Pre-Trip Back to WDW - April 2019 Pre-trip

Originally, the husband (R) and I were going to be spending our upcoming trip with a couple days at WDW followed by a 4 night cruise on the Disney Dream. However, the closer we got to our Pay in Full date, the more conflicted he was getting about going on the cruise. So much like last year, our cruise is now postponed until next year. Again :rolleyes: But that means we're going back to Walt Disney World!!!!! I thought something like this might happen so when the room discounts went on sale, I jumped at the chance of reserving a standard room at Coronado Springs for the week of the cruise when it was $160 a night. Woohoo!!! I'm glad I did because next to nothing was available by the time R decided to reschedule our cruise. So here are the current plans:

Day 1 - Saturday: Fly into MCO and check into Caribbean Beach Resort. This will be our first time staying here. The rest of the day will be at Disney Springs - dinner at The Boathouse followed by going to the movies to see Avengers: Endgame. I wanted to watch this movie multiple times while on the cruise but I guess watching it at DS isn't too bad. We don't have a Dolby theater close to us and I'm curious about it.
Day 2 - Sunday: Relax at the resort, maybe go to Typhoon Lagoon depending on weather. I'm waiting to buy water park tickets once we get down there. Then in the evening we're having dinner at our must do restaurant - 'Ohana.
Day 3 - Monday: Checking out of CBR and spending the day at Animal Kingdom, my favorite park. They have morning EMH that day so we'll be at the park early, then break midday to check into Coronado Springs, and then go back in the evening. Last year we didn't get to do AK at night so that's on our list this year. And I'm hoping they don't change the menu at Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafe because I've been craving their breakfast burrito. Another place I want to try again is Satuli Canteen. R wants to try to BBQ place.
Day 4 - Tuesday: Today will be Epcot and their Flower and Garden Festival. R wants to ride Soarin since he hasn't done it since the update. We're planning on sleeping in and getting there early afternoon and just focus on the Festival and World Showcase. Do Spike's Pollinator hunt - I did that with the SIL last trip and it was a lot of fun. They are having night EMH and the park is open late so we'll do Future World then. I didn't get to spend time at Epcot EMH last trip so that's another must do. I just love the parks after dark - the energy is just different :inlove:
Day 5 - Wednesday: Magic Kingdom Day - my second favorite park. Since they have night EMH we'll be getting to the park in the afternoon and spending the rest of the day there. We have an early lunch booked at Grand Floridian Cafe and we'll go to MK afterwards. I've wanted to try that restaurant a few times before but could never fit it into our schedule. But since we've been enough times now, I don't feel like we're going to miss out on anything by not being there at rope drop. Instead, I'm looking forward to sleeping in :) I was in the process of reserving lunch at Be Our Guest when their system went wackadoo on me. By the time their system was fixed, I had lost the reservation. I figured it was a sign LOL.
Day 6 - Thursday: Free Day. We're still thinking of what we want to do - water park, mini golf, Disney Springs, or a day at Universal. I'm thinking Universal is out because a 1 day 2 park ticket is more than we want to spend this trip. We've never done mini golf at WDW so we might do Winter Summerland since it's across the street from CSR.
Day 7 - Friday: Check into Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani. I'm renting DVC points from my sister in law and I'm excited to finally get to spend a night here. If anyone read my trip report from 2016, then you might remember that we had a room at AKL for one night but it had to be cancelled because of Hurricane Matthew. So now it's my chance to have a redo :) Since we only have one night here, we're going to spend all day at the resort - lunch at Sanaa, enjoy their pool, and other activities around the resort.
Day 8 - Saturday: Our flight leaves at 8:30am so Magical (or Tragical) Express will be picking us up a little after 5am. I'm hoping the airline resort check-in will be available because I'm not a morning person and I really don't want to deal with luggage LOL. I might just stay up all night and crash on the plane. I don't travel well, and don't like airplanes, so the more tired I am, the more likely the anxiety meds will work.

I'm hoping this trip comes together. I had a lot of fun last trip but I was so focused on everyone else, that I completely forgot about me and doing what I enjoy. It's been stressful so far with the cruise being rescheduled. My friend who was supposed to house sit and watch our pets had to cancel on me - again. The pet sitter I used last year moved out of the area. So I had to scramble and find a pet sitter that was willing to come out to the country and watch our pets. She came by last month to meet us and the animals and she seems nice, mature, and dependable. But still a complete stranger so I'm going to worry about that again during our trip. My dog is getting older and has some health issues so I'm a little overprotective of him. Also, I was looking forward to the rest and relaxation of the cruise so now I'm trying to bring that into our WDW trip. This trip will be a lot more laid back than previous trips. And we're going to be staying at 3 different resorts this trip!!!! I have no idea how that will play out yet LOL. And I don't currently have Memory Maker and I'm debating whether we'll need it this trip. Right now, I'm leaning towards no.
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
Will definitely be sure to check it on day 61. Last trip we had just gotten home when the FP time opened and I totally forgot until like 8:00 am day 60 and missed Slinky Dog Dash!
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
Booked my FP today at 62 days away! Got 2 different days for FoP and 2 Slinky Dogs as well! Thanks so much for posting about this. I screen shot, and printed them out. The past 3 trips some went missing- not going to have deal with that drama again.
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks! I'm at the stage of my trip planning where I'm questioning everything. Stay at CBR or switch to another resort? I've added The Boathouse back into the plans just in case, decided to not do Grand Floridian Cafe but going to try Yak and Yeti instead. Still sticking with Skippers Canteen and definitely still doing Ohana. I remembered that I want to try The Void at Disney Springs. I want to do mini golf this trip. Trying to figure out how to squeeze in Typhoon Lagoon, weather permitting. We never seem to have enough time in Disney to do everything that we want. Which is why we're only doing 3 parks days this trip but now we're even questioning how we're going to squeeze so much food at the Flower and Garden Festival into only 1 park day :joyfull: This is why we need to do multiple short trips a year LOL. I'm not going back until 2021 so I want to pack in as much as possible. Even though this trip was supposed to be "laid back and relaxing."
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have a BIG change in my upcoming trip. I've moved our MK day from Wednesday (with my favorite nighttime EMH until 11pm) to Thursday with park closing at 9pm. Why? Because I added After Hours at HS!!!! This actually surprises me because it's my least favorite park and there's not many rides we can do. One of the reasons I dislike the park so much is because I feel like a dying, claustrophobic salmon whenever I'm in that park. I'm always so tense and full of anxiety when I'm in HS. Because of that, I can't even take in the atmosphere. Years ago, we were lucky to time our HS park time during rain so the park cleared out. We had a good 2 hours there before the crowds came back. I want to experience that again and maybe, just maybe, I can find something to love about HS. Plus, I'm looking forward to riding Toy Story Mania multiple times :) I might actually win a game LOL. It might end up a total waste of money since we can only ride TSM, Swirling Saucers, and maybe Star Tours once without motion sickness. I thought about downgrading from 3 day tickets to 2 and add After Hours at MK on Thursday for only $60 more. And we might still do that. But we have to take into account daytime experiences in MK we'll be missing, energy and atmosphere, expected crowd levels, predicted temperatures, how many rides at MK will we actually ride multiple times, and the most important - can we even stay up until 1am now LOL. So because of the added expense, we will not be doing Typhoon Lagoon (even though I really want to go, my neck has been bothering me so I'm not sure if water slides would be a good idea). Cancelled a few of the table service ADRs (which might work best anyway with my new restrictive diet), and might not have a chance to do The Void. I'll have to control my urge to buy all the Flower and Garden merchandise. I still want to try to find time to go by the horse barn area at Fort Wilderness and Winter Summerland. And resort time. The thing I like about After Hours at MK is having the nighttime hours with less crowds and open up the day to just relax at the resort or Disney Springs. What to do, what to do. Thank you Disney for giving me even more choices to make my brain explode 🤦
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
I have a BIG change in my upcoming trip. I've moved our MK day from Wednesday (with my favorite nighttime EMH until 11pm) to Thursday with park closing at 9pm. Why? Because I added After Hours at HS!!!! This actually surprises me because it's my least favorite park and there's not many rides we can do. One of the reasons I dislike the park so much is because I feel like a dying, claustrophobic salmon whenever I'm in that park. I'm always so tense and full of anxiety when I'm in HS. Because of that, I can't even take in the atmosphere. Years ago, we were lucky to time our HS park time during rain so the park cleared out. We had a good 2 hours there before the crowds came back. I want to experience that again and maybe, just maybe, I can find something to love about HS. Plus, I'm looking forward to riding Toy Story Mania multiple times :) I might actually win a game LOL. It might end up a total waste of money since we can only ride TSM, Swirling Saucers, and maybe Star Tours once without motion sickness. I thought about downgrading from 3 day tickets to 2 and add After Hours at MK on Thursday for only $60 more. And we might still do that. But we have to take into account daytime experiences in MK we'll be missing, energy and atmosphere, expected crowd levels, predicted temperatures, how many rides at MK will we actually ride multiple times, and the most important - can we even stay up until 1am now LOL. So because of the added expense, we will not be doing Typhoon Lagoon (even though I really want to go, my neck has been bothering me so I'm not sure if water slides would be a good idea). Cancelled a few of the table service ADRs (which might work best anyway with my new restrictive diet), and might not have a chance to do The Void. I'll have to control my urge to buy all the Flower and Garden merchandise. I still want to try to find time to go by the horse barn area at Fort Wilderness and Winter Summerland. And resort time. The thing I like about After Hours at MK is having the nighttime hours with less crowds and open up the day to just relax at the resort or Disney Springs. What to do, what to do. Thank you Disney for giving me even more choices to make my brain explode 🤦
We are debating After Hours at HS or Early Morning Magic at HS for our trip in August, provided they offer EMM then. We're going to use it as our date night ( my mom will watch E) since there's only 1 ride E can go on with us
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We are debating After Hours at HS or Early Morning Magic at HS for our trip in August, provided they offer EMM then. We're going to use it as our date night ( my mom will watch E) since there's only 1 ride E can go on with us

It's difficult to do these things with my husband because I'm a night owl who doesn't get sleepy until 3am but can't wake up easily until 10am. He's the opposite that likes to be asleep by 9pm and up by 7am LOL. I struggle during morning EMH, although I will do it every time for Pandora! Plus, I just love the parks at night. But I'm really having a hard time choosing what to do at MK because it's my tied favorite park - during the day there's the Dapper Dans, Main Street shows, parades which I all love. Will I miss that experience by doing After Hours with no waits for my favorite rides? Or will I almost have the best of both worlds if Touring Plans is currently predicting MK will be a crowd level 3 the day I'm going to be there?
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
It's difficult to do these things with my husband because I'm a night owl who doesn't get sleepy until 3am but can't wake up easily until 10am. He's the opposite that likes to be asleep by 9pm and up by 7am LOL. I struggle during morning EMH, although I will do it every time for Pandora! Plus, I just love the parks at night. But I'm really having a hard time choosing what to do at MK because it's my tied favorite park - during the day there's the Dapper Dans, Main Street shows, parades which I all love. Will I miss that experience by doing After Hours with no waits for my favorite rides? Or will I almost have the best of both worlds if Touring Plans is currently predicting MK will be a crowd level 3 the day I'm going to be there?
I'm looking at it as getting all the attractions done during After Hours. Then plan to do a morning during the trip to take in the shows, Streetmosphere, etc. If I'm not racing to ride Toy Story, I can relax and enjoy the Frozen Sing Along more.
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm looking at it as getting all the attractions done during After Hours. Then plan to do a morning during the trip to take in the shows, Streetmosphere, etc. If I'm not racing to ride Toy Story, I can relax and enjoy the Frozen Sing Along more.

After much discussion, and watching many YouTube videos on MK After Hours, we decided to go during the day. Mainly because we've done all of the attractions but this time want to focus more on the experiences. We've only ever caught the end of Main Street Orchestra and Dapper Dans. We've never seen the Festival of Fantasy parade. Plus, I can stay in Big Top Souvenirs for a very long time just taking in the bakery smells there LOL. With only 3 day tickets, and now an After Hours, we really have to focus on what's important to us this trip. We're going to really try to slow down and take in all the small details. We'll see how that goes once we get there :)
 

GJM724

Active Member
After much discussion, and watching many YouTube videos on MK After Hours, we decided to go during the day. Mainly because we've done all of the attractions but this time want to focus more on the experiences. We've only ever caught the end of Main Street Orchestra and Dapper Dans. We've never seen the Festival of Fantasy parade. Plus, I can stay in Big Top Souvenirs for a very long time just taking in the bakery smells there LOL. With only 3 day tickets, and now an After Hours, we really have to focus on what's important to us this trip. We're going to really try to slow down and take in all the small details. We'll see how that goes once we get there :)


Thanks for all your help planning so far! Have a great trip!!!!
 

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