3 months later...

Whoops! So it's been 3 months (and 1 day!) since I last blogged... and to be fair, for the most part, there hasn't been much to say. Between 180 days out and 60 days out, there's not a lot to do. I managed to grab a pre-Rope Drop breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace (which I was thrilled about) after weeks and weeks of stalking for one. But the rest of the interesting news has come in the last couple of weeks anyway!

Two weeks ago, Disney announced a special hard ticket event, happening for one night only... and it fell during our trip! I was so excited. The Villains Unleashed event sounded amazing, and I was very excited, but nervous. Tickets went on sale to DVC and AP members first, and then 4 days later to the general public. Of course, Disney don't announce how many tickets are available, so it was a very tense wait... but the day rolled round, and my ticket was secured! As a hard ticket event, it is also an event adult may wear costumes to... so a lovely Rapunzel dress was purchased to complete my evening.

Today marks 60 days out, which means it was FP+ day! I woke up for the 5am "release" which didn't happen at 5am (nearer 6am) which caused some stress, but we got all the FP+ reservations we wanted, including two sets of FP+ for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and 2 sets to meet Anna and Elsa (though I may ditch one of those so someone else can grab them)... But, basically, today has been the big exciting day, and with everything booked, we begin the final countdown!

We've also changed our plans for our final day in the parks- we've ditched Epcot (and Le Cellier) in favour of dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. Somehow, we snagged a 7pm ADR at around 62 days out without spending weeks stalking for one. Talk about lucky!

So, that's our update. I'll post with a little more detail for all of those things over the coming days. :)

5 months out...

Today feels like a pretty significant day. Today we are 5 months out from our trip to Walt Disney World.

When we booked, we were over 11 months away from our trip. That means we have waited over 6 months, and now have less time to go than we have waited already, and that is good news! It feels like we have been waiting forever, but at the same time, it feels very close, and like the last 6 months have flown by. I can't wait!

Fireworks: Thank you WDTC! :)

When we booked our holiday, one of the Magical Extras that was included was "Preferred Viewing" of the fireworks at both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I found out last week I needed to book that, and so called at the weekend to try and book our slots for that. When I called, there was an option on the phone menu for Fireworks Reservations, but the CM I spoke to told me it wasn't possible to honour the extra (despite the fact it's on our invoice). I was unhappy about it, but as our phone line was very fuzzy, it wasn't the time to have a long conversation about it.

Fast-forward to Wednesday evening, when a friend tells us she has successfully made reservations for August 25th (several days after when we want ours)... so yesterday I tried again. Fortunately, I had access to a better phone line, and although the first CM I spoke said it wouldn't be possible, she offered to put me through to Reservations to check with them. So I spoke to Reservations (I think with a CM called Anne-Marie), who said of course they would honour our extra, as it was part of our booking, and sorted everything out for me in a couple of minutes. She was lovely, and very helpful (and congratulated us on the fact we're celebrating our 4th Wedding Anniversary whilst we're there). So, THANK YOU, ANNE-MARIE! :) I'm sure she'll never read this, but she made my day.

Photo Credit: Jason Short

Another job done... and it'll soon be time to start thinking about FP+ options! :D

ADRs are sorted! Yipee!

If you've planned a WDW trip of your own, you'll appreciate the excitement of being able to put some of your plans down in black and white at last. Whilst on holiday in Iceland last week, on a coach tour with patchy Wi-Fi, I managed to make most of my ADRs, and got the final one that wouldn't work when I got home.

So, our dining looks like this:
Tuesday 19th- Dinner at Mama Melrose (we LOVE Italian food) as part of the Fantasmic Dining Package.
Wednesday 20th- Dinner at Be Our Guest- so excited about this one. This was top of my list for our ADRs, and is one of the experiences on my Bucket List for this trip.
Thursday 21st- Dinner at Akerhaus Royal Banquet- we're going to meet the Princesses!
Friday 22nd- Dinner at Crystal Palace- meeting our friends from the 100 Acre Woods.
Saturday 23rd- Lunch at Tusker House- hello Mickey!
Sunday 24th- Dinner at Le Cellier- a special treat for my lovely husband, who will by that point have put up with a lot! He loves steak!

We're very happy with all our bookings- most came in within an hour of our ideal time, so we're well chuffed with that. Bring it on! 176 days to go!

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! :)

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!)

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

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.

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.

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!)

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! :)

Hello 2014! Happy New Year!

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

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! :)