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Old 9 Sep 19, 03:30 PM  
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writersblock
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First Timers - Planning Pays Off?!

Hi!

First ever trip report, first ever WDW holiday. To say we are excited doesn't begin to cover it! I've read so many fab trip reports here that have helped me plan so I figured I would return the favour.

Thought I would start with a pre-trip report to try and keep everything together.

So, first off, I had better introduce us!



(so we don't strictly look like this, but it's not a bad approximation of our personalities!)



That one is more realistic.

Okay, okay. This is really us:




There's me (37) - Rachael.



I'm actually blonde now...

I am a major type A, so I'm the one that has been obsessed with researching everything possible about the holiday. I swear, I must have been a travel planner in a previous life. In this life, however, I am a civil servant and a writer (I know, weird combination). I'm also studying with the OU at present and hoping to do a Masters next year. I love books, horror movies, Shameless USA, Stranger Things and animals. I'm a huge geek.

I have been to Disneyland Paris once, for one day, back when it first opened. I remember loving Main Street USA, Big Thunder Mountain, and the Indiana Jones ride. We also got stuck on It's a Small World (just like in Friends!). It was over 15 years ago now!

Favourite food: sushi and chocolate
Favourite alcoholic drink: sour cocktails
Favourite Disney movies: Coco, The Lion King, and Lady and the Tramp
Favourite Disney characters: Tigger, Judy and Nick
Harry Potter House: Slytherin
Favourite HP Characters: Draco and Snape

Then there's my DH (34) - Adam. Yes, he's my toyboy.


Adam tolerates my obsessive planning because he's realised on past holidays it pays well to plan - he gets to see things he never would have without research, and he gets the best deals. Adam is a manager in the shipping industry, and in his spare time he loves gaming. He's also a big geek.

Favourite food: pizza
Favourite alcoholic drink: sweet cocktails and pear cider
Favourite Disney movies: Coco, Zootropolis, Wall-E
Favourite Disney characters: Judy and Nick
Harry Potter House: Hufflepuff
Favourite HP Characters: Snape and Dumbledore

We do not have children but we do have...



Okay, so maybe not THAT many. But we are into our puppers.

Vacation details:

When: November
Duration: Two weeks
Flights: Gatwick to MCO: front of economy in the bubble on the way out, and economy delight downstairs on the way back.

Accommodation:



We are staying in Animal Kingdom Lodge for 10 days (SO excited). Standard room but we've put a carefully planned request in so I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

Then...



Four nights at Royal Pacific water view King room. It looks amazing, and we are excited about walking into the parks and having the express pass tickets. We think the Universal leg of our trip will be much more relaxed.

Food
Also known as "the important bit". We are huge foodies and we are really looking forward to eating Stateside.

We have free dining (DDP) and we have booked a load of table service meals (we managed to get everything we wanted), and we have a list of QS and snacks we wanted too.

Below, I will do a day-by-day itinerary to show you all we have planned and booked in.



Rides
We planned our fast passes over and over...and we got very lucky. No problems with booking. Phew! (Again, see below for itinerary).

Extras
The more we planned the more extras we decided to throw in. In theory this is a "once in a lifetime" holiday, but seeing as how everyone says that and everyone books again I can't see that happening. Besides, I want to come back and do Halloween Horror Nights at Universal... *COUGH*

So here are the extras booked for this trip:

MVMCP,
Tomorrow Land Terrace Dessert Party,
Build a Droid,
Savi's Workshop - Build a Lightsaber,
Disney's After Hours - Magic Kingdom.



Itinerary
Thursday
Train up to Gatwick (first class - why not? We are on holiday after all. And we got a very good deal...)
Staying at Gatwick (Hampton by Hilton with breakfast in with the cost)
Eating: who knows? Giraffe maybe. We ate at the Wetherspoons before and it wasn't SO bad.

Friday
10:10am - Flying out with Virgin Atlantic, economy, front row of the bubble.



I don't mind flying but I am not great with the bit when the plane speeds up before take off (when it taxis down the runway). Please someone tell me this part is easier in a big plane (only been in small easy jet type planes before). I will be fine, I am sure. But the anticipation is scary!

Arrive mid-afternoon, and getting Disney Express over to ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE. SUPER EXCITED!

And we will pick up our magic bands. I've gone for Haunted Mansion wallpaper and Hubby has gone for Nightmare Before Christmas.




We don't have any meals booked in for that night - just in case. And we expect to be tired. But since we are so close to Animal Kingdom (and we have 14 day tickets we won't use all of the days for), we have booked... Na'vi River Journey for 6:35pm so we figure we may go and do that, have a wander, and grab a QS dinner before crashing early.

Saturday - Magic Kingdom Day
We fully expect to be up early.
So with that in mind, we have booked our first table service meal:
8am - Crystal Palace Buffet Breakfast



Tigger is one of my favourites and I am so happy we get to do this. I think we may find character interactions a bit awkward, but what the heck! I want to get in the spirit.

Because this is before park opening we are hoping we can then run over and do SDMT without much of a queue. And if not...well we always have other chances later in the trip.

We have booked FP for: BTMR, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan.

We will stay until we are tired, then go and get some resort time in and probably a fairly early night.

Sunday
Expecting to still be jet lagged, we have booked in...
7:35am - Boma Breakfast
(it looks SO good on reviews)

Then we are heading into Animal Kingdom for most of the day.
We have a FP for Dinosaur and Kali. We are mostly going to take it easy and just hang out, check out the trails, have some Pongo Pongo, and ride anything that doesn't have much of a queue or wait time.

We then plan on some more resort/pool time and a rest before...

5:15pm - Sanaa Dinner (hoping to see some animals around sunset sort of time but who knows!)

Then back to AK for some evening fun, including a late FoP FP. We are aware we can't get more FP until this one has been used so we will try and move it up, but no huge deal if not. We are happy to do other things.

Monday
8:10am - Garden Grill (Chip n Dale)
We have mostly booked this for a) early Epcot entrance and b) cinnamon bun skillet! But I won't lie - I am super excited for the character interactions (and the tater tots!)

We then hope to jump on Soarin without a wait. We then have quite early FP for Test Track, Figment and Nemo.

We then plan to take it easy around World Showcase, try some Food & Wine booths, and spend some money in the Japan shops (I want to do Pick a Pearl, and we both want some Japanese candy).

We then plan on going back to AKL for a rest/nap before heading out to
Hollywood Studios as we have

6:55pm - Build a Droid reservation (this is mostly for me. I want a cute little droid. We haven't even watched any of the new Star Wars movies - on our list for the run up to the holiday, but we are quite excited for the land. I also loved the Ewok movies as a kid - does anyone else remember those?!

8:30pm - Savi's Workshop. Most for DH. He is really excited for this one. We arranged for these reservations to be quite late in the day so we wouldn't struggle with going on rides after (and we didn't want to send them back to the rooms). So we will have a play as the parks empty out and then head back to AKL.



Tuesday
Back to AKL. Early FP for KS, followed by FoP (take 2!) and EE (I'm terrified!). We will probably grab Flame Tree for a QS lunch then take some chill time back at AKL before heading out to check out the Boardwalk (and the Bakery...) and hang out around there before going back and doing more WS and finally ending the evening with an 8pm Tokyo Dining reservation.

Wednesday
Plan is to RD Hollywood Studios and see if we can get on Smuggler's Run first thing. We then have a FP for Star Tours, followed by
10:30am - Oga's Cantina reservation. Need to try that blue milk! To be honest, the theming just looks great - so why not?

We then have a FP for SDD (YAY! So looking forward to this one!) before a Sci-Fi Diner lunch. We have another FP for Little Mermaid in the afternoon, and we hope to score a Tower of Terror 4th pass (or just walk on). This one also terrifies me. But I think I will love the theming.

Lastly, we have a reservation at Jiko's that night for 7:35pm. So hoping we get some chill time before we eat, and (for once) an early night.



Thursday
8am - Another Boma breakfast (why not?)
Followed by a quick stint in Animal Kingdom with a FP for FoP (strike three!), EE and KS (again). Heading back to the room for some down time and a nap for a few hours to get ourselves nice and fresh for...*drum roll*...

MVMCP.

We are HUGE Christmas fans. Yep. So I am REALLY looking forward to this one. Focus is going to be on Christmassy things. We both want to meet Judy and Nick and then either 7 dwarves OR Jack Skellington (can we meet Nick and Judy AND one of the others without crazy waits? Answers on a postcard). We also want to watch the parade, grab cookies, see the fireworks. Basically a really fun evening (with snow!).



Friday
A later start to today with no breakfast plans. Then heading to Epcot for FP for Frozen, Mission Space and Spaceship Earth. If we managed to get the latter two before then we may toss these back. Plan to spend more time in WS then head back to the resort for some chill.

We then have an evening in Disney Springs planned, but if we can, we want to squeeze in a trip to Port Orleans to be nosey and to have beignets, then to Disney Springs with a 7pm reservation at Chef Art Smith's (chicken and donuts - yes please!) and some shopping. Maybe a drop by Amorette's... and definitely Jock's Hangar Bar!

Saturday
After a fairly chill evening the night before we are back to Hollywood Studios where we have a FP for SDD again (YAYYYYYY!)



We also have FP for Star Tours and Indiana Jones. Hoping to get TSM in here somewhere. After doing all we wish in HS we will go back to the resort for some more chill (sensing a pattern here? I need my naps!) and then head to MK for a couple of hours before we book in for the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party (om nom nom nom...). Really looking forward to this one!



Sunday
Today is a sleep in day (we will have earned it by now!) before we get dressed and head over to be nosey at the Grand Floridian (and hopefully the gingerbread house) before getting the monorail over to the Contemporary for our California Grill brunch. This is THE single meal we are most looking forward to for the whole trip. I can't wait to gorge on sushi and bottomless mimosas. I will be surprised if I don't come back eight stone heavier.



We may drop by the Poly after, but we are undecided. Mostly for drinks. Which we may have already had more than enough of.

We then have afternoon FP for...have you guessed yet? Animal Kingdom and FoP (strike FOUR!), Tough to be a Bug and EE (we may throw the last two back). We are undecided if we will go to AK or not but figured at this stage we may as well book them. We then plan to go to the Vineyard Premium Outlets to do some light evening shopping, since this is the last day of our Disney leg of our holiday. Technically. Sort of.

Monday
Transfer day.

Now, we thought long and hard about whether we should do things this way today but ultimately we went for it.

Our plan is to leave AKL pretty early, get an Uber to Royal Pacific and have them hang onto our bags, then head into the parks and see what we can tick off for a few hours. Maybe get our HP wands. Then do check-in and nap and chill in our room/the pool for a few hours before getting an uber BACK to Magic Kingdom to do...

Disney After Hours.



We really love the idea of MK in the dark, with not many people, doing a LOAD of rides. We plan to check 7D off our list, and ride BTMR a million times, and eat a load of Mickey bars. This is such a treat thing to do, but we think we will love it. And as Universal parks close early it's not a huge deal. Plus we can use a final QS credit for dinner over there and save money eating at City Walk. Have I justified it enough yet? Haha.

I also like the idea this top and tails MK as the first and last Disney park of our holiday.

Tuesday
We will be rather sleepy so the plan here is to get up a bit later and head back into the parks, do some HP stuff, keep an eye on the Hagrid lines etc. Eat some snacks like the Lard Boy Donut and ice-cream from HP land. Not to mention some Butterbeer.


Oh, the butterbeer! (disclosure: had the normal and ice-cream versions at the studios in London and love both). Maybe head back to the resort for afternoon napping/pool time then head back to the parks until close. Once they close (HP fireworks!) then head to City Walk for some CowFish (mmmm sushi...and meat... and did I mention sushi?), and maybe grab some Voodoo Donuts for the morning.



Wednesday
Use early entrance for Volcano Bay and have two or three hours there. Then head into the parks and do some of the water rides (Popeye is CLOSED during our time there which I am still sad about -I love tyre rides like that one and Kali. Still, another reason to go back...)

Grab some lunch in City Walk then spend the rest of the day in the parks. Dinner possibly at Orchid Lounge. Might go and check out HRH and Portifinio if we fancy it.

Thursday
Rope drop Hagrid/HP lands and focus on HP for the morning, using the train. Soak up everything we can. Revisit anything else. Stay all day (maybe lunch nap at the hotel). Dinner at CowFish again (assuming it was good).



Friday
Last morning to revisit anything we really loved and grab last minute merchandise. Lunch on CityWalk. Then taxi/uber to MCO for our early evening flight.

This will be us then:



Until we decide to book for next time!

Thanks for following along. I will update occasionally before I go away and then probably will leave the actual report until I get back.

COUNTING DOWN NOW!
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Old 9 Sep 19, 04:24 PM  
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Eccle
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It sounds like an amazing holiday, and very well planned! Just one warning on the Crystal Palace breakfast that you won’t make it to 7 Dwarfs ahead of the crowds as the opening show is outside the castle, so Main Street is open to everyone from 8. The Winnie the Pooh characters are great though!
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Old 9 Sep 19, 08:40 PM  
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writersblock
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Thank you, that's good to know. We aren't that worried about it tbh, and we are happy to queue for a while. Plus we have the After Hours event. So we should be fine.

Thanks for replying!
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Old 12 Sep 19, 05:00 PM  
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Kat11
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Sounds like you have a great plan. Similar to ours except we do it the other way around to you with HRH fir 4 nights then 10 at POFQ. 😃

Kat
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Old 15 Sep 19, 04:33 PM  
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writersblock
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Originally Posted by Kat11 View Post
Sounds like you have a great plan. Similar to ours except we do it the other way around to you with HRH fir 4 nights then 10 at POFQ. 😃

Kat
Thank you! POFQ is on our to-do list - it looks amazing! Have you stayed there before?
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Old 15 Sep 19, 05:26 PM  
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Sounds great to me x
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