Disney 2019 Planning Part 9

May 10, 2019

N minus 100

The new sky gondolas are running. That’s awesome. They’re running for tests until the fall which means we can see the character covered flying horror chambers, but not have to ride in them… which is more awesome.

Anabelle sent out the following:

That’s my girl!

Grandma

GREAT DAY. Fantastic Pictures.  My pleasure to make everyone happy. That is what makes me the HAPPIEST. OOO XXX ZZZ

May 11, 2019

N minus 99

Grandma books the limo, all that’s left is FastPasses.  Grandma also decides that since all four grandchildren are tall enough to ride, she’s going on Splash Mountain for the second time in its almost twenty-seven years of existence.

May 13, 2019

N minus 97

Anabelle changes her Magic Band name to Anabanana.  It’s going to be a hoot if the ride scans start reading those names instead of programmed ones.

May 19, 2019

N minus 91

Tomorrowland Speedway reopens!  
The Tomorrowland speedway has reopened after tweaks  to make room for the Tron coaster opening in a couple of years.   

Con- we’ll be smelling the 146 lawnmower engines that power those cars whenever we’re on that side of the Magic Kingdom.

Pro-  from 146- 292 guests, plus those on line will be out of our way as we go on almost any other attraction.

May 20, 2019

N minus 90

Anabelle’s insider scouting was only a couple of days off. The fancy, on sale, Magic Bands are available!  Sadly, I can see an obvious choice for every single member of my extended family…except me.  It doesn’t matter though, because it’s ridiculously glitchy.  Besides there being an extra me (which is an issue) half the band choices keep vanishing. A couple of calls to I.T. indicated they’re working on it. Hopefully they’ll straighten it out before we need to lock them down.
[Later edit-  Hey!  They didn't.]

May 23, 2019

N minus 93

Disney adds more “After Hours” dates- paid extra magic hours.  They only hit one of our days that matters, the second Animal Kingdom day. No announcement on if that affects park hours, but we’re leaving early to eat with Cinderella meaning it should be fine. If it does make the parks close earlier, instead of being a true extension, that’s going to make Wednesday in the Magic Kingdom a mob scene again… Well, crap.   

May 31, 2019

N minus 85

A rare Disney screw up. They REALLY didn't have the site ready, and didn't anticipate demand. All the custom Magic Bands are pulled from the pre-order. There’s still an extra me.  Here’s hoping they fix it.

[Later edit-  Hey!  They didn't.]

June 3, 2019

N minus 76

Bo Peep sighted with Woody in Toy Story Land.  Man, that line is going to be long.

[Later edit-  Hey!  It wasn't!]

June 9 2019

N minus 70

The “After Hours” doesn't affect park closing time, in fact it closes later (not counting Extra Magic) on Thursday than the Wednesday we’ll be there, likely drawing the crowds away.  Nicely done Where Will We Go Next Guy.

June 11, 2019

N Minus 68

Several times over the year I have asked where my Pirates of the Caribbean hat was since Anabelle used it last.  There is no definitive answer, but I am told to look through the jam packed hat bins in the closet. I look up at them a few times but have never opened them. As the trip draws closer, I look up again, and note the pirate hat has magically appeared, visible on the side of one of the bins.
Disney Magic!

June 15, 2019

N Minus 64

Anabelle helps plan out FastPass targets. She’s also writing up her Band Disney “Scouting Trip” for blog posts.

[Later Edit- Or maybe she’s not.  After several exasperated passes at tying to make light of, “My friends with no experience in Disney didn’t listen to me at all,” she gave up.]

June 18, 2019

N Minus 61

Anabelle continues the family tradition. She meets with her cousins and shows them the grid and the FastPass plan to lay out everyone’s shirt selections for the trip. Yay!

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