I've got the Disney bug and I can't stay away. AKL June 2018 TR started 6/25

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Planning where to eat is always a big part of making a WDW itinerary. I've read over all the menus and read reviews and here is what we have booked for table service:

Tutto Italia for lunch on our first Epcot day. I plan on getting the Fettuccine Campagnole -arugula and basil pesto, spinach, burrata cheese. I love me some pesto so this dish popped out from the menu for me.

Spice Road for Dinner at 7:40. I'm hoping that this time will allow us to enjoy our dinner and dessert with a nice view of Illuminations. I'm going to be stuffed after this meal and my wallet will be hurting due to all the delicious food I want to order:

• baked brie with rosemary croutons
• mixed grill skewers -marinated beef and chicken, with garlic and fresh herbs with rosemary roasted potatoes
• chocolate pyramid with almond ice cream or assorted baklavas. I tend to be disappointed with North American baklava as I was spoiled with the baklava in Turkey that was always dripping in honey and pistachio. North american versions always tend to be a bit dry.

Be Our Guest lunch - I was lucky enough to snag a lunch ADR but I am hoping that a dinner one will open up as we ate here for lunch on our last trip and I would like to try dinner here before the menu changes.

Jiko - I have been wanting to eat here for years and this trip it is going to happen! The dish I have been dreaming of eating for years? The Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon with mac and cheese. I have been reading rave reviews about this meal for years and I MUST try it!

Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch - I'll probably get the burger but the real draw here is the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake which I have heard rave reviews about.

Beaches and Cream - a meal here is a a vacation tradition. I almost always go for the cheeseburger followed by a No Way Jose. It is so much food and i can never finish it but it is so yummy! Right now this is booked for one of our Epcot days but I would like to move it to our Hollywood studios day but alas no availability.

Via Napoli Dinner - No question here, have to order a pizza!

Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno - booked for our departure day. No better way to say farewell to WDW than with breakfast with Rapunzel, Flynn, Ariel and Eric!

All of our other meals will most likely be counter service, off property or breakfast in room (we always get some supplies at the grocery store on arrival day).

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

It looks like I despaired too soon over a room discount, Disney just released 25% off (Deluxe) for our travel dates so I switched our reservation back to Animal Kingdom Lodge! I am one happy girl! It is still more money than Coronado would have been but significantly less than rack rate. Plus no worries over construction! I am sooo happy!! Paired with my tax refund that I wasn't confident I would get this year my vacation is set!

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[DonnaBeeGood]

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[TinkAriel111]

Following along! My family and I are returning to Disney World in July 2018 with a couple of newbies!!! There will be 12 of us. Me, Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt (approx. 6 months pregnant when we go), Uncle, Cousin1, Cousin2, Cousin2's Girlfriend, Cousin3 & Cousin4.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Yay, so glad that it worked out for you! Just got back from All Star Movies myself, and although Mighty Ducks is by far one of my least favourite Disney movie, the room was clean and quiet and plenty big enough for my on my own. And I certainly did not spend much awake time in my room anyways

I was so pleased that the discount came out. If we were going to be doing a commando trip and being in the parks all day every day I would have no problem staying value or moderate but for what I have in mind a deluxe like AKL was what I really wanted so it is great that it worked out!

Following along! My family and I are returning to Disney World in July 2018 with a couple of newbies!!! There will be 12 of us. Me, Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt (approx. 6 months pregnant when we go), Uncle, Cousin1, Cousin2, Cousin2's Girlfriend, Cousin3 & Cousin4.

Wow! That is a big group! Don't be a stranger!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Thursday is my fastpass day!! This is exciting as it is one of the last details to plan for the trip and it also means the trip is almost here!!

I have a strategy for booking my fastpasses planned. As soon as booking opens for me I am going to skip to the last days of my trip and try and book Flight of Passage for our two Animal Kingdom days which I purposefully put towards the end of the trip to increase our odds of getting these fastpasses. I am a bit nervous about Flight of Passage as I am worried that either Mom or I won't fit in the ride vehicle as we both have big calves. Hopefully it works out for us though!!

After I have secured Flight of Passage I will skip over to our Epcot days and book Frozen Ever After. I decided to book FEA instead of Soarin for the fastpass since it will be easier to ride Soarin standby at rope drop and also look on My Disney Experience it seems that it is fairly easy to get day of fastpasses for Soarin if we want them.

I will then go to our Magic Kingdom days. We have Early Morning Magic booked so I will not be booking a fastpass for Seven Dwarves Mine Train. At least that is my plan now. We have two days there so I may book it for one of them. I'm thinking I will book the three mountains: Splash, Space, Thunder. I may decide against Space as Mom doesn't ride it and go for something else instead, maybe Enchanted tales With Belle as I see that one does not usually have day of fastpasses. I will probably decide in the moment! LOL

Those are the main fastpasses I want to get. Other fastpasses I will book:

Animal Kingdom - Safari, Everest
Epcot - Spaceship Earth, Character Connections
Hollywood Studios - Toy Story (if available), Star Tours, ???

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I don't see an issue with you fitting on FOP. I was impressed, and I'm sure would have been much more impressed if I had actually seen the movie, lol!
I was so relaxed on my Epcot day that I forgot about my fast pass for Frozen Ever After, and ended up waiting standby a few times, the longest likely being 45 minutes. The line moved pretty quickly, and I had my phone with me, so no issues with passing the time for me. But I didn't want to wait for 3 hours for FOP! I also had several times where I was able to get an extra FP for Soarin', just lucked out with the crowds that day I think because it was rainy.
So exciting to be so close to arranging the FP's!

I have heard the FOP queue is amazing. I would love to see it but I am also not willing to stand in a 3 hour line!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Fastpass morning was a success!

My strategy for booking Flight of Passage worked and I was able to get it for both of our Animal Kingdom days. I was able to get it in the morning on our last day but the AK day that was scheduled halfway through our trip only had evening availability so I can see what people are saying about these fastpasses being a hot commodity!

I found Epcot a struggle as the second tier fastpasses are for things that don't really need fastpasses so I just picked the characters and Spaceship Earth on both days and we can switch them up day of if desired. When booking I kept in mind the rides that tend to have same day fastpasses available.

Here is how things worked out for us:

Arrival Day - June 11 (not sure we will go to a park but booked fastpass for the evening just in case)

• Navi River Journey
• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Rivers Of Light

June 12

• Star Tours
• Tower of Terror
• Fantasmic
• All booked for the evening. Toy Story Mania was not available so we will show up at rope drop and do standby and then catch a few shows and then back to the hotel until the evening.

June 13

• Spaceship Earth
• Frozen Ever After
• Character Spot
• Rope Drop Soarin

June 14

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Seven Dwarves Mine Train

June 15

• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Kali River Rapids
• Flight of Passage

June 16 - Day Off - probably won't go to the parks this day.

June 17

• Rapunzel and Tiana Character Meet
• Haunted Mansion
• Splash Mountain

June 18

• Test Track
• Character Spot
• Spaceship Earth

June 19

• Flight of Passage
• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Expedition Everest

I may modify these as time goes on and I change my mind! That is part of the fun of planning!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Just don't change your mind about FOP - that ship has sailed, lol!

No kidding! Crazy how fast those FP go. The AK days are locked in. I won't be messing with them.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

59 Days!

Time will fly by now that we are so close as there is lots going on. Today I have a wedding to attend. One of my good friends from work is tying to knot.

My brother Erich and his girlfriend are coming home for a visit mid-May. This is the first time he has been home since moving to the West Coast and the first time he has brought his girlfriend home. We will be doing a day trip to Niagara Falls as Jessica has never been to Ontario and since we will be almost all the way there when we get them from the airport in Toronto we may as well show her the sights!

Before they arrive though Mom and I have a few last things to finish around the house. We did a small renovation in the fall and all that is left is painting the doors so we want to get that done before they arrive.

In May I always try and attend the tulip festival in Ottawa. Tulip season is my favourite time of the year.



Mom wants to have a yard sale to clear out some of our clutter and earn a bit of Disney spending money. That will probably happen end-May.

Then, of course, there is my regular work schedule plus all the overtime I know I will inevitably pick up so time is going to fly!


In preparation for the trip I got a new swimsuit! It has been a few years so I figured a new one was in order as the old was starting to get a bit worn. I splurged and got this lovely yet simple Kate Spade suit. It is feminine yet covers what needs to be covered and I can swim in it without worrying about parts going missing/coming undone. I find that women's suits tend to be a bit flimsy or have extra details on them that fall off or get snagged on things.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oooooh, the tulips are so pretty! Hope this latest storm doesn't affect the tulips too much; we are expecting to get our share of the storm tomorrow, so we are bracing ourselves too. No putting away the boots here; I'm saving the shoes that I bought in Florida for at least a few more months. Maybe I will debut them at my daughter's wedding rehearsal dinner in June!
Totally cute swimsuit! I have a hard time purchasing souvenirs while on a trip - indecision and wondering if the quality is worth the inflated price often makes me decide against souvenirs, so I always enjoy purchasing something special for a trip at home and "saving" it for the trip so it becomes a souvenir of a sort associated with the trip. For this past trip I bought myself some sparkly earrings and a necklace and those are now forever my "Disney Princess" jewelry

This April weather is crazy. I have wondered how it will impact the spring flowers. Hopefully it will feel like Spring by mid-May when my brother visits!

I am the same about souvenirs, I don't buy many as much of the time they are cheap or they are just items that will sit around un-used. If I buy something it is usually clothing or some kind of accessory like the Dooney purse I got a few years ago. For me, my photos are the souvenir.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Now that I am only 52 days away from my trip I am starting to think about what I am going to pack. One item I know will definitely be making its way into my suitcase is my pair of rose gold ears! My mom gifted me with these beauties at Christmas. It was a complete surprise as I had never even mentioned them to her.



I will not just be packing for our ten days in Florida but also for a few days visiting family in Ohio directly following our trip.

I prefer to wear dresses in the summer versus shorts although I will probably pack a few pairs. I just find that shorts can sometimes be fussy and uncomfortable.

I have my eye on this Magic Kingdom dress available at Disney Springs. It looks really cute but I will have to see it in person before I decide. I love the colour and the retro look of it.





Footwear is also a consideration. I don't like wearing running shoes in the park as they get too warm and would just look odd if I am wearing a dress. Last year I splurged on a few pairs of sandals from Vionic and they are a dream, so comfortable. I have a pair in white, navy and black. I think they will be the perfect park shoes as they are well cushioned and have good arch support as they are designed with orthotics in mind.






We are still in wintery "spring" conditions here so it is strange thinking about warm weather clothing!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[OhMari]

Hey glad I found you. Never thought I would stumble upon your trip in the pretrip board.

We finally did our first Disney Cruise. Guess where-Canada. We loved it. We were up in New Brunswick, St. John’s, Nova Scotia and a few other places. We have gone back already—This past Christmas we drove out to NH to visit our dd and her husband and spent some time up in Canada again. We were talking to locals and they were telling us that they only have summer homes up there, they live in their winter homes in Ottawa-now that cracked me up.

We havn’t Been to Disney either in over 4 years. We just decided there was too much construction going on-we stayed at The Wilderness Lodge while construction was going on, but we loved the resort.

Do you get grandfathered in with your parking fee for having a rental car? I am bummed since we always have a rental. But I am not surprised. We do use Disney transportation, but it is so much faster jumping in our own car and going where we need to go. I am glad you got your discount.

I would totally do that Magic morning thing. You will have to let me know if you can get a picture with the Seven Dwarfs.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Strange but wonderful at the same time! Your rose gold ears look fabulous! I never think of packing dresses, but I'm sure that they will be comfy. Your sandals look great, I'm jealous - but at least our snow is finally starting to melt here.

Yes, it is finally looking like Spring here! It is supposed to go up to 16 this afternoon!

Hey glad I found you. Never thought I would stumble upon your trip in the pretrip board.

We finally did our first Disney Cruise. Guess where-Canada. We loved it. We were up in New Brunswick, St. John’s, Nova Scotia and a few other places. We have gone back already—This past Christmas we drove out to NH to visit our dd and her husband and spent some time up in Canada again. We were talking to locals and they were telling us that they only have summer homes up there, they live in their winter homes in Ottawa-now that cracked me up.

We havn’t Been to Disney either in over 4 years. We just decided there was too much construction going on-we stayed at The Wilderness Lodge while construction was going on, but we loved the resort.

Do you get grandfathered in with your parking fee for having a rental car? I am bummed since we always have a rental. But I am not surprised. We do use Disney transportation, but it is so much faster jumping in our own car and going where we need to go. I am glad you got your discount.

I would totally do that Magic morning thing. You will have to let me know if you can get a picture with the Seven Dwarfs.

Glad you enjoyed your Disney Cruise to Canada, the Maritimes are beautiful. Yes, there are a lot of summer cottages in the Maritimes, it can be pretty bleak in the winter.

My understanding with the parking is that because we made our reservation before the parking fees came into place we should not have to pay a nightly parking fee. That being said I still haven't booked our rental car. I am really struggling with no car idea as we have always had one and some of our plans are dependent at having a car. I guess we could always utilize the Minnie vans if we needed to though...


I don't believe any characters are out during Early Morning Magic. It would be awesome if there were though.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

41 Days!!!

As predicted, time is flying by!

The last detail of the trip that I haven't confirmed is our rental car. We have always had one in the past but I am on the fence this year. If we get a rental car I will be booking it with my Air Miles as the cash rates are crazy. I have signed us up for Magical Express just in case we decide to not get the rental car.

So why do we need a rental car? We don't NEED one but they are convenient!

• Grocery shopping
• Meals outside of WDW
• Visiting the outlets
• Getting to ADR's at other resorts
• Not having to wait for busses - makes midday breaks easier, at the end of the day when we are tired no waiting for the bus and dealing with a crowded bus and no seats.
• Peace of mind about getting to the airport on departure day on our schedule.

Now if I don't get a rental car we can always:

• Order groceries from Garden Grocer
• No meals outside Disney so we will have to figure that one out as we go. Means more counter service or last minute ADR's.
• No visit to the outlets
• We could always take a Minnie Van to our Trattoria Al Forno breakfast on our departure day. That is really the only ADR that would be complicated to get to without a rental car.
• Busses - We have taken them in the past and we would just have to have patience and allow more time for waiting etc.

Here is a question for Canadians who are reading. Have you taken the Magical Express on your trips? How did it work out for you in regards to your bags? Since you don't have your Magic Band on arrival how do you check-in for the ME? On departure day how early do you get picked up since it is technically an international flight?

On another note, I have become obsessed with the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) ears from Tokyo Disney and I am seriously contemplating trying to track down a pair on eBay.

 

[OhMari]

I know a little bit about Magical Express. You can still register with Magical Express. If you do not have tags, you need to go pick up your own luggage and then walk over to ME.
If you do not want a rental, you can always call a Uber. If you never used them before, I think there is a $30 free coupon out there for first time users. it would at least pay for a round trip to the Outlet malls.