October 2016....yes we're going to Disney "again"

[Disneymom1126]

Hello and thanks for "tuning in." My name is Kelly and I'm a Disney-holic. I first realized I was a Disney-holic when I was about 6 years old and had the opportunity to camp at Ft. Wilderness with my girl scout troop (I was born in Florida, but live in Pennsylvania now). It was then that I decided that when I grew up I wanted to be a dancer at Disney. I took a few trips as a kid and in high school had the opportunity to sing at the Candlelight Processional at Epcot...that's as close as I'll probably ever get to being an "actual" Disney performer, but hey...I'll take it!

I titled this pre-trip report Yes We're Going to Disney "again" because every year since the first time I took my daughter in 2012, I've said that we wouldn't be going again for a few years...and every year a few months later, I find myself planning the next trip! Our trip this October will be our 4th trip in 5 years...and we've gone the last 3 years in a row. I also get some flack from people who don't understand why we go "so frequently," but like I tell them, it's a place where my daughter and I can just relax and spend time together without the stress of work, etc....it's kindof "our thing" so...they'll just have to deal...lol

I've been following along on the DIS since that trip in 2012, but actually "joined" and started posting when I was planning our 2014 trip. The DIS has been extremely helpful in helping me to plan our trips and so I really wanted to post pre-trip and trip reports this time in the hopes that my planning process might be helpful for others! Even if it's not helpful....I LOVE planning our trips and writing it up, sharing it, and discussing it with others just sounds like fun to me...and helps me deal with the months and building excitement between now and October

So...enough of my rambling (I'll try to keep that to a minimum, but make no promises)

I'm going to try and do a Table of Contents with links like I see many people do...again - first report, and first time trying to do anything other than post replies to threads on the DIS, so have some patience with me!

PLANNING IN THE EARLY STAGES (a.k.a. - why are you even planning yet, you can't even make ADRs for another 6 weeks!)

Our Travel Party - Just the Two of Us

Our Dates are Set! - Trick-or-Treating at the House of the Mouse

Our Resort - Movin' on Up

Advanced Dining Reservations - Initial Plans

Itinerary - Initial Plans - Part 1

Itinerary - Initial Plans - Part 2

New (to us) and Exciting Plans for this Trip

Magic Your Band Designs!

Magic Band Skins Have Arrived!

MNSSHP Costumes - Who to be...what to wear!

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS...MAKE LEMONADE!

SPLIT STAY = A SECOND SET OF MAGIC BANDS TO DESIGN

Planning Itinerary -- Take 2! (Part 1)

Planning Itinerary -- Take 2! (Part 2)

MORE UPDATES! - RESORT CHANGE, ITINERARY CHANGE, COSTUME UPDATES!

UPDATED Planning Itinerary after ADRs! (Part 1)

UPDATED Planning Itinerary after ADRs! (Part 2)

UPDATED Planning Itinerary after ADRs! (Part 3 - MNSSHP Plan)

RESORT UPDATE!

DALMATIAN DAY!
WE'VE MADE OUR FP+ SELECTIONS! UPDATED ITINERARY
PART 1
PART 2

 

[Disneymom1126]

WHO'S IN MY PARTY?



It's just the two of us. Me (Kelly remember) and my daughter Mikayla who is 7 (soon to be 8). I'm a single mom and honestly can't imagine planning a trip for more than just the two of us! We can go with the flow (okay...let's be honest...follow my plan for the day with some changes when we feel like it) for the most part. I don't know how larger families handle all the people to make happy, feed, make sure they do their favorites, etc. while in the parks!!! We are heading down October 14th - 22nd to take advantage of a few days with no school that week as well as the opportunity to go to MNSSHP. We went for the first time last year and had a BLAST!

Each of our trips have been unique as DD has gotten older, taller, interests have changed, etc. Our first trip in 2012, when she was 4, was all about meeting Princesses and getting character signatures...she was obsessed...and we filled 2 autograph books!



During our 2014 trip, it was all about Frozen and dressing like a princess -- we were there for 7 days and although I packed her clothes for every day of the trip...this dress was worn at least 3 times! (Can you name the location of this picture? -- also...6 year olds and their smiles when their adult teeth are growing in haha)



So our first two trips we took during the end of Thanksgiving week and into the first week of December (great time to go!), but in 2015, we decided to try out October and MNSSHP. It was a shorter trip (3 days, 4 parks), but we had a lot of fun. She was definitely over the whole princess phase as well. This trip she was all about the rides and the Halloween party...and was tall enough to ride everything!





So that's us!

 

[Disneymom1126]

WHEN ARE WE GOING?

So I mentioned before that we've gone twice in late November/Early December and once in October. We loved both times of the year. There isn't much better than seeing Cinderella's castle all lit up at Christmas time or seeing all the decorations around the parks and resorts. We also went to MVMCP both of those trips and absolutely loved it (unfortunately missed the parade year two because of torrential downpours!). The one downfall during those trips is that it was really to chilly to swim at all (in my opinion...I'm sure other people feel like the pools are heated and they enjoy it)! We did see people swimming while we were there, but it just wasn't something I was going to do...and DD doesn't know how to swim well enough to go in the pool alone. During our October trip last year, we had a ton of fun coming back and going for a swim either mid-day or at night on an earlier park night. That combined with how much fun we had dressing up in costumes for MNSSHP (f you can't tell we are Honey Lemon and Go-Go Tomago from Big Hero 6...homemade costumes, so probably less clear what we're dressed as lol) made us decide to go back in October this year. The weather is great, the humidity is less than the summer and we didn't really need to have a sweatshirt/coat for early morning and later at night like we did in November.

This trip we will be from October 14th - 22nd. We've already scored some great prices on airfare through Spirit, who flies direct into Orlando - buy buyer beware! We are paying less than $200 a person round trip, but Spirit has a lot of hidden fees. If you decide to fly on a budget airline like Spirit, make sure you read all of the fine print (i.e. if you don't print your boarding pass at home, it will cost you to print it at the airport). All in all, we like it because it flies out of a small airport where we can park for free and is a direct flight (after some nightmares trying to fly through Philly we avoid that airport at ALL COSTS!!). Our last trip was only 3 days, so there were things that we either didn't get to enjoy or chose not to enjoy that trip. We're looking forward to doing more wandering and enjoying the "little things" this time as we'll be spending 7 days in the parks. So pumped!

 

[Disneymom1126]

WHERE ARE WE STAYING? - MOVIN' ON UP

So for our first three trips we stayed twice at Art of Animation (Little Mermaid Rooms) and once at Pop Century. While we really liked the theme of Art of Animation, the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms at the end of a long day was a HIKE!! When you have sore feet already no amount of distraction from giant-sized Simba makes that walk feel any shorter. To be fair it's probably less than a 10 minute walk, but it doesn't feel like less than a 10 minute walk! When we stayed at POP Century, we opted for a preferred pool view room so that we knew we'd be right next to the main building and bus transportation. To illustrate the differences -- when we were at Art of Animation we never went to the main building to fill up our resort mugs with a beverage...we did this every day at POP century!

For this trip, though, we are fortunate to have some friends who are DVC members that aren't taking a trip this year...so they are renting their points to us! I am SO excited that we will be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge! If I put aside the nostalgic aspect of the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom is hands down my favorite park. I love the theme and attention to details, I love the shows, and I love Expedition Everest!! I'm also really looking forward to the nighttime entertainment coming to AK and can't wait to experience that this October. DD loves animals as well and her favorite animal is the Okapi (we saw it in a zoo a few years ago and she has a stuffed one that she still takes with her places). To be able to stay at AKL and be surrounded by that ambiance for our week is going to be amazing. We've opted for a standard view room and will be staying in a studio. We don't spend a whole lot of time in our room when we are at Disney and plan to check out the animals from other places around the resort. Not sure yet whether we will be in the few studios available at Jambo House or if we will be at Kidani Village as we can't book until April 1st (when our friends points become available). I'm also really looking forward to trying out the restaurants at AKL as I've heard great things about them!

Another first for us this trip is that I am going to try out ordering from Garden Grocer for breakfast food and snacks/beverages to have on hand. I've historically packed snacks, but when you're paying for luggage fees, the less luggage the better. All the feedback on the DIS about Garden Grocer seems to be pretty positive so we're going to see how that goes. I also don't typically have any "adult beverages" when I'm out in the parks, but it would be nice to have a glass of wine at the end of a long day...that doesn't cost as much as what you'd pay at an on-site restaurant.

 

[Disneymom1126]

ADVANCED DINING RESERVATIONS - INITIAL PLANS

So...I've been making a lot of "tentative" plans for now as we are still far enough out that crowd calendars aren't really up to date for October yet, dates for MNSSHP haven't been released yet, etc. We will be on the dining plan, so I plan to schedule 1 TS meal each day. If recommendations don't change drastically from last year's crowd calendar here's what are tentative plans look like:

Friday, October 14th - Arrive at Disney, but not till around 9pm (flight gets into Orlando at 7:30 pm), so we are just going to head to the resort and call it a night so we can get an early start Saturday.

Saturday, October 15th - Animal Kingdom Day! - We will plan on staying at Animal Kingdom all day and doing a Rivers of Light dining package at Tusker House (or potentially Tiffins once more info is available about it!)

Sunday, October 16th - Magic Kingdom Day! - I'm planning on an 8 a.m. Be Our Guest reservation for breakfast this day. We were able to do this last October and got two rides through SDMT with no wait and then headed to Peter Pan with no wait...this worked out really well as they are two long lines and we didn't have to use fastpasses on them! We also will do a Table Service meal for dinner at AKL either Sanaa or Boma (which should we choose!?)

Monday, October 17th - Epcot Day! - So...DD is rather picky when it comes to food, so her favorite place to eat at Epcot is Coral Reef. We'll plan on dinner there!

Tuesday, October 18th - Magic Kingdom Day, take 2! - This is going to be a slower day for us, sleep in, maybe play Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom, use our fastpasses, and then go to dinner at Be Our Guest (noticing a theme - we really like Be Our Guest in our household)

Wednesday, October 19th - Hollywood Studios Day! - So...we're still holding out on this one a little bit and hoping more is announced about the new Star Wars nighttime entertainment coming over the summer. If there is a dinner package offered with it, we'll probably do that. If not, but there is time to get from Fantasmic over to the Star Wars show, we'll probably do a Fantasmic package and eat at Hollywood Brown Derby. DD also wants to try Jedi Training Academy for the first time and I've heard people have been able to sign up on their way to an 8am breakfast reservation -- so if that is the case, we may do a Breakfast Reservation at Hollywood and Vine and sign up for Jedi Training Academy...this is the most up in the air at this point!! -- watching the message boards and will see where that takes me!

Thursday, October 20th - Animal Kingdom morning, Disney Springs evening - DD's favorite restaurant to eat at across all places at Disney is Rainforest Cafe' (I know we can eat there outside of Disney...but she just loves this place and there isn't one near us where we live!). We're going to go to the one at Disney Springs for dinner - We haven't been to Disney Springs yet, so I'm looking forward to checking that out as well.

Friday, October 21st - Magic Kingdom & MNSSHP - Our plan this day will be to sleep in a bit (rest up for MNSSHP!) and then head to Magic Kingdom a little before lunch. I'm hoping to get a lunch ADR for Cinderella's Royal Table.

So...that's the tentative plan! I'm sure I will change this multiple times between now and April 15th (when I can book ADRs) though!!

 

[cadek]

I'm looking forward to reading more of your plans! I am taking my boys in October as well, 10/22-10/30. It will be our first time going in October and experiencing MNSSHP. It's great that you get to do this with just you and your daughter. I agree about the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms, normally not far, but it felt like a death walk after being at the parks! I bet Animal Kingdom Lodge will be amazing!

 

[Disneymom1126]

I'm looking forward to reading more of your plans! I am taking my boys in October as well, 10/22-10/30. It will be our first time going in October and experiencing MNSSHP. It's great that you get to do this with just you and your daughter. I agree about the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms, normally not far, but it felt like a death walk after being at the parks! I bet Animal Kingdom Lodge will be amazing!

Thanks for following along! We really did love our October trip last year (obviously since we are choosing to go back this year!). There's a lot of great information on here about the Halloween Party and lots of tips...once people start attending, they will start posting more tips about things as they change slightly from year to year!

 

[Disneymom1126]

ITINERARY -- INITIAL TOURING PLANS - PART 1!

So...again, some of this I'm definitely expecting to change as there are some new things coming that may affect crowd levels and strategies -- especially at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios -- and the entertainment schedule is not out for October (and will change once it is out) For now, though...here is what I've put together for our tentative touring plans!

Saturday, October 15th - Animal Kingdom (rope drop) -
9:00 am - Expedition Everest (multiple times...last trip at rope drop we rode it 5 times in a row with no wait...and could have ridden it more...the park did open at 8am that day, so that could have been partially why!)
9:30 - 11:00 am - Meet Minnie & Mickey, Meet Pocahontas, It's tough to be a bug, check out Africa area
11:00 am - Festival of the Lion King
11:45 am - Lunch at Tusker House with Rivers of Light package (assuming this gets released!)
1:00 pm - train to Rafiki's planet watch
2:00 pm - Flights of Wonder
3:00 pm - Fastpass for Kali River Rapids (window 2:15 - 3:15)
3:30 pm - Fastpass for Expedition Everst (window 3:30 - 4:30)
4:00 pm - Walk animal trails, meet characters, maybe head over and check out dino-land (DD doesn't really like Dinosaur)
5:00 pm - Have dinner at Flame Tree Barbecue
6:00 pm - Fastpass for nighttime safari (assuming this will be up and running)
whatever time - Rivers of Light

Sunday, October 16th - Magic Kingdom (pre-park ADR/rope drop) -
8:00 am - Breakfast at Be Our Guest
8:45 am - Ride SDMT
9:00 am - Ride Peter Pan's Flight then head to New Fantasyland and ride rides (waits are low in the a.m.!)
10:30 am - Head to Tomorrowland (Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Tomorrowland Speedway)
11:30 a.m. - Fastpass for Space Mountain
12:00 p.m. - lunch at Casey's
1:00 p.m. - new Castle show (if it's offered at this time
1:45 p.m. - Fastpass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (we like this ride) (window 12:45 - 1:45)
2:15 p.m. - Fastpass for Splash Mountain (window 2:00 - 3:00)
3:00 p.m. - Festival of Fantasy Parade (watch in Frontierland on shaded side of street!)
3:30 p.m. - try for an additional fastpass, ride rides in Adventureland (Pirates, etc.)
5:00 p.m. - leave park and head to AKL for dinner (2 rope drops in a row means an early night!)

Monday, October 17th - Epcot (rope drop) - so this is really up in the air because who knows how the Frozen sisters are going to affect the fastpss tiers at Epcot?? - again...watching the DIS!
9:00 a.m. - head straight to Test Track at rope drop
9:30 a.m. - Sum of All Thrills
10:00 a.m. - Mission Space
10:30 a.m. - get a quick snack (light breakfast)
11:00 a.m. - Agent P's Adventure and walk around world showcase
12:30 p.m. - lunch at Liberty Inn (America Pavilion - DD not adventurous with food!)
1:00 p.m. - continue around world showcase - get Ice Cream in France !!
3:00 p.m. - fastpass for Frozen ride (window 2:00 - 3:00)
3:30 p.m. - fastpass for Frozen Meet and Greet (window 3:05 - 4:05)
4:15 p.m. - fastpass for Soarin (window from 4:10 - 5:10)
6:00 p.m. - Dinner at Coral Reef
7:30 p.m. - Meet characters at Character Spot
8:30 p.m. - Find a spot for Illuminations

 

[Disneymom1126]

ITINERARY INITIAL PLANS - PART 2

Tuesday, October 18th - Magic Kingdom (short day assuming it's a MNSSHP party day)
Sleep in! (three days in a row of rope drop and a late night at Illuminations...don't need a cranky DD!)

10:00 a.m. - Go for a swim at AKL
11:30 a.m. - Have lunch at Mara then head to MK
12:30 p.m. - Play Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom, and whatever else we feel like doing
4:00 p.m. - Fastpass for Pirates of the Caribbean (window from 3:00 - 4:00)
4:30 p.m. - Fastpass for Splash Mountain (window from 4:05 - 5:05)
5:15 p.m. - Fastpass for SDMT
6:00 p.m. - Dinner at Be Our Guest - then head back to AKL

Wednesday, October 19th - Hollywood Studios day (pre-park ADR/rope drop)

8:00 a.m. - Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine (and sign up for Jedi Training Academy)
9:00 a.m. - Ride Rock'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror
10:30 a.m. - Check out Star Wars Launch Bay/maybe Jedi Training Academy show depending on when we're schedule for
11:30 a.m. - Snack lunch (i.e. a mickey pretzel and drink after big breakfast)
12:15 p.m. - Fastpass for Toy Story Midway Mania (window 12:00 - 1:00)
1:00 p.m. - Frozen Sing-a-long (if DD wants to...depends on the day lol)
2:00 p.m. - Fastpass for Star Tours (window 1:30 - 2:30)
3:00 p.m. - Fastpass for Tower of Terror (DD's fav. ride at HS) (window 3:00 - 4:00)
4:00 p.m. - check out Beauty and the Beast show or ride Rock'n'Roller Coaster again
5:30 p.m. - Dinner at Fairfax Fare
7:00 p.m. - Fantasmic
9:00 p.m. - Star Wars show/fireworks (both this and Fantasmic are going to depend on schedules!)

Thursday, October 20th - Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs
Sleep In (again...too many rope drops = a cranky DD)

11:30 a.m. - Lunch at Mara
12:00 p.m. - head to AK
1:00 p.m. - Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari (window 12:15 - 1:15)
1:30 p.m. - Fastpass for Expedition Everest (window from 1:30 - 2:30)
2:45 p.m. - Fastpass for Priemeival Whirl (window from 2:45 - 3:45)
3:30 p.m. - Check out Finding Nemo show (whatever time close to this it is scheduled)
4:30 p.m. - Take bus to Disney Springs
5:30 p.m. - Have dinner at Rainforest Cafe'
7:00 p.m. - Check out shops around Disney Springs then head back to AKL

Friday, October 21st - Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP!!
Again...sleep in a bit / don't rush around...it will be a late night!

11:00 a.m. - Swiss Family Treehouse
12:00 p.m. - Lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table
1:30 p.m. - Fastpass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (window 1:15 - 2:15)
2:00 p.m. - Ride rides in Tomorrowland
2:30 p.m. - Fastpass for Space Mountain (window from 2:30 - 3:30)
3:00 p.m. - Catch Festival of Fantasy parade from shaded spot on bridge to Liberty Square
3:45 p.m. - Fastpass for Splash Mountain (window from 3:45 - 4:45) then look for any more fastpasses
4:15 p.m. - Ride rides in Frontierland/Adventureland
5:30 p.m. - Eat dinner at Columbia Harbor House (upstairs is quiet and can change into costumes in upstairs bathroom)
6:30 p.m. - Get bracelet for MNSSHP
7:00 p.m. - MNSSHP -- this plan will be a whole other update because I haven't even started to think about this yet!!

Saturday, October 22nd - time to go home...flight leaves at 2:30, so DME will leave around 11 a.m.

 

[cadek]

Your plans look great, and so detailed! Sleeping in, that's one thing I don't normally do there, and probably should!

 

[Disneymom1126]

Your plans look great, and so detailed! Sleeping in, that's one thing I don't normally do there, and probably should!

Thanks! Yes -- I learned the sleeping in lesson our second trip...We've all seen kid meltdowns followed by parent meltdowns at Disney...and for my DD lack of sleep is a slippery slope to a really cranky kid (and mom!)!!

 

[Disneymom1126]

NEW FOR THIS TRIP AND OTHER EXCITING PLANS

Two out of three of our last trips have been long weekend trips with only 3 days in the parks and then our trip in 2014 was 7 days, but we really focused a lot during that trip on meeting characters...LOTS of characters DD was not as interested in meeting characters in 2015, so I wanted to try some new things this trip as her interests have changed and she's a little older. Our other trips have also been really centered around her interests, so this trip there are some things that I really want to try that we are going to do as well.

1. Jedi Training Academy! We have done Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the past, but princesses are kindof a thing of the past at this point and DD has no interest in doing a princess makeover this trip. I asked her about the Pirate's League as well, but she didn't want to do that either. Before the Force Awakens came out, we watched all 6 Star Wars episodes then went to the theater to watch TFA, so when she heard about Jedi Training Academy, she was excited to give it a try. She really doesn't like to be the center of attention, so we'll see if she goes through with it when we get there, but for now, it's something new we've added to our plans this trip!

2. Agent P at Epcot! We've walked around World Showcase in the past, but haven't really done much more than pick-a-pearl in Japan, getting ice cream in France, and meeting some characters. I really want to see more of the intricacies of each of the pavilions and am thinking a great way to do that is to keep DD entertained with Agent P's Adventure. We read a little bit about it and she is excited to give it a try! This is one of those things that is a nice compromise -- she gets to do something fun/entertaining/chase a villain around Epcot...and I get to see more of the pavilions while she does -- I consider this a win-win I also noticed that they are serving Root Beer Floats in the America Pavilion using "Not your father's rootbeer" and I want to give that a try!

3. Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom! We are spending 3 days at MK and one of those days will be a shorter day with just a few hours in the park and then dinner at Be Our Guest. DD is really into pokemon cards and there are some parallels with that to SotMK so she's looking forward to giving that a try as well.

4. Eating at off-site restaurants! On our other trips, we have stuck to the parks from rope drop to close most days and have always eaten all of our meals in the parks. I'm really looking forward to trying out Sanaa at AKL this trip as well as checking out Disney Springs.

5. Animal Kingdom after Dark! I don't know about anyone else, but being that AK is my favorite park, I am really looking forward to the new after-dark attractions coming to AK. Even the Carnivale at Discovery Island and the street performers at Harambe Market look like they will be a lot of fun, not to mention sunset safari, Rivers of Light, and riding Expedition Everest in the dark. I'm smiling just thinking about it!

6. New Star Wars Stuff at HS! We are really excited to check out the new Star Wars stuff at HS! I may lose it if I see Phasma leading Storm Troopers through the park!! The new stage show and fireworks sounds like they will be great as well!

7. New Stage Show at MK! Dates haven't been released yet for the new stage show that's replacing Dream Along with Mickey, but I'm looking forward to seeing that. I think Disney always does such a good job with its shows and I always love the music and dancing in them. We've seen Dream Along with Mickey quite a few times, so I for one, am happy that there will be something new to check out assuming that it's up and running by October!

Those are all the big things that will be new or we're looking forward to. We're also really looking forward to the Halloween Party again because we had so much fun last year. Also, in general, I'm looking forward to being able to slow down and enjoy the parks a little more as opposed to running from one ride to another ride to a character meet and greet, etc. One of my favorite memories from our first 7-day trip in 2014 was when we had a few hours to kill at Epcot after our last planned thing for the day until Illuminations started and we just sat down to have a snack and talk about our day/watch the world go by. DD got up and (in her Anna dress...because that was the trip of princess dresses) had her own little dance party for about 30 minutes without a care in the world pretending to be a princess. I love memories like that!

 

[Disneymom1126]

MAGIC YOUR BAND DESIGN!

One of my favorite things to do is decorate our magic bands. I never knew this was a "thing" until I stumbled across the thread talking about it here on the DIS (Here's a link - there are some super creative and artistic people out there!). Frozen had just recently come out when we took our 2014 trip and so we decorated our bands with Frozen tattoos (mine was Anna and DD's was Elsa).



Then in 2015, we decided to match our Magic Bands with our Costumes for the MNSSHP -- DD was Honey Lemon and I was Gogo Tomago from Big Hero 6 -- I couldn't find temporary tattoos for those characters and I tried the whole "create your own temporary tattoos" thing with special paper from Amazon (it was a BUST) so we just went all out with the glitter and made them glow in the dark!



*The glow in the dark pic isn't the greatest, but they looked really cool in all of the dark rides and anything with black lights!

This year, DD is going to dress up as Libby from Star Darlings and I am going to dress as a Ewok from Star Wars and we are going to make our own bands again. This time, though since I can't find temporary tattoos for them and I am just not a good artist, I am going to try the Magic Your Band idea. It's a site where you can make custom magic band skins. Here are the designs I'm using (I edited them a bit myself from banners that I found in Google Images...once I got the sizing right, I added different backgrounds or characters (i.e. I added BB8) to make them turn out better!

Here's Libby:


Here's the star wars one:


They will be split around the middle with half on one side of the band and half on the other with the Mickey Head visible in the center. I'll probably do something crafty on the mickey head and on M's it will probably involve glitter...Maybe I'll just make it glow in the dark again, cause that was fun! I'll let you know how they turn out...we have a ways to wait before our bands arrive (think months), but I have to do something to occupy my time!

 

[cadek]

My boys have done the Agent P missions, and also did it when it was Kim Possible. As a Phineas and Ferb fan, I prefer Agent P. It really is a great way to explore the countries more than you normally would. The interactions are pretty neat too.

We tried Sorcers of the Kingdom for the first time on our last trip. I had everyone in the group get the cards, not just the kids, so that they would have more cards. Again it was neat to take time to see different things going to all of the different spots (portals?). There were also some people near some of the spots that collect and trade cards, so the kids enjoyed trading.

I'm excited for all of the new things at Animal Kingdom! I'm usually done at that park by the afternoon, so this will definitely change touring plans for that park.

 

[Disneymom1126]

My boys have done the Agent P missions, and also did it when it was Kim Possible. As a Phineas and Ferb fan, I prefer Agent P. It really is a great way to explore the countries more than you normally would. The interactions are pretty neat too.

We tried Sorcers of the Kingdom for the first time on our last trip. I had everyone in the group get the cards, not just the kids, so that they would have more cards. Again it was neat to take time to see different things going to all of the different spots (portals?). There were also some people near some of the spots that collect and trade cards, so the kids enjoyed trading.

I'm excited for all of the new things at Animal Kingdom! I'm usually done at that park by the afternoon, so this will definitely change touring plans for that park.

I'm glad to hear that Agent P does let you explore the countries and am excited for that! Good hint to have both of us get the cards, I didn't think about that and trading sounds fun as well. We've always spent a full day at AK, but it has always closed pretty early as well. I've heard that they used to have special events sometimes at night and that people who attended those events say that AK has a really cool feel/vibe at night so I'm so glad that they have added the new things to that park. I'm excited for Pandora to open as well there, but that will be for a later trip

 

[Disneymom1126]

Magic Band Skins Have arrived!

So I mentioned in a previous post that I designed magic band skins that will match our Halloween Costumes and they arrived in the mail this weekend. Here's how they turned out!

 

[Disneymom1126]

Costumes...costumes...costumes....

So it's a tradition that we make our own costumes each year instead of buying them and DD and I have decided on what we want our costumes to be for MNSSHP! DD is going as Libby from Disney's new book series (with some animated shorts) Star Darlings. It's a cute series and it the first chapter book series that she's really gotten in to and can read on her own. Lucky for me DD already has a dress and sweater that will work (with some embellishment) for the costume...a little sparkle, some stars...a can of pink hair spray color...and we should be all set for her costume!

As for me...I decided to get a little nostalgic and I'm going to dress up as an Ewok (in a way that's appropriate for 85+ degree weather lol). I'm probably looking at brown shorts and a brown t-shirt and then making a hooded head piece with ears...maybe I'll paint my nose brown if I feel adventurous! When I was DD's age my brother and sister were quite a bit older than me and really liked Star Wars. I remember loving the Ewoks and up until a few years ago when I watched the movies as an adult they were the only thing I associated with Star Wars. There was even an animated series that I used to watch as a kid with the Ewoks. It's our busy season at work so I probably won't start making the costumes until this summer, but when I do, I'll post some pictures!

 

[Disneymom1126]

WHEN LIFE GIVE YOU LEMONS....MAKE LEMONADE!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted any updates and a LOT has happened since then that has led me to make changes in the initial plans that I posted...to be expected when you plan things out this far in advance I suppose!!

Lemon #1 - the release of the October 2016 crowd calendar...which is a bit more different than the 2015 calendar than I expected. Looks like Disney changed days EMH are taking place in the parks while we are there compared to 2015, so that affected the calendar. I've moved some things around and have figured it out and will post an updated itinerary soon!

Lemon #2 - I mentioned we were renting DVC points from a friend and staying at AKL -- we hadn't actually booked the trip yet because it isn't their home resort so we had to wait until 7 months out...well..wouldn't you know there was no availability for our trip! Definitely had a few stressed hours because we were really pumped to be staying at AKL...

The good news -- They were able to book us in a 1-bedroom at AKL with Savannah View for four days of our trip...so we are embarking on our first split stay! I'm really excited that we were able to work something out so we could spend some time at AKL...I've also adjusted our itinerary so that we have some time built in to just hang at AKL pool and check out the animals and campfire/storytellers.
I was also able to book a room for the last 4 nights of our stay at POP Century, which DD really likes. Although we've already booked, I'm hoping to take advantage of a room-only discount...hopefully coming out in July (if last year is any indication!).

Lemon #3 - Increased resort costs means we're cutting back on table service meals. I'm actually okay with this...DD really only has two favorite restaurants - Be Our Guest and Rainforest Cafe and she's pretty picky with food (i.e. I hate spending $20 for a buffet meal and then she eats a few chicken nuggets and some fruit). I've also been doing Weight Watchers for the past year and have lost about 60 pounds...I don't need to throw everything off while we're there by eating 2 desserts a day...which basically happens when you're on the dining plan. We make our ADRs in a few weeks and I'm hoping to get us in to Be Our Guest for both breakfast and dinner, Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs, and probably The Plaza at MK. There's also a rumor circulating that Flame Tree Barbecue will have a Rivers of Light dining package and if that comes to fruition we'll probably take advantage of that to get the preferred seating for Rivers of Light (which I'm really excited about)!

All in all...I say we've ended up with Lemonade...the mornings at AKL with a Savannah view definitely make up for the other bumps in the road!

 

[Disneymom1126]

SPLIT STAY = ANOTHER SET OF MAGIC BANDS TO DESIGN!

I posted our first set of "Magic My Band" magic band skins, but since we're now doing a split stay, I got to design a second set...and...since our initial set of skins were created...the PURPLE magic band has been made available for free through MDE. Purple is my favorite color, so this was exciting for me...in fact I chose to make myself a Tangled band just so it would go with the purple Zootopia has also been released and DD loved it so she wanted her second band to have a Zootopia design. Here's some pics!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Those skins look really cool! My sister would LOVE the Tangled one. So awesome.

I'm so glad that you still got in to AKL! AND a savannah view! We stayed there a couple of years ago with a 1-bedroom savannah view and it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. In the mornings, we would wake up with animals (zebras, ankole cattle) sleeping right outside out window and in the evenings, the giraffes would be having dinner right there. And the bathroom in the 1-bedroom is a lot of fun. Especially the tile in the shower! We're going back this Sept also staying in a 1-bedroom savannah view with rented DVC points because we can't stay away!!

The updated calendar for September also messed us up some, though I was hoping for the extended AK hours to be announced. Looking forward to seeing your new itinerary!