Shhh! Our secret weekend quickie

[DisMomme]

This is my first attempt at a TR. I have always wanted to do one and have enjoyed reading about everyone else's adventures but I was always afraid it would take too much time and I wouldn't finish. This time though, we have a secret get-away planned and I am dying to tell someone about it!!

The cast:

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DH (Pat) with his buddy! He is my best friend and we always have fun together. He is a Firefighter and the wonderful dad to our 2 boys. Pat had never been to Disney before we went together in 2000. I was worried he wouldn't like it but he fell in love with the magic and we have been going as often as possible since then.

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Me. I am a Teacher's Assistant and I work with 4 & 5 year olds. I truly am a child at heart. I love all things Disney and have been visiting the World since 1974.

This trip began because after we planned our summer trip and rented out some of our left over points we had a few points left over. Not enough to rent and we couldn't bank them. Pat jokingly asked if we wanted to be weekend jet-setters and go for 2 nights. I immediately said yes (he didn't even finish saying it)! We decided it would be our Christmas gift to each other but only if we could do it on a budget, and we wouldn't tell our family or coworkers we were going since we had just been there in November for our Anniversary.

We each had a $50 SWA credit that was about to expire and I had enough air points to cover a 1 way flight. We found great non-stop flights - early morning down to MCO and late night back home. We could stretch our time to the fullest! Our 2 RT flights cost us $330. Good on budget so far.

Our family knows about our Disney addiction and lucky for us they help enable us. Each year we get $100 in GC for Christmas so we used those to help pay for QS dining for 2 nights. I had Target rewards to use so we bought more GC to cover the rest. Dining = 158.56 - GC = total OOP $41.81

We decided to be adventurous and stay somewhere new this time so we are staying at Boardwalk Villas.

Coming Up Next: FP+ selections and daily plans

 

[mrmom456]

I know how you feel when you just want to tell someone! We hope you enjoy yourself at the most magical place! We just returned from a secret get-away that I kept from the wife for a month, it almost killed me not to tell her.

 

[DisMomme]

I know how you feel when you just want to tell someone! We hope you enjoy yourself at the most magical place! We just returned from a secret get-away that I kept from the wife for a month, it almost killed me not to tell her.

What a great surprise! I'd go crazy though not telling Pat. At least I have him to plan with.

 

[DisMomme]

We leave for the airport next Friday. We will spend the night there and fly out at 6 AM on Saturday morning. We are taking ME from the airport and figure we will arrive on-site around lunchtime. The plan is to head to AK for the rest of the day. We will probably have lunch at Flametree BBQ or Yak & Yeti takeout (unless anyone has better QS suggestions). We have the following fastpasses:

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AK closes at 8 so depending on how tired we are, we may jump over to MK until midnight.

 

[DisMomme]

Day 2 plans:

We have an early lunch FP reservation at Be Our Guest. We ate there in November and loved it! The braised pork was excellent! I can't wait to have it again. Pat got the Croque Monsieur last time and wasn't crazy about the bread but said it was good. The cupcakes are divine! I got the strawberry cream cheese cupcake and pat got the Master's cupcake. Had to try that grey stuff.

I think we will both get the braised pork this time and the same desserts as last time.

After lunch we will head to DHS. We have the following fastpass selections made:

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So when we were at WDW in November we ended up back at our resort by 8 PM every night. We went to the hot tub and had a drink before bed time. It was just so relaxing and made our days so much better. I have heard rumors though that the pools and hot tubs are closed now when the lifeguards leave for the night. Anyone know any more about this?

 

[ftballfan7]

Definitely looking forward to the hot tubs!! It has been a loooooooong winter.

 

[DisMomme]

Departure Day

We have a late flight out so we have a morning planned at EPCOT. Since this park is within walking distance from Boardwalk, I don't think this will be our first visit there this weekend. I hope we get to stroll around and enjoy Flower & Garden Festival. I am thinking that any left over snack credits will be put to good use at the outdoor kitchens. It will be nice to compare the offerings to the Food & Wine since we were there in November.

Our Fastpass+ picks for Monday are:

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I am so hoping that when we come back on Monday night the snow here will FINALLY be GONE!! It has been such a long winter but it is noce to have this trip to look forward to.

Coming up: updates and photos from our actual trip

 

[ftballfan7]

Busy week ahead, so the plan is to get packed this weekend. Short trip this time, so it shouldn't take long. We will be kicking off our escape with dinner, drinks and a hotel in Manchester near the airport. Early flight out Saturday morning. We have some errands to take care of today and tomorrow, but tonight is poker night in the "Man-Cave", so it won't be all work!

Definitely looking forward to our together time. Everyone loves a quickie!!

 

[DisMomme]

Only 6 days to go! I'm so excited! EEP!
We are all packed and eagerly awaiting Friday. Didn't realize how hard it would be to pack for only 2 nights. Sweaters and shorts and jeans, oh my! We had originally thought it would only be a carry-on but we are up to 1 carry-on and 1 checked bag so far. With 5 more days to pack miscellaneous things, i wonder how many bags we will have when it is time to go.

 

[DisMomme]

This is what most of our winter has been like. I can't wait to see some sunshine!

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[DisMomme]

Woke up to a new dusting of snow on the roads. Just makes me appreciate Mickey even more.

 

[DisMomme]

I was so excited today to read about the new FP+ opportunities. I doubt that the new rules will be in effect for this trip but hopefully for our trip this summer.

I was doubly excited to arrive home to our AP MagicBands. The little slider is cute. Word of warning to anyone getting those...look underneath in the box. There are cards there for discounts and your free parking.

Only 2 more days until we leave!!!!!!!!

 

[JessseJ]

Enjoy your weekend!!

 

[DisMomme]

Enjoy your weekend!!

Thank you! We will post pictures. Pat wants to add his perspective to the report too so we will both be posting about our day.

 

[Mousewerks]

I hate to be a downer but you won't be able to get fastpass+ at both Soarin' and Test Track on the same day. Epcot is a tiered park and both of those rides are in Tier 1 from which you can only select one.

 

[DisMomme]

Already done and you're not a downer. I was on the DisBoards about a month ago when someone reported a glitch in the system allowing people to switch a tier 2 and have access to a tier 1. I have them scheduled and have screen shots of the app confirmation.

 

[DisMomme]

We are here now & having a great time. The weather has been beautiful, 88-90 every day! My photos don't seem to want to upload here so we will complete this report when we get home

We have been to all 4 parks. The crowds have been minimal.

FP+ and our magicbands have worked great for us.

They are still working on the 7 Dwarf's Mine Train

The Flower & Garden Show has been beautiful, even at night. We go tomorrow for the first time during the day

Boardwalk Villas are beautiful!

 

[DisMomme]

We woke up at 4:30 AM in order to catch our flight. The line at the TSA check-in was so long. We arrived at the gate just as they were boarding our plane. I could barely sleep Friday night I was so excited but luckily I slept most of the way down. Once we were on the plane I guess I knew we were on our way and I relaxed a little.

This was a welcome sight when we arrived in Orlando.

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We were on our way!

Isn't this a beautiful sight?

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By 10:50 we were checked into our hotel, changed into shorts, checked our carry-on with bell services and were on a bus to AK.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I can't wait to read more! We are staying at BWV for the first time in January

 

[DisMomme]

The weather was beautiful and we were on our way to my favorite park!!

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We were greeted right by the entrance by

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It is always such a treat to see DiVine.

Our first order of business after stopping to admire DiVine was to grab some grub. We went to Flametree BBQ and used our first QS credit. Our MagicBands worked perfectly fine. I wanted to sit in the sun and Pat wanted to sit in the shade so we found a nice table down by the water that was 1/2 and 1/2. It was so nice to feel the warm sun on my back.

Our first FP+ was for the Safari. Of course I took lots of pictures...