Pre-Trip "On a scale from 1 to 10, how excited are you?"

Hello all!
This is my first attempt at anything like this, so bear with me.

Every other year growing up, my parents would pile us into the car and make the 16 hour drive down to Orlando, Florida. With no stops (aside from the occasional bathroom break). And with four children (complete angels of course) and all of our luggage. How they managed, I have no idea.

Fast forward twenty-ish years and here I am. This will be my second trip to WDW sans parents. The first occurred in a semi-mad rush a few years back when I did literally none of the planning. Therefore, this is my first trip where I'm required to plan. I get by with the help of my friends (and extensive research into all things Disney).

There's 189 days, 14 hours, and 42 minutes until the trip... but who's counting?

General Info
Dates: October 28th - November 5th
Hotel: Port Orleans Riverside​

 

[IAmMoana]

A couple quick updates.. All Halloween related.

1. We were able to secure a BOG reservation for Halloween at 5:55. This is a tad later than I would have liked since I don't want to waste time during the Halloween party. But beggars can't be choosers! Therefore, our ADRs go back to what we had originally planned. So yay! (HUGE shout-out to @WDWDarling & @deanna88 for their touring plans advice; it came through big).
2. We got our MNSSHP tickets in the mail yesterday. I'm slightly upset with how boring they are. They're generic Fastpass cards rather than a Halloween-specific image.
3. & Lastly I may have to rethink my no-maze view on Halloween Horror Nights in Universal. They just announced a maze based off The Shining which is my favorite "scary" movie. Tough decision!

 

[WDWDarling]

A couple quick updates.. All Halloween related.

1. We were able to secure a BOG reservation for Halloween at 5:55. This is a tad later than I would have liked since I don't want to waste time during the Halloween party. But beggars can't be choosers! Therefore, our ADRs go back to what we had originally planned. So yay! (HUGE shout-out to @WDWDarling & @deanna88 for their touring plans advice; it came through big).
2. We got our MNSSHP tickets in the mail yesterday. I'm slightly upset with how boring they are. They're generic Fastpass cards rather than a Halloween-specific image.
3. & Lastly I may have to rethink my no-maze view on Halloween Horror Nights in Universal. They just announced a maze based off The Shining which is my favorite "scary" movie. Tough decision!

Yay!!!! So glad you got one!

 

[IAmMoana]

Slowly, we are crawling our way to October 28th. My calendar has informed me that we are now less than 100 days out (95 to be exact). There have been several small changes since I last posted:
1. The menus for the Food & Wine Festival have come out. As we sat there drooling (almost literally) over the menu options, we decided to call an audible. With our old plan, there was very little time to sample any of the amazing offerings this year holds. So.. we cancelled Garden Grill. I was rather disappointed by this, but I knew it had to be done.
2. We have added a breakfast at Kona Cafe the morning of our Hollywood Studios day. This will work well for us since we can then skip lunch and not have to worry about finding decent quick service food in the barren wasteland that is the Studios (I know this is a slight exaggeration, but I stand by it).

Fun stuff. Only another month-ish before fast pass booking opens.

 

[*Flynnderella*]

I love love love your planning binder!!! Why didn't I do that for my trip If only i'd made enough notes in that format to help me do my TR
I know it's not Disney...but if you do the Halloween Maze at Universal I am really looking forward to reading about that!! It looks SO SCARY!!

 

[DryerLintFan]

My boyfriend is the same way.. We're going in June and it'll be his first time. He's excited about the general idea and about going on vacation but he doesn't truly understand how fantastic Disney is yet. These boys don't know what they're missing.

OMG, Spoiler Alert: you had absolutely no idea how fantastic Disney would be on that trip, either

 

[IAmMoana]

I love love love your planning binder!!! Why didn't I do that for my trip If only i'd made enough notes in that format to help me do my TR
I know it's not Disney...but if you do the Halloween Maze at Universal I am really looking forward to reading about that!! It looks SO SCARY!!

Thanks!
I'm super terrified to do the Universal mazes, but I might have to suck up my fear for a little while.

 

[kaitertot5249]

This is the best "countdown" I have ever seen! How does it work? Do you just add a certain amount of bubbles each day? I'm so impressed by it and I want to recreate it, but if I ever tried that I'm sure it would look more blob like and way less awesome.

 

[IAmMoana]

This is the best "countdown" I have ever seen! How does it work? Do you just add a certain amount of bubbles each day? I'm so impressed by it and I want to recreate it, but if I ever tried that I'm sure it would look more blob like and way less awesome.

Thanks! There's a grid pattern in the background. Each block is 1 day.

 

[kaitertot5249]

Thanks! There's a grid pattern in the background. Each block is 1 day.

You know, I might be able to do something like that for my next trip! Sounds simple enough. I went through a phase where my doodles of choice were amoebas (as I called them) filled in with very small circles. I could easily make one of my amoebas more castle shaped

 

[IAmMoana]

You know, I might be able to do something like that for my next trip! Sounds simple enough. I went through a phase where my doodles of choice were amoebas (as I called them) filled in with very small circles. I could easily make one of my amoebas more castle shaped

It wasn't hard. I have confidence in you!

 

[ChristyKay]

Wow your binder is so impressive, definitely going to look into doing something like that next year. You're getting so close I hope you have an amazing trip!!!

 

[IAmMoana]

Wow your binder is so impressive, definitely going to look into doing something like that next year. You're getting so close I hope you have an amazing trip!!!

Thank you!

 

[blreinsel]

OMG, Spoiler Alert: you had absolutely no idea how fantastic Disney would be on that trip, either

That is so funny!!! I was completely clueless. It's so weird to call him my "boyfriend" now!

 

[IAmMoana]

Getting closerrrr!!
We have booked our flights and picked our fast passes. Now all we've got left is our Halloween costumes!

Newest schedule:

Day One
Arrive @ MCO around 9AM
Animal Kingdom
Dinosaur: 12:40-1:40
Expedition Everest: 2-3
Dinner @ Rainforest Cafe: 5 PM
Na'vi River Journey: 6:25-7:25

Day Two
Magic Kingdom
Lunch @ Be Our Guest: 11:45
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 12:45-1:45
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin: 1:50-2:50
Space Mountain: 2:50-3:50
Hop to Epcot
Dinner @ Teppan Edo: 7 PM
Snack at F&W Kiosks
Illuminations

Day Three
Universal (Islands of Adventure)
Hogwarts Express to Universal Studios
Halloween Horror Nights

Day Four (HALLOWEEN)
Magic Kingdom
Big Thunder Mountain: 11:15-12:15
Jungle Cruise: 12:55-1:55
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 4:25-5:25
Dinner @ Be Our Guest: 5:55
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Day Five
Hollywood Studios
Breakfast @ Kona Cafe: 8:10
Tower of Terror: 10:35-11:35
Toy Story Mania!: 3:15-4:15
Star Tours: 4:20-5:20
Dinner @ Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater: 5:20
Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party

Day Six
Epcot
Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival: 10-11
Spaceship Earth: 11:15-12:15
Eat ALLLLLL the F&W Food
Frozen Ever After: 1:55-2:55
Eat even more food
Hop to Hollywood Studios
Fantasmic

Day Seven
Universal Day (Universal Studios)
Train to Islands of Adventure
Leave Early
Late dinner @ 'Ohana: 6:55
Hop to Magic Kingdom
Happily Ever After

Day Eight
Animal Kingdom
Kali River Rapids: 2:40-3:40
Expedition Everest: 3:45-4:45
Dinner @ Tusker House: 5:15 (have not released a RoL dining package yet)
Avatar Flight of Passage: 6:20-7:20
Rivers of Light

Day Nine
Breakfast @ Whispering Canyon: 9:30
Disney Springs

And now we wait..