Sometimes we need a little magic! - A best friends and first timers Feb '18 PTR

[once_upon_a_melora]

Oh my gawd guys, here it is, I am FINALLY beginning the planning stages for my very first Disney trip of all time ever!! I started a PTR years and years ago but the trip ended up falling through because I was young and stupid and couldn’t save money. But now, here I am, older and less stupid (but still not that good at saving money.)

So here we are, planning a trip that’s actually less than a year away, which means I’m allowed to be outwardly excited about it without looking absolutely insane. YAAAAAY!

After reading probably close to a hundred PTR’s and TR’s on here, I guess this is the part where I introduce myself so we can all get to know one another.

My name is Melora, in case you couldn’t tell from my not so clever username. I’m 30 years old (31 at the time of the trip) and I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I’m married to a handsome nerd named Jonathan, and have two little boys named Atlas (15 months) and Griffin (3 months). I’m currently a stay at home mom (taking care of 2 under 2 is HARD work) but I’ll be starting to look for a nursing job this summer/fall since I graduated from a nursing program last year.

Favorite Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Tangled and the new live action Beauty and the Beast.
Favorite Characters: Ariel, Rapunzel, Flynn, Minnie and pretty much all of the villains.
Park I’m looking forward to most: Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.
Ride I’m looking forward to most: All the mountains, Expedition Everest, ToT, Frozen Ever After.
Restaurant I’m looking forward to most: It was Be Our Guest until I realized I could meet most of my favorite characters for breakfast at Trattoria al Forno.

I’ve been obsessed with Disney and the idea of going to Disney World since I was 5 years old but was never able to go because my parents were never able to afford that for us. That didn’t keep us from ordering the free Disney planning DVD every year as a child (I kept ordering it well into adulthood). I’m the person who gets goose bumps over Disney commercials and cries when parents surprise their kids with trips. Jonathan and I decided awhile ago that we take a trip when our kids were old enough to be able to remember it, so we’ll be heading to WDW as a family in January of 2021, BUT that’s not what we’re here for because I get to go a whole lot sooner!!

Here are some pictures *throws photos in your general direction*

(Me!)

And just because they're the apples of my eye...

(Atlas)

(Griffin)

My travel buddy for this trip is one of my closest friends in the entire world. We’ve been best friends close to 10 years now and have had so many great adventures together, but I think this will be the one to top them all.

Breagh is 24 years old (she’ll be 25 at the time of the trip) and she is a goofy, free spirited geek, who is the perfect companion to travel with. Breagh lives about 3 hours away from me just outside of the city and I see her every once in awhile when she visits her parents in our home town, where I still live! We’ve managed to stay best friends despite the distance for the majority of our friendship.

From the mouth of Miss Breagh herself "I've loved Disney for as long as I can remember. When I was little, like between the ages of 2 and 4, my older sister wasn't allowed to watch the Lion King because the hyenas scared me to the point of nightmares, but once I got older the Lion king became ones of my all time favourites. I've never been to any Disney park, but it's a lifelong dream to go to Disney World. I want to visit every Disney Park before I die. I love to be silly and have fun. I'm plan on working on my vlogging skills as well as my running skills because I want to be able to capture the magic in a totally not awkward way so I can have something to look back on in years to come."

Favorite Disney Movie: Hercules (She knows every line from beginning to end.)
Favorite Characters: Ariel, Belle, Merida, Naveen, Hades, Megara, Eeyore, Periwinkle
Park I'm looking forward to most: Magic Kingdom
Ride I'm looking forward to most: Kilimanjaro Safari and Star Wars fireworks
Restaurant I'm looking forward to most: Crystal Palace and desserting our way around the world.

(Breagh!)

(Her fur baby Ruckus)

(The two of us with the men in our lives)

We’ll be travelling out of Halifax, NS on February 21 and staying until the 27th or 28th, which brings me to the whole reason for this trip….Princess Half Marathon Weekend!! Breagh and I are both plus size, curvy girls who are super into body positivity and are using this trip as an incentive to stay healthy and build up our fitness levels. So, we’ll both be running the RunDisney Princess 5K, which will be my first ever race and is soooo exciting.

How It All Came About:

A couple of months ago one of my Facebook friends, Victoria, who I went to school with from Grade Primary-12 wrote that she was looking at getting into shape and running the Princess 5K in Disney World. She was looking for some ladies to join her and when I told my husband about it he thought it was a good idea since I had been complaining of being completely out of shape after having two babies within 12 months and 2 weeks of one another (what was I thinking haha). So, I messaged her about it and mentioned it to my bestie, who was completely onboard, and so our trip was born. Victoria is a travel agent so she’ll be taking care of our flights/packages but other than meeting up for the race and doing one day at Universal (we’re all HUGE Harry Potter fans), Breagh and I will mostly be on our own to make all of our touring plans. I LOVE planning so this part is going to be so much fun for me.

So welcome one and all, hope you’ll follow us along our journey to what will surely be the most magical trip ever!!!

Table of Contents:
Intros
Where Are We Staying?
Current Plans-April 19/17
Milestones
We're Registered!
Resort is Booked!
Itinerary Draft #34653847653
Flights and ADR changes
So much PLANNING-Food & Flights
Update
FP+ Selections!
Slipped My Mind
Five Days!
TOMORROW!!​

 

[cantoine]

Following along. I think it is awesome you are running in the 5K. I too had 2 kids back to back, so I can relate to what you are saying. I am excited to read all your plans for your first trip. Any idea where you are staying?

 

[HipsterPeterPan]

Hopping on board! I'm trying to pull my best friend to The World soon, she's never been, and we've both chatted about doing the races before.

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Following along. I think it is awesome you are running in the 5K. I too had 2 kids back to back, so I can relate to what you are saying. I am excited to read all your plans for your first trip. Any idea where you are staying?

Thanks for joining in! All we know for sure right now is that it will be a value. As soon as we register for the race we're going to book our room only until packages get released (I was told during the Summer?) Only a couple more weeks until race registration!!

Hopping on board! I'm trying to pull my best friend to The World soon, she's never been, and we've both chatted about doing the races before.

Welcome aboard!! We're both crazy excited about the whole thing, there's nothing like traveling with your best friend

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Where are we staying?


We are basically trying to plan for the cheapest travel plans possible because we aren't exactly rolling in the dough;

so that means VALUE resorts. I’m partial to Pop Century because I love everything retro, but I have a feeling we'll end up in All Star Sports. I’d be happy staying anywhere on Disney property honestly. Breagh and I are very easy to please, as long as it’s clean and the beds are halfway comfy we’ll be satisfied (we won’t be spending too much time in our room anyway). If we do stay in All Star Sports, I will be requesting a room in the Surfing section, because we aren't that into sports and the beachy theme is more our style PLUS it's closest to the main building.


​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Current Plans:​

​

As of right now (being that we're still over 300 days out) there still isn't a ton of things for us to do besides read trip reports and watch about a million Disney vloggers.​

Does anyone have any suggestions for vloggers I should check out??

We are patiently waiting to be able to register for our race on May 2nd (only 13 days to go!). As soon as we are both registered we're going to get our travel agent to book us a room only reservation at the cheapest resort we can get. And then we wait, and wait some more. When packages come out in the summer we will switch to a package. We're hoping for a nice deal but not getting our hopes too high, any discount would be fantastic. We'll be getting the Disney Dining Plan mostly for the convenience of not having to put money aside for meals out of pocket, and the next milestone will be 180 days for ADRs. We already have some rudimentary park planning done, completely dependent on park times, crowds etc.. and we've got some restaurant picked out that we'd like to try...but more about those later!

Thanks for checking in ​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Milestones

Six days until registration and I can hardly wait! You can bet your butt I'll be sitting at my husband's computer, ready and waiting long before I need to be. Also, in countdown news, tomorrow marks our first countdown milestone.

300 Days People!!!!!

We've talked about doing Disney inspired activities for each milestone so I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow. Maybe watch a Disney movie? Eat some Disney snacks? We'll have to see I guess.

I've been keeping very busy with the planning of a wedding shower, bachelorette party and now wedding for one of my cousins and a baby shower for her sister. It's been absolutely nuts! After next weekend I'll be able to breathe, relax, and most importantly get back to trip planning!​

 

[mdsouth]

Wonderful news that you get to go to WDW for your first ever trip and with your BEST FRIEND! Woo Hoo! I think it is great that they two of you will be running the Disney 5K. That should make for a great incentive to keep running. I, too am plus sized and feel the need to get moving and exercising. I am just beginning an exercise regime now so I am thinking a Disney trip will make a great incentive for me too. the 5K would be fun but the timing does not work well for me. But I just telling myself that I need to get fit for Disney and all the walking at the parks should work for me.

My last trip was in February 2014. It was a great time of the year to go. The weather was really nice. Most of the days we could tour the parks in just a short sleeve shirt and pants. In the evenings we needed a light jacket or sweatshirt.

So, are you officially registered for the 5K princess half marathon yet?

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Wonderful news that you get to go to WDW for your first ever trip and with your BEST FRIEND! Woo Hoo! I think it is great that they two of you will be running the Disney 5K. That should make for a great incentive to keep running. I, too am plus sized and feel the need to get moving and exercising. I am just beginning an exercise regime now so I am thinking a Disney trip will make a great incentive for me too. the 5K would be fun but the timing does not work well for me. But I just telling myself that I need to get fit for Disney and all the walking at the parks should work for me.

My last trip was in February 2014. It was a great time of the year to go. The weather was really nice. Most of the days we could tour the parks in just a short sleeve shirt and pants. In the evenings we needed a light jacket or sweatshirt.

So, are you officially registered for the 5K princess half marathon yet?

I am!! So excited. I'm so glad to here that the weather was nice in February. We'll be coming from snowy Canada so I'm sure we'll be happy with anything warmer than that haha. Disney definitely makes the best incentive! Good luck on your new exercise regime

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

Things have been crazy busy lately, I was the wedding planner and bridesmaid for my cousin's wedding on May 6th and the weeks leading up to that were hella stressful. But now it's all over and I can relax...a little. I'm still stressed about having to find a nursing job after being home with my babies for the past year, and to top it off my littlest, Griffin, is sick. This is the first time that one of my kids has actually been sick and it's scary and makes me sad.

BUT I've got Disney planning to keep my mind off of things and I've just started Weight Watchers with none other than my best friend Breagh. Sooo much happening.


Me and my husband as bridesmaid and groomsmen at my cousin's wedding.


So now the biggest news, WE ARE REGISTERED FOR THE 5K!!!!!

We were both sitting at our computers five minutes before the registration opened (it did open a few minutes early) and we had no issues getting in to the 5K. Though I did hear that the 10K and Fairy Tale Challenge sold out in under an hour!?! Insane.

So now our next step is to get our Travel Agent and travelling companion to book our room only. Yayyy.
​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

OH MY GOOD GOLLY WE HAVE OUR RESORT BOOKED!!!!

I couldn't be any more excited on a Wednesday night in May.

Breagh and I will be spending 8 days and 7 nights at.......

ALL-STAR MOVIES!!!!

We told our agent to book the cheapest available resort and that's what we got. Needless to say Breagh and I are very excited about it and since I've never done any reading about ASMo, I've got so much research to do. We really aren't picky people especially since the resort for this trip is simply a place to sleep, so I think this will be a perfect fit.

Has anyone been to All-Star Movies? Any likes, dislikes, things I should know?

I can't believe how really real this has become.

274 Days!!!​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

It's been FOREVER since I've updated and our countdown has reached 206 days!!!!​

​

OMG OMG OMG

Next month we get to book ADR's and it's all becoming so real!​

​

We've gone through our dates and wish lists and wrote out a preliminary itinerary for our trip, which of course is mostly flexible and can be changed to accommodate incoming magic ​

As of right now this is how it looks:


​

Day 1 (Wed) Feb 21st- Travel/arrival day. Early morning flight (hopefully landing no later than noonish). Check in at All Star Movies and head to Disney Springs.
Dinner at Splitsville Dining Room. May head for a late evening drink at Trader Sam's at the Poly.

Day 2 (Thurs) Feb 22nd- Character breakfast at Trattoria al Forna. Then Epcot for opening. Check out desserts around the world after a quick service lunch. Leave at about 3-4pm for the Race Expo to collect bibs and then relax at the resort and have an early night.

Day 3 (Fri) Feb 23rd- Race day! Up at 3am. After the race we'll come back and relax/shower before heading to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day. Dinner at 50's Prime Time and then the Star Wars fireworks show.

Day 4 (Sat) Feb 24th- Magic Kingdom. Pre park opening character breakfast at Crystal Palace. Festival of Fantasy parade and Happily Ever After fireworks.

Day 5 (Sun) Feb 25th- Free Day!! No clue what we're going to do but it will be spontaneous and more relaxed. We do have a park hopper ticket for this day if we want to use it. Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge.

Day 6 (Mon) Feb 26th- Animal Kingdom. Early character breakfast at Tusker House. Trying to get on the rides at Pandora and try quick service at Satu'li Canteen. Finish of the night with Rivers Of Light (package seating).

Day 7 (Tues) Feb 27th- Second Magic Kingdom day. Rope drop! Hitting rides we missed or riding things we loved. Early dinner at Be Our Guest and ending the evening with Happily Ever After again.

Day 8 (Wed) Feb 28th- Departure day. No plans.​

So there's that. I hope it's not too ambitious. I feel like we aren't going crazy with things we want to do and we're realistic/flexible so it should be an amazing trip. Couldn't be more excited (well maybe if we didn't have to fly there. Eek)

Any suggestions/thoughts?!

Next up Packing for a week in a carry on?! Are we losing our minds?​

 

[Luna_Belle]

Following along!

I’ll be starting to look for a nursing job this summer/fall since I graduated from a nursing program last year.

Congrats on completing your nursing program! I got my nursing license in 2014 so I can attest, you've earned a well deserved vacation after finishing! Best of luck in finding a job!

 

[absolutmey]

just found your PTR. Congratulations on finishing your program and for signing up for your first race! Two of my friends and I will be at WDW the same time but we're running the half on Sunday Super excited - I've never been in Feb. but I'm looking forward to cooler weather and (hopefully) lower crowds.

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Thank you to the new folks joining in on this wonderful journey of planning and awesomeness hahahaha.

ADRs are in two days people! This is not a drill.

​

Also a couple of changes for our trip, I've been keeping an eye out on flights because flying out of Halifax, NS is expensive and inconvenient the majority of the time. You have to connect at least once, if not twice for some trips. Last week I stumbled upon a Westjet flight from Halifax to Orlando for about $425 return which is a decent price in our neck of the woods, but here's the kicker...IT'S NONSTOP!!! Whattt.

I have pretty bad anxiety and flying has become somewhat of a nightmare, especially take off, I literally see my life flash before my eyes and cry. It's not pretty SO at least with a non stop flight I'd only have to experience that once each way instead of 2 or 3 times!

We aren't able to buy our plane tickets until early next month so I'm hoping they still have some spots for us on those flights.​

The one downfall to the non stop flights is that they only get into MCO at 8pm, which means no ADRs on the first night, but we both decided that was something we were willing to sacrifice. So with that, here is our new ADR list for our trip and the order I'm going to try to book them.

(7) Feb 21: No reservations​

(4) Feb 22: Trattoria al Forna (7:30am)
(5) Feb 23: 50’s Prime Time Diner (6:00pm)
(2) Feb 24: Crystal Palace (8:00am)
(6) Feb 25: Grand Floridian Cafe (11:30am) and​

(7) Whispering Canyon (7:30pm)​

(3) Feb 26: Tusker House (8:00am)
(1) Feb 27: Be our Guest (4:00pm)​

Cannot believe we are almost to the 180 day mark!!!​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Sooo many Disney advancements!!!!

I was up bright and early at the 180 day mark and got ALL OF THE ADRs WE WANTED!!!!
That's right ALL OF THEM!!!
We are beyond excited.

Feb 22- Bon Voyage Breakfast @ 7:30am
Feb 23- 50's Prime Time Diner @ 4:00pm
Feb 24- Crystal palace @ 8:25am
Feb 25- Grand Floridian Cafe @ 11:05am & Whispering Canyon Cafe @ 7:00pm
Feb 26- Tusker House @ 9:00am
Feb 27- Be Our Guest @ 4:00pm

I think I'm most excited for Bon Voyage because we'll get to meet my favorite characters and from the videos/reviews I've seen, the food and experience seem amazing.


The other huge bit of news is that we got our FLIGHTS!!!!

Non stop and at a great price with what I believe is Canada's best airline.

Hope everyone's week has been as Disney planning filled as mine!!​

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

SOOO much has been happening lately with all of the holiday hooplah going on. Only a few more days until Christmas and only 63 days UNTIL DISNEYYYY!!!!!
​

We book our FP+ selections on Saturday which is insanity and luckily Breagh and I are very similar in tastes and had no problem deciding on what we would want to do.

Another big announcement was the release of the Princess Weekend race medals!

We'll be doing to 5K and racing for Rapunzel which is so exciting because she's one of my favorites.​

I'm going to try my best to update on Saturday with whether or not we got our Fastpass choices and such before Christmas and then we're in the home stretch.​

 

[mdsouth]

Great news about getting such a good price on your flight! Amazing that you were able to get all you ADRs! It sounds like you are going to have a magical trip!

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

FP+ Selections

My FastPass selection process when perfectly. We got a few times that were not optimal but in the weeks following I managed to modify them to fit what we wanted almost perfectly.


Epcot

We're here for Morning EMH but we also have a 7:30am Bon Voyage Breakfast Reservation so we're not sure how much time (if any) we'll get to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours.
We're going to attempt to ride Soarin' right away without a FP and then do Test Track single rider line.

Living With The Land 10:30-11:30
Spaceship Earth 11:35-12:35
Frozen Ever After 3:05-4:05

This won't be a full day, since we plan on leaving around 4 to head to the RunDisney Expo for bib pickup.


Hollywood Studios

This day isn't a full park day either since it's the morning of the Princess 5k. We're planning on heading into the park around noon.

Star Tours 1:05-2:05
Rock n Roller-coaster 2:25-3:25
Tower of Terror 3:30-4:30

We have a dinner reservation for 4:00 at 50's Prime Time and then we're planning on seeing Fantasmic! AND the Star Wars fireworks (which should be feasible since they changed the time)




Magic Kingdom

We have an 8:25 Breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace, with the park opening at 8am. We're really going to soak in the atmosphere this day instead of just rushing from ride to ride since we have another day here later in our trip.

Big Thunder Mountain 10:10-11:10
Space Mountain 11:10-12:10
Seven Dwarves Mine Train 12:10-1:10

We'll of course try for other FP+ once these are complete, throughout the day.



Animal Kingdom

There are morning EMH this day and we plan on being there well in advance of opening because we are going to attempt riding Flight of Passage and Navi River Journey standby (Yes we are crazy.) We do have a FP+ for Flight of Passage but we know this is a ride we'll want to do more than once. We have a breakfast reservation at Tusker House at 9:05.

Kilimanjaro Safaris 10:10-11:10
Flight of Passage 11:10-12:10
Expedition Everest 12:20-1:20



Magic Kingdom

Our last park day *cries and tries not to think about it*

We'll be doing rope drop this day as well and plan on trying to do anything we may have missed (that's on our list of must-do's) or want to do again.

Big Thunder Mountain 10:00-11:00
Seven Dwarves Mine Train 11:00-12:00
Splash Mountain 12:15-1:15

Between the two MK days we also want to see Festival of Fantasy (at least once) and Happily Ever After both nights. Plus we want to do the Tangled Lantern photo.




We cannot believe that the trip is only 3 weeks away, after planning for what feels like forever. So excited that I get to celebrate 10 years of friendship with my bestie in the happiest place on earth.

​

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along! Sounds like you and your BFF have a great trip planned! Congrats on finishing your nursing, its a tough program! I graduated with my BScN in 2014 and it is a very rewarding career.