Pre-Trip 2 Peas in a Disney Pod

The countdown has reached double-digits, so I figured that the time for my first pre-trip report has come! I hope you enjoy my random thoughts and musings! Comments and suggestions welcomed.

The Cast
Me (23) and my fiancé “J” (24)

We're thrill seekers, food fiends, dawn-to-dusk champs, and appreciators of the simple Disney things.

The Story
I’ve been going to Walt Disney World all my life with my family. This will be my 33rd trip!

When J and I started dating in 2008, a lot of the conversation on my side revolved around Disney (of course). He had never been before, and probably never gave it a second thought…until now. I must have *somehow* convinced him to take his first trip to WDW with his mom. Lo and behold, he found it to be amazing, and everything just snowballed from there.

We got to take our first trip to WDW in May of 2010, then 2011, then 2012, (also our first Disney Cruise!), and just discovered the magic of fall at Disney last year in 2013. I never got to experience Disney at this time of year as a kid, so finally being free of school, it was a new experience for the both of us.

Now we’re back for more. September 2014, we’re comin’ for ya!

The Celebration
Well, it’s an anniversaryengagementcelebration! It’s our anniversary, we are now engaged, and any trip to Disney is a reason to celebrate! I was SO excited to call Disney and update our reservation! Why? Only for the most sensible reason in the world…to add a new pin to the collection!

I proudly display these babies and may or may occasionally rearrange them and pretend I’m playing Mission: SPACE Advanced Training Lab by tapping them in random algorithms.

The Plan
September 4th – September 13th: 10 days at the Happiest Place on Earth!

All Star Sports – Value resorts work wonders for us. I love that the bus stops is less than 5 minutes away. I love the automatic doors that open into a flood of sound from the shops and food court. I love that it allows us to afford 9 nights instead of 5 or 6. They are our cheerful Disney home.

We’re on the Disney Dining Plan. I must say, so far, this is what’s looking to be the highlight of our trip. We are not doing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, nor Food & Wine Festival, having experienced both last year. MNSSHP was a blast! We dressed as Lilo & Stitch and it was one of the most unique experiences I’ve had so far at Disney. But for the price, we decided it didn’t need to become a yearly tradition. Food & Wine was also a spectacular first for us (we will most definitely return), but man…I missed eating at EPCOT’s restaurants. So that’s our focus this trip. True value season to enjoy all the parks have to offer, and the food. Oh, the food!

Boma (dinner) – a first for the both of us. We visited Animal Kingdom Lodge very briefly once, so we are excited to give it a more thorough investigation this time!

Biergarten (dinner) – we haven’t been here since 2011. I also wasn’t 21 then…hmm. One of my most favorite atmosphere restaurants. And the pretzel bread.

Sci Fi Dine In (dinner) – J has never been here, and I haven’t been here in AGES. But he wants that All-American Picnic Burger and I guess I have to be there to make sure he doesn’t get sick! (Paying OOP)

Be Our Guest (dinner) – Beauty and the Beast is my favorite movie, and the ballroom scene is my dream come true. So you can imagine how happy I was to experience this last year. Well, we’re back, and we will be back always and forever because this is my happy place.

Kouzzina (dinner) – I never heard of this place until researching for this year’s trip. But the menu caught our attention, and it’s closing soon! I want to be a part of Disney’s history books! Plus, this makes for a fun night for strolling around the Boardwalk.

Coral Reef (lunch) – This is such a fun place. Last time we were here, this huge, crusty fish swam right by the tank where we were sitting and it freaked me out. Memorable moments.

Garden Grill (dinner) – A first for J, and it’s been a while for me. But it’s not rotating?! I hope this is fixed soon, because yes, Living with the Land is my #1 reason for eating here. Granted, I haven’t been here since the menu overhaul (mac and cheese & dirt cups anyone?) If we do decide to change, I think we will fall back on one of our staples: Tokyo Dining. We love sitting by the window and being sushi fiends.

San Angel Inn (lunch) – Absolutely one of my most favorite atmosphere restaurants. The whole you’re-indoors-but-it-looks-like-you’re-outdoors thing makes me so happy. I get lost in the magic. I can smell the food now too…

Rose & Crown (dinner) – Hoping to get a seat outside along Showcase Lagoon (early dinner, non-Illuminations). We haven’t done that before, so I think it will be a nice change. However, I did make these reservations during this epic winter, so we will see when the time actually comes: will we take the view, or the AC relief?

Ohana (dinner) – I’ve never been here before! I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to get on Ohana. But it’s happening now! Can’t wait for the fun and games, skewers of meat, and watching not Wishes, but Hallowishes afterwards.

That's all I have for now. Hope you follow along - thanks for reading!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Sounds like an awesome time! I'm actually excited for you!!!

 

[cw1982]

Following along!

 

[FlaggNL]

Wow great plans and you are earlier in the world than we do enjoy the pre feelings!!

 

[SarahBella82]

It sounds like a fantastic trip! Can't wait to follow along.

 

[EnchantedRose]

I am so with you on the value resorts! We are staying at Sports the first week of October for 10days. We upgraded to the regular dining plan and still came out saving so much - that I am planning on booking the Pirates Cruise, the dessert Party & maybe even invest in Memory Maker (not sure on this one yet).

I am so excited to eat at Disney Restaurants again! Our last trip (nov 2013) we had the QSDP, and didn't eat at any TS places since we had our 9 month old with us.

Cannot wait to read more!!! Enjoy all the planning!!!!

 

[belledream]

Sounds like an awesome time! I'm actually excited for you!!!

Thank you so much! Your avatar made me laugh. At first glance I thought it was something Lion King related, but hah!

Following along!

I believe your time is coming very soon. Enjoy!!

Wow great plans and you are earlier in the world than we do enjoy the pre feelings!!

Pre feelings and planning is almost as fun as the actual thing!

It sounds like a fantastic trip! Can't wait to follow along.

Thanks! Glad to have you follow along! We're super excited.

I am so with you on the value resorts! We are staying at Sports the first week of October for 10days. We upgraded to the regular dining plan and still came out saving so much - that I am planning on booking the Pirates Cruise, the dessert Party & maybe even invest in Memory Maker (not sure on this one yet).

I am so excited to eat at Disney Restaurants again! Our last trip (nov 2013) we had the QSDP, and didn't eat at any TS places since we had our 9 month old with us.

Cannot wait to read more!!! Enjoy all the planning!!!!

All Star Sports woohoo! Yup, we still saved ~$400 by upgrading the DP. We never return to the resort during the day, so it works out beautifully for us right now. As for Memory Maker, I think we are going to skip that since it's just to two of us, and every picture we take will have the both of us in it anyways. Also, a tip: if you have a CM photographer take your picture, you can ask them to take it with your own camera too. That's what we do and they always do a nice job. But MM sounds like a wonderful idea for a bigger family - lots of funny ride photos!

 

[EnchantedRose]

All Star Sports woohoo! Yup, we still saved ~$400 by upgrading the DP. We never return to the resort during the day, so it works out beautifully for us right now. As for Memory Maker, I think we are going to skip that since it's just to two of us, and every picture we take will have the both of us in it anyways. Also, a tip: if you have a CM photographer take your picture, you can ask them to take it with your own camera too. That's what we do and they always do a nice job. But MM sounds like a wonderful idea for a bigger family - lots of funny ride photos!

Yeah we saved close to $600! Like you guys, we really don't return to the room during the day, even with kids! So unless were heading to the Pool we park it alll dayy!

This will be our 7th trip, and I have never bought PP aka MM....but I always LOVE some of candid pics they get...and end up spending a small fortune buying them! The ride pics are a plus...since me and my oldest (he knows WHEN they take pics) always do something silly! It's up in air as of right now. Lets see!

 

[mrdrift]

These plans sound wonderful. Happy engagement ! Will be watching for your report.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thank you so much! Your avatar made me laugh. At first glance I thought it was something Lion King related, but hah!

Lol. Nope just my Summmmmerrrrr Olaf.

 

[Jae99]

Sounds like a wonderful time is going to be had!

 

[belledream]

Time to introduce the other half of our travel party...

Goofy & Pluto! Our precious little Pook-a-Loozs! “Too cute for their own good!”

We brought Goofy home from a local Disney store in 2010. He became a big brother in 2011 when we brought Pluto home from MouseGear! They are our stowaways. No trip to Disney is complete without them. Now before you think I’m crazy, let me just say…well ok, yes…I have been told I am crazy. But we love our little ohana!

Anyways, onto trip business. This is our first time experiencing MyMagic+ and FastPass+. I was not very happy with the concept when it first came out, but I’m going to just go with it and see what happens. We were able to work with way more than three FPs in the past, but I’m being optimistic. We are going during a pretty light crowd period, we always take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, we’re early risers, and I can see how this system is useful on arrival day since we won’t have to worry about getting to the park a few hours into opening and only being able to choose from what’s left. Plus, I’m a hoarder. I have tissue paper leaves from the old Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends show, Mickey sequins from the tables at Crystal Palace, old maps from when they were huge fold outs and sponsored by Kodak, and an insane amount of Disney soaps and shampoos. I can’t wait to hoard Magic Bands! We still have about a month left until we make our FP+ selections. If you have any tips or tricks on the process or a method to the madness, feel free to share! I’m all ears.

Our schedule is usually very set in stone months in advance due to ADRs and the fact that we don’t park hop. Here’s the basic outline.

Day 1
Arrive at MCO before 9 AM. Yippee! As close to a first full day as we’re probably going to get. Hopefully that awesome Disney Magical Express bus is ready to go! Arrive at All Star Sports, check in, maybe or maybe not drop stuff off in our room – it doesn’t really matter to us, because we’re off to Animal Kingdom!

I know it’s kind of unorthodox to pick AK as our first park since it’s really a good ‘morning’ park, but we’re most likely spending another full day here later on in the week, and I’m pretty excited about this because we have dinner reservations at Boma! I love themes (probably because I scrapbook), and keeping the AK – AKL theme seems like a perfect start to our vacation! As I mentioned in the first post, this is our first time at Boma, and I really don’t remember much about our visit to AKL the first time, so this is basically a new experience for us. I hear there are campfires and night vision goggle opportunities?! Sign me up!

Day 2
The first real morning at Disney World is always the sweetest. And what better way to spend it than to be at EPCOT! Love early mornings at The Land and The Seas. Of course Soarin’ is the target, but Living with the Land might just be one of my favorite rides ever. I love everything about it, down to the music they play at the end of the ride during the slideshow thing. I think we will eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons today. I haven’t been there in a long time, and we’re right there anyways!

Random thought: I miss the old Test Track because it felt more like…a test track as opposed to a ‘super cool and futuristic ride with lots of neon colors’, but it’s still that same fun ride I suppose.

Afternoons are usually spent perusing the sights and shops of the World Showcase. We’ll tend to linger at Mexico (love the indoor marketplace so much) and Japan (those crazy awesome shops!) and Canada (that beautiful garden) the most.

OOM BOP BOP OOM BOP BOP…guess where dinner is…Biergarten! OY OY OY! Who knows how long we will sit there…doesn’t really matter, because when we come out, it’ll be time for some Illuminations! I think I’m going to dance to “Promise” with my dad at the wedding. That song always touched him.

Evening EMH is devoted to Future World. Last year, we were literally the only two people in the Mission Space briefing room. Weird and awesome at the same time!

Day 3
Nothing like visiting a new park for the first time on the trip. I usually consider Hollywood Studios to be my least favorite if I had to choose under duress, but I actually really love it. I guess I can't choose. Toy Story Mania is such a fun ride for us. We are so competitive and I’m always leading in points and accuracy all the way until the end because J spams that thing like no other, wins, and brags about it all the time. I think that’s not a fair representation of our skills!

Tower of Terror is another favorite of mine. I had to coax J onto it during our first trip. I just LOVE that feeling! Day, night, I’ll ride that thing over and over anytime.

As Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, I of course, love that show and personally believe it is beautiful and timeless. I surprisingly enjoy Lights, Motor, Action as much as J, and I could care less about cars. Indiana Jones is always fun. Other than that, we also enjoy Magic of Animation and shopping at HS.

Dinner is at Sci-Fi, and Fantasmic! to end the night.

Day 4
FINALLY. Magic Kingdom. It’s going to be hard to wait this long, but it’ll make things that much sweeter. Can’t wait for Seven Dwarves Mine Train Ride and Festival of Fantasy Parade – the two things we haven’t experienced yet. I’ve avoided all information and pictures the best I could!

This is our long MK day: 9AM to 12PM (EMH), but I don’t think we’re going to take a park break. We’ll do our ride craziness, but also take the time to travel from land to land listening to the music transform flawlessly.

Dinner is at…Be Our Guest! I almost cried last year when I experienced this for the first time. Everything was so beautiful and perfect. The wall mural, the chandeliers, the snow falling outside (original animation from the movie!) Just pure love in my heart for the things Disney can make you feel.

I truly enjoy late nights at MK. Lights turned on from the castle, to rides, to the trees. Just magnificent. Running from ride to ride, watching Celebrate the Magic, Wishes, and the Main Street Electrical Parade (miss SpectroMagic so much though). These nights are fun.

Day 5
TBD! We are trying to decide between a relaxy day, and another park day. We have never actually taken a day off the parks before, which was why I wanted to use this day to do things that have always been on our bucket list. Winter Summerland mini golf, Downtown Disney during the daytime, eating at Wolfgang Puck Express, maybe Characters in Flight, perhaps exploring some of the DTD resorts, riding the monorail around EPCOT, etc. We have dinner reservations for Kouzzina, so I thought it’d be nice to spend the evening enjoying the Boardwalk.

But now I’m wondering if we will regret not paying an extra $20 or so for another day at the parks! This is a problem being such a park enthusiast. We are planning 3 days at MK, 3 at EPCOT, 2 at AK, and 1 at HS. Thoughts?

Second half of the itinerary to come tomorrow!

 

[EnchantedRose]

Love it so far!

Even with two kids - we are a Stay at the Park all day family! We rarely go back to the resort....but we may on our next trip. Enjoy the pool a bit! Catch some rays! Even though I always plan for this - we never get to do it!

We had lunch at BOG last year - OMG!! I was instantly in LOVE! I am so excited I managed to get a reservation on our LAST night for dinner for our upcoming trip! I almost cried when I saw there was ONE availability!

I love late nights at the Parks - especially MK & Epcot. Something so peaceful about it....the music, the atmosphere! I love it!

We get there pretty late our first day - so no park for us on arrival or departure day, but I do have planned 3 MK days, 2 Epcot, 2 DSH and 1 AK. I wanted to do DHS one day and make Epcot a 3 day park, but my son wants to go to DHS on his birthday while were there....and he loves it so much he requested two days! This being his bday trip....we complied! Looks like i'll be riding TOT & RnRC about a gazzillion times in a row! Which i don't mind too much!

Can't wait to keep reading more of your plans! This makes me wanna type and post up my plans

 

[belledream]

Love it so far!

Even with two kids - we are a Stay at the Park all day family! We rarely go back to the resort....but we may on our next trip. Enjoy the pool a bit! Catch some rays! Even though I always plan for this - we never get to do it!

We had lunch at BOG last year - OMG!! I was instantly in LOVE! I am so excited I managed to get a reservation on our LAST night for dinner for our upcoming trip! I almost cried when I saw there was ONE availability!

I love late nights at the Parks - especially MK & Epcot. Something so peaceful about it....the music, the atmosphere! I love it!

We get there pretty late our first day - so no park for us on arrival or departure day, but I do have planned 3 MK days, 2 Epcot, 2 DSH and 1 AK. I wanted to do DHS one day and make Epcot a 3 day park, but my son wants to go to DHS on his birthday while were there....and he loves it so much he requested two days! This being his bday trip....we complied! Looks like i'll be riding TOT & RnRC about a gazzillion times in a row! Which i don't mind too much!

Can't wait to keep reading more of your plans! This makes me wanna type and post up my plans

Thank you! I wasn't going to do a Pre Trip Report either, but then all my excitement just spilled out! That's what it's for...(I think ).

Yeah for the relaxy day, I thought we could go for an early morning swim, take time to eat breakfast at the food court, and then head out to mini golf at 10 AM! Or just sleep in . I think J is leaning toward another park day, but he wouldn't mind a 'see where the wind takes us' day either. I just can't decide! At least we have some time.

We did 10 days last year as well and planned for 3 MK, 3 EPCOT, 2 HS, and 2 AK, but ended up doing 4 MK and 1 AK . That's why I thought we'd give 2 days to AK this trip instead of HS. I figure our first day will be kind of sporadic, plus we want to give ourselves plenty of time at AKL too. That's where the 2nd AK day comes in handy.

We did find that 2 days at HS was quite fun! That means more Toy Story Mania! We did take an afternoon park break and boated to Swan & Dolphin to go to Fantasia Gardens mini golf from there. Spent most of the afternoon enjoying the other resorts in that area, and head back to HS around dinner time to enjoy the night at the parks because we spent the first HS night watching Fantasmic. So it all worked out and I bet it will be great for you too!

 

[belledream]

Continuing our itinerary plans! Thanks for following along.

Day 6
Hello again, EPCOT! We are here for your delectable foods and spectacular photo opportunities! EPCOT is like big waves of happiness hitting me one after another. I love entering EPCOT and just taking in the breadth of Spaceship Earth. It is really spectacularly bigger than you’d think. Just past that, you start to hear the sounds of the Fountain of Nations. I’m a huge waterfall/water fountain lover, and Fountain of Nations is #1 in that category for me. The water shows, especially at night, are so captivating. Beyond that, I get overly excited at the sight of Showcase Lagoon and all the opportunities to adventure that World Showcase offers.

But first, food. We’re going to Coral Reef for lunch! I’m unsure if I want to go with my favorite (Mahi-Mahi), or try something new. Always a dilemma for me. However, J and I never order the same thing so we get to try a little more of everything. So maybe I can utilize that in a win-win situation.

Maybe we’ll take a park break today and go to the International Gateway and visit my favorite resorts ever: Yacht & Beach Club! We love taking our shoes off and sitting on the swinging benches to relax in such a beautiful place.

But we’ll be back soon, because we have a date with Garden Grill for dinner. YOU BETTER BE ROTATING! I am really, really excited for this because as I mentioned, Living with the Land is one of my favorites! Love the sound of that rooster. Also, this will be our only character meal of the trip, and we rarely ever wait in line to meet characters, so it would be nice to get a few pictures in during this meal.

As the sun goes down, I can’t wait to see EPCOT light up. The twinkling ground has been a part of my earliest childhood memories. It’s the little things that still mean so much to you.

Day 7
Hello EPCOT…we’re back again. Why? Because we LOVE EATING. Today is Stuff-Your-Face-At-World-Showcase Day! We are visiting one of my favorites, and one of J’s favorites. On the menu for lunch…San Angel Inn! Last time we were here, we had an okay view of the volcano. I’d like to get closer though – maybe even see the boats of Grand Fiesta Tour.

We’ll surely be walking lunch off around World Showcase. Watch the drummers at Japan, stop to see the train set around Italy, and maybe enjoy a Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich and Kaki Gori on the way. But we can’t get too full, because we have to save room for Rose & Crown! Last time we were here, we ordered three entrees because we couldn’t decide and wanted it all! (Shepard’s pie, fish and chips, and pork chops). They seemed to have changed the menu since then…and for the better in J’s eyes: steak & fish and chips combo? He’s sold.

But what I enjoy most about EPCOT is Illuminations. Hands down, the best fireworks show in my opinion. I live and breathe the music, the lighting, the water, and the chandelier fireworks.

Day 8
We’re on our way to the Magic Kingdom! We have no ADRs this day, so we’re quick servicing it and that also means having more room in our bellies to nom on snacks that we were too full to eat last time! Seriously. I can’t believe I didn’t eat funnel cake or Dole Whip on our last trip. I feel ashamed. We did try LeFou’s Brew. It was refreshing, but I wasn’t blown away and would probably prefer a regular raspberry lemonade slushie from Cheshire Café or something like that. I did like the souvenir stein though.

So even though I said we would QS lunch, we will probably go to Be Our Guest (nothing quick or skimpy about it) because I can’t wait to get my hands on that Tuna Niçoise Salad again! And no, this won’t just be for me, for J ordered the Carved Prime Chuck Roast Beef Sandwich twice last year.

I definitely want to catch Festival of Fantasy Parade for a second time, and maybe we’ll go take a monorail ride around Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian and see where we feel like spending a few hours. I haven’t watched Wishes from Contemporary before, and I was thinking about doing it on this night, but I also really love being in the park, staring right up at the castle during all the festivities! Plus, then it’s harder to get back into the park, and there’s so many things I want to do at night: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, ooh and Seven Dwarves Mine Train! Wish I could be in two places at once.

Day 9
Getting ready for our peaceful, inspiring, charming walk through the Oasis at Animal Kingdom! Then gotta get on that morning safari ride! This will be our real ‘morning’ at AK, so I’m really looking forward to seeing Festival of the Lion King in the new theater, enjoying the trails, Finding Nemo, and of course, riding Expedition Everest and DINOSAUR over and over. Flame Tree BBQ sounds like a good option for this day, since we’re having a later dinner than usual.

We will probably leave a little early to go mini golfing at Winter Summerland! I haven’t been here before (that I can remember) and I can’t wait to take the pictures to fool my friends. Again, we’re always competing against each other, so it’ll pretty much be a bloodbath.

After that, we’ll bus to Polynesian because it is finally time for us to experience…Ohana! Meat skewers, bread pudding, fun and games. Even though we’re a young couple with no kids, we are truly kids ourselves! I can’t wait for this lovely affair. After dinner, we’ll scope out the new changes to Polynesian (no more beautiful waterfall though…). Then it’ll be time to grab a spot on the beach and watch Hallowishes from afar! I barely remember it from last year’s MNSSHP, probably because I was so overstimulated, so I’m excited to refresh my memory. The sound of the water, the breeze, feeling like it’s just the two of us on the beach…I can’t think of a better way to spend our last night at Walt Disney World.

Day 10
There’s something both good and bad about spending your last day at Magic Kingdom. The Good: you get to experience a ton of classics and favorites, all in the heart of the magic! The Bad: it’s always so much harder to leave Disney when you’re leaving MK. Maybe it’s the music, the smells, the flood of people walking opposite of you, the sight of the castle getting smaller and smaller as you walk down Main Street. But it’s our last day at Disney and you can bet that we are going to make the most of it! Plus, it’s our six year anniversary today!

Last day tradition means letting J buy a treat to take home with him…who are we kidding? That thing is gone before the DME bus arrives.

As much as 10 days in the world allows you to have, it never seems like enough. However, it’s great to know that we will always find our way back. A year from now, we will be getting married! Something new to celebrate in the beautiful World.

 

[belledream]

There have been a few switch ups! Being the park addicts that we are, we just couldn’t resist adding a 10th park day to the itinerary. Therefore, Day 5 shall be a second day at Hollywood Studios, and I think it’ll be great for a few reasons:

1. We will have seen Fantasmic on the first HS day, so this second day will allow us to run around doing our HS evening EMH ritual: Tower of Terror at night, watching the twinkling lights on the hat, watching J laugh like a maniac in an empty Muppets theater, etc.
2. I always experience the bluest sky at HS when the sun goes down. Maybe it's just timing or I take more time to notice, but I love it!

1. No changes will need to be made for our dinner at Kouzzina, and in fact, this is better because we can just walk to boat on over to Boardwalk!
2. Um…more Toy Story Mania?!

Ugh...that last part is simply borderline cheating.

All in all, even though I finally envisioned us spending a day relaxing and doing everything and nothing, this was probably the better choice. I would have been itching to go into a park so bad. Maybe when we stay at a fancier resort with our children, I could see us taking a day off to utilize the pool and explore more activities around us.

Also changing for this trip…a few ADRs. Sadly, all the talk about Garden Grill finally convinced me that we should forgo the experience this time. It was more about the experience rather than the food and the characters, and if that’s not guaranteed, then we’d be ok going elsewhere. But who knows - if it starts rotating again, I will most likely change my mind.

We pondered our options. The only World Showcase restaurants we haven’t experienced are Tutto Italia and Via Napoli – but we are hardly ever interested in Italian food during our trips, and this one is proving to be no exception. Back to our favorite Tokyo Dining? Not a great value using the DDP since we’d be tempted to order extra sushi that we would have to pay out of pocket for. Le Cellier? J loves his steak there. But sacrificing two credits for one meal? We decided that might be worth it for a new dining experience, so we will be branching out from EPCOT. EPCOT has the best QS options anyways – I’m sure we will be perfectly happy with whatever we choose to substitute dinner with. This meant we’d have to give up another TS credit as well, so our San Angel Inn lunch was cut from the list. It's all good - we spend a lot of time in there anyways, shopping, riding, and picture taking. Both new & old Disney gets me excited!

We didn’t have any ADRs scheduled on our second Magic Kingdom day, so we zeroed in on our options there.(Initially, when booking ADRs 180 days out, I got another Be Our Guest dinner reservation for that date because we love it so much, but we decided not to wear it out as we will always be eating lunch once, or maybe twice, there. Plus, I gave it up positive that it would go to a good home ). But now that we had 2 credits to play around with, Narcoossee’s, a restaurant I had previously never given a second thought too, caught my attention. We never ate at a Grand Floridian restaurant before, the menu seemed quite loaded, and it’s right on the water! That’s what we’re going with right now. Anyone have particularly strong feelings for or against it?

Snapped this picture back in our first trip together in 2010. I think it looks like a lovely place to dine!

 

[belledream]

So…scrap pretty much everything in the last post. Well, we are sticking to our 10th park day at Hollywood Studios, but we have reinstated the old dining reservations thanks to the WONDERFUL news that Garden Grill has resumed it’s lovely rotation qualities! Who needs to have more patience? This girl! I checked my phone last week and had literally bolted up in bed at the news! Luckily, I was able to retrieve the same reservation (hoping this is a sign of good crowd levels). And truthfully, this is a better use of our credits (can fit in another table service meal (San Angel) instead of spending two on Narcoossee’s) and we don’t have to worry about park outfits that will also be acceptable at Narcoossee’s.

With everything seemingly set (again), I am more excited than ever! And I probably overuse the word ‘excited’, yet here it goes folks…

I’m EXCITED to:

• Feel the Tower of Terror elevator ascend
• Walk up the stairs in the Toy Story Mania queue and get a view of what awaits at the loading dock
• Feel TTA speed up around the corner, hear the Speedway cars, and sit in the darkness

• Experience 7 Dwarves Mine Train Ride
• Scream my head off as that Carnotaurus chases after me
• Listen to the music in the Tangled rest area (because I can’t find it anywhere online!!!)

• Transition seamlessly between each country in the World Showcase
• Experience Festival of Fantasy Parade
• See what little surprises Kiliminjaro Safari brings

• Crash at All Star Sports and fall asleep like a baby
• Experience Animal Kingdom Lodge from day to night
• Drop everything and run to Fountain of Nations when the water ballet starts

• Peruse MouseGear and soak in the noises, displays, hustle and bustle
• Sit on the Living with the Land Boat. It's just so comfy to me for some reason.
• Search for Hidden Mickey’s and argue about which ones are legit or not
  • Has anyone seen the display in One Man’s Dream of the Walt’s desk and there’s a wastebasket that has three crumpled up pieces of paper in it? I’ll have to take a picture this time around. We are in strong dissent about the legitimacy of this.

I just can’t wait for the spontaneity, the surprises, the thrills, the nighttime lulls, that the art of Disney has perfected so beautifully! 77 days!

 

[Zipadeelady]

I love all your "I'm excited to's" I could imagine each one as you listed it!! You are like a breath of fresh air (ugh..now I sound like my mother)!

 

[belledream]

I love all your "I'm excited to's" I could imagine each one as you listed it!! You are like a breath of fresh air (ugh..now I sound like my mother)!

Haha thank you! I thought I'd spice things up with a few pictures here and there. I'm glad you get why the little things are so fulfilling to people like us.

 

[belledream]

Our 60 day window has come and gone, and the FP+s have been chosen! Our window didn’t open up exactly at midnight, so a little bit of panic ensued...but at 1:00 AM sharp, everything was ready and waiting. The process was fairly easier than I expected it to be – however, I do wish that they just displayed all the times available and let you choose right then and there are as opposed to picking one of their predetermined packages, then going back to adjust specific times again. But I digress…

An overview of our selections:
We got 7 Dwarves Mine Train FP+s for all three of our Magic Kingdom days! We also plan to hit it at rope drop. I’m gonna get my fill. Surprisingly, we also saw a lot of available times for Anna & Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall – so we got one of those too. J and I had made a bet about something months ago, and of course he lost, and he now has to ask to take a selfie with a princess. Thinking this will be it! The rest of our MK FP+s are scattered between Big Thunder, Space, and Splash Mountain, and Peter Pan. Hopefully we will be able to get a 4th for other things or repeats!

For EPCOT, we went 2:1 with Soarin and Test Track for the 1st tier, mainly based on our ADRs. Test Track for San Angel Inn lunch, Soarin for Coral Reef (and Sunshine Seasons I suppose). Choosing for the 2nd tier was a lot harder since we felt like we wouldn’t have used them with the old system. We ended up going with a mix of Mission SPACE, The Seas, Maelstrom, and Character Spot. Well, can’t hurt at this point.

It’s all about Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours at Hollywood Studios. We definitely didn’t see the need to get FP+ for any of the shows (and I believe at one point, Great Movie Ride was tier 2 – which would’ve been great – alas, it is no more). A fairly easy decision.

Even easier was Animal Kingdom: Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR – in the morning, both days, done deal. We will be leaving AK on the early side, so doing our favorites in the morning is the perfect plan for us.

Now, we await the arrival of those MagicBands, prepare our stomachs for battle, and start color coordinating our outfits. It’s getting so close! The happiness is real.