Poohshoney
<font color=6666CC>Ya-ya sister!<br><font color=gr
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2001
Carol (40, British) dangerously Disney obsessed.
Roland (35, German) puts up with me somehow.
Mickey our beanie, on his first trip `home´.
The Planning Marathon
Maybe calling it a marathons unfair. Youd need both feet tied together for it to take this long.
August 1999 my 38th birthday. We went on a Winnie the Pooh Explorer Day, saw the real Hundred Acre Wood, played Poohsticks on the actual bridge, saw the tree where Pooh had been a cloud, Christopher Robins house and more. It was wonderful! On the way back, I just `happened´ to see the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Well, I always buy myself a birthday present If Roland had thought I'd been obsessed before, it was nothing compared to once I had that book.
Spring/summer 2000. We made a difficult decision. We decided on a career change for Roland. The computer industry seemed the best bet as did moving back to Germany. Happily, he was offered a good job and back we came. Even more happily, Roland hasnt regretted his decision. Sighs of relief all round.
Knowing theres no Smiths or Waterstones in Germany, I went mad and bought every WDW guide book I could find.
Christmas 2000. Dont you think turning forty makes you sound like a real grown-up? I felt worthy of this new responsibility when I suggested we postpone Disney. We werent sure about our finances and it really was the most sensible thing to do. I was very proud of myself.
January 2001. Oh joy a computer. My baby. Ooooh .isnt there a lot of Disney info on the internet! Could my obsession get worse? Oh yes, definitely yes.
February 2001. Ever heard of D words? Theyre words calculated to bring on a heart attack in Roland. Diamonds, for example. Mentioning them makes him go worryingly grey. And what does my obsession begin with? We came up with a compromise. Wed only talk about the new D word at the weekends.
2001/2002. I discovered WDWIG, Joannes UK site, RADP, Mouseplanet, Mousesavers and the Disboards. I happily planned and schemed away. We ended up not mentioning Disney much at all. It just made Roland go grey.
September 2001. Booked two weeks at Riverside, 22 April 6 May. SO excited!
November 2001. Crisis! Well, it felt like it at the time. There was a rumour Riverside was closing. WHAT!!!! D-restrictions were lifted (not for diamonds though. Shame). I told Roland, said how fed up I was of all the cutbacks, maybe we should go offsite? Roland agreed. I spent the morning researching villas and falling in love with them all. Roland didnt. He realised for him, it was onsite or nothing. Nothing? No, no, no, no, no! So we looked at the onsite hotels info I'd saved and read the guidebooks. What we liked (principally AKL, savannah view) was above our budget which was based on previous discounts anyway. We still didnt fancy the other moderates or values. I was beginning to despair (a D word I'm not keen on). Then, late Sunday, I had a brainwave; split the stay. A few days at a value, then a moderate, then AKL. If we didnt like a hotel it was ok, thered be another one along shortly and the budget would be about the same. Brilliant! We were back in business.
December 2001. Decided to fly via Gatwick. Wed have to change some place anyway and BA turned out to be the cheapest and had the added bonus of shopping at Gatwick and watching TV. (Oh the joy of undubbed telly!). So we booked online. Dont ask me why, but we booked BA flights Frankfurt- Gatwick MCO for about 200 pounds cheaper than just the Gatwick-MCO flights. Weird, but very nice! About 585 pounds for both of us.
January 2002. We decided on APs and ordered them. It spread the budget and wed have them in hand if we got an AP discount.
January/February 2002. What was Disney doing?! At long last they announced discounts for our holiday time. But then they went mad, offering several. Just when we thought we were all decided, there were three discounts to choose from! We ended up with two different bookings. Which one to choose? We stuck with the WDTC one, mainly because I'd had terrible problems booking it, (this is long enough without listing them all) but a wonderful CM called Eliza had saved the day and left me feeling the magic again. And shed written all sorts of nice things on our confirmation, like `please make their stay magical´. We were intrigued by that! But the main reason for our choosing WDTC was Eliza we both felt a huge loyalty to her. (Yes, I did write and tell Disney how good she was). The discounts had modified our plans we were now doing 5 nights CBR, 6 nights POR and 3 AKL. And we couldnt wait! Finally, the finishing line is in sight
Next, Day 1 Shes done WHAT?!
Roland (35, German) puts up with me somehow.
Mickey our beanie, on his first trip `home´.
The Planning Marathon
Maybe calling it a marathons unfair. Youd need both feet tied together for it to take this long.
August 1999 my 38th birthday. We went on a Winnie the Pooh Explorer Day, saw the real Hundred Acre Wood, played Poohsticks on the actual bridge, saw the tree where Pooh had been a cloud, Christopher Robins house and more. It was wonderful! On the way back, I just `happened´ to see the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Well, I always buy myself a birthday present If Roland had thought I'd been obsessed before, it was nothing compared to once I had that book.
Spring/summer 2000. We made a difficult decision. We decided on a career change for Roland. The computer industry seemed the best bet as did moving back to Germany. Happily, he was offered a good job and back we came. Even more happily, Roland hasnt regretted his decision. Sighs of relief all round.
Knowing theres no Smiths or Waterstones in Germany, I went mad and bought every WDW guide book I could find.
Christmas 2000. Dont you think turning forty makes you sound like a real grown-up? I felt worthy of this new responsibility when I suggested we postpone Disney. We werent sure about our finances and it really was the most sensible thing to do. I was very proud of myself.
January 2001. Oh joy a computer. My baby. Ooooh .isnt there a lot of Disney info on the internet! Could my obsession get worse? Oh yes, definitely yes.
February 2001. Ever heard of D words? Theyre words calculated to bring on a heart attack in Roland. Diamonds, for example. Mentioning them makes him go worryingly grey. And what does my obsession begin with? We came up with a compromise. Wed only talk about the new D word at the weekends.
2001/2002. I discovered WDWIG, Joannes UK site, RADP, Mouseplanet, Mousesavers and the Disboards. I happily planned and schemed away. We ended up not mentioning Disney much at all. It just made Roland go grey.
September 2001. Booked two weeks at Riverside, 22 April 6 May. SO excited!
November 2001. Crisis! Well, it felt like it at the time. There was a rumour Riverside was closing. WHAT!!!! D-restrictions were lifted (not for diamonds though. Shame). I told Roland, said how fed up I was of all the cutbacks, maybe we should go offsite? Roland agreed. I spent the morning researching villas and falling in love with them all. Roland didnt. He realised for him, it was onsite or nothing. Nothing? No, no, no, no, no! So we looked at the onsite hotels info I'd saved and read the guidebooks. What we liked (principally AKL, savannah view) was above our budget which was based on previous discounts anyway. We still didnt fancy the other moderates or values. I was beginning to despair (a D word I'm not keen on). Then, late Sunday, I had a brainwave; split the stay. A few days at a value, then a moderate, then AKL. If we didnt like a hotel it was ok, thered be another one along shortly and the budget would be about the same. Brilliant! We were back in business.
December 2001. Decided to fly via Gatwick. Wed have to change some place anyway and BA turned out to be the cheapest and had the added bonus of shopping at Gatwick and watching TV. (Oh the joy of undubbed telly!). So we booked online. Dont ask me why, but we booked BA flights Frankfurt- Gatwick MCO for about 200 pounds cheaper than just the Gatwick-MCO flights. Weird, but very nice! About 585 pounds for both of us.
January 2002. We decided on APs and ordered them. It spread the budget and wed have them in hand if we got an AP discount.
January/February 2002. What was Disney doing?! At long last they announced discounts for our holiday time. But then they went mad, offering several. Just when we thought we were all decided, there were three discounts to choose from! We ended up with two different bookings. Which one to choose? We stuck with the WDTC one, mainly because I'd had terrible problems booking it, (this is long enough without listing them all) but a wonderful CM called Eliza had saved the day and left me feeling the magic again. And shed written all sorts of nice things on our confirmation, like `please make their stay magical´. We were intrigued by that! But the main reason for our choosing WDTC was Eliza we both felt a huge loyalty to her. (Yes, I did write and tell Disney how good she was). The discounts had modified our plans we were now doing 5 nights CBR, 6 nights POR and 3 AKL. And we couldnt wait! Finally, the finishing line is in sight
Next, Day 1 Shes done WHAT?!
. Well, it makes the holiday seem that much longer......
