Trip Report Lions and Yetis and Banshees, Oh my! A late August '17 TR and a July '18 PTR

Hello!

My name is Morgan and I am a long time trip report lurker reader Please know I love to read everyones reports! I rarely comment because I usually read them on my iPad and I hate to type on it. I have written one report on here, but sadly those pictures were lost to Photobucket. Since that trip i've been back to the world 3 times and have been on 2 Disney cruises. I figure now is a good time to get back into trip reporting!

Up first is my quick weekend trip to the world last August. My hubby and I couldn't wait for a dedicated WDW trip to check out Pandora, so what better than a quick little getaway!


Friday, August 18: Travel & MK
We were up early to get our daughter off to school and to drop our dog off at the in-laws house. They both enjoyed getting spoiled all weekend!

First things first, Chick-Fil-A.


While here we also received an email from Southwest. Flight delay. We finished up breakfast and decided to go ahead and go to the airport.

I think every sign had this message on it.


We quickly parked, made it through security, and made it to our gate with plenty of time.

About 10 minutes after we sat down, another alert from Southwest came through.


Oh well. Nothing we can do about it now!

We had some entertainment. This sweet service dog who helps calm nervous fliers. SOOO CUTE


FINALLY we were boarding and soon in the air



Made it!


Of course we went to the A side instead of B

When we finally made it to DME, it was empty. We had one family in front of us



About 10 minutes later we were on a bus. Didn't take long until we were off to our resort.

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Stopped by Pongu Pongu for a Moara Margarita. It was ok. It was so sweet I couldn't finish it all



I took some more pics before getting in line for NRJ






FOP wait time was rarely under 120 minutes, so I took a few more pics before heading out.




We had a fantastic AK day! I was really really happy with all we were able to accomplish. AK is the best!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Sunday, August 20: Disney Springs / home

We slept in a bit today before heading to the food court for breakfast


After breakfast we went back to the room to grab our bags to take to bell services. Goodbye All-Star Sports! You were a great!




Time for Disney Springs!



Stopped by D-Luxe Burger to check out the menu. We'd be back here for lunch!









I need this! I have nowhere to put it but I need it!






I need this too!! Cody did get me this print in a small crossbody bag for Mother's Day and its so pretty!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

More shopping! These pictures are all out of order I think. Oh well!




I couldn't resist this!


Time for lunch! It was so good



Couple more pics before heading to the bus stop





Woo empty bus back to Sports!


We picked up our bags and sat outside to wait for DME



Perfect snack while waiting


We had a DCL bus back to MCO Double the sadness!


I liked this


Time to go home


Bye Orlando


Hello Memphis


We had an uneventful flight back home. Only 21 days until the next trip!!!

Up next: July 2018 pre TR!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Sunday, August 20: Disney Springs / home

We slept in a bit today before heading to the food court for breakfast


After breakfast we went back to the room to grab our bags to take to bell services. Goodbye All-Star Sports! You were a great!




Time for Disney Springs!



Stopped by D-Luxe Burger to check out the menu. We'd be back here for lunch!









I need this! I have nowhere to put it but I need it!






I need this too!! Cody did get me this print in a small crossbody bag for Mother's Day and its so pretty!

I just told Brian the same thing about the Lego castle when we were there! Can't wait to hear about your next trip!

 

[Walt d]

Yay! So glad you decided to do another report! I can't wait to hear all about the trip!

Thanks for the great photos, i was there too..

 

[DisneyMorgan]

July 2018 PTR

This trip was supposed to happen back in May as another quick weekend for F&G/Cody's birthday. Well we ended up cancelling that trip because we thought were spending too much on vacation this year since we have a cruise booked in October.

...so on Valentine's Day, the hubs and I met up for lunch. He told me out of the blue "Happy Valentine's Day. Book a Disney trip. Now."
wait.. what? WHAT? SERIOUSLY?

Sooo of course when I got back to work I frantically started looking up flights. As some people know, flying out of Memphis is pricey. I don't understand why we don't have more flights, or even international flights. I mean come on! The FedEx hub is RIGHT HERE.

I'm sure there are reasons why, but booooooooo. It stinks!

I found round trip flights for July. $372 total. SOLD! Thank you Southwest! All-Star Music was the cheapest resort to book. Booked it

Here are the details! @LisaBelle let me know if our plans match!

Sat. July 14 - Arrival / Epcot
Our flight lands at 8:10am, so i'm hoping DME won't be too crazy. Hoping for a quick bus ride to Music and an even quicker bus ride to EPCOT!
FP+ 11-12pm Nemo
FP+ 12:10 - 1:10pm SSE
FP+ 2-3pm Frozen

We haven't been on Frozen yet so that's why i'm choosing that for my top tier pass. Hopefully Soarin won't be too horrible of a wait, we plan on hitting that up right when we get there. TT has single rider so that won't be bad.

We have dinner reservations at Via Napoli. I've heard mixed reviews but Cody is a big pizza fan so we are going to try it out. After Illuminations we may walk over to Boardwalk, but that is going to depend on how tired we are.

Sun. July 15 - Magic Kingdom
Hours for MK today are only 9-10pm. So what do we do?? We pay the extra $$ for early morning magic
SDMT, Peter Pan, and Pooh are all open for EMM. Breakfast is included at Pinocchio Village Haus. Plan is to rope drop HM and do some rides in Fantasyland before FP times.
FP+ 9:20-10:20am BTMRR
FP+ 10:20 - 11:20am Splash
FP+ 11:20 - 12:20pm Pirates

12:15 lunch reservation at BOG (we're sharing a lunch since today is a big food day). May hit up some Tomorrowland before an afternoon break

Dinner is at Liberty Tree Tavern tonight. Excited to try the toffee cake!! We will do whatever else we want to do before HEA.

Mon. July 16 - Animal Kingdom
We are following the same plan as we did in August last year. However if the wait for FoP is awful we will skip it and head to other rides
FP+ 11:30 - 12:30pm Safari
FP+ 1:25 - 2:25pm EE
FP+ 5:25 - 6:25pm FoP

FP for AK were slim pickings at 6am! I'm happy with what I got though.

Dinner tonight is at Yak & Yeti. This is our favorite restaurant at AK and we always have a great meal here.

Park closes at 10:30 so we will probably hit up NRJ around closing if the line isn't bad.

Tues. July 17 - Hollywood Studios / Fly home
We're going to be up EARLYYYYYY early early. HS opens at 7am today! I had a Slinky Dog FP+, but we couldn't make the time work out so I had to let it go So the plan is to rope drop Slinky Dog before heading down Sunset
FP+ 8:25 - 9:25am ToT
FP+ 9:35 - 10:35am Star Tours
FP+ 10:35 - 11:35am TSMM
I could've grabbed a fp for Alien Saucers, but that ride doesn't really interest me. I'd much rather ride TSMM!

Lunch today is at Sci-Fi Dine In. Here's to hoping it's good! Depending on how long lunch takes, we should have about an hour or less to explore HS before heading back to Music for DME.
............................

I'm happy with my plans for this quick getaway. We will get NO SLEEP but oh well! However, the guilt of not taking my sweet little 6 year old is weighing heavy on me I can't feel TOO bad since she is going on her 3rd cruise this fall. AND I've already started making plans for a surprise Christmas trip for her for December 2019. An adult only trip is fabulous but, mom guilt

Only 20 days to go..

I got the idea to add the year at the end of our names from Amy (@TheMouseFan) from one of her TR's. I like doing this so I can remember the trip we got them for!

Also if anyone was curious (since I didn't know this), your "magical extras" for mini golf, etc. come on this card with your magic bands. The luggage tag is soooo cute

 

[LisaBelle]

July 2018 PTR

This trip was supposed to happen back in May as another quick weekend for F&G/Cody's birthday. Well we ended up cancelling that trip because we thought were spending too much on vacation this year since we have a cruise booked in October.

...so on Valentine's Day, the hubs and I met up for lunch. He told me out of the blue "Happy Valentine's Day. Book a Disney trip. Now."
wait.. what? WHAT? SERIOUSLY?

Sooo of course when I got back to work I frantically started looking up flights. As some people know, flying out of Memphis is pricey. I don't understand why we don't have more flights, or even international flights. I mean come on! The FedEx hub is RIGHT HERE.

I'm sure there are reasons why, but booooooooo. It stinks!

I found round trip flights for July. $372 total. SOLD! Thank you Southwest! All-Star Music was the cheapest resort to book. Booked it

Here are the details! @LisaBelle let me know if our plans match!

Sat. July 14 - Arrival / Epcot
Our flight lands at 8:10am, so i'm hoping DME won't be too crazy. Hoping for a quick bus ride to Music and an even quicker bus ride to EPCOT!
FP+ 11-12pm Nemo
FP+ 12:10 - 1:10pm SSE
FP+ 2-3pm Frozen

We haven't been on Frozen yet so that's why i'm choosing that for my top tier pass. Hopefully Soarin won't be too horrible of a wait, we plan on hitting that up right when we get there. TT has single rider so that won't be bad.

We have dinner reservations at Via Napoli. I've heard mixed reviews but Cody is a big pizza fan so we are going to try it out. After Illuminations we may walk over to Boardwalk, but that is going to depend on how tired we are.

Sun. July 15 - Magic Kingdom
Hours for MK today are only 9-10pm. So what do we do?? We pay the extra $$ for early morning magic
SDMT, Peter Pan, and Pooh are all open for EMM. Breakfast is included at Pinocchio Village Haus. Plan is to rope drop HM and do some rides in Fantasyland before FP times.
FP+ 9:20-10:20am BTMRR
FP+ 10:20 - 11:20am Splash
FP+ 11:20 - 12:20pm Pirates

12:15 lunch reservation at BOG (we're sharing a lunch since today is a big food day). May hit up some Tomorrowland before an afternoon break

Dinner is at Liberty Tree Tavern tonight. Excited to try the toffee cake!! We will do whatever else we want to do before HEA.

Mon. July 16 - Animal Kingdom
We are following the same plan as we did in August last year. However if the wait for FoP is awful we will skip it and head to other rides
FP+ 11:30 - 12:30pm Safari
FP+ 1:25 - 2:25pm EE
FP+ 5:25 - 6:25pm FoP

FP for AK were slim pickings at 6am! I'm happy with what I got though.

Dinner tonight is at Yak & Yeti. This is our favorite restaurant at AK and we always have a great meal here.

Park closes at 10:30 so we will probably hit up NRJ around closing if the line isn't bad.

Tues. July 17 - Hollywood Studios / Fly home
We're going to be up EARLYYYYYY early early. HS opens at 7am today! I had a Slinky Dog FP+, but we couldn't make the time work out so I had to let it go So the plan is to rope drop Slinky Dog before heading down Sunset
FP+ 8:25 - 9:25am ToT
FP+ 9:35 - 10:35am Star Tours
FP+ 10:35 - 11:35am TSMM
I could've grabbed a fp for Alien Saucers, but that ride doesn't really interest me. I'd much rather ride TSMM!

Lunch today is at Sci-Fi Dine In. Here's to hoping it's good! Depending on how long lunch takes, we should have about an hour or less to explore HS before heading back to Music for DME.
............................

I'm happy with my plans for this quick getaway. We will get NO SLEEP but oh well! However, the guilt of not taking my sweet little 6 year old is weighing heavy on me I can't feel TOO bad since she is going on her 3rd cruise this fall. AND I've already started making plans for a surprise Christmas trip for her for December 2019. An adult only trip is fabulous but, mom guilt

Only 20 days to go..

I got the idea to add the year at the end of our names from Amy (@TheMouseFan) from one of her TR's. I like doing this so I can remember the trip we got them for!

Also if anyone was curious (since I didn't know this), your "magical extras" for mini golf, etc. come on this card with your magic bands. The luggage tag is soooo cute

Yay! We will be at MK Sunday and AK on Monday so we have a chance of meeting up! I will keep my eyes peeled for you and Cody. I will be with my family and my sister’s family. My daughter @TheMARVELousAllieBrown started a PTR so you will know what we all look like! Here are our details for those days:
Sunday 7/15 MK
10:45 Space
11:55 BTMR
1:45 BOG
8:40 7DMT
We will be there normal opening to close (but we plan to take a break back at the hotel for a few hours in the afternoon).

Monday 7/16 AK
We will be there for EMH and stay til noon, take a break for a few hours at the resort and come back in the afternoon and stay til close.
9:50 Safari
11:00 planning to eat at Flame Tree
4:05 FOP
5:20 EE
6:30 Tusker House
9:15 ROL
So excited our parks match up! Fingers crossed we can meet! You can message me if you want!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Yay! We will be at MK Sunday and AK on Monday so we have a chance of meeting up! I will keep my eyes peeled for you and Cody. I will be with my family and my sister’s family. My daughter @TheMARVELousAllieBrown started a PTR so you will know what we all look like! Here are our details for those days:
Sunday 7/15 MK
10:45 Space
11:55 BTMR
1:45 BOG
8:40 7DMT
We will be there normal opening to close (but we plan to take a break back at the hotel for a few hours in the afternoon).

Monday 7/16 AK
We will be there for EMH and stay til noon, take a break for a few hours at the resort and come back in the afternoon and stay til close.
9:50 Safari
11:00 planning to eat at Flame Tree
4:05 FOP
5:20 EE
6:30 Tusker House
9:15 ROL
So excited our parks match up! Fingers crossed we can meet! You can message me if you want!

Yay!!!! So for MK it may be difficult to meet up. Looks like when you are in one area we will just be leaving for another! What are your plans for EMH at AK? I am planning on being at AK around 7 so we can get in line for rope drop at FoP before heading to KS & EE

 

[LisaBelle]

Yay!!!! So for MK it may be difficult to meet up. Looks like when you are in one area we will just be leaving for another! What are your plans for EMH at AK? I am planning on being at AK around 7 so we can get in line for rope drop at FoP before heading to KS & EE

We are heading for Dinosaur first. Then we may do Primeval Whirl, then EE, possibly Gorilla Trail and then KS. So we could potentially be in the same vicinity for EE.

 

[sheriffwoody]

I have been SO frustrated with Southwest flight options out of Memphis lately! The nonstops are usually priced well, but now there's only one a day I feel like this just happened in the last couple of years. I'm flying Frontier for my July trip (after yours sadly)...interested to see if it's something we will do in the future. It's limited, but at least it's always cheap!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

I have been SO frustrated with Southwest flight options out of Memphis lately! The nonstops are usually priced well, but now there's only one a day I feel like this just happened in the last couple of years. I'm flying Frontier for my July trip (after yours sadly)...interested to see if it's something we will do in the future. It's limited, but at least it's always cheap!

Ugh I know! Sometimes they are great, sometimes they are not! For our October dates, the prices for Southwest to MCO were ridiculous. Instead of flying to MCO, we are flying to Tampa and renting a car. We still came out WAY cheaper this way!

Let me know how you like Frontier. They charge you extra for carry ons/checked luggage/etc right?

 

[sheriffwoody]

Ugh I know! Sometimes they are great, sometimes they are not! For our October dates, the prices for Southwest to MCO were ridiculous. Instead of flying to MCO, we are flying to Tampa and renting a car. We still came out WAY cheaper this way!

Let me know how you like Frontier. They charge you extra for carry ons/checked luggage/etc right?

We lucked out and got good prices for October, but they went up like immediately after we purchased ours. Luckily we're close enough to Nashville to fly out of there if we need to.

I will let you know! Yes, it was $35 extra for a carryon (each way). So I will take a small suitcase and a backpack for under the seat (which is free). I just noticed a checked bag is actually a little cheaper...so I don't know why I didn't do that! Oh well.

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Landed this morning around 8:30 and we were at Epcot a little after 10am. It’s been a jam packed day!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Landed this morning around 8:30 and we were at Epcot a little after 10am. It’s been a jam packed day!

Have a great time!! I'm so jealous!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Hoping you are having an awesome time!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Have a great time!! I'm so jealous!

We had so much fun!! Can't wait to go back!

Hoping you are having an awesome time!

Thank you! We had a blast! Back to reality today