Pre-Trip Everybody loves, Food & Wine...and Christmas Time in WDW!

Hello everyone! I have really been into reading TR's again and it is really making me want to write my very own. We have a few visits to WDW coming up this year and with all the excitement, I figured it may be a fun time to start. Our last visit was in March 2019 and we are anxious to get back to our happy place!

Our next visit this year will be September 11 - 15, 2019. We have been liking these long weekend visits to be able to visit more often during the year and make the most out of our AP's.

Our second will be a bit longer, as we love spending a lot of time in WDW during the Holiday Season. It has been our favorite time to visit since 2015 and we have not missed a year since, getting our holly-jolly on! This visit will take place November 30 - December 8, 2019.

I guess I should preface this with a little background about myself. I am Dawn!

This first time I visited WDW was in 2001. I had no idea what to expect, but I had grown up with Disney movies and always chose them over any other movie. I was amazed how my childhood came to life right before my eyes and how such a place existed that can transport you to a whole new world! Each time I visited, I enjoyed it more and more. My wonderful husband, Dan, and I got engaged in the Magic Kingdom in 2012. We returned for our Honeymoon in 2014. After that, the addiction took on a whole new meaning. I was not only enjoying the magic of WDW but I was researching Walt's life, the history of the Disney Parks and soon, keeping up with Disney news has become one of my most passionate hobbies.

We became DVC Members in 2015, our home resort being AKL, and we try not to wait to long after our AP's expire to purchase them again!

Next up! The Who, Where & Why!

 

[Ears to Disney]

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well!

Today I am going to lay out the who and where for our September visit to WDW and the what we have planned for our first day.

So the other half of "Ears to Disney" is my Husband Dan!

We often like to take goofy photos and we are going to try and make it a point this visit to take some nice ones. We are just big kids, what can we say!

We will be staying at our home resort, AKL, in Jambo House. We enjoy Jambo House more than Kidini because of it's proximity to everything. The Mara, which is the quick service location at AKL, is located here and the lobby is just so grand that coming home to it every night is just the best feeling!

We always have quite the adventurous plan for our first day. We will be flying at 6:55am on the Wednesday arriving to MCO at 9:30am. We have usually taken DME in the past and then have taken advantage of DTS while on property, but in March we took a long weekend visit similar to this and we rented a vehicle to make the most of our time. We are doing the same for this visit. The buses have just become too crazy and it adds a bit more stress than I enjoy. We have learned of Alamo's online check-in so that all we need to do when we get to the rental area is go to the aisle of the vehicle type we have rented and choose whichever vehicle we would like. You then proceed to the exit booth and they process the paperwork and you are on your way. We enjoyed this a lot and we will be taking advantage of this service again.

After we pick up our "magical vehicle" we will head to "the bubble" and straight to MK! We know our room won't be ready yet, so I have made us some FP+'s for Space, Splash, and BTMRR. I dub this day..."MOUNTAIN DAY"!!!! These will hopefully take us till our room is ready, then we can head to AKL and get all situated.

OK...so it is September...in WDW...what great thing happens in the fall at WDW? Food and Wine! And as our friends The Brookhart's always say, "Food and Wine, Food and Wine, Everybody loves, Food and Wine"! So we will be heading to EPCOT for dinner to start our tour around the Food Showcase...I mean...the World Showcase! We are very excited for some favorites and some new eats.

After indulging in some Food and Wine booths, the plan is to head back to MK for EMH. It goes until midnight, but who knows how long we will last. We have BIG plans for our next day!

Up next! Thursday's Plans...I think it will be ANOTHER early morning!

 

[Ears to Disney]

Hello everyone! I am back with another update with our plans for Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019.

Sooo...upon going through the park schedules for this long weekend we will be there, the EMH for HS start at 6AM!!!! WHAT!?!?! So, we are going to get our behinds up out of bed EARLY to get over to HS to RD EMH. We are SUPER excited for SWGE and we know that during the day it will probably be very crazy. We are hoping to roam around and get on Smugglers Run during these precious hours.

We do have some FP+'s made for this day at HS as well. I had made them for early in the day so that we can go to our room and relax a bit before heading out for the night.

RnR starting at 9:45AM
ST starting at 10:50AM

After our FP's, we will probably need a little rest, so we plan on heading back to AKL to see if we can get a little nap in. It is very hard for me to nap at Disney, I always feel as if I should be doing something. Then I try to convince myself that we are on vacation.

For this night, we are planning on heading to Epcot for an early dinner and spend some more time eating our way around the world. Whenever F&W or F&G are going on we use the food booths as our dinners or lunches so that we have room to try what we would like. I have to go through the menu and start picking out my F&W must eats. I find it easier to have a good idea of what we may want ahead of time so that we can prioritize once we get there.

OK...let me be real with you all. We are sad to see IllumiNations go. I just love the score and the message that it conveys and I am also the proud owner of the CD...yes, I bought the CD! We were able to see in twice in March in fear that it would end earlier than our September visit. Once the closing night for IllumiNations was announced, we were so glad we could squeeze in another viewing.

Up next...one of our favorite breakfasts...and...a relaxing day??

 

[KellBelle]

I'm all in!

 

[Ears to Disney]

I'm all in!

Welcome aboard!!

 

[Ears to Disney]

Monday is here, which means that I am not really wanting to be at work, so how about another update?!?!

We are now on to Friday...September 13, 2019! (dun, dun, dun!)

Today is going to be a day for taking it easy. We rarely ever take these days, but we feel as if it is necessary for this visit to take a day and enjoy our resort. So this morning we are starting the day off at one of our favorite breakfast spots, Boma! We made our reservation early, 7:50am, because we will be in the same building. Yes, Boma has become a secondary favorite breakfast spot for us. Our number one is Trail's End at Fort Wilderness. We have gone there every visit since 2012! We have taken a break from it this year so far, but it may make its way back on to our schedule for December. It definitely makes it easier to get there when we rent a vehicle. I would have to say that our third favorite breakfast spot has become Whispering Canyon. Can you tell we are breakfast people?

After breakfast, we plan on going straight to the pool! We have never swam at the pool at AKL, we just always are going to the parks. We want to rectify this situation because it always looks so inviting and peaceful in the morning. As I had mentioned in a previous update, I always feel like I should be doing something when at WDW, and I am really trying to work on the relaxing aspect of things.

I had made us some FP+ for Epcot since our next plan of action is heading there for some F&W booths for lunch. I am hoping with the early breakfast time and the swimming I can work up a hunger for some food booths. The FP's I made are:

Spaceship Earth beginning at 11:10am ( I am hoping to catch the tail end of this one)
Soarin' beginning at 12:25pm

When you are booking a visit when MNSSHP is going on, and a party ends up being on Friday the 13th...it is a no brainer when you should go right? I know it may be a busy night, but maybe being in September it won't too bad. Fingers crossed. I am just excited to be going on Friday the 13th...extra spooky! We still don't know what we want to dress up as, we usually do a little something. With it being September though, I am looking for anything light because it is still HOT!

And that will finish off our Friday the 13th!

Next up: Another Relaxing Morning???????

 

[Ears to Disney]

Hello everyone!

I am back with another update! This post will cover our plans for Saturday, September 14, 2019. This will be our last full day, I know I will be sad to leave, but it will make it a bit better that we will be back in December!

I actually don't have any real plans for this morning! There is EMH at MK from 7AM - 8AM, but due to our late night at MNSSHP the night before, I don't think we will be partaking. It may end up just being another relaxing pool morning, which could be really nice!

We will probably head to EPCOT for lunch because...Food & Wine! We also need to go 4 times for our Passholder Minnie coaster set!

For our night time festivities, we have AK! I am not sure what dinner will be, it will all depend on what time we have our lunch and how much we actually eat. We may end up sharing something at Flame Tree because we love the BBQ!

We have not spent too much time in AK at night, and we still have yet to explore Pandora after dark, so that is what we have on the agenda. Our FP+ for AK are:

Flight of Passage starting at 5:20PM
Safari starting at 6:20PM
Everest starting at 8PM

We also may try at catch Rivers of Light since it will have the new Lion King segment, but we are not too sure. If we can get last minute seats we will, if not we will just walk around Pandora and then watch some of the Tree of Life awakening. The Tree of Life Awakening is so beautiful and we seem to always catch a few of the scenes, but we would like to watch more.

Up Next: Last Day spent at MK!

 

[Ears to Disney]

Hello everyone! We are getting ready to head down to WDW tomorrow!! I can't believe it is finally here! So, since we are leaving tomorrow, I got to get this last PTR update up! When we return I will be diving into our December trip! So...without further ado...lets get to it!

Our last day...ugh! Departure day...yuck! September 15, 2019.

We will be starting off our day with a delicious breakfast at Kona Cafe! We haven't been in a long time and we are anxious to get back. I am torn between the Tonga Toast and Pineapple Pancakes with Macadamia Nut butter...they are both so good! We do know there will be a press pot of Kona Coffee ordered.

After breakfast, we will head over to the MK. We do have a few FP+:

Mine Train starting at 11:10am
Dumbo starting at 12:25pm
Jungle Cruise starting at 1:25pm

Our flight out is at 6:50pm, so we will probably leave around 3pm so that we can get gas in the rental vehicle and return it at the airport. We also all know how much of a bear MCO security can be!

And that will be it for us for our September visit! We cannot wait! I am typing this at work as I await this day to be over and I can officially be on vaca...it seems like it has been so long and we have been short handed because everyone at work takes their vacations during the summer, which is stressful for all those left behind.

Thank you for reading along with our plans, I look forward to sharing our visit when we return along with our plans for December 2019!

Feel free to follow along on our visit on our Instagram....we are @ears2disney!

See ya real soon!