Well, since it's officially Saturday here, I can say: In just THREE days we will be checking into Art of Animation and immersing ourselves in Disney magic!!
Today, I'll reveal that we have decided to test the new
Magic Bands!
I said in our Day 2 Plans that we were passing on them this trip; however, that has since changed!
I've had the option to customize the bands on My Disney Experience for quite awhile, but since we had decided to pass, I didn't do anything about them.
But then...
A little more than two weeks ago, UPS delivered this:
We actually received two; one for Art of Animation and one for Contemporary!
After they arrived, John and I discussed it again and figured that since we've received an official invitation, we'd leave it up to Mom, Dad, and Buzzy to decide if we should test them or not.
My original hesitation was based on concerns I had with linking the military tickets AND the four complimentary tickets Dad has. It just seemed like a recipe for problems.
But, I texted pictures of the Invitation to Mom, Dad, and Buzzy and asked them to read it and think about it again. They discussed it and concluded that it would, indeed, make things more convenient, as opposed to having to juggle cards and such.
Initially, we weren't sure how Dad would respond to the bands. He is generally a bit wary when it comes to new electronics and such. He just recently upgraded his flip-phone, that he had for eight years, to an iPhone 4. He is now glued to it!
It's pretty amusing actually; seeing him sitting in his rocking chair on the back porch; texting, playing Words with Friends, posting pictures on Instagram, and checking his items on the Ebay app! He loves it now!
But, it took him awhile to warm up to it, so we were worried about any potential frustrations the bands may cause. He assured us, he'd be fine; however.
So, all that said, I went ahead and logged into My Disney Experience on September 1st to customize our bands.
First, I had to link all of our tickets. This actually went fairly smoothly. They did a decent job, in my opinion, making this easy and outlining the steps well. I didn't have any trouble linking our tickets to the bands, so hopefully there won't be any issues once we're in Disney, either!
After our tickets were linked, I customized our bands-everyone chose a different color-and confirmed our address! Then we just had to wait for them to arrive!
I got an email on the 3rd that they had shipped and on the 4th UPS delivered them to our door! I was amazed how fast they arrived!
Here they are:
John and I were really impressed with the packaging!
Our bands! I love that even Laura gets one-of course, it's pink!
I am really excited we decided to get these and participate in the test. We only chose to test at the Contemporary since we'll only be at Art of Animation for one night and won't be visiting a park while there. HOWEVER, I just got an email today saying these bands are waiting for us at the resort, even though we never customized them...
I guess we'll see when we arrive...in THREE days
Once our bands were customized and in hand, the next task was to pick our
Fastpass+ attractions and times. We decided to work them into our current plans where we could and not stress if they didn't work out.
I also found this to be a relatively quick and painless process. We were able to choose everything we wanted. We've picked the following...
Magic Kingdom:
Peter Pan
Princess Fairytale Hall-one for each of the queues
We were given a bonus fastpass for Journey of the Little Mermaid.
Epcot:
Soarin
Test Track
Spaceship Earth
MGM:
Toy Story Mania (we'll definitely get to ride it this trip!
)
Tower of Terror
Rock N Roller Coaster
Animal Kingdom:
Festival of the Lion King
Expedition Everest
Kilimanjaro Safari
These are only for the first time we visit each of the parks. We'll pick for our other park days while we're there if we choose to.
We ALSO recieved our
PhotoPass+ in the mail on Tuesday!
I ordered it pretty late in the game, because I forgot all about it!
Thank goodness, while customizing the Magic Bands, I saw the Photopass icon on My Disney Experience and was reminded! So, I ordered it that night and was luckily still more than 14 days from our trip--but, just barely!! We all plan to share the CD among us after the trip!
This is something I'm REALLY looking forward to! We take A LOT of pictures, so it'll be nice having the Photopass photographers there to help catch the character interactions and to be able to add the ride photos! We also like to purchase the dining photos at Chef Mickey and Hoop Dee Doo, and having all those included in the price of the Photopass+ is a great deal in my eyes!
When there aren't photopass opportunities, I'm usually the "photographer" of the group, and as you've probably noticed, am in no way a professional
Though I have been getting a bit better! My previous point and shoot cameras, that I've taken on our trips, have just not been cutting it-especially at night or in low-light situations. So, as a wedding present, John got me this:
A Nikon D5100
And the lenses and filters
I LOVE this camera! It's been wonderful-especially when trying to photograph Laura--she's always on the move!! I am hoping I'll be able to get a lot of really great shots in Disney with it, as well!
So, now that our Magic Bands and PhotoPass+ Voucher have arrived, and we've chosen our Fastpass+ attractions, we have everything we need for the trip! All that's left is to finish packing and getting things done at the house before Tuesday!
Have a great weekend everyone!
I gave up last night and just went to bed! Haha! So, here's take two!
We'll be seeing them again at Thanksgiving, so we'll only have about a month and a half until then!
so need to try to get as much as I can tonight! If any is even possible! 
