Pre-Trip Fourth Time’s the Charm? A “Keeping My Fingers Crossed" 30th Birthday Pre-Trip Report

So.

I’m hesitant to write this pre-trip report for two reasons: 1) It’s so close to my trip, is there really a point? And 2) I haven’t had the best luck with Disney trips for the last three years. I’m starting to think I’m cursed.

But, I digress. First things first.

WHO: My mom (Ele) and me (Carrie) — we're leaving my dad home for our very first mother/daughter trip!

WHEN: April 7-April 13

WHERE: Beach Club Villas

WHY: My 30th Birthday!

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(Mom and I with Timon in AK during our December 2018 trip!)

Disclaimer: I am a writer, so I tend to be verbose. I promise lots of pictures to make up for it. But I also love painting word pictures, so…..

There were many reasons for this trip. The first of which being that I was FREAKING OUT about turning 30 and I joked to my mom sometime the middle of last year that the only way I’d be OK with turning 30 was if I was in WDW when it happened. Since my birthday is April 10, and thus always falls during spring break insanity, I’ve never been in my favorite place in the whole wide world on my birthday.

My mom likes Disney, but she’s not obsessive like my dad and I are. So I really didn’t think anything would come of my off-the-cuff request. But the next thing I knew, she was asking me one day, “How many points do we have left in 2019?” (We’ve been DVC members since 2001.) We’d borrowed points for our trip during Christmas 2018, but we had about 100 left, which I told her.

Next thing I knew, she asked, “Where would you want to stay if we hypothetically went for your birthday?”

Say WHAT?

“Beach Club or Animal Kingdom Lodge.” I’ve always wanted to enjoy Stormalong Bay, and we’ve tried to get BCV in the past with no luck. I’m also obsessed with animals (especially giraffes, the BEST animal) and AK is tied for my fav park.

At that point, I decided I couldn’t take the vagueness, and asked if she was really thinking of going to Disney. She said yes. The next thing I knew, we were making plans and booking our trip at seven months out. (I love Wilderness Lodge, our home resort, but I wanted to stay somewhere new, no matter where.) And to my utter delight, we got BC! We only got it for five of our six nights initially, but we booked the first night at Boardwalk, figuring it would be an easy switch. Then, somehow (a birthday miracle!) we got BC for our first night, too!!

I’m super excited to take a trip to Disney with just my mom. Everyone on here who does mother-daughter trips looks like they have so much fun!! I love my dad, and he's my "fast" rides buddy (my mom gets motion sickness something fierce...as I am also starting to, but I'm trying to ignore it by using Scopolamine patches). We're actually going to WDW in September, just me and him (we're actually checking in the day after SW:GE opens, which is a whole other story and a whole other PTR!). But this trip is all about the mom and daughter time!

A few more photos from our 2018 trip:

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(Hiding from the crowds in the train station on NYE in MK)

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(Enjoying Wilderness Lodge's unique Christmas decor...)

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("Make sure you get a picture of my extreme nerdiness!!" I wore this to MVMCP...)

In the next few posts, I am going to tell the tales of my last three trips (really, they will be short, mini-trip reports), which have convinced me I’m cursed and have me vaguely worried about this trip. If you just want info about this trip and our plans, I won’t feel bad if you skip the following few posts. Though, some crazy stuff did happen. After all, I am cursed…
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
OK, random mini trip reports over!

Here are our plans for this trip!

SATURDAY, APRIL 6: My mom doesn’t fly, and she didn’t want to drive, so we’re taking the train. When we went to Disney at Christmas in 2009, we sat in Amtrak coach. BIG mistake. So on our 2018 Christmas trip, we got two roomettes. Better, but still awfully tight and uncomfortable. So for this trip, we upgraded to a “Bedroom” which is much more spacious. We’ll be leaving from Penn Station Newark, NJ a little before noon.

SUNDAY, APRIL 7: We’re supposed to arrive in Winter Park a little before 10 am. Our train in December was over 3 hours late, so we don’t have much faith in this. We’ll take a taxi to Beach Club, check in, drop off our luggage, and head into Epcot! We plan to sample some of the Flower and Garden specialties for lunch. Then we have three FPs back to back: Soarin’ from 5-6 pm, Living with the Land from 6-7 pm, and Spaceship Earth from 7:10-8:10 pm. I plan to ride SE a lot this trip because I adore the current iteration, and I know it’s closing for a two-year refurb at the end of the summer. Then we have an ADR for the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party, for pretty much the same reason: Illuminations is ending at the end of the summer, and I wanted to see it one last time. Plus, I didn’t want to mess with crowds during spring break. We’ve done this party twice (once as the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party and once as the Frozen one), and we enjoyed both times. It’s super fun to get to go on FEA with no wait after the party, too!

MONDAY, APRIL 8: We have a breakfast ADR at Trattoria Al Forno for the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Boardwalk at 10 am (we loved this breakfast in 2018!) Two things I promised my mom when planning this trip were 1) lots of pool time (also for me…Stormalong Bay is calling my name!) and 2) we’d sleep in and take it easy. So two of our three breakfast ADRs are within walking distance of our room and we’re taking a bunch of midday breaks for pool time! We’re heading back to Epcot, and we have FPs for the Character Spot from 12-1 pm, Spaceship Earth from 1:15-2:15 pm (told you!), and Journey Into Imagination from 2:20-3:20 pm. My mom gets motion sickness, so she can’t ride any of the “big” rides, so I’m taking them off on this trip, too. Then we have a dinner ADR for Via Napoli (my fav pizza!) at 8:30 pm. One thing I’m excited about is getting to eat later (like, the parks will be closed when we leave), because my dad is a diabetic and can’t eat late, so we always eat early dinners.

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(Ariel and I at the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast in 2018.)

TUESDAY, APRIL 9: Animal Kingdom day! We have FPs for Festival of the Lion King at 10:30, Na’vi River Journey from 11:55-12:55 pm, and Kilimanjaro Safaris from 1-2 pm. Then we have a dinner ADR at our fav restaurant, Yak & Yeti, at 4:15 pm. The reason for our early dinner? We’re hopping over to Hollywood Studios for the Fantasmic! Dessert Party with VIP Viewing at 7:50. We usually do the dining package for this, but that wasn’t in the cards, so we’re trying this for the first time! I know some may say this is a waste of money, but Fantasmic! is my absolute favorite show at WDW (though, whoo boy is HEA nipping at its heels), so it was a must on my birthday trip, and I didn’t want to stress about seating.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10: THE BIG THREE OH I waffled back and forth on where to go on my birthday, since I love all of the parks a great deal, but when it came down to it, was there really even an option? We’re heading to Magic Kingdom today! We have a breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace, one of my favs (Tigger is my second favorite character after, you guessed it, Hades!) at 9:15 am. Then we have FPs for Pirates of the Caribbean (my mom’s fav) from 10:35-11:35 am, Jungle Cruise from 11:35-12:35 pm, and Meet Mickey and Minnie from 2:20-3:20 (I had to meet the mice celebrating their birthdays on mine!!). Then we are doing the After Fireworks Dessert Party with Plaza Garden Viewing to see HEA! We did this dessert party twice on our trip in 2018 (once for Holiday Wishes and once for HEA) and it was fab! I knew I needed to see HEA on my birthday.

Quick story time: I loved Wishes, so I was hesitant about HEA. I purposefully avoided seeing or hearing any of it until I could see it in person. Now, as my fav character, Hades, may suggest, Hercules is my favorite Disney film. As I’m sure you know, it is severely underrepresented across Disney as a whole. So I was already pretty emotional watching HEA the first time (I mean, the “How Far I’ll Go” part and Robin Williams as Genie and the Emperor’s famous line and PotC’s epic music!?), but when the first strains of “I Can Go the Distance” (a song that has saved my life at times) began, I completely lost it. Audible, wrenching sobs (sorry, people around me!). And the fact that it wasn’t just the opening chords, but the freakin’ climax of the show!?!? Geez. HEA is the new fav, for sure. So this was a MUST for my special day!!

THURSDAY, APRIL 11: We have a breakfast ADR at Cape May Café for Minnie’s Beach Bash Breakfast! We also plan to swim at Stormalong Bay today, and then go into Epcot, again (the lure of just being able to walk straight there is strong)! We have FPs for (you guessed it!) Spaceship Earth from 4:35-5:35 pm and Frozen Ever After from 5:40 to 6:40 pm. Then we have an 8:55 ADR at Le Cellier. Hopefully we will be strolling out in little to no crowds (I told my mom we might just take a Minnie Van from the front entrance back to Beach Club (crazy, I know) because I’ll want to walk out the long way in a mostly empty park!).

FRIDAY, APRIL 12: This is our pool day/Disney Springs day! The only commitment we have is a 1:10 ADR at Beaches and Cream! Gotta get my beloved No Way José on my birthday trip ;)

SATURDAY, APRIL 13: Our final day 😢 We’ll check out and head over to Magic Kingdom, where we have FPs for Haunted Mansion from 10:15-11:15, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh from 11:25-12:25, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin from 12:25-1:25. We have a lunch ADR at the Plaza at 2:10. Then it will be back to BC to pick up our bags and head to the Winter Park train station for our train, which is at 7ish 😢 We should get home around 6 pm the next day. As usual, I’m getting sad about the end of a trip that hasn’t even happened yet, haha.

So I plan to take lots of pictures, and to hopefully actually write the trip report this time. Please cross your fingers with me that this trip breaks my Disney curse (especially since I will be going to Disney with my dad the day after SW:GE opens in August, so that trip is already cursed!!).

Thanks for reading! :D
Reading attentively. I will be there but it doesn't seem as though we will cross paths. However, if they do, say hi, and I will be sure to do the same.
Have fun and take some pix of the train. My curiosity is strong! (Good thing I am not a cat!)

Edit: On second thought, if I see you I am running the other way!!! You’re a jinx!
 
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FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
Plans look more than great.... and it is almost time to be in the most magical place in the world! Enjoy the final pre feelings and have a marvelous trip!
 

carriehpotter

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Your plan sounds awesome! And I'm not just saying so because I have almost the exact same fast passes at about the same times on Tuesday at AK.
Haha, great minds think alike! Have fun on your trip, and if you see me, come say hi! :)

Reading attentively. I will be there but it doesn't seem as though we will cross paths. However, if they do, say hi, and I will be sure to do the same.
Have fun and take some pix of the train. My curiosity is strong! (Good thing I am not a cat!)

Edit: On second thought, if I see you I am running the other way!!! You’re a jinx!
Lol, I don't blame you! :hilarious: I hope you have fun, too!

And I'll be sure to take tons of train pictures for you!

Plans look more than great.... and it is almost time to be in the most magical place in the world! Enjoy the final pre feelings and have a marvelous trip!
Thank you!! The pre-feelings are always the best the day before!
 

carriehpotter

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey! My hubby's birthday is also April 10th! He's an awesome person so logic dictates that you must be an awesome person.

Lots of pixie dust for an awesome trip! Your plans sound lovely, can't wait to hear how it goes.
Thank you! I like to think that people with birthdays on April 10th are awesome...so I agree!
I think you should pre-decide that the curse is lifted and just live your trip as such.

Safe travels! And Happy Birthday!
Thanks! That's exactly what we did :)
Sending good juju for you to have an amazing trip! And a happy early birthday!
Thank you!!
 

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