Can't Think of a Better Way to Celebrate 5 Years!~A May 2015 PTR!-Update 5/16-New TR Link!

[Nermel9]

Hi guys! Remember me?

I know, I've been kind of DIS-MIA lately, but it's over! And what better way to make a triumphant return to the DIS? Write a Trip Report, of course.

Only I don't have a TR to write, so I'm settling for a Pre-Trip Report!

It's been a LOOOOOOONG time since I've written a PTR...I've done a few TR's, but a PTR? Not since...hmm...(this new DIS doesn't let me look at my own signature while I'm typing so I have to figure out how to find that out...)

A-ha! My November 2012 trip was the last trip I wrote a PTR for. Wow. Ok, so I'm a little out of practice...well, let's get going then and stop rambling.

Hi everyone! I'm Jen, and I'm going to Disney World in May!

My husband, Brandon, will be coming with me, of course, that's actually kind of important, haha! The whole reason for the trip, actually!

May 1 will be our 5 year wedding anniversary! I knew wayyyyy back, 5 years ago, that we'd be going to Disney for our 5 year anniversary, and oh look, going to Disney for our 5 year anniversary! Of course, I had these grand plans back then for that trip...I figured we'd go for about 10 days, stay at the Poly the whole time, do the Deluxe Dining Plan...yeah, not happening!

But we are going for 8 days, which is almost as good, and we are staying somewhere awesome...2 awesome places, actually, because lately, I just looooove my split stays! (You'll just have to stay tuned to see where we're staying though...and if anyone reading happens to know, don't tell! )

I am SO excited for this trip, and to be going to Disney again in May! We have been to WDW twice before in May, once for our Disneymoon

and again for our 2nd anniversary!

It's always such a fun time to go, with the Flower and Garden festival, I think Epcot is so beautiful in the Spring! You guys know I love my Disney around the holidays, but Spring is a lovely time as well!

I'm really excited about the new outdoor kitchens (I think that's what they're calling them, right?) this year! I know they have been there for a few years now, but this will be my first time experiencing them, it seems like it's kind of a mini-Food and Wine Festival!

I also can't wait for Disney Food!!! We will be going back to some favorite places (no, surprisingly, Le Cellier is NOT on the list, but you know, there's still 60 more days to add it!) and trying some new places also, which again, I'll tell you about in a future update! Brandon and I tried a lot of new places in September, and we're definitely going back to a couple of those!

I hope this intro is good enough to keep people interested for the next 60 days! I probably will only update once a week, but if there's something I absolutely have to share, it might be more! Can't wait to talk Disney and share plans for this trip with all of my old DIS buddies, and hopefully will make some new ones along the way!

See ya soon!

Up next...where we're staying!

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[Nermel9]

Chapter Links

1. Where We're Staying!

2. Where We're Eating!

3. Animal Kingdom Must Do's!

4. DHS Must Do's!

5. Magic Kingdom Must Do's!

6. Epcot Must Do's!

7. Single Digits and FP+!

8. Random Update

9. I'm Back!

10. TR Link!​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in! SOunds like we will be there about the same time.

 

[Dugette]

I'm here and so glad you're back! Sad that I think you'll leave like a week before we arrive, though. So close!

 

[Tracy161]

Yay!!! So excited you're doing a PTR. Now... I'd be even more excited if our May trips overlapped... Seems to be that I'm missing everyone by a week or two. But I'm excited to count down to May together! I love that you guys are celebrating your 5th anniversary at Disney (but honestly where else would you spend it?!)

 

[KatMark]

I'm here Jen! Great introductions and the best place to celebrate your 5th anniversary in my opinion. LeCellier not on the list? I am in shock. We did eat at their F&W booth and loved the trout and the soup; the filet...not at all.

 

[accountingbabe08]

i'm here too

 

[disneyjes]

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[marDgreen88]

I'm here!!! Yay! I always love your PTRs.

 

[Nermel9]

Joining in! SOunds like we will be there about the same time.

Welcome! So glad you're here! Seems like early May is a popular time to be in Disney this year!

I'm here and so glad you're back! Sad that I think you'll leave like a week before we arrive, though. So close!

Yay, glad you're here! I just found your PTR and subbed! Haha, isn't that how it always works out, I'm always missing people by a week or so!

Yay!!! So excited you're doing a PTR. Now... I'd be even more excited if our May trips overlapped... Seems to be that I'm missing everyone by a week or two. But I'm excited to count down to May together! I love that you guys are celebrating your 5th anniversary at Disney (but honestly where else would you spend it?!)

Hi! So glad you're here! I know, I feel like I'm missing a lot of people too, I kind of wish I was going a little later in the month for SWW but...I wanted to go as close to my anniversary as possible!

I'm here Jen! Great introductions and the best place to celebrate your 5th anniversary in my opinion. LeCellier not on the list? I am in shock. We did eat at their F&W booth and loved the trout and the soup; the filet...not at all.

Yay, hi Kathy, glad you're here! Thanks! I'm so happy to be celebrating in Disney, where else right? Haha, I know, no Le Cellier right now, but you watch...a week before, I'll be frantically searching for an ADR!

 

[Nermel9]

i'm here too

Yay, glad you're here!

I can't wait to hear more!

Happy to have you here!

I'm here!!! Yay! I always love your PTRs.

Marissa!!! I didn't even know you were on the DIS anymore!!!

 

[kgoodb00]

I am here! I love your trip reports! Congrats on 5 years! That is awesome! Excited to see what all you have planned!!

 

[amazingact21]

I'm here, I'm here! It's so great to see another report from you, Jen! Those new outdoor kitchens are awesome! They add a whole new level of awesome to the F & G Festival.

 

[Mrs T 2009]

I'm here!!!
And my lips are sealed for resort stays LoL

 

[Mrs T 2009]

I'm here!!!! Yay!!!

 

[nene0182]

I'll have to catch up and read later. But, I just wanted to say our 5 year wedding anniversay in May 1st as well. We are going to WDW to celebrate but aren't able to go until June

 

[Nermel9]

I am here! I love your trip reports! Congrats on 5 years! That is awesome! Excited to see what all you have planned!!

Yay thank you for being here! And thank you, I'm sooo excited for this trip!!

I'm here, I'm here! It's so great to see another report from you, Jen! Those new outdoor kitchens are awesome! They add a whole new level of awesome to the F & G Festival.

Hey, glad you're here!! Thank you!! I'm so excited for the Flower and Garden Festival, and the outdoor kitchens, they look like they are going to be so much fun!

I'm here!!!
And my lips are sealed for resort stays LoL

I'm here!!!! Yay!!!

Yay, so glad you're here! Haha, thanks for not saying anything about the resorts! I'm gonna do that update right now, actually, because my life is so exciting that I'm updating my PTR on a Saturday night!

I'll have to catch up and read later. But, I just wanted to say our 5 year wedding anniversay in May 1st as well. We are going to WDW to celebrate but aren't able to go until June

Thanks for being here! OMG that's crazy that your anniversary is the same day! I wish I could have been in Disney on my anniversary, I actually wanted to go the week before so our anniversary would be our last day in WDW but I have to go to a wedding that week so it didn't work out! June will be fun too!

 

[Nermel9]

Where We're Staying!

(All pictures in this update are either mine, or borrowed from google images or Disneyworld.com!)

Hi guys! So I'm bored on a Saturday night, so I thought, why not do my update now?

Ok, so choosing your resort for your Disney trip is probably the most fun part of the planning process right? Well, for me it is...and if any of you know me, you know I'm a chronic resort changer. Seriously, can I tell you how many trips I had booked at the Animal Kingdom Lodge before I finally stayed there? It's ridiculous!

Back in September, when we were in Disney, and I bought our Annual Passes, which meant this 5 year anniversary trip was DEFINITELY happening, I started seriously thinking about where I wanted to stay for this trip. Like I said in my intro, my plan 5 years ago was to stay at the Poly. But the Poly sadly doesn't get any cheaper as the years go by, so I knew that was out. I also wanted to maybe attempt the Grand, since they have the DVC rooms now and MAYBE I could rent a villa there, even though I knew that was next to impossible.

No, the one place I really wanted to stay at was the Boardwalk.

The Boardwalk has been my DREAM resort (along with the Poly and the Grand) forever! And what better time to stay there than an anniversary trip right? And you can rent a DVC villa there, which would be awesome because it really makes the deluxe resorts affordable.

So sometime in December, I contacted one of the DVC rental agencies, because sadly, I don't have a DVC hookup and even though they charge a little more than if you were to rent directly from a DVC member, it's still a pretty decent price. So I filled out my form, put in my dates, my alternate dates, my alternate resort choice (The Grand, which was SUCH a long shot, but whatever, I tried ) and waited for my email back to confirm my dates. It's December, there have to be some rooms left to rent, right?

Wrong. Every single combination of dates and room category I tried for was booked. They asked if I wanted to try different dates, so I did, but no such luck. Everything was booked. Ok fine, whatever. I'll wait for the discount on the regular rooms and see what happens.

Discount comes out, and I miss it by a few days, because I'm just not paying attention, and SOOOO much stuff is already booked up! All of the cheaper room categories at the Boardwalk were of course already booked, so I got really sad, and told myself I'd keep trying, but it was looking like I'd have to find another place to stay.

Then I noticed a really awesome price for a really awesome resort. Somewhere we've stayed before, somewhere that I love. You might even call it my favorite resort, which for some reason, wasn't even a consideration until I saw it when I was searching for room discounts.

Any guesses as to what the awesome resort is?

If you guessed the Wilderness Lodge, you would be correct!

Both Brandon and I love this resort SOOOOO much. We got engaged here in 2009 and from that trip on, it's been a favorite place of ours. Not only is it our favorite resort, it's also just a favorite place in all of Disney. Even when we're not staying here, (which we haven't done since 2011) we make it a point to come here and have breakfast or something, and just look around, hang out by the fireplace, and cry about how we wish we were staying there.

(Ok, we don't cry, but we do always wish we are staying there!)

It's just such a beautiful resort, it's so quiet and peaceful, and the location is perfect! It's right near the Magic Kingdom, so you don't have to deal with the horrendous MK parking nightmare, and hello, who doesn't like taking a boat as their mode of transportation?

Since we haven't stayed here, I'm looking forward to seeing the newly renovated rooms in person! (I know it's been a few years since they've been renovated now, but to me, they're new!) The room itself looks really nice

but what I'm most excited about is the new shower area with these little guys in the shower!

The tiles with all the little Disney woodland animals, how adorable is that???

(Ok, I guess it doesn't take much to make me happy, but really, they are SO cute!)

As sad as I was to not be staying at the Boardwalk, I'm kind of happy in a weird way that it didn't work out, because the Wilderness Lodge is my Disney home. It's just so fitting that we're spending our 5 year anniversary there.

Of course, not the whole time.

Lately, I've discovered split stays and I kind of love them. The original plan was to stay at the Wilderness Lodge for 4 nights and then move over to the Art of Animation for 3 nights. I was all set to book AoA when I looked at the AP discounts for rooms and saw that Port Orleans Riverside was only $10 more a night than AoA (since you can't get a discount on the Little Mermaid rooms). I'd have to be stupid to pass that up, right?

Right. So I booked 3 nights at Port Orleans, which we've also stayed at before and loved it. It is definitely my favorite moderate resort, it's just so beautiful.

Of course, if you guys know me, you also know that aside from being a chronic resort changer, I'm also a chronic day adder to our trips (I know, that doesn't make sense!) What I'm trying to say is, I added a day to the end of our trip, so now we will be at the WL for 4 nights and POR for 4 nights!!!

This resort also has done some renovating since we have last stayed here, so I'm excited to see their new rooms in person as well!

I know the rooms have looked like that for a while now, but again, it will be new to me. The last time we stayed here, we were in a royal room, which was beautiful, but it will be nice to kind of be staying somewhere new. I was even considering possibly requesting the Alligator Bayou sections, but I'm not sure if I want to go that rustic after staying at the WL for 4 days you know? So I think I'll request the mansions section, hopefully we'll get it, and if not, well, the AB section could be fun too! Either way, I'm just so happy to be staying here again, I just love the theme of this resort, and it's so pretty, it's hard to believe it's only a moderate.

So there you have it! Sorry this was so long, I just love talking about Disney resorts!

So with this PTR, I'm not going to do day to day plans, because I feel like with a long trip, those updates might get boring after a while, and honestly, after the first few days of this trip, I have no idea what we're doing, so I can't really do day by day updates anyway! So I'll probably do an ADR update, a FP+ update, and then I'll do favorites of each park and absolute must do's of each one. And then maybe some other random updates here and there!

Thanks for reading, talk to you guys soon!

OH! One more thing! If any of you have a PTR/TR going on, and I'm not currently reading it, PLEASE let me know! I like to be subbed to anyone's PTR's/TR's who is reading mine, and I haven't been on much lately, so I may have missed it if you have one, just let me know and I will definitely sub!


Up next...ADR's!
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[nene0182]

I've been a constant resort changer for this trip as well. We didn't decide to go to WDW until January (originally we were going to check out Disneyland) We are DVC owners so we were limited to wait was available. We have been booked at OKW, SSR, AKV Kidani and finally booked the Polynesian Villas. I canceled any wait lists we have and am trying to resist looking for availability elsewhere. So far I've been successful, now if I could only say the same for ADRs

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like the WL is a really fitting place to stay on your anniversary trip! And I totally approve of your split stay of 4 and 4 - on our May trip, we are doing 4 nights, then a 4 night cruise, then another 4 nights at WDW. Seems like anything less makes you feel like you have to leave when you just got there. Like you, I have not seen the new(er) rooms at those resorts (2010 for last stay at both), but they look great from those pictures!

I know you popped into one of my reports, but I can't remember which right now. I have two TRs and one PTR going (slowly), as I have apparently lost my mind. All noted in my signature. Glad to have you back around the DIS!