"You're going back to school, let's celebrate!" PTR July 16-22 (Updated 7/13)

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Hello! I’m Ali (saraspringsishome), and I’ve never done a trip report before, let alone a PRE trip report! All the excitement and planning for our upcoming trip (24 days!) has me going a little crazy and I’m anxious and itching to get going, so here goes nothing! I will do my best to learn how to make this interesting with photos and colors and gifs and all that fancy jazz the kids are using these days. I also adore reading other people’s PTR’s and TR’s, so ya know, it’s like returning the favor.

Backstory:
DH and I went to Disney last November as a “big” trip. It was to be our last trip for awhile. We stayed for 9 nights at the Beach Club Villas, went to the parks for 7 days, MVMCP, went to Universal for 2 days, and had an all around amazing time!

Fun in November. I Goofy.

DH had been looking in to going back to get his masters for awhile. He applied in January and waited for an eternity. Over the course of the next 4 months, phone interviews, an on campus interview (consisting of 6 interviews in one day) and more waiting, he finally found out in May that he had been accepted as the one and only MFA Arts Leadership candidate at a very reputable school, with full scholarship and an assistantship! Big life changes ahead, as he will have to quit his full time job and go back to school for 3 years.

What does one do when a HUGE life event happens and you realize that your husband will have no life over the next 3 years... you convince him to make it a celebration and go to DISNEY WORLD! Okay, so there wasn’t much convincing required. At all. We also had some unused DVC points that expire in November, so we obviously HAD to go on a trip!

I guess you all could use a little background info and the WHO/WHAT/WHEN of this trip... that is coming up in 24 days!

WHO:

I’m Ali. I am a 32 actor/singer/dancer and live in SWVA. I work year round at a dinner theatre with my husband, so planning any vacations is tricky. My weekends are Mondays. I have lost count of the number of trips I’ve taken to WDW, most of which happened after I turned 18. I have been a DVC member for 11 years, having recently taken over full ownership after my mother passed away in January of ’16. I absolutely love to travel and go on vacations. I am my mother’s daughter; I work to go on trips!

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride(s): I’m a Libra and decision making is tough! Peter Pan’s Flight, Finding Nemo the Musical, Haunted Mansion, Carousel of Progress, Enchanted Tiki Room*
Favorite Restaurant: Biergarten**
Favorite Resort: Boardwalk
Favorite WDW treat: Create-your-own Rice Crispy Mickey at Goofy’s Candy Company
Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins
Favorite Pixar Movie: Up
Favorite Character: Chip and Dale

DH’s name is Donnie. He is 30 and going back to school! He has worked full time as a sound designer/sound mixer for the past five years and also owns a professional videography business. He is a huge Star Wars fan, lover of all things Batman, and of course Disney, especially the older (and sometimes obscure) Disney movies.

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios
Favorite Ride(s): Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Aladdin’s Flying Carpets, Peter Pan’s Flight, Great Movie Ride*
Favorite Restaurant: 50’s Prime Time Cafe**
Favorite Resort: Boardwalk
Favorite WDW treat: Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar
Favorite Disney Movie: The Gnome Mobile, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Babes in Toyland
Favorite Pixar Movie: Toy Story
Favorite Character: Scrooge McDuck

Notes:
*We both love thrill rides/E ticket attractions, but upon looking at our favorites, none actually make the top of our lists! We always ride them and get FP’s for them, but when it comes down to it, we both love nostalgia and feeling like a little kid the best!
**We are not actually eating at either of our favorite restaurants this trip, even though we probably won’t be back until Star Wars Land opens. Hmm.


WHAT:
One last vacation before grad school! Celebration! “Budget friendly!”

We got the 4 day/1 park per day “Magic Tickets” Disney was offering. Plus, we will go to Blizzard Beach on day 4 using our DVC discount.


WHEN:
July 16-22
I haven’t gone to WDW in the summer in about 20 years and swore we never would. But, when it’s the only time you can go, you make it work! DH and I have made two trips in September, one of which was our honeymoon almost 3 years ago, and once last November.

Honeymoon fun on Dumbo!

"


WHERE:
We are staying for 6 nights in a 1 br standard at Boardwalk Villas. We booked our hotel room May 2, which only gave me about 2.5 months to plan, but also meant we only had to WAIT 2.5 months until our trip!

I initially booked a 1 br garden view for 5 nights. Then we (I) decided we should go for 6 nights, so that we could go to Blizzard Beach one day. And be in Disney longer. This can become very tricky when dealing with DVC and points and availabilty. I rebooked but had to do 4 nights in a1 br BWV, 2 nights studio at BLT. One day while checking (stalking) the DVC resort availability tool I, with my jaw on the floor, saw that there was a 1 br standard available for 6 nights! We ended up using the same number of points for a 6 night stay just because of a difference in view. I snatched that sucker up quick! No split stay, and we were staying at our favorite resort.

HOW:
We live not quite 10 hours from WDW, so we will be driving down in one day. We did this last November, and it really wasn’t a bad drive. We will probably leave around 5 a.m. Sunday morning and arrive to the hotel between 3-4 p.m.

We really are *trying* for a budget conscious trip, but the budget has expanded a bit. No park hoppers, no dinner ressies, no hotel to pay for, no flights. I’ve also been putting money towards Disney Gift cards every week so the final bill won’t be quite so painful. We did end up with a sit down meal every park day, however. Oops. I like to eat! Plus it’s July and hot and a/c at lunch. I also have planned a surprise for DH, and it is SO hard to keep a secret. I won’t keep it a secret here for long. Any guesses? It was a little pricey, but I know he will be excited! Heck, I’m really excited about it!

Next up... the nitty gritty plans!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Oops, I totally meant to put this in the PTR thread. Could someone move it there for me please.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Sunday 7/16
Arrive at the Boardwalk Villas, 1 br standard view
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We will be driving in from Virginia. The plan is to leave no later than 5:00 a.m. Turn up the "We're going to Disney World" playlist and we're off!

The night before. Every. Single. Time.

The drive is fairly easy: I-77 S, I-26 E, I- 95 S. We are hoping to arrive between 3-4 p.m., and fingers crossed our room will be ready! If the room is ready, we'll settle in, unpack, and possibly take a dip in the scary clown pool if the weather is decent. (If it's not ready, we'll just head to Disney Springs immediately). After a swim, we'll head to Disney Springs for dinner and browsing. We are trying to budget conscious, but I know we'll come home with at least one coffee mug, Christmas ornament, and some article of clothing for each of us!QS for dinner; I've been wanting to try out Blaze Pizza. (I just realized we'll be eating pizza the following day. So, a different QS.) Favorite quick dining at Disney Springs: go!

Around 8 we'll head back to the resort because 7/16 is the season premier of Game of Thrones!

We'll call it an early night, because tomorrow is our first full park day!

​

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Monday 7/17

Epcot (9 a.m.- 9 p.m.)
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Epcot will be our first park day. We only get to visit each park once, so we have to make the most of every minute! We've chosen to go to each park in the order we like them, least to most. We both like all the parks, but of course everyone has a favorite (and least favorite).

The plan is to head over to International Gateway and arrive around 8:30. We will rope drop Test Track, and then criss cross back over to do Soarin'. My hope is to ride both of these by around 10. We have FP+ for:

• Living with Land 10:10-11:10
• Spaceship Earth 11:20-12:20
• Frozen Ever After 12:25-1:25

Hopefully between Living with Land and SE we can do The Seas with Nemo and Friends. After FPing is complete and we have waved goodbye to Anna and Elsa, we will scoot around the countries for our lunch ressie at Via Napoli (1:15). Thoroughly stuffed with pizza goodness, we'll walk back to the Boardwalk for swimming and napping.

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After a lovely afternoon break (you'll find this is a theme for us), it's back to Epcot for the evening!
Must do's for the night include:

• Imagination pavilion (I heart Figment)
• Strolling the countries and watching a movie or two
• The American Adventure
• QS food and treats

Peach Snap! from China, Troll Horn from Norway, Pretzel & Beer from Germany. I love World Showcase!

We'll either get in line for another ride during Illuminations (TT or Soarin'), or just head back to the Boardwalk before it begins. Illuminations was always my mom's favorite nighttime show, and I basically sobbed through the whole thing in November, so we'll be skipping it this trip. I just can't listen to "We Go On" without weeping.

Depending on how we're feeling, we'll either retire to the room (Grammy and PopPop love an early night!) or, if we're feeling adventurous and awake, head to Jelly Rolls! We went on our Honeymoon and had the BEST time. Dueling piano awesomeness, plus they had some grape drink that was...

Potent. And Large. And "cheap."
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So that's the plan for Day 1! I'll be interested to see how much we stick to the "plans" and how much we say to heck with it!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Tuesday 7/18

Animal Kingdom (9 a.m. - 12 a.m.)
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Day 2 and the plan is to drop rope Animal Kingdom. I haven't decided yet if we'll drive over or take Disney transportation. I think it'll depend on the parking situation at the Boardwalk. So the hope is to arrive and by at the tapstiles by around 8:15. We'll be herded with everyone else toward Pandora, where our first stop will be riding Na'vi River Journey. Then comes our FP's!

• Flight of Passage 9:50-10:50
• Kilimanjaro Safari 11:45-12:45
• Kali River Rapids 12:50-1:50

Breakfast will be our Rivers of Light dining package at Tusker House at 10:50, and I'm super excited because it gets great reviews and I've never eaten there before!
Change in plans! Since Disney added an extra RoL show at 10:30, we've decided to cancel our breakfast ressie and just do RoL standby for show 2. Our new arrival plans may include doing FoP standby, then Na'vi, then back to FoP for our FP. I just think we'll want to ride FoP twice! We'll probably try to arrive by 8:00 for this plan.

​

Skip ahead to after we are drenched on Kali (which always seems to be my *good* fortune), and the plans get a little murky. If we are able to acquire a SDFP for Expedition Everest for a reasonably early time, we'll ride that. Otherwise, I see us heading back to the Boardwalk for swimming and naps (the trend continues!)

Back into the park in the evening, and we'll hopefully

• See Finding Nemo, the Musical
• Catch Festival of the Lion King
• Say hi to a yeti (again?)
• QS dinner somewhere at some point
• Become honorary bugs
• Enjoy Rivers of Light @ 9:15 (which we've never seen, and although the reviews are tepid, I'm looking forward to it!)

While there are EMH for Pandora from 10-12, I see us heading back to the resort after RoL. Hopefully we'll be counting sheep before midnight!

​

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

7/19

Hollywood Studios (9 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.)
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You guessed it, another ROPE DROP MORNING!!! One of my favorite things about staying at the Boardwalk is the proximity to Epcot and HS. The walk is not bad at all, and I love not relying on Disney transport when you're rope dropping. We will probably leave the room around 8:15 and arrive to HS around 8:30.

Our first adventure will be a speedy trip on Rock 'n Roller Coaster! I wonder if this will be the last time we ride it in its current state, with all the rumors about Aerosmith going away? Next up starts our FP's:

• Tower of Terror 9:15-10:15
• Toy Story Midway Mania 10:15-11:15
• Star Tours 11:15-12:15

My hope is to squeeze in one of DH's fav rides in between ToT and TSMM: The Great Movie Ride! I adore this ride, too, and we will both be so sad if they completely change it

After defending the Republic, we will be trying out yet another new eating establishment! 11:45 lunch ressies at Sci Fi! (So, I did eat here before, but it was probably 15 years ago and I don't really remember it at all) Even though we loooove 50's Prime Time Cafe, DH requested trying out Sci Fi after seeing pics online, and I happily obliged

After lunch it's back to the Boardwalk, probably by boat this time since it will be mid afternoon, for our daily ritual!

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Upon returning to HS in the evening, there isn't a lot on the agenda. Perhaps we will have achieved a SDFP for TSMM? Star Tours round 2...or 3?

I definitely want to catch The Music of Pixar Live! There is a 6:45 performance that we'll try to catch before DH's surprise!

When we went in November, they had started Jingle Bells, Jingle Bam!, so no Star Wars a Galactic Spectacular for us. We got great spots... that we waited for about 1.5 hours holding. Not this time! Not for grad school acceptance celebration and SWAGS the first time!

We are going to our very first ever dessert party! I'm super excited, and I know he will be, too. Keeping it a surprise is soooo hard, though!

​

After SWAGS and desserts and tasty drinks, it'll be a leisurely stroll back to the Boardwalk, and another successful and awesome Disney Day complete!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Thursday 7/20

Blizzard Beach/ Disney Springs​

Ahh, a day to sleep in! Plus, there’s the added benefit of not having to shower the morning of a water park. Just wake up, sunblock up, and off we go! The plan is to hop in the car and be at Blizzard Beach around 9:30. We’ll have to buy our tickets there (and I’ll need to remember my DVC membership card and ID-- love to save money!) and we’ll find a good spot to set up camp right when they open. I suppose we’ll need to rent a locker, too.

We love BB. I’m excited to sit in a tube and circle the park for awhile, sit in a tube in the wave pool, ride a few slides (NO Summit Plummet for me, however!), eat some junk food, and circle the park in an inner tube some more. I guess we might see what the “Frozen Summer Games” are all about, too.

Whenever we’ve had our fill of sun and water, we’ll pack up and head back to the Boardwalk. I’m really glad we have a car, because getting to and from the water parks the last time we went was a pain and took forever. Naps may be in order at this point.

The evening’s plan is to head back to Disney Springs. I casually mentioned Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar and DH had a moment... a “Why haven’t you told me about this sooner!” moment. He is super excited to visit the establishment. The recessional at our wedding was the Raider’s Theme, and he is a HUGH Indy fan.

This meme cracked me up. And I love Indy and Chip and Dale, so there's that, too ​

If we’re still hungry after apps and drinks, we might head over to Blaze Pizza tonight and share a pie (I don’t know why I’m so determined to try this place, lol).

We plan on hitting up the AMC theater tonight. The new Christopher Nolan Film Dunkirk is released tonight, and DH has been anxiously awaiting it. We love to see movies all the time, and vacation is certainly no exception.

After the movie, it’ll be back to the resort for an early night. Friday is an early day. A long day. The last day. And most importantly, Magic Kingdom day!!!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Friday 7/21

MAGIC KINGDOM (8 a.m. - 10 p.m.)
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Who doesn't feel this way on your last day at Disney World?​

After 4 full days at Disney, the wait is over! It's finally time to go to the Magic Kingdom! We’ll be up nice and early today. Magic Kingdom has EMH this A.M., so we’ll plan on heading to the bus stop between 6:45-7:00.

The rope drop plan is to head straight to Peter Pan’s Flight. Just seems like the perfect start to a Magic Kingdom day! Plus, I’ve never seen the standby of this ride. We always, ALWAYS get FP’s for this one.

After a wonderful flight to Neverland, we’ll hop in a hunny pot and bounce with Tigger in Friends. Perhaps a ride on the teacups and carrousel, then it’s off to Frontierland for the wildest ride in the wilderness at “official” park opening. We’ll be crisscrossing the park a bit, but I think it’ll be necessary to get in all the big rides. SO, BTMRR at opening, then back to Liberty Square to socialize with grim grinning ghosts, then BACK to Fantasyland to start using our FP’s! Maybe. This is (obviously) all speculative, and we might scrap all the walking and hope we can get on BTMRR later. SO, FP’s:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 9:20-10:20
• Space Mountain 10:20-11:20
• Splash Mountain 11:20-12:20

I love a good pun​

We’ll use our 7DMT FP at the end of the window, so we can head right to Space Mountain afterward. We’ll ride through the galaxy, then probably take the train around the park to Frontierland. I love riding the WDW Railroad! So it’s off to our Laughin’ Place, and then off to lunch! It’ll be around noon by now and after 4 hours in the park, we’ll take a respite.

We have another new restaurant to try for lunch- Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge! Originally I had Kona Cafe booked for lunch, but when they “revamped” the menu recently, I promptly changed it. DH has never seen Wilderness Lodge, and I liked the look of WCC’s lunch menu, so the choice seemed perfect. Plus relaxing in their gorgeous lobby in the middle of a hot July afternoon seemed especially appealing.

After a relaxing lunch, we’ll head back to the Magic Kingdom for more fun! The goal is to make good use of SDFP’s and hit up our favorites than don’t require FP’s. Dinner will be QS in the park.

We will definitely be staking out spots for Happily Ever After. I’m SO, SO excited to see the new fireworks. I loved Wishes, but have seen clips of HEA and can’t wait to see it in person!

Since it's our last night, we'll want to enjoy every last second of the magic. Maybe hop in line for one last ride right at closing? We’ll be exhausted, but I couldn’t think of a better way to spend our last day at Disney. Fingers crossed they extend the hours to 11:00!

Saturday we head back home, so at least we can sleep in a bit before our drive.

And that’s the plan! Action packed. Full of fun. I can’t wait!

​

 

[cstorm65]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip. Great plans so far!!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip. Great plans so far!!

Thanks, we are SO excited! Your July trip looks like it's shaping up to be great, too! So jealous y'all are going for 2 weeks!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

OH! OH! Our Magic Bands arrived!!! Awww, look at these beauties. It’s super official now!

We have Magic Bands already that we’ll probably wear most of the time; mine is an Epcot Figment band and DH’s is Hollywood Studios Film Maker Mickey. I just couldn’t resist getting the new 2.0 versions!​

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

19 days!
(Woohoo, we're in the teens!)

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[SaraSpringsIsHome]

18 days!

​

Today I was casually looking at dining availability, as one does when you're too excited to do anything else productive.

I found a Beaches and Cream ressie for 4:30 on our arrival day and booked it stat! I've been searching and searching for one. Persistence is key!

I cancelled our RoL package/ Tusker House b'fast yesterday. I'm a little bummed about it, but I just don't think we need the package with the added RoL show while we're there. DH didn't seem to mind and asked if we could have lunch at Pizzafari instead

I also switched up some FP times for our AK day. I moved up our safari and kali times by 30 minutes. I really am hoping we'll be able to ride FoP standby at rope drop, ride Na'vi standby, and make it to our 9:50-10:50 FP time. I guess it'll just depend on how early we arrive and how near the front of the herd we are! I just know I'll want to ride it twice!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

15 days!
(2 weeks from tomorrow!)

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Why do the last two weeks before vacation seem to creep by?! I keep checking and rechecking our plans. Making sure every FP is where I want it. Double checking dining times to see if anything else fits better in our plans. I don't necessarily want to change anything, I just check because I can!


I'm also double checking my packing lists and readying the suitcases.

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I probably won't pack much in the way of clothes for at least another week/week and a half, but I have started packing other 'essentials.' One small suitcase has a case of water and a few sodas for the week; it's just easier to roll the water rather than carry it by hand. Another suitcase is filling up with nonperishables:

• coffee/creamer/filters
• protein b'fast bars
• applesauce pouches
• crackers
• peanut butter
• to-go cups
• wine & prosecco (wrapped up in beach towels- multitasking!)

One of the great perks of driving! It's great having breakfast and snacks in the room. There are a few items that will have to be packed last minute- a loaf of bread, bananas, grapes and a cold bag with a couple blocks of 'fancy cheese'. Whatever we don't eat will be lunch on the drive home.

This trip will be here before I know it, and I'm so excited to share it with you all!

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[PlutosRHM55]

Joining in! Looks like you have a really fun trip planned and I'm so with you on being a thrill seeker but LOVING nostalgia just as much if not more (Haunted Mansion is bae ).

Omg your husband is going to LOVE the Star Wars fireworks and getting the dessert party was a perf choice since you'll have great viewing. I was low key bitter when they took it out for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam because it is SOOOO much better than that. I've seen it a ton and cried every time, it's so amazing. Best fireworks show on property, better than all of the special event fireworks (excluding HEA since I haven't seen it in person yet).

May the odds be ever in your favor at Pandora! I'm sure though, since the crowds are dying out from what I've heard, you'll be able to cover both FoP and NRJ quickly in the morning.

P.S. That Chip & Dale to Indy & Magnum P.I. meme is too accurate. Never would've gone to Indy from Rescue Ranger Chip, but IT WORKS.

Happy almost two weeks!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

I've seen it a ton and cried every time, it's so amazing. Best fireworks show on property, better than all of the special event fireworks

This makes me even more excited! We actually really enjoyed Jingle Bell Jingle Bam, but SWAGS will obviously be a million times better!

May the odds be ever in your favor at Pandora!

Thank goodness for the FoP FP, so we'll get to ride it at least once

Happy almost two weeks!

Yay!!!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

7 days!!!!

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One week from now we'll be arriving at the Boardwalk! Woohoo!

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Haven't really gotten much accomplished since the last update. I plan on bringing up the suitcases from the basement tonight. I did get two cheapy $1 fans from the Dollar Tree yesterday and batteries to take. I also ordered some disposable ponchos from Amazon that should be here Tuesday. I got some new Pumas to take on the trip, too. A week should be enough time to break them in

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Now is where I start checking the weather app(s) religiously... although I know there really isn't a point since Florida weather changes on a moment's notice! I still check 3 or 10 times a day. Just like I check the Disney app multiple times a day! Ya know, just to see what the wait times are.

So the suitcase is coming up tonight, which means I'll probably start vacation laundry tomorrow and start really packing. I'll make do with whatever I'm not taking until we leave. We'll probably deep clean the Jeep at some point this week, too. It recently had an oil change so we're good there.

I feel like these next few days are going to creep by, but that's alright because I'm so stinkin' excited!

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[PlutosRHM55]

Yay for one week! And omg I never knew that Amazon had disposable ponchos available to buy. Need to note that for my next Orlando visit.

I also see what you did with the Frankenfurter gifs. I appreciate that immensely.

 

[luckylady]

Oh the trip is so close now. Have you started packin? Congratulations on going back for the Masters. I remember my DD getting hers and all the work that went into it. Hay rent your DVC points bank the money and use it for a trip the following year. You get a trip in without any money coming out of your pocket.

 

[pucknasty]

I'll be there in 15 days! YAYAYAYA for close countdowns!