*** The Official September 2018 Thread *** let's get started to have some fun

[SaintsManiac]

Southwest changed the date to book flights to February 15th. They say it will be open through October 1st on that day. Just a heads up to anyone else waiting!

 

[lolomarie]

We stayed at the Vistana Villages in 2017 and really enjoyed it! Great location and great resort all around. Won't be staying there in Sept this year but will be at Disney. See you there!

Oh great! I've stayed here twice. Once in 2002 and again in 2008. My parents own here, but mom always trades her points for elsewhere. Last time we stayed here I didn't have kids and there was no pirate pool! Looking forward to both those things. Also love staying on disney property as well! Have fun planning!

 

[Nami]

Since we have deluxe dining, this is our preliminary plan of action. (Obviously party nights and closures would affect this...)

• Day One 9/17 (Arrival Day)
  • Lunch - Grand Floridian Cafe (Grand Floridian) - 1 Credit
  • Dinner - Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue (Ft. Wilderness) - 2 Credits
• Day Two 9/18 (Magic Kingdom)
  • Breakfast - Cinderella's Royal Table (MK) - 2 Credits
  • Dinner - Be Our Guest (MK) - 1 Credit
    • Fastpasses: 7DMC, Space Mt., Haunted Mansion
• Day Three 9/19 (Hollywood Studios)
  • Breakfast - Chef Mickey's (Contemporary) - 1 Credit
  • Dinner - Sci-Fi Dine In (HS) - 1 Credit <--- Kiddos FAVORITE!!!
    • Fastpasses: Star Tours, Indiana Jones Show, Fantasmic
• Day Four 9/20 (Epcot)
  • Breakfast - Garden Grill (Epcot) - 1 Credit
  • Lunch - Coral Reef (Epcot) - 1 Credit
  • Dinner - La Cellier Steakhouse (Epcot) - 2 Credits
    • Fastpasses: Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Journey Into Imagination w/ Figament
• Day Five 9/21 (Magic Kingdom)
  • Breakfast - 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian) - 1 Credit
  • Dinner - Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show (Poly) - 2 Credits
    • Fastpasses: Big Thunder Mt. Railroad, Splash Mt. Pirates of the Carribean
• Day Six 9/22 (Hollywood Studios)
  • Breakfast - Trattio al Forno (Boardwalk Inn) - 1 Credit
  • Dinner - Mickey's Backyard BBQ (Ft. Wilderness) - 2 Credits

Also, today we just found out that our tax return will cover ALL of vacation!!!! Seeing as last time we were paying off until the bitter end, this is FANTASTIC!!!!!

 

[Araminta18]

Southwest changed the date to book flights to February 15th. They say it will be open through October 1st on that day. Just a heads up to anyone else waiting!

Thanks for the update! Just changed it on my calendar

And my preliminary plan of action--glad to know I'm not the only one who has already gotten to that stage! We're not on the dining plan or anything, but we've saved up and so are just doing what we want, splurges included.

• Day One 9/14 (Arrival Day)
  • Lunch - Food and Wine Booths (Epcot) and/or The Edison (Disney Springs)
  • Dinner - Flying Fish (Boardwalk) (Late, like 9 pm)
    • Star Wars: The Void VR experience and riding the Amphicar (Disney Springs)
• Day Two 9/15 (Animal Kingdom)
  • Lunch - Yak n Yeti (AK)
  • Dinner - Satuli Canteen (AK, no ADR needed)
    • Pandora at night!
• Day Three 9/16 (Epcot/Hollywood Studios)
  • Breakfast - Bon Voyage Character Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno (Boardwalk)
  • Lunch - Food and Wine Booths! (Epcot)
  • Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby (Hollywood Studios)
    • Star Wars Fireworks!
• Day Four 9/17 (Magic Kingdom)
  • Lunch - The Plaza (MK)
  • Dinner - Be Our Guest (MK)
    • Marceline to the Magic Kingdom Tour in the morning; Happily Ever After Dessert Party with Plaza Garden viewing
• Day Five 9/18 (Magic Kingdom) (MY BIRTHDAY!!)
  • Lunch - Be Our Guest (MK)
  • Dinner - Victoria and Albert's (!!!!!!!!!) (Grand Floridian)
    • Hoping that Toy Story land is open, cause we'll go there for the morning
• Day Six 9/19 (Magic Kingdom/Epcot)
  • Breakfast - Crystal Palace (MK)
  • Lunch - Food and Wine Booths (Epcot)
  • Dinner - Coral Reef
• Day Seven 9/20 (Animal Kingdom/Magic Kingdom)
  • Lunch - Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge/Kidani Village) (early-11:30 am ish)
  • Dinner - Ohana (Poly) (late-8 or 8:30pm)
• Day Eight 9/21 (????/Magic Kingdom)
  • Breakfast - Early Morning Magic (MK) (maybe)
  • Dinner - Skipper Canteen (MK) (early, like 4:30)
    • MNSSHP!! The only characters I really want to meet are Tarzan and Jane, so hopefully this should be stress free and not filled with long lines
• Day Nine 9/22 (Departure Day)
  • Lunch - Food and Wine Booths (Epcot) and dessert at Beaches and Cream (Beach Club)

 

[windcriesamy]

I'll jump on the bandwagon! VERY preliminary plans:

• 9/15 - Arrival day! Not sure if we'll hit HS or just explore AKL
  • Either way, dinner at Jiko
    • FP+ Star Tours, Tower of Terror
• 9/16 - MK (this may be a DS/MNSSHP day and not a ticketed park day?)
  • Breakfast at Boma
  • Late lunch at Raglan Road? Haven't officially decided on a DS spot yet
  • Dinner will probably be candy if we do the party!
• 9/17 - Epcot Food & Wine!
  • Breakfast in the room
  • We will eat/drink our way around the world, so no other food plans for today
    • FP+ Soarin', IllumiNations
• 9/18 - AK
  • Breakfast in the room
  • Lunch at Satu'li Canteen
  • Dinner at Sanaa
    • FP+ Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Flights of Passage
• 9/19 - MK (We might have friends joining us on this day, so plans are up in the air!)
  • Breakfast in the room
  • Lunch TBD
  • Dinner TBD
    • FP+ TBD
• 9/20 - departure day
  • Breakfast in the room
  • Lunch at DS on the way out?

 

[SaintsManiac]

You guys have inspired me to start the spreadsheet that I will change at least 50 times

 

[shairpdrh]

Reading all of your plans is so fun! I'll add mine to the mix (subject to 1000+ changes):

• 9/16 - Arrival Day! MK
  • Late lunch at Pecos Bills
  • Dinner at California Grill
    • FP+ 7DMT, BTMRR, Peter Pan
• 9/17 - AK AM and Epcot Food & Wine PM
  • Late Breakfast at Tusker House
    • FP+ Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Flight of Passage
  • F&W for dinner
• 9/18 - MK
  • Breakfast at BOG (PPO?)
  • Lunch QS
  • Dinner QS
    • FP+ BTMRR, Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan
• 9/19 - Break/Pool AM and HS PM
  • Breakfast at Trail's End
  • Lunch TBD
  • Dinner QS @ HS
  • Moonlight Magic DVC party @ HS (we hope)
    • FP+ depends on Toy Story Land, but right now TSMM, Star Tours, and Frozen Sing Along
• 9/20 EPCOT
  • Breakfast at Garden Grill
  • Lunch and Dinner F&W
    • FP+ FEA, Spaceship Earth, Nemo
• 9/21 - MK and departure day
  • Breakfast on the go
  • Lunch at the airport
    • FP+ Peter Pan, Pooh, and ???

 

[Causin_a_commotion]

Joining in! 99% sure we are going Sept 2-9. Went the same week last year to celebrate DD's 2nd bday, figured we'd celebrate her 3rd as well, esp since it's the last time she will be free!! Probably staying at Pop, and super excited for the new rooms with NON-CARPET. Hoping for FD... had it last year and allowed us to enjoy so many restaurants we never would have been able to before! So excited to follow everyone's plans!

 

[Nami]

Okay, so in Sept 2016 we did not buy travel insurance and right after our trip some storms came through that cancelled flights, etc. Last year in Sept, hurricane.

This year we bought trip insurance. LOL Has anyone else bought trip insurance after seeing the Sept weather in FL the last few years?

 

[Causin_a_commotion]

@Nami yes! We are thinking about trip insurance as well. Being there during Irma was no joke!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

@Nami yes! We are thinking about trip insurance as well. Being there during Irma was no joke!

We were there as well. 3 days before and the whole week after. It actually wasn’t that bad in our resort. I had a lot more damage to my property to clean up when we got home in GA. I think I’d rather be at Disney if another hurricane comes.

 

[windcriesamy]

Okay, so in Sept 2016 we did not buy travel insurance and right after our trip some storms came through that cancelled flights, etc. Last year in Sept, hurricane.

This year we bought trip insurance. LOL Has anyone else bought trip insurance after seeing the Sept weather in FL the last few years?

We sure did!

 

[Araminta18]

We're still deciding if we want to or not...we're buying everything on our credit card, which has trip insurance. The only thing not on the credit card is the DVC points we rented, and our thought has been that hey, if there's a hurricane or something like that, Disney's policies become super flexible anyways. Cause we're going down there no matter what... decisions decisions...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We are going back in September. We will be at Copper Creek at WL from Sept 6 - 15th. We love going in September and made trips in Sept 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016. In 2017 we tried August based on school schedules, and for 2018 we are glad to be going back to September! Now we are excitedly watching airfare.

 

[joyjoy]

Okay, so in Sept 2016 we did not buy travel insurance and ri anght after our trip some storms through that cancelled flights, etc. Last year in Sept, hurricane.

This year we bought trip insurance. LOL Has anyone else bought trip insurance after seeing the Sept weather in FL the last few years?

Me, DD-30, DGG-4--Our trip was planned Sept 3 - 10 last year and we live in HOUSTON. Harvey beat us up in late August and our flight was cancelled. (Also, our house was seriously flood damaged). We wanted so badly to get away from the misery in Houston, we rescheduled our trip starting 9/6. No flights from Houston, just Austin, layover in Ft. Lauderdale. SWA lost our luggage, our flight from FLL was 3 hrs late so we missed all of our first day fastpasses (which we had to completely redo after our original trip date changed AND lost out on that day's hopper). Slept in our dirty clothes and went to AK sweaty and gross and with no makeup. Luggage arrived late on day two. Yayyyyyyy! Irma starts really bearing down and people start freaking out. Massive lines at the front desk. We decide to stay. Absolutely DESERTED Magic Kingdom and Epcot the two days before the hurricane. Parks closed on Sunday and Monday but characters came to the resort, lots of games and crafts for kids, pool was open by day two, discounted food prices... it was AWESOME. We added two days to our trip at a drastically discounted rate and changed our SWA flight for no price increase. So no. Not scaring me. We're booked for 9/1 -9/11 at Wilderness Lodge and I'm not buying insurance. We've lived through the worst case scenario (two hurricanes back to back!) and it was still fantastic. We never felt unsafe, and the extra pixie dust was all around us.

 

[mamamelody2]

Me, DD-30, DGG-4--Our trip was planned Sept 3 - 10 last year and we live in HOUSTON. Harvey beat us up in late August and our flight was cancelled. (Also, our house was seriously flood damaged). We wanted so badly to get away from the misery in Houston, we rescheduled our trip starting 9/6. No flights from Houston, just Austin, layover in Ft. Lauderdale. SWA lost our luggage, our flight from FLL was 3 hrs late so we missed all of our first day fastpasses (which we had to completely redo after our original trip date changed AND lost out on that day's hopper). Slept in our dirty clothes and went to AK sweaty and gross and with no makeup. Luggage arrived late on day two. Yayyyyyyy! Irma starts really bearing down and people start freaking out. Massive lines at the front desk. We decide to stay. Absolutely DESERTED Magic Kingdom and Epcot the two days before the hurricane. Parks closed on Sunday and Monday but characters came to the resort, lots of games and crafts for kids, pool was open by day two, discounted food prices... it was AWESOME. We added two days to our trip at a drastically discounted rate and changed our SWA flight for no price increase. So no. Not scaring me. We're booked for 9/1 -9/11 at Wilderness Lodge and I'm not buying insurance. We've lived through the worst case scenario (two hurricanes back to back!) and it was still fantastic. We never felt unsafe, and the extra pixie dust was all around us.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm glad it worked out for you!

 

[JenniferYoung44]

Staying at AKL Sept.15-20. I’ll post my plan ifica. Figure out how to put a pic on here. Grrr. A couple of people that posted itineraries above have evening activities scheduled at MK on Tuesday 9/18. Following historical trends this is likely a MNSSHP night and the park will close at 7, unless you’re going to the party too.

 

[Bethislucy]

Okay we finally settled on Sept 15-17Art of Animation & then Sept 17- 20 at POP century.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Ok I have a rough idea of park days using TP's historical calendar:

Saturday, 9/1--arrival day; depending on what flight we get we might do Disney Springs to eat at Homecomin and get our shopping out of the way, or we may book the HEA dessert party. Decisions, decisions
Sunday, 9/2 --HS AM/MK PM
Monday, 9/3 --Epcot AM (hoping for GG PPO) --PM ???
Tuesday, 9/4 -- MK
Wednesday, 9/5 --AK AM (hoping for EMH)/ Epcot PM for F&W
Thursday, 9/6-- Chef Mickey's brunch or breakfast/ MNSSHP
Friday, 9/7 -- Sleep in? / AK PM
Saturday, 9/8 --departure day (hoping for a late flight, so we can hit MK in the morning)

We are planning for lots of afternoon breaks/pool time due to the heat. We plan to take breaks every day that we RD. Being so close to MK makes it nice to hop there in the evenings.

 

[shairpdrh]

Staying at AKL Sept.15-20. I’ll post my plan ifica. Figure out how to put a pic on here. Grrr. A couple of people that posted itineraries above have evening activities scheduled at MK on Tuesday 9/18. Following historical trends this is likely a MNSSHP night and the park will close at 7, unless you’re going to the party too.

We are assuming there will be a party on 9/18 (our reason for choosing MK that day) but eat super early and will probably be back to the room well before 7 with a tired toddler Planning to try getting a sitter so we might be right back out to another park!