It's going to be a long winter... time to head to the world! A January 2013 PTR

[DisneyLifer87]

Welcome to another PTR

This is my second PTR and it will hopefully lead into my second TR ever here on the DIS. For those of you coming over from my TR you will notice that I finally completed it! I'm so happy I committed myself through until the end! This PTR will be similar to ones I have written in the past, but unfortunately I do not remember how to make links in my table of contents. I'll work on figuring that out later down the road. Let's move on the important stuff...

Cast of Characters


Me: Known as Lifer here on the DIS, but you may call me Meagan (or Meg)! I'm a 25 year old sales representative for Verizon Wireless. I am also a graduate student working towards a 5-12 teaching license in English Literature and Master's degree in Teaching. I sometimes feel like I have bitten off more than I can chew. I'm sure we'll touch more on this later in the PTR. As for Disney, I have made countless trips as a child and this will be my fourth with DH. My favorite characters are Tinker Bell and Belle. I love to obsessively plan every trip detail and then disregard those plans when I'm in the parks. But... whatever keeps me sane!

DH (also known as Matt): 24 year old who is currently on a temporary position working for a company that manufacturer's eye glass lenses. We are hoping that by the time we leave he will be hired and not a temp - really hoping for pixie dust there. DH hates planning for Disney and likes to act like he hates going entirely. As the time draws closer, he gets more involved and enjoys the idea. His favorite character is Mickey, though he prefers Sorcerer Mickey or Steam Boat Willie.

Our "fur-babies"

Simba (buff color) and Alex (black/white): Our babies are of the feline variety and they're enough energy to keep us on our toes. Simba has been in my life for 18 years and he's still hanging in there. Alex is our newest addition to the family. He is currently 6 months old. While these two will not be joining us on the trip, they are a big part of our lives and wanted to say hello.

.... now to drop the mood a little...

Simba had a sister, Nala, who was also 18 and was birthed from the same litter. Our little Nala bug suffered from hyperthyroidism and lymphoma. We did all that we could to make her last days enjoyable, but sadly we had to say goodbye to our baby in May 2012. We still both cry thinking of the hole that was left when Nala passed, but we know that our decision was the right one and she never had to feel the pain of her cancer in full. Simba was a bit distraught to lose his companion. After two months of him being lethargic and antisocial, we broke down and adopted Alex. They've been great friends ever since and we couldn't be more thrilled to have two boys in our lives. However, our heart will always be with little Nala.


Well that's all I have for introductions! Thanks for listening and joining in. It should be quite the fun ride between now and January!

[DisneyLifer87]

~~TABLE OF CONTENTS~~

--The Random--

Christmas fills our home

--The Trip Plans--

Hammering out the basics...
Vacation at a Glance with ADRs
Day One in Disney (and a naughty kitty)
Roaring into Animal Kingdom for Day Two
Heading to Hollywood
Trotting the World
Water Parks and some good eats
Magic Kingdom and some last minute details

[MEK]

Subbing! Your fur babies are so precious. I am a huge cat fan and so sorry about Nala, but it sounds like she lived a great life. I am pretty amazed that Nala's brother was so accepting of a new cat at the age of 18. That is wonderful.

Looking forward to more.

[shalom]

Originally Posted by DisneyLifer87

Simba (buff color) and Alex (black/white): Our babies are of the feline variety and they're enough energy to keep us on our toes. Simba has been in my life for 18 years and he's still hanging in there. Alex is our newest addition to the family. He is currently 6 months old. While these two will not be joining us on the trip, they are a big part of our lives and wanted to say hello.

Our golden tabby and little tuxedo kitty used to snuggle like that, too. However, our tabby is much younger than yours, and he and the kitten used the chase each other around, both with their tails in that straight-up-and-forward position with identical crooks at the tip. Our golden tabby is Timothy (the timid), and we have three of his siblings as well.

Sorry to hear about Nala. But it sounds like she had a good, long life with you.

We're going to WDW in January, too! There are a few more of us, however -- myself, hubby, and our five kids. And for everyone but myself and middle daughter, it'll be the first time in any of the Disney parks!

[shalom]

Originally Posted by DisneyLifer87

Saving this place for the table of contents if I ever figure out how to link those

Bearcatsfan did a little tutorial on that on my Pretrip Report thread. It sounds confusing, but when I went to try it, made perfect sense!

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...4&postcount=10

[TMGosizk]

Following along!

Your cats are adorable and your story of Nala about brought me to tears. I've had dogs all my life, and have had to go through the pain of losing two of them. They're definitely part of the family!

Anyway, looking forward to reading more of your PTR!

[DisneyLifer87]

Originally Posted by MEK

Subbing! Your fur babies are so precious. I am a huge cat fan and so sorry about Nala, but it sounds like she lived a great life. I am pretty amazed that Nala's brother was so accepting of a new cat at the age of 18. That is wonderful.

Looking forward to more.

Welcome! We were pretty amazed, too. Granted they don't snuggle as often because Simba needs to be passed out first to allow it to happen. They're buddies, but I think Alex gets on his nerves a little more than is necessary

Originally Posted by shalom

Bearcatsfan did a little tutorial on that on my Pretrip Report thread. It sounds confusing, but when I went to try it, made perfect sense!

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...4&postcount=10

Thank you so much for that and welcome! Yay for January goers!

Originally Posted by TMGosizk

Following along!

Your cats are adorable and your story of Nala about brought me to tears. I've had dogs all my life, and have had to go through the pain of losing two of them. They're definitely part of the family!

Anyway, looking forward to reading more of your PTR!

They are our family members and though some may not understand it, they're treated like that even when they pass. Thanks for joining in!

[DisneyLifer87]

The Plan!...(well, at least for now)

We are almost completely set in stone on our basic plans. I'm still working on park days and I'll try to get a full itinerary up at some point, but the basic ideas:

When? January 19th - 26th (Saturday to Saturday) 8 days, 7 nights
Flying? Delta Airlines which we snagged for a nice $560 roundtrip total.
Where? Disney's Pop Century Resort in a Preferred Room. We were originally booked for the Art of Animation Little Mermaid wing, but this changed when the Disney Visa discount came out yesterday and inspired me to swap for a discount - yeah, they really pulled my leg there....
We will be taking some time to wander on over the Hourglass Lake to check out this resort though. I don't feel as if we're missing too much seeing as how the Little Mermaid wing was the former "haunted hotel" left to rot in the early days.
Extras? Park Hopper tickets for 7 days and the DDP

Originally I had planned to get park tickets through work since we have a fairly decent discount. These tickets would have included water park access, but then the DV discount offered a package deal with park tickets and the dining plan. DH and I debated the DDP this year, but figured we'd never beat it... but we'd break even so the convenience made it worthwhile. The discount, however, makes it WAY worthwhile (saving $150?!) so we will be beating it this year. Needless to say, the discount booking was cheaper than my work tickets, so we will not be attending any water parks this time around. DH and I aren't really water park people to begin with, so that's quite alright by us. Originally rack rates put us at $2400 (rounded) and the discount has brought us to $2000. Can't complain

[shalom]

Originally Posted by DisneyLifer87

Granted they don't snuggle as often because Simba needs to be passed out first to allow it to happen. They're buddies, but I think Alex gets on his nerves a little more than is necessary

I'm pretty sure pestering older cats a bit is a kittenish responsibility. Or at least every young cat I've ever known seemed to think it was in the contract!

Originally Posted by DisneyLifer87

Flying? Delta Airlines which we snagged for a nice $560 roundtrip total.

Yikes! Middle daughter just flew out to Atlanta and back on Delta -- both flights seriously delayed. Hope they do better with your location to Orlando!

Originally Posted by DisneyLifer87

Where? Disney's Pop Century Resort in a Preferred Room. We were originally booked for the Art of Animation Little Mermaid wing, but this changed when the Disney Visa discount came out yesterday and inspired me to swap for a discount

A lot of people are raving about the AoA resort, but I gotta say I like the look of Pop better. Going on the pics, AoA has a much more "industrial" feel to me. We're probably going to hit the Pop for some tie-dyed cheesecake when we're out, so if we get ambitious we'll wander over to AoA and see what we think. Assuming we feel that ambitious after all the walking we'll be doing in the parks! We've never tried for this many park days before -- we tend to go for more laid back vacations, could be interesting.

[Joeyobryan]

Can anyone tell me how airline discounts work towards park tickets or towards anything lol

[Breagh]

Following along! Myself & 3 of my really great friends are headed to the World in August of 2013, & I can't wait! I've been reading along with a bunch of 2013 PTRs. Also, your fur babies are absolutely gorgeous & so sorry to hear about Nala

Can't wait for some more updates from you

[OhioDisneyLover]

I'm in.

Your fur babies are so cute. I have 4 of them myself.

We are checking into Pop the day you check out.

Can't wait to hear the rest of your plans.

[DisneyLifer87]

Originally Posted by Breagh

Following along! Myself & 3 of my really great friends are headed to the World in August of 2013, & I can't wait! I've been reading along with a bunch of 2013 PTRs. Also, your fur babies are absolutely gorgeous & so sorry to hear about Nala

Can't wait for some more updates from you

Originally Posted by OhioDisneyLover

I'm in.

Your fur babies are so cute. I have 4 of them myself.

We are checking into Pop the day you check out.

Can't wait to hear the rest of your plans.

Welcome to both of you!

[DisneyLifer87]

Called a CM today after waiting on hold for over an hour. I looked at our confirmation email and it appeared we didn't have a preferred room booked at POP, so I needed to change that out. The CM was super nice and then threw in a "Hey... did you know that you can actually add the water park access to your tickets for only $41?" So I guess we're going to the water parks this year after all.

For any code watchers, we did the Stay/Play/Dine discount with Disney Visa (though it's public now):

Pop Century, Preferred Room (7 nights, 8 days)
7-day MYW Tickets with Park Hopper and Water Park, Fun, & more
Disney Dining Plan (1 TS, 1 CS, 1 Snack)

Total price: $2059.20

[DisneyLifer87]

Our trip is 100% paid off!

:c heer2: