Take Me To Neverland_Sept. 2016 PTR

[kclark9830]

I know, I know--Neverland and Epcot? No. Neverland and Magic Kingdom, sure. But why Neverland and Epcot (Our trip has actually changed a bit since this first post, and it's no longer an Epcot-only trip! The post that explains it is further down, and can be found here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/take-me-to-neverland_sept-2016-ptr.3521770/#post-56030830 )? Allow me to explain...

So, this trip is going to be a little different for us. No rope dropping, no packed plans for fast passes and multiple ADR's. No two parents and two kids...because now we're a family of two parents and one kid. Emma, our beautiful 10-year-old daughter, passed away earlier this year. It was a long, difficult battle with cancer and the ensuing complications of her bone marrow transplant (long as in 6 years off and on). It was something we knew was coming for several weeks leading up to her actual passing (not that this in any way makes it "easier" to carry) (and I hope you'll forgive my self-indulgence in sharing all of this...I'm a writer by profession, and writing is therapeutic for me).

(Christmas 2015)​

(Our last Disney trip together, 2014)​

Our Disney trip was something we'd also been anticipating for a long time, except it was a trip we had hoped to take with her once she'd recovered from the bone marrow transplant. It was to be a quiet but fun trip. Our plans were to stay in a Deluxe Resort, which we'd never done before. Unfortunately, Emma will not get to take that trip. We decided that we would go on with our plans. After all, we love Disney, and our other daughter who is 6 years old, is hankering to see the princesses again.

But this is where the TR's name comes from. Peter Pan was Emma's absolute favorite story. Even at 10 she believed in Neverland. It's a fitting love for a child gone too soon. "Think of all the joy you'll find, when you leave this world behind, and bid your cares goodbye!" Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning...

(Pic courtesy of Pinterest)​

Now, I promise that if you follow along I'm not going to regale you with sad tales (there was almost nothing sad about Emma at all, cancer not withstanding...she was fantastic). This trip will be about healing and loving and celebrating a beautiful life.

So! Who are we? The Clark family: Katie (that's me), Micheal (hubby of 13 years), and Ashlyn (who is now the proud big sister of two tiny kittens--what will we do with them while we're gone?!).

The When is September 4-7, 2016. The Where is Disney's Yacht Club (squee!). What do we plan? Four days of Epcot bliss! Why? Rejuvenation.

Ashlyn doesn't know we're going to Disney. At least, she doesn't know we're going when we're going. We have a second trip planned for December with some of the family. She knows about that trip, so anytime she hears us talking about going she assumes we're talking about the "Christmas trip", which will be longer but at All Star Sports. Knowing a secret is kind of fun .

 

[ariane37]

I write this with tears in my eyes. I can't ignore your introduction but I don't even know what to say, so I will just say how sorry I am for your loss, and how wonderful that you had such a special person in your life for the time that you did.

I look forward to hearing the rest of your plans and I think an Epcot only trip for the 3 of you, before your Dec. trip with more family, sounds like it could be a very healing experience
And yay for the Yacht Club! We've never stayed there but we have stayed at BWV a few times (and are staying at BCV in Nov.) Being at an Epcot resort is so awesome; walking to and from Epcot can't be beat!

 

[EllinK]

I'm so sorry for your loss. A trip for just the 3 of you sounds like it would be an opportunity to take a deep breath and exhale before moving on with the rest of your life. I hope that you get buckets of pixie dust on your trip. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

 

[kclark9830]

Thank you both very much. We are definitely hoping for some healing on this trip. A few people have asked us why Disney. They think it will be hard for us to be in a place we loved visiting with Emma. But we know that location doesn't matter. Any place will be hard.

So here's to magic and pixie dust! I look forward to sharing more of our plans.

 

[kclark9830]

OUR NOT SO SURPRISE TRIP

Well, at the end of my first post I mentioned that this trip was a surprise for my 6yo. About 15 minutes ago, she said, "Mom, do you have a surprise for me? Is it Disney World?" I think I handled it pretty smoothly, but she's onto me. So much for secrets.

Our decision to take this trip wasn't finalized until about a week ago. Sooooo, that meant getting whatever ADR's we wanted might not be easy. In all honesty, we aren't even 100% on where we want to eat or how much we want to be tied down by advanced plans. But, hubby wants to eat at Akershus (funny thing about Akershus; I'm not at all a picky eater and hubby is extremely picky. Yet, I did not like Akershus's food, and he loved it. Go figure!). He wants to eat there for 6yo's sake. Luckily, getting a breakfast reservation there was pretty easy for me, even this close to our trip. It was equally easy to get a Cape May Café breakfast reservation, which is no surprise to me. I wanted to try it because it looks like a fun, relaxed place to eat, and it's right there where we'll be staying. We'll see how it is (but like I said, I'm not that picky). But I'd also really like to eat a meal at Beaches and Cream, and getting a decent reservation there hasn't been so simple. I've actually made a few over the last week, but each time I snag one I end up realizing it's not going to work for us and cancelling it. Right now I have one for our first night at 10pm, but I doubt 6yo is going to make it that long without eating. If we're on the dining plan and she doesn't eat at Beaches and Cream (because she eats something earlier) does it still use a dining credit for her? You'd think I'd know this but I don't...

Anyway, for now, our plans look like this:

9/4 - Arrive at MCO around noon, head to Yacht Club, swim, hang out, explore, eat at Beaches and Cream 10pm (hoping to score an earlier reservation at some point)

9/5 - Late breakfast at Akershus (hubby wants to eat there, and 6yo loves the princesses, but they don't like getting up early on vacation. Since I don't like their regular food we compromised with a late breakfast so they can sleep in but I can eat regular old breakfast food). Spend the day touring World Showcase (I want to pick a pearl, and we want to check out the henna tattoos in Morocco).

9/6 - This day's a little more up in the air. Maybe head to Future World a bit on the early side to do The Seas, ride Soarin', Spaceship Earth, etc. Then a midday break at Stormalong Bay, then back to World Showcase for EMH. I wanted to eat at Coral Reef just for the aquarium's sake, but in the end we decided to wait on that and we might do it on our December trip.

9/7 - Cape May Café for breakfast, explore Yacht and Beach Club resort, and along the Boardwalk. Our flight doesn't leave until 5pm, so we'll have a while to shop and explore.​

 

[ariane37]

Hi! As to your question about using a dining credit for Ashlyn at B&C if she doesn't eat there & ate somewhere earlier: it won't You'd only use whatever credits at B&C for the meals you eat there, so if only you and your husband eat then you'd use 2 adult TS credits. Since the ADR would be for 3, you'd just tell your server she's too tired to eat! But I hope you can snag an earlier one. It's such a small place though, and unfortunately not easy to get reservations. But do you know that if you happen to just want ice cream they have a walk-up to go window? An option if you all eat somewhere else earlier.............
On your last trip, did you catch any of the entertainment in WS? My boys both love Serveur Amusant in France and the acrobats in China.

So funny your daughter figured out your surprise Well, you tried lol. I'll bet she's excited!

 

[iheartbelle87]

I'm so happy to have found your PTR! We're arrival day twins, so clearly we're connected.

I can't continue with expressing my deepest condolences to and your family <3

I can't wait to hear more about your plans, Cape May for breakfast sounds delicious! We have dinner reservations there on the 8th- DH
isn't into character until we have little ones, so no character meals for us!

Also, your daughters little sisters look just like my parents cat! Her name is Raegan, she'll be 12 in August! I'll try to grab a pic of her this weekend when we're there!
​

 

[kclark9830]

Hi! As to your question about using a dining credit for Ashlyn at B&C if she doesn't eat there & ate somewhere earlier: it won't You'd only use whatever credits at B&C for the meals you eat there, so if only you and your husband eat then you'd use 2 adult TS credits. Since the ADR would be for 3, you'd just tell your server she's too tired to eat! But I hope you can snag an earlier one. It's such a small place though, and unfortunately not easy to get reservations. But do you know that if you happen to just want ice cream they have a walk-up to go window? An option if you all eat somewhere else earlier.............
On your last trip, did you catch any of the entertainment in WS? My boys both love Serveur Amusant in France and the acrobats in China.

So funny your daughter figured out your surprise Well, you tried lol. I'll bet she's excited!

Thanks for the info! No, we've never taken time to explore World Showcase other than brief glances around each of the pavilions. It's something we've always wanted to do but never carved out time for. So I'm very excited to take more time here!

 

[kclark9830]

I'm so happy to have found your PTR! We're arrival day twins, so clearly we're connected.

I can't continue with expressing my deepest condolences to and your family <3

I can't wait to hear more about your plans, Cape May for breakfast sounds delicious! We have dinner reservations there on the 8th- DH
isn't into character until we have little ones, so no character meals for us!

Also, your daughters little sisters look just like my parents cat! Her name is Raegan, she'll be 12 in August! I'll try to grab a pic of her this weekend when we're there!
​

I totally understand about the characters. That's something we'd skip without kids as well. We considered making this an adult-only trip, but in the end we just couldn't do it. So characters it is!

 

[kclark9830]

FAST PASS+ COMING UP SOON!

9 DAYS AND COUNTING!

The last trip we took was in September 2014, and I planned it almost to the minute. We rushed, darted, zoomed, and dashed from ADR to FP to M&G. While I thought it was grand, and hubby was always so tolerant of my obsession, he let me know that next time he'd prefer not to do that (I didn't mind this at all because it meant he was expecting there to BE a next time ).

Since this trip is supposed to be slower and quieter anyway, I've really flip flopped on what to do about FP's. I suppose I'll try to get one for Frozen Ever After just to make Ashlyn a happy princess. I'll try to coordinate it around our Akershus breakfast, but we'll see how that goes. However, she doesn't even know this ride exists, so if I can't get a FP we will not be riding it at all. For the rest of that day I doubt we'll even make it over to Future World to use our tier 2 FP's. I suppose I should look into whether or not there's anything else in WS that offers FP...but I'm thinking not.

For the next day, when we'll probably get over to Future World for a bit, I'll shoot for Soarin' (I don't think I mentioned it before but it's Ashlyn's favorite ride in all of WDW). Then I'll grab a Nemo FP and a Spaceship Earth FP just for the heck of it. I might also try to get a second FP for Soarin', then a FP for Illuminations after that. Here's a crazy tidbit. I've never actually seen ANY of the fireworks shows at Disney. We've been in the parks during the shows, but we're usually running around doing something else while they're going on. I would really like to see Illuminations this trip, but it might end up being from the resorts instead of the park. We shall see!

There's my FP+ plan in a nutshell. I hate to let an opportunity go to get a tier 1 FP, so if I can't get a FEA FP, then I might end up with Illuminations that first night. At some point, probably the same day we visit Future World, I also want to take Ashlyn to meet Joy and Sadness. She loved Inside Out, and I think she'd really love meeting them. It's really really hard not to plan for all the things Emma would love. She actually hated Inside Out. But she loved Big Hero 6, and she would have loved to meet Baymax (she always joked that she wished Baymax was her nurse instead of most of the nurses at the hospital! ). But Ashlyn has no interest in Big Hero 6, so we'll probably skip meeting Baymax.

One last thing before I bore you all to death. We've got these nifty Disney princess hats that people sent to Emma when she started losing her hair this last go around. They're really awesome because when Emma would wear one it really did look like her hair!

We decided that next time we went to WDW she would bring them along to let each princess sign their respective hat. We still plan to do this, even though we won't get to meet all of them at Epcot (we'll get the rest when we return in December). Aren't they the coolest? (The Belle and Ariel hats looked the best on her, and her hair was actually red--not carrot top red, but a deeper auburn red--and the Ariel hat seriously just looked like her own hair...Ashlyn's hair is also red, but it's more strawberry blonde. Everyone asks where our kids gets their red hair from and I am continuously shrugging and explaining that I really have no idea.)

 

[kclark9830]

IS THIS NORMAL?!​

OK, I assume for the people who are on this board that it is absolutely normal...but I'm already planning the trip I want to book with a bounce back offer. I'm thinking Animal Kingdom Lodge and spending the trip only visiting Animal Kingdom. There's so much there I've never done, and hopefully by next fall there will be even more. Crazy of me?

Anyway, back to this year! I've been re-thinking my dining plans and realizing that I'm going to have to pay OOP for at least one of our meals, so I'm thinking we'll do that at the Beaches and Cream meal since it's a cheap table service meal. Which means I get to book another sit down meal! Or maybe I shouldn't book one and just see what we feel like when we're there, and what we can get. My planning OCD side is coming out, in spite of how relaxing this trip is supposed to be. I've looked at menus for Via Napoli, Chefs de France, and Rose and Crown. Ashlyn is such a picky eater--like, very very picky--so based on the menus I'm leaning toward Chefs de France. Anyone have anything good or bad to throw in about it? Should we do lunch or dinner?

I also need advice about my scheduling of Beaches and Cream. A 1pm reservation opened up for our departure day, so I went ahead and booked it. But our flight leaves at 4:50, and we're using the Magical Express. Is that cutting it too close? We've never used Magical Express before. I'm just not sure what the timeline will be. Of course, I will keep looking for a better time.

I'm also thinking about shopping for Pandora charms while at WDW. I read that you can buy them at every resort gift shop, and almost all the Disney merchandise stores. Can anyone confirm or debunk this? I want a Sleeping Beauty charm and a Cinderella charm, and maybe a Tinkerbell charm. I can order them from the Disney Store, but I'd rather buy them in person while there. It just seems more magical .

In other news, Ashlyn's "little sisters" (AKA kittens) both came down with upper respiratory infections, and we had to shell out way more money than I'm comfortable spending to make them well again. Sigh. But they're definitely doing better, and Ashlyn is happy, so this is good. I still haven't decided what to do with them while we're gone. I'm leaning toward asking my mom to keep them. Or I could ask my MIL to stop by once a day to care for them. We all live in the same town, so either option should work. With it being a short trip I shouldn't have to worry about it too much. They're shaping up to be very good kittens in spite of the more than $600 I've had to spend on them in the span of a week .

 

[ariane37]

OK first, UGH, I feel your pain on the kitties. I have 2 right now but they're adult cats. My boy Jackie is 12 and currently not doing well. Over the years I've had more than 15 cats so I've spent a few million at the vets So today I was there with Jackie. I'm pretty sure he won't be with us much longer (after so many cats leaving me due to old age I'm very familiar with the signs) but since I'm going away Sat. I wanted to have him checked. Of course I spent way more than I wanted as harsh as that sounds........my cats are part of my family but I've always felt that spending more on younger cats makes sense and on the older ones, well, it may just be time to let go. Once the sting of how much you spent wears off you'll be glad you did it!

Now before I forget, unfortunately since you're using ME your Beaches and Cream ADR is too late ME picks you up roughly 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart, so you'll be leaving about 1:50. It could be 1:30, or 2:00.......either way it would be best to keep looking for an earlier one. Annoying, but best.
And, no matter how low key I'd try to make a trip, I KNOW the planner in me would come out! I also can't help wanting to eat everywhere so I tend to make tons of ADR's and then (sometimes) cancel a couple. We haven't eaten at Chefs since 2012 so I can't offer anything there. We had lunch then and we did enjoy it though. Maybe go over to the restaurants board and look for reviews?

Pandora charms. I know you can buy them in each park and Disney Springs. I bought one at the jewelry store on Main St. in MK and I believe they also sell them in the Emporium, but I've only bought Alex & Ani bracelets there. I used to know the names of the stores in the other parks that sold A&A and I would assume they're the same stores that sell the charms but now I can't remember I think Epcot is MouseGears. Disney Springs is World of Disney. As for the resort gift shops the only one I've looked at the jewelry in is the BW gift shop and again is was for a bracelet but if they sell those it seems they'd sell Pandora? I also know the GF sells jewelry in one of their resort shops.

And it is in no way ridiculous to be thinking about your bounce back trip lol, and AKL sounds perfect to me

 

[kclark9830]

OK first, UGH, I feel your pain on the kitties. I have 2 right now but they're adult cats. My boy Jackie is 12 and currently not doing well. Over the years I've had more than 15 cats so I've spent a few million at the vets So today I was there with Jackie. I'm pretty sure he won't be with us much longer (after so many cats leaving me due to old age I'm very familiar with the signs) but since I'm going away Sat. I wanted to have him checked. Of course I spent way more than I wanted as harsh as that sounds........my cats are part of my family but I've always felt that spending more on younger cats makes sense and on the older ones, well, it may just be time to let go. Once the sting of how much you spent wears off you'll be glad you did it!

Now before I forget, unfortunately since you're using ME your Beaches and Cream ADR is too late ME picks you up roughly 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart, so you'll be leaving about 1:50. It could be 1:30, or 2:00.......either way it would be best to keep looking for an earlier one. Annoying, but best.
And, no matter how low key I'd try to make a trip, I KNOW the planner in me would come out! I also can't help wanting to eat everywhere so I tend to make tons of ADR's and then (sometimes) cancel a couple. We haven't eaten at Chefs since 2012 so I can't offer anything there. We had lunch then and we did enjoy it though. Maybe go over to the restaurants board and look for reviews?

Pandora charms. I know you can buy them in each park and Disney Springs. I bought one at the jewelry store on Main St. in MK and I believe they also sell them in the Emporium, but I've only bought Alex & Ani bracelets there. I used to know the names of the stores in the other parks that sold A&A and I would assume they're the same stores that sell the charms but now I can't remember I think Epcot is MouseGears. Disney Springs is World of Disney. As for the resort gift shops the only one I've looked at the jewelry in is the BW gift shop and again is was for a bracelet but if they sell those it seems they'd sell Pandora? I also know the GF sells jewelry in one of their resort shops.

And it is in no way ridiculous to be thinking about your bounce back trip lol, and AKL sounds perfect to me

Thank you for all of this fantastic info!!!

 

[kclark9830]

PLOT TWIST!​

Well, the entirety of our trip changed in the course of 12 hours. Because of unforeseen circumstances with hubby's job, he no longer felt it "do-able" to take two separate trips (our September trip and our December trip). After talking it over, and talking it over with the family members who were going to go with us in December, we all decided we would prefer to do the September trip together instead of waiting until December. So! We wanted to all stay at the same resort, but the other family members weren't too keen on the high prices at the Yacht Club (boo! But hubby promised we could do it next year...I guess my AKL trip might get pushed back too). We talked it over and agreed on Caribbean Beach Resort, and instead of going Sept. 4-7 we will be going Sept. 4-10. That also means my plans for ADR's and FP+'s would all need rearranged.

I have to admit, not staying at Yacht Club when I had totally psyched myself up for it is a bummer. But I'm excited to stay at CBR, as I've never stayed there either. Changing all of the ADR's has been quite the experience though (no longer worried about Beaches and Cream, and not doing Cape May). We only have 5 days until we make FP selections, so we really had to nail down what days we wanted to be at each park. I think we have it mostly settled (mostly). Here are a few of the plans we've secured so far:

9/4 - Arrival day, Magic Kingdom - Eat at Tony's Town Square for supper (I've never eaten here, but my sister is a fan, and I like almost any try at Italian food; also, I like Lady and the Tramp). I will try for FP+ for Mine Train, Peter Pan, and the M&G with Rapunzel

9/5 - Epcot/Animal Kingdom day - Do character M&G's at Epcot, explore WS in the daytime hours, relax at resort for a while, then go to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon hours, eat at Tusker House for dinner (I hope to change this to Yak and Yeti at some point, which would be new for us), watch the new Jungle Book show (this is the last night for it, which is why we're squeezing it in on this particular day). I hope to get FP+'s for the safari, Dinosaur, and Expedition Everest (at least for most of the grown ups, the kids might end up with something different)

9/6 - Magic Kingdom/Epcot day - No big plans for this day. Will probably try for FP+'s in Adventureland for morning hours, then plan on exploring more of WS and maybe even Future World in the evening. Epcot has EMHs until 11pm on this night. We don't have any ADR's for Tuesday, but if I can get a Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast or lunch it would be fantastic. None of us have ever eaten CRT, and if you couldn't tell I'm going for "new" experiences on this trip.

9/7 - Hollywood Studios day - I didn't really care to go to HS this trip, but the others want to. Hubby likes it, and so does Ashlyn, so I guess we'll do it (it can't be all about me. Ha! ). We have an ADR at Sci-Fi Drive In, and I'll try for FP+'s for Toy Story, Star Tours, and Disney Jr. Show/Tower of Terror (for kids/adults respectively). As I mentioned before, we've never done any of the evening shows at WDW. We've never seen Fantasmic, and it's been a big goal for us that has never come to fruition. Family mentioned doing it this trip, and maybe they will, but I don't plan to join in. It was Emma's one big wish for the next time she went, and I just don't know that I'm ready to do it. I may change my mind, but I'm not counting on it.

9/8 - Halloween Party day!!! - Thursday is the only day while we're there that MK is having MNSSHP. I'm hoping for no rain, because we plan on going. We'll be hanging out at the resort until our party tickets will get us into the park at 4pm. No ideas about costumes yet. Stay tuned for info on that!

9/9 - Last park day, Epcot/Magic Kingdom - We have an ADR at Coral Reef for lunch, and I'll try for FP+'s at Frozen Ever After or Soarin', the Nemo ride, and Spaceship Earth. We'll chill at the resort for the afternoon then spend our last park night at Magic Kingdom.

9/10 - Departure day/Disney Springs? - Our flight doesn't leave until 6pm, so we'll have a while to explore and/or shop. We'll take it easy, I'm sure (said in a voice that is not at all sure )

In case you're wondering, I'm totally on board with making everyone's dining reservations and FP+'s. It's fun for me, and I need something to keep my brain busy.

Overall, I would much rather do two trips than only one, but circumstances being what they are I remain satisfied with the prospect of this trip. My sister's daughter is 5yo, so she and Ashlyn have pretty much been joined at the hip since they learned to toddle around. They'll have fun together, and it will be good.

One last thing, these awesomely cute Cindy/Minnie ears came in the mail for Ashlyn today. She hasn't seen them, and I still plan to give them to her as a "Surprise! We're going to Disney TODAY!" kind of thing. I bought them from a seller on Etsy, and I'm considering getting myself a Belle set.

 

[kclark9830]

Halloween Costumes and other stuff...​

Now that we're going with more family and staying for more days, it feels like our relaxed schedule is getting busier and busier. Carving out time to relax and go slower is going to be a priority...I just haven't figured out how to make that happen!

In the meantime, I've been considering costumes for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Ashlyn has an Ariel costume that we've actually had for years, but it fits her perfectly and even though we said she could get something new she insists that the Ariel costume is what she wants to wear. Well, I'm not going to lie...I like that price tag (free! Hello!). So Ariel it is! I had wanted to be Belle (Belle is my favorite princess, always has been since I was a child. The VHS came out when I was like 8 or something). I was thinking a gold tutu, a Belle tee shirt, and a set of Belle ears like the Cinderella ones I bought for Ashlyn. But after buying all that stuff the total was going to be around $100. Then I thought about the Pandora charm (or even charms, plural!) I could get for that money, and that pretty much made my mind up for me. Instead of being Belle, I will borrow Ashlyn's Cinderella ears for the party, and I will make a blue tutu myself (yay! Disney project!), and wear it with a frilly but cool-and-comfy white tee shirt I already have. Here's the stuff I bought to make the tutu, for a grand total of $9.

I have never made a tutu before. I'll let you all know how it turns out (ha!).

Lastly for today's update, I got the Yak and Yeti reservation I was looking for! Hooray! All I need to score now is a CRT reservation. Keeping my fingers crossed. And Wednesday is my FP+ day, so I'll let everyone knows how that one goes. Until then, have a happy 4th of July!

 

[KnK]

Joining in. Wonderful tribute trip for you daughter. You'll be warming CBR up for us, we arrive on the 10th.

 

[ariane37]

I love your costume idea for MNSSHP! Definitely share a picture of your tutu after you're done. I would never even attempt to make something like that because it would be a total disaster I bought Mickey head iron-ons for our trip last year: did one shirt and completely ruined it. Yeah, I need to leave any creative stuff to people like you!
Is this your first MNSSHP? It is my absolute most favorite thing to do in Disney

 

[kclark9830]

Joining in. Wonderful tribute trip for you daughter. You'll be warming CBR up for us, we arrive on the 10th.

Welcome! And yes, we'll be sure to leave it nice and tidy for you.

I love your costume idea for MNSSHP! Definitely share a picture of your tutu after you're done. I would never even attempt to make something like that because it would be a total disaster I bought Mickey head iron-ons for our trip last year: did one shirt and completely ruined it. Yeah, I need to leave any creative stuff to people like you!
Is this your first MNSSHP? It is my absolute most favorite thing to do in Disney

Thanks! Unfortunately (we all knew that was coming, I think) my tutu is not coming along as I'd hoped. Ha! It is way poofier than I'd ever be comfortable with, so I'm back to square one. On the plus side, Ashlyn is thrilled to have a new tutu .

 

[kclark9830]

FAST PASS DAY! HOORAY!​

Last night I went to bed early. I wanted to be sure I could get up nice and early to make my fast pass selections. I tossed and turned. All. Night. Long. Why should selecting FP's invoke such restlessness? Seriously. They're rides, not winning lottery tickets! Still, it was a long night. I dreamt we were riding the Mine Train, and it was a nice dream because Emma was riding it with us . (just in case anyone is wondering, thinking of Emma NEVER brings me pain. I would think of and talk about her all day long if people would let me...)

Anyway, I woke up at 4:50am, then 5:45, then 5:50, then 5:57 (I'm not sure why I didn't just get up at 5:45 or 5:50, I guess just because I didn't have to!). At 5:57 I finally dragged myself out of bed and made my way to the living room. I live in the central time zone, so 6am was my window. I'd left my computer booted up overnight so I wouldn't have to start it from scratch. I signed into MDE and tried to click on the fast pass link but it wouldn't let me on yet. By 6:05 I was getting worried, so I tried a different browser (switched from IE to Chrome). Worked like a charm! And guess what?! I got everything I wanted at exactly the times I wanted, and I am one happy camper. Getting up early was totally worth it.

Here's what my schedule looks like:

Sunday - 7 Dwarves Mine Train 3:20
Ariel M&G 4:20
Peter Pan 5:20
Tony's Town Square for Supper 6:30

Monday - Spaceship Earth 9:10 (we will probably plan to not get to Epcot until almost 10, so this will be the first thing we do; also, we might end up changing it to use it just before we leave for a midday break)
Soarin' 10:10
Mission Space 11:20
We'll spend a couple hours in WS, take a midday break at resort, then park hop to Animal Kingdom for supper at Yak and Yeti at 6:45pm, then the Jungle Book show, as well as trying to score a few extra FP's at AK.

Tuesday - Cinderella's Royal Table 10:10 (I was able to get a reservation for only myself, hubby, and Ashlyn. The rest of the family still wants to eat here, but they're each on their own for finding reservations)
Haunted Mansion 11:10
Mine Train 12:10
PotC 1:20
This day may end up getting changed a bit, just because I'm not 100% sure we're going to get Ashlyn onto the Haunted Mansion ride. We'll see. Also, Epcot has EMH this night, so I'm not sure if we'll stay in MK the rest of the night, or hop to Epcot (I want to hop, but we'll see how I feel when we get there).

Wednesday - ToT/Disney Jr. Live on Stage 1:10
Toy Story Mania 2:20
Eat at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater 3:05
Star Tours 4:25
We'll plan to stay in HS the rest of the night. Not totally sure what we'll do for those morning hours. Probably relax a little.

Thursday - Party Day! We haven't bought tickets yet, so no FP's at this time. This will be our first party, though, and we're stoked! We're planning to spend the day at the resort leading up to the 4pm entrance.

Friday - Lunch at Coral Reef 11:45 (This is probably when we'll arrive at the park; after a late night at the party I'm sure we'll be moving slowly)
Nemo ride 12:50
Character Spot 1:50
Frozen Ever After 2:55
What we do for the rest of the afternoon is still up in the air. I guess it will depend what we choose to do on Tuesday night. So, we'll either spend the evening in Epcot, or hop to MK.


So, those are our plans in a nutshell. I would prefer to rope drop every single day, but hubby really hates that. So does Ashlyn. They're both late sleepers! I learned from our last trip that I might as well go ahead and make later FP's rather than earlier ones, because the earlier ones almost always ended up getting changed!​

 

[iheartbelle87]

you got some great FP+ selections! yay! 59 days!