Updated with Trip Report Link! - A Trip of Firsts! - A September 2018 Pre Trip Report

[Araminta18]

Yes - our first trip to WDW all together!

That's so exciting!!! How fun! I hope you have an amazing time--and that both of us have a great time at our first MNSSHP!

Following along!

First, congrats on the weight loss! What an achievement! I keep telling myself I need to start an exercise/better eating routine but I have no willpower/ exhausted from 12 hour hospital shifts. Excuses, excuses.

Your plans look great. Sounds like you will have a great time and how fun to be at WDW for your birthday!

Aw, thank you! I know what you mean--I do that too. I just found a reason and then a method that works for me, but it took a long time to find. And 12 hour hospital shifts? Oosh, hard!!

Thanks! I'm really excited--and especially for Victoria and Albert's on my birthday! And half the fun (for me) is the planning, anyways--hence the long rambling posts!

 

[kclark9830]

I am IN LOVE with that Mary Poppins bag! Beautiful! And a huge congrats on your weight loss. That is wonderful. I've been losing weight, too, but what I really need at this point is to start exercising. Most of my days are spent sitting, so I need to start walking more. Such an easy task, yet I put it off. Why? LOL

Your ADR's look great! And I love your "meat on a sword" comment. Ha! I can't wait to try O'Hana, too. And the party! And the tour! So many fun things!!! I talked to hubby about doing the party, but he doesn't feel it interests him. *shrugs* I don't mind forgoing it, though I know it would be lots of fun.

 

[Piglet843]

I will be there in September too - I enjoyed reading your plans - as well as your Previous Trip Report.

Congratulations on the Weight Loss!! That is Amazing! You totally deserve that Mary Poppins bag for all your hard work!

My trip will be a trip of firsts too - this is DH and I's first trip with a kiddo - our DS(4). So much fun! Can't wait to read more...

 

[Araminta18]

I am IN LOVE with that Mary Poppins bag! Beautiful! And a huge congrats on your weight loss. That is wonderful. I've been losing weight, too, but what I really need at this point is to start exercising. Most of my days are spent sitting, so I need to start walking more. Such an easy task, yet I put it off. Why? LOL

Your ADR's look great! And I love your "meat on a sword" comment. Ha! I can't wait to try O'Hana, too. And the party! And the tour! So many fun things!!! I talked to hubby about doing the party, but he doesn't feel it interests him. *shrugs* I don't mind forgoing it, though I know it would be lots of fun.

Thanks!! Sometimes it makes me miss the job I had in college--i was a page/shelver at the library and so I was running around all day. It was great--didn't gain any weight. Now gotta psych myself up to go exercise. Oh well!

LOL--gotta give credit to my husband for the "meat on a sword" comment, that was all him. But it seemed appropriate, from the pics I've seen! Bummer about your hubby not wanting to do the party. Who knows, maybe once y'all get there he'll want to do it. But either way I'm sure you'll have a great time!

I will be there in September too - I enjoyed reading your plans - as well as your Previous Trip Report.

Congratulations on the Weight Loss!! That is Amazing! You totally deserve that Mary Poppins bag for all your hard work!

My trip will be a trip of firsts too - this is DH and I's first trip with a kiddo - our DS(4). So much fun! Can't wait to read more...

Yay! Another September trip! Glad you enjoyed reading it--I enjoy writing it so I hope it's enjoyable for people to read too!

Thank you!

Ooh, congratulations! That will be so fun with your son--getting to see it all through his eyes...so exciting. Does he have favorite characters he wants to meet/rides to ride? I love seeing pics/stories of kids meeting their favorite characters--it's always so magical.

 

[maryr1oz]

Your plans are great - bring on September!

Are you flying out of Reagan or Dulles to Orlando?

 

[Araminta18]

Your plans are great - bring on September!

Are you flying out of Reagan or Dulles to Orlando?

definitely bring on September!!!

Reagan, this time. Dulles is closer, but flights were cheaper/at better times out of Reagan. We almost flew out of Baltimore, but luckily I was able to find better deals out of Reagan! You guys?

 

[Araminta18]

Dessert Party!
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In a surprising, but pleasing turn of events, Disney released all the MK dessert parties today! If you've seen the HEA Dessert Party thread, there's been a bunch of us waiting to book them. The dates were all grey for a long time, then last Friday all the dates to the present day turned blue, but still showed no availability when you searched for times. But today, at like 3:30 EST, they opened for booking, and I was able to book September 20th. Huzzah!

​

It's been moved 15 minutes earlier than it was in the past, and the price went up $10, but I figure it's worth it to not have to fight for a spot in front of the castle to see Happily Ever After. So excited!

Disney also opened up booking for dinner on MNSSHP days, so I was able to move our Skipper Canteen dinner to 4:30 on Sept 16th. Yay!

Unfortunately, that means that's it! Nothing more to do until fastpasses (July 16th! Only 108 more days...). Unless I try and rejigger everything...must resist the urge!

​

 

[Araminta18]

Fastpass+ Plans!​

So there's nothing left to do, so what do I do? Make plans! I mean, only 90 days til it's time to make fastpasses! Gotta get right on that! Ok, but it's me so I actually have been planning them out, and Toy Story Land is throwing me for a loop. I'm not sure if some of the crowd calendars have taken that into account, and having all three Toy Story rides as Tier 1s makes for some interesting planning...but I think I have a tentative plan of attack. Feel free to critique/make suggestions!

**this plan is predicated on planning to pick up extra FPs in the park, and it just being Trevor and me so we're ok with wandering around/enjoying atmosphere, etc and so on**

Friday, Sept 14th: Arrival Day (we'll be at Disney Springs in the early afternoon, then head to Epcot)

• 3:15pm-4:15pm Spaceship Earth
• 4:15pm-5:15pm Soarin'
• 5:15pm-6:15pm Living with the Land

Saturday, Sept 15th: Animal Kingdom

• 9am-10am Dinosaur? I originally thought Kali River Rapids but I don't think we need a FP that early *shrugs*
• 10am-11am Kilimanjaro Safaris
• 11am-12pm Flight of Passage
• 12:15 ADR for Yak n Yeti

**my goal is to try and get a Navi River Journey FP+ right after FoP if there's time (and if luck is on my side). If not, we plan to go back to Pandora at night so I feel confident I can get one for later in the day. I really want to see the regular queue for FoP, so the plan is to ride it last thing at night and eat dinner at Satuli Canteen, so we'll be in the Pandora area.
**also gonna try for day of FPs for Expedition Everest, Primeval Whirl, etc. I think we'll do ok

Sunday, Sept 16th: Magic Kingdom (and MNSSHP night!)

• 9:10 ADR at Crystal Palace...we plan on sleeping in a bit so I don't mind losing that touring time to breakfast. I'm also ignoring how its mildly irritating that the reservation isn't at 9am but whatever...
• 10am-11am Jungle Cruise
• 11am-12pm Pirates
• 12pm-1pm Splash

**wanna pick up extra FPs for Big Thunder, maybe Haunted Mansion? maybe Peter Pan if I get really lucky?

Monday Sept 17th: HS am and Epcot pm

• 9am-10am Rock n Roller Coaster (hello new tier 2!)
• 10am-11am Star Tours
• 11am-12pm Slinky Dog Dash!

**if we're super lucky maybe we'll score a fairly immediate use FP for Alien Saucers.....maybe!
**we're then heading to Epcot to eat around the world, my goal is to pick up extra FP for Frozen, Test Track, Mission Space, and the Seas. I think I may do ok? I tried yesterday playing around and was able to get Test Track for use 20 minutes in the future and Frozen for use 1 hour in the future, so I'm optimistically hopeful

Tuesday Sept 18th: Magic Kingdom (my birthday!)

• 8am to 10am(ish): Early Morning Magic! So, assuming all is running, that's Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh and 7DMT right there. Once the park opens, I wanna run and do Space, and Astro Orbiter, then back up to Fantasyland for breakfast.
• 10am-11am: Tomorrowland Speedway
• 11am-12pm: Buzz Lightyear
• ADR: Be Our Guest at 12:15
• 12:30-1:30pm: Haunted Mansion maybe? We don't want to get too far into Frontierland/Adventureland since we should have covered that on Sunday. But most of the other rides in Tomorrowland/Fantasyland you can easily get a day of fastpass for. So...not sure.

Wednesday, Sept 19th: AK am; HS pm

• 1:30pm-2:30pm Alien Swirling Saucers (I'm banking that it'll be easier to get a day of fastpass for TSMM with the third track on one of our HS days)
• 2:30pm-3:30pm Star Tours
• 3:30pm-4:30pm Tower of Terror

***This day I'm not sure about. I clearly want to use our fastpasses at Hollywood Studios, but we aren't going to rush to rope drop AK, and it makes me nervous to try 3 hours or so without *any* fastpasses (not even day of ones). We have a lunch ADR at Sanaa at 12:30pm, otherwise I'd switch and say lets do HS in the morning. But i think we'll prefer to spend more time at HS than at AK. So, a really good touring plan I guess is what I'm doing for AK.

Thursday Sept 20th: Magic Kingdom (Marceline to the Magic Kingdom tour in the AM)

• ADR: 11:20am The Plaza
• 11:30am-12:30pm Pirates
• 12:30pm-1:30pm Splash
• 1:30pm-2:30pm Big Thunder

Friday, Sept 21st: Epcot am/HS pm

• ADR: 9am at the Boardwalk Bon Voyage Character Breakfast
• 11am-12pm: Frozen
• 12pm-1pm: Spaceship Earth
• 1pm-2pm: Journey into Imagination (I know I know, but I imagine we'll walk in from IG around to Frozen, then keep going counter clockwise around and hit Spaceship Earth and Journey into Imagination then back up into the World Showcase (eating around the World). My goal will then be to pick up fastpasses in HS, since we have dinner there and by then we will have ridden all three Toy Story rides hopefully...

Saturday Sept 22nd: Departure day HS am/Epcot

• 9am-10am Slinky Dog Dash
• 10am-11am Star Tours
• 11am-12pm Tower of Terror

Whew! Well y'all know these are likely to change, but these are my tentative plans. Honestly, I'm just *really* grateful that Toy Story Land opens my 60 day window; I figure that'll give at least a little bit of a picture of how the day of fastpasses at HS will go, etc.

 

[Araminta18]

T-Shirts and Magic Bands!​

Ok, fastpasses tentatively planned, let's get to the fun stuff--the Disney t-shirts! I have 9, so one for each day.


Two Little Mermaid and one Snow White...


My 3 favorite princesses! Princess Leia, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast


The Beauty and the Beast and Mary Poppins ones are from the Broadway shows.​

​

And then Trevor's t-shirts!

Clockwise from the top left (the black): Thor Ragnarok, Great Movie Ride Farewell shirt, Goofy/Mickey at the Tower of Terror, Grumpy, Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Han/Chewbacca Welcome Back, Star Wars "Who's Your Daddy", and Han Solo "I Know"

I love Trevor's Goofy/Mickey at the Tower of Terror shirt. He got it on our first trip to Disney, and when he was waiting at the bus stop for a bus back to the hotel, a little 3/4 year old boy (wearing the big Goofy hat, of course) walked up to him and kind of poked him in the chest, saying "Gooooooooofy!" The mom ran over, saying "personal space! personal space!" and apologized to Trevor--apparently the personal boundaries lesson hadn't quite sunk in yet. It's now a running joke between us--poking each other in the chest and saying "Gooooofy!" Love it.

As far as matching/coordinating outfits, the only shirts we have that match are the Star Wars I Love You/I Know ones, but I'm ok with that. My only hope is that they won't be too hot!

And last but not least: Magic band decorations! I love Etsy. This one (the stained glass BATB) is on my magic band from last year, which is the one I used for my Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, so hopefully my game is still on there. If not, well, that's now this will be the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom band!


This one (Mary Poppins) is for my band for this trip, which obviously hasn't arrived yet. But I'm so excited! It looks so cute. As you may have noticed, I'm a fan of Mary Poppins


Trevor wanted some decals of the Hitchhiking Ghosts that glow in the dark, but I haven't been able to find any yet. No worries, definitely still have time!

We also have a couple bands that we've bought from the Disney store in the last couple of months.

Trevor got the stormtrooper and the Darth Vader one (fun fact: he originally ordered Boba Fett 'cause it was on sale, but when it came it was Olaf. Then when I called them, they were out of Boba Fett, so the lovely CM just let me pick out a new one and shipped it to us free. So we got the Darth Vader one at the sale price even though it wasn't on sale, and that was the one Trevor wanted most anyways. Score!


Then I got this Tower of Terror one on sale. Love it!


So there you go: T-shirts and magic bands! I'm getting so excited...can't wait (only like 5 months more...*sigh*)​

 

[kclark9830]

Fun plans!!! I really want to do cute MB decorations, but for some reason I can't ever bring myself to pull the trigger. I don't know why! We always do nail polish and sparkles. Last trip, we bought some of those things you pop into the holes of the MB's, and I lost mine . But I love your BATB one, and those Mary Popping ones!

 

[Araminta18]

Fun plans!!! I really want to do cute MB decorations, but for some reason I can't ever bring myself to pull the trigger. I don't know why! We always do nail polish and sparkles. Last trip, we bought some of those things you pop into the holes of the MB's, and I lost mine . But I love your BATB one, and those Mary Popping ones!

They're fun--I love decorating the bands! This is the first year I've done the full skins; last year was just some decals. Bummer about losing those decorations--I remember seeing other posts on here about those being super easy to lose. You think Disney would have slightly better quality control!

 

[Araminta18]

Park Bag--Decisions, decisions...​

I'm trying to figure out what park bag to carry. It's more difficult than you'd think. The first trip I had a fanny pack, which worked pretty well, but I didn't love seeing it in pictures, and it was a bit of a hassle to have things all mixed up inside. I did love how light it was though. This time, I want a bag that's just a tad bigger ('cause I have my Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards to carry around on MK days). Other requirements are that it needs to be waterproof--or at least water resistant, crossbody (so it's hands free!), and under $40 or so. It will only be a park bag, 'cause I already have a day to day purse I adore (Mary Poppins Dooney! )

I've been stalking all the threads about park bags and such, and I think I've narrowed it down to two (very similar) bags, but still trying to decide. They're both Baggalini bags, that I've found recommended on various threads.

One is a Messenger Bag. This one looks super comfy, but maybe a bit bigger than we need for just Trevor and me?

Other is a Walkabout Bag. It doesn't look as "chic" as the other one, but it also has good reviews and is a bit smaller, so may be a better size for Trevor and I.

I'm ordering both from Amazon, and we'll see how I like them when they come. *crosses fingers*

And just for kicks: the cat, snuggling up on my chair and completely ignoring me, acting as if he doesn't even want to be near me even though there are PLENTY of other empty chairs and places to laze about. His name is LazyBoy according to my husband. I just call him "cat".

 

[Araminta18]

How Much More Money Can I Give Disney?
​

Well, I picked a park bag! Definitely the black one--the smaller size is perfect. It's got enough space, but not too much. I've taken it with me on a couple of my walks to see how it feels, and I think it'll be good. It's nylon, and they say it's "water resistant" (though I haven't tested that part. ), so all my boxes checked. I even put my Mary Poppins pin on the strap! I have another (bigger) Mary Poppins pin that I want to put on the front but not sure I should pierce the nylon of that very front pocket. *shrugs*

​

On a less concrete note, I've been trying to figure out how to give Disney more of our money. Trevor is a big Star Wars fan, so I started thinking about doing the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Fireworks Dessert Party to make sure he/we had a good view of the fireworks/projection show. The problem is that we have our dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby at 6:30 pm, and we don't really want to move it (Food and Wine booths earlier in the day/good memories of our last dinner at HBD), and we don't drink. The price ($80 pp) seemed a bit steep for a good viewing area, especially since it seems like we have a fairly good chance of getting a fairly good viewing spot after dinner anyways. But I was still on the fence--I really want to make sure Trevor has a great experience watching the fireworks.

Then, they released new summer dates for Disney After Hours. And wouldn't you know it, the only September date was during our trip, on our last planned Magic Kingdom day at that! I was initially not inclined to do it. We have 3 MK days planned, and I didn't think we needed to pay all that for 3 extra hours, and we have our Marceline to the Magic Kingdom tour that morning so doing DAH too would make for a very long day! But everyone here gives it such great reviews! And then I realized that the AP discount is actually significant (about $30) as opposed to the ~$5 MNSSHP AP discount, which made the cost (semi-)reasonable! So I brought it up with Trevor, and to my surprise, he wanted to do it. Despite the long day, and everything, he thought it would be worth it to be able to do a final ride of whatever we wanted at MK and just enjoy the empty atmosphere. So we decided to not do the Star Wars dessert party, and to do Disney After Hours instead! With the AP discount, they were about the same price. Huzzah!

So once again, that should be it until time to book fastpasses (72 days!) but I've said that before. Hopefully some more drips and drabs of information leak out in the meantime, like more info about the new BOG prix fixe dinner, or the timing of the second-tier nighttime shows (like Once Upon a Time or Disney Movie Magic), or more info about MNSSHP....I'm an addict and I need my fix dangit! I do like hearing all about TSL...can't wait for it to open!

 

[bluejasmine]

I'm so jealous of your weight loss! I gained a lot of weight thanks to Hoshimotos and addison disease but I'm on new meds so I'm hoping it will help I plan on trying a semi keto way of eating for a few months and walk...

 

[Araminta18]

I'm so jealous of your weight loss! I gained a lot of weight thanks to Hoshimotos and addison disease but I'm on new meds so I'm hoping it will help I plan on trying a semi keto way of eating for a few months and walk...

Ooh, meds make it super difficult! Hopefully the new meds help! *crossing fingers for you* I've had friends who've had good luck on keto--hopefully you do as well!

 

[bluejasmine]

I love all your tshirts for your trip! I bought some magic band covers as well one is Little Mermaid that's all glittery (for the VGF part of our trip) and the other is glittery dole whip(for the PVB part of our trip)

I have a mini Disney dooney and bourke back pack that I have specifically for the parks, ist lightweight and I normally carry a small wallet, a hairbrush, my cell phone, a washcloth, some zip loc bags and bandaids, plus if I get a few small souvenirs I can put it in there as well.

I bought a bunch of iron on transfers to make my own shirts this trip, also bought a few Disney dresses off the Disney shop online, now I need to decide what I want to wear to Narcossee dinner...

 

[Araminta18]

I love all your tshirts for your trip! I bought some magic band covers as well one is Little Mermaid that's all glittery (for the VGF part of our trip) and the other is glittery dole whip(for the PVB part of our trip)

I have a mini Disney dooney and bourke back pack that I have specifically for the parks, ist lightweight and I normally carry a small wallet, a hairbrush, my cell phone, a washcloth, some zip loc bags and bandaids, plus if I get a few small souvenirs I can put it in there as well.

I bought a bunch of iron on transfers to make my own shirts this trip, also bought a few Disney dresses off the Disney shop online, now I need to decide what I want to wear to Narcossee dinner...

Thanks! Oooh, glittery magic band covers--love it! That's awesome. And making your own disney shirts--awesome! I am too lazy/not creative enough to do that, but I love seeing all the fun shirts. And those Disney dresses are adorable...I really want the Mary Poppins one but can't bring myself to buy it without trying it on....

 

[kclark9830]

Your last title made me laugh! Yes, I'm constantly thinking of ways to give them more money myself.

 

[Araminta18]

Your last title made me laugh! Yes, I'm constantly thinking of ways to give them more money myself.

S'what we addicts do, right?

 

[reyasmommy]

Love all of your plans!

Congratulations on your amazing weight loss! How did you do it?!?! My goal is to also loose 100 pounds before my WDW trip next year. I want to lose a total of 40 pounds by a different trip I have planned for this July.... I'm down 18 thus far! Keep up the great work!