In Loving Memory... We’re Going Deluxe! - A Jan 2013 PTR (TR Link 01/28)

[inkedupmomma]

On phone both fonts look fine, but on my desktop the original is a bit tough to read:/

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[KatMark]

For my old eyes, the second one is much easier to read.

 

[Pluto0809]

Joining in. Can't wait to read more!

I'm going to say the Poly and Boarkwalk for your resorts.

As to the fonts, the second one is easier to read for me!

 

[ronnmel]

Both font colors look good to me!

It looked fine to me too, but Ron told me it was hard to read.

On phone both fonts look fine, but on my desktop the original is a bit tough to read:/

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

For my old eyes, the second one is much easier to read.

As to the fonts, the second one is easier to read for me!

Thanks for the input everyone. I ended up going with an even darken green than the second font, so hopefully that should be fine for everyone on any type of screens.

 

[lovethattink]

For my old eyes, the second one is much easier to read.

me too, those old eyes will do it to us.

 

[ronnmel]

The Cast​

Before I introduce the resorts, I should probably talk about who is going on this trip of a lifetime.


Let's start with me. As I've said in the first post, my name is Mel. I look like I’m 20, but I’m actually in my early thirties. I'm a teacher and a new mom to a wonderful baby girl.

Favorite park : It’s a three-way tie for first place. I like Hollywood Studios for the thrills (and TSM, and Red Velvet cupcakes), Magic Kingdom for the, well, magic, as well as the sheer amount of attractions, and Epcot for the experience overall vibe of the park. Animal Kingdom is fourth, but only by default. I love it a lot too!


My husband, Ron. He's 7 years older than me. He does some kind of office job, but most of all he is an awesome dad! He changes diapers, plays with her, and gets up in the middle of the night to feed her. I'm so lucky!!!

Favorite park: He loves DHS the most, I'm guessing because of TOT, Star Tours and RNR. He could spend the entire day riding these over and over. Like me though he actually loves all four parks, and MK, Epcot and AK (in that order) are not far behind.


Both my ticker and the first post say this trip will be Peanut's first trip. Who is this little Peanut, you ask? She's our new baby girl, Claudia. She's 5 months today!!

Obviously I don't know her favorite park yet. Instead, I'll just post more photos, because you can never have too many baby pictures, right?

Here she is, playing with her Baby Goofy.

We just started feeding her cereals this week. The first few days she'd take the spoon and shove it in her mouth. Now she's just lazy and waits for me to feed her.

There is one more person in the cast, and that is Ron's daughter, DD13. Ron does not feel comfortable with me putting photos of DD13 because we don’t have permission from her mom. So I’m going to cheat and put this photo of the side of her head, holding her little sister. Peanut was just 3 days old here!!

Also I won’t reveal her real name. Instead I’ll call her Otaku. It means nerd in Japanese. Don’t worry, I’m not insulting her, she calls herself that! She loves all things Japanese, anime, Korean pop music (K-pop) and Zombies. She enjoys going to Disney, but she is not a Disney “fan”. When she came to Disney with us at 9 y.o. her favorite park was Epcot

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay for a cast update! I LOVE all of the pictures, including the ones of you and Ron, they are all great.

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

Great cast! Peanut is so cute! I can't wait to hear about the travel plans! This trip will be here before you know it.

 

[lovethattink]

Peanut is just the cutest and looks like Otaku adores her.

 

[ronnmel]

Resort #1​

Both resorts were guessed by at least two people. :

The first resort we are staying at is a value. December 31st and January 1st are amongst the most expensive nights to stay in Disney. It would not have made sense to switch our dates by two days to save 500$ on the flights, only to go and spend even more than that on the room. With that said, where to stay was really a no-brainer. As much as we loved POP during our Disneymoon, I’d like to stay at every resort Disney has to offer. One in particular sticks out in my mind, and that is...

Art of Animation!

I WANT to stay there so bad!!! I was already excited by the concept art, but now that the resort is open and I’ve seen the photos, I’m blown away!!! It really looks AMAZING!!! You have to understand, I’m someone who LOVES vibrant colors and bold motifs. I’m much more of an “in-your-face” decoration kind of girl, not so much a big fan of neutrals and subtlety. So this resort is right up my alley. While I would have loved to stay in a family suite (and Ron was even pushing for us to stay in one as opposed to staying at a deluxe resort for the remainder of our stay), again it would not make sense to spend the extra money that we just saved. So we will be staying in a Little Mermaid room.

I absolutely do not mind as I think those rooms look so nice. I don’t even mind the longer walk to the food court and buses, as I’ll have lots to look at, what with all the gorgeous details of the different sections. It’s only for two days anyway. I’m especially excited about seeing the resort at night, as I haven’t seen too many photos of that.

I’ll be back later with our choice of deluxe resort. After that next update I’ll reply to all your posts individually.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay! AoA looks so nice, and I will definitely be checking them out while I'm there in a couple weeks.

 

[AvasMommy526]

Awesome start!!
I love the cast update and seriously Claudia is gorgeous! I just love her pictures! I can't wait to see her in Disney!
I got the first part of the resort guessing right! I think AoA is great, I love the bright colors and "fun-ness" to the resort. I've heard the food court has some great selections too! Can't wait to hear about the deluxe resort

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Mel,

Subbing on...

First, I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. It sounds like a lot of good things have been happening for you... and it must be extra poignant for you to have lost her during that period... it's nice to be able to take the trip in her memory. I agree with you about the importance of living life and taking time to enjoy it along the way. What's that quote... Life is what happens while your making other plans?

Claudia is beautiful... Congratulations on her and Congrats on your marriage...

How fabulous to spend NYE in Disney... it sounds awesome...

Looking forward to reading along...

 

[disneykiwi]

Hi Mel

I have lurked on all your trip reports and really enjoyed them. You had a beautiful wedding and the disneymoon was a great read.

Your little peanut is gorgeous and I love all the pics of her. I was so sorry to hear about your Mum passing but hope the new trip planning and your lovely bubby are keeping you busy and the memories of Mum are all happy ones.

Cant wait for this trip report especially you being there NYE.

 

[ronnmel]

Resort #2​

The second resort was a little more complicated to choose. The 35% off deal had been out for a few weeks already by the time we booked, so the choices were slightly more limited. Mainly, Boardwalk and Contemporary were out as they had no rooms available under the discount. It would have been so cool to be able to walk to Magic Kingdom!!!

Some resorts did not interest us, either because of theming, location and/price. The final decision came down between three resorts : Animal Kingdom Lodge, Beach Club and Polynesian.

Although I think AKL is gorgeous, I didn’t want to stay there this trip for two reasons. The first reason is because of the location. I’m used to having to take the bus everywhere in Disney, but since this trip I actually had the money to stay close to a park, I wanted to take full advantage of it. The second reason is that AKL is the cheapest of the deluxe resorts, so there is actually a chance that we could stay there on a future trip, either with another room-only discount or by renting DVC points.

Deciding between Poly and BC was much harder. There are so many good reasons to stay at both! Here are the pros (and some cons) for each of the resorts:

Beach Club :
- Within walking distance of two of our three favorite parks (Epcot and DHS)
- Best pool on property (if it’s warm enough to swim...)
- I really want to try Beaches & Cream
- Most of our ADRs are in that area
- Garden view guarantees us not to be looking at a parking lot (or rooftop)
- Not a big fan of the theme, especially the rooms. Too plain for me.

Polynesian:
- Easy access to two of our three favorite parks via monorail (MK and Epcot)
- Love love LOVE the theme, the way the rooms look, walking around the grounds, the fact that it’s more spread out
- Dole Whip
- The tropical theming
- Wacthing Wishes from the Poly beach was one of our favorite memories from our Disneymoon
- Did I mention how much I love the island feel?
- More expensive
- Standard view means we could either be looking at a garden (good) or a parking lot (not so good)

Okay, so what’s our choice?

Beach Club!

Even though the Poly is our ultimate dream resort, we chose BC for a couple of reasons. Money was the main reason. Even though I actually have the funds for deluxe, Ron did not like spending all that money on “just the room” (his words, not mine), and would have preferred we splurge on a family suite at AoA instead since at least there we would have gotten an extra room. I was nice and met him halfway by not choosing the most expensive deluxe.

The other reason, which kind of stems from the first one, is that chosen the least expensive of the two choices frees up some money for food and most of our choices of ADR are in the Epcot/Epcot resorts area anyway.

I mentioned in the cons that I wasn’t a big fan of the rooms, but at least they look MUCH better since the refurb. Here is what they looked like before:

Here is what they look like now:

So much more elegant now! If the room had not been refurbed I don’t care how much more money we would have had to spend, but I would have chosen the Poly for sure. At first I was not sure about the decision of staying at BC and wanted to keep our options opened, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. Walking to Epcot is going to be so awesome!

Do you want to hear about our ADRs or our plans next?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay for choosing Beach Club, I'm sure you'll love it! I understand your decision, both the pros and cons. And the rooms do look a lot nicer since the refurb.

As for what you should do next, I vote plans!

 

[ronnmel]

Hey Mel!! I'm here!! I guess I can't guess your resorts!!! Lol!!!

I can say this though!! I just know you guys will have an awesome vacation!!!

That would have been cheating! I think you are right, this vacation will be amazing!

Also while I'm here, I finally decided to go with A Baby's Best Friend for my stroller rental I'll send ya an email once the kids go to bed!

Thanks.

I'm in!

Glad to see you here.

Here~!

Woohoo!

I saw your post on Facebook. We don't know each other, but I've seen you on other threads that we are both subscribed to, and I'm joining in.

***I'm back. I read the intros; I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I know how difficult it is...I lost my dad a week before our 25th wedding anniversary trip four years ago.

I'm going with Poly as your deluxe, but guessing you are going to stay at AOA for your first days.

Yes, I've seen you around as well.

Thank you. Some days are harder than others, but it's getting better. I know it was four years ago, but sorry for you loss as well.

You were almost right with the Poly, but congrats on guessing AoA!!!

ok, subbed.. I'm calling Poly and AKL.. no clue why though lololol

That's not true that you don't know why, you told me your reasoning! You guessed wrong, but those two are definitely on my list to try!

I'm here!!!

I'm guessing Poly and AKL, which I see was already guessed, but what I think you picked I can't wait for you to get the details started!!

ETA: You should check out the December Roll Call thread! You may be arriving the last day of December, but a lot of them will be there they same time as you, and we are a fun bunch over there!

PART FOUR!! *December 2012 Roll Call* Holidays, FLE & MVMCP!! A very, merry thread!

Hurray! Poly and ALK were very good guesses and could have very well have been true.

Thanks for inviting me. What a chatty bunch!!! I don't know if I can keep up!




Peanut's waking up, be back later to reply to the rest of you.

 

[ronnmel]

Ron and Peanut are Skyping with Otaku right now so I have time to post more replies.

I'm in Mel! Oh my gosh, so excited!!! Baby's first trip!! AHHHH!!!
I can't wait to find out what deluxes you're staying at. I'm hoping one is The Wilderness Lodge!!!

I'm excited too, and I'm glad you are here.

Wilderness Lodge was more expensive than the others. Also, as beautiful as it looks, I can drive 1 hour north of here to the mountains and go to a similar theme kind of resorts, so it's lower on my list.

OK, I'm in!! And I am going with AoA until the room discount kicks in, and then I think I will pick Poly, since it is on the monorail and you will have a little one with you.

Happy you made it here! Congrats, you guessed the right first resort! I was so tempted to stay at Poly and be on the monorail so we could go to MK all the time.

Still not caught up on your TR, but I'm here!

My guess is AKL and the Poly (great minds must think alike)

Glad you're here. Now go read my TR! j/k
Lots of great minds here. One day I'll stay at AKL, that's for sure. And I may not be staying at Poly this trip, but for sure we'll be spending some time there.

I'm subbin. I'm not sure how to guess since I'm confused as to whether it's 2 different deluxe, or just one deluxe after the room rate is discounted. I'm thinking the latter one. Therefore, I'll guess where you usually stay in the value for the beginning, and then on to Polynesian. Whichever resorts you pick, I can hardly wait for the PTR to begin!

Read you soon!

Glad you made it on the correct thread. Sorry I didn't make it clear, you were right, it was one value and one deluxe. With all those Polynesian guesses, maybe I should have gone there!

Hi Mel,

I really enjoyed reading your last report so can't wait for this one

My guesses are The Poly and Beach Club as those are the two resorts we stayed at last month.

It's nice to hear you enjoyed my TR. You guessed the Beach Club! Yay! How was it? Any good nooks and crannies to explore?

I'm guessing Grand Floridian and Beach Club.

My youngest is 8 years old now, but he was 6 weeks old on his first visit to WDW. He's growing up with Disney being a regular part of his life. We made full use of the baby care centers when he was in diapers! They have full sized, padded changing tables. Used them so much that we ended up in the Disney Vacation Planning DVD. They have used parts of that footage all these years!

The baby swap is a great option to be able to ride some attractions!

Another guess for Beach Club! Based on my recent experience at the mall with Peanut, I'm guessing feeding her in the calm of the Baby Care Center might be the way to go! Now I have to go check the planning DVD to see that footage of you!

Otaku will be very happy that we take advantage of the Baby Swap option since she'll get to ride stuff twice.

 

[ronnmel]

Yayaya, what a great start!!! This is going to be such a magical trip for your family
I think I was still lurking at time so I never did say that I'm truly sorry about your moms passing. I can only imagine how difficult it must be, I can say that this trip will have her right with you the whole time

How exciting for NYE!! Oh my gosh, one of my bucket list items is to spend Christmas and NYE in Disney! Awesome

I don't know if I should guess 2 deluxe or one of each, monorail, Epcot, ahhhh so many choices! LOL! So I am going to guess...AOA and Poly orrrrr Yatch Club and Poly! No matter where, it's gonna be a blast!

Hi friend! I really feel like this trip will be special in so many ways.

Thank you. Ron feels that my mom had a hand in us finding such a great deal on our flights. She only went to Magic Kingdom twice for day trips back when I was a toddler. After our 2009 trip I was hoping she'd be able to join us for a later trip, so I hope she's with us in spirit this time.

Of course we dreamed of going to Disney for Christmas and NYE, but we never thought we would get a chance unless we won the lottery. It feels unreal that we will be there for NYE!!!

You got AoA right! Yacht Club would have been a good choice, but BC is slightly better since it's closer to Epcot and I like the beach better than boats.

joining in

Subscribing!

Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming trip and first with DD!

I am going to guess for your two resorts... Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Polynesian


Emma x

Hi Emma! There are going to lots of first on this trip, that's for sure. Your pictures from AKL were so pretty, we will for sure look into renting DVC points there for a future trip. It's so popular though, that would not have worked for a last minute trip like this one.

Joining in. Can't wait to read more!

I'm going to say the Poly and Boarkwalk for your resorts.

As to the fonts, the second one is easier to read for me!

Glad to have you here!

Poly is so pretty, I hope to stay there one day. I would have liked Boardwalk because it has an even better location than Beach Club, but all they had left was Concierge and that was way too expensive.

Yay for a cast update! I LOVE all of the pictures, including the ones of you and Ron, they are all great.

Thank you.

Great cast! Peanut is so cute! I can't wait to hear about the travel plans! This trip will be here before you know it.

and thank you!

I know! I've never had a ticker move so fast! It's great.

Peanut is just the cutest and looks like Otaku adores her.

Thank you! Otaku lights up every time she sees her little sister on the computer screen when Ron and her Skype.

 

[ronnmel]

Yay! AoA looks so nice, and I will definitely be checking them out while I'm there in a couple weeks.

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Awesome start!!
I love the cast update and seriously Claudia is gorgeous! I just love her pictures! I can't wait to see her in Disney!
I got the first part of the resort guessing right! I think AoA is great, I love the bright colors and "fun-ness" to the resort. I've heard the food court has some great selections too! Can't wait to hear about the deluxe resort

Thank you! I can't wait to see her in Disney as well. I love the bright colors and "fun-ness" of it too! That's the one thing I worry about, that the food court at BC won't be as good as POP/AoA.

Hey Mel,

Subbing on...

First, I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. It sounds like a lot of good things have been happening for you... and it must be extra poignant for you to have lost her during that period... it's nice to be able to take the trip in her memory. I agree with you about the importance of living life and taking time to enjoy it along the way. What's that quote... Life is what happens while your making other plans?

Claudia is beautiful... Congratulations on her and Congrats on your marriage...

How fabulous to spend NYE in Disney... it sounds awesome...

Looking forward to reading along...

Thank you. Yes, it's been a bittersweet two years, with the wedding, the pregnancy/birth, the Disneymoon, and my mom's illness and passing away. You are right, I feel it's harder to lose her now. I wish I could ask her questions about how I was as a baby to compare to Peanut. I'm especially sad that Peanut won't grow up to know her grandma. That's a nice quote.

Thank you again. I love looking at Claudia!

NYE in Disney will be amazing!

Hi Mel

I have lurked on all your trip reports and really enjoyed them. You had a beautiful wedding and the disneymoon was a great read.

Your little peanut is gorgeous and I love all the pics of her. I was so sorry to hear about your Mum passing but hope the new trip planning and your lovely bubby are keeping you busy and the memories of Mum are all happy ones.

Cant wait for this trip report especially you being there NYE.

I'm so glad you decided to not be a lurker anymore! It's nice to hear that you enjoyed my previous TRs.

Thank you, thank you. Peanut and Ron are sure keeping me busy and happy. I do have some great memories of my mom, the most recent being seeing her smile every time she saw her grandchild.

I can't wait for this trip to happen!

Yay for choosing Beach Club, I'm sure you'll love it! I understand your decision, both the pros and cons. And the rooms do look a lot nicer since the refurb.

As for what you should do next, I vote plans!

The more I think about it, the more I'm liking the idea of staying at Beach Club. Thank god for that refurb!

Good thing I actually made those plans today then!