1825 days too soon to start a count down or yeah we have 125 days still to count.

[Inumom2]

Okay, I have been lurking on this site for quite some time. Reading all of the awesome per-trip and trip reports. I have been writing my own per-trip report, but I finally decided to share it with all of you. So I hope you enjoy it and that I do not bore you all.

Original trip report title was: Trip Title - 1825 days. . . is it too soon to start a count down or the OMG we have 125 days still to count PRE-Trip report. But it was too long...hope that is not an omen, that this report will be too long.

So let us begin:

Yes, we are headed home, it has been five years (or 1825 days) in the making. Our WDW trip is just around the corner (okay only 125 days to go). But when you started the count down at 1825 days, 125 days does not sound all that bad!

Here is some of the specific details:

Travel Dates: December 3 - December 14, 2012
Travel Method: United Airlines and Magical Express
Resort: Contemporary Resort
Accommodations: 2 Queens, Tower Room with Magic Kingdom View
Tickets/Meals: 10 day park hoppers and Disney Meal Plan (1 table, 1 quick service, 1 snack) for 11 of each in total.

Cast of Characters:

Julie 46(trip Reporter); 5 trips to WDW since 1976 and 1 Disneyland trip in 2011
Eric 40 (DH); 5 trips to WDW since 1980 and 1 Disneyland trip in 2011
KJ (5) (DD); 1st trip to WDW and 1 Disneyland trip in 2011

Midway through the trip Annette and Chris will fly out from Washington DC, for the weekend - Best Friends and KJ's God-Parents.

Advance Planning:

DH and I requested days off from work in December 2011; I was given the days right away, fast forward to March 2012 and DH still waiting for the okay for his days off. GGGGRRR, I want to book this ASAP, as the flight costs have now gone up over $300.00. March 28th, tired of waiting and seeing the prices go up, up and up. Booked the plane tickets; including the insurance (just in case) $843.60 tickets and $45.00 insurance, this will be paid for when the visa bill come in. DH went into his boss and told him the tickets are booked, and two days later he got the official OK; he has vacation. Now the plan is to book the hotel and park tickets before 180 days; to give us plenty of time to pay off the trip before we go, and to make our ADRs as soon as possible.

Will continue in my next post, have to run as real life is calling.... Okay really just have to cook dinner.

 

[Inumom2]

May 3rd - they just announced the days for the MVMCP – looks like we may do Tuesday, December 4th and again on our last night Thursday, December 13th. Prices are discounted if you buy them early. $58.95 discounted price for adult and $53.95 discounted price for child before tax, for both nights that would be $343.70 before tax. Will have to verify with DH if he wants to do two nights.

May 8th, my company, GE is doing a restructure and over 100+ layoffs today. Yes, I was hit, got my 90 day working notice. Last day of work will be August 8th. Now do we still go on the trip? Of course we do, it may be the last vacation we get for a long time. On the plus side, when I do get laid off, I will get a nice package. I should get paid until the end of December, as well as be able to sign up for unemployment, and I will get my three weeks of unused vacation paid out. So it could be worse. Plus have been saving up for a while for the trip.

May 26th, the day after DH turned 40 (okay he says he is 39+1), called and booked our trip, we are at the 191 day mark. Paid the $200.00 deposit with our Disney Visa card, so with the insurance, hotel(Contemporary, Tower room with MK view), park hopper tickets and dining due by 10/19/12 (pay-in-full date) $8841.45 – our 180 day mark is Wednesday - June 6th. Also during this call – paid for our MVMCP tickets, got for Tuesday, December 4th (our first night at the parks) and Thursday. December 13th (our last night at the parks). Cost for this with the $5.00 mailing fee and the taxes was $371.08, also put this on the Disney Visa. Checked the visa card for out Disney Dream Dollars – and we are at $1546.00 to use for this trip, once we are closer to our departure date, will have to call and move these points over to the Disney Rewards Card for the trip. Come on June 6th so that I could get our ADRs!

June 2nd, got the mail today and there were our tickets for the MVMCP!* Yeah!* Now just have to put these away, in a safe place, until our trip!

On the 180 day mark, will start to make ADRs, there are a few new restaurants we want to try this trip.

Up in the next post, which restaurants do we want to hit?

 

[Inumom2]

Okay I am back - I can see that I have had people reading so I will finish where I left off:
What restaurants......
Restaurants we want to hit:
NEW ones to try ~
1900 Park Fare for Dinner (DD wants to eat with the step-sisters, we saw Disney Princess’s Live and she loved the wacky step-sisters in the Cinderella story.)
Yak and Yeti (table restaurant) we love Chinese food
Hollywood & Vine (Character Lunch-DD wants to eat with Handy Manny & Agent Oso)
Columbia Harbour House (cannot wait to try the lighthouse sandwich, heard a lot of good things about it)
New Beauty and the Beast Restaurant (if it is open by the time we go, cannot wait to see the menus)
Akershus Princess (Character Dinner-DD wants to eat with the Princess’s, may be easier to get into than the Castle)
Restaurantosaurus (DD wants to get her lunch in a sand pail, hope they still do this)
Cinderella’s Royal Table (Character Dinner-If we could get a seating time during the fireworks, that would be awesome) This replaces our usual California Grill 2-Table credit dinner, as this trip is more about DD then about US!
OLD ones to re-visit
Pizzafari (love the different rooms)
Toy Story Pizza Planet (DD loves Toy Story)
Crystal Palace (Character Breakfast-see about getting the first seating again, great to get into the park before it opens.)
Pinocchio Village Haus (was the first place we ate on our Honeymoon 15 years ago)
Garden Grill (Character Dinner-DD’s first time at Disney and wants to eat with as many characters as possible)
Coral Reef (love the atmosphere here, and DD will get a kick out of the big fish tank)
Le Cellier Canada (this is for DH, he needs a say in at least one place we go to eat, LOL)
Cosmic Ray’s
Sunshine Seasons
Chef Mickey’s (Eat here every trip at least once for dinner, plus DD wants to eat with Mickey and the gang)
YEAH – June 6th our 180 day - - started to make the ADRS at 5:15 in the morning. Woke up early before work to get a jump on these. This is what we have so far:
Monday, December 3rd our travel day
~1900 Park Fare @ 4:30 for the first or our Character Meals.
Tuesday, December 4th
~ Yak & Yeti @ 11:00 first seating for lunch
Wednesday, December 5th
~ Ohana’s @ 7:45 for breakfast, KJ is really into Stitch right now
~ Our 15 year anniversary, tried to get LeCellier or Coral Reef for lunch but right now there are no seatings. For Dinner, booked California Grill @ 7:40 (wishes is at 8, so we will be able to catch the fireworks!)
Thursday, December 6th
~ Hollywood n’ Vine @ 11:00 first seating for lunch, second Character Meal, and then Trex @ 4, meet up with Annette and Chris!
Sunday, December 9th
~ Sci-fi Dine-In Theater @ 4:15, need to see if we could sit in the cars
Monday, December 10th
~ Cinderella’s Castle @ 5:45 (will keep checking if they have something around 7, so we could see the fireworks from inside the castle).
Tuesday, December 11th
~ Crystal Palace @ 8:05 first seating, and the park does not open until 9. Then for Dinner we are doing Akershus, Princess Dining (I will have to check back later to see if I could attach the Candlelight Processional Package to this ADR, as the packages are not yet posted/offered).
Wednesday, December 12th want to book the Tomorrowland Terrence Firework Dessert Party, but as of today, this is not posted/offered yet. I will have to check daily until I can get this booked.
Thursday, December 13th
~ Tony’s Town Square @ 5 for dinner.
Friday, December 14th our travel day
~ Chef Mickey’s, could not book this today as the on-line would only go out 10 days and this date is our 11th day. Will book this tomorrow, hopefully.
So overall, was able to book almost all of the restaurants that I wanted. Just need to work on Chef Mickey’s, the Dessert Party, and either Coral Reef/LeCellier whichever one we could get. If cannot get either of these will have to figure out another restaurant for lunch in EPCOT!

06/11, called and booked the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, Monday, December 10th at 3:30 for KJ to become a Princess. Dinner that night with Cindy and Friends at her place.

6/15 on the job front – did get a call from my old boss, the one I reached out to, the minute I got back to my desk after our conference call that we were losing our jobs. She called to tell me she had a part-time posting that posted, and I should apply for it on Monday when I got into the office. It is always good never to burn your bridges. Which is what I did first thing in the morning on 6/18.

6/18 got Chef Mickey’s finally, 11:05AM seating. We will be able to relax and have brunch before once we check out of our hotel. Our last bit of Disney Magic, before we head home.
Last item to book if possible would be the Tomorrowland Terrence Firework Dessert Party. Still need to watch for the release dates on this. Also once they release the Candlelight Processional Packages, see if any of these restaurants fit into our plan.

6/26, interview for the new part-time job, really not an interview just an informal sit-down with my soon to be new boss (she at one time during my career here, was my assistant manager, so we go way back). This was more of a hey this is what we want you to do, what hours and days am I looking at to work, and cannot wait for you to start. Yeah, it is nice to be wanted !!!

July 6th is Day 150, created a paper chain with (150 Links) to remove one per day before we go. Each link has a Disney fun fact or trivia question on it, should help make the days go by faster.

Also started to make a list of items we did not want to miss:
Downtown Disney on first night, pick up DD’s Mickey Mouse Ears!
Candlelight Processional
Illumination
Osborne Christmas Lights
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (may do this twice during our stay)
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for DD.
Tomorrowland Terrence Firework Dessert Party

With planning completed our itinerary looks like this:
Monday, December 3: trip to Ohare Airport at (time) and United Airlines flight to Orlando, this is our travel day. Check into hotel and check out the Monorail Resorts for Christmas decorations. First of our Character Meals at 1900 Park Fare, then down to Downtown Disney for some Shopping and pick up DD’s mouse-ears.
Tuesday, December 4: AK/MK – hit AK in the AM and then MK in the PM and MVMCP
Wednesday, December 5: (our 15 year Anniversary and Walt’s Birthday) – EP celebrate our Anniversary with Lunch at LeCellier or Coral Reef if I can get these booked – then Dinner at California Grill at 7:40 in time for the 8pm Wishes.
Thursday, December 6: Morning hit HS and lunch with Handy Manny and OSO, DD’s God-Parents (Our best friends, Annette and Chris) fly out from Washington, DC for the weekend – Meet them in Downtown Disney, dinner at 4pm TRex.
Friday, December 7: spend the morning in MK and evening in HS, catch Osborne lights, with Annette and Chris
Saturday, December 8: spend morning in AK and evening in EP with Annette and Chris hit Illumination at 9:30PM
Sunday, December 9: Annette and Chris fly back to DC – MK/HS dinner at Sci-Fi and catch the Osborne lights again
Monday, December 10: EP/MK – MK open later until 11 – stay as long as possible. Need to set up Bibbidy Bobbity Boutique for KJ as we have dinner at the Castle @ 5:45 (still check to see if could get later seating around 7)
Tuesday, December 11: MK/EP – First seating at Crystal Palace (before park entry), and Dinner with the Princess in Norway possible Candlelight Processional and Illuminations
Wednesday, December 12: AK/MK – Early entry to AK, try to see if could get Tomorrowland Terrace Firework Dessert Party @7
Thursday, December 13: DD/MK – Hit DD last time, pick up any last minute items and use up all snack credits that we have left. Also we will do MVMCP again.
Friday, December 14: Travel day Home – pack, check out of hotel and late seating for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. Last Monorail ride and shopping in hotel shops. ME back to airport and Home.

Well that is all that I have right now.... I am sure with 117 days till we leave there will be changes.

Hope the days go by fast. Thanks for reading along.