"Love is a Song that Never Ends" - PTR Oct 2016 Trip

[PrincessAshlee]

Hello and welcome to my first ever Pre-Trip Report. My name is Ashlee. I’m 28 and I have recently fallen in love… with Disney that is! I love the movies, the songs, the parks, and of course all the magic that comes with a Disney vacation! I am so excited to be planning this trip! This will actually be my fourth trip to Disney World. I was last there in Feb/Mar 2014 and it was amazing!! Great Weather + Low Crowd Levels = Best Trip Ever!!

I feel like I’m forgetting something… oh yeah, my fiancé!! This is not just any Disney World vacation, this is our Disneymoon!! The last time I was at Disney, we hadn’t even met yet and now when I go back, I’ll be married! It’s crazy how things work out!

​

Unfortunately, DF is not really a big Disney fan. (I am hoping to change that!) However, he was actually the one that suggested WDW as our honeymoon destination. (I guess that I had been talking about my last trip a lot more than I realized.) Anyways, this will only be his second WDW trip. His last being when he was a child in the early 90s. A lot has changed since then and I’m hoping to show him how amazing WDW is!!!

We will be there October 12-19, 2016, after our wedding on October 8th and we will be staying at the CBR. We are very excited to experience the Food & Wine Festival and MNSSHP; both of which will be a new experience for both of us. DF is particularly excited about MNSSHP, as Halloween is his favorite holiday.

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 173 Days To Go!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Table of Contents

My Disney History

Hotel - Our Home Away From Home

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Itinerary

Update - June 3, 2016

Flights Booked

Double Digit Update

PROGRESS REPORT - July 29, 2016

Fastpass Update

Day 1 – Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Day 2 – Thursday, October 13, 2016

Day 3 - Friday, October 14, 2016

PROGRESS REPORT - September 21, 2016

Day 4 - Saturday, October 15, 2016

Day 5 - Sunday, October 16, 2016

Day 6 - Monday, October 17, 2016

 

[PrincessAshlee]

My Disney History
​

As I mentioned before, this will be my fourth trip to WDW.

My first trip was a family trip when I was in 5th grade and I really don’t remember much about it.
​

Me and my little sister with Mickey and Minnie in 1998… the Animal Kingdom had just opened!
​

My second trip was with my high school band in 2005; when we performed in the afternoon parade. I was a senior and thought that Disney was for little kids; I really didn’t appreciate it at all. I couldn’t even find any pictures from this trip!

Then my last trip was an 8-day girl’s only trip with my sister and two cousins (7 and 12) in February/March 2014. Even though I barely remember my own trip, I believe that going to Disney as a child is a rite of passage and therefore insisted that my cousins had to go. My aunt was having hip trouble at the time, so I offered to take them. My sister thankfully agreed to go too. She had just graduated college and started her first real job. She had to use every hour of vacation time that she had earned in order to go with us! ​

Town Square Mickey – This is my favorite picture from our trip! It was our last night and even though we were all exhausted, those smiles say it all!
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That trip was when I fell in love with Disney! This was the first time that I was in charge of planning and I love planning! As soon as I had made our hotel reservations (AoA - Little Mermaid Room; a must for our girls only trip!), I went right out and bought my “Disney Bible” (The Unofficial Guide to Disney World). I quickly read through the whole thing, highlighting restaurants and attractions that I thought would interest us. We used touringplans.com to make a plan for every day. Pinterest became my new best friend! In short, I was obsessed!

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I spent months making us matching shirts and hair bows for every day and I even sewed us personalized backpacks. I was so proud, because everyone kept asking us where we had bought them.

​

Really, all the planning and hard work was worth it though, because we had an amazing trip!!! We rode all of the rides that we had planned and more. We earned every wilderness badge at the AK in one day and then celebrated by having s’mores with Chip ‘n’ Dale. And by the end of the week we had met over 50 characters. I am still amazed how we pulled it all off.

We earned every wilderness explorer badge in one (very hot) day… it was exhausting!!
​

I always thought that Disney World was for the kids, but this trip showed me that it is definitely for the adults. Just as I can barely remember my first trip to WDW, it is unlikely that my cousins will remember much from our trip. The will have the pictures to look back on and I hope that they remember having fun, but they won't remember the details. I however will remember every magical moment.

I will forever remember the feeling that I got as I watched her staring up at the sky in amazement, when she saw Wishes for the first time! Pure Disney Magic!!!​

Dreaming of our princes… little did I know that I would find mine in 4 short months!!!​

So now I am planning my fourth trip… my Disneymoon! I am so excited!!! I am amazed by how different it is planning this trip. On my last trip, we moved at warp speed. We wanted to meet every character, ride every ride, and see every show. We were at rope drop every morning and closed the parks every evening (we did take mid-day breaks every other day, so as not to completely wear everyone out).

This trip I want to try to slow down. It is our honeymoon after all! It is really hard though, since there is still so much that I want to see and do! We're still planing to be at rope drop every morning, so that we can take advantage of the parks when they are less crowded and not so hot. Then we will take a 3-4 hour break during the heat of the day and return for dinner before the fireworks in the evening.

I have checked out some of the adults only trip boards, but does anyone have any must-dos for an adults-only trip? Also, any suggestions for how to slow down during a Disney trip, when there are so many cool things to see and do?

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 169 Days To Go!!!

 

[amalone1013]

Hello! Can't wait to see what you plan - I am planning my own Disneymoon for Fall 2017!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Hello! Can't wait to see what you plan - I am planning my own Disneymoon for Fall 2017!

and Congratulations on your engagement!

I will post more details about our trip soon.

 

[DISbot]

Hello and Congrats! I'm sure you'll have a great time. I'm currently working on planning a trip that also involves slowing down and the one thing I keep saying is "anything we don't get to is an excuse to go again later" - this is helping me to not do minute-by-minute touring plans like in the past. I also have left two days at the end where I am forcing myself to not pick parks, or do anything beyond a dinner reservation, that way they are truly "what do you want to do again?" days, and can't be overwhelming. I'm also looking at picking no more than 5 things per day/park that are "I'll be mad if we don't do this" things (I know, it's sooo hard to do) - I'm focusing that list on anything that might be disappearing in the next few years, or things I know will make the boyfriend insist on going back again.

As far as activities for adults:
If you can swing it, do at least one of the signature restaurants - dress up, and relax.
The Carriage rides could be great for an evening
Disney has a lot of tours that give you the "behind the scenes" opportunities (as an adult I think they add to the magic rather than detracting from it)
I'm also a fan of people-watching. Seeing the joy and amazement of people visiting for the first time, watching the reactions as people exit an attraction

 

[PrincessAshlee]

and I am very excited about our trip!

I keep saying is "anything we don't get to is an excuse to go again later"

I try that too, but the "later" is probably going to be about 3-5 years later for me, so it is hard not to want to do everything this time, but also don't want to scare DF away from going back.

this is helping me to not do minute-by-minute touring plans like in the past

DF knows that I will be making plans for each day and he is OK with that. I can't even have a weekend at home without planning out what we are going to do, so going to WDW without plans would be unheard of for me!
He knows I'm a crazy obsessive planner and he still wants to marry me! I'm so lucky! LOL

I'm also looking at picking no more than 5 things per day/park that are "I'll be mad if we don't do this" things

Thanks for the tip! I may not be able to limit myself to 5, but this really helped me to realize that I need to start separating my "likes" from my "needs". There are tons of things that I would "like" to do, but not all of those are "need" to do's. I also need to cut down some of my repeats... for example, I would "like" to ride EE everytime we go to AK, but I only really "need" to ride it once.

As far as activities for adults:
If you can swing it, do at least one of the signature restaurants - dress up, and relax.
The Carriage rides could be great for an evening
Disney has a lot of tours that give you the "behind the scenes" opportunities (as an adult I think they add to the magic rather than detracting from it)
I'm also a fan of people-watching. Seeing the joy and amazement of people visiting for the first time, watching the reactions as people exit an attraction

for the suggestions. We are planning to go to the Yachtsman Steakhouse on the first evening that we arrive. I also had a reservation at the California Grill to watch Wishes, but ultimately DF and I decided that just wasn't really our style, so I cancelled it. I think that we are going to watch one night from the beach at the Polynesian instead.
I haven't much looked into the carriage rides yet.
I had looked into taking the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour and I'm sure that I would love it, but I think 5 hours might be to much to ask for from DF who isn't really a Disney fan (yet!!)

 

[swim mom 29]

We have done the Behind the Seeds at Epcot, which was not too long or expensive. My husband and I both liked it, but I think you might enjoy it most if you have some interest in agriculture/horticulture. We're doing the pirate fireworks cruise and Behind the Steam train tour in a few weeks- I'll let you know how they are.
I know when my husband and I take our first trip without kids in September, we are planning on exploring the World Showcase more than we've done before with kids in tow.

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Only a few weeks left until your trip, that is so exciting! I hope that you have a wonderful time!

We're doing the pirate fireworks cruise and Behind the Steam train tour in a few weeks- I'll let you know how they are.

I had been considering the pirate cruise, since DF and I are both big fans of fireworks. I would love to hear your thoughts about it when you get back!

we are planning on exploring the World Showcase more than we've done before with kids in tow

Every time I look at my tentative schedule, I think that I have too much time allotted to EPCOT, because there aren't very many rides or Future World shows that I like. I have to keep reminding myself that we are going as adults and will be spending more time in the World Showcase. This is our time to slow down, have a drink and watch those WS performances that I have never scheduled enough time for before.

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Hotel - Our Home Away From Home​

We are officially booked for our Disneymoon… again! I had been holding off posting, because I was unsure where we would end up.

Long story short (yes, this is the short version )… After weeks of comparing the moderate resorts, I had originally booked our 7 night stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort through the WDW website in January. Then last week, I found out that we would not be eligible for free dining OR a room only fall discount through Disney. While browsing through the DIS boards and reading another PTR, I found out about a magical deal that I could get if I booked through a TA. I requested a quote from the TA and it was several hundred less than what we were originally going to pay. After very briefly considering upgrading to a Deluxe resort, then finding out that they did not have rooms available for the dates that we wanted to stay, we decided to stick with the Caribbean Beach Resort! We made a new reservation through the TA, cancelled our original reservation, and now we are back on track!

I can't wait for our tropical beach vacation!​

This will be my second stay at the CBR; we stayed there on my first ever WDW trip in 1998. As with much of that trip, I really don’t remember much about the hotel. Actually, what I remember most is how the Mousekeeping staff would arrange our stuffed animals so that they would be reading a book or looking for us out the window. My sister and I couldn’t wait to get back to the room each night to see what they had done!

Nevertheless, stuffed animal arrangement wasn’t really a factor in picking a hotel for our Disneymoon, so I had to do some more research on the resorts. Anyone who has ever tried to research the resorts will know that everyone has their own opinion as to which resort is the best. I spent weeks over-analyzing every detail of the hotels. Finally, we decided on the CBR due to its central location and recently renovated rooms.

We are hoping for a King Bed in the Jamaica section. ​

I am slightly concerned about the size of the resort. I am used to the AoA from my last trip, where walking from one end of the resort to the other was only about a half mile. However, we are very excited about the idea of getting a drink at the Banana Cabana and walking on the beach or relaxing in a hammock, after a long day at the parks!

Have any of you stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort? Any suggestions/recommendations to make our stay more magical?
(Please no suggestions for switching hotels… I’m not sure DF could handle me trying to analyze whether or not to switch hotels AGAIN! LOL)

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 162 Days To Go!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party​

I ordered our tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!! We are going October 18th and I am sooo excited!! Halloween is DF favorite holiday, so when I told him how we would get to dress up in costume, trick-or-treat, and watch special fireworks (he also loves fireworks), he was very interested! I think it was actually one of the main selling points in choosing WDW for our Honeymoon.

I was debating whether I should buy our tickets so soon, as I’ve already changed our schedule at least three times and I’ve heard that none of the parties typically sell out until at least August, but in the end, I am sure that I want to go on the 18th. That will be our last night at WDW and I couldn’t imagine not spending it at the Magic Kingdom! Plus the park will be open until midnight and I’ve heard that the lines for most rides are fairly short during the party; so hopefully we will be able to ride all of our favorite MK rides once more before we have to leave the next day.

Now the only thing that I need to decide is when I want to arrive at the party. The party officially starts at 7pm, but people with party tickets often start arriving as early as 4pm. I have heard that the lines to meet some of the most popular characters (Jack & Sally and The Seven Dwarfs) actually start before 7pm; closer to 5/5:30pm. We are not really fans of Jack & Sally, so that is not a concern. As for the Seven Dwarfs, I’m not sure that I care enough about any character to stand in line for over an hour; even if it is 7 characters at once. Therefore I don’t think that we need to arrive right at 4pm. Has anyone attended the party before and have an opinion on when we should arrive?

We are planning to go as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! But more like a t-shirt and shorts version, not bodysuits and tights.
We didn’t want our costumes to be too crazy, as we are planning to go straight from dinner to the party.​

The other thing to consider when deciding when to arrive is that we currently have a 4pm reservation for dinner at ‘Ohana that day; so if we decide to go to the party early, we would miss out on ‘Ohana. However, I have been debating whether or not to go to ‘Ohana for dinner, long before I learned that people show up for MNSSHP before 7pm. The reviews are so mixed. It seems as though people either love it or hate it. Some people say that it is a must do and others say that they will never go back. I went for brunch on my last trip and was not overly impressed. Lilo & Stitch is my favorite movie, so I really enjoyed meeting the characters and the food was good (nothing amazing), but we had to wait over an hour past our reservation time and everyone was tired and grouchy by the time we were seated; it just wasn’t the great experience that I had hoped for.

Long Week + Long Wait = Not So Magical 'Ohana Brunch​

This time, a friend recommended that we go for dinner. I debated it for a long time, since I read other reviews describing long wait times and dried out food, but ultimately decided that we would hope for the best and try it. I figured if I made the reservation for right when they open at 4pm, then hopefully, we can avoid a long wait. If we keep our reservation, we should be able to hop on the monorail and be at the MK by 6pm, plenty of time to walk around or ride a couple of rides before the main events of the party begin.

Decisions, decisions... Should we keep our 'Ohana reservation or plan on going to the party early?


I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 154 Days To Go!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Itinerary​

I have changed our schedule around a few times in the last month, but I am pretty happy with this plan… for now.

We have park hoppers, so most days, we are planning to go to one park in the morning (arriving before rope drop), then take a 2-3 hour break back at our hotel around noon/1pm. Then we will go to a different park in the evening. We plan to use our Fastpasses at the second park.


Day 1 – Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Flight Arrival @ MCO: 12:55pm
DME to Check-In @ Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney Springs
ADR: STK Orlando (5:00pm)
PM Park: Magic Kingdom (EMH until 12:00am)
Wanted FP+: Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, & The Haunted Mansion

Day 2 – Thursday, October 13, 2016
AM Park: Magic Kingdom
ADR: Be Our Guest (10:30am)
PM Park: EPCOT
ADR: Via Napoli Restorante (currently 7:30pm, ISO 6:45pm)
Wanted FP+: Soarin, Mission Space: Green, & EPCOT Character Spot

Day 3 – Friday, October 14, 2016
AM Park: Animal Kingdom
ADR: Tusker House (PPO 8:10am or 10:35am) (I can’t decide which time is better; any suggestions?)
PM Park: Magic Kingdom (closes at 7:00pm due to MNSSHP)
Wanted FP+: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train**, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, & Space Mountain
After PM Park: Explore the Polynesian Resort; Trader Sam’s; Watch Electrical Water Pageant

Day 4 – Saturday, October 15, 2016
AM Park: EPCOT
PM Park: Hollywood Studios
ADR: Hollywood & Vine – Minnie’s Halloween Dine (5:30pm)
Wanted FP+: Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, & Tower of Terror
After PM Park: Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf; Disney Springs

Day 5 – Sunday, October 16, 2016
Sleep In!!!
ADR: Kona Café (10:45am)
After Brunch Park: Water Park (Haven’t decided which one; suggestions?)
No Break
PM Park: Animal Kingdom
ADR: Yak & Yeti (4:45pm)
Wanted FP+: Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Rivers of Light

Day 6 – Monday, October 17, 2016
AM Park: Hollywood Studios
ADR: Beaches & Cream (11:50am)
PM Park: EPCOT
Wanted FP+: Frozen Ever After, Mission Space: Green, & The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Day 7 – Tuesday, October 18, 2016
AM Park: Animal Kingdom
Wanted FP+: Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Finding Nemo - The Musical
ADR: Ohana (4:00pm)
PM Park: MNSSHP @ Magic Kingdom

Day 8 – Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Check Out @ Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney Springs
DME to Departure Flight @ MCO – 6:40pm


*Wanted FP+ are based on current or rumored information and may change based upon the openings of: Soarin, Frozen Ever After, Royal Sommerhus Greeting Location, & Rivers of Light Dining Package

** Also, I am somewhat worried about Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It opened a few months after my trip in 2014, so I have not rode it before and was really looking forward to it. However, I have read that the seats are quite small and DF and I are not small people. I am worried that we will not fit or will be extremely uncomfortable if we do squeeze ourselves in. Should we skip it all together and leave the Fastpasses for someone who can use them?

Comments or suggestions welcome!!


I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 145 Days To Go!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Update - June 3, 2016​

It’s been two weeks since my last post, but I don’t really have much to report.

After reading some reviews, we have decided to change our ADR on the first night from the Yachtsman Steakhouse to STK. It was a lot of debating and we are still a little nervous about how loud the music will be, but ultimately the food at STK looked so much better to us. Also, we liked the idea of going to Disney Springs first and maybe hitting happy hour at the House of Blues or Raglan Road. So I called today and made our reservation at STK.


Other than that, I have just been working on planning what we will wear. For my last trip, I made matching shirts for our group for each day. I loved it and we got so many nice comments on them.

When I originally brought up the idea to DF, he said no way! He didn’t want to wear anything Disney themed (as I mentioned before, he is not a big Disney fan to begin with). Then I explained that he wouldn’t be the only guy there wearing Disney shirts. That going to WDW is kind of like when we go to a sporting event; we wear the logo and colors of our team (not everyone does it, but I like to).

DF actually agreed, so I am pretty excited about that! However, it also presents an issue because DF is a big guy, so finding Disney shirts in his size is difficult and expensive. Since we didn’t want to spend a lot on shirts that he likely won’t wear again (until our next trip! lol), I am going to be making our shirts. I picked out a bunch of designs that I thought he would be OK with and then he picked between them; letting him make the final choices, definitely helped to get him on board with Disney shirts. To my surprise, he even agreed to the cheesy matching Just Married shirts!!

Here are some of the designs that I like:

This one is just for me. Not all of our shirts will be matching… only about half of them

I’ll even count ESPN as “Disney”

​

Overall, I am very excited about our outfits and working on these will keep me busy for the next couple of months until it’s time to make our Fastpass+ selections. That and wedding planning; which I have been neglecting in favor of Disney planning! Definitely not a Bridezilla here; let’s just get it over with, so I can go to WDW!!! Just Kidding! I am actually very excited for our wedding; it’s just that reading through pages and pages of sample wedding ceremonies is not nearly as much fun as planning our ADRs and FP+ selections!

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 131 Days To Go!!!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

No real update this week as I have been very busy celebrating my birthday; I am officially 29! But I wanted to give a shout out to my birthday buddy, The #1 Duck... Happy Birthday Donald! Can't wait to see you in October!!!

Fun Fact - Donald Duck is 53 years older than me. He looks good for his age!

Me and Donald at Chef Mickey's in February 2014

​

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 125 Days To Go!!!

 

[iheartbelle87]

No real update this week as I have been very busy celebrating my birthday; I am officially 29! But I wanted to give a shout out to my birthday buddy, The #1 Duck... Happy Birthday Donald! Can't wait to see you in October!!!

Fun Fact - Donald Duck is 53 years older than me. He looks good for his age!

Me and Donald at Chef Mickey's in February 2014

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I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 125 Days To Go!!!

Yay, Happy Belated Birthday!! i'm about 7 months behind you... let me know how 29 is

So glad I found your PTR!

 

[Squishley]

Hi!! Happy Belated Birthday Your PTR is so much fun. I am an avid (slightly obsessive) planner myself when it comes to most things, especially Disney!!

Overall, I am very excited about our outfits and working on these will keep me busy for the next couple of months until it’s time to make our Fastpass+ selections. That and wedding planning; which I have been neglecting in favor of Disney planning! Definitely not a Bridezilla here; let’s just get it over with, so I can go to WDW!!! Just Kidding! I am actually very excited for our wedding; it’s just that reading through pages and pages of sample wedding ceremonies is not nearly as much fun as planning our ADRs and FP+ selections!

This made me laugh! I just got married a few weeks ago, and when everything was finished I was sad that it was over for about a minute before I said "I get to plan Disney now!!!" haha. There is so much to plan for a wedding, but you end up with lulls where you have planned everything to that point, and then you have to wait until closer to, and that was when I would plan Disney outfits and food selections and fast passes lol. So i completely get it!

I've been to O'hana a few times. I really enjoyed the food and the experience. I remember always waiting for our table though. For me, I would rather a shorter meal before MNSSHP and enjoy the park before the party.

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Yay, Happy Belated Birthday!! i'm about 7 months behind you... let me know how 29 is

Happy Belated Birthday

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I had a great week of celebrating with family and friends.

So far 29 is busy! Between work deadlines, wedding planning, and Disney prep, there are just not enough hours in the day!

I just got married a few weeks ago, and when everything was finished I was sad that it was over for about a minute before I said "I get to plan Disney now!!!"

Congratulations!! I think that I will be relieved when the wedding planning is over, but I will definitely be sad once I get back from Disney! Then all of the planning will really be over. What will I do with all of my extra time?

There is so much to plan for a wedding, but you end up with lulls where you have planned everything to that point, and then you have to wait until closer to, and that was when I would plan Disney outfits and food selections and fast passes lol. So i completely get it!

Exactly! We had decided on all of our big things (venues, caterer, DJ, dress, cake, photographer) over a year in advance, so then there was a nice long period of time where I got to relax and completely focus on my Disney planning. Now that it is less than 4 months away, there is just so much wedding stuff that still needs to be done.

I've been to O'hana a few times. I really enjoyed the food and the experience. I remember always waiting for our table though. For me, I would rather a shorter meal before MNSSHP and enjoy the park before the party.

Thanks for the advice! Although, I think we've actually decided to keep our O'hana reservation. DF is really excited to try it and I couldn't fit it in on any other day. Also, we had already planned to use our fastpasses at our morning park that day, so I don't know how much we would really get to do between 4 and 7 anyways.

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Flights Booked​

Big News!! I finally booked our flights today! I have been stalking the airline sites for months and finally today the fares dropped to a price that I was willing to pay. I was so stressed because just yesterday they had gone up to over $400 per person!

I am so relieved to finally have this piece of the planning done! There’s something about booking flights that really makes it official; probably the fact that they are non-refundable. Now I just need for our TA to book our Magical Express shuttles. I’m so excited!!!

​

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 110 Days To Go!!!

 

[Squishley]

Congratulations!! I think that I will be relieved when the wedding planning is over, but I will definitely be sad once I get back from Disney! Then all of the planning will really be over. What will I do with all of my extra time?

Thank you!! Well...once you're back from Disney, you could plan your...next Disney trip?? lol. Send subtle (or not so subtle) hints to your husband while you're there "think how much fun we could have doing this NEXT trip"

Exactly! We had decided on all of our big things (venues, caterer, DJ, dress, cake, photographer) over a year in advance, so then there was a nice long period of time where I got to relax and completely focus on my Disney planning. Now that it is less than 4 months away, there is just so much wedding stuff that still needs to be done.

Yes, things started to pick up again for me when the responses came back and I had a final number count. Just remember to enjoy the day when it comes, because it's such a whirlwind of excitement and before you know it, it's over.

Thanks for the advice! Although, I think we've actually decided to keep our O'hana reservation. DF is really excited to try it and I couldn't fit it in on any other day. Also, we had already planned to use our fastpasses at our morning park that day, so I don't know how much we would really get to do between 4 and 7 anyways.

O'hana is a lot of fun. You guys will enjoy it. Plus you mentioned you didn't want to wait in line for characters, and thats what we did when we arrived early for the party. Rather than waste "party time" in line, we lined up at 5 lol. So it's a smart choice

 

[PrincessAshlee]

Double Digit Update​

We hit double digits last week!! (I meant to update then, but life has been so busy with work and wedding planning.)

The trip is coming up fast and I am still making changes to our schedule in an effort to make it “perfect.” I know that in some way, it will never be perfect in my mind, but in other ways, it will be perfect just because I get to go to my favorite place with my favorite person!


Changes since I last posted:

I cancelled our reservation at Minnie’s Halloween Dine at Hollywood & Vine on 10/15 and instead booked us reservations at Club Villian!

I am so excited about this!!! I had been looking for something special to do for our Honeymoon trip and when I heard that they were bringing this back, I knew this was it! (Especially since they are offering it on the night that we had already planned to go to DHS.) I had read a couple of not-so-great reviews, but most people said that it was the highlight of their trip, so I have high hopes. It was somewhat expensive, but our ticket does include unlimited dinner, dessert, and alcoholic drinks; plus a show with singers and dancers. I do not drink beer and I’m not really a fan of wine, so I really like that this event offers liquor drinks.

But best of all, we get special assigned times to meet with Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts, the Evil Queen (from Snow White) and Cruella De Vil; which means minimal wait times for some rare character meet and greets!! Did I mention that I’m excited?!? Now I need to find us some new Villain shirt designs.


Other random changes: I cancelled our dinner ADR for Yak and Yeti on 10/16 and both our breakfast and brunch ADRs for Tusker House on 10/14. Instead, I made a lunch ADR for Yak and Yeti on 10/14. Yak and Yeti was one of the few places that DF specifically said that he would like to go to, so instead of rushing through our meal on 10/16 in order to see some of the nighttime AK attractions, I decided to move it to 10/14. I may end up booking Tusker House as part of a Rivers of Light package on 10/16, if it becomes available or maybe we will just grab QS before we leave Blizzard Beach or once we get to AK.

Additionally, we have chosen Blizzard Beach for our water park day (as long as it is warm enough). Now that the water parks are sharing buses with DS and AK, it makes the most sense for us to choose Blizzard Beach, since we are planning to go to AK after the water park. We originally thought that Typhoon Lagoon would be more to our liking, but it is not worth the extra time that we would waste on the bus getting from the water park to AK.

Also, since AK is scheduled to close at 7pm on 10/16, we are planning to go to DS after it closes (we’re night people) and I’ve made an ADR for Raglan Road at 10pm for apps and/or dessert.

I’d also like to hit Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf after Illuminations on 10/17. Mini golf is my favorite!


I'm also going to try to book a Food & Wine Beverage Seminar at 5:30pm on 10/17. Booking opens next week, so we will see if I get this.


Here is my spreadsheet with my current plans:

I'm worried that I am over planning, but I think that it is all things that we will really enjoy.

I Can’t Wait for our Disneymoon!! 88 Days To Go!!!