Megan's October 2013 Pre-trip/ Trip Report!

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Megan's October 2013 Pre-trip/ Trip Report!

So I've been obsessively reading all of y'all's trip reports, and it inspired me to go ahead and write one of my own!

The way this trip happened was pretty spontaneous...I mean, we've been planning like crazy so I guess it's not REALLY spontaneous, but I guess the desicion was...
My family was discussing future vacation plans when we were all together this past Christmas(we're from Ohio, and my parents still live there, but the 4 of us kids are kinda spread around the country). We already had our next vacay planned for the upcoming summer(Emerald Isle, which we just got back from a few weeks ago!), so we were talking about 2014. We are a Disney-loving family for sure and the last time we were there was maybe 5-6 years ago, so we decided another Disney trip was due! So as soon as my sister and I got back to Nashville, the planning commenced. We budgeted, talked DDP, Moderate vs. Value Resorts, what ADRs to make, researched all the new attractions, etc...
In the midst of this planning, we got bit by the Disney bug HARD. The discussion somehow came around to "I wish we could go sooner!"...."Why can't we go sooner?"...."We should go sooner!" And so this quick little trip was born.

We started talking dates, and when would be the best time to get off work, and decided end of October was ideal. We didn't even think about Food and Wine Festival, but when that clicked, it was definitely on!

Our next priority was budget...this was a big one. Since we were thinking of this as just a little weekend trip and not a full-blown vacation, we wanted to try and spend as little as possible. We were already resigned to the fact that we probably would be staying off property, which we were okay with. The Holiday Inn Express Lake Buena Vista East is no Port Orleans, but at the price of exactly $0(due to credit card reward points) it would do nicely.

We were talking to our dad about the trip and he offered to get us our plane tickets with his frequent flyer points(he travels a lot for business and usually has more points than he knows what to do with), so that was a huge budget-saver as well!

Hotel and Flight- check!....Money spent- $0!

So we're flying out from Nashville on Wednesday, October 23rd in the evening, renting a car at the Orlando airport, and getting to the hotel probably around 10:00 or 10:30.
Our Schedule for the next 3 days is....

Thursday- This day is gonna be very loose. We're not planning on going to any of the parks, just DTD, the Boardwalk, and some resort hopping. We have an ADR for Kona Cafe for lunch, and we definitely wanna hit up Jellyrolls in the evening. We have a great dueling piano bar here in Nashville, The Big Bang, and it's always so much fun, so having that AND the fact that it's at Disney? super-win.

Friday- Our Epcot day! We've been reading up on F&WF obsessively, and there's no way we can do and eat and drink everything we want(which is pretty much everything there, lol). So we're in the process of narrowing the booths to our musts and as much as I hate having every second of a trip planned, we're gonna have to have a pretty tight game plan this day. We have an ADR for an 8:00 breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Not 100% sure about transportation from there to Epcot. We thought it'd be fun to take the boat to MK and then monorail to Epcot, but with our time constraints that day, that might not be best. Also, we're not sure if we're allowed to have our car there all day, since we're not guests. Anyone?
We also have tickets to the 3D Dessert Discovery party at 8:00, which also gets you prime spots for IllumiNations awesome

Saturday: MK from Rope Drop to Wishes! No super tight plans this day, although we still are gonna fit in as much as possible. We have an ADR for The Plaza, which we've never been to. BOG was our first choice but we couldn't get a res, of course. I'm excited for The Plaza though- I love the art nouveau decor and the location is perfect. We might do BOG for lunch if the line's not too insane.

Our flight back to Nashville is Sunday early evening, so we have a few hours in the morning/early afternoon to fit a couple more things in. No plans for that yet. Any suggestions? A good brunch place or something?

So that's it! Our whirlwind Disney trip! Thanks for reading! I tend to blab.... Smile

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That's awesome that you got the flight and hotel for free!!! That's a win! clapping yay

MeganLeigh wrote:
Not 100% sure about transportation from there to Epcot. We thought it'd be fun to take the boat to MK and then monorail to Epcot, but with our time constraints that day, that might not be best. Also, we're not sure if we're allowed to have our car there all day, since we're not guests. Anyone?

Do you mean leave it at Epcot all day or at Fort Wilderness all day? I'm pretty you can leave it where you park it all day.

If you get a reservation at any buffet for the right time, you can get breakfast then get lunch items because they have to turn over the buffet and most buffets stay open during this process.

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IF we decide that we want to take the boat over, then we would have to leave the car at WL(if we're allowed). If we decide that the boat/monorail would take too much time out of our day, then I guess it's not an issue, we'd just drive to Epcot.

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I'm pretty sure you can leave your car there. The parking permit that you get when you check into any Disney resort if for parking at the parks so you don't have to pay for parking.

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Thanks for the info! We've parked at resorts we're not staying at before for a meal or just to explore, but never for an entire day, so I was nervous, lol. Lke I said it may end up being a complete non-issue anyway.

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You're welcome.

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sounds awesome! We are going Oct 25th so I am reading your report thinking I should make one too lol! Smile

I see you are talking about a dessert thing that gets you good seats at Illumination. Clearly I need help with my plans...I don't know what all that means. ???

~Wendy

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MeganLeigh, you can leave your car there, but I would recommend driving your car to Epcot and parking it there. If you took the boat, you would go to the MK, then take the monorail to the T&TC, have to switch monorails and get on the Epcot monorail, which is going to blow a lot of time. You can drive to Epcot from WL in 10 minutes.

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Wendy the 3D Dessert Party is one of the special events at the Food & Wine Festival. A lot of these event are already sold out.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/epcot/3-d-desserts/

Wendy, check this out

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

Lists all about the Food &Wine Festival

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Thanks MrHub, and you are right...sold out Sad ...it is okay though, diabetic anyway so couldn't eat the sweets but would have liked "sweet" seats lol. Smile
~Wendy

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mrhub wrote:
MeganLeigh, you can leave your car there, but I would recommend driving your car to Epcot and parking it there. If you took the boat, you would go to the MK, then take the monorail to the T&TC, have to switch monorails and get on the Epcot monorail, which is going to blow a lot of time. You can drive to Epcot from WL in 10 minutes.

Yeah we are aware of that, which is why I think we probably will just end up driving ourselves. We wanted to take the boat and monorail, just because it's fun, but in the end, I think we'd rather just spend that time at the park.

Wendy B wrote:
sounds awesome! We are going Oct 25th so I am reading your report thinking I should make one too lol! Smile

~Wendy

You should, Wendy! I love reading everyone else's plans!

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Sounds great! I'm super jealous you were able to throw together such an awesome, inexpensive, last minute trip! Have a blast!

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Sounds like so much fun!

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T-Minus 35 Days! yay

Small update...
So we knew we were gonna have to have a pretty tight game plan to take on the F&WF. We printed out the entire menu of all the booths, highlighted what were must-eats/drinks individually, and compared. The ones we both had highlighted, we would star, and try to go to as many of those booths as we could, which ended up being 9- pretty manageable, we thought. We also had a map of where all the booths would be located in the WS, so we could plan what order would best optimize our time. There were 3 starred booths grouped together here, 3 kind of beside each other over there, and a couple more that were close- we could sweep these booths pretty quickly, save for any long lines we would encounter awesome ! Then there was Italy, and Singapore. Ugh, they were all the way on the other side! waiting This would not fit in well with our Master Plan(yes, I'm capitalizing The Master Plan- that's how important it is). Well, we would try to get to them if we had time- we had the 3D Dessert Discovery event at 8, so we might be able to split up and each go to one, meet at the World Showplace Pavilion and share whatever we got just before the event. We also planned out pretty specifically what rides we would go on and when in the front of the park. We were pretty happy with The Master Plan in the end, but I kept thinking about how tight we would be on time, and how much I dislike being on such a strict schedule when I'm on vacation(okay, even just in my everyday life). I mean, we shouldn't be studying maps and using phrases like "game plan", and "optimize our time" when planning a vacation- it was like we were going to war- or worse! Black Friday at Best Buy! *shudder*
I slept on it, I thought about it all day at work the next day, I ran through scenarios in my head, and it came to me eek - what if we just got 3-day tickets instead of two? Ummmm, HELLO?! We already had a day that was kind of a "whatever" day, so we spend a few extra hours at Epcot, and we can still go to our ADR for lunch at Kona, and DTD at some point. I mean.....duh! It's almost another hundred bucks each, but I just got a $200 Disney gift card from my Disney Visa, so I took it as a sign. angelwings
So now The Master Plan, is just "the kind of basic outline of a plan", and we can slow down, and stop and smell the golf bal- errr roses?

Next Installment(coming whenever I feel like it)...let's talk about FASHION biggrin ! (Okay, dudes, you can wait outside waiting )

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Whoo hoo! Now that's a plan! yay

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Wow. You are SO organized!! What are your must hits for F&WF?? I'm planning on just wandering around and grazing at the shortest lines. Any must hits you'd suggest? I won't lie, I'm mostly interested in the beer.... Smile

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Ha! I'm really not that organized- I was just paranoid about fitting everything we wanted to do in such a short time.
The must hits that my sister and I both agreed on are...
Belgium- I LOOOVE waffles, and they have a "belgium waffle with berry compote and whipped cream" that I'm drooling over
Canada- I've heard so much about the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup, so we gotta try that, and the ice wine sounds interesting
Desserts and Champagne- Duh!
France- all those alcoholic slushies! lol
Germany- The bratwurst on a pretzel roll, and the apple strudel
Greece- I'm also a huge fan of Greek food. They have a Chicken Gyro, and a Spanakopita that sound yummy
Hawaii- The Kalua pork slider, and the Aulani Sunriuse(drink)
Italy- "Ravioli de formaggio all'emiliana" which I think is just cheese ravioli lol. Also, the cannoli!
Morocco- The Kefta pocket(ground seasoned beef in a pita pocket), and the Harissa chicken roll(kinda like an egg roll, with seasoned chicken), and the baklava
Singapore- the mahi mahi with rice, and the lemongrass chicken curry

Although I enjoy it, I'm not too much of a beer connoisseur. There is a craft beer booth that I definitely wanna visit if we have time. And there are amazing-sounding drinks at pretty much every booth- I'll probably get one at every booth we hit. awesome

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Wow!! Thanks for sharing!! I'm going to borrow some of those! We'll have to compare notes!

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JMUDukz wrote:
Wow!! Thanks for sharing!! I'm going to borrow some of those! We'll have to compare notes!

Would love to! And just keep in mind, that's like less than a third of the booths that they'll have, not to mention the free seminars and demonstrations. I wish we could be there for 10 days! Then MAYBE we could see all there is to see.

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JMUDukz wrote:
Wow. You are SO organized!! What are your must hits for F&WF?? I'm planning on just wandering around and grazing at the shortest lines. Any must hits you'd suggest? I won't lie, I'm mostly interested in the beer.... Smile

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Joe & I are with you on that!!! laugh

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Mmm the cheese soup and ice wine at Canada were delicious last year! Glad you were able to swing an extra day so that you're sure to fit in all your "must dos"!

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The cheese soup, apple struedel and canolis were delicious last year...keep them on your list muchlove

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Magic Mirror wrote:
The cheese soup, apple struedel and canolis were delicious last year...keep them on your list muchlove

Yessss! Probably my three faves from last year!

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Magic Mirror wrote:
The cheese soup, apple struedel and canolis were delicious last year...keep them on your list muchlove

ya don't gotta tell me twice!! laugh

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awesome

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So I said that the next installment of this TR was gonna be all about fashion...It's basically the "packing section" of the Pre-Trip Report, which sounds super boring. I mean, who like packing?! blech....I think most of you guys will enjoy THIS kind of packing, though....DISNEY Packing!

One word can sum up this post- "Disneybounding". I'm sure at least some of you have at least heard of this trend, but for those of you who haven't....
It's basically dressing up like a Disney character, without wearing an actual costume.
Some examples...



Fun right?

My sister and I discovered this on Pinterest(and if you don't know what THAT is, then we just can't be friends wink ). We LOVE Disney of course, but combine that with fashion, clothes, shopping, etc...we are SO on board.
We thought about our trip pretty far in advance, so planning our Disney outfits was kind of a way to pass the time until it actually happened.
I decided on two different versions of Ariel(I have red hair, and love to sing, so I've always felt a connection to The Little Mermaid), Tinkerbell, and Minnie Mouse. Manda is gonna be Figment(a major sentimental fave for both of us), Snow White, Pocahontas, and Jasmine
Now, we've tried to be sensible about our outfits, using as much as we could from out existing wardrobes. There has, however, been some intense searching for a perfect accessory here, or a shirt that we happened across that just screamed "Ariel", or "Snow White". So here's what we've come up with. They're pretty much completed, so we'd love to hear what you guys think!

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Wow, you guys did a great job! Great idea.

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I love these especially the Pocohontas one.

VelcroPooh

Sooooo cute! I love the Snow White.

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Those are good. I love seeing Disney Bond at the parks.

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That is so fun! Im going to have to look into this for my next trip!

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