The Darlings Do Disney (TR is started!)

[teekathepony]

Day 5

September 28

(Happy birthday to my mom!)

Wake up early, no matter what kind of night we had before! This is my big day! The one I've been waiting for!

8:05am breakfast at Crystal Palace, MK.

I was so excited when I got this ressie I danced around the house. I'm taking my SLR JUST for this day when I can take pictures of Magic Kingdom with no one in it! If the camera gets too heavy, I'll run it back to the room half way through the day.

So we'll get to MK hopefully around 7:45. I'd like to get in the early entry line as early as possible to get some pictures around the park. We'll get to Crystal Palace for our ADR and relax over breakfast. I want to spend some time and meet all the characters!

Hopefully we'll be out of there to see RD at 9.

I want to do every single thing there is to do in MK. Wish me luck!

First to Splash Mountain for a FP:

Then to BTMR for the standby line:

We'll finish out Frontierland with a cursory glance at Tom Sawyer Island and then I will do the Country Bear Jamboree for the first time since I was 5. Yes folks, 20 years since I've seen these dancing bears. I had wished I could make it longer.

From Frontierland we'll had through Liberty Square and do my absolute favourite, the Haunted Mansion:

I can't wait to try out the new queue!!

I am skipping the Riverboat and the Hall of Presidents for now since I dislike them both and will only do them if we have done everything else.

On to Adventureland! We'll do the Jungle Cruise:

And Pirates of the Caribbean. Depending on the time, we'll do a quick tour of the Swiss Family Treehouse and possibly ride the Magic Carpets. Then we'll see the Tiki Room -- which I have also not seen since I was 5!

By this time it should be time for our 2:35pm late lunch at Tony's Town Square, so we'll head back to Main St.

While on Main St. we'll have to get as many Photopass pictures as possible:

(we pre-ordered the CD!)

I'll make time to see the parade, whenever it is scheduled:

After that, it's on to Tomorrowland! My favourite!
Grab a fp for Space Mountain!
I want to ride Buzz first:

because it is my favourite.
Then to Monsters:

I might do Stitch too... I don't like that ride, but I'm thinking if I lean forward and stretch my shoulders up so the restraints don't cut into me, I might be able to do it again.
I'll finally do the Speedway, which I've never done. Same for the Astro Orbiter. I'll do the People Mover and the Carousel of Progress too.

Finally, to Fantasyland!
I must do "it's a small world"

I love that ride. It's very Disneyesque. Without listing them all, I will continue around Fantasyland doing all the rides.

I hope to get to do it all in one day. We're definitely watching Wishes this night, so anything that doesn't get done before Wishes starts will have to wait for another day!

 

[NewlyDisneyCrazed]

I so totally hope that your flights are perfectly unaffected. It looks like they should be fine but I'm still sending all of my extra good vibes and pixie dust!!!

Your MK day sounds perfect. It's a lot to squeeze in for one day but you should be able to do it with adult-walking pace! It killed me when our kids would "dawdle" at the beginning of our trip, then I just went with it! But I'm a fast walker by nature so had to consciously slow down. I'm envious that you'll be able to walk as fast as you want!

My son is beside me and wants to to click on the icons. Here are his favourites:

 

[IheartDDuck]

I think your MK plans are great! You definitely should be able to accomplish that in one day if you get there early, which you are. The thing that I love the most about September is the fact that it's not crowded.

If you don't want to lug your SLR around, I would suggest renting a locker. They're really not that expensive ($7) and running back to the resort (unless you're planning a break), might be kind of annoying.

 

[teekathepony]

I so totally hope that your flights are perfectly unaffected. It looks like they should be fine but I'm still sending all of my extra good vibes and pixie dust!!!

Your MK day sounds perfect. It's a lot to squeeze in for one day but you should be able to do it with adult-walking pace! It killed me when our kids would "dawdle" at the beginning of our trip, then I just went with it! But I'm a fast walker by nature so had to consciously slow down. I'm envious that you'll be able to walk as fast as you want!

My son is beside me and wants to to click on the icons. Here are his favourites:

Thank you for the pixie dust!! I am hearing more and more good news about my flights, so I'm thinking I'm going to be ok.
I'm thinking adult walking pace + September crowd levels + a plan (Oh, and + the knowledge of a possible second trip to MK!) I can get it all done.
Tell your son I said:
And that I like icons too!

I think your MK plans are great! You definitely should be able to accomplish that in one day if you get there early, which you are. The thing that I love the most about September is the fact that it's not crowded.

If you don't want to lug your SLR around, I would suggest renting a locker. They're really not that expensive ($7) and running back to the resort (unless you're planning a break), might be kind of annoying.

I never even thought of the lockers! Thanks for reminding me! I've never rented one before but that does sound like just the ticket.

 

[SplashMom]

Hi fellow Caper I just found your pretrip report and it sounds like you will have a wonderful trip! I love your sign...especially the CB tartan. I'm sure Air Canada will get you there on time. Hope you have a great time and I can't wait to see your trip report when you return.

 

[bouncycat]

MK plans look great!!! That's my favorite park!!! Love just about everything there. Don't like stitch. Just, No!! I did do it tho, for my quest!! So now it's done, and no more worries!!! LOL I'm praying for your flight girl. I'm so glad I don't fly!!! I wouldn't know how to anymore with being handicapped!!! LOL

 

[teekathepony]

Hi fellow Caper I just found your pretrip report and it sounds like you will have a wonderful trip! I love your sign...especially the CB tartan. I'm sure Air Canada will get you there on time. Hope you have a great time and I can't wait to see your trip report when you return.

Well hello!! How nice to see another Caper! Welcome aboard!
I love my little CB tartan Mickey. I saved him on my desktop so I can use him more often.
I'm getting more and more confident that AC will get us there as planned. It's hard not to panic when we're told that there's a chance we may not get there and may lose everything, but now keeping calm and reading the news, it looks good.

MK plans look great!!! That's my favorite park!!! Love just about everything there. Don't like stitch. Just, No!! I did do it tho, for my quest!! So now it's done, and no more worries!!! LOL I'm praying for your flight girl. I'm so glad I don't fly!!! I wouldn't know how to anymore with being handicapped!!! LOL

I wish so much I was within driving distance to WDW! (Reasonable driving distance I should say!) It sure would take the pressure off.

 

[teekathepony]

Two quick updates for this morning, more itinerary for later in the day.

1. Flights: I couldn't sleep last night wondering what's going to happen. Things have been going on with the strike discussions. The union came to Air Canada with an offer and AC made a counter offer. Now the most frustrating thing is that AC isn't updating anyone at all, we have to get all our info from the news! For people panicking about missing whole vacations it's fairly bad service, IMO, to not let us know what's going on. My MIL checked and saw that there was a WestJet flight from Toronto to Orlando leaving and arriving just 5 minutes later than our AC flight was planned! She's calling Air Miles today to see if we can change our flights to WestJet yet, or if they are still restricting passengers flying after the 22nd.

2. 40th Anniversary Celebrations: I just learned that Magic Kingdom is staying open until midnight on October 1st to celebrate the 40th anniversary! We had planned to go to Epcot that day, but I think we're going to monorail it back and forth instead so as not to miss the special celebrations.

 

[teekathepony]

**Warning! Rant ahead! Detour available for the people who blamelessly don't want to hear it anymore, please skip to the end of this post!**

I'm not doing good anymore.

*Deep breath!*

I'm slipping downhill now. I know logically that the government will most likely force the flight attendants back to work if they do strike. I know that my flight will probably go as planned. I know that even if it doesn't, Air Canada will probably get me there through a partner carrier.

But I'm scared.

Air Canada and the union have been offering and counter offering all day and the word is that no one's happy. I really thought I'd hear something by now. The government has said that they will legislate them back to work, but the official opposition, the NDP has said that they may delay it (they're pro-union). It's all just scary and uncertain and all Air Canada can tell me, and I quote, is; "Keep your fingers crossed." They say that if your flight is canceled, they will let you reschedule any time before Dec. 9 for free. As you know, this will not work for us. They do not have a "what if" plan. They have also said that they will not compensate anything at all lost due to canceled flights. And if you remember, my travel insurance won't either.

I totaled up our losses. Might have been a bad idea, but I did it anyway. Between the 4 of us (DH, MIL, S-FIL and I) we're at roughly $5800 that we would lose if our flight was canceled. That's hotel, park tickets, meal plan, Discovery Cove, Richard Petty, Universal, Medieval Times... that doesn't include the non-financial things I'd lose. All those wonderful ADRs and the DISers I was supposed to meet, and going with my cousin for the first time. I keep telling myself that I'll get there, but right now it's not helping.

It's very hard for me to read TR's right now because the whole time I'm thinking "will I get there?" I don't want to do an update on my itinerary because I don't even know if it will happen.

I'm so sorry you all had to see me like this, lol. I sincerely hope and believe that my next update will be good news, but for now I'm going to go hide in bed with the news on and eat every ounce of chocolate in my house.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Wendy, you go right ahead and eat every bit of chocolate you can find in your house. I too will eat some in your honor. You have every right to be worried about the situation. Like I said before, I will keep on sending good thoughts and pixie dust your way.

Say it with me right now:

WOOOOOOOOOOO SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[teekathepony]

Wendy, you go right ahead and eat every bit of chocolate you can find in your house. I too will eat some in your honor. You have every right to be worried about the situation. Like I said before, I will keep on sending good thoughts and pixie dust your way.

Say it with me right now:

WOOOOOOOOOOO SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I'm breathing, hahaha, barely but I'm breathing. I have a new update, writing as soon as I post this.

 

[teekathepony]

Oh my word what a morning!!

I woke up early with a knot in my stomach. I watched the news and was informed that talks had broken off between the union and Air Canada. They resumed talks early this morning, but that a strike looked likely.

My mother in law and I were on the phone early and made a plan. We called Air Miles. We got our flight changed. Not to a different carrier, but to a day early. So now we leave at 5:55AM Friday instead of Saturday.

How does that help us?

Well, in a lot of ways it doesn't. In the event of a strike and disrupted service, we are still going to be delayed. But this way, if we are delayed, at least we can be delayed by up to 24 hours before it starts cutting into our plans. Best case scenario? We get there a day early.

Already changed my ticker!

We are waiting to hear more before we book a hotel. If the talks are successful and there is no strike, we will book a hotel room somewhere in Orlando as soon as we can. If the strike goes ahead and things are uncertain, we're not booking anything as we are likely to spend the night in Toronto airport!

So IF all goes well and IF our flights are secure and IF we are guaranteed to land in Orlando on Friday, then the new question is what hotel to book there?

My MIL wants to book the Best Western right by the airport. She says she can pay for a room with her Air Miles and that way we don't spend any more money. Then Saturday, the hotel will shuttle us back to the airport so we can grab the ME bus to Pop Century.

Mr D and I want to just go all out and book another night at Pop Century. It's only about $80 each couple and then we get there faster and because we have extra days on our tickets, we can get to the parks even earlier!

I guess we'll see. As always, I will keep you updated! I feel a lot better having 24h of wiggle room.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to rebook. I know what you mean about having 24 hours of wiggle room though.

I'm all about staying at POP the extra night if you can swing it. I think it would be worth it if you end up down there a day early.

 

[metsno1]

"While the strike by customer service agents slowed operations for the airline in June, Air Canada did not cancel any flights."

From:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/art...ike-as-negotiations-set-to-resume-after-break


I too am glad that you were able to reschedule for a day earlier! And if you can swing the $160, I also agree that another night at Pop sounds great. How cool would it be if the only impact this possible strike has is that it gets you an extra day in The World!!

My good feelings about your situation haven't changed. You're gonna get there one way or another!!

But I am really sorry that you have to go through this stress.......

 

[teekathepony]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to rebook. I know what you mean about having 24 hours of wiggle room though.

I'm all about staying at POP the extra night if you can swing it. I think it would be worth it if you end up down there a day early.

Thanks! Me too, I feel a lot better about it! And I think we're decided on Pop!

"While the strike by customer service agents slowed operations for the airline in June, Air Canada did not cancel any flights."

From:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/art...ike-as-negotiations-set-to-resume-after-break


I too am glad that you were able to reschedule for a day earlier! And if you can swing the $160, I also agree that another night at Pop sounds great. How cool would it be if the only impact this possible strike has is that it gets you an extra day in The World!!

My good feelings about your situation haven't changed. You're gonna get there one way or another!!

But I am really sorry that you have to go through this stress.......

Oohhhhhh your good feelings were right!! See the next post! Thank you thank you!

 

[teekathepony]

Mr. D and I are celebrating!!

Air Canada and CUPE reached an agreement!

There's not going to be a strike!!



When my MIL called me with the news I broke down in hysterical laughing tears. I looked and sounded like a total idiot but the stress was leaving me! I feel like I can breath!

We're still booked to fly a day early so we're working on hotels now.

Because our Disney stuff was booked through that stupid wholesaler, we might not be able to just simply add on a day at Pop Century to include the meal plan. The travel agent is on the phone with Transat on one phone and my MIL on the other, MIL is on the phone with Mr. D who is relating all info to me. We are trying to get Pop Century, but if we can't we might just book the Best Western instead. Crossing my fingers!

 

[metsno1]

So happy for you!! I just knew it was gonna work out.

Now let's hear the rest of your itinerary!!!!

 

[jenbear123]

Okay NOW I understand why you were all stressed out. I'm glad to hear Air Canada won't be going on strike. I was watching that in the news today. I hope everything works out on the Disney side of things now too.

 

[teekathepony]

So happy for you!! I just knew it was gonna work out.

Now let's hear the rest of your itinerary!!!!

You did too. Unfortunately I didn't have your confidence, but I'm so so so glad you were right!

Okay NOW I understand why you were all stressed out. I'm glad to hear Air Canada won't be going on strike. I was watching that in the news today. I hope everything works out on the Disney side of things now too.

Thank you!
Ohh all I could think about reading your TR was The Seas and the music and the dolphins... It put me in a better head space for sure. Everything worked perfect!

 

[teekathepony]

Oh what a day. I am 180 degrees in the other direction from this morning. I am happy and calm and content.

Everything is done, we check in a day early. We now have only 3 sleeps!

I'll get back to the itinerary, but in the interest of time I'm going to summarize it a little and lump two days into one post!

Day 6

Thursday September 29.

Melissa and Ron depart early in the morning. So early that we won't be getting up to see them off, unfortunately!

As for the remaining 4 of us, we'll be getting up nice and early to hit Discovery Cove!

This day is an easy one.
We will swim in the wonderful warm lagoon, snorkel in the reef, feed birds in the aviary, drink free Pepsi, (and beer, in the case of my in-laws,) eat free meals, swim with dolphins, snorkel some more, lounge in the amazing Florida sun, and just generally recharge from the past week. Ahhh bliss.

DC closes at 5:30, but we will probably leave around 4:30 to give us lots of time to shower, change, and get to our 6:20pm dinner at Les Chefs de France. We will get out of dinner at a perfect time and good location to get a good spot to see Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, so we'll watch it tonight to finish off an amazing relaxing day. Also, it will most likely be less crowded than the rest of our Epcot days.



Day 7

Friday September 30.

Up early! Mr. D and S-FIL have their 8:00 am Richard Petty Rookie Experience! While they're there, my MIL and I are considering stopping over at the Poly to take a look around and maybe eat some quick service breakfast.

After the boys are done, we will most likely head to Epcot. We planned an all day Epcot day Saturday, but after finding out about the 40th anniversary celebrations, we've decided to split it between Epcot and MK, so we're looking to squeeze in as much Epcot as possible on other days.

We will head to Downtown Disney later in the evening for our 8:25pm dinner at Paradiso 37. After that, we'll wander around in DTD until we're tired! Big day tomorrow! Stay tuned!