Let's Pretend We're Tourists! Sept 28-30 Pre-trip. IT ALL STARTS TOMORROW!

[tristessaFL]

Hi there! My name is Heather and I'm 26. I debated for a long time whether or not to start a pre-trip report, because I live about 45 minutes north of WDW and the trip we are planning will only be two nights over a weekend in September. So this trip will not be anything all that grand. No heavy packing or long roadtrips or airplane flights to get there. Just a quick jaunt down I-4.

But then I thought, what the heck! I'll just do it and if it's a flop and no one reads it, then oh well. I'm no stranger to communicating in a medium like this, as I have kept online journals/blogs for 5 years now. But I knew my regular blog readers would probably think I was crazy if they knew how excited I was about our upcoming weekend getaway to WDW. So this will be my outlet for all my childlike giddyness.

THE CAST:

Heather (me!) - Born in a suburb of Boston, MA in 1981. We took a family trip to WDW back in October of 1987 when I was 6 and my brother was 4 (stayed off property at that tall round I-Drive hotel across from Wet n Wild). Then my dad transfered jobs back in 1990 when I was 9 years old, and moved my family to the Orlando area. We had Annual Passes for the first three years, but then we all pretty much got tired of going and the novelty wore off, not to mention the expense of buying five annual pass renewals each year was getting to be massively expensive for my parents. Of course we still got to go for day trips maybe 1-3 times a year. Sometimes more often if family from up north came to visit. I grew up, graduated high school, went to University of Central Florida, and now work coordinating commercial roadside assistance programs for a major motor club. Tadd and I got married in July 2004 (yesterday was our 3rd anniversary, by the way :love: ) and we have two adorable kitties, April and Logan (no kids yet!).

Tadd (DH...also 26) - He grew up in West Palm Beach, FL until he moved to Central Florida with his family when he was in 11th grade. We met about 6 months later at school (yes, we are high school sweethearts!). Tadd never really got to go to WDW all that much growing up, but he was hired as a cast member shortly after we graduated from high school. He started in janitorial services, cleaning the ticket booths at the TTC, the kennel, as well as parts of Main Street. He heard about a casting call for costumed characters and decided to go for it. They kept whittling the group of a few hundred hopefuls down, and he kept making each cut. Eventually they offered him the job! So for the next 8 months, he worked at MGM, as everything from Tigger to Goofy to Woody to a Green Army Man. He absolutely loved it, but the heat and the energy it took to do his job eventually got to him and he had to quit. He had developed bursitis in both knees and threw out his back a couple of times, so he decided it was time to do something else. But his time as a CM gave him a new love and appreciation for WDW. And he is just as excited as I am for this little weekend trip we are planning! Tadd now works as a graphic designer and his dream job is to one day work for Pixar!

B (friend, also 26) - B is a very very good friend of ours. I'm not sure whether or not he will be joining us for part or all of the weekend (or maybe none of it), but I figured I would introduce him anyways. He literally grew up around WDW. His dad used to be an executive at MK and helped open several attractions, including Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Before his parents moved to Dallas in 2001, they lived in the Bay Hill subdivision, a straight shot 5 minutes down Apopka Vineland Road from the Hotel Plaza Blvd entrance to WDW property. We actually met B on Disney property...we were at the Virgin Megastore in Downtown Disney in early June of 1998, waiting for the clock to strike midnight so we could buy the brand new Smashing Pumpkins album. Our group was first in line, his group was 2nd, so we struck up a conversation and have been good friends ever since! B joined the Marine Reserves a couple years ago, so he likes to think of himself as a tough guy, but he's really a total goofball and very sweet. He even confessed to me that still, to this day, he has trouble sleeping when he knows he's going to WDW the next day!

We might have other friends join us as well for part or all of the weekend. The plans aren't really set in stone for anyone else aside from Tadd and I. And the only friend that is really REALLY gunning to join us at all right now is B. He's trying very hard to convince one of our other friends to go too, so he can split a hotel room with them. I guess we'll see if that works out. All I care about is that DH and I are going...and we definitely are! We have our park tickets and hotel ressies, so we are ALL SET! If anyone else decides to join us, it will just be icing on the cake!

[tristessaFL]

Ok, now that you know WHO is going, here is the plan so far:

Friday, Sept. 28
- Either take the day off of work, or leave at noon.
- Drive to WDW.
- Check into All Star Music for 2 nights.
- Grab a quick bite to eat (not sure where yet, maybe the ASMu food court)
- Be at MK at 4pm for early entry to MNSSHP!

Saturday, Sept. 29
- Epcot all day for Food & Wine Festival!
- Not sure what we'll do, if anything, that evening. Maybe DTD?

Sunday, Sept. 30
- Check out of All Star Music.
- Animal Kingdom from 9am to 5pm.
- Drive back home. :sad1:

I thought about making some ADRs, but then I figured we really didn't need any. Our schedule will be so busy trying to cram so much into 2.5 days, and we're trying to keep costs down, so counter-service and heavy snacking when necessary will be the way to go for us. I might decide later on to cave and maybe do 1 ADR somewhere, but probably not. We'll see.

We got the Florida Resident 3-day Play Pass for $120. So after the weekend we are planning now, we'll still have 1 full day left on our passes. We haven't decided 100% what to do with them yet, but I'm thinking we should save them for the weekend after Thanksgiving, and do either Epcot or MK. That way we can enjoy some of the Christmas festivities! :santa:

[tristessaFL]

Some other WDW-related thoughts...

I will be honest...after my family moved down here in 1990, every time we went to WDW, I would find myself feeling a little jealous that I was only there for a day trip and practically everyone else around me was enjoying a nice vacation. I was always sad knowing that the end of the day would mean going back to my regular life of school and chores (and as I got older, work). Whenever I found myself in one of the on-property resorts, I always looked around and wished that I was staying there instead of going home to sleep in my own boring bed. I know other people were/are jealous of me living so close to WDW too. It's funny how the grass is always greener on the other side! Those thoughts kind of planted the seed for planning this weekend getaway.

Last year, my mother-in-law (MIL) and brother-in-law (BIL) came down to visit from Tennessee. MIL's big reason for coming down was to go to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. I had never been before (can you believe that???), and she was willing to pay our way, so we heartily agreed and had a blast! My brother Ryan joined us too. At the end of the day, Tadd and I vowed to do it again next year. Then, at the beginning of 2007 I heard about the Pirate & Princess Party. My brother Ryan was turning 24 in February and he LOVES all things pirates including POTC (his undergrad degree is in Anthropology and his two favorite historical groups to study are vikings and pirates), so I got tickets for Tadd and I, and got Ryan a ticket as a birthday gift. B even decided to come along too and brought his then-girlfriend. We all dressed up in pirate gear and had the TIME OF OUR LIVES! It was SO much fun! On our way home, I remarked that we now absolutely HAD to try the Not-So-Scary Halloween party that I had read about while researching P&P, since they had similar formats. Tadd agreed to that too.

Since both MNSSHP and F&W occurred in the Fall, and we both knew we couldn't miss either event, I started thinking about just making a whole weekend out of it. When I found the special $64/night rate for Value resorts through the end of September, which coincided with both the first few days of F&W and MNSSHP, that was all I needed to see to make it official. I promptly booked us for two nights in All Star Sports for the last weekend of September, but then changed it to Music when I heard about the construction going on at Sports. I was finally going to live my little dream of staying on-property and pretending to be an out-of-towner on vacation in the Happiest Place On Earth (hence my thread title)!

Perhaps when I get home and have access to my photos (my work computer is blocked from all photo-hosting sites), I will post some past pics of me at WDW. I have some really good ones!

[tristessaFL]

Okay photos...

Here's B, another friend D, me, and my best friend Stephanie on Mission Space back in May 2005. A bunch of us went to Epcot to celebrate my 24th birthday.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Epcot%205-21-05/aaap5200085.jpg

Tadd, Stephanie, B, and I doing sake shots in Japan, from that same birthday trip.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Epcot%205-21-05/aaap5210108.jpg

And my absolute FAVORITE pic from that day, the one in my sig...a bunch of us in that group all simultaneously drinking whatever it was we had in our hands in Germany (soda, wine, champagne, or beer).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Epcot%205-21-05/P5210107.jpg

My brother Ryan at Food & Wine 2006 (I mentioned he loves vikings).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Epcot%2010-6-06/aaaPA070012.jpg

My brother, me, MIL, and my disgruntled teenage BIL at Neptune's fountain.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Epcot%2010-6-06/aaaPA070017.jpg

I took my 13 year old twin cousins and their friend to MK the day after Christmas this past year. The whole family was in town from Boston, and the adults needed some time to themselves, so I gladly volunteered to take the kiddies to Disney. Here we are on Splash.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Christmas%202006/Magic%20Kingdom/aaaPC260092mk.jpg

The girls in front of the castle.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Christmas%202006/Magic%20Kingdom/aaaPC260106mk.jpg

[tristessaFL]

And a few more...

B's GF, B, Ryan, me, and Tadd at Pirate & Princess this past February.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Pirate%20Party/aaaIMGP0943.jpg

Getting silly with our pirate gear.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Pirate%20Party/aaaIMGP0971.jpg

Tadd and I spinning on the teacups (yes, that is a fake nosering on Tadd).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/ruledbymercury/Pirate%20Party/aaa026_0A.jpg

[tristessaFL]

No visitors yet, eh? That's ok, I know I'm a bore! :rotfl:

Tadd and I have been debating MNSSHP costumes. At first I was thinking I would just wear black and do some cat ears/nose and maybe draw some whiskers with black eyeliner, but that might be a little too boring. It's a good backup plan though.

I know I want something where I can wear regular-type clothes and jazz it up, mostly with accessories. I want to be COMFY, but still participating in dressing up. We are thinking about maybe doing the cowboy/cowgirl thing. Plaid shirts, vests, cowboy hats, I could wear my hair in braided pigtails, holsters with day-glo squirtguns (I know we can't bring in realistic-looking guns), sherriff's badges, etc. We still have pirate gear leftover from P&P, but I feel like that has been done to death. Last year at Target I found some Ghostbuster jumpsuits, so that might be fun if they have some again this year, depending on how heavy they are. I don't want to be dying of heat. I could probably do a poodle skirt too, so that's another idea. I'm sure we'll figure out something.

I've got $75 in free Visa giftcards thanks to credit card rewards, so I'm setting that aside for our Food & Wine day. Hopefully that will be more than enough for snacking around the world for 2 and maybe even have a little leftover for a small souvenir (I'd like a F&W 2007 pin).

Not much more Disney planning going on right now, since we're still a few months away. But to tide me over, Tadd and I are leaving for another little weekend getaway tomorrow. We're going over to the Tampa Bay area to see our beloved Red Sox play the Devil Rays! My parents, grandparents, and siblings are going to the game too. Since Tadd and I are also going to be celebrating our anniversary, we are staying in a separate hotel from everyone else, a 110 year old Victorian beachside resort in Clearwater! I can't wait! The resort is supposedly haunted too. Not sure yet how I feel about that, but I'm really into history, so this hotel should be PERFECT for me. Most of Saturday will be spent with family due to the baseball game, but we have Friday night and Sunday all to ourselves. I have some packing to do when I get home tonight!

[tristessaFL]

Packing is done! I am so ready to go. Only 2.5 hours left to go at work then we're on our way to Florida's Gulf Coast!

Some semi-exciting news: We are thinking about stopping at Downtown Disney on our way out of town, and having lunch at the Earl of Sandwich! I came up with the idea, since our route westbound on I-4, takes us right by WDW, but didn't think DH would go for it. Usually he likes to get the driving over with ASAP on road trips, but this time he said he thought it was a great idea! He said it's OUR anniversary weekend, so if we have time, then why not? I like the way he thinks! :thumbsup2 So if we get an early enough start, we just might be injecting a touch of WDW into our Red Sox/Tampa weekend!

[tristessaFL]

We did indeed end up visiting Downtown Disney on our way out of Orlando on Friday. We weren't there for long...just enough time to eat lunch at the Earl of Sandwich, peruse the Pin Traders to find a pin to commemorate our 3rd anniversary, and poke about for a little bit in Once Upon A Toy. Then we hit the road to Tampa. The Sox won! We had a blast and it was a very fun weekend.

Here's the pin we decided on for our anniversary pin. Originally we were going to go with a Jack & Sally pin, but when we saw this one, it was just TOO cute to pass up!

http://www.pinpics.com/img/p837/pin41866

In other Disney-related news, our custom park maps came in a few days ago! We don't really need them, but since they were free and I love a good freebie, I decided to get them anyways. They are really pretty! The only complaint I have is that my Epcot map was missing. I only got MK and AK. Oh well!

[tristessaFL]

I'm considering getting a new theme park/sightseeing bag. The one I have is a small flimsy cloth drawstring backpack I got at Old Navy several years ago in the clearance section for about $4. I use it whenever I'm going somewhere where there is going to be a lot of walking and when I will be needing different "stuff" other than what I carry in my everyday purse, or when carrying something over my shoulder for long periods would get annoying. So this flimsy little bag goes with me traveling a lot, as well as theme parks, sightseeing, trips to the zoo, etc. You get the picture. The Old Navy bag still works just fine, but it's just not the most stylish thing ever.

Lately, I've gotten really into Vera Bradley. Not all Vera (some of the patterns are a bit much for me), but some of it has really grown on me. I currently own 2 purses, several accessories, and I have one purse on the way that I won on eBay. The two styles of purses that I'm looking at for my new theme park/sightseeing bag are the hipster and the backsack.

HIPSTER:
http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/gndgm/.mids/CambridgeHipster.JPG

BACKSACK:
http://i2.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ac/44/7af6_2.JPG

The backsack is somewhat similar to what I have now, just sturdier, slightly larger, with more pockets for organization, and much more attractive-looking. I like the hipster, because it is made to be worn across my body, instead of just over my shoulder. The backsack is more expensive than the hipster, but only by $1, so that doesn't help me narrow it down. I will have to go to my local VB retailer and see them in person to decide. Fine by me...I love any excuse to go shopping!

[tristessaFL]

I went to my local Vera Bradley retailer on Saturday and checked out both those bags I posted about. I think I'm going to go with the hipster! Still not sure what color/pattern I should choose though. I'm torn between Peacock, Mod Floral Blue, and Cambridge. *sigh* Decisions, decisions! :rotfl:

Tadd and I have started doing little things to earn extra money for our Disney weekend. I joined Sunshine Rewards and Tadd joined ExpoTV. So far, in less than two days, I've earned almost $18 towards a Disney giftcard on SR. I have another $15 or so currently pending. My goal is to get at least enough to cashout with a $50 Disney giftcard between now and then. Maybe more, but I'm new at this, so for now I'm shooting for $50. Every little bit helps! And I can add that to the $75 in Visa giftcards I received from CC rewards last week. Not bad!

Tadd and I went and bought a webcam yesterday to record videos for ExpoTV. He was supposed to set it up this morning and get started on reviewing stuff, but I'm not sure if he was successful since I have been at work all day and haven't had a chance to call him to get an update. His plan was to do around 20 or 25 reviews today. They pay $2 or $10 each, depending on what category, so if they are all accepted he will be making anywhere from $40 to $250 doing that. He has Mondays off, so if he does this every week of August, we should have plenty of spending money for our Disney weekend, and then some! If this works out well enough for us, we might just upgrade our 3-Day Play passes to FL Resident APs! We'll see. I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched. Even if we only earn a little bit, it will still be great to add to our spending money.

Only 52 more days to go!

[tristessaFL]

Wow! I can't believe I started this pre-trip report over two weeks ago and haven't gotten one single visitor! If anyone out there is reading this, I would love it if you decided to delurk and say hi. Maybe I'm just really boring?

I'm getting really excited about our Disney weekend. Only a month and a half left to wait! I'm starting to consider somehow finagling an extra night to our weekend to make it three nights instead of two. It probably wouldn't be possible because Tadd is job hunting right now and there's a good chance that he'll be at a new company by then. It certainly wouldn't make a good impression to take a day off so soon. He has a 2nd interview on Monday for a graphics/web design/IT position at a mortgage company, so I guess we will soon know.

Funny story related to Disney: Yesterday Tadd was talking to this guy at the store where he works. This guy and Tadd really hit it off and were chit-chatting about this and that. All of a sudden the guy asks "What do you do besides this?" and Tadd said that he was a freelance graphic artist and was finishing up a degree in Computer Science with a concentration in graphic design. The guy lit up and said, "I actually manage several 2-D graphic designers and we have a ton of internship positions coming up. Let me give you my card!" He hands Tadd a Disney business card! The guy works in Disney's advertising department! Tadd nearly wet himself and immediately called me to let me know. I don't know if we could afford for him to do an internship, because I doubt the pay is very good if anything at all, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to look into it! If we could at all manage, it would be soooo worth it! Tadd's dream is to work for Pixar, so this would put him several steps closer. Even if it doesn't work out, the whole situation absolutely made Tadd's day. I'm not banking on anything working out, but I guess we'll see if anything comes of it.

Hee! It's almost like he had a magical visit from the Dream Team, and had a dream come true while at work! :rotfl:

[LISAMWDW]

Yeah! I'm your first visitor! I'm in! Can't wait for more!

[tristessaFL]

Yay Lisa! Thanks for being my first visitor! Finally I feel loved and accepted by the DIS community!

:love:

[dismom9761]

HI! I followed your link from another report.I don't find you boring at all.:goodvibes
Earl of Sandwich is one of our favorites.:thumbsup2

Hope Tadd has good luck finding a job that he likes.That was really cool about meeting the guy from Disney.Look forward to reading more.:)

[tristessaFL]

dismom9761 - Thanks for visiting! And thanks for the well-wishes for Tadd's job search! So far so good.

--------------------------------------------------

So I thought I would update a little about Tadd's job situation. As mentioned before, he has a 2nd interview this morning for a graphics/web designer/IT position with a small mortgage company. We went out and got him a few new shirts and ties yesterday for his job hunt (thanks to JCPenney's awesome back to school sale, the shirts were only $8.99 and the ties were $5.99!), then we came home and watched Finding Nemo while eating pizza for dinner. Right on cue, just after the movie ended, Tadd got a call on his cell phone. He ran in the other room to talk, which made me totally curious as to who it was that called. He came out looking rather startled and said "That guy from Disney just called. He wants to meet with me tomorrow!" So they are meeting tonight at our local Panera Bread. The guy is going to bring a laptop and show Tadd some of the programs they use and see if Tadd is up to speed on them. Not sure what will happen after that.

Now, the cynic in me feels like this seems too good to be true. As far as I know, Disney does their recruiting in a very specific way. The fact that this guy is persuing Tadd like this when he isn't even 100% sure of his abilities seems odd to me. But then the hopeful part of me thinks that maybe he is high up enough that he could surpass the recruiting mumbo jumbo. Or maybe he's assessing whether Tadd is right for his department before putting him through the mumbo jumbo. I looked at the business card he gave Tadd and it's definitely a Disney business card. It has the Disney logo and Mickey and everything, and no mention of a second company that might indicate some sort of contractor relationship or anything else. Of course stuff like that can be faked, but I can't yet think of any reason why this guy would fake something like that. So I'm staying on the fence until we know more. It could just be that he and Tadd hit it off really well and he really wants to help out a guy who gave him outstanding customer service. Good things do happen to good people sometimes. But with the luck we typically have, it's tough to look at something like this and not be skeptical. I'm still sooooooooooo curious! Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with an update to let everyone know how their meeting went!

Not much else going on with planning our getaway, except for the fact that we talk about it all the time! We are doing pretty well with those little supplemental vacation income ventures. I've earned almost enough for a $50 Disney giftcard through Sunshine Rewards, so now I'm going to continue on and try for the $100 card before cashing out. And Tadd has uploaded $120-worth of videos to ExpoTV, all of which are currently pending acceptance to the site (it can take a week or two for them to accept your videos). We aren't as far along as we would have liked to be with Expo, but we had some audio problems with our computer which took awhile to fix. Still, $120 can buy a lot of dole whips, pins, and other fun stuff at WDW. I'm pleased! And he plans on uploading at least 10 or 15 more very soon. Once you get going on those 1-minute video reviews, they become very easy to crank out. Tadd is having a good time with it!

[dismom9761]

Glad things are going good with earning $$ for the trip.:thumbsup2 Hope the meeting goes well.

[tristessaFL]

Well, I wish I wasn't reporting this, but the "Disney" guy turned out to be a scam. I was totally right to be skeptical. He lured Tadd with the "official" Disney business card and talk of 2-D graphics internships, but when they met last night, it was all about how Tadd could "go into business for himself"...blah, blah, blah. It had absolutely nothing to do with Disney, graphic design work, OR internships! What a joke! Tadd will be calling Disney today to let them know that this guy is using their company name, logo, etc, to promote a pyramid scheme. I'm not too disappointed, because like I said, I tried to stay as realistic as possible, and that this whole thing seemed too good to be true. It would have been foolish NOT to explore it further, just in case it was legit, but I had a feeling it wouldn't amount to anything. Oh well.

On the bright side, the interview he had with the mortgage company seemed to go pretty well. He was the first to be interviewed, so hopefully we hear back soon.

I am trying to decide whether or not to flip-flop our Epcot and AK days for our Disney weekend. I have heard the first Saturday of the F&W festival can be crazy, and that the Sunday of that weekend is usually slightly less crowded. Last year, we went to F&W on the second Saturday of the festival (Oct. 7th), and the park wasn't empty, but it wasn't unbearable either. I could easily deal with that level of crowdedness. We'll probably just keep our plans as-is, but I'm not sure yet. I need to do more research...

[LISAMWDW]

Sorry to hear about the scam! However, at least you caught on quick!

[dismom9761]

Sorry about the scam.I hope the other job works out.I would definitely swap the days.I have heard that Saturday is crazy.:scared:

[tristessaFL]

Still considering the Epcot/AK day flip-flop. Epcot on Saturday and AK on Sunday works so much better for our time constraints, since AK closes at 5pm, and that is early enough to get back home from WDW at a decent time to rest up and start getting ready for the following work week. It seems to make sense to keep our fullest day on Satuday, when we will be in WDW for all 24 hours of the day. But the crowd levels definitely have me considering making changes. Luckily that is something we can decide and change our mind on a whim.

I ordered my very first ever pair of Crocs the other day. They should arrive in the mail soon. This is somewhat shocking to me because I have NEVER been a fan of the clogs. But then I saw the Primas (being the ballet flat nut that I am) and since I was able to get a $5.50 discount, plus $3.05 cash back to my SR account, I bit the bullet and got the pastel green ones. I am very curious to give them a try. These are the ones I got. I was kind of hoping for the silver ones or the pink ones, but they didn't have them in my size:

http://www.shoebuy.com/pi/crocs/crocs190623_107443_lg.jpg

No callbacks yet about Monday's job interview, but he was the first interview of the week, so they had said it probably won't be until the very end of this week before he heard anything. I'm not particularly worried, since although this job is better than what he has now, and definitely more in line with his career goals, it also isn't ideal. The pay increase from what he is making now would be minimal, and the job is set to begin at part-time with the promise of full-time hours later on. That would mean he would have to finagle keeping his current full-time job as well at first, which would be tough. So while it would be great if he got the job, we also won't be heartbroken if he gets turned down. We're just keeping all options open right now, so whatever happens happens! Not at all the most terrible place to be. However, I do hope the perfect job comes along for him soon.

[dismom9761]

HI!! Cute shoes,I hadn't seen those yet.:goodvibes

[LISAMWDW]

He'll find the right job, hang in there! Cute shoes! Let us know if they're comfy?

[tristessaFL]

I've decided to chuck out the idea of wearing actual costumes for MNSSHP. Instead, I'm going to order us Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirts from DisneyShopping. They are on clearance for $9.37 each and right now shipping is free! Click the links to see:

http://as7.dsi.go.com/is/image/DisneyShopping/W5701M0010M?$full$

http://as7.dsi.go.com/is/image/DisneyShopping/W5701F0011M?$full$

I'm currently less than $2 away from earning that $100 Disney GC on SR! Now I'm thinking maybe I can squeak out another $25 GC, or maybe $20 in Disney Dollars. I still have over three weeks before I have to cash out. We'll see. I'm just happy with the $100!

I almost forgot! We hung out with B this past weekend and he said he is DEFINITELY coming with us to Epcot for F&W and was wondering why I ever thought he might not go. Heh. He is SO excited about it! So we'll probably be on our own on Friday and Sunday, but we'll definitely meet up with him on Saturday. Yay!

Just over 5 weeks until our Disney weekend! I can't wait!!!

[difry]

It is amazing what people think they can get away with. I'm glad you both caught on before the scammer was able to get you caught up in something screwy.

I have not gotten on the croc bandwagon. I have not even tried on a pair, no offense, but I think the clogs are kinda ugly. Until I started reading Disboard I didn't even realize there were different styles :confused3

I'm enjoying your stream of concousousness planning, I'm glad I'm not the only one who makes plans and then makes new plans, and then changes those plans :)

[LISAMWDW]

Cute shirts! They'll work great!

[tristessaFL]

It is amazing what people think they can get away with. I'm glad you both caught on before the scammer was able to get you caught up in something screwy.

I have not gotten on the croc bandwagon. I have not even tried on a pair, no offense, but I think the clogs are kinda ugly. Until I started reading Disboard I didn't even realize there were different styles :confused3

I'm enjoying your stream of concousousness planning, I'm glad I'm not the only one who makes plans and then makes new plans, and then changes those plans :)

Hi there! I totally agree about the scammer. A similar thing has happened to him before at work (I guess they like to troll the employees at computer/electronics retailers), but they didn't pull out a Disney business card. That was so low! He was kidding himself if he thought Tadd would fall for that...one minute he's talking about graphic design internships at Disney, and then he completely changes his tune when they meet up and it turns out to have NOTHING to do with graphics, internships, OR Disney. Any dimwit would know that it's a scam!

No offense taken on the Crocs clogs. I think they are really ugly too! They are ok on little kids and babies, but that's about it. And glad you're enjoying reading along! :)

[tristessaFL]

Cute shirts! They'll work great!

Thanks! I'm thinking about getting us some purple glowsticks to wear around our necks too. I thought that might be a nice little extra Halloween-y touch!

[tristessaFL]

The latest news on our Disney weekend is this:

We are upgrading the 3-Day Play passes we purchased for our Disney weekend to Florida Resident Seasonal Passes!!!

Tadd got a call from his mom yesterday. She and her boyfriend and my 16 year old brother-in-law are coming down from Tennessee to stay with us for Thanksgiving week. I didn't think they would want to visit theme parks while they were down here due to money being tight, but during their phone conversation, she mentioned wanting to get some park hoppers and spend a few days out at Disney. We will only have 1 day left on our 3DP passes, and no park hopper option, so we wouldn't be able to go with them for the whole time. If we did purchase tickets to be able to go with them, it would cost almost as much as upgrading to Seasonals. Also, we were kind of hoping to use our 3rd day to visit one of the parks (probably Epcot) closer to Christmas to enjoy some of the holiday festivities. If we get the Seasonal Passes, we could do both! We figured we would call this our early Christmas gift to each other. We normally do a $150-$200 budget for each other for Christmas, and the pass upgrades would work out to $110 each, so we'd still have enough left over to get each other something small to actually exchange on Christmas Day!

[tristessaFL]

Here's a nice long update for you!

Well, I caved and signed up for the Disney Visa. Saw a promo link that automatically gives you $50 in rewards just for signing up. We're going to put our pass upgrades on it and maybe use it for the free photo in Innoventions then lock it away in a drawer. I only have one other credit card that we use for emergencies and I'd like to keep it that way! I just really liked the idea of 0% interest for 6 months on the Seasonal Passes, plus the extra $50 giftcard to add to our ever-growing collection! I know, I'm going giftcard crazy. I'm only $5.43 away from being able to cash out for a $100 giftcard on SR, which I hope to be able to do early next week. And when my big offers credit on 9/15, I should be able to cash out one last time for another $50 card. That brings our total to $275 in giftcards for the trip! Nice!

We're also thinking about getting the Disney Dining Experience card. You get 20% off all table service restaurants. I figure if we're going to buy the Seasonal Passes, we might be eating at a lot of sit-down restaurants on property and this would help defray those costs. I've heard from so many places that the card easily pays for itself very quickly. Still haven't decided 100%, but it's definitely a consideration. Tadd thinks we should definitely get it, but I'm still not sure.

Got our Halloween Jack & Sally t-shirts in from DisneyShopping.com. I think I ordered mine a size too big. I'm not swimming in it, but it's not the fitted look I was going for. I can't decide if I should just deal with it (since it will probably shrink in the wash) or send it off to be exchanged for the next size down. Tadd's shirt fits great and he loves it, so that's good.

This long Labor Day weekend coming up has Tadd and I VERY tempted to go get our Seasonal Passes this weekend and get some early Disney fun in. When you only live 45 minutes away, it's SO tempting! But we're holding off. #1) My Disney Visa hasn't arrived yet and that's what we want to use to pay. #2) It's HOT outside and we would be miserable. #3) Crowded holiday weekend! #4) I really want our end-of-September weekend to be the big-kickoff to a year of Disney fun with our Season Passes...somehow I feel like going early will take some of the specialness and excitement away from our planned weekend, since neither of us have been to any of the parks since Pirate & Princess Party at MK back in February, and Epcot in October 2006 before that. So we will hold off. I told Tadd that if by chance the Visa arrives today or tomorrow and we just can't stand to wait any longer, we will go to MGM, because that's the one park our Disney Weekend does not include.

I'm in the process of making a list of must-do things for our weekend that I either haven't seen yet or haven't done in a long, long time. I will hopefully be posting that list soon. :)

[LISAMWDW]

Sounds like you have a good plan! I'd love to get some annual passes someday! Sigh----dream. We live to far away!

Congrats! I have the disney visa and it's the only one I use. Not just because its disney and we get disney points. It's really a decent credit card to have.

[tristessaFL]

Welcome back Lisa! Hope you had fun on your trip! I'm going to try to get to your TR sometime today to get an update. I'm SO excited about getting the Seasonal Passes. Tadd has said he wants to go to WDW every Sunday for the first several weeks that we have the passes. Not sure if we'll get to do that, but it's so neat that we'll have the option! I'm still learning the ins and outs of the Disney Visa, but I do like it so far! It looks like it's a pretty decent card!

-------------------------------------------------

I forgot to mention that last weekend I got my new Vera purse! I ended up with the Hipster in Cambridge and I LOVE it!

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/gndgm/.mids/CambridgeHipster.JPG

It is just the right size and very comfortable to wear while walking around. I actually got the opportunity to test it yesterday. Tadd and I went to check out the Premiere Outlets because I had never been and was always curious about them. I ended up getting a sweater from Ann Taylor, and a set of 4Muppets shot glasses at the discount Disney store which I plan to give to my brother for Christmas. We also got a POTC red lady pin on clearance at that same store. We were going to go to the Gap outlet, but the parking lot in that section was so crazy, that we decided to pass.

Instead, we drove over to Downtown Disney and wandered around a bit. We bought more Mr. Potatohead parts (Mary Poppins, Cruella, Tinkerbelle, Peter Pan, and various other assorted accessories). We didn't stay too long though, because we were both starving for lunch and didn't want to spend Disney prices for a meal on property. So we stopped at PF Changs in Winter Park for a late lunch/early dinner before heading home. I can't wait to go back to WDW for our big weekend! Less than 3 weeks to go!

Still working on my list of must-dos for our weekend. They are much less urgent now that we will be able to go back often for day trips during the next year. But I really would like to make this weekend filled with special moments and trying new things. I also want to be able to stop and appreciate the small details that we never get to see while we're rushing around from ride to ride on a normal day trip. WDW is chock-full of these and I want to experience many of them.

[tristessaFL]

List of must-dos...

Magic Kingdom
- Spend lots of time exploring Main Street (a place we usually zip right by on our way in and out of the park).
- Find the special old-timey phone in the Main Street Market with the pre-recorded conversation.
- Walk through the castle and take a moment to look at the mosaics.
- See Mickey's Philharmagic (a first for both of us).
- Eat a Dole Whip.
- Spend some time in Mickey's Toon Town Fair (another area that we rarely spend time in)
- Ride the Liberty Belle.
- Check out the new and improved Haunted Mansion, of course!
- Ride Jungle Cruise at night (I've always ridden in the daytime and heard it's a different experience at night).

Epcot
- Spend some time in Innoventions.
- Get our free Disney Visa picture with characters.
- Check out The Seas with Nemo & Friends for the first time.
- Turtle Talk for the first time.
- Living With The Land (haven't done this since I was little!).
- See if we can find the Muppets Mobile Lab.
- View the new Canada film.
- See the Tomb Warriors exhibit in China.
- Explore the American Adventure, including the show (we usually walk right past this pavilion).
- Maybe see one or both of the other two country films (China & France).

Animal Kingdom
Not sure if it makes sense to even make a list for this park. We will pretty much want to do everything, since it has been almost 8 years since either of us have been here. It will be like having a whole new park to explore!

[tristessaFL]

Tadd is going to be making some ADRs today while I'm at work!

First, we are booking a lunch at Biergarten for Sunday, November 25th for when his family is in town. Then, we decided to try to get a Candlelight Processional dining package, if there are any left for Friday and Saturday nights before December 22nd (when the Seasonal Passes are blacked out for the holidays). We're pretty flexible on dates, times, and restaurants, as long as we can get a Friday or Saturday night showing, so hopefully there will be some availability. This will be another first for us. We figured, since we are springing for the seasonal passes and probably won't do it again, we might as well do all the things we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise!

I told Tadd he could also try to book an ADR for the first afternoon of our Disney weekend, since I knew he really wanted to have a sit down meal at some point during that weekend. I told him he could book whatever restaurant he wants, as long as it's somewhere either in MK or on the monorail loop so we'll have easy access to jump to MK for MNSSHP after we eat. I also told him to aim for 2 or 3pm, so we'd be finished eating with plenty of time to spare before the party. I also figured the off-time would give us better chances of availability. We'll see if he can get anything at this point, since we aren't giving a lot of notice. He also said something about possibly trying to book a Fantasmic Package for some weekend in the next few months, so we'll see if he does that too.

I can't wait until he calls me and tells me what he was able to get! I'm especially curious to see what restaurant we end up in for the Candlelight Processional. I will definitely report back when I have news!

[tristessaFL]

He just called me back and we were able to get everything we wanted!

9/28 - 2:30pm - Tony's Town Square (prior to MNSSHP)

11/11 - 3:30pm - Mama Melrose (Fantasmic Package)

11/25 - 1:40pm - Biergarten (with the in-laws)

12/2 - 4:15pm - Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki/Teppan Edo (Candlelight Processional Package, 6:45 show)

Nice!

[LISAMWDW]

We did Mama Melrose for the first time a few weeks ago. I was alittle nervous cuz of the mixed reviews. I will say, the service does leave alittle to be desired. Also, the appetizers are not good! The bread was hard as a rock. However, that said, the main entrees and the dessert was awesome!

Enjoy!

[tristessaFL]

Thanks for the review, Lisa! Tadd chose Mama Melrose because he used to work there back in the day. He wants to relive old times, I guess. Hee! I've actually never been, so I'm interested to try it out. I'll watch out for the bread though! Don't want to break a tooth! :rotfl:

[tristessaFL]

Ha! I asked Tadd about the bread at MM, and he immediately agreed that he remembered the bread being really hard. He worked there around 2000-2001, so I guess not much has changed in years! :rotfl:

[LISAMWDW]

Yeah, you may break a tooth! hehe However, the meal was delish! I ordered the steak goat cheese entree and my DH ordered a pasta entree. We sampled each others and decided the steak was the better meal.

[tristessaFL]

Well, according to my ticker we have reached the 10 day mark! I am SO looking forward to a weekend "away", even though we aren't actually going very far. Tadd works nights and weekends, while I have a regular M-F day job, so any extended time we have together is a luxury. He does have Sundays off, but one day a week just isn't enough! Three days together, uninterrupted, sounds like bliss to us.

Next Friday, I have to go into work just for a mandatory staff meeting in the morning. I'm hoping that I can get out of there around 10 or 10:30AM. I really have no clue how I will get through that meeting! They are usually so boring, but knowing I have big plans for that weekend is going to make it doubly difficult! After the meeting, I will rush home and we'll load the car, give the kitties some extra food & water to get them through the weekend, and take off! My hope is that we arrive at ASMu around noon, and I also hope that our room is ready when we get there. We'll bring our small amount of luggage up to the room, take a few minutes to get settled, change into our Jack & Sally t-shirts, grab our glow sticks for later, and then get back in the car to head to MK. We'll upgrade our 3-day vouchers to Seasonal Passes when we get there. The plan is to have that all done and taken care of with plenty of time before our 2:30pm ADR at Tony's. It should be more than enough time (I think!), but I want to allow some wiggle room for mishaps and don't want to feel rushed. After our late lunch/early dinner, we'll get our wristbands for the MNSSHP and have some fun!

We actually still need to get our glow sticks...something to put on the errand list for this weekend.

We have been going back and forth lately with Tadd's mom about what tickets she should buy for when she comes down from Tennessee to visit us for Thanksgiving. Because of where my mother works, she can get 3-day park hoppers for $175.52 (as opposed to $240 at the gate). I've been telling my MIL that having my mom buy these tickets for her is by far the best deal. She keeps talking about getting 3-day hoppers and adding no-expiration so she can save one day for next year and come back for Food & Wine (which my mom won't be able to get at work...she'd have to buy no-exp tickets at the gate). I say she should worry about next year next year and just get the 3-day hoppers through my mom for this year. As it is, my mom's discount is already less than a 2-day hopper at the gate! If she really wants to get her F&W admission for next year now, my mom can also currently get regular one-day base tickets for $56.94. So she would still be better off buying 3-day park hoppers for now, plus an additional single day base ticket for next year (175.52 + 56.94 = 232.46). That way she would still have 4 days total at the parks...3 for this year and 1 for next. That would still be cheaper than getting the 3-day park hoppers with no expiration at the gate ($268.00). Heck, it's even cheaper than the 3-day hopper without the no expiration option! I know all the different options and add-ons and all the different discounts are confusing, but it certainly seems like a simple choice to me!

[tristessaFL]

I emailed MIL a small chart showing the different options and prices, and she wrote back last night and agreed that the 3-day hoppers are the best option. Whew! Nice to have that squared away. Now we can definitely keep that ADR for Biergarten. I was worried if she decided to change plans and do only 2 days at Disney, we might have to flip flop the schedule and cancel our ADR, but we'll be able to go through with everything as planned:

Sat, 11/24 - AK morning/MGM afternoon & evening
Sun, 11/25 - Epcot (with 1:40 ADRs for Biergarten)
Mon, 11/26 - MK

Now, if I could only get her to want to stay on property, we'd be all set! However, I don't think that is going to happen. I know she's already stretching her budget a bit to do the 3 days at Disney, so we might have to be "commuters" for those three days. Oh well, it's only 45 minutes and I've made the trek for day trips hundreds of times before, so it's no big deal.

[LISAMWDW]

Biergarten has a new chef that is getting rave reviews! You'll enjoy!

[tristessaFL]

Lisa - Thanks for the info on Biergarten's new chef! I had no idea. I'll have to look for recent reviews and see for myself what everyone is saying. I haven't been to Biergarten since I was probably 12 years old (so back in the early 90s) and barely remember it.

Well, it all begins one week from today! Just seven days until our Disney weekend (and subsequently our "Year of Disney" thanks to the Seasonal Passes) begins! B emailed me the other day, confirming that he definitely is still meeting up with us on Saturday and he's just as excited as we are about F&W. He said he's thinking about bringing a friend, who we'll call B2. So we'll have a little group! It will be me and three boys, but that's ok. I was the only girl in the group on a weeklong cruise a couple years ago and I survived (although, by the end of the week, I vowed that next cruise there WOULD be other females coming with us... :lmao: ). This is just for one day, so I'll be fine.

This weekend, we will be laying low. Tadd has to work all weekend long to make up for the time off he'll be taking next week, so I will be on my own most of the time. That is fine though, because it means we'll be spending very little money, and that means more money set aside for next weekend. I have a bunch of Blockbuster movies to catch up on, plus a free rental coupon if I run out of stuff to watch. I'll probably get a bottle of wine on my way home from work tonight too. And the other night, my husband brought home a very nice used IBM Thinkpad from a coworker who purchased an iMac spur-of-the-moment and didn't need his old laptop anymore. He sold the Thinkpad (which includes around $100 in very recently added upgrades) to Tadd for $50! So that will now be my computer and I need to spend some time this weekend customizing it and setting it up the way I want it. That should be fun. :)

I have a feeling the next week is going to drag... I can't wait!

[tristessaFL]

Just wanted to check in one last time before we leave for WDW. I still have almost a whole day of work to get through, and then a 2 hour staff meeting tomorrow morning (that I am NOT looking forward to :sad2: )...but then I am FREE! And off to WDW for three days of fun!

Tonight commences the packing. I did a load of laundry last night to make sure everything I wanted to take with me was clean, so I am ready to pack. It's only for 3 days, so it shouldn't take me long at all to get that done, but I am compiling a mental list to make sure I don't forget anything. For instance, we need to clean off the memory card for the camera and I cannot forget my skull & crossbones print headband to wear to MNSSHP. And the purple glowsticks. Can't forget those!

Almost forgot...my brother Ryan and his friend Justin are meeting up on Saturday for F&W! So we have a group of 6 now. The more, the merrier!

24 hours and 56 minutes until our mini-vacation! I just hope the day doesn't start dragging. Although, I'm 99.9% sure that it will.

:yay:

[LISAMWDW]

Have a Magical Trip!!!!!!

[tristessaFL]

Well, of course we are back and have been back for a few days. We had a great weekend and can't wait to get back there for a day trip, possibly this Sunday (we're thinking either MGM, since that's the only park we didn't hit this past weekend, or Epcot, since we have to pick up the Disney Dining Experience card that we ordered at their guest services and we didn't get to sample all the food & wine we wanted to the first time)!

I have not been back here yet to post about the trip because I've been very busy preparing for a big interview that I was called about on Friday while we were at Magic Kingdom. I actually had the interview this morning and am unsure about how it went. I'm an introvert and know that I do not interview well. I get nervous and stumble a bit when answering questions. But I do think I am a great fit for the position and think that, although I wasn't a flawless interviewee, I still gave them many reasons to hire me. I have been a long-term temp in my company for 4 years now (and was in other temp positions in this same company for years before that). This is a shot at finally becoming permanent. Hopefully the panel that interviewed me understands the nerves that tripped me up at first and decides to give me a chance. Hopefully I'll hear back in a few days.

In the meantime, I hope to start my trip report soon! Please check back!