Pre-Trip Wait.. are we ACTUALLY going back?

Hello all!
Welcome to my first ever Pre-Trip report! I'm so excited to be able to finally write one .

Who?
Me (Marlee, aged 20)


My mom, my dad, and my little sister Tansy (who will be 13 this trip)


This picture is a bit old (it's from our 2010 spring break trip), so my sister is much bigger now.

When?
August 2nd through August 9th 2016.

Where?
Port Orleans French Quarter. We stayed here during spring break in 2010 and loved how quiet it was.

Why?
It been three years since our last trip (I know, so long ) and my mom, my sister and I really miss the world. The magic band system wasn't even up and running the last time we were at Disney.
We had been talking about going back in May of 2017 after my college graduation, but last weekend my dad suggested that we could maybe go this summer instead.
Could this be real? It was! Before we knew what had hit us his simple suggestion turned into full on Disney Fever. Within 24 hours we had booked not only our hotel and plane tickets, but also three ADRs. The trip still feels a bit unreal. I have to keep asking myself, are we ACTUALLY getting to go back?

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

What we've planned so far:
August 2nd:
-Arrive at 8:30 am
-Board Magical Express and head to POFQ to drop off baggage
-Head to Magic Kingdom for the day
- ADRs for Be Our Guest at 2:25pm

August 3rd:
???

August 4th:
-AM EMH at Epcot
-ADRs for Beirgarten at 12:00pm

August 5th:
-AM EMH at Magic Kingdom
- ADRs for Crystal Palace at 10:20am

August 6th:
-AM EMH at Animal Kingdom
- ADR for Afternoon tea at Grand Floridian at 3:00pm

August 7th:
???
August 8th:
???
August 9th:
-Check out of POFQ
-Day at Disney Springs; no parks
- Flight departs at 7:30pm

 

[WDWDarling]

ADR for Afternoon tea at Grand Floridian at 3:00pm

Afternoon Tea at the GF is high on my Disney bucket list! I'm hoping to book it for our next trip in May 2017. Happy trip planning!

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

Afternoon Tea at the GF is high on my Disney bucket list! I'm hoping to book it for our next trip in May 2017. Happy trip planning!

We've done Afternoon tea the last few times we've gone. It's great for a quiet afternoon away from the crowds at the park. The teas and pastries there are all really good too.

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

As of today my grandparents have officially joined our trip!

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

My mom and I have bought our purses for the parks, so I think it's time for an update!
Here's a quick picture of our bags to start things off:


Despite the fact that my mom and I bought these separately we still managed to find ones that matched. I guess that's what we get for buying from the discontinued patterns . I told her that we need to find matching shirts for the trip too so that everybody really knows we belong in the same group.

Alright, on to some of the other updates I have. As I have said before, my grandparent's have now joined the "Who" of our trip. Right now their plan is to drive down on July 31st (arriving August 2nd) and leave on August 7th. They will be staying at POFQ like we are for the trip. Unfortunately that's as far as their plans go at the moment. We seem to have a hard time getting things together where my grandparents are concerned. My parents and I are hoping that we can add them to all of our meals except for Be Our Guest (we aren't sure if they will get there in time), but we shall see what actually happens.

Hopefully I'll have more to share with everybody soon. Only 141 more days to go!

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

I'm at the point in the semester where I'm beginning to feel overrun by homework, but luckily I've got some new Disney news to keep me going!
We are now officially set to go on the DME when we arrive on August 2nd!
We are moving closer to our trip one agonizing step at a time.

I also just bought my sister some new Hidden Mickey guide books for her 13th birthday. I really hope that as a new teenager she will still be up for Hidden Mickey hunting with me. I have a horrible image in my head of me, the twenty year old, running around trying to do all the games and things while she stands back and tells me how dumb I look
Does anybody have any suggestions on other Disney-related things my now teen-aged sister might like?

 

[Juneau Biscuits]

Sounds like a great trip is at hand! Have a wonderful time and enjoy the pre-trip preparations!

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

Sounds like a great trip is at hand! Have a wonderful time and enjoy the pre-trip preparations!

Thank you so so much! I think trip planning is the only thing getting my through all this school work right now .

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

It's official, we are under 100 days until Disney!
Only 98 more days to go

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

I'm alive!!!!!!!
Although I should be very ashamed of myself for not updating this pre-trip report (I'm just going to go ahead and blame it on my internship...). The good news is that it's only 7 more days until I'm in the world!!!!! I am beyond excited about how soon the trip is.

Unfortunately I haven't packed anything yet. Like not even that small pile of things that end up in the corner of the room. Though that one I can blame on the internship.

At the moment I am staying two hours from home with my aunt and uncle for my summer internship. My internship ends on July 29th and I will finally be coming home on July 30th. It's been a long two months away from home, and it has certainly been hard not being able to pack for our trip.

So, here's the plan for when I get home:

July 30th:

• Arrive home around dinner time and immediately wash all the clothes I took with me to remove cat hair

July 31st:

• Revel in the fact that I am home and get to sleep in my own bed.
• Try and figure out what in the world I am wearing on the trip and how to shove it all in my suitcase and still have room for the things I want to bring back.

August 1st:

• Try to figure out where exactly I'm putting all the stuff I want to carry onto the plane (somehow I already think that my 600 page book won't fit in my purse).
• Help my mom finish packing everyone else's clothes.
• Pretend that I am going to actually go to bed before 11 pm

August 2nd:

• Run around the house at four in the morning picking up all the things I forgot to pack the night before
• Change into the matching Minnie Mouse T-shirts my mom, my sister, and I have
• Get through the hopefully short line for airport security (we recently acquired TSA pre-check status)
• DISNEY!!!!

Hopefully I will update this again tomorrow to fill everyone in on a few important things that I left out in the last few months
I might even include some of the things on my must buy list for this trip.

 

[FlaggNL]

Plans look great! You are almost there!! And you are staying in POFQ! How great! We will do the same in October and in 2017. Enjoy the final pre feelings and have a magical and wonderful stay! And leave behind some of the magic in POFQ for us

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

Plans look great! You are almost there!! And you are staying in POFQ! How great! We will do the same in October and in 2017. Enjoy the final pre feelings and have a magical and wonderful stay! And leave behind some of the magic in POFQ for us

We will certainly try to leave some magic for you. October would definitely be a nice time of year to go; I have always wanted to see the food and wine festival.

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

As promised, I am back with a few updates.

I've been away from home for two months now, which means that I wasn't around when the magic bands and magical express bag tags came in the mail. Luckily my mom kept me in the loop by sending me pictures of them all:

Yay magic bands!

She even sent me a picture of the matching shirts she bought for herself, my sister, and me:

And the one she bought for just my sister and me:

I'm sad that I wasn't able to be home to see these things in person, but receiving these pictures while I was at work was always a great pick-me-up.

Alright, I saved the biggest update that I saved for last:
As a birthday present for my mom I booked a Keys to the Kingdom tour for the two of us! The two of us have talked about doing one of the tours for years, but had never been able to book one before. I thought that this would be a great birthday present for her. It will be especially nice to have that time with her after being away for so long.

I felt bad that my sister couldn't come with us (you have to be 16 to do it and she is only 13), but she assured me that she is okay with it (after I asked her about six times just to make sure it was okay). As a consolation for not being able to join us, my mom booked reservations for the Kona Cafe for my dad and my sister for breakfast that morning. I am sure they will enjoy some daddy-daughter time while my mom and I are off on our tour.

 

[FlaggNL]

We will certainly try to leave some magic for you. October would definitely be a nice time of year to go; I have always wanted to see the food and wine festival.

The food and wine is nice, but to be honest Epcot is a good park, but in our opinion the least of them all. This trip we going to check out Blizzard and Typhoon for the first time..... but October is great! Nice temperature and less crowded as I have to believe people. And off course Halloween season! On our opinion the best Disney season of the year... although Christmas is also on our wishlist. Been to DLP in Christmas season and that is always great, so WDW must be much much better! But as long as Sacha is studying we are stick to school holidays!

 

[FlaggNL]

Alright, I saved the biggest update that I saved for last:
As a birthday present for my mom I booked a Keys to the Kingdom tour for the two of us! The two of us have talked about doing one of the tours for years, but had never been able to book one before. I thought that this would be a great birthday present for her. It will be especially nice to have that time with her after being away for so long.

What exactly is Keys to the Kingdcom tour? Just curious

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

On our opinion the best Disney season of the year... although Christmas is also on our wishlist. Been to DLP in Christmas season and that is always great, so WDW must be much much better! But as long as Sacha is studying we are stick to school holidays!

We always used to go in April for the flower and garden festival. The weather is similar to October and we love the flowers in EPCOT.Unfortunately we have the same problem with trying to plan vacations around the school year. Now that I am in college, my spring break doesn't line up with my sister's anymore which makes it impossible to go at that time of year anymore.

I made it to the Downtown Disney in Disneyland just after New Year's in 2015. The Christmas decorations were great there; I can only imagine how good they must look in the actual parks.

What exactly is Keys to the Kingdcom tour? Just curious

The Keys to the Kingdom tour is a five-hour walking tour of the MK where they take you through a lot of the backstage areas like the utiladors and give you some behind the scenes facts about the part. You also get lunch at the Harbor House in Liberty Square.

 

[FlaggNL]

We always used to go in April for the flower and garden festival. The weather is similar to October and we love the flowers in EPCOT.Unfortunately we have the same problem with trying to plan vacations around the school year. Now that I am in college, my spring break doesn't line up with my sister's anymore which makes it impossible to go at that time of year anymore.

I made it to the Downtown Disney in Disneyland just after New Year's in 2015. The Christmas decorations were great there; I can only imagine how good they must look in the actual parks.



The Keys to the Kingdom tour is a five-hour walking tour of the MK where they take you through a lot of the backstage areas like the utiladors and give you some behind the scenes facts about the part. You also get lunch at the Harbor House in Liberty Square.

I totally understand! When Sacha is finished her school and starting to work (I hope it will take along time, studying is better than working ) then we can go whenever we want.... if Sacha still wants to join us by that time

We were in DLP during Christmas season and that was great, I can only imagine how it will be in WDW

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

One more day to go!
...and to nobody's surprise, we are woefully behind on our packing. So much for my packing plan....

I was due to get home from my internship (after a quick stop at boyfriend's house) on Saturday evening. Storms had been forecasted for that day, but I assumed that I would be able to make the drive home from my boyfriend's between storm cells (the radar kept showing just a small patch of storms above us). By about 7pm it was clear that the storms just weren't going to stop (the storms had at least doubled in size and weren't supposed to be done until after 9pm). It was then that I sucked it up and called my parents to tell that I wasn't going to make it home until the next morning. Thank goodness I didn't go home.The amount of rain that we received in the course of the next hour caused such horrible flash floods that they made national news (I even saw a story about them on BBC this afternoon). Luckily everybody at home was safe after they did some frantic drain cleaning to stop the water going into the basement. I am so thankful that I didn't try to drive through the storm; many of the roads home were shut down for flooding.

So the next day, with everybody still reeling from the events of the night before, I drove home to start all the trip preparations that I couldn't do the day before. Which meant that I pretty much just spent the whole day doing laundry and trying to figure out what bag I had shoved various chargers and shoes into when I was packing up to go home while ogling videos and pictures of both the flood itself and its aftermath.

Today has been the real time crunch to get things done at the house. We have all vowed not to be up past 9pm so that we can get at least six hours of sleep (we have to be up at 3am so that we can get to the airport in time to get through security and everything before our 6:15 am flight), so we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off since about 8 this morning. Luckily it seems we have gotten much of our clothes and our carry-ons packed.

My grandparents started their drive down today and will hopefully be arriving at the hotel sometime in the afternoon tomorrow if everything goes to plan. Right now we plan on spending some park time in the evening with them after they arrive.

Hopefully my next update will be in a full-blown trip report! See you all at the end of our trip

 

[SpaceRanger014]

1. I miss you
2. I hope this semester isn't a killer
3. I'm SO ready for the TR!