"There's Nothing To Do At Disney World!" Jan '17 Weekend TR **05/19 X2**

[MarieLightning]

There's Nothing To Do At Disney World!​

Soooo.... Surprise!​

I think it's clear to see we just really can't stay away.​

Not that we needed further proof, but just in case we did, I think this past trip just gave it.​

That's right, we just returned from Disney!​

Which we were not supposed to return to until May.​

No, we have not been granted with the power of time travel - and even if we were, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't use it. Can you imagine how much stuff you could mess up? Yikes.​

No, we just decided to throw caution to the wind and plan a super last minute, super short trip to the World over the weekend.​

It's pretty interesting how this year will include both our shortest to date and longest to date trip to Disney World. I'm personally a little more partial to the latter, but I'll take anything I can get.​

So here's the outline of what we did:​

What: Quickie weekend trip to WDW!
When: January 27th - 29th, 2017
Where: Art of Animation Resort! (Super excited because we have now stayed at all the Values. Got that checked off the list!)
Why: We decided we really wanted to try the After Hours event at the Magic Kingdom. Maybe we're a bit insane. But it just gave us a nice excuse to return, and I was glad to take it!​

Who: Myself and my lovely wife!​

​

Myself is Marie, 27 years old, French Canadian, currently working for a travel wholesaler. Nice to meet you!​

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Characters: Tiana, Moana and Cinderella
Favorite Movie: It's ever changing, but right now, Moana and Cinderella (live action)
Favorite Rides: Expedition Everest, Carousel of Progress, Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Favorite Snack: Anything from Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles in France
Favorite Atmosphere: Main Street U.S.A.
Nighttime Shows Ranking: Wishes, Fantasmic, IllumiNations, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular​

As for my lovely wife, her name is Amber! She is 23 years old, Michigan born, currently studying to be a Nurse.​

Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Characters: Winnie the Pooh and Belle
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast and Zootopia
Favorite Rides: Haunted Mansion, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain, Dinosaur, The PeopleMover
Favorite Snack: Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich and Mickey Pretzel
Favorite Atmosphere: Tomorrowland at night
Nighttime Shows Ranking: IllumiNations, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, Fantasmic, Wishes​

So there you have it!​

I look forward to you all joining us on this super quick adventure, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!​

 

[MarieLightning]

Links

Trip Report

How It All Came To Be

Day 1, Part 1: "We're Going To Disney World!"
Day 1, Part 2: "Front Row Is The Best Row"
Day 1, Part 3: "Open Your Eyes!" "No!"
Day 1, Part 4: "It's The Circle Of Life"
Day 1, Part 5: "That's What We Get For Being Lazy"
Day 1, Part 6: "I Feel Like A VIP!"
Day 1, Part 7: "I Think Tiana's Texting In The Corner"
Day 1, Part 8: "I'm Feeling A Little Judged"
Day 1, Part 9: "I Think My Ice Cream Is Too Cold"
Day 1, Part 10: "I Just Want A Bed Right Now"

Day 2, Part 1: "I Am Not Impressed With You Right Now"
Day 2, Part 2: "Look At All These Noodles!"
Day 2, Part 3: "This Is Baemax!"
Day 2, Part 4: "I Want To Hold A Giant Paintbrush!"
Day 2, Part 5: "You're Never Too Good For A Times Guide"
Day 2, Part 6: "Now Put Your Hand On His Chest"
Day 2, Part 7: "I Wanna Be The Mona Lisa"
Day 2, Part 8: "Let's Look Like We're Really Cold, Cause We Are"



Vlogs

Vlog 001 - Arrival & Animal Kingdom
Vlog 002 - Animal Kingdom & Art of Animation
Vlog 003 - Magic Kingdom & After Hours Party
​

 

[chs27]

Can't wait!

 

[coloredimage]

I was so confused when I saw Amber's Instagram posts of Disney lol. Can't wait to follow along!

 

[buteraa]

Awesome! I love spur of the moment trips. Can't wait to hear about the after hours extravaganza!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining in - love the idea of a spur of the moment trip! Looking forward to reading what you thought of the after hours event

 

[MarieLightning]

Can't wait!

Thanks for joining in!

I was so confused when I saw Amber's Instagram posts of Disney lol. Can't wait to follow along!

We hardly told anybody, really! We told our friend whom we're going with in June (Margaret) because she booked our room, and then we told a couple more people at work/school because I needed to trade a couple of shifts and Amber asked someone to come check on our cat while we were gone.

Awesome! I love spur of the moment trips. Can't wait to hear about the after hours extravaganza!

It was pretty crazy, going from a four months countdown to a five days countdown! But we had an awesome time Thanks for reading along!

Joining in - love the idea of a spur of the moment trip! Looking forward to reading what you thought of the after hours event

Hey Phil!

It was definitely a pretty crazy week leading up to it! But ultimately, we both agreed it was worth it

 

[momplus3]

Love your trip reports! Can't wait to see more!

 

[MarieLightning]

Love your trip reports! Can't wait to see more!

Thank you so much! I'm glad to have you join in

 

[MarieLightning]

How It All Came To Be

Before I get started on all the fun stuff, I figure I should take a moment to share how this all ended up happening for us.

Fair warning, it's gonna be text heavy.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a very stressful week, followed by a pretty crazy weekend - definitely not a relaxing vacation - but I have zero regrets about any of it.

It officially all started on Sunday, January 22nd.

The day before, I'd read up about a report of the After Hours event, and it seemed like a really awesome thing to experience. Now, I know there's been some conflicting feelings about those events - claims of it being yet another money grabbing thing, of it being unfair, etc.

My take on it is, yes, it's definitely another money grab. But at least, in this case, you get your money's worth a lot more than for something like, say, cabanas in Tomorrowland. Or paying five hundred bucks to eat a fancy meal with a fancy chef in Cinderella Castle. I won't give my take on the event itself just yet - gotta save something for the actual report - but as far as I'm concerned, it was money well spent, especially considering our AP discount.

As fair as being unfair, I can't really agree to it. See, if it was cutting down on regular park time, or replacing evening Extra Magic Hours, then yes, I would one hundred percent agree - I still think them replacing the FastPass options for Wishes and the Parades with a cost attached option is a d**k move. But it does neither of those things. EMHs are still a thing, and the park doesn't close any earlier than it typically would at this time of year. They also don't try to usher non After Hours attendees as fast as they do for the Halloween and Christmas parties, for example. There's no rope set up anywhere, blocking the access to certain areas as early as half an hour before the event start. If you get in a line at 8:59, you're fine.

So there we came to the conclusion that the After Hours was something we would like to try.

But of course, the only dates available at this time were not dates that lined up with our upcoming trip.

Nonetheless, we started talking about the current date offerings. Somewhere in there, we went from, this would be a fun thing to do but alas it's not offered in June, to, what if we tried to go next weekend?

It was really the only date that could have possibly worked, since as of February, the event will be held on Thursday nights. Amber has school every day of the week. She, however, only has two classes on Friday, including one for which the teacher always puts up online the Power Point he uses in class (and according to her, he rarely goes over anything that is not on that Power Point).

So, missing two days of class is a no go. But missing one, that she could do.

The first thing I did was check the flight availability.

One of the perks I get, working where I work, is flight passes, as we are very closely partnered with an airline. To be honest, I rarely ever use them. We don't very often go away for a short, last minute trip, and that's really what these are primarily good for. See, standby passes are great, so long as there's seats available. If there's not though, it's tough luck and too bad so sad. So we've never used them for Disney, because you don't want to put down such a large sum of money and then end up stranded back home because you couldn't get on the plane.

Now, for the upcoming Friday morning departure, there were eighteen seats left.

It's not a lot, but then, it's a really close departure. We decided it was enough.

Next order of business was to take care of work. Because of course, I was scheduled to work both Friday and Saturday.

I started Facebook messaging and texting a couple of my colleagues. First person was a no go - she was headed to Winnipeg for the weekend. Drat.

The next person I messaged said she'd have to get back to me, as they were supposed to visit a family member in the hospital over the weekend, but if her husband was off on Sunday, they could go then just as well as Saturday.

I crossed my fingers and told her to let me know as soon as she could. At that point, we were supposed to be headed out. We had signed up for a registry scanning party at the Bridal show we attended a couple of weeks prior, and we were running a little late.

We had just stepped out of the apartment and locked the door when she told me, I'll let you know right now, he's just in the next room over.

So there we are, both in our winter gear, standing by the door in the hallway to stay on the Wifi connection and waiting for her to get back to me. And let me tell you - our apartment building is kept very, very warm.

A couple of minutes later, she says it's a go! My Saturday is taken care of! Yay!

And then right about at the same time, my other colleague replies as well, saying he'll trade his Friday no problem.

Oh. My. God.

We're going to Disney in FIVE DAYS!

Amber may have squealed in the hallway.

Actually, not may. She did. Loudly.

We were hyper for the rest of the day.

Save the moment when I had to try and fill out a reservation form on my uncooperating phone using public store Wifi. I was not hyper then.

But in less than six hours, we went from pondering how nice it would be to try the After Hours, to being booked for two nights at the Art of Animation, with special event tickets linked to our MDE accounts.

Then came the waiting.

If you don't know me well, let me tell you something about myself.

I am an extremely anxious person. I worry all the time. I worry about things (more often than not far-fetched things) that could happen. I look back at things that didn't go as planned and think of all the things I could have done differently to make them go well. If Amber doesn't text me back in a timely fashion, my brain basically goes to, that's it, she's dead or dying. (And the girl will still not learn to take her phone off of silent after she gets done with school).

Remember the flight?

Remember the standby?

Remember the eighteen seats?

I must have checked the flight load twice per hour for the rest of the week.

Then Thursday morning came, we did our online check in, everything was fine.

Noon comes around, and the flight load is down seven seats.

Erm. What?

Cue checking the flight load every five minutes instead.

And trying to think of every possible alternate plan.

If things look too gloomy by 9 PM tonight, we're heading to the airport, catching the 11 PM flight to Ottawa and taking the flight out of there to Orlando tomorrow morning.

Except now the Ottawa flight looks terrible.

Okay, scratch that. We can fly into Tampa and then take Megabus to Orlando. We'll get in a little later than hoped for, and that cab ride is gonna sting a bit, but at least we'll be there.

But what if the plane is late and we miss the bus?

We could always connect through Toronto. We won't get into Orlando until close to 8 PM, which will mean missing a bit of the After Hours event, but it's better than the next direct flight out of Montreal which is scheduled to land at 8:30 PM.

That's what my brain was like pretty much on repeat for the whole evening.

The flight availability stood still until 2:30, when I was able to get a leave early from work.

I headed home and started working on packing. Amber got out of school around 6, and got started on her own things.

We watched The Princess and the Frog to tie in our usual movie watching tradition (and I of course continuously checked the flights throughout the evening).

Eventually, we had to try and go to bed. Our flight was leaving at 6 the next morning, meaning we should try to be at the airport by 3 - 3:30. Meaning we should get up around 2.

I checked the flights one last time around 9:30, and decided that at that point, it was highly unlikely that a little more than ten people would purchase tickets for a flight leaving in less than twelve hours.

I'm pretty sure it was past 10 before I fell asleep, but eventually I did.

Of course, morning would come very quickly at that point. But that's alright, because we were going to Disney World!


Click for next post​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow, that's a great story how it went from just a concept that likely wouldn't happen to tickets secured in 6 hours (we actually have a "weekend alone with no kids" coming up that went from "no way we can do this" to "trip is fully booked" in like 12 hours, so you beat us)

I am similar to you especially when it comes to logistics in that I imagine everything that could go wrong and try to plan for that - which is why I am usually super early to everything

 

[coloredimage]

I am an extremely anxious person. I worry all the time. I worry about things (more often than not far-fetched things) that could happen. I look back at things that didn't go as planned and think of all the things I could have done differently to make them go well. If Amber doesn't text me back in a timely fashion, my brain basically goes to, that's it, she's dead or dying. (And the girl will still not learn to take her phone off of silent after she gets done with school).

100% me - I already have 3 alternative plans in place for going back to Disneyland and we're not going until August!

I kind of love how impromptu this was - I wish I could do that.

 

[MarieLightning]

Wow, that's a great story how it went from just a concept that likely wouldn't happen to tickets secured in 6 hours (we actually have a "weekend alone with no kids" coming up that went from "no way we can do this" to "trip is fully booked" in like 12 hours, so you beat us)

I am similar to you especially when it comes to logistics in that I imagine everything that could go wrong and try to plan for that - which is why I am usually super early to everything

It was a pretty awesome feeling, which I'm sure you understand at this point with your own getaway booked

We do usually get places pretty early. Being late is another thing that gives me a lot of anxiety. Usually we arrive at the airport three hours before our flight departs.

100% me - I already have 3 alternative plans in place for going back to Disneyland and we're not going until August!

I kind of love how impromptu this was - I wish I could do that.

Yeah, most of the time I need to remind myself to chill a little Thankfully, I have Amber who is much less of a worry wart, or at least doesn't worry about the same things as me. So she just kept saying all week, it'll be fine, and, we only need two seats.

It was pretty awesome to be able to get such a short countdown. It's not something we can very often succeed at to be honest, so I'm glad we were able to pull it off.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Joining in...I would love to do a quick weekend trip to the WDW. I guess I could always try it sometime next year (even though I am starting to plan a Disneyland trip).

 

[MarieLightning]

Joining in...I would love to do a quick weekend trip to the WDW. I guess I could always try it sometime next year (even though I am starting to plan a Disneyland trip).

Welcome, and thanks for joining in!

I mean, ultimately, I don't think I could deal with having just a weekend trip to WDW in a year, so maybe a year when you have another trip planned is the best to go for it We had to skip a lot of things of course, but it was fine for us because we knew we would be back in less than four months. If we hadn't, I would have felt a lot worse about it.

 

[felynn]

My father used to work for CP air (yeah I'm super old) so we used to fly stand by all the time. And we had to dress up for flights. It's stressful I feel ya.

 

[MarieLightning]

My father used to work for CP air (yeah I'm super old) so we used to fly stand by all the time. And we had to dress up for flights. It's stressful I feel ya.

We don't usually do standby when we have a vacation planned and money put down toward something that could be lost if we don't make it on, but in this case it was pretty much the only way to make it. Pretty sure I wouldn't do it again though, unless there were like, over 50 seats left in the plane

And yep, dress code is a thing for us too! I actually once got told off and threatened by a gate agent saying he could deny me boarding if he wanted, because I'd gotten a bit too comfortable and worn flip flops. So we dressed ourselves up and changed at the airport.

 

[fallonkendra]

Joining in! I'd love to do an impromptu trip to WDW, but I think I would panic over not being able to plan like I typically do. That said, the first time we went to Anaheim was a spur of the moment trip for NHL hockey. We started talking about it on a Monday morning, and had the trip booked by Monday afternoon - then got on the plane Thursday morning.

 

[smilerjones]

Joining in on your report! An impromptu trip Disney is something that I dream about often. And I've never gotten to do but maybe some day. So awesome that it all fell into place to work out for you guys!! Also looking forward to hearing how you like the After Hours event.

 

[MarieLightning]

Joining in! I'd love to do an impromptu trip to WDW, but I think I would panic over not being able to plan like I typically do. That said, the first time we went to Anaheim was a spur of the moment trip for NHL hockey. We started talking about it on a Monday morning, and had the trip booked by Monday afternoon - then got on the plane Thursday morning.

Hi, welcome! Thanks for joining in!

We did get pretty lucky on the planning. I managed to get most every ride we wanted as far as FastPasses went, even if they weren't the ideal times, it still worked out.

And that's a crazy short last minute, definitely more last minute than we've done! We've done a lot of three weeks out bookings, and sometimes a couple of weeks out, but this one took the cake with five days.

Joining in on your report! An impromptu trip Disney is something that I dream about often. And I've never gotten to do but maybe some day. So awesome that it all fell into place to work out for you guys!! Also looking forward to hearing how you like the After Hours event.

Thanks for joining in!

Hopefully it'll be in the works for you some time! It's the second time we'd toyed with the idea of planning something last minute and just jumping on it (last time was back when they were doing the 24 hour day at MK. I wish they hadn't stopped that, I would have loved to do one of those)