See You Real Soon Goodbye Disney Trip- We are Moving Away

[Icecoldpenguin]

We are moving...yes that is the sad truth...we have been lucky enough to be local for the past 2 years. However, as of January 1st we will be back living in Texas and only able to visit a couple of times a year. I am sad to leave because living local I got to attend all the cool stuff, see all my friends when they visited and if I had a bad day I could go to WDW to cheer me up. However, the magic does run thin when you go so much and it is not as magical as when you go for a vacation. There is always good and bad right? So we have named this last minute Christmas Trip the See You Real Soon Goodbye Disney Trip.

I just started planning this today (12/22) yep we decided last minute. So I will post the plans I have so far on the next post. For now you can meet us.

The Star Wars Fangirl (Teresa):

Teresa is a huge Star Wars fan, here Star Wars fandom probably ties her Disney fandom or gets very close. She is 29 years old and before meeting her husband had only visited WDW 3 times once in 2000 at the age of 14 then again in 2010 and 2011. She had never been to Disneyland or to a Disney Water Park. Her favorite park is Hollywood Studios and her favorite ride at WDW is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh closely followed by Star Tours. Teresa LOVES meeting characters and does it anytime she gets so character meals are a must for her. The highlight of her year was meeting Sandy Claus (Jack Skellington as Santa Claus). Her favorite time of year to go to the Disney Parks is during Star Wars Weekends to her that is heaven.

The WDW Afficianado (Greg):

Greg is one of the biggest Walt Disney World fans I have ever met. He is not a huge fan of the Disney films not to say he does not watch them because he most surely does. His area of expertise is the parks. He has been going since he was a wee little one and can not even count how many times he has been to both WDW and Disneyland (Lucky!). He reads up on the parks and enjoys staying in the know. He is a DVC member and has graciously shared that with his wife (me, Teresa). His favorite park is Magic Kingdom and his favorite ride is Space Mountain. He is also a Disney Foodie and loves to visit all the snack carts, restaurants and try everything he can get his hands on. His favorite restaurant on property is a tie between Narcoossee's, Cali Grill and Blue Zoo. He never goes to Magic Kingdom without getting a Popcorn and Coke from the cart as you enter the park on the left.

Teresa and Greg met at Disney when they both took solo trips to the world. They met on the DISboards and then met in real life. They got engaged on the 40th anniversary of Magic Kingdom at the Contemporary hotel and got married at WDW on 7/1/12 at the Swan hotel. Disney is a part of their souls and their relationship which is why leaving living so close is so sad.

We will of course be back to Disney we just don't know when so this last trip will be something to remember...

Stay tuned for plans...

 

[Marsheliz]

What a precious story!!!
I got engaged at Disney in 2005! Something extra special about it!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

After a lot of inner turmoil and debate I had to figure out which parks we would go to what days and exactly how this was all going to work. As you guys know it is Christmas so we have to stay loose with a general plan and go with the flow.

So here is what is currently planned for us.

12/24 CHRISTMAS EVE
Arrive by 9am at the latest inside Magic Kingdom Gates (We have to from Tampa, if we can get there any sooner to go check in at AoA we will, I have already done online check in)

FP+ Selections:
*Peter Pan's Flight 9:10AM to 10:10AM
*Splash Mountain 10:10AM to 11:10AM
*Space Mountain 11:25AM to 12:25PM

Once we finish up the other things we would like to get done maybe utilizing the after three FP+ trick we will probably go check in at AoA if we have not already and then head to EPCOT

EPCOT

We have no real plans for this park since we really just want to walk around and take pictures and maybe sample food. I have one must do and that would be the Gran Fiesta Tour. We do have a dinner ADR though.

Dinner ADR: Nine Dragons 6:15pm

We have not decided if we will stay for Illuminations we are not huge fans of it so we may stay we may not. If we do not depending on how we are feeling we may head back to Magic Kingdom and finish out our night there and utilize the late hours to ride some rides and just enjoy the magic.

12/25 CHRISTMAS DAY

The plan is to head out early to Hollywood studios and knock some stuff out. We will also check out.

FP+ Selections:
*Star Tours 8:45AM to 9:45AM
*Rock N Roller Coaster 9:50AM to 10:50AM
*Tower of Terror 10:50AM to 11:50AM

If we can get to the park at rope drop we may head back to TSMM and get a ride in before our Fast passes begin and get that ride done.

Lunch ADR: Sci Fi Dine In 1:45PM

After lunch we will finish up anything else we want to do and see maybe do one last animation class, definitely go meet Baymax and Hiro before they leave the parks and maybe stay for Characterpalooza for the first time ever!

After that we will head to Animal Kingdom and just take our time walking around and enjoying the park. We may go try to find Pocahontas and we will ride what we can.

Once Animal Kingdom closes I can see us heading to the Magic Kingdom resorts to say goodbye to the Poly, Contemporary and maybe grab some gingerbread at the Grand. We will probably also go over to the Swan at some point to see our wedding spot.

If there is time we may head back to Magic Kingdom and just sit by the Castle and enjoy our time.

I can not wait for tomorrow!

 

[jrmint427]

I'm looking forward to reading your review! We live in Texas and I am always telling my DH that we need to move to Orlando. You're probably right about losing some of the magic if you go all the time, but I still think it would be pretty awesome to live closer.

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

We thought this too and it was great for a while. But we also have to like where we live. We are not big fans of Tampa and we both miss the heck out of Austin. We are glad to go back and visit our home away from home as often as we can.