Oh, The Horror…of Food & Wine & Lumiere's Challenge! Nov 2017 PTR-Updated 9/22-FOP Fastpass!

[JAMIESMITH]

Good luck on your first half! Maybe you can call it practice for your first RunDisney race!

I like the way you think! My younger daughter's birthday is in the first week of March. I'm thinking we might try to work in a Princess Half trip the year she turns three so she will be free!

 

[ariane37]

Buy tickets for Universal/HHN. I am so confused about these and when I go on the website I get overwhelmed and confused and give up. I may end up just having to call and talk to someone on the phone. For all the bashing people do of the planning at WDW and the WDW website, I find it MUCH more user friendly and WAAAYYYY less confusing than Universal.

I am way, way behind here so I assume you bought these already, but yes the Uni tickets are confusing! Regardless of how often I buy them for clients I still have to rethink it all the next time I do it; definitely not as easy as Disney.

I finally convinced (threatened) her to give him ONE piece of paper to start his school year.

Love it! Chris would have given me a hard time if I asked him to give Ricky a piece of paper also. Gotta love them boys

9:45 am-Stupid Navi River Journey FP (can you say, "bitter?")

loll, while Na'vi is nothing at all like FoP at least you'll be able to say you've ridden it. Everyone is having problems with FoP at 60 days out, I couldn't get it today for a Thanksgiving week trip. I think it's worse than when Frozen opened! Good luck getting on at RD, I guarantee if you manage that then you're going to want to use your FP on the 6th because it's amazing

I am losing my brain lately and can't remember what we're doing on the 5th (we fly in later on the 4th). I have to check and see if we're at MK and if we are, I'll let you know and we can hopefully meet up!

 

[buzzrelly]

I am way, way behind here so I assume you bought these already, but yes the Uni tickets are confusing! Regardless of how often I buy them for clients I still have to rethink it all the next time I do it; definitely not as easy as Disney.

You would think so, but NO! I think I finally figured it out though and my plan is to buy them this weekend

I am losing my brain lately and can't remember what we're doing on the 5th (we fly in later on the 4th). I have to check and see if we're at MK and if we are, I'll let you know and we can hopefully meet up!

No worries…I just wrote in your TR that maybe we can do meet right at The Poly, if it works out

 

[buzzrelly]

I like the way you think! My younger daughter's birthday is in the first week of March. I'm thinking we might try to work in a Princess Half trip the year she turns three so she will be free!

Perfect excuse!

 

[ariane37]

You would think so, but NO! I think I finally figured it out though and my plan is to buy them this weekend

If you do have any doubts just message me and I'll try to help. Have a good weekend!

 

[buzzrelly]

If you do have any doubts just message me and I'll try to help. Have a good weekend!

I will! Thanks!

 

[buzzrelly]

Hey everyone! I'm literally at work and having lunch and I have about three minutes to post this, but I wanted to update you all just in case this can help any of you!

I was browsing the boards and saw a thread saying there are FastPasses for Flights of Passage available. Well, I went into MDE, and lo and behold, I was able to switch from NRJ to FOP!!




I'm so excited!

So if you weren't able to get it on your 60 day, try again! Good luck!!

 

[lovingeire]

Woo hoo! Hooray for FoP! We have our FP at 9:05-10:05 and now I'm thinking I might move it back at least an hour. I'm actually thinking about trying to move ours back about an hour because I think I want to eat lunch in Pandora. Tackle the rest of the park while everyone rope drops Pandora? Or else we head to Navi at rope drop and then FoP FP or we do the other side of the park and hit Pandora at the end of our window and take our chances on a long Navi wait?

 

[buzzrelly]

Woo hoo! Hooray for FoP! We have our FP at 9:05-10:05 and now I'm thinking I might move it back at least an hour. I'm actually thinking about trying to move ours back about an hour because I think I want to eat lunch in Pandora. Tackle the rest of the park while everyone rope drops Pandora? Or else we head to Navi at rope drop and then FoP FP or we do the other side of the park and hit Pandora at the end of our window and take our chances on a long Navi wait?

You should move it quickly…I hear these are going fast!

We are going to Rope Drop Navi now and hopefully squeak it in right before our FOP FP

 

[lovingeire]

You should move it quickly…I hear these are going fast!

We are going to Rope Drop Navi now and hopefully squeak it in right before our FOP FP

I was so tired last night I could barely think or type straight! I did move it back, but only to 9:25 - 10:25. I'm still torn on rope dropping Navi and then doing the FoP FastPass or doing Dinosaur, Everest and meeting characters before heading to Pandora, but that might mean a long wait for Navi. And I was too tired to realize I could have just moved BFF and I and not our other friends attached to the FP. LOL! Oh well. There are still a times left when I just checked if we do change our mind, but for how long?????

 

[buzzrelly]

FOUR DAYS TO GO!!

Sorry, folks! I've been terrible about updating this, but I thought I'd come back one last time before the trip for a quick update!

Well…I thought it would be quick, but THIS guy is acting very strangely today…
It's very windy out, but warm so the windows are open, and he won't leave my side…or my lap, so I am trying to type like this!


Anyway, tomorrow (Wednesday) is my last day left to work before the trip (I leave at 6 am and get home at 8 pm, so nothing else gets done!), and then I have 2 days to tidy up all the last minute details, such as…errrr…packing, and getting Universal Tickets. I know, I know! Crazy, right? I figured I will just go to AAA and pick them up or, honestly, I might just wait and get them at Universal. The savings isn't significant and our local AAA office is a couple towns over so I might just save myself the trip.

On Thursday, Mike leaves for his journey (what else would you call it?!)…I am dropping him off a train station that actually turned into a bus station because it burnt down last year. From there he will take a bus to New Haven, CT and then he will take a train to New York where he will switch trains and get on a train to Deland, FL. His total travel time is about 25.5 hours He leaves at 7:30 am Thursday and arrives at his destination on Friday at 9 am. His mom will pick him up from there and he will spend the day with her.

Meanwhile, I plan to clean, clean, clean my house, which has been sorely neglected because I've been working so much. Plus, I love cleaning like a nut right before a vacation so I can come home to a nice clean house and not have to worry about that!

After my house is sparkly clean, I can concentrate on packing. I don't expect it will take me too long…I already have a pile of shirts I'm bringing in my closet…I ordered the CUTEST t-shirts from Teepublic but I won't share them here…if you want to see them you will have to follow me over to my Trip Report when we get back!

I also don't need to pack too much in the way of toiletries since I have my Owner's Locker down there that will be delivered to RPR on 10/28. This saves me from having to pack shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, etc. I also have our ponchos in there (because I wouldn't wear them anywhere else!), along with ziplock bags, Tide, Downy sheets, etc…because who doesn't LOVE doing laundry on vacation? I actually don't mind doing a couple loads while we are there and the DVC laundry facilities are free, so why not take advantage of them? Also, I LOVE coming home without mountains of dirty clothes in my bag!

Friday is my last chance to see the kids before the trip so after they get out of school, we will go out to dinner at Nicholas' favorite restaurant…On The Border. I don't know if it's just a local chain, but they have pretty good Tex-Mex food. After that I am going to bring them to their dad's where they will be for the next nine nights.

After that I will bring Oscar to my mom's where he will be pampered and get to play with my 2 year old great-niece for the next week. She LOVES him and thinks he is her playmate. He is getting a little old though so I am hoping after he spends a day or two there the novelty wears off and she forgets about him. He's getting kind of old and I think he'd rather sleep all day than play!

And then on Saturday……

My plane leaves at 8:10 out of Bradley and arrives at 11:05am! My mom is going to drive me to the airport (she is really the greatest mom ever ). I was thinking that I wouldn't have to leave crazy early since I applied for and got TSA Pre-Check this year, but my ex-DH works at BDL and told me to get there early and when I told him I got the TSA P-C, he said, "everyone has that now…that's always the longest line there." Yikes! I'll have to ask him what time he suggests I get there. I was thinking of leaving my house at 6 since it takes about 30 minutes to get there, but now I am rethinking this and may leave even earlier. I get a little anxious the night before a trip and usually don't sleep well anyway, so I may just want to get up and go early. I'd always rather leave myself too much time than not enough.

Mike will pick me up at MCO and off we'll go to Universal! We don't have any specific plans for UO, other than going to the parks, and there is one place I absolutely MUST go and that Toothsome Chocolate Emporium! Other than that, we will play it by ear and see what we feel like doing. Our HHN tickets are for Monday 10/30, so we pretty much have two full days open.

I won't go into anymore details because it was pretty much laid out in an earlier post, though I have tweaked some and canceled some ADRs since then. But if you want to see how it all turns out, come join me on the other side! I haven't thought of a TR title yet…I'm hoping something inspires me while we are there!

I have a few DISmeets happening (hopefully) while we are there… @cyndiella , @kastoney , @ariane37 @lovingeire If anyone else wants to DISmeet, send me a PM and we can see if it works out!

Thanks for reading along and listening to me ramble about our trip! If you are heading down soon, I wish you the most magical trip ever! See ya real soon!
​

 

[ariane37]

His total travel time is about 25.5 hours He leaves at 7:30 am Thursday and arrives at his destination on Friday at 9 am

That's about 1.5 hours longer than it would take me to drive down, which is why we don't drive down!!

there is one place I absolutely MUST go and that Toothsome Chocolate Emporium!

Mmm, I fell in love with their macaroons earlier this year I really wish I'd gotten one of their gigantor milkshakes with the cupcake on top, so at some point if I visit Uni or at least Citywalk again, one will be mine.

I have a few DISmeets happening (hopefully) while we are there… @cyndiella , @kastoney , @ariane37 @lovingeire

I am pm'ing you my number right now so I don't forget again! Happy cleaning, safe travels and I'll see ya real soon!!!

 

[cyndiella]

See you on Wednesday!

 

[buzzrelly]

That's about 1.5 hours longer than it would take me to drive down, which is why we don't drive down!!

I know! Wouldn't you think a train would be faster than a car? I guess at least you can get up and walk around and you don't have to worry about traffic. Trying to look at the bright side here

Mmm, I fell in love with their macaroons earlier this year I really wish I'd gotten one of their gigantor milkshakes with the cupcake on top, so at some point if I visit Uni or at least Citywalk again, one will be mine.

That Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake will be mine!

I am pm'ing you my number right now so I don't forget again! Happy cleaning, safe travels and I'll see ya real soon!!!

Awesome!

See you on Wednesday!

Can't wait!

 

[cyndiella]

I know! Wouldn't you think a train would be faster than a car? I guess at least you can get up and walk around and you don't have to worry about traffic. Trying to look at the bright side here
Can't wait!

When I was a kid we took the train from California to Chicago.. We averaged 45 mph at best if I remember the adult's conversations right - which included the stops along the way. Still room to walk around was probably a plus for my brother and me.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Have SO much fun on your trip!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it Even the Universal stuff because I seriously know nothing about that!!

 

[buzzrelly]

When I was a kid we took the train from California to Chicago.. We averaged 45 mph at best if I remember the adult's conversations right - which included the stops along the way. Still room to walk around was probably a plus for my brother and me.

I think I could do it if I had a sleeper car. He's coach, so sleeping sitting in a chair. Good thing he comes from hardy folk! See you soon!

Have SO much fun on your trip!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it Even the Universal stuff because I seriously know nothing about that!!

Thanks! I will definitely do a TR after, I just haven't yet decided if I'll do it all together or split up the UO/WDW reports. I'll let everyone here know!

 

[momabaarjo]

Sounds like you have a plan to get it all done. Have a safe trip, drink a butterbeer for me and maybe we will run into each other!

 

[buzzrelly]

Hi everyone! We're back. We've actually been back for almost two weeks , but we've been super busy!

We had a GREAT time!

We CRUSHED that half-marathon! And by crushed, I mean, we were about 10 minutes ahead of the balloon ladies!

We ate a LOT, we ran a LOT, and we had a LOT of FUN! I even got to meet two amazing people for my first ever DISmeets, @ariane37 and @cyndiella! I'm going to save those pics for my TR…

Unfortunately, a couple other DISmeets just didn't work out, @lovingeire , @kastoney , and @chunkymonkey . Maybe we'll have better luck on a future trip!


As soon as I get my pictures sorted out I will start my TR and come share the link here! Hope everyone else who was going down had a great time as well! See you soon!

 

[missjackiemcg]

And by crushed, I mean, we were about 10 minutes ahead of the balloon ladies!

That counts at crushing it in my book!! A finish is a finish, right?!

Looking forward to reading all about it!! Welcome home!