From AKL to ASSp - the TR also known as "Did we just become Deluxe snobs?" *UPDATED 6/11*

[Cando86]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Magic Kingdom! Err...my trip report. Welcome to the place where dreams come true! Err...the heat reaches temperatures higher than most kindergartners can count. The most magical place on Earth...is here! Err...the most humid-filled place on Earth...is here!​

Welcome to Disney in September​

We just got home from our stay on the surface of the sun a couple days ago and I enjoyed writing my first TR so much that I thought I'd do it all over again! I don't know if I can say the same for going to Florida in September. ​

Okay, okay, I'm being a little dramatic about the heat but for those who have been to WDW in the summer...am I actually being that dramatic?​

I actually remember the moment the heat hit me for the first time. I walked out of the car after arriving on property and I said "this is it? What are all those people on the disboards talking about - this isn't that bad!" Ha...Hahahahaha. You can all laugh in my face now. I think I must have been blinded by the magic.​

Should I stop talking about the heat now and maybe start TRIP REPORTING?​

The Deets​

The Who: that'd be me, Candace, and my fiance, Joe! Joe and I got engaged in Disney back in January during Wishes and I'm still reeling from it. It was truly a dream come true for a Disney freak (we wear that flag proudly here, right?). If you want to read about it WELL GREAT NEWS FOR YOU because you can right here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/se...rip-updated-8-28.3371385/page-7#post-53468829​

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If you couldn't guess, that's me...the Candace of the equation, not the Joe.

And my dream guy, who became a Disney freak by default when he asked me to marry him.​

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Spoiler alert on his shirt. Story later. It's a good one.

We're both enjoying our last year in our twenties. You do the math. It's pretty complicated.​

The What: a trip to Disney World?​

The Where: the surface of the sun. Okay, okay...the first night we spent at AKL Club Level and then switched to All-Star Sports for the rest of the trip. Just...if you read no further than this please don't ever follow in those footsteps. Never start your trip in a Deluxe, let alone CLUB LEVEL, and switch to a value. Don't get me wrong, I love my Pop Century but maybe not after unlimited snacks, beer, and wine and a balcony that you can walk out to and stare at giraffes at any time. ​

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Started from the top...​

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Now we here.​

The Why: Does anyone here really need a reason? What we told people though: "we probably won't be able to take another vacation until after the wedding, we got a great rate, blah blah blah." Really, we just like Disney. Let's be honest.​

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The When: September 24-October 3! It actually began on September 23 since we drove because me and flying are about as bad a combination as spending the day at Food and Wine and then riding Mission: Space. ​

Welp, that should get us started!​

So away we go...it's a festival of humidity!​

 

[Cando86]

September 21-23, 2015
Let's Get This Show On The Road!

September 24, 2015
WELCOME HOME!!!
Falling In Love With AKL
An AKL Evening

September 25, 2015
A Hidden Mickey Blueberry Breakfast
Jack And Rose
Right Here Is Where You Can Be Saying "Yum" And "Wow" Every Five Seconds

September 26, 2015
And A Breakfast Here Is Never Second Best
A Fantasyland Morning
More Disney Morning Fun!
101 Degree Heat
It's A Festival Of Humi-Di-Ty!
There's a Great Big Busy Tomorrowland
A Pit Stop To Refuel
I'm On A Disney Boat

 

[DisneyPsycho]

YAY! I love your trip reports. Love, Mom

 

[Hardheadedwoman]

I still haven't finished your January TR but here I am!

 

[jandlinz]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Yay! I enjoyed your first TR so much-- can't wait for this one! Also, you look fab!!

 

[disneyguy4life]

We just got home from our stay on the surface of the sun a couple days ago

First, I feel your pain. I've been there... done that... bought the t-shirt and I don't want to try it again. The only way I would go in Sept. is if someone paid for me. LOL! Secondly and most importantly... I am EXCITED to read your next trip report. I liked the first one and can't wait to hear ALL about this one. I am thrilled that you and Joe had a great time. Keep the good times coming... later.

 

[nilla]

Joining in before 70,000 people do the same!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Great start! I've been to Disney in the summer before so I feel your pain.

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm in! I have to say, while I am excited to read about the trip, I think I'm most excited about Joe's Mighty Ducks shirt.

 

[purplelover88]

I'm joining in. Sounds like a great trip however coming from a trip in august I can relate to vacationing on the surface of the sun. Deluxe club level to all star sports- wow that's a tough hit, I've only done the other direction and it sounds like that was a good idea. Can't wait to read more. Congrats on your engagement by the way even if it is about 10 months late.

 

[Vernie822]

You're back! Woo hoo! I don't know that I could ever leave AKL Club Level with the unlimited beer, wine and snacks.. they'd have to drag me out.

We went the 13-20 last year and I am in 100% agreeance about the humidity and heat. HOLY COW. Yeah. We were there 4 days in June and I don't think it was nearly as bad.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I'm here! Can't wait for your new TR!

 

[StaciaRae]

Following along! We'll be staying at AKL for our first ever Disney vacation in January!

 

[Alexsandra]

Joining in! Sounds like fun!

 

[LanaBear-ox]

A second TR? In for a treat right here! Can't wait to see more!

 

[pagek83]

Yay! Loved your first report (even though I'm horrible at commenting) and am excited to follow your new TR!

 

[DisneyPsycho]

Knock Knock....Who's there? YOUR MOTHER...now get busy with the darned trip report!!

 

[Cando86]

YAY! I love your trip reports. Love, Mom

HI MOM!!! Maybe we start planning on a trip so you can be in one of these soon...!

I still haven't finished your January TR but here I am!

It's ok because I only just finished it a couple days ago myself ! Thanks for reading both!!!

Joining in! Can't wait to hear more.

HELLO!!! Thanks for reading!!!

Yay! I enjoyed your first TR so much-- can't wait for this one! Also, you look fab!!

Aw thank you!!! It was so much fun writing the first one - it really helps with the Disney depression (a real, diagnosable condition)!

First, I feel your pain. I've been there... done that... bought the t-shirt and I don't want to try it again. The only way I would go in Sept. is if someone paid for me. LOL! Secondly and most importantly... I am EXCITED to read your next trip report. I liked the first one and can't wait to hear ALL about this one. I am thrilled that you and Joe had a great time. Keep the good times coming... later.

Hello there!!! I bought the t-shirt too and I'm just wondering what the refund policy is. September is NO JOKE!

I'm so glad you're here reading this TR too! It's fun to re-live these trips with people who understand the obsession!

Joining in before 70,000 people do the same!

I'll be happy with SEVEN!! But HELLO!!!

Great start! I've been to Disney in the summer before so I feel your pain.

Oh man. I remember one person on these boards who said going to Disney in September is like going to the surface of the sun...only worse. They're kinda not kidding!

I'm in! I have to say, while I am excited to read about the trip, I think I'm most excited about Joe's Mighty Ducks shirt.

YAY HI!!! Joe is going to be so excited you noticed his shirt! He got a lot of compliments on it during the trip. One CM said something like "oh hey, California!" Nope...Detroit.

I'm joining in. Sounds like a great trip however coming from a trip in august I can relate to vacationing on the surface of the sun. Deluxe club level to all star sports- wow that's a tough hit, I've only done the other direction and it sounds like that was a good idea. Can't wait to read more. Congrats on your engagement by the way even if it is about 10 months late.

So glad you're reading!!! August must have been just as bad if not worse! Isn't that heat crazy? We get some pretty hot and humid days during the summer in Michigan but it was nothing like FL!

It WAS a tough hit. #firstworldproblems but seriously we won't make that mistake again! You were so smart doing it the other way around!

And thank you for the congrats!

You're back! Woo hoo! I don't know that I could ever leave AKL Club Level with the unlimited beer, wine and snacks.. they'd have to drag me out.

We went the 13-20 last year and I am in 100% agreeance about the humidity and heat. HOLY COW. Yeah. We were there 4 days in June and I don't think it was nearly as bad.

HI!!! So glad you're reading this TR too! It was so hard to leave AKL Club Level. We got to ASSp and were like "where's our cheese plate...and our cappuccino...and Tusker beer...? And how come I see a giant football when I look outside and not a zebra?"

That's interesting that you say it wasn't as bad in June! I kept thinking "well, I guess this narrows down future trips" thinking we just couldn't visit June-September if we didn't want to deal with the heat. So it's good to know that maybe at least earlier in June it's not as bad!

I'm here! Can't wait for your new TR!

Yay, HI!!! Thanks for reading this one too!!!

Following along! We'll be staying at AKL for our first ever Disney vacation in January!

HELLO!!! Ah, you are going to absolutely LOVE AKL! Make sure you spend some time at the pool and just exploring the resort. They have an activities sheet that they'll leave in your room with all sorts of cool things to do around the resort - you can even take a tour of Boma for FREE and I'm pretttyyyyy sure you get Zebra domes at the end of it! It really is an AMAZING resort!

Joining in! Sounds like fun!

HELLO!!! Thanks for reading - writing these really helps with the Disney sadness!

A second TR? In for a treat right here! Can't wait to see more!

HELLO THERE!!! I'm so glad you're reading this one too!!!

Yay! Loved your first report (even though I'm horrible at commenting) and am excited to follow your new TR!

I'm so bad at commenting on TRs too! I think I just forget! Thank you for reading the first one AND this one!!!

Knock Knock....Who's there? YOUR MOTHER...now get busy with the darned trip report!!

Well, I can't disobey my own mother so...here we go!

 

[Cando86]

September 21-23, 2015: Let's Get This Show On The Road!

I couldn't believe it. The week was FINALLY HERE!



Woah. Sorry that's gigantic - they won't all be like that. Just pretend the size represents the excitement...! No?

Leaving on a Wednesday meant that while Disney week may be here it also meant we had two full days of work to get through 'til go time. ​

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And packing. And cleaning. And...booking our wedding photographer?

Before we left, I was determined to have “book photographer” checked off our wedding checklist. After 64,729 hours of research (I'm pretty sure that's only a slight exaggeration) and emailing back and forth with potential photographers and spreadsheet creating (this is the disboards...of course there are spreadsheets involved in some capacity) we finally found someone who we loved AND was actually available on our date. For anyone planning a wedding or who might be planning a wedding in the near...or distant...future book your photographer now. Even if you're not engaged. Just find one and book one. These people don't mess around.

So thankfully that all went off without a hitch and we finally were able to officially check that off our wedding list! That's two things officially down, don't remind me how many to go.

That was Monday night. Tuesday was spent working and then packing and cleaning all evening. We had a friend staying at our place for a few days while we were gone so we also had to check “make guest bedroom” off our Have a Real House checklist.

The house was cleaned, guest bedroom set up, photographer booked and now it was just onto packing. I say “just” like that's some small feat.

I wish I could be one of you responsible, on top of it people who starts packing well before your vacation. Instead, I wait until 12 hours before we leave. Ya know, to really make sure I keep things exciting.

Joe and I needed dinner at some point and we decided that since we knew we'd be eating crap for the next week and a half we'd get something healthy and nutritious for dinner.



Nice work, pal.

We also had a really sad task we had to accomplish this evening and that was to drop our pup off at his grandparents' house.



It's hard to put into words how much we love this boy but I'll just say we spent maybe 40% of this trip talking about him and telling each other how much we missed him. And subsequently coming to the realization that we can never have kids if this is what leaving them is like.

So after accomplishing all of that pre-trip fun stuff, and the stuff I'm sure you're fascinated with, I went to bed at about 11:30 and Joe stayed up playing this new video game for awhile. Joe isn't really a big video game person except for this one particular series so I don't give him too much crap except to sometimes inquire who he would rather spend the evenings with, Metal Gear or me. The answer is usually the former.



After less sleep than we'd hoped for, the alarm was beep beep beeping at 5:30am.​

And my phone informed me of something important.



Thanks for the reminder, I almost forgot...


It was time!!!
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Unfortunately, we still had a day of driving ahead of us. Shout out to Joe for being an understanding partner and not making me fly.



We hoped to leave at 6 with the understanding that if we aimed for 6 we'd probably leave by 7. But we were out the door by 6:20!



And we were finally on our way!!!

When Joe and I would talk about this trip, we'd ask each other things like “what ride are you looking forward to the most?” and “where are you most excited to eat?”

While, in regard to that second question, among California Grill and Be Our Guest was...Chick-fil-A. No shame. Okay, a little shame. Fine, a lot.

Needless to say, Chick-fil-A was an absolute requirement on this trip and we knew it wouldn't be a very difficult mission to accomplish as luckily Chick-fil-As are abundant as you travel south.

Or are they?

We decided to take a different, more 'scenic' route than we had last trip when we just took 75 all the way down to FL. This trip took us out East a bit more...and also into remote areas where there were no gas stations and no food for many, many miles. At 1pm we decided we were hungry and started keeping an eye out for a Chick-fil-A. Not only was there no Chick-fil-A, there was no MCDONALDS and you know what that says. You really are in the middle of nowhere if there's no Mcdonalds. So after driving for awhile, we decided “okay, 2pm is our cut-off point. If we haven't found a Chick-fil-A by then we'll just get something else.”

(Are you sick of hearing "Chick-fil-A" yet? Let's make this fun. Every time you hear Chick-fil-A take a drink!)

Two-o-clock comes and no Chick-fil-A. Three-o-clock comes and no Chick-fil-A. You guessed it, 4oclock comes and no Chick-fil-A. FINALLY at 5pm, a solid FOUR HOURS after our “cut-off point”, we spotted one. And I naturally started singing happy songs and Joe said “wow, it's like what you were like last trip when we got on Disney property for the first time.” Pretty much the same feelings of happiness and like all is right with the world.

And then...it happened.



The moral of this story is those of you who have Chick-fil-A locations by you should consider yourselves very lucky people. And also



And also that we should probably seek therapy.

Are you still with me? Because you should be feeling pretty good right now after that drinking game.

After that adventure that took up way too much of this TR, we kept on driving for a few more hours and found our hotel around 8 or 9pm. I still had a bunch of girlie stuff I had to do (painting nails, Snooki it up aka self-tan etc.) before I even thought about bed. Joe found Titanic on TV (!) and we watched that while I finished stuff up and we were in bed by 11. Memory bank Titanic...it'll come up again very shortly.

TOMORROW we arrive on property!!! And I definitely don't cry or act like a fool or anything like that when it happens.

Tell me...what's the day like before you leave for Disney? Calm and prepared or chaotic and unprepared?! You can guess which I am. Or, ya know, you could just scroll up and see.​