New member - First Pre Trip Report!

[Just-Pete]

Okay so I’m brand new today…. Well kind of, I’ve officially joined today, but been lurking for quite a while now, since just before my first WDW trip in Nov 07’.

So a little background to this trip…. As mentioned above, me and three of my closest friends made our first visit in November 07. We stayed at Pop and had an amazing two weeks! So amazing in fact that we all made a pact to do it again… Then the groups dynamics took a bit of a change. Two of our original group, (one of whom being my best mate Chris) decided to join the Epcot Cultural Rep program. They were both successful and are now both roughly 6 months through their year in Epcot, both working in The Rose & Crown. So now a little later than originally planned, we’re off to see them. Along with some other friends, so the new Cast.

Me- Pete (27) Last WDW Trip Nov 07, with plenty of DLRP in between.
Jo (29) The second veteran from our Nov 07 trip, has also been to DLRP ten times in the last eight years
Kathryn (21) WDW Virgin, mad on Princesses, Alice in wonderland & Mary Poppins
Paul (21) Known as Kip, just along for the ride and cocktails if you ask me
Amy (23) Younger sister of Chris is over there working ,massive Princess and Tink fan. But she does hate all things HSM, so we may clash, eek!

Supporting Cast
Chris (25) On his year working in the Rose & Crown in Epcot
Kayleigh (23) see above
These two have proved very useful in the holiday planning / dining reservation department!!!

Anyway so this trip!!!! We fly on June 16th, Virgin VS027 LGW-MCO. And we’ll be staying at the All Star Music. With one weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel/Resort? At universal where we’ll be celebrating Chris’s 25th.
The resort was a big decision and took a lot of getting the group together to debate. Basically last time we went, the two of us who are returning stayed in POP and loved it. But we kinda wanted to step up to Moderate this time. However three out of the five of us going are Uni students, and aren’t in full time employment like the rest of us, so wanted to save pennies where they could. We didn’t mind too much, so we did try to book POP again in the end, so we settled for ASM, as it appeals the most to us, out of the three All-Stars. We’ve requested adjoining rooms, and the broadway section, as that we thought, was more us.

We’ll be travelling up to LGW the night before to stay at the Travelodge, not because its far from us…. Its only an hour drive, but we just can’t be bothered with traffic in the morning, so will take an evening drive across courtsesy of Jo’s dad, and then stay at the Travelodge, courtsesy of our friend who is the manager of said hotel. And yes I know that Travelodge and “Hotel” don’t really go hand in hand.

Okay that’s enough for now, and I’ll post what exists of our itinerary so far in the next post…

>Pete

 

[natalielongstaff]

Sounds like a fab trip cant wait to hear more !

 

[wickesy]

Great start Pete. Looking forward to reading more about your plans.

 

[jjk]

sounds great

 

[jns]

Welcome Pete

sounds like a great holiday

 

[Chilly]

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Gaynor]

Looking forward to hearing all your plans

 

[Just-Pete]

Okay here's the second half....

Arrival Day

So once we arrive, we have the Disney Magical Express booked to whisk us off to ASM, last time we went we flew with First Choice into Sanford, so we used a town car service for the drive to WDW, so not really sure what to expect with the Magical Express, I hope we can work it all out on the day!! Once we’re at the resort, Chris and Kayleigh are on an early that day so will head over to meet us, and once we’re all settled etc, we’ll recreate our first night last year by heading straight for MK to see Spectromagic and Wishes!!! We all agreed it would be a really magical introduction for the newbies amongst us, just to see how fabulous it can all be. Plus we get to fulfill another well maintained tradition amongst us, by ensuring the first food we purchase is a Casey’s Corner Hot-Dog, something we also do in the Paris one every time we go… I actually prefer the Parisian ones. Then after that we’ll probs head back and get our heads down.

Day 1

We’re off to Hollywood Studio’s as everyone who went last year voted Tower of Terror as our fave ride, so we’ll head things up with that, and a lunch reservation at the 50’s Prime Time diner which means nothing to me, but I’m ensured its good, and will suit my slightly fussy/unhealthy eating habits.

Fantasmic isn’t on this night, so later in the day we’re planning a mooch round Boardwalk, and then into Epcot for Illuminations.. We go Onnnnnn!!!!!

Day 2

Thursday Morning we have breakfast at Chef Mickeys in the contemporary which I’m very excited about as we didn’t visit that many other resorts last time, so I’m really looking forward to doing so this time. Breakfast with Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Minnie & Goofy should be fab!!! Plenty of photo opps!!! Chris is working this day, so after breakfast we’ll ride the monorail to Epcot with him and use the day to do the park whilst he does his shift. We’ll be there nice and early to get fast passes for the good rides, and we’ll probably go to the Rose & Crown for lunch, as Chris has recommended a really good server to us!! Funny that!!!

Chris finishes at 17:00 so we’ll all board a bus and head on to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic, at which point I’m sure the newbies in my group will spontaneously combust when they see how fab it is!! We’ll obviously have to squeeze on some night time rides on Tower of Terror too!!!

Day 3

Magic Kingdom!!!! We have a late breakfast booked at 1900 park fare in the Grand Floridian with Alice, Mary Poppins and the Pooh characters. I’ll have a defibrillator in my bag to revive Kathryn for this one. As it’s a late breakfast we can do some rides and get a fast pass or two before hand. That evening we have dinner at Ohana in the Poly, and then we’ll all enjoy some ‘Sunken Treasure’s’ everyones fave cocktail and watch Wishes from the Poly.

Day 4

Get up early and head to Universal, this is the night we’ll be staying at the Hard rock Hotel and, so we’ll do the parks all day then head back and hit City-Walk for the night to celebrate Chris’s 25th. Maybe dinner at the Hardrock??

Day 5

Wake up and hang around the pool at Hard Rock, maybe do the parks some more before we head back to Disney way, as that evening its Dinner in the Castle!!!! I don’t really think the menu is gonna do much for me now I’ve seen it, but Cinderella’s table is so hyped, I’ll go just for the experience and the photo opps again!!! The girls I know will LOVE it!!!

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The rest of the days we havent set in stone yet as Chris has a few more shifts he couldn’t get anyone else to cover!! But we’re thinking Seaworld early in the week, one of the malls?? Typhoon Lagoon on Wednesday as that was closed last time we were there. And Clearwater beach on the Saturday, as the last time we were there, we barely left WDW, so will be nice to go further afield.

Plus we have a couple of other dining reservations, like on the Tuesday, Dinner at The Grand Floridian Café, followed by Drinks at the California Grill to watch wishes from atop the contemporary. Boma at AKL on Friday, and a Princess breakfast in Norway in Epcot on the second Sunday.

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Well that’s pretty much everything so far that we have mapped out, obviously, there’s a lot more other days there that I haven’t covered, so if I remember to keep a diary, I can write about all of them when I return!!!

Thanks for reading, hope it was all okay!!!


>Pete.

 

[wickesy]

Great stuff Pete. Look forward to reading all about it when you get back.

 

[Natasha&Matt]

Great start!! Welcome to the DIS hope u stick around and shower us with pics and ur report when ur back

 

[Just-Pete]

Great start!! Welcome to the DIS hope u stick around and shower us with pics and ur report when ur back

Hey, thanks! I deffo will try, I've just signed up for a Flickr account as well, so I have somewhere to put the hundreds of pictures that will no doubt be will returning with us!!

>Pete.

 

[Natasha&Matt]

Hey, thanks! I deffo will try, I've just signed up for a Flickr account as well, so I have somewhere to put the hundreds of pictures that will no doubt be will returning with us!!

>Pete.

Lots of pics of the Hard Rock plssssssssss im staying there for 2 nights next year hehe.

 

[jen_uk]

Sounds like a great trip, looking forward to hearing more

 

[irongirlof12]

sounds fab

 

[Snowy-girls]

Your plans sound great Pete,i love Chef Mickey's for breakfast .Love to hear all about what you get up to when you return.x.

 

[Chilly]

Loving your plan it sounds great with some good restaurants.

 

[mandymouse]

It sounds like you're going to have a great trip Pete

 

[Just-Pete]

Loving your plan it sounds great with some good restaurants.

Thanks I'm really excited about some of the ADR's as last time we were such newbies, we just did everything on the hop when we were there, so lots of Downtown Disney meals really.

We'll just see how it goes, as I'm quite a fussy eater, and I already know that at "Cinderella's Table" theres nothing that really floats my boat!!!

Still... Its all about the experience!!!

>Pete.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Excellent job Pete, sounds like you're going to have a wonderful time.

Just one thing, I'm sure that they stopped people going up to the California Grill unless they have an ADR. Hopefully someone else will be able to confirm or deny this.

Kev

 

[Just-Pete]

Excellent job Pete, sounds like you're going to have a wonderful time.

Just one thing, I'm sure that they stopped people going up to the California Grill unless they have an ADR. Hopefully someone else will be able to confirm or deny this.

Kev

Oh okay thanks Kev, I'll mention this to my friends over there when I find time tomorrow... I think I recall Chris saying he has done so.

But he's seeing someone over there who works for Marketing in Disney and seems to get them all kinds of priviledges? Which proves its not who you know, etc.... I'm not jealous of them at all!!!

>Pete.