Daisypath Vacation tickers

Sunday 19 January 2014

Plans at Last: Part 2

Part Two of yesterday's post: our plans are taking shape!

So, on to:

Friday 22nd August
Back to the Magic Kingdom- it looks like another good day, and we're hoping for another character meal at Crystal Palace (probably lunch or dinner). I know Magic Kingdom is a big park, and one day won't be enough (two probably won't either, but we're limited on time)... two days means we can get FP+ for six different rides over the two days, so hopefully we should get to ride all the biggies! :)

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom
Photo Credit: Derek Hatfield

Saturday 23rd August
Animal Kingdom is our destination for the Saturday and should be a nice change of pace. If we manage it, we might go for an ADR at Tusker House for lunch, so I can make sure I get myself a hug from Mickey Mouse! (Can't miss out on the Big Cheese!)

Animal Kingdom
Photo Credit: Anna Fox

Sunday 24th August
Sunday will be a flexible day. We might head to EPCOT. We might go to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon (or do a bit of both. We might spend some time at Downtown Disney, or swim at the resort- who knows?

Monday 25th August
Our last day- we fly quite late in the day, so once we've checked out we have some time to kill. If we can make use of the resort pool, we might spend some time there. We might go back to EPCOT (as it's nearest to Saratoga Springs) or shopping at Downtown Disney- it'll probably depend on what we do on the previous day, before we have to catch the Magical Express back to MCO... It feels a lot more real now we have a plan! :D

Saturday 18 January 2014

Plans at Last: Part 1

Today we are 7 months away from our first ever visit to Walt Disney World. This week has been a good week, as the park hours for August have been released, and the park recommendations from various people are being updated. We're subscribed to Touring Plans, but most of our decisions have been made based on the information we found at EasyWDW.

Our Plan So Far

Monday 18th August
Arrive at WDW. We're not due to land until the early evening, and will be taking Disney's Magical Express from the airport to our resort. We're not planning on heading to the parks that evening- I guess we won't be at our resort before 8pm at the latest, which will be 1am UK time, so while we need to try and stay awake till a bit later, I suspect we won't get any further than DTD (but most likely just a little swim in our resort.

Tuesday 19th August
Hollywood Studios. We had hoped to head to the Magic Kingdom on the first day, but a few people have recommended to me that we don't (don't see the best park first!) Although we're staying on site, we're going to try avoid the Extra Magic Hours as they draw the crowds. I think it's a good place to start for us, as my lovely husband is not the most avid Theme Park fan, and there seems to be a good mix of things to do. I'm hoping we'll be able to get an ADR for a Fantasmic Package for that first evening.

Hollywood Studios, Disney World hat
Photo Credit: Steph

Wednesday 20th August
I can't keep us away from the Magic Kingdom for too long, so that'll be our second day park. My big big big hope is that we'll be able to get an ADR for dinner at Be Our Guest. I know these are like gold dust, so we've got the back up plan of heading there for lunch, as I would really like to see the place- it looks stunning. Keep your fingers crossed for us! If we do manage to book Be Our Guest, we'll probably celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary that day.

Be Our Guest
Photo Credit: Peter Dutton

Thursday 21st August
It's time for EPCOT and hopefully our first character meal- either lunch or dinner at Akerhaus. (Fingers crossed again please!) Hopefully the plan is to hit the park at rope drop to make sure we can ride both Soarin' and Test Track (as we can only get one of those two on FP+ unless the system changed before August... which to be fair, it might!)

Epcot
Photo Credit: Raw Processor

That's the first 4 days... I'll put the next 4 in a new post so it's not too long! :)

Friday 3 January 2014

Hello 2014! Happy New Year!

Or "I'm going to Walt Disney World this year!!"

Stars and Stripes
Photo Credit: Mark W

Hooray for 2014! It's here at last and I can say that we are going THIS year! Woo hoo! It is also January, which means soon (hopefully, very soon) Disney will be releasing the park opening times for August... once we know the opening times, we can start to make decisions on which park we want to visit on which day, and start to make decisions about where and when we might want for our ADRs when the bookings open up next month.

As there's been very little serious planning I've been able to do (as we booked all the major bits at once- we bought our flights from BA the same day we booked the package of Accommodation/Free Dining/Park Tickets), it feels good to know there's finally something we can do (I customised our magic bands nearly a month ago because I could, and I know I won't change my mind on colour before then).

As an aside, we are also taking a trip to Iceland next month (in fact, we will be out there when the 180 day window opens up, which is a slight pain), so as well as thinking about hot weather clothes and what we will need for our trip to Florida, I'm also trying to figure out acquiring thermals and the such like to keep me warm whilst in Iceland as I feel the cold big time!(I also don't deal well with heat... I have a very limited optimal operating temperature range, and think I may be being a glutton for punishment this year!)

Anyway, Happy New Year all! I hope it is a good one for you all! :)