I have been dying to write a pre-trip report and I am finally close enough to my trip to be able to write it! 60 days to go! I just made the fastpass choices this morning and now the trip is feeling more real than ever! If I could just fast forward 60 days, that would be fantastic! The best I can do is talk about what all we are planning to help deal with the anxiousness so here I go...
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Just an explanation as to how so many people got involved in this trip: when we decided to plan this trip, it originally started as me and my BF wanting to go. I told my brother about our plans and suggested that maybe he would like to bring my niece as well and we could all enjoy her first trip together. He liked the sound of it so we started to plan! We then told my mother about our plans, and with her being the reason me and my brother are so fanatic about WDW, we had to suggest that she joined us as well. She didn't hesitate to join the hype train and start planning as well. Then she invited my step fathers parents and my step sister and they decided to join the WDW party too. Finally, me and my BF mentioned our trip to his mother and she mentioned how she had been wanting to go back for years. Now was as good of a time as any, so her and my BFs stepdad joined the party. At this point we have me, my BF, my Mom, Stepdad, Brother, SIL, 2 y/o Neice, Step grandparents, Step sister, BF's Mom, BF's Stepdad. WHAT A GROUP OF PEOPLE!
But wait there is more!!!
My Mom's cousin and husband are season pass holders and will be meeting up with us a few days as well!
Naturally, with any grand vacation including many many people, some will end up having to cancel. Unfortunately, my brother, SIL, and niece, had to change plans due to him being in the military. My Step sister also ended up canceling due to job issues.
Learning about my adorable niece not being there was a disappointment but on the bright side, we have decided to have a fun all adult trip!!! Due to having a huge group with different interests, we decided not to stay in one large group while we are there. It would be too stressful to try to coordinate everyone at once so we basically broke the party into 2 groups.
-My mom, Stepdad, Step grandparents, and Moms Cousin and husband will be touring together due to my grandparents not wanting to do much Magic Kingdom stuff and only being there for part of the time. They are also all staying at All Star Movies because they wanted to stay where my brother would be staying, then after he canceled, they chose not to move their resort reservation.
-Me, my BF, and his parents will be touring together as well as staying at POFQ which is my favorite resort. I will be telling you about what we plan to do in this trip report!
So my BF has never been to WDW. He has only been to DL and it was so long ago that he doesn't remember much about it. His mom went to WDW with my BF's niece a few years ago but stayed off property and toured with a toddler so this will be a very different experience for her and her husband. They have basically told me to plan what I feel is best since I have gone many times before. My BF's mom's only must do is a day at Universal. So here is the plan..
Oct 15- We leave early in the morning from the San Antonio Airport. We arrive in Orlando a little before noon. We will take the Magic Express to POFQ. We should be arriving before my BF's parents because they will be flying out of Pheonix a little later than us. We will check in, explore the resort, maybe swim or take a ride in the boat to Disney Spring's. Our afternoon will be relaxing and doing as we wish. Around 7 we will all head over to the Poly to explore a bit before our 8:40 pm reservations at Ohanas with the rest of my family. This is a big group!!! There will be 10 of us eating together. It will be a great way to kick off our vacation! If we finish dinner before Wishes starts, we will try to find a spot to watch it from the Poly. After Dinner and Wishes, we will head back to POFQ to call it a night.
Oct 16- This day we will wake up bright and early to head over to Magic Kingdom. This is a MNSSHP day which we wont be a part of so I plan on us trying to tackle Fantasyland, New Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland this morning and then head over to EPCOT for the afternoon and for Illuminations in the evening. We have fastpasses for Enchanted Tales w/ Belle, Space Mountain, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. We should finish up riding and fastpasses in the afternoon around 2 pm. If we need a nap, we may head to the resort for a quick power nap before going to EPCOT. We will spend the evening checking out Food and Wine booths and shopping in World showcase. We have a dining reservation at 6:15 at Restaurant Marrakesh. This will be a first to me and I am really looking forward to it! After dinner we will meet up with my family to meander and hang out until Illuminations begins. After Illuminations we go back to our resort to sleep.
Oct 17- This day will start out early at EPCOT opening. We will use the early morning to ride Test Track, Soarin, and possibly Frozen but I am not counting on Frozen. I did not get a fastpass for Frozen and I am also not interested in waiting 2 hours to ride it. Once we finish riding the rides we want to ride and hitting up any World Showcase Spots we didn't get to catch the night before, we will head back to MK. I am thinking it won't take us much past noon to finish up in EPCOT. It will not be a MNSSHP night so we will be able to catch Wishes in MK this evening. I also have evening fastpasses for Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, and Haunted Mansion. I think we will comfortably be able to finish seeing what we want to see in Frontierland and Adventureland. This night we will be having dinner at Be Our Guest as a big group. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS! This is easily my favorite restaurant in WDW and I am happy I get to experience it with so much of my family! Once Wishes is over, we may try do some shopping on main street and just be slackers. Let the bus rush go while we hang back. Our next day will be a sleep in day so we won't be in a rush to get to bed.
Oct 18- We will sleep in and wake up at our own pace. Its going to be awesome! I love sleeping in late. Once we get up we may take a quick swim. By noon, we should head to Disney Springs to have lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express, a MUST DO for me on every trip. We also want to check out Jock Lindseys Hangar Bar. My BF Loves Indiana Jones so getting drinks there is a must. Also, my BF's family loves going to the movies so I anticipate that they may want to see something at the theatre there. Our dinner this night will be at Raglan Road at 5:15 PM. I am leaving the evening open to possibly checking out the Boardwalk. The fun thing about this day is that we really get to wing it!
Oct 19- This day we planned on going to Universal however, I recently decided to take the jump from employee to self employed stylist so money is tight. My BF's parents may be going alone while me and BF hang back and relax in order to save some money. However, we will know as we get closer. Oh the uncertainty that is self employment.
Oct 20- We will wake up early to get to Hollywood Studios Opening. This park is basically a half day from the looks of it. So much is closed! I don't anticipate us being there very long. We have fastpasses for Tower of Terror, Toy Story, and Star Tours. I believe we should be done with the park in the afternoon and then head to the hotel to rest. Me and my BF will be having a romantic dinner alone at the California Grill this night at 7:30 PM while my mom and stepdad take my BF's parents to Artist Point. I have never eaten there and I am really looking forward to it! Once we finish eating, if we have time we will head back to Hollywood Studios to try to catch the Star Wars Night Time Show before heading to the resort to call it a night.
Oct 21- This is our AK day! One of my favorite parks! I love all animals so I have so much fun exploring this park. We will arrive at opening and immediately try to catch an early morning Safari before walking around and exploring all of the treks and Rafiki's Planet Watch. We will also try to watch the shows before our fastpass times in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon we have fastpasses for Dinosaur, Everest, and the night time Safari. I had tried to get a fastpass for the night time show but they weren't available. I don't know if that is because they were all claimed right away or if it is because they haven't released them yet due to the uncertainty of the show? This night, we have reservations at Tusker house for dinner at 4:45 PM. This is another new experience for me! After the night time show, we will head back to the resort. Our last night in WDW
Oct 22- This is our departure day. We will pack, check out, have them hold our luggage, and then spend some time relaxing around the resort before the magical express picks us up to take us back to the airport. We have a late afternoon flight because I always hate the last day! I hate leaving! I want to just live at POFQ. That would be great.
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Thank you for reading my Pre-Trip report! I can't wait to get back to you all about how it all goes! The next 2 months are going to keep me on the edge of my seat, waiting for my trip and also making the switch to self employment. So much excitement!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just an explanation as to how so many people got involved in this trip: when we decided to plan this trip, it originally started as me and my BF wanting to go. I told my brother about our plans and suggested that maybe he would like to bring my niece as well and we could all enjoy her first trip together. He liked the sound of it so we started to plan! We then told my mother about our plans, and with her being the reason me and my brother are so fanatic about WDW, we had to suggest that she joined us as well. She didn't hesitate to join the hype train and start planning as well. Then she invited my step fathers parents and my step sister and they decided to join the WDW party too. Finally, me and my BF mentioned our trip to his mother and she mentioned how she had been wanting to go back for years. Now was as good of a time as any, so her and my BFs stepdad joined the party. At this point we have me, my BF, my Mom, Stepdad, Brother, SIL, 2 y/o Neice, Step grandparents, Step sister, BF's Mom, BF's Stepdad. WHAT A GROUP OF PEOPLE!
But wait there is more!!!
My Mom's cousin and husband are season pass holders and will be meeting up with us a few days as well!
Naturally, with any grand vacation including many many people, some will end up having to cancel. Unfortunately, my brother, SIL, and niece, had to change plans due to him being in the military. My Step sister also ended up canceling due to job issues.
Learning about my adorable niece not being there was a disappointment but on the bright side, we have decided to have a fun all adult trip!!! Due to having a huge group with different interests, we decided not to stay in one large group while we are there. It would be too stressful to try to coordinate everyone at once so we basically broke the party into 2 groups.
-My mom, Stepdad, Step grandparents, and Moms Cousin and husband will be touring together due to my grandparents not wanting to do much Magic Kingdom stuff and only being there for part of the time. They are also all staying at All Star Movies because they wanted to stay where my brother would be staying, then after he canceled, they chose not to move their resort reservation.
-Me, my BF, and his parents will be touring together as well as staying at POFQ which is my favorite resort. I will be telling you about what we plan to do in this trip report!
So my BF has never been to WDW. He has only been to DL and it was so long ago that he doesn't remember much about it. His mom went to WDW with my BF's niece a few years ago but stayed off property and toured with a toddler so this will be a very different experience for her and her husband. They have basically told me to plan what I feel is best since I have gone many times before. My BF's mom's only must do is a day at Universal. So here is the plan..
Oct 15- We leave early in the morning from the San Antonio Airport. We arrive in Orlando a little before noon. We will take the Magic Express to POFQ. We should be arriving before my BF's parents because they will be flying out of Pheonix a little later than us. We will check in, explore the resort, maybe swim or take a ride in the boat to Disney Spring's. Our afternoon will be relaxing and doing as we wish. Around 7 we will all head over to the Poly to explore a bit before our 8:40 pm reservations at Ohanas with the rest of my family. This is a big group!!! There will be 10 of us eating together. It will be a great way to kick off our vacation! If we finish dinner before Wishes starts, we will try to find a spot to watch it from the Poly. After Dinner and Wishes, we will head back to POFQ to call it a night.
Oct 16- This day we will wake up bright and early to head over to Magic Kingdom. This is a MNSSHP day which we wont be a part of so I plan on us trying to tackle Fantasyland, New Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland this morning and then head over to EPCOT for the afternoon and for Illuminations in the evening. We have fastpasses for Enchanted Tales w/ Belle, Space Mountain, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. We should finish up riding and fastpasses in the afternoon around 2 pm. If we need a nap, we may head to the resort for a quick power nap before going to EPCOT. We will spend the evening checking out Food and Wine booths and shopping in World showcase. We have a dining reservation at 6:15 at Restaurant Marrakesh. This will be a first to me and I am really looking forward to it! After dinner we will meet up with my family to meander and hang out until Illuminations begins. After Illuminations we go back to our resort to sleep.
Oct 17- This day will start out early at EPCOT opening. We will use the early morning to ride Test Track, Soarin, and possibly Frozen but I am not counting on Frozen. I did not get a fastpass for Frozen and I am also not interested in waiting 2 hours to ride it. Once we finish riding the rides we want to ride and hitting up any World Showcase Spots we didn't get to catch the night before, we will head back to MK. I am thinking it won't take us much past noon to finish up in EPCOT. It will not be a MNSSHP night so we will be able to catch Wishes in MK this evening. I also have evening fastpasses for Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, and Haunted Mansion. I think we will comfortably be able to finish seeing what we want to see in Frontierland and Adventureland. This night we will be having dinner at Be Our Guest as a big group. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS! This is easily my favorite restaurant in WDW and I am happy I get to experience it with so much of my family! Once Wishes is over, we may try do some shopping on main street and just be slackers. Let the bus rush go while we hang back. Our next day will be a sleep in day so we won't be in a rush to get to bed.
Oct 18- We will sleep in and wake up at our own pace. Its going to be awesome! I love sleeping in late. Once we get up we may take a quick swim. By noon, we should head to Disney Springs to have lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express, a MUST DO for me on every trip. We also want to check out Jock Lindseys Hangar Bar. My BF Loves Indiana Jones so getting drinks there is a must. Also, my BF's family loves going to the movies so I anticipate that they may want to see something at the theatre there. Our dinner this night will be at Raglan Road at 5:15 PM. I am leaving the evening open to possibly checking out the Boardwalk. The fun thing about this day is that we really get to wing it!
Oct 19- This day we planned on going to Universal however, I recently decided to take the jump from employee to self employed stylist so money is tight. My BF's parents may be going alone while me and BF hang back and relax in order to save some money. However, we will know as we get closer. Oh the uncertainty that is self employment.
Oct 20- We will wake up early to get to Hollywood Studios Opening. This park is basically a half day from the looks of it. So much is closed! I don't anticipate us being there very long. We have fastpasses for Tower of Terror, Toy Story, and Star Tours. I believe we should be done with the park in the afternoon and then head to the hotel to rest. Me and my BF will be having a romantic dinner alone at the California Grill this night at 7:30 PM while my mom and stepdad take my BF's parents to Artist Point. I have never eaten there and I am really looking forward to it! Once we finish eating, if we have time we will head back to Hollywood Studios to try to catch the Star Wars Night Time Show before heading to the resort to call it a night.
Oct 21- This is our AK day! One of my favorite parks! I love all animals so I have so much fun exploring this park. We will arrive at opening and immediately try to catch an early morning Safari before walking around and exploring all of the treks and Rafiki's Planet Watch. We will also try to watch the shows before our fastpass times in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon we have fastpasses for Dinosaur, Everest, and the night time Safari. I had tried to get a fastpass for the night time show but they weren't available. I don't know if that is because they were all claimed right away or if it is because they haven't released them yet due to the uncertainty of the show? This night, we have reservations at Tusker house for dinner at 4:45 PM. This is another new experience for me! After the night time show, we will head back to the resort. Our last night in WDW
Oct 22- This is our departure day. We will pack, check out, have them hold our luggage, and then spend some time relaxing around the resort before the magical express picks us up to take us back to the airport. We have a late afternoon flight because I always hate the last day! I hate leaving! I want to just live at POFQ. That would be great.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for reading my Pre-Trip report! I can't wait to get back to you all about how it all goes! The next 2 months are going to keep me on the edge of my seat, waiting for my trip and also making the switch to self employment. So much excitement!
