The Official October 2013 Trip Planning Thread

[SEASONK]

We are going on our first ever WDW trip Oct 14-19. Here's the details and I'd love to hear some feed back. No one else seems to want to talk about it quite as much as I do!

Leaving Sunday October 13 from the Jackson, MS area. We are driving and plan to drive about 8 hours before stopping for the night at a cheap hotel. Any suggestions on this??? We haven't booked that yet. Trying to find a Holiday Inn Express.

Welcome! I also recommend the Lake City area. Plenty of hotels and restaurants to chose from. Gainesville is also a good place to stop several hotels and restaurants right off the interstate. I am from North Louisiana and we never make it past Tallahassee, so I haven't ever stayed in either town.

 

[figmentswife]

Well, we have changed our dates AGAIN!!!!!!! Sept 17-October 5.

I need to start a date changers thread.... Kinda like the resort changers thread!

 

[nedac]

Lake City is our favorite stop over town... we have stayed at the Fairfield inn, holiday inn and now, we always stay at the Cabot Lodge. It has the best rates, excellent reviews and free breakfast. Check it out.

 

[maurihart]

Awesome! Lake city looks perfect. About 2 hours from WDW and there's a holiday inn express with indoor pool. Kids will love that and DH has priority club points. Thanks!!

 

[bookgirl]

Made my long list of 2 ADR's this morning


Arrival day we'll be shopping offsite then checking in to POFQ where we'll grab a boat to DTD and eat dinner at EoS. Then maybe catch a bus to the POLY to watch Wishes from the beach or Epcot via BC to watch Illuminations.

Day 1- Breakfast at the resort CS or a snack in room, then head to DHS. We have an ADR for the Fantasmic Dining Package at the Hollywood Brown Derby late afternoon so we'll probably take a break mid day and hang at the resort then head back eat catch a few more rides/shows then go to Fantasmic.

Day 2- Breakfast in room (bagel/kbar/coffee) then Morning at MK. Around 11-12 switch to Epcot to do F&W for lunch/dinner while touring WS and riding Soaring and Test Track in Future world. PM we'll either hang at resort or DTD or hit anything we missed at MK

Day 3- Breakfast in room then Morning at AK to catch Festival of the Lion King, maybe one or two other attractions then switch to F&W for Lunch Dinner. PM will probably be DTD shopping.

Departure Day we have an Early ADR at Boma for breakfast then we'll be heading to the airport.


Short trip but the only park my mom has not done is DHS and she didn't really do WS in Epcot so that's the only things besides F&W that are must do's. Everything else is play by ear.

 

[SlightlyocdDisneyfan]

Lake City is our favorite stop over town... we have stayed at the Fairfield inn, holiday inn and now, we always stay at the Cabot Lodge. It has the best rates, excellent reviews and free breakfast. Check it out.

Ooooh! Thanks! We randomly picked that town as a good stopping place for our drive, without knowing anything about the hotels or area. Thanks for the recommendations!

 

[jska482]

Check easywdw .com. They have everything broken down by day including hours, parades, events, etc. I have found it very helpful for our planning.m

Thank you so much! I will definitely be using that

 

[jska482]

Yes, on MNSSHP nights only those with tickets can watch the parade and fireworks from inside the park. There is a party for 10/4 so you will have to leave MK by 7pm. You can go to the TTC or Poly to view the fireworks from there. It is the party fireworks called Hallowishes which started at 9:30 last year.

10/5 You should be good to go since there is no party.

The good news is 10/4 should have very low crowds since it's a party night. Great time to tour MK.

Good to know! This is one of the many planning tips I'm saving Its getting a bit out of control!

 

[arubia]

Thank you fizbobunny for answering my question!

 

[BelleLulu]

Hi All,

We are making our second trip to WDW October 22-29 staying at POFQ.

Our first trip was the first part of November last year and loved it so we are coming back. Looking forward to MNSSHP and F&W.

 

[Gabisgramma]

I'm doing a Dad/Daughter solo trip (yes my DIS name is colinsdad, but that was before we had kiddo #2!). I've done 4 solo trips with Colin, so now its time to have some Disney time with my DD5.

We're doing a split stay at Art of Animation and Swan from October 14th to the 21st.

October is the best time to go to Disney IMO. We will be doing the MNSSHP, and Epcot FWF. Can't wait!!!

That sounds like so much fun! I would have given anything to have that experience with my dad and being Daddy's little princess for a whole trip. I wish you and your daughter many magical moments! She will treasure that forever! And just like I always told my husband when our girls were growing up (and now about our granddaughter) the way you treat her models for her how she should expect boys/men to treat her later on in her life. Have fun! And it is good to hear October is a good month to go. It will be our first trip ever.

 

[smitch425]

Hey, everyone! I have started the official MNSSHP guest list thread. If you would like to be included, here is the link...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48267017#post48267017

 

[jska482]

For all you planners put there like me, I've been using the app Evernote to keep track and categorize the tips from disboards. So far, I love it and its free! You can just copy posts you see directly to the app and title it as you choose. I'm hoping this will help keep track of the great info I've gathered over the last couple months...and until Oct!

 

[crazy4wdw]

Wonder what happened to our hostess/coordinator for this thread? The list of disers going in October hasn't been updated in quite some time.

 

[anjalee6]

We just changed our dates tonight so now we are going October 16- 20 and staying at our favorite AKL.

 

[ColonelHathi]

Hi all! Hoping to get some feedback on 2 different schedules for our trip, we're not sure which to go with? It is the 1st trip for both kiddos, and we want a mix of touring and RD combined with taking it easy and smelling the roses + extras. Here are the two options we are considering, which would you do? We have some ADRs doubled on different days, so we are hoping to nail things down, especially on MNSSHP.

18- arrival
19- HS (no Fantasmic!)
20- AK (1st for all)
21- EPCOT WS (Illuminations)
22- off day, Bayou Pirate Adventure, spa day, dinner ADR
23- EPCOT FW
24- MK, break, MK BBB/PL, MNSSHP
25- sleep in, 'Ohana bfast, Fantasmic! Dining package & show
26- MK
27- departure

Original plan, but now concerned about 10/24 MNSSHP crowds potentially.

OR

18-21 same
22- MK, break, MK BBB/PL, MNSSHP
23- sleep in, off day, spa day (no BPA)
24- EPCOT FW
25-27 same

Bummed about no BPA and having "off days" on 10/23 and 10/25 - would be nice to have more spacing between. But like the idea of less crowds on Tuesday MNSSHP.

Over planning, yes I am. TIA!

 

[mythreeboys]

We are going Oct 19-24th and staying in a Cars suite at AOA. We are surprising our 3 boys (ages 7, 6, and 4). They have been before, but this time they think we can't afford to go back. So far they are clueless! We plan to send them off to school as normal and then load up the car while they are there. When they get off the bus we will give them a snack and tell them we are going for a drive, but won't tell where (I'm hoping to stop in WV for dinner and then have them fall asleep and not wake up till we are almost to FL). I am planning to do a goody bag for each of them that will have snacks, toys, and a clue that they can open at each state line. So far I've come up with an orange, a gator (my dad calls my youngest "gator bait" and brings him "gator snacks" all the time), and a mouse (not one that looks like Mickey). I still need 3 more though, so I'm open to suggestions! I'm trying not to make it obvious so that they are surprised when we get to the welcome signs. If they do happen to figure it out along the way I am going to tell them that we are going to visit their great grandma in Clearwater, that's actually not a lie because we will be in Clearwater from the evening of the 24-26th! I'm also going to give them invitations to a breakfast at O'hana the night before our reservation and then at breakfast they will get an invite to the Pirates League and MNNSHP for that evening! I can't wait, I'm way too excited!

 

[Sorcerina]

That sounds great let me be one of your boys

 

[ph-mtl]

We are going Oct 19-24th and staying in a Cars suite at AOA. We are surprising our 3 boys (ages 7, 6, and 4). They have been before, but this time they think we can't afford to go back. So far they are clueless! We plan to send them off to school as normal and then load up the car while they are there. When they get off the bus we will give them a snack and tell them we are going for a drive, but won't tell where (I'm hoping to stop in WV for dinner and then have them fall asleep and not wake up till we are almost to FL). I am planning to do a goody bag for each of them that will have snacks, toys, and a clue that they can open at each state line. So far I've come up with an orange, a gator (my dad calls my youngest "gator bait" and brings him "gator snacks" all the time), and a mouse (not one that looks like Mickey). I still need 3 more though, so I'm open to suggestions! I'm trying not to make it obvious so that they are surprised when we get to the welcome signs. If they do happen to figure it out along the way I am going to tell them that we are going to visit their great grandma in Clearwater, that's actually not a lie because we will be in Clearwater from the evening of the 24-26th! I'm also going to give them invitations to a breakfast at O'hana the night before our reservation and then at breakfast they will get an invite to the Pirates League and MNNSHP for that evening! I can't wait, I'm way too excited!

We are heading back to the world. This will be our first time in Disney world in October. We will be staying at Pop Arriving Oct 16th until Oct 25th.
We have been there every May and Dec but decided we would celebrate My Husbands 55th Birthday there. Looking forward to F & W and also Halloween.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I still need 3 more though, so I'm open to suggestions! I'm trying not to make it obvious so that they are surprised when we get to the welcome signs.

What about a hotwheels or other toy car and a pad of paper and either a paintbrush or pencil since you are staying at AoA in the Cars section. Maybe give them leis (representing Ohana) to confuse them.