Now a Trip Report!!! Will We Stay or Will We Go? A Thanksgiving Pre-Trip/Trip Report

[Charleston Princess]

Cute bags!!! Just think, before you know it, you will have pictures of the girls in the parks with those very bags on!

 

[mousescrapper]

Park Days 1 & 2 look real good we'll be at AK in the morning on the 21st too and I didn't know about the time change...don"t think we'll make RD before 8 am but still hope to be there before 9 am

 

[jillyb]

Cute bags!!! Just think, before you know it, you will have pictures of the girls in the parks with those very bags on!

I know!!! I can't wait!!!!!

Park Days 1 & 2 look real good we'll be at AK in the morning on the 21st too and I didn't know about the time change...don"t think we'll make RD before 8 am but still hope to be there before 9 am

Here's a link to the post about the November park changes: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2578638&highlight=november+hours There's a link within that post that has the calendar for TAs.

Maybe we'll run in to ya'll at AK!

 

[jillyb]

On this day next month will be our second Epcot day. After spending our first day in World Showcase, today will be a day for Future World and Innoventions.

After a nice breakfast at Pop we'll load up in the van and head for rope drop at Epcot. The plan for the day is:

Get GAD FP exchange cards
Ride Soarin' and get GAD FPs and regular FPs for later
Ride Living with the Land (this will be a first for us)
Sum of All Thrills
Journey into Imagination
Circle of Life
Grab FPs for Test Track and Mission:Space before lunch
Le Cellier lunch @ 11:35
Back to Pop for a break after lunch
Akershus dinner @ 5:05 (trying to get a later time for this; so far no luck but I'll keep trying)
Use FPs from the morning for Soarin', TT and M:S
Check out Innoventions and do whatever we want there
Spaceship Earth
Head back to Pop for a good nights sleep in anticipation of our first day in the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Charleston Princess]

You all will love Sum of All Thrills!!! Head there as soon as you finish in The Land because it does get busy! Charles still claims it is the most fun at Epcot!

Yum for a Le Cellier lunch!!!

 

[MeMom]

Ride Soarin'

Ride Living with the Land (this will be a first for us)

Sum of All Thrills

Journey into Imagination

Circle of Life

You all will love Sum of All Thrills!!! Head there as soon as you finish in The Land because it does get busy!

That would be my suggestion, as well. I would do Soarin' and then go to Sum of All Thrills. Living with the Land, Circle of Life, and Figment will be pretty easy to get into all day.

 

[jillyb]

You all will love Sum of All Thrills!!! Head there as soon as you finish in The Land because it does get busy! Charles still claims it is the most fun at Epcot!

Yum for a Le Cellier lunch!!!

I know that Clay will like this. Alison didn't seem too enthused until I told her more about it then she thought it sounded pretty cool. Hannah could probably care less and I'm just along for the ride. LOL If Hannah isn't interested in doing it she and I will wander around while Clay and Alison get their geek on.

Le Cellier is a first for us and was one of Clay's requests. I'm looking forward to it.

That would be my suggestion, as well. I would do Soarin' and then go to Sum of All Thrills. Living with the Land, Circle of Life, and Figment will be pretty easy to get into all day.

I figured since we'll be right there when we get off of Soarin' I could cut down on backtracking by going ahead with Living with the Land. I don't think Clay and Alison would enjoy Living with the Land so if Hannah and I don't do Sum of All Thrills she and I could do this while Clay and Alison are doing their thing.

I can always move Figment further down the list. As long as we get our must do's out of the way in that first hour or so I think the rest of the day will be more go with the flow.

One thing that I'm concerned about is Innoventions. I originally had this earlier in the day....like right after Sum of All Thrills. Does Innoventions close at 7:00? I know that FW hours have changed (or will be changing) to 9-9 but not sure if that means that areas that used to close at 7 would still close at 7 or if they will now stay open until 9.

 

[jillyb]

This day next week will be our first day in the Magic Kingdom. I know that this park is practically everyones favorite park...and I like it too...but it's not the park I go the craziest over. I love seeing the Castle...especially at night when it's lit up...and I like Main Street. It's a fun park and who doesn't love MSEP, Spectromagic (when it was there) and Wishes! Clay said the Magic Kingdom was his favorite park. I didn't see that one coming! I asked him why and he said he liked it because it reminded him of an old time amusement park.

This morning we have a breakfast ADR at Kona at 7:50 (originally was for 8:00but when some of my ADRs were missing after the first system upgrade I made a back-up ADR just in case. I decided to cancel the 8:00 and keep the 7:50). The only thing I don't like about having this breakfast is that we will miss rope drop...not by much but we'll still miss it. Since it will be a bit of a late arrival I'm going to save Fantasyland for our second Magic Kingdom day.

I'm still tweaking the plan but here's what I've got at the moment:

Grab FPs for Space Mountain
Ride Astro Orbiter (if before 9:30)
Ride Buzz (if before 9:30)
Toontown rope drop to meet the Fairies
Barnstormer
Mickey's House & Judge's tent
Minnie's House
Ride Space Mountain w/FP
Grab FPs for either Splash or BTMRR
Ride Haunted Mansion
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House
Ride Splash or BTMRR (whichever one we have a FP)
Pirates
Aladdin
Jungle Cruise (or grab a FP if wait too long)
Philharmagic
Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner @ 4:30 (want to leave Magic Kingdom between 3:00 and 3:30 to have some time to check out the Wilderness Lodge before dinner. Thinking of taking the boat so we don't lose our parking space at the Magic Kingdom.)
Hoping to return to MK after dinner and catch the castle lighting (not sure what time this starts)
Use whatever FPs we have from the morning
Carousel of Progress
Peoplemover
Monsters
MSEP
Head back to Pop for a much needed rest for our Disney Hollywood Studios day.

Looking at this plan, it's a lot to cram in to one day and I have no idea if we'll even be able to accomplish everything. I'm not even going to worry about accomplishing everything! We'll just do what we can and skip the rest.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I hope you are able to make it back for the castle lighting! That is one of the things I so want to do on a future trip!

 

[disney<333]

The castle lighting is at 6:30. You can not miss this!! Last year we got there about 10 minutes before it started and it was very empty. It usually starts about 10-15 minutes late too. You could easily walk up as it is starting. Last year we were at Epcot the Monday of Thanksgiving week and Living with the Land had a 10 minute wait the entire day except for lunch hour. My girls loved Sum Of All Thrills. The crowds aren't too bad between 6 and 7.
I had no idea Disney changed their hours! Yikes! I better go look incase we end up going.
Let me know of you have any more questions.

 

[jillyb]

I hope you are able to make it back for the castle lighting! That is one of the things I so want to do on a future trip!

We'll definitely see the castle lighting! If we don't see it on this night then we'll catch it on our second MK day for sure.

The more I think about it the more I like taking a night off. I know by that time I'm going to need to do some laundry so that would be the night to do it. We could have a nice leisurely dinner and not have to worry about rushing to get back. Maybe explore the WL some more and then back to Pop for an early night.

 

[jillyb]

The castle lighting is at 6:30. You can not miss this!! Last year we got there about 10 minutes before it started and it was very empty. It usually starts about 10-15 minutes late too. You could easily walk up as it is starting. Last year we were at Epcot the Monday of Thanksgiving week and Living with the Land had a 10 minute wait the entire day except for lunch hour. My girls loved Sum Of All Thrills. The crowds aren't too bad between 6 and 7.
I had no idea Disney changed their hours! Yikes! I better go look incase we end up going.
Let me know of you have any more questions.

We must have been posting at the same time! LOL Thanks for the information on the time for the castle lighting. I've searched everywhere and couldn't find it.

There's a thread on here somewhere about the time changes. They've also added some F! shows.

So ya'll are still debating on whether to go in November or wait until January? I see you have an update on your PTR so off to read it!

 

[jillyb]

On this day next month we will be at Disney Hollywood Studios. This is our least favorite park. Maybe this time around our opinion will change. If it wasn't for Toy Story Mania and Rock N Rollercoaster we probably wouldn't even bother with this park. I was originally planning on sleeping in this morning but if we make it an early night on our MK day we'll do rope drop.

After a quick breakfast at the Pop food court we'll be on our way. The plan for this day is:

Get GAD FPs at Will Call
Get GAD FPs for Toy Story Mania and ride standby
Magic of Disney Animation (I really think the girls and Clay will enjoy the drawing)
RnR (grab GAD FPs and ride standby)
ToT (grab regular FPs and ride standby)
Beauty & the Beast @ 11:30 (hope I've got my timing right here!)
Indiana Jones @ 12:45
Sci-Fi lunch @ 1:35
Use FPs for Toy Story, RnR and ToT
Lights Motor Action @ 4:30
Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area
Meet some of my TourGuideMike November Vacation club buddies @ 5:40 to see Osborne Lights @ 6:00
Hollywood Brown Derby dinner @ 7:15

We'll take our time at dinner so we can (hopefully) be walking out of an empty, or almost empty, park. I'm hoping we can find a Photopass photographer and get some good pictures with the hat in the background. There's no F! scheduled for this night, which is why I picked Hollywood Studios for this day. Hannah was very upset when she found out we weren't going to see F! on this trip but I'm just not going to deal with the crowds. From what I've read elsewhere it's a nightmare just during regular times. I don't even want to think about what it's like during a holiday!

After dinner it's back to Pop for an early bedtime. The next day is Thanksgiving and will definitely be a sleep in morning for us. We have a late breakfast ADR Boma and then it's back to the Animal Kingdom to soak up the atmosphere!

 

[disney<333]

Sounds like it will be a fun day. The lights are fantastic. I'm a little sad about missing it but I'll still see the resort decorations.
I have a 4 PM ADR at Boma for that day. Can't wait to eat here.

 

[jillyb]

Sounds like it will be a fun day. The lights are fantastic. I'm a little sad about missing it but I'll still see the resort decorations.
I have a 4 PM ADR at Boma for that day. Can't wait to eat here.

I'm excited about our Boma ADR. Not only for the food but it will give us the chance to check out the AKL. Hopefully Clay will fall in love with it and want to stay there as bad as I do!

 

[jillyb]

This day next month will be Thanksgiving Day and will be a sleep in morning for us after spending a full day at Hollywood Studios the day before.

We have a 10:15 breakfast at Boma this morning. I can't wait to see Animal Kingdom Lodge! I'd like to take some time to explore the resort a bit after breakfast before heading to Animal Kingdom.

This day is going to be all about the atmosphere. The plan for today is:

Breakfast @ Boma
Oasis exhibits
Maybe do the safari and Pangani Forest Trail (especially if we don't do the trail on our first AK day for some reason)
Rafiki's Planet Watch/Conservation Station
Maharajah Jungle Trek (if we don't do on our first AK day)
Flights of Wonder
Discovery Island Trails/Tree of Life
Dinner @ Ohana @ 6:45 (want to get there early enough to explore resort)
Electrical Water Parade @ 9:00 on the Poly Beach
TGM Meet on the Poly Beach to watch 10:00 Wishes

Hopefully we won't be too tired from even though this is going to be a late night for us because the next morning is rope drop at the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Poolrat]

This day next month will be our first day at AK. I can't wait!!

Originally, the park hours were 9-7 but there has been a recent change to the November park hours and AK is now open 8-7. My boss had a telephone hearing this afternoon and I was all caught up on my work so I spent my afternoon tweaking our plans based on the new hours.

I really want to be there for RD at 8:00 but, since I plan on staying the whole day, that might be too long of a day. I'm thinking of getting there around 9:00. I've even had it suggested to sleep in that day and arrive around 10:00. I can't wait that long! I guess I'll just play it by ear on whether we do RD or do a later arrival. If I go with the later arrival it will be more like between 8:45 and 9:00.

The plan for the day is:

Get GAD FP exchange cards at Will Call
Ride EE standby and get 4 GAD FPs for later use
Primeval Whirl
Triceratop Spin
DINOSAUR and get 4 GAD FPs for later use
EE w/GAD FPs
Grab GAD FPs for ITTBAB
Grab GAD FPs for KS
Tusker House breakfast @ 10:20 (this is why I want to do RD; we'd have at least 2 hours of park time before breakfast)
KS
Pangani Forest Trail
DINOSAUR w/GAD FPs
ITTBAB w/GAD FPs
Options before parade: 1) Hannah and I go see FotLK and Clay and Alison can do their own thing, 2) All go to Camp Minnie Mickey for the character meet and greet or 3) walk around the Tree of Life
(Now that I think about it the walk around the Tree of Life would fit perfectly here since we'll be coming out of ITTBAB)
Jammin' Jungle Parade
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Yak & Yeti dinner @ 5:30
leisurely walk out of what will hopefully be a practically empty park and see the closing show.
Back to Pop for an early night because our next day we'll be rope droping Epcot!

NO FOLK Just kidding. Looks like a fun filled plan.

 

[jillyb]

NO FOLK Just kidding. Looks like a fun filled plan.

I know! Clay and Alison didn't like it when we saw it in 2008 and Hannah doesn't remember it so she said "No".

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

Joining in!!

 

[jillyb]

Joining in!!

Thanks for joining in!