Yes we have lost our minds - August 2017 trip report *finished 8/23*

[Fairy Godmother]

With only 36 days to go until we arrive, I thought I would start a pre-trip report to make sure all of my plans are in place.

Who is going?

Myself (Fairy Godmother) and my BFF (Snow White) who is my go to Disney travel companion since my cranky husband has imposed a travel ban on Disney after a very crowed trip to Disneyland 2 years ago.

Why are we going?

Usually BBF and I to Disney (both land and world) for RunDisney events, however, both of us have become a little to pooh sized to run/walk comfortably in a race. I was very depressed about not going to Disney this year. BBF and I already had a Labor Day week end trip to watch our beloved Huskies play Rutgers and I was able to convince her that New York and Florida are not that far apart and we need to start our trip with a trip to Walt Disney World. Fortunately BBF uses logic like I do and decided my plan made complete sense. She wasn't super happy about going in August since we are west coast girls and don't do well in the humidity but I was able to convince her an August trip was better than no trip.

When are we going?
August 24th - August 31st

Where are we staying?
Boardwalk Inn

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 1

I found use an awesome deal on Southwest. The bad part is that BBF and I leave are respective airports on a 5:30 am flight. My will meet up in Vegas where we will catch an 8:30 am flight and arrive at MCO at 4:05pm. This is the worst part of flying from the west coast, you either have to leave at sunrise or you don't arrive in Florida until very late at night.
Our plan is to try to make it to the Magic Kingdom to see the Happily Ever After Fireworks because if we don't see them this night we won't see them at all this trip. We have a Fast Pass for the Jungle Cruise, BTMR and Splash Mountain. I am hoping to make it to the Magic Kingdom before 7pm but if we don't it will all be good. My main goal of the night is to see the new fireworks show.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 2

Our day will start bright and early because we are doing the Cake Decorating Experience at Amorette's Patisserie in Disney Springs at 8:45am. After that the plan is to wander around Disney Springs for a bit and then an early lunch at Art Smith's Homecomin' at 11:35 am.
After lunch we will go back to BWI to relax for an hour or two and then we will be off to MNSSHP! I am super excited for this. I haven't been to a MNSSHP since 2011 but we have been to MVMCP in 2013, 2014 and 2016. I can't wait to see all the decorations and get pictures with the characters in their Halloween costumes. We are eating dinner at BOG at 5:15 and will then probably line up for the 7 dwarves. The plan will be to get character pictures and candy, ride some rides and watch the fireworks. It should be a fun night.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 3

It will be another early start because we have a breakfast reservation at Garden Grill at 8:15am. Chip n Dale are BBF's favorite characters so we always try to do this character meal. The plan after breakfast is to spend the morning in Epcot and be back in the hotel room by noon for a short rest. The afternoon and evening will be spent at Hollywood Studios. We have Fast Passes for ST, TSM and TT. We have a 3:45 Brown Derby Fantasmic and Pixar and Friends Dinner. We will see the Pixar show at 6:45pm and then Fantasmic at 8:30pm.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 4
It will be another early morning for us. I guess when I was planning I didn't look at how many early days in a row we would have. Anyway we will be getting up early to do Early Morning Magic at MK. It should be fun and once it is over we will spend the rest of the morning riding what doesn't have too long of a wait at MK. I am saving our FP for the afternoon at AK. We have FP for Everest, Na'vi River Journey and the safari. In November we did KS in the early evening and saw many different things then when we had ever seen during the day including 2 of the lions trying to get busy. We have an ADR at Tiffins for 4:40 pm for the ROL dining package.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 5 Monday 8/28

We can sleep in today Our first FP is not until 9:40 am! Today we will be at Epcot. I always hate choosing FP for Epcot because of the tiered system. We do have a FP for FEA for 11:40 am. After that we are having lunch at Nine Dragons. Neither of us have eaten there before. Chinese Food is not really my thing but I am trying to expand my horizons and eat at some places I have never tried before. I just made a dinner reservation today at The Flying Fish for 5:15pm. I saw the announcement for 30% with your AP. Both myself and BFF have eaten here before the remodel and enjoyed it so I thought why not. Eating at 5:15 will give us the morning and early afternoon to spend at Epcot and still have time to come back to BWI for an afternoon break before dinner. After dinner we are heading over to HS to enjoy the Star Wars dessert party and fireworks.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for Day 6 Tuesday 8/29

Another day of no early plans because tonight we are going to our 2nd MNSSHP . Last November we did 2 MVMCP and I thought it worked out well because we were able to do most of the character photos, see the fireworks, see the parade and ride some rides. We will have lunch at CRT at 2:40pm. We also have a FP for FEA at 11:40am. I got this FP before I got the FP for Monday. I am not sure if I am going to cancel it of not. If I don't cancel it the plan will be to walk to Epcot, ride FEA and then catch Express Transportation to the MK. Tonight I have also booked the Dessert Party. I am looking forward to it because I love fireworks but hate being in crowds so I having space and a place to sit increases my enjoyment of the fireworks more than I can express with words. I am interested to see how the set up is at Tomorrowland Terrance. I actually did this dessert party back in February of 2013 with my family and really enjoyed it but reading the reviews I know that things have changed with the party so hopefully BFF and I will enjoy it.

 

[Newsies]

Following along, all of your plans look great! I can't wait to hear about the cake decorating experiences and the MNSSHPs!

You also have some really great dining reservations. I've never been to Tiffins, Nine Dragons, or Garden Grill, but I have heard a lot of great things about them. BOG and CRT ae two of my favorites!

You're going to love the dessert party. It's a great package, and you were smart to book it during your second party so that you can get some fun in/accomplish what you didn't get to do during the first party, then have a great view of the fireworks!

All-around wonderful plans, can't wait to read more.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

You also have some really great dining reservations. I've never been to Tiffins, Nine Dragons, or Garden Grill, but I have heard a lot of great things about them. BOG and CRT ae two of my favorites!

We have been to Tiffins and Garden Grill before and enjoyed both of them. It has been awhile since we have been to CRT so I am looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Updates

We hit the 30 day mark today. I am starting to get really excited. Work has sucked lately and I am ready to run away. Plus from late October to the end of the year I will probably be working 6 or 7 days a week and I need to go to my happy place before I attempt that.
Our luggage tags came on Saturday and we figured out tonight that Monday afternoon will be a good time to do laundry so our plans are coming together.
The only thing I am nervous about is that I feel like I chose the wrong hotel. I feel like maybe we should have stayed at the Yacht Club with the nicer pool. I didn't originally book there because of the construction. Also BFF and I never go to the pool on our trips. I think I am stressing about it because we will be traveling in August and us West Coast girls do not do well in the humidity. I have stayed at The BWI before and really enjoyed it. For the Wine n Dine in 2014 BBF and I stayed at the BWV and also had a great time. I think I just need to let it go and accept the hotel I chose.

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

Our day will start bright and early because we are doing the Cake Decorating Experience at Amorette's Patisserie in Disney Springs at 8:45am.

Ooo I can't wait to hear how you liked this it sounds fun.

It will be another early start because we have a breakfast reservation at Garden Grill at 8:15am. Chip n Dale are BBF's favorite characters so we always try to do this character meal.

We're doing this for the first time in September!

We have a 3:45 Brown Derby Fantasmic and Pixar and Friends Dinner. We will see the Pixar show at 6:45pm and then Fantasmic at 8:30pm.

Sounds awesome! I hope they extend the Pixar show through September.

After dinner we are heading over to HS to enjoy the Star Wars dessert party and fireworks.

The Star Wars dessert party is a lot of fun

Another day of no early plans because tonight we are going to our 2nd MNSSHP .

Good idea! We tried to do that the first year we went, but we ended up missing one of them due to me being sick Since then we've just done one

 

[momjeeps]

Love to hear other's plans! Your dates overlap our quick last minute trip on both ends. Make me a wee bit jealous. But so happy to be going at all. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like our park plans overlap at all. We are doing AK 8/25 afternoon into evening after our arrival and check in. MK for rope drop until about 2 pm because we have a wedding at 7 pm. Then EP all day Sunday. Leave early Monday. Our only ADR so far is BOG at 12:30 on Saturday. I think I want to just do a lot of snacking and QS at Epcot but may change my mind and do one TS. I to am going with a "BFF" of sorts. We've never met in person actually but have been great online friends after meeting on here in 2012 when we were planning our families trips. Very excited for our grown up ladies only quick trip!

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Love to hear other's plans! Your dates overlap our quick last minute trip on both ends. Make me a wee bit jealous. But so happy to be going at all. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like our park plans overlap at all. We are doing AK 8/25 afternoon into evening after our arrival and check in. MK for rope drop until about 2 pm because we have a wedding at 7 pm. Then EP all day Sunday. Leave early Monday. Our only ADR so far is BOG at 12:30 on Saturday. I think I want to just do a lot of snacking and QS at Epcot but may change my mind and do one TS. I to am going with a "BFF" of sorts. We've never met in person actually but have been great online friends after meeting on here in 2012 when we were planning our families trips. Very excited for our grown up ladies only quick trip!

BFF trips are the best! It is so much easier to travel with her because she is self sufficient unlike my husband lol. Even though your trip is short you have a fun plan for it. You will have a fabulous time

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Following along!

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Plans for day 7 Wednesday 8/28

Today will be are last day in the parks. Will be starting in AK. We have FP for meeting Mickey at Adventures Outpost, KS and then FOP. I am nervous about FOP because I am a big girl and my summer diet has not been going well. My original intention when I booked this trip back in April was to be about 40 pounds lighter by the end of August. This plan has not worked out so well because I have currently lost a whopping 8 pounds. So I am really hoping I will fit on this ride.
In the evening we will be going to Epcot. We have a 6:25 pm reservation for Via Napoli. We have never eaten here and I am looking forward to trying it. After dinner we plan on watching Illuminations and then it is back to BWI so we can pack.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Day 8 8/29 - Now it's time to say good bye

Today we leave to go to New York City for the second leg of our adventure. The only real good news is that our plane leaves at 9:05 am which means we will be able to check our bags at the hotel. We don't usually get to do this with a morning flight back to the west coast. It still means the bus will pick us up really early.

In other news I have changed plans for 3 of our days so when I have a chance I will update them.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Updates

Our magic bands arrived on Monday. I went yellow and BFF went red. We are now down to 22 days! 3 weeks from tomorrow we will be in WDW and I can not wait. What I can wait for is the 3 am alarm to get me up to get to the airport for the 5:30 am flight.
So when I last left off I had just finished outlining my plans when I decided to change them. This was brought about because I read the review of the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party at Epcot and realized that the party had seats. Now I love me a good night time show but I hate standing for the show. It kills my knee. So as soon as I read about the tables at FEA DP I knew we had to do it. Unfortunately the night we had planned on seeing Illuminations didn't have a dessert party and the night that would have been easiest to switch to was sold out thus we were left with Saturday night and the great rearranging commenced. Here are the new plans

Saturday 8/26
Breakfast at the Garden Grill at 8:15
FP for Mission Space, Test Track and Character Meet at 10:20, 11:20 and 12:20
Lunch Via Napoli at 1:45
then comes the tricky part since originally we doing the Pixar Live/ Famatsmic! dinner package. The final showing is Sunday 8/27 but I did not want to move my AK day around so the new plan is to take a little break at the hotel after lunch then go to the 5:00pm Pixar Live show. After the show we will either take the express transportation to Epcot or walk from HS to Epcot and then go to the FEA dessert party.

Tuesday 8/29
Instead of sleeping in today we are going to spend the morning in HS!
FP for Little Mermaid, Star Tours and Toy Story at 9:40, 10:20 and 11:25
Lunch at CRT at 2:45
MNSSHP
So Tuesday is going to be a super action packed day

Wednesday 8/30
The morning stays the same but we will spend the evening at HS. We have a 4:20pm ADR for the Famtasmic dining package at the Brown Derby. I think it will be a great closing to our trip!

 

[Raeven]

We are now down to 22 days!

so close!

 

[Fairy Godmother]

So I will be leaving for the airport in about 6 hours and am not in bed yet. I am really hoping to sleep on the plane. I am also hoping that bff and I get lucky and have an empty middle seat between us from Vegas to Orlando. I have only made 1 minor tweak to the plan and that is changing our Brown Derby ADR on Wednesday to 5:50. I am so ready for this vacation. I am all packed and hopefully haven't forgotten anything. It is bedtime for my now.

 

[Raeven]

Have a great trip! I can never sleep the night before either.