Tarheel Tink
Cosmos mariner-destination unknown
- Joined
- Aug 21, 1999
- Messages
- 1,766
21st Anniversary Trip- Getting there and Day 1- DD and La Nouba- Part A!
Tarheel Tink- planner, just turned 43 and have now officially spent half my life with Earl
Earl- husband to Tink, enjoys the fruits of her labor of trip planning, follows her pretty willingly (realizing to cross
the itinerary will be a big mistake for a multitude of reasons!)
I want to start with the proclamation that I have a curse- disaster of all sorts occurs to us before our trips to Disney;
every time. I mean it! Really! Looking back, it could be that we are now going twice a year and it could just be life
happening, but you judge. Here is a brief listing of events occurring before our past 2 trips (not complete by any
means):broken tooth requiring a crown, trip to emergency for possible fractured wrist (turned out to be tendonitis),
bladder infection (that I thought was a kidney stone), broken sewer line (front yard all dug up), transmission on
van goes out (just past the wire for the warranty!), lacerated knee from a fall down our back steps, abscessed tooth,
etc. I dont mean to whine- well, yes I do!
This trip is to celebrate our 21st anniversary and to not do a Disney Death March. For the first time I did not do it
myself but let Dreams Unlimited do the reservation and all Priority Seatings. Carole Annette Fila was our agent
and we will never again do it ourselves. She was fantastic and did everything required along with making some
very good suggestions. We are booked this December at the Wilderness Lodge and looking forward to her spoiling
us again!
We are Annual Pass holders along with being Disney Club members and Carole got us moved from the All Star
Movies I had requested (for budget reasons) into the Port Orleans Riverside for $100.00 less for our stay! Yee Haw!
We have stayed there twice in the past and also at the French Quarter; we love the boat launch availability to
Downtown Disney and the theming is fantastic.
We both work the Saturday that we plan to leave from coastal North Carolina- we live in a beach town and know
the tourist trade well- here we go to become some ourselves! House has been cleaned, fresh sheets on the bed,
laundry done, refrigerator cleaned out, trash out- the usual stuff to avoid back to the real world shock as much as
possible. 5 very disgruntled dogs and 1 cat have been taken to the kennel by myself with just a touch of guilt.
Ive packed a cooler for the drive with picnic fare- grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, drinks, water and my famous
peasant sandwich. You take a round of bread, slice like a large hamburger bun and hollow out the excess bread,
lightly coat with Italian dressing and then layer your choice of lunchmeats and cheeses (whatever is left in the
refrigerator!) topping with lettuce, tomato, onion, fresh spinach, basil, etc. (whatever is left in the refrigerator!).
Put the top half of bread on, put in plastic bag the bread came in and place in the refrigerator with heavy skillet on
top to flatten it overnight or a few hours. Take out, slice into wedges which you wrap individually in wax paper or
plastic wrap (wax paper makes a good crumb catcher on a trip).
Can you tell yet that we dwelled on our meals on this upcoming trip? Packed in quantity was Tagamet and Tums
along with my trusty moleskin- this trinity can get us through quite a bit.
We drove just past Savannah and spent the night at a motel- important to get one that has free coffee and ice (gotta
keep that cooler going). The next morning (Sunday April 29th) we finished the drive to Orlando with our ritual
stop at Belz Outlet to make our purchases BEFORE we hit Walt Disney World- it really cuts down on our impulse
purchases. Pleased with ourselves for sticking to THE PLAN, we then drive onsite and very quickly pull into
Port Orleans Riverside to check in. Gee, just a few short months ago it was Dixie Landings.
The wait in line for check in was about 10-15 minutes during which Earl went to the food court and filled our
mugs. The check in itself took just a few minutes with all my requests met including staying at Oak Manor,
however our room was not ready as of yet (12:30 PM) so we shared a dessert at the Colonels Cotton Mill and then
drove over to Oak Manor in Magnolia Bend. We have stayed in the bayou section twice and wanted to see this
section. We walked around enjoying the landscaping and atmosphere immensely. We sat poolside at a table and
relaxed a while. I used the phone in the laundry room to call to see if our room is ready and YES! They gave us the
room number after I gave the code number (last 4 digits of my phone number) and our keycards let us right in. We
were in room 9089; ground floor, non-smoking, near pool and parking lot access, and not far from bus stop and
food court! To me, it did not seem a further walk to the main bus stop than when we stayed in building 14 in the
bayou, so we were well pleased with all. The walk to the bus stop is a lovely one, going over the Sassagoula river
and passing every morning several bunnies feeding on the grass. The scent of confederate jasmine in bloom is
almost everywhere and puts an element of authenticity to it all. (this is getting too long for the board- part B will follow!)
Tarheel Tink- planner, just turned 43 and have now officially spent half my life with Earl
Earl- husband to Tink, enjoys the fruits of her labor of trip planning, follows her pretty willingly (realizing to cross
the itinerary will be a big mistake for a multitude of reasons!)
I want to start with the proclamation that I have a curse- disaster of all sorts occurs to us before our trips to Disney;
every time. I mean it! Really! Looking back, it could be that we are now going twice a year and it could just be life
happening, but you judge. Here is a brief listing of events occurring before our past 2 trips (not complete by any
means):broken tooth requiring a crown, trip to emergency for possible fractured wrist (turned out to be tendonitis),
bladder infection (that I thought was a kidney stone), broken sewer line (front yard all dug up), transmission on
van goes out (just past the wire for the warranty!), lacerated knee from a fall down our back steps, abscessed tooth,
etc. I dont mean to whine- well, yes I do!
This trip is to celebrate our 21st anniversary and to not do a Disney Death March. For the first time I did not do it
myself but let Dreams Unlimited do the reservation and all Priority Seatings. Carole Annette Fila was our agent
and we will never again do it ourselves. She was fantastic and did everything required along with making some
very good suggestions. We are booked this December at the Wilderness Lodge and looking forward to her spoiling
us again!
We are Annual Pass holders along with being Disney Club members and Carole got us moved from the All Star
Movies I had requested (for budget reasons) into the Port Orleans Riverside for $100.00 less for our stay! Yee Haw!
We have stayed there twice in the past and also at the French Quarter; we love the boat launch availability to
Downtown Disney and the theming is fantastic.
We both work the Saturday that we plan to leave from coastal North Carolina- we live in a beach town and know
the tourist trade well- here we go to become some ourselves! House has been cleaned, fresh sheets on the bed,
laundry done, refrigerator cleaned out, trash out- the usual stuff to avoid back to the real world shock as much as
possible. 5 very disgruntled dogs and 1 cat have been taken to the kennel by myself with just a touch of guilt.
Ive packed a cooler for the drive with picnic fare- grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, drinks, water and my famous
peasant sandwich. You take a round of bread, slice like a large hamburger bun and hollow out the excess bread,
lightly coat with Italian dressing and then layer your choice of lunchmeats and cheeses (whatever is left in the
refrigerator!) topping with lettuce, tomato, onion, fresh spinach, basil, etc. (whatever is left in the refrigerator!).
Put the top half of bread on, put in plastic bag the bread came in and place in the refrigerator with heavy skillet on
top to flatten it overnight or a few hours. Take out, slice into wedges which you wrap individually in wax paper or
plastic wrap (wax paper makes a good crumb catcher on a trip).
Can you tell yet that we dwelled on our meals on this upcoming trip? Packed in quantity was Tagamet and Tums
along with my trusty moleskin- this trinity can get us through quite a bit.
We drove just past Savannah and spent the night at a motel- important to get one that has free coffee and ice (gotta
keep that cooler going). The next morning (Sunday April 29th) we finished the drive to Orlando with our ritual
stop at Belz Outlet to make our purchases BEFORE we hit Walt Disney World- it really cuts down on our impulse
purchases. Pleased with ourselves for sticking to THE PLAN, we then drive onsite and very quickly pull into
Port Orleans Riverside to check in. Gee, just a few short months ago it was Dixie Landings.
The wait in line for check in was about 10-15 minutes during which Earl went to the food court and filled our
mugs. The check in itself took just a few minutes with all my requests met including staying at Oak Manor,
however our room was not ready as of yet (12:30 PM) so we shared a dessert at the Colonels Cotton Mill and then
drove over to Oak Manor in Magnolia Bend. We have stayed in the bayou section twice and wanted to see this
section. We walked around enjoying the landscaping and atmosphere immensely. We sat poolside at a table and
relaxed a while. I used the phone in the laundry room to call to see if our room is ready and YES! They gave us the
room number after I gave the code number (last 4 digits of my phone number) and our keycards let us right in. We
were in room 9089; ground floor, non-smoking, near pool and parking lot access, and not far from bus stop and
food court! To me, it did not seem a further walk to the main bus stop than when we stayed in building 14 in the
bayou, so we were well pleased with all. The walk to the bus stop is a lovely one, going over the Sassagoula river
and passing every morning several bunnies feeding on the grass. The scent of confederate jasmine in bloom is
almost everywhere and puts an element of authenticity to it all. (this is getting too long for the board- part B will follow!)
