To Disney or Not to Disney--an Oct. 2015 PTR *UPDATE 9/2*

Cast of Characters

This trip, it will just be me and my mom. We did a girls' trip in January 2013 (the TR for which you can find HERE) and had SO much fun! After our most recent trip in October of 2014 (the TR for which you can find HERE), we realized that there was no way we could wait 2.5 years before going again. So we quietly began planning another trip (quietly, as in, don't tell Dad:tiptoe::laughing:). Now, for some brief introductions to the 2 of us.

Me: :tinker: I'm a 16 year old Disney fanatic. This trip will be my 9th trip to WDW princess:

Mom: ::MinnieMo She's a Disney fanatic who often gets asked if she's my sister :blush: 2Monkeys here on the DIS.

If the actual TR comes to be, I'll do more extensive bios. This is the 2 of us on our most recent trip in October 2014.
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See? Basically twins.

 
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You're Going to Disney AGAIN?!

Originally, when my entire family went to WDW for our Fall Break, Mom and I figured that it would be our last trip until 2017. My cousin and I both graduate in 2017, and we want to take a big trip to WDW and Universal Studios as a graduation trip. SO, we'd pretty much accepted that October 2014 would be our last trip for a little while.

BUT, as most of you probably know, it's really hard to accept that you can't go back to the Most Magical Place on Earth for almost 3 years. This was especially true for us when we found out that we get an entire week for our Fall Break this year...and entire week before Columbus Day, an entire week that we could spend (at least part of it) in WDW.

So we started talking, talking turned into planning, and . . . here we are.

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We leave October 2nd and come home October 7th. We're planning to stay at Pop Century once again, and we were recently able to snag a Free Dining deal that also had free park hoppers included in it. Normally, we would opt for a room discount instead of free dining, but after doing the math, we figured out that the free dining was actually a better deal for us this go-around.

Oh, and did I mention the best part?

I won't have to miss any school!:dogdance::D

Haha, I'm just kidding. Going to WDW would be the best part, but not missing school would definitely be a plus.
 
Course by Course!


Confession time. We haven't used the DDP in a VERY long time. Since we have the counter-service plan this time around, Mom and I were trying to think of good counter service places where we could use our credits. As of right now, we only have one ADR. And it's for Be Our Guest on our first full day (October 3rd) at 2:20pm.

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Even before we decided to use the DDP, we knew we couldn't do any table service meals this time. We needed to spend as little as possible if we're going to convince my dad that Mom and I should go on this trip.:D

So now I have a question for you, people of the DIS. What's YOUR favorite counter-service option on Disney property? Any suggestions you have (whether they be in a park or at a resort) would be greatly appreciated. :-):-)
 

I just happened on your trip report as I started researching a possible trip.

There are so many counter-service options (Cant wait to try Be Our Guest!) Our favorite at MK is Colombia Harbor House (across from Haunted Mansion) we like to sit upstairs! At Epcot - Sunshine Seasons is our favorite in Future World, unless we are going to World Showcase, we do love the Japan place... so many choices!
 
Joining in!

My mom and I just got back from a girl's trip to Universal and my dad and I are planning a father-daughter trip in October too!

Also, I love your screen name!
 
I just happened on your trip report as I started researching a possible trip.

There are so many counter-service options (Cant wait to try Be Our Guest!) Our favorite at MK is Colombia Harbor House (across from Haunted Mansion) we like to sit upstairs! At Epcot - Sunshine Seasons is our favorite in Future World, unless we are going to World Showcase, we do love the Japan place... so many choices!


Thanks for the CS suggestions! I've actually never been to CHH, but I've heard a lot of good things about it!

Joining in!

My mom and I just got back from a girl's trip to Universal and my dad and I are planning a father-daughter trip in October too!

Also, I love your screen name!

How fun! I've only been to Universal once, and I can't wait to go back. Thanks for reading along!
 
BREAKING NEWS

So, I know it's been a while since the last update of this PTR, but there hasn't been a whole lot to update y'all on :sad1::upsidedow Mom and I are in the process of working out our plan, and as soon as I have that I'll post it. But it was during that planning that this update came about.

BREAKING NEWS!!! :rainbow:

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A couple days ago, Mom renewed her Touring Plans subscription, so we could look at crowd levels, wait times, etc. So we were going through each of the days we are going to be in WDW, checking the park hours and crowd levels. It was during this time that I discovered we weren't going to be in MK for any EMH. At first, I was bummed, but there isn't anything I can do about the park hours, right? :worried:

BUT, I checked the park hours for our departure day, and MK had evening EMH until midnight! o_O Originally, our plan had been to go to MK for a few hours that day before catching DME to MCO for our flight at 5 (ish). But upon discovering the late EMH that day, I couldn't just ignore it. I started looking up the flights home on the following day. I knew when we had originally booked our flights, the ones on Thursday had been twice as much as the one we booked for Wednesday. 8-) But I decided to check, just in case.

SURPRISE! The flights for Thursday morning we ON SALE! :yay::yay: I got Mom to look at how many SouthWest points she was using for the flights we already had compared to what she would have to use for the Thursday flight...the number of points was EXACTLY THE SAME!!

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The plotting began. Mom still wasn't convinced. "That's still an extra night in the hotel, and another day I have to take off work," she said.

Ha. "You know you weren't going to go to work that day," I said.
A pause. Mom laughs. "You're right. I wasn't.":rotfl2:

One problem solved. :thumbsup2

"That's still another night in the hotel." Mom says.:chat:

IDEA! :listen: :rolleyes:

"What if I paid for the extra night?" I asked. I've been saving practically every paycheck I've gotten for almost 3 years for the purpose of helping with Disney trips, but, to be honest, I wasn't sure it was going to work.

IT DID! Mom said, "Okay." :love1:


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SO, we called Disney. Surprisingly, it wasn't long before a real, live person picked up the phone!:flower1:
Mom told the nice CM that we wanted to add a day to our reservation. The CM types away at her computer and then . . .

ERROR.

Uh oh....

Because we were under the free dining deal, we couldn't add a night to our reservation.

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But, all hope is not lost. Mom then asks the nice CM if we can add a room only reservation for that one night. I nod happily. We don't really need the DDP for that last day anyway. The nice CM comes back a few minutes later, gives Mom the confirmation number and some instructions, and it was done.

WE'RE SPENDING ANOTHER DAY IN DISNEY!!!

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I'm just a little bit excited, if you can't tell. :rolleyes::-):D

So now, instead of 4 days in WDW, we have 5 days! This makes our trip dates October 2nd - October 8th, with the 2nd and 8th being travel days. We're working on getting our plan ironed out, so that we'll be ready to make our FP+ decisions when the 60 day mark rolls around.

As of now, we are 117 days away!!!

Some of you may be wondering about the title of this PTR right about now: "To Disney or not to Dinsey?" If you recall, when I started this PTR, this trip was not definite. In fact, it's STILL not definite. But, I'm choosing to be optimistic. :D

That's all for now, but hopefully I'll have the plan for y'all really soon! :wave:

 
We've Got a Plan!

Hey y'all! Mom and I have been talking a lot lately about our plan for this upcoming trip, and I think we finally have it figured out...maybe! :upsidedow :D :laughing: Obviously this is subject to change, but for now here's what our plan looks like! :woohoo:

Fri. Oct. 2nd: Flight to MCO leaves at 6:00pm CT and arrives at MCO around 8:30 DT (Disney time! :lmao:)

Sat. Oct. 3rd: morning EMH at DHS specifically for TSMM; hop over to MK; BOG at 2:20pm

Sun. Oct. 4th: DTD (or Disney Springs; whatever the heck it's called now) for shopping and lunch at EoS; head over to DHS for FP+ & Fantasmic!; dinner in DTD at WPE

Mon. Oct. 5th: morning EMH at MK; hop over to Epcot for F&W and FP+ and Illuminations

Tues. Oct. 6th: morning EMH at Epcot for rides; hop over to MK (may just go straight to MK if we ride everything we want to on Mon.); pool time; dinner at WPE

Wed. Oct. 7th: morning EMH at AK; MK until midnight (evening EMH) -- we're going to try to get a lunch ADR for BOG this day; crossing our fingers that one becomes available!

Thurs. Oct. 8th: plane-ride back to reality around 9am:sad:

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That's our plan for now! Our FP+ date is August 3rd at 11pm CT. Until then, I don't think there will be too much for me to update on. If the plan changes or anything though, I'll be sure to post updates.

That's all for now! See ya real soon! :wave::wave:
 
Almost $200 in reward dollars saved on the Disney Visa! Looking more & more possible!!
 
The Start of Something New

Okay, obviously I lied at the end of my last update...OOPS!:rolleyes1:D There actually IS something else for me to update on. Since this will be my 9th trip to WDW and Mom's we-don't-know-how-many trip to WDW, we decided that this time we were going to make it a goal to do something new in every park.

Magic Kingdom

Liberty Square Riverboat

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Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom:smickey:

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Epcot

Voices of Liberty

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Innoventions Fountain Show

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And obviously the F&W booths

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Hollywood Studios

One Man's Dream :earsboy:

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Animal Kingdom

Meet King Louie and Baloo

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If y'all have any suggestions of things (specifically things that most Disney-goers don't know about) for us to try, I would love to hear them!

Until next time, see ya real soon! :wave::wave:
 
:wave2:

We are going to cross paths quite a few times!

There's so much good CS locations at WDW, but my very favorites are Flame Tree BBQ, EOS, Wolfgang Puck Express, and Sunshine Seasons! You'll be eating good even without any TS :)
 
:wave2:

We are going to cross paths quite a few times!

There's so much good CS locations at WDW, but my very favorites are Flame Tree BBQ, EOS, Wolfgang Puck Express, and Sunshine Seasons! You'll be eating good even without any TS :)

I agree! We'd thought about upgrading to the TS plan but then decided it wasn't really worth it for us, especially since we're going for a shorter time this trip. Thanks for reading!
 
Our NEW Plan

Hey y'all! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this PTR. But now, with just 4 DAYS left until our FP+ date, we have a whole new plan! Yes, that's right. Just last week I get home and discover that my mom has basically changed our entire plan while I was gone. Uhhh what?

So, here it is!

Friday October 2nd: flight to MCO lands at 8:30pm DT; take DME to Pop and check in; eat dinner at FC

Saturday October 3rd: DHS AM EMH for TSMM; hop over to MK for the rest of the day until PM EMH ends @ 1am; BOG @ 2:20pm

Sunday October 4th: sleep in a little; shopping in DTD w/ lunch @ EoS; DHS until F!; dinner @ WPE

Monday October 5th: AK; hop to Epcot for F&W and Illuminations

Tuesday October 6th: MK; hop to Epcot for F&W and rides; go back to Pop and hang out at the pool for a while; Kona @ 8:10pm; watch Hallowishes from beach at Poly @ 9:30pm

Wednesday October 7th: sleep in a little and pack; WPE for breakfast; MK all day!

Thursday October 8th: board the plane back to reality :(


So that's the plan! We book our FP+ on Monday, so I'll have another update after that. Until then....

See ya real soon!

 
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60 DAYS!

Just a few days ago, Mom and I stayed up until 12:00am DT and booked our FP+ for this trip! We are so excited that we are now less than 60 days away from the Most Magical Place on Earth!

As promised, I am here to share our FP+ selections with you, the people of the DIS. I'm also including our ADRs on this list :)

Saturday

2:20p Be Our Guest (lunch)
3:45p-4:45p Splash Mtn.
7:00p-8:00p Space Mtn.
8:10p-9:10p 7DMT

Sunday

3:05p-4:05p TSMM
4:35p-4:50p Frozen Sing Along
5:50p-6:05p VotLM

Monday

3:20p-4:20p Nemo
4:55p-5:55p Soarin'
6:50p-7:50p Character Spot

Tuesday

8:20a Be Our Guest (breakfast)
9:05a-10:05a 7DMT
10:05a-11:05a Space Mtn.
11:50a-12:50p PPF
8:10p Kona Cafe (dinner)

Wednesday

12:35p-1:35p 7DMT
1:45p-2:45p Space Mtn.
3:45p-4:45p BTMRR


Well, that's all for now! See ya real soon! :wave:
 
30 Days and Counting!!

Hey there DISers; sorry it's bee so long since I've posted on this PTR. Life's been a little crazy, and honestly there just hasn't been anything to post about. However, that all changed yesterday. First a little background on our story. . .

I found out about a week ago that the day Mom and I leave for WDW is Grandparents' Day at my school. . . in other words, the day no one wants to be there (even more so than usual). After talking to Mom we decided that, despite the fact our flight wasn't until that night, she wouldn't make me go to school this day.

YAY!!

We talked about going to get our nails done that morning and then started talking about how we wished we could leave earlier. . . :scratchin :idea:
We knew there was another flight earlier in the day we're leaving, but it was more expensive than the flight we already had. So Mom did some more looking and found out that we can change just the first leg of our round-trip. Which means we will now be arriving in WDW at 1:25pm instead of 8:00pm!:yay::jumping1:

Because of this new flight, our plans have changed just a bit. So, I'm here to give you an update on said plans. We are now exactly 30 days from our departure date, which means that later this week we can pre-order our food for our meals at BOG:woohoo:

Anyways, now for those plans I promised. I figured I would include the FP+s, ADRs, etc. in this post, because, hey, why not?:rolleyes::upsidedow

Friday October 2nd: Arrival Day!:tongue:
Arrive at MCO at 1:25pm DT
Check in to Pop
Rainforest Cafe at 4:30pm
Spend some time in DTD
Ghirardelli

Saturday October 3rd: DHS/MK
Breakfast in Pop FC
AM EMH at DHS (ride TSMM; maybe B&tB)
Hop to MK
Be Our Guest at 2:20pm
Splash Mountain at 3:45pm
Space Mountain at 7:00pm
7DMT at 8:10pm
PM EMH at MK until 1am

Sunday October 4th: DTD/DHS
Shopping in DTD
Lunch at WPE
Walk to SSR to get bus to DHS
TSMM at 3:05pm
Frozen Sing Along at 4:35pm
VotLM at 5:50pm
Fantasmic! at 8pm
Bus back to Pop (grab mugs from room)
Dinner in AoA FC

Monday October 5th: AK/EPCOT
AK in the morning
Hop to Epcot
F&W
Nemo at 3:20pm
Soarin' at 4:55pm
Character Spot at 6:50pm
Illuminations at 9pm

Tuesday October 6th: MK/EPCOT
Be Our Guest at 8:25am
7DMT at 9:05am
Space Mountain at 10:05am
PPF at 11:50am
Hop to Epcot
F&W
Bus back to Pop for pool time
Kona Cafe at 8:10pm
Watch Hallowishes from Poly beach at 9:30pm

Wednesday October 7th: MK
Sleep in a little and pack
WPE for breakfast
Walk to SSR for bus to MK
7DMT at 12:35pm
Space Mountain at 1:45pm
BTMRR at 3:45pm
PM EMH until 12am

I know this post was pretty wordy and I apologize for that. BUT I AM JUST SO EXCITED THAT WE FINALLY HAVE A PLAN....oops didn't mean to yell:hyper: I'm not sure if I'll have anything else to post about before the actual day arrives, but if I do I will.

Until next time! :wave::wave::disrocks:


 
Woot woot! Can't wait to spend one on one time with my girl at our happy place!!
 












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