So, on to my plans for
MNSSHP. My sister had a medical conference in Orlando last September and she decided to take her family, stay at Disney and go to MNSSHP during the short stay. No one in our family had ever been and we barely knew of its existence. The expectations weren't any higher than any normal trip to Disney. Anyway, they had an incredible time and their expectations were blown out of the water: walking on to any ride they wanted, less crowded park, trick or treating, amazing shows, etc.; everything that those in the know would have said about the party if we had known to be paying attention. They loved it enough that they planned a cruise for the following September with a day early arrival to take in MNSSHP. She had been trying to convince me to come down and go to the party with them for a long time.
I had looked into it, but I've never really been a Halloween person and I work in the agriculture industry and Fall is harvest so it didn't seem like it would work. Well, after looking into the party some more and confirming that it looked amazing, I started exploring options this spring but because of the harvest issue I could never really take it seriously. Anyway we reached mid-August and it is now very apparent that harvest is going to be late. So the opportunity to take a couple days off was realistic.
Well, I'm a nerd and I know it makes me weird (I feel like I might be in good company
) but when going to Disney becomes a possibility, I usually find a way to make it happen. Found cheap flights and although all the value resorts were full, my AP offer (and probably the construction) made Coronado Springs a viable economic alternative. Never stayed anywhere other than POR on-site, so even with the construction I'm kind of excited to be at a new resort. It'll just be a hub for sleep for the most part, so I don't think any construction ugliness will bother me.
I'm going from September 14-16. I arrive at MCO at 6:40 PM on the 14th. I have tiny hope that I'll get to the property quick enough that I can head to MK for Happily Ever After, but that would probably be pretty lucky to maneuver through DME and over to the park quickly enough. I'm hoping DME comes through and I can pull it off though. Still haven't seen it and this would be another first on this trip.
Friday I have a crazy whirlwind day planned. I have not seen Pandora, so I am going to rope drop AK. Obviously, I was too late to the game for FP+ for Flight of Passage or River Journey, but I'm going to give it my best shot to get on one of them. I have the first Festival of the Lion King show at 10 AM booked for a FP+ and Everest booked at 10:30. I am willing to forgo both if I can get on Flight of Passage and, despite never seeing it either, I'm OK skipping Festival of the Lion King to get on River Journey. My most optimistic expectation is that I can rope drop River Journey and hit my two FP+ and Flight of Passage will wait for another time.
After Everest I will be making my way to Epcot to see The Food and Wine Festival. It will be a disappointingly short visit, but I've never been and I really want to get a taste (sorry, bad pun) when I have the chance. There are about 45 things I want to try, but I think I've narrowed my list to a couple targets. I want to try the escargot croissant, I love Mediterranean cuisine so I'm looking at the Taste of Greece (dolmades and grilled octopus), and the pistachio cardamom bundt cake with chocolate coconut mousse sounds like a nice dessert from the India booth. I'd love to spend a couple days and try, well, basically everything; but with my timetable I need a plan of attack and those look like the winners right now.
Hopefully I'll be ready to leave Epcot around 2. I'll head back, get a quick change of clothes (not sure if I'm going to try for a costume, but packing light it seems unlikely) then it's out to MK to meet my sister, BiL, niece and nephew for the party. No plan of attack for that outside of ride all the rides, get all the candy, see as many shows/parades/fireworks as possible and generally have an amazing time.
Flight out on Saturday is at 1:15, so I should be able to sleep to a reasonable hour before heading to DME and calling it a trip. I'd love to stay longer, but work, finances and McFly made this the best option. I'm super excited, in case you couldn't tell or I hadn't mentioned that enough. Should be just enough to tide me over until Marathon Weekend.