Our Next Adventure

Our next adventure is right around the corner. Literally, we have single digit days to go! There is a lot of excitement in our house, but a lot going on at home before we leave.

Back to school started last week and we’ve been working on getting into a routine. Fall soccer is also in full swing. I also still need to finish packing. That’s a pretty strange thing for me to say this close to our trip, but our suitcases were in use last month when we went on our (postponed) summer road trip. So I just finally started sorting out the piles of clearance items I had been picking up here and there a few weeks ago. Thanks to this long holiday weekend with virtually no plans. (Does that ever really happen!?!) I was able to get a bit of crafting done– a few new ears and shirts– and sort out most of our clothes.

I’m running into the same problem I did last year with some of our clothes though: We’re still using them! Summer is trying to vanish quickly but we’re all still holding on to the fact that some days are in the high 70s and occasionally hitting the low 80s. All of our shorts are in the laundry instead of the suitcase!

What’s on our agenda this time?

This is our shortest trip EVER! It’s making me crazy because there is so much to do that we haven’t done and so many changes in the ten months since we’ve last visited. There are also some favorites we can’t wait to revisit. As always I plotted out a list of things for us to do, scheduled our dining, and made FastPass+ reservations.

I had everything set. Then I watched way too many videos of this year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Just a few days after the first Party on August 16 I was moving all my reservations around to try to make room for us to attend. I haven’t bought tickets yet, but I’m still strongly considering it!

In my scurry to shuffle everything I somehow managed a new perfect time for what I truly believe is THE hardest reservation to find after 180 days: Storybook Dining at Artist Point. This meal that features Snow White, The Evil Queen, Dopey, and Grumpy opened in December 2018. My Grumpy Husband was extremely disappointed it didn’t open in time for our vacation. There was no question about scheduling it for this trip. I was actually quite surprised that we weren’t able to get it the first day of our trip and had to bump it out to days when I initially scheduled– which is exactly when I’m thinking of going to the Party. It took a bit of persistence but I finally found a new time that worked well with the plans.

We’ll also be trying Coral Reef, breakfast at Tusker House (we’ve done dinner in 2016 and 2017), and finally eating at meal at Cinderella’s Royal Table!

I’m also way beyond excited to go to the Happily Ever After Fireworks Dessert Party! I’ve literally been talking about this since before I booked. I’ve been dreaming of a dessert party for so long. I remind my husband about once a week that I can’t wait for to get for it. He’s less than thrilled about it, but they have fruit for him!

Where to stay?

This trip was booked on a whim. In early January 3 Disney released a Free Dining Promotion. We had no trip plans in mind, but that never stopped me from looking at the offer anyway to see what was available. I played with a lot of different dates and decided that my family was not ready to melt away in Florida’s summer heat and humidity. There were a few fall options fall dates available and our wedding anniversary was one of them. Grumpy wasn’t very keen on it, but didn’t say no. He also didn’t say yes, so I knew it had to be as inexpensive as possible.

Pop Century was the best option for the price. As I was booking I stepped away from the computer and when I came back the room category was no longer available. I was bummed, but checked back a little later and another room category opened up. I locked it in and we then we debated the trip. I do not usually waiver on taking the kids out of school, but this trip is right at the beginning of the school year. I had concerns, but ultimately there is so much value and education in travel (yes, even to Disney!) that a few months after booking it changed from a “maybe we’ll go” to “yep, we’re going!”

Pop Century was not a resort that originally appealed to me when we booked our first trip, but after a remodel in 2017 and 2018 the rooms are much more inviting! I was also very excited about news of the Disney Skyliner opening with transportation from the resort to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Unfortunately, when the anxiously awaited opening date was announced it did not fall in within our travel dates and will open in late September.

In addition to Pop Century we’ll be checking out another resort too! Some It wouldn’t be one of our trips if we didn’t add more time at the last minute. We decided just a few weeks ago to fly in the day prior to our originally planned arrival on a very late evening flight. We needed a room and in my searching for the right deal I found the Contemporary! Peanut has asked me several times to stay here but it’s been pretty low on my list of resort choices. For a one night stay, however, it sounded like the perfect idea. My kid gets excited and we are a 5-minute walk to Magic Kingdom to start our first day!

So much more…

Those are just some of the highlights coming up! We may take a peak at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge that just opened. We’ll definitely watch lots of fireworks. There’s so much food to enjoy! Don’t miss any of it! Be sure to follow along on Instagram. You can find me at both my blogger account, nikkismickeytrips, and my travel planning account, nikki_royal_treatment_travel!

I’ll be sharing more on the blog some time after our return and Grumpy has actually been working on his own blog post too!

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