Chunkymonkey & Chubbyhubby's Year of Disney PTR! NEW 12/27 THE END and New TR Link!

[chunkymonkey]

I am not a huge water park person either. We live about an hour away from the original Schlitterbahn, and we have only been once My son, on the other hand, loves swimming and water parks. Since this trip is for his elementary school graduation, I thought it would be mean to not go. So, we are going.

Taking one for the team! Your son must be so excited!!

Cool! We can meet up at the party. I read about some of that not being open during the party. I didn't even think about it when I bought the tickets. I had just assumed that almost everything would be open. 7DMT was added back, but BTMRR and JC are still not listed on the Disney website as being open during the party. That's pretty annoying and cheap, in my opinion. We will be at MK earlier that day, so I guess I will book FP+ for those. That's a bummer too, because I like to ride JC at night.

Yes we will definitely meet up! I am wondering what to dress up as if anything...

I watched the live stream and I feel like you need to have a really good view for this show, so the dessert party is probably a good idea. I can't wait to hear your thoughts about it.

It was an amazing show. I loved it. Dessert party...well, there was a lot left to be desired IMO. Skip the dessert party unless you dont' mind just paying for the view and space (Plaza Garden View) as the dessert area was just meh.

They just added 7DMT and BMTRR to the list!

YAY!!! All is right again.

Hi Su-Lynn! Have another great trip!!!

Thank you!! We sure did! It was a very different trip than early May. It was soooo hot, we ditched a lot of plans we had. However Pandora made up for it all...

I just saw a tweet from TouringPlans and there is a picture of y'all waiting in line to be let into Pandora. Hope you are having a wonderful time.

Hiii!! Thank you for the heads up!! I am not on Twitter that much so I had to log in and look at Touring Plans but I found ourselves! That is too funny. I had no idea the Touring Plans peeps were ahead of us in line. We were at the line at 4:15pm for a 5pm entry time, so there were only maybe 50 people in front of us. The line grew huge after, almost to the exit of the park. And we waited in 90 degree heat. But it was well worth it.

Here's the tweet in case anyone wants to see!

I have been SO lousy on here with a ton of stuff going on at work. I work at a university doing admin stuff, but I got the opportunity to teach online this year for some extra money. Well, teaching last semester kicked my butt (and I've been doing it again in a shorter time period this May, ack!). But! I am back and can finally get caught up on everything I looked for you as we were leaving Pandora (we were there for about 3.5 hours, after getting in early and moseying on out slowly) but didn't see you guys We had a blast, hope you guys did too! And I can't wait to hear how the Happily Ever After Dessert Party was. We are debating between that and the Star Wars Dessert Party for our (newly planned, as of this morning) short July trip!

Hi Kristen! Sorry we didn't get to catch up, I didn't know if I was supposed to contact you or not, but I realize I didn't have your contact into. Hope you had a great time!! We had an amazing time in Pandora despite the heat. Flight of Passage made up for it. I think it was the only ride that cooled us down completely, LOL.
And as for dessert party SKIP the MK one. Do the Star Wars one. Hands down SW was the best dessert party I've been to. The HEA one was poorly staffed, it was so hot too that the desserts were sweating. Food wasn't replenished quickly enough...not worth the money. The viewing location is great though.

I just went and saw it! So cool! You two are famous!

Hahaha I had no idea but that is pretty cool! Now I have to tell all my friends and family!

Plans look good! I can't wait to read about it...well if it gets posted before we leave in 12.5 days! I did see your Dessert Party post. I'm hoping it was just an off night as I have seen a few good reviews here on the Dis.

Anyway, safe travels home!

Thank you Renee! I hope to post about Pandora tonight. I have all my pictures downloaded just getting them collated between two cameras and the photopass. It was an amazing experience, I think you'll really have fun exploring a completely new land.

 

[soniam]

Taking one for the team! Your son must be so excited!!

Yes we will definitely meet up! I am wondering what to dress up as if anything...

The Volcano Bay planning has been way more stressful than I thought, but it's all starting to come together, 2 days before we leave

I can't decide quite what to do for costumes either. We will probably dress up for trick or treating with our son, so we might just wear those costumes. I was also thinking of something else. Both DH and I turn 45 this year. His birthday is Friday; mine's early November. I got us Magic Kingdom 45th Anniversary t-shirts. I might buy some birthday cake hats and goes as 45th birthday cakes. It's pretty easy and not too cumbersome, but it might not be apparent to people what it's for. I will have a birthday pin though.

 

[chunkymonkey]

The Volcano Bay planning has been way more stressful than I thought, but it's all starting to come together, 2 days before we leave

Hope you had a good trip!

I can't decide quite what to do for costumes either. We will probably dress up for trick or treating with our son, so we might just wear those costumes. I was also thinking of something else. Both DH and I turn 45 this year. His birthday is Friday; mine's early November. I got us Magic Kingdom 45th Anniversary t-shirts. I might buy some birthday cake hats and goes as 45th birthday cakes. It's pretty easy and not too cumbersome, but it might not be apparent to people what it's for. I will have a birthday pin though.

That would be cute! I'm sure the meaning would be lost on most people but that's more reason to ask you about your costumes!
I am tentatively thinking about Ariel and Prince Eric as costumes as it would be fairly easy to put together.
Of course DH wants to be Gaston, but I was thinking we should actually be a couple on our anniversary, but who knows what we will end up wearing.

 

[soniam]

Hope you had a good trip!

That would be cute! I'm sure the meaning would be lost on most people but that's more reason to ask you about your costumes!
I am tentatively thinking about Ariel and Prince Eric as costumes as it would be fairly easy to put together.
Of course DH wants to be Gaston, but I was thinking we should actually be a couple on our anniversary, but who knows what we will end up wearing.

We did have a good trip. Just got back last night. You could always go as Le Fou

 

[chunkymonkey]

We did have a good trip. Just got back last night. You could always go as Le Fou

That's actually not a bad idea! Hahaha.

 

[LilTinkFan]

Just getting caught up! With prom and graduation this month I fell behind!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Just getting caught up! With prom and graduation this month I fell behind!

I am behind on my PTR as well! But I just made FP+ today for August! Can't believe it's only 2 months away! Will post an update soon!

 

[soniam]

I am behind on my PTR as well! But I just made FP+ today for August! Can't believe it's only 2 months away! Will post an update soon!

I almost made a huge mistake. I had already got the FP+ for the part of our trip before the cruise. I thought I wouldn't be able to get the ones after the cruise, 8/12-13, until tomorrow. I happened to look this morning, and they were available. Unfortunately, I suspect they had been available sometime in the last couples of days. I forgot that there's something with split stays, which is what this counts as I guess. Luckily, I was able to get almost everything I wanted. I couldn't get a morning FP for Flights of Passage, only the river journey. We are leaving that afternoon. We will have done FOP twice already with FP, so I am looking at this as an opportunity to see the full standby queue We were going to rope drop anyway.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I almost made a huge mistake. I had already got the FP+ for the part of our trip before the cruise. I thought I wouldn't be able to get the ones after the cruise, 8/12-13, until tomorrow. I happened to look this morning, and they were available. Unfortunately, I suspect they had been available sometime in the last couples of days. I forgot that there's something with split stays, which is what this counts as I guess. Luckily, I was able to get almost everything I wanted. I couldn't get a morning FP for Flights of Passage, only the river journey. We are leaving that afternoon. We will have done FOP twice already with FP, so I am looking at this as an opportunity to see the full standby queue We were going to rope drop anyway.

8/12-13? We will definitely see you then! Our days are mostly at MK on the 12th and 13th but I will have express bus so I can go anywhere technically.
I have been busy updating my spreadsheet. I will share that in my PTR as It'll be too much work to type it all out. I think a picture speaks louder than words. LOL.

 

[soniam]

8/12-13? We will definitely see you then! Our days are mostly at MK on the 12th and 13th but I will have express bus so I can go anywhere technically.
I have been busy updating my spreadsheet. I will share that in my PTR as It'll be too much work to type it all out. I think a picture speaks louder than words. LOL.

Yeah, we get back from the cruise on Saturday, 8/12. We are staying at AKL and will pretty much be going to AK Saturday and Sunday. We have to fly home on Sunday

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yeah, we get back from the cruise on Saturday, 8/12. We are staying at AKL and will pretty much be going to AK Saturday and Sunday. We have to fly home on Sunday

Sounds good. I can hop on an Express bus to AKL during our designated "afternoon break" on the 12th. I will post our schedule in my next post!

BTW, are you going to do the Hallowishes dessert party on Nov 1?
I was not impressed with the HEA one at all so not sure I would this one. But I've never seen Hallowishes so I'm not sure how insane/crowded it gets.

 

[Raeven]

Sounds good. I can hop on an Express bus to AKL during our designated "afternoon break" on the 12th. I will post our schedule in my next post!

BTW, are you going to do the Hallowishes dessert party on Nov 1?
I was not impressed with the HEA one at all so not sure I would this one. But I've never seen Hallowishes so I'm not sure how insane/crowded it gets.

We did it once with and once without and enjoyed it more without. It takes up a lot of party time. But the reserved parade area is a nice plus. I do like the gardens viewing area better and we did this before they had that, but the desserts were really blah. We easily got a great view on Main St last year like 15 mins beforehand. But we've only been in September so I'm not sure about crowds in Nov.

 

[soniam]

Sounds good. I can hop on an Express bus to AKL during our designated "afternoon break" on the 12th. I will post our schedule in my next post!

BTW, are you going to do the Hallowishes dessert party on Nov 1?
I was not impressed with the HEA one at all so not sure I would this one. But I've never seen Hallowishes so I'm not sure how insane/crowded it gets.

I will look for your schedule. I don't we'll do the dessert party. We did the Wishes one once and felt it wasn't really worth it. I guess I got spoiled by the SW and Illuminations ones I don't really like the view that much from Tomorrowland Terrace, especially if you can't go up to the railing. I am sure crowds aren't great, but it's got to be less people than a normal night. Plus, fireworks are pretty easy to see from all over.

 

[chunkymonkey]

PTR Update June 14: August Day by Day Schedule! Oct-Nov ADRs, MNSSHP Booked!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been a bit MIA on the PTR. Just been a very busy summer so far. Ever since I took both trips to WDW in May, it's been non-stop busy. We traveled to PA over Memorial Day weekend, and then the weekend after we went to Cape Cod for a friend's birthday. Now that we've slowed down the traveling and road trips we're finally tackling an apartment renovation of our rental unit in NYC. Trying to coordinate that right now has been pretty crazy. Anyways, here's the progress I've made so far on this trip:

AUGUST 2017:

So this past Monday was our FP+ Day for August! I was lucky that my TA reminded me, because I totally forgot I added an extra night to the BEGINNING of our trip, but I forgot to change my reminder alert for our FP+ day to one day sooner. So I woke up at 6:30am logged in, and waited until 7am, then began furiously making fastpasses for 15 people (technically 13 since the two youngest kids don't need tickets). I started with our AK day first, which was August 16, since I wanted to ensure we all got to ride Flight of Passage. Once that was done, it was very easy getting everything else. I followed my initial plan for August with just a few tweaks made here and there.

It's funny though, because since I had written up that initial plan, I managed to change things up a bit, I made new ADRs, canceled ADRs, added and removed dessert parties...and then I was pretty much left with...the EXACT same plan I started with. LOL. I guess I can't just leave anything ALONE even though I didn't really want it to change it in the first place. So without further ado, here is our schedule for August: (hope it's easy to read. I will try and make it clearer since it is just a screenshot)
​

When I changed our ADRs it was because I had added the Pixar Live in Concert dining package to our plan but we could only do it on a day that was originally our Epcot Day, so I switched everything around, only to cancel and switch it back again. I didn't really like the times of any of the dining packages or concerts we were given. Even though the adults would probably enjoy the concert, I don't think the younger kids will, so I decided if some of us could watch it on standby, then we will, if not, no biggie, we'll just have to go with the flow!

I may end up tweaking a few things here and there. I still could use an ADR for dinner on the 12th but I am still contemplating options. Not sure if we're gonna just to Disney Springs or end up back in a park for a nighttime show. It may be too much for the first full day but we'll see.
UPDATED: I have added dinner at Tusker House for the 12th, so we could catch a glimpse of Pandora at night.

I also have to add in my DISMeets! So far I have @soniam, @KathyM2, and @MeghanEmily for potential DISMeets in August!
And doh, of course our dinner with @Tracy161 but I figure we're beyond a Dismeet by now. We're bound by the magic of Frontierland!

Also DH, myself, and Chunkysis are definitely getting Express Bus Transport. I'm not sure about everyone else yet. They don't have to decide now but because they will most likely be returning to the Poly more often than we are, it may not prove to be so useful, and for a family of four, 30 bucks a person can add up, so they will probably decide when they get there. I just realized that DH and I will be there for 9 days and the Bus transport pass is only good for 7 consecutive days. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use it for the first 7 days and then for the last 2 days we'll just take it easy. We will definitely not be using it on our last day since ME will most likely pick us up at noon for our 3:15pm flight back home.

I also have to make some rainy day contingency plans. Let's hope for no hurricanes and stuff like that for now...

So maybe I'll leave the plan alone and breathe a sigh of relief (for now). The hard part is over, now it is just the waiting...also final park hours have not been released yet. I think it's about 45 days out that they do. Not that would change up much of the plans but it'll let us know what park we can visit in the evenings for longer

OCT-NOV 2017:

Here are the ADRs I've made for our fall trip to the Grand Floridian (yay!). I haven't tweaked them too much and just kinda left them alone. I do want to add in more stuff though but I haven't really had time to think about this trip as much since I've been working so hard on August! Then again, it is Food and Wine so I didn't want to make too many ADRs

Oct 30th:
Arrive am
Lunch Epcot F&W
Dinner - Sanaa

Oct 31st:
PPO Breakfast Be Our Guest
Dinner - Citricos

Nov 1st:
Breakfast GF Cafe
Evening at MNSSHP!!! DISMeets with @soniam and @Nhebron

Nov 2nd:
F&W kiosks for lunch
Anniversary Dinner Victoria and Albert's (is this a good idea the night before a 5k? Probably not but oh well!)

Nov 3rd (Fall Feast 5k):
Learned my lesson after the Princess 5k that we'd be pooped after the race so we'll probably crash right after!
Dinner Yachtsman Steakhouse

Nov 4th:
Breakfast 1900 Park Fare
Depart home

That's all I've done! Haven't really come up with much of a park plan yet but it's still early.

Oh and something else...I finally cut my hair! Some of you may have seen this on my Instagram already but I chopped off about 5 inches of hair.

BEFORE and AFTER

Feels so much lighter. Still trying to figure out how to style it. I may go shorter in the back just because it's easier to deal with.
Just preppin' for the August heat!!

​

 

[chunkymonkey]

We did it once with and once without and enjoyed it more without. It takes up a lot of party time. But the reserved parade area is a nice plus. I do like the gardens viewing area better and we did this before they had that, but the desserts were really blah. We easily got a great view on Main St last year like 15 mins beforehand. But we've only been in September so I'm not sure about crowds in Nov.

Yeah I figure it would take up so much time from the party. I will probably skip this then

I will look for your schedule. I don't we'll do the dessert party. We did the Wishes one once and felt it wasn't really worth it. I guess I got spoiled by the SW and Illuminations ones I don't really like the view that much from Tomorrowland Terrace, especially if you can't go up to the railing. I am sure crowds aren't great, but it's got to be less people than a normal night. Plus, fireworks are pretty easy to see from all over.

Yeah I wasn't loving our HEA dessert party although the view was great (from the plaza gardens). So no dessert party for us either!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I also have to add in my DISMeets! So far I have @soniam, @KathyM2, and @MeghanEmily for potential DISMeets in August!

Yes!! I really hope we can coordinate something! Possibly if you break at DS on the 16th as we'll be headed there for a M&G with our wedding guests after dinner, or maybe the 18th when you hop over to MK before or after your CRT lunch, or at the Poly on your departure day, the saddest of all days.

I also have to make some rainy day contingency plans. Let's hope for no hurricanes and stuff like that for now...

Amen to that! There's a slight concern in the back of my mind that I keep pushing aside that my wedding will get cancelled because of a hurricane!

Oh and something else...I finally cut my hair! Some of you may have seen this on my Instagram already but I chopped off about 5 inches of hair.

Love it!! Good call going lighter for August. Depending on when we might get a chance to meet, you'll either see me with all my hair, or basically none of it left.

 

[KathyM2]

Love your hair cut BTW...

I also have to add in my DISMeets! So far I have @soniam, @KathyM2, and @MeghanEmily for potential DISMeets in August!

This is so exciting that you have so many!!

I was looking through your plans and comparing them to ours. I see potential DisMeets on any of the following:

Aug 12 - if you end up going to DS, we will be there from about 4pm onwards for shopping and a QS dinner...so we could potentially meet and hang a bit
Aug 13 - We could possibly meet up with you at the Poly when you go for your break and then hang out that night - not sure we'll have the energy to go back to a park or do anything major, but we can play it by ear...
Aug 16 - we will be at AK in the afternoon so we could possibly meet there and hang a bit

Hopefully at least one or more of those will work out ) I know you are coordinating a lot of schedules!! It's hard enough with just my DD and I so I can't imagine!

 

[FSU Girl]

Your organizational chart is amazing! I have something similar, but way more basic. It looks like you have a really fun trip coming up. My next trip actually overlaps with yours I'll be there the last three days of your trip.

 

[soniam]

Yeah I wasn't loving our HEA dessert party although the view was great (from the plaza gardens). So no dessert party for us either!

I asked DH last night, just to be sure. He was like "Why would I want to do that party again? Especially when I am already paying for a party ticket." I had to laugh. I knew he would say that. We just really disliked our Wishes dessert party experience. Even our son didn't like, but he did keep getting jabbed intentionally in the head by some guy's (adult) elbow So, I don't know what it would take to get us back, maybe alcohol

Looking forward to meeting up with you. If the August trip becomes too hectic, don't worry; we have November Luckily, 8/12 is a pretty chill day for us once we arrive back from the port. I suspect we will arrive back pretty early, since we have first dinner seating. We have some FP+ and an ADR at Tusker House for dinner, but those are all at night. I can't believe I booked a buffet the day after a cruise I did get the ROL package for both Tiffins, earlier in the trip, and then for TH later, just in case it got rained out. I don't know if we will do both shows though. We might hang out at AKL in the afternoon and swim or look at animals. I am hoping to spend some time chilin' at Nomad Lounge too

 

[Tracy161]

Your plans look amazing!!! Also taking note of your planning sheet - might have to steal a few ideas as I'm always tweaking my standard "plan sheet"!

Then again, it is Food and Wine so I didn't want to make too many ADRs

YES!!! Can't pass up F&W opportunities

Oh and something else...I finally cut my hair!

It looks amazing!!!!!!!!