Pop! Goes the Birthdayversary || PTR & Planning

[krrrristen]

I am bad at titles. Sorry!


With the release of Summer 17 discounts, I'm finally ready to start planning a trip for my birthday! (Trust me, this trip could end up being a lot more last minute.) Things are a bit up in the air--DBF may not be able to take off of work, but should be able to-- but I wanted to have a place to put everything that I am planning all in one spot. I'm hoping this will help me:


1. Keep track of what I have planned so far

2. Keep track of what I have yet to plan

3. Get input from everyone else about what I am missing, tips, suggestions, etc etc etc.


To start us off, I figured I’d share a few things about me. I've been a WDW AP holder since my family moved to Central Florida in 1995. I’ve lived in Florida almost my whole life--except for two years when I was in graduate school in Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!). I’ve always wanted to stay at all of the WDW resorts, but had not ever stayed on-property before until this February when my DBF and I spent one night at All Star Sports. There are positives to living so close to Disney (do I even need to mention them?), but the downside for me was definitely that I never got to stay at a resort. I literally asked for it every year for my birthday for 20 years! Now I live a good 1.5-2 hours away, and wish I lived closer all of the time!


Besides my birthday, this June is doubly special as it will be DBF and my 1st anniversary. I converted him to a Disney fan (and annual passholder) in under 2 months :X I also realized as I was typing this out that this June is 6/17 and my birthday is 6/17. Serendipitous!


Since we returned from our mini vacay in February, I’ve been looking at a trip over the weekend, probably from 6/16-6/19. I have a local conference Wednesday through Friday morning and will be able to drive over to Orlando after that. However, rooms were almost $20 more expensive for me, and I’d rather have a day to relax and do laundry before running off on a trip. The only set-in-stone plan I have so far is a Brunch at the Top on 6/18 thanks to @dizneet’s TR. No way am I missing that for anything! Everything else is much more flexible. What I’ve got at the moment is:


6/18 - Check-In & Brunch at the Top (the gluten free offerings look AWESOME!)


6/19 - PPO Breakfast at BOG (another gluten free favorite of mine)


6/20 - EPCOT nighttime EMH


6/21 - MK nighttime EMH


6/22 - Checkout


The two days we stayed on property had morning EMH, so I’ve never done any nighttime EMH. I couldn’t travel due to timing of projects at work last Thanksgiving, so DBF was very sweet and stayed with me for the long weekend in Orlando at my parents house where I was watching their dogs. DBF and I spent late nights at the park during that “trip” (and rode Mine Train at about midnight one night!) since it’s only a 15-20 min drive from the WDW entrance. Much easier than driving allllll the way back to where I’m at on the gulf coast after a late night. I’m not planning an AK night (although we may on 6/19), since we’ll visit Pandora for the AP preview on 5/20.


Both my BF and I enjoy a leisurely pace on trips, and have been known to sit around for over an hour waiting on a parade if we can get a good spot with chairs. Having an annual pass makes it much easier to say “We’ll get that next time” or “Man, I really don’t want to stand in line for 30 minutes for Buzz Lightyear right now”--something that I am very thankful for!


As far as food, of course I have a list of “Would Like to Do”’s I’d like to try the gluten free beignets at POFQ one morning for breakfast, and I love getting Blaze or Frontera counter service at DS. I also love 4Rivers BBQ on Osceola Pkwy (it’s not super close, but I guarantee you that it is well worth the trip). If BF has anything to say about it, we will bring food to keep in the fridge and take into the parks to save a bit of money.


Now, back to the contingency planning. If DBF can’t go that week, we’ll either move the trip back a month or *cringe* forward a month. Forward a month (into May) would put us at the tail end of an online course I teach, so I’d be heavily reliant on the room’s internet connection to respond to emails and finish up grading. It will also give me two overnight stay trips to Disney in one month. Moving it back a month (into July) would be much easier on my sanity and my budget. This would also give me more time to plan ADRs and FP+. If neither of those dates work, or if he’s not able to get away at all this summer, I will probably take a short mid-week trip over on my own.


Add on to this that we may also be visiting Las Vegas (and possibly Disneyland) during the week after Easter--and I still have not booked rooms (or Celine Dion tickets!) for that trip either. Vegas/CA was the original plan for this summer, but we’ve talked lately about either pushing that week+ long trip up to Easter or back into Fall. I do have free tickets to Vegas and back using Southwest points, and a comped room thanks to my trip last summer to see Britney Spears. We’ll see where this PTR takes us… so thanks for jumping in with me!

 

[ActionComics25]

Hello, commenting to follow along. I'm excited to see how your plans evolve!

 

[krrrristen]

Hello, commenting to follow along. I'm excited to see how your plans evolve!

Welcome! Glad to have you aboard

 

[krrrristen]

Hi all! Figured I'd post an update, since a few things have happened! Also, this time I have pictures (ETA - I do actually have pictures now!)

1. I had a meeting for an important committee I’m on come up the week after Easter, so now we won’t be able to go to Vegas that week. Probably a good thing, since it was going to be a very last minute trip. Totally doable, since the rooms and flights would be paid for, but not remotely necessary.
2. Realized that by the end of July I will have almost a month of vacation built up (woohoo!).
3. I like the idea of July 23-27 now, too. We’d still do Cali grill brunch on 6/18 (woohoo!) but do the rest of the trip later in the summer. The downside would be that it’s so hot in July.
4. My family is still trying to plan a week at the beach for this summer. I’m not 100% positive when that will be, but the two weeks I’m still considering for Disney (6/18-22 and 7/23-27) are not on the table for that trip.

I think we’re at 3 weeks and 1 day (maybe? it's on a Saturday, and today's Friday...) until my next overnight trip! Right now I’m technically blocked out (although not officially until tomorrow), but I've already got plans for the first day our passes reopen! Oops, lol.


4/22 (Saturday)

AM - Drive over, pick up lunch on the way, drop Daisy off at parents house
12:40 - Star Tours FP+
1:40 - TSMM FP+
In here somewhere I’d also like to do Muppetvision. I love The Muppets and DBF has never done it.
3:00 - Frozen Singalong FP+... I’ve never done this before and love Frozen! I’m so excited!
4:15 - Sci Fi ADR… I’ve looked at the GF menu and it seems promising. I haven’t been here in at least 10 years, so I think I’m due for another trip. This is another thing DBF has never done.

After that, we will boat over to Epcot to see The Orchestra. We’ve been to a few concerts over there before… the last one was Simple Plan.

Back in the fall, we saw Sister Hazel (pic below)

While there, I’ll probably grab a snack and/or drink from one of the booths, and check on the Epcot FP availability. One of my friends (who is going on the April/May trip with me) got a 7 pm Frozen FP+ for 4 at around 6, so it’s definitely worth checking!

We may or may not spend the night at my parents house, it mostly depends on how late we leave Epcot. If we stay overnight, we usually hit a park or Disney Springs in the morning before leaving. I did pick up MK fastpasses for the morning, just in case.

Speaking of the April/May trip, our girl’s weekend trip is shaping up nicely! We were able to get all of the FP+ we wanted (except Space Mountain, but that’s ok) and ROL dining package at Tusker House. We met/bonded over our Disney love while we were all working under the same director in our office. Here are a few pictures from that trip:

Opening MK with the old show...

I think this is the old Star Wars fireworks?

One of my favorite topiaries!

Now we are on 3 different teams *tear* but our Disney bond is unbreakable! They also enjoy Disney planning as much as I do Our plans are:


4/29 (Saturday)
AM - Drive over, drop Daisy off at my parents house to spend the weekend with their two dogs
10:15 - Jungle Cruise FP+ (Also, anyone else excited about The Rock starring in that movie???)
11:35 - BTMRR
Lunch... somewhere? I keep checking BOG for 3 but can't find one :/
1:55 - 7DMT
At this point, we'll probably head over to Pop! to drop bags
The rest of the afternoon is up in the air, we've considered going to Disney Springs to walk around and going to see Wishes one last time... so we'll see

4/30 (Sunday)
EMH at DHS - We don’t have FP at DHS, so all we’re really hoping to get is Toy Story and Star Tours
11:20 - Tusker House ROL Package ADR
12:30 - The Seas with Nemo and Friends
3:15 - Living with the Land
6:25 - Frozen Ever After
9:15 - ROL (Our ROL package says first show, but the website is only showing 1 show)

5/1 (Monday)
EMH @ AK - Hoping to get at least 1 ride each on Everest and Safari during EMH... then
9:20 - Dinosaur
10:30 - Kilimanjaro Safaris
11:30 - Everest
I'll probably get 4 Rivers for lunch on my way back to my parents house. Then I'll pick up Daisy, and head back west hopefully beating traffic!

When I got home from work today, I had Magic Bands waiting in my mailbox! I might post pictures/planning updates from that trip too, since it’s much more set in stone than the summer trip.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[krrrristen]

We had a fun and busy non-Disney weekend! BF just got a Miata a few weeks ago, though they have been his favorite car for years and years. This year the national Miatapalooza was about 30 minutes from us, so we went for a visit there:

View of the car show from the NYY Spring Training stadium walkway (Raymond James Stadium is in the background)

I thought that car was cute. There was a pink Miata too, but I didn't take that picture on my phone.

We also got some yummy frozen drinks! DBF's was lemonade and mine was mango. BTW- that car in the background is SO AWESOME!

The local community college had a sustainability expo across the street (hence the walkway picture above). We visited and looked at tiny houses!

Then we drove to Lakeland for the Sun N Fun nighttime air show.

It was a blast! The Blue Angels were at the dinner we attended, but didn't perform at night.

We went back today, so that I could see the Blue Angels. This guy was really cool, he had an old crop-duster plane that he'd modified.

I did not get a good phone pic of the Blue Angels... womp womp.

DBF and I had a great time out doing stuff this weekend, even though we are both sunburned now! I'm resting up tonight and tomorrow before a big work event on Tuesday Sorry for the lack of Disney in this post... here's a pic of last year's Food and Wine Annual Passholder "consolation gift" (after missing out on the glasses) instead.

Hope you all had a good weekend! We are looking at FL Resident and AP discounts now to finalize summer plans, so I should have a Disney-related update soon!

ETA - I'm trying to figure out how to resize these pictures

 

[MeghanEmily]

Just popped over from your comment on my PTR and caught up on your plans! I'm envious that you live so close to WDW...but I would go crazy in a Florida summer, so I guess everything has pros and cons...

6/19 - PPO Breakfast at BOG (another gluten free favorite of mine)

You've had good luck with GF breakfast at BOG? We're going for the first time in August and I'm looking forward to it, but not sure what to expect. I'm also low dairy, but I'm sure I'll do just fine there. We've done lunch and dinner, but never breakfast.

I’d like to try the gluten free beignets at POFQ one morning for breakfast

These are pretty tasty. One thing I wish I'd done though (hindsight is 20/20!) is ordered one of the sauces with them, like the raspberry sauce or something. Apparently it's really good, and I found them dry-ish with just powdered sugar.

3:00 - Frozen Singalong FP+... I’ve never done this before and love Frozen! I’m so excited!

This is so cute! Even Nathan, who's not a huge Frozen fan, liked the jokes and things the historians said. And watching the theatre, kids and adults alike, sing along with the songs is kind of magical.

The rest of the afternoon is up in the air, we've considered going to Disney Springs to walk around and going to see Wishes one last time... so we'll see

Oh you should go see Wishes again for all those of us (ME!) who won't get the chance!! No pressure.

4/30 (Sunday)
EMH at DHS - We don’t have FP at DHS, so all we’re really hoping to get is Toy Story and Star Tours
11:20 - Tusker House ROL Package ADR
12:30 - The Seas with Nemo and Friends
3:15 - Living with the Land
6:25 - Frozen Ever After
9:15 - ROL (Our ROL package says first show, but the website is only showing 1 show)

What a busy day! Did I just count 3 different parks (and AK twice)?? Sounds great!

 

[krrrristen]

You've had good luck with GF breakfast at BOG? We're going for the first time in August and I'm looking forward to it, but not sure what to expect. I'm also low dairy, but I'm sure I'll do just fine there. We've done lunch and dinner, but never breakfast.

Thanks for coming here! I haven't been for breakfast yet, but one of my friends is also GF and she loves their breakfast! I have eaten there for lunch twice... I was very anti-ADR for a while (I love planning, but hate spending money), but I've since come around Unfortunately our summer plans have changed (writing that up is taking some time, lol), but we will be there for breakfast at some point this year!

These are pretty tasty. One thing I wish I'd done though (hindsight is 20/20!) is ordered one of the sauces with them, like the raspberry sauce or something. Apparently it's really good, and I found them dry-ish with just powdered sugar.

I've seen the raspberry sauce! Looks deeeelish

This is so cute! Even Nathan, who's not a huge Frozen fan, liked the jokes and things the historians said. And watching the theatre, kids and adults alike, sing along with the songs is kind of magical.

My boyfriend likes Frozen okay. We'll see if we make it to this one, but with Sci Fi at 4:15 we'll need to pass the time somehow!

Oh you should go see Wishes again for all those of us (ME!) who won't get the chance!! No pressure.

I'm working on it If not this trip, I'll head back out to watch it on the 6th.

What a busy day! Did I just count 3 different parks (and AK twice)?? Sounds great!

Oh yes! We probably won't do anything in AK except eat and then watch ROL, though. When I would go with my friends (alone) in 8th-12th grade, it wasn't a trip to Disney without hitting all 4 parks in a day. Having cars makes it much easier than it was pre-driving, since we no longer have to rely on Disney transportation

 

[krrrristen]

So, it’s been a hot minute hasn’t it?

You’ll notice the title of this PTR has changed, because…

We’ve got plans, people!!!​

A lot has happened in the slightly-more-than-a-month since I was last on here. DBF has registered for classes at a local CC (one is finished, the other starts next week) and trying to find employment in a new industry. As a career counselor, this has been a struggle for me! He’s never applied for jobs before, so I want to help/do things for him, but I know it is much better that he learns how to do it himself. I am so proud of him and glad he’s on his way to having a better job that he actually enjoys!!

Because of this development, it seemed like we probably wouldn’t make it to Disney this summer. We had even planned another trip--to Minneapolis--to go on instead since I have some free flights with Southwest available. However, as we priced everything out it would’ve been way more expensive than we had originally anticipated. Who knew that Minnesota hotels are more expensive than Disney?? Not me! We came to the conclusion in late April that we’d put vacation on hold until one or both of us got better/higher paying jobs. I was even looking ahead to October or December dates for us to go to MNSSHP or MVMCP while things are slower at work! Basically, I figured there was no way we (the two of us) would have an actual trip at all this summer, and I was ok with it. My parents finally pulled the trigger on a beach vacation, so I had some time off coming my way that I was looking forward to! I even took a few extra days before/after so that I’d have a bit of down time to relax and not work.

...and then Pandora happened.

We went to the AP Preview on 5/20 (the same day as @chunkymonkey, who we unfortunately did not run into), and DBF was blown the heck away. I took some pictures, so *hopefully* you will see those in a post soon. We literally sat inside of the “land” for about an hour, just looking around at all of the theming and decor. I absolutely loved the Na’avi River Journey… it was beautiful and I rode it probably 3 or 4 times. I had been having some issues with motion sickness, so DBF rode Flight of Passage on his own, and when he got out he said it was the best ride he’s ever been on and that he wanted to go back through even though the wait was over an hour at that point. We also had the Moara Margarita and ate dinner at Satuli Canteen.

I feel like this is where I should mention that DBF mostly tolerates Disney because of how much I love it. Once we are in the parks he has a great time, but he is not big on planning and refuses to wait in lines longer than 20 minutes. Before we went for the first time together last August, he hadn’t been since like… 1997. Literally. He had never been to Animal Kingdom before our first trip there last November. So, for him to be this excited about Disney it was a pretty big deal!

We got back to Tampa late Saturday night and immediately started looking for hotel rooms to go back in June or July. Neither one of us could take it! And as I’ve mentioned before, June is a busy month for us (anniversary one week, then my birthday the next!). We already had a Cali Grill brunch booked for my birthday weekend in June and started pricing out adding a night or two onto that at the Contemporary or Polynesian. DBF is super into the idea of staying at a monorail resort for some reason, so I’m not going to stifle it! However once I checked my work calendar it looked like there were a few things that were immoveable on the docket for that Monday, so I needed to be back for that. BUT, after one week back at work, I’m off for another week to the beach, which butts right up alongside the 4th of July holiday. I took July 3 off, and our office is closed July 4, so I got an idea.

Surprisingly to me, the prices for 4th of July weekend were not outrageous. I’m sure the temps, however, will be. We settled on staying 7/2-7/4, and had narrowed down the hotel stay to Boardwalk, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the Contemporary when I had to remind DBF that we were trying to save some money. That is never my job. I don’t know what got into me! Stupid Kristen, always go with the Contemporary!!! We compromised on Pop Century, since I loved my stay there over my girl’s weekend trip in early May, and DBF is treating me to the Star Wars Dessert Party too

I’m still working out plans, but tentatively we’ve got:

7/2 - Arrive, AK evening (+ Pandora EMH)
7/3 - Whispering Canyon Breakfast, MK, Star Wars dessert party, MK EMH
7/4 - Breakfast (somewhere…), depart

So much planning to do, so little time. I've also got some photos from our Pandora trip & my girl's weekend trip that I'll try to post soon. One week left of this class I'm teaching, then I'm free!!!! Except for the rest of my job, lol.

Adieu!

 

[MeghanEmily]

How exciting!!! I can't wait to see Pandora, and now I'm even more anxious since it was such a hit with you and your DBF!

Also, good for your DBF for going after a job that he'll be happier in! Nathan and I have both played both roles in that scenario before, and it's awesome to be in a relationship where you support each other's goals like that.

Can't wait to see how your July trip shapes up!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Sorry we missed you this weekend! We got on line at around 4:15, and we were near the front of the entrance. We waited until 4:55pm to get in. It was sooo hot as well, we had to get cups of ice water and started pouring it on ourselves. Gosh we were a sorry sight. It sounds like you all thought it was fun! Flight of Passage is the best ride I've ever been on as well. I am not surprised that it gets the rave reviews it does. Yay for a July trip! And the SW dessert party is better than HEA dessert party as I've mentioned. HEA was wonderful but the dessert party was not worth it. It was hot, desserts were not cold, huge line for ice cream, fruit and cheese were not replenished, empty trays, etc. The only thing that was plentiful was the sparkling cider which no one wanted. Viewing location was great though.

 

[krrrristen]

How exciting!!! I can't wait to see Pandora, and now I'm even more anxious since it was such a hit with you and your DBF!

You will love it!!! The GF food options were so awesome, too, but I figure the restaurant will have loooong lines once it opens. I don't have any big problems with minor cross-contamination, so I think in the future I will use the app for mobile ordering and only choose things I know will be completely gluten free. There's a lot!

Sorry we missed you this weekend!

Me too! Things have been so crazy around here, finally glad to be able to take some time to catch up.

And the SW dessert party is better than HEA dessert party as I've mentioned. HEA was wonderful but the dessert party was not worth it. It was hot, desserts were not cold, huge line for ice cream, fruit and cheese were not replenished, empty trays, etc. The only thing that was plentiful was the sparkling cider which no one wanted. Viewing location was great though.

Thank you for the tips! This reaffirms my Star Wars dessert party choice! I am really excited

 

[krrrristen]

Guys...

MY CLASS IS OVER!!!!!

​

I honestly think that I have never been this excited for a class to end. Even when I was in school! Ahhh... my summer and Disney planning can finally really begin!

Over the last week or so, our plans have really started to take shape!


Saturday 7/1

I return from family vacation and do lots of laundry

Sunday 7/2

Leisurely morning, picking up DBF and driving to Orlando
Drop off Daisy w/ Mom & Dad (free puppy sitting!)
Check in @ Pop
12:00 - Flight of Passage FP (I’m searching for a later time for this…)
3:30 - Tiffins ADR (these two are subject to change… I do want to try Tiffins, but I really don’t want to be insanely rushed)
8:10-9:10 - Everest FP (Everest in the dark!!!!!)
9:50 - ROL 2nd show FP return time (show at 10:30)
11 PM - 1 AM - EMH for Pandora

Monday 7/3

Post-late night, I decided for a late morning as well
10:00 - Whispering Canyon Breakfast (this was a joint decision. I presented DBF with several menus and he liked this one the best)
We’ll probably wander around WL for a while, DBF stayed there as a child and I can’t remember the last time I was there.
12:00 - Big Thunder FP
1:35 - Pirates FP
2:55 - 7DMT FP

We’ll probably stick pretty close to the opening of the FP windows so that we have plenty of time to pick up the car from WL and get back to the hotel for naptime I have not set any lunch or dinner plans in stone for this day yet, because at night we have...

8:15 - Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party (AHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Yes, I love Star Wars. This is another thing that I think DBF goes along with. He probably is more of a “Star Wars fan” than “Disney fan,” though. So this is “for me”. He chose it when I told him alcohol was included, unlike the HEA dessert party

The actual fireworks at DHS that night aren’t until 9:30, so we will probably have about an hour to chow down (and slurp down) whatever we can. Then we’ll bus or Uber to the Grand Floridian and monorail to MK for…

11 pm - 1 am : EMH @ MK

I've got a lot of rides I want to do at this EMH… Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Buzz, Dumbo, Speedway, and… whatever else we can get on. I haven’t done the teacups in a long time, so that might be fun. We’ll see how much energy we've got after all that yummy food & drink!

Tuesday 7/4 - Happy 4th of July!

I’ll be honest, I have no plans for this day. I’d like to get home at a decent hour. We’ll probably sleep in and eat a late-ish breakfast somewhere on property. Pick up Daisy from my parents and then drive back with, hopefully, enough time to nap and finish up laundry before I return to work after 12 days away!


I am hoping to get all of our meals at AP discount restaurants It is a quick trip, but I seem to have really packed a bunch of stuff in there! We will be going to California Grill still on 6/18 for my birthday brunch with my parents. I don't even have FP+ booked for that day, and I don't know if we'll stay the night on Saturday either. Now that I'm done teaching (fingers crossed that it's forever!), I have the mental space and energy to think about this stuff again! Yay!

Now time to get caught up on everyone else's reports!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Your plans sound awesome!! Especially your AK plans, and your SW dessert party!! I haven't done late EMH at MK before because we typically are early EMH and rope drop people. But I'd love to have that experience of closing the park out so late at night (or early in the morning, technically!) So far the latest MK has EMH on our August trip is 11pm, but I'm still waiting to see if they lengthen park hours closer to our dates.

 

[snowwhite84]

Congrats on class being over, following along on your plans! I think you'll love the Star Wars dessert party, I thought it was fantastic!

 

[DVC Kayla]

Your plans seem to be going well! I am enjoying seeing how you plan things out, especially FP times.

 

[krrrristen]

Okie dokie! Updates (the night before, lol!) to weekend plans...

Brunch at the Top is out. Several things just came together at once that made it, in my opinion, not a great idea. Some stomach bloating issues I've had, combined with work stuff for DBF just made it not the perfect time to do something like this. But we still have a lot of fun planned this weekend!

Saturday June 17 (birthday woohoo!)
Meeting up plans are shaky, but we'll probably leave between 9:30 and 10 to drive to Orlando. Lunch will be on the way to Disney, maybe 4 Rivers!
Then all afternoon we'll be at DisneyQuest! I haven't been to DisneyQuest in probably 10 years. Now that it's going away, and is only $19.98 for AP holders, BF and I felt like we should probably go.

I'm excited for some of this

And some of this...

And some of this!!!!!!

I loved DisneyQuest when I was young. I went with my friends occasionally when it first opened, then when I was in a youth group during middle school we'd go twice a year. Even DBF has fond memories of DisneyQuest as a kid, so we knew we had to go back!

Birthday celebration meal is now dinner at Frontera! My parents will be ubering over and we will meet them there. I'm excited. None of us have had a meal in the table service section, and they have so much gluten free food!

Who knows what we'll do after... we will probably get dropped off at DS in the morning, either by Uber or my brother () so that we can imbibe at dinner. I've also considered a movie after dinner... I've got MoviePass and we want to see Cars and Wonder Woman still. PLUS I can't be at Disney Springs without stopping at Babycakes for some GF deliciousness. And maybe since it's my birthday I'll go shopping. There's so many good stores there now... Pandora, Alex and Ani, Vera Bradley, Lilly Pulitzer... who knows!

Sunday June 18 (Father's Day)
This was the day we were supposed to do Brunch at the Top. This was going to be my birthday present from DBF, but since he's in the midst of a job transition I didn't feel right about going to an expensive & fancy brunch. My mom offered to pay for it, but I still feel like it's a little bit too expensive for us right now. I have been stressed about it, and I really wouldn't have been able to enjoy it Some other time we'll figure it out and have enough money to make it happen!

Instead, we'll be celebrating Father's Day with my pops... grilling out & swimming in my parents' delightful pool!

But as for now, it is starting to storm, so I am going to cuddle up with my pup and try to get a good night's sleep before my busy weekend!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Then all afternoon we'll be at DisneyQuest! I haven't been to DisneyQuest in probably 10 years. Now that it's going away, and is only $19.98 for AP holders, BF and I felt like we should probably go.

This sounds like so much fun!! We've never done DisneyQuest, but I've heard a lot of things about it and I hope you have a blast

Instead, we'll be celebrating Father's Day with my pops... grilling out & swimming in my parents' delightful pool!

This sounds like a great alternative!! I'm sorry your brunch plans didn't work out, but as you say, another time. It'll always be there later. So nice to get some time with family to celebrate and relax. I hope you've been having a wonderful Disney day today!

 

[krrrristen]

This sounds like so much fun!! We've never done DisneyQuest, but I've heard a lot of things about it and I hope you have a blast

This also changed! Oops... mini TR coming soon

This sounds like a great alternative!! I'm sorry your brunch plans didn't work out, but as you say, another time. It'll always be there later.

Yes! It's not going anywhere And neither are we!

 

[krrrristen]

Birthday weekend trip was great! Photos etc are forthcoming, since they aren't playing nice with imgur's resize tools right now. To tide us (mostly me!) over, I thought I'd do a little TR for our Pandora visit.

DBF and I met up and drove my car to my parents house in Orlando so we could drop off the puppy.

After leaving Daisy with my parents, we stopped by a shopping plaza to pick up a light lunch. Our preview time was 3-5, but we planned to get in line early and head in as soon as they'd let us. I grabbed a chopped salad from Subway (which, being gluten free, is honestly my best "safe pick" at most "unsafe" places I go) and BF got takeout at the Chinese restaurant.

We drove to AK and parked in the back. Literally, the last row of parking. I don't remember what number it was, but we were the ones everyone drives past and thinks "oh man, glad I didn't have to park back there!". Then there were trams and cars driving past us on both sides, and no real safe area to stand to wait for the next tram and... it was a mess. According to my dad they are trying to build some more parking for AK, which is definitely needed. Apparently cast from certain parks at certain times are having to be bussed in, which is causing all sorts of transportation nightmares. I was half listening to the exact explanation he gave, lol.

Once we got into Animal Kingdom, it was a bit later than we'd hoped (I think around 1:45), so I immediately got us in line to get into Pandora. I think we waited 10 minutes outside of a gift shop before the line started moving. I think it took us another 15 minutes to get through that line and into Pandora.

Side Note: Before our preview I had planned on watching Avatar, but never got around to it :X Don't worry! I have since seen the movie!

My BF mentioned that these looked like they belong in the movie... although even now that I've seen it I don't really understand what he's talking about. Those are as you are walking across the bridge.

We walked across the bridge and marveled at the spray-painted-on moss.

Entering Pandora, you're greeted by a giant plant. I read the name in someone else's trip report, but at this point in time I can't recall exactly what it's called.

We did get a picture in front of it though. It is very impressive when you walk in. I used the trip to get some Photopass pictures, also. I know myself, if I have to wait for a picture... I won't take it!

There was a lot of cool scenery, and we took our first 30 minutes to just walk around and look at stuff.

It was really awesome to be in a new land at Disney again. I remember feeling this way when Animal Kingdom first opened, and again when Everest opened. Everything is new, and you can go seemingly forever without feeling like you've "seen that before". It's very neat.

We wound up at Pongu Pongu, where I got the Mo'ara Margarita.

Next time I will not be getting the boba topper, since the straws are paper (like everywhere at AK), and they fit the bobas perfectly. While for a real adult this would not be a problem, DBF couldn't stop playing with them like they were spitballs I may or may not have had a "You are literally 29 years old" conversation with him

Once I'd confiscated the margarita and finished it on my own we headed into the Na'vi River Journey. The queue is beautiful.

(sorry for the blurriness of the last one!)

We walked on this together once, and then DBF went to Flight of Passage while I rode Na'vi River Journey several more times Earlier that week, I had a bad bout of (unfortunately genetic) vertigo, and was laid up in bed for a day. I didn't want to risk going on the ride so soon, so I let him go for a ride on his own! I think he waited ~40 minutes, but he said most of it was walking. He really wanted me to go on it with him for a second time, but I knew it was better that I didn't.

We also ate at Satu'li Canteen, which I don't seem to have picture of? DBF got the Cheesburger pods and Hawkes' Grog Ale, while I had a Grilled Beef Bowl with the potato hash and a diet coke. Photo below from Gluten Free Dairy Free WDW.

[GALLERY=]http://www.glutenfreedairyfreewdw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0068-1200x900.jpg[/GALLERY]

After a leisurely early dinner, we made a pit stop at some more photopasses. I only uploaded this one onto imgur though...

and made our way to our next destination of the day, Magic Kingdom!

Once we got onto the monorail, we both realized just how tired we were and thought about just taking a full loop before heading home. We decided to hop off and hit one ride DBF had never done before...

A terrible picture, where we got stopped on the ride, but it was still lots of fun!

Overall, it was a great day and caused us to plan for a second trip! We'll be visiting July 2-4 and staying at Pop! mostly so we can go back to Pandora at nighttime. Fingers crossed all of these photos actually work!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Thanks for sharing your Pandora preview! It looks really impressive. I can't wait to see something new in a Disney park again! It feels like how I felt waiting to go see New Fantasyland for the first time.