Honey, Universal is not a Disney park... - April 2015 Anniversary PTR - Updated 3/12

[Minnie95]

Hello, everyone! Tis the season to finally begin planning our Disney World Trip!

I'm S and my fiancé is C. The time has finally come for us to begin planning our first Disney Vacation as a family! This will be my 15th trip and C's first! I am very excited to show him all of the wonders of Disney World and i'm very thankful we have this wonderful opportunity! Being that this is C's first trip: He's clueless He was convinced that Universal was apart of Disney. Even though I explained that Universal in fact is not a Disney park, I still think he believes otherwise. Bless his heart I have a lot to teach him but he shall learn in time. I'm excited for him to experience the Disney magic and maybe even squeeze in a day for him in the fifth Disney park, Universal.

A little bit about us: we met seven years ago on our first day of seventh grade in English class We became friends and eventually fell in love during high school. Currently, i'm finishing my college degree while C is in the military. We're still "youngsters," but we have unwavering support from our loving families To be honest, I would never set foot in Disney World again if it meant C and I would never have to be apart, but where would we all be if life did not have its struggles?

Originally this trip was to be a "Disneymoon." Our original wedding date was going to be in September 2015, in between C's training stations, but it turns out he will only be allotted travel days during that transition. If we can, we may still hold a small ceremony and reception for close family on our original date and have a larger, more causal gathering later on - but only time will tell. We're not concerned. We figure we have the rest of eternity together, so what's the rush? If it's meant to happen then, it will.

Since we would be unable to have a "Disneymoon" in September, and other dates have not been decided, we figure we might as well plan an anniversary trip! Any excuse to go to Disney, really. Our anniversary is mid April and C will be able to take a week off. It's a shorter trip than my parents usually take, but I think it will be perfectly fine for our new little family of two.

We will be staying at POP Century Resort, which we are very excited about. Being this is a "short notice" trip (for a planner like myself, six months till a Disney vacation is short notice! LOL), we had not planned a Disney trip into our budget for the year. We figured a value would be wonderful considering we will only be using the room to sleep and shower - we're not picky! For the price, you can't beat it! We have a 6-day ticket with Park Hopper and no Dining plan. The dining plan added on something like $700 I believe, and although C and sometimes myself can be "big eaters," we didn't think we would eat $700 worth of food!

In the next few posts, I'll tell you more about us so you get to know us better. I'll also posting our plans, itinerary, ADR ideas (our booking window is the 29th, AH!), and fun ideas I have planned for us along the way. I haven't been too active on the boards since my old Teen Board days when I was 13, so bear with me while I figure out how to work everything on here properly.

I hope you enjoyed my PTR introduction. Thanks for reading and stopping by!

Table of Contents
Introduction and plans!
Get to know us better and plane tickets!
Starting itinerary and ADR planning!
Be Our Guest Galore!
Life, Panic Attacks, Wedding and Vacation Update!
Discounts and Dining Plans and Itineraries, OH MY!
Updates, Future Plans and FP+!
Packing list, Pre-Travel Day and Travel Day itineraries!​

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[Minnie95]

Hey, everyone! I thought I would do an update on our planning process and share a little bit more about C and myself

Like I've stated previously, this will be my 15th Disney World trip! My parents are huge Disney fans and took my sister and I to Disney several times a year throughout our childhood. Even so, I haven't been to Disney World since 2008; I can't believe it's been so long! While we did visit often, there are so many things that I haven't done! My parents weren't into the "fluff" of Disney and instead were more about the headliner attractions, which I loved as a child. As an adult, I now appreciate a more relaxed trip and seeing all of the sites; not just Expedition Everest.

C, on the other hand, has never been to Disney. He said he has always wanted to go somewhat as a child, but since meeting myself and my love for Disney, his desire to go has increased drastically. C is super excited to go which makes me extremely happy I was worried that he wouldn't want to go or he would only agree to go to make me happy but it's quite the opposite! I think he may even be more excited than myself

During the planning process, I've been trying to keep C as involved as possible. He's going into this with the mindset of "go with the flow" and "I trust you with the planning so why do I have to help?" Silliness aside, he is very excited and doesn't care what we do as long as we are together. The only thing he has requested that we MUST DO: Hall of Presidents... I bit my tongue and figured I would plan to do that during the peak time of the day when it's extremely hot and crowded. There's nothing like a nice dark air conditioned theater when you're tired and need a break. And considering I've never actually seen it myself, I figure I can't bash it until I try it LOL. I do know he will enjoy it though, so that's a good enough reason to see it, anyway.

As for actual planning: we've officially bought plane tickets! We got a fairly good rate so we feel pretty confident. Sadly, we will only be flying there together and will be departing on separate planes as C will have to return to work. That will make for an extra sad ending to our trip but we have so many exciting and fun things to look forward to on this trip, we won't let anything bring us down just yet! We did buy insurance on our plane tickets and Disney package, just in case. You can never be too sure with the military; things change with just a moments notice!

That's all I have to update on right now. I'm waiting for EasyWDW to release recommendations for May which should be posted in a few days. I think we have our days picked out for our entire trip - we just want to make sure that Hollywood Studios will be a good option for May 1st! We will be going to Magic Kingdom no matter what on our last day of the trip ~ just for a little bit of "extra magic." I'm considering purchasing a subscription to TouringPlans to get a basic outline of our park days. We do want to take our time in the parks while still maximizing our time. I'll probably purchase sometime this week if I decide to go ahead with it!

Thanks for reading! I'll be sure to update sometime later this week with our ADR plans as our window is next week to book! Feel free to say hello, I don't bite.


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[Minnie95]

Hey, everyone! I figured it was time to make another update now that we have more information regarding our time in Disney. We've created a tentative basic itinerary for park days which is as followed:

Monday: Arrival day; Epcot
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
Thursday: Animal Kingdom
Friday: Hollywood Studios
Saturday: Departure day; Magic Kingdom

All of the days were chosen using EasyWDW recommendations. I really love and appreciate how in depth they go with their selections and there is a plethora of information on their site! The only day that we went against their recommendation was our departure day, Saturday. C and I agreed that we wanted to spend our last half day at the Magic Kingdom even if it is the least recommended park. We will have our three FP+ for guaranteed rides and can spend the rest of the time either riding attractions with short waits or doing some last minute souvenir shopping.

As far as ADRs, we're not entirely sure. We opted not to do the dining plan because it added on a substantial amount of money - something like $700! We know they have free dining, but we weren't sure where to look or how to get it or what dates it applies to; which is also why C chose not to get a military discount. We weren't sure how to get one and even so, it doesn't cost much for the two of us to go to Disney World. Since (I think) I read somewhere that they have a limited number of rooms for the military discount, we didn't want to take it away from a family who may not be able to go without it!

Anyhow, $700 is a lot of money for food and we simply feel like we will not eat that much food! We like the flexibility of no dining plan. We can share meals and order what we want without feeling obligated to order something specific to get the most bang for our buck. We are definitely thinking about splurging and getting the deluxe dining plan for our honeymoon, though. To save money we plan on ordering simple things from Garden Grocer like milk, cereal, fruit, bread, snack items, meal bars etc. That way we can have breakfast in the rooms and quick, healthy snacks in the parks. I am still planning to try one of every Disney treat but I feel like after the third cupcake and fifth ice cream i'll be begging for some fruit.

As of right now, we are planning to eat at Via Napoli on our arrival day in Epcot. We are also planning to do Crystal Palace for breakfast to meet Pooh and his friends one day. They are our absolute favorite Disney characters! I will try to get Crystal Palace for Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday since we will be in Magic Kingdom. We would love to try Be Our Guest for lunch or dinner but we're not going to get our hopes up. It wont hurt to try to snag a dinner reservation, though! We may eat at the Rainforest Cafe outside of Animal Kingdom on Thursday - although we are not entirely sure what we will be doing after Animal Kingdom yet. We may decide to eat at the World Showcase instead. On our Hollywood Studios day, we will try for lunch at SciFi and the Fantasmic dinner package at Mama Melrose. Our window opens up to book tomorrow morning at 6 am so hopefully we will be able to get some of our choices.

That is all I have to update on at this moment! I'm still debating on whether or not to purchase a Touring Plans subscription, but I think I am leaning towards buying one. Life has been getting crazy hectic these past few weeks. I'll update again sometime soon for which ADRs we decided and were able to get! I'll be going to visit C finally next weekend It's been a long time since we've seen each other and we're both very excited.

Thank you for reading!

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[Gracefulskinny]

Hi there joining in!

I would call the reservation line and ask about the Millitary Discounts. I have been reading another Pre trip report where getting on the Millitary discount saved them over $1000 even after adding a few days to their trip.

She also took a post or two and explained the different millitary tickets available. It may be worth checking out...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3326053



Looks like you've got a good start to your plans. As far as your dining goes if you haven't yet there are a few good dining calculators to help you estimate your food costs before your trip.

Good luck with your ADRs your ADR date must be getting close as mine is next week and my trip is in may.

 

[Minnie95]

Hi there joining in!

I would call the reservation line and ask about the Millitary Discounts. I have been reading another Pre trip report where getting on the Millitary discount saved them over $1000 even after adding a few days to their trip.

She also took a post or two and explained the different millitary tickets available. It may be worth checking out...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3326053



Looks like you've got a good start to your plans. As far as your dining goes if you haven't yet there are a few good dining calculators to help you estimate your food costs before your trip.

Good luck with your ADRs your ADR date must be getting close as mine is next week and my trip is in may.

Thanks for reading; I will definitely check out the link!

Our ADR window was this morning and eventful to say the least Ill post an update after this!

I just finished reading through your PTR and I love it! The Lambie story melted my heart I subscribed and I will definitely continue following along with yours! It's cool to see other people planning trips that are close to ours

 

[Minnie95]

Since today was our ADR window, I spent most of last night talking to C about where he wanted to eat. The conversation was as followed:
(I am Pink, C is Blue)
Babe, where do you want to eat for sure while we're at Disney? I have to make our reservations tomorrow morning.
I want to eat at Be Our Guest Hotel and Peter Pan's Make Believe Island.
..........at this point I had to take a step back and think about if Peter Pan's Make Believe Island actually existed. I knew "Be Our Guest Hotel" was Be Our Guest, but I had no clue what he really meant with Peter Pan's Make Believe Island.
Babe, there is no Peter Pan's Make Believe Island...I think you mean to say 'Neverland,' anyway...
Oh, right! I want to go to Peter Pan's Neverland Cafe!
C, there is no Neverland Cafe! No Peter Pan resturant. Nada. There's a Peter Pan ride that dumps you into a Peter Pan gift shop and that's it. No magical Peter Pan Cafe.
Okay.....we'll go to the uh... we'll go to someplace else. Definitely try for the Beast's Hotel though.
Sure thing.

I found a common theme where he kept taking different places around WDW and adding cafe on the end, hoping it was a real place. World Showcase Cafe, Splash Mountain Cafe, Monorail Cafe, etc. I said it once and I'll say it a million times more, bless his heart.

By the way, please correct me if I am wrong and there is in fact a magical Peter Pan's Neverland Make Believe Island.

As for our actual ADRs, making them was a mess at first. I had cleared my Google Chrome history to make sure that the browser would be running smoothly for the Disney site - which backfired. It actually ended up freezing my browser and by 6:05 I had no choice but to use Internet Explorer - WHICH DIDN'T WORK EITHER! I started freaking out and having a mini panic attack so I restarted my computer and was able to make a reservation to Via Napoli on the app on my phone. Be Our Guest and Crystal Palace were showing times available on the app, but they wouldn't book so I feared there was no more availability left. Finally my computer started functioning and Google Chrome began to work. This is what we were able to get:

Monday: Epcot: Arrival day; Via Napoli at 7:00 pm
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom: Be Our Guest Dinner at 6:20 pm
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom: The Crystal Palace at 8:10 am and Be Our Guest at 7:10 pm
Thursday: Animal Kingdom and Epcot: Be Our Guest at 7:00 pm and Teppan Edo 8:10 pm (i'll explain in a moment)
Friday: Hollywood Studios: Mama Merose's Restorante Italiano Fantasmic! Dining Package 12:30 pm
Saturday: Magic Kingdom: No ADR as of right now; we were going to do another Crystal Palace but I felt like we might sleep in just a tad on our last day instead of rushing to breakfast.

Overall, we're very happy with what we got. It's a nice amount of TS for us; about one a day. We were able to get THREE Be Our Guest reservations! We weren't even expecting to get one, especially with all of the computer issues we had in the beginning. I think the key to snagging hard to get reservations is having a small party. We were able to get what we wanted within twenty minutes of our intended time.

You might have noticed that on Thursday we have a dinner reservation at Be Our Guest a little more than an hour before a dinner reservation at Teppan Edo. This is due to a mistake on my part. In my tizzy to get a Be Our Guest ressie, I accidentally put in the wrong date. When I finished, I noticed my error and I was surprised that the system allowed me to book two dinner reservations so close! As of right now, we're going to keep it and decide which of the two we want to cancel. We will probably be tired of BOG after the two dinners before, but we may be in Magic Kingdom instead of Epcot after our Animal Kingdom day. We figure we have more than enough time to decide before the penalty to cancel; so all is well.

Overall, we are very excited to be eating at BOG, Crystal Palace and the Fantasmic! Dining Package! Everyday that passes is another day closer to Disney It's getting more real by the minute!

Thanks for reading!

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[Gracefulskinny]

That's quiet a collection of ADRs you nabbed! And with computer issues going on as well! I've heard some things lately that MDE is glitchy so I have the number all prepped and ready to go to call the reservations line. The problems with MDE you described sound like the glitches I've been hearing about. Hope they get them fixed by next week! But at least you have me feeling better that there is still a chance to nab those adrs.

Thanks for reading my PTR. I'm glad you liked the Lambie Saga it was certainly quite the adventure!

Oh, and no I have no knowledge of a magical Peter Pan Island cafe thing. Pretty sure he's out of luck there. Bless his heart indeed. At least he's trying!

 

[Minnie95]

That's quiet a collection of ADRs you nabbed! And with computer issues going on as well! I've heard some things lately that MDE is glitchy so I have the number all prepped and ready to go to call the reservations line. The problems with MDE you described sound like the glitches I've been hearing about. Hope they get them fixed by next week! But at least you have me feeling better that there is still a chance to nab those adrs.

Thanks for reading my PTR. I'm glad you liked the Lambie Saga it was certainly quite the adventure!

Oh, and no I have no knowledge of a magical Peter Pan Island cafe thing. Pretty sure he's out of luck there. Bless his heart indeed. At least he's trying!

When I went to my actual MDE page to see them, it only showed BOG but both reservations were still there! I actually ended up canceling both of those reservations anyway LOL.

You definitely still have a chance! I've been checking daily for BOG, Crystal Palace, Tusker house, etc (pretty much all the hard to get ones), and for our party of two there is availability at almost every time slot! So as long as you know what you want and prioritize the order in which you will try to book, you will be fine! I wish you good luck

 

[Gracefulskinny]

 

[Minnie95]

Hey, Y'all! Long time, no talk! Lots to update on, life has been crazy recently.

In the beginning of November, I went to visit C in California! It was a very lovely trip I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to see him after spending such a long time apart! We miss each other tremendously, but thankfully he will be home for Christmas in less than two weeks! Right now, he is finishing up some training before coming home and I am finishing up classes for this semester. Finals are next week so I've been spending most of my time finishing up course work and studying; nine days until I am free! Also, we've booked a trip to NYC for the week after Christmas, so most of my free time has been going towards planning that trip! We have gone last year and are planning on making it a tradition The city is so beautiful this time of year and although it's a crazy big city that never sleeps, we love just strolling around, relaxing and creating memories together. Maybe I will do a mini trip report on this thread when we are back.

One thing that's making me nervous for our upcoming trips to NYC and Disney World are my panic attacks. They are debilitating; I don't want to leave the house most days. I never suffered from them until the past few months, but I guess it was sort of inevitable - given that they run in both sides of my family, I'm a long time anxiety sufferer and my very uptight Type A perfectionist personality. I wont turn this into a long venting therapy session for myself, but I'm starting to accept that these panic attacks are here to stay, at least for the time being. If any of you suffer from panic attacks, I completely understand. It can be so frustrating sometimes. I recommend watching Zoella's video on YouTube or reading her blog post about panic attacks. You may have heard of Zoella before as she is one the the biggest British YouTube personalities right now! Her video and blog post have really helped me with coming to terms with my panic attacks, and I would recommend them to those of you who suffer from them, as well! She also has a really good Q/A about anxiety and panic attacks as well! I'll link them down below if anyone is interested in them because I really recommend them - especially if you are in denial or still unsure if you have them!

Panic Attack Video: Here
Anxiety/Panic Attack Q/A Video: Here
Panic Attack Blog Post: Here

I only bring this up because like I said, it's making me extremely nervous and anxious for our upcoming trip. I've mentioned maybe canceling or postponing but C wont have it. He's very supportive and thinks that everything will be okay and I'll feel much better once we are there - and I partially agree with that. We will see how our NYC trip turns out and decide from there. I'm sure it will be fine - hopefully, LOL. I just need to take it one day at a time, stay optimistic and be thankful for every morning that I wake up.


Now onto some more exciting updates! Dates have finally been semi-confirmed for C to be coming home early September for our family and friend wedding reception! We want a casual/semi-casual country chic type BBQ reception that you have probably seen all over Pinterest! It's exactly what we want so we are SO happy our plans are working out! As for the actual marriage ceremony, we are planning a trip on one of his extended weekends to have a private, intimate elopement. To us, our marriage is not about the wedding. It is about us and the love that we share for each other. We want an intimate ceremony between the two of us and a nice relaxing weekend getaway I want to enjoy our wedding day, not be freaking out over every detail! Honestly, we would get married tomorrow if the military allowed it LOL. Since he is in California, we may consider taking the trip and having our ceremony in Disneyland. But Disney is stressful so we shall see LOL. I'll keep you posted.

Finally: THE DISNEY WORLD VACATION UPDATE!!!




Not much has changed
We are no longer going to be purchasing food through Garden Grocer. Their $40 dollar minimum (I think it is?) is killer. It's understandable of course as they have go pick out your groceries and then deliver them to you. But for us it is not worth it, especially since all we really wanted was a case of bottled water. We were going to supplement lunches in the parks with sandwiches that we made from our Garden Grocer groceries, but since we have quite a few breakfast ADRs (and we typically don't get super hungry), we will probably save money not purchasing from them. We can share a CS lunch meal or buy a small snack if we really really need something to hold us over. I'm not sure what we are going to do for water now, though. C keeps saying we can just drink from the water fountains but he has never had a taste of "Disney Water." I think there are some companies that have water bottles that filter the water for you, so maybe we will pick two of them up if we can find them!

We also bit the bullet and bought a Touring Plans subscription - I'm so glad we did! While we were playing around on the site one day, a coupon code for 20% off popped up! We thought it was a sign so we went ahead and got it. I really like it so far! It's useful to simply make your own plan of attack or have them optimize one for you. I have a few separate plans for each day because you never know what can happen! We really will only need a plan for our first MK day, but it makes me feel better to know I am over prepared like always LOL. They also just emailed us to let us know that the crowd predictions have gone down for our vacation! Everything looks really good so far.

As for ADRs, we kinda don't want many of them anymore. We canceled Teppan Edo and our third BoG. Neither of us are thrilled with the Dinner BoG menu. We seem to like the BoG Lunch menu better so I am going to try for a Lunch FP if they are still offering it when we go. I've also heard rumors of the BoG breakfast as well, so I've been keeping my eyes out just in case. If I can get the FP lunch we will cancel our dinner ADRs. We also decided on skipping Via Napoli this trip. We really want to try it as we've heard such amazing things about it but I think we will leave it for another trip. We don't have a full day dedicated to Epcot, so a TS during the few hours we have there just seems impractical; especially since we want to ride most Future World rides and take our time visiting the World Showcase. We really like the breakfast ADRs we have since they will fill us up for most of the day and are before the park opens. We like the idea of just grabbing CS when we are feeling hungry in the evening! So right now our reservations look like this:
Monday, Epcot: None
Tuesday, Magic Kingdom: Be Our Guest Dinner at 6:20 pm
Wednesday, Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace Breakfast 8:10 am and Be Our Guest Dinner 7:10 pm
Thursday, Animal Kingdom: Tusker House Breakfast 8:05 am
Friday, Hollywood Studios: Mama Melrose Fantasmic! Lunch Package 12:30 pm
Saturday, Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace Breakfast 8:05 am

If anyone has any good breakfast recommendations, we would love to hear them! What are your must do breakfast experiences?

I think that's all I have to update on. Like I said, it's not much, I just have a habit of talking too much 82 days until we make our Fastpass selections! C is really excited for that Once we have those set, I'll begin to create and finalize our daily itineraries and post them on here! We will also be making our own shirts and Disneybounding outfits to wear in the parks, which I will make a post about once we are closer to the trip! Only 142 days to go!

Thanks for reading!

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[cleverdisneyname]

We like 'Ohana's breakfast! We eat way too many potatoes when we go! I'd also suggest Kona, also at Poly, to try the Tonga Toast!

 

[Minnie95]

We like 'Ohana's breakfast! We eat way too many potatoes when we go! I'd also suggest Kona, also at Poly, to try the Tonga Toast!

We are definitely looking at Ohana's for breakfast on Friday! If we don't do it this trip we will do it next trip I've never heard of the Tonga Toast from Kona but it certainly does sound delicious! The one thing I'm most looking forward to is trying the Puffed French Toast from Crystal Palace!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

YOu can order bottled water from Amazon or Staples.com Have it shipped right to your hotel and it will be waiting for you upon arrvial.

 

[Minnie95]

Hey y'all!

About a week ago, C and I decided to go ahead and get the new discount that recently came out for the spring! Our original cost for two adults, 5 nights POP pool view, 6 day park hopper, travel insurance, Memory Maker and no Dining Plan was just shy of $1,900. With the discount, it's now $2,000....so we went up....BUT, we did add the quick service dining plan. So instead of paying almost $500 extra for the Plan, we are only paying $100 extra on top of what we would have been paying anyway. We calculated our estimated costs OOP for CS and found that it would be nearly equal to the cost of the plan to begin with. So while we could have walked away spending only $1,500 total for everything, we figure the convenience of not having to worry about paying OOP for CS - which will be the majority of our meals - outweighs the inconvenience of laying out more money before the trip (especially since we will be breaking even with the Quick Dining Plan!). We also did have to switch to a standard room which we don"t mind. I've heard the pool rooms can be kinda noisy, anyway!


I've also begun to put together a basic itinerary for our trip to help with the planning of FP+ selections, pool breaks, etc. I will be in the final weeks of my spring semester before this trip, so I want to try and limit the amount of extra stress and planning I will have during that time! Good Ol' Disney switched up park hours on us (and probably will at least three more times before our trip). Thankfully nothing too major has been changed; Epcot is not recommended on our first day anymore because of an AM EMH switch with Hollywood Studios, but since we wont be arriving until the afternoon, I figure most people who took advantage of the EMH will be gone or on their way out. I do wish we could fit a full day in for Epcot since F&G will be going on, but I'm sure it will work out fine!

Basic Itinerary:

Monday:
Arrive at MCO and take Magical Express to POP
Head over to Epcot around 3 pm
FP+: Test Track, Spaceship Earth and one other undecided
Illuminations 9 PM and then head back to POP
Possibly some pool time if they are still open (I think POP pools close at 12 am, I will have to double check)

Tuesday:
Rope drop Magic Kingdom (opens at 9 am)
FP+ Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan (will try for SDMT or AE but I'm not holding my breath)
Dinner: 6:20 Be Our Guest (if we can get a BOG lunch FP, we will cancel this reservation)
MSEP: 9 pm
Wishes: 10 pm
There's another MSEP at 11 but we will use the time after Wishes to ride some rides when most people will be leaving or lining up for the second parade.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: 8:10 Crystal Palace
Magic Kingdom day 2
FP+ All three mountains (not holding breath for AE and SDMT but might as well try)
3 pm Parade
Dinner: BOG 7:10 pm (once again, if we can get a FP for lunch we will cancel this reservation)
Wishes: 10 pm

Thursday:
Breakfast: Tusker House 8:05
FP+ Safari, Everest and Nemo
Leave park 5 pm (approx)
Head either to Epcot or POP to relax

Friday:
Rope drop Hollywood Studios
FP+ TSMM, ToT and Star Tours
Lunch: 12:30 Fantasmic! lunch package at Mama Melrose
Leave mid afternoon for another park or POP to rest
7:30 for Fantasmic!
Head back to POP for pool time

Saturday:
Breakfast 8:05 Crystal Palace
Magic Kingdom
FP+ same as other two days
Head back to POP for quick lunch and ME
Say goodbye to Disney and C at MCO

I do plan on doing a full trip report with pictures of us and our vacation; I know that my PTR is lacking in pictures but we will get there eventually

Also just a little side note and personal life update: my anxiety has gotten much better. It's still there and some nights are still very hard but for the most part it is manageable! Our trip to NYC for Christmas was beautiful! We went ice skating under the tree at Rockefeller Center - something I will always remember! We also went to a Giants game which was amazing, too. Overall, it was a very good trip and made us super excited to go to Disney world in 101 days! And only 41 days until our FP+ booking day!

Thanks for reading!


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[Minnie95]

YOu can order bottled water from Amazon or Staples.com Have it shipped right to your hotel and it will be waiting for you upon arrvial.

Thank you so much! That's exactly what we were looking for.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay for Anxiety issues being conquered! That isn't an easy task I know.

Overall your plans look good from what I can see.

 

[Minnie95]

Hey y'all! Long time, no update!
Quite a bit has happened since my last update - like new dining reservations, final itineraries and finally booking fastpasses! We leave for Disney World in 51 days! WHICH MEANS C COMES HOME IN 49!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

C and I are toying with the idea of vlogging our vacation "SeeYaReelSoon" style! If you have not watched their YouTube videos, I HIGHLY recommend them; they are awesome Disney Vloggers! Not totally sure yet, but we're really leaning towards it. We think it would be an awesome personal souvenir for ourselves to look back on for years to come.

One thing we are doing for sure are DIY Disney shirts! I found some really cool shirt ideas and tutorials on Pinterest that we will be making to wear during our trip. I will definitely write a tutorial on here for anyone who is interested and possibly a video tutorial as well.

WE MADE OUR FASTPASSES!
It was suuuuuper easy! Our window opened up at 12 am on February 26th and we were done within 20 minutes. We originally were able to get an A&E but the time was at 12 pm on our last day and I wanted to be leaving the park at that time to make sure we made it back to POP in time to have a quick lunch and catch our ME. As much as I would love to see them, I would hate to have the FP and then not be able to use it! So we changed to something else so another family could enjoy. Also, we knew Jungle Cruise was going to be closed but apparently so will BTMRR the first few days of our trip! Bummer BUT we did switch that A&E to BTMRR on our last day at an earlier time, so at least we will have one ride on it!

Our Fastpasses

Monday: Epcot
Character Spot - 3 pm
Spaceship Earth - 4 pm
Test Track - 5:10 pm

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom
Peter Pan's Flight - 9:45 am
Space Mountain - 10:55 am
Splash Mountain - 11:55 am

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain - 10:25 am
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - 12 pm
Splash Mountain - 1:20 pm

Thursday: Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest - 10:30 am
Kilimanjaro Safaris - 11:45 am
Festival of the Lion King 1:30 - 1:50 pm

Friday: Hollywood Studios
Tower of Terror - 10 am
Toy Story Midway Mania - 11:05 am
Star Tours - 2:05 pm

Saturday: Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain - 9:05 am
Thunder Mountain - 10:15 am
Winnie the Pooh - 11:15 am


Super happy with how they turned out! Character Spot on day one is our throwaway in case things take longer than expected arriving to the park and Winnie the Pooh is our throwaway on our last day in case we need to leave the park a little earlier than planned. I've started to create daily itineraries and am putting that Touring Plans subscription to good use! I'll be posting those up throughout the next few weeks!

I think that's all I have to update on right now. Only 51 more days until our trip; I can't believe it! It feels like only yesterday we had 200 days left and I was eagerly awaiting our 180 day mark to make our dining reservations! Which reminds me, I was able to get some Be Our Guest lunch reservations which I will mention in our itineraries. We are getting so excited for our first Disney trip together!

Thanks for reading!

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[Gracefulskinny]

Getting close!

 

[Minnie95]

Packing List, Pre-Travel Day AND Travel Day! - Day 0/1

Hello, everyone! It's finally time to start posting our final itineraries! So exciting C will be leaving California the Friday before we leave for Disney and will be arriving in our home state Saturday morning. I will be picking him up from the airport (which is about an hour and a half away) around 9:30 am and head to his house to surprise his family! They have NO idea he is coming home, it's going to be awesome! Even better, it will be his little sister's birthday! We love and miss him dearly so it will be so nice for him to be home with us and celebrate his sister's birthday!

Sunday - Pre-travel Day 0

We will be spending most of the day at his families house as this will be his last day with them. It stinks that it is such a short amount of time, but it is better than nothing and they will most likely see C in September, which isn't too far away! At some point in the evening we will be headed to Walmart to get last-minute supplies for the trip, and then headed home to pack it all away! We have a HUGE packing list, so hopefully most of it will already be taken care of ahead of time.

Packing List
Clothes
7 shirts
7 pairs of pants/shorts
Undergarments​

Nightgown/PJ's
Belts
Socks
Sneakers
Comfy flip flops
Swimsuits
Sunglasses
Jewelry​

Toiletries
Hairbands​

Bobby pins
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Floss
Mouthwash
Body wash
Hand Soap
Shampoo
Conditioner
Deodorant
Sunblock
Lip balm with sunblock
Face wash
Face lotion
Body Lotion
Q-tips
Razors
Shaving cream
Hair Brush
Heat protector
Curling iron
Hair Spray
Hair serum
Perfume
Hand wipes
Hand-sanitizer​

Paperwork and Money
Hotel Conformation number and information​

Magic Bands
Boarding passes
ID's
Insurance Cards
Theme park ticket information
Pens
Cash
Credit cards
Dollar bills for tips
Magical express information and luggage tags
Park hour information
EMH information
Showtimes information
Character meet and greet information
Daily plan information
Fastpass+ conformation
Dining reservation conformation numbers
Penny pressing map
​

Medicine
Band-aids​

Moleskin
Anti-friction stick
Antibiotic ointment
Aloe vera
Antacids
Pain medicine
Advil
Tylenol
Vitamins
Cough drops​

Other
Camera​

Camera Charger
Lens cleaning cloth
SD card
Laptop
Laptop Charger
Cell phones
Cell phone charger
External battery charger
Lanyard
Pins
Beach Towel
Small Blanket
Ziploc bags of all sizes
Rain Ponchos
Pennies and quarters for penny pressing
Headphones
Over the door shoe organizer​

Park bag

Card games for plane

Park Touring Bag
Magic Bands​

ID's
Cash/credit cards
Dining Conformation numbers
Ziploc bags
Change of clothes
Cellphones
Cellphone battery pack
Cell phone charger
Camera
Sunglasses
Pins
Water bottles
Daily plans
Fastpass information
Small towel​

Mini first aid kit ​

Rain ponchos
Sunblock
Lip balm with sunblock
Wet wipes
Antibacterial hand gel
Change of clothes
Pennies and quarters for pressing​

We will be packing one large suitcase with both of our things and then each have one larger carry-on and a personal item (my purse and his laptop bag with our laptops). A lot of the stuff on our list is precautionary, like the medicines and such, but I am a heavy over-packer/planner and I would rather be safe than sorry any day Then of course we have our list of things to make sure we have in our park bag every day for the parks! We were originally going to make our t-shirts for the trip this night, but A) I am worried we won't have enough time for all of them and B) I am worried they won't have enough time to dry. Instead, I'll be making them sometime within the next few weeks to make sure they are ready for the trip!

Travel Day 1
YAY!
Since the airport is about an hour and a half away, we have to wake up pretty early - if we even sleep at all! I can never sleep the night before a trip because I am always so excited lol
I'm a planner who doesn't mind diverting from the plan. I think some spontaneity is good for vacation, especially a Disney vacation where anything can happen! For our park portion of the trip, I used Touring Plans. I've heard they can be super accurate or wildly inaccurate. I'm not too concerned as we will mostly be using them as a general guideline! I don't mind if we stick to it completely, use it a little, only as a guideline or not at all! So beware, the times are a little exact, like 6:27 - that is just the time the website assigns - not the exact minute I planned to be there

Wake up - 2:30 am (Make sure everything is packed and together, get dressed, etc.)
Leave - 3:00 am (Grab breakfast from Dunkin Donuts)
Arrive at airport - 4:30 am
Plane departs for Newark - 6:00 am
Plane arrives - 7:15 am
Next plane departs - 8:21 am (1 hour 6 minute layover)
Plane Arrives MCO - 11:11 am
Head to Magical Express
Arrive at POP (Check-in, hopefully room is ready)
Grab lunch from food court
Epcot @ 3 pm

Plan Courtesy of Touring Plans
Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot 3:06 pm (FP+ 3 pm)
Club Cool 3:20pm
Journey Into Imagination With Figment 3:31 pm
The Seas with Nemo & Friends 3:51 pm
Spaceship Earth 4:07 pm (FP+ 4 pm)
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet 5:10 pm (FP+ 5:15 pm)
Living with the Land 5:33 pm
Soarin' 5:51 pm
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros 6:48 pm

From there, we plan to start exploring the World Showcase! We want to leave the park around 8:30 pm to catch Wishes at MK.

Leave Epcot @ 8:30
Take Monorail to MK
Wishes @ 10 pm
Maybe catch a ride or two as MK closes at 11 pm
Head back to POP and rest up for first full park day!

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[Minnie95]

Getting close!

YES! We are so excited! You are getting close too! I love the Disney magic in the air before a trip