Hello! I'm Erin. I am a long-time reader, first-time poster. I am very excited for my upcoming trip to Walt Disney World (August 1-5, 2015), which my husband and I planned to celebrate the end of my law school journey! I have been using this trip to help distract me from the stress of finishing law school and studying for the bar. 
In the process, I have discovered the many facets of the online Disney-fan community, particularly trip reporting, and I am hooked! I have loved reading all of your trip reports, and I hope I can make a contribution to the great community you have here!
First, the WHO:
On this trip will be me and my husband (Karl). We love to travel. Here we are in Stockholm last year:
We live in Cincinnati. Karl works for a major consumer products company. Assuming I pass the bar in five weeks (please, please, pretty please
) I will start my new role as an associate attorney practicing school law at a small firm downtown.
Now, the WHY:
We each went to WDW a few times with families and friends when we were younger. In June of 2013, when we were planning our wedding, juggling full time jobs, and working on our graduate degrees at night, we were feeling stressed and planned a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to Disney World. We were only there for two days, but we had a wonderful time and our stress just melted away. When Karl asked how I wanted to celebrate the end of law school, the choice was clear: WDW, here we come! While I am definitely the Disney addict in this relationship, Karl is a great sport and is my favorite travel partner, wherever we go.
It also just so happens that we will be celebrating our second anniversary while we are there, on August 2nd.
Next, the WHERE:
We are staying at the Contemporary Resort in a Magic Kingdom view room. When I first visited WDW in 1992 with my parents and brothers, we stayed at Caribbean Beach. I loved the monorail, and I fantasized about staying at the Contemporary since the monorail goes through the resort. Karl also loves the Contemporary, with its sleek, modern architecture. When we visited in 2013, we were trying to save $$, so we stayed off property (bad idea, I will not do that again!) However, we began dreaming of a fantastic trip we would have some day where we would stay at the Contemporary in a Magic Kingdom view room.
When we originally booked this trip, we decided to book a room at Pop Century. We decided that if I secured an attorney position before the trip, we would upgrade to the Contemporary. The job market for attorneys being what it is, this seemed like a long shot, but I was just happy we were going at all. Luckily, in April, I was offered a job! I called Karl to tell him and the first thing out of his mouth was--"So now we can stay at the Contemporary?!" We booked it that day!
I can hardly believe I will have this view from my hotel balcony:
Finally, the WHAT:
We have a 5-day Park Hopper. We scheduled one ADR per day (we don't like to do more than that--just ends up being more food than we can eat. In general, we like to retain some flexibility in our schedule, although Disney is doing its best to make that difficult
). We have actually really enjoyed booking our FP+. Last time we were there, the legacy Fastpass system was still in place, so we are looking forward to checking out how the Magic Bands/FP+ work!
August 1st: arrive in Orlando at 11am. Magical Express to our hotel, eat lunch, relax by the pool. FP+ for Splash Mountain (my favorite!), Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion in the early evening. Late ADR at California Grill (a first for us!) for Wishes! Magic Kingdom has EMH until 2AM, so we may head back after dinner if we are feeling up to it.
August 2nd: (our 2nd anniversary!) Epcot. FP+ for Soarin', Mission: Space, and Spaceship Earth. Also looking forward to riding Test Track for the first time, and riding Sum of All Thrills (a big favorite of ours from last time!). Anniversary ADR at San Angel Inn, followed by Illuminations.
August 3rd: Animal Kingdom (another first!) FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur. No ADRs at the park. ADR at Tokyo Dining that night (my husband LOVES Japanese culture and architecture, and we wanted something a little different from Teppan Edo, which we had both already been to).
August 4th: Hollywood Studios (haven't been in 20 years!) FP+ for Star Tours, Toy Story, and Tower of Terror. Also really looking forward to re-riding The Great Movie Ride and experiencing Animation Academy for the first time. Lunch ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In. I've heard mixed reviews of the food, but this was a place I desperately wanted to eat when I was a kid and flipped through my parents' WDW travel guides, and my husband loves sci-fi "B" movies.
August 5th: Magic Kingdom--my favorite park! FP+ for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and Peter Pan's Flight. Lunch ADR at Be Our Guest!
When we were here in 2013, we had to leave the park early to catch our off-site hotel's shuttle (boo 
), so we missed my favorite parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade. Looking forward to catching that this time.
I'm open to comments and suggestions! I would particularly welcome feedback on places to eat at Animal Kingdom (counter service), and thoughts on Expedition Everest--I am a roller coaster chicken, although I do ride a few smaller ones. But I love everything related to Everest, and I can't miss this coaster--anyone have any good stories of conquering their fears on this ride?
So looking forward to my trip, and to sharing it with you when I get back. Thanks for reading!
In the process, I have discovered the many facets of the online Disney-fan community, particularly trip reporting, and I am hooked! I have loved reading all of your trip reports, and I hope I can make a contribution to the great community you have here!First, the WHO:
On this trip will be me and my husband (Karl). We love to travel. Here we are in Stockholm last year:
We live in Cincinnati. Karl works for a major consumer products company. Assuming I pass the bar in five weeks (please, please, pretty please
) I will start my new role as an associate attorney practicing school law at a small firm downtown.Now, the WHY:
We each went to WDW a few times with families and friends when we were younger. In June of 2013, when we were planning our wedding, juggling full time jobs, and working on our graduate degrees at night, we were feeling stressed and planned a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to Disney World. We were only there for two days, but we had a wonderful time and our stress just melted away. When Karl asked how I wanted to celebrate the end of law school, the choice was clear: WDW, here we come! While I am definitely the Disney addict in this relationship, Karl is a great sport and is my favorite travel partner, wherever we go.
It also just so happens that we will be celebrating our second anniversary while we are there, on August 2nd.Next, the WHERE:
We are staying at the Contemporary Resort in a Magic Kingdom view room. When I first visited WDW in 1992 with my parents and brothers, we stayed at Caribbean Beach. I loved the monorail, and I fantasized about staying at the Contemporary since the monorail goes through the resort. Karl also loves the Contemporary, with its sleek, modern architecture. When we visited in 2013, we were trying to save $$, so we stayed off property (bad idea, I will not do that again!) However, we began dreaming of a fantastic trip we would have some day where we would stay at the Contemporary in a Magic Kingdom view room.
When we originally booked this trip, we decided to book a room at Pop Century. We decided that if I secured an attorney position before the trip, we would upgrade to the Contemporary. The job market for attorneys being what it is, this seemed like a long shot, but I was just happy we were going at all. Luckily, in April, I was offered a job! I called Karl to tell him and the first thing out of his mouth was--"So now we can stay at the Contemporary?!" We booked it that day!
I can hardly believe I will have this view from my hotel balcony:
Finally, the WHAT:
We have a 5-day Park Hopper. We scheduled one ADR per day (we don't like to do more than that--just ends up being more food than we can eat. In general, we like to retain some flexibility in our schedule, although Disney is doing its best to make that difficult
). We have actually really enjoyed booking our FP+. Last time we were there, the legacy Fastpass system was still in place, so we are looking forward to checking out how the Magic Bands/FP+ work!August 1st: arrive in Orlando at 11am. Magical Express to our hotel, eat lunch, relax by the pool. FP+ for Splash Mountain (my favorite!), Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion in the early evening. Late ADR at California Grill (a first for us!) for Wishes! Magic Kingdom has EMH until 2AM, so we may head back after dinner if we are feeling up to it.
August 2nd: (our 2nd anniversary!) Epcot. FP+ for Soarin', Mission: Space, and Spaceship Earth. Also looking forward to riding Test Track for the first time, and riding Sum of All Thrills (a big favorite of ours from last time!). Anniversary ADR at San Angel Inn, followed by Illuminations.
August 3rd: Animal Kingdom (another first!) FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur. No ADRs at the park. ADR at Tokyo Dining that night (my husband LOVES Japanese culture and architecture, and we wanted something a little different from Teppan Edo, which we had both already been to).
August 4th: Hollywood Studios (haven't been in 20 years!) FP+ for Star Tours, Toy Story, and Tower of Terror. Also really looking forward to re-riding The Great Movie Ride and experiencing Animation Academy for the first time. Lunch ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In. I've heard mixed reviews of the food, but this was a place I desperately wanted to eat when I was a kid and flipped through my parents' WDW travel guides, and my husband loves sci-fi "B" movies.
August 5th: Magic Kingdom--my favorite park! FP+ for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and Peter Pan's Flight. Lunch ADR at Be Our Guest!
When we were here in 2013, we had to leave the park early to catch our off-site hotel's shuttle (boo ), so we missed my favorite parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade. Looking forward to catching that this time.I'm open to comments and suggestions! I would particularly welcome feedback on places to eat at Animal Kingdom (counter service), and thoughts on Expedition Everest--I am a roller coaster chicken, although I do ride a few smaller ones. But I love everything related to Everest, and I can't miss this coaster--anyone have any good stories of conquering their fears on this ride?
So looking forward to my trip, and to sharing it with you when I get back. Thanks for reading!
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