


Friday, September 23 (happy birthday to meeeee)
Magic Kingdom

I don't know if you want to dress up the entire day or go back to the resort mid-day to change into our costumes. I'm fine either way.


FP+ for Haunted Mansion 9:25-10:25 (this definitely won't be our first time on this ride this trip lol)
Be Our Guest Lunch 10:45
FP+ for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 12:30-1:30
FP+ for Jungle Cruise 2:10-3:10


Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party officially begins at 7:00, but we can get our bands as soon as 4:00


Saturday, September 24
Free
Maybe visit Downtown Disney or relax at the pool or something, our flight leaves at 4:50 so I'm not sure just yet when we'll be catching the Magical Express.​

 

[rosysubmarine]

Magic Bands came in today!

When I let my cousin know, she told me that the niece has backed out of Tower of Terror. While I am happy that I won't have to spend time waiting in line, I'm almost a little disappointed. I want to believe that she chose not to go because she didn't want to, but I have a feeling her mom might've had a hand in it... oh well.

Either way, switched that FP+ for Muppet*Vision 3D! That is a ride we can ALL love!