ONE DWARF SHORT! Six to Orlando June 2011...a TR. (Updated 11/17)

[BigDaddyWill]

Well, we are going back...yep...we are officially hooked!

We will be going from June 11 - June 18.

NOTE...following this thread down, I will be updating it with the results of our trip. Thanks!

My partners in crime include the following cast of characters:

DOC

is played by me (was actually my high school nickname).

SLEEPY

is played by my DW (also known on Dis as SheilaG62)

GRUMPY

is played by my DS(24) (also known on Dis as fantasmusician)

DOPEY

is played by my DDIL(26) (also known on Dis as littleangie)

BASHFUL

is played by my DS(11)

SNEEZY

is played by my sister in law (is that DSIL? lol)

HAPPY

couldn't come :-(.

Sections to follow:

Transportation
Itinerary
ADRs
Shirts and signs
Other crafty stuff
Miscellaneous

And here we go...

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Driving

We will drive our 2007 T&C from near Cincinnati to Orlando.

As we have 3 drivers, we are planning to leave at 4 PM 6/9 and drive straight through in shifts. We will stop for gas, bathroom breaks/stretch breaks and two meals--dinner 6/9 and breakfast 6/10. Planning to arrive in Orlando area around noon on 6/10 and meet up with my cousin sometime that evening as she lives in Winter Garden.

UPDATE 6/8: We are leaving at 2:45 PM and driving straight through, arriving at around 10 AM on Friday.

I have broken it up into 10 segments so we can stretch our legs, make rest stops, eat, etc. We have three drivers so no one will be overly tired as we can nap in the car!


On the way home we will leave 6/19 from Orlando but take our time going back...probably get a hotel in Northern Georgia or Southern Tennessee so that we have about 6 hours left to drive on 6/20.

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Current Itinerary (subject to change)

We are staying at POP in two preferred rooms.

We are planning to visit the following on these dates:

6/11/2011 UPDATE 6/8: Hollywood Studios!!! STAR WARS WEEKEND!!!!
6/12/2011 Magic Kingdom
6/13/2011 EPCOT
6/14/2011 Hollywood Studios
6/15/2011 Animal Kgdm/DTD/Polynesian
6/16/2011 Magic Kingdom
6/17/2011 EPCOT/Hollywood Studios
6/18/2011 Magic Kingdom

More details to follow!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Currently we have the following reservations:

6/11 UPDATE 6/8: 50's Prime Time 420p
6/12 Crystal Palace 430p
6/13 Chef Mickeys 735a
6/13 Biergarten 430p
6/14 Hollywood & Vine 355p
6/15 Aloha Dinner Show 800p
6/16 Raglan Road 600p
6/17 Akershus 935a UPDATE 6/8: Coral Reef 105p Les Chefs de France 700p
6/18 Wishes Dessert Party 900p

More to come!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Yep, we have plans!

littleangie and I have chosen our shirt designs. We will post them once we have some done. We are using a mix of tie dye and iron ons (not together! yuck!) and have our materials.

1) Tie dye kit and soda ash from Hobby Lobby.
2) Shirts for Tie Dye also from Hobby Lobby.
3) T-shirts for iron on ordered from cheapestees.com. Got a great deal on Gildan tees at $2.83 a shirt!
4) We scoured the web and chose some cool images and themes to work with. Fortunately, both she and I are experienced graphic folks and can manipulate and create what we need.

UPDATE 3/15! Initial Drafts of Most Shirts...

UPDATE 6/8! Adding Tshirt details for 6/11 and 6/12:

Shirt for 6/11 is Hollywood Studios...Star Wars Weekend:

Shirt for 6/12 is for the 1st Magic Kingdom day:

littleangie will post below.

Shirt for 6/13...an Epcot Day:

Shirt for 6/14...an HS day:

Shirt for 6/15...a mixed day (AK, DTD and Poly for the Aloha show):

Shirt for 6/16...an MK day:

Shirt for 6/17...an Epcot Day (with Akershus for breakfast):

And for our last day...an MK day:

More to come!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Planning Binder

Currently am using a file folder that is becoming way too full, lol! I have taken a presentation 3 ring binder and am working on images.

It will have the following tabs:

- Planning
- Pop Century
- DS9
- Dining
- Finances
- Itinerary
- Drive Plans
- Mousellaneous

I will post pics soon!

Mousekeeping tip envelopes

Here are our tip envelopes (subject to change):

I included the blank in case someone else wants to use the template.


Door magnets
(will order in April)

More details (and probably additional items) to follow!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Camera

Have been wanting a dSLR for awhile and decided I needed one to document the trip. Bought a Nikon d300s now so that I could learn it before June. So far, so good. Will post some picks of things taken with it as we progress.



More to come!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

1st trip adjustment...

Called the TA today...added a day in front...new dates are 6/11 - 6/18!!!

 

[wtccheermom]

*subscribing*

 

[lbuzz52]

Love the title and your cast synopsis
you seem very prepared!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Love the title and your cast synopsis
you seem very prepared!

LOL and I feel woefully unprepared!! I do have an awesome helper in my DDIL littleangie! She is in charge of working on the shirts that we designed together. And my DW puts up with me! hehe....we have less than 100 days and it can't get here soon enough!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Updated to add our first draft tip envelopes for Mousekeeping.

Will

 

[BigDaddyWill]

3/15 UPDATE

Updated to add some of our shirt ideas! Enjoy!

Will

 

[BigDaddyWill]

3/18 UPDATE!

littleangie got a FD PIN!

We saved over $1000 and we PAID IN FULL today!!!!

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Okay, sorry for not posting for so long, but work has been...let's just say 65-70 hour weeks are interesting...especially when you are salaried, lol!

Tomorrow we leave...I will be updating the above parts of the thread tonight...finally, yes I know!!!

We will take lots of pics to share when we get back.

Will

 

[littleangie]

Here is the 2011 image that i put on shirts (of course with different names):

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Wow...time got away from me! I do apologize for not updating sooner. Have PM'ed the Mod to move to the TR forum and will get busy updating this weekend!

Thanks!!

Will

 

[BigDaddyWill]

Okay so to begin...I apologize for not updating this sooner! Lost my job and finding a new one was top priority but now that's been sorted, so here we go!

To Review:

We planned to arrive by noon or so on Arrival Day, spend several days in the park and then drive home over two days.

I will be breaking it down as follows:

• Driving to WDW
• Arrival Day
• Star Wars Weekend
• The Resort (Pop Century)
• The Food
• The Parks
• Going home (the sad part)

Each one will be its own post in the thread.

Thanks for reading!

Will

 

[BigDaddyWill]

The plan was as follows:

While my DW was at work, the kids and I would pack the van and make sure things were ready. We would go pick her up then swing by and pick up my Sister in law before heading out.We would then drive overnight to get to the resort by noon the next day (Friday), where we had a room only rez before our package started on Saturday.

The plan was to be on the road by 4 PM Thursday.

We were sooooo close! lol. We left less than 30 minutes late. Now I know what you are thinking...that's not bad. And I agree, it's just that I hate to be late, lol.

Okay so I have so much fun planning the trip (gives me something to do while waiting for it to actually start!) that I am pretty precise in times.
We made stops for dinner and breakfast along with gas and potty breaks along the way.

We had three available drivers and we all drove a portion (I drove the most as I love to drive) but we have decided that driving straight through is NOT the best option for us; none of the drivers really got a good rest.

Anyway, by midnight it was obvious that the plan was wrong...I don't know if it was the traffic, the slight speed above the speed limit (yes I do mean slight, lol) or what, but we were fairly ahead of plan.

The plan called for stopping for breakfast about 7 AM around Gainesville...we actually stopped closer to 5 AM.

The long and the short of it is that even with an unanticipated long stop at a rest area on the turnpike, we arrived at the resort just before 9 AM, around 3 hours earlier than I planned.

Lessons learned:
1) No plan survives the first facing of the enemy (actually that's a quasi-quote from a famous book the Art of War).
2) Average speed was higher than anticipated (I allowed for more traffic through certain areas than there was)
3) Even if you start later than expected, it doesn't mean anything.

And so, we were in our rooms and unpacking early enough that we were able to go to DTD and have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

Next up: Arrival Day

 

[flafan]

Great so far. Cant wait to hear more