Danauk
<font color=green>I would be sitting on the patio
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
Well I guess an introduction may be in order 1st before we start with any plans.
The cast for this trip is me, Karen, 32, teaches 8 year olds for a living
and is Disney mad.
DH, Pete, 33, also a teacher (actually more like 
) he teaches high school ICT, loves theme parks and puts up with my Disney obsessions.
OK, so not the best photo of us! It was taken last August in Disneyland it was like 100 degrees!!
So, as the title suggests we were not supposed to be having a Disney trip this year. Last year I was very fortunate to go to Disneyland Paris 3 times (taking my parents on their 1st ever Disney trip!) and spent a week at Disneyland, California. We were (and still are!) saving for a Christmas/New Year 2010/11 trip back to WDW with our best friends with whom we have taken all our WDW trips with so far. But then, thanks to unexpected over time for both of us and free dining we decided a summer trip to WDW was in order. So, we decided to go back for our 11th wedding anniversary in August. As I love wild animals we thought we would try a different resort this trip and have booked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
So, the plans so far. We are flying out of Manchester this time. I grew up in Leeds and my parents are going to take us to Manchester. I haven't used that airport since our honeymoon 11 years ago! We have decided that this is a Disney only trip. I realised looking back at my diaries of previous visits that although we stayed on site at the Beach Club Villas we actually spent very little time in reality in the Disney parks. We would go to the parks for some of the time but also go off site to Universal, Busch Gardens, Kennedy, Discovery Cove, to the many shopping malls etc. So this trip we are doing the parks properly!
Well the plans so far, flights booked, hotel booked, daily plans in place (waiting for those August hours was a nightmare for a planner like me!) and Ridemax bought to help with the daily plans (we used Ridemax at Disneyland last year and it was spot on.) So, like I said daily plans are in place, we are doing a few EMH (AK and MK AM and AK and MK PM) and ADR's are ready to book. We want to go to a few favourites, Yachtsmans Steakhouse, Boma and California Grill for our anniversary, Mama Melrose, plus try some new places; Sanaa, Le Cellier, Marrakesh and Crystal Palace for breakfast. Also when we go to any Disney resort we love to do at least 1 tour. Last WDW trip we took the Backstage Magic tour and loved it. I said after that tour that next time we went to WDW I would love to do the Backstage Animal Kingdom Safari tour so that I have been back stage at all the parks, so we are booking that too for my birthday present (my birthday is a month before we go.)
So, thats it for now, not much more can be done until the 90 days ADR mark. Then all that is left to do is collect a few more pins from the UK Disney stores for pin trading in the parks (I love to pin trade, I went to Milton Keynes today to get a few more pins and did some trading in the store there!) Then a week before we go I need to sort out our daily ridemax plans, put all my planning documents onto my iphone (along with the park map and the dining apps that are already on there!) and then pack the cases ready for the off!
Now, I just need the next week to pass so I can make my ADR's, then I can relax in the knowledge that everything is ready to go!!
The cast for this trip is me, Karen, 32, teaches 8 year olds for a living
and is Disney mad.DH, Pete, 33, also a teacher
(actually more like ) he teaches high school ICT, loves theme parks and puts up with my Disney obsessions.
OK, so not the best photo of us! It was taken last August in Disneyland it was like 100 degrees!!
So, as the title suggests we were not supposed to be having a Disney trip this year. Last year I was very fortunate to go to Disneyland Paris 3 times (taking my parents on their 1st ever Disney trip!) and spent a week at Disneyland, California. We were (and still are!) saving for a Christmas/New Year 2010/11 trip back to WDW with our best friends with whom we have taken all our WDW trips with so far. But then, thanks to unexpected over time for both of us and free dining we decided a summer trip to WDW was in order. So, we decided to go back for our 11th wedding anniversary in August. As I love wild animals we thought we would try a different resort this trip and have booked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
So, the plans so far. We are flying out of Manchester this time. I grew up in Leeds and my parents are going to take us to Manchester. I haven't used that airport since our honeymoon 11 years ago! We have decided that this is a Disney only trip. I realised looking back at my diaries of previous visits that although we stayed on site at the Beach Club Villas we actually spent very little time in reality in the Disney parks. We would go to the parks for some of the time but also go off site to Universal, Busch Gardens, Kennedy, Discovery Cove, to the many shopping malls etc. So this trip we are doing the parks properly!
Well the plans so far, flights booked, hotel booked, daily plans in place (waiting for those August hours was a nightmare for a planner like me!) and Ridemax bought to help with the daily plans (we used Ridemax at Disneyland last year and it was spot on.) So, like I said daily plans are in place, we are doing a few EMH (AK and MK AM and AK and MK PM) and ADR's are ready to book. We want to go to a few favourites, Yachtsmans Steakhouse, Boma and California Grill for our anniversary, Mama Melrose, plus try some new places; Sanaa, Le Cellier, Marrakesh and Crystal Palace for breakfast. Also when we go to any Disney resort we love to do at least 1 tour. Last WDW trip we took the Backstage Magic tour and loved it. I said after that tour that next time we went to WDW I would love to do the Backstage Animal Kingdom Safari tour so that I have been back stage at all the parks, so we are booking that too for my birthday present (my birthday is a month before we go.)
So, thats it for now, not much more can be done until the 90 days ADR mark. Then all that is left to do is collect a few more pins from the UK Disney stores for pin trading in the parks (I love to pin trade, I went to Milton Keynes today to get a few more pins and did some trading in the store there!) Then a week before we go I need to sort out our daily ridemax plans, put all my planning documents onto my iphone (along with the park map and the dining apps that are already on there!) and then pack the cases ready for the off!
Now, I just need the next week to pass so I can make my ADR's, then I can relax in the knowledge that everything is ready to go!!
The ADR's are made and all within 10 minutes of the times I wanted them!! I think I got quite lucky compared to lots of other people making reservations though, I was on hold for 17 minutes and then call was all done 35 minutes after dialing. I used one of those cheap call numbers before puting the WDW DINE number in so the whole call should only have cost about 35p!! I have been reading though that some people were on hold for 1 - 2 hours and then the system crashed 
!!
