*Planning our Must Do's = BoOzE & Food* Nov '12 F&W Fest PTR*10/31 I leave TODAY!

[rachel09985]

By the way, I changed my Pre Trip Report name because my other one was boring and I realized from my To Do List that I want to try sooo many adult beverages!! I am not a huge drinker anymore but my friend is. I want us to try so many specialty drinks in Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival.
Hi Everyone!

I have decided to start a Pre Trip Report because it will be fun and who else can I talk Disney with 24/7?

I have only done Dining Reports and have a lot of fun with those so I thought, "Why not start trip report!?" Plus, I need advice and opinions on my plans.

My name is Rachel(26) and I am originally from Toledo, Ohio. I graduated from Ohio State University in 2008, moved to Minneapolis in April 2009 to work at the same company my dad works at called Acosta. In Feb 2010 my boyfriend of 10 years this December decided to move here and he works at Acosta as well. We have lived together since 2010, but still no engagement ring Oh well, it will happen sometime. His name is Corey and he is a huge sports fan, he loved the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Tigers, and Michigan Wolverines. However, he graduated from Ohio State. How does that work out? We have a dog named Lola. She is a cockapoo and we love her!

Here are pictures of our trips at Disney World together. Counter clockwise 2008-2011. We have been there 4 times together.

Here is our baby, Lola!

The other person in this trip is my BFF Emily. Emily and I have known each other since kindergarten. We went to Catholic grade school together from K-6th and then I switched to Public schools but we were involved in CYO sports together. I found out that she was going to OSU and then we found out we were in the same scholars program and were going to be in the dorm together! That reunited our friendship and we lived together from 2004-2008. I miss her very much because she still lives in Ohio.

It is Emily's first trip here. She went in HS only to MK for a partial day so I don't count that. I am not entirely sure she liked it, but it was like 100 degrees when she went so she said that was why she didn't like it.
Trip Background
Here's how it came about. She knows I am obsessed with Disney so i asked her if she would want to do a girls trip. She said yes! I told Corey and he said he wanted to go and because Emily and Corey are friends she is okay with that. I originally was going to do a cheap stay and maybe rent DVC points with no dining plan but then nixed that.

I knew I wanted to go during Food and Wine Festival because we love to travel, we have been to China, Mexico, Ireland, and England together, so I knew she will absolutely love Epcot! Plus, that girl can drink (HAHA) so I know she will love the yummy alcoholic beverages Epcot can offer.

Emily just told me this week that her manager approved her time off for the week so it is pretty offical now! The only problem is the BF! He still doesn't know if he wants to go. I told him I am going no matter what because of Emily. I want to show her my favorite place in the world. Unfortunately, we are on a free dining pin under Corey's name, so he has to go( I think) unless we book a new free dining offer in my name.

That is kind of the basic details. I will keep updating with more details. We have a lot of side trips coming up so I will post about those as well. Next time Emily and I are in a wedding together for our other friend so that is what is going on next week. Hopefully I can talk more about Disney with her then!

Sorry for going on and on. Hopefully I will be able to add more pics because I know PTRs can be Boring!

LINKS
Nitty Gritty Details
Side Trip to the Zoo and Conservatory
Special Surprise- What Should I do?
Mini Wedding Trip Report
Old School DisneyWorld Nostalgia
Food & Wine Festival Food and Drink Must Do's
Disney inspired Birthday Present
I'm Back! Plan Update
ADRs! The good Stuff =)
Plan Update- AK in 4 Hours!??
Trip Update/Shopping List
MN State Fair- AKA Food Porn!!
Family Video June 2011
BDAY Dinner Part 1
BDAY Dinner Part 2
Life Update/Randomness
Nature Pics/Food & Wine List Update
Special Delivery= MICKEY Mail!!
Interesting night with a Sick Dog
Bad Monday!
Weekend Update
BEST NEWS EVER!!!!!!!
Excel Schedule
Stress, Stress, and More Stress!
First Day Plans! AK! Will we have enough time!??
3 Days TO GO!!
HS Plans!!!
Today's the Day!!

 

[rachel09985]

Now onto some fun details as I am sitting here bored(Corey's controlling the TV as usual!)

I guarantee all of this stuff will change so take all of this with a grain of salt because it probably will change!

When: We have decided on November 1st through November 6th. Emily leaves on November 5th but Corey and I will stay an extra night. Our work vacation starts over on November 1st so that is why we need to come in then.

Where: We are staying at.......

in the

I am sooo excited to stay here. That is what kind of initiated the whole thing. I have a very very low patience level. When I want to do something I want to do it NOW!

Therefore, when AoA opened, I wanted to see it NOW! Thus began me trying to find someone to go with which led to Emily!

How: I knew there were pins being released for Free Dining so I kept calling to see if I had a pin, and I didn't. However, Corey had a pin so I booked it then and there on our hand dandy Disney Visa. I think for each of us to go it is going to be $520 or so, however that is for 4 nights! I told Corey I would cover our alone night so I will be paying a bit more. But, I just got a promotion last month with a 10% raise so that is my present to myself

We upgraded to the Regular Dining Plan which is $17 per day. I hate how they keep increasing the cost of the dining plan. I really don't think it is worth it to get the dining plan now. It includes a mug now??Big Whoop, i barely use the mug.

I thought about going moderate this trip because with 3 of us it would make the room cheaper and free dining wouldn't need to be upgraded, but I couldn't do it because I want Art of Animation. I try to spend as little as possible on the hotel bc you are only in there to sleep! Maybe a couple times in our lives we will upgrade but I can't foresee it any time soon.

We do not have Park Hoppers, BUT, I am still considering to get it for all three of us. I just don't know. We would probably only park hop twice. Is it worth it for just two times!?

To close, I am really really excited about this trip but I am incredibly worried it won't live up to Emily's expectations. I know she won't be the Disney obsessed kind of person I am but I really hope she will enjoy herself and be able to act like a kid for 5 days here. I just want her to have a great time and not regret it.

 

[reyasmommy]

I'm sure she'll love it, I don't know how you can't? Wow, 10 years and no ring? What's up with that? I thought I had it bad when my husband didn't propose to me after 5. Don't worry it will happen.... Hey, maybe on your trip to Disney? DH and I got married there. We're going to be staying at the AoA in November in the Little Mermaid room too, I CAN'T wait! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[rachel09985]

I'm sure she'll love it, I don't know how you can't? Wow, 10 years and no ring? What's up with that? I thought I had it bad when my husband didn't propose to me after 5. Don't worry it will happen.... Hey, maybe on your trip to Disney? DH and I got married there. We're going to be staying at the AoA in November in the Little Mermaid room too, I CAN'T wait! Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks so much for reading! I know 10 years! It sounds soo long, but we started dating our junior year in high school so I guess I can't count those. I know, I need to tell my friend to MAKE him propose there. But I have been hoping for a Disney proposal since 2010 so I am not sure that will happen either. Haha!

 

[rachel09985]

To keep this interesting and fun I am going to post Non Disney updates as well. Since Corey and I went to the Como Zoo and Conservatory today, I am going to post pics of that. I got some good ones.

Another reason why I want to go to Disney this year(we were going to wait until next year and take this year off) is because I got a DSLR camera for Christmas, it is the Canon T3 and so far I really like it, but I need practice badly. I want to use it at Disney to take some great photos.

We had fun at the Zoo and conservatory today. It is a free zoo so that is a plus. It was crowded today because it was the first day of non 90s in like 9 days or something. Yesterday it was 101 and today it was 85. Being at this zoo just made me appreciate Disney so much. You just get the most crazy people at local attractions. You definitely appreciate the details and cleanliness at Disney.

Anyways, here are my pictures. I am proud of them=)

Sunflower- my fav picture I took

Porcupine Tree -ouch that would hurt!

Cool Looking Orange Flower

Beautiful purple flowers

Another weird looking plant

Polar Bear Paw- love this too!

Giraffe

Deep in Thought Monkeys

Monkey was hanging from his tail checking out his reflection!

Well Hi! =)

Strawberry Plant

Conservatory

It was a fun day! I need to learn how to use my camera. It was hard taking pictures in the dark rooms with no flash. I needed a tripod or something. After we went to Menchies for frozen yougurt and later I picked up Chipotle for dinner. We also just got done watching Dolphin Tale, what a cute movie!

Good night, my Dis Friends!

 

[rachel09985]

I just made something on my computer to show my plans for our trip.

Here is the situation:
I want to do something special for this trip. I posted something on the Them Parks Board about this, but I want do one splurge this trip for the 3 of us, about $150. Here are my three ideas with pros and cons on each!

1.) Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast ($156)
Pros: Eat with Aurora(a must do), eat in the castle, and a new restaurant for us!
Cons: $156 for Breakfast for 3 People!!?? That number is sickening!!

2.) Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Pros: Will allow us to be at AK in the morning until noon or 1, AK would have to be squeezed into Emily's departure day, which, who knows when she will have to leave. There are things I want to do for sure at AK. Other pros- New event for us, we looove the Christmas Party and Emily loves Halloween so I am sure she would like to dress up
Cons: Not sure if Emily will like this party. Like I said, she is new to this Disney thing and I am not sure if she will appreciate this special event like Corey and I would. Also, this party is after halloween, so not sure if that will feel weird. Also, we would have to be out until midnight, which I know I would be sooo tired,especially on this short trip. I don't want to drain Emily out. She works very hard and this is her vacation too, I don't want to overwork her.

3.)Purchase Park Hoppers for the group
Pros: Would allow us to park hop to AK in the morning and MK at night. Also will allow us to Park Hop to Epcot(my main focus) after Hollywood Studios early night. I want to make sure she sees everything so this would help
Cons: Not a real tangible gift. I won't make her pay for this upgrade so she won't really know the difference.

After putting my plans out on paper I am thinking i want to do Park Hoppers. I polled Corey and he voted park hoppers. I just feel the park hoppers are essential to get done what I want to get done this trip. The Halloween Party won't be appreciated and breakfast is just kinda ridiculous for the price.

Here is my schedule: If you have any opinions or suggestions please let me know!

 

[emmysmommy]

Rachel: I remember your dining reviews! I have so many comments.... let's start with Lola is absolutely adorable!

Have you had a DSLR camera before? I bought one last year and for the life of me I have no clue! Your photos are amazing!

I hear you about the paid of paying $150+ for CRT breakfast... but it will hopefully be a magical experience. I found out after we went last time that you can ask for more than one entree so that may make a difference next time.


I love, love, love your organization and spreadsheet. I have my own version that I'll post later but you have a great plan!

Happy planning and I'm definitely stopping by to check in - regularly!

 

[rachel09985]

Rachel: I remember your dining reviews! I have so many comments.... let's start with Lola is absolutely adorable!

Have you had a DSLR camera before? I bought one last year and for the life of me I have no clue! Your photos are amazing!

I hear you about the paid of paying $150+ for CRT breakfast... but it will hopefully be a magical experience. I found out after we went last time that you can ask for more than one entree so that may make a difference next time.


I love, love, love your organization and spreadsheet. I have my own version that I'll post later but you have a great plan!

Happy planning and I'm definitely stopping by to check in - regularly!

Thanks for joining in! I always love your dining reports. You seem like the coolest mom! Can you adopt me!?? Haha!

I have never had a DSLR before. It is very hard to understand. It takes me like 1 minute to set up the settings for each picture. At Disney, I feel my pics will be horrible because you have to be ready!

Thanks for the spreadsheet comment. I love Excel( I work on Excel all day) so I am always playing with Excel. I will post my advanced one later too!

You have a lot less to go than me. This is going to go by so slow.

 

[emmysmommy]

Thanks for joining in! I always love your dining reports. You seem like the coolest mom! Can you adopt me!?? Haha!
.

You are so cute! I'm definitely old enough to be your mom plus some years.

Whatever you are doing with your camera is working! Your photos are quite impressive.

Bring on the spreadsheets! We talk the same language in excel speak!

 

[rachel09985]

Sooo, I have news that does NOT make me happy.

Corey and I work together so we email back and forth all day. I checked on Expedia and our Delta tickets we want went down to $269! That is $100 cheaper than they were this weekend! I don't think the tickets will go down any cheaper than $250 so i want to get them.

Well here's how the conversation went:

Me: Yeah, we need to do Delta! $268 round trip is a good price!

Corey: Let me think about it.

Me: Ok. I would even let you pick dinner one night (not Cape May!)

Corey: Why Can't we go there?

Me: I didn't really like it last time.

Corey: would Emily rather it just be you two? Cause I don't need to go.

My thoughts: What?? The whole reason you are going is because you told me I couldn't go unless you went!!!

What I really said: Well I want you to go because I want to stay at Art of Animation and the free dining is under your name.

Corey: So that didn't really answer the question, your just stating that I'm needed to go for you to save money.

Me: The whole reason you were going is because you said I couldn't go to Disney without you.

Corey: Well if you want to go without me you can.

Me: No, I want you to go. Emily wants you to go too but she said she would have just as much fun with just me.

**I sent him my schedule and then persuaded him based on the funness of the schedule!

That's basically the end of the convo. Now he is asking all questions about my plans, so maybe he is in to it.

Bottom line is I do want him to! I am excited to spend time with Emily but Corey and I love Disney and I can't imagine going here without him again. it is our thing! Plus, he hasn't seen Emily in a long time!

We are booked under his PIN too so if he doesn't go we would have to stay at Pop. The whole point of this trip is to be at AoA

He doesn't want to go because of money, which I understand but I don't like.

Anyways, just wanted to share. Hopefully he decides to go. $750 for 5 nights is not that much money. I mean, it is, but it isn't..

 

[rachel09985]

I may have hooked him in!

I keep trying to bribe him. So far I have cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, ironed his clothes. He told me he would go if I cleaned the house really good before I leave him this weekend.

Muahhah! The things I do for a Disney trip.

He still hasn't said yes or no but he is asking specific question about Disney and uses the term "We". That is promising!

Now off to finish the Bachelorette =)

 

[emmysmommy]

Keep up with the bribing! If that doesn't work try guilt. Good luck with that and I look forward to seeing how this works out.

 

[rachel09985]

Corey told me I could book the flights last night!!!! So I have been looking at flights like crazy.

So when i went to purchase our flight this morning, it went up in the middle of me buying it!! What in the world! That has never happened to me.It went up 70 dollars combined. The flight that is still the same price doesn't get in until 2 pm and that is too late for us.

But now we are looking at coming in the night before at 11:45pm and staying at extra night at Pop Century the night before. That would be Halloween- that woudl be kind of fun to fly on Halloween!

This trip is still 3months away though. Do you think the flights will get cheaper or do you think I should book now when they are reasonable to pay?

 

[rachel09985]

Our flights are booked!!!! I am so excited. Corey finally said YES for sure!! Yippppeeee!!

We did decide on coming in the night before. I think we are doing a room only night at AoA on October 31st then our package begins November 1st.

That will be kind of fun to fly in on Halloween! Hopefully we see some funny costumes in the airport and maybe people from the Halloween party coming back to the hotel all dress up.

Here are our flight details.

Once again, I am so excited!

Oh yeah, people need to start reading this or else I won't be motivated. I am so excited to start doing trip reports and dining reports. Hopefully I can keep you all intrigued!

 

[rachel09985]

The wedding yesterday was a success. Emily and I had a great time and it was so fun!!! We had a little too much fun!

I post pictures of it when I get back home to Minneapolis. The wedding was in Cleveland Ohio at the Natural history musem.

I kept bringing up Disney to Emily. I even brought home my Disney bag and gave her an old Disney vacation information with all kinds of pamphlets that I have got over the years. Maps, Guide to the magic, etc. I sure gave her some reading to do!!

She seems excited, so I am super excited to go again this year!

 

[rachel09985]

Wow, what a weekend! The wedding was so much fun. Emily and I were in our friend from college's wedding this week. Her name is Karyn and she is marrying Ryan from England. They are so cute together. I am so happy for her!! The wedding was in Cleveland at the Natural History Museum and we stayed that night at the Hyatt Downtown Cleveland.

Cortney and I taking a picture in the Hyatt

Cool reception area

The ceremony was outside of the museum in their live animals area. It was so cool! the ceremony was very short, maybe 15 minutes. I should have worn different shoes because my feet were in so much pain. I was seriously shaking because the hurt so bad. The reception was beautiful and there was an open bar haha!

We had an awesome stretch Navigator for our transportation.

There was lots of Grey Goose vodka consumed by everyone(not me of course!)

After the reception we walked around the exhibits and took some funny pics!

Here is the beautiful bride Karyn. I was in awe of how amazing she looked. She has such natural beauty and was radiant.

Emily and I with the bride

Emily and I with the groom

Emily and I being goofy lol

Bridesmaids Group Pic- minus our friend Courtney

Bonus food porn. Whenever I go home I have to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse and have my favorite cheesefries ever

Mango Strawberry Margarita- delicious but I don't think there was any alcohol in there

All was well until yesterday morning of this weekend.

My grandma was rushed to the ER unresponsive. She is in ICU still unresponsive. She was found in a pile of her own vomit, they think she aspirated it and she was barely breathing on her own. They came to the conclusion she has sepsis and is getting an EEG to check for brain activity. If there is no brain activity we might have to pull the plugs. Please pray for our family in this time of need. My dad had to bury his father in February and it will be hard if he has to bury his mom 6 months after.

 

[rachel09985]

Keep up with the bribing! If that doesn't work try guilt. Good luck with that and I look forward to seeing how this works out.

The bribing did work! I am so happy. I think he is excited. He truly does love Disney too, he was just worried about paying for it!

 

[reyasmommy]

How fun! Having a wedding at the Museum. My senior prom was at the Denver Nature and History Museum. It was my first date with my husband. Wow, I feel old.

I agree, your photos are pretty great. Not bad for a beginner. Keep it up and your Disney pictures will be amazing.

Don't be discouraged about people not responding to your PTR... I understand the feeling, but it's fun to look back on your PTR's and TR's in the future. You'll be glad you did it regarless if anyone else read it.

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandmother. My grandma and I were best friends and I lost her last year. It must be scary what you're going through. You will both be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[rachel09985]

How fun! Having a wedding at the Museum. My senior prom was at the Denver Nature and History Museum. It was my first date with my husband. Wow, I feel old.

I agree, your photos are pretty great. Not bad for a beginner. Keep it up and your Disney pictures will be amazing.

Don't be discouraged about people not responding to your PTR... I understand the feeling, but it's fun to look back on your PTR's and TR's in the future. You'll be glad you did it regarless if anyone else read it.

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandmother. My grandma and I were best friends and I lost her last year. It must be scary what you're going through. You will both be in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for your kind words about my grandma. It is definitely a waiting game at this point. I was supposed to be driving back to Minneapolis today but we need to wait to make sure she is going to make it first.

I will like to look back it in the future. I also re read my dining reports Plus, it is good to get your thoughts out!

 

[niknakk]

Great PTR! I love it, you guys are going to have a blast!!

I feel the same way with my PTR! Almost no responses, but hey after the trip I will always be able to look back and see how I planned everything.

Cant wait to read more!!