The One Where we (Barely) Pieced it Together-October 14-21 2024 (Updated 10/1)

[aidansmommy]

Welcome to my very first pre-trip report! I've lurked these boards for years now and have finally decided to start my own. I really am looking forward to seeing how much our plans will change from here to actual vacation. So climb aboard and join me in our first trip back to the World since February of 2022!

Now onto the fun stuff!

The Who
Me (Jenn) a 42 year old Disney loving mom of two. I just recently decided to follow my dream and have opened up my own dog grooming business this past March. So things have been BUSY for me since then!

Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror, Soarin'
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King
Favorite Character: Gus Gus, Malificent and Ursula
Favorite Park: EPCOT (Animal Kingdom is a very close second though)
Favorite Snack: Harambe Street Market Corn on the Cob
Favorite Restaurant: Sanaa

The Hubs (Matt) a 44 year old Star Wars and Pirates loving fella who's day job is a Chief of Public Safety at a gated community (he also LOVES his dad jokes).

Favorite Ride: Pirates, Star Tours, EE
Favorite Movie: Rogue One
Favorite Character: Figment
Favorite Park: EPCOT
Favorite Snack: Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel, Favorite Drink is Yuengling(that's a bonus answer, he said)
Favorite Restaurant: Sanaa




Aidan, 17 year old DS. He's just started his senior year of high school and enjoys computer games and playing D&D with his friends.

Favorite Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite Movie: Nightmare Before Christmas
Favorite Character: Jack Skellington
Favorite Park: EPCOT
Favorite Snack: Chicken Kababs (F&W Fest, Morocco)
Favorite Restaurant: Sanaa (I'm seeing a theme here. It's gotta be the bread service)

And last but not least, Anya our 14 year old DD. Anya just started her Freshman year of high school and loves hanging out with her friends and sleep. She really loves sleep.

Favorite Ride: EE
Favorite Movie: Lilo and Stitch, Teen Beach Movie
Favorite Character: Stitch
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Snack: Cream Cheese Pretzel
Favorite Restaurant: The one with the good mac n cheese (I honestly have no clue what restaurant she speaks of)



And here's a picture from our last trip where masks were still required on rides and transportation and we were just happy the world was starting to reopen.

When: October 14th-21st.

Where:
Saratoga Springs Preferred 1 bedroom for the first 5 nights, and Saratoga Springs studio for the last two nights.

Why:
This trip is a long time coming. We had a trip planned for last November but DS dislocated his knee while at work at the end of August and needed surgery that came with a very long recovery. We ended up cancelling our trip and because we are DVC members, we were able to get our points back but they were put into holding and we could only schedule within 60 days of checking in. This led to some major stress. The closer and closer we got to our 60 days, the less and less amount of rooms there were to book. When the day came we were only able to reserve the first three nights. Because of that, we had to wait the three days to get back to 60 days to make another reservation (am I confusing you yet???). Anywho, DH decided to call and see if Member Services was showing anything for our full stay instead of us attempting to piece it together. When I tell you we were pixie dusted??? Whew eeeee! She was able to reallocate some of our points and got us booked for all seven nights!!

Is Saratoga our favorite resort? No. Are we so extremely happy to be going back that we don't care? Yes. Do we have two pipe dream waitlists? Also yes.

So please, follow along with our plans! Will we get the dining reservations we want? Will a waitlist come through? Will I completely stress out planning a trip in under 60 days? Only (a little) time will tell!

Up Next: Travel Plans

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

 

[Counting Stars]

The closer and closer we got to our 60 days, the less and less amount of rooms there were to book. When the day came we were only able to reserve the first three nights. Because of that, we had to wait the three days to get back to 60 days to make another reservation (am I confusing you yet???). Anywho, DH decided to call and see if Member Services was showing anything for our full stay instead of us attempting to piece it together. When I tell you we were pixie dusted???

Major Magic right there... so very happy you were able to get a trip scheduled. That's a win!

Is Saratoga our favorite resort? No. Are we so extremely happy to be going back that we don't care? Yes.

FWIW- the refurb at Saratoga was really done well. The resort is lovely now. Hoping you have great transportation experiences (ours are usually fine... no big delays.) and great weather

 

[aidansmommy]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

Thanks for reading!

 

[aidansmommy]

FWIW- the refurb at Saratoga was really done well. The resort is lovely now. Hoping you have great transportation experiences (ours are usually fine... no big delays.) and great weather

Thanks for your insight! The last time we stayed at Saratoga, the refurb had just begun and we ended up with an old room.
I hope you continue to read along!

 

[aidansmommy]

Travel Day(s)

We are driving from Northern Illinois and leaving Saturday, October 12th. That gives us two days to make it with checkin on the 14th.

The plan (as of now) is to leave the house at around 9:00am. The pet sitter will be arriving that afternoon so we don't have to worry about transporting the crew anywhere.

We like to drive as straight through as we can so meals will be fast food and eaten in the car and stops will be for gas and rest areas. The first day we have a hotel ressie in Macon, Georgia so we have committed ourselves to a 12 and a half hour drive before stops.

The advantage to this, is that it leaves us with only about six hours left on Sunday where we have an offsite hotel reservation in Orlando.

Once checked in, we plan on taking a nap and heading out to Disney Springs in the evening. We have a new to us reservation at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'. I am so excited to kick off vacation there-I think I know the menu by heart and can't wait to try the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits and moonshine flight! Is there anything else I should be ordering while there?

Up Next-Check-in Day!

 

[aidansmommy]

A little update from my last post. We've recently purchased a new (to us) Chevy Traverse. With all of the extra room that gives us, we plan on packing our first two meals in our cooler and stopping at rest stops to picnic instead of getting fast food. I think all of our tummies will thank us for this. We also head to the store prior to leaving for snacks and drinks. We give each person a certain amount of "snack credits" and roam the store for our favorite snacks that we don't often treat ourselves to!

Okay, onto Check In Day (Monday, 10/14)!!!

We plan on leaving our Disney Springs area hotel around 10:00am the next morning. I've already done online check-in so we plan on hopping over to SSR and having a pool morning with lunch and Artist's Palette. After that we are heading to our first park of the trip-EPCOT. Since we all love the park and they have the extended evening hours, we are looking forward to some rides and F&W booths.

Tuesday, 10/15

We have decided to not do MNSSHP this year so are hitting up MK this morning for early entry. We are really on the fence about Multipass. If you've been during the day of a party day, is it a needed purchase? We are planning on returning later in the week and aren't convinced we need to spend the extra $$$.

As far as food goes this day, DS17 wants to eat at Casey's. DD14 and I don't eat red meat and don't like their veg option so we are most likely going to mobile order both and eat at CHH. OR we will do what I want which is hop on the monorail and get off at the GF for their quick service.

Once MK closes the plan is to monorail our way back to EPCOT and enjoy the evening.

 

[Becky2005]

Travel Day(s)

We are driving from Northern Illinois and leaving Saturday, October 12th. That gives us two days to make it with checkin on the 14th.

The plan (as of now) is to leave the house at around 9:00am. The pet sitter will be arriving that afternoon so we don't have to worry about transporting the crew anywhere.

Depending on where you are in Northern Illinois, I will say Macon ended up being quite a *long* drive. We just did this with my siblings (I'm in Northern IL too, about 45 minutes west of Chicago) and it ended up taking us about 16.5 hours to get to Macon (which is where we stopped the first day). To be fair, none of us are speed racer drivers and we are all a bit on the older side. Atlanta is what slowed us way down. I got smart after I logged everything on my 2011 trip, I decided to do it again this trip. So I have start times & stops, etc... We stated at 3:00 AM and ended up in Macon around 8:30 PM EST(time change happens).

Love the lunch at rest stop idea, this is what we usually do when driving down. That is usually are longest stop for about an hour. Most other stops were about 10 minutes or so.

Tuesday, 10/15

We have decided to not do MNSSHP this year so are hitting up MK this morning for early entry. We are really on the fence about Multipass. If you've been during the day of a party day, is it a needed purchase? We are planning on returning later in the week and aren't convinced we need to spend the extra $$$.

In my opinion, you won't need the Multipass. This last trip we only had 1 day at MK and this is exactly what we did. We didn't have early entry because we were staying off site and got quite a bit done. Now, we didn't ride any of the thrill rides, so I don't know if that will make a difference but having early entry will also help. Especially since you are going back later in the week.

I also went last year with my son around the same timeframe you are going and although I had bought Genie+ I wouldn't have needed to.

Here are my trip reports that may be helpful to you.

October 2023 On site with EE

This one is the recent one with my siblings off site so we didn't have EE
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a-sibling-end-of-august-mini-trip.3953815/

 

[aidansmommy]

Depending on where you are in Northern Illinois, I will say Macon ended up being quite a *long* drive. We just did this with my siblings (I'm in Northern IL too, about 45 minutes west of Chicago) and it ended up taking us about 16.5 hours to get to Macon (which is where we stopped the first day). To be fair, none of us are speed racer drivers and we are all a bit on the older side. Atlanta is what slowed us way down. I got smart after I logged everything on my 2011 trip, I decided to do it again this trip. So I have start times & stops, etc... We stated at 3:00 AM and ended up in Macon around 8:30 PM EST(time change happens).

Oh, we are aware of the length of the drive! We have three drivers on this trip and are willing to sacrifice the super long day in order to have a shorter drive the next day. We more often drive as opposed to flying so the family is used to it.

In my opinion, you won't need the Multipass. This last trip we only had 1 day at MK and this is exactly what we did. We didn't have early entry because we were staying off site and got quite a bit done. Now, we didn't ride any of the thrill rides, so I don't know if that will make a difference but having early entry will also help. Especially since you are going back later in the week.

This is so good to hear! I was hoping that would be the opinion and yeah, going back later in the week will for sure help. Plus we will be back in June so we don't need to do everything.

Here are my trip reports that may be helpful to you.

October 2023 On site with EE

This one is the recent one with my siblings off site so we didn't have EE
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a-sibling-end-of-august-mini-trip.3953815/

Awesome! Thank you! I'm a huge fan of reading everyone's trip reports!

 

[Becky2005]

Oh, we are aware of the length of the drive! We have three drivers on this trip and are willing to sacrifice the super long day in order to have a shorter drive the next day. We more often drive as opposed to flying so the family is used to it.

That's good. We *usually* drive but it seems to change every time how we do it. LOL! We *technically* had 3 drivers this time around but ended up we each took a day. I remember Atlanta not being that bad but the last time we drove was 2011 and I remember just hopping in the HOV lane on 75 and going straight on through! It's change a bit since then. Oops.

 

[aidansmommy]

That's good. We *usually* drive but it seems to change every time how we do it. LOL! We *technically* had 3 drivers this time around but ended up we each took a day. I remember Atlanta not being that bad but the last time we drove was 2011 and I remember just hopping in the HOV lane on 75 and going straight on through! It's change a bit since then. Oops.

Lol! The drive really is an adventure each time. We went once in January and got stuck on the road in Effingham for 8 hours. There had been an ice storm and a bunch of semi trucks had slid off the road/into the overpasses. The kids were little and it was a complete nightmare. I had never been happier to get stuck in Atlanta traffic-at least it was somewhat moving.

 

[Becky2005]

Lol! The drive really is an adventure each time. We went once in January and got stuck on the road in Effingham for 8 hours. There had been an ice storm and a bunch of semi trucks had slid off the road/into the overpasses. The kids were little and it was a complete nightmare. I had never been happier to get stuck in Atlanta traffic-at least it was somewhat moving.

Yikes! That is the downside to winter and especially the southern part, it isn't so much the snow but the ice there. Definitely an adventure.

 

[aidansmommy]

Wednesday 10/16 Hollywood Studios

The plan is to hit early entry here and go for Slinky Dog (it's the only big ticket ride the four of us will all go on and we missed it on our last trip).

We have Sci-fi ressies at 10:35 so I'm sure we will get a couple of other rides done as well. DS17's must do is to ride Star Tours, DH wants to be the rebel spy (at least both of their must do's are the same ride), DD14? I dunno, she never answers my questions. My must do is to dance to the song from Avenger's End Game that they play on Hollywood Blvd.

After our very early lunch we plan on heading back to the hotel for some rest and pool time.

Early evening we will head back to Hollywood and work on checking off more rides and experiences. I love TOT so that's definitely on the list! We also talked about checking out Baseline Tap House as we've never been and trying the giant pretzel with a lovely adult beverage. Hollywood is open for extended evening hours this night so we will enjoy the lower crowds and hopefully hitting up Rock & Roller Coaster, MMRR and Galaxy's Edge.

I'm glad we are scheduling in some break time in the middle of the day-I'm tired just reading about this day!

Thursday 10/17 Animal Kingdom

Unsure if we will even try for early entry or if we will sleep in a bit as we are planning on spending the day at AK with a dinner ressie at 8:25 at Sanaa, so another long day!

Regardless, everyone wants to hit up EE (the last trip the kids rode it 10 times in a row, though we would have to do early entry to make that happen again)! I will of course need to get the Harambe Street Market corn on the cob and also want to get out to Rafiki's Planet Watch. I absolutely love doing the animation class and seeing if anything is going on in the vet area. The cast members are always so knowledgable here.

We of course are hoping for one more ride on Dinosaur and will maybe eat lunch at either Flame Tree or Satuli. Last time we ate at Satuli we got the potato base and they weren't cooked all the way. It was super disappointing as we were with friends and had talked the food up majorly.

With us spending the day here we are going to get on what rides we can without too long of wait times but also explore the trails and help DD14 with the Wilderness Explorers game(? not really a game but I can't think of what to call it). We will be back later in the week to do our favorites/what we don't get to on this day.

Our very last plan is to hop into the FOP line right before the park closes as our reservation to Sanaa isn't until 8:25 and closing is at 6:00pm.

Dinner at Sanaa is a must do every trip for us. DH, DD14 and I go just for the bread service and make a meal out of it. DS17 splurges and gets the steak. We are huge fans of AKL and try to stay there as often as possible.

 

[aidansmommy]

Friday 10/18 MK/EPCOT/HS(?)

This will be a doozy of a day. The plan is to try for a VQ for Tiana's in the morning, do early entry (which is now at 7:30am as they updated opening hours for MK and AK for the week we are there) and hit what rides we still haven't ridden or want to do again. The family has voted on Cosmic Ray's for lunch so that's what we are going with. I'll probably get a kids meal and call it a day.

After lunch and (hopefully) Tiana's, we plan on heading out and over to EPCOT to spend more time at our favorite park. EPCOT days are really my favorite. We don't feel pressured to get on every ride (let's face it, there's not a TON to ride there) and we just enjoy being together and get a lot of people watching in. DS17 is also looking forward to more F&W booths. My wallet is not

We have thrown around possibly taking the skyliner over to HW to see Fantasmic if we don't fit that in on our other Hollywood Studios day but we will see how we're feeling at that point in the trip.

Saturday 10/19 EPCOT/MK

As of now the PLAN is to early entry either Remy's or Frozen.....I have a feeling the hubs and I will be doing this and the kids will meet up later, after sleeping in a bit. Anyway, we will enjoy EPCOT some more, possibly getting single LL for GG (this is still in discussion, we have until the seventh to figure out what we want to do here). After more food (I'm thinking I'll want a salad by this point), wandering the countries and enjoying this park once again, we will head to one last evening at MK. There's no party this night so we can watch fireworks and enjoy MK at night. Dinner is questionable-possibly a stop at GF for Gasparilla Grill or we all just pick something we want when we want it in the park. I'm looking at you Columbia Harbor House. This will be our last goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. See you in June Cinderella Castle!

 

[madeline07]

Sounds like such a fun trip, and it's coming up so soon! Looking forward to reading more about it