First trip in 18 years!

Hello WDWMagic Forums readers!

I am so excited to announce our trip for this September is officially ON!
We have had a lot going on and a lot "up in the air" that made this trip sort of iffy (despite "booking" it back in February). Over the past few weeks we have had a lot of things fall into place and as of today I have paid off the trip and officially booked our flights!

This will be my first trip to Disney World for almost 18 years! For my husband it will be more than a decade (14 years??). We were able to visit Disneyland Paris in 2008 for one day as part of our honeymoon and I have been itching for a "real" Disney trip ever since!

I have decided to make the most of this trip so we will be arriving in Orlando at 10a on 9/22 and our flight out is at 620p on 9/30. This gives us 9 Disney days! Included in that is the 9/29 Disney Tower of Terror 10-miler that we are running with two of my cousins.

This trip has been my "dangling carrot" for so many things and I just can't believe its official!

After reading all your wonderful posts I wanted to share and am intending to update as we get closer and after the trip with a Trip Report. It will be so exciting to see how much my memory held up after 18 years (I was 10 for the last trip).

I hope you enjoy reading my Trip Report! I promise lots and lots of good pictures and maybe some video too!

 

[draybook]

That's awesome! I can't wait until I get to take my family out to Disneyland. It's been 20 years since I've been there. I hope you guys have a blast! What part of Sept are you going in and what resort are you guys staying at?

 

[Hannah1284]

That's awesome! I can't wait until I get to take my family out to Disneyland. It's been 20 years since I've been there. I hope you guys have a blast! What part of Sept are you going in and what resort are you guys staying at?

9/22-9/30 (9 Disney days!) We'll be staying at Coronado Springs and were able to get the Free Disney Dining. I am hoping to get Disneyland on my trip list in the near future. My brother is a huge Cars fan and is getting married in Oct. His fiancee is trying to get him to do a Disneyland honeymoon to check out Cars Land, but he's not having it, haha -- not a rides guy and not interested in airplane rides.

 

[bethymouse]

Don't like airplane rides either. I still want to visit Disneyland some day though!

 

[Hannah1284]

Don't like airplane rides either. I still want to visit Disneyland some day though!

Drive! My future sister-in-law tech doesn't have vacation so she taking their honeymoon without pay so they are keeping it on the shorter side, otherwise I think my brother would agree to drive out there!

 

[Dizdutch]

Looking forward to your trip report.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

YAY!! Awesome that the trip is definitely going to happen now!! I am running the Tower of Terror 10 Miler long with my sister and several other people here on wdwmagic! We also booked with free dining which is awesome!!

 

[Hannah1284]

YAY!! Awesome that the trip is definitely going to happen now!! I am running the Tower of Terror 10 Miler long with my sister and several other people here on wdwmagic! We also booked with free dining which is awesome!!

Thanks! Maybe we'll see each other on the run! More likely you'll be flying by my slow butt -- I really need to get serious with the training!

 

[wiigirl]

Thats totally awesome!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Thanks! Maybe we'll see each other on the run! More likely you'll be flying by my slow butt -- I really need to get serious with the training!

I've so been slacking with my training. My goal is to just finish the race! I don't care if I'm the last one to cross the finish line!!! lol as long as I'm under the 16 minute mile I'm good to go!!

 

[Hannah1284]

I've so been slacking with my training. My goal is to just finish the race! I don't care if I'm the last one to cross the finish line!!! lol as long as I'm under the 16 minute mile I'm good to go!!

If I walk the entire thing I'll be happy. Much more excited about getting to be in WDW for the first time in way too long!

 

[6laurac]

Can't wait until your report-looking forward to your thoughts on the run and how well you will do!!

 

[Hannah1284]

6 weeks!! I think my husband is already annoyed with me, but I told him he's just going to have to deal with me for the next few weeks. I can hardly contain my excitement!

Anyway, I thought I'd share our ADRs for the week. I am trying to switch a few around, but this is what we have for now (free DDP).

Sat 9/22 Tony's Town Square for Dinner -- I know its not at the top of a lot of lists, but we will be asking for a patio seat and are scheduled to be there around parade time so I am hoping that works out.
Sun 9/23 Tusker House for Dinner at 615 (AK closes at 6). Has anyone had an ADR after the park closes like this? I'm a little nervous, but excited to be in the park after its closed!
Mon 9/24 50s Prime Time for dinner (asking for a TV table) - ADR is for 545p, I'm trying to get something a little later to be more on par with the rest of our dinners.
Tues 9/25 Portobello at DTD -- will gladly take recommendations for other DTD that are 1 credit. I wasn't sure what to do and have switched this ADR a few times now.
Wed 9/26 Les Chefs de France for lunch and San Angel Inn for Dinner -- Trying daily for Le Cellier for Lunch and have been perusing for dinner changes, but nothing has popped up as a "good enough" replacement yet.
Thurs 9/27 - Liberty Tree Tavern for Lunch
Fri 9/28 - No ADRs -- Food and Wine Festival Snack Credits!!!
Sat 9/29 - No ADRs -- Quick Service for lunch and Dinner and Tower of Terror Race!!!
Sun 9/30 - Ohana for Breakfast

I'm still tweaking the ADRs and my visit "trip plan" and will post in a week or so when I feel like its more developed.

BTW - anyone pre-order the 2013 Unofficial Guide? Its supposed to be out 8/28 but Amazon says I won't have it in my hands until after Labor Day.

 

[Hannah1284]

35 Days until I am in Disney! ...well sort of... 35 days and a couple of hours (we'll be on a plane at this time in 35 days).

I changed some of the ADR's around.

Now Tues 9/25 we're having Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. (cancelled dinner res at Portobello)
And, Thurs 9/27 I don't have an ADR (cancelled Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch).

This means we'll be hitting up MK on our arrival day (Sat) and Tues for sure, but leaves Thurs open for whatever we feel like doing that day. Since we will have time on our departure day to head to a park again and are having breakfast at Ohana, I am thinking MK would probably be best for keeping travel to a minimum. I was hoping to head back to Epcot for more F&W, but we'll see...

I guess the wait is on for my Mickey Mail!

This week I need to call and let them know our flight times for ME and my amazon order of the 2013 unofficial guide just got a bump in arrival time to this week!!

 

[minnielaw]

Great PTR so far and congrats on your long overdue WDW trip!!

For dining options, I would suggest Kona Cafe in the Polynesian for your MK day. It is a short and easy ride on the monorail to the Polynesian and beats any MK table service restaurants.

As far as DTD dining, I would recommend Raglan Road (haven't eaten there yet, but hear great reviews). For QS options in DTD I recommend Earl of Sandwich or Cooke's of Dublin.

Can't wait to read more! Our trips will overlap at the end...I arrive at Boardwalk Villas on Sept. 29. Good luck in the race and have fun!

 

[Hannah1284]

Great PTR so far and congrats on your long overdue WDW trip!!

For dining options, I would suggest Kona Cafe in the Polynesian for your MK day. It is a short and easy ride on the monorail to the Polynesian and beats any MK table service restaurants.

As far as DTD dining, I would recommend Raglan Road (haven't eaten there yet, but hear great reviews). For QS options in DTD I recommend Earl of Sandwich or Cooke's of Dublin.

Can't wait to read more! Our trips will overlap at the end...I arrive at Boardwalk Villas on Sept. 29. Good luck in the race and have fun!

Thanks Minnielaw!
Great Tips, I will definitely take into consideration! Have fun on your trip!

 

[Hannah1284]

Mickey Mail arrived today! That's 33 days out for our trip!!

 

[Hannah1284]

24 days until we depart for WDW!!

So excited!
I've been playing around on touringplans.com to figure some stuff out and am working out our days -- pretty relaxed really.

I also thought I'd give one more try for a change to my Epcot lunch reservation and I am SUPER excited to say we just got a reservation for Le Cellier!! That cancels our Les Chefs des France.

We now have:
9/22 Tony's Town Square 710p our first night (asking for patio to watch the parade)
9/23 Tusker House 615 (park closes at 6p)
9/24 50's Prime Time 545
9/25 Liberty Tree Tavern 145p
9/26 Le Cellier 1130a & San Angel Inn 845p
9/27 - Open ADR
9/28 - Food and Wine all day!!
9/29 - Counter-service (light to prep for race)
9/30 Ohana 935a

Woohoo!!

 

[Hannah1284]

Yesterday I received an email from Disney offering us participation in the new fastpass+ test!

I'm still trying to get it all sorted out with the login and selection (the web site seems glitchy), but we decided we'd go for it and test it out!

I also made one change to our ADR's. On Sun 9/23 we will be eating at Boma for dinner at 835 instead of Tusker House at 615.