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They Call it Labor Day for a Reason.....


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I'm trying Imgur for the first time. I really want trip reports to continue to be a big part of this site, and since Photobucket has very likely decimated our trip report archive, we have to start somewhere!!

This is an account of our Labor Day weekend trip to Disney.....

The players...

Me, hubby Rick, and our Grandnephew Mikey, and Rick's brother Mike for the drive.....

This trip was waaaay different than any trip we'd done in probably 10 years. Our kiddos are grown and gone, we don't have grandchildren yet, and we just don't spend a lot of time in the parks as we have visited most everything multiple times. So we go to our three pre-scheduled FP+, have a nice meal, and that's it for our park days.

Well, our grand nephew has never been, so we decided to bring him along. We got a 4-day ticket for him through Undercover Tourist, booked a room at All-Star Sports, and decided to show him all we could in those four days. I actually purchased the Touring Plans software and app that would automatically give you a ride order based on your selections and time you were in the parks, and would rearrange your schedule as the day went on and real-time line information came in. You could also plug in your FP+ times and the order would arrange around that.

The plan was to go one park per day, and use Monday as our short day at Animal Kingdom, since we had to start driving home, but.......

At 60 days out, I couldn't get a Flight of Passage FP+ on Monday at all, but I was able to get one on Sunday..... So Animal Kingdom day had to be Sunday...... and Studios day Monday. I ended up deciding to upgrade Mikey's ticket to park hopper, so we could do Animal Kingdom Sunday morning, Studios Sunday night, and then finish Studios Monday morning. We wanted to see Illuminations, the new MK fireworks, and the Star Wars fireworks, Rivers of Light was lowest on Mikey's list of things to see.

So.... the final plans were...

Thursday, August 31st, Drive, leaving early afternoon, drop Rick's brother Mike near Lake City to spend some time with friends, then continue on to Disney and check into All-Star Sports.

Friday, September 1st, Epcot, counter service as we could, Attractions list per touringplans.com, Illuminations

Saturday, September 2nd, Magic Kingdom, counter service and dinner at Trails End, attractions list per touringplans.com, Happily Ever After fireworks

Sunday, September 3rd, Animal Kingdom, counter service as we could, move over to Studios for a couple of quick things, then the Star Wars fireworks

Monday, September 4th, Studios, counter service as we could, then head home, stopping in Lake City to pick up rick's brother, then home.....

Here's a pic of Mikey and Mike in our driveway just before leaving

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A few pics of our drive down

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Fortunately, online checkin worked, and we already had our room number, even before we left home, so even though it was pretty late, we were able to go straight to our room without even stopping by the front desk. We quickly unloaded the car and got to sleep as soon as we could.

More to come soon

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I'm in!! 

Two TRs in one day!!

awesome job so far keep it up  

What did you think of Touring Plans software and app?

if you didn't mind me asking, what did it cost?  And was it worth it?

this Christmas we are bringing 10 people with us to WDW and 5 of them have never been to WDW.  It's such a PITA trying to arrange FP+ for that many people. 

If you liked the app maybe I can talk them into getting it and let them do their own thing and only get together for meals. 

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15 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

Thanks Carol, I am on board!!!!

You are first!! Thanks for reading!

14 hours ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

I'm in too!  Anxious to see how Imgur works out.

 

It is an easy interface, and easy to post, BUT, haven't figured out how to get the pictures to upload in a logical order, we'll see

14 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I'm in!! 

Two TRs in one day!!

awesome job so far keep it up  

What did you think of Touring Plans software and app?

if you didn't mind me asking, what did it cost?  And was it worth it?

this Christmas we are bringing 10 people with us to WDW and 5 of them have never been to WDW.  It's such a PITA trying to arrange FP+ for that many people. 

If you liked the app maybe I can talk them into getting it and let them do their own thing and only get together for meals. 

I really liked the software and the app, it was $14.95 for a 1-year subscription. It is a battery drain on your phone, but then again, everything is a battery drain on my phone. I did all the figuring and changing of attractions on the computer, but then just checked off our attractions as we did them, and hit the recalculate button on the app, then off to our next destination. I think it was worth it.

13 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

I'm in! Sounds like a packed schedule but fun. Great you got your room assignment before leave, but I'm afraid that would drive me nuts and make me speed (worse than I may or may not already) know I had a room sitting there already waiting for me at Disney.

Well...... with four of us in the car, with various "break" schedules, we don't seem to make near as good time as we used to.

11 hours ago, slices said:

I'm in. I've used touring plans on my last two trips and have liked it. Looking forward to hearing how it worked out for you.

I did like it!! But as I said in my intro, that is not how us two empty nesters normally do the parks, so it was a challenge for us.

11 hours ago, Memphis said:

I'm in. Looking fwd to how the turingplans work out.  Poor T@B just sitting there in the garage.  

Yes, the poor T@B was neglected..... but it's hitched up and ready to roll today..... (Finally!) going to Kentucky for the weekend.

15 minutes ago, alexwyattmommy said:

What roller coaster is that?  Looking forward to more.

That is in Six Flags over Georgia, not really sure of the name.

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Friday, September 1st..... EPCOT Day!!

Well, after the much later arrival than we anticipated (we finally laid down about 3am), we obviously were not going to make rope drop. We had a 3-hour gap in our plan for the evening, where I thought we might go over to the Epcot resorts for dinner. I rearranged our plan to arrive at the park about 11, and of course filled that gap with attractions, so we would just grab dinner in the park.

Waitin on the guys to get moving

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Gotta start the day with a good breakfast

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Waitin on the bus....

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As you can see we had two scooters. Rick has a personal scooter, and I rented one for the trip. Touring plans has you skip across the park quite often, and I wanted to do as much as we could and not have us old folks hold up Mikey. It was a good plan.... "in theory" but didn't quite work out that way.... more on that later

First bus ride :)

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We had Soarin FP+, so the Land Pavilion was our first stop

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More to come soon :)

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1 hour ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

I really liked the software and the app, it was $14.95 for a 1-year subscription. It is a battery drain on your phone, but then again, everything is a battery drain on my phone. I did all the figuring and changing of attractions on the computer, but then just checked off our attractions as we did them, and hit the recalculate button on the app, then off to our next destination. I think it was worth it.

 

I did like it!! But as I said in my intro, that is not how us two empty nesters normally do the parks, so it was a challenge for us.

..

I actually found it  less of a battery train than MDE, the fact it's not using GPS probably helps,  

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2 hours ago, alexwyattmommy said:

Biscuits and gravy or biscuits tucked into oatmeal?  The Mickey waffles are calling my name.

Biscuits and gravy :)

 

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I'm in.

First page too.

Like Ray, I am also interested in hearing more about the app you bought.  I always thought those things were for rookies, and I know that you are no rookie.  I am wondering what the app can do for you that MDE can't.

TCD

No, I am not a rookie, and I probably could have worked out a list using free resources..... but, the best laid plains, and this reorders the attractions based on your location, and the actual current conditions on the fly. It's also a family "push along" thing. If I tell them the app says if we walk way over there and ride xxxx next, instead of just going a few feet to the next thing, and possible waiting in a longer line, instead of "me" telling them. Sometimes family won't believe me, but they'll believe a computer-generated algorithm :)

2 minutes ago, Seals said:

What fun to take your grandnephew on his first trip. Looks like he's a good age for that too.  When I retire I'm going to volunteer to take other people's children to WDW. But one at a time. 

He was a good age, but as we discovered, unfortunately, he lives a rather sedentary lifestyle.... Saturday at MK will prove that out.

1 hour ago, slices said:

I actually found it  less of a battery train than MDE, the fact it's not using GPS probably helps,  

I have never, ever used MDE in the parks. For most of our trips, I book our three FP+ in advance, load those in my calendar program, load our dining reservation in my calendar program, and I get a meeting notification when it's time. I'm sure my aging battery on my aging Note 4 would die in 10 minutes with MDE. (A Note 8 is in my future, but only after it's been out a few months).

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1 minute ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

I'm sure my aging battery on my aging Note 4 would die in 10 minutes with MDE. (A Note 8 is in my future, but only after it's been out a few months).

Haha.  I'm still using my Note 3.  (A Note 8 is in my future too.)

 

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13 minutes ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

No, I am not a rookie, and I probably could have worked out a list using free resources..... but, the best laid plains, and this reorders the attractions based on your location, and the actual current conditions on the fly. It's also a family "push along" thing. If I tell them the app says if we walk way over there and ride xxxx next, instead of just going a few feet to the next thing, and possible waiting in a longer line, instead of "me" telling them. Sometimes family won't believe me, but they'll believe a computer-generated algorithm :)

Interesting.  So, this app somehow uses real time data to gauge what would be best to try to ride or do next?

13 minutes ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

I have never, ever used MDE in the parks. For most of our trips, I book our three FP+ in advance, load those in my calendar program, load our dining reservation in my calendar program, and I get a meeting notification when it's time. I'm sure my aging battery on my aging Note 4 would die in 10 minutes with MDE. (A Note 8 is in my future, but only after it's been out a few months).

You really should give MDE a chance. It's come a long way since it was first rolled out, and I don't find it to be anywhere near the battery drain that it used to be. And now there are Fuel Rods. The 4th FP thing isn't that great, but it can be useful- especially in the MK.

TCD

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To continue on, after Soarin, we went over to Test Track and Mission Space, Mikey loved designing the car, and we had a really good time.

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I LIKE the new Mission Space mild side. The flying over the "earth" is a lot milder and smoother than dodging the asteroids on the Mars mission. Although I wish they could have the centrifuge and the milder simulator portion. The centrifuge never bothered me, it was the rough simulator. I forsee more Mission Space rides in my future, and I actually think Rick can ride this :)

For the rest of the pictures I may be jumping around as Imgur doesn't upload them in order, but since we had breakfast so late, we really didn't opt for dinner anywhere, and as it turned out Food & Wine has already started, so we munched on a few food booths for dinner.

We visited character Spot

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Some more Epcot wandering

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I know we also went on the Mexico Boat ride, saw American Adventure, and then waited on Illuminations and watched that. It was a long day for sure as the park was open till 10. And we also held down a piece of concrete starting at 9pm so we could get an unobstructed view against the rail. Unfortunately, the big ball was broke, cause it never opened up with the torch coming out the top :(

Then we watched the fountain for a bit, dropped into Club Cool so Mikey could try Beverly (insert evil grin here), then back to the resort and bed. Hopefully more than 4 hours sleep tonite!!

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5 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Carol, do you know what the changes are on Mission Space Green?  We rode it last trip and thought it was rather boring.  Should we try the new version?

It still launches you, but then instead of going into hypersleep, and dodging asteroids, before a crash landing on Mars, you go on a tour over various things around the world. There is a "minor" problem and each of you have to do your "job" and steer the the ship, but it is much milder than the Mars one, and you have a landing.

 

21 minutes ago, wdwpoohbear...Jennifer said:

A new trip report...awesome!  I can't wait to see what else you guys did!

thanks for reading!! It may be Monday before I add anymore, leaving to go CAMPING in a couple of hours!

 

9 minutes ago, Robin said:

I'm in and I love your shirt!

I got that at DisneyLAND back in 2015. I really enjoy it too :)

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15 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Carol, do you know what the changes are on Mission Space Green?  We rode it last trip and thought it was rather boring.  Should we try the new version?

Gwen- there's an article about the Mission Space updates on the Disney Parks Blog: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/07/mission-space-relaunches-aug-13-with-brand-new-experiences/

Here's what it says about the new Green mission:

Or, embark on the more family-friendly Green Mission – a new mission that takes you on an exciting orbit around Earth. On this amazing new adventure, you’ll take in sites like the Hawaiian Islands, Italy’s “boot” and the Northern Lights—as seen from space, of course—before finally landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. No matter which mission you choose, it’ll be a journey that’s totally out of this world.

TCD

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