Call me crazy...no really! A PTR for August 2013

[Meloramelora]

Call me crazy...no really, you can. With our Disney World trip just over 18 months away, I can't stop thinking about it, planning it, reading trip reports and watching tons of videos. So the next logical step: Start a PTR to keep me going until we finally get to make this lifelong dream a reality. Please join me, as four crazy Canadians plan the Disney trip of a lifetime.

Lets jump in, I'd like to introduce you to our colorful cast of characters.

First there is me, Melora. At 25, (27 at the time of the trip) I'm The old lady of the group. I'm a Disney-obsessed, tattooed, Musical theatre lover. I'm also the trip planner, and believe me I take this title very seriously. I LOVE planning out trips for me and my friends or family and I love to travel. I've been dreaming of Disney since I was 5, but my family could never afford it. Still, every year we would order the dvd and I vowed that someday I would go. The dvds still give me a lump in my throat, especially when parents are surprising their kids with trips to Disney. My favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid, with the Lion King coming in a close second, and my favorite character is and always will be Ariel, but I adore Peter Pan and Rapunzel as well. I'm most excited for Magic Kingdom and the new Fantasyland expansion.

Next comes by bestest friend in the whole world. This is Breagh, she's 19, (21 at the time of the trip) and we're extremely similar in interests despite our age difference, which is probably the reason we get along so well. Breagh has always been obsessed with Disney but, like me, has never had the opportunity to go as a child. She used to cry over the commercial that showed two little boys packing for Disney. Her favorite Disney movies are Hercules, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and Atlantis, and her favorite characters are Ariel, Megara and Kida. She is most excited for the Little Mermaid section of the new Fantasyland and the Italy and France pavillions at Epcot.

Next is the darling Kayla. Kayla and I met a work a few years ago and the rest is history. Kayla is 20, (will be 22 at the time of the trip) and is a total sweetheart, who adores all things Disney and Princess. Kayla has always wanted to see the iconic Cinderella castle up close and a day doesn't go by that she doesn't chatter excitedly about this trip. She's the chattiest of our group and we have been known to lovingly call her Yak Yak because of this haha. Kayla's favorite Disney movies are Pocahontas, The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, but her favorite character is Ariel. She is most excited for the Magic Kingdom.

Last but certainly not least is Shane, the only boy on the trip and Kayla's boyfriend. Shane started working with us awhile back and quickly fell into our circle of friends, then last year he and Kayla started dating. Shane is very opinionated, and an incredible origami artist. He is 19, (will be 20 at the time of the trip.) I consider Shane like a brother, and like brothers and sisters, we tend to bicker a bit but nothing that can't be resolved with a good talk. His favorite Disney movie is Pirates of the Caribbean, and his favorite characters are the alien in Toy Story. He is most excited for the Japan pavillion in Epcot because he is obsessed with Japan and japanese culture.

And there you have it! One thing to know about our group is that we are KERAYZEE. Seriously, we love to have a good time and we are complete goobers. We've got a lot to plan and a year and a half to wait but we intend to make the best of this time and I can't wait to get started!

Here are a few pictures to give you a feel for our group:

The ladies!

The happy couple!

Me and Breagh!

Me and Kayla!

Being dorks at work!

Shane...no caption necessary!

 

[Meloramelora]

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Where
Planning Binder
Dining
Update & Day 1

 

[Meloramelora]

Back again for a bit of an update. Now that you know the WHO it's time to move on to all of the other W's. For being this far away from our trip, a lot of our details are planned and just need to be put into action.

Our dates are going to be August 21-28, 2013. We're willing to shuffle those dates around in order to get a better deal but that's the ideal time for us, what with Breagh, Kayla and Shane all finishing school and entering “the real world” dun dun dunnnnn. I figure Disney is the perfect place to forget about the dreaded 'real world' and just be kids for awhile.

Our number one choice for resort is the new Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation.

BUT depending on price and availability, we have NO problems with staying at Pop Century which is our close second choice.

I actually just learned about booking 'room only' up to 500 days in advance and I'm going to be all over that come April. We'll just add our park tickets later in the year. We definitely just want to get this trip booked as soon as possible. We need some Magic in our lives and the sooner we're booked, the more real it's going to feel for all of us.

We're also hoping to catch free dining when we go. We aren't relying on it because you can never be sure but it would definitely be a nice perk. More about FOOD in the next post, as well as over all plans for the week.

 

[Meloramelora]

Just started emailing a lovely travel agent who is going to help us with booking our room, and then eventually our package and even continue looking for discounts etc.. after we've booked. This makes me so excited I can barely contain myself. As soon as the room is booked, I'm going to proclaim it to the world, I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!!!

I've been spending most of my down time on here reading through PTR's and TR's getting inspiration and pretending I've already been to Disney a million times (It's everyone in my group's first time.) And we've come up with a basic time-line for our trip. Though we aren't going to make any concrete plans for quite awhile, we still have a basic idea of how we'd like the trip to go.

With 17 months to go, the most important things is keeping busy with our lives so we aren't just wishing over a year away. Time passes quicker when you've got things to do! A great way of passing the time has been working on the “Planning Binder.” I took a cue from some folks on the board and started my own. It's nowhere near finished but it's definitely a start.

We're also going to start having a Disney night once a month, so we can brush up with our favorites as well as some of the classics.

We should get an update with Dawn, our agent sometime this month and I'll be sure to post again soon.

 

[Meloramelora]

Howdy everyone, long time no post. Even with the lack of posting, there isn't a day that goes by that we aren't thinking/dreaming/planning our trip. I don't think we're ever going to get bored of obsessing over all the awesomeness that is Disney.

Our travel agent has us booked in for our rooms, and has just let us know that the 2013 package prices are out now and is working on getting a quote for our dates/resort. We are beyond excited.

Now for the moment we are opting out of dining, BUT will add it if we can get the free dining which seems like a good possibility. And in this case we have our ADR's planned for our trip. Of course, the order they occur is going to depend on park times and EMH/which parks we decide to visit each day, which we won't be sure about until a bit closer, BUT here is what we've come up with so far:



Day 1: Arrival Day- Lunch: Pop Century food court
Supper: O'Hana

Day 2: Magic Kingdom-Lunch: Quickservice
Supper: Shane and Kayla will be doing another Quicksevice meal and Myself and Breagh will be doing Crystal Palace.

Day 3: Epcot- Lunch: Shane and Kayla will be doing Teppan Edo and myself and Breagh will be doing Quickservice.
Supper: Akershus

Day 4: Universal day. We'll grab a Quickservice breakfast and late supper.

Day 5: Hollywood Studios- Lunch: Quickservice
Supper: 50's Prime Time

Day 6: Animal Kingdom- Breakfast: Tusker House
Supper: Boma

Day 7: Magic Kingdom- Lunch: Quickservice
Supper: Be Our Guest



If we do get free dining, we'll be upgrading to the Standard Dining Plan

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Hi, there! I came over from the August 2013 thread and I’m joining in on your planning! We are also arriving August 21st and staying at Pop! How cool that you and your friends are going to WDW for the first time! You must be so excited! Your planning binder looks really nice and your ADR plans are great so far too

 

[Meloramelora]

ThANK YOU and welcome! We are UNBELIEVABLY excited for this trip! It's all we've been able to talk about since we started planning what seems like forever ago.
The only thing we're slightly worried about is the heat because we are not used it haha.

 

[Meloramelora]

Hellooo. Only 332 days left to go!! And there have been a couple of changes.

We are going to be staying at Pop Century, and our dates have been pushed back a week, so it looks like we'll be heading to the World from August 28-September 4. Over Labour Day weekend. (Does anyone know if it tends to be A LOT busier at that time? We've also decided on getting 7-day Park Tickets instead of the 5 we were going to get, because of the small difference in price compared to the extra flexibility for touring.

Trying to save up has been tough for some of us, which I suppose makes it a good thing that we started planning so far in advance. Myself and Breagh, who is going to be posting on here as well since she joined the Dis, have been keeping ourselves busy planning (and Pinning ) to keep ourselves super excited.

We've also been discussing luggage options because none of us are into spending extra money each way just for our baggage, SO myself, Kayla and Shane are planning on packing everything in our carry-ons! This scares me because I am an over-packer BUT i'm determined! So we've been looking at lots of tips and videos for packing and I'm getting more excited about it.

Alright so now for the fun stuffs.

DAY 1 Plans

Day 1:August 28th

This is our travelling day SO it's going to be up at the crack of dawn (or earlier, we're hoping for an early morning flight) Off to the airport and then most importantly off to sunny Florida, after a lay over in one of many east coast American cities

When we arrive, it'll probably be too early for check in but we really want to take a look around the grounds, and also the AoA grounds to get a feel and take lots of pictures. We'll also probably grab a quick lunch at the Pop food court and then settle into our rooms.

Next we're going to head over to Magic Kingdom and take the Monorail to the Grand Floridian to explore a bit, and then to the Polynesian. We're planning for an ADR at O'hana and then watching Wishes from the beach. By then I'm guessing we're going to want to call it a night.

 

[Breagh]

Hey y'all! So as mentioned in a few posts above, my name is Breagh & I am part of the crazy, once in a lifetime trip to the World! I joined the DIS a while ago, but was too nervous to post anything. I chalk that up to how new I was. After reading countless TRs and PTRs, I've decided that I should start posting in the PTR that I'm a part of. I'll be posting in green so that everyone can tell my posts apart from Melora's

Currently, I'm incredibly sick with a cold, and I think it might be becoming the flu I'm really hoping not because I am a student doing my work placement right now, which I don't get paid for. I want to get my hours as soon as possible, because I need to start working so I can pay for this trip! I don't have time to work while I'm doing my placement, because my placement is full time hours (40/week).

Enough about that, moving on to more Disney related things, since this is the DIS after all! I'm the only one of our group who lives in a different place than everyone else, so it's been hard on me. I want nothing more than to have Dinner & Disney movie nights with my friends, but it's kind of hard especially where I live so far from the rest of them. Hopefully this will be changing soon though! I've been filling most of my days with Disney thoughts, which keeps me pretty happy. I've been planning, looking for tips, and other things like that for a while now. I've started my own Disney binder as well! I'll be making a post about that in the near future. I've also been working on the group's Christmas Presents from me. This Christmas is a DIY one from me since I don't/won't have lots of money to spend on everyone this year. All that cash has got to go towards Disney after all I really can't wait to give my group their presents cause I know they're going to love them

A little bit more about myself: As we plan and get ready for this trip, even though it's 331 days away, I can't help but feel like the Mom, even though I'm the second youngest out of everyone. I guess that just comes from being a Nurse's daughter. I say that because I'm the one who is the most paranoid about someone getting sick or injured. Whenever I travel I bring what I like to call my "First Aid Kit". It's not really a first aid kit, but it's a small bag that I bring with me that has bandaids, polyspornin, advil, etc. in it. Also, I'm determined to make sure this trip contains lots of Pixie Dust for everyone else. I have a few surprises in the making for the other 3 up my sleeve.

But I guess that's enough rambling and about me for one post More to come from me in the up coming months! Ta Ta For Now!

 

[Meloramelora]

Welcome Breagh!! Thanks for starting to post on our lovely PTR I can't wait until the two of us are in the same place and we can properly get excited

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Well, I’m from Virginia and even I can’t tolerate the heat sometimes but it is Disney, so it is worth it! Just stay hydrated and maybe get a misting fan, and you’re all set! The new dates that you have for your trip are even better than your old ones. Yes, it is Labor Day weekend, but most Southern schools are back in session by early August and Northern schools (like in my school district) go back the day after Labor Day, so the crowds in WDW are pretty low. Good luck packing everything into carry-ons! I am an over-packer too, so I have no tips for you!

Hi, Breagh I hope you feel better! That is great that you guys get to plan this trip together

 

[Meloramelora]

Oh great! I was worried that Labor Day would have been crazy busy but I'm so glad that's not the case.

 

[Breagh]

Welp, I WAS going to do a post tonight, with pictures. But I forgot that I need 10 posts on here before I can do that, sooooooooooo I made a few posts tonight, and I'm going to make a few more tomorrow & then post my update tomorrow sometime.

For now, I'm going to bed after my long trip filled with Pixie Dust (more on that in the update!)

 

[Breagh]

Hey all! So this is sort of a life update, but it's got some pixie dust included in it. How you ask? Well, just hold your horses, we're getting to that. We need a little back story first!

So, if you don't know, this weekend it's Thanksgiving for us crazy Canadians. So Happy Thanksgiving to any Canadians lurking around reading our PTR. Anyways, it's become tradition in my family (for everyone except me for right now), to go to the valley and run a race. So my nephew ran his first race this weekend and was super excited because he got a medal! My momma ran a half marathon and my sister and her husband ran 5 kilometers. My momma wants me to start running. She said if I do and I train for it, she'd take me to Disney to run in the Princess Marathon. Disney might be the only thing that could motivate me to run haha! I've tried before & it's just not my cup of tea. Anyway! Back to the story of pixie dust!

So when we got to the hotel, I had a crazy longing for checking into Pop! not some lousy hotel in the valley, so we decided to take a drive around town to see the Pumpkin People. What are Pumpkin People you ask? Well the town we were staying in has an annual festival where they take pumpkins and make them into scarecrow like people and thousands of people from all over come to see them! Some are amazing, some... not so much. We also have Pumpkin Boat Races, but they weren't happening this weekend. So, as we got to the first bunch of pumpkin people this is what I saw:

Mr. Potato Head, The Alien from Toy Story, and Eve! AND:

The Pixar Lamp! I was too excited about this! I thought that Tinkerbell must have known I was going and feeling a little gloomy about it (I really didn't want to go away this weekend). Here's a few more pictures:

My Momma & Nephew with Mr. Potato Head

Me with the Alien!

Just as I thought this must just be a fluke, there was no way that the theme for the pumpkin people this weekend was Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks, we ran into...

Merida! I'm practicing my Merida pose! In all the excitement I didn't realize I was facing the wrong way haha!

Next up, a visit to Radiator Springs!

Mater anyone?

My nephew checking out the inside of Lightning

Megamind & Minion

The Monsters Inc crew!

Cecilia

Mike!

Me peeking around the door, with Sully & Boo on the other side of me. (My nephew, who is 4, took this picture! I'm impressed with how well he can work a camera!)

Time for some How to Train your Dragon!

Toothless & Hiccup

Toothless had a seat you could sit on for pictures!

& Finally the cast of Up!

The house, the wind had popped all the balloons, but still very cute

My nephew with Dug!

& Mr. Frederickson

The other dog whose name escapes me... but he was supposed to be the one with the high pitched voice because his collar was broken.

& Finally, me & my sister with Kevin! My nephew took this one too, but wouldn't take it unless I was holding Kevin's beak...? I don't know. He's so silly sometimes!

There were a lot more, but we didn't have time to see them all or get pictures of them all. There was a Shrek display that we completely didn't have time to get pictures of, but I think I covered all the Disney characters pretty well!

One last photo before I sign off. We also found the Big Cheese and his Leading Lady!

​

 

[Meloramelora]

Ughh I am so jealous that you got to see these. There's no way I can go check out the Pumpkin People this year so thanks for taking these pics. It's like the universe is throwing all this Disney stuff at us because it knows we're going

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

The Pumpkin People were so cool! That looks like it was a fun day!

 

[nafiaw]

Love your binder!!! You really put a lot of planning into your trip.

I am going to WDW on 8/23~9/1 with DH (39), DD (9) and DD (5). Am waiting for August hours to plan my ADR accordingly. Booked at AoA LM. Disney usually offer FD at that time and hoping it will announced soon. Thinking of upgrading to DxDP since all of us are foodies.