Halloween in August? I love it! An August 2018 PTR update 7.17

[lvcourtneyy]

Welcome one and all to my planning extravaganza!

My name is Courtney and I'll be your cruise director for this PTR. In the interest of full disclosure, I tried the whole PTR/TR thing a few years ago and never managed to complete one successfully. I vow to be better now!

Here's a photo of me in my (and probably yours also!) natural habitat for reference.



I'm a 28 year old Emergency Room nurse from NYC. I became a WDW AP in 2015 and ever since have found every excuse possible to book another trip back! If you want to know some more about me, here's some Disney favorites:

Favorite park: Magic Kingdom (hello, castle), closely followed by Animal Kingdom
Favorite character: Ariel since I was 2 years old
Favorite ride: Expedition Everest (front row please!) and Tower of Terror
Favorite food: Mickey waffles and corn dog nuggets!

My travel companion is my baby sister and adventure buddy!


Here's a picture of her back on our trip in December of 2015 for her 21st birthday with her first legal drink! She's now 23 years old, in school to become a certified vet tech and working at a vet office. She dreams of working in Animal Kingdom after graduating. Her Disney favorites include:

Favorite park: Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom
Favorite character: Rapunzel
Favorite ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite food: Mickey waffles, corn dog nuggets, Mickey ice cream bar and cream cheese pretzel

Can you tell we're related with our favorites lists?

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Now that you know who we are, let's get into some trip basics.

Originally, we planned to go to WDW in January. Since Kim is still in school, our vacation times together are limited. However, a couple months before we planned to go, Kim mentioned that for financial reasons, she'd prefer to travel to WDW later in the year and go somewhere else in January. Well, we've both been dying to visit Disney's Hilton Head Resort and I was able to rent us DVC points for only $600 for 5 nights so it was to South Carolina we went! Of course we traveled in a blizzard and it was the first time Hilton Head had snow accumulation since 1989 but we still fell in love.



If you haven't been, I strongly recommend putting it on your to-do list.

Anyway, I've been distracted (doesn't take me long). As we started trying to plan a new WDW trip, Kim mentioned that she'd never had a chance to go to a Halloween party because of school. With last year's Halloween parties starting in August, the end of August started to seem like a perfect time to go. As soon as Halloween party and Food and Wine dates were announced, we decided on going August 25-30th. This way we can hit the first day of Food and Wine on our last day!

The next question was where to stay. We threw around the idea of renting DVC points again but the non-refundable/no changing part makes me nervous. We both fell in love with the Boardwalk resort when we stayed there and we both are dying to try out AKL so we narrowed down our choices.

Since I knew we had some time before AP rates would open up, I decided to contact a travel agency that shall not be mentioned on the Dis. I got quotes for both resorts and the rate at Boardwalk could not be passed up. I texted Kimberly and asked her to choose AKL or Boardwalk but she took too long to answer and I decided on Boardwalk for us.

Luckily she was happy with the choice (I mean how could she not be?!). This all took place on Monday btw. No time to waste with the planning!

Next update: our ADR choices. We booked after the 180 day window so I was kinda nervous booking them. Stay tuned to see if horror awaits when you book dining at 152 days out

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Update Links!​

1. Intros
2. Resort Booked!
3. ADRs
4. Park Hoppers and Special Events
5. Arrival Day Plans
6. The sky's awake so I'm awake!
7. Real Life and An Extra Disney Day!
8. Day 3: You are a Toy!
9. Fastpass+ Selections

 

[pattyw]

Sounds fun! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Sounds fun! I can't wait to hear more!

Yay! Thank you for reading!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

ADR Booking!​

Happy Easter/ April Fool's Day all! It's also my DBF's birthday and I'm still hoping to come up with a good prank to play on him

Once we found our perfect resort reservation, it was time to work on ADRs. We were already almost a month past the 180 day mark so time was of the essence! Our TA offered to assist but being the obsessive planners that we are, we opted to go at it on our own.

Since our trip is on the shorter side, there were some tough choices to be made. We had been interested in trying to check out the new menu at Be Our Guest but the choice came down to Hoop de doo and our love of Hoop won out! Since I knew seats are assigned when you book, that was my first priority booking.

Kim got us the cutest Hoop ears for Christmas and I'm so excited to get a chance to wear them!



And here we are in May of 2017 at Hoop!



The next decision was how to handle dining for MNSSHP. Since we take character meet and greets very seriously at parties, we eat on the go after 4 pm. We were throwing around the idea of a late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and then I discovered TONS of availability at Cinderella's Royal Table! Neither of us have eaten there yet somehow so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. We decided on a 10 am breakfast to maximize our first hour of park touring and then get Sleepy Hollow waffle sandwiches while in line for our first MNSSHP character.



*Side note: I prepaid Hoop and CRT online and then realized there's an AP discount so I was able to call and get a few dollars refund. There's no current way to apply an AP discount to a prepaid reservation without calling

Our other ADR choices include all old favorites to me, a few new ones for Kim:

Garden Grill breakfast
Ohana dinner (new for Kim- she's only had breakfast there)
Yak and Yeti (no ADR made- we are Landry's select members)
Rose and Crown
Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast
Cape May Cafe breakfast
50s Prime Time Cafe (new for Kim)

We may try to change some around to try some more new restaurants but it's so hard to give up old favorites!

Even with booking late, ADRs were a success! It gives me hope for low crowds

Please drop me a note if you're reading along! I don't like to talk to myself.

 

[WeluvthePeterPanRide]

Following along. I hope my young daughters plan adult, sister trips in their future. I am very interested to read how you negotiate your differences or if big sister has final say. Happy planning.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Following along. I hope my young daughters plan adult, sister trips in their future. I am very interested to read how you negotiate your differences or if big sister has final say. Happy planning.

Thanks for reading! I hope they do too- sister trips are the best!

We have pretty similar interests especially in Disney so we don’t argue much about our plans. I also try to give her the final say on a lot of decisions because I’m able to go much more often than she is these days so I want her to be able to do the things she wants to do !

 

[missangelalexis]

Yay I'm so glad to see you starting a PTR! Very exciting that you have another Halloween trip planned and that you'll be going with your sister

Great hotel and ADR choices! I am shocked that you've never been to CRT You both are gonna love it!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Yay I'm so glad to see you starting a PTR! Very exciting that you have another Halloween trip planned and that you'll be going with your sister

Great hotel and ADR choices! I am shocked that you've never been to CRT You both are gonna love it!

Hiiii thanks for reading! I’m so happy to finally get her to a MNSSHP!

Thank you! I’m shocked too lol! I’m not sure how this happened

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Park Hoppers and Special Events​

Happy Sunday all! Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?

Our NY weather is all over the place and my allergies are going crazy because of it so I'm spending a nice lazy day in bed.

DBF and I started this puzzle during the week


And then I worked 3 nights straight starting the next day sooo our kitchen table now looks like this






In terms of trip planning, we're kinda in a lull right now.

Flight prices are still skyhigh compared to what we're used to paying. The past few years we've gotten great prices on nonstop flights with Southwest but it seems Southwest has dropped to only one nonstop flight a day out of Newark and the prices are insane! The hopper app says to keep waiting so hopefully there will be some price drops soon!

We also got Kim's park ticket. Since I have an AP, she was planning to just buy a ticket on Undercover Tourist, but I learned that our TA is able to add tickets for only one person to our package. So I asked our agent for pricing on tickets, and she was able to get a 6 day park hopper for less than the regular 6 day ticket she was planning to get!

It also came with one free water park fun option which we probably won't even have time to use, unless we end up adding a day or two more on to our trip.

But I'm very glad we'll be able to park hop now especially since TSL will be open only a couple months when we get there! I'm hoping they either add night EMH or extend park hours in HS like they did with Pandora because it will be very easy for us to walk over to HS at night.

We also booked this week a special event our TA is having at AK during our trip, a Sunrise breakfast in Pandora. I'll share more details when I get to that day in our plans but I'm very excited for it!

That's all for now! Now that we know we're parking hopping, we're going to try to start mapping out our plans more specifically so I'll start sharing those next time!

 

[disneyAndi14]

We traveled the end of August last year and had so much fun, we did a party and loved it at this time because it was not very crowded! I will miss going this year at that time!

Your plans sound great so far!

 

[missangelalexis]

That puzzle is so cute!

Ugh that stinks about the flight prices Hopefully they go down soon!

OoOoO the Sunrise breakfast sounds interesting, can't wait to hear what it entails!

 

[MamaJessie]

Love those Hoop de Doo ears! I hope one day my kids go adventuring in Disney together <3

 

[lvcourtneyy]

We traveled the end of August last year and had so much fun, we did a party and loved it at this time because it was not very crowded! I will miss going this year at that time!

Your plans sound great so far!

Ooh thanks for sharing! I've heard there were some lower crowds the last week of August and that's what I'm hoping for this year! Glad to hear you had a great time!

That puzzle is so cute!

Ugh that stinks about the flight prices Hopefully they go down soon!

OoOoO the Sunrise breakfast sounds interesting, can't wait to hear what it entails!

Thank you!

I only have minimal details about it so far but I'm still excited lol!

Love those Hoop de Doo ears! I hope one day my kids go adventuring in Disney together <3

Thank you! I hope they do too- I love being able to go with my sister!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Arrival Day Plans!​

Good morning! Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Early Thursday morning, I saw a facebook group post saying that Southwest had lowered their prices for Fall flights. So I went on the Southwest app to check for our dates and finally found an early morning non-stop flight at a decent price on our arrival day. I immediately texted my sister to ask if she wanted to book them or wait. At first, we couldn't decide what to do but we eventually decided to just book them especially because you can change or cancel flights with Southwest without penalty.


So our arrival flight is set, nice and early, so we have the whole day to be in Disney! Return trip times and prices were still awful soo we may just have to stay in Disney forever.

Typing this actually just reminded me to give our flight info to our TA for the Magical Express so I just sent that email off.


Based on taking this flight in the past, we should be at our resort anywhere between 10:30 and 11 am depending on what stop we are on the Magical Express. I can't wait to be pulling up here!



Hopefully our room will be ready when we get there. This was the view from our room last May, and I would love to have a similar view this time!



If our room isn't ready, we'll either have a drink and a snack at the pool or walk around the Boardwalk.

Ideally, our room would be ready before we head to Epcot. I'd like to place an order for some things for the room through Amazon Prime now and it would be nice to take care of that before we head into the parks. Either way that's something I still have to figure out the logistics of.

Hopefully we can start our Fastpasses with Frozen Ever After around 2:30 pm. Since we will be entering through the International Gateway, we will start out in the World Showcase. Plans are light for this part of the day, just hopefully meet some characters, take some nice pictures and drink and eat around the world.







After we hopefully use our fastpass in Norway at Frozen Ever After, we'll head to do some attractions in Future World.

At night, we'd like to try to get this photopass photo again in China.



Then we have an ADR at Rose and Crown at 7:35 pm. We've eaten here before and loved it. We plan to check in a little early and hopefully get a waterside table for Illuminations viewing. We had an excellent view and a wonderful server last time we did this!








Afterwards, the park will be closed so we will head out via the IG.

At this point, our plans will depend on how exhausted we are because we'll have been up since 3:30 am to fly in. Either we'll go back and collapse in our hotel room OR if our excitement and adrenaline can keep us going, we'll walk over to Hollywood Studios. Since Toy Story Land will be newly opened, and we have a shorter trip, I think crowds will be crazy whenever we try to experience it. I just got an email from Touring Plans that HS hours were expanded in August. So this night, the park will be open until 10:30. I'm hoping they extend them even further but even if we only have about an hour, we can still walk around the land and get in line for one of the new rides before park closing!

So we'll see how that plays out. It's a lot in one day but we have a no sleep in Disney rule!

Thanks for reading!

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you booked your flight! Your arrival day plans sound great, especially since you can walk right over to Epcot! Hopefully you can rally and make it to Hollywood Studios too!

 

[kclark9830]

I love those Hoop Dee ears! Super cute. We're also staying at BW, but in Sept!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Glad you booked your flight! Your arrival day plans sound great, especially since you can walk right over to Epcot! Hopefully you can rally and make it to Hollywood Studios too!

Thank you! I'm glad we booked it too because I've been watching it and it's gone back to over $200! I hope so too. I'm hoping the excitement of our first day in Disney and seeing something new will keep us going! And probably a ton of snacks!

I love those Hoop Dee ears! Super cute. We're also staying at BW, but in Sept!

Thank you! We fell in love with the Boardwalk on our first stay and we're so excited to be back!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Day 2: The sky's awake so I'm awake​

Our plans for our second day (first full day) are going to really test our #nosleepindisney rule. As I briefly mentioned early in the report, we are taking part in a Sunrise breakfast event that our travel agency is offering. We're excited for the event but it requires us to be outside waiting for transport at 6 am!

Guys, that's really freaking early. We are not morning people. I work night shift. This is gonna be an interesting morning.

So why, you may ask, would we decide this was a good idea? Good question. One reason is that we travel to WDW pretty frequently and like to try different things. The second is that my sister has NOT SEEN PANDORA YET. So I think it will be nice for her first experience to be without so many crowds. The highlights that I understand about the event is that first we will have breakfast in Pandora and then get to ride the rides before the park opens!

I can't wait for my sister to get to see these beauties in person!




Once the event is over, we'll make a decision.

1. Either head back to the Boardwalk and hang out by the pool and nap
2. Head directly to Magic Kingdom

It all depends on how much like zombies we feel.

Either way, our plans will lead us to Magic Kingdom at some point this day.

Our priorities include character meets,


photos with the new purple wall,




hopefully finding these guys wandering about,


and as many rides as possible on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (our favorite!)

At around 2:30 pm, we'll make our way out of Magic Kingdom because we have reservations for our beloved at 4 pm!







After we eat, drink and sing our hearts out, we'll head back to Magic Kingdom for some more fun before watching Happily Ever After at 9 pm!





After Happily Ever After, the park will be closed so we will likely shop our way out of the park and then head back to the Boardwalk for some much needed sleep!

Our day 3 plans involve at 7:30 am breakfast reservation so we'll definitely need our rest. Any guesses where breakfast will take us?