Welcome to mind of OCDD...a September 2014 PTR! UPDATED 9/5!!!!

[hakunamomtata]

Well hello! This is my very first PTR (and once I get to the actual trip...will lead into my very first TR!) Woo! My name is Jen and I suffer from OCDD...Obsessive Compulsive Disney Disorder. I think all things Disney most of the time. And when I'm not thinking Disney...I'm either sick or at work.

I've been to WDW once in 2012 for my honeymoon. My amazing (and crazy, also Disney fanatic) husband set it up for us. He'd been 5 times before that, so I trusted his judgement in all things Disney. We went into it with little to no plans. I think we had maybe two ADRs gasp: I know....it hurts to think about.) and literally no idea what parks we would go to on what days. I don't think we even used a discount to book our vacation.

The minute I walked onto the magical express I fell in love with Disney and have not stopped since! I am so overwhelmingly excited to go back that I started looking at return vacations the day we got back from our honeymoon. Here we are, going back two years after our first trip, and we finally get our vacation! This time around I have been planning it since before we even knew for sure that we were going.

Okay, now that you have a background on me I'll start with some actual FORMAL introductions.

HELLO! This is me...Jen! Nice to meet you.

This is my amazing crazy husband, Shaun. He's been part of my life since I was 16. I technically met him when I was 14 but then he moved for college. Luckily two years later he moved back, we started dating, and voila....happily ever after! Our story is something like "It was all started with a pretzel..." Haha. Long story, maybe another time. Anyway, he is my wing man and my number one. Totally loves Disney. I love it more....and he lets me plan it all out. Which is why he's most definitely the absolute best husband on the planet!



Lucky for me, my best friend who I have known since 5th grade, Kayla, is planning a trip with her fiance around the same time as us!

Meet Kayla and Peter! Her level of Disney Crazy and mine are about equal. Haha. She's known as Cupcakeprincess on here..so go find her and read her PTR! Woo!


This time around we're going for 10 days/9 nights. We plan on the dead center of September, starting the 16th and leaving the 25th. We'll make the 16th a park day so that we don't miss any time. Woo!


Shaun and I were both hoping to get to enjoy FAW, but figured we'd miss it. And based on our work schedules and a pin that we got (WOOO PIN DISCOUNTS!), we couldn't really help it. So our dates were basically decided for us.

BUT THEN DISNEY MADE FAW START A WEEK EARLY! WOO DISNEY! Always making stuff for us magical. Haha! :

So far I've decided what parks we'll be in on what days. This is obviously never concrete until Disney officially releases park hours and such. I did manage to come across the travel agent's chart of park hours that Disney released to them, so that's what I've been going by so far. If anyone has the official park hours - feel free to comment a link or something. I know I only have about a week or two until they're up on the website...but that's an eternity for a Disnerd like me! (Yes, Disnerd IS a technical term and I'll probably be using it a lot.)

Day 1: Epcot.

I know, I know. NOT MAGIC KINGDOM?! Well, our flight won't get to Orlando until 11 AM and then by the time we get to the hotel and check in and all that jazz, it'll probably be around 1 or 1:30 before we get to the park. And according to my sources, MK will be closing at 7PM that day. I really don't want to waste an entire day and only get to spend 5 hours in MK. Because that mean's I'd have 3 more days of OTHER parks before I get back to MK. So long story short..we're heading to Epcot Day 1. We might make a quick stop at MK just to stare at Main Street and smile. But then we'll hop on the Monorail and make our way to Epcot. Not sure of any dining this day. We'll probably just play it by ear since we'll be getting up around 4AM. Not sure if we'll eat breakfast before we leave, if we eat in New York after our first flight, or what. So it'll just be a day to wing it. I know that most of our time will be focused on Future World since we'll be spending a ton of time in the WS during FAW. Last time Soarin AND Test Track were closed, so those will for sure be our main goals. I can't wait!

Day 2: MK!

Finally! I am so excited to spend our first FULL day in the parks at MK. I plan for us to be here open to close. I want to see rope drop, and I want to see wishes. We'll be up bright and early to head over to Trails End for breakfast then catch the ferry to MK. I have in my notes that MK will be open 9-8 that day. We'll probably go to BOG for lunch and hit Cosmic Ray's for dinner. I am just in love with the idea of going back to Cosmic Ray's. Not sure why, but since we went for our honeymoon it has held this special place in my heart. When I think about it, I get goosebumps! It's just crazy. Haha! I'm really excited to see NFL since it was just starting to be built on our last trip.

Day 3: Hollywood Studios!

I don't have much of this day planned. We'll probably sleep in this day since seeing HS open isn't on our To Do list. We might grab a muffin or another snack for breakfast and then get to the park at our own pace. Crowds are never a problem in September, but we'll have FP+ for the obvious things..RR, ToT and F!. Assuming they drop the tiered process of course. I'm really not sure of anything to do with dining this day since last time we were in HS, I wasn't thrilled about any of the food. As of right now, we have the QS dining plan. I'm hoping they release free dining, which will let us upgrade to the regular Disney Dining Plan. It might even give us enough of a refund to allow us to upgrade hotels. But anyway.... We have no decided dining for this day. Any suggestions for good QS meals in HS? Or even TS that we might just pay for so we dont eat crappy food? LOL. Also, this day we will be seeing F! and most likely meeting up with Kayla.

Day 4: AK / DTD

Woo for this day! I love love love Animal Kingdom. The only reason it's the last park we visit is because they close at 5, and I want to head to DTD this night since it's a Friday and such. We'll probably get up relatively early this day just to get to the park as close to opening as possible. Last time we did this, we went on the Safari 3 times in a row because of zero waiting in lines. I mean..we went on, got off, and walked straight through the queue onto another safari bus. We saw the black rhino and her baby, the white rhino, and the lions were really active. We went back another day in the afternoon and saw hardly any activity whatsoever. So morning safaris are definitely what we'll be aiming for. I don't know what our breakfast will be if we don't get free dining, but if we end up with FD we'll probably head to Tusker House. Lunch will definitely be at Flametree. Dinner will be in DTD, either at Raglan Road or Splitsville. I really want to go bowling and have fun with that, but Shaun is more interested in doing things we can't do in Disney. I see his point...but we'll see who wins.

Day 5: BB/Epcot!

This will be a real change for me. I love swimming in terms of floating aimlessly in the water. I can't really SWIM, but I *can* float and get in the general direction of where I wanna go. Waterparks are fun for me, but I hate the ride portions of them. That's more Shaun's thing. Last time we only went to TL, so heading to BB will be something new for me. I really want to step outside the comfort zone and ride some of the slides there. Who knows, maybe I will have a drink or two and get some liquid confidence. Haha! We'll be here until we get bored or tired, probably around 1. We might eat here or just wait until we get to Epcot. This time the FAW will be going, so we can enjoy our evening in the WS! I plan to use quite a bit of my snack credits here. I definitely want to try out the Tangerine Cafe if I didn't try it on our first day.

Day 6: TL/HS

This is definitely going to be a lazy day. Starting with the lazy river! We might head to Trails End or Chef Mickey's for an early breakfast and then spend the morning at TL. I want to spend a lot more time in the water this trip. This night we will head back to HS and get some more thrill in! We might see F! again. Not sure if this day will have any ADR or not.

Day 7: BB/MK

I know..another waterpark!? This could always change to our hotel pool or TL. It depends on how comfortable I am at BB after the first visit. I don't plan to be wherever we are much past noon. This evening will be dinner at the California Grill to celebrate our anniversary...so lunch can be something light. Any good QS suggestions between BB and MK? Maybe at a resort or something? Just throw an idea at me. Lol.

Day 8: AK/Epcot

This is our anniversary! Whooooo! I really wanted to spend the day at MK and end it with wishes. But the calendar I have says no wishes this day and that MK closes at 7. Laaaaamesauce. So I figured we will start the day with some amazing Safari business and then head to Epcot to enjoy ourselves around the world. There are so many nice restaurants in Epcot that it'll still be possible for us to enjoy our dinner. I'm thinking about Via Napoli, because we went there last time and loved it. However, I'm open to suggestions on this too. I know that Jiko is really nice, so we could head to dinner there instead. Not sure.

Day 9: ??/MK

This morning is the only time that I don't have planned out. I'm thinking we might head back down to DTD in the morning, spend some time in the afternoon in our hotel pool, and end the day at MK. I want to get to MK around 2 so that we have enough time to do whatever we want since it's our last day. There will be wishes this night, so I'm thinking that we might make a reservation for the dessert party this night. It'll just be nice to end our trip with tons of sweets and a great view of the fireworks. Our flight the next day isn't until 8:45 AM so we don't have to get up SUPER early.



I have a packing list started, but that will be in my next post! Woo! So hope you enjoyed my first post of my PTR. Can't wait to hear input!

 

[hakunamomtata]

Chapter 1: Introduction!
Chapter 2: My packing list!
Chapter 3: ADRs!
Chapter 4: Update!
Chapter 5:There's a great big beautiful vacation...JUST A WEEK AWAY
**Will update this as I add more stuff!**

 

[CupcakePrincess]

Yay!! You started your PTR!!

 

[hakunamomtata]

Chapter 2: Packing list....take one

Well...I thought sorting out what we were going to bring would be a heck of a lot easier than it's turning out to be. I've been reading TRs, reading packing lists and all kinds of tips online as to what we should bring.

So here's how it plays out thus far:

About two weeks before we go, I'll be sending a "care package" to our resort. I'm also going to order a case of water to be sent to our hotel off amazon or walmart.com.

In the care package I'm sending will be;

Food
*Mini muffins
*Granola Bars
*Hot tamales (my husband get low blood sugar sometimes and these will be good to have in a pinch!)
*A bag or two of pretzels
*Pop tarts
*Ziploc bags (Not exactly food but...they are used FOR food haha)


Toiletries
*Shampoo for both my husband and I
*Body wash for both of us
*Loofas! (I absolutely hate using wash cloths if I don't HAVE to)
*Toothpaste
*Shaving cream
*Sunscreen
*Aloe (you know...incase the sunscreen doesn't do its job!)
*laundry soap
*a few dryer sheets

The list of this stuff might grow. But for now...that's what I have for care package box. I plan on wrapping all the toiletries in their own plastic bags and doubling bagging them so that if they leak, they won't touch anything else. I really want to avoid bringing them in our luggage because it always seems that they get opened and onto our stuff no matter how hard we try. Last time we traveled, it seemed like security might have looked at them. So this time I figure we can just avoid the entire thing and ship them down before our trip. As for the food....while we have the dining plan for this trip, I don't want to use too many credits for breakfast. One or two times we'll eat breakfast at a restaurant but for the most part I'd like to use our credits for meals other than breakfast. And the snack credits we'll be saving for the Food and Wine festival. Woo!


In my carry-on will be;
*a book (yet to be decided on what title)
*cell phone charger
*camera
*notebook + pen for TR notes
* (1) dress
* (1) pair of shorts
* (1) shirt
* (1) set of the unseen stuff (I.E; socks, undies, etc)
*my sneakers
*iPod charger
*plenty of hair elastics
*ponchos

In my purse will be;
*magic bands
*flight information
*reservation information (hard copies just incase!)
*wallet
*cell phone
*chapstick
*iPod (with plenty of disney tunes!)

In my suitcase will be;
* (3) pairs of shorts
* (3) dresses
* (4) shirts
* (1) pair of flats
* (6) pairs of ankle socks
* (2) bathing suits
* (1) bathing suit coverup
* (1) pair of yoga shorts (to wear under the dresses to avoid a mishap!)
*hairbrush
*razor
*toothbrush
*make-up
*make-up remover wipes

--Sidenote : I am torn on bringing my makeup at all. I might just throw my eyeliner and mascara into a ziploc bag and throw it in my carry on. I really don't know. I'll probably decide the night before we leave. I can always throw in one makeup brush and a small eyeshadow set for the night we go to California Grill. Time shall tell!

I'll be wearing either a sundress with flip flops or shorts and a teeshirt with flip flops. Either way, I'll have a Florida-ready outfit on. I want to wear flip flops for the flight process because I hate dealing with sneakers in the security line. I know it sounds lazy. But...hey. I just wanna get to Disney.

And OFCOURSE I'll have my mickey ears on the ENTIRE time. From the minute I finish my hair to the minute I go to bed at Disney that night. I'll probably have to take them off for security...but that's it!

I am NOT bringing anything long sleeved. I refuse to think that in September in Florida I'll need anything but a t-shirt on. If it gets that cold, I'll dish out the money to buy a hoodie. Lol.

Shaun's carry-on and suitcase will be pretty lightly packed so that we can put souvenirs in them on the way back!

I haven't talked with him about what he wants to pack, but I have a rough idea. That will come in my next update!

 

[curlyhair]

My family will be there in September, too. I will be watching this thread, especially to see what you're packing and schlepping! Great idea for the "care package." We are going to have groceries delivered, but it would probably cost less and definitely save room in luggage if I were to send toiletries, sunscreen, ponchos, etc. in advance.

 

[hakunamomtata]

My family will be there in September, too. I will be watching this thread, especially to see what you're packing and schlepping! Great idea for the "care package." We are going to have groceries delivered, but it would probably cost less and definitely save room in luggage if I were to send toiletries, sunscreen, ponchos, etc. in advance.

I thought about having some stuff delivered! Since our room is only going to have a tiny fridge if at all it won't be much use. My hubby bought me a bobble (Filtered water bottle) for my birthday, so I am rethinking sending bottled water!

 

[benji2012]

Joining in!

Can't wait to hear more! I'll be at WDW in Sept. too!

 

[hakunamomtata]

Joining in!

Can't wait to hear more! I'll be at WDW in Sept. too!

Woooo! I'll be posting more later on today.

 

[hakunamomtata]

Well WOOO HOOOOO for getting all the ADRs that we wanted for our trip! We only had our hearts set on one, which is California Grill. We went there on our honeymoon and absolutely loved it. I'm slightly apprehensive since they've recently renovated it however. But alas, the fireworks from the rooftop will make it all worth it.

I actually completely forgot about the ADRs and didn't try for them until about 9 PM the day ours became available. I have to thank the lord that we're going in the off season because we never would have scored the times and places we did if I had pulled that during a vacation in December. Phew, crisis averted!

So we have a reservation for the CG at 7:45 PM on the day AFTER our anniversary. It'll actually be our last day of vacation, so we'll be ending our trip at the CG with wishes. I wanted to go on our anniversary but there aren't any wishes that day. Boo.

Since we had to change our plans and move dinner at the CG to a different day, that meant we had to figure out where we wanted to go on our actual anniversary. So after much deliberation, the hubs and I decided we'd go for Be Our Guest! Our anniversary is going to be a slightly crazy day because I want to start our day with Animal Kingdom and a safari. Our reservation for BOG is at 5:45 PM, so we'll have to scoot our booties out of AK around 4 just to make sure we get to MK without having to rush. We probably won't even spend that much time in AK but you never know. If we get to MK with enough time to spare, we might even catch a few rides (Carousel of Progress anyone?)

MK closes at 7 that day for MNSSHP. I have ZERO intention of going to that, just because I can't justify paying extra money for something I already paid for. That's an entirely different conversation though....haha. So after dinner, we will probably jump on the monorail and head on over to Epcot to watch Illuminations.

Earlier in our vacation I made a reservation for Trails End Restaurant. I am completely in love with this hidden gem. Their breakfast is absolutely amazing and just the thought of their breakfast gives me goosebumps. I love mickey waffles and I don't care who knows it!

I know we will go there more than once, but I had to make a reservation for our second day for a certain reason. I have big plans for this day!

With the ADRs changing just slightly, it does change our plan. Not a total rehaul thank goodness because I'm not sure that I could mentally handle having to re-do all the planning I've accomplished this far.

Here's what the plan looks like for now;

Day One: Epcot
This hasn't changed. I really know that I'm going to craaaave going to MK our first day. It's my favorite park by leaps and bounds. It IS Disney World to me. All my favorite rides are based in this park. My favorite restaurant in based in this park. But I can't justify going to MK our first day when the park will be closing at 7 and we won't be arriving in the park until 2PM at the earliest. So I plan to head to Epcot this day and enjoy the lack of crowds before the FAW starts. Last time we were there, the FAW didn't start until our second to last day so the crowds were low the majority of the time. This time, we only have 2 days of no festival before the crowds swoop in.

Day Two: Magic Kingdom!
Ahhh, finally. Just the IDEA of an entire day in the MK gets me giddy! I make all kinds of funny noises out loud and then squeal. Is that just me? No? Okay, glad I'm not alone.

This day I have some serious plans for us. I hope they all work out! But if not...hey, we're in freaking DISNEY WORLD....who cares?! I have a super early ADR at Trails End for our breakfast. MK opens at 9AM this day, so I'm hoping to eat and scoot our booties across the lagoon to see the opening ceremony. I have this planned for our second day so that if we miss it we can try again later in our trip. I also plan to try setting up a Fast Pass for lunch at BOG. If we can't get that we'll probably wait in line, seeing I've heard the lines move pretty fast...and crowds are low during the time we're visiting anyway. That night we'll head over to Cosmic Ray's for some quick dinner. Now, I know it might seem ABSURD to some of you folks reading this. But, Cosmic Ray's is my favorite place to eat in Disney. I'm not quite sure why, but the memory of eating here just gives me the craziest butterflies. Yeah, I'm a bit disney crazy. But hey....you understand, right?

Day Three: Typhoon Lagoon and Hollywood Studios!
This day we're gonna lay back and (sort of?) relax. I want to head to Typhoon Lagoon in the morning and lounge. I do really want to try out Leaning Palms chicken wrap as I've heard it's really good. We'll probably head back to our hotel around noon to change and then head to Hollywood Studios for the evening. Now, this night I have two plans of how it could go -

1) Assuming we keep the dining plan we have, we will probably grab some dinner at Backlot Express or wherever tickles our appetite. I was underwhelmed by the counter service choices on our last trip, but whatever we get will be great since you know...ITS IN DISNEY WORLD! I'll probably grab a salad and then get a snack later on.

2) If Disney releases the free dining plan (can we all just say a silent prayer right now? Okay.....amen.) we're planning to upgrade to the Table Service plan. I really want to try out the 50's Prime Time cafe.

This night we'll also be heading over to see Fantasmic!
I am so bloody excited about this that I about bust at the belly button just talking about it. WOOOOOOOOOOOO F!

Day Four: Animal Kingdom & DTD
This morning we're planning to get up relatively early and head over to AK. We'll probably eat in the food court of our hotel first, maybe use a snack credit for a muffin or something of the like. When we get to the park, I want to hit the safari first so the animals aren't hiding in the shade quite yet. It worked well for us last time, so we'll hope for the same results. My notes mention that this day is EMH at AK. Ugh, being in an EMH park goes against all I believe in. But if I switch AK around at all, it changes all the other days and I end up with MORE EMH days. So this will just have to do. It's September and crowds are low, so it shouldn't be too bad. Also, it's the first day of FAW so I'm hoping people flock to Epcot and let us enjoy our day at AK.

For our lunch we'll be eating at Flametree. WOOO! Kayla mentioned that their chicken salad is amazing, so that's probably what I'll be ordering. Along with a side of onion rings since I've heard those are amazing too. Yummy!

After our AK adventures this day we'll head to DTD and shop around. We might go to WPE or EoS, depending what our bellys tell us to eat. Depending on how much time we spend at DTD, we might venture back to the MK area and try to view the electrical water pageant.

Day Five: Blizzard Beach and back to MK!
Another lazyish day in the world. We'll head over to Blizzard Beach this morning where I'm determined to go on a slide. I've got this absurd fear of it and I want to take a risk. Excepppt the idea of going on a water slide makes me want to poop my pants, so I might avoid that imminent disaster. LOL. We'll eat lunch here then head on over to our hotel to get cleaned up, and spend the afternoon/evening at MK.

There are going to be Wishes this night, so I'm thinking I'm going to try for the dessert party this day. I tried setting up the ADRs for it but they're not available quite yet. I called and the cast member told me they should be available in about 3 weeks. So.....more waiting. WOO. /sarcasm.

If I can't score the dessert party, we'll probably set up a fast pass for the (supposed) better viewing area.

Day Six: A free morning and some thrills!

This morning is the only one I haven't planned. One thing I do want to do is a hotel tour, so we might just take a cruise around on the monorail and check out some of the resorts. I want to see the AKL, Polynesian, and the Beach Club. If we time it right, we might grab lunch at Beaches and Creme before we head over to HS. However, we might save the Beach Club for the next day when we plan on heading to Epcot since it's closer.

We're spending the majority of the day at Hollywood Studios though, so we'll be done with the random by noon or so. We might catch Fantasmic! again this night.

Day Seven: Water park and wine around the world!

This morning we'll head back to a water park (whichever we like better) and then head back to our hotel around 12-1 to change and get ready to drink around the world.

I changed our plans for the FAW to this day since it's not an EMH day (my original planned day ended up on an EMH day....EMH paired with FAW sounded like trouble brewing to me). It's also a Monday, so I figure crowds at the FAW will be lower this day.

Lunch will probably be in Mexico or Morocco, either at La Cantina de San Angel or Tangierine Cafe. I'm thinking we won't need to plan dinner since we'll be using quite a few snack credits to eat around the showcase as well.

Day Eight: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot OH MY!

Phew! This is gonna be a busy day. I don't plan to get too obsessed with times however since it's our anniversary. I want to start the day with some animal lovin' at AK. Around 3 we'll head over to Magic Kingdom to go on some rides and waste time until our reservation at BOG for dinner. We wanted to go to the CG to view wishes on our anniversary but there is going to be MNSSHP this day...which means no wishes for us. Boo. So we'll eat dinner and after (since the park closes early), we'll head over to Epcot for some rides and then watch Illuminations.

Day Nine: Magic Kingdom and a tearful goodbye

This morning we will probably swim in the hotel pool and then head over to the MK for our last day (sniffle) in the parks. How sad! I am already sad about it...haha. We have a reservation this night at California Grill at 7:45...and wishes start at 8. I'll for sure be requesting a window seat!



Sooo, that's our plan. We've thought about changing our hotel to the AoA, but our current discount doesn't apply there so we'd be paying significantly more. I'm holding out on any changes until September promotions are released. I really would like to change to AoA or upgrade to a different hotel. My ideal hotel would be Port Orleans Riverside with a guaranteed King Size bed and the ferry service. If free dining works out, the money we'd be saving would (theoretically) cover most of the upgrade to a different hotel since we'd be getting about 700$ refunded to us. Hmm....

 

[hakunamomtata]

Well well well, it's been awhile since I have updated! Life turned into a whirlwind for awhile, between my sons birthday and easter, mothers day and
birthdays...** vey! But the way the past two months flew by, it's really made my time until Disney move right along. Woo!

We're now in the double digits, only 3 months out until our fantastic wonderful WOO HOOOOO disney vacation. Can't wait!

Since my last update, a looooot of planning has gone down in toon town.

First and foremost, woo hoo for free dining!

I spent three hours on hold waiting to talk to a CM, and was about to give up....but finally, the disney music stopped, and I heard a voice. To be honest, I thought I had fallen asleep and had a dream that someone answered. LOL.

We originally had booked our stay at ASMovies. I wasn't thrilled about this for a few reasons ;
1) I did NOT want to share buses with the other all stars.
2) The age of the resort.
3) The list goes on.. and on...and on.
But it was in Disney and at the time, the discount we used only allowed us to stay at movies or at a moderate or higher resort. So, ASM it was.

Since they released free dining, movies wasn't included :cheer: (my hubby loves it for some unknown reason...but I was secretly WOOOOOOing that they excluded it). The CM I spoke to suggested we move over to Pop! instead of one of the other all stars, since I made it abundantly clear that the AS resorts were less than ideal for me. And get this.. IT WOULD COST US LESS. WOOOO!

I spoke with her about wishing we could afford a resort that had a park view to see fireworks, since it was our anniversary trip. Well what a wonderful lady she was, because she explained that in the 50s building on the 4th floor, you have a pretty good chance of seeing the fireworks in Epcot. She named specific room numbers that have the best chance and said she'd make a note of it on our account. What a sweetie! Disney never fails to go above and beyond. I don't hold my breath for fireworks in our room since it's a value resort...but hey, the fact she's giving us the best chance is enough for me!

And then she pointed out that the amount of money we were saving with changing over to free dining was 50$ more than the cost of upgrading our dining plan. WHAT!? So hell yes...I upgraded!

I am still shocked at the deal we got. 9 days of disney, better resort, better dining package, and flight...for under 3,000$. Wow.

Anyway! That really made me do a jig.

I had been hoping for free dining....didnt imagine it would happen AND work out to cost less than a room discount! So with our new found dining plan...I set out to make mega ADRs. Before, I only had the bare minimum that I knew we could pay for OOP.

I got every...single....ADR that I wanted.

So here's how our days look:

Day 1:
Breakfast - Airport food.
Lunch - Airport Food again *or* Everything Pop!
Dinner - Les Chefs de France 4:30


Day 2:
Breakfast - Crystal Palace 8:35
Lunch - Be Our Guest (hoping for FP+)
Dinner - Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe
***I am so so sooo excited to try out Crystal Palace, but most excited for the fact that we'll be inside the park before it opens! I'm going to try to get to the park around 7:45 - 8 and tell them we have a reservation. I've heard they let you in pretty far before your ADR, so hopefully we can get in well before our meal and get pictures of the MK without huge crowds.


Day 3:
Breakfast - Everything Pop!
Lunch - Typhoon Tillies
Dinner - Studio Catering Co.


Day 4:
Breakfast - Everything Pop!
Lunch - Flametree BBQ
Dinner - Raglan Road 6:15PM


Day 5:
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's 7:05
Lunch - Warming Hut // Cosmic Rays (depends on if we're hungry before we leave BB)
Dinner - Hoop De Doo Revue!
** I am soooo excited about HDDR! I called to ask a CM about it, because whenever I'd try to make an ADR on their website it would glitch. The man I spoke with was super nice, and ended up finding a Category 1 opening that would be covered by our TSC! I have no idea how or why THAT happened, but I took it. Woo! My hubby LOVES this show, and I've never seen it. So I wanted to surprise him with it. He's gonna be super pumped to have floor seats!

Day 6:
Breakfast - Cinnamon Roll from Gastons - bring back the previous night
Lunch - Unplanned
Dinner - Unplanned
*** If anyone has suggestions for meals ANYWHERE, let me know! We have this entire day purposely unplanned so we can just do whatever comes to mind. But some input / suggestions never hurt anyone


Day 7:
Breakfast - Captain Cook's (tonga toast!!)
Lunch - Tangierene Cafe / La Cantina de San Angel (depends on what we feel like that day)
Dinner - Food and Wine Festival! Snack around the world!


Day 8:
Breakfast - Boma 8:45
Lunch - Flametree // Everything Pop!
Dinner - Be Our Guest 5:45!
***I am soooo excited for this day! It's our anniversary, and I have wanted to try both these restaurants since I heard about them. I couldn't believe I got an ADR at BOG. My very first shot, it was open. I snatched it up so quick! LOL
***On another note : I am pretty sure we should be able to get from Pop! to AKL easy enough at this time of morning for our ADR. We would just take the bus from Pop! to Animal Kingdom, then a bus from AK to AKL...right? I plan on leaving around 7:15 just to be DAMN sure that we don't miss any buses or be late. If we get to AKL early, we can always wander around since we've never been there

Day 9:
Breakfast - Trail's End 8:30
Lunch - Cosmic Ray's (I love this place...don't judge me!)
Dinner - California Grill 7:45
***Hoping we catch the fireworks while we're eating our dinner! Wishes begin at 9, so taking an hour to eat dinner isn't too far from the realm of possibility. Especially here, where we can enjoy some drinks, slowly eat an appetizer and then order our meal, enjoy that, and then indulge in a dessert and wait for the fireworks to start. We did this on our last trip....and there's nothing like it. It was amazing.


Well, that's all the time I have for updates today! I'll be updating again soon...woo!

 

[hakunamomtata]

It has been far too long since I've added an update. I got so busy with life! A whirlwind of stuff happened which led to my husband being promoted 3 levels up from the job he was in, which means a giant pay increase...which then turned into me becoming a stay at home mom. WHAT?! Insane! But also means I now have time for....*dun dun dun*...MORE DISNEY PLANNING!

Okay, so updates...I'll start with updates to our ADRs.

Day 1: I secretly decided to cancel our reservation at Les Chefs de France. We went there last time and it was absolutely amazing. We loved it! But I want to try something new. And since basically the entire trip is based around ADRs that I wanted to try (even though I know my hubster is gonna love them too...ahaha), I wanted to do something fun that Shaun would definitely love. So, where did I make a reservation for?

Teppan Edo!

I am really excited to try this because I love hibachi, and I'm sure Disney does it well! WOOO!


Day 2: I kept checking and checking the be our guest lunch website to no avail...I just wasn't able to get a FP for lunch, or they never picked me. Then, out of the blue, I got an email. So I literally jumped out of bed and RAN to my computer. I signed into the website... and...



WOOO! I am so excited to try lunch here. I know we have a dinner ADR later in our trip, but I figure we won't be ordering the same stuff anyway. And it really will be two different experiences.

Day 4: I cancelled our ADR at Raglan Road. We decided that with all the construction at DTD, we will probably just mosey around this area one of the other days for a small while. We plan on heading to the Boardwalk this night. We're going to aim for a bit of spontaneity and try to get a walk up meal. Not sure if we'll go with QS or try for TS yet, and no idea where either.


That's all the ADR changes we made. I feel good about the places we have reservations at. We have plenty of open nights, so we can always try for whatever we're feeling like. On my short list is Liberty Tree Tavern, Yak and Yeti, Wolfgang Puck Upstairs, The Garden Grill, and Flying Fish Cafe.


Onto our FP+!

I was really pleased with how this worked out. I got everything I wanted, at pretty much every time I wanted. So here's how it panned out:

Day 1:
Test Track 5:15-6:15
Spaceship Earth 6:45-7:45
Mission Space 7:50-8:50

Day 2:
7DMT 9:30-10:30
Space Mountain 10:30-11:30
BTMRR 12:30-1:30

Day 3:
Rock'N'Roller Coaster 2:30-3:30
Tower of Terror 3:40-4:40
Star Tours 4:55-5:55

Day 4:
Kilimanjaro Safari 9:15-10:15
Expedition Everest 10:15-11:15
Dinosaur 11:20-12:20

Day 5:
Space Mountain 2:25-3:25
7DMT 3:25-4:25
Meet Anna + Elsa 6:50-7:50

Day 6:
Tower of Terror 9:15-10:15
Rock'N'Roller Coaster 10:25-11:25
Star Tours 12:10-1:10

Day 7:
Mission Space 10:05 - 11:05
Spaceship Earth 11:40-12:40
Soarin' 1:15-2:15

Day 8:
Kilimanjaro Safaris 9:55-10:55
Kali River Rapids 10:55-11:55
Expedition Everest 11:55-12:55

Day 9:
Space Mountain 9:55-10:55
7DMT 11:30-12:30
Peter Pan's Flight 12:45-1:45

I know that a lot of the FP+ repeats itself. I don't imagine the standby times to be too outrageous for anything, but I tried to make the FP+ for the things I assumed would have the worst waits. I made FP+ for 7DMT each day and then if we decide that riding it once was enough, we will just switch them to something different. Also - some of you may have noticed that we didn't make any FP+ for Toy Story Midway Mania. That's because on the day that we are going to HS in the morning, we plan to be there for rope drop and book it to TSMM first thing. Then we're going to head back to Hollywood BLVD to hit the thrill rides. Trust me y'all, I have that allll planned out. Hahaha

Another exiting and new addition to our trip is that we'll be heading to MNSSHP! We'll be going on Day 6. Typically, we wouldn't even think about going to this because it's vastly overpriced in my opinion. However, my best friend aka Kayla aka Cupcakeprincess decided to pack up and move and become a cast member in the world. What!? I know! So she gets a fantastic discount on tickets...and we'll be going with her and her fiance. I AM SO BLOODY EXCITED YOU GUYS. I wanted to go last time, but I couldn't justify the price. Now that it's basically pennies on the dollar .... I can't say no!

Aside from all the actual trip planning, I've been busy packing, shopping, and designing. I made our own mousekeeping envelopes at home. They're not professional grade...but I figure the MK for our room will be happy just to have a little something extra that says "Thanks".



What do you think!?

Also...I got an email from Disney about the vera bradley tote. It was in stock, and I had the money. So...


It is beautiful. I'm a tiny bit worried that they won't let me use it as a carry on since it is 1 inch longer than they allow...but it's cloth, and it won't be stuffed...so I can just squish it down to size and hopefully they won't notice.

And while I was shopping....three more beautiful things happened.






1)I am in love with that dress. 2)These earrings are bigger than I planned, but they're gorgeous so I don't care. 3)I AM GONNA BE AN EFFING PRINCESS!



And now...onto the not so magical. Ofcourse with every good trip, there has to be a bump in the road. Nothing is perfect.

My mother in law was supposed to watch our son for half the time we are gone. Well...needless to explain, we had a slight falling out with them. They decided we are "selfish" for taking a vacation without our son....even though it will be the first time since our honeymoon we've gone on any vacation, and the first time we've spent a night away from him. They're very..odd folks. So that left us with a predicament....oh no! I called my mom crying, and she agreed to watch him the entire time. My mom is the absolute best person in the entire world. We have a lot of pixie dust planned for her since she is literally making our trip happen now....THANK YOU MOM!

And onto the EXTREMELY UNMAGICAL .....

Back in August, I finished customizing and submitted our magic band order the very first day that I could. I was excited to get them! So I finished up our order and began waiting. And waiting. And... waiting. AND WAITING. Finally, yesterday, I decided it was just too close to us leaving and I got in touch with Disney. First, they said they couldn't find my reservation. WHAT?! Then she realized she had put in the wrong reservation #. After I got my heart beating again, she put me on hold...for about 30 minutes. She came back to inform me that their system had glitched, and they weren't able to ship my magic bands to me. WHAT!? Why?! She didn't have an answer, other than they'd ship them to my resort. I'm beyond bummed about this because I wanted to customize them for our trip. And also, I asked her about how it would work with the Magical Express. She said that they'd notice my luggage tags and let me on. I was really disappointed with her, to be honest. So now our MBs will be at the desk when we check in. They won't be pretty or customized, but I can't help it now....so, moving on. I'm going to call Disney back today and inquire more about the magical express situation.

The only good thing I did get from the conversation is that she said congratulations on our anniversary, so they must have put a note in there about it...which hopefully means lots of pixie dust! I don't expect it....but I'd lie if I didn't say I had my fingers crossed for a super duper surprise somewhere along the way. WOO.

Okay - I'll update with my packing list sometime soon!