Hi! Ritualistic planner here, just booked a very spur of the moment trip to Disney World for a long weekend and I'm dying inside!!!
Background : My partner and I are approaching our 27th birthdays (I'm April 6th and he's April 8th) and we have been feeling down about the entire ordeal. I know, pity us. We live in Philly and I'm a little far from home; my family lives on Long Island and his live just over the Betsy Ross Bridge in Southern New Jersey. We were trying to plan to see my family the weekend before (since my birthday is on a Thursday this year, totally harshing my vibe) and we'd celebrate his the following weekend. I was getting pretty bummed by the lack of enthusiasm from the fam back home as there are a few birthdays in the family around that time (I have a twin sister, my aunt is also born on April 6th, a cousin on the 12th, my grandfather on the 1st) and it seems like everyone wants to get together on the Saturday I'd be there, which usually would sound swell but I really just wanted to have a low key adventure at the Long Island vineyards and drink my butt off on some dope wine. In more adult terms : We just wouldn't be able to really spend the time we wanted to spend with each other, with all of these other events going on at the same time. So Brandon, my partner, says to me "Well, what would you like to do for your birthday?" and I said, half jokingly, "I want to go to Disney World". He freaking said "OKAY". From there, we pounced as time was running short.
WHEN : March 31st - April 3rd (thus the Unbirthday, not trying to go to Disney the weekend before Easter)
WHERE : All-Star Movies
WHO : Me! Chelsea - self absorbed Disnut, the only one of my friends that even remotely enjoys Disney
Brandon! One of many reasons I love him so dearly, he's not as fascinated by Disney culture as I am. But he tolerates it and I know his appreciation for the parks has grown since we met over 4 years ago.
And because I love this picture of us :
The theme of this trip is : Don't Sweat It. We've been to Disney twice together over the last four years and have had to put off this third visit because Brandon said so. He was Disney'd out and wanted to see other places, as did I. But in general, it's going to be a busier time than we're accustomed to and we have such a short amount of time to actually spend in the parks, we don't want to over do it and stress out about sacrificing fun for ADR's so I've made our itinerary fairly flexible.
To start, we are driving from Philly. We've driven down before and it's quite a long trip but we honestly enjoy it. We initially anticipated grabbing some cheap airfare out of Newark but the room at All-Star, although our least expensive option, was still a hefty pile of change so we decided to save $300 and use it towards gas and tolls and Sheetz!
I already have tickets because I was lucky enough to purchase 7-day No Expiration Park Hoppers for us a few years back before they terminated the No Expiration option. We are down to our final 2 days on this ticket so we're going to make them count.
Day 1 Arrive whenever! Driving overnight, we don't know how many stops we'll need to make or what sort of traffic we'll encounter due to evening road work. It's typically about 15 hours. We basically plan on arriving and crashing for a few hours. Friday will not be a park day, for sure.
Instead, that will be the evening for our fancy birthday dinner. I was thinking an evening on the Boardwalk for Flying Fish, AbracadaBar, Ample Hills, and maybe Jelly Rolls. I also have Touring Plans checking for any open California Grill reservations for me. I've never been and I'm really dying to try the food, the bar, and the fireworks. If I get a coveted reservation for Friday evening, I may have to change our plans.
Day 2 Rope Drop at DHS, FP's are Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and ToT. Break for the afternoon at the pool. Evening at Magic Kingdom. No ADR, will just grab dinner at a QS like Columbia Harbour. DON'T SWEAT IT.
Day 3 Rope Drop at Epcot, sprint to Frozen. I have FP's set up for Soarin, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth (Brandon loves it) but I'm most invested in floating around the World, trying all of the delightful treats they are serving for the Flower & Garden Festival. No ADR's here. We're snacking.
Sunday evening gets a little hairy. I currently have an ADR for Tiffin's with the anticipation that we'd go to AK for the evening and catch RoL. I've gotten the feeling from Brandon that AK is not his favorite and I might give him the option to return to any park of his choice that evening after we rest up at the hotel.
So, we have 30 days until we arrive. Time to start planning theme park outfits!
Background : My partner and I are approaching our 27th birthdays (I'm April 6th and he's April 8th) and we have been feeling down about the entire ordeal. I know, pity us. We live in Philly and I'm a little far from home; my family lives on Long Island and his live just over the Betsy Ross Bridge in Southern New Jersey. We were trying to plan to see my family the weekend before (since my birthday is on a Thursday this year, totally harshing my vibe) and we'd celebrate his the following weekend. I was getting pretty bummed by the lack of enthusiasm from the fam back home as there are a few birthdays in the family around that time (I have a twin sister, my aunt is also born on April 6th, a cousin on the 12th, my grandfather on the 1st) and it seems like everyone wants to get together on the Saturday I'd be there, which usually would sound swell but I really just wanted to have a low key adventure at the Long Island vineyards and drink my butt off on some dope wine. In more adult terms : We just wouldn't be able to really spend the time we wanted to spend with each other, with all of these other events going on at the same time. So Brandon, my partner, says to me "Well, what would you like to do for your birthday?" and I said, half jokingly, "I want to go to Disney World". He freaking said "OKAY". From there, we pounced as time was running short.
WHEN : March 31st - April 3rd (thus the Unbirthday, not trying to go to Disney the weekend before Easter)
WHERE : All-Star Movies
WHO : Me! Chelsea - self absorbed Disnut, the only one of my friends that even remotely enjoys Disney
Brandon! One of many reasons I love him so dearly, he's not as fascinated by Disney culture as I am. But he tolerates it and I know his appreciation for the parks has grown since we met over 4 years ago.
And because I love this picture of us :
The theme of this trip is : Don't Sweat It. We've been to Disney twice together over the last four years and have had to put off this third visit because Brandon said so. He was Disney'd out and wanted to see other places, as did I. But in general, it's going to be a busier time than we're accustomed to and we have such a short amount of time to actually spend in the parks, we don't want to over do it and stress out about sacrificing fun for ADR's so I've made our itinerary fairly flexible.
To start, we are driving from Philly. We've driven down before and it's quite a long trip but we honestly enjoy it. We initially anticipated grabbing some cheap airfare out of Newark but the room at All-Star, although our least expensive option, was still a hefty pile of change so we decided to save $300 and use it towards gas and tolls and Sheetz!
I already have tickets because I was lucky enough to purchase 7-day No Expiration Park Hoppers for us a few years back before they terminated the No Expiration option. We are down to our final 2 days on this ticket so we're going to make them count.
Day 1 Arrive whenever! Driving overnight, we don't know how many stops we'll need to make or what sort of traffic we'll encounter due to evening road work. It's typically about 15 hours. We basically plan on arriving and crashing for a few hours. Friday will not be a park day, for sure.
Instead, that will be the evening for our fancy birthday dinner. I was thinking an evening on the Boardwalk for Flying Fish, AbracadaBar, Ample Hills, and maybe Jelly Rolls. I also have Touring Plans checking for any open California Grill reservations for me. I've never been and I'm really dying to try the food, the bar, and the fireworks. If I get a coveted reservation for Friday evening, I may have to change our plans.
Day 2 Rope Drop at DHS, FP's are Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and ToT. Break for the afternoon at the pool. Evening at Magic Kingdom. No ADR, will just grab dinner at a QS like Columbia Harbour. DON'T SWEAT IT.
Day 3 Rope Drop at Epcot, sprint to Frozen. I have FP's set up for Soarin, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth (Brandon loves it) but I'm most invested in floating around the World, trying all of the delightful treats they are serving for the Flower & Garden Festival. No ADR's here. We're snacking.
Sunday evening gets a little hairy. I currently have an ADR for Tiffin's with the anticipation that we'd go to AK for the evening and catch RoL. I've gotten the feeling from Brandon that AK is not his favorite and I might give him the option to return to any park of his choice that evening after we rest up at the hotel.
So, we have 30 days until we arrive. Time to start planning theme park outfits!
