Pre-Trip Are we crazy?? Maybe a little! Food and Wine/Wedding Anniversary/Halloween Getaway!

Yes, it's us again! Yes, I already have another weekend pre-trip report open in this forum! Yes, we are leaving for this trip in less than a month!

A little backstory...

You may remember that my DW M and I got married in October 2014 in New York City. That means our one-year wedding anniversary is coming up this month! We had (naturally) considered a Disney trip for our anniversary but it just didn't seem like it was going to happen. Even weekend trips are difficult to coordinate because I am a professional section leader for a volunteer choir at a local church, which means I work every Sunday as a contractor and don't get any sort of paid time off. The church music director told us a few weeks ago that Sunday, November 1 would be a day off for the section leaders and I suggested to M that we go on a weekend trip somewhere close by to celebrate our anniversary at the end of October.

She said, "Can we go to Disney that weekend?"

I had been infected with the bug and there was no way I could be cured without booking a trip!

We had some travel credit on Hotels.com, we already have APs, and we found decent direct flights from Delta. It was just a matter of booking everything, which we finally did tonight!

The Cast
Me (B): mid-20s, opera singer/voice teacher
DW (M): mid-20s, writer/academic administrator

Hotel(S)
One night at Disney's All Star Sports Resort
Two nights at the Walt Disney World Dolphin
Our flight gets in late (after 10pm) on Thursday so we just wanted a cheap place to sleep and the complimentary DME. Neither of us are into sports. (Insert bad lesbian joke here.) We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to stay at the Dolphin! We've never stayed in the Epcot area and we can't wait to WALK to our favorite park from our hotel!!

Flights
Delta, nonstop between New York and Orlando

Tickets
Annual Passes!

ADRs
None, yet. We'll be spending most of our time at Epcot enjoying the F&W offerings so we may not make any ADRs at all.

Itinerary
Thursday, October 29
Daytime: M works at her school until 5 and I will probably be teaching until about 5 as well. Then we will both head to the airport for...
7:55: Flight to MCO
10:59 Land MCO, go to B side lower level and board the DME to All Star Sports!
Later: Crash from a long day and a long week!

Friday, October 30
Morning: Check out of ASSp, and probably do the cheap thing and take a bus to Epcot or DHS and walk to the Dolphin, where we will drop our bags and then head to...
Later morning: Epcot! Where else??? We have FPs for Soarin', Spaceship Earth, and Mission: SPACE.
11:00: Commence the Food and Wine enjoyment!!! Our goal is to try every vegetarian item at least once.
Afternoon/evening: Depending how we feel we may go to MK, which will be open until 11:00 that night. Or we might just stick with Epcot and keep eating and drinking!
Evening: WALK back to our room at the Dolphin! Yes, WALK! (or if we are at MK we'll obviously not walk from there)

Saturday, October 31: HALLOWEEN!
Note: Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I have always loved dressing up and it's part of why I love being an opera singer so much! Last year I had a show on November 1 (RUDE) so I couldn't drink or party AT ALL on Halloween. M and I decided long before this trip that we were definitely doing SOMETHING and definitely dressing up as modern Disney princesses. We have been buying costume pieces since April and will basically be Disney bounding as Snow White (me) and Ariel (M). IN DISNEY!
Morning: DHS has morning EMH so we might take advantage of that. If not we will head right to MK!
Late morning/afternoon: We have FPs for Pirates, Under the Sea, and Seven Dwarfs. Ariel and Snow White can't go to Magic Kingdom without riding their respective rides!
Later: Back to Epcot for Food and Wine!!
Even later: WALK back to the Dolphin!

Sunday, November 1
Morning: Probably sleep in. Check out and leave our bags with bell services, then back to...
Later morning: Epcot, of course! Food! Wine! (and yes, beer and cocktails too)
Afternoon: Pick up our bags and take an Uber from the Dolphin to MCO.
7:20: Fly back to New York
9:59: Land and head back home

That's it for now! Thanks for reading!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

This trip sounds so fun! Following along!

 

[bee]

I'd go with clip ons as some chalk can stain!

Ooooh, great point. I'll pass along your suggestion.

This trip sounds so fun! Following along!

Thanks for following! I just love WDW with my wife as it is ALWAYS fun and we come back with amazing memories every time.

 

[bee]

We're sixteen days away from both our anniversary date and our departure date! We've gone a liiiiittle crazy with buying accessories for our Snow White and Ariel costumes because we are so excited!

For Ariel:

My fearless DW isn't concerned about staining her blonde hair with this temporary color. (Amazon)

Some squishy sports flats that should be almost as comfortable as sneakers on our long day/night. (Target)

These starfish front/back earrings. (Claire's)

For Snow White:

This mini hair bow, which looks pink/coral in the photo but is a true red in real life. (Claire's)

The same pair of comfort flats that Ariel will have but in red. (Target)

And what is a Snow White costume without an apple or two? I ordered the red ones, of course. (CrystalCompass on Etsy)

 

[catmom46]

We're sixteen days away from both our anniversary date and our departure date! We've gone a liiiiittle crazy with buying accessories for our Snow White and Ariel costumes because we are so excited!

For Ariel:

My fearless DW isn't concerned about staining her blonde hair with this temporary color. (Amazon)

Some squishy sports flats that should be almost as comfortable as sneakers on our long day/night. (Target)

These starfish front/back earrings. (Claire's)

For Snow White:

This mini hair bow, which looks pink/coral in the photo but is a true red in real life. (Claire's)

The same pair of comfort flats that Ariel will have but in red. (Target)

And what is a Snow White costume without an apple or two? I ordered the red ones, of course. (CrystalCompass on Etsy)

Very nice! Those shoes do look very comfy. How much were they?

 

[bee]

Very nice! Those shoes do look very comfy. How much were they?

Thanks! They were on sale for $12.48/pair, plus we got 5% off with our RedCard so they came out to $11.86/pair.

 

[catmom46]

Thanks! They were on sale for $12.48/pair, plus we got 5% off with our RedCard so they came out to $11.86/pair.

 

[Figgy1]

Thanks! They were on sale for $12.48/pair, plus we got 5% off with our RedCard so they came out to $11.86/pair.

So cute and discounted to boot

 

[ScarletBegonias]

omgggg those are so cute!! I just love target. I will have to look!

 

[bee]

We are in the single digits!! All the accessories we ordered have arrived, save my apple earrings, which were lost in the mail. The Etsy shop owner contacted me and said that I ordered the last pair of red apples so she has to issue me a refund. Oh well, things happen. I instead ordered these from Amazon:

They are made with Swarovski elements and are white gold-plated so I hope they won't turn my ears green.

M loves her red temporary dye. She did a couple of test strips and it is appropriately bright red but it washed out completely with no staining.

The shoes from Target arrived and are very comfy and way cuter than real sneakers. M has decided to wear some sandals that she also ordered, with the sneaker-flats for backup in case the sandals aren't supportive enough. She figures a newly human-ified mermaid would be excited to show off her feet!

(Sorry the photo is so small)

I also secretly booked something special to surprise my wife. You'll have to read the TR to find out what it is!

 

[catmom46]

We are in the single digits!! All the accessories we ordered have arrived, save my apple earrings, which were lost in the mail. The Etsy shop owner contacted me and said that I ordered the last pair of red apples so she has to issue me a refund. Oh well, things happen. I instead ordered these from Amazon:

They are made with Swarovski elements and are white gold-plated so I hope they won't turn my ears green.

M loves her red temporary dye. She did a couple of test strips and it is appropriately bright red but it washed out completely with no staining.

The shoes from Target arrived and are very comfy and way cuter than real sneakers. M has decided to wear some sandals that she also ordered, with the sneaker-flats for backup in case the sandals aren't supportive enough. She figures a newly human-ified mermaid would be excited to show off her feet!

(Sorry the photo is so small)

I also secretly booked something special to surprise my wife. You'll have to read the TR to find out what it is!

Those earrings are so cute! Did the ones that got lost look similar?

 

[bee]

Those earrings are so cute! Did the ones that got lost look similar?

Thanks! The ones that got lost were pretty different, actually. They are the red ones in the front row here:

 

[catmom46]

Thanks! The ones that got lost were pretty different, actually. They are the red ones in the front row here:

Oh, right. Duh! You already posted that pic. Obviously my coffee isn't working this morning.

 

[catmom46]

I actually like the crystal ones better. A little bling is always nice.

 

[bee]

Oh, right. Duh! You already posted that pic. Obviously my coffee isn't working this morning.

Haha, it happens to all of us!

I actually like the crystal ones better. A little bling is always nice.

I am excited for the bling! They were also on sale so I really can't complain!

 

[Figgy1]

I actually like the crystal ones better. A little bling is always nice.

Haha, it happens to all of us!


I am excited for the bling! They were also on sale so I really can't complain!

Bling and sale equals win win in my book

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I like the new ones better! So excited to read your TR! YAY SINGLE DIGITS!!!!

 

[bee]

I like the new ones better! So excited to read your TR! YAY SINGLE DIGITS!!!!

I was disappointed that my original pick didn't work out but now I like these better too!

We got a package today with an early anniversary present from M's parents:

These Christmas ornaments are enormous! That is a normal sized pen and they are huge next to it. I said (semi) jokingly to M that we should have a Disney Christmas tree this year. We have plenty of MagicBands to make a garland!

 

[catmom46]

I was disappointed that my original pick didn't work out but now I like these better too!

We got a package today with an early anniversary present from M's parents:

These Christmas ornaments are enormous! That is a normal sized pen and they are huge next to it. I said (semi) jokingly to M that we should have a Disney Christmas tree this year. We have plenty of MagicBands to make a garland!

Yep, between you and @lostpro9het, you could decorate a huge tree with a MB garland.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Those are adorable!!

 

[bee]

Since I teach voice lessons at a dance school and the majority of my students are 8-12 year old girls I hear a LOT of Disney music each day. Today alone I've had students singing "Part of Your World" and "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes." I've also had students work on "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and "For the First Time in Forever" and one of my older students is learning "Simple and Clean" from the Kingdom Hearts games. And a lot of them have shared with me that they're dressing up as Disney characters for Halloween next week! It just makes me that much more excited to go to WDW!!