"Whatever just happened, blame it on the pig!" - My Early September Trip - Pre-Report 8/11

[Dug720]

(The title will become clear with my MNSSHP costume... I hope.)

I've been working on this for a few months - since we got the school calendar for 2018-2019 and I saw that we are off 9/10 and 9/11 for Rosh Hashanah which is a Monday and Tuesday. I upgraded to an AP in Feb, so all I'd have to fund would be the hotel and food... Hmmm.

Contacted my TA about a room - and promptly changed it. A lot. I think the progression was: POFQ -> CSR -> AoA -> All Star Sports... And then this week I got a little extra money, so I switched to CSR Preferred with the AP discount. I ended up with that option because I have to teach on the 7th, and my flight is not scheduled to land until after 11pm (technically just before midnight, but I know from lots of experience that flights from NYC to MCO tend to be early unless something really unusual happens), so I like the idea of not having to walk across a resort at that hour to get to a room. The preferred buildings are right there at CSR.

Other than possibly MNSSHP, this is a solo trip, so I don't have to worry about anyone else's "want to ride" or "want to eat" or so forth. There has also been much tweaking of plans - and some things are still up in the air, but here is where they stand as of this moment...

As a note, I’m putting the current start time of my FP+ window as it shows on MDE. The first ones may be towards the end of the window, and the others will be adjusted as possible as I tap into each. More will obviously be added as I use them up.

9/7
fly to MCO, landing sometime after 11pm - carry-on only, obviously
DME to Coronado Springs
Stop by Front Desk to opt out of housekeeping, then head to my room (Preferred Section - requesting Building 1, Corner Room, Top Floor via fax)
hopefully get some sleep

9/8

• get up around 6 - quick shower and ready for the day
• stop by Pepper Market at 7 when it opens to at least get my refillable mug - I’ll probably bring a Luna bar with me for this morning
• Minnie Van (or plain Lyft) to Studios to be there by 7:45 for Passholder Play Time at TSL (to be honest, if the reports from the first couple indicate that they are not doing anything to prevent the people with the 7-8am slot from riding the rides during the 8-9am slot, I may just skip this because that is not fair if that happens - I’ll skip it and let them know how disappointed I am that they did nothing to make it possible for the 8-9am people to have the same experience as the 7-8am people)
• walk to Epcot, popping into Beach Club Marketplace to refill my mug (if Play Time is skipped, the time schedule will back up to a later wake-up and pop into Pepper Market for the mug, then bus to Epcot)
• if there is time, stop at Guest Services window at the IG to change my MNSSHP email to a hard ticket - if not I’ll do this later
• 10am - Garden Grill brunch (I know, breakfast - but it'll be late. I just cannot stomach the super sweet thought of that s'mores thing at Woody's so early in the day, so not planning to get food there)
• 12pm Spaceship Earth FP+
• 1pm Mission Space FP+
• 2:10pm Frozen Ever After FP+
• wandering around Epcot doing attractions as I choose, maybe snacking at F&W booths - I realize this is a Saturday and I’ve read the horror stories…but unless I give up any but one option on Monday evening, it is my only time; and being gluten-free and a NON-fish eater my options at the booths are limited anyway so I don’t know how much I’d eat there anyway
• 10pm Illuminations
• back to CSR

9/9 (assuming my friend who was going to meet up is not able to…if she is it will just change the afternoon possibly…or not)

• 8am - breakfast at Rix Sports Bar & Grill (or Pepper Market - I'll decide before the cancellation deadline for Rix)
• bus to MK
• pics with characters around the flagpole if the lines are not too long (and assuming it’s Pluto and Chip & Dale)
• 9:10am Meet Mickey Mouse FP+
• 10:10am Space Mountain FP+
• 11:20am Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP+
• wandering and other various rides/attractions at MK
• early afternoon, monorail to probably Contemporary for food at Contempo Cafe - OR bus to POFQ and getting food there since this is a resort I always toy with but never pull the trigger on staying there (if my friend is able to come, she is obsessed with trying those meatball things at the Poly quick serve, so I'll probably be forced to figure out something to eat there even though she lives in FL and can get to WDW much easier and many more times than I can - again, I'm gluten-free, which I know the meatballs are...but I don't do meatballs - they are gross things - and it makes me mad that while pretty much any other resort QS can do gf flatbreads, the Poly can't or won't)
• back to MK for more fun and then getting my MNSSHP wristband and allergy treat bag
• MNSSHP - sort of bounding as Moana, complete with my stuffed Pua in some kind of bag (unless I find or come up with something else…or just decide to go as me)
• bus back to CSR and crash

9/10

• breakfast at Pepper Market
• bus to Animal Kingdom - it is EMH, but I’m not going to super stress it - especially with Pepper Market not opening until 7, though I could do the fill the mug and have a Luna bar thing
• Dinosaur (possibly...I always look like a terrified child on this one...and as the carnotaur is "screaming" at us I always question why I insist on riding it - but if I'm there at Rope Drop, it's pretty much walk-on since the rest of the world is headed to Pandora), Everest (single rider line - no need for FP+), Maharajah Jungle trail, FOTLK, Nemo…any/all as time permits - some could be in the afternoon/evening
• 10:30am Meet Disney Pals FP+
• 12:05pm Kilimanjaro Safaris FP+
• wander the Gorilla Falls trail
• wander to Pandora and (hopefully) ride Na’vi River
• food at Satu’li
• 3:25pm Flight of Passage FP+
• more wandering for a little

The evening is up in the air…
Option A is stay in Animal Kingdom all evening, getting nibbles at Nomad Lounge and maybe seeing Rivers of Light again
Option B is go to Epcot in the late afternoon for wandering, snacking, and Illuminations again in case they end it before I can get back down
Option C is to go to Disney Springs in the late afternoon (depending on how gross I am possibly back to CSR first) with dinner around 7 at either Raglan Road or Bongos
Option D is to go to AKL Kidani for dinner around 7 at Sanaa
(these are not in preference order…just in the order I typed them)

9/11

• Tragical Express - if I can grab food at the Pepper Market before pick-up, awesome…if not, I’ll get something at Starbucks at MCO
• fly to JFK and be sad my vacation is over
• begin post pictures and start the trip report part of this

So... Those are the plans as of this moment.

Thoughts?

 

[Dug720]

And in classic me form...

I have emailed my TA to change to POFQ. I learned via other sites that the Pepper Market is also under renovation but they are closing sections at a time and limiting the options. Given that I am gluten-free and the limited option thing is why I did not go to my beloved CBR, I pulled the trigger and emailed my hard-working TA to make the switch.

But I am at peace with this decision.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

Sounds like you have quite a nice long weekend put together. I’ll be down there in early September as well. We have a thread going for a September DIS meet(s) over in the solo/adults page if you wanted to join in over there. https://www.disboards.com/threads/unofficial-sept-2018-dis-meet.3680096/

 

[Dug720]

Time for the weekly update as to what I’m doing!

Resort: still French Quarter River View (it was River or Pool and River was actually slightly less, so I went with that)

9/7 -
still arrival at MCO around midnight and Magical Express to POFQ

9/8 -
still planning on Play Time from 8-9am at this point - waiting to hear reports from the first couple of them before 100% committing to that
Epcot for the most part
ADR - 10 am- Garden Grill breakfast
FP+:
12-1 - Spaceship Earth
1-2 - Mission: Space
2:10-3:10 - Frozen Ever After

9/9 -
Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP
meeting up with friends at Main Gate around 9
no ADRs
FP+:
9:05-10:05 - Big Thunder Mountain
10:05-11:05 - Jungle Cruise
1:05-2:05 - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (this one only I have a FP+ for - got it on my FP+ day and one of my friends was like “No, no. Hold onto that golden FP!! We will just wait if we can’t find two that will overlap!” We’re all keeping an eye out in case we can work it so we can all go.)
4pm on - MNSSHP - priority is Moana M&G, Parade, and Fireworks; would love to hit some other M&Gs - Elvis Stitch, Pooh and Friends…but we’ll see what happens; rides and trick or treating are optional IMHO (well, other than Haunted Mansion…that I will try to do for sure) - friends will leave around this time as they have to get home to their puppies

9/10 -
Animal Kingdom - going to try and hit EMH, but we’ll see…
No ADRs in the park…one for the evening possibilities and one Open Table reservation for the evening possibilities
FP+:
11:00-12:00 - Meet Favorite Disney Pals
12:05-1:05 - Kilimanjaro Safaris
3:25-4:25 - Flight of Passage
Planning to regular line Na’vi and eat at Satu’li.
Want to hit the new Donald Dino area.
Evening is up for grabs still with options being (in no order other than how I think of them):
1 - stay in Animal Kingdom, possibly visit Nomad Lounge, possibly see Rivers of Light
2 - go to Disney Springs and eat at Bongos OR somewhere counter service and Ghiradeli for dessert
3 - go to Epcot for (possibly/probably) a last Illuminations
4 - go back to the resort, dinner at Boatwright’s and chilling at Scat Cat’s
5 - go to Studios and see Toy Story Land at night (ok, this is actually the bottom of the list just because I’m not the biggest Toy Story fan, but people seem to say it’s worth seeing at night too)

9/11
Tragical Express - pick up probably around 7am

So it’s slowly firming up. I think. A few less changes than before anyway.

 

[Dug720]

And Monday has totally changed - well, kinda.

8:30am - Keys to the Kingdom tour!

Then over to Animal Kingdom where FOP is the first FP+ followed by Disney Pals and Safaris. So I’ll just stay put in Animal Kingdom for the evening.

 

[Dug720]

Hold onto your butts...

Just flipped this thing all around!!

I know it's anathema to NOT do Epcot during Food & Wine, but... As someone gluten-free who doesn't eat fish, my options were extremely limited there.

Also, though I'm super excited about Keys to the Kingdom, I was sad that it was going to take up so much of my Animal Kingdom day since Animal Kingdom is my favorite park - and I really wasn't going to be able to see the new Donald's Dino thing or explore the park as I love to.

So.....

Saturday is now Animal Kingdom as well as the afternoon and evening of Monday!!

Still undecided on Play Time - if I do that, I'll just hop the bus to Animal Kingdom after. If not, I'll get breakfast at the resort and head over to Animal Kingdom.

FP+ are now:
1:40 - Safaris
3:30 - Festival of the Lion King
6:00 - Na'vi River Journey

Odds are high that I'll just stay in Animal Kingdom for the evening. I love Illuminations and am well aware that I may be passing on my last time to see it if I don't go over to Epcot for it, but I've also done it on NYE when many people had been drinking and remember what a cluster it was, so... I may just keep my wonderful memories of it as is and enjoy more peaceful nature.

No one ever accused me of being boring in my planning!