Our Grandest Trip Ever... Literally! - August 2019 PTR *TR LINK POSTED 8/25*

Newsies

Headlines don't sell papes.
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Skip the coffee/tea I normally tell you to grab before joining my PTR/TR. This trip is coming along so well already that I popped some champagne for everyone!

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I promised myself I wouldn't jump the gun on this PTR and post it before I was finished with my November 2019 TR... but planning this trip has been so exciting so far that I just couldn't wait any longer! So without any further delay (I might explode otherwise), I present to you:

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I really tried to hold off on writing this PTR because I didn't want to get sidetracked from my TR or my blog, and because normally: I don't have a lot to write in the way of PTRs. I book my ADRs. I book my FP+. I get my Magic Bands in the mail. I call it a day. But planning this trip has already been... hoo boy. So much has happened within the last three weeks that it would physically kill me to let another cool thing happen without having a PTR to rush off to. I am still in the middle of my November 2018 TR, so please check that out here if you're interested! ShellieMay, Slinky Dog, and the SCRUNCHIEST Thanksgiving Ever! - A Nov 18 TR

We are in the middle of planning our annual trip to Walt Disney World Resort, August 18-24, 2019. We will be staying at a Deluxe Studio - Standard View at The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. We have tickets to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and are hoping to register for Moonlight Magic at Animal Kingdom during the week. We normally use the DDP, and are hoping to add it onto our room before this trip as well.

Since 2010, this will be our seventh WDW vacation as a family. So before I continue-- come meet the family!

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Here we are! We are a goofy quartet from NJ and we are crazy, crazy, crazy about Walt Disney World Resort! Some families watch sitcoms together, we watch TheTimTracker, Neverland Family, and a few other vloggers together. In 2017, we joined the Disney Vacation Club family! Our home resort is Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Last year, we joined the Annual Passholder family. While we love Disney World, we love it in different ways-- as I'll explain in this PTR, there are two very separate preferred park touring styles between myself and my family!

I'm running out of creative ways to introduce everybody, so for this PTR, I just had everybody say a blurb about themselves:

Tom: Our dad!
"The first time I ever went to Disney was 1976 during the bicentennial. I enjoyed that a lot. I enjoy going to Disney with you guys because it's a wonderful family trip. And I enjoy being with you guys and just being on Main Street. This year, I'm really, really, really looking forward to my first MNSSHP, which is something I've been dying to go to since they started them, and dressing up as Chief Smokey Miller. The thing I want to do most is go to the MNSSHP and the Moonlight Magic at Animal Kingdom, because I can't wait to see what Animal Kingdom looks like at night. And I'm looking forward to spending a week at the Grand Floridian. Because I do like it, and the way it's set up. And I would like to meet several vloggers this year and get pictures with them."

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Resort: Polynesian Village
Favorite Ride: Alien Swirling Saucers/Slinky Dog Dash
Favorite Restaurant: California Grill
Favorite Snack: Mickey Pretzel (with cheese!)
Favorite Souvenir: Lighted Jingle Bells/Alien Headband
Favorite Character: Grumpy

Susie: Our mom!
"From the time it opened until the time I was 20, I went to Walt Disney World twice a year. I like Disney World because when you're there, you can be a kid. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can have fun. You're in a whole different world. You can just forget about everything and relax. I'm looking forward to renting my cabana at the Grand Floridian pool, walking on Main St. USA with my Joffrey coffee, and getting my Dole Whip. And I'm looking forward to seeing my ghost (Haunted Mansion) and hearing "welcome home!" And I hope to run into the Trackers! (In reference to TheTimeTracker on YouTube)."

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Resort: Contemporary
Favorite Ride: Haunted Mansion
Favorite Restaurant: Homecomin'
Favorite Snack: Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich
Favorite Souvenir: Pandora Disney charm
Favorite Character: Winnie the Pooh/Dumbo

Grace: My 17-year-old kid-sister-who-isn't-a-kid-anymore!
"My name is Grace. I will be attending Montclair State University in the fall. My favorite TV show is Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Um. Uh-um... I... I, um... are you writing that?... Personally, my laptop is currently broken. Um. I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning for school. I hope one day to meet Chris Pratt. Yeah. that's it.

Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Resort: Grand Floridian
Favorite Ride: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Favorite Restaurant: La Hacienda de San Angel
Favorite Snack: Quick Service Fudge Brownie
Favorite Souvenir: Slinky Headband
Favorite Character: Peter Pan

Kaitlyn: That's ME!
Hello, I'm Kaitlyn, known here on the DIS as Newsies, known on some other parts of the internet (including my own blog) as tinkerkait. I'm a 21-year-old college student, theatre usher, and writer currently living out the dream in NYC. I credit myself with giving my family "the Disney bug," and I completed a WDW Disney College Program in 2016! I'm also the planner of the family. It's a tough job being asked three times a day where we're going to eat when we go to Epcot, but someone's gotta answer them.

Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Resort: The Polynesian Village
Favorite Ride: Slinky Dog Dash
Favorite Restaurant: California Grill
Favorite Snack: Joffrey's Caramel Iced Latte
Favorite Souvenir: Spirit Jersey
Favorite Character: Tinker Bell

As I mentioned earlier, planning this trip has been a WILD ride so far-- hence why I've broken my personal promise and started my PTR so early! So with that being said, I am going to cut the intro here. I can't wait to update you guys later with...

... the DRAMA of the DVC waitlist!
... the THRILL
of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party tickets!
... the BAITED BREATH waiting to register for Moonlight Magic!
... the READINESS TO POUNCE for high-demand ADRs and FP+!
... and SOME OTHER THINGS!


Off we go! :tink:


 
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To-Do List:

Hotel reservations? Yes!
Park Tickets? Yes!
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Tickets? Yes!
Registered for Moonlight Magic? YES! And couldn't be happier!
ADRs? Yes!
FP+? Yes!
Dining Plan? Yes!
Memory Maker? Included in our Annual Passes!
Made arrangements for the dog? Yes!
MagicBands? Yes!
Packed? YES!!! A WHOLE DAY BEFORE, TOO!!! ;) ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR DISNEY 2019!

Table of Contents:
1. The Story So Far (1/30/19)
2. Our Tentative ADRs (2/17/19)
3. Our First Set of ADRs! (2/19/19)
4. The Tea on Summer 2019 (4/7/19)
5. Our First Set of Park Plans/Spreadsheets! (4/18/19)
6. We're Starting to Shop! (5/6/19)
7. The Double Digit Dance (5/11/19)
8. The Worst Last Day of School Ever? (5/17/19)
9. Post-Birthday Update (5/22/19)
10. Hang On... I Think I've Figured Out Some Plans! (5/24/19)
11.
Slow Week... (6/2/19)
12.
We're In! (6/5/19)
13.
Prom Pics/Plans (6/9/19)
14.
Our Tentative FP+ Plans! (6/16/19)
15.
The Official 2019 Post-FP+ Press Release (6/19/19)
16.
"The Surprise" (6/22/19)
17.
Update: Riverdale Con 2019! (7/1/19)
18.
The 5th Annual 4th of July PTR Update (7/4/19)
19.
August 2019: The Official Snack Bucket List (7/11/19)
20.
Entertainment Offerings (7/19/19)
21.
MagicBands are on the Way! (7/21/19)
22.
Strike Up the Band (7/26/19)
23.
Slowly, but Surely... (7/28/19)
24.
Our Travel Plans (8/2/19)
25.
Packing/Outfits - Part 1 (8/6/19)
26.
The Single Digit Dance! (8/9/19)
27.
Lightning Round: August 2019 Souvenir Bucket List (8/12/19)
28.
Shirt Update & MNSSHP Snacks! (8/13/19)
29.
We Leave TOMORROW! (8/15/19)
30.
CONCLUSION (8/16/19)

TR LINK:
Newsies' Pumpkin-Spiced Trip Report! - Our MNSSHP, MM August '19 Adventure!
 
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We will be staying at a Deluxe Studio - Standard View at The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.

AHHHHparty:

We have tickets to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party,

AHHHHHparty:

"My name is Grace. I will be attending Montclair State University in the fall. My favorite TV show is Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Um. Uh-um... I... I, um... are you writing that?... Personally, my laptop is currently broken. Um. I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning for school. I hope one day to meet Chris Pratt. Yeah. that's it.

Ok this is actually the best thing ever. Also seriously LOVE the idea of getting your fam to introduce themselves, and I may be stealing that in the future. :thumbsup2

I'm also the planner of the family. It's a tough job being asked three times a day where we're going to eat when we go to Epcot, but someone's gotta answer them.

Preach it.
200w.webp
 


This trip is coming along so well already that I popped some champagne for everyone
I mean as long as it's not 9am...

I hope one day to meet Chris Pratt
Me too sis. Me too.
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... the DRAMA of the DVC waitlist!
... the THRILL
of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party tickets!
... the BAITED BREATH waiting to register for Moonlight Magic!
... the READINESS TO POUNCE for high-demand ADRs and FP+!
... and SOME OTHER THINGS!
I'm already SO STRESSED
 
I HAVE ARRIVED.

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Yup, that's it.

p.s. Your parents are adorable as always. Grace needs a new fave Chris. That is all.
 


Joining in! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Also, I saw on the Disney Upgrades thread that your family got upgraded to the Poly bungalows at some point??? WOW thats seriously so awesome!!
 
FIRST RESPONSE HA

Not that I've read the post yet...

YOU DID IT

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AHHHHparty:



AHHHHHparty:



Ok this is actually the best thing ever. Also seriously LOVE the idea of getting your fam to introduce themselves, and I may be stealing that in the future. :thumbsup2



Preach it.
200w.webp

BIG same, I screamed when both of those events happened as well so I'm glad we're on the same page!!

Thank you, thank you. Being the planner may be a struggle, but the rewards are worth it!

I mean as long as it's not 9am...


Me too sis. Me too.
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I'm already SO STRESSED

Correct. 9 AM is reserved exclusively for Kahlua, champagne hours are from 9:01 AM-8:59 AM.

I will let Grace know that you agree with her! She made an account on the DIS some time ago, but hasn't used it since.

I'M STRESSED TOO!!!!!

I HAVE ARRIVED.

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Yup, that's it.

p.s. Your parents are adorable as always. Grace needs a new fave Chris. That is all.

It's not a party without YOU, so I'm glad to have you here queen :hug:

I'm going to text Grace RIGHT NOW to tell her this information, I want to see what she has to say about that.

Popping over from your current TR. looking forward to reading more

Welcome! Thanks so much for being here, too! :cutie:

Joining in! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Also, I saw on the Disney Upgrades thread that your family got upgraded to the Poly bungalows at some point??? WOW thats seriously so awesome!!

Yay yay yay welcome!!! So excited to have you here!!!

Yes, we did! It was our January 2017 trip, when my parents were picking me up from my DCP! We had a two night reservation at the Poly and we were magically upgraded to the Bungalows, it was an amazing experience!
 
Joining in! This trip already sounds like it will be full of so many fun things!! Staying at the Grand- eeeep how exciting!! Can’t wait to hear more :)
 
Joining in! This trip already sounds like it will be full of so many fun things!! Staying at the Grand- eeeep how exciting!! Can’t wait to hear more :)

It's not a party without you!!! Thanks for being here again!!! I'll try to update before tomorrow!!!!
 
The Story So Far
Hello and welcome to the very first installment of this PTR!

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The planning process has definitely been interesting (in the best way!) this time around, so I wanted to take a post to explain everything that's happened so far. This is going to be a talk-y post, so feel free to pour yourself that second flute of champagne.

It all started back in September 2018. Our original dates were from August 11-17, 2019, so we booked our trip at the Poly as soon as our 11 month DVC home resort window opened up. We had a standard view deluxe studio. August is normally when we go. Grace and I are still in school, and I work through June-the last week of July, so our vacation window is a little limited for now. We were really excited to have our 2019 trip booked before going on our 2018 trip! We bought Annual Passes for our Thanksgiving trip, which were activated back in November, so they'll still be active for our August trip.

So we go to Disney and all is well in the world. At this point, we're excited to go back in August, and we hope that there will be a Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party happening during the week we're there! That was my mom and dad's biggest hope for this trip-- that we'd be able to do MNSSHP. They've been watching vlogs for two years now hoping that we'd be able to catch one at some point, which is why I tried to book our trip this year for later in August. I didn't want to cut it too close to the end of August because I didn't want to interfere with Grace's college orientation, but I tried to pick a date that was close enough to when the parties typically start. We all had a good feeling about it because the MNSSHPs, if you don't follow them, tend to start earlier and earlier as the years go by.

So a wrench is thrown in our plans maybe a week or two after we come home from our Thanksgiving trip. The Moonlight Magic dates are announced, and Moonlight Magic is something else we want to do. There are two Moonlight Magic dates announced for August, both at Animal Kingdom. One happens the week before we arrive, the second one happens the week after we leave. At first, I was in favor of changing our dates to the week earlier, so we'd be going from August 4-10, with the first MM falling on August 8. That way, we'd be sure to catch MM, and we wouldn't have to worry about Grace having any issues moving in/starting classes at MSU late. My parents really wanted to do MNSSHP, so they vetoed that idea. Then I asked if we could push it back a week, so we'd be going August 18-24. They approved of that idea. At first we worry about when Grace will start school, but she thinks she's going to commute, and classes don't begin until September 4, so we're good. From our standpoint, the week of the 18-24 works best for us: not only will we most likely run into MM and MNSSHP, it costs less DVC points to book that week. So at this point, we've changed the dates, we're saving money, and we'll probably get to do MNSSHP and MM in the same week. Win/win/win so far.

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So the seasons change, Christmas comes and go, and I'm out here thinking I'm done until ADR date in February. Mom and dad keep badgering me about Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, so every week I tell them that those dates will probably not be announced/tickets go on sale until at least March. The second week of January comes along, and with it, my favorite crowd prediction calendar gets updated. I use Kenny the Pirate, and he predicts that there will be two MNSSHP dates during our week. I'm stoked! I set my sight on the Tuesday date he predicts.

So then January 15 arrives. I wake up all normal in the morning, check my email, and the FIRST thing I see is a notification from KtP saying that Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party tickets have gone on sale! :eek: I text my mom the exciting news, and I think the moment it got delivered, she called the house phone and we purchased the tickets for Tuesday, August 20! It was so unexpected and thrilling... calling my dad to tell him the news was so much fun! So at this point, we've changed dates and we have our MNSSHP tickets. Life is great!

Before our 7-month window opens up, we decide that we want to try to move resorts from the Poly to the Grand Floridian. I don't know how well that will work, but I wake up on January 18 in time to switch resorts when our windows open anyway. Like I thought, GF Standard View studios were all booked for the week, so I had to put ourselves on the waitlist.

We were on the waitlist for 6 days. On January 24, our waitlist request came through and we're now booked at the Villas at the Grand Floridian for the week! Thus ends everything that has happened so far. When this month came along, it went from 0-100 REAL quick, and I definitely don't want anything else to happen without having a PTR to detail it on.


 
THAT. That was a story, sis. But OMG, y'all got it all figured it out. I'm so excited for your family to experience the fabulosity that is MNSSHP and I cannot wait to see your Dad's Smokey costume. If all works out, hopefully I'll be able to see it in person and crash your family's GRAND vacation hehe

p.s. Still do not like K*n*y Th* P*r*t* ever since he destroyed Characterpalooza and began the "pay for me to go to a special Disney event for your 'benefit'" trend
 
Hello and welcome to the very first installment of this PTR!
That gif is my life

so feel free to pour yourself that second flute of champagne
I'm beginning to think you are an enabler...

From our standpoint, the week of the 18-24 works best for us: not only will we most likely run into MM and MNSSHP, it costs less DVC points to book that week. So at this point, we've changed the dates, we're saving money, and we'll probably get to do MNSSHP and MM in the same week
The stars aligning. Somewhere out there the fates and their creepy eyeball are watching out for you guys.
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We were on the waitlist for 6 days. On January 24, our waitlist request came through and we're now booked at the Villas at the Grand Floridian for the week
Oooo the Grand! So fancy!
 
I'm so happy that you were able to make the switch to the Grand! And that your new dates work out in your favor to hit all of your family's must dos!

It's kind of nice that they did release MNSSHP dates so early so that we could all figure out our lives! haha (I bought mine already too!)
 
Hello! Officially joining in!
That sounds like quite a whorl-wind of events in JANUARY. Disney sure makes it important to plan ahead! :rotfl2:

I'm so excited that you guys get to stay at the Grand and of course go to MNSSHP (what a long acronym)! My family and I got to stay there around Christmas time eons ago and it is just so magical!
 
THAT. That was a story, sis. But OMG, y'all got it all figured it out. I'm so excited for your family to experience the fabulosity that is MNSSHP and I cannot wait to see your Dad's Smokey costume. If all works out, hopefully I'll be able to see it in person and crash your family's GRAND vacation hehe

p.s. Still do not like K*n*y Th* P*r*t* ever since he destroyed Characterpalooza and began the "pay for me to go to a special Disney event for your 'benefit'" trend

Twas a STORY for the BOOKS, but like you said-- it's going to be FABULOUS! Dad just texted me last night because he got his Smokey shirt in the mail, it's so adorable. I love that he and mom are both already preparing for the party. Also, you need to crash our GRAND vacation.

Dang girl, you've had ALL the excitement here lately! But seriously, so jealous that you're staying at the Grand!! *le sigh* One day.

It has definitely been exciting! I promise you'll make it to the Grand one day!

That gif is my life


I'm beginning to think you are an enabler...


The stars aligning. Somewhere out there the fates and their creepy eyeball are watching out for you guys.
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Oooo the Grand! So fancy!

Maybe I am an enabler... whoops. :blush:

THIS GIF... 10/10.

Alexa, play "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea.

I'm so happy that you were able to make the switch to the Grand! And that your new dates work out in your favor to hit all of your family's must dos!

It's kind of nice that they did release MNSSHP dates so early so that we could all figure out our lives! haha (I bought mine already too!)

I'm so happy, too! Everything really just kinda fell into place this year, which I was so thrilled about!

Yes, agree 100%. BEST surprise ever! The sooner everything is booked, the better our lives are!

Hello! Officially joining in!
That sounds like quite a whorl-wind of events in JANUARY. Disney sure makes it important to plan ahead! :rotfl2:

I'm so excited that you guys get to stay at the Grand and of course go to MNSSHP (what a long acronym)! My family and I got to stay there around Christmas time eons ago and it is just so magical!

Yay, thanks for joining!! :welcome:

Oh, Disney DEFINITELY made planning ahead our priority this year!

We're very excited for everything!!

What a story!! But I'm glad everything worked out so wonderfully!

Everything came into place so well! It was so exciting!!
 
I’m joining in, we will be there the same time! Our dates are 8/17-8/26. We will be at the GF for part of our stay!! We love it there, it will be our 3rd stay here. Love your enthusiasm for the trip!! I think we will be doing the same MNSSHP! I haven’t decided yet.
 

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