Pre-Trip A first, a second, and a third

Hello friends! Thanks for joining me for another PTR adventure! If you don't know me, I'm Bee, an ex-Floridian now living just outside NYC with my amazing wife, M. Since 2013-2014, we have been Annual Passholders every other year and this happens to be an on-year! M's parents and brother still live in Florida so we visit them (and the Mouse) pretty frequently for holidays and such, and sometimes they join us at Disney. Here are the plans for our next trip, which is approaching fast.

DATES
February 21-26, 2018

TRAVEL
Southwest (of course) and DME

LODGING
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort-with a fantastic Disney Visa discount!

CAST
Bee (me), 29, opera singer/music teacher, the primary planner
M (DW), 28, writer/academic administrator
MIL, M's mom, perhaps more obsessed with Disney than I am
FIL, M's dad, likes Disney but not quite obsessed

Possible player: M's cousin (calling her C because her name also begins with M). Lives in the Midwest near M's grandpa and other extended family, but happens to be vacationing in Florida at the same time we'll be there

M and I will be running the Princess 5K on Friday morning and M's parents are planning to come cheer us on at the finish line. Which brings me to the meaning of the title...

First: M's first 5K
Second: My second 5K
Third: Our third stay at Coronado Springs together

I'll post more day-by-day details as I have time. I'm currently teaching seven days a week through mid-February so I will NEED this vacation!

 

[bee]

Day 1: Wednesday, February 21

5:00 Lyft to EWR
7:20 Flight to MCO
10:10 Land MCO
DME to CSR
Check in, hope room is ready
No lunch plans. Maybe Pepper Market!
Bus to Epcot (obviously )
Afternoon FPs: Test Track, Vegetable Boat Ride, Spaceship Earth
8:00 Dinner at La Hacienda
9:00 IllumiNations
Bus to CSR

Day 2: Thursday, February 22

8:00-9:00 Epcot EMH (maybe!)
Morning/afternoon FPs: Nemo, Soarin', VBR
No lunch plans. QS at Epcot? Resort hopping time?
At some point, go to the Expo at WWS
Early dinner (no specific plans) and early bedtime!

To be continued...

 

[Songbird76]

What is VBR?

 

[bee]

What is VBR?

It's an abbreviation for a fake name of Living with the Land (Vegetable Boat Ride)!

 

[macefamily]

An ex-Floridian who moved to the northeast ? My wife and I are planning the opposite move in the coming years. Is it worth getting the Annual Passholder when living in the NE ? My daughter just finished the Disney College Program and she and her boyfriend bought annual passes for Disney and Universal before they came back home to PA. They said if they head down this summer or during next year's Christmas break they will use them. I just don't know if it's worth it.
Enjoy your trip. Since my daughter was in the College Program we were able to visit in September, October, and December. We were spoiled ! Free Disney admission, free parking, and 40% off some of the food. It was a great four months !

 

[Songbird76]

It's an abbreviation for a fake name of Living with the Land (Vegetable Boat Ride)!

HA! That makes so much more sense! I googled Epcot Rides and couldn't find ANYTHING with those initials.

 

[bee]

An ex-Floridian who moved to the northeast ? My wife and I are planning the opposite move in the coming years. Is it worth getting the Annual Passholder when living in the NE ? My daughter just finished the Disney College Program and she and her boyfriend bought annual passes for Disney and Universal before they came back home to PA. They said if they head down this summer or during next year's Christmas break they will use them. I just don't know if it's worth it.
Enjoy your trip. Since my daughter was in the College Program we were able to visit in September, October, and December. We were spoiled ! Free Disney admission, free parking, and 40% off some of the food. It was a great four months !

Lots of people seem to love Florida and want to live there. We were some of the rare creatures who didn't! Plus being an opera singer there is a LOT more work for me in New York and the surrounding area than there was in Florida.

We have enjoyed having APs every other year and found it to be worth it. My in-laws still live in Florida so we visit them fairly often and usually make a Disney trip out of it. It depends how many days you anticipate visiting the parks per year. I think the break-even point is 11 days, so if you know you'll visit more than that it might be worth it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Yay another Bee trip!

 

[Swissmiss]

Can't wait to hear about your next trip and the Princess 5km.

 

[eb3257]

If you don't mind me asking, were you sent an email about the Disney Visa room discount? I never get any of those

 

[bee]

Yay another Bee trip!

Yay! Welcome!

Can't wait to hear about your next trip and the Princess 5km.

Yay! We are so excited to try a Disney race!

If you don't mind me asking, were you sent an email about the Disney Visa room discount? I never get any of those

Yes, I got an email in October about this particular offer and I get emails about various discounts pretty frequently. I’m sure there is a way to subscribe to the emails in your Chase account.

 

[PacNWTigger]

Woohoo! Another Bee TR!

 

[eb3257]

eb3257 said:
If you don't mind me asking, were you sent an email about the Disney Visa room discount? I never get any of those

Yes, I got an email in October about this particular offer and I get emails about various discounts pretty frequently. I’m sure there is a way to subscribe to the emails in your Chase account.

I do not receive these so I will look into this now. Thank you for your help!!

 

[bee]

Day 3: Friday, February 23 (THE BIG DAY!!)

Early morning: Get up, get ready, have something quick to eat, and get ourselves to Epcot for the Princess 5K!
Leaving the late morning/afternoon open to see how we feel and what we feel like doing after the race. Probably some family time
7:50 Dinner at Jiko to celebrate

Day 4: Saturday, February 24

Morning in Epcot, probably
To MK at some point
FPs: Pirates, HM, BTMR
To Contemporary
8:00 Celebration at the Top - Savor, Sip, and Sparkle

 

[LisaBelle]

So excited to see you have another upcoming trip! You and M will LOVE the Princess 5k! My sister and I ran it in 2016. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done! I can’t wait to read all about your experience!

 

[bee]

Day 5: Sunday, February 25

This day is kind of up in the air. I have some FPs for Hollywood Studios but I'm not sure if we'll actually want to go there. We might just spend all day at Epcot.

Originally we were going to have dinner at California Grill but then I booked the Celebration at the Top party for Saturday. Something has been holding me back from cancelling the regular CG reservation, though. If we keep CATT ( ) and cancel CG we may go back to Flying Fish, or have dinner in Epcot and watch IllumiNations on our last night. Part of the problem is, M and I have been so busy lately we haven't had a second to sit down and look at our plans together!

Day 6: Monday, February 26

Early Tragical Express
8:55 Flight to EWR
11:35 Land EWR
Lyft home
Unpack and prepare to go back to real life

I should note that originally the plan was to fly in on Thursday and leave Sunday. But winter weather makes me nervous so we added an extra day on the beginning to *HOPEFULLY* avoid issues, so when I booked the hotel initially I made the reservation for Wednesday-Sunday.

THEN Southwest released their flights for our travel dates, and it was WAAAAAAAY cheaper to fly back Monday than Sunday, even taking into account the extra night of hotel and extra food. So, vacation creep strikes again!

We will DEFINITELY be purchasing travel insurance for this trip!

 

[bee]

So excited to see you have another upcoming trip! You and M will LOVE the Princess 5k! My sister and I ran it in 2016. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done! I can’t wait to read all about your experience!

I remember your wonderful TR about the Princess 5K! We are so excited!

 

[LadyBelle]

DATES
February 21

Hey! Have a BDay drink for me!!

 

[bee]

About training...

I ran my first 5K in May of last year. M didn't run with me because one of our best friends was visiting for the last time before moving overseas for three years, so we didn't want to both abandon her.

I started training for said 5K casually in October 2016, using a combination of apps including C25K and MapMyRun. I got more serious about training in January and by the time early May came around I was feeling confident. Then the race day came and it was raining. I had mostly trained in dry weather and I was afraid I would fall, and I psyched myself out and ran much slower than I wanted to (and knew I was able to!).

This time around M and I are training together and keeping each other motivated! Whenever one of us wants to make an excuse not to go out the other is there to make us go! We are running in sunshine, rain, and varying temperatures. We are running uphill, downhill, on roads, on sidewalks, on grass, on whatever is around that we can safely run on. This time we will be ready! We know we're not the fastest and we won't win anything, but we at least want to do our very best!

 

[bee]

About potential family members joining us for part of the trip...

M's parents may be coming for part of our trip and they may come to the Epcot parking lot early in the morning on Friday to cheer us on. They obviously can't just take off work for the entire trip but since they live 2.5 hours away and have APs we're hoping they'll join us for a bit.

M's cousin "C" has a good friend from college in Florida whom she visits fairly often, and it just so happens that she'll be in Florida during part of our trip. We don't know for sure if she'll join us but if it works out and we can have a meal or something together, great!