Friday, August 15, 2014

Disney Here We Come!


My sister and I leave for our 9 day Disney Trip tomorrow!!! There will be many new experiences on this trip as well as lots of favorites, so I’ve compiled a list below.

New things going to be experienced:

·         Traveling with just my sister- My sister (age 18) and I have been to Disney World together twice, but never just the two of us. We were both under the age of 18 both times so we never had the opportunity to go by ourselves (We also love our family and are sad to leave them behind when we go this time). Being sisters only 5 years apart, we have our quarrels from time to time, so just the 2 of us for a 9 day trip should be interesting!  J

·         Be Our Guest (For lunch with FP+)- I was lucky enough to snag a reservation for dinner here in my May ’13 trip, but we were not so lucky this time. I was, however, able to snag a FP+ for lunch here so that we do not have to wait in the long line to get in. Lunch is a completely different experience than dinner because lunch is a Quick Service meal whereas Dinner is a Sit Down meal featuring the Beast.  **They are currently making changes in order to not have the long line waiting outside the restaurant for lunch, but we are sticking with our FP+ direct to table this time.

·         Switching hotels during our trip- Staying in the same hotel for your entire Disney trip is obviously very common and it is what I’ve done every time I’ve gone; except this time. When we originally made our plans we were staying 8/16/14-8/22/14 at Old Key West Resort (OKW). Our Uncle was nice enough to give us his Disney Vacation Club points (can explain this whole system in depth at a later time) so that we could stay at this Deluxe Hotel in Disney at no cost to my sister and I. A couple of months ago a special once a year event was announced (I talk about it later on in this post) that is taking place the day AFTER we leave to return home. I tried to find the cheapest way possible to stay an extra 2 days in order to attend this event. After talking to my sister and some help from my mom, we decided to do it! We are switching hotels due to OKW costing $300+ a night which is clearly not cheap. Instead we will be checking out of OKW on 8/22/14 and checking in to All Star Sports Resort for only $100 a night. I’ve heard that switching resorts is awful, but we don’t really care since we get to attend this special event!

·         Fantasmic Dinner Package- Fantasmic takes place in Hollywood studios and I’ve seen this show multiple times and love it! The difference this time being that we attached it to our dining reservation made that night so that we can have prime reserved seating instead of seating opened to everyone at Hollywood Studios that day. More in depth information on this can be found here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/fantasmic-dining-package/

·         Keys to the Kingdom Park tour- A graduation gift I bought for my sister! We are taking this 5 hour walking tour of the Magic Kingdom in the middle of our trip and I cannot wait to learn even more about the magic that is Walt Disney World. (I'll upload photos later to show you how I made her figure out her gift!)

·         Memory Maker- New digital photos that replaced the old Photopass + system. There are tons of Photopass Photographers throughout Disney World that will take your picture in the best spots around the parks. These photos as well as ride photos are included in Memory Maker where I can download them to my computer as many times as I want within the time range. This cost $149 since I bought it in advance and would have cost $199 if I had waited until our trip.

·         Villains Unleashed- The special event happening August 23rd in Hollywood Studios! This is a hard ticketed event (aka extra cost, limited amount of tickets) that features more than 50 Disney villains roaming the park from 8pm to 1am. There are special events, food, merchandise and character meets. We are very excited that we are able to attend this rare event!

Favorites that are being revisited:

·         Tusker House – My best friend and I found this buffet restaurant before we left for our trip in May ’13. It is Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Daisy character breakfast and lunch in Animal Kingdom. We love character meals and figured we’d give this place a shot. We loved the atmosphere, food and character interactions! Looking forward to showing my sister this hidden gem and being able to join the fun with the Mickey Safari crew!

·         Chef Mickey’s- A classic! This is another buffet meal that is located in the Contemporary Resort near the Magic Kingdom. This is also a character meal (I realllllly love character meals so be prepared) starring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto in chef costumes. I personally love this place because it is a fun/exciting environment and the classic characters always make the experience even more fun!

·         Celebrate the Magic/Wishes- Celebrate the Magic is the castle projection show in the Magic Kingdom and Wishes is the firework spectacular following it. I first saw Celebrate the Magic when I traveled to Disney in May ’13 and we were amazed. It is so neat to see all of the different pictures/videos that they display on the castle. I am always in awe at how they were able to create something so different and think to have it displayed on the castle. Wishesis my favorite fireworks/nighttime display in Disney World so far. It is set off behind the castle and tells a wonderful story during the firework show. It also help that my favorite character is used in this show (Tinkerbell!).

We are super excited for our trip! Since I won’t be able to make a full post while in Disney, I’ll make sure to check in!

 

Thanks for reading and having a MAGICAL day!

J

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