Oct 2022 Pre-Trip Report with Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally

[VandVsmama]

Made out final WDW package payment today! It's gettin' real, y'all! YAHOO!

For the MK Halloween party, I'm dressing up as Bariss Offee from the Star Wars universe. Ordered this dress on Amazon today for that. It's not an exact replica of her dress, but it's close enough and it's in the realm of possibility. AND it was a good price, so we're going with that!



Then I also ordered this hood off of Etsy, since Bariss Offee always has a hood.


Also ordered ODD's Ahsoka Tano costume! Check it out...

She's super excited about it.

I still need to order 1 extra USB-chargeable battery-operated handheld fan. There's still time for that. Need to check our Magic Band inventory. And need to order Magic Bands for Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally. We are NOT going to bother with Magic Band 2.0. I've seen the Youtube videos of people using them and, honestly, it looks sort of lame. I'd rather spend my extra $$ on Genie+ at MK and HS instead.

Still need to make reservations for Orlando airport transfers. We are NOT going to use Mears AT ALL. Too many horrible reviews of people getting stranded at their hotels with no pick up back to MCO!

 

[VandVsmama]

More good news! I booked horseback riding for me and the kids! They've always wanted to do this. YDD especially is going to be STOKED! Can't wait to tell them later today when I pick them up from school.

We've made some other minor modifications to our plans. Here's where things stand right now:
Day 1 - Sat 10/1:
Travel day! No ADRs.
Probably dinner at Primo Piatto at the Riviera.
Will also visit Guest Services at the Epcot International Gateway so we can get Uncle Bob's DAS pass set up.
Pool time!

Day 2 - Sun 10/2:

• Uncle Bob has a Savi's Workshop reservation at 10:45 am.
• Park pass is at HS. Park opens at 9 am, but we'll have early entry available starting at 8:30 am.
• Planning on purchasing Genie+ for HS for this day.
• Touring Plans says crowd estimates for HS are a 5.
• Probably going to have lunch at Backlot Express due to variety of menu that will satisfy everyone's wide range of preferences. My kids do NOT like any of the food at the Galaxy's Edge QS restaurants.
• Take bus to MK, then monorail to Polynesian for dinner at Captain Cook's. Would really like to take Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally to Trader Sam's at some point during our trip.
• MK in evening for Halloween party!

Day 3 - Mon 10/3:

• Park reservation is at HS again. Touring Plans crowd predictor: 7. Definitely doing Genie+ here today, too.
• Lunch ADR @ 50's Prime Time Cafe at 12:10 pm.
• Dinner at Primo Piatto because DH loves it so much.
• planning on hitting up Epcot later in the day. Touring Plans crowd predictor: 6

Day 4 - Tues 10/4:

• No park in the morning.
• Everybody's going to sleep in.
• Kids & I have reservation for horseback riding at Fort Wilderness at 11:00 am. So we'll need to leave AoA at 9:30 am so we have enough time to get there. The plan to get there is to take a bus to MK and then either a bus to Ft Wilderness.
• We all plan on renting a pontoon boat at some point on this day from Contemporary Resort.
• Evening will be at Epcot with a dinner ADR at Tutto Italia at 5:30 pm.
• Touring Plans crowd predictor for Epcot: 6

Day 5 - Wed 10/5:

• Park reservation is at Epcot. Planning on early start. Park hours 9 am - 9 pm, so we can get in at 8:30 am.
• TP crowd predictor for Epcot: 4
• Lunch probably in the American pavilion at Regal Eagle. Not planning on making it a whole day of food booths. Aunt Sally has celiac disease, so no point in us standing in tons of long food booth lines if she can't eat much of it. DH will probably try a booth or 2, but food isn't going to be the main focus.
• Dinner ADR at 7:20 pm at Cinderella's Royal Table!
• Rest of evening at MK. Park hours 9 am - 10 pm.
• TP crowd predictor for MK: 8

Day 6 - Thurs 10/6:

• Starting at AK. Park hours 9 am - 7 pm, so early entry is at 8:30 am. Crowd predictor: 6
• lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. We will NOT be using mobile order at all due to Aunt Sally's food allergy.
• dinner at Primo Piatto again to make DH happy. LOL.
• Probably rest of evening at HS since we have a post-park close 9:30 pm ADR at Oga's Cantina. Just got this one a few days ago! Crowd predictor for HS: 6.

Day 7 - Fri 10/7:

• Starting at MK. Park hours 9 am - 6 pm since it's a Halloween party night for MK. We aren't going to the party on this day. Crowd predictor: 6
• Late lunch at Skipper Canteen at 2:25 pm. This is for YDD's benefit since she loves Jungle Cruise, but it's the only Skipper Canteen ADR I could find!
• Evening park - not sure yet. Would prefer not Epcot since this will be a Friday evening and I've heard it can get...rowdy at Epcot on weekend evenings during Food & Wine. I'm betting that Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally will want to go back to AK.
• Crowd predictor for AK: 8

Day 8 - Sat 10/8:

• Last day of our trip!
• Park reservation at MK. Park hours 9 am - 11 pm. Crowd predictor: 9
• We will check out of our room before leaving for MK, so everybody will have to be up pretty early on this day.
• Plane leaves MCO around 4 pm, so we will need to be at AoA by 1 pm.
• This probably means leaving MK around 12. :-(

 

[VandVsmama]

I also checked our inventory of these cold shower wipes and it looks like we are running low! DH discovered these on our WDW road trip in June 2021…they were selling them at a Buc-ees gas station in Texas. I initially scoffed at the idea but oh my goodness, these were so helpful in the Orlando heat! Definitely need to stock up before we leave.

 

[VandVsmama]

The dress arrived in the mail but it does NOT look like the picture! So I’m not going to wear it for the party. Am going with a different ensemble. It’ll still look great!

Got YDD some new sneakers yesterday. We are going to bring her old sneakers as well on the trip and just toss them in the trash at the end of the week.

Also got myself a second pair of walking/hiking sandals.

Got out my carry on back and am starting the Disney pile! Just 6 weeks to go!

 

[VandVsmama]

Work has been crazy busy and I am officially now ready for vacation. Seriously, SO ready! I'd like to leave now please.

I gave a heads up to Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally to make sure to leave a little room in their luggage for souvenirs that they'll end up bringing home. They'd like to not check any luggage, but Uncle Bob is having heart burn over the thought of having to cram all of his liquids into a single quart-sized ziplock bag. It was pretty hilarious on the phone w/them last night. They were bickering about Uncle Bob's multiple types of mouth wash that he wants to bring. Aunt Sally is more of a minimalist packer, whereas Uncle Bob is definitely of the "I'll throw this in just in case" kind of person (my DH is the same way!).

Day after tomorrow, it'll be 5 weeks to our trip! Our family is reusing last year's Magic Bands and I placed an order for Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally's Magic Bands. We are not doing the MB+ thing. It's too costly and I think the special effects that you get with it are dumb for the money it costs you.

 

[AZMouseMom]

I wanted to let you know that I have done mobile order for a family member who’s gluten intolerant and it was fine. There’s a place where you can indicate the allergy.

Your trip sounds awesome! We are still triple digits from our next one, but it’s getting closer every day!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Just wanted to say Yay for your plans!
I would probably try to escort every attraction and use chicken exit Just to make sure they are not having unexpected problems.
Sometimes the interior Q‘s can be delayed and I would be concerned. You also might encounter rain delays, etc.
Hope you have a wonderful trip.

 

[VandVsmama]

I was able to get a 6:50 pm ADR for Skipper Canteen on Sunday 10/2 (which is when we're doing the Halloween party at MK), but have since cancelled that ADR because we decided that we didn't want to spend an hour of prime party time to sit in a restaurant.

So instead, we'll have QS dinner at Captain Cook's at the Polynesian. I've been wanting to try their Thai coconut meatballs and YDD will like the Aloha Pork sandwich as long as we can get it without cheese on it.

We've also made our reservations for airport transfers. Decided to go with Florida Tours, which is a sponsor of the Transportation board.

Also stocked up on some granola bars, which I'm going to use for my grab & go breakfast. That'll save me about $10-12/day! I'm usually not that hungry until lunch time anyway, but on Disney trips, I always end up needing something in my stomach first thing in the morning.

Southwest Airlines hasn't made any changes to our flights, so that's good!

 

[ishbit92]

Following! I am going to Orlando the same exact days as you (well, we fly out on the 30th but we are coming from Alaska so it's a loooong journey), so I'm right there with you counting down the days . I am going with my husband and our group of friends to visit our friends who moved to Florida. We are splitting our time between WDW and Universal, but I haven't been to WDW since I was a kid (we are also DLR people since it's closer) so I just know I'm going to want to plan a longer WDW trip for next year.

How exciting that Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally will experience WDW for the first time with you guys! I love showing the parks to people that haven't been. And exciting that you all will do MNSSHP for the first time! I have never done a Halloween party on the West Coast either, but last year my family did the Christmas party in DLR which was so fun. We aren't doing MNSSHP this trip because we are doing Horror nights instead, but it looks so fun! Love all of your costume ideas and I hope your DH caves and dresses up .

I can't wait! I need to start packing this weekend haha.

 

[VandVsmama]

A few days ago, WDW updated their park hours so pretty much everything is opening 30 min earlier each day. And on a couple of days, MK is now going to be open until 11 pm instead of 10 pm.

I've double and triple checked our Southwest Airlines reservation and it's still all systems go there. Still need to do the online check-in for our Art of Animation hotel stay.

In order to allow for our schedule each day to be more flexible, I cancelled our 50s Prime Time Cafe ADR and also cancelled our dinner ADR for Tutto Italia.

Need to stock up prior to the trip for:

• moleskin
• blister band aids
• light saber batteries (AAA)

 

[VandVsmama]

As luck would have it, it appears that a tropical storm/soon-to-be-hurricane is headed for Orlando, estimated to make landfall next Wednesday.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/t...rms-in-the-atlantic-florida-in-projected-path

I just got off the phone with Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally in order to talk them back off the ledge and basically say, "Don't panic." This is what Accuweather's website currently says for the extended forecast:




So I think it'll be fine. Even if it doesn't make landfall until Thursday, probability of impacting our flight to Orlando on Saturday, 10/1 would be low.

Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally are hitting the road this afternoon to drive here to our house. They're spending this next week here w/us and are going to do some local day trip adventures nearby while DH & I still are working next week and while our kids are still in school.

Now I'm going to go do a trial run of packing my suitcase to see how everything fits and readjust as necessary.

 

[VandVsmama]

Give it a couple of days and everything turns in a different direction! Hurricane headed for central Florida. Last night, weather projections said it would hit central FL on Wed and be done around 7-8 am on Thursday. Ok, no sweat, since we're supposed to land in Orlando at 3:15 pm on Saturday.

Today, projections are saying the storm will end around 8 pm on Thursday.

DARN IT ALL TO HECK!

 

[VandVsmama]

Southwest Airlines currently has a travel advisory underway for slights to/from MCO for 9/25-9/30. I'm hoping that the travel advisory does end on Friday so we can proceed with a Saturday arrival. Otherwise, it looks like we'll end up having to fly out on Sunday instead...hoping that we can still get flights to switch to for that day.

Almost cried this morning over this whole thing.

 

[VandVsmama]

So much travel news going on! According to https://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/flyfaaindex.jsp, the FAA is closing the Orlando airport to commercial flights starting tomorrow at 10:30 am and apparently the FAA is expecting to reopen the airport to commercial flights on Friday, 9/30 at 10:30 am.

Therefore, it remains all systems go tentatively for now for our trip.

 

[VandVsmama]

What a difference a couple of hours makes! Watched the City of Orlando press conference this morning online. During that press conference, they announced that the airport is closing to commercial flights starting tomorrow morning at 10:30 am Eastern time and that the airport MIGHT reopen on Friday, but no guarantees.

Right after that, consulted w/DH, Uncle Bob, & Aunt Sally and we decided to ride it out and plan on going out on Saturday as originally planned. Then Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally left our house for the day for some local adventures. And then I checked the Southwest Airlines app on my phone.

JUST prior to the press conference, the app still said our flight is going ahead as planned. AFTER the press conference, an alert showed up for our Saturday flight which said due to weather concerns in the area, we can change our flight one time at no additional cost.

I then checked flight availability for Sunday. Lots of ok options, including 1 that had us landing at 1:55 pm and another at 2:40 pm. Ok, not bad. Called Uncle Bob & Aunt Sally. They said, "Yeah, let's switch." Talked to DH. He agreed.

Great. Went on the SW app again and even though that 1:55 pm flight arrival still showed available, when I went to book it, nothing was left in our fare category. Same for the 2:40 pm arrival. Darn it. Next option would have had us changing planes in Buffalo, NY. Nope, not doing that...that's dumb.

In the meantime, the availability keeps changing on the fly...flights that a couple of minutes prior WERE available, now are not. Do we continue with switching to Sunday or gamble on Saturday? Didn't want to run the risk of getting cancelled altogether on Saturday with no options, so we went with a flight path that has us changing planes in Las Vegas on Sunday and we land in MCO at 7:40 pm.

Ugh, not great, but it could be way worse. Worse, as in, flight on Sat could get cancelled entirely and then no available options until Tues or Wed. We've all been looking forward to this for a year and a half! AAAAAHHH!!!!

It's like we're on Mr Toad's Wild Ride but without the Disney part. Haha.

THEN I emailed Florida Tours, which we're using for our airport transfer pick up service. Notified them of the flight changes to Sunday. THEN emailed our Dreams Unlimited Travel agent to ask how to notify Disney World that we're arriving on Sunday instead of Saturday...he emailed me back w/in 30 min saying no problem, he'd take care of it.

Now I'm ready for a cocktail.

Had to cancel Uncle Bob's Savi's Workshop reservation, but that was a surprise for his birthday and he doesn't know about the reservation that once was, but is now no longer. There's nothing else available the rest of the trip...I checked. Will check again of course, but no confidence that I'll luck out.

Now our plans for D24 to meet up on Saturday evening w/her high school friend who moved this past summer near Cape Canaveral will need to change. She's going to be disappointed at that. Maybe if we're lucky, her friend has this same week off of school like we do and she can meet up with us at WDW on another day? Fingers crossed.

But now that we're changing plans and trying to maximize party time, I think that all of us doing carry on luggage will be extra important. So need to minimize liquids. That shouldn't be a problem. What WILL be tricky is the kids need to each bring a light saber, which will count as their 1 carry-on bag to go in the overhead bin. Hm...need to figure this one out still.

 

[VandVsmama]

Orlando airport has reopened! What's ironic about this all is that if I had NOT moved our flights at all, then we would be boarding a plane tomorrow morning to WDW. However, we DID move our air travel plans to Sunday instead. Kids are disappointed that we'll miss the first few hours of the Halloween party. But like our friends said, if we had NOT switched the flights, then luck would not be on our side and our Saturday flight would have been cancelled.

I've tried to reschedule our Sunday flights so we can arrive earlier in the day, but no luck. All of the availability dried up.

We're now skipping the grocery store stop w/Florida Tours for our airport transfer from MCO to AoA.

This morning, I got an email from WDW announcing that our horseback riding reservation for Tuesday has been cancelled since Fort Wilderness will be closed. Other people on Disboards who were scheduled to stay at Ft Wilderness in the cabins are reporting that their reservations to stay in the cabins were totally cancelled with no option provided to stay at another resort! Wow. So frustrating! YDD will be really disappointed.

The silver lining to the cloud is that we still get to go to WDW. And today, I was able to get a late dinner ADR for Tuesday at Via Napoli, which has the amazing pizza that my kids rave about.