Pre-Trip We've Fall-in In Love...

We're heading back to Walt Disney World in 99 days ya'll!
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I cannot wait to come home.

If you've read my other trip reports, you might know me as the fountain-obsessed, value resort-hugger, and Be Our Guest-regular. Well...just letting you know that none of that has changed. In fact, it's probably intensified. So with that in mind, let us go onwards.

The Cast
The husband "J" and I. Newlyweds for almost one year! Here is a picture of us below:
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Juuust kidding. But Disney really is one of the reasons why we love each other.

Rounding out our party are these babes.
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The Plan
September 3rd - September 11th, 2016. 9 days of Disney fun and sun, and for the first time in forever, some water! Yup, we are heading back to the water parks for the first time since 2011.

Along the way, we'll be incorporating a non-park day, a visit to the new Disney Springs, and a bunch of new dining experiences (Free Dining + bounceback offer, you just get me every time).

The resort of choice this year? All Star Music. Cheap, convenient, has fountain.

When I tell people that I go on a Disney forum site to chat about favorite Disney smells or queues, they look at me weirdly and just shake their head. My brother captured the essence quite nicely when he called it my 'Disney Support Group'. So thank you, my fellow Disney friends, for giving me an outlet to express the love and joy I have for this magical place called Walt Disney World. I hope you'll follow along on our adventure. Thanks for reading!
 
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Ghostdog

Ghostdog

Well-Known Member
How and exciting to be planning a trip again. Enjoy the water parks, our family favorite is Typhoon lagoon. Disney support group...I love it.
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
blgauger said:
Disney Support Group.. I love it. :hilarious: I stayed at All Star Music on my last trip and loved it! We're staying at Sports this time.
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Awesome! There's something nostalgic about each of the All Stars to me...I'm excited to go back!

Ghostdog said:
How and exciting to be planning a trip again. Enjoy the water parks, our family favorite is Typhoon lagoon. Disney support group...I love it.
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TL is amazing...love the watercoasters and that wave pool. Feels sublime just thinking about it now!
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WDWDarling said:
Yay for an upcoming trip! As much as I'd like to stay at one of the nicer resorts, the values give us more Disney days in our life and it's hard to say no to that :).

Following along!
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Perfectly said. :) We're very much looking forward to taking the future kiddos to Deluxe and fully plan on taking advantage of the amenities, but right now, this is the life. :D
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, we're traveling during Labor Day Weekend, which is our first adult-lifetime encounter with holiday crowds, though I am hopeful it won't be anything unmanageable. I'll take any extra days at Disney that I can get, with minimal impact on my days, so we're starting off unconventional (for us at least).

Day 1: A non-park day! We always talked about doing this, but always end up getting drawn back to the parks. We'll kick off the party at Animal Kingdom Lodge for some Sanaa, stop by The Mara for some Zebra Domes afterwards, and then all the bucketlist fun afterwards! We are thinking about heading towards MK resort area and renting a SeaRaycer (anyone ever done it?), or going on a monorail adventure and cruising over EPCOT. Of course, we may end up just resort hopping, but that's the beauty of a non-park day. We'll do dinner at California Grill which we chose for the views, location, and the stellar reviews. Rounding out the night, we'll definitely catch Wishes from the observation deck. An eventful first day!

Day 2: Hollywood Studios. We could never skip any of the four parks, and this year is no exception. We'll be there for the Tower of Terror and the Toy Story Mania. And J wants to make a return appearance at Sci-Fi and I will not say no to that! For someone who needs Star Wars for Dummies, I am stoked for Star Wars fireworks, mainly because fireworks at HS are a welcomed-addition and the Frozen Summer Fun one was my life.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom. With so much happening, we'll have one mega-day to experience all the new offerings. With the Rivers of Light delay/Jungle Book-indefiniteness, I'm wondering if the switch will happen around this time, which may or may not throw a wrench into the plans, but I will adjust as best as I can. Regardless of what happens, I cannot wait to see the Tree of Life Awakening, and embark on a Night Safari (or two!). It's gonna be quite a party at AK! For the time being, we're keeping our reservation at Yak & Yeti.

Day 4: EPCOT. Truth be told, I thought the Soarin' refurb would take place over the entire year, so when I found out we'd be Soarin' Around the World, I was ecstatic. I will definitely get the nostalgic feels for the old version, but gotta hand it to Disney for giving us something new to experience. I expect Frozen Ever After to be quite beautiful, but I shudder at the wait times. FP strategy is going to be tough this year. For some reason, we decided that we should dine exclusively in Italy this year and knock two more off our list: Via Napoli for lunch, Tutto Italia for dinner. I'm salivating at the thought now...

Day 5: Magic Kingdom. Our quintessential MK day...Be Our Guest breakfast, Be Our Guest lunch, Be Our Guest dinner, evening EMH, and a whole lotta rides, shopping, and bench-hopping fun. Oh, I cannot wait. New to MK this year will be the Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire. We're not avid fanatics of stage shows, but finally, the awesome music of Princess and the Frog gets some love, and throw in some Rapunzel and I'm there.

Day 6: WATER PARKS!!! First we'll go to Blizzard Beach, where you'll find me on the Toboggan Racers all day.
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So morning will be spent at Blizzard Beach, and the afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. I will most definitely need that wave pool and water rollercoaster action. From there, we'll head to Disney Springs to check out both the new and old. (We usually hit up Downtown Disney every other year, and last year was an off-year). J is obsessed with ramen, and wants to go to Morimoto Asia like no other. I want to try a little bit of everything at all the new places...so we'll see if that will be physically possible. It's going to be an exhausting one-heck-of-a-day!

Day 7: Back to MK for some Liberty Tree Tavern lunch. Yes...we are literally going just so we can have some Ooey Gooey. Skipper Canteen is what's for dinner and I'm most excited about looking at all the details of the restaurant moreso than the food.

Day 8: Second day at EPCOT and boy, we will need it! I'm hoping to take a park break in the afternoon and go home to Yacht & Beach Club. Also want to stop by Boardwalk for Ample Hills Ice Cream (have you seen those cookie cones?!) Dinner at La Hacienda, leaving Nine Dragons and Monsieur Paul as the only two World Showcase restaurants we haven't tried, and probably won't. So when people ask me why Disney doesn't get boring, a huge part of it really is the food! Such foolish mortals.

Day 9: Our last day in the World, and we will make the most of it at none other than MK. This probably means lots of rides of the Blue Ride, and of course, Be Our Guest breakfast and lunch. Just the way we like it, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

So those are the plans! No frills, just us and the place that makes us happy. Thanks for reading! I'll be back with everyone's favorite...FOOD!
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
I like your idea for a non-park day--there's tons of things to do that don't require the parks. Although I haven't driven one of these in years, I can tell you that the Sea Raycers are a blast!! Definitely take one out for a spin. Last time I went, they gave you time options, and I went out for the 30 minute rental.

As for your photo of the Toboggan Racers, that looks scary--I went up there once and chickened out--I couldn't get over the fear of going face first, down those tall slides (which are much higher than what they look in your photo). I like Blizzard Beach but the only semi-thrill slides I do are the Downhill Double Dipper and Runoff Rapids (the enclosed tunnel--single riders only).
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
I like your idea for a non-park day--there's tons of things to do that don't require the parks. Although I haven't driven one of these in years, I can tell you that the Sea Raycers are a blast!! Definitely take one out for a spin. Last time I went, they gave you time options, and I went out for the 30 minute rental.

As for your photo of the Toboggan Racers, that looks scary--I went up there once and chickened out--I couldn't get over the fear of going face first, down those tall slides (which are much higher than what they look in your photo). I like Blizzard Beach but the only semi-thrill slides I do are the Downhill Double Dipper and Runoff Rapids (the enclosed tunnel--single riders only).
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Awesome about the SeaRaycers! They look like a blast and I was surprised at the cost - I thought it'd be more expensive than it is. It's definitely up there in potential for our agenda. Do you get wet? Just a little sprayed? I'm wondering if we'll look too messed up for our Cali Grill dinner haha! :hilarious:

Toboggan is the BEST! I feel like I catch some air when I'm on it and fly a little bit...that probably doesn't help in convincing you to do it! :p
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
belledream said:
Awesome about the SeaRaycers! They look like a blast and I was surprised at the cost - I thought it'd be more expensive than it is. It's definitely up there in potential for our agenda. Do you get wet? Just a little sprayed? I'm wondering if we'll look too messed up for our Cali Grill dinner haha! :hilarious:

Toboggan is the BEST! I feel like I catch some air when I'm on it and fly a little bit...that probably doesn't help in convincing you to do it! :p
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I don't recall getting wet at all in the Sea Raycer. (Just think of it as a regular boat where you sit inside, and all the water and spray is outside.) Also, I didn't ride it at full speed (I was more sight-seeing), so I can't speak for any spray from higher speeds. Oh, I recall (years ago--and I assume this is still the rule) that they ask you to wear a life vest, so if you're heading to Cali Grill and you happen to be wearing something you don't want wrinkled, just keep that in mind. The vests fit snugly (they have to be securely adjusted, to be effective).

As for catching air on the toboggan, you've just convinced me to never go on that thing! HA! :D
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
I don't recall getting wet at all in the Sea Raycer. (Just think of it as a regular boat where you sit inside, and all the water and spray is outside.) Also, I didn't ride it at full speed (I was more sight-seeing), so I can't speak for any spray from higher speeds. Oh, I recall (years ago--and I assume this is still the rule) that they ask you to wear a life vest, so if you're heading to Cali Grill and you happen to be wearing something you don't want wrinkled, just keep that in mind. The vests fit snugly (they have to be securely adjusted, to be effective).

As for catching air on the toboggan, you've just convinced me to never go on that thing! HA! :D
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Knowing us, we will probably attempt full speed! :D But thank you! I didn't think we'd get ridiculously wet, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't in for some kind of Splash Mountain experience. And yeah, I do believe life vests would be part of the equation as well.

And sorry about the Toboggan...maybe you should start simple with Summit Plummet. ;)
 

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