Welcome to my pre-trip and trip report for my mini-break, Sept 27-Oct 1!!
Cast:
Me (Beth)! Disneyphile for life!! I teach special ed in NYC, and we are fortunate enough to get the major Jewish holidays off (mega-high population of students AND faculty in the public school systems), so we are out for Rosh Hashanah and this year it again falls on a Monday and Tuesday (technically sundown Sunday through sundown on Tuesday - we are out Monday and Tuesday). So it’s the perfect excuse to take a trip to Disney!!
My friend Cristen, who is also a Disneyphile and who teaches in Sarasota. We met doing the NYC Teaching Fellows 14 years ago! Barring unforeseen circumstances (like if she can’t get a sub for 9/30), she’ll be joining me on Sunday and we’re doing MNSSHP and then hanging on Monday.
The plans as they stand now (I may or may not be prone to changing things around):
9/27
I’ll leave school when we’re dismissed (2:50pm) and either take the subway or splurge on an Uber to JFK. Fly to Charlotte, change planes, and fly to MCO. Scheduled to land at 12:02 - hoping that the trend of landing early when flying south continues. Head to DME and go to Pop Century!!
9/28
Morning is a little loose at this point as I’m not sure how long I’ll sleep - last year I did a similar time frame trip over Rosh Hashanah (which was right now last year) and was still up early enough to make rope drop). I don’t tend to sleep super late anyway. I’ll grab breakfast at the resort - I tend to do two meals a day and just grab a snack and soda the rest of the time - and then as it stands now I’m planning to head to MK for the morning and gasp wing it without and FP+. I’d love to hit all 3 mountains, but we’ll see if I can manage that. I’m not doing FP+ for the morning because I have one for Na’vi in the evening that I don’t want to lose. I’ll likely stay at MK for the parade (2pm per the schedule) and then head over to AK where I have late afternoon FP+ for Safaris and Everest (Everest one is subject to change most since I can do Single Rider there). I’ll grab some dinner after that - I’m torn because I love Satu’li but I also love Nomad. Right now Nomad is leading because Cristen and I are planning Satu’li on Monday AND because I’d asked about getting just fries without the truffle ickiness of the poutine and a few people (on another forum) have asked me to report back. Then the FP+ for Na’vi. And I’ll likely do FoP stand-by and then head back to the resort.
9/29
Get up and grab maybe a smoothie at Pop before heading to Epcot where I’ve got FP+ for Spaceship Earth and Mission Space - and will try to do another couple of things stand-by (not as enamored with Soarin’, so it’s an easy skip for me) in Future World before meeting Cristen about 11:30 (she’s going to come in to meet me and rack up a visit towards the coasters). We’re going to head to Disney Springs for brunch at the BOATHOUSE!!! Then over to Pop to chill and get ready for the party!! I think Cristen is bounding as Vanellope - could have changed. I was going to bound as Shank, but it’s likely to be very hot for that, so I’m leaning more towards Ariel (I inadvertently bounded as her to Orange Theory one day with teal leggings and a purple tank). We’ll see. Party that night!!
9/30
Get up and head to the Boardwalk for breakfast ay Bon Voyage!! We’re both super excited about that!! Then it’s off to Animal Kingdom where we’ve got FP+ for Safaris and Dinosaur and Flight of Passage!! This might be Cristen’s first time riding…not 100% sure on that, but if so, YAY!!! We’re going to eat at Satu’li (again, possibly a first for Cristen). Then Cristen will have to head home and I’ll head over to Epcot. If I can grab a FP+ for something that’s cool, if not, no biggie. I have a ticket for an Illuminations Dessert Party that is hosted by Attractions Magazine and the travel agency I use for what I know will be an ugly cry fest as we say farewell to Illuminations. Back to the hotel after for the night.
10/1
Get up and finish packing, grab breakfast at Pop, and be ready for the Tragical Express which I’m sure will be about 9 as my flight is at noon. 
I’m excited!! It’ll be a quick trip and bittersweet saying goodbye to Illuminations, but it’ll be fun!!
