22 Days, 4 Resorts, and Deluxe Dining! My first PTR...

[cheshirefan]

I hope someone reads this.

I'm just so excited about this trip I think I'm ganna burst! Okay, here goes nothin....

First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Heather, 37 years old, and I'm a hairstylist and I own my own salon here in Cape May, NJ.

My DH Thom, 48 years old, a landscaper with his own business, also.

We're both fanatical about anything Disney. OK, maybe I'm a little more OCD when it comes to the planning (and the spending of $$) , but he's all-in when it comes to having fun at WDW!

This year's trip is VERY different for us. We seriously are NOT extravagant people. (See afore mentioned careers.) Let me explain... you see we usually go with our children and our granddaughter . Which isn't happening this year because our daughter is pregnant and due in mid Feb.

Soooo... we spent all the vacation money on ourselves!!! HAHAHAHA GREEDY PEOPLE!!!!!! No, seriously, since we never really had a honeymoon, this is our chance to spoil ourselves.
We're an assembled family. Or at least that's what I like to call us. I have one DS (13). My DH has a DD (25), DD(22) the mommy, DS (13), and our granddaughter Isalina (3). We were married in 2004, and our first trip to WDW together was in '03. We go every year and sometimes a few times a year.

I only recently discovered the DISboards (thanks to my DH) and really enjoy reading everyone else's TRs. So without boring you any more than I have already, I'll sum up our plans for this trip.


January 1, 2010 taking Amtrak auto train from Lorton, Va. to Sanford, Fla.

Jan 2 - arrive in Fla. and drive to family house in Summerfield. (Right next to the Villages)

Jan 3 - 7 GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT with reg. Dining Plan

Jan 8-10 spent at our house

Jan 11 - 16 WILDERNESS LODGE VILLAS one bedroom with Deluxe Dining

Jan 16 - 21 ALL STAR MUSIC preferred room with Deluxe Dining

Jan 19 - 21 my Mom joins us at ASMu with her own room and also DxDP

Jan 22 - 24 show Mom around the Villages and relax at house

Jan 25 - Feb 1 BAY LAKE TOWERS one bedroom with Deluxe Dining

Feb 2-6 at house and get train home

Well, stay tuned and I'll let you know all our ADRs and our itinerary really soon. I type slow and I need to get organized. Thanks in advance to whoever actually views my report. Ha Ha

 

[cheshirefan]

Here's my favorite picture I took of the castle in December:

 

[cheshirefan]

Here's a couple more:

me and piglet:

 

[mebbradley]

I'm in Waiting to hear all about it

 

[DreamingPink]

Me too, me too. I am in and waiting to read more.

 

[cheshirefan]

Here's a pic of my DH, DS, DSS :

this is our granddaughter:

this is my step daughter,SIL, DGD:

 

[cheshirefan]

I'm in Waiting to hear all about it

Hi and welcome! Thanks for joining me!

 

[cheshirefan]

Me too, me too. I am in and waiting to read more.

Hello! Wow! Two people! I feel the love... HAHA. Welcome!

 

[disneydusted]

Count me in too! Your trip sounds like so much fun, you've got a great plan going.
You live in one of our favorite places to spend summer vacations! We're usually there the last two weeks in June.

 

[cheshirefan]

Hi there! Thanks for joining in! You'll have to stop by my salon when you're in town this summer. That would be great. Stay tuned...tonight I'm posting our ADRs. All 45 of them!!!!!

 

[Minxe]

i'm hoping on too!! your grandchildren are soooo gorgeous!! and i adore your castle pics! <3

 

[jordanyosh]

okay, I'm here. the 22 days in the title are what hooked me.

 

[cheshirefan]

i'm hoping on too!! your grandchildren are soooo gorgeous!! and i adore your castle pics! <3

Thank you so much! Glad you're here.

okay, I'm here. the 22 days in the title are what hooked me.

Hi! Thanks for being here. This is the most amount of days (at once) that we'll be at WDW. Thanks to the Holy Grail pin code!

 

[cheshirefan]

Hi everybody! I'm so excited avout sharing our plans with everyone. I only recently got a hold of my OCD and stopped changing resorts. With that pin offer we got it was really hard to choose where to stay. Too many awesome places to lay our weary heads. I got a pin offer for 40 percent off deluxe, 30 off mods, and 20 off values for almost all of 2010. So what's a poor girl to do?

Well... you guys see the results of the pin for the resorts...BUT, with all the money being saved on hotels, I figured we should upgrade to the deluxe dining...right? Isn't that what you would do??? If given that opportunity? Of course. So I spent the better part of the last two months planning... and planning... and planning... well, you get the idea. The dining part I think was the hardest. With the deluxe there's just too many options! So, since neither my DH or I are breakfast eaters on a normal basis, we both agreed that a TS lunch and a sig. dinner every night worked the best for us.

Although, for our first leg of the trip, which is the Grand Floridian, we actually booked that one last. Did that make sense to anyone??? The amount of money we had spent up to that point was really getting a little scary, so we are doing the regular dining plan. Still OK with me!

So..... without further adeau(sp?)....

Here's our list of ADRs.

1/3 lunch Columbia Harbor House
dinner Tutto Italia 5:25

1/4 lunch ABC Com.
dinner 1900 Park Fare 4:55

1/5 lunch Sunshine Seasons
dinner Ohana 6:10

1/6 lunch Cosmic Ray's
dinner Garden Grill 7:05

1/11 Whispering Canyon 12:55
Artist Point 7:45

1/12 Sci Fi 12:10
Citricos 7:45

1/13 Les Chefs de France 12:00
California Grill 7:35

1/14 The Wave 12:00
Boma 7:10

1/15 Brown Derby 11:30
Artist Point 7:30

1/16 Le Cellier 11:30
Jiko 7:30

1/17 Mama Melrose 12:00
Flying Fish 7:25

1/18 Tony's Town Square 11:30
Narcoossee's 7:15

1/19 no lunch (picking up mom from MCO)
California Grill 7:35

1/20 Coral Reef 11:35
Tutto Italia 7:20

1/21 Brown Derby 2:00

1/25 California Grill 7:30

1/26 The Wave 10:50
CRT 7:00

1/27 Le Cellier 11:30
Artist Point 7:05

1/28 Kona Cafe 11:00
Citricos 7:00

1/29 Rose & Crown 12:00
Narcoossee"s 7:00

1/30 GF Cafe 11:30
Ohana 7:10

1/31 Tutto Italia 11:30
California Grill 7:35

2/1 Chef Mickey's 7:10 am
Whispering Canyon 1:55

Whew! WE ARE GOING TO GET SOOOO FAT!!!!!

 

[jordanyosh]

It looks like you have some favorite restaurants.....

 

[cheshirefan]

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everybody had a nice day. Day one through three I'm gonna post tomorrow as well as our first two days at the GF. Tonight I'm just too tired from cooking all day, but I just couldn't stay away completely! Have a nice night!

 

[disneydusted]

Wow, wow, wow!!! You have some serious ADR's!! Can I come too? I am so amazed that you will be there for so long! What a treat!
Tell me about the pin offer you got. How do you get this? Seems like a great offer!

 

[cheshirefan]

Wow, wow, wow!!! You have some serious ADR's!! Can I come too? I am so amazed that you will be there for so long! What a treat!
Tell me about the pin offer you got. How do you get this? Seems like a great offer!

Hi! Sure, you can join us! Hop on Amtak auto train New Year's Day! It was a lot of ADRs to make. With each resort they make you "check in and check out", so I had to make sure all the "totals" of meals added up correctly to the corresponding number of nights. Which normally wouldn't have been a big deal, but the part of our trip when we check out the 16th and check in the 16th threw me off once. Then my mom joins us for three days, and I screwed up on her count, too. Then on top of all that, our Jan 25th ressie for BLT just happened to be the same (apocolyptic) 180 day rollover for ADRs (Oct 27th) THAT WAS NOT A FUN DAY! But when all was said and done I realize how much I really enjoy planning our trips every year. We're not even home maybe a few days from a trip, before I start talking my DH into booking another. Although, it's not like I have to twist his arm or anything. So, here is how our resort picks came to be...

First, we were booked at ASMu for Jan 11-21. With DxDP. Originally,we were treating our daughter, son in law, and gr.daughtr to their own room there with us (with the DxDP) also. Then they had to cancel because we found out we're going to be grandparents again in Feb.!!! We had already paid off a good chunk of their trip, and all of ours. So we changed it to 1/11 - 1/16 at AKL villas 1br. Therefore changing all the ADRs. Then after that balance was paid off, two weeks later, we get an email from Disney Destinations with a pin for the 40, 30 ,20 off!!! Oh, by the way, we were also booked and paid at Royal Pacific at Universal for 1/5 -1/10. But when the pin came, that went out the window! Turns out that we could stay at the GF for $22 more than RP. Sorry US and IOA, but we've never stayed at a deluxe and I was not going to let that pin go to waste! So then my Dh starts looking at maps of AKL and realizes it's not exactly runner friendly. He jogs approx 5 miles every day. I on the other hand would only run if a TIGER were chasing me... So we switched AKL to WL villas 1br. We really like the idea of having a washer/dryer as well as extra space, since we're staying for a while. We get along great, but space is GOOD. Then I just plain old got greedy and suggested BLT to my DH who was like WHY NOT, so we booked that too (with the 40 percent off). We ate at the Cali Grill a couple times last year and were blown away by the food, the ambiance, the CR and the views. So as you can see from our ADR list, we're going to eat a lot of the menu!

To actually answer your question, disneydusted, I think the reason we got the pin code is either dumb luck or because I was saving a few offers on the website for different dates in Nov., and different resorts trying to figure out which resort to book for next november when we go with our DD, DSIL, and grandbabies. I recently read on another post that people suspect this can generate a pin. I didn't know that at the time, but this was the first time I had ever saved an offer. So who knows???? Either way, I was so grateful for it, and put it to good use, and better yet, I get to use it for our Nov. trip, too. The only dates blocked out are the holidays, ie: MLK, PresDay, Thanksgiving, etc. all the way through 2010! It truly was like the Holy Grail of pin codes Go try messing with saved offers and I wish you dumb luck and pixie dust!

 

[cheshirefan]

We've officially started packing!! DH brought down the "big" suicase from the attic and put it on the couch in our bedroom, so whenever we think of something we need to take to the Fla house we throw it in. So far we've packed two pairs of new Crocs , a weather station, an extension cord, and our garage and gate openers, and a flat iron. Okay, it's not that great of a list...But it's a start!!!

It's great not having to worry about what we pack, or how much we pack, since we're taking the train. Usually, the last couple years, we've flown out of ACY. It was nice being there in just a few hours, but really stressful packing for a month and trying to cram it all in one suitcase and carry-on each. We took the train a couple years before that, and before that, we drove. I will NEVER drive to Fla. again!!!! People drive like maniacs anymore and I am a HORRIBLE passenger. Which sresses out hubby, which sresses out me...It's not good... Anyway...

On DAY ONE:

We have to wake up around 4 am so DH can go running. I always wake up with him and go with him.. NO I don't run. I drive next to him really slow and drink my coffe from my WDW refillable mug. It's TRUE! The Cape May County Airport is around the corner from our house and it has a semi large abandoned industrial complex with paved streets. It's perfect for him to run early in the morn and I don't have to worry about him being hit by a car (which has almost happened in prior years). SO...back on topic.

When we get back from running, we turn off the water to the house, set the light timers, take out the trash, lock up and HIT THE ROAD!!! All 1 1/2 miles of road to the Cape May Lewes Ferry! We're catching the 7:30 boat. Then we sit on the ferry for 70 min till we're let off in Delaware. Then I have to bite and chew my tongue off (in order to not stress DH) until we get to Lorton, Va.
It's not THAT BAD of a ride. It only takes about two hours from Delaware. It's right outside D.C. The Lorton station is very nice. It has a deco style architechture that appeals to me. It also signifies the beginning of a trip, and that's enough to put me in a great mood immediately! You pull up to the front of the terminal, leave your key with the attendant, grab your tote (or whatever you decide to take on with you) and they take your car and load it on the train. You have to sit around for a few hours while they connect all the vehicle trains to the passenger trains, but it's not that bad. Then our train will depart at 4 pm.
They kick off the departure with wine and cheese and crudites in the loung car. It's complimentary and it's nice. We have taken the train 3 different ways: coach (in seats like a bus) , with a roomette (which is so small and cloughsterphobic and will test even the strongest of marriages), and with a bedroom (which has its own bathroom and a big enough room that DH and I are still speaking when we get there). The bedroom, of course, is the only way we will travel on the train now. We love each other too much to try the other options again.

You can choose from 5pm, 7pm, or 9pm for your dinner time. It's served in the dining car, and the food is always decent. The food reminds me of what they serve at Cosmic Ray's in MK. By the time we finish dinner, (we always choose the 7pm) we're exhausted, and head back to our room, even though they show a newly released movie in the adjoining lounge car. We always have a mini dvd player (and I have a Kindle this year). OH YEAH! I have to pack that!! Into the suicase it goes! Sleeping on the train is THE BEST!!!! It's like being rocked to sleep like a little baby. They come in the room while you're at dinner and make up your bed(s). The pillows are kind of stiff, so I give them to hubby and I always bring my own.

In the morning, we wake up and they have a continental breakfast in the dining car. We don't eat breakfast, but I DO drink LOTS of coffee (I'm a hairstylist remember), so I go up and grab a muffin and banana for later and chug coffee. The best part of waking up is looking out the windows at the sun coming up over the Florida horizon and seeing palm trees and knowing I'm not in Jersey anymore.

Stay tuned for DAY TWO....

 

[jordanyosh]

How cool that you can take your own car down to FL! How much does something like that cost? Although I'm sure it's way less that renting a car for all that time.