The "We Haven't Been in 9 Months and Just Renewed Our AP" Last Minute Pre-Trip

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Mon, 09/07/2015 - 01:52

ScottFL

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The "We Haven't Been in 9 Months and Just Renewed Our AP" Last Minute Pre-Trip

Woo Hoo! Finally convinced The Spouse the we really needed to get another AP because life is just too boring and stressful without it (they expired in March). And to celebrate, we just lined up a last minute trip for next weekend.

Friday: Drive over to our 'obstructed view' room at the Contemporary (hey, it was ridiculously cheap), drop off the luggage and hit the monorail to Epcot. Scored Illumination fast passes (I'll be obsessive about trying to get into the dessert party the rest of the week). This is our first trip with almost no ADR's so we'll just wing it for dinner, depending on what time we make it into the gate (we still have to trade in our certificates for actual AP). I'm not too worried - I think there might be 1 or 2 decent restaurant options in Epcot. One of them has to have a table available, right?

Saturday: Early arrival at AK. FP+ for Dinosaur, Everest, and Kilimanjaro Safari. Also looking forward to trying out the new Harambe Marketplace for lunch. Park closes at 5, so plans are for an early dinner at AKL (shooting for Sanaa or Jiko ). Any other time we'd head back to the monorail loop for fireworks, but it is Night of Joy Friday and Saturday, so I don't think there are fireworks then, are there? As a consolation, a nightcap is probably in order.

Sunday: Have to be up and out the door early to drop the luggage in the truck and head over to MK for our 8:10am ADR at CP. I have never done an early in-park ADR, so I'm excited about this. The Spouse is excited about breakfast with Pooh (even though he'd never admit it). Too many times I've read about the reaction of people walking up an empty Main Street, thought it was time to experience it for myself. That, plus I'm hoping for a leg up to 7DMT since last minute FP+ for that one is non-existent. Had to settle for FP+ to the other 3 mountains instead (Space, Big Thunder, and Splash). Plan is to be on the road about 5 or 6 and in the house before 8pm. (It always takes a couple of hours to calm down the dog after we get back. She loves the sitter, but 2 days without us is a little too much for her.)

So we're on our way for another year of too much Disney. It's still 5 days away, but I'm already breathing easier now that it's on the books.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 02:13

MrHub

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Have fun, maybe we will pass you in the parks!

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 09:46

JMed

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I love last minute trips! Have fun!!

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Mon, 09/07/2015 - 14:01

Emilio

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Awesome , those short or no-notice Disney vacations are the greatest trips. You've got a great schedule laid out, enjoy!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:34

Belinda

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Can't wait to hear about your trip!

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Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:11

AnnielovesDisney

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Yay to another AP Have a wonderful trip.

I don't know how you went 9 whole months without going! We just got back from our first WDW weekend in 3 months and I was having serious withdrawals after 3 LONG months!

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 01:57

ScottFL

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AnnielovesDisney wrote:

Yay to another AP Have a wonderful trip.

I don't know how you went 9 whole months without going! We just got back from our first WDW weekend in 3 months and I was having serious withdrawals after 3 LONG months!

Don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of Disney?!

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 11:03

ThatMouse

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I found ridiculously cheap Contemporary once when MK closed at 7pm for grad night. 1BR BLT and they let us sneak up to the top for a really good reason - proposed to my girlfriend. Maybe night of joy sparks the same discounts. I'll have to remember that! I believe there are unlisted night of joy fireworks. Talk to a cast member when it will be. The grad night fireworks were really cool. Also there may still be summer frozen fireworks at hollywood that can actually be seen from EPCOT. Labor Day weekend was too crowded for me. Hopefully your weekend will be empty, should be.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 11:30

ScottFL

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ThatMouse wrote:

I found ridiculously cheap Contemporary once when MK closed at 7pm for grad night. 1BR BLT and they let us sneak up to the top for a really good reason - proposed to my girlfriend. Maybe night of joy sparks the same discounts. I'll have to remember that! I believe there are unlisted night of joy fireworks. Talk to a cast member when it will be. The grad night fireworks were really cool. Also there may still be summer frozen fireworks at hollywood that can actually be seen from EPCOT. Labor Day weekend was too crowded for me. Hopefully your weekend will be empty, should be.

Thanks for the tip! We were going to ask about fireworks during Night of Joy. My bigger question is how the resort monorail runs during hard ticket events - does it stop an hour after the park closes or an hour after the hard ticket event?

And when I say 'ridiculously cheap', it was $20 more than the CBR rate we were looking at. Of course it's the Garden Wing, but it's still...

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 13:35

ThatMouse

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That sounds similar to what I saw 5 years ago, so I splurged even more. Good deal! The contemporary fireworks viewing area / smoking area has some construction but it should be staying open. I don't know about the monorails - they may be just doing buses. I'm pretty sure fireworks are at around midnight.

Fri, 09/18/2015 - 18:31