Free Dining Here We Come - Pre-Trip Report!!! We're going back to Disney!!!

[mom2taylorandemily]

Hi! I guess the title says it all; I've read so many PTR's and have even tried to begin 1 myself but I chickened out. I really have no idea how to write this thing, but I want to try so my kids can have something to follow in my planning process for our upcoming trip. So, here goes.

What we have so far; this trip was booked as a BounceBack from our trip last August. We went for DD Emily's 10th Birthday, and when we came back to CBR from the park one day the offer was in the room and DH said do it. So, we booked 10 nights at POFQ for Aug. 20 thru 30, 2010 with Free Dining. We are so excited to be able to go again and to go for 10 nights and 11 days!! That will be the longest trip to WDW we've ever been on. This trip will also be special to DH and I, as this will be our 15th Anniversary in July, so we are going to celebrate our anniversary while we are there. We went there for our honeymoon in 1995, well our late honeymoon, we didn't take one right after we were married.

Our previous trips together were off site, then once we had kids and finally made the decision to take them, we made the decision to stay on site each trip. Each one has been fun and memorable for me. You can see in my signature where we have stayed on each trip. CBR is our favorite resort, WL is wonderful, but lets face it, if we want to go every year we can't stay Deluxe, so CBR is a great option for us. The rooms are large and the price is small (well by Disney standards!!!).

Here we are on a previous trip:

This was taken about 2 years ago. We've all changed quite a bit since then, so I'll try to get a more up to date picture on.

I hope you'll stick around and come back for my updates, its a long time until August and I'd love some company.

In my next installment, I'll do our cast and maybe you'll get to know each of us a little bit.

Thanks for reading,
Mary

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Since I last was here, we've had bad news followed by a funeral of a good friend and Christmas. So, we've been really busy. As things are beginning to slow down, I thought it was time to come back here and update things some and finally add my cast of characters.

First is DH; Glenn! He is the light of my life and we both got to experience Disney for our 1st time together back in 1992. That trip was when I decided that he was the one for me ! Anyone who has a love for Disney like I do has to be a good catch!!! He works for our local electric company in their Nuclear Division. We've been married almost 15 years, in fact we'll be celebrating our 15th Anniversary in WDW when we go next Aug. This a picture of him:

DD 13 is Taylor. She was supposed to be an only child, but God had other plans for us. She thinks she is the Princess in our family, but she is a wonderful kid! She is in Middle School (7th Grade), a Cheerleader, SCA Vice President, plays in the band (3rd Clarinet in the 7th and 8th Grade combo Band) and makes straight A's. Almost a perfect child; her only flaw is she doesn't have the Disney bug. But she loves a Dole Whip!!! She likes it well enough, but would like to go on vacation someplace else for a change (why oh why oh why!?). This is a picture of Taylor:

DD10 is Emily. She is my Sunshine and God knew what he was doing when he placed her in my arms! She loves Disney as much as I do. She loves to help me plan, she loves Pin Trading and just everything about WDW that there is. She enjoys the surprise when I tell her what we are doing every day while we are there, and she loves just swimming in the pool at the resort. She is a good student, but loves playing just as much. She started playing the flute this year and is showing real promise at this stage. She will be in Middle School next year and we are preparing ourselves for 2 teenage daughters as best as we can. This is a picture of Emily:

Last is me (Mary). I am a Substitute Teacher, I have a BA in Accounting and Finance, but gave all the stress of that up when I had DDs. I decided to be a SAHM until they both went to school, and figured Subbing was a good way to make some $$ and still be with the girls at school. I've been subbing for 6 years now and I love it. But as much as I love it, I may need to find a new and more permanent job soon, especially if I want to keep going to WDW. I'm trying to work on losing some weight before we go again, we lost a friend suddenly just recently and I'm very driven to try and get healthy. This is what I look like lately:

I finally got some pictures from our Aug. 2009 and Dec. 2009 trips loaded into Photobucket, so I'm going to include a more recent photo of our family:

Well, thats us in a nutshell. We are just a normal middle class family. We love going to WDW and I love planning our trips. So, please take a ride with me and follow as I go about our planning this upcoming trip. My next installment will be about our Dec. trip and how it came to be and a mini-TR about it. I hope you'll come back.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Subbing....

Can't wait to hear more. We loved POFQ when we stayed there.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

DH got a really good bonus this past year, he works for our electric company and they stayed under budget in his department so they were rewarded really nicely. So, since we had a Land & Sea package booked for our annual Dec. trip and I really wanted to go to WDW; when the Free Dining Package was offered and it was right around Emily's birthday, he said go on and book a trip. His only condition was that it had to be a surprise to both DDs. OMG! Do you know how hard that is? I know for anyone like me, its near impossible. How do I plan a trip to Disney without talking about it all the time and then keep it from both DDs, who are both very astute and curious? Well, I promised I'd do it, I mean why wouldn't I, it meant a trip to Disney!!!! So, I got up the morning that it was offered, got the kids off to school and was on the phone to Disney. I booked for us 8 nights at CBR with base tickets and Free Dining!!!! Emily's birthday is Aug. 17th, so we were set to go Aug. 15th thru 23rd. Then the planning began, and the major part was keeping it from Emily and Taylor.

We decided to keep the girls busy with camps and such during the summer and we'd tell them we were going to visit Grandma near Tennessee for vacation and that we were leaving the day after Emily got home from camp. So, that took care of the kids seeing me pack and such, they were not the least be suspicious and we told them we were flying to her house so that solved that problem. Fast forward to Aug. 14th and we picked Emily up from camp and got all her laundry done and and Glenn loaded up the car with our luggage for vacation. We got up at 5:00 am and headed out the door. We got up to our gate and no one was there, so we looked at the Departure and found gate 2A and asked the girls to find out what was going on. Here is Emily and Taylor's faces once they realized where we were going for vacation and we said Happy Birthday Emily!! You're going to Walt Disney World!!!!

We were put in Martinique 26 ground floor. We had requested that, so we were happy!! The girls wanted to go swimming at the pool right away and we had no plans for that day and it worked out fine. Our package began the next day anyway. On Sun. 8/16 we went to AK. We set out early so we would not be in the heat all day, but we had prepared for it. We had pre-ordered 2 cases of water from Costco and boy did we use it, every bottle during our week long trip. We had so much fun that day, we began with breakfast at Tusker House, this was the 1st time we had been there and we really enjoyed it (this trip). This is the girls with Safari Mickey.

Then we hit the Safari ride. DH loves this ride, he loves to see the animals and take pictures, so its a challenge for him to see if he can better his pictures from the year before. Then we walked on around the park and we all finally rode EE. I'm somewhat of a ride chicken on the approach, but once I get on them, I love them. Well we loved EE!! Then it was onto DinoLand and both girls rode a few rides and we all rode Dino!! I Love that ride. Then we headed over to FOLK, this is our main reason for even coming to AK, we all love this show. It is Broadway quality and we are always amazed by the trampoline work that the flying monkeys do. This is a picture of Glenn leading our group as the Elephants:

We then went back to CBR to swim and have dinner for the rest of the day and it was such a great start to our vacation. Nice and leisurely!!!

The next day was Emily's 10th Birthday!!! So, it was MK for the day! We had breakfast at Main Street Bakery and then we hit her favorite rides. I had a special surprises in store for her later that day. We rode rides and had lunch at Cosmic Rays. This is my favorite picture of Taylor and Emily that Glenn took while we were deciding when we should leave and what time we should come back for the night time activities

We came back that night to have dinner at Tony's Town Square and the Wishes Dessert Party! This is the shot that the Photopass photographer took of all of us;

This was an absolutely magical day for Emily! I don't think she could have ever imagined that we had planned all of this for her. After the fireworks we hung around rode a few more rides and headed back to swim for a late night dip. Day 3 is coming up.

Day 3, we woke up to rain. Oh well, we've done Disney in the rain before, so we came prepared. Everyone grab the rain anoraks and head out! Well lucky us, once we hit the parks the rain had stopped so we got a locker and put the jackets up and we hit the park. We had breakfast at Starring Rolls, this is a tradition for us, we eat bagels and pastries and head out to TSM!!! We all love this ride and try to hit it twice every time we are at HS. Always ride early and get a FP for later. Here is a picture of the girls with Green Army man after we rode it the first time that trip

Later we were walking around and I had read about the Singing in the Rain Umbrella and I wanted a picture of the girls on it and instead Glenn got a picture of me:

Then we went over so DH could get a picture of himself with the Incredibles (his favorite) before we left for the afternoon:

We ended the day with going to the American Idol Finals. What fun that was! Now DD Taylor wants to hurry up and turn 14 so she can try out!! Oh my, I think she has stars in her eyes!!!

Day 4 was Epcot and we were so excited to go this time, the kids wanted to try Kim Possible this trip. And it was so much fun. It took a while to figure out how to get it going but once they got the hang of it they had a blast!!
This is Taylor coming out of the phone booth in UK while working on the UK mission.

We just stayed at the Epcot that day, and waited until our dinner ADR, we had dinner plans for Teppan Edo and while we waited for dinner we decided to go and watch Miyuki make her candy, and she chose Emily to get one. Emily and Taylor both decided on a Seahorse that would be pink and orange.

And finally for the day are a couple of us at Teppan Edo and a picture of all of us before we headed back to CBR for the night:

I'll work on the rest of the trip in the next update.

Mary

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Subbing....

Can't wait to hear more. We loved POFQ when we stayed there.

OhioDisneyLover: Thanks for hopping on! I was hoping someone would, I was beginning to get nervous that no one was going to read it but me!

Mary

 

[WITinkFan]

I've been reading posts for a while, but like you, a little nervous for the posting stuff. Thanks for posting info about your trip. We leave in a little more than 2 weeks. Could you post something about your thoughts about the CBR? It will be our first stay there.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Loved the mini-TR.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

I've been reading posts for a while, but like you, a little nervous for the posting stuff. Thanks for posting info about your trip. We leave in a little more than 2 weeks. Could you post something about your thoughts about the CBR? It will be our first stay there.

Thanks for hopping on! I'd love to tell you about CBR! It's our favorite resort. We usually book a Preferred Room, which makes us a little closer to OPR and the main pool. But if those are of no consequence to you, the standard room should be just fine. The rooms are huge, they are the same size basically as the rooms at the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge. The beds are just double beds, but we carry air mattresses and the kids take turns sleeping on it, and DH gets his own bed, but he has a C-Pap machine and he needs the room and I share with the other DD. The rooms were recently refurbed and the furnishings are nice. The refrig is a plus too. There is plenty of room in the bathroom with the curtain pulled to get dressed. DH ususally goes in there and the kids and I dress in the big part of the room. We love the tropical feel of the resort, we always feel like we are on a vacation on our vacation. You really feel as though you are in a tropical area. We love the food court there, we like the selections of food, pretty much standard fare, but they have a great Grab & Go area. We stayed at POFQ on our most recent trip and we really missed CBR! If you have any specific questions, let me know!!!

Mary

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Loved the mini-TR.

Thanks, I still have a little more to add to it, then I'm doing a mini on our Dec. trip to POFQ! We had a major surprise for us there when we got off the ME bus!!!

 

[mumto2]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[CantWaitToGo2007]

Count me it too your older dd is about the same age as my ds. I love reading the trip reports with kids his age in them. It helps give me ideas for our trip

Waiting for the next installment.

Nanette

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'm here! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

Great mini report. We were also there in August of last year, right around the same time you were (crazy '09 is now LAST year...haha!).

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Can't wait to hear more!

Hi mumto2! I'm glad you joined me.

Count me it too your older dd is about the same age as my ds. I love reading the trip reports with kids his age in them. It helps give me ideas for our trip

Waiting for the next installment.

Nanette

Thank you so much Nanette! I hope we can share ideas!!!

I'm here! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

Great mini report. We were also there in August of last year, right around the same time you were (crazy '09 is now LAST year...haha!).

wdwgirl03, I'm so glad you are hopping on!!!!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Hi Mary-
I'm hopping on as well - we'll be there the same dates you are in August, except we'll only be there until the 29th. We almost booked POFQ too - but decided on POP. Can't wait to see more from your previous trips and see what you're planning for this one! I"m planning our frist trip so looking for all the info I can get!
Karen

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Well, I'm back to continue with our mini-TR from Aug. 09.

Day 5 was our down day. Which basically meant that the kids got to go swimming at the main pool at OPR all day if they wanted to, except for our Dinner reservation that night; and I got to do laundry. But at CBR that's ok, the laundry rooms are right at the quiet pools. So, DH and I loaded up 2 machines with the clothes and we went for a swim, then we changed it to the dryer and continued with our swim. Once we got the laundry done and put up, we gave the kids money and we headed to DTD for lunch at Earl of Sandwich and shopping at WOD!! I like giving my girls some freedom when we go to Disney at the pool and OPR. Both girls are very good swimmers and have passed every swimming test that they have been given, so they are very responsible in water. They are also very conscientious about sharing with each other on food and not over spending, so I knew they would eat well and take care of each other. We gave them a time that we wanted them showered and ready to go to dinner and don't you know when we walked into our room they were done and watching TV, waiting on us! We were so excited that they we responsible!!!!

Anyway we got everything ready and we hopped on a bus to MK so we could take the boat over to the Poly for our dinner ADR at Kona. This was the first time we had ever eaten there and we had read so many reviews that we were really excited to eat there. Well, it did not disappoint! Here is Emily with her Kona Kone!!

She and Taylor got them and they loved it. Kona is now a family favorite and we plan to eat there again. We actually think it is better than Ohana!
This the photo Glenn took of the girls after dinner while we explored the Great Ceremonial House:

In keeping with the Down day status, we went back for a swim and DH and I had a frozen cocktail by the pool. If you like doing this I highly recommend it in Aug. when it is HOT!!!

Day 6 was back to MK! Today was the day we had set aside to meet Tink in the morning and then see Tomorrowland when we were done. So, we had breakfast at Main Street Bakery, which is now a tradition with us. As soon as we were done, I headed over to rope at ToonTown. There was about 3 other families there, so I just headed right up to the open spot on the rope. Well, as usual there are those who just by the fact that they think they paid so much more than the rest of us to be there, that they have to be first. Forget those who have been standing there!!! This one mom literally stepped on my DDs foot to be up in front of us. I'd have given her my spot had it meant that much to her, she didn't have to be so brutal. We had been standing there for 30+ minutes prior to her pushing her way up to the front of the rope, let alone the others she pushed ahead of who had been there as well. When Taylor tried to hold her spot this woman turned her smug face to her and said "uh huh honey not today, we're going first!" and she stepped right on Taylor. I just told Taylor not to worry about it, it will come back to her one day!!! Anyway, we got to spend a good deal of time with the Fairies:

The Fairies are so much fun! And Taylor and Emily just love to play with them, and I love how the fairies play right back and make the kids feel so important!

Well, we left there and went right over to Mickey's tent to see if we could see him, well little did we know that the red poles that hold the rope in the queue in the tent had been painted the night before and they were still wet in some spots. I leaned up on a pole to tie my shoe and got red paint on the butt of my brand new shirt!!! Well, as we were leaving because for some reason Mickey was taking so long for meet and greets (we had stood in line for almost 45 minutes and hadn't moved, my shirt had paint on it), I saw a couple of guys from Management at the door evaluating the paint situation and they noticed my shirt, so they gave me voucher for a new shirt. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I said "Thank you very much! This is why I love Disney!!" We left there and walked out to the Tear drop area and had Meet & Greets with so many characters, but I'm not going to put all the photos in here, but the list is Goofy, Tigger, Baloo, Rafiki, Suzy & Perla, Genie and 2 bears that I didn't know. We were going to go to Tomorrowland but Glenn said lets do that tonight and lets go and ride Splash Mountain. So we boarded the Train and headed out. Well, wouldn't you know it Splash was down and would be up by 3:00, it was only 11:30, we were not hanging around!!! So, we rode Pirates of Caribbean and as we got off the ride, we saw Peter Pan, we've never met him, so we got in line!

By then it was time for my Dole Whip Float!!!!

I must have at least 1 every trip, I sneak 2 in if I can!!! We decided to head up to Main Street to see if I could get a shirt for my voucher and head to CBR for a break, we were planning to come back later.

When we went back later that after noon the girls had appointments at BBB. This a picture of both of them after it was done:

Well, while we were in there, it began to rain, and I mean like buckets of rain!!! So, we put ponchos on the girls, after all I had just paid $100 for their hair, I was not about to have it ruined that quick!!! And we went to Crystal Palace for Dinner. We met the usual Pooh characters here, this is one of Glenn's favorite places to eat. There is something for everyone and they don't seem to push you out to rotate people in and out like they do at so many of the other character meals!
Here is one of the girls and Pooh:

The rain continued so we decided to head back to CBR and we gave up on going to Tomorrowland! It was just too wet!!! The girls hair held up well considering they were in and out of rain!

Day 7 Epcot again!! We let the girls sleep together this night so that hopefully they could keep their hair from messing up, we had breakfast ADRs at Askershus with the Princesses!!! Here are a couple of pictures from that:

We decided when we were done with Breakfast to head up to Future world and ride some rides! We had a blast and around 1:00 we went back to CBR for a swim and the 1st question Emily asked was "can I take my hair down, its so stiff and itchy?!!" I told her of course!!! Wait til you see what her hair looked like after she began to take it down from the braids and whatever it is that they do at BBB:

So, we went swimming, packed our bags, because we were leaving the next day and I didn't want to do it later that night. After we cleaned up, we headed back to Epcot for our Dinner reservations at Biergarden! Glenn grew up in Germany, and when I was growing up my parents best friends were from Germany, so we both love German food! Well our girls love it and they love dancing to the band. We've eaten here before and this is one of the girls' favorite places to eat! Here is Taylor and I:

When we left the sun was just beginning to go down, so we decided it was a great time to take a few pictures!

Then we started to walk back up to Future World and we stopped off in Norway so the girls could do another Kim Possible Mission and Glenn and I rode Maelstrom, then we played with the hats and trolls.

I don't think I'd make such a good Viking Woman!!!!
Tomorrow we head home

Day 8 This is the day of choice! We let everyone have a vote which park to go to and the winner is DHS! Ok, so we get Bell Svc. to pick us up and we check in with Express Airline Check in and head to DHS! We grab a quick bite to eat at Starring Rolls, hit TSM for one last time and then the girls head down to TOT and RNRC. On our way out, we see the Street Performers and they wind up pulling the girls into their act:

Once the skit was done, it was time to head over to DTD and get some last minute shopping done and grab a few sandwiches from Earl's to take to the airport.

This was without a doubt the best vacation we've ever had at WDW!!! I don't know if it was that we took our time, if it was our first time in the summer or a combination of a bunch of things. But we'll never duplicate the effects of this vacation on everyone again! We all came home relaxed and claiming it was the Best Vacation Ever!

Well that's it! I'll begin our Dec. trip next at POFQ and while there were some surprises on that trip, it did not compare to our summer trip. Hope you enjoyed it!

Mary

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Hi Mary-
I'm hopping on as well - we'll be there the same dates you are in August, except we'll only be there until the 29th. We almost booked POFQ too - but decided on POP. Can't wait to see more from your previous trips and see what you're planning for this one! I"m planning our frist trip so looking for all the info I can get!
Karen

Hi MommyMcQueen!!! I'm so glad you've joined me!!! I hope you enjoy it!!! Maybe we can plan a mini-meet in Aug. That might be fun!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Great update! Kona is a family favorite for us as well.

You were able to get some great pictures!

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Wow, I finally found it. Its been a few days since I've updated, I've been sick with a horrible sinus infection and both ears have been infected and have felt terrible. So, sorry......

I'm not totally better, but am now on antibiotics so I'm on the mend.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the mini TR from our Aug. 2009 trip for my Emily's Birthday! We had had such a good trip that when we were there, we booked a Bounce Back for next Aug. for 10 nights!!! That's how we got to this PTR.

But when we decided to book the Aug. trip, we had already booked a vacation for Dec. 2009, we had a 7 day Land & Sea trip booked. We were to do 3 days land, staying at the Poly and 4 days on the Wonder. We were really excited to take this trip, so Aug. was supposed to be my fix for WDW!!! Well you know what they say about the best laid plans!!! Hahahaha!!!!! I have this severe fear of drowning, so the closer we got to taking that cruise the more nervous and anxious I became! I was actually a wreck and Emily was a bit anxious about it as well, so as soon as I got the e-mail with a PIN for Free Dining in Dec. I played around with the numbers and I called DH at work to tell him we'd actually save over $2500 to change the trip to go to WDW instead of the cruise, he said I could go on and change it. I felt such a sense of relief and so did Emily. I think secretly Glenn knew how much trepidation I was feeling. I'm sure it would have been ok to go on the cruise, but my nerves were a wreck. So, I booked us a 7 night trip at POFQ with Magic Your Way base tickets and of course FREE DINING!!!!! The best part was it was Taylor's 13th Birthday the 2nd day of the trip, so now she got to have a Disney Birthday too!!!!

We stayed at a hotel in Richmond, VA the night before our trip this year, we had found a hotel with free shuttle to the airport and they keep our car while we are gone, then they pick us up at the airport upon our return. What a deal, now we got to sleep an hour longer the morning we fly out!!!! Well, we arrive at POFQ via Magical Express to find out that we had been selected as Family of the Week!!! That was so exciting for us, we got an upgraded room (we had booked a standard and they bumped us up to a Waterview, with views of the pool and river!!). Here we are after we were met!

Well once we got all checked in, we found out our room wasn't quite ready, so we left our stuff with Bell Svc. and headed out to MK until our room was ready some time later in the day. We had lunch ADRs at LTT. It was so good, we've eaten there for dinner before and enjoyed it, but lunch is a whole other cup of tea!!! The Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake was to die for!!!! I highly recommend it to anyone!!! On our way over to Adventureland we got to see the Tiana's RiverBoat Parade and show. Here is a shot Glenn took:

Then Taylor and I took off to find a Dole Whip Float!!! Oh yummy!!! My favorite snack in all the world!!

Through the wonder of Face Book, I've reconnected with many of my friends from High School. I went to HS in Long Island but went to college in Virginia and have since them stayed there. But I've loved reconnecting with my friends. Well I had made arrangements to try and see 2 of my friends from High School that I haven't seen since our 10 year reunion in 1991, that were going to be their the same time as we were. I knew my friend Lynne was going to be at the Pirate League at 2:00 and my girls had ressies at 3:00 so I snuck over early to go and see her. Here are a few shots of her, my girls getting their makeovers and then Lynne's DD and my girls together after they were all done.

We hung out at MK until dinner time and then we went back to our resort to see if we could go swimming, but oh no, it was too cold. So we went on to unpacked and got ready for tomorrow, DHS (the girls' favorite park!!)
The next morning we got up early and headed right out to DHS. As soon as we got there, we got breakfast then went straight to TSM!!! Then we headed down to New York City Streets and the girls met the Power Rangers and got a picture with the Pink Ranger:

We just toured a few more minutes and then went over to Animation Bldg. for the openning so we could see Mickey in the Wizard outfit, here is the fam:

Taylor took her traditional pose at the American Idol backdrop (she's still hoping for a shot at this when she turns 14)

We then went to 50's Prime Time:

The next day was 12/04, Taylor's 13th Birthday. So I let her choose what she wanted to do, so she chose Epcot and Tutto Italia for dinner, they serve Tira Misu, her absolute favorite dessert in the world!! So off we go: her is the Birthday Girl!!!!

But our day was just dashed, it was pouring down rain, I mean like buckets of rain, and it did nothing for the crowds, it was still busy. Anyway, Glenn didn't take many pictures this day because he didn't feel like pulling the camera in and out and putting it back in the rain. But we did get Taylor's dessert at Tutto Italia!

Tomorrow I'll finish up this mini TR and move onto planning our upcoming trip because I've already been busy planning and changing things! I can just never leave it alone, but I have a good reason (or at least I think so!!).

Mary

 

[wdwgirl03]

I really wish I could see the Princess Tiana show. It seems really cute but I don't think they'll have it in April.

What a fun way for Taylor to spend her birthday. So jealous!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Love the update. Great pictures.

Sounds like an awesome birthday celebration!