Let's 'Bounceback' to WDW! September 2-9, 2017 POR Pre-Trip Report

[VACamm]

Happy Sunday y'all! Its a dreary, rainy day here in Virginia. I've been relaxing all day with my cat Obiwan, and sipping coffee while watching Pocahontas!

This weather has been such a bummer, as its been raining pretty much since yesterday morning. I guess the positive thing is that all of the grass and our landscaping looks super green and lush all of a sudden!

As of today, it is exactly 132 days until we are HERE >>>>

...and staying HERE >>>

I tend to think about our upcoming vacation ALL THE TIME lately. I guess that my job is so stressful, and I probably really am looking forward to our Disney vacation. I feel like time is going so slooooooow.... September needs to hurry up and get here!

Last week I was reading an article about the new AK land Pandora.

I can't say enough about how excited I am for this new land to open up! I love the idea of a whole new immersive experience with 2 new rides AND a new bar AND a new quick service restaurant. While I was reading about this, it got me thinking about our plans for AK during our September vacation. We want to save our FP+ to ride the Banshee Ride, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur as many times as possible. This means in order to keep our FP's open for rides, that we would NOT be able to use a FP for the Rivers of Light show... which AlSO means that we would need definitely book a RoL dining package meal for SURE.

I ended up getting really lucky and I was able to get a Rivers of Light Dining Package for the Tusker House Breakfast at 9:15am! We did this character breakfast last year, and not only was the food absolutely delicious, but the character interaction was fabulous!

When I got the Rivers of Light Dining Package for Tusker House, it specified that we would be seated at the 1st showing of Rivers of Light. The BAD thing is that I can't find out what time that the 1st showing actually is?!?! Does anyone know what times the 2 showings are for in September? Since I'm not sure what time the 1st showing actually is, I ended up revising our dinner at Sanaa to 5:00pm that night to make sure that we are back in time for Rivers of Light. I can always revise that time if I need to.

With the new changes, our ADR's (for the moment...) are :

September 2:
Cinderella's Royal Table 5:50pm

September 3:
Tusker House Rivers of Light Dining Package Breakfast 9:15am
Sanaa 5:00pm

September 4:
Ohana 5:40pm

September 5:
Be Our Guest (Lunch) 11:45pm
Teppan Edo 6:10pm

September 6:
Hoop Dee Doo Revue 6:15pm

September 7:
Food & Wine Festival Lunch & Dinner

September 8:
Skipper Canteen 6:25pm

As soon as I can find out what time the Rivers of Light first show actually starts, I can reevaluate our Sanaa ADR time to see if I need to move it up or move it back to a later time.

I still have until the 4th of July to make a plan for our FP+ schedule. I do have a general idea of what we will need to do, and I actually MIGHT use my exact same plan that we used last year. Wouldn't that make things so much simpler!?!?! Getting those FP+'s are almost as stressful as getting the ADR's!

Also, in exciting news... as previously mentioned, ALL of our Disney T-shirts have arrived and we couldn't be happier with them! We ended up getting 7 days of matching shirts: 6 from Etsy, and then we placed an additional order of 1 from Tee Public.

September 2nd:
Travel Day and Check In at Port Orleans Riverside
AM Park: None
PM Park: Magic Kingdom
ADR: Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table 5:50pm
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Happily Ever After
Shirts: Best Day Ever




September 3rd:
AM Park: Animal Kingdom
PM Park: Animal Kingdom
ADR: Tusker House Breakfast Rivers of Light Dining Package 9:15am
ADR: Sanaa 5:00pm
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Rivers of Light, Tree of Life Awakening, & Pandora at night
Shirts: Hakuna Matata




September 4th:
AM Park: Hollywood Studios
PM Park: Hollywood Studios OR EPCOT
ADR: Ohana 5:40pm
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Star Wars Fireworks or Illuminations
Shirts: Darth Vader Mickey Ears & Stormtrooper Mickey Ears




September 5th:
AM Park: Magic Kingdom
PM Park: Epcot
ADR: Be Our Guest (lunch) 11:45am
ADR: Teppan Edo 6:10pm
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Illuminations
Shirts: Maui You're Welcome



Unfortunately I have to go make supper now because I keep getting questions... "What's for supper?" & "What time are we eating?" So I guess its STAY TUNED for the rest of our shirts in a future update!

Have a FABULOUS rest of your Sunday!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I also think about vacation constantly right now. Work is just not nearly as interesting. Probably also why I spend so much free time on the Dis right now. Disney is calling!!

Oooh I love your shirts so far!! I just put in an Etsy order today for our August trip. I got us both "I'm in my favourite place with my favourite person" shirts, and then two others that don't match but still go together. DFi isn't really a matching shirt kinda guy on his own, but he's a big old teddy bear who will do just about anything if you bat your eyelashes...so matching shirts it is! And he likes anything that draws attention to the fact that we're a couple because he's a hopeless romantic, so I think he'll be cool with it. It was hard to buy them because we've both been on a health kick and working out, and DFi is losing a fair bit of weight. At the current rate, I figured he'd be down one shirt size by then, but probably not two, and I risked it. Here's hoping I made the right call!

I had thought about a ROL dining package too, but I guess I wasn't very on the ball about it, and it also just never really worked into our plans very well. We're only eating at Tusker House once and it's not a day where we'll be at AK that night. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for FP+!! I hate waiting hours in line for something like a show. Really...I hate waiting any length of time in line for pretty much anything.

 

[AuntDJ]

I just found your TR and PTR, so I am a little late to the planning party! I hope you love O'hana. We had it for the first time last June and LOVED it. I think your son will be happy. My 19 yr old seems to have a never ending hunger and when we left dinner, he said he was full! It is a miracle We still talk about how good this dinner was.

In you TR, your husband mentioned the he enjoyed the character meets so much he felt like he needed an autograph book. While I feel like he was probably joking, we are a group of adults 18, 19, 45 and 70 I have attached a picture of what we did. It has made an excellent souvenir and was easy to carry around with us!

 

[Raeven]

I tend to think about our upcoming vacation ALL THE TIME lately. I guess that my job is so stressful, and I probably really am looking forward to our Disney vacation. I feel like time is going so slooooooow.... September needs to hurry up and get here!

Same! My next vacation is so close though I'm basically in vacation mode already

it specified that we would be seated at the 1st showing of Rivers of Light. The BAD thing is that I can't find out what time that the 1st showing actually is?!?! Does anyone know what times the 2 showings are for in September?

If you can "add it to your plans" on MDE it should show you a time. They might not have them released yet. Mine says that too for May but I think there's only 1 and I bet during Sep there will only be 1 showing a night too.

 

[VACamm]

I had thought about a ROL dining package too, but I guess I wasn't very on the ball about it, and it also just never really worked into our plans very well. We're only eating at Tusker House once and it's not a day where we'll be at AK that night. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for FP+!! I hate waiting hours in line for something like a show. Really...I hate waiting any length of time in line for pretty much anything.

I agree 100%... waiting is line is THE WORST. I'm crossing my fingers for you too that you get a FP+ !!!

I just found your TR and PTR, so I am a little late to the planning party! I hope you love O'hana. We had it for the first time last June and LOVED it. I think your son will be happy. My 19 yr old seems to have a never ending hunger and when we left dinner, he said he was full! It is a miracle We still talk about how good this dinner was.

Hi, and I'm glad you found me! I really am looking forward to eating at O'hana. I have heard really wonderful things about it, and I am crossing my fingers for a fabulous dinner! I'm glad that your family had such a good experience, and that helps to solidify my decision! Awesome!

In you TR, your husband mentioned the he enjoyed the character meets so much he felt like he needed an autograph book. While I feel like he was probably joking, we are a group of adults 18, 19, 45 and 70 I have attached a picture of what we did. It has made an excellent souvenir and was easy to carry around with us!

I showed your photo mat to my husband, and he was SO EXCITED about that idea. He is totally going to do it this September. Thank you so much for showing that to me!

Same! My next vacation is so close though I'm basically in vacation mode already

Giiiiiiiirl, you are SO LUCKY! Its so close!!! I don't blame you, I'd be mentally 'checked out' into Vacation Mode too!

If you can "add it to your plans" on MDE it should show you a time. They might not have them released yet. Mine says that too for May but I think there's only 1 and I bet during Sep there will only be 1 showing a night too.

Oh, thats good advice... I'm going to check that this morning. Thank you!

 

[VACamm]

Happy Thursday!

Only 128 days until my WDW vacation... AND I have HUGE news!!

Last night I booked our Plane Tickets Finally!!!!

Yep! The price had dipped down about $100.00 per ticket, and I got out my wallet and booked immediately before it changed again! I had been watching the price go up and down for the past couple of week, and it was driving me crazy! So now its official... we have airplane tickets AND we are going to Walt Disney World!!

Next on my check list, is to figure out which Fastpasses that we are going to try to book!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[MeghanEmily]

YAY! That makes it feel so real now! I'm in the same boat now trying to sort out the best FP schedule for August.

 

[VACamm]

YAY! That makes it feel so real now! I'm in the same boat now trying to sort out the best FP schedule for August.

Yep, its so frustrating isn't it? One one hand I don't want to plan EVERYTHING for an entire week, but on the other hand I really want to be able to ride everything with little to no wait either.

 

[VACamm]

Yaaay! Its Friday!

Tonight we are going on a double date to dinner at an amazing local Taco place that uses all really fresh ingredients. So excited! A little tidbit into my personal life, is that I love tacos. Like, I seriously could, and would eat them every single day if I could!

I realized that the other day I forgot to finish my post to show you all the rest of the Disney shirts that we have gotten in for our September trip.
I only showed you all our shirts for Days 1 thru 5... and I forgot to show you our shirts for days 6,7, & 8.

September 6th:
AM Park: Resort Day, Pool Day
PM Park: Disney Springs
ADR: Dinner - Hoop Dee Doo Revue
FP+:None
Nighttime Show: None
Shirts: Disney Starbucks



Penny had to get in on the shirt photography session...



September 7th:AM Park: Epcot
PM Park: Epcot
ADR: Lunch - Food & Wine Festival
ADR: Dinner - Food & Wine Festival
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Illuminations
Shirts: Epcot Throw Back Shirts:

Mine - Figment / Dreamfinder Tanktop
Kevins - Maelstrom - Never Forget
Ethan - Donald Trump - Make Epcot Great Again
Dad - Soarin'.









September 8th:
AM Park: Epcot
PM Park: Magic Kingdom
ADR: Dinner - Skipper Canteen
FP+: TBD
Nighttime Show: Illuminations
Shirts: Peter Pan - Never Grow Up



8 shirts for 8 days... I think we are done!

Do any of you wear matching shirts to the parks? If so, which ones will your family be wearing on your next trip?

Hope you all have a great evening!

 

[Raeven]

Sounds good! I could eat tacos everyday too! We do matching or semi matching shirts too

 

[MeghanEmily]

Tacos are hands down Nathan's favourite food. My favourite form of taco is ground chicken in a taco salad. I could probably eat that the rest of my life.

I love the rest of your coordinating shirts!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

So now its official... we have airplane tickets AND we are going to Walt Disney World!!

Woo Hoo! It always feels good to get the plane tickets booked! We booked ours last week.

I love all of the shirts! I still have to find a few options for us!

 

[UKDisneyJoe]

Love the shirts especially the Moana one

 

[VACamm]

Sounds good! I could eat tacos everyday too! We do matching or semi matching shirts too

+

Its Tuesday... and you KNOW what that means? #TacoTuesday

Tacos are hands down Nathan's favourite food. My favourite form of taco is ground chicken in a taco salad. I could probably eat that the rest of my life.

I totally do love a good taco salad... that actually sounds delicious right about now

I love the rest of your coordinating shirts!

Thank you!

Woo Hoo! It always feels good to get the plane tickets booked! We booked ours last week.

I love all of the shirts! I still have to find a few options for us!

Congratulations on booking your tickets! That means we are getting closer right??
I hope that you can find some good shirts. I have found some really good ones on Etsy!

Love the shirts especially the Moana one

Thank you so much! Moana is currently one of my favorite movies for sure!

 

[SweetSerenity]

I love all of your shirts, especially the Dreamfinder and Figment one! Those are all so awesome! Yay for you getting a ROL dining package! That's what I would like to do, but I just haven't had a chance to do anything else for our trip. Here's hoping it works out!

 

[annie170]

You find the best shirts! I love the different Epcot shirts and the Star Wars, too.

Congrats on booking your flights and good luck with getting the fast passes you want!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I just realized that your trip just past. Wondering if you made it there and back with the hurricane! I hope you were able to get your trip in before Irma hit!