Day 1314: Book It

It's pretty obvious at this point that 2016 is the year of Disney trips. It's been a stark contrast to years such as 2013, when, initially, I didn't think I'd be going on any trips (despite the fact that I picked that year to begin writing for Everyday Disney), and really, four trips in one year, in less than 10 months really, is more than even I'm used to. I still have a trip scheduled for October, when I'll finally get to attend the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot for the first time since my childhood, but after that we didn't really have anything in mind. 

Until now. 

After some debating over whether or not we would go to Florida over Spring Break, similar to what we did my freshman year, we ultimately decided that just Mom and I would head down for another January trip, which just happens to be one of my favorite times of the year to visit Walt Disney World (next to Christmas, of course). We even added an extra day to our stay, making the trip the longest we'll have taken since January of 2015, which will offer for plenty of time to film videos and do some photography while avoiding rain and the cold weather. 

The point here is this: Disney fans have this problem, where if we don't have another trip planned for after our next trip, we'll end the day depressed and sad, so instead of just moping around wondering when another trip will fall into our hands, we take the initiative and just book another trip. Because, as Disney reminds us on our Magical Express ride back to the airport, the best way to get over one vacation is to start dreaming about the next one. 

Do you frequently have multiple trips planned at a time? 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1148: Waste Nothing

If there's one thing I've learned so far this semester in my Environmental Science class, it's that we really need to pay attention to what we waste. Actually, the class as a whole really has me looking at my life, from what I eat to how much water I'm using when I wash the dishes to what I actually do end up throwing away at the conclusion of each day. Of course, if I'm going to adopt a "waste less" mindset for my life, then that has to apply to everything, right? Including airline points that expire well before your next planned Disney trip?

I occasionally get a call from my mom asking about a specific set of dates, and honestly it's been all over the map since I started college. As a kid, I headed to Disney in one of three months: January, November, or December. I also went in February once, but that's about as far as we broke from the pattern for most of my childhood. I also headed down in June once for a convention, but since my high school graduation, I've been to Disney in July and March as well as two trips in June and two in January. Apparently I'm just trying to knock every month off the list too, because in a very short amount of time I went from zero Disney trip plans to one in May and another in October.

Normally, this wouldn't happen, but because we had some extra airline points that were set to expire long before October, we figured that it would really be a shame to waste an opportunity to get an extra trip in and use that cheap airfare. We already have annual passes, after all! It's sort of strange, being more spontaneous with these trips, especially when we used to be so methodical with our planning. Now it's more of a "what haven't we had a chance to experience yet and how do we fit it into our schedules?"

The greatest part about this extra trip in May though? You get to help me plan! Head over to the google form I've created to help plan my trip to Walt Disney World! You can answer the questions HERE!

Have a magical day!

Day 453: Fastpass+ For Everyone

I guess I never really gave my thoughts on Fastpass+ from my recent trip. I mean, I talked about them a little bit, but never in great detail, and since I spent a good portion of yesterday talking about fastpass+ and the new system, I figured I would actually write a whole blog post on it. Plus, as of March 31, the advanced fastpass reservation system is ready for everyone to use, even just day guests. That's right, no matter if you're an annual passholder or staying on property, you can now use My Magic Plus and make your fastpass reservations 30 days in advance of your trip (those staying on property get 60 days).

Now, I think the new system is absolutely brilliant. Everything works very efficiently, especially when you do get to make those fastpass reservations well before you step foot on property. But coming from a person heading down to Disney World with Disney Performing Arts, I'm a bit concerned. There's a good chance that we won't get our tickets until we actually get to Florida, and that's really going to limit what we can and can't get for our fastpasses. And since it's really set up for families, in order to get the same times as one another, we'll have to have people in groups ahead of time, meaning that people will need to have some sort of an idea of who they want to spend their time with before we actually leave on the trip. That makes things kind of difficult. But I know we'll get through it. I have no doubt we will.

I think the hardest part about Fastpass Plus is that it's going to be a bit confusing for a while. There are a lot of rumors and tons of false information about the system out there, which doesn't help either. Personally, I feel like those who have used the fastpass system previous to this, so with the paper tickets, could be even more confused than those who haven't been to Disney with it at all. It's easy enough to grasp the idea of skipping the line, but this new system is completely different from the old one, and the prospect of planning out every minute of your day well in advance is kind of daunting.

I guess the only thing I really don't like about it is that fact: you have to have a pretty good plan of what you're going to be doing on each day before you go. I'm certainly more of a spontaneous person when it comes to Disney. So maybe someday when I go by myself or something I really will have dining reservations for one place, but I'll wake up that morning and randomly decide to go to Epcot. If my reservation for that night was for Magic Kingdom, I will ultimately end up there, but other than that, I'm just not really the type of person to plan ahead. Unless it comes to when I'll be going to Disney in the future. I know that stuff WAY in advance.

But then again, don't all of us crazy Disney fans?

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on April 2 due to a super crazy week!)