It feels like the first time...and for him IT IS May 2014 PTR **1 last update 5/6

[Careree22]

Hello All! I am new to the DISboards as you can see I'm "earning my ears". I have been having such a fantastic time over the last couple of months reading all of your PTR and TR's that I decided to add to the fun! This will be my first time and I am starting this late as you can see I'm going in May (ONLY 40 DAYS WOOHOO ). So anyways please bare? bear? with me

Lets start with some introductions. I am Carrie.
I'm 23 and work at a bank anddd HATE it. haha It's just too slow paced for me I like things that keep me learning and working and having a good time. I love all things Disney (as you can tell) and also enjoy crafting, reading, shopping and my super cute turtle.

My partner in crime in life and also on this trip is my adorable boyfriend, Adil.

He is 28 (wow hes old hehe ) and originally from Morocco. He is a US Army veteran and is now a full time student (graduating in December ) This trip is super exciting for us because he has never been to Disney! I am so excited for him to experience everything Disney!

As for me I have been to the world a few times, about 4 that I can't remember from when I was 6 or younger and then when I was about 11 I started cheerleading and our nationals were held in Disney every year so I went four times with that. However it has officially been 10 years since the last trip to Disney for me so it really does feel like the first time with all the new things that are going on!

Now lets get down to the details!

We are going to be in Disney World from May 11 through May 17. We leave from RDU at 9:40 on the 11th and return on a flight at 6:35 from MCO. We are flying Southwest because my mom uses them and we are transferring her our airline points after the trip so she can visit some friends in texas later in the year Also, it was the cheapest we found.

We will be staying at good ole POP Century! If I would have found these boards sooner and done more research we might have rented some DVC points and done a split stay because now I am in LOVE with the deluxe resorts and cannot wait to try some out!!

We are using a six day park hopper pass and we also opted for the dining plan because after looking at a couple different dining plan calculators the oop and dining plan were about the same and I think with the magic bands the convenience will be awesome!

The only other thing I guess I should say here is that I took advantage of an awesome travel agent Stacey Burns with Off To Neverland Travel! Also also used the target 5% redcard discount. I paid for my whole trip with GC's and also got extras for our souviners! I saved about $200 doing this

Well now that we got all that out of the way I'll get down to the daily plans and ADR's! I hope that some of you follow along as I hope to do a TR after as well! Thanks so much guys and I can't wait to meet some of you!!

 

[Careree22]

Alright welllllll let's get started!

On the first day we will be up bright and early to drive the 40 minutes to my moms house so she can drop us off at the airport. We are going to arrive around 8 since our flight is at 9:40. I am planning on checking in right at the 24 hour mark so that we can board first. After what I am hoping is a smooth flight ( only my third flight ever ) we will be in ORLANDO!!!!

We are taking advantage of ME but after reading on here and other blogs that it can take awhile to get your luggage from them I decided to just go ahead and get our bags before we load.

When we arrive in DISNEY WORLD!!! OMG it's actually happening!!! We will check in and PRAY that our room is ready. I am an organization freak when it comes to hotels (not so much at home but definitely while traveling) so I hope to be able to unpack and get the room organized.

After that we are going to take the short trek over the generation gap bridge to the resort that i REALLY REALLY wanted to stay at! I have this huge obsession with marine life (its my dream job to work in an aquarium) so Little Mermaid is one of the favorite movies and so is Finding Nemo. But since these rooms weren't included in the package we took advantage of we couldn't afford it So we are going to take a quick picture tour and eat at their food court

Around 3:30 it will be time to head out to the first park. We are going to Hollywood studios tonight! We will be heading to some of the attractions that we couldn't fit into our other Hollywood Studios day but mostly we are going to see Fantasmic!
Since we are going to be there we took advantage of the Fastpass+

Toy Story Midway Mania 5:30-6:30
The Great Movie Ride 6:30-7:30
Tower of Terror 7:30-8:30

(I don't do big drops so I am skipping TOT so i'll prob pin trade while he's on that)

After that we call it a night so we can be up bright and early for Day 2 and our first FULL day in the parks!!

P.S I feel like this is going to be really boring cause I don't have any pictures. All the other PTR have pics from previous trips but I don't have any previous trips Sorry if I am the most boring PTR ever! Thanks for reading anyways

 

[anniebabymu]

Following along! We're going in May staying at Pop too! But we'll miss you guys by a few days!

Love your arrival day plans! Can't wait to hear more! And any PTR that includes plans to Disney is NOT boring... so don't even worry about that! You'll just have to do a TR and have double the pics!

 

[Careree22]

Following along! We're going in May staying at Pop too! But we'll miss you guys by a few days!

Love your arrival day plans! Can't wait to hear more! And any PTR that includes plans to Disney is NOT boring... so don't even worry about that! You'll just have to do a TR and have double the pics!

Welcome! My first follower! Yay for more May friends My BF is an ameteur photographer so I'm sure my TR will have more than an abundance of pictures! haha Thanks for following along!

 

[Careree22]

Alright peeps, let's get this party started! So before I get into all the plans for today I guess I should say that I used touringplans.com for my trip! LOVED IT! I have no idea how those people get all that information into that database and I wish I had money to donate to them because it is AWESOME! Thanks to whoever thought of that idea! haha

Also, a bit of a disclaimer here I am a COMPLETE planner. I am not the kind of person that can go anywhere and just see what happens. I need to know what time we are going to be where, what we are going to do there, what kind of shoes and clothes I should wear, where we are eating and even where the bathroom breaks fall! haha okay so maybe not that bad but anyways you get it I like a plan. SO for those who say that you can just go to a park and figure out what to do when you get there, more power to you. For me, I need a plan and a map! Now, I think it was a little worse this time because I wanted to fit as many attractions as possible into the time since its the BF's first trip (and practically the first for me too). Since we don't have any kids we can spend more times at the parks and not take too many rests. I do have in our plans a one to two hour rest at the hotel for a nap and getting ready for dinner! So with all that out of the way on to day DOS!

Park: ANIMAL KINGDOM! Remember when I said that I love marine life, well I also love just anmials in general so this is my kind of park and is probably my second favorite!

We plan to arrive for opening at around 7:50! I have set aside about 30 mins for pictures, because I know my BF and he will need to take dozens of them! After that we start our day. I'll put in some screen shots of my touring plan! Let me know what you guys think.





I am a little bit concerned that we won't have enough to time to watch the parade and then get the KRR for our fastpass+. I am hopeing that after Nemo we can just walk towards KRR and stop for a parade view right outside the attraction! We will see how it goes. I'd love to see the parade because I know it's ending soon!

So as you can see we will be eating lunch in the park at Flame Tree BBQ! I read wonderful things about them and also like that they are a great value for a quick service credit! I'm sure my BF will go for the rib and chicken combo (with a key lime mousse) and as for me I might try the Turkey Sandwich (chocolate mousse of course).

We have our three fastpass+ for this day:
Kilimanjaro Safaris 11:05-12:05
Primeval Whirl 2:00-3:00
Kali River Rapids 3:50-4:50

And then a break from the park to go back to the hotel and change and get ready for dinner at Rainforest Cafe! I am sooooo looking forward to the Panama Punch and Nachos and BF will prob have some chicken dish! Also, this is the one TS we are paying for out of pocket! I have a $15 GC and it is the cheapest we are eating so this one will be about $30 for us which is not bad at all!

We are going to call it an early night, maybe do some swimming and get ready for the rest of the fun filled week!

 

[kringles mom]

hello we are there at the same time almost dates are MAY 11th -16th staying at vwl we are vacation members joined 2003 have made great fp and have quick dinning plan with Ohana dinner and be our guest dinner .If fast passes comes in play wont do dinner there we are so close now Pam

 

[Careree22]

hello we are there at the same time almost dates are MAY 11th -16th staying at vwl we are vacation members joined 2003 have made great fp and have quick dinning plan with Ohana dinner and be our guest dinner .If fast passes comes in play wont do dinner there we are so close now Pam

AWESOME! I love hearing about people who are going to be there the same time as me! If you see me make sure you say hi! I am doing a breakfast at Ohana one morning and I'm patiently waiting for the fastpasses for BOG so we can do lunch there one day as well! Good luck to you and remember only 38 days to go! hehe

 

[anniebabymu]

AK day looks great! You'll love Flame Tree BBQ... it is awesome! I can't wait to eat there again! And I love that you've got your Touring Plans all on here! Can't wait to hear how it works for you! I, too, have made some personalized plans for us and I'm really curious to see if the wait times actually are as low as they say they'll be!

 

[Careree22]

AK day looks great! You'll love Flame Tree BBQ... it is awesome! I can't wait to eat there again! And I love that you've got your Touring Plans all on here! Can't wait to hear how it works for you! I, too, have made some personalized plans for us and I'm really curious to see if the wait times actually are as low as they say they'll be!

Thanks! I know me too! I am going to try not to freak out if the wait times are off and we don't get to everything, but being the planner I am it's going to be hard! I just have to remember I am in Disney so now matter what to be happy!

 

[Careree22]

Alrighty guys and gals here is the third installment of my glorious PTR! BUT WAIT...before I get into that I have to say that yesterday.....I GOT A BOG FASTPASS FOR LUNCH ON MAY 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG I was so excited stalking these boards is really paying off

Okay so now for day three. This will be our EPCOT day! I know Epcot is most peoples like second favorite park but for me its just not there. Maybe it's because I haven't been since I was like 14 years old and last time I did go we never got to spend much time there. So we will see if it gets bumped up on my favorites list after this trip!

We will be waking up bright and early to have a breakfast in our room and then head out for rope drop at the world of EPCOT! There is an extra magic hour that morning so even though it usually gets crowded later in the day we decided to go ahead and take advantage of it! We will get there about 7:45 for the 8 o'clock opening! Again I left about 30 mins for pictures because I now BF will want lots in front of the BALL of GLORY!!! (hahahaha I crack myself up) anyways we FP+ed TT so off to Soarin' we go! Here is a look at my TouringPlan...





Here are our FP+ for today:
Turtle Talk with Crush 9:45-10:45
Test Track 3:10-4:10
Journey Into Imagination with Figment 4:10-5:10

I know that Turtle Talk and Journey don't need FP but I mean the tier system in Epcot sucks so much that I had no idea what else to use them for

Heres our eating plan for the day:
Insead of doing a big lunch at one place we are going to eat at a couple different countries.
We will start off with some crepes in France at the little crepe snack cart.
Then head over to Morocco (where my BF is originally from) and do some shopping (we will be back here for dinner tonight so no food yet)
Then Katsura Grill in Japan for fresh sushi
Then a stop at mexico for some nachos and a margarita YUM!!!

After all that food a break at the hotel room to change and rest for a few before we head by to Epcot for dinner at Resturant Marrakesh and Illuminations!!

Sounds like a pretty fun filled day with lots of FOOD! I hope I can still walk after all that food cause tomorrow is MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!

 

[Careree22]

Well hello there friends! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I hope some of you are just following along with out speaking up! SAY HI TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehe

Anyways, this post is about the day that I feel like I have been waiting for in ernest, imagining and dreaming about. This is the day that the whole thing is about this is it...MAGIC KINGDOM!

So after our food filled day yesterday at Epcot this day will be all about attractions galore, with a little food thrown in

Up bright and early because one of the TOP things I really wanted to do after weeks and months of research was to see the Magic Kingdom opening show! So with a 9 am opening we will be up about 7:30 to eat some breakfast and get on the road (or should I say bus) by 8 or 8:15

After the amazement that is the opening show (and lots of singing along) we will be ready to start the day. So we have two days in Magic Kingdom and I changed my touring plan for this like 2394320348 times, seriously it was a lot. Buttttt finally I decided to break it up by area and do two areas each day. So this first day we are going to be focusing on New Fantasyland/and old Fantasyland and Tomorrowland

Heres my touring plan for the day




Alrighty then, well our Fastpass+'s for the day are:
Journey of the LIttle Mermaid 10:25-11:25
Enchated Tales with Belle 11:35-12:35
Space Mountain 2:30-3:30

*If Mine Train FP+ opens before we go I will change Space Mountain to this and just do a standby for that ride (if it's to long during the day, we will do it at night after dinner)

FOOD!!!!!!!!!!
So another one of my MUST-DO's for this trip was to eat at the famous Be Our Guest Resturant however, I already had all my ADR's picked when I found out how amazing it was, so lunch was going to have to do! So I stalked the boards and I researched and I checked everday and YEP, thats right I got a FP+ for BOG!!! I took screen shots, printed our confirmation page and everything THEY WILL LET ME IN FOR THAT CROQUE SANDWICH! HAHA

After BOG we have to stop at the also famous Gaston's Tavern so try the Lefou's Brew.

Then later in the day a quick snack of a famous hotdog and Casey's Corner (if we are hungry)

and THEN another moment I have been waiting my WHOLE life for, the moment that will make me literally a four year old girl again I AM GOING TO EAT IN CINDERELLA'S CASTLE PEOPLE! yep, Cinderella's Table for dinner after a rest at the hotel!

Ending the night with Wishes will be amazing, I can't tell you the amount of times I will probably cry during this day! Just typing about it makes me want to tear up. I have dreamt about going back to this place for such a long time and now it is finally going to happen AND i get to eat INSIDE the castle, if you would have told the four or fourteen year old me that this would happen I would have told you, you were crazy! AHHH only 33 more days people

Thanks for reading along, up next is another visit to the magic hat. Stay tuned!

 

[Careree22]

Well, heres for a second update in the same day! WOOHOO! So when I started planning of course I thought what will we wear? Well I didn't want to be too matchy matchy everyday so I just bought us disney themed shirts and then a couple matching ones I got most from disneystore.com on a special they were having and couple of DBFs are from amazon and then some were just really good clearance on disneystore.com.

**Disclaimer: Sorry about the quality or size of these pics, they were all stolen off the internet. As I am a DISfreak I have already started packing and these are in the suitcases.

Day Uno: Travel day
I am not a huge fan of these shirts, but the movie was fantastic! And the shirts were $4 a piece Can't beat that!

Mine:


DBF:


Day Two: Animal Kingdom

Mine:


DBF:


YEP! This is our first matching day!

Day Three: Epcot

Mine:

I realize this is a horrible picture but this shirt was another $4 disney store shirt and I couldn't find a picture anywhere on the internet except this one.

DBF:


Day Four: Magic Kingdom (1)

Mine:


DBF:


Day Five: Hollywood Stuidos

Mine:


DBF:


Day Six: Magic Kingdom (2)

Mine:

*Probably not gonna look that great in the shirt haha

DBF:

*And I KNOW DBF won't look that good. hehe JK JK

And because again I am a DISfreak I got us these to wear throughout our trip but specifically with these shirts

Mine:


DBF:


Departure day: We will probably just wear something we are bound to buy while we are there

I also bought us some other knick knack disney things like autograph books (princess for me), wallets (minnie and mickey), PJ's, and Lanyards. I bought a few different lots of pins so that we can both start trading on this trip

We have also done some other non disney shopping. About a month go we got new nike sneakers (also on sale $25 each WOOHOO) and we are busy breaking those in for disney! We also both got a couple new pairs of shorts and some other essentials! Like this awesome bag from target that I will be using as a park bag (DBF will use his camera bag)



People often forget to budget in all the things you will buy before you go on your trip. I know I have spent way more than needed but for DBF's first trip and my first in forever trip I thought it was worth the splurge

Stay tuned for a packing haul update and DAY FIVE!!!

 

[anniebabymu]

We're doing something similar in Epcot our last day! We have a breakfast at Hollywood and Vine at 9:30... then plan on hopping in a boat and making our way to Epcot! We did this our last trip and it was so much fun! When in Epcot we don't have real plans for a lunch. Instead, we'll be using our left-over "snack" credits and "snacking around the World!" Can't wait!

I think tackling the MK in "lands" is perfect! This way you are sure to hit up everything!

And I love your shirts!!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along

 

[Careree22]

We're doing something similar in Epcot our last day! We have a breakfast at Hollywood and Vine at 9:30... then plan on hopping in a boat and making our way to Epcot! We did this our last trip and it was so much fun! When in Epcot we don't have real plans for a lunch. Instead, we'll be using our left-over "snack" credits and "snacking around the World!" Can't wait!

I think tackling the MK in "lands" is perfect! This way you are sure to hit up everything!

And I love your shirts!!

Yay! For food! I am sure we will be miserable when we are done but my oh my will it be good! Left-over "snack" credits is a great idea!!

I hope that we can hit everything I want DBF to experience as many attractions as possible

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Following along

YAY! Hi :waves: Thanks for followling along and saying hi

 

[Careree22]

sooooo remember when I said I spent WAY too much money before the trip! lol well some of that was on packing stuff/supplies/bags whatever you want to call them. So this is only the second time I am going away on a vacation for longer than maybe a weekend. The first time was on a cruise back in 2012 for a week. I used a soft vera bradley duffel bag then and HATED IT! I was constantly having to take out everything to get to something on the bottom, it made the room a complete mess and just didn't work for me. However, my DBF travels a bit, he goes back home to Morocco some and also traveled for the military while he was active. So he had a nice large hard sided luggage and I was so envious of him on our cruise. So for this vacation I knew I needed a hard sided luggage because I would be bringing like 14 outfits (park outfits and dinner outfits). So off in search we went. So I love this store Ross that we have here in NC. I buy dresses from there all the time for like $7-$15 and they are great. So when I was in there one day I notice they have luggage. I went to look at the price and was surprised to see that a $199 large sided luggage had been marked down to $49.99! I was like OMG . Also, it was zebra print so I had to have it.

Once that bag was bought I started looking at videos on youtube about packing and organizing for trips and stuff and got ADDICTED. Like it was scary, haha. So everyone was talking about these packing cubes and I was like I HAVE to have those, haha. So of course I didn't buy the expensive "packing cube system" haha thats just a waste of money. But I went on amazon and got some really nice ones I love for about $40!


These are by e-bags, which is a pretty famous brand. I really like the chevron print and they hold their shape pretty nicely when empty. The three sizes are what really got me to buy these. The small one will be used to hold all our various charging cables and what not, the medium is holding all our snack we are bringing, and the large one will go in my bag holding all my shorts, jeans, and larger clothing items. This set was about $25 on Amazon.


This is an off brand packing cube that comes from china. HOWEVER, they are still great and a bargin at $8 a peice. I bought three in green, pink and blue. They are a little cheaper quality than e-bags and don't hold their shape as much when empty but thats because...wait for it...they fold down into a little envelope holder that is attached to the bag. So they are super small unless needed. This is great to bring with you to disney where you might by souviners that you can put in a packing cube for the trip back! You can fit about 6 shirts into one of these and maybe 4 shorts/jeans. They are nice for the price!

I also bought one of these over the door hanger toiltries bags for some of our smaller bathroom items.



I think it was like $5 on Amazon.

Along with these things, I also had some other small bags for other toiltries that I will be using. I bought a small cross body vera bradley bag to use for my dinner bag and then the grey and white target bag from the other post as my park bag. Like I said DBF will be using his camera bag in the parks.

So yes I might have gone over board on the "things for Disney" but I got away with it by telling myself, when you go to Morocco every year in the future you're going to need these things! haha So, what do you guys use to pack for Disney? Do you think packing cubes are worth it? Any other tips for a newbie?

Thanks for reading along!

 

[Careree22]

Okay so no update today, but I just wanted to say that today marks exactly one month until we will be in DISNEY!

 

[Careree22]

Welcome back peeps, hope you all had a nice weekend.

So today we get back to the daily plans and continue onto day 5!

Originally in my planning I had a California Grill ressie for the last night of the trip taking up 2 of our TS credits. However, after some research I decided that I really wanted to do a breakfast buffet and that there wasn't much at the Cali Grill that my bland pallette would enjoy. So we nixed that ressie and made two more in its place a replacement dinner for the last night at Boma at AKL and a breakfast buffet at O'hana at the Poly! So on this morning we are up bright and early for a 7:40 ressie at O'hana.

After that we are off to Hollywood Stuidos for our second day there and to finish up all the stuff we didn't get around to the first day.

Here are my touringplans for Day 5


I am hoping to also catch a Characterpaloza on this day if we can, any tips on catching it?

Our Fastpass+'s for this day are
Indiana Jones 10:45-11:05
TSMM 1:10-2:10
Star Tours 2:10-3:10

There are so few good QS places to choose from in the park. So after some research I just decided to do a quick stop at Studio Catering Company.
Our dinner plans are at Chef Mickey's for a fun buffet at 7:45.

After dinner we plan to head over to the MK for MSEP. Maybe we can also catch some late night rides

So what do you guys think of today's plan? Any experiences with O'hana? Thanks for reading along and stay tuned for our last park day plans and Mickey mail!!!

 

[anniebabymu]

I too am interested in more details of Characterpalooza! I think my girls would love it! And don't have anything to add about 'Ohana except, we're doing the breakfast for the first time on our trip! My MIL's old teaching partner RAVES about it, so we had to try it out!!

 

[Careree22]

I too am interested in more details of Characterpalooza! I think my girls would love it! And don't have anything to add about 'Ohana except, we're doing the breakfast for the first time on our trip! My MIL's old teaching partner RAVES about it, so we had to try it out!!

All know about Characterpalooza is that it is on the streets of america now I think san fransico st. They do it either once or twice a day depending on what time fantasmic is that night.

Ohana sounds great at breakfast, I heard they do little things for the kids like dances and parades Can't wait hope you enjoy it! What day are you doing breakfast there?