OMG - This PLATINUM SURPRISE Might REALLY Work!

[dax248]

Hi Everyone!

I have tried to do a PTR before, but sadly failed miserably. But, I am going to try again. Maybe this time with it being much closer to the trip I will actually stick with this. This is a surprise trip for my parent’s 44th wedding anniversary. Luckily, they are no DISers. I will say my dad is in on the secret, otherwise there is no way I could pull this off. They love me, but not enough to drive from N. FL with no real good reason.

Background:

We are a Disney family. My parents have taken me to Disney more times that I can count and my very indulgent DH has bought us AP and we have spent so many afternoons just wandering around the parks lately. We are local to WDW (which is amazing!).

For years my mom has wanted to stay at the GF, and eat at V&A. To make this desire worse for her my DH and I did a Platinum Plan trip back in April and have shared all the wonderful details with my parents. So, earlier this year I proposed to my dad that we should do a family trip again this year, but since my DH is no longer a student we can pay for our half of the trip (they took us last year and footed the whole bill – that is where our pictures are from).

To my huge surprise he said yes. I was almost knocked off my feet. SWEET! He also said that as long as I kept it reasonable we could do whatever we wanted. Again, WOW! SWEET! So, I got to crunching the numbers. Apparently, everything I wanted to do came in at a reasonable amount when I priced it with the Platinum Plan. So, I cleared it with him, and booked the trip.

Dates:

September 24-26, 2009

The Cast:

The Momma & The Daddy
(As I am Southern, they shall always be known by these names.)

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_2354.jpg



The Baby & The Baby’s Boy (DH)

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_2408-1.jpg


I plan on posting the game plan in the next post. How many things to you think we can shove into 3 days?

[MrsSpratt]

YAY! Platinum Plan - can't wait to hear more!

[BELLE1109]

You're going to have a blast! I can't wait to read more. DH and I are going with my parents as well:banana:
What ADRs are you planning?

[dax248]

YAY! Platinum Plan - can't wait to hear more!

I am sitting in a hotel in Atlanta working on the next instillation now.

[dax248]

You're going to have a blast! I can't wait to read more. DH and I are going with my parents as well:banana:
What ADRs are you planning?

I love going to Disney with my parents. They took us in April 2008 right after we got married, and it was a great way to really integrate my DH into the family.

I am about to post the ADR along with everything else. So excited, and now that I am thinking about the restaurants, so hungry :rotfl2:.

[dax248]

More Story First

As I said before, we had to come up with a way to get my parents to Orlando without blowing the surprise. So, we bought tickets to MNSSHP and explained to my mom that we were all going to that on Friday night. Well, that bought us a little leeway. She now knows to at least pack a light jacket and walking shoes. We also told her that we wanted to go to a really spiffy restaurant and she needs to pack something really spiffy, aka my daddy is wearing a suit jacket so she needs to match. So far, so good. Now we just have to be a little sneakier on the bathing suit and a couple of other things (we don’t own a pool so there is no since in her bringing on since we have no where at our house to go swimming), so I might be doing some covert work on that.

More Background (Because I Realized I Forgot)

Momma - Retired. Married to Daddy for 44 years. Very excitable about Disney. A BIG planner. Doesn't know about the trip. LOVES BTMRR and Splash Mountain. LOVES MNSSHP.

Daddy - Retired. In on the secret. LOVES MNSSHP. Disney fan, but more because it makes his girls happy. Strong quiet type, but is a big kid at heart. LOVES Test Track.

The Baby's Boy (DH) - Nerd - seriously he is an engineer that puts most to geek shame. Not the biggest Disney fan, but loves me and makes me happy, though he is learning to love the memories we can make there. Loves getting to sleep.

The Baby - Me. The Disney nut in the family. I love planning trips. I love surprises. I love being with my parents and my DH. So more Disney = more memories.



Game Plan
We are going to my parents place for a couple of days before the trip. (Hopefully, this is when I can sneak some things into my bags that she might need, but won’t know to pack.) Then Wednesday before the trip we all are heading back to our place in Kissimmee. The plan is to tell her we are going to Disney Wednesday night so that they won’t unpack their car. We just don’t plan on telling her where we are staying, or what all we are going to do, just that we thought it would be fun to take a family trip over to Disney for the night and stay somewhere and enjoy the Disney Magic.


Thursday

* Check in to the GF CL
* Horse Back Riding
* Grand Floridian Café for Lunch – We have never eaten here, so this is a new adventure.
* Golf Lesson for DH
* Garden View Tea Room for Everyone Else – So excited about this, not sure my Daddy is going to like it, but if he doesn’t he is going to go ride the Sea Raycers, and I know my Momma and I will enjoy.
* Spa for Massages
* Citrico’s for Dinner – Another new place, kinda unsure of it. But it has to be good, so I am trusting that.
* Wishes Firework Cruise – Hopefully this is as fun as when we went in April because it really ROCKED then.



Friday

* CL for Breakfast
* Dolphins in Depth
* Le Cellier for Lunch – Not our favorite place, but DH really wants to try it, so we are.
* Wander around F& W Festival
* V&A’s for Dinner – 44th Anniversary Dinner – Should be amazing!
* MNSSHP – The original reason for getting them down here, hopefully our tummys won’t be to full to have a good time.



Saturday

* Parasailing for All But Momma (she hates heights)
* Sea Raycer Boats
* Chefs De France for Lunch – A family favorite, though it seems to take 3 hours with all 4 of us.
* More F&W Festival
* Test Track (Daddy’s FAVORITE!)
* Jiko for Dinner – Momma’s current favorite, let’s see how that stands after V&A’s.


[COLOR="Navy"]Well, that is out game plan. Just reading it I am getting so excited, and it is hard knowing I still have about 2 weeks until it is going to happen. We are currently in Atlanta for CEDIA (Custom Electronics Dealers and Installers Association). My husband being the nerd that he is, is so happy to be here. Me, I am stuck in a hotel room, but at least I have internet and DIS. :rolleyes1

[dax248]

Back from Atlanta, in Orlando. I have been following VBsHustla (http://twitter.com/VBsHustla) on twitter. It is making me want to drive over to Disney tonight, but I am to pooped. I hope they keep giving great updates on there. Hoping crowds won't be to bad on Tuesday and maybe I can head over that way. I am getting really excited about the trip.

Also, started fretting about our trip in Nov. I have everything booked except the Keys to the Kingdom tour. But, I am worried about dinning choices. Hopefully after we check out a couple of new places in a couple of weeks I will be able to settle on where to keep for Nov.

[javaj]

The platinum plan, how exciting! Thanks for sharing, we don't get to read too much about platinum plan trips!

[dax248]

The platinum plan, how exciting! Thanks for sharing, we don't get to read too much about platinum plan trips!

Thanks! I was really surprised in April when we went that I couldn't find much about the platinum plan on here. But when we got to WDW they all seemed thrown off by it and kept saying that it was really uncommon there, too. I thought that was odd because we were there when they were running a 25% off it promotion.

I will try to do a good job updating everything we do. I just wish I had done a trip report last time because we were there for four days and packed so much stuff in. We did 7 tours in 4 days, which was slightly nuts, but so amazing. We did everything we wanted last time and not worrying about the cost or having to plan it was so great.

Actually that gives me an idea to post a cost benefit analysis here. If anyone wants to see it let me know.

[dax248]

Yippie! Tomorrow I am going to hopefully get to meet up with UncleOrville and VBsHustla at MGM. I am having so much fun following them around The World on twitter.

I am also hoping to hit the Disney Outlet while I am close by, Target, an Office Supply place, and maybe Joann's/ Michael's. I need to get a couple more things to work on surprises.

I still need:
* to get a couple of good pouches for lanyards for my parents.
* some pens, stickers, and maybe confetti
* some random Disney knickknacks - I never know what they are going to like of what I pick up
* blank T-shirts - still up in the air about making shirts for MNSSHP

I think I finally figured out a way to sort of break the surprise. We are coming back to Orlando on Wednesday afternoon, and unfortunately I have to go to work for a couple of hours when we get back. After I get done with work we are going to eat at this new place we found and love. So, I plan to have two mini treat bags for them and over dinner tell them that they don't need to unpack the car tonight and hand them the treat bags.

Inside I plan on having their lanyards, MNSSHP tickets, and their Disney Luggage tag. Then just tell them, "Oh well since you are here we decided to go stay at a hotel just to goof off for a couple of days, and then we also don't have to drive home after MNSSHP." Still not telling where we are staying, but it also makes it a LOT easier to convince my mom to get up early so that we can get checked in and head off to ride horses with the rising sun (as opposed to the setting sun:rotfl:).

I am thinking of making Alice in Wonderland shirts for our MNSSHP. I was thinking White Rabbit for Daddy, Cheshire Cat for Momma, and the Tweedles for DH and I. Any thoughts? I want something a little more obscure, or it needs to have 4 good non-mainish characters.

Examples from our last trip:
MK Day with breakfast at CP : Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger, Piglet
Epcot Day : Kids from around the world pins (scanned from the ones I had)
AK Day : Timon, Pumbaa, Zazu, Rafiki
MGM Day : Chip and Dale from Rescue Rangers (just DH and I that day)

Thanks!

[dax248]

Wow! What an awesome day!

I met up with UncleOrville and VBsHustla today at MGM/ DHS (Still having a really hard time adjusting to the change, and normally just give in and go with MGM). That was a lot of fun.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/TweetingonTo.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/MeetUpatMGM.jpg

Then I went shopping and started getting all the fun stuff for Disney.

* Got trick-or-treating bags
* Got DH golf shirt for his private lesson
* Got Momma Disney stamps
* Got Parents a Mickey Ghost Antenna Topper
* Got me a bun tiara
* Got the most amazing glowing ghost necklaces at Disney, ever and they were $4.95 each!
* Got confetti - it was Tinkerbell because I couldn't find Mickey at the Discount Outlet


ALSO - I GOT THE CONFIRMATION CALL FROM V&A's!!!!!!

So so so excited. I think the shopping and the call finally made me realize how close everything is. YAY!:cool1::cheer2:

[cascarlet]

Your parents are so cute!! They look southern sitting out on the porch there..lol.

What a wonderful surprise you have planned for them. I can't wait to hear how you pull it all off!!

I'm in. popcorn::

[dax248]

Your parents are so cute!! They look southern sitting out on the porch there..lol.

What a wonderful surprise you have planned for them. I can't wait to hear how you pull it all off!!

I'm in. popcorn::

Welcome!

If you think they look Southern, you should HEAR them. :)

[dax248]

Well it looks like I am going to be making shirts for our MNSSHP. Now the choice is between 4 of the 7 dwarfs and the Pooh clan in their finest halloween costumes. I think DH is leaning towards the Pooh selection. I am still torn... I need to find shirts and see what would look best. I will post pictures when they are done.

Also, trying to work on the final shopping list and get the house ready for parents to visit... clean sheets and towels put out.:thumbsup2 I have to be a good host for one night.

[dax248]

I LOVE our Platinum Planner - Stephanie at the GF! She is the most amazing person ever!

We have had to make some changes and she has been the most helpful person ever. Also, she has answered all my questions very quickly.

We weren't sure how to get DH to his private golf lesson, but she told us there is a special thing to ask for at the valet desk to get a cab and Disney pays for the fare to get him to his lesson and back. Yay!!!!

DH is so excited about his lesson. He keeps telling me he needs to find a driving range so that he won't look to "silly" at his lesson, and I have to keep telling him that we don't have time for him to do that. Also, there is a reason it is a private lesson, so he can learn and get better.

I am just glad to know he is excited.:banana::cheer2:

[dax248]

I bought my shirts today! I decided that I couldn't decide, so I got two sets. One dark blue for the dwarfs and one black for the Halloween Party. They are in the washer now. I need to remember to take pictures of things before I pack them away this time.

I also picked up two spiral notebooks with initials on them for note taking during the trip (Momma and I are both scrapbookers), and I got some tiny scrapbook pages to make key ring itineraries that we can keep with us to keep us on track. I am not sure if I need to make two, three, or four.... Do we all need one?

Talked to my daddy today. He is excited. We are still trying to figure some minor things out.... oh the anticipation is getting to me!!!

[scoot241]

Wow, Platinum Plan. To me it's something I've always heard about but never heard anyone actually do it. Your plans sound wonderful!

I would definitely like to see your cost/benefit if you're willing to post it.

[dax248]

Wow, Platinum Plan. To me it's something I've always heard about but never heard anyone actually do it. Your plans sound wonderful!

I would definitely like to see your cost/benefit if you're willing to post it.

Hi Scott!

I am loving your TR. Again, thanks for joining the twitter crew!!!

I will find my spreadsheet this morning and get everything tallied (I think I found an oops in underestimation this morning:rotfl2:), but first I have to get my iron-ons for my shirts printing, and get the rest of the :laundy: started. I really think there should be a way to get Mousekeeping to come to your house to help you get ready to go on your trips.

[dax248]

I have been crazy busy today. Still trying to finish up laundry (I hate leaving the house a mess to have to come home to). I also made the shirts today, made the spiffy itineraries for my momma and I (they are all scrapbook safe - since we are both scrapbookers I thought I would make it easier now by using scrapbook supplies), and packing goody bags.

Shirts for probably Thursday:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0008.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0009.jpg

Sneezy: Me
Dopey: DH
Doc: Momma
Grumpy: Daddy

Shirts for MNSSHP:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0016.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0015-1.jpg


Tigger: DH
Pooh: Daddy
Eeyore: Momma
Piglet: Me

Momma and Daddy's Trick or Treat Bags:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0010.jpg

The bags we are going to give them with some of the surprise info:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0012.jpg


In the card we planning on saying that while MNSSHP is fun, we have something better planned that will make her smile more. In the bottom of the bag we have put their luggage tag from our package filled out for them. We haven't figured out if we are going to do it before we leave N. Florida or wait until we get to Orlando for dinner the night before our trip.

The Itinerary Notebooks:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/dax248/IMG_0013.jpg

I plan on only giving her one day's worth of information at a time. That way every day has a surprise to it.

[dax248]

Here is my cost/ benefit analysis. If you see a mistake feel free to point it out.

Here is what we paid for out right:

GF CL : 520/ night for 2 nights = 2080
Tickets : 79/ person = 316
Platinum Package : 220/ night/ person = 1760
MNSSHP Tickets : 50/ person = 200

Total = 4165 +Travel Insurance

Final Total = 4356


Fun Stuff Included In Package:

Thursday

Horse Riding : 42x4 = 168
GF Cafe : 30x4 = 120
Boats : 30x4 = 120
Golf Lesson : 120
Spa : 120x4 = 480
Citricos : 70x4 = 280
Fireworks Cruise : 320x2 = 640(Yes this counts twice because it is 1 cruise per room and we have 2 rooms)

Total for Thursday: 1928

Friday


Dolphins : 175x4 = 700
Le Cellier : 51x4 = 204
V&A : 125x4 = 500

Total for Friday: 1404


Saturday

Parasailing : 120x3 = 360
Chefs : 37x4 = 148
Jiko : 61x4 = 244

Random Things

Mugs : 10x4 = 40 (I honestly have no clue how much these are)
Snacks : 4x16 = 64 (16 total snacks at $4 each, rough guess)

Total = 4308

Add that with the things we were going to have to pay anyways:

Hotel : 2080
Tickets : 316
Halloween : 200

Total = 2596

2596 (Have to Pay)+4308 (Fun Stuff) = 6904 (Total Value)


6904(Total Value) - 4356 (What Actually Paid) = 2548


SO FINAL VALUE TO ME GAINED = 2548

[scoot241]

Here is my cost/ benefit analysis. If you see a mistake feel free to point it out.

Here is what we paid for out right:

GF CL : 520/ night for 2 nights = 2080
Tickets : 79/ person = 316
Platinum Package : 220/ night/ person = 1760
MNSSHP Tickets : 50/ person = 200

Total = 4165 +Travel Insurance

Final Total = 4356


Fun Stuff Included In Package:

Thursday

Horse Riding : 42x4 = 168
GF Cafe : 30x4 = 120
Boats : 30x4 = 120
Golf Lesson : 120
Spa : 120x4 = 480
Citricos : 70x4 = 280
Fireworks Cruise : 320x2 = 640(Yes this counts twice because it is 1 cruise per room and we have 2 rooms)

Total for Thursday: 1928

Friday


Dolphins : 175x4 = 700
Le Cellier : 51x4 = 204
V&A : 125x4 = 500

Total for Friday: 1404


Saturday

Parasailing : 120x3 = 360
Chefs : 37x4 = 148
Jiko : 61x4 = 244

Random Things

Mugs : 10x4 = 40 (I honestly have no clue how much these are)
Snacks : 4x16 = 64 (16 total snacks at $4 each, rough guess)

Total = 4308

Add that with the things we were going to have to pay anyways:

Hotel : 2080
Tickets : 316
Halloween : 200

Total = 2596

2596 (Have to Pay)+4308 (Fun Stuff) = 6904 (Total Value)


6904(Total Value) - 4356 (What Actually Paid) = 2548


SO FINAL VALUE TO ME GAINED = 2548

Very nice. Something to consider if you're planning to do all that.

The mugs are $13 ($12.95?) if I'm remembering correctly. We each got one and used them like crazy at the resort, so they were definitely worth the money instead of buying a drink all the time. It's too bad you can't use them at the parks, but no one would buy a drink at the park.

[dax248]

Very nice. Something to consider if you're planning to do all that.

The mugs are $13 ($12.95?) if I'm remembering correctly. We each got one and used them like crazy at the resort, so they were definitely worth the money instead of buying a drink all the time. It's too bad you can't use them at the parks, but no one would buy a drink at the park.

Thanks for the information! Now I can add another $12 to my savings statement:cool1:

Brings the total to : $2560 WooHoo!!!:rotfl:

[scoot241]

Thanks for the information! Now I can add another $12 to my savings statement:cool1:

Brings the total to : $2560 WooHoo!!!:rotfl:

Shouldn't that take away $12? You had $10 a person for mugs on your statement.

[dax248]

Shouldn't that take away $12? You had $10 a person for mugs on your statement.

I wouldn't think so, since we wouldn't be buying them if they weren't included and just use the free stuff in CL.

So, if I had thought they were $10, and they $13, then that is another $3 per person (4) value that I hadn't accounted for. So, that adds up to another $12 in my perceived value. Does that make sense?

[scoot241]

I wouldn't think so, since we wouldn't be buying them if they weren't included and just use the free stuff in CL.

So, if I had thought they were $10, and they $13, then that is another $3 per person (4) value that I hadn't accounted for. So, that adds up to another $12 in my perceived value. Does that make sense?

Nevermind, I didn't think they were included. My mistake.

[honeymo78]

Dax,
I love seeing another platinum report. We've done it twice (premium several times too) and had Stephanie as our planner both times. She really is wonderful. I can't believe this package was on sale. I'm so sad I missed it. Actually I'm more sad that now that we are DVC we can't add Platinum to our stay, just the dining plans. I can dream though. But we determined that in the long run we'd save more money paying for all the platinum stuff separately if our dvc paid for our lodging. So, I'll have to live vicariously through your family. Hope you have a great time:)

[dax248]

Dax,
I love seeing another platinum report. We've done it twice (premium several times too) and had Stephanie as our planner both times. She really is wonderful. I can't believe this package was on sale. I'm so sad I missed it. Actually I'm more sad that now that we are DVC we can't add Platinum to our stay, just the dining plans. I can dream though. But we determined that in the long run we'd save more money paying for all the platinum stuff separately if our dvc paid for our lodging. So, I'll have to live vicariously through your family. Hope you have a great time:)

Hi Honeymo!

I love the platinum plan. When we did it in April we had Jeffery with the Poly and WL. He was awesome, too. But half way through our planning he had a rebound of cancer, and wasn't always there so we got bounced around a bit and minor quirky problems, but that wasn't his fault.

The package in April was on sale, unfortunately, this one wasn't so we paid full price. I was really hoping they would run that promo again, but honestly it is to good of a deal to pass up for our family.

I have always wanted to do DVC, but I don't think with us living 40 min from WDW I could talk DH into buying into it. Maybe one day when we are really rich :rotfl:

I hope I do this trip justice. I am trying to figure out if I am going to take the laptop and do mini updates while we are there, or just keep a journal I bought to take and write in that. Last time when we finally got to the room I passed out, but I am thinking that at least Thursday night we will get back in time that I could post. Friday night I doubt it... not getting back from MNSSHP until after midnight and then have to be up and at Cont. the next morning early.... Hmmmm.... What to do?

[dax248]

Well, we made it to my parents place. Ugh! This is going to be so hard. We talked to my daddy last night and we all agreed that we have all had moments where we thought we had let the cat out of the bag. But, luckily the fact that we have already told her we are going to MNSSHP has saved our tushes!

I was showing my daddy the PTR, and she woke up this morning and wandered into where we were looking at the laptop. She saw the trip report,but luckily she is very groggy and out of it in the morning. We quickly opened scoot241 (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2283004) Tweet Report and started looking at the pictures. Have I mentioned the boys in my family are BIG photography people? It was a great cover. BTW - if you haven't looked at Scott's pictures then you are missing something.

Does anyone have any duct tape for my mouth? PLEASE don't let me get over excited and let this slip out!!!!

Will keep you up to date on how this is going for the next 5 days.

[scoot241]

Well, we made it to my parents place. Ugh! This is going to be so hard. We talked to my daddy last night and we all agreed that we have all had moments where we thought we had let the cat out of the bag. But, luckily the fact that we have already told her we are going to MNSSHP has saved our tushes!

I was showing my daddy the PTR, and she woke up this morning and wandered into where we were looking at the laptop. She saw the trip report,but luckily she is very groggy and out of it in the morning. We quickly opened scoot241 (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2283004) Tweet Report and started looking at the pictures. Have I mentioned the boys in my family are BIG photography people? It was a great cover. BTW - if you haven't looked at Scott's pictures then you are missing something.

Does anyone have any duct tape for my mouth? PLEASE don't let me get over excited and let this slip out!!!!

Will keep you up to date on how this is going for the next 5 days.

I'm pretty sure you can find some duct tape at Home Depot. ;)

Thanks for the TR plug!

[dax248]

Today I realized that next Sunday we would be back home and our adventures would be over. It made me really sad to think that. I know that by the time next Sunday get here I will be happy to be home and in my bed. I am one of those weird people that likes to travel, but I really love sleeping in my bed.

I know we are going to have such a great time and have made so many memories in three days to last a lifetime. I am not worried about that part. None of our Disney trips have ever really been that long, and I think that is partly because of being so close and when we decided to go we can.

Oh well, momma is up and I need to close DIS.

[UncleOrville]

:wave2: Hello! We're back from WDW (:sad1:), and I wanted to say I'm loving your pre-TR and looking forward to reading about the trip! It was great meeting up with you at MGM - we'll have to plan something for next year! We booked a bounceback starting September 4th at the GF. :woohoo:

[scoot241]

:wave2: Hello! We're back from WDW (:sad1:), and I wanted to say I'm loving your pre-TR and looking forward to reading about the trip! It was great meeting up with you at MGM - we'll have to plan something for next year! We booked a bounceback starting September 4th at the GF. :woohoo:

Alright Jen, we need a TR for this last trip and PTR for next year pronto. ;)

[UncleOrville]

Alright Jen, we need a TR for this last trip and PTR for next year pronto. ;)

Haha, I know! I started sorting through my photos yesterday, so I hope to get the beginnings of a TR up in the next few days. :goodvibes

[scoot241]

Haha, I know! I started sorting through my photos yesterday, so I hope to get the beginnings of a TR up in the next few days. :goodvibes

Everyone else is planning to steal my Twitter Recap TR format, so I guess you can too. :)

[dax248]

:wave2: Hello! We're back from WDW (:sad1:), and I wanted to say I'm loving your pre-TR and looking forward to reading about the trip! It was great meeting up with you at MGM - we'll have to plan something for next year! We booked a bounceback starting September 4th at the GF. :woohoo:


HI!!!!:grouphug: Welcome along!!!

I can't wait to see you next year. It was so much fun meeting up! I love the ToT picture!!!

[dax248]

Sheesh! This planning thing is getting out of control. Momma keeps trying to come up with all these things that we can do down in Orlando. We are all getting tired of going, "Well, maybe we could do that. Let's play it by ear." None of us are good at this hiding thing.

She also keeps asking are we really still going to get dressed up to go to dinner one night. "Yes!!!" Then Daddy keeps telling her he isn't going to dress up, or he is going to go barefoot. Now, she is thinking she can just wear some black sandals to V&A (except she doesn't know where she is going, and if she did she wouldn't be putting up a fight)... I have to check them.... Oh, this is getting difficult. Daddy also isn't making this easy because I want to strangle him when he does that. At least Jiko and Citricos we can wear khakis or jeans... makes that side of packing easier. Minor freaking here:scared1::scared1::scared1:!

[dax248]

Well, we did it, sort of. We told momma some of the surprise. We had to, because oh my goodness... she was making life so difficult. She kept saying that she really wasn't going to pack long pants, a jacket, or anything else that we need her to take. I was ready to scream because every time I said that she needed to pack something she would say, "Nah, I really don't need that."

So, we gave them the little gift bags with the luggage tags and MNSSHP tickets in lanyards. We then explained that we were staying on property and that we got "one of the dining plans, so we have a couple of sit down meals." That seemed to help some. I am still worried about her choice of shoes for V&A, but at least the outfits are picked out.

We decided that this was the best way to handle this. We also decided that we would give her the pages to the itinerary each day at the start of the day.

Daddy is all excited. He can't wait to ride the horses. He loves riding, but has a bad back and can't take care of one at home, so when he gets a chance to do it somewhere else he loves it.

[dax248]

It's here! It's here. It is 5:30 AM and almost everyone in my family is up and dressed! WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY!!!!!!!

We are taking a laptop, so hopefully I will be able to post while we are there. Also, I am going to be twittering, so keep up with us on that.
:cool1::cool1::cool1::cool1::cool1::cool1:

[dax248]

Hi Everyone!

Well, it has officially been a week since we started our GRAND adventures. They are over and done with, and I am slightly sad, but also excited that everything went off without any major problems... save the shirt incident for V&A's, but I will tell that tale when I get there. I am uploading pictures today.

Though, I am curious... how does one turn a pre-trip report into a completed trip report?

THANKS!!!

[minniecarousel]

Can't wait to read all about it.

Just notify a Mod to move this thread over to the Completed Trip Reports Board. (there's a sticky about this at the top of this board page.)

[dax248]

Can't wait to read all about it.

Just notify a Mod to move this thread over to the Completed Trip Reports Board. (there's a sticky about this at the top of this board page.)

Welcome to the fun!

I will go look into that right now.

I am slightly freaking out :scared1: because I can't find some of our food pictures... EEK!I can't find our GF Cafe meal, and the parasailing pictures aren't working well either. I also realized that I am going to have to get my momma to email me some of the ones that they took on their cameras when my started flaking out.

[Symans3honeybees]

I have never been so anxious to read a TR before. You're putting me on needles and pins.....:surfweb:

[dax248]

OK. Starting the actual TR. I am kinda scared of this, but I know if I don't work on it tonight then I probably won't get a chance to again until late Sunday night... I had an interesting event pop up for this weekend. One of my best friends is allowing me to kidnap her this weekend and we are going to go over to Universal to try to ride Rip, Ride, & Rock-It.

So, like I said before we told Momma some of the surprise, but apparently she really didn't put it all together. She was a little confused as to why in the world we were making her get up at 5:00 AM. Well, DH wanted to check in around 7 AM hoping that our room would be ready the way it was in April. Well, we make it out of the house by 6:30 (GO US!!!! :cheer2: - We are notorious for being as slow as a herd of turtles).

We Are Here!

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We arrive under the sign at about the same time that most of the CM do... look at all those red lights!

Well, we keep telling Momma to keep driving. We pass all the turn offs for all the other hotels. She is starting to get slightly confused, but keeps driving. We go through the main toll booth to MK. She is looking at us with a weird face when we tell her to get in the lane to go to the hotels. About that point she ask if we are going to the Ft. Wilderness cabins (which she HATES- we stayed there before and it was our ABSOLUTE WORST Disney trip EVER!!!!), we tell her no. She gets to the stop light past the toll booth and we tell her to take a left. She still hasn't figured it out. We pass the Poly. Still hasn't figured it out. We pull up to the sign of the GF. Then we get a scream when DH tells her to pull up to the security gate for check in. She just kept saying, "Are we really staying here? I want to stay here. We AREN'T staying here. Oh, we are staying here." It was really cute.

Well, we get there about 15 minutes before the CL CM are out at check in, so we check in at the main desk. There was no waiting. SWEET! But we find out that our room isn't ready. Darn! The reason is that they were giving us connecting rooms. Had we know that at the time we would have requested non-adjoining rooms to have ones that were done earlier.

So, we have about 2 hours before we need to head to Ft. Wilderness for horseback riding. We head over to Gasprillas and get our coffee mugs and then to the CL to get breakfast. Then we wandered around the hotel some.

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Pretty inside the GF! I love the way everything looks from up high. I wish we had been upgraded to RPC, but alas we weren't. Though we spent a lot of time up on the second floor.

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I swear he looks like he is up to trouble. I think Momma is still in shock that we are actually staying at the GF. Also, she had just gotten her schedule for the day, so I think she is still in a little bit of a shock.




We were still hoping that our room would be ready by the time we went horseback riding. Still no luck. So, off to horsey world!

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We got to the barn and checked in. All of the horses were waiting on us. Yay! Unfortunately, the horse my daddy wanted was off for the day. Oh, how Daddy pinned for "Romeo".

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Aren't they cute? I love these hats. They picked them up cheap in one of the Caribbean islands... wish they had brought me back a pirate... oh wait, I am married now :littleangel:

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We had to wait a while because the other people that were on our tour were running late. They had been told that there were no buses running to Ft. Wilderness at 9AM, so they had to have a special van to pick them up.

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Sorry the picture is so blurry, but I was on a moving horsey. I also had the most difficult horse on the ride. The guide said mine was INFAMOUS for deciding to just pick a different road to wander down, or just dart off into the woods. Gee, thanks! Actually Louis wasn't to bad of a ride, until he tried to dart off to make friends with a deer. There was much excitement on my side and lots of reign yanking and "Whoa"ing.

I almost made it to lunch. Next post though will be lunch at the GF Cafe and dinner at Citricos... with a brief interlude into the private golf lesson for DH, afternoon tea for parents and I, and the Spa for all (no pictures though because DH had the cameras, and well pictures in the spa would just be wrong).

[scoot241]

Looks like an awesome start! What a surprise for your mom to be staying at GF.

[VBsHustla]

Lovely GF photos! Can't wait to read more. BTW, I found your mom's reaction to the thought of a potential Wilderness cabin stay to be hilarious. :laughing:

[UncleOrville]

Love the report so far! I also LOLed at your mom's reaction to a potential stay at the cabins! :lmao: Very cool that she was so excited at the GF - it's always great to see your planning work pay off! :goodvibes

[dax248]

Onward and Upward

Well, I finally got my momma to upload her pictures for me. Things have been crazy up in their neck of the woods, and well that means that things get a wee bit delayed. Sorry about that folks.

Since I got more pictures, I did want to post a couple of her's from the horseback ride.

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The boys waiting. Don't they look like trouble?

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I am excited, too!

OK. Lunch time.

We headed back to the GF. Leaving the car at the valet (if I haven't mentioned it yet, I think this is one of my favorite things on vacation), we head to the GF Cafe. I wasn't expecting much, but I was really wrong. Oh my, it was very good.

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Daddy got the strawberry salad. He liked it ok, but put strawberries on anything and my Daddy likes it.

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Because of my bell pepper allergy (if I haven't mentioned it before, Daddy and I are deathly allergic to bell peppers), the chef made me and DH a special version of the shrimp and corn cake appetizer. It was amazing. DH said he wasn't going to eat the corn cakes, but then when I told him how great they were, he ate most of his.

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Momma got the tomato bisque. She loves soup of any kind, and especially tomato. She really liked this a lot, saying it was very good.

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Daddy got a NY strip steak for lunch. He said it was pretty good. (Daddy isn't much of a talker, if you hadn't noticed :) ) He did think it was weird that people cared about what he ate and what he thought about it, but he was a good sport and played along as long as we didn't keep him from eating relatively quickly after the food came out.

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I got the Rustic Chicken Sandwich (weird that this is the only item so far that is on the DIS menu for GF Cafe). It was really yummy. I only ate the chicken on the sandwich because there was so much food. I normally don't like chicken, but on this high protein diet I have to eat more of it. So, I was really happy that this was so yummy. The homemade potato chips were good too, but a little cold.

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Momma and DH got the Surf and Turf sandwich (again, not on the DIS menu). It had lobster tail under that really yummy cream sauce, and steak ground to make the burger. It also had asparagus on it. Both of them really loved this. They had to use a knife and fork to eat it because it was so big.

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Daddy and DH got the Key Lime pie. They liked it. If it is fruit those boys are happy.

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Momma and I pooled our dessert credits to get this. It is the sampler tray that they bring around to show you all the desserts. We couldn't choose what we wanted and the waiter said we could pool the credits and share this, but all the desserts were smaller than the normal size portions. That was fine with us. This way we got to try everything! :cool1: The tiramisu was really yum. The hazelnut mousse was by far the best, followed by the NY cheese cake with the raspberries (oh so good). Lastly was the key lime pie. I didn't like it, but Momma said it was ok.

Afterward we waddle out, completely stuffed. It is about time for DH to head to his private golf lesson. Momma, Daddy, and I have a little while to wait until tea... OH MY GOODNESS... More food already?

So, we call for the car so we can get DH changed into his golf clothes and called him a taxi. Turns out if you are going golfing at WDW, Disney will pay for your cab to the course and back with tip included. We get DH sent off and we go to wait on the rooms. About 15 minutes later we get the text and head to the room. WOW!!!!

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Let's just say we were in awe. We have stayed in a lot of the WDW resorts, and all of the other deluxe resorts. It was nice to finally see what the GF was all about. We were really happy with our rooms. They over looked the marina, and that was fun.

[scoot241]

That strawberry salad looks delicious! So does the steak... and all the dessert. :)

The rooms look great too! Looks like the trip is going quite well.

[dax248]

That strawberry salad looks delicious! So does the steak... and all the dessert. :)

The rooms look great too! Looks like the trip is going quite well.


The salad was really clean and crisp. That was the part that Daddy liked the most. He doesn't like soggy salads.

Other than the room not being ready until about 2:15 things were going well. We do start hitting some snags very soon... a potential major one with the golf lesson/ spa. But, I will say that all most all the snags are more me freaking out :scared1: rather than real problems.

[Scott MC]

Oh that room! So beautiful....

"Memories....like the corners of my mind.....":stitch:

[UncleOrville]

Gotta love the rooms at the GF! :thumbsup2 Did you try out the H20 Spa products? I became addicted last year, and forced my parents to bring home all of their products from this year's trip for me. :laughing:

Lunch looked great too!