14 years! Could it really be?! A Pre-Trip Report for 10/13

eowensby

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 2, 2004
Messages
483
pixiedust: Welcome! pixiedust:



I'm so glad you've joined us! You're probably asking who are you? Well, that's a great question! So here goes my answer:

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Wait, that's all of us. I'm jumping ahead. Here I am:





I'm Elizabeth. I'm 34. Wife to Matt. Mom to two, DD is 11 and DS is almost 7. By day I work at a local university as a switchboard operator...so you know that scene in Spaceship Earth with the operators plugging all the wires in and answering phones? Yea, that would have been me like 100 years ago. :rotfl2: That scene does hold a special place in my heart though. Shout out to all the operators! Seriously, I love my job. It's entertaining. Everyday is different. I get some seriously weird phone calls. I get some funny ones. I get a lot of rude ones, too. It pays for private school for my kids and a little Disney, too! My office is affectionately known as "the dungeon," but the privacy is fantastic. I can lurk on disboards all day! I can facebook and play candy crush, too! :) As long as I get the phone when it rings, it's all good!

So now you're probably wondering where the Disney connection comes in. I am a lifelong Disney fan, like so many of you. My first trip to WDW was just after Epcot opened in 1983. I adored Figment, still do! I went a couple more times during the mid 1980's with family and didn't return to WDW until November 1999 for my honeymoon. We went back in 2001 for our 2nd anniversary and I guess what everyone refers to as a BabyMoon, now. It was in Tomorrowland near Carousel of Progress where I first felt DD move. We weren't able to return to WDW until March 2005 and from then on it's been several times a year. I've been pregnant, with a newborn, with friends, with grandparents, on extreme budget trips, on not so budget trips, as AP holders, off site, but mostly on site. Disney is our go to whenever we can.

It's become part of my life in a different way now, too. I am part of a podcast that releases on the Touring Plans Network every Friday. I am not sure if I can link to it here, but it's easy to find. :thumbsup2 We're still learning how this whole podcast thing works, but it's been a lot of fun. We are a podcast for families, especially families that are going on their first trip. I listened to podcasts, but never ever thought I would be part of one. I've come to terms with the sound of my own voice. :faint:

Now onto DH:

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He isn't on the disboards...I could post whatever I want. :lmao: But, I'll be honest. He's Matt. Almost 39 :crazy2:. He's an elementary school principal by day and working on his Doctorate in Education at night and on the weekends. He's pretty much amazing. We've been together since I was 18 and he was 23. He's a converted Disney fan. Going once as a child in the 70's and only remembering the Cigar Store Indian from his day at the MK, it makes me sad. So we've made up for it since 1999 with our trips! He's a pro now with all things Disney....muuhahahaha! :rotfl2:


For the past 5 years every fall we take a long weekend for our anniversary to WDW. We leave the kids with the grandparents and just become Matt and Elizabeth again. This year we are going in early October due to the fact I was crazy and signed us both up for the Tower of Terror 10 miler on the 5th. We are not runners by any means. Usually if you see me running you better start running too, because something is after me. But, I had a moment of insanity and signed us up. The problem is that Matt had knee surgery in the spring and is not back to 100% yet. So we may be limping, crawling, piggybacking, dragging each other through the woods and DHS. But signing up for that race made for a great time to visit...I mean come on, Food and Wine Festival and MNSSHP and a free dining pin?! You bet we jumped on that opportunity! But...


Matt has class on Thursday nights now. :sad: So we're doing something a little weird this trip. Hang with me. Our trip last fall started on Halloween. We drove from Nashville(home) to Atlanta and flew Airtran to Orlando. It worked out great price wise for us. The flights were $59 each way and to park at an offsite hotel near the airport was just $20 and they shuttled us to and from the Atlanta airport. So before I had that sweet little free dining pin in my hands or actually a really old email address that we never ever use anymore; I booked a flight on Airtran for me for Thursday, October 3. I was going to drive down to Atlanta and fly out for $49 get to the resort and go to pick up race packets on Friday before Matt got there on a direct flight from Nashville sometime on Friday. But...when this free dining pin appeared to us, we decided I could go down on the Wednesday the 2nd (the last day that matched up with our pin) and have a day and a half all on my own before Matt arrives on Friday. So I'll make do and have a day and a half all to myself in my favoritest place on Earth! The things I'll do! :cool1:

The great thing is that the pin allows for 3 rooms to be booked, so Todd, one of my podcast friends and an avid runner, and his family booked the other two rooms to get free dining since they were already planning on running the TOT 10 miler, too. So we'll have friends to hang with...if we want. Food and Wine festival and MNSSHP have become two of my favorite things about fall, especially at WDW. Can't wait to share it with friends.

I'll list our ADRs in another post. Hope y'all will come join us and give me your ideas of things I should do on my solo day. Come on and introduce yourselves, too!
 
We will be staying at Coronado Springs this trip from Wednesday, October 2-Wednesday, October 9th!! :cool1:


I'm really excited since it's somewhere we've never stayed. :thumbsup2 We are booked here mostly because our friend, Todd and his family need the extra space with 3 kids. We're not resort snobs by any means. We are huge fans of Pop Century and have stayed there the most. I do love Port Orleans Riverside, though. We've stayed there twice and felt like we were at the poor man's deluxe. It was so quiet and peaceful.

On our honeymoon, 14 years ago!!, we stayed at Caribbean Beach for 4 nights before boarding the Wonder for a 3 day cruise. It was so special, too. One of my most favorite memories of that trip was just hanging out in a hammock one night before going back to our room for the night. It was just perfect. :lovestruc

Matt's ideal place to stay would be Animal Kingdom Lodge with Savanna view and Concierge. I would love to stay at the Contemporary in the tower with a Magic Kingdom View. I would love the Polynesian, too.

I know if our kids were with us on this trip they would LOVE the pool at CSR. We tend to not spend a lot of time at the pool on trips, but if we were staying there they would beg for that slide! I guess we don't do a lot of pool time since we're usually at Pop and don't have slides.

:offtopic: Side note, we call the Pool the "poo." In March, we were down at WDW at the same time as Matt's aunt and uncle. They stayed at AKL with their 15 year old son. Matt's uncle would get up early in the morning and talk about going to the poo and the only thing in there besides him was a couple of ducks. We have very southern accents that really tend to show themselves with certain words. Uncle Keith's is pool/poo. It's hilarious to hear him say it since he doesn't think it sounds like poo. :rotfl2:
 
Okay, so I've played with our ADRs and have left them alone for a while, so I feel okay about putting them out there. ;)

We will have 7 nights of credits, but remember two nights Matt won't be there at the beginning of our trip. I'm excited to try a few counter service places in Epcot, especially. We tend to get stuck in a rut and go to the same counter service all the time. I think I'd like to try the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. I plan on trying some new stuff at Food and Wine, too.

So here goes our dining

Wednesday, October 2nd... I'll arrive late that evening and will just grab something for dinner in the Atlanta airport before my flight.


Thursday, October 3rd... I plan on park hopping all day. This may be a day where I try Tangierine Cafe.


Friday, October 4th... Matt will arrive midday or early afternoon. I plan on hitting the expo to pick up race packets. We have a 7:15pm ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse.


Saturday, October 5th... Breakfast at Kona Cafe 8:10am
Race that night.

Sunday, October 6th... Sleep in, recover. MNSSHP tonight. 4:30pm dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern.


Monday, October 7th... This is the one I'm not too sure of. The Coral Reef for dinner at 7:35pm. I made it just to make it. We are trying some new restaurants this trip thanks to the dining plan. Not convinced I want to keep this reservation. Help me out. Convince me one way or the other. :confused3

Tuesday, October 8th... This is the one I'm really looking forward to: Narcoossee's at 7:50pm.



So, help a girl out. What do you think?
 

Thanks for joining us, DisneyMountainWoman! Looking forward to updating more in the near future! :)
 














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