Trip Report Our psychic says it'll be great PART THREE ADDED

October WDW Trip

My best friend and I are settling into adulthood. She just turned thirty, works/travels for event planning purposes, and was recently told by a psychic she'd meet her man next year (take that with a grain of salt, if you must). I got married during Indiana's quick dalliance with gay marriage at the end of June to my boyfriend of almost four years, and we want to throw a proper reception, buy a house, and begin growing our family. Angela and I used to work for a large hotel company which afforded us lots of travel benefits and fun quick excursions, but we haven't had a chance to get away together in a few years. So, this October we are waving goodbye to our 20s the best way we know how: Walt Disney World!

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This is us at her thirtieth, psychic-themed birthday, where she got the aforementioned boo-thang prognostication and I was told I'd go on an amazing trip this fall.

When I'm not dreaming of all things WDW, I stay busy as a high school English teacher so we are taking the trip during my fall break; our dates are 10/15-10/20. It's not a super long trip, but we are both veterans: Angela grew up with two siblings in the Disney college program which meant numerous visits, and this trip makes round six for me with my last visit being in July 2013. The last trip was my husband's first ever visit, and he wasn't a huge fan; I even chilled on going rope drop to close every day so we could sleep in more often for him. Angela and I share the same WDW feelings so it'll be nice to go with someone a bit more touring-simpatico.

My previous stays have been either off-property, the Dolphin, or Beach Club, but we are trying to stay a bit more budge with All-Star Music. I don't leave home without the Dining Plan in place because it makes paying for food one less thing to worry about in the bubble. We are loading our luggage up with some top-grade hooch and having Garden Grocer deliver a case of beer. No rental car or leaving the World at all during our visit.

There are quite a few things I'm looking forward to on this trip:
-Angela's first visit to WDW in about ten years. She actually wants to ride Stitch's Great Escape.
-First time doing EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival
-First time attending MNSSHP (all these damn acronyms)
-First time not going during the summer. Pumped for slightly-lighter crowds and slightly-reduced heat.

I will update later this week with our schedule and ADRs. Until then, please feel free to share any suggestions or comments. This is my first time with the whole trip report thing so feedback is welcome.

Thanks!
Justin
 

cfry06

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a blast! Food/Wine and the Fall is probably my fave time to visit. Weather is great, love the fall decor at MK and (at least in my experience) crowds tend to be a bit lighter. And love eating & drinking through the countries in Epcot! Hope you have a great time. I look forward to reading all about it!
 

JustBre

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for those who are with us so far!

I thought I would take some time to share a detailed schedule of our comings and goings around the World. Please feel free to share any feedback or suggestions. I've underlined a few spots where I would love some input!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014: Angela and I depart Indianapolis International Airport at 6:45am (blerg!) then a layover in Detroit before arriving at MCO around 12:45pm. There we will take the Magical Express to the All-Stars Music resort. I'm not thrilled that the food court will be closed for refurb but I also haven't planned for any meals there at the hotel. This is my first time stay at ASM, and I plan on requesting a room closest to the lobby building in order to be close to the Disney bus transfer. I have heard that since this is the second stop on the bus-line that sometimes busses are full with people from (is that the correct acronym?); is it a better option to walk to and hop a bus there to prevent that? We are big walkers so we don't mind hauling (see what I did there?).
After arrival we will be making our way to EPCOT for the afternoon and evening. I have a plan for us to knock out pretty much all of Future World on this day with the possibility of a couple repeats (SE and LwtL are major faves). I also want to preview and take stock of the Food and Wine Fest offerings, but we plan on doing that up the next night. Our dinner is scheduled for La Hacienda de San Angel at 8:15pm with hopes of getting a window seat for IllumiNations. Has anyone been there before? Any recommendations or food/drink to avoid? After IllumiNations we just plan to hang around for EMH.

Thursday, October 16, 2014: Today will be devoted to DHS. We plan on hitting Tot and RR a few times for sure. And I plan on officially riding TSMM since I have never done it before even though it's been open for a few visits now. We will probably snag a CS lunch here: any suggestions?
That evening will be devoted to the Food and Wine Fest at Epcot. I am truly looking forward to this event and I am already feeling overwhelmed by all of the possible options I will be confronted with!

Friday, October 17, 2014: Angela and I have signed up for the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour for this morning. Thrilled to get in the park before rope drop, thrilled to go backstage at HM, and thrilled for a completely new experience. From there we want to do BOG for lunch (if too busy we will try again on Sunday) then hanging out until late afternoon. Friday night we do not have any plans: maybe Disney Springs (trying to condition myself to the upcoming nomenclature) or hit another park again.

Saturday, October 18, 2014: Boma at AKL for breakfast is a new experience for us! We will then spend the day at AK. I thoroughly enjoy just exploring and taking in the details at AK. For dinner this night, we will head back to DHS at my favorite Disney restaurant: The Hollywood Brown Derby. After that we will do Fantasmic (something else I have never managed to do).

Sunday, October 19, 2014: Early morning of touring at Magic Kingdom before a break back to the hotel to get our costumes!! For our last night, we decided to do MNSSHP. I will keep our costumes a secret until the final report!! Another first for us is this party so we wanted it to be our last, hopefully best, experience of the weekend. The next morning we are on a plane back to Indianapolis! Bummed already...

We still need to work in one more TS meal in there somewhere and are open to suggestions!

Hope you enjoyed this installment. I will update in a month or so with any changes or updates.

Thanks!
Justin
 

JustBre

Member
Original Poster
Plans have changed slightly.

We dumped The Brown Derby restaurant on Saturday to do California Grill on Friday instead. Pretty excited to eat there for the first time. We have a 530 pm reservation; it's a bit early for my taste but beats a 940pm res that was also available. We are going to try to get to DHS in time for Fantasmic this night.
 

JustBre

Member
Original Poster
Latest update: We ended up booking Garden Grill for Saturday night. I am not expecting anything too amazing beyond good food and characters! We realized we had forgot a key ingredient to our trip with no character dining yet.

I just hoping it's rotating as well!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Latest update: We ended up booking Garden Grill for Saturday night. I am not expecting anything too amazing beyond good food and characters! We realized we had forgot a key ingredient to our trip with no character dining yet.

I just hoping it's rotating as well!
We really enjoyed our dinner at Garden Grill in June! (and yes, it was rotating then!) The food was really good and the character interaction was incredible for us! My favorite was when Chip took two serving trays and held them up like mouse ears and was taunting Mickey!! Have a great trip!
 

JustBre

Member
Original Poster
We really enjoyed our dinner at Garden Grill in June! (and yes, it was rotating then!) The food was really good and the character interaction was incredible for us! My favorite was when Chip took two serving trays and held them up like mouse ears and was taunting Mickey!! Have a great trip!

That sounds great. It seems like the character interactions for GG seem unanimously positive.

Garden Grill is really good! Especially if u like LWTL...

LWTL happens to, in fact, be favorite of mine. Just gotta get that lower circle of the restaurant.

Great plans, can't wait to read the trip report and all the reviews from the ADR's.

Thanks! I wish it was closer already!!
 

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
Great plans :) We have a two day overlap! We are in WDW from Oct 17! Have a great and magical time! And off course congrats on the marriage!
 

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