Planning a Disneymoon-a-Versary (July/August 2018)

[abarriger]

Hello all (or no one.) I've been on the Dis quite a while, and get tons of joy out of reading everyone's trip reports. In fact, I even tried to write one for my last trip. but.... umm.... well, it was abandoned. Working 2.5 jobs and going to school at night might have had something to do with that. But! I'm trying again, because I am ABSOLUTELY BEYOND excited about having something to plan. Because... it's been a while.

So, let's get going here

Here's ME!

I'm Amy, pictured here on my most recent trip to Disney-- where I visited only Disney springs, and only for a few hours, during Hanukkah of 2016.

By day I am a preschool teacher. I also teach Hebrew school to help fund our Disney trips. I just finished a masters program and will probably be in school for the rest of my life (it feels like) as I am still in night school finishing my certificate to teach bilingual students.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom!
Favorite Movie: The Little Mermaid: until 2013, when it was firmly usurped by Frozen.
Favorite Ride: Frozen Ever After

I am always accompanied to Disney by this amazing woman

That's Marjorie, my forever person. She is definitely not as firmly bitten by the Disney bug as I am, but she loves me, so she has tagged along and over time I know it has grown on her. Marjorie is a hard working phd student who spends her time doing lots of statistics.

Favorite Park: Animal Kingdom
Favorite Ride: The Little Mermaid (you might be sensing a theme here, which is that we are kind of ride wimps.)
Favorite Movie: Moana (though I need to ask her, she might prefer Coco now.)



As I mentioned, Marjorie is not so into Disney. And, as I also mentioned (if you read between the lines) Marjorie and I are not fabulously wealthy people. Our vacations are pretty much limited to visiting our families, who we LOVE, but who are scattered across the country. But, in 2013, something amazing happened. M's parents decided to buy a little house in Sarasota. When they shared the news, Marjorie's face was less than thrilled. But before she could even open her mouth to voice her concerns (about silly things like sea levels and pythons and humidity) I was google mapping the drive to Orlando. And now we can occasionally tack on short trips to Disney as we visit her family in Sarasota (which is also an amazing place to visit, so it's really a win-win.)

So, in 2014, I got M. to agree to a one-night stay at Pop, with one day tickets to MK. It was incredible. It was exhausting. It was amazing. It was hot. It was the beginning. Somehow, I was able to leverage the awesome amazing wonderfulness into

a return in 2015, where we spent two nights at AoA and visited Typhoon Lagoon and Animal Kingdom. We also tried the dining plan and met the new love of our lives, Ohana bread pudding.

Due in some large part to bread pudding, 2016 was born. This trip was amazing. This trip was incredible. The best one yet.

There was Epcot, there was Magic Kingdom, and, there was....

I planned a super secretive surprise proposal in our room at Port Orleans-- but-- Marjorie planned a proposal for the same day too. While visiting the Contemporary after recreating our first date to a cupcake shop, she asked me to marry her-- and I said yes (before returning to our hotel room, elegantly decorated by Disney Floral and Gifts, where I asked her the same question.)

Clearly, we both said yes. And we took lots of photos with our hands in a position I don't believe I've ever posed in before.

So, 2016 was an amazing year for us. And actually 2017 was too, because this happened

But, the wonderfulness that was our little-backyard-wedding meant that my limited vacation time, and our even more limited financial resources, were not going towards a Florida trip.

Immediately preceding our wedding, I graduated with my masters and left my daycare, and two days after our wedding I had to start at my new school (which offers a summer program) so there was really no time for a honeymoon. And by the time we picked our heads up to breathe and we got to talk about the Disneymoon we had been dreaming of-- well, it was a few weeks ago. But a few weeks ago I also had the good luck of receiving a small tuition grant, and a few weeks ago puts us just over 180 days from my two week break between summer school and school school. So, we're having our DISNEYMOON at last! Except... it's taken so long to come together, it will actually be past our first anniversary. And, what better place than Disney to celebrate everything all at once?


So-- to anyone who might be interested in tagging along as we figure out our next trip, welcome!

Table of Contents

Where are you staying?

And what will you eat?

Day 1

Shifting Plans

Day 1 and 2 Plans

Day 3 and 4 Plans

Final Day Plans​

​

 

[Spencer Wright]

Following along! (I am not seeing the photos)

I absolutely understand the 'gonna be in school forever feeling'. I completed a MBA in August, and am now working on an IT Support Professional Certificate through Google. Nothing is good enough for satisfactory employment anymore!



I agree that Disney is a great place to celebrate the prior years accomplishments. My mother, sister, and I have gone together the past couple of years and coming up in August. There are great little activities which can be used to celebrate, and it is a great place to take a break while also keeping moving (we are NOT sit on the beach and read type people).

 

[abarriger]

Following along! (I am not seeing the photos)

I absolutely understand the 'gonna be in school forever feeling'. I completed a MBA in August, and am now working on an IT Support Professional Certificate through Google. Nothing is good enough for satisfactory employment anymore!



I agree that Disney is a great place to celebrate the prior years accomplishments. My mother, sister, and I have gone together the past couple of years and coming up in August. There are great little activities which can be used to celebrate, and it is a great place to take a break while also keeping moving (we are NOT sit on the beach and read type people).

ACK these photos are killing me. I can't seem to make Google photos work, which is frustrating, so I switched to Flickr. Hopefully it all works now!

I am glad to hear other professions have this forever-in-school issue. I really thought I was done with night school when I put on the cap and gown for the masters, but here I am heading off to class now. At least my teaching license requires some professional development hours, so earning this endorsement knocks down that requirement... but I am really ready to be done with homework (and even more ready to be done with TUITION!!!)

I see you're planning a trip to AKL--- that place looks so incredible. Both M. and I hold that up as a dream resort! We are planning one meal there when we visit.

 

[absolutmey]

Absolutely beautiful wedding photos. Thank you for sharing them. I can't wait to read all about it!

 

[Spencer Wright]

ACK these photos are killing me. I can't seem to make Google photos work, which is frustrating, so I switched to Flickr. Hopefully it all works now!

I am glad to hear other professions have this forever-in-school issue. I really thought I was done with night school when I put on the cap and gown for the masters, but here I am heading off to class now. At least my teaching license requires some professional development hours, so earning this endorsement knocks down that requirement... but I am really ready to be done with homework (and even more ready to be done with TUITION!!!)

I see you're planning a trip to AKL--- that place looks so incredible. Both M. and I hold that up as a dream resort! We are planning one meal there when we visit.

There all amazing places to eat!! I cannot recommend either Boma, Sanaa, or Jiko enough!

 

[abarriger]

There all amazing places to eat!! I cannot recommend either Boma, Sanaa, or Jiko enough!

Yeah!! We love the ambiance. We ate at Boma once a few years ago (and it was lovely!) but this year Marjorie requested more plated meals and fewer buffets, so I think we'll give Sanaa a try this year. That bread service looks like it is up our alley!

Absolutely beautiful wedding photos. Thank you for sharing them. I can't wait to read all about it!

thank you! I can't really take the credit, though, we had an amazing wedding photographer (who we lucked into, I believe we were her first wedding.) It was a pretty low key wedding-- in my in law's back yard and then we all went out to eat-- but I treasure the photos, which look better than the price we paid, I think!!

 

[abarriger]

Where?

Arguably the most important follow up question you might pose, I imagine, is "Where are you staying?" Well, dear reader, you shall find out!

First of, let me tell you about an amazing resort. A practically perfect resort (in my opinion, anyway!)

That's me, at this so-called perfect resort. Port Orleans riverside.

Um, can we talk about that view? And that freaking boat? Riding on that boat is one of my favorite memories of that last trip-- you know the ones, that you turn over in your memory when you're having a bad day and your students are making you crazy? (or maybe that's me.) The music plays softly, and the views are stunning.... but anyway, I digress. On that last trip, maybe around this moment

(which was after riding down the water slide about 5 times, and then laying down in the hammock for a minute) Marjorie turned to me and was like "Well how can we ever stay at a value again?" Which was a totally valid concern. And we were both 100 percent dedicated to getting back to POR.

Except... well, you can pretty much fill in the blanks on your own. (Particularly if I remind you that I'm a preschool teacher, I imagine!) We had a price in mind, we asked for a quote from our TA... and the value resort felt squarely into our price range. POR fell squarely 700$ or so OUT of our price range.


So... we shifted our mindset! I admit I felt a pang for POR at first, but I quickly started to feel excited. Because 1. it's Disney! and 2. We don't honestly spend that much time in our room anyway and 3. Pop doesn't have a waterslide, but Typhoon Lagoon does! (and our package included a free ticket here...) and, finally, Pop is kind of cool, in it's own sort of way! I am actually looking forward to checking out everything it has to offer. We stayed here once, but it was truly just a bed to sleep in before we took off.

I am definitely going to take a little time this time to enjoy the resort. There will be swimming here

and here

and I'm thinking about trying one of these babies

and hoping to look out on this view

There might be no boat, but I'm still pretty excited!

​

 

[abarriger]

Before I begin with the trip planning business, I'll share another little tidbit about our Disney preparations-- movie nights!! I'm one of those people for whom the planning is [almost] as exciting as the trip itself. One of the ways I make it even more exciting is by themed-Disney movie dinners. In fact, Marjorie has been begging to watch Lion King, but I told her absolutely not until we had a trip on the books. Now that a trip is planned, we will watch a movie every weekend or so. When possible, I like to do a themed dinner (and sometimes themed alcoholic beverages.) We try lots of fun stuff this way-- in 2016 there were poison appletinis for Snow White, and homemade "grey stuff" and quiche for Beauty and the Beast. Last week I had the flu, but we still managed to get the countdown going with this delicious business.

Okay, so the geography is a little/massively off, but that is delicious Ethiopian food paired with Marjorie's request. Sometimes we watch Disney movies as adults and think "Meh." This is not one of those movies. It is just as good as we both remembered, and we may have teared up.

Anyway.

180 Days Out!

Yesterday was our 180 day mark. It's a little funny to me that this date might seem so arbitrary to the uneducated masses, yet it carries so much weight for us hyper-planners. I was up at the crack of dawn, with tabs open on my computer, ready to book. What did I get?

1. Ohana!!
I am VERY very excited to go back to the source of this

and this

and the amazing cast members.

This was our waiter who served M. and I immediately after we got engaged. We actually told him about our engagement before we told our parents! He was wonderful.

This trip marks the first time we will visit Ohana for breakfast as well as dinner. I'm hoping we can make it from DME (our plan arrives at 9:00) in time for our 11:45 reservation... it feels a little tight, but it's really the only time we can fit it. It's a really good spot for the two of us because it combines our undying devotion to 1. Mickey waffles and 2. Stitch.

2. Tiffins

We booked a ROL dining package at Tiffins for our big honeymoon-splurge. The food looks delish, and the ambiance looks pretty cool too.

3. Be Our Guest

This was the one reservation we couldn't get... on our MK day I wanted to start with a PPO reservation (which I got) and end with a BOG dinner (new to us.) Unfortunately for us, something is up with BOG during August-- there's buzz on the various forums about what it might be, but I hadn't heard anything prior to sitting there on my ADR morning frantically trying to book. For now, I booked a second Ohana reservation as a place holder, but we need to rethink those plans.

4. The Wave

This is breakfast on our waterpark/semi rest day. I am BEYOND looking forward to that tasty looking buffet. Have I mentioned I have a thing for Mickey waffles? I plan on wearing my coordinating earrings.

5. Teppan Edo

I feel like Epcot has an overwhelming amount of table services, yet none of them are wildly exciting to me. We may change this, but are tentatively thinking of eating here on our Epcot evening.


6. Sanaa

We plan on ending our time at Disney with lunch here. We love AKL and have eaten at Boma before, but never here. We will pay out of pocket for this one and probably will just share the bread service and something small before we drive off to Sarasota.





​

 

[abarriger]

Before I start going more into detail about my planning, here's what M. and I enjoyed this weekend.

Not pictured: Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. I checked them all of from the library and... well, we couldn't stop ourselves. We plowed through and watched every single one. No comment on whether or not we were ugly crying by number 3. (Like seriously Pixar how do you know how to tug my heartstrings SO HARD?)

We are still undecided on if we are going to try to squeeze in a trip to Hollywood Studios this year. We have never been and, honestly, it's never seemed worth our time, but maybe if Toy Storyland is open we will pay it a visit. Watching these did increase the likelihood of that taking place. Anyway, back to planning.

Day 1

I feel as though pre-trip reports are a little hard to structure-- like, a trip report is obviously written in chronological order, but when you are planning ahead (especially this far ahead!) plans change in a non-linear fashion. I think what makes sense is to share my plans as they are now, and then obviously revisit as 2,000 little details shift and change.


We haven't booked our flight yet (Southwest opens the rest of our dates this week, so that is likely happening soon!) but we are planning on taking the first flight in, arriving around 9 am or so.

I am always unbearably excited. I don't just wear my ears on the plane, I wear them on public transportation to the airport. I always push for a crazy early flight to maximize our Disney time.

We will take MDE to POP as quickly as we can scurry over there so we can make it to Pop in time to immediately turn around and head off to meet this guy.

and also to hang out with my very best friend.

I'm seriously drooling just anticipating this brunch.

Also, I am totally addicted to my interchangeable mouse ears, and even made M. buy a pair (that she is much less enthusiastic about than I am.) For this breakfast in particular I ordered these bows to wear in them

I just wish my trips were long enough to wear all my bows.

After breakfast and stuffing ourselves silly, I am leaving the afternoon open. Maybe we will go back to the hotel to swim, or maybe we will go to a monorail tour. I like to just ride over to Epcot and ride on back for the sheer joy if it... particularly right at the start of the trip.

It is highly likely that in the afternoon or early evening we will hit Disney Springs. We started coming to Disney just as they started redoing this area, and each year that we have returned it has only been cooler. The last time we visited M and I were blown away by D-Luxe burger, and went crazy for all the dipping sauces on the French fries. (we might have gotten all of them.) I am hopeful that we will visit this magical place again for dinner.

(for some reason, I only took a picture of the macaron-burger, and skipped the real thing. This was underwhelming but cute.)

Post dinner, we will be going to bed early. In order to make our 6 am flight we will be leaving our house VERY early, and we are planning to rope drop on day 2, so I bet we will be snoozing before 9 pm. Disney sleep is the best sleep!
​

 

[abarriger]

Hello again! I have abandoned this trip report for a bit as I have attempted to sort out my plans a little bit. Two developments have happened that have shifted my plans somewhat.

First one: remember how I called this trip our Honeymoon? Well, it turns out that M and I actually are having two honeymoons this year. Yup, that's right. On a whim, we applied for a program called "Honeymoon Israel" that takes a group of couples on a subsidized trip to Israel. We interviewed with the group planning the trip, and we both though it went poorly-- in fact, we were so certain we weren't going that I went ahead and booked this trip to Disney. But...

We're going to Israel!!

For ten days and July Marjorie and I will be exploring the country with 19 other young couples. We return home from this trip on a Sunday, and our trip to Disney took place that following Friday. We discussed cancelling the trip all together, and doing Disney another year (because this Israel trip is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.) But... I have two weeks after summer school ends, and we've been saving for Disney for such a long time.... so, two honeymoons it is! But, we shifted the Disney trip back by a few days to allow Marjorie to catch up on work. That meant I had to rebook all of the ADR's we had made, which kept me busy (in a good way, because I love Disney planning.) Even though we were a little past 180 days at that point I didn't have any issues.

The second alteration is a small one-- since I have two weeks off from school, and since Marjorie needs to work a bit during that time (but I don't, the perks of being a teacher when no kids are in school!) I am heading to Florida early that week sans-Marjorie to meet up with my mother. She and I get to spend a little time in my second favorite place-- Sarasota!

It's not Disney, but it's a pretty cool place. I love walking around the boardwalk as the sun sets into the bay, I love the amazing beaches

And I especially love the food. This is my personal favorite culinary delicacy, Sweet Tomatoes

The one bummer here is that Marjorie and I aren't flying into Orlando together, and we won't get to ride the ME together (which is honestly one of my favorite rides!) My mom flies out of Orlando early in the morning, so I'm going to return the rental to the airport and then have a day at Disney by myself. I'm not really sure what to do with myself! Marjorie flies in that night and we will head straight to bed in order to hit MK EMH the following morning.

Anyway, lots of moving pieces but I think things are settling into place now!​

 

[abarriger]

Here are the rough outline for our trip, as planned now!

Day 1

Marjorie flies into MCO at 7:30.

Amy drives in early from Sarasota. What will she do? I have no idea! The dining plan won't have started yet (we're doing a one night room only before the trip starts!) so maybe I will relax at the pool? Or do Disney Springs? BUT when Marjorie gets onto the ME I am definitely picking up some of these

(Did you know POP serves breakfast all day? Because this is exciting to me!) There may also be some of these

(mmmmm, Disney nuggets) before we crash into bed.

Day 2

This day is morning extra magic hours at my favorite park, so we are planning to ropedrop.

Then, we're heading off to M's favorite park.

We are hoping to hit some of the Pandora stuff (I'm SO EXCITED!) before we head off to a ROL package dinner at Tiffins. I am pumped for a fancy dinner together on our first real Disney day. This is also our first time ever park hopping. We agonized over whether it was really worth the cost (in the past we have always felt that each park is more than enough to keep us busy all day!) but Toy Story Land is what really pushed us into doing it. I can't justify spending almost $100 per person to spend a full day in Hollywood Studios... but at the same time I REALLY want to check out the new coaster, and Marjorie loves the green alien guys... So, now we're hopping. And we're going to see how we like it.

More days to come! I'm back to work (playing with the littles) now.





​

 

[marivigi]

but Toy Story Land is what really pushed us into doing it. I can't justify spending almost $100 per person to spend a full day in Hollywood Studios... but at the same time I REALLY want to check out the new coaster, and Marjorie loves the green alien guys... So, now we're hopping. And we're going to see how we like it.






​

That's exactly what Im debating at the moment. HS is not a full day park to me, but I have 2 little girls who love toy Story.... still, no park hopping and doing HS means skipping Epcot... so maybe park hopper?

Your trip planning sounds great!

 

[abarriger]

That's exactly what Im debating at the moment. HS is not a full day park to me, but I have 2 little girls who love toy Story.... still, no park hopping and doing HS means skipping Epcot... so maybe park hopper?

Your trip planning sounds great!

Yes. It's almost like Disney knows how to suck the money out of me! We are going to hit TSL, the Frozen sing along... and then leave. I have negative interest in everything else happening there! We actually could have added an extra day for the same price as park hopping, but I can't imagine spending a full day there. Plus, I don't know when you are going but they just added a TON of EMH at HS during our stay so hoppers will let us catch some of those.

 

[abarriger]

I'm back! M an I are plowing through our Disney movies as we prepare for the trip-- this week we watched Avatar and Monsters Inc, and Tangled is on the slate for tonight! I was not prepared for how emotional Avatar would be. I saw it in college, and Marjorie had never seen it. We were both teary eyed at the end. I am SO excited to see Pandora
(the last time I saw it it looked like this )

but the movie did feel less-Disney-ish than I imagined, if that makes sense.

But, back to August! We left off on

Day 3

This day, I am anticipating we are going to feel pretty beat. (I am hoping to stay out until the end of 12:30 evening EMH, Marjorie willing. )

So, things are getting off to a relatively late start with a 9:50 breakfast reservation with one of our best friends.

Stitch! We are doing Ohana (where we have eaten before) for breakfast (which is new.) This will be our latest start ever on a Disney day, but I think we may need it.

After stuffing ourselves full of

and all of the other yummy breakfast foods, I imagine we will do our typical rest day stuff-- monorail loop, possibly getting off to shop a bit, with a trip to Disney Springs. We may go via Port Orleans (where I wish we were staying... oh well) for a boat ride and a coke-freestyle break. We may also visit Wilderness lodge, because it looks interesting.

We will definitely end the day at D-Luxe burger!

Day 4

The following day is starting off with breakfast at a new spot for us--

The Wave! We have never been, but I've heard good things. And if there are Mickey waffles, as I have previously established, I won't complain too much. From there, we are off (likely via Uber, given the lack of busses now-- whats up with that?) to the resplendent, picturesque, serene

Typhoon Lagoon! I could go on for a long time about how much I love this place. In fact, I thought I just loved water parks, so last summer I dragged M. to an overnight at a waterpark in Wisconsin... and I came out secure in the knowledge that I just love Disney waterparks. But seriously, can you beat this?

On a random Tuesday, when I sit around wishing I was at Disney, I am often imagining being here. I am not even a crazy big slide junkie... I do a few slides and chill in the lazy river, and it is just blissful. And sometimes there's this guy

and I do love Crushin Gusher.

I feel like the waterparks are a bit of a hidden gem, honestly. I agonized over TL vs BB, as I do each year, and even though we have been to TL twice now (and I have only been to BB once, like 15 years ago or so) a careful viewing of the lovely TimTracker youtube videos convinced me it's the better choice , especially given my lack of desire to ride crazy slides, and my desire to hit the new slide. Do any of you guys share my love for water parks? I wish I were there now!!

Anyway, I'll leave you hanging here. TTFN!​

 

[abarriger]

I'm back again! I'm at that point in trip planning where I am getting closer but there is bupkis for me to do. I keep checking and double checking ADR's (I'm trying to shift our BOG lunch earlier) but there really isn't much to do until fastpass day. So, here I am updating again

Day 5

We just wrapped up our two non-park days (well, one is a waterpark day, does that count?) and with that we are hitting the parks with a bang! I can't get over how wonderful the Extra Magic Hours schedule is this year. In past years we have barely even gotten to use EMH because they are so infrequent... and this summer we can hit TWO rounds in one day sometimes! That's insane!! Anyway, on day 5 we are hitting morning EMH at

Animal Kingdom! I am hoping to get there at some ungodly hour in order to secure a FOP ride, then hightail it over to NRJ, then hit the rest of the park.

I am struggling a bit with touring plans given the park hopping, which we have never done before. Figuring out priorities is pretty easy when you are only spending one day in a park (we literally just hit everything we can possibly fit) but when I am splitting things over two half days it's harder to prioritize. I know at some point I want to ride KS, and see both shows, and hopefully walk the trails a bit, but I am still figuring out my plans.

If all goes according to plan, we will enjoy lunch complete with one of these guys

before hopping over to park number 2.

I sort of hope we will make it in time for Festival of Fantasy, which I think is just beyond amazing, but I also want to respect my dear wife's needs, and I know she is a strong advocate of midday breaks, so we may play this by ear. We have a dinner reservation booked early at Skipper's Canteen, and then we are planning on doing the Happily Ever After Dessert party. It's a new show for us, so I am wanting decent seating. Then we'll ride whatever we have missed at MK up to that point before crashing!

Day 6

Last park day--boo! Again, I'm in disbelief about all of the extra magic hours Disney has added, because we get to start this day at the crack of dawn with 7am EMH at Hollywood Studios. This is a little painful to think about, honestly, but we are really wanting to check out Toy Story Land. I went to Hollywood Studios once, on a high school band trip, and I rode nothing. (I was scared of Tower of Terror, and couldn't find anything else...) so I have little to no experience here. M. has never been. We are hoping that with EMH we can hit all of the Toy Story rides (minus TMM, if time is short) and then do the Frozen sing along. Then we're leaving. There really isn't a whole lot to keep us there, since scary rides are too scary for us!! Depending on the time of day, we may grab lunch at Woody's lunchbox, we may do a midday break, or we may head straight over to our next (and final ) park.

We definitely want to ride Soarin, and FEA. I think we should be able to accomplish these with the evening EMH, but we'll see. I wouldn't mind visiting my friends again

but, I am keeping expectations low in case anything falls through (or we end up waiting all day in Toy Story land or something!!) I do imagine it will be a relatively late night.

Departure Day

On this day, Marjorie's parents are flying in to Orlando and we are all driving to Sarasota together. They are not big Disney people, but we may go visit our friends at AKL and eat at Sanaa.

Or, we might visit Disney Springs with them for lunch at Frontera before heading out-- we have actually eaten there before with them, they are big Rick Bayliss people. I don't think they are going to want to spend too much time in Orlando, though. Marjorie and I will probably get up early before they come for breakfast at our favorite foodcourt (AOA) and maybe a quick pool splash.

Anyway, that's a wrap of the plans-- as they stand now! They keep moving and shifting.
​

 

[abarriger]

83 Days out!

I remain firmly in that space between ADR day and FP day where I am getting so close to my trip I can practically taste it Except... there is nothing really to do in terms of planning, so that is somewhat of a bummer. I did finish up my spreadsheet, for now, so here are the plans to date.

Of course, who knows if that all will come to fruition. I am somewhat dubious as to my ability to get FOP FPs on our first day (though it's actually our second day, I will be there a day ahead of Marjorie) so if that doesn't work out I am prepared to swap the FPs for our MK day and try for FoP on Day 4 instead, which seems more likely.

I am continuing to eagerly anticipate our waterpark day. Is anyone familiar with one of these?

I am really thinking about purchasing some kind of container that will allow me to take photos with my phone while at TL so I can have them to enjoy later. In the past, we took a few photos as we got there and then locked them away, which is fine, but I really love this place and would love to capture scenes of the lazy river! There is also photopass, of course, but how many shots like this does one need in life?

I can't decide if its a good idea or not, though. If I did drop my phone into a water slide or something I would feel pretty dumb-- and I'm not the world's greatest photographer or anything so it maybe isn't worth it.

I'm also considering one of these

It's just a little mini safe that links around the chair leg. Has anyone used one of these at the waterparks before? I typically rent a locker, and this costs about twice as much, but I feel like it might streamline our rope-dropping process, and allow us to camp out at just the chair. Plus, we have the potential to use it in the future at the beach or somewhere. But, are they allowed? I don't carry anything that valuable since we have magic-bands: it will pretty much just be our phones inside while we go down slides, etc. I don't care if my sunscreen and clothes are locked up or not, and we don't really carry cash.

Anyway, those are my ponderings of late. Last week M and I watched Tangled and The Little Mermaid as part of our Disney Movie Countdown... sometimes there are elaborate themed dinners, and sometimes not. In honor of The Little Mermaid, we had delicious poke bowls . In honor of Tangled, we had... Chinese takeout. Whatever. This weekend I brought home a stack including Up and Maleficent, and I haven't yet been struck with inspiration for a cute dinner. Suggestions welcomed.

One interesting thing about watching so many Disney movies in rapid succession is observing the changes in animation quality. I ADORE TLM, and have since I was a kid: but compared to Tangled, you do notice a lot more plain, un-moving background images. Not that it's necessarily bad, just a change in technology. It reminds me of noticing the differences in the parks between early animatronics and the later ones-- both are good, but you can observe the technology's changes and developments.​

 

[abarriger]

59 Days Out!

I have made it to possibly the best day in the planning stages.... FP+ day! Yesterday I woke up super early (and I actually teach Hebrew school on Sunday morning, so it was extra ridiculously early) to try and book Fastpasses. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I would be successful. You see, I have a package reservation (for our stay at Pop, plus dining plans and tickets) to which I added an additional night room-only. Supposedly, tickets tied to the package aren't meant to unlock until 60 days from the package start date (which is today) but sometimes they open with the room only, which they did. (For which I am super grateful as I didn't have to be up extra early today as well.)

Marjorie was in bed next to me, trying to sleep while I booked these. It was definitely worth the disrupted sleep on a Sunday morning. Check these babies out!

I wasn't certain I could even get FOP-- I had been checking the Touring Plans listing religiously and there were only a few slots left, but I did get it! Now here's hoping it lives up to, even just say 50% of, the hype. It's a later slot but it fits well-- we will head over immediately after Tiffins dinner. Now to decide-- is it worth waiting in the NRJ line at peak time when we arrive? Or should we just go see Nemo or something? Has anyone done this? Is the queue for NRJ air conditioned?

Yup, that's right, we couldn't even find a third fastpass option in HS.

I am hoping that once TSL opens we can plan out our touring strategy a bit based on the wait times (which, I know, I know, will be off the chain.) We have evening EMH at HS on our first night, which I figure should allow us to hit one TS ride, and if that's it we will leave satisfied.

Then we are coming back at 7:00 on our last park day with the one FP, so we will likely rope-drop Alien Swirling Saucers, unless I think we could somehow squeeze in two rides. We are okay if we totally miss TSMM (we both are not huge fans of BLSRS) but if we could fit it, I'd also be happy.

In other news... I have changed our ADR's again. Changing ADR's gives me a funny combination of euphoric excitement and total stress. But this is a pretty good change. For a long time, M. and I have talked about eating at Cali Grill-- and brunch has sounded especially exciting. We are big brunch people, we are big sushi people... a match made in heaven. But this trip we decided (initially) that our splurge was Tiffins, and a dessert party, so we needed to calm down a bit. But... we're there on a Sunday, and we don't have plans to hit a park on a Sunday, and the brunch is only ever offered on a Sunday-- like, when does that ever happen??

So, we talked it over, and in the end, this view

and this view

won us over. And, come on, how often do you get to celebrate a Honeymoon-aversary?

To make up for this extravagance, we cancelled our ADR's at the Wave and at Skipper's Canteen in MK. We'll pay out of pocket for Tiffins, and put those two TS credits towards mimosas, pancakes, sushi, lox... I'm drooling. We are doing this meal on a rest day, so I am planning to really sit back and enjoy the ambiance and milk this once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. We are going to come hungry.


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