Pre-Trip Thanksgiving/Birthday 2017 (Somewhat Live)

I'm finally going back!!! I haven't been to Disney World since 2008, and I have missed it so much. Growing up, my family would go every few years, but that stopped once I started college (my younger sister and I never had matching spring breaks again). This is my first Pre-Trip Report (or Trip Report in general), so I'm asking for both patience and suggestions.

Who: There will be at least three of us on the trip. Me (Liz), my best friend (Katie), and her boyfriend Josh. While I am the third part of that relationship (literally, both of them have told me this on different occasions), we've put the word out among our friends and siblings that the invitation is there if they want to join us. I'd love it if my little sister could join us, especially since we live in different states now, and I can't really imagine a trip to Disney without her.

Where: Because we're young adults who haven't struck it rich quite yet, we're probably staying in Pop Century, or possibly Caribbean Beach Resort (if there are 5 of us).

When: Late November 2017 (We formerly considered September).

How: I recently managed to talk Katie into flying, instead of a 17 hour, nonstop road trip. I recently drove to Texas with my sister to move her to her new home, and I am looking forward to never driving 20 hours again (will that probably happen again? Yes, but I don't want it to be anytime in the near future). [Edit- she just told me that she and Josh were trying to figure out how to talk me into flying; lesson learned, nobody wants to drive from Ohio to Florida]

What: Day 1: Traveling/swimming/exploring Disney Springs/dinner at a restaurant (Narcoossee's, Sanaa, Ohana, or something at DS)
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Parkhopping between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
Day 4: Epcot
Day 5: Parkhopping between Universal and IOA (we're big Harry Potter fans)
Day 6: Travel

And now for the big stuff. Like I said before, I haven't been to Disney since 2008. Katie hasn't been since 2012. It's been about 10 years for Josh too. There have been a lot of changes in that time. Magic Bands, FP+, dining plans, price hikes, new rides... Yeah. It's different and exciting, and we can't wait to try it out.

We're thinking we may want to try the Regular Dining Plan. What are the best ways to get our money's worth? Also, what are the best value hotels? Sports looks pretty nice.
Any recommendations would be much appreciated. :happy:

206334_1007892230918_5885_n.jpg

16 year old me on my last trip in the now-torn-down Streets of America :(

(edited 1/23/2017)
 
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DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Don't forget that you can order online before you get to BoG, which will save you time and (hopefully) get you in and out between your Fast Pass windows!

This looks like fun and I'm glad you finally have the guest list looking more solid. You have a lot more patience than I do!!

The dining plan only seems to make sense if you eat at character meals. We have a toddler, so we'll be getting the dining plan when we go, but that's because with the cost of the character meals we've looked at, we'll break even on the dining plan (which makes the convenience of not having to pay for anything worth it). Mind you, we're doing character meals and only breaking even.
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Good news- new username! :joyfull:
Bad news- Need to push the vacation back a day to get free dining (which means rearranging the schedule. again).
More bad news- no more rooms at Pop Century...... or apparently at any resort. :cyclops:

..............So I think Katie's going to be on the phone with someone at Disney today to figure all of this out.
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Going to sign up for dining tonight! :joyfull:

Unfortunately, Ohana looks like it's booked for the whole trip (as of now, I can't pull up the 27th or 28th)

Table Service ideas:
  • Sanaa or Hoop Dee
  • Be Our Guest (definitely eating here)
  • Le Celier
 
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DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Going to sign up for dining tonight! :joyfull:

Unfortunately, Ohana looks like it's booked for the whole trip (as of now, I can't pull up the 27th or 28th)

Table Service ideas:
  • Sanaa or Hoop Dee
  • Be Our Guest (definitely eating here)
  • Le Celier

Sign up for TouringPlans and put Ohana into an alert in their dining reservation finder thingie (thingie is a technical term). You might get lucky!
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Because of the O'hana reservation, we've chosen to cancel our Skipper reservation. We're already doing O'hana and Le Celier, so to do Skipper in addition just felt expensive. I'm really okay with just having a turkey leg for dinner.

Something that Katie was able to do on her last visit- wait in line for BOG. Can you still wait, or is it reservation only? We're going to keep checking for reservations (mostly when the date is closer), but it'd be nice if we could skip that process (I'm a little tired of planning a trip around a meal).
 
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amjt660

Premium Member
Not sure if it still applies but in 2014 we had lunch and then walked out and asked about dinner
We were directed to a cm with a clipboard and he had a free table (late for us at 8:20 pm)
I guess they get cancellations
Not sure if this is still possible but if it is then give it a shot

Max
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Not sure if it still applies but in 2014 we had lunch and then walked out and asked about dinner
We were directed to a cm with a clipboard and he had a free table (late for us at 8:20 pm)
I guess they get cancellations
Not sure if this is still possible but if it is then give it a shot

Max
I found a site that keeps track of open reservations. https://mousedining.com/ I'll probably check it more often in September, since FP+s will be open around the same time, and I'm guessing that people will try to change their schedules around them.
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Alright, bit of an update on plans :D Thank you Disney for adding some new EMH times!

Magic Kingdom day (my birthday) just got EMH for 2 hours that night. Which we'll need for sure, considering the non-Christmas party attending crowds that I'm assuming will be there.

Epcot added an additional half hour to their EMH, so we'll have 14 1/2 hours at that park :joyfull::inlove::happy: Our reservation at Le Cellier is at 8:55, so if we leave there at 10, we'll have an extra 90 minutes to do attractions a second time, or do the ones we missed.

Animal Kingdom is still opening at 8 AM, so the plan is to do as much as we can there that morning. We'll probably leave AK around 1, so depending on bus traffic, we can get to DHS by 2. Unfortunately, DHS is going to close at 8. :grumpy:
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Couple of things-
The 4 of us are going to be the people who wear matching shirts on one of the park days. We're thinking about something like this:
19883997_10156426341464447_7293104647610789478_n.jpg
(I'm a-ok with paying respects to the Earful Tower)

One of my coworkers is planning a trip for October, so while she has a friend helping her with the reservations, I'm going to give her the rundown about attractions, rope-dropping (which she didn't know about), and which things to use FP+ on. We're planning a lunch together soon.

Speaking of FP+, Frozen Ever After really seems to have shrunk in terms of wait times (55 minutes instead of 120). Since we'll be spending 14 1/2 hours at Epcot, we're okay with one lengthy queue. We'll probably use our Tier 1 FP on Test Track instead.
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Couple of things-
The 4 of us are going to be the people who wear matching shirts on one of the park days. We're thinking about something like this:
19883997_10156426341464447_7293104647610789478_n.jpg
(I'm a-ok with paying respects to the Earful Tower)

One of my coworkers is planning a trip for October, so while she has a friend helping her with the reservations, I'm going to give her the rundown about attractions, rope-dropping (which she didn't know about), and which things to use FP+ on. We're planning a lunch together soon.

Speaking of FP+, Frozen Ever After really seems to have shrunk in terms of wait times (55 minutes instead of 120). Since we'll be spending 14 1/2 hours at Epcot, we're okay with one lengthy queue. We'll probably use our Tier 1 FP on Test Track instead.

I noticed that too! We'll still be grabbing a fastpass if we can, but this opens the possibility we can go on it twice!
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I noticed that too! We'll still be grabbing a fastpass if we can, but this opens the possibility we can go on it twice!
I have the feeling that we'll probably be able to go on it twice too. Once around noon, and then once during the EMH.

I know we're going to have to use our Tier 2s for something, but actually picking those is difficult, because none of them have bad wait times. Maybe Living with the Land (to be used after we rope drop Soarin') and Mission: Space?
 

amjt660

Premium Member
I have the feeling that we'll probably be able to go on it twice too. Once around noon, and then once during the EMH.

I know we're going to have to use our Tier 2s for something, but actually picking those is difficult, because none of them have bad wait times. Maybe Living with the Land (to be used after we rope drop Soarin') and Mission: Space?
Is spaceship earth tier 1 or 2?

Max
 

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