"Whatever just happened...blame it on the pig." - My September Pre-Trip and Trip Report **BREAKING NEWS ON 8/21**

Walt Disney World
41

Time for the weekly update as to what I’m doing! :stuck_out_tongue:

Resort: still French Quarter River View (it was River or Pool and River was actually slightly less, so I went with that)

9/7 -
still arrival at MCO around midnight and Magical Express to POFQ

9/8 -
still planning on Play Time from 8-9am at this point - waiting to hear reports from the first couple of them before 100% committing to that
Epcot for the most part
ADR - 10 am- Garden Grill breakfast
FP+:
12-1 - Spaceship Earth
1-2 - Mission: Space
2:10-3:10 - Frozen Ever After

9/9 -
Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP
meeting up with friends at Main Gate around 9
no ADRs
FP+:
9:05-10:05 - Big Thunder Mountain
10:05-11:05 - Jungle Cruise
1:05-2:05 - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (this one only I have a FP+ for - got it on my FP+ day and one of my friends was like “No, no. Hold onto that golden FP!! We will just wait if we can’t find two that will overlap!” We’re all keeping an eye out in case we can work it so we can all go.)
4pm on - MNSSHP - priority is Moana M&G, Parade, and Fireworks; would love to hit some other M&Gs - Elvis Stitch, Pooh and Friends…but we’ll see what happens; rides and trick or treating are optional IMHO (well, other than Haunted Mansion…that I will try to do for sure) - friends will leave around this time as they have to get home to their puppies

9/10 -
Animal Kingdom - going to try and hit EMH, but we’ll see…
No ADRs in the park…one for the evening possibilities and one Open Table reservation for the evening possibilities
FP+:
11:00-12:00 - Meet Favorite Disney Pals
12:05-1:05 - Kilimanjaro Safaris
3:25-4:25 - Flight of Passage
Planning to regular line Na’vi and eat at Satu’li.
Want to hit the new Donald Dino area.
Evening is up for grabs still with options being (in no order other than how I think of them):
1 - stay in Animal Kingdom, possibly visit Nomad Lounge, possibly see Rivers of Light
2 - go to Disney Springs and eat at Bongos OR somewhere counter service and Ghiradeli for dessert
3 - go to Epcot for (possibly/probably) a last Illuminations
4 - go back to the resort, dinner at Boatwright’s and chilling at Scat Cat’s
5 - go to Studios and see Toy Story Land at night (ok, this is actually the bottom of the list just because I’m not the biggest Toy Story fan, but people seem to say it’s worth seeing at night too)

9/11
Tragical Express - pick up probably around 7am

So it’s slowly firming up. I think. A few less changes than before anyway.

2 Likes
42

we have so many of the same plans LOL
I am in Epcot 9/8, in fact I have the same rides as FPP and a GG ASR
I am going to MNSSHP on 9/9, and AK on 9/10
Great minds think alike!

1 Like
43

Too funny!!

I hope we both have amazing trips!!

44

NEWS FLASH!!!

We have an update - a pretty major change in things on one day!!!

What is the same:

Resort: still French Quarter River View (it was River or Pool and River was actually slightly less, so I went with that)

9/7 -
still arrival at MCO around midnight and Magical Express to POFQ

9/8 -
still planning on Play Time from 8-9am at this point - waiting to hear reports from the first couple of them before 100% committing to that
Epcot for the most part
ADR - 10 am- Garden Grill breakfast
FP+:
12-1 - Spaceship Earth
1-2 - Mission: Space
2:10-3:10 - Frozen Ever After

9/9 -
Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP
meeting up with friends at Main Gate around 9
no ADRs
FP+:
9:05-10:05 - Big Thunder Mountain
10:05-11:05 - Jungle Cruise
1:05-2:05 - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (this one only I have a FP+ for - got it on my FP+ day and one of my friends was like “No, no. Hold onto that golden FP!! We will just wait if we can’t find two that will overlap!” We’re all keeping an eye out in case we can work it so we can all go.)
4pm on - MNSSHP - priority is Moana M&G, Parade, and Fireworks; would love to hit some other M&Gs - Elvis Stitch, Pooh and Friends…but we’ll see what happens; rides and trick or treating are optional IMHO (well, other than Haunted Mansion…that I will try to do for sure) - friends will leave around this time as they have to get home to their puppies

And now the change

9/10…
8:30am - Keys to the Kingdom tour!!!
I’ve pretty much always wanted to do this and for whatever reason have never done it - either doing no tour or doing a different tour (Dolphins in Depth and Caring for Giants). I decided that with really only one sit-down meal planned, I could take some of the money I’ve put on my gift card, use my AP discount, and do it!

Once the tour is over, I’ll head to Animal Kingdom. I am not counting on having time to do Donald’s Dino thing…but if I can make it work, I will. The newly minted schedule is…

FP+
3:25-4:25 - Flight of Passage
4:40-5:40 - Meet Disney Pals
5:40-6:40 - Kilimanjaro Safaris

Dinner will likely be Satu’li…and maybe popping into Nomad Lounge to see what the big deal is about the churros since they have gluten-free ones.

Departure on the 11th is still the same.

Now I’m even more excited!!! And in all likelihood there will just be minor tweaks if any - the primary question mark at the moment is Passholder Play Time pending what we hear about the first few and how they handle the two different time slots.

8 Likes
45

Oh! Should have added I’m totally not stressing trick or treating at the party having seen the available allergy treats. Not impressed. Some of the regular things I could eat, but I’m better off without getting all those calories I don’t need. LOL.

3 Likes
46

Hope you enjoy the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Satu’li looks delicious.

3 Likes
47

You are going to love Key to the Kingdom. I have not done it in many years and decided to do it again this October.

2 Likes
48

What!?!? GF churros?!?!? Please review them. I have also heard you can get GF beignets (sp?) at POFQ.

1 Like
49

Satu’li is amazing! I ate there twice in February! My only complaint if I have to have one is that they don’t have a gluten-free dessert option (given that the cheesecake thing appears crustless, I am still trying to figure out what in there makes it not safe, but I will take their word for it).

1 Like
50

Will do! They are on at least the most recent allergy-friendly menu I have seen for Nomad.

1 Like
51

I have toyed with it for a while and finally decided to just go for it this trip!

52

You wont regret it, I am taking my brother this time. He has never done a behind the scenes tour and I told him this is the one to do, and you get lunch.

1 Like
53

Wondering if it’s vanilla extract?

54

Yay!

I have done Dolphins in Depth (that is the one where I forgot my ID in my room and burst into tears upon realizing it as the bus pulled into the Epcot lot - my driver took ultimate pity on me and called base to say he was making another run back to Coronado and back to help a guest…and he did - drove me back, paused outside my building, and waited for me. Yes, I went to Guest Services after the tour and wrote him a glowing card!) and Caring for Giants - but neither of those had food or really taught you any secrets.

1 Like
55

Have not done that one yet, someday. Great story, the magic of Disney. Next I am doing Marceline to Magic in December. They are supposed to take you behind the scenes of my favorite ride, Haunted Mansion. You cant really go wrong with caring for giants, I did enjoy it. Does not take a lot of time and not expensive. But really you are just seeing them from another angle.

1 Like
56

Yep. And the money goes to elephant conservation. Big plus!

1 Like
57

And the elephant poop name badge :grimacing:

1 Like
58

This is probably a silly question, but what is Passholder Play Time and how does one get it? I tried searching this forum and the WDW website and am not getting any hits (other than this post)… :thinking:

2 Likes
59

ooohhh . . . nvm. I just checked my inbox (which I never clean out) and I realized that I had emails (which I never opened) with invitations to register for Passholder Play Time and V.I.Passholder Nights. But I didn’t even know I was going back to the World until two days ago (which is why I never bothered to read the emails) and now I’m getting the following message for both events (which has basically spoiled my entire evening):

image

:sob: :sob: :sob:

1 Like
60

Sorry I was delayed getting back to you. I was at a play last night and crashed when I got home.

Yeah -advantage of summer break is I was online when the email came in and I was able to jump right in. The big question right now is what are they planning to do with the 7-8 people when it is 8am and there is a new crop of people. The theory is colored wristbands and if you don’t have the right color you can’t ride, but no one knows. It does kind of stink for those of us in the 8-9 slot because in all likelihood even if they’re not riding the rides they will be in the area so we won’t be able to get pictures as “empty” as the first group. We’ll see what happens though!

2 Likes