Pre-Trip The fuuun has arriiiived!: A September 2018 pre-trip report

Hello everybody, I’m Emily. Welcome to my pre-trip report! For those who don’t know me, I don’t blame you . I make my way around the forums but I am primarily a “Lurk n’ Liker” (trademark: me. Just made that up now). Just consider me a shifty-eyed crocodile, because I “lurk... lurk… lurk” (name that Disney attraction!). If you do know me it may be because I’ve graced your trip report with a rare comment or perhaps you read my sister’s (@krause) trip report for our February 2018 trip with her husband and kids and our parents, which can be found here. Here’s a few pictures of us to jog your memory:

Aren’t my niece and nephew the cutest?! Kinley is actually turning 3 this coming week and is having a “Belle Beast Paw Patrol Princess Party” at her request.

This trip, however, will not be with my family. A friend of mine, Kaitlyn, and I have booked a trip together for this September. This is my 10th trip to Walt Disney World. Kaitlyn’s first trip was with me and two other friends of ours in 2015. She has been once more since then. Sadly, the two friends who joined us on our first trip together couldn’t make it this trip. Here’s the four of us on our April 2015 trip, which celebrated us graduating from university:

We don’t really do “normal” . Kaitlyn is the one on the far right and I am beside her. Here’s just the two of us, all dressed up for my birthday day in Disney:

Goodness, my hair really does hate the humidity.

Worth it!!!


Coming up: The Details

 

[riverside]

Looking forward to the details!!

 

[AKemily]

Looking forward to the details!!

Thanks! For some reason the moderator always has to approve my posts- maybe its the gifs? Or maybe I'm just a troublemaker and I didn't even know it! Anyways, once that happens, the details will be here!

 

[AKemily]

Sorry, these next couple posts will be text heavy. I’ll try to mix it up with some fun gif-work!

Who: Myself (Emily) and my friend, Kaitlyn. I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and Kaitlyn is from small town Saskatchewan.

When: Thursday, September 13th to Thursday, September 20th. I believe I share some park days with @Matt and Kelly, as well as @Figment Forever, and I’m not sure who else! I hope I am able to run in to some of you!

Why: While it wasn’t the point of the trip, Kaitlyn and I will become roommates at the beginning of September (she’s moving to Winnipeg) and this will kick off our living together! Fingers crossed we don’t get totally sick of each other.

Where: B Resort & Spa. For those who don’t know, this is a Disney Springs Resort Area hotel. It’s on Disney property, but it’s not Disney-run. Why are we staying there and not a Disney Resort you ask? We got a really good deal. And we’re broke millennials about to move into our first apartment. Anyways, as a Disney Springs area hotel, we still get a regular shuttle to each of the parks, Extra Magic Hours, and the 60 day fastpass+ window.

*Skip to the next post if you don’t want a long rant about linking reservations with B Resort to MDE*
Unfortunately, we have already had our share of headaches with B Resort. We had a lot of trouble linking our reservation to our MDE accounts. To be fair, we decided to do our trip and booked our hotel 4 days before our fastpass window opened. But either way, we didn’t expect it to take so long after we made our reservation until the time we were able to link it. Anyways, MDE says it may take 24 hours before you can link your reservation. So we waited 24 hours. At that point the reservation still didn’t link so we called Disney. They said it may take 72 hours. So we waited 72 hours. When it didn’t link, we got really desperate. Our fastpass+ window would open soon! Disney said that if it still wasn’t linking it was because B Resort hadn’t transferred the information. So I called B Resort… long story short: after conversations with several different B Resort employees, a few desperate voice mails and lots of impatience I was finally transferred to the person who sends the info to Disney, let’s call her R, who was actually competent! She resent the information to Disney and within an hour I could link our fastpasses! Or so I thought. The reservation went through as having two children on it, and the MDE app requires you to link each person to someone on your account. Well, we clearly didn’t have children with us. So I talked to Disney and they fixed it. At last, about 12 hours after our FP+ window opened, we were able to link! I let my new friend R know about the two extra children on the reservation and she gladly told me that that was a glitch and that was the way they had to send the information to Disney… Couldn’t have told me that before, R?!?

Anyways, after all that, I was happy with the fastpasses we were able to get. I just hope our stay at the B Resort & Spa isn’t reflective of this early experience with them. As a side note, if anyone does book with B Resort, I would suggest booking more than 4 days before your fastpass+ window and to let me know if you have any issues because I know more about that place now than most of their staff!



Up Next: Fastpasses (and a couple ADRs)!!!

 

[AKemily]

Welcome back to the people who skipped the rant!

Before reading the below, it is important to know that Kaitlyn and I are all-day park people. We plan to go for rope drop and stay until the park closes each day. That’s another reason I’m not too worried about the B Resort stay - we will hardly be there! Here is the breakdown for our fastpasses.

September 13 - Arrival Day - We arrive at MCO around 1:30PM. We are hoping to make it to Magic Kingdom around 4. Not sure if that’s realistic or not, but that’s the goal! We have fastpasses for BTMRR, Splash, and SDMT.

September 14 - Animal Kingdom - EE, Kilimanjaro, and an early evening fastpass+ for FoP. Kaitlyn’s last trip was in February 2017, so she hasn’t yet experienced Pandora. I’m excited to show it to her (although mostly just Flight of Passage).

September 15 - Hollywood Studios - TSMM (no SDD openings), RnR and ToT. We also have a late afternoon reservation to Beaches & Cream so we’ll be taking a detour out of the Parks. Kaitlyn also has never been to the Boardwalk and I’ve never been to Beaches & Cream so I’m very excited for this one! I’m also hoping to experience Ample Hills on our Epcot day but I know there will be sooo much food to try. Thanks to @ajrwdwgirl I’ve been itching to try the Oatmeal ice cream there for over a year! It sounds amaaaaazing.

September 16 - Magic Kingdom - SDMT, BTMRR and Splash. Yes, they’re the same as the first day but we know we’ll want to do these again! We are also doing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this night! We have some costumes planned that I’m pretty excited about (you’ll have to wait and see!). I also went to the party with a friend of mine in October 2016 and had a blast and I knew I had to do it again! I’ve pretty much had the Boo to You song stuck in my head for the last two years, so it only seems right. For the sake of having a picture in this post, here’s one of my friend J and I in our Robin Hood costumes.

*Sigh* Looking back, I wish we hadn’t done the facepaint.

September 17 - Epcot - Nemo, Spaceship Earth, and Frozen. I’m also hoping to enjoy some Food & Wine Festival! Kaitlyn doesn’t drink alcohol much, but I’m hoping to indulge in a few libations.

September 18 - Animal Kingdom - FoP, Kilimanjaro, and EE.

September 19 - Magic Kingdom - SDMT, Splash, and BTMRR (yes, again! We are not ashamed! Plus, crowd levels are low and we expect to get everything else done that we want to). We also have a reservation for Kona Cafe for breakfast, but we’ll get in an hour or so at the Park before then!

September 20 - Our dreaded home day - I think our flight leaves MCO at something like 6:45AM so we will have to be up and at ‘em super early. The nice thing about that is arriving home at a reasonable time. The sad part is leaving Disney at all, at any time, ever.

And that’s it! 46 days to go!! I have to keep reminding myself that I’m moving out before then and try not to be too focused on the trip! It’s hard work. But I’m glad to be doing it!

 

[LisaBelle]

Sounds like a fun trip! Sorry you had so much trouble linking your reservation, but glad you were able to make your FP+ for most of the things you wanted. You may be able to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash. It’s a lot of fun!

 

[AKemily]

Sounds like a fun trip! Sorry you had so much trouble linking your reservation, but glad you were able to make your FP+ for most of the things you wanted. You may be able to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash. It’s a lot of fun!

Thanks for reading! It was really a pain but it's easy to forget now that it's over I really hope to be able to rope drop SDD and ride it at least once! It has had so many great reviews!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Sounds super fun! I'm there until the 15th! Maybe i'll see you!

 

[AKemily]

Sounds super fun! I'm there until the 15th! Maybe i'll see you!

Thank you for following along That sounds great! Be sure to say hi if you see us and I'll keep an eye out for you!

 

[munk2000]

Following along! My wife and I will be there at the same time.

 

[AKemily]

Following along! My wife and I will be there at the same time.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to say hi if you see us! Will you be writing a trip report?

 

[munk2000]

Thanks for reading! Make sure to say hi if you see us! Will you be writing a trip report?

I don't know. I'm more of a “Lurk n’ Liker” to quote a fellow poster.

 

[Billy6]

Good stuff! My family and I will be down same time and going to the Halloween party on the 16th as well!! Just got tickets on Monday!!

 

[AKemily]

I don't know. I'm more of a “Lurk n’ Liker” to quote a fellow poster.

Understandable! I keep telling myself that I'm going to keep really good track of everything we do all day in the parks and create a superb trip report, however I think if you were to ask @krause she would say that my tracking skills left something to be desired on our last trip

Good stuff! My family and I will be down same time and going to the Halloween party on the 16th as well!! Just got tickets on Monday!!

That's so great! The party is such a blast. Hopefully we see you there! If you see us (and recognize us in our costumes ) be sure to wave us down! Will you be in costume?

 

[Billy6]

That's so great! The party is such a blast. Hopefully we see you there! If you see us (and recognize us in our costumes ) be sure to wave us down! Will you be in costume?

I think we've narrowed it down to something Incredibles but may keep it simple and not a full costume.... Our MDE avatars are the Incredibles, so it was only fitting!!!

 

[AKemily]

I think we've narrowed it down to something Incredibles but may keep it simple and not a full costume.... Our MDE avatars are the Incredibles, so it was only fitting!!!

That'll be so much fun! Well, I will keep my eye out for an Incredible family

 

[Billy6]

That'll be so much fun! Well, I will keep my eye out for an Incredible family

I'm "super" excited for the party! I'm sure there will be many dressed like that, just look for the family that has "jack-jack" still in the oven....

 

[amjt660]

Following along

Not familiar with Small town

Is that near Saskatoon?

Max

 

[amjt660]

And yes, Saskatoon and Regina might be the only cities I know in Saskatchewan

Max

 

[AKemily]

I'm "super" excited for the party! I'm sure there will be many dressed like that, just look for the family that has "jack-jack" still in the oven....

I see what you did there It will be very fun! Aww, I will do that! Congratulations!!

Following along

Not familiar with Small town

Is that near Saskatoon?

Max

Haha small town is what I said as I did not ask Kaitlyn's permission to post her hometown and (let's be honest) "small town Saskatchewan" doesn't really narrow it down all that much... however, now that you mention it, "Small Town" is near Saskatoon! Glad to have you along, Max!