34 days until ADRs! 
154 days until FP+! 
213 days until WDW! 
****************************************************
Hey, ya'll!
Long time, no ME! I know!
Sorry for dropping off the grid. At work, things have been SO busy, and at home, my new Kindle has been SO distracting! Books, glorious books! I'mma nerd-out for a moment, as I just finished two really good trilogies back-to-back...
The Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy
I actually found out about this one right here on the DIS a while back, over on
@Chicago Mo 's PTR. I think, if memory serves, that
@ALEXandFAB recommended it, and it sounded like something up my alley, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I loved it! The only thing I didn't dig was that the second book was pretty slow until towards the end, at least I thought so. But the rest was really well-paced. Definitely recommend for anybody who likes dark fantasy!
The Magicians Trilogy
I was introduced to this one by, of all things, the SyFy Channel. Even though it's not really science fiction, but very much fantasy. Anyhow, they started airing a show this year based on the books, and it looked interesting, so I started DVRing it. I got as far at the 3rd episode, and was kinda feeling like "This show actually sorta sucks. But I feel like maybe it's because it's being written/directed badly, not because the story is bad. Maybe I should check out the books." So I did. And it turns out that like 70% of what's in the show never actually happened in the books. And the books are actually surprisingly good! The first one was a bit slow to get through until the end, but later as the trilogy progresses you kinda appreciate all stuff that you read during that slow period in the beginning more. And I LOVED the second book, and the third book was pretty excellent, too. I just finished the series last night, and felt it had a very satisfying ending. Also, if you were ever a fan of the Narnia books as a kid, like I was (and still am), you'll have even more of a connection to this series. But once again, definitely much more on the dark fantasy side.
So THAT's what's been keeping me away from ya'll recently! I'm now reading a fluffy little Star Wars book... It's a collection of three short stories that depict what Finn, Rey, and Poe were up to shortly before we meet them in
The Force Awakens. Sometimes after doing a lot of kinda chunky heavy dark reading, like these last two trilogies, I like to take a breather and just read something stand-alone and light to catch my breath before jumping into the next series. (Up next is either the "Tir Alainn" trilogy, or the "The Others" series, both by Anne Bishop. I haven't decided which one yet.)
Okay, so! Enough book rambling! I know what you're all here for! You want a DISNEY update, don't you? Yes, you do! And I want to talk about Disney! So away we go!
For my December 2015 trip, I did my spreadsheet and my itinerary based on the 2014 hours for that month. I was all nervous that the real park hours would come out, and that I would have to completely re-do everything! But then they did, and it turned out that I didn't need to change ANYTHING. It worked out absolutely perfectly!
So when I did my itinerary for this upcoming October 2016 trip, I used the same method, and planned it all out using the 2015 park hours for that month. So yesterday, the real October park hours for this year were finally released... AND EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT. I ended up have to re-do my entire itinerary... Literally. I wiped it clean and started over from scratch. The only thing that survived was my ADR wishlist, but all the dates/times had to be re-assigned. All told, it ended up bring like a two-hour project!
What's that? You, you want to SEE the finalized itinerary plan, then? Man, ya'll are so greedy!
So, some notes:
1. As you can see, I decided to do that thing where I drive down the day before and stay off-property, that way I can get a jump on the action the next day! Also, I've been wanting to have dinner at Texas de Brazil, which is closer to Universal, and I figure this would be the ideal night to do it. Om nom nom.
2. I can't believe I'm not going to Magic Kingdom OR Epcot until the FOURTH day that I'm in town! Normally I try to start my trip at MK at least, but the park hours being what they were, it actually worked out better to just do it the way I have it. Oh well! No regrets!
3. I love evening EMH at Epcot and I didn't want to miss it, which meant moving my
MNSSHP date from 10/25 to 10/23. I hope Sundays aren't crazy crowded!
4. I left lots of room in there for Food & wine festival noms!
5. The Rivers of Light timing is approximate. I know it'll be up and running by then, so whatever time it ends up actually being, I'll adjust to accommodate.
6. Now if they'll just hurry up and release the dang MNSSHP party dates, I'll feel much better about all of this!
7. Let me know if ya'll notice any anomalies or faux pas that I've overlooked!
I keep going over and over it, expecting to find some sort of catastrophe waiting to happen...
And finally, just one quick little fitness update... Still not making any progress on the walking speed (in fact, I keep bailing out on the treadmill more and more lately... bad Billie!), but I have lost
35 lbs since January 1st. So that's a victory, at least!
Thanks for still being here, despite my gross neglect of all your threads! I love ya'll still, I promise! I just need more hours in the day!
Though I definitely understand getting busy with other stuff!
)
Yea!!! Thanks so much!! You made my day!!
. 
You go girl!
