You can probably walk away now, cause I'm about to start singing! June '12~DONE 12/22

[MinnieMouse24]

Yay! You guys made it! And glad TS Debbie did not interfere with your
trip!! Can't wait to read more about your trip!!!!

[StitchIsOurHero]

Joining in! I followed you here from your post on my TR! How cool that you are a CM! Looking forward to reading the rest!

[natebenma]

Signing up!

Love the reasons for your trip and I think it is really cool that you were in the College Program.

Love flying out of Manchester!

Love your picture of the WDW sign!

Hate that you can't get Dunkin' Donuts in Disney!

[momjeeps]

Joining in too!

[wishinon3stars]

from NH. I've found my way over here from Natebenma's trip report.

You and your BF are soo cute. Great first installment. We love Manchester airport and SW airlines. We got some great flights for our September trip on SW too! We moved up to NH from Mass about 25 years ago, so I'm considering us neighbors!

Love that you planned your trip and were on your way in only 4 days!

So you were a CM on carousel of progress, it's one of my families favorites. My husband went on it when it was opened at the world's fair (He's a bit older than me ) so we have to go on it every trip. Last time, we got stuck on the second part repeating itself. We all got a laugh out of that, we thought we were going to be stuck on it forever!

Looking forward to your next installment

[glennbo123]

Signing-on! You were first to post on my thread, so I need to subscribe over here, for sure. But it looks like it's going to be a great report!

[eandesmom]

Signing on, great start!!!

[elphie101]

Originally Posted by wdwtwins

This is looking awesome!

Thanks! More should be coming tomorrow!

Originally Posted by vicceja

I'm In! Unfortunately, can't make Disney World happen for us this summer ...I shouldn't complain as we usually go at least once a year . But wanted to spend my time reading all the Trip Reports to brighten up my mood

Hi there! TRs are definitely one of the best way to brighten the mood I've found - nothing quite like reading about other people's pixie dust (and horror stories ) for entertainment.

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

Hi! I saw your TR in your signature when you posted on my TR, so I came to visit!
When were you on the CP? and how long did you get to do it?

Congrats on the new job! Good thing you got to go to WDW now I guess!

Glad to see you here and thank you! I did the CP last year, Fall Advantage '11 (if you're unfamiliar with the CP, there are basically two terms, Fall and Spring, and you can chose to add on the summer either at the beginning of Fall or the end of Spring, which is where the Advantage comes from) so I was in WDW from early June till just after New Years. You can extend in the program up to a full year though if you want.

Originally Posted by MinnieMouse24

Yay! You guys made it! And glad TS Debbie did not interfere with your
trip!! Can't wait to read more about your trip!!!!

I'm pretty sure I drove my family crazy over-worrying about the TS. I'm glad we weren't there earlier in the week though, we really lucked out with weather!

Originally Posted by StitchIsOurHero

Joining in! I followed you here from your post on my TR! How cool that you are a CM! Looking forward to reading the rest!

Nice to see you here!

Originally Posted by natebenma

Signing up!

Love the reasons for your trip and I think it is really cool that you were in the College Program.

Love flying out of Manchester!

Love your picture of the WDW sign!

Hate that you can't get Dunkin' Donuts in Disney!

Hi there! I would definitely fly out of Manchester again, it was pretty convenient. And don't get me started about Dunks - I've found once you leave New England it's never really the same.

Originally Posted by momjeeps

Joining in too!

Thanks for joining in!!

Originally Posted by wishinon3stars

from NH. I've found my way over here from Natebenma's trip report.

You and your BF are soo cute. Great first installment. We love Manchester airport and SW airlines. We got some great flights for our September trip on SW too! We moved up to NH from Mass about 25 years ago, so I'm considering us neighbors!

Love that you planned your trip and were on your way in only 4 days!

So you were a CM on carousel of progress, it's one of my families favorites. My husband went on it when it was opened at the world's fair (He's a bit older than me ) so we have to go on it every trip. Last time, we got stuck on the second part repeating itself. We all got a laugh out of that, we thought we were going to be stuck on it forever!

Looking forward to your next installment

Hi there! Great to have more New Englanders here. I love NH, and I would love to live up there someday (certainly seems more affordable ). It was definitely cool to be at the only attraction Walt himself physically experienced at WDW (since it's all still the original hardware) and we didn't have to ride inside, although I don't think I would've minded, it's nice and cool in there! 9/10 if you're seeing a scene twice on that ride, it means someone left in the middle of the show - which is why we say to stay seated!

Originally Posted by glennbo123

Signing-on! You were first to post on my thread, so I need to subscribe over here, for sure. But it looks like it's going to be a great report!

Glad to have you! I can't wait to hear from more of your report!

Originally Posted by eandesmom

Signing on, great start!!!

and great to see you!!

*******
I would like to have an update up sometime tomorrow, now that there are readers waiting for it! I've been roped in (well, I offered ) to visiting colleges with my brother this week to give him my opinion as a recent college grad, and we've got another 6 hour round trip drive ahead of us tomorrow - leaving at 5:30 But I'll get the next installment up soon, I promise!

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Joining in this seems like a fun thread.

[shan23877]

I'm glad that the weather held for you guys!

ME always marks the beginning of vacation for us, and I get as giddy as a little girl on the ride. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

Can't wait to hear more!

[elphie101]

Originally Posted by NoOrdinaryPrincess

Joining in this seems like a fun thread.

Glad to have you! Next update coming right up!

[RachVH]

Joining in! Looks like the trip is off to a great start and can't wait to hear more! Congratulations on the job also, as a semi-recent grad I know how hard it is out there!

[jecskc]

Joining IN !!! Loving all your photos so far !! Congrats on your new job. Looking forward to reading more !!

[elphie101]

Hey everyone! Let's jump right back into the action shall we?

The Dining Plan: Disney's Bermuda Triangle

When we last left off, we were pulling into here



I was bouncing in my seat I was so excited! We also caught our first glimpse of Art of Animation (the Little Mermaid buildings) through the trees coming up the drive - as if I needed more of a reason to be bursting out of my skin!



On a side note, is anyone else bothered by the fact that there's still only half a century at Pop Century? I'm glad to have AoA and all but the little OCD part of my brain gets a little miffed.



We unloaded from the bus and waited for the suitcases, then headed inside and ran right to the online check-in line ("it'll be faster!" said Jenn of a week ago.....)



My beloved Pop lobby....we have such great memories here.

The CM checking us in was earning her ears in the college program, which had me thrilled to pieces. The downside of that though was that we were at the counter for about twice as long as everyone else.......oops. Guess we'll have to wait till our next stay to see if online check in is really worth it. (Thoughts everyone?) We were assigned to the 80s section, building 9, which we were both SO happy about. We stayed in 90s last year and loved the convenience of being able to cut right through the parking lot to get to the bus stop/Everything Pop and were thrilled we could do it again.

Birthday button, check! KTTW, check! Off to the 80s!



A little up close I know, but I was just so excited to get there!



Our home sweet home! And here's what you've all been waiting for.......the obligatory "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE ROOM UNTIL IT'S BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED" pictures







My favorite part about the rooms - the decade collages! I loved having my girl Ariel in our section (The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie ) I believe I've read somewhere that before the rooms at Pop were redone, they all reflected the decade on the inside as well? I like the rooms well enough now but that would've been cool to see something more specific inside as well.

I didn't end up photographing the bathroom area (even though I adore the wallpaper - simple yet Mickey!) because we were absolutely STARVING, so we dumped our bags and headed out in search of some lunch.



The view from our room........not quite as nice as the last time (we had 4th floor 90s and could see the Walt Disney World Welcome sign!)



We marched off into Everything Pop for our first battle with the Quick-Service Dining Plan.

A little backstory: I tried out the regular dining plan for the first time when my parents visited for a weekend last December. We booked it because a) there was a CM discount and b) they had two Candlelight Processional lunches booked. Considering that one of them was Le Cellier, that meal alone basically paid for the entire dining plan for three days, so I was pretty much sold on the idea.

DBF HATES the dining plan. HATES it. He doesn't like to plan around ADRs, and his family will typically only have one or two TS meals for a two week trip. (While we're at it, he's pretty against touring plans etc in general, while it took everything I had to hold myself back from making spreadsheets.)

I knew the DDP wouldn't work for us this trip, since I would be working for so much of it. Still, there was always the QSDP, and it was discounted, and DBF prefers Quick Service meals, so I broached the idea after doing some fuzzy Disney math with the menus on All Ears. Kevin reluctantly agreed to book it.

So here we are, about to have our first meal of the trip, and I am determined to champion the QSDP in all ways possible in hopes of using it to sell DBF on the regular dining plan in the future. I tell him with lunch, he gets a dessert, but I'm not sure what's a dessert at the resorts. Kevin doesn't like needing to get his dessert now (when he doesn't want it and usually wouldn't anyway) and suddenly it's a rainstorm of how awful the dining plan is and how it's never going to happen again. In my head, visions of Ohana, Le Cellier and Boma wash down the drain. Kevin 1, DP 0

I grab a sugar cookie for Kevin, because it's one of the only things he'll actually eat out of the options (he's an extraordinarily "plain" eater) and I am trying to sell the idea of the dessert that can be eaten later, and a tie dye cheesecake for myself because, well, why not. We head to cashout when the CM at the register becomes an unknown soldier in the Kevin vs DP battle.

"You know," she says "You also get a bottled drink with each meal."

"But we have our mugs," says I, confused.

"In addition to your mugs." And I have an idea.

"Go grab two waters to take to the park." Kevin thinks this is a great idea and goes off, and I'm about ready to kiss this CM Kevin 1, DP 1.

We finally sit down, and I turn up my "LOOOOOOOK at all we got on the DP!" to full blast. Kevin still isn't happy about needing to buy his cookie now, as opposed to going back later, but likes having cold water to take around the parks. Both sides are happy and the battleground rests for the time being.





I should make note here that Kevin typically only eats three things at Disney - pizza, chicken nuggets, and to a lesser extent, burgers. Variety is not the spice of his palate. Usually I'll get something different but I was starving and just didn't feel like deciding with the stress of the dining plan battle.

The Disney pizza was delicious as usual, and I loved the cheesecake even though I couldn't finish it. Kevin liked his cookie as well

Stomachs full, the next logical stop was to head out to a park......and there's a castle waiting for me!

Coming Up Next: The Line Starts Where?!

[elphie101]

Originally Posted by RachVH

Joining in! Looks like the trip is off to a great start and can't wait to hear more! Congratulations on the job also, as a semi-recent grad I know how hard it is out there!

Glad to have you!! Thanks, it's definitely relieving to know that I've finally found a job.

I see you have a Disneymoon coming up? Congrats!!

Originally Posted by jecskc

Joining IN !!! Loving all your photos so far !! Congrats on your new job. Looking forward to reading more !!

and thank you! Hope you enjoy