May 2016 Pre-Trip Report! ***Completed***

[LinderInWonderland]

Ugh! So sorry to hear about your food poisoning. It is the worst. My friends and I got it a few years ago at a local restaurant. It took almost 48 hours to kick in, but then it was awful. I thought it was just me, from fast food. I had just gotten promoted and the next day was my first supervising on my own and I couldn't call out. Fortunately, my co-worker had a whole bunch of Atomic Fireballs - the only thing that would keep the nausea at bay. A couple of days later, I was telling another friend about it and she said, "Oh, Matthew and Sara have been out of work for a few days for the same thing!" That's when we realized it was the langoustine ceviche that did us in.

 

[Sarahh1027]

I've been so busy lately I really need to catch up on a bunch of trip reports....

Same here!! I hate not having enough time to catch up often!

Ugh! So sorry to hear about your food poisoning. It is the worst. My friends and I got it a few years ago at a local restaurant. It took almost 48 hours to kick in, but then it was awful. I thought it was just me, from fast food. I had just gotten promoted and the next day was my first supervising on my own and I couldn't call out. Fortunately, my co-worker had a whole bunch of Atomic Fireballs - the only thing that would keep the nausea at bay. A couple of days later, I was telling another friend about it and she said, "Oh, Matthew and Sara have been out of work for a few days for the same thing!" That's when we realized it was the langoustine ceviche that did us in.

Oh my goodness, I don't know how you managed to work with it! It is the absolute worse! I still haven't eaten anything that popsicles, not because I'm afraid of getting sick again, but because I have literally NO appetite! Which anyone who knows me knows I'm usually always hungry!

 

[Saphire5742]

Sucks about the food poisoning. Glad that you're starting to feel better.
Hope James's procedure went well.

And YAY for Magicbands arriving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Hi everyone!!
GUESS WHAT ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!
MAGICBANDS!!!!!!!!

YEAHHH!


Sorry these pictures are sooo bad, I took a million a minute and sent them to James as I went so he could feel involved:

They're fantastic!! I love them!

So even though it's April 4th, we had quite a bit of snow today, and it's still coming:

That was from earlier, but it's still coming down strong!

Basically what this means is I NEED TO GO TO FLORIDA!!! ENOUGH OF THIS!!!!!! STOP SNOWING!! NEW ENGLAND IS SO BIPOLAR!!!!

A quick update on James: He is in a ton of pain but as expected his surgery went well! Poor thing sent me a picture of gauze taped under his nose since it won't stop bleeding. We are in desperate need of a vacation!!!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I was telling a friend earlier that snow in April (or worse, May) is why I no longer live in Massachusetts.

Wishing a speedy recovery to James!

 

[jmccoy18]

Yay for magic bands, boo for snow! My DH had that same surgery as James and while it may hurt now, once he recovers he will be so glad he had the surgery. Going to Disney is a good thing to look forward to, to help him get past the pain

 

[Sarahh1027]

I was telling a friend earlier that snow in April (or worse, May) is why I no longer live in Massachusetts.

Wishing a speedy recovery to James!

Oh nooo don't jinx us! No snow in May please!! And thank you! James is doing soo much better these past couples days!

Yay for magic bands, boo for snow! My DH had that same surgery as James and while it may hurt now, once he recovers he will be so glad he had the surgery. Going to Disney is a good thing to look forward to, to help him get past the pain

That is exactly what I told him!! It'll be worth all the pain- he will be able to smell all the wonderful smells of Disney. I'm glad your husband has a positive story about the surgery! That's wonderful to hear that the results are worth it!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Three weeks from today I'll be in my Disney resort hotel room

I can't wait to see the Little Mermaid room in person! It's just gonna be so magical for a value standard room! I think I'm most excited to see the shower (Ariel's grotto!) and to find out the room location.
In my online check-in, I requested 2nd floor lake view. If we got it, that would put us in Building 7 (Ursula building). I wanted a view of the lake and Pop Century.

But no matter where we end up, Ill be happy!

The walking distance won't really bother us, and I also read somewhere about an outside walkway to the buses that would save us some walking time vs. going through the main building. We shall see!

Soooo...tonight I brought my luggage up from the basement! A little early? Maybe. But I think if I start packing it will come sooner

SOOO after some careful consideration (aka a 5 second decision), I think we may buy tickets for the water parks. We'd buy 1 day seasonal tickets for $55 each, which is good for both water parks but we'd be visiting Blizzard Beach. We'd go on our first rest day. We planned on heading there anyways for mini-golf. We'd arrive at park opening at 10am, and stay until probably 3pm. Then we'd head over to mini-golf with our free voucher. The voucher is good until 4pm, so as long as we start our game before then I'm sure we'll be fine! Then it'd be back to the room to change and relax before our 9:15 dinner reservation at Ohana!

I did go to both water parks on my first trip, and I think James would love them... we both love water parks. It's a little pricey for one day admission, especially if we're comparing it to our current day plans which is just free mini-golf, which we still plan on doing.

Anyone a big fan of Blizzard Beach? I feel like no one on here every goes to the water parks in their trip reports! I'm pretty sure we're going to go.

Question: Since we're 3 weeks away and already have our magic bands, how would we get our water park tickets? Order them online? Buy them at the entrance? If we got them online, would they ship me paper tickets?

Well it's off to bed for the night. I'll be back later this week with our Sunday, May 8th plans!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Potential Change of plans!!!

I need input here, peoples!!

So you know that last post about Blizzard Beach? Yeah, I already changed my mind. It's not that I didn't LOVE the Disney water parks, and again, I'm not comparing them to our local water parks, but James and I DO have season passes to Six Flags New England which includes their water park. Plus we have a water park about 15 minutes from my house. Anyone ever seen the Adam Sandler/Kevin James/Chris Rock movie Grown Ups? Well the water park they visit in the movie is the water park I grew up going to and live near sooo yeah we're good on water parks!

I still think Blizzard Beach would be more than worth it, but it's James' first trip and there is soo much to see at the theme parks!

Which brings me back to my original plans of a regular "off/rest day", aside from mini golf at Winter Summerland. Now I just can't bare the thought of two rest days in one trip. Our second rest day will be much-needed. Sleep in, stroll around Disney Springs with our coffee, lunch at T-Rex, then hang out at the resort and by the pools all afternoon and night. It sounds perfect.

But...our first rest day?? It's too early in the trip!! Plus the day before (Our first of 2 Magic Kingdom days) will be a late morning. I'm not against sleeping in two days in a row, so that sticks.

Hmm...sleep in, grab breakfast at Landscape of Flavors, enjoy some afternoon sun by the pool, head to mini golf a little later than originally planned...around 3...as long as we get there before probably 3:30 (vouchers say free admission till 4pm), we should be fine.

So here's my mastermind plan!! Mwuahahaha

After mini golf, head to MAGIC KINGDOM! We'd be there by 4:30/5ish.

Then head to the Poly for our 9:15 dinner reservations. Then back to the Magic Kingdom...
for 10-12 magic hours!!!

There's just something about Magic Kingdom at night!

Which leaves us with three Magic Kingdom trips. Works for me

Maybe...maybe...probably...

Would I upgrade our tickets from a 5 day to a 6 day once we got to Disney?
Anywhere special I'd have to go to upgrade?

Thanks all!

 

[kadrachb]

Would I upgrade our tickets from a 5 day to a 6 day once we got to Disney?
Anywhere special I'd have to go to upgrade?

I think you can still change your reservation online?

If not, guest services is where you would need to go I think.

 

[Sarahh1027]

I think you can still change your reservation online?

If not, guest services is where you would need to go I think.

Thank you! I'll check online now!
I got nervous when I read this off the ticket information page:

"What happens if you have already started your vacation and realize you don't have enough days on your ticket?

As long as you are within 14 days of the ticket's first use and have at least one unused admission left, you can add on extra days. Exceptions - no ticket can exceed 10 days. If adding additional days would make the total go above 10, you cannot do that. You can add on extra days as many times as you want, as long as the total number of days never exceeds 10. Park Hopper and Water Park Fun & More entitlements are not counted in the 10.

You will be charged the current gate price for the new days added on."

^ That last sentence...umm what?? I'm not about to pay over $100 each for an extra night at Magic Kingdom??!! I thought since I'm only adding a day I'd get it for the $50 or however much it is each day for a 6 day ticket?? Ugh I'm gonna go check it out online! Maybe I'll call Disney tomorrow if I can't figure it out, just to get my information confirmed.

 

[kadrachb]

hat last sentence...umm what?? I'm not about to pay over $100 each for an extra night at Magic Kingdom??!! I thought since I'm only adding a day I'd get it for the $50 or however much it is each day for a 6 day ticket?? Ugh I'm gonna go check it out online! Maybe I'll call Disney tomorrow if I can't figure it out, just to get my information confirmed.

I think that may be if you don't change your reservation now online. By doing it now however, you still will have to pay any ticket price increases (I think), so if you can change it to more days now, definitely do that!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Thank you! I'll check online now!
You will be charged the current gate price for the new days added on."

^ That last sentence...umm what?? I'm not about to pay over $100 each for an extra night at Magic Kingdom??!! I thought since I'm only adding a day I'd get it for the $50 or however much it is each day for a 6 day ticket?? Ugh I'm gonna go check it out online! Maybe I'll call Disney tomorrow if I can't figure it out, just to get my information confirmed.

Now, I haven't done this in awhile but the last time that I've added tickets on to a multi-day pass, it has just added the extra day multi-day price if that makes sense. So it should just be the $15 to upgrade from a 4 day to a 5 day. I think that they mean that if you bought before the price increase, you'll have to pay the upgrade at the new prices, not the price it would have been had you just gotten the 5 day before the price increase.

We have the same problem. I stupidly got a 7 day before really thinking about it and we need an 8 day. We got our tickets outside of the package so we'll have to wait to get down there.

I think that since you have a package, you'll still be able to add on days even now. Let us know what happens!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Peoples!!!!

12 Days till Disney!

I...


Can't....


Even....


DEAL!!!!!!!!



I'm freaking out here, guys!!!!



I do have a smallish update. I bought even more stuff for Disney. Can't wait to share in picture with you guys!!!! I'll have to do that soon! I can officially say, I think I have EVERYTHING I NEED!

AND GUESS WHAT ELSE!?

Crossroads at the House of Blues FINALLY opened their reservations for May 1st!
I checked every morning and night and frequently inbetween, not gonna lie, for the past couple weeks.

They'd have spots through April 30th open, but once you hit May..NOTHING!
I never doubted that I'd get a reservation, infact lots of people just walk up and get a small wait before being seated. But like any true Disney planning-fanatic, I NEED A RESERVATION!

So anyways, I checked after work today and low and behold...

6:15pm Dinner Reservation is booked!

Wow. Everything is SOOO official.

An update about our 1st planned rest day (Wednesday, May 4th), we decided against Magic Kingdom extra hours. I appreciate all the feedback about how to add a day to our tickets! I just figured that have two rope drop to close days planned the following two days sort of justified making a rest day just that...restful!

We also can't justify spending like $60 each on a waterpark. Maybe in the future when we have real careers and are making a bit more money!

So mini-golf (free!) and dinner at 'Ohana (not free...infact, quite expensive!) will be enough planned for this day!

My phone background & countdown!!!!!!

I'm actually finishing up my packing list and I'm already overwhelmed by how much I'm bringing!

When I get stressed about the trip, I let my mind drift to certain things at Disney.

These are my top favs:

1. The pre-shows on rides such as Rock n Roller Coaster, Dinosaur, Mission: Space! Something about that anticipation and corny openings!

2. The lines..YES I KNOW WEIRD RIGHT?...but more specifically the details Disney puts into them. Specifically Expedition Everest, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Kali River Rapids.

3. The heat of the Florida sun (I know I'm crazy), and seeing the blue sky. Not having to bundle up to be outside. And smelling Disney water. It's oddly satisfying.

4. Walking down Main Street and seeing the Castle for the first time this trip...and seeing James' reactions to EVERYTHING at Disney for his first ever trip.

ANYWAYS! This is where I shall leave off. I hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather

 

[Sarahh1027]

With just 8 days left until Disney, I now present to you, our final vacation plans!

Day 8: Sunday, May 8th- Magic Kingdom!!!

I have never seen the Welcome Show or been to Magic Kingdom for rope drop, so today's the day!
We will spend all day at Magic Kingdom exploring and trying all the new things I've never done!

Our Fastpasses for today are:

10:15-11:15 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

12:30-1:30 Splash Mountain

1:30-2:30 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

I figured once we get into the park we can head straight down to Fantasyland with everyone else. I'd love to ride Peter Pan's Flight with a little wait as I normally get a fastpass for it.

After visiting Neverland, we will probably continue on to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, maybe Journey of the Little Mermaid or Dumbo. Or maybe we will head to Space Mountain for what will hopefully be a short line!? Whatever we can get done before our Mine Train fastpass!

After Mine Train, it'll be time for a Starbucks stop.

We will then take our time riding, shopping, and enjoying all that Magic Kingdom has to offer.

We will probably grab lunch at a Quick Service, and head to Splash Mountain towards the end of our fastpass time so that we can go right over and ride Big Thunder Mountain RR afterwards.

We will use my phone to book another fastpass, yay!

I'm thinking we will hang out on that side of the park, maybe ride Pirates or Jungle Cruise and do the Enchanted Tiki Room, since I heard Frontierland is a good place to watch Festival of Fantasy? I haven't seen this parade yet, and I'm sooo excited for the Tangled float.

After FoF, we will probably take the Railroad around and then check out Tomorrowland again. We will have so much time to ride what we want and see everything we can.

We have dinner reservations at 6:30 for Tony's Town Square. Pasta is my favorite!

I'm hoping once it gets dark to ride Haunted Mansion and maybe the Jungle Cruise. I love these at night! Even though Haunted Mansion is inside, I just love waiting in line in the dark! Honestly I love all the rides in the dark. Splash and Big Thunder rock at night too!

We will cap off the night with Celebrate the Magic and Wishes, but will be skipping the MSEP tonight since we will catch it our first MK day.

We leave the next day...which is sad but that means I get to come home and start my trip report!!

I'll probably update one more time before the trip so I can vent to you guys about packing haha

See ya real soon!

 

[kadrachb]

I have never seen the Welcome Show or been to Magic Kingdom for rope drop, so today's the day!

The welcome show is great. It really sets the mood for MK I think.

We have dinner reservations at 6:30 for Tony's Town Square. Pasta is my favorite!

Last time we went to Tony's they had this really good (I think goat cheese?) ravioli in a white sauce with mushrooms. I know it doesn't get a lot of good reviews, but I also love the Lady and the Tramp movie!

 

[jmccoy18]

Yes, watching the welcome show at MK is really neat. I'm glad you'll get to do this before you leave!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Ahhhh!!! Getting so close! I'm so excited for you! Think of all of us DISers at home waiting for our turn as you enjoy the parks!

 

[kadrachb]

YOU LEAVE TOMORROW!!!!

Are you excited? I mean, I'm excited for you.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Oh Sarah, I hope you are having a fantabulous time!!!!!