Disney Love

Fewer than 90 days!!!!

Today, my travel agent made my ADRs. By the way, I HIGHLY recommend using Mouse Fan Travel. I'd never used an agent before, but I will from now on. Not only can they quote you a package and hold it for a few days (which came in handy while waiting to get approval to take the time off), but they will proactively apply any discounts that arise while waiting to take your vacation. There are no fees to use them. On top of that, they make your ADRs for you, which is great because I TOTALLY forgot that my window opened today!

Suzy--the best travel agent ever--got me all of my first choices:

8/16: Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:40pm

8/17: 1900 Park Fare at 4:30pm

8/18: The Garden Grill at 7:20pm

8/19: Hollywood and Vine at 12:20pm

8/20: 'Ohana at 9:25am

YAY. Four character meals. Two places I've never eaten before. One good time!

* * *On a Disney bulletin board that I post, someone asked what our favorite non-ride things to do at Disney are. Just thinking about it made me smile. And I came up with this:

• I LOVE talking to all the different people from all over the country and the world.
• I like talking to cast members, the ones that are probably more invisible to most guests.
• I like sitting on the rocking chair and just relaxing.
• I LOVE meeting characters (might do autographs this year!)
• Fireworks. Parades. Character meals.

Just BEING there makes me happy. And thinking about all that stuff makes me think of even more things I love about Disney. Such as:
Wearing Mickey ears everywhere, and feeling left out when I don't.

And, in even more happiness, Touring Plans lowered its crowd predictions. If I am not mistaken, it will be similar to how it was when Adam and I went for our honeymoon last year. This is really good news! I enjoyed walking onto rides, and watching the parks all but empty when it rained. We don't leave when it rains. We pop on our ponchos and stick it out, because in the evening, once that rain clears up, the park is even more magical.

Princess and the Frog Trailer

Oh yes. I am quite excited. First animated classic in years! :)

Hours Are Up!

The park hours are finally all up. I put them into a nice spreadsheet that I got from Plan A Magical Vacation so that I can have an "all-in-one" glance at the plans for the four days we'll be at Disney World.

All the initial plans I had are pretty much blown to the water--except for the Sunday we get there. The ADRs I want for that night can still work because I was planning on being in Magic Kingdom that day anyway. Plus, they have extra evening hours which I like better than the morning hours. I will just make sure Aidan gets a nap on the plane or something so that he can stay up and enjoy the park at night.

The extra magic morning hour in Magic Kingdom is the same day as Spectromagic, which is my favorite parade. However, that morning hour makes the park VERY crowded and I'd like to avoid it. It's already going to be crowded as it is: free dining, summer season, etc. If I can avoid extra crowds, I'm in. In addition, Fantasmic, which I have never seen, is the same night!

So now, I have to once again, rearrange which days we're going to what, and really make use of the Park Hopper. Thank God I got the Park Hopper--I'm really going to need it this time!

Sunday - Magic Kingdom. Hands down.
Monday - My original plan was Epcot. Then I changed it to Magic Kingdom. I think it'll be a good Magic Kingdom day. No parades, no extra hours. I'm hoping that everyone will be at Hollywood Studios taking advantage of that extra morning hour and then just STAY there. Maybe we can hop over to Epcot in the evening for dinner and Illuminations, or even to Animal Kingdom to take advantage of the extra evening hours there.
Tuesday - This day will be crazy. Here is my dilemma. Spectromagic and Fantasmic are on the same night. So I figure this. If I can get the Fantasmic Dining Package, we'll do that. If not, we'll watch Spectro. Then hop over to Epcot for its extra magic evening hours. So, looks like Tuesday will be: Epcot, Hollywood or Magic Kingdom, then Epcot again. Somehow, we have to get Garden Grill in here, and they only do dinner.
Wednesday - Hollywood Studios is having its extra evening hours that night, but it's possible that this might be the only night we get to see Illuminations. So what shall we do? Probably some more hopping. Epcot in the morning, and then dinner there, then Hollywood Studios for their extra hours. Or Hollywood, Epcot, Hollywood.

Ah, the madness!!

Thursday - This is easy. I didn't buy park tickets for this day, so we're just going to have breakfast at Ohana and then hang around Downtown Disney or resort hop until time for us to catch our flight.

Adam is happy to let me do all this crazy planning. It seemed so much easier when planning our honeymoon! But this time we won't be there as long, so I want to take more advantage of the evening extra magic hours, and eat at all the restaurants we want (especially Garden Grill!) and somehow manage not to tire ourselves out with all this running around!

It's going to be a wild ride, but I'm still looking forward to it.

Park Hours

Like many other August Disney-goers, we are anxiously waiting for WDW to post their park hours! As I said in my last post, I have many tentative ADRs lined up, but I want to make sure that I'm in the right park on the right nights for certain events. I'd like to see Spectromagic and Wishes for sure. I'd hate to miss either of those because my ADRs are not in the right park. Fortunately, my ADR window doesn't open until May 18th, so I have a bit of time, but still, I want to know now!!!