Disney: It's For Adults, Too! (finally booked!!!)

Sam33

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Where to start! Introduction? The Why? The When? With all of those 30-some posts I figure you all know me by know, right? :goodvibes Introductions it is!

I’ve only been to WDW twice now, but seeing as they were the best trips I’ve ever been on, I have two more in the works already!
I’m 23 and all in the last year I graduated from CU (GO BUFFS) and got married. I majored in psych but haven’t made plans to get my masters yet so I working two jobs that have nothing to do with my area of study! DH majored in marketing and is doing two internships with ski companies. The one hobby in my life that trumps all things Disney is hockey. I watch 2-3 games a night and given the choice between a WDW trip and season tickets to the Avalanche, I would pick season tickets (sorry everyone!). That obsession, plus my DH’s ridiculous snowboarding obsession has pretty much penciled us in as Coloradoans for the rest of our lives!

(I realize, now, that this is a lot of text; cue pictures to avoid deterring readers!)

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And last, but not least...we're HUGE beer people. In WDW, however, I'm a cocktail person... outside of sit-down restaurants and a Guinness in the UK, Disney beer choices don't really do it for me! (so any beer drinkers out there with good recommendations on where to go in Disney for good beer...I like stouts and porters and nothing I can see through! :thumbsup2)
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Beer gives me a double chin? I don't know...no excuse for that one!



My husband, despite not being a Disney person, is really the reason I got into the whole WDW thing in the first place. WDW was the ONE place I wanted to go all growing up but my family was so dang frugal! We went on one fishing vacation to Minnesota and that was it! So when we were 20 and DH (then boyfriend) invited me on their family vacation to The World, I died! My SIL planned it and we had the best time ever despite the fact that if we were to list our favorite parks in order, they’d be completely opposite and I was too nervous in front of his un-sentimental family to enjoy Disney the way I wanted. So when the whole marriage thing rolled around, I won the honeymoon battle and we were off to the world, again!



Now, DH enjoys a Disney vacation. But he’s one of those weird, “normal” people that would like vacations to other places. We compromised! We get one more WDW before we have babies (AT LEAST 5 years away…hopefully) and then we can go more with kids. So how would I get my Disney fix in with my companion sitting it out?!



This will sound weird, but the entire time we were touring the parks on our honeymoon, I couldn’t get over the fact that my mom would LOVE this place. She grew up in a tiny farm town and they were poor as dirt! So living without the luxury of vacations translated to her adult life even though they had the money to go. Getting her to agree to go with me to Disney wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. She, like many non-Disney folk, had the pre-conceived notion that Disney is for children. I recruited aunts and all her church friends that have been to Disney to sit her down and tell her how fun it is for everyone, not just children! She’s a kindergarten teacher and is excellent at bring things down to kid level, and just acting like a kid in general but we also love alcohol and food and other adult things! Disney just seems so perfect for her! SOOOO many cocktails AND Disney!


My best friend!
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Sorry for so many wedding pictures! I couldn't find any pics of just me and my mom outside of the wedding! SOON TO CHANGE :cool1:





This trip is for my mom, first and foremost! So this trip will revolve around the adult aspect of Disney. This is new for me! My usual Disney plans revolve around riding rides over and over again until the lines build up and just being ultra-commando. My mom likes to take it slow, enjoy all those boring adult things, and relax!

 
And thus brings me to the reasons for this PTR!

A) The anticipation is killing me! And we’re still a year away from our trip! Whether or not anyone reads this, getting it all out seems like a great way to stay sane!

B) Given the nature of this trip compared to my past two trips, I may need some help and ideas! I need help and have questions that are just a little too minor to start whole new threads about

C) I was a lurker a long time before I started posting and these boards really helped me make the most out of my honeymoon so I thought I’d give back and participate a little more!
 
You may be wondering why I left out the most important part of a PTR.. the dates! That's because we haven't decided on them yet!

With mom being a teacher and the fact that we hate crowds and heat combined with mom not wanted to take more than 3 days off in a row, we've narrowed it down to three day weekends or spring break. We got rid of the idea of President's day and spring break and thought we'd settled on MLK week 2013. But then we thought Vet's day 2012 could work, too.

So that's where we are now. Vet's day, or MLK day? The problem with Vet's day is that there's a half-marathon that week. But it's also food & wine which would be great for us! Anyone have any experience with Vet's week crowds? Thanks!
 
So I have time to kill today. My husband, Casey, has a job interview today and I'm going crazy sitting at home waiting! Time to ramble to take my mind off things. And good vibes/prayers/fingers crossed (whatever you're into, I guess!) our way would be freaking awesome! We're barely getting by and adding income at this point would be like winning the lottery!

Also, him getting a job has implications on this trip. I'm having to save nickles and dimes to afford this trip so having extra income would make me feel so much less guilty about this trip (Casey has assured me over and over again that he wants me to go and such, but it's still a lot of money!). Also, doubling our income would allow us to maybe upgrade hotels and restaurants. So we'll see!




I thought I'd give the Disney version of an introduction on here so I surveyed my mom! It will also help with plans and such I suppose. Knowing what characters and such to avoid because she hates them will definitely make for a more fluid vacation!

Ma mom:
Favorite Movies:
1) Little Mermaid. This was the first movie she saw in theaters (lived in a tiny town that didn't have a movie theater for a while). She remembers being in awe of the colors and animation and thought the movie was just amazing.
2) Lion King.
3) Toy Story (we are having movie nights to get excited for the trip and she saw TS3 last week and loved it)

Favorite Disney Characters
1) BY FAR Winnie the Pooh. She loves everything Pooh. She thinks that the character thing at the World is a little creepy but she was totally down for a Pooh meet and greet! Her desk area in her kindergarten classroom is poohed out and she thought her students would get a kick out of a picture of her and Pooh.
2) Mufasa. Mostly for the voice! She loves that Earl guy. Haha
3)Dory. My mom is a big Ellen fan and she loved Finding Nemo.

Since my mom didn't have a TV for most of her life and no movie theater her Disney love didn't really start until she had us kids. So she doesn't have many childhood favorites.

Favorite Disney Songs
1)Part of Your World
2)Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah
3)When You Wish Upon A Star

Favorite Fab 5: Doesn't have one but if she had to pick, probably Mickey!

Least favorite Disney Movies
1) Alice in Wonderland
2) Sword in the Stone
3) Dumbo


My Turn!
Favorite Movies:
1) 101 Dalmatians
2) Lady and the Tramp
3) Sword in the Stone

Favorite Characters:
1) Rolly
2) Scuttle
3) Pascal

(I like comedic relief :) )

Favorite Disney Songs
1) "Best of Friends" From Fox and the Hound. This was one of the prelude songs at our wedding!
2) "Oo-De-Lally" From Robin Hood
3) "Circle of Life"

Favorite Fab 5: Definitely Donald! I was Donald for Halloween
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( I got the idea when we were in WDW on our honeymoon and we saw a duck bill. Unfortunately we didn't buy it and then couldn't find it again. I also couldn't find the right hat so I just went sailor!) No one knew who I was... The majority of votes went to "chicken of the sea"...I need new friends.

Least favorite Disney Movies:
1) Wall-E. Probably the only Disney movie I just plain don't like
2) Bambi. Meh
3) I can't think of a third so I guess Alice in Wonderland. I like it but of the rest of them it's my least favorite




 


What a great trip plan! I'm sure you'll have a great time with your mom!

Keep it up!
 
Still an hour until the interview and a half hour after that until it's over. So on to more ramblesauce.

My mom is convinced she won't be returning to Disney until she's a grandma and accompanying her grandchildren so she wants to do this trip up right! So right off the bat we eliminated value resorts.
My mom (her name is Glenda, from now on I'm just calling her Glenda) loves animals so AKL started at the top of our list.
We also like the Beach/Yacht club and the Boardwalk
And we added in a moderate, too, to compare price-wise. We both liked the Port Orleans Riverside so we added that to the list.

After comparing prices on everything and the fact that AKL is so far away from everywhere but AK, we decided on POR. It's got the boats and we love all the trees! And if we stayed at AKL we'd definitely splurge for the safari view so downgrading to POR saved us around $700.
We MAY think about the Boardwalk again (taken off because of price) if my husband becomes employed soon, especially if we decide to go over Food & Wine! But if no job or we decide we'd rather eat and drink better, we settled on POR!

If anyone has any opinions on those resorts let me know. We haven't booked yet and I kind of go back and forth a lot!
 
What a great trip plan! I'm sure you'll have a great time with your mom!

Keep it up!

YAY! A post! Thanks for reading! :cool1:

I'm sure she'll have a great time, and if she doesn't she'll pretend because she knows how worried I am about it! Ha
 


TIME IS GOING BY SO SLOW RIGHT NOW! So I'm back. At this rate I won't have a single post for this thread for months until our trip.
Now, I'll admit, when I first found out I was going to Disney World I was pretty "meh" about the whole thing :scared1:. I always wanted to go and I loved Disney movies and such, but I had NO idea what to expect out of the trip and while I was excited to be going on vacation, I didn't have the "OMG WDW" anticipation that I now get before trips.

And since then, I realized that the anticipation is sometimes just as fun as the trip itself! So how do I translate this to Glender Bender (Casey gave my mom this nickname, I find it brilliant)?
So far I have 2 1/2 ideas!
1. We've been having movie nights regularly. We watched Princess and the Frog first. She loved it! She even cried at the end (I'm convinced you're not human if you don't at least come close to crying at the end of that movie). Then we watched Alice in Wonderland, the cartoon and the new Tim Burton. She enjoyed them but they're not her favorite. The third night we watched Tangled and TS3 and she loved both. My plan is to save the best, most quintessential Disney movies the closer we get to the trip. So Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Mermaid will probably be our last three!

2. My second idea for getting her ultra excited was a gift bag! I got this from someone else's PTR (name is escaping me...sorry!). I'm having trouble decided what to put in it though! Ideas MORE than welcome. Practically necessary!
So far I've decided on a couple of different things:
-Disney pajamas! My mom doesn't wear PJs but she obviously does on vacation. So she doesn't have any cute PJs. I'll get her some PJ pants and maybe a new Disney t-shirt
-Mickey soap! My SIL has some that she's going to give me but I also found some cute soaps on-line
-Park maps
-Disney candy

And that's as far as I got. I also want to find a Disney themed gift bag and wrapping paper. That's proving to be illusive at this point.
I want more ideas, though!

1/2) I decided I want to make a CD for the drive to the airport of just Disney songs.
1. You can fly!- instead of "second star to the right and straight on til morning" it will be "second left out of the neighborhood and straight east until sunrise" (if we can get our super early flight like we want)

And I can't decide on the rest! I like "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (super Disney-Worldish song in my opinion), "When You Wish Upon A Star" (for sure) and "Zip-a-dee-doo-da". But that's all I got so far and I haven't decided on the order yet! Every detail matters! The wrong order could psychologically sour her, getting of on the wrong foot! :confused:




So...15 more minutes. Humph. :headache:






 
Hey!
I'm joining in. I love the Donald Duck costume. As for getting your mom more excited about the trip try not to stress too much over it. When I went with my girlfriend last year she didn't actually get excited until we got to WDW but she still LOVED her trip and we are going again next year. The movie night is a great idea so is the CD. I have a whole playlist of my favorite Disney and WDW songs so if you ever need suggestions let me know :)
Nice to meet you,
 
Thanks for joining in!
I drive for a job so I have about 8-10 hours in a car during the day. So I have TONS of Disney music but I'm torn between my favorite songs and the more classic Disney songs. I feel like the classics will get us more in the mood!

I'm also forcing her to do Country Bears and Tiki Birds! When my husband's family took me his dad MADE me do those two even though the rest of the family didn't have to because they'd already seen them at least once. With no kids or nostalgia involved I made sure to give her a fair warning!


And thanks SO much for liking my costume. I was so excited about it and no one knew who I was!
 
My favorite part of planning a Disney trip is the food! DH thinks I'm 100% crazy looking at food porn everyday. Especially because we're on mini diets (we're trying to lose 10 pounds! My mom is trying as well so we're using it as motivation to book our Disney trip! No Disney until we shave off some pounds [so we can gain them back in Disney!])



First things first! Dining plan. We're about 90% sure we're not using the dining plan for this trip. We had free dining for our honeymoon and I LOVE the aspect of having it all paid for before you leave.

But, at the same time, me and my mom are NOT dessert people. And when we had the dining plan I just kept wishing I could get an appetizer instead of dessert. Dessert never got finished and it was a "meh" rating everywhere. It just does nothing for me.
Cheese>>>>>>anything sweet.
So that and the fact that we also don't like sugary, non-alcoholic drinks makes the dining plan a little silly. We are water and beer/fancy cocktail people. Take out the price of a drink and the price of dessert and we probably save money by not doing the dining plan

I'm not about to do math to figure out the actual savings...so if anyone already has and we WOULD save money or at least be even let me know? Ha.


I know this is probably all mental, but when we were thinking about the dining plan we were going to do a signature restaurant. But if we're paying OOP I don't know if I can drop that much money on a meal! It seems so much cheaper when you're spending "credits" instead of money! We may still add in a signature but it's less likely without the dining plan.

We also decided that if we don't get the dining plan we want to put money on Disney gift cards so we can still kind of get that pre-paid feeling.


We just salvaged the videos from our Disneymoon off my husbands old computer so I'm going to go watch those, FINALLY and come back later to post which restaurants we're thinking





 
After seeing your response to my PRT, I decided to check out your's as well!! I can totally relate to you report so far as I did a mom/daughter trip a little over 2 years ago as well.

If you are food and drinks kinda people, I highly recommend going in November. Such a fun time there. The weather will be cooler, and F&W is just awesome. You might want to consider one of the EPCOT hotels as well. Don't forget the Dolphin/Swan as well. I have heard that teachers can get great discount rates there.

My mom and I had a great time. We had not been to a Disney park together for many years. I grew up in CA, so have many memories of going with my parents to Disneyland. She loved the F&W. We enjoyed shopping around Epcot. Our days were slower than my normal commando style, but we made sure to hit the parks at opening and get as many rides in. I loved being able to shop and see the little things. My DH gets bored if I try to shop Main St. etc, so it was nice not feeling rushed.

Regarding gift bag (which is a fun idea)---

-Lanyards with a couple pins to include a ticket/fastpass holder
-Coupon (handmade) for a Mickeys Ears hat
-Maybe make fun matching t-shirts for both of you
-photo album or mini scrapbook for her to put pics post trip (something fun to craft as you wait months for trip)

*I will keep thinking!!!


Love your wedding pictures. What a beautiful bride!!
 
I love your gift bag ideas! They gave me extra ideas immediately. I had been wanting to get my mom some ears (she's kind of conservative so when she told me she was excited to get Mickey ears I was so surprised!) and I thought about getting some for the gift bag but the on-line selection is NOTHING compared to the selection in the parks. LOVE that coupon idea. That way she can pick her own!

She also likes to scrapbook and we were going to get together to do a scrapbook for my honeymoon but haven't gotten to it. At this point we'll put both trips in the same book and maybe I can go to the scrapbook store and get some Disney scrapbook stuff.

Thanks for those ideas!

We really liked the Boardwalk but it got pushed to the back because of price. But after my mom finds out her teaching situation next year (she's tenured but teaches a special all-day tuition-based kindergarten that the district might cut, if she's in a new school she wants to do it cheaper) and if my husband gets that job we definitely want to look into a deluxe that's close to the parks!


Is Veteran's day busy? We went over labor day for our honeymoon and walked on Soarin around 7pm on Labor Day, is Veteran's day closer to those crowd levels? And will the 5K or marathon or half marathon or whatever race they're doing affect crowd levels badly? I REALLY want to take her over F&W because I think she'd really enjoy it! But we hate crowds so bad that that's probably our biggest priority.



Thanks for all the advice. VERY helpful :)
 
I love your gift bag ideas! They gave me extra ideas immediately. I had been wanting to get my mom some ears (she's kind of conservative so when she told me she was excited to get Mickey ears I was so surprised!) and I thought about getting some for the gift bag but the on-line selection is NOTHING compared to the selection in the parks. LOVE that coupon idea. That way she can pick her own!

She also likes to scrapbook and we were going to get together to do a scrapbook for my honeymoon but haven't gotten to it. At this point we'll put both trips in the same book and maybe I can go to the scrapbook store and get some Disney scrapbook stuff.

Thanks for those ideas!

We really liked the Boardwalk but it got pushed to the back because of price. But after my mom finds out her teaching situation next year (she's tenured but teaches a special all-day tuition-based kindergarten that the district might cut, if she's in a new school she wants to do it cheaper) and if my husband gets that job we definitely want to look into a deluxe that's close to the parks!


Is Veteran's day busy? We went over labor day for our honeymoon and walked on Soarin around 7pm on Labor Day, is Veteran's day closer to those crowd levels? And will the 5K or marathon or half marathon or whatever race they're doing affect crowd levels badly? I REALLY want to take her over F&W because I think she'd really enjoy it! But we hate crowds so bad that that's probably our biggest priority.

Thanks for all the advice. VERY helpful :)

Check out the November entry on this awesome web site: http://www.easywdw.com/disneybest/disney-world-calendar-of-crowds-cost-weather-events/#more-935

I don't think the Marathon will have a major impact. I would suggest, as it gets closer, to make a touring plan. Use the site above (when the info becomes available) to get a good idea of what park to go to or avoid. That will help for sure. I personally would pick November, but that's just me!
 
And we're skipping over the biggest November pro....It's closer than January!
 

I'll start with a list of places I've eaten before with a short review

Tony's (on both trips): My favorite Disney restaurant. 80% of that is theme and 20% food haha. Food is decent but I just love love love Lady and the Tramp and Italian food in general.

Rose & Crown (with the in-laws): Didn't like the menu. I just don't like that type of food. Everyone else liked it, though

50's Prime Time (Both trips): I like the fried chicken but I'm not a fan of comfort food. So that's the only thing I order there. I LOVE the theme and I think my mom would get a kick out of it but I also really want to try Sci-Fi so I'm thinking we stop in here for a drink at the bar so she can see it but not eat there.

Wolfgang Puck (in-laws): I can't remember what I ordered but I remember it was inedible and I hate off of SIL's pizza. We probably won't be having a sit-down meal in DTD, though.

Boma (in-laws): Had breakfast here. I don't like breakfast or buffets... nice ambiance, I guess!

Nine Dragons (in-laws): I liked it and so did everyone in our party. It gets bad reviews but I didn't mind it. Both me and my mom aren't big fans of Asian food, though. (EXCEPT CRAB CHEESE WONTONS! MMMM)

Mama Melrose (in-laws): I thought it was yummy. Can't remember well enough

Tutto (honeymoon): My spaghetti was too salty but DHs sandwich was fantastic. Not worth eating at again with so many new places to try but still good!

Coral Reef (honeymoon): we loved it!

Plaza (honeymoon): we loved this one, too. Definitely in the running for the mom/daughter trip!

I think that's it!
I surveyed my mom a bit and determined that she's not a fan of Mexican food (boo! Mexican is some of my favorite), she doesn't like spending money for things like breakfast food so none of our ADRs will be breakfast. And she doesn't like buffets. So on those notes we're the same. She also said that she cares more about ambiance than food. So basically we want ambiance with at least mediocre food.

I want to do mostly new restaurants but I'm having trouble letting go of Tony's! Also, my mom thinks Coral Reef sounds awesome with the tank so that will probably be a repeat. The rest of the restaurants I've been considering:
-Sci-Fi (we'll probably spend 1 half day at DHS. My least favorite park and when planned correctly only takes me a couple of hours to do everything i want. And my mom doesn't like thrill rides so cutting RnRC out of the plan saves more time). We need one DHS restaurant and the theme of this one sounds neat and I love me a burger! I don't want to do 50's again and Brown Derby isn't really an option because of price. And H&V is a buffet so it's either this or Mama Melrose.

-Grand Floridian Cafe the burger looks so good. And I think my mom would enjoy walking around the Grand Floridian! Such a pretty hotel

- Kona Cafe the wings and potstickers :) mmm and the coffee! Love the coffee! We have to go over to the poly at some point anyways because we have to get Lapu Lapus!

- Chefs De France we were supposed to go here on our honeymoon but had to cancel on our last night because we were too tired and our reservation wasn't until 9pm. My mom loves French food and the mac & cheese looks SO good

- Coral Reef this is probably our only for sure one because my mom is so excited about the aquarium. She LOVES animals and thinks this sounds great. And I want more lobster ravioli :)

- Via Napoli I love Italian and the pictures look delicious.

MAYBE a signature. If we do I'm debating between Narcoosee's and Citricos so we can go watch Wishes from the beach afterwards but we may non do a signature.

And can't rule out Tony's or the Plaza...

basically I want to do 5 meals at least. MAYBE 6. 2 in the MK area (MK or monorail resorts), 2 in Epcot, 1 in DHS and maybe one extra.
We also decided we're going to do mainly lunches because it's a little cheaper and we don't want to fill up on counter-service when we have a delicious table service to look forward to! On our honeymoon we did mostly dinners and weren't very hungry for them. And we ended up canceling one because we got tired. We probably won't be too tired at noon!









 
CASEY (my husband) GOT A 2ND INTERVIEW! After his first interview they warned him they were doing 3 rounds of interviews. So after this one we have to hope for one more interview before we know if he got the job! What's important is he survived the first cut! Prayers and vibes!
 
Hi! Enjoying your PTR! I'm the oldest of 4 girls so I never went to WDW growing up either. My parents just couldn't afford it. I went for the first time with DBF in May 2011 at the wonderful age of 23! We are planning to go back in May 2013. (Would be this May but we're both still in school and WDW is expensive!)

We did the DDP & saved $97.01. I made sure to write down the price of EVERYTHING to see the savings. OOP it would have been $740.87 & the DDP was $643.86. We are both dessert eaters though, so you may have to head on over to Allears.net & look at the menus to do some calculating & see if it's right for you. I would only do it if it saved you money. DBF, however, said his favorite part about the DDP is the sheer convenience of just handing over your KTTW card!

1 of our favorite restaurants is Ohana! It is a buffet, but THEY bring the food to YOU!

You start with a yummy loaf of 'Welcome Bread' & then get potstickers, wings, noodles & broccoli
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They then bring around skewers of chicken, pork, steak, & shrimp! & the best part is the dessert. Bread pudding with caramel sauce & bananas... topped with ice cream.
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Thanks for reading! Sounds like we have parallel Disney lives! I looked into Ohana as well but the parts I was most excited about (sticky wings) were at Kona as well! And I read a lot about over-cooked meat. My meat has to be red in the middle! Lol. I'll definitely consider it! Do they have the fancy coffee at ohana as well or is that just at Kona?

We usually avoid resort dining to maximize park time but since we're taking it slow this time I'm really excited to try out some resort restaurants!


We're trying to get my 25 year old brother to come with us but he doesn't seem to interested. He said he'd be willing to be talked into it but we decided we'd rather go without boys! :lmao:
 
I don't remember them having coffee. We are thinking about trying out the Kona cafe this time around... & by we I mean me & all of my obsessive planning :lmao:
 

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