A Private, Romantic 30th Anniversary Trip- Just Ask My Friends! Last Afternoon: EP p. 37 9/19

natebenma

Beach Club Dee
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
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As I wrote at the end of my Whistle While We Work trip report, while I was in Florida at my friend Teena’s house, helping her move, I booked an anniversary trip for October to the Yacht Club for my husband Mark and me.

Our 30th wedding anniversary was actually on July 19, 2016.


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I chose a fall trip to celebrate our special milestone for a few reasons:

Most of our Florida trips have been in July and August. Been there. Done that. Have the sweat-stained t-shirt!

Nate would be at college, Ben would be in school during the week.

We would get to experience Disney in the fall:

Food & Wine :drinking1

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party :hmghost:


But perhaps, most importantly, some of my friends would be there at the same time. A few as part of the Pixelmania camera nerd group and others with trips they had already booked. We were hoping other friends, including Teena, would get on board and decide to come that same week.

(Someone needs to break the news to Mark that we won't be alone on this trip) :eek:


*********************************************************************

Mark's last trip to Disney was a family split stay Universal/Hard Rock and the Beach Club in July 2013.

I have been on 4 trips since then: August 2014 Beach & Yacht Club Meet, June 2015 Class Trip with Ben, August 2015 Beach & Yacht Club Meet, January2016 visit with Teena.

There were a lot of new things for him, and even us, to experience.

He never used a Magic Band on a trip, been on Mine Train or Dumbo. His first visit to the Top of the World Lounge was also up on the agenda.

We had never stayed at the Yacht Club.

New to both of us were Food & Wine, MNSSHP, Beaches & Cream, Flights of Wonder, Soarin' around the World, Frozen Ever After and a Pre-Park-Open breakfast. We also booked another surprise activity last minute that we had never even considered before.

:banana::banana::banana:


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I booked a club level stay because that was the discount that was available to us at the Yacht Club.

Normally, I don’t want assistance when it is time to reserve my dining plans, but as it happens, we were away on a family vacation to Washington DC when our booking window opened. I prepared the list of reservations we wanted and sent that off to the IPO (Itinerary Planning Office)

I was pleased when they contacted me at 7:30 that morning to let me know they were able to book everything I wanted, with the exception of Yak & Yeti, which was not showing openings yet. I booked that myself a few days later.

Our dining lineup looked like this:


Arrival, Sunday October 16- Beaches & Cream, 6:30 pm.
As the manager of the Beach & Yacht Club FAQ thread, it has been a dirty not-so-secret bit of knowledge that I have not had a sitdown meal and ice cream there. I have had reservations at B&C a few times, but always ended up changing them for various reasons. Would this time be the charm?

Monday - Kona, 6:30 pm for 10 people
This was our dinner with friends prior to watching Wishes at the Top of the World Lounge

Tuesday- Pre-park opening breakfast at Be Our Guest, 8:15 am
GRRR!!! Disney added a paid Extra Magic Morning event on this day!
Halloween Party/no dining plans that night

Wednesday- La Hacienda, 6:30 pm
Subsequently moved to 5:30 so we could see the 8 pm Star Wars Fireworks.
This was the meal Mark was most looking forward to after we had a spectacular dinner there on our last family trip.

Thursday- Yak & Yeti- initially scheduled for lunch, then changed it to evening in hopes that we would be AK after dark

Friday- Be Our Guest lunch, 11 am

Typically, once we have our dining plans scheduled, we don’t make many changes. But that was not the case on this trip!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next planning milestone was booking Fast Passes on August 17.

I knew that standby line for Frozen standby was out of control, so I booked that on our final afternoon. Working around a Be Our Guest lunch at MK at 11 and our departure on the Tragical Depress at 4:30, the only time that worked was 2:15 to 3:15 pm.

Everything else I was looking for was available at the times I wanted. We knew we wanted Soarin’ Around the World, so I booked that for our afternoon visit to EPCOT on our arrival day.

Here’s what we ended up with:


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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We booked tickets to the October 18 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

MNSSHP.jpg

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

There are a lot of ways you can save a little money on a Disney Trip and I just love a “bargain”. Every dollar saved is money that can go towards a Mickey Bar! :mickeybar


Disney Visa is one, you get 1% cash back on purchases that can be used for Disney stays and products. You can pay for a premium card and I think you get 2% cash back on purchases. But that is not the best return you can find.

Although my kids no longer attend the middle school in our town, I still participate in their gift card fundraiser. You purchase gift cards at face value and a percentage (depending on the business) goes back to the school. For example, if I order $100 in cards to the Ninety-nine restaurant, I get 4 $25 cards and the school gets $13 (10-$13 back for most restaurants). They have Disney cards, but that is not what I order for my trips. I get Walmart/Sam’s Club cards (2% back to the school) and use those to purchase Disney gift cards at a discount at Sam’s ($143 for 3 $50 cards, about 5% savings).

I ordered $2000 in gift cards to Sam’s Club from the school ($40 donated to the school for my purchase) and during my trips to Sam’s Club, I would purchase a packages of Disney cards. I was glad that I did not purchase all the cards at once, however, when my Discover card announced a 5% cashback offer for purchases at Sam’s Club. Woo-hoo! That means cash back to me, for the $1000 or so in gift cards I was going to purchase. I’ll just use the Sam’s gift cards once the Discover promotion was over. About a week before the trip, I went into Sam’s to get the cards, found the display… and the Disney cards were sold out! I checked one more time before the trip, but they did not restock. L

Of course now that we are back, the Disney cards are there!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$















Hope you join us for our anniversary trip celebrating 30 years of marriage.

The more friends the merrier!



:grouphug:


Next up: “Scare” in the Air!
 
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DH and I both ordered orange MagicBands for our October trip, too. :)

I am not surprised that you changed your ADR's during the trip. There were a lot of friends who may have influenced you. ;)

I'm curious to find out how La Hacienda worked out. We were disappointed the last time we ate there because they had changed the corn for one thing.
 


Here and waiting to hear what great stories NM had for Mark on your Orange Banded Monkey trip. I'm sure NM will embellish what ever truth you tell.
 


I'm in Dee! I'm pretty bummed I missed an October trip this year, but I'll enjoy reading about yours instead.

Belated Happy Anniversary. Cute photo! You've got to love the '80's styles!

Geez, that's too bad about the gift cards at Sam's. I hate when that kind of thing happens.
 
Happiness just oozes from your wedding photo :love:
Great start. Sounds like a jam-packed trip. You got some great photos of you and Mark and I love the group photo of you all at dinner. What wonderful friends you've made through your love of Disney :)
 
Yay! Can't wait to read more. (Although my head hurts a bit from trying to follow the bouncing ball on your money saving tips!) (But you know I very much admire your attention to detail on the money saving!)
 
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Im in! We were at BCVs on the tail end of your trip and ironically celebrating our 31st Anniversary which was July 20, 2016. As Maxwell Smart would say "Missed it by that much".
 
I'm following! Love the anniversary trip ADR for 10 at Kona - looking forward to hearing about that! :)
 
Great report so far.

The Scare in the air sounds quite ominous . Hopefully nothing too bad.
 
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Hey everyone!

:welcome:

Thanks so much for checking out my report. Hope you stick around for the fun.

party:


I am here and can't wait to hear all about your anniversary trip antics!

Thank you!

Good to have you around again.

:goodvibes


DH and I both ordered orange MagicBands for our October trip, too. :)

I am not surprised that you changed your ADR's during the trip. There were a lot of friends who may have influenced you. ;)

I'm curious to find out how La Hacienda worked out. We were disappointed the last time we ate there because they had changed the corn for one thing.

Mark likes orange. He has an orange watch and an orange phone case (sometimes). I think that is why he chose the color more than the season. But it fit. I was going to go with lime green, because I already had an orange from the Orange Banded Monkey trip, but I decided I would match him.

The short version of our review- we had a really good meal, but not quite as good as our first time there. Which was amazing.

::yes::

Congratulations on 30 years!!

Thank you so much!

:goodvibes


Here and waiting to hear what great stories NM had for Mark on your Orange Banded Monkey trip. I'm sure NM will embellish what ever truth you tell.

Well, one of our souvenirs is a t-shirt that says "I survived ~NinjaMom" Not really. He can hold his own.

:cool2:


:woohoo:I'm here! Can't wait to go back and read so I'm off to do it right now! Ooh I can't wait to hear all about it. :banana:
Happiness just oozes from your wedding photo :love:
Great start. Sounds like a jam-packed trip. You got some great photos of you and Mark and I love the group photo of you all at dinner. What wonderful friends you've made through your love of Disney :)

Awww! That's sweet. As far as we remember, our wedding day was wonderful. We didn't have it videotaped, and one of the most romantic things Mark has ever said was that he is glad because that way he remember it as perfect, without proof otherwise. The second most romantic thing he ever said to me described a murder-suicide, so it has certainly been an interesting 30 years.

:scared1:

I'm in Dee! I'm pretty bummed I missed an October trip this year, but I'll enjoy reading about yours instead.

Belated Happy Anniversary. Cute photo! You've got to love the '80's styles!

Geez, that's too bad about the gift cards at Sam's. I hate when that kind of thing happens.

We are definitely October converts!!!

The 80's rocked! :rotfl2:

I have a math background and I am a tightwad. I am so disappointed when I add up the savings I "lost" by not purchasing $1,000 in additional cards. $50 from the discount on gift cards and another $50 cash back on my credit card.

:sad2:


Yay! Can't wait to read more. (Although my head hurts a bit from trying to follow the bouncing ball on your money saving tips!) (But you know I very much admire your attention to detail on the money saving!)

I decided to rope off that section so that anyone who didn't want to follow along could skip it.

You could always get me back by trying to explain the US/Canadian Dollar exchange to me.

A little spoiler alert, since I can't remember when this happened but at one point Mark said (with surprise)

"You have nice friends"

Duh! Of course I do!

:grouphug:


Im in! We were at BCVs on the tail end of your trip and ironically celebrating our 31st Anniversary which was July 20, 2016. As Maxwell Smart would say "Missed it by that much".

Thanks for joining in.

Congrats on your 31st!

The coincidences are uncanny.

Isn't it nice celebrating with a fall Disney trip instead of July?

::yes::


Looking forward to following along :goodvibes

I love your wedding photo :love:

Glad to have you here.

Thank you so much for the sweet comment!

:goodvibes


I'm following! Love the anniversary trip ADR for 10 at Kona - looking forward to hearing about that! :)

:wave2:

Good to see you.

The Kona meal was great and it involved a celebration cake. But not for the two of us...

party:


Great report so far.

The Scare in the air sounds quite ominous . Hopefully nothing too bad.

Thank you.

Not too bad. But for me it was panic-inducing.

Coming up.

::yes::


Woohoo I am so excited for this TR!!!!

:wave:

So happy to see you here!

Hope the report does not disappoint.

:woohoo:
 
Mark likes orange. He has an orange watch and an orange phone case (sometimes). I think that is why he chose the color more than the season. But it fit. I was going to go with lime green, because I already had an orange from the Orange Banded Monkey trip, but I decided I would match him.
DH always wears orange bands, too. But his bands are getting old, since we have been declining them lately and so we got a fresh one for him. This was my first orange band and I needed it for my really cute Rapunzel MB cover. ;)

I have a math background and I am a tightwad. I am so disappointed when I add up the savings I "lost" by not purchasing $1,000 in additional cards. $50 from the discount on gift cards and another $50 cash back on my credit card.
I'm like you, a math person and a tightwad. ;) I've been buying the Target gift cards lately for these trips. But I am mad that I spent the extra money for a Tables in Wonderland card before I knew that the new 20% AP discount would have been good enough.
 
Awww! That's sweet. As far as we remember, our wedding day was wonderful. We didn't have it videotaped, and one of the most romantic things Mark has ever said was that he is glad because that way he remember it as perfect, without proof otherwise. The second most romantic thing he ever said to me described a murder-suicide, so it has certainly been an interesting 30 years.


We didn't videotape our wedding either as we didn't want to be self conscious on the day ( & we may have penniless) but I love Mark's romantic comment. I can only just imagine a romantic comment regarding murder/suicide!! Lol
 
Gee, video-taping our wedding was not an option back in those days 39 years ago (at least not one we could afford). Guess we were lucky.
Katesdad

It was quite new here at the time when we got married but like I said, not something we were willing to spend money on Mind you our wedding was essentially our relations and parents friends ( my husband and I had a total of 8 friends there out of 107 guests) and I had to beg the priest to put the wedding mass on at 11am instead of 10am! The whole thing was done and dusted by 6.30pm. I had much more fun at my daughter's wedding which started at 1pm and went in until the wee small hours ❤️
 

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