"Did you just say Disney World!?" A January 2016 PTR **NEW 7/30**

[desheag]

Hello Everyone and WELCOME to my second Pre-Trip Report!
I last went to the Happiest Place on Earth in January 2015! I absolutely LOVED this time of year. From the great weather, low crowd levels, and low rates.. it was an all around AWESOME time to go!

You can find my current trip report for that trip in my signature below!
I have to admit - I've been very bad about updating that TR since I've been home - BUT, I promised myself I would finish it before we leave for our current trip! I have a little less than 6 months to complete my task We had so much fun on our trip and I am so excited to share our memories with people who love Disney just as much as I do!

Our current trip will consist of 7 nights and 8 magical days in Walt Disney World!
I will be posting all of the details in the next post... including who is accompanying me on my adventure, the when, where, why, and how, and much more! So stay tuned!



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[desheag]

Chapter Links

Cast of Characters
The W's & Trip Details
Let's Talk Food.. DISNEY FOOD​

 

[brb1006]

If you're heading to WDW, it's a tradition to visit the Magic Kingdom on the first and final day.

 

[desheag]

Cast of Characters:

First up, Yours truly..

My name is Deshea and I will be your PTR/TR host! I'm 23 years old and I love everything about Disney! I participated in the Disney College Program during the Spring of 2012. It was by far the most amazing experience and I wish I could do it all over again! Before the DCP I had been to Disney World around 6 times. Now, I try to go at least once a year, if not more. I do like to play tour guide whenever we go, but there's still so much I haven't seen yet, and I learn so much more every trip! I am definitely the planner of the family. I have planned all of our trips ever since I was about 15. I love Dumbo, Pin Trading, Disney food, the resorts, and just walking around taking everything in. My favorite rides are BTMRR, TOT, and RnR! My favorite snack is a cream cheese pretzel (I wish I had one right now). And my favorite resort is the Grand Floridian (one day I WILL stay there).


Accompanying me on this adventure will be my boyfriend of almost 4 years. His name is Matthew and he is 25 years old. We've been to Disney twice together. His first time EVER was during my CP when he came to visit me. Our most recent trip together was in November of 2013. We went with my entire family (18 of us to be exact). I definitely opened his eyes to the Magic of Disney over the last few trips. He loves to go, he just doesn't want to go ALL the time like I do.

Here's a few pics of us from our previous trips:

His favorite rides are Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, BTMRR, and RnR. He also enjoys the Disney food, and he's famous for acting like a huge kid (aren't we all). He is my absolute best friend and partner in crime, and I can't wait to go on this trip with him!


Next Up... TRIP DETAILS! That's right.. The W's!


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[desheag]

If you're heading to WDW, it's a tradition to visit the Magic Kingdom on the first and final day.

That's exactly what we normally do, but this time we will be going to DHS first!

 

[desheag]

The W's:

Who: Deshea & Matthew

What: A trip to Walt Disney World

When: January 23rd - January 30th 2016!

Where: All Star Music

Why: Because it's time for another trip!


Matthew and I had been discussing another trip to Disney for a while, but we just couldn't seem to make it happen. I was dead set on going sometime in September or October because I've never seen the fall decorations and I've never been to MNSSHP.. one day I will be able to experience both! We sort of gave up hope that a trip just wasn't in the plans for the next year - mostly because I got a new job and I didn't have any vacation days yet, plus we needed to save money.

We knew we wanted to go SOMEWHERE just the two of us so we planned a little long weekend get away to Houston for this coming Labor Day weekend. I booked a room and everything, and we just couldn't get excited about it. We were sitting on the couch a few weeks later just talking and Matthew looks at me and says... "What if we cancelled our mini vacation and put that money towards a Disney World trip?" I immediately look at him and say "DID YOU JUST SAY DISNEY WORLD!?"


... I mean... is that even a real question!?!?
Not even two seconds later and I was on the computer canceling the room I had previously booked!

I got on and started to look at prices and started to think about where to stay.
I knew a deluxe resort was out of the question, and I thought MAYBE I could convince him to do a moderate resort.. but I wasn't trying to push my luck. I had finally decided Pop Century.. I've stayed at Pop a few times and I like it a lot! I like the fact that it's very centrally located, it has a nice food court, great pools, and decent rooms. I got the OKAY from Matthew and I thought that was it.. time to BOOK IT!

.. NOPE... I was wrong.

You see... my really good friend and my former roommate from the college program helps us out A LOT when it comes to discounts. She had already said we could use her room discount for this trip! So when she got online to book our room she told me that Pop Century was not available for our dates... WOMP WOMP WOMP!!

DARN!!!!

She told me I could choose from Caribbean Beach or any of the All Stars.
I've stayed at Caribbean Beach before and while it was nice and all, just too spread out for me.
I've stayed at All Star Sports and All Star Movies before.. but never All Star Music.
I have no problem with a value resort because we are never in the room anyway, but I just know it will be hard to go back to value after our previous stay at Port Orleans Riverside!

We ended up booking All Star Music in a preferred room for 7 Nights, 8 Days - for a little over $500! I still can't believe it!
THANK YOU GENY!!!
We decided not to do the DDP this trip - we are light eaters and we are pretty sure we can eat cheaper without it.

She said she would keep checking to see if Pop Century comes available, but honestly I'm not really worried about it. I like trying new resorts so we will probably stick with it!

Our room was booked on Sunday, July 26... and my ADR day was July 27th.
Cutting it CLOSE!

After I had received the email that our room was confirmed, I logged onto MDE and my reservation was already linked!


This is a screenshot I took of my home page in MDE:

So there you have it... all about how our trip came to be!
Next up I'll be telling you about my ADR's.. so stay tuned!

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[desheag]

Let's Talk Food... Disney Food!
ADR's MADE!


So, whenever we left off I had finished telling everyone that the trip was booked 181 days in advance. (The night before I was able to make my ADR's).

On Monday, July 27th I had set an alarm for 6:00AM.
I knew most of the ADR's I wanted but I still wasn't 100% sure of them.. I'm sure they will change throughout the next several months.


Here's what I ended up with:

1/23/16 - Dinner @ Beaches & Cream - 7:40 PM
1/24/16 - Lunch @ Be Our Guest - 1:15 PM (Will most likely cancel this one)
1/25/16 - Lunch @ Via Napoli - 11:30 AM
1/25/16 - Dinner @ Captain's Grille - 7:50 PM
1/26/16 - Lunch @ Be Our Guest - 12:30 PM
1/27/16 - Lunch @ Sci Fi Dine In - 12:30 PM
1/28/16 - Dinner @ Chefs De France - 7:00 PM
1/29/16 - Breakfast @ 'Ohana - 9:35 AM

Here's a screenshot I took of my plans in MDE:

Once I go through each of my park days and plans, these might change.
I am open to opinions/suggestions if you have any!

The ones that are new to me are Beaches & Cream and Captain's Grille!
If you have any input that would be great!!

I also might try to squeeze in another Dinner somewhere!!




Next up I will go through my plans for our arrival day!!



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[cajunfan]

Awesome for friends with discounts! We stayed at All Star Music this past May in a Family Suite. I loved the layout and the room of the suites. Not wild about the interior décor, but for that price I am not picky! The grounds, pool and food court are good. I did find the food court much more limited in it's selection than Pop, but not bad (and it may have been I just did not want what my options were there!) We were in one of the Calypso Buildings, and it was very quiet, which was nice.

No Ohana for dinner??? It is probably one of my FAVORITE places to eat dinner. I've not eaten yet at the two that are new to you. I will eat at Beaches and Cream when I go next year (Oct/Nov).

I can't wait to hear more!

Lynn

 

[desheag]

Awesome for friends with discounts! We stayed at All Star Music this past May in a Family Suite. I loved the layout and the room of the suites. Not wild about the interior décor, but for that price I am not picky! The grounds, pool and food court are good. I did find the food court much more limited in it's selection than Pop, but not bad (and it may have been I just did not want what my options were there!) We were in one of the Calypso Buildings, and it was very quiet, which was nice.

No Ohana for dinner??? It is probably one of my FAVORITE places to eat dinner. I've not eaten yet at the two that are new to you. I will eat at Beaches and Cream when I go next year (Oct/Nov).

I can't wait to hear more!

Lynn

We will be in the Calypso buildings as well, because it seems like those are the only preferred buildings! It's good to know that its quiet.. we were worried about the noise!

No 'Ohana for dinner I went once and everyone loved it but I am a very picky eater and not adventurous at all... so we are just doing breakfast.. which is a must do for us every time!

Thanks for reading

 

[Trixie15]

Are you still taking a trip this month? It's coming right up!