lulu2121
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
Saturday May 4 to Saturday May 11
This trip was planned “last minute” for us. I say that because we usually plan over a year ahead of time, but this trip came together a little less than a month out. We were planning a vacation for this week, but it originally did not involve WDW. Until about four months prior, it didn’t even involve Florida. I am a schemer though, and I can always make the Disney math look good to DH. He knows this and is a more than willing participant every time! We’ve made 20+ trips, with at least half of these without our now grown kids.
Who’s the us? Me (Christie) and my DH Doug.
![1715907318187.png 1715907318187.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860684-f4b9620e60e30504e4c44d3abda3e190.jpg)
Why? Because we needed it. The last few months have been stressful. Where? Split stay between a value studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House on rented points for 3 nights and the remaining 4 nights at Coronado Springs. Well, that was the plan anyway. Let’s wait to see what happens!
We bought annual passes a couple of weeks before the trip. We were planning to buy them for a September trip, but I persuaded (schemed) Doug into agreeing to buy them for this trip. We’ll use them again in September, February, and April/May. We’ve already planned and scheduled September and February, and were planning for September 2025. I pointed out we’d use the APs for the same amount of weeks but would just go in April/May 2025 instead of September. Doug jumped onboard quickly.
Day 0 – The Day Before We Left
This was Friday, May 3. We live outside of Louisville, KY and work in the city so this was a half day holiday for me as it was Oaks Day (the Kentucky Derby was the next day). My office closed at noon, and I finished up my last minute things and got out of there about 12:15. I decided to treat myself with a pedicure on my way home. It had been a busy week with long work days, appointments, and a few Derby week festivities. Doug is off on Fridays anyway so he did some things at home this day – maybe worked in his garden and finished mowing the grass.
We had met some friends at a restaurant on the Ohio River for the Great Steamboat Race on Wednesday evening. One of our favorite local bands was playing, and we had a great time. The Balloon Glow was cancelled the Saturday prior due to wind, so a few ballons took off during the race which was pretty neat.
![1715907369515.png 1715907369515.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860685-c40e5d31dacc250251729730b6442ddd.jpg)
![1715907384435.png 1715907384435.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860686-1fbbd597a3cd53521bb751c3c31a799d.jpg)
I had pre-packed earlier in the week, so most of our things were in packing cubes or gathered up to go.
![1715907406060.png 1715907406060.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860687-0e3c5935421e54b6e4ae74706f880648.jpg)
![1715907420662.png 1715907420662.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860688-b503e3436aba45ea1832287a567b6ae8.jpg)
Once I got home around three, I figured out which suitcases would hold all of our stuff. I was hoping for one large bag and one small bag, but we ended up with two large bags. I always feel that it’s too much luggage for just the two us, but then we get to the airport and inevitably someone else has like 14 bags and I feel better.
We headed out around 6:30 to grab dinner at our local pizza spot. I think we were back home and in bed by 8:30. I went to sleep pretty easily by 9:30. And then I was wide awake by 1:30 a.m. Uugghhh. I finally gave in and grabbed my phone. I checked out the DIS, probably looked at Amazon, and decided to check WDW’s site just to see if there was any different room/resort availability at the AP rate for the CSR portion of our stay. I had been doing this and had already changed our reservation for the second half of our stay a few times. We started out at ASMovies, then CSR in a water view room (it’s only $300 more), and then I changed it to CSR in a king room (it’s only $150 more). Well, there was a resort view room at Wilderness Lodge for what I deemed to be a fairly reasonable rate. I tried to change my CSR reservation, but the WDW website has been a little wonky lately on my phone when I’ve tried to modify a reservation. I wasn’t unpacking my laptop at 2:30 in the morning while Doug was snoring so I let it go. I tried to sleep but was fully awake until my alarm went off at 3:45 a.m.
This trip was planned “last minute” for us. I say that because we usually plan over a year ahead of time, but this trip came together a little less than a month out. We were planning a vacation for this week, but it originally did not involve WDW. Until about four months prior, it didn’t even involve Florida. I am a schemer though, and I can always make the Disney math look good to DH. He knows this and is a more than willing participant every time! We’ve made 20+ trips, with at least half of these without our now grown kids.
Who’s the us? Me (Christie) and my DH Doug.
![1715907318187.png 1715907318187.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860684-f4b9620e60e30504e4c44d3abda3e190.jpg)
Why? Because we needed it. The last few months have been stressful. Where? Split stay between a value studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House on rented points for 3 nights and the remaining 4 nights at Coronado Springs. Well, that was the plan anyway. Let’s wait to see what happens!
We bought annual passes a couple of weeks before the trip. We were planning to buy them for a September trip, but I persuaded (schemed) Doug into agreeing to buy them for this trip. We’ll use them again in September, February, and April/May. We’ve already planned and scheduled September and February, and were planning for September 2025. I pointed out we’d use the APs for the same amount of weeks but would just go in April/May 2025 instead of September. Doug jumped onboard quickly.
Day 0 – The Day Before We Left
This was Friday, May 3. We live outside of Louisville, KY and work in the city so this was a half day holiday for me as it was Oaks Day (the Kentucky Derby was the next day). My office closed at noon, and I finished up my last minute things and got out of there about 12:15. I decided to treat myself with a pedicure on my way home. It had been a busy week with long work days, appointments, and a few Derby week festivities. Doug is off on Fridays anyway so he did some things at home this day – maybe worked in his garden and finished mowing the grass.
We had met some friends at a restaurant on the Ohio River for the Great Steamboat Race on Wednesday evening. One of our favorite local bands was playing, and we had a great time. The Balloon Glow was cancelled the Saturday prior due to wind, so a few ballons took off during the race which was pretty neat.
![1715907369515.png 1715907369515.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860685-c40e5d31dacc250251729730b6442ddd.jpg)
![1715907384435.png 1715907384435.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860686-1fbbd597a3cd53521bb751c3c31a799d.jpg)
I had pre-packed earlier in the week, so most of our things were in packing cubes or gathered up to go.
![1715907406060.png 1715907406060.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860687-0e3c5935421e54b6e4ae74706f880648.jpg)
![1715907420662.png 1715907420662.png](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/860/860688-b503e3436aba45ea1832287a567b6ae8.jpg)
Once I got home around three, I figured out which suitcases would hold all of our stuff. I was hoping for one large bag and one small bag, but we ended up with two large bags. I always feel that it’s too much luggage for just the two us, but then we get to the airport and inevitably someone else has like 14 bags and I feel better.
We headed out around 6:30 to grab dinner at our local pizza spot. I think we were back home and in bed by 8:30. I went to sleep pretty easily by 9:30. And then I was wide awake by 1:30 a.m. Uugghhh. I finally gave in and grabbed my phone. I checked out the DIS, probably looked at Amazon, and decided to check WDW’s site just to see if there was any different room/resort availability at the AP rate for the CSR portion of our stay. I had been doing this and had already changed our reservation for the second half of our stay a few times. We started out at ASMovies, then CSR in a water view room (it’s only $300 more), and then I changed it to CSR in a king room (it’s only $150 more). Well, there was a resort view room at Wilderness Lodge for what I deemed to be a fairly reasonable rate. I tried to change my CSR reservation, but the WDW website has been a little wonky lately on my phone when I’ve tried to modify a reservation. I wasn’t unpacking my laptop at 2:30 in the morning while Doug was snoring so I let it go. I tried to sleep but was fully awake until my alarm went off at 3:45 a.m.