Our Disney obsession finally comes true- A Disney sister trip! (update 2/8)

[emilyindisney]

Hi all! Seeing as I'm new to the site I'll start my first PTR with a little introduction. As my username surely implies, I'm Emily and a lifelong Disney fanatic. At 19, I don't think I'm quite as much of a seasoned traveler as some of my fellow disboarders but I'm eager to learn all sorts of travel tips from you friendly folks!

After a reading a couple of really heart-warming trip reports I decided that I should take a stab at one. Heck, I don't even know if anyone will read this but I figure I like talking about Disney so much I don't even think I'd care if I were just talking to myself, haha! So, if anyone is in fact reading I'm on my way to the trip details- you know, the 'meat and potatoes' that all us Disnerds love to hear about!

First, let me introduce the cast of this little Disney tale! As I mentioned earlier, I'm Em.

As you can see, I'm currently a UConn student, and enjoy running. In November, I completed my first half marathon in Philadelphia, and look forward to running another one soon!

My traveling companion, and one and only sister, is Caitlin. She's 25 and works as a professional horse trainer. Here's a picture of her on our last family trip to Disney in 2008.

She's visited three (I believe, give or take a trip) times since this picture. For the purposes of our story, I figure I'll call her DSis (seeing as I lack a DH, DD, or DS.)

Now, on to the good stuff! We'll be traveling to the happiest place on earth 1/13/13 to 1/19/13 and staying at the Art of Animation. I'm particuarly pumped for our stay at AoA because we'll be in an LM room, and she is my absolute favorite! We're die-hard believers in the Dining Plan, so we got that and made reservations at Tusker House (character breakfast!), Sci-Fi Drive In, Coral Reef, Garden Grill (character dinner!), Be Our Guest hyper and 1900s Park Fare (character breakfast!)

I made a fancy flowchart on the computer that marks of all of our days and what we're doing. It includes or dining reservations, plans for the day and the park hours. I'm actually quite proud of myself! To save you from my overplanning, I'll give the gist.

Sunday- Fly in, check in.
Monday- AK, DHS
Tuesday- AK, Epcot
Wednesday- We're venturing off-property to check out Universal
Thursday- MK
Friday- DHS, Epcot
Saturday- Breakfast, and a look around GF

I think I'll leave it at that, and go into the final planning/organizing when I write again!

 

[danicaca]

I am here! Started reading this last night before you commented on mine!

 

[emilyindisney]

I am here! Started reading this last night before you commented on mine!

Just saw your post saying you'd started reading on your PTR, haha! Thanks for joining in!

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

 

[emilyindisney]

Count me in!!!

Woohoo!

 

[taymacsmom]

Here I am Em! I am also in CT and have two DDs around your age. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Kelly

 

[emilyindisney]

Here I am Em! I am also in CT and have two DDs around your age. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Kelly

Hi Kelly!

Nice to see a fellow CT resident! Thanks for joining

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

you guys will love AoA a great resort.

i noticed only one day at MK, think that will be enough to do everything there? but maybe im just used to that being our kids favorite park and spending multiple days there.

 

[emilyindisney]

you guys will love AoA a great resort.

I've actually been following your trip report pretty diligently and I'm loving all your AoA pictures! I was practically in tears (of excitement) over the fact I could buy my own LM shower curtain!

i noticed only one day at MK, think that will be enough to do everything there? but maybe im just used to that being our kids favorite park and spending multiple days there.

I'm hoping it'll be. We're planning on doing open to close in hopes we can make it to everything. However, if anything, we'll have to make some concessions as to what we're dying to see because our MK Must-See list is pretty long. Last time we visited we came in with the 'MK is for kids' attitude and we're pretty surprised to find out how wrong we were! Now we're hoping small crowds will let us get on all the things we missed last time.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

I've actually been following your trip report pretty diligently and I'm loving all your AoA pictures! I was practically in tears (of excitement) over the fact I could buy my own LM shower curtain!



I'm hoping it'll be. We're planning on doing open to close in hopes we can make it to everything. However, if anything, we'll have to make some concessions as to what we're dying to see because our MK Must-See list is pretty long. Last time we visited we came in with the 'MK is for kids' attitude and we're pretty surprised to find out how wrong we were! Now we're hoping small crowds will let us get on all the things we missed last time.

the curtains were nice but i think they were close to 100 bucks, maybe more...but according to the CM they last forever because they are commercial grade and never wear out.

in case i dont get to it before you leave if yo ugo into any of the other buildings check out there carpets on the floor, they all have an unique design and a hidden mickey in them. if you are into that sort of thing.

hope the crowds are lighter for you and you can make everything on your list.

 

[emilyindisney]

the curtains were nice but i think they were close to 100 bucks, maybe more...but according to the CM they last forever because they are commercial grade and never wear out.

Yeah, that's a little out of my shower curtain budget I have to imagine that at that much money, they'll last you forever though!

in case i dont get to it before you leave if yo ugo into any of the other buildings check out there carpets on the floor, they all have an unique design and a hidden mickey in them. if you are into that sort of thing.

hope the crowds are lighter for you and you can make everything on your list.

Thanks for the tip! I'm guessing you mean the other resort sections? My sister is a huge Lion King fan so I'm sure we'll spend lots of time wandering the resort to check out that section especially.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Yeah, that's a little out of my shower curtain budget I have to imagine that at that much money, they'll last you forever though!



Thanks for the tip! I'm guessing you mean the other resort sections? My sister is a huge Lion King fan so I'm sure we'll spend lots of time wandering the resort to check out that section especially.

yep a little pricey even for lasting forever...ill buy the cheap ones many times over.

yep the other sections that have the inside walkways.

 

[emilyindisney]

That's right! Cue the dramatic Europe music, because with 6 days to go, it's the final countdown!

DSis and I are thrilled! Everyday we text each other and say what we'll be doing in exactly a week. For example, today I received a text reminding me that in one week we'll be eating Mickey waffles with Donald Duck. Last night, I sent one to DSis reminding her we'd be Orlando bound in one week. Very fun stuff

Today, I headed over to AAA to pick up our packet with our ME tags, Mickey Mouse luckage tags, and reservation info. The was the first time I met our TA face-to-face and she was just as nice and helpful as she's been over the phone for the past few month. Seriously, if any other CT AAA members need a good TA, let me know and I'll give you her name! On going through my packet, I did find a little bit of an ME issue (I'm using the term issue loosely.) When reading through the fine print I found that if you arrive after 10 pm, ME won't pick up your luckage for you. Our flight is scheduled to land at 9:31 pm, so I'm a little worried that if we run late, we'll have to run and grab our own bags last minute. Obviously this will only be an issue if we running late, so here's to hoping everything runs (or flies, in this care) smoothly!

Now that I've got the rest of our tickets, plans, etc. it was time to complete my binder. Have I mentioned the binder yet? I can't remember. Until I found DIS, I thought I was just being anal by making a binder that includes all the information, coupons, confirmations and directions we could possibly need on our trip. Of course, once I joined DIS and found that not only do you guys make binders, but you decorate them to look awesome, I felt much better

On a crafty note, I made some mousekeeping envelopes this week. I saw this idea floating around on the DIS and thought it was cute! I had some time on my hands, so I figured I'd throw some together.

Seeing as we're staying six nights, I made one for each park, a LM one, and then just a Mickey one. It was definitely fun for pull out my old scrapbooking stuff for the afternoon!

I haven't done much packing yet, but I have finished all my pre-trip shopping. My last purchase was those throw away ponchos that come all packaged up in little bags. I couldn't believe how many stores I had to visit to find these! If I didn't find them today at K-Mart, I was giving up and taking my chances with the weather (which so far looks wonderful ) but luckily we had a winner! Last week I picked up two of those micropackaged face clothes from the dollar store (you know, those ones that expand when you put them in water.) They had a couple different Disney designs, but I figured I'd grab to different Mickey patterns- one for me, and one for DSis. Even though she's 25, I know she'll still be excited to find a Mickey souvenir on her pillow!

That pretty much wraps up the pre-trip details! Instead of leaving you hanging, I figured I take a minute and show you guys some of the awesome Disney stuff I recieved for Christmas this year. It was definitely a Disney themed holiday this year!

One thing I asked for that I was most excited for was this:

Yup, that's right. That's the original cover to the October 15th, 1971 LIFE magazine that features 1,500 Disney employees on the steps of the castle. Definitely an awesome piece of park history that I'm proud to hang up at home!

One of my mom's good friends visited the world back in September and picked up luckage tags for me and my sister. Normally I'm happy with the plastic ones AAA gives you, so this was a pleasant surprise!

DSis' is a red tag with Minnie's bow.

Finally, my mom found these at the local drug store:

Too cute to eat, right?!

Thanks for reading with me so far! Unless anything major happens before Sunday, I'll be back in 2-3 weeks with the beginning of my TR! I'll link it here in case anyone is subbed

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

one tip, since you are landing that late, i would pick up the luggage anyway and take it with you to the ME, otherwise, since it takes up to 3 hours to get to your room, it could get pretty late when your stuff arrives...that way if you are tired you can have it with you and not worry about the luggage arriving after 11...

just a thought.

 

[emilyindisney]

one tip, since you are landing that late, i would pick up the luggage anyway and take it with you to the ME, otherwise, since it takes up to 3 hours to get to your room, it could get pretty late when your stuff arrives...that way if you are tired you can have it with you and not worry about the luggage arriving after 11...

just a thought.

Thanks for the advice! I was going to call the resort and see if they thought the luggage delivery might be any faster because its so late at night. We definitely don't want to be waiting up for our clothes to arrive!

 

[Alysa]

I did a minnie marathon at Disney with my sister. We had a great trip - enjoy yours! Looking forward to hearing about it when you return!

 

[disneygirl520]

I'm here to read along!!!

 

[emilyindisney]

Welcome, welcome ladies!

I'm finally going to crack down and start my actual TR this weekend. I'll post a link here, as well as sticking one in my signature!

 

[emma212010]

As promised, I'm here! I know you're already back, but I'm so intrigued by your Disney binder! What is it? I'm planning a trip in June and would love a way to be more organized! I am an avid couponer, so I have a binder full of coupons, but not a Disney one.

ANYWAY.

Your Mousekeeper envelopes look great!

I can't wait to read your TR!

 

[emilyindisney]

As promised, I'm here! I know you're already back, but I'm so intrigued by your Disney binder! What is it? I'm planning a trip in June and would love a way to be more organized! I am an avid couponer, so I have a binder full of coupons, but not a Disney one.

ANYWAY.

Your Mousekeeper envelopes look great!

I can't wait to read your TR!

Ah, my binder...

At first, it was supposed to be a gag gift of sorts to my sister for her birthday, which was a few weeks before we left. She can be notoriously unorganized so I thought it would be funny to give her a packet with all the tiny details of our trip. However, the more I added to it, the more I realized that it was actually going to be a really useful thing to bring. Not only did she get a kick out f it, but she thought it was really useful as well so she let me keep it and continue to add to it in the final days before our trip. Here's a list of what was in it:

-All of our reservation information and confirmation numbers (hotel, dining, flights, rental car etc.)
- Any information that came from the travel agent (I booked some and let the TA book some so I put it all together in the binder.)
-Driving directions to and from Universal
-Lists of all the attractions in each park with the ones we really wanted to see, kind of wanted to see, and didn't care about noted.
-The free maps we'd made on the disney website and had mailed to us
-Magical Express tags
-Boarding passes
-Mousekeeping cards
-Universal park tickets

I basically printed out everything and stuffed them into plastic sleeves. The sleeves also doubled as pockets for anything that wasn't 8 x 11.5 sized.

We were only taking a small bag to the parks with us so we didn't carry the binder all day. In the morning, we'd whip out an iPhone and snap pictures of whatever we needed for the day (ride lists, food confirmation, etc.) Obviously if it was something like tickets, or maps we pulled those out and brought them with us.

I loved the idea and found it really convenient. Since I made mine, I've met other DISers who decorate their binders to look really awesome. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time!

Also, in case DSis is reading- I'll give you credit that you were very organized and planned for the trip (though four pairs of flip flops might have been a bit of over planning )