Pre-Trip First Time, Disneymoon, Birthday... Oh My!

:joyfull: Hello and Welcome to my first ever (Pre)Trip Report! :joyfull:

Nice to meet you guys! My name is Kristen and I have been lurking around this site gathering information for my first trip EVER to WDW. I really enjoy reading everyone's Trip Reports and I appreciate all the information and pictures I stumble upon so I thought I'd contribute. I can't wait to share our vacation with you all! :inlove:

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(Please excuse the fact that I'm using a phone lock screen picture but I'm unable to get the proper version right now) :hilarious: AnyWHO, this is my husband and I on our wedding day, May 7th 2018 during Pixar Fest at Disneyland!

Who:
- My husband, Jason (31)
- Myself, Kristen (28)

When:
September 28th - October 5th

Why:
Even though we go to Disneyland once a year, I have always dreamt of going to Walt Disney World! Now that I graduated college this past March and have my first full-time job, I felt like I needed to treat myself and go to WDW. Jason and I have a lot to celebrate this year: we got married in May, I graduated in March, I got my first full-time job, he's doing awesome at work, and my birthday is on October 9th right after our trip ends. Sounds like a great time to go and celebrate! :joyfull:

Where:
We are trying to keep things on the cheaper side so we are staying at POP. :greedy:

What / Itinerary:
I really love planning and have enjoyed rewriting this schedule many times to make it "perfect". Even though I've planned the trip down to the minute, I also understand that we need to go with the flow so everything besides ADR are completely optional and subject to change. I have Jason try and remind me that this is a vacation so we should try and get SOME sleep.

Friday, September 28th:
We are both taking the day off work so we can relax and go to our favorite restaurant before heading out. My parents are so kind as to drop us off at LAX at 7:30pm on a Friday night so we can take our 10:30pm redeye to MCO.

Saturday, September 29th:
We are set to arrive at MCO at 6:30am. Then taking the Disney Magical Express to POP where we are hoping to get early check in. Ideally we'll be able to freshen up but it's okay if not. Breakfast will be at the POP cafeteria and we will partake in the hotel's scavenger hunt. After that, we are heading to Disney Springs to do some shopping and have Linner (Lunch/Dinner) at Earl of Sandwich since we no longer have ours in Downtown Disney. Then ending the day with cake and champagne for toasting at Amorette's before we head back to go to bed early.

Sunday, September 30th:
Our first full day at WDW! We will sleep in and I may surprise my husband by going to the cafeteria and getting us some breakfast in bed. Then after a relaxed morning, we'll head to Hollywood Studios! FP+ Hopes: Slinky Dog, Star Tours, and RockNCoaster. We will also be having ADR at Sci-Fi Diner which looks like so much fun as I've never been to a Drive-In theater. The park closes at 8pm this night so it'll be another early evening.

Monday, October 1st:
I am so excited for this day - omg. So we are going to be getting up REALLY early around 5:30am so we can make rope drop at 8am in Animal Kingdom. We are looking to rope drop Na'Vi River Journey then do the Safari before our fastpasses start. FP+ Hopes: FOP, Expedition Ever, Finding Nemo. Lunch is open but I'm planning for Flame Tree BBQ since the husband loves ribs. Then the rest of the day is still being adjusted as this is the night we have ADR for California Grill. I am holding onto a few different reservation times but none are ideal for fireworks. We'll see what the coming weeks bring. Anywho, we are going to use UBER for the first time to get to/from the Contemporary as to add to the romance of this evening without having to worry about catching buses. After what's going to be an AMAZING dinner and firework show, we will UBER back to POP and maybe take a stroll around the lake area before heading to bed.

Tuesday, October 2nd:
The next morning will be another late/lazy one since we are going to bed so late the night before. This will be our first day of Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival so I want to make sure we get enough rest as my goal for this day is to DRINK AROUND THE WORLD! Does it still count if you both share the drinks :hilarious:? Anyhow. I'm going to make or purchase a little pass so I can tick off each country once we down their drink - I'm so excited! This day doesn't need much planning because we are going to somewhat stick to the World Showcase and enjoy our food/drinks. I also want to do the Remy's Scavenger Hunt! FP+ Hopes: Frozen Ever After, Spaceship Earth, Journey Into Imagination. We will see IllumiNations this night and EMH is until 11pm so the night is however long we feel like we can handle.

Wednesday, October 3rd:
I wanted to plan a lazy day for my husband which is very difficult for me to do as I'm so excitable... especially since we purchased park admission for every day we're there. So the way I went about doing this is to get up late and have a lazy morning then UBER to AKL to have a late/long lunch ADR at Sanaa. We will then bus over to AK and do what we weren't able to do during our last AK Day. FP+ Hopes: Na'Vi River Journey, Dinosaur, and Rivers of Light. We may just go for a while then head out early depending on our energy level at this point. Bed should be early this day since the next morning will be another early one.

Thursday, October 4th:
This is our last full day at WDW (already?!) and we are spending it at Magic Kingdom! Since we go to Disneyland so often, I planned this for a day that the park closes early and feel okay about it. We are getting up early and have Be Our Guest ADR at park open. We are both so excited to see the castle as Beauty & the Beast is our Disney Couple :inlove:! The rest of the day is completely up to future us. FP+ Hopes: 7DMT, Space Mtn, Big Thunder. I'm hoping to try the Citrus Swirl since I guess that's a WDW thing! Anyhow, this'll be an early day since the park closes at 6pm but that also leaves for the option of Park Hopping (which we purchased but doesn't look like we'll be using it sadly a waste of money).

Friday, October 5th:
And that leaves us with our departure day. We are getting up early so we can finish packing and drop off our bags before we head to rope drop at Epcot. We are rope dropping Soarin' and going to hang out in the Future World section from 9am-3pm so we have a good little amount of time. FP+ Hopes: Test Track, Nemo, Living w/ the Land. We will also consume more Food & Wine Festival! Yum! After we finished up here, we will bus back to POP to get on the "Tragic"Express, I believe you guys like to call it? Then we depart MCO at 8pm and get home to LAX at 10:30pm. Then we will have Saturday/Sunday to recover before going back to reality on Monday.

In Conclusion:
Thank you for sticking around to read my (Pre)Trip Report. I cannot wait for our trip and hope you guys will tag along with our story. I will post major updates here leading up to the trip as I have Disney-ized plans to help get us through the long way! (For Example, Downtown Disney is next weekend so I get finally buy my Minnie Ears! :happy:)
 
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Tom 55

Well-Known Member
My wife and I chose Disney world for our honeymoon back in 1979. This year will be our 39th anniversary and we will be there 9/25 to 10/3. We go at this time of year to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday that falls on Halloween, 10/31. We are doing one of the things on my bucket list and staying for the first 2 night at the Contemporary hotel and then the rest of our stay at POP. I think POP is the best cheap hotel with in Disney complex. Last year we changed it up, 7 trips to Disneyworld in 8 years we did a trip to San Diego for a nieces wedding and then on to Disneyland for 5 days. My first trip to CA, flew out of LAX. You will be able to compare the 2 parks. Disneyworld is so much bigger. It was built with the room to have people stand in lines. I have been going to Disney long enough that I had a chance to ride on the rides that are not here anymore Was glad to see that some of them were still at Disneyland. Plan to do a LOT of walking. The size of the parks is something you will be surprised by.
 

Kizlit

Member
Original Poster
:joyfull: (Pre)Trip Food Wish List :joyfull:

Even though we are going during the Food & Wine Festival, this is also what may be our only trip to WDW. That being said, I'm trying not to think about that TOO much as I don't want it to feel that way but I'm also trying to be realistic. Because of this, I still have quite a few foods I'm dying to try while we're there, excluding all the yumminess of the Food & Wine Festival. So here's my list and thank you to Disney Food Blog for having such beautiful photos of everything:

Magic Kingdom

Giant Cinnamon Roll
I've heard both good and bad things about this cinnamon roll but I'm going to take my chances and get this. I'm crossing my fingers for an extra ooey gooey one!
Cinnamon-Roll-500x435.jpg


Mickey Pretzel with Cheese
This is a traditional snack for my husband and I every time we go to Disneyland here in California. Just because we're somewhere new, I'm not going to let this tradition be pushed aside! I can't wait for my next Mickey Pretzel :hungry:
Mickey-Pretzel_Lunching-Pad_17-01-700x465.jpg


Citrus Swirl
Another traditional snack for us is to have a Dole Whip Float while waiting for the Tiki Room. However, I've seen that there's this snack at WDW and I thought "While in Rome..." so I can't wait to try this new icey treat!
d8a67c394c07c00ef2a1c03c81cf963c.jpg


Grey Stuff
Yet another treat that we always have at Disneyland Resort. However, I cannot wait to try the version at MK and is another big reason as to why we're going to BOG. I am looking forward to having this delicious cream treat for breakfast!
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Animal Kingdom

Rum Blossom
This drink is just too beautiful not to want :inlove: May or may not get the alcohol version.
Pandora-The-World-of-Avatar-Pongu-Pongu-Night-Blossom-3.jpg


Elephant Ear Pastry
I have just recently been introduced to these kinds of cookies and am completely obsessed. I may or may not get this since it's nothing too special but as I write this, I'm drooling just thinking about it.
Les-Halles-Elephant-Ear-Les-Halles-2.jpg


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Epcot

Norwegian Schoolbread
This treat looks ridiculously good and apparently is a must have in Epcot so I will be grabbing one for breakfast!
Norway-School-Bread.jpg


Cheddar Cheese Soup
This soup is probably the #1 "Must Try" for me. Ever since I heard about it YEARS ago, I have been wanting to try it. I made reservations at the Canadian restaurant specifically to get this soup but then found out we can get it at a booth during the Food & Wine Festival. This will be the FIRST thing we try in Epcot and I can hardly wait.
2016-Epcot-Food-and-Wine-Festival-Canada-Canadian-cheddar-cheese-soup-served-with-a-pretzel-roll.jpg


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Outside the Parks

Amorette's Minnie Ear Champagne
The main thing I'm looking forward to outside the parks (besides Early of Sandwich and California Grill) are these adorable champagne flutes with the Minnie Ears on them. I'm not sure if they'll still have them when we get there in October but this is the one food that's WAY over priced that I'm wanting to splurge on for my Birthday and our Honeymoon to toast to the beginning of our trip :inlove:
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Kizlit

Member
Original Poster
My wife and I chose Disney world for our honeymoon back in 1979. This year will be our 39th anniversary and we will be there 9/25 to 10/3. We go at this time of year to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday that falls on Halloween, 10/31.

Congratulations on your Anniversary and Happy Early Birthday! I hope you guys will have an amazing time. I am very much looking forward to being able to compare Disneyland and Magic Kingdom and am excited about the fact that the parks are bigger. My brother has gone to DisneyWorld twice and has told me that walking from one side to the other while in the parks is no joke (especially in Animal Kingdom). It will be very interesting to see :)
 

Tom 55

Well-Known Member
You have to take the Monorails around the hotel loop and the MK to EPCOT. A lot better than just to Downtown Disney and back at Disneyland. There are boats that take you from EPCOT to HS. POR and POFQ have boats that take you down to DTD. You can hop on any of the buses to go everywhere. So you could go from park to POR and take boat to Downtown. POP is very near EPCOT. From the upper floors of the hotels you can see the fireworks. There is a small bridge that connect POP to Art of Animation. You can take their bus if there is not one for POP ready and just walk across the bride to POP. AoA is one of the newer hotels and is great to walk around. Have you thought about doing the Mickey not so scary Halloween party. It is an extra cost about $100 each. You get to dress up in costume and trick or treat around the MK. There is a special parade led by the Headless horseman and fireworks. If you are only here once take advantage of it when you can.
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
I'll be looking forward to your trip report:) My husband and I honeymooned at WDW in 2014 and it was such a great trip! I was there that same week in September back in 2015 for the Food and Wine Festival. So much good food!!! I had the school bread this past March because it's such a cult classic but I liked the troll horn better (but that wasn't available on their modified menu since the bakery was undergoing renovations). My husband's must do is the croissant donut at Epcot (I think its at Refreshment Port). OMG I want that right now!! And my suggestion is definitely to get the cheddar cheese soup as soon as the kiosks open or wait until after the sun goes down. The heat and humidity during your time frame is no joke lol. I had been craving the lobster fisherman bisque thing at the Scotland kiosk for months. But it was like 100 degrees when we there and we were too hot to eat. I was determined to get it no matter what though. And it was delicious!!! But I definitely regretted it about 30 minutes later :) I wish I had waited until later in the day. Magic Kingdom decorated for Halloween is really fun!!
 

kimberlymautz

Well-Known Member
I was also going to suggest the Halloween Party. Not only do you get to dress up, but the lines are SO. SHORT. in comparison to a regular day. It's such a fun atmosphere and definitely worth the money IMO.
Everything looks great though! Have a fun time!
 

Kizlit

Member
Original Poster
You have to take the Monorails around the hotel loop and the MK to EPCOT. A lot better than just to Downtown Disney and back at Disneyland. There are boats that take you from EPCOT to HS. POR and POFQ have boats that take you down to DTD. You can hop on any of the buses to go everywhere. So you could go from park to POR and take boat to Downtown. POP is very near EPCOT. From the upper floors of the hotels you can see the fireworks. There is a small bridge that connect POP to Art of Animation. You can take their bus if there is not one for POP ready and just walk across the bride to POP. AoA is one of the newer hotels and is great to walk around. Have you thought about doing the Mickey not so scary Halloween party. It is an extra cost about $100 each. You get to dress up in costume and trick or treat around the MK. There is a special parade led by the Headless horseman and fireworks. If you are only here once take advantage of it when you can.

Thank you so much for the great information on the connection of the transportation. If we have the energy, I'd like to do the monorail loop and check out the hotels on our first day before heading to Downtown Disney.

I'll be looking forward to your trip report:) My husband and I honeymooned at WDW in 2014 and it was such a great trip! I was there that same week in September back in 2015 for the Food and Wine Festival. So much good food!!! I had the school bread this past March because it's such a cult classic but I liked the troll horn better (but that wasn't available on their modified menu since the bakery was undergoing renovations). My husband's must do is the croissant donut at Epcot (I think its at Refreshment Port). OMG I want that right now!! And my suggestion is definitely to get the cheddar cheese soup as soon as the kiosks open or wait until after the sun goes down. The heat and humidity during your time frame is no joke lol. I had been craving the lobster fisherman bisque thing at the Scotland kiosk for months. But it was like 100 degrees when we there and we were too hot to eat. I was determined to get it no matter what though. And it was delicious!!! But I definitely regretted it about 30 minutes later :) I wish I had waited until later in the day. Magic Kingdom decorated for Halloween is really fun!!

Haha Good point with the soup... I am sure that'll be our very first food that we are going to try since I'm so excited for it! It's funny that you mention the troll horn because I wanted to try this but we are going to New Zealand in 2020 which are known for those so I'm waiting to try it there :happy: Who knows, maybe a comparison would be interesting, though!

I'm in!! Seems like it will be a great trip!!!

Thank you! Glad to have you along :joyfull:

I was also going to suggest the Halloween Party. Not only do you get to dress up, but the lines are SO. SHORT. in comparison to a regular day. It's such a fun atmosphere and definitely worth the money IMO.
Everything looks great though! Have a fun time!

I really wanted to do the Halloween Party because it's so much cheaper than our version here in Southern California but my husband said it's either that or California Grill which I am really wanting to go to.

You can pick up a Food and Wine Festival Passport for free to check off the items you try!

We will be sure to grab a few of those! So neat! :joyfull:
 

Kizlit

Member
Original Poster
:joyfull: (Pre)Trip FastPass+ Day :joyfull:

Yesterday, July 31st was FastPass+ Day! A day I have been looking forward to for many weeks since it is such a huge part of our itinerary. Since I'm in PST, I set my alarm for 3:50am but I ended up waking up at 2am after going to bed at midnight since I was so excited. I chilled and googled strategies then logged on at 4am using my PC and Smartphone. This whole process took about 3 HOURS :facepalm:!!! I'm surprised that Disney hasn't worked on their system as I've heard a lot of people seeing Olaf stating that there's an issue with the website. And I was no exception. However, I was able to go back/forth from my phone/computer and eventually got ALL the FastPasses I wanted! I was worried since I didn't see FOP on my phone but it showed up on my computer thankfully. And for those wondering, I wasn't even trying for Slinky Dog (last minute decision) but I didn't see it anyway.

After getting some sleep and working from home that day due to being too exhausted to drive, I finally had time to look at my FastPasses today and altered some of them as I feel like it'll fit my schedule better. I took someone's advice and finally took a look at the park maps and arranged our FastPasses to somewhat relate to the layout.

AnyWHO, I'll stop rambling about my thought process and show you what we got!:

9/30
Toy Story Mania 12:20-1:20
Star Tours 1:20-2:20
Rock N Roller Coaster 2:25-3:25

10/1
Na'Vi River Journey 9-10
Expedition Everest 10-11
Lion King 12:30-1:30

10/2
Spaceship Earth 12:25-1:25
Journey Into Imagination 1:30-2:30
Frozen Ever After 2:35-3:35

10/3
DINOSAUR 3-4
Tough to be a Bug 4-5
Flight of Passage 5:20-6:20

10/4
7 Dwarves Mine Train 10:15-11:15
Big Thunder Mountain 11:20-12:20
Space Mountain 12:20-1:20

10/5
Living with the Land 9:10-10:10
Test Track 10:10-11:10
Mission: Space 11:15-12:15

For those of you who are more visual (like me), here is an overwhelming picture of part of our itinerary with the FastPass+ selections. I know it looks insane but it helps me visualize our trip better!

pic.png
 

AmiAdventures

New Member
Ah! I seriously love that I have someone who is going on the same dates as me, to share my excitement with. Your plans look great and of course I'll be following along with your report!
 

Kizlit

Member
Original Poster
Ah! I seriously love that I have someone who is going on the same dates as me, to share my excitement with. Your plans look great and of course I'll be following along with your report!

I love having someone to share my excitement with that's going at the same time :inlove: Thank you for following along with my report and I look forward to hearing all about your trip as well!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
:joyfull: (Pre)Trip FastPass+ Day :joyfull:

Yesterday, July 31st was FastPass+ Day! A day I have been looking forward to for many weeks since it is such a huge part of our itinerary. Since I'm in PST, I set my alarm for 3:50am but I ended up waking up at 2am after going to bed at midnight since I was so excited. I chilled and googled strategies then logged on at 4am using my PC and Smartphone. This whole process took about 3 HOURS :facepalm:!!! I'm surprised that Disney hasn't worked on their system as I've heard a lot of people seeing Olaf stating that there's an issue with the website. And I was no exception. However, I was able to go back/forth from my phone/computer and eventually got ALL the FastPasses I wanted! I was worried since I didn't see FOP on my phone but it showed up on my computer thankfully. And for those wondering, I wasn't even trying for Slinky Dog (last minute decision) but I didn't see it anyway.

After getting some sleep and working from home that day due to being too exhausted to drive, I finally had time to look at my FastPasses today and altered some of them as I feel like it'll fit my schedule better. I took someone's advice and finally took a look at the park maps and arranged our FastPasses to somewhat relate to the layout.

AnyWHO, I'll stop rambling about my thought process and show you what we got!:

9/30
Toy Story Mania 12:20-1:20
Star Tours 1:20-2:20
Rock N Roller Coaster 2:25-3:25

10/1
Na'Vi River Journey 9-10
Expedition Everest 10-11
Lion King 12:30-1:30

10/2
Spaceship Earth 12:25-1:25
Journey Into Imagination 1:30-2:30
Frozen Ever After 2:35-3:35

10/3
DINOSAUR 3-4
Tough to be a Bug 4-5
Flight of Passage 5:20-6:20

10/4
7 Dwarves Mine Train 10:15-11:15
Big Thunder Mountain 11:20-12:20
Space Mountain 12:20-1:20

10/5
Living with the Land 9:10-10:10
Test Track 10:10-11:10
Mission: Space 11:15-12:15

For those of you who are more visual (like me), here is an overwhelming picture of part of our itinerary with the FastPass+ selections. I know it looks insane but it helps me visualize our trip better!

View attachment 300017
Love your chart! My sister and I made a similar but less sophisticated version using colored markers and post-it notes, lol!
 

bee

Well-Known Member
Does it still count if you both share the drinks :hilarious:?
Yes it absolutely counts, and that's the only way to do it in my opinion! Eleven drinks is A LOT, and you'll be in the Florida heat and humidity (yes, even in October) so 5-6 drinks is plenty. Make sure you drink plenty of water!

Love it! I also make detailed, color-coded spreadsheets before each trip!
 

Tom 55

Well-Known Member
Thank you so much for the great information on the connection of the transportation. If we have the energy, I'd like to do the monorail loop and check out the hotels on our first day before heading to Downtown Disney.



Haha Good point with the soup... I am sure that'll be our very first food that we are going to try since I'm so excited for it! It's funny that you mention the troll horn because I wanted to try this but we are going to New Zealand in 2020 which are known for those so I'm waiting to try it there :happy: Who knows, maybe a comparison would be interesting, though!



Thank you! Glad to have you along :joyfull:



I really wanted to do the Halloween Party because it's so much cheaper than our version here in Southern California but my husband said it's either that or California Grill which I am really wanting to go to.



We will be sure to grab a few of those! So neat! :joyfull:

Up on top of the Contempory Hotel and next to the California grill is an outdoor viewing area. You can watch the fireworks from the MK. They have a speaker system with a built in time delay so it is synchronized with the fireworks. I believe that as long as you had reservation at CG you can come back later and go out onto the viewing area.
 

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