***Official October 2023 Thread***

[pix13dust]

Exactly two weeks until we leave for our family’s first ever WDW trip. I’ve been as a child, but my wife and 4 kids(9,7,4 & 2) are all first timers. So stoked!

We also leave in 2 weeks!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We leave three weeks from today.

 

[IanDLBZF from MCMagic]

30 days left for me!

 

[Aprons]

Getting married in 8 days, which means then leaving for WDW in 13 days!!!

 

[Becky2005]

It is only 12 days until we go! Excited but so not ready! LOL! I'm pretty sure I will be packing the night before we go. LOL!

 

[Pickles516]

Let’s gooooooo!

 

[CalSea12]

We leave three weeks from today.

We leave on the 21st, usually I'm packed by now... too busy lately

 

[Becky2005]

Good thing I'm double & triple checking hours now as I just saw on the 15th that Magic Kingdom is now opening at 8 AM! We do plan on going early that day & we have party tickets so it is going to be a *very* long day but we do plan on taking a break.

I'm assuming it is going to be a busy weekend that we are going since they have been extending hours! I'm happy about it though, more hours is a good thing.

 

[Disturbia]

Good thing I'm double & triple checking hours now as I just saw on the 15th that Magic Kingdom is now opening at 8 AM! We do plan on going early that day & we have party tickets so it is going to be a *very* long day but we do plan on taking a break.

I'm assuming it is going to be a busy weekend that we are going since they have been extending hours! I'm happy about it though, more hours is a good thing.

Touring plan sends an alert when hours change if you subscribe. I found it helpful when I was searching for ADR openings once hours were added to the evening. I’m not subscribing this year because we are not staying deluxe (extended hours don’t matter) and we got all the ADRs we wanted.

 

[Disturbia]

We leave on the 21st, usually I'm packed by now... too busy lately

I’m 8 days after you and all I’ve done so far is throw a bunch of travel activity/sticker kits and Halloween candy bags into a carry on bag and 1 of 3 kids costumes into a big suitcase. That’s the extent of what I’ve packed.

I do have a master check list and will start throwing things into a bag in a corner this week. Packing doesn’t start till the week of (after laundry has been done). I have to stop watching MNSSHP and Food & Wine videos and focus on packing.

We have 3 kids and they have food allergies so we need extra things. I have to fill special diets form as well. Still pondering on adding a special order dessert to CRT (lost slipper seems too sweet). Did order a Haunted Mansion birthday cake with Daisy Cakes!

 

[sadiecatie]

Ok you guys are making me realize that I need to get my ish together I’m normally the super-planner, but I think this being a short trip had made me think that no planning for packing is required, which is…not true. Making my packing list and putting in an Amazon order because we leave in 11 days.

 

[Becky2005]

We are about 8 days out and I have gone into over prepare mode. I created a loose itinerary based on what we want to do, figuring out what is open during early entry & what is Genie+ (or both!). I'm still not sure if we will buy it or not but I needed to see it all in one place. I will then forget what we are supposed to do when we get there but we will have a good time no matter.

It's a bit different when you aren't doing most of the bigger rides compared to all the tips & tricks. The nice thing is no worry about virtual Q for us.

I have started getting things ready to pack, a few things just arrived in the mail so that was my hint that I probably should start at least getting things semi-ready. Still too early to pack for me though.

 

[Shir Kahn]

So I'm at work right now, 5 hours to go until I'm on vacation! I haven't packed a single thing yet, as per my usual Standard Operating Procedure! After work, I'm heading home to maybe do a bit of packing, then going to sleep for about 6 hours. My wife is heading to work and I'll be picking her up afterwards. Then we drive to Fargo and hopefully find a cheap hotel to sleep in for about 4-5 hours. Then we get up, head to the airport for our 5am flight to Orlando! It's going to be a bit rough for me on this trip, because I'm working overnights and I'll really have to change my schedule over! Definitely worth it though!

 

[Disturbia]

I booked a Fantasmic package for Oct 29 and it currently says ‘first show’ and only 9:30 pm as the show available.

I see the week prior has 2 shows now 8 pm and 9:30 pm. For anyone who had the second (earlier) show added after you already secured Fantasmic did your show time change to second show or did it automatically change to the first show?

The package would be worth its price for the first show; but usually the second show isn’t as crowded.

I believe our week (Oct 29+) will be updated at the end of next week (Thur or Fri).

 

[Becky2005]

I booked a Fantasmic package for Oct 29 and it currently says ‘first show’ and only 9:30 pm as the show available.

I see the week prior has 2 shows now 8 pm and 9:30 pm. For anyone who had the second (earlier) show added after you already secured Fantasmic did your show time change to second show or did it automatically change to the first show?

I had the same situation and I ended up canceling mine. From what I understand it would change into the 8 pm show and I had a 6:05 reservation. I didn't want to risk it since everything I read & even my TA said they don't do the packages with the 2nd show, only the first showing.

However, I read somewhere earlier in the thread that someone called and was told it was for the 9:30 pm show. I, personally, didn't want to risk getting there and finding out we had to hustle to the 8 pm show since it didn't seem like anyone had a definitive answer.

 

[Becky2005]

I'm so excited that Journey of Water is doing soft openings.

This is what I was hoping for as even though we will be there on the 16th, it didn't work with our schedule to go that day. I know it is a virtual que along with all the verbiage of it may or may not be open, etc... but figuring they can cycle a lot of people through there since it is a walk through. I am hoping to snag one when we are there on our Epcot day.

 

[sadiecatie]

I'm so excited that Journey of Water is doing soft openings.

This is what I was hoping for as even though we will be there on the 16th, it didn't work with our schedule to go that day. I know it is a virtual que along with all the verbiage of it may or may not be open, etc... but figuring they can cycle a lot of people through there since it is a walk through. I am hoping to snag one when we are there on our Epcot day.

Same! We’ll be at Epcot next Saturday, so we would have just missed the official open. Hoping we get a chance to see it!

 

[Disturbia]

I had the same situation and I ended up canceling mine. From what I understand it would change into the 8 pm show and I had a 6:05 reservation. I didn't want to risk it since everything I read & even my TA said they don't do the packages with the 2nd show, only the first showing.

However, I read somewhere earlier in the thread that someone called and was told it was for the 9:30 pm show. I, personally, didn't want to risk getting there and finding out we had to hustle to the 8 pm show since it didn't seem like anyone had a definitive answer.

We have a similar situation. I have sci fi dining booked with Fantasmic 1st show Oct 29. Back in Dec it took us quite a while to exit after Fantasmic and people were stepping infront of our double stroller (already spent time trying to get it out of the stroller parking and seat 2 kids in swarming crowds). I wish they would escort the people from the dining package area out first.

 

[Pickles516]

I'm so excited that Journey of Water is doing soft openings.

This is what I was hoping for as even though we will be there on the 16th, it didn't work with our schedule to go that day. I know it is a virtual que along with all the verbiage of it may or may not be open, etc... but figuring they can cycle a lot of people through there since it is a walk through. I am hoping to snag one when we are there on our Epcot day.

Our Epcot day is going to be the 16th and I’m hoping it’s not too swamped.

 

[Becky2005]

My magic band+ arrived yesterday! Yeah! Just over 4 days left, I would be surprised if I get anything else in the mail from Disney at this point. I was hoping for the luggage tags since we are doing a package deal but alas, I went through a TA so that might be why. I will ask at the front desk though as has been suggested. It's not that big of a deal but always nice getting a little dose of Disney in the mail before a trip.

Just have to get through a few things this week before I can feel settled and ready to go.