Looking Ahead

This winter is not letting up. Every day it gets worse. More snow. Colder temps. Greyer skies. So depressing. Even the thought of Disney in June isn't cheering me up now, because June may as well be a million years away at this point. *sigh*

But at least I have a Disney World light at the end of the tunnel, right?

As promised, I am going to give more details about the upcoming trip. I'll be doing things a bit differently this time around. For the past four times I've gone, my routine has been similar to this:

Sunday - Arrive, drop off stuff in resort room, hit Magic Kingdom, soak up Extra Magic Hours
Monday - Back to Magic Kingdom. Get bored by midday. Hop if I have a Park Hopper, endure if not.
Tuesday - Epcot. OH YES Garden Grill!
Wednesday - Hollywood Studios
Thursday - Random whatever, go home

There was usually at least one character breakfast mixed in, and two character and/or sitdown dinners. I always wanted to fit in the parades and the fireworks. This has worked for me every Disney trip since 2005. But I want to switch things around a bit. Shake things up. With more frequent parades, I can do it. It's time.

I have never gone to the parks in June before. I've gone in January, May, August, and September. (So far, my favorite has been May and September, but if I want to take Aidan, those are out of the question.) We're going the very first week, so I am hoping the crowds won't be terrible and it won't be too humid. I'm looking forward to the sun warming my skin, but my husband and son will melt if the humidity is too stifling.

This will be the first time we're flying in on a Saturday night and not going to any parks. We're flying Airtran, and I ALWAYS expect delays with them. By coming in Saturday night, I won't feel like we're missing out on park time when the inevitable delay happens. We can just go to Port Orleans and relax.

In the past, I've always wanted to be wherever the evening EMH were. I am a night owl and therefore being at Disney World at night is awesome. However, I'm going at a busier time of year than I am used to, so I want to avoid large crowds any way I can. I plan to do Rope Drop every day (I usually sleep in), and have early evenings relaxing by the pools and stuff. Well, after the fireworks and everything. Midday breaks will be utilized if needed. I'm skipping the Park Hopper. I rarely use it. I also plan to spend more time in Animal Kingdom. On our last trip, Adam and I enjoyed the park a lot more than we anticipated. He LOVED the safari and Expedition Everest.

So. This time, it's going to be like this:

Saturday - Arrival
Ride the Magical Express to the resort, check in, chill out in the pool and/or hot tub, or hit Downtown Disney. I'd like to try the boat ride to Downtown Disney from the resort. I hear it's really nice.

Sunday - Magic Kingdom
It's important to me to go to Magic Kingdom on my first day in the parks. I have to see the castle, smell the scents of Main Street, hear the music, watch the parade. The difference is that I'll be dragging Aidan out of bed so that we can do Rope Drop. Magic Kingdom will have evening Extra Magic Hours, so I figure we can ride all the awesome stuff in the morning, have lunch, go back to the resort and relax, and then hit Magic Kingdom in the afternoon for the parade and then evening hours. I love the evening EMH at Magic Kingdom. The park empties out. It's quiet. The castle is changing colors. It's gorgeous. P

Monday - Epcot ...and GARDEN GRILL!
For the rest of the trip, I will be avoiding any parks with EMH, so instead of going to Epcot on Tuesday, we'll be going on Monday. (Usually, I hit Magic Kingdom a second day.) It's going to feel weird, but I think I'll be fine. And hey, Garden Grill a day earlier than normal is always a welcome change to the ole routine. God, I love that place, and the character interaction there is my favorite.

Tuesday - Hollywood Studios
I've heard weird stories about the bull run to Toy Story Midway Mania at Rope Drop so people can load up on FastPasses. I like TSMM, and I'd really like Aidan to experience it, but the idea of that bull run kind of scares me! I think I'll do it anyway, because I think Aidan would love the ride. Tower of Terror--I doubt I'll get a chance to ride it this time around, unless I can get up the courage to ride it alone. I don't think Aidan will ride it, and we could do the parent swap (maybe?), but we'll see. I'd love to ride Rock N Rollercoaster just once. It's a rough one, but it's super fun. For dinner, we'll bus it to Wilderness Lodge for Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner (I am excited!).

Wednesday - Animal Kingdom
We're going to try to spend the whole day here. I really hope Aidan is over any fear of coasters by then because Expedition Everest is so fun! The safari should be fun, too. And maybe the giraffes will be out again. Then, dinner at Chef Mickey's.

Thurday - OPEN
We leave that evening, so we'll just pop into whatever park we want, eat a counter meal, and relax until time to go and wait for the Magical Express.

We've decided that sit down breakfasts cut into precious Rope Drop time, so we're going with all dinners this time. Breakfast will be a quick snack (cereal, cinnamon roll, etc.) procured from the food court the night before) so we can just GO. Also, we get the dining plan, and the dinners are a bigger value when using the dining plan.
I'm eager to see how this new plan will work out. Come on, June!

Til next time!