Keep Knowing & Keep Kicking, Kiddo – A 2015 Princess 5K PTR/Mini-TR ~ Completed 5/1

[SarahDisney]

What a fun and accomplished day at Epcot!!! You girls got a lot done and met a lot of great characters. I have yet to meet Mulan and she is high on my list for October. I love that the Cast Member photobombed your picture. My goal this year is to photobomb all the pictures that people are taking with selfie-sticks.

Thanks! Beth had never seen Mulan before a few months ago and it's not my favorite movie, so we hadn't seen her since 2009 and it was nice to see her again. I really hope you get to see her in October!
I wish you luck with the selfie-stick photobombing. You're definitely a nicer person than I am - I just want to break the selfie-sticks (I really hate those things).

Great photopass pictures as always. And I knew you girls could be silly...who isn't at Disney.

Thanks! We're pretty silly not at Disney, too ... but we're sillier at Disney.

Wow, what a full day at EPCOT! Love all the character meet and greets you fit in. I've never done one, but I'm going to do them on my next visit!

Thanks! You really need to do the character meet and greets, they can be so much fun! I highly recommend seeing Chip 'n' Dale - they're always hysterical.

Hi Beth! Looks like a great day at Epcot with bonus sneak peak of the Flower and Garden festival. You guys met a lot of characters at Epcot. I need to make sure to take time to meet the characters there when we go. Now that I'm thinking about it I think the only characters we've met at Epcot is Duffy and the characters at the Disney Visa meet. That's really bad. I feel like a bad DISer.

We usually do Epcot on arrival day, so we tend to skip characters ... it's generally Epcot Character Spot, maybe Donald, maybe one or two princesses, and that's our maximum. So it was really nice to be able to see so many characters on this trip! But yes, you really need to spend more time meeting characters!! I guess with boys it's harder to see all of the princesses, which is really a big chunk of the characters at Epcot.

I was wondering when we were going to get another update.

I've been busy! I've had this written up for like 2 weeks waiting to be proofread and then just never got around to posting it ...

Once again you seem to do a great job scheduling FP's and getting things done. I don't think we ever meet more than 1 or 2 princesses in the WS....the lines are just too long.

Thanks!
We definitely had some long lines for the princesses (although Mulan had no line at all ...), but we made meeting princesses a priority, so we knew we'd be spending the bulk of our time in WS waiting on princess lines.

Haha another great CM photobomb! You guys really look like you were having so much fun!

We were having a lot of fun! I think that's one of the things I love most about Disney - no matter what we're doing, we're pretty much always having fun!

Even if it was only for coffee the first time, I love that you stopped at Ghirardelli when you arrived and as you were leaving. Perfect!

We're big Ghirardelli fans, so it was definitely a very "us" thing to do. When we were in San Francisco a few years ago we must have gone to Ghirardelli Square at least 3 times ... and we were only there for 2 days.
It really did seem like the perfect way to start and end our night at DTD.

I am so jealous of your Saturday night at MK...while I was in bed asleep. We had plans to do the same things on Wednesday & Thursday nights...but the weather just was too cold to stay out that late! I am really thinking of starting a Pandora Run Bracelet...

Haha, I think part of the smaller crowds in MK was the fact that everyone who was running the half was asleep in bed! I don't think we would have been able to do as much earlier in the week when it was cold ... even going to the expo on Thursday night was way too cold for me!
I love my Pandora bracelet, and I'm so glad I decided to do it. They just came out with a runDisney charm - I'm thinking of getting that one next time I go down for a race.

I totally think that you could do a half marathon by next year! Trust me if I can do it, you being younger and a lot more fit can do it!

I'm trying. My biggest fear is that I havea history of knee and back pain, so I'm afraid of injuring myself or aggravating my old pains if I try to do the half so soon. But I'm trying to increase my distance (I'm already a little over 4.5 miles), so we'll see if I can make it to half marathon distance in the next year and a half.

 

[SarahDisney]

Mini-TR Part 6 - Day 5 – Monday, February 23rd – Magic Kingdom (Take 2)​

It was day 5 of our trip, our last park day, and we were headed back to our favorite park – Magic Kingdom. But first, we stopped for a few more hotel pictures:

Once we got to MK, we had to take a castle picture, of course …

We have a tradition for our first ride at MK, so we took a spoke to the right and headed for …

While we were in Tomorrowland, we did something we hadn’t done since Family Vacay 2000…

Okay, I have one complaint for my memory, my parents, and the DIS …
NOBODY TOLD ME THAT RIDE WAS SO FAST!! Okay, okay, it’s not super-fast, but it’s faster than I expected, and the turns were very jerky (Beth disagreed about the turns, so that may have just been because I was sitting backwards). We did get a good view of Tomorrowland, though …

After a quick visit with Buzz, we cut across the hub and over to the other side, where we met our first princess of the day…

We were not impressed – she pretty much barely talked to us. We had a much better princess encounter later, with a very friendly princess …

We’re not big Brave fans, but we still really enjoyed meeting Merida – she was fantastic and spent just as much time with us as she did with the family (with young kids) in front of us!


In between princesses we did do a few things, including:

That picture was taken from the Walt Disney World Railroad (it was the fastest route from BTMRR to our next stop) – our first time riding and we definitely enjoyed. We now know that we need to ride the full loop to see everything there is to see along the railroad route!

We also met more royalty:

Our next stop was a fun musical adventure on Mickey’s PhilharMagic, followed by our first ride of the day on our favorite attraction:

Next up was lunch (tuna and crackers), and after our visit with Merida, we decided to hit up some of the rides in Storybook Circus. We knew that the line for Dumbo was a lot longer than we wanted it to be, so we decided to go to the FP+ kiosk near Mickey’s Philharmagic to see if we could get a FP+. Sure, no problem, got one starting within 5 minutes. We went, we rode.

Once we got off Dumbo, The Barnstormer line was also longer than we wanted, so we went to the kiosk to try to get a FP+ … again, we got one starting within 5 minutes. We went, we rode.

After Barnstormer, the question on our mind was … what FP+ should we get next?

And so started a new trend. By the end of the day, if we could have fit it all on one screen, our MDE account would have looked like this …

That’s 11 FP+ and one dinner ADR. Almost all of the FP+ windows started within 5 minutes of when we got the FP+ (the exceptions being the original 3, Haunted Mansion (10 minutes after we got it) and Magic Carpets (purposely planned for after dinner)).


A few comments:
1 – The only thing we were looking for that really “needs” FP+ was Peter Pan, which was not available. Most of the FP+ that we saw available were ones that the lines were somewhat manageable.
2 – While we had preferences, we generally went for what was available soon over our preferred rides (for example, we didn’t get one for Space Mountain because when we were looking at it, it was almost an hour away, and we didn’t want to wait that long, so we got something else instead)
3 – There were a few rides (IASW & Magic Carpets are two that come to mind) where the FP+ was totally unnecessary and didn’t save any time, but by that point it was about getting & using the FP+, not necessarily saving time. But on the vast majority of the rides, we did save at least 10-15 minutes on line, sometimes more. (Yes, I know, a 10-15 minute line isn’t bad, but a 0-5 minute line is better).
4 – Even though most of our FP+ started within 5 minutes of when we got them, we still did some things in between (some of which will be mentioned later), which is why some of the windows seem to have a bit more distance than you would expect between them. If we hadn’t stopped to do other things, we probably could have fit in at least 1-2 more.


When you go to the same kiosk that many times (it was generally the kiosk by Philharmagic, with the exception of after Buzz Lightyear, where we went to the kiosk by Stitch and waited on a really long line), you may encounter a CM who remembers you. And seems very entertained by you. So of course, you have to get a picture with said CM … and the FP+ kiosk:

We also asked her what the record was for most FP+ in a day … she said the most she’s ever seen was 17. So our goal for next trip is 18. We’re going for that record!


As I mentioned, we did have some other fun in between FP+ rides.

We saw some characters …

We searched for some chameleons near the Tangled bathrooms…

And of course, we did hit up a few other rides …

We did this standby because I wanted to see the interactive queue elements. They were cute, but I didn’t love them as much as I thought I would. Definitely not worth waiting in line just to see them (although our line wasn’t bad … only about 45 minutes).

Once we were done with our FP+ extravaganza (well, mostly), it was time for Wishes, followed by dinner. Last trip we had the same timing for Wishes/ADR, and we missed some of Wishes because we were stressed about getting to our dinner. This year we had a spot picked out that would avoid this issue (although we did miss Celebrate the Magic, which is sad).

Plus, it gave us a pretty special view of the fireworks that you don’t get if you stake out the “usual” spots.

Did you know that most of the fireworks are not launched over Cinderella Castle? Yes, you can see them from in front of the castle and they look amazing, but really, they’re being launched here:

We watched the fireworks near BOG, which allowed us to see both fireworks/sparklers over Cinderella Castle & fireworks over Beast’s Castle. Of course, Beth was terrified I would injure myself because I kept turning around to capture pictures of both castles, but I knew I was fine, and I got some great pictures (without dropping the iPad!). I think my favorite is …

After the fireworks it was time for our favorite restaurant:

Why does it look like someone was leaning out of the picture, you ask? That’s Jared not-quite-or-maybe executing CM photobomb #3. We saw him photobomb a picture and knew we had to take a picture near him so that he could photobomb our picture … and he did this. Apparently he expected me to turn the camera sideways, in which case he would have been in the picture. We all had a nice laugh about it afterwards.

But anyway, back to dinner …
For those who didn’t read my November TR, we did BOG in November and an amazing experience.
Once again we were seated in the ballroom, and once again it was an amazing experience (although different than the last one), thanks in part to our awesome server, Marne:

Overall, I was very glad that we decided to do BOG again, and we’re definitely hoping to do it again in the future.
We did some exploring after the meal, and before we left we stopped by to thank the master for his hospitality:

Once we were done at BOG, we used our last FP+ of the day, and then headed for the exit.

We stopped to print some PhotoPass pictures (which took a while, but it always does), and headed back to the hotel. It was, once again, past midnight, and we were ready for bed!

NEXT POST: Departure Day (OR: A New Tradition Begins)

 

[Elevationist]

I am SUPER impressed by your FP+ utilization! That's CRAZY! In September, I just used my three and didn't bother with the kiosks because the lines for them were always insanely long. But I'm going to cling to this tip about the ones near Philharmagic!

Oh, I just love your Minnie picture! I've never done the character meet in Storybook Circus and am hoping the wait isn't too long on my MK day next weekend!

OMG, all those EMPTY TABLES behind you at BoG!

 

[KatMark]

WOW!!! I am totally impressed with your FP+ count and I bet that you and Beth break that record!

Great pictures all the way around (I never saw that Pascal sign before although I knew about finding him).

I'm so glad that you had yet another enjoyable dinner at BOG. I can't wait to eat there in 19 days.

 

[ursalita]

Hi Sarah! I can't believed you haven't been on the Peoplemover in that long. I love that ride so much! I guess it's not for everyone.

You guys were all about the princesses this trip! Oh, Tiana is so pretty, too bad she wasn't very friendly. Wonder if I can sneak in a showing of Princess and the Frog before Tuesday... I am definitely going to make a point to see as many princesses as possible this trip, I don't care what the boys think.

I had no idea that you could get that many fast passes in one day! I thought that you could get 3 ahead of time and then one more after you'd used your 3. I can't believe I didn't know you could get more than that. So glad I read this because it may come in handy.

I'm so glad that you had a great dinner at BOG since you'd so been looking forward to it, And CMs make all the difference, don't they?

 

[afwdwfan]

(Yes, I am aware that I’m making a strange face in this picture … welcome to the world of me trying to take selfies with my phone)

Anyways … we went to sleep a little before 10:30, and had alarms set for 3:30 AM and 3:35 AM. Buses to the race started running at 4, and while I didn’t need to be on the first bus, I wanted to be on a bus by 4:30, so I figured this was good timing.

Wow... morning is going to come fast!

We woke up obscenely early, got dressed, grabbed our stuff, and were on a (Disney Cruise Line) bus around 4:20ish. We did take a bus selfie:

And you did so without making a strange face. Nicely done!

DJ who was a little too high energy for that early in the morning:

They've got to wake everybody up somehow.

Finally we went into World Showcase, through the entrance in Mexico (near where Donald usually is). It was really cool to be running through a fairly empty World Showcase. They were playing “Let It Go” – I thought it might have been in Norwegian, but I really wasn’t sure. I still don’t know. I just know that they kept playing the same stinkin song in many different languages.

Well, that is certainly interesting. I'm not sure how I'd feel about hearing it in a bunch of different languages.

(I have no idea what happened to my 3D glasses…)

Just a convenient excuse for a poor score?

(and made a woman’s day just by drinking coffee ... people really like to see Starbucks cups),

You had a Dismeet with @KatMark ?????

… and trying to eavesdrop on Imagineers who were standing in front of this guy

So did you pick up any good gossip?

The “sneak peak” was the fairy godmother scene, and it was cute. It made us more excited to see the movie … which was amazing and lived up to our expectations.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well, both the sneak peak and the movie. We still haven't managed to see it yet.

We went to RnRC … and the single rider line was closed. And I wasn’t waiting on line by myself (and leaving Beth alone) for over an hour. So … I guess no Aerosmith this trip. Made me a little sad, because I like RnRC, but I knew going into the trip that this would be a possibility.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

At that point we had been awake for over 17 hours … we were ready for some sleep! We were in bed around 8:30, with our alarm set for 9 AM Saturday morning. But would we sleep for the a whole 12+ hours?

I'm guessing you were completely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crash for 12+ hours... so not likely.

Shabbos ended at 7:03, and around 7:45 we were greeted by this sight:

So, safe to say that recognizing Shabbos while at WDW worked out well? It seems like you had everything planned out accordingly and it seems like it all worked out well for you. I'm glad you were able to recognize a day of rest while on vacation and still manage to enjoy yourself too.

For us, a “day” at Magic Kingdom without BTMRR pretty much doesn’t count as having been at MK … so it was a no-brainer to make this one of our FP+ selections. It really is a great attraction to ride at night and we loved it!

Couldn't agree more!

We have a tradition to always do POTC at night (no idea how that one started),

Seems reasonable to me. It doesn't matter much to me when I ride it, but it is kind of appealing at night. I think partly because it is set at night.

There’s something really special and magical about being in a fairly empty Magic Kingdom late at night. I’ve always loved Magic Kingdom, but I fell in love with MK again that night. There really is nothing like the park all lit up without those huge crowds you see during the day.

I'm right there with you. It just makes the Magic Kindom... well, extra magical.

Somehow our future always ends up looking like The Jetsons. I don’t know why.

Because who doesn't want their future to be like the Jetsons?

We finished our time in Future World with a quick hop on the single-rider line at Test Track. There were screens available to design a car (we didn't know if there would be)

I didn't realize they had that in single rider. Cool!

We started off with designing our car, and like last year, we went more for silly than for functionality. When we did new Test Track for the first time in 2013 (aka when I designed the car) we won, now we don’t. Just saying.
By the way, it may not always come out when I write the TR/recap, but Beth and I can be very silly sometimes. Which is why the silly design doesn’t bother me too much.

No picture of the car? I'd love to see your "silly" design. Those can be some of the best!

(which was handed to us by someone that I had nicknamed “Unenthusiastic Guy”) … but I’m a terrible DISer and not only did I not take a picture, I don’t even remember what we got. Oops. It was something with fudge and it was yummy.

How can you be surrounded by chocolate and ice cream and be unenthusiastic???? That just seems wrong!

While we were in Tomorrowland, we did something we hadn’t done since Family Vacay 2000…

What???

After Barnstormer, the question on our mind was … what FP+ should we get next?

And so started a new trend. By the end of the day, if we could have fit it all on one screen, our MDE account would have looked like this …

Well done! Now if they'd just let you get them from your phone. Or at least put a few more kiosks around the parks. Kind of a pain to have to run from Storybook Circus up to Philharmagic just to add another FP+.

When you go to the same kiosk that many times (it was generally the kiosk by Philharmagic, with the exception of after Buzz Lightyear, where we went to the kiosk by Stitch and waited on a really long line), you may encounter a CM who remembers you. And seems very entertained by you. So of course, you have to get a picture with said CM … and the FP+ kiosk:

So... it was an intentional picture with a CM this time?

Good TR. Congratulations on running the 5K and I wish you luck in your possible upcoming races. I'm glad you've created a monster in your sister. The 2 of you will have a lot of fun at all the many, many runDisney events that you'll likely participate in together in the future.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[stacy~**]

I can't believe you haven't ridden the Peoplemover in so long! It's a favorite for us.

Once again you guys rocked the character meets! It still makes me sad that they separated Anna and Elsa.

I think we have only ridden the railroad once (our first trip in 2006) and even then I am not sure if we went the whole way around. I guess we should try and make that happen. Love the picture of BTMRR.

Your ability to "work" the FP system is great! I do wish you were able to add them via the app. Having to find a kiosk and wait that line out is often counterproductive but it seemed to work great for you. I will be keeping that in mind for our future adventures.

Yay for a second 7DMT ride with only a 45 minute standby wait.

I'm so happy that BOG was another great experience for you guys! Personally for us it seems if we try and return to a restaurant too soon after a great experience it never lives up to the previous trip. Weird, I know but I am really happy this wasn't the case for you. I know your dining options are limited so I am so happy that you continue to enjoy BOG.

 

[KathyM2]

Wow!! That's a crazy amount of FP+!! I can't remember if I said "hi" here officially yet lol. Anyway...great TR...and you did so much!! I didn't even bother with FP+ kiosks after we used our 3 because the line for that always seemed long!! You managed to work it!!! Love all your princess pics!!

 

[dreamseeker9]

Awesome day in MK! Where did you meet Daisy and Minnie?

Is the Beast the only character you meet at BOG dinner? I made a dinner reservation there, but I could only get a time that will conflict with Wishes, bummer. But we should still be in there when MK closes, so at least the park will be empty when we walk out. I love the idea of watching Wishes from that different vantage point!

 

[SarahDisney]

So, I was all ready to do responses on Friday afternoon ... and then I got distracted by something shiny. And now I'm angry at Sidney Crosby (more than usual), so it may take me a while to get these responses out ... but I'm trying.

I am SUPER impressed by your FP+ utilization! That's CRAZY! In September, I just used my three and didn't bother with the kiosks because the lines for them were always insanely long. But I'm going to cling to this tip about the ones near Philharmagic!

Thanks! There were definitely lines at the kiosks, but it wasn't terrible. A lot of times the 4-5 people in front of us on line were all part of one group, so the line wasn't as bad as it seemed.
The kiosk near Stitch had a much worse line - in hindsight, we probably could have made it back to the Philharmagic kiosk and made the FP+ in the time we spent waiting on line there.

Oh, I just love your Minnie picture! I've never done the character meet in Storybook Circus and am hoping the wait isn't too long on my MK day next weekend!

Thank you! It was our first time doing the Storybook Circus character meet ... the line was longer than we wanted it to be, but it wasn't too terrible. Hopefully you'll have a good length line!

OMG, all those EMPTY TABLES behind you at BoG!

We had that last trip too. It's what happens when you have dinner at 9:25 PM.
I think the late reservations are part of what I love about our BOG experiences - I'm not great with large crowds or a lot of noise, so the quietness of the restaurant during the late seatings makes it more magical for me.

WOW!!! I am totally impressed with your FP+ count and I bet that you and Beth break that record!

Thanks! We're definitely going to try, but not we're not going to go crazy ... it's more important for us to get everything done than to get the record. I think part of the reason why we were able to go on our FP+ extravaganza was because we had gotten so much done on Saturday night - we did almost everything once, so for the most part we could focus on what was available instead of what still needed to be done.

Great pictures all the way around (I never saw that Pascal sign before although I knew about finding him).

Thanks! We saw the sign about halfway through the Pascal hunt ... we knew the instructions without seeing the sign, but we still took the picture for those people who didn't.

I'm so glad that you had yet another enjoyable dinner at BOG. I can't wait to eat there in 19 days.

Thanks. I was a little nervous that it wouldn't live up to the amazing first experience. I know you've had mixed experiences there, so I hope this next one is an amazing one!

Hi Sarah! I can't believed you haven't been on the Peoplemover in that long. I love that ride so much! I guess it's not for everyone.

Hi Colleen!
Yeah, we definitely have a different view of the "essentials" than most people. I think I'd do it again in the future, but not necessarily every trip.

You guys were all about the princesses this trip! Oh, Tiana is so pretty, too bad she wasn't very friendly. Wonder if I can sneak in a showing of Princess and the Frog before Tuesday... I am definitely going to make a point to see as many princesses as possible this trip, I don't care what the boys think.

Well, it was Princess Half-Marathon weekend ... which is why we made it a princess-centric trip
I hope you can get in lots of princess pictures ... tell the boys that it's okay for them to take princess pictures. Making mommy happy is what's most important!

I had no idea that you could get that many fast passes in one day! I thought that you could get 3 ahead of time and then one more after you'd used your 3. I can't believe I didn't know you could get more than that. So glad I read this because it may come in handy.

After the first 3 you can only get one at a time, but you can keep going back for more. I don't know if everyone knows that, so maybe you'll have an advantage over everyone else!

I'm so glad that you had a great dinner at BOG since you'd so been looking forward to it, And CMs make all the difference, don't they?

Thanks!
CMs are really great. I've seen a lot of people complaining that CMs aren't as friendly as they used to be, or they're rude, etc etc, and while I've seen that once or twice, the vast majority of the CMs I've encountered are really amazing and seem to enjoy going above and beyond to help guests.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sure, make fun of me, real nice ...

Wow... morning is going to come fast!

Yeah ... and I'm one of those people who don't believe that times before 10AM should be allowed to exist.

And you did so without making a strange face. Nicely done!

Well, the part of my brain that prevents me from looking normal in selfies wasn't up quite that early.

They've got to wake everybody up somehow.

I would have been okay with free coffee ...

Well, that is certainly interesting. I'm not sure how I'd feel about hearing it in a bunch of different languages.

I don't particularly like "Let it Go" anyway (it's about the only Frozen-related thing that I don't like), so I wasn't wild about it ... plus, I had my music on my phone (I always run with music, usually the same playlist, so I was nervous about being without it), so I wasn't really listening.

Just a convenient excuse for a poor score?

Sure ... let's say that.

You had a Dismeet with @KatMark ?????

I wish!! Apparently there are people other than Kathy and me who enjoy having Starbucks in the parks.

So did you pick up any good gossip?

Unfortunately, no I'm a terrible eavesdropper.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well, both the sneak peak and the movie. We still haven't managed to see it yet.

The movie really was great ... I almost saw it again a few weeks later. Definitely not appropriate for young kids, though (in case you were thinking of taking your kids to see it ... it was very dark and not really for kids)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I know, right? And we had such limited time at HS that I couldn't even wait in the standby line or check back later.
In all of my (5) trips to Disney, I've still only been on Rock n Roller Coaster once ... it's kinda sad.

I'm guessing you were completely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crash for 12+ hours... so not likely.

Exhausted? I'm still in my 20's, I'm not allowed to get exhausted!

So, safe to say that recognizing Shabbos while at WDW worked out well? It seems like you had everything planned out accordingly and it seems like it all worked out well for you. I'm glad you were able to recognize a day of rest while on vacation and still manage to enjoy yourself too.

Shabbos worked out great ... I really would have preferred to be able to go to synagogue services (which I do at home, but wasn't an option for us at Disney), but this was fine and it was actually really nice to have a "rest" day during the vacation.

Couldn't agree more!

Really? You like BTMRR? I never would have guessed!

Seems reasonable to me. It doesn't matter much to me when I ride it, but it is kind of appealing at night. I think partly because it is set at night.

I hadn't thought about it that way ... it just kind of happened on our first few trips (probably because we usually start in Tomorrowland and work our way around), so it became a new tradition. I'll have to mention the fact that it is set at night to Beth - she'll appreciate that.

I'm right there with you. It just makes the Magic Kindom... well, extra magical.

Because who doesn't want their future to be like the Jetsons?

I'm not really a dog person, so I could do without Astro ...

I didn't realize they had that in single rider. Cool!

I figured they didn't and was really surprised to see the design station. It's a good thing to know for the future.

No picture of the car? I'd love to see your "silly" design. Those can be some of the best!

Not our silliest car ever, but still silly.

How can you be surrounded by chocolate and ice cream and be unenthusiastic???? That just seems wrong!

I don't get it either. People are weird.

What???

Yeah ... slow moving ride through Tomorrowland was never really our #1 priority.

Well done! Now if they'd just let you get them from your phone. Or at least put a few more kiosks around the parks. Kind of a pain to have to run from Storybook Circus up to Philharmagic just to add another FP+.

Thanks. I would love the ability to get them from the phone ... but that walking wasn't too bad for us. I need to get my 10,000 steps somehow ...

So... it was an intentional picture with a CM this time?

We decided to change it up a bit, do something new for a change of pace.

Good TR. Congratulations on running the 5K and I wish you luck in your possible upcoming races. I'm glad you've created a monster in your sister. The 2 of you will have a lot of fun at all the many, many runDisney events that you'll likely participate in together in the future.

Thanks. We're definitely runDisney converts and are hoping to do our next events in 2016. Maybe even one at DL ... hopefully by then the CMs will have a clue what's going on with the races!

Wow, really impressed with your planning and accomplishments on the whole trip! I almost want to do a 5K just from your description (but I'm not even close to an early bird; I'd likely be very clumsy at that time of day). And I love your style of Disneybounding, I hope to do some of that on my next trip. I didn't get the Memory Maker package on my last trip; it never even occurred to me to try to buy individual pictures.

Thanks! The 5K was a lot of fun, but I could definitely do without the early wakeup.
DisneyBounding is a lot of fun, but it can be hard work sometimes! I hope you have fun with it, though ... that's really what it's all about.
We've always printed a few photopass pictures each trip ... even before memory maker existed. We may end up getting memory maker in the future, but until then, we like to print pictures to give out to family.

 

[SarahDisney]

I can't believe you haven't ridden the Peoplemover in so long! It's a favorite for us.

It was just never a big priority for us ... I think that's the downside of the fact that we're usually only at MK one day ... we don't get to do everything.

Once again you guys rocked the character meets! It still makes me sad that they separated Anna and Elsa.

Thanks! We really thought of this as a low-character trip (other than princesses) ... but going through the pictures, we really did see a lot of characters. Apparently even when we're not trying we see tons of characters!
I was so upset when I heard they separated Anna and Elsa ... I really wanted a picture with both of them. Oh well.

I think we have only ridden the railroad once (our first trip in 2006) and even then I am not sure if we went the whole way around. I guess we should try and make that happen. Love the picture of BTMRR.

This was our first time on the railroad, and we only did Fronteirland to Fantasyland. Next trip I want to do the whole loop - it's a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

Your ability to "work" the FP system is great! I do wish you were able to add them via the app. Having to find a kiosk and wait that line out is often counterproductive but it seemed to work great for you. I will be keeping that in mind for our future adventures.

Thanks! It would be nice to add them via phone, but the kiosks aren't too bad. Even when the lines looked long, it wasn't too bad for us - there were a lot of groups that made the lines look longer than they actually were.

Yay for a second 7DMT ride with only a 45 minute standby wait.

The sign said 60 minutes, so we were glad for a shorter wait. We would ride it over and over again if we could ... but maybe without a long line?

I'm so happy that BOG was another great experience for you guys! Personally for us it seems if we try and return to a restaurant too soon after a great experience it never lives up to the previous trip. Weird, I know but I am really happy this wasn't the case for you. I know your dining options are limited so I am so happy that you continue to enjoy BOG.

I was actually terrified that this wouldn't live up to our last experience - but even though it was different it was still great. But I definitely get what you're saying.
That was actually my biggest fear about this trip in general ... this was our shortest period between trips ever and I was terrified that it wouldn't be as exciting because we had just been there a few months earlier ... boy was I wrong!

Wow!! That's a crazy amount of FP+!! I can't remember if I said "hi" here officially yet lol. Anyway...great TR...and you did so much!! I didn't even bother with FP+ kiosks after we used our 3 because the line for that always seemed long!! You managed to work it!!! Love all your princess pics!!

Hi!
Thanks - we really had a great time and were glad we were able to get so much done. The FP+ kiosk lines aren't as bad as they seem ... but I think a lot of people skip them because of the lines, so there was a lot available!

Awesome day in MK! Where did you meet Daisy and Minnie?

Thanks! Daisy & Minnie were in Pete's Silly Sideshow tent in Storybook Circus ... Donald and Goofy are also there, but it's a separate line.

Is the Beast the only character you meet at BOG dinner? I made a dinner reservation there, but I could only get a time that will conflict with Wishes, bummer. But we should still be in there when MK closes, so at least the park will be empty when we walk out. I love the idea of watching Wishes from that different vantage point!

Beast is the only character, and it's not like a traditional character meal where they come around to tables - he's waiting in the library and you go in to see him at the end of the meal.
I'm really glad that we were able to see Wishes before dinner ... but if we had to choose, I probably would have chosen dinner at BOG and skipped Wishes. Walking through Fantasyland from BOG to the exit after closing is really nice ... it's so quiet and peaceful!

Okay ... responses are done for now. And the universe and I are not friends anymore. Being a sports fan is not always fun.
I haven't even started the next update yet, so you probably won't see it until next week ... but it's a shorter update (departure day), so it may be ready a little early ... we'll see.

 

[natebenma]

What a fun day at EPCOT.

I love your Future Picture- your faces are so clear in the picture.

Soarin' is always fun.

Sounds like a fun character meet & greet- my family has no interest in character meets, so on my short solo trip in August, I got this FP, too to meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie.

That is really funny about the photobombs.

Loved your princess-blitz through the World Showcase.

Interesting test with the sunglasses. I'll be curious to "see" if you are able to wear them on coasters.


Love this picture!

:

 

[momabaarjo]

I am totally in awe over the string of FP you were able to gather...nice job!

 

[SarahDisney]

What a fun day at EPCOT.

Thanks, it really was!

I love your Future Picture- your faces are so clear in the picture.

Thanks! That's definitely one of our better futures ... usually the picture doesn't come out so well.

Soarin' is always fun.

Definitely. We actually had never gone on Soarin' before our 2013 trip ... we didn't know what we were missing. I'm a huge fan of Disneyland, so I'm really glad it's where Soarin' ends.

Sounds like a fun character meet & greet- my family has no interest in character meets, so on my short solo trip in August, I got this FP, too to meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie.

My parents are like that ... we love the characters. I'm glad you got to meet some characters on your solo trip!

That is really funny about the photobombs.

Yup, the CMs were really great this trip and seemed to be very into photobombing people!

Loved your princess-blitz through the World Showcase.

Thanks. We definitely had a lot of fun with the "princess" theme of the weekend!

Interesting test with the sunglasses. I'll be curious to "see" if you are able to wear them on coasters.

The sunglasses worked out okay on everything I tried ... which was great. I wouldn't try them on Space Mountain or RnR - but you don't need them for indoor rides anyway. The interesting test will be if I ever make it back to Universal, where there are a lot more "thrill" rides that probably do go faster and might be a problem.
I may end up trying my actually glasses on future trips, and we'll see how those work out - my glasses tend to fall off my face a lot more often than my sunglasses do.

Love this picture!

Thanks!

I am totally in awe over the string of FP you were able to gather...nice job!

It was pretty amazing ... we were very impressed with ourselves. There was a lot of running to and from kiosks, but we had fun with it and loved the result!

 

[wellesleyprincess]

Sorry if I missed it, but race did you decide to do in January?

 

[SarahDisney]

Sorry if I missed it, but race did you decide to do in January?

We're doing the 5K & 10K ... we'll probably walk (or slowly run) the 5K together and stop for all the characters, and then we'll run the 10K separately.
The really exciting part is that runDisney got Beth to start running ... she went for her first run on Tuesday!

 

[Elevationist]

We're doing the 5K & 10K ... we'll probably walk (or slowly run) the 5K together and stop for all the characters, and then we'll run the 10K separately.
The really exciting part is that runDisney got Beth to start running ... she went for her first run on Tuesday!

Does this mean that a January trip is a definite thing now? I noticed "2016" had been added to your signature, but I hadn't seen any official announcement!

 

[SarahDisney]

Does this mean that a January trip is a definite thing now? I noticed "2016" had been added to your signature, but I hadn't seen any official announcement!

The official announcement will come soon ... like when I finally get around to posting the final installment of the TR. Probably no PTR, though, at least as of right now.
But yes, it's definite ... or as definite as me planning something 8 months in advance can be (usually we book these trips 2-3 months before the trip, not 8 months in advance).