Time for another pre-trippie!!!! **YIPPEE**

[princess-rn]

IN THE BEGINNING....


Alright guys and gals...it's time for another pretrippie!!! I'm SOooo excited! After much deliberating (and the AWESOME deal we got ) we've decided to go in May/June '09 instead of December '09. Plus we heard a rumor that this should be the first week of Star Wars Weekends for '09...and DH and DS are HUGE Star wars fans...so hopefully our planning will pay off there too. We went to SWW in 2005 and LOVED it.

This is a short post today but I promise to post a true "beginning" to my pretrippie soon. Feel free to browse through my 2007 Christmas trip report. It's more of a pretrip report. I only finished day 1 of our trip. Once we got home last year everything went crazy so I never found the time to finish it...but you can check it out and get a feel for my family.

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Click on links below for updates...happy reading!!
Day#1
ADR time
Surprise...Surprise....
YIKES I NEED MORE TIME!!
Tomorrow is ADR day!!!
ADRS Made??? CHECK!!
UNDER THE 60 DAY MARK!!!!!!
THE UNVEILING OF THE SUPRISE PLAN.....
37 DAYS!!!!!
The Cat's out of the bag
A BUSY 12 DAYS!!!
A ROUGH DRAFT OF OUR ITINERARY

 

[addictedtothemouse]

My girls and I are going in that time frame also. May 23rd to June 2nd.

 

[princess-rn]

Day #1
I hope everyone has had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We certainly have at our house. Lots of family, good food, presents and friends. WE are truly blessed.

On to my pre-tripee....I had a tiny amount of free time today and decided to relax and work on planning our upcoming Disney trip. (Yes, that is relaxing to me as it is to most of you I bet!!!! )

I won't bore you with the basics of my family again, as you can read the first post of my Christmas 2007 pretripee and get an idea of who we are (just take on a year older). I will tell you this...my DH and DS are HUGE Star Wars fans. Hence why we are going during this time frame in 2009. We are hoping to catch the first weekend of SWW 2009. That will be another suprise for DS. We are not telling DS our plans of even going to WDW until we are in the car that morning. (IF I can hold out!!!) He's is going to be SOooo excited!!

Onto the planning.....We are driving down on May 30 (Saturday) Plan on leaving around 6am our time..which will put us getting there around 6pm WDW time (with all the stops we make when traveling) We are planning to stay that first night at a DTD resort. I've tried to book the Hilton (which is where we stayed our first night in 2007) but it's already booked??? So...I'm thinking the Hotel Royal Plaza. I've not heard much about it..but all we are looking for is a clean hotel to rest our head in that is within walking distance to DTD. If you guys know of any of the other hotels that would be a closer walk please share!
Our dinner that night will be at one of the quick service resturants in DTD. I need some suggestions here. I think the only quick serve place we've eaten at is Earl of Sandwich and we DID NOT enjoy it at all.
We will do some shopping and sight seeing at DTD and then head back to our hotel for a good nights rest before our official vacation begins.
I have a question for those of you who may make the drive down Alabama 231 to Talahassee I-10 to Gainesville and then I-75 to Orlando ...what are the most consistent gas stations? (We like to buy gift cards from my sons school to cover gas) Shell? Exxon? BP? Cheveron or somthing else?

Thanks guys!!!

 

[princess-rn]

ADR TIME!!!!

So, I hear that WDW is revamping it's ADR process. So, I haven't been able to book anything yet for our trip. I like to get everything booked at the 180 day mark....Anyway, hopefully that will be up and running at the beginning of the year. Here are our CS and TS plans at this time. (It amazes my husband that I can do this so far ahead of time )

Arrival day- Something quick for dinner at DTD..suggestions???

Official Day #1- MK day- Lunch at Casey's Hotdogs (a fav of DH and DS) Dinner at CM in CR (our first night tradition)

Day #2- MGM day- Lunch at Pizza Planet (DS fav) Dinner at Ohana's at the Poly. (a new family tradition)

Day #3- AK/DTD day- Lunch at Tusker House in AK (this is new for us...any reviews??) Dinner at Wolf Gand Puck Cafe in DTD

Day #4- Epcot day- Lunch at Sunshine Season Food Fair (again..new for us...any reviews??) Dinner at Le Celliers (another new family tradition)

Day #5- MK day- Lunch- Pinocchio Village Haus Dinner- Tony's (new for us..reviews??)

Day #6- MGM day and HOPEFULLY the beginning of SWW- Lunch at Backlot Express, Dinner at Brown Derby

Day #7- MGM- Lunch at Catalina Eddies (a first for us....reviews??) Dinner at Sci Fi (DH and DS LOVE this one)

Day #8- MGM- lunch Pizza Planet (again) Dinner Backlot (again) 2 Counter services today b/c we had to use 2 ts for the brown derby.

I forgot to mention..we ARE on the dining plan. Just the basic one. Also, we will be eating breakfast each day in our room. We are not big breakfast people.

As always, these resturants are subject to change. I would like reviews that any of you might have...also any suggestions are always good!!!!

You guys are the BEST!!!!

 

[princess-rn]

Ok...am I writing this for myself?? LOL...Is ANYONE out there?

 

[princess-rn]

Surprise...Surprise....

Ok..so I've told you guys that this is going to be a surprise trip for DS..Well..I have finally figured out how we are going to pull it off....

So, I'm asking off work the day before we leave. DH will take DS to summer day camp as usual. Meanwhile I will pack and do the little "going out of town" things that need to be done including loading the car. That way when DS comes home it will be like nothing is going on. (He will get curious if he see's us packing...) Since I am the one that drives (I have this thing..I MUST drive...) I will go to bed VERY EARLY (like 5 or 6pm) (let's face it..I will have to take Benedryl b/c I will be so excited!!) DS and DH will stay up....watch tv..play games...whatever..like a normal "staying up late" Friday night...I am going to get up around 11:30 and declare..."Let's take a drive..." Then we will get in the car and head to disney.....Still not telling him where we are going.....Think it will work????

 

[Villainess]

I love surprise trips to Disney! Jumping on board!

 

[princess-rn]

So glad to have you on board! I was beginning to think I was talking to myself!

 

[Disneyfan71]

Count me in

 

[DARuss]

Day #1
I hope everyone has had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We certainly have at our house. Lots of family, good food, presents and friends. WE are truly blessed.

Glad your Christmas was merry, ours was very merry and blessed too, thank you.

On to my pre-tripee....I had a tiny amount of free time today and decided to relax and work on planning our upcoming Disney trip. (Yes, that is relaxing to me as it is to most of you I bet!!!! )

Yup, it is.

I won't bore you with the basics of my family again, as you can read the first post of my Christmas 2007 pretripee and get an idea of who we are (just take on a year older). I will tell you this...my DH and DS are HUGE Star Wars fans. Hence why we are going during this time frame in 2009. We are hoping to catch the first weekend of SWW 2009. That will be another suprise for DS. We are not telling DS our plans of even going to WDW until we are in the car that morning. (IF I can hold out!!!) He's is going to be SOooo excited!!

Bet you can't.

Onto the planning.....We are driving down on May 30 (Saturday) Plan on leaving around 6am our time..which will put us getting there around 6pm WDW time (with all the stops we make when traveling) We are planning to stay that first night at a DTD resort. I've tried to book the Hilton (which is where we stayed our first night in 2007) but it's already booked??? So...I'm thinking the Hotel Royal Plaza. I've not heard much about it..but all we are looking for is a clean hotel to rest our head in that is within walking distance to DTD. If you guys know of any of the other hotels that would be a closer walk please share!
Our dinner that night will be at one of the quick service resturants in DTD. I need some suggestions here. I think the only quick serve place we've eaten at is Earl of Sandwich and we DID NOT enjoy it at all.
We will do some shopping and sight seeing at DTD and then head back to our hotel for a good nights rest before our official vacation begins.
I have a question for those of you who may make the drive down Alabama 231 to Talahassee I-10 to Gainesville and then I-75 to Orlando ...what are the most consistent gas stations? (We like to buy gift cards from my sons school to cover gas) Shell? Exxon? BP? Cheveron or somthing else?

Thanks guys!!!

We'll be driving down that direction in a few days, if I remember, I can try to get a list of stations right off the interstate for you. I'll be on I-10 from Louisiana to I-75 down to close to Orlando.

ADR TIME!!!!

So, I hear that WDW is revamping it's ADR process. So, I haven't been able to book anything yet for our trip. I like to get everything booked at the 180 day mark....Anyway, hopefully that will be up and running at the beginning of the year. Here are our CS and TS plans at this time. (It amazes my husband that I can do this so far ahead of time )

Arrival day- Something quick for dinner at DTD..suggestions???

We did Capt Jacks last year on our arival day. It is a TS tho. We had about a 20 min wait with now ADRs.

[
Official Day #1- MK day- Lunch at Casey's Hotdogs (a fav of DH and DS) Dinner at CM in CR (our first night tradition)

Day #2- MGM day- Lunch at Pizza Planet (DS fav) Dinner at Ohana's at the Poly. (a new family tradition)

Day #3- AK/DTD day- Lunch at Tusker House in AK (this is new for us...any reviews??) Dinner at Wolf Gand Puck Cafe in DTD

Day #4- Epcot day- Lunch at Sunshine Season Food Fair (again..new for us...any reviews??) Dinner at Le Celliers (another new family tradition)

Day #5- MK day- Lunch- Pinocchio Village Haus Dinner- Tony's (new for us..reviews??)

Day #6- MGM day and HOPEFULLY the beginning of SWW- Lunch at Backlot Express, Dinner at Brown Derby

Day #7- MGM- Lunch at Catalina Eddies (a first for us....reviews??) Dinner at Sci Fi (DH and DS LOVE this one)

Day #8- MGM- lunch Pizza Planet (again) Dinner Backlot (again) 2 Counter services today b/c we had to use 2 ts for the brown derby.

I forgot to mention..we ARE on the dining plan. Just the basic one. Also, we will be eating breakfast each day in our room. We are not big breakfast people.

As always, these resturants are subject to change. I would like reviews that any of you might have...also any suggestions are always good!!!!

You guys are the BEST!!!!

Sounds GUD to me.

Ok...am I writing this for myself?? LOL...Is ANYONE out there?

I'm here

Surprise...Surprise....

Ok..so I've told you guys that this is going to be a surprise trip for DS..Well..I have finally figured out how we are going to pull it off....

So, I'm asking off work the day before we leave. DH will take DS to summer day camp as usual. Meanwhile I will pack and do the little "going out of town" things that need to be done including loading the car. That way when DS comes home it will be like nothing is going on. (He will get curious if he see's us packing...) Since I am the one that drives (I have this thing..I MUST drive...) I will go to bed VERY EARLY (like 5 or 6pm) (let's face it..I will have to take Benedryl b/c I will be so excited!!) DS and DH will stay up....watch tv..play games...whatever..like a normal "staying up late" Friday night...I am going to get up around 11:30 and declare..."Let's take a drive..." Then we will get in the car and head to disney.....Still not telling him where we are going.....Think it will work????

Good luck, I hope you can pull it off.

 

[princess-rn]

Welcome all! I'm so glad you have decided to join in my fun. Daruss...Thanks for all the comments. If you remember to notice the gas stations that would be GREAT. I've done a little researching and found alot of BP's and Cheverons along the way. Let me know if you see anything differently. Where in Louisiana are you from? My DH is from New Orleans.

More info to come on my trip......

 

[DARuss]

Welcome all! I'm so glad you have decided to join in my fun. Daruss...Thanks for all the comments. If you remember to notice the gas stations that would be GREAT. I've done a little researching and found alot of BP's and Cheverons along the way. Let me know if you see anything differently. Where in Louisiana are you from? My DH is from New Orleans.

More info to come on my trip......

We live about 50 miles north of New Orleans (accross the causeway) in a small community about 15 miles north of Covington.

Finding alot of the gas stations might be a fun game with our DD9 and the GPS. I can make her a spreadsheet to fill out as we pass different exits to take a survey of which stations are where. If I can remember to do this. You know how it can get when you are on yourway. I have been looking for more things for us to do during the 10+ hour drive.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

I'm back. I got sidetracked by the holidays and life. My DM and I ate at Tusker House and loved it. They had a good variety, some African flavors and some "regular" food for those that aren't very adventurous.
I see that you have Wolfgang Puck Cafe on your DTD day. Have you thought of Wolfgang Puck Express for your first night?

 

[princess-rn]

Welcome back addictedtothemouse!!! I know what you mean about getting distracted around the holidays...that's why I never finished my Christmas '07 trip report!! Glad to hear you guys liked the Tusker House. It's a new one for us so I'm excited and leary about trying it. (DH and DS are NOT adventurous!..Me on the other hand...I will try anything once...

I think our plans for the first night have changed from before. If we leave our house by midnight that will put us at our first Hotel in DTD around lunch time. If I drive through the night I'm going to be EXHAUSED by the time we get there. So, I found out (via disboards of course) about this Chicago pizza place (Giordano's) that will deliver our favorite Chicago style pizza to the hotel!!! **YIPPEE** That way we could rest a while in the room, eat and maybe me catch a nap...THEN go over the DTD for a little shopping and desert. YUM!
Plans may change again though.....

 

[princess-rn]

YIKES!!!!
Geesh...I tell you what...a full time job and full time wife and Mommy makes it hard to update my pre-trippee! I've got to get going.

I DO get to make ADRs on March 2 (MONDAY!!! *YIPPEE*) and we are set with that. I thought we were going to make some changes since they officially released the Star Wars Weekends dates. We will now be there for 2 weekends!! Well...1 1/2 really. Sunday, our first day, we will venture over to Hollywood Studios to enjoy a day of Star Wars and Disney fun. (We usually make MK our first day...but DS and DH being such huge star wars fans we MUST make it to every SW event possible! LOL) Even once we get to WDW we are still not going to tell DS that it is SWW. So...it's another suprise for him! He's going to be SO excited! I can't wait!!

Also, I think they have release May and June's EMH...so I need to get on that and check it out!

I'll check back in soon!! (hopefully!) thanks for reading!!!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Welcome back addictedtothemouse!!! I know what you mean about getting distracted around the holidays...that's why I never finished my Christmas '07 trip report!! Glad to hear you guys liked the Tusker House. It's a new one for us so I'm excited and leary about trying it. (DH and DS are NOT adventurous!..Me on the other hand...I will try anything once...

I think our plans for the first night have changed from before. If we leave our house by midnight that will put us at our first Hotel in DTD around lunch time. If I drive through the night I'm going to be EXHAUSED by the time we get there. So, I found out (via disboards of course) about this Chicago pizza place (Giordano's) that will deliver our favorite Chicago style pizza to the hotel!!! **YIPPEE** That way we could rest a while in the room, eat and maybe me catch a nap...THEN go over the DTD for a little shopping and desert. YUM!
Plans may change again though.....

I vote for dessert at Ghiradelli's.

 

[princess-rn]

I vote for dessert at Ghiradelli's.

Ahhhh...yes! I think you have a VERY good idea there!!!!!

 

[princess-rn]

Tomorrow is ADR day!!!

So...tomorrow is our official date we can schedule our ADRS..and we have of course made a change in our list. I'm sure we will make other changes before our trip is here. (One of the issues with schedule what you will eat over 3 months ahead of time...but oh how I love planning!!!)

After some discussion with DH we decided to drop our Wolf Gang Puck Cafe dinner at DTD and opt for the Cinderellas Happily ever after dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1. Neither one of us was really fired up about the Wolf Gang Puck thing. I think just because we have had really bad dinner experiences at DTD..not at Wolf Gangs but DTD in general (specifically Captain Jacks)..we just aren't really feeling dinner at DTD. 2. We decided not to stay at Grand Floridan this time..but we still want to visit and at least have a meal there. 3. We've never eaten at 1900 Park Fare. 4. Cinderella is my FAVORITE princess. (yes..I am a grown woman..what's it to ya??? ) We ate in the castle in 2007 and the food was horrible..so decided against that this time.

So..with all that said....give it to me...the good the bad and the ugly about 1900 Park Fare and this dinner to be specific. Let me know what I am getting myself into.

That's it for now. Hope there is still someone out there!!!

 

[princess-rn]

ADRS MADE....CHECK!!!

Well...I was quick to the phone Monday morning. Called WDWDINE at 6am on the dot CST. Held for 40 mins...(MUCH longer that usual. Thank goodness I had read on here that the new system had some kinks and were causing longer waits...I probably would have given up otherwise) ...Got all the ADRs I wanted with the times I wanted (we like to eat an early dinner). I did have to change our Chef Mickey's day. it's our tradition to do it on our first night there...but the earliest we could get that night was 8:20pm...there is NO way this family can wait until 8pm to eat. So I switched it around to a different day. Since we are going to be in HS our first day anyway..I just changed it with SCi Fi...

So..here's our official list. I'm going to probably add an OOP meal on Sunday....Suggestions appreciated. (It will be OOP b/c Brown Derby is 2 of our TS credits...and worth it!! )

Sunday 5/31- Sci Fi
Monday 6/1/09- Ohanas
Tuesday 6/2/09- 1900 Park Fare
Wednesday 6/3/09- Le Celliers
Thursday 6/4/09- Tony’s
Friday 6/5/09- Brown Derby
Saturday 6/6/09- Chef Mickey’s

I'm in SUCH the planning mood. I watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 last night and it was the WDW episode...LOVED IT!!!

 

[princess-rn]

**UNDER 60 DAYS!!!!**



We are 59 days from our trip!! Under the 60 day mark!!! AND my son still has NO CLUE that we are going!!! Can you tell I'm excited????

I paid off the trip yesterday. Now all I need to do is call and request building 4 at POFQ (or maybe you do that when you check in online 10 days out...oh well..I'll do both) and finalize our packing lists and add a breakfast to our stay. The only character breakfast we've ever done is the Pooh Breakfast at the CP. We enjoyed it..but DS has sadly out grown Pooh. Anyone have any suggestions for a character breakfast (or just a breakfast in general) DH and DS are not big breakfast people...but we always try to do something special for breakfast at least one day.

I must admit I am a little bummed. I read last week that Space Mountain would be closed while we are there....BOO! I LOVE Space Mountain!

Ok...I'll update more later. I wish I had more time to spend here!!! Love my Dis time!!!!