4/22 Can't come fast enough!!! Pre-Trip Report for our Girls Only Visit to POFQ!!

[lucky978]

I thought I’d start a pre-trip report. Not sure if it will ever turn into a trip report or not, but I have to give this a try just once. I’ve been reading trip reports and pre-trip reports and envy so many of the Dis’ers here on these boards and their writing skills. Some people just have a “way with words”. I, unfortunately, am not one of them. But I’m so excited about our upcoming trip – I thought writing about it would help me get through the next 14 days.

This trip has been in the works for a very long time. Back in 2005 we took a last-minute trip to the World to celebrate my twin’s 7th birthday. We travelled with my mom, my BIL, SIL, my niece and my nephew, and my SIL’s mom. My husband decided not to join us on this trip (he is not the “Disney” lover that the rest of us are). We travelled over Memorial Day weekend. WHAT WAS I THINKING???? It was mobbed. It was hot. It rained. My mom was so sick (later we found out it was kidney stones). My BIL had a bad allergic reaction to something he ate one night . I could go on, but I will spare you all the gory details. Basically, not the best trip we’ve had…by far.

One night while my mom was so sick and upset thinking that she “ruined” our trip I promised her that it was no big deal. We would be back. Apparently in that weak moment I promised her we would return for her 60th Birthday (which seemed so far away at that time). I said, “We’ll do it up good”. “We’ll come for 10 days”. “We’ll stay at the Grand Floridian”. I tried everything to make her feel better. It worked. And she remembered every word I said.

We invited our cousins to come along with us. My mom’s first cousin and her daughter (who just turned 17 last week). A “Girls Only” trip was in the works (as my husband graciously declined our invitation to join us). Since my cousins live in New Hampshire and we live in Massachusetts, we decided that we would “split” April vacation so none of the kids would have to miss a whole week of school.

So did we book 10 days? Not quite. We set our dates for 4/22-4/28. 6 nights.

So did we book the Grand Floridian? Not quite. We are staying at POFQ. I had stayed there once in the past and loved it. And my mom’s only request was that we didn’t stay at POR again. Not that it was bad. It just had bad memories for her.

We were able to book the special they offered, “buy 4 get 7” or something like that. Even though we are only staying 6 nights, it was still cheaper.

We purchased the dining plan and I’ve made (and in true “Dis board” fashion changed several times) all of our ADRs. We are eating at:

TS:
50’s PTC
Crystal Palace (our favorite)
O’Hana Dinner
O’Hana Breakfast
Boma Breakfast
LeCellier (or Teppan Edo)
The Plaza (lunch)

When I list these out they seem pretty boring. I mean – the only new ones for us would be Teppan Edo and The Plaza. We’re looking forward to all of them, though. Some of us want to go to LeCellier and some want to go to Teppan Edo. I have reservations at both and we’ll just have to see what we decide to do that day when we wake up. I think LeCellier would have better food – but Teppan Edo would be a more fun atmosphere. Any thoughts on this?

We will be visiting all 4 parks and will be seeing Cirque LaNouba show on Saturday night, 4/25. We are all really looking forward to it.

So that is my Pre Trip Report for now! Packing has begun and the count down is on. We are all very excited! I’m brining my laptop and hope to do some live reports and some dining reviews if I have time (although most of the restaurants we are going to have been reviewed here on the Dis many, many times already). If not, I’m sure I’ll be in a deep post-Disney depression when I get back and will need something to occupy my time.

Here are some photo's of us during previous trips.

Here is the same group of us during our trip back in 2004. Seems so long ago. My mom on the left, me hiding in the back, my cousin in the white sweatshirt and her daughter in the navy sweatshirt. And my girls in the front (my how they have changed in 5 years!).

Here is a more recent photo of my daughters:

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Jacki

 

[lucky978]

Here are some of our plans for our upcoming trip:

4/22 - Travel Day

We will be picked up at my house around 4:45pm. Our flight doesn't leave Logan Airport until 8pm. I swore I would never book a late flight again last time...just makes the day drag waiting for the time to come.

Regardless, everyone is supposed to be at my house by 4:15pm. Some of my travelling companions don't have a very good reputation of being on time - so I'm hopeful everyone will be there when the van arrives.

We'll probably have to grab a bite to eat at the airport as none of us will probably have had dinner.

My mom is afraid of flying. Her first trip ever was back in 2004 when we went to Disney with my cousin and her family. She did awesome on the trip - didn't need anything to "relax" her either. She's taken one other trip with us to Disney (back in 2005 - the trip I mentioned in the post above). We have flown both Southwest and JetBlue.

This time we are flying JetBlue and when making the seating arrangements I noticed that there are only 2 seats, then the aisle, then 2 more seats. We are used to 3 seats in each row. So I'm assuming this plane is smaller - which may or may not be an issue for my mom. I've told her, and even shown her some video from youtube that shows the plane. She says she is okay with it but deep down I know she's nervous.

Anyone had any experience with this plane? Is it much smaller than the others?

Anyways – we will be arriving in Orlando very late – 10:50pm. We will head down to gather our luggage and then over to the Magical Express area (or we may split up, send 2 people to the Magical Express area and send the rest to gather the luggage).

I don’t anticipate arriving at POFQ until 1am. We will be exhausted and dragging, but excited that our trip is beginning. I have requested Building 5 to be close to the busses/foodcourt. Our reservations are linked so I’m hoping we also get the connecting rooms that I requested. Checking in so late sort of limits our choices and options for asking for a different room if we are not happy with what we are given. I may fax a room request over 4 days before we arrive just for my own sanity.

 

[lucky978]

4/23 Our First Day in the Park - Disney Studio's

Given we will be arriving VERY late the night before, I'm not exactly sure what time we will be getting to the park. We may be excited as it will be our first day - so I'm hoping we are at the park by 9am.

We plan on heading immediately to Toy Story Mania to secure a Fast Pass - then hopefully riding standby. After Toy Story Mania we will head down to ToT to see what the wait is. If we can, we would also like to ride Rock'N'Roller Coaster.

Other than those "Big 3", the other things we are hoping to accomplish in this park are:

American Idol
Backlot Tour
Lights, Motors, Action Show
Walt's One Man's Dream
Beauty and the Bease

We have an ADR for 4pm at the 50's PTC. It's one of our favorite restaurants and we are all looking forward to it.

Not sure how long we will stay after dinner. I'm guessing not very long as we will probably need a rest at this point.

After a rest we're hoping to head to the POR lounge to check out the Piano Show and have a few drinks. Should be fun!

That will be our first park day!

 

[lucky978]

I don't believe I have yet to introduce our cast of characters for this trip.

Me, 37. Mom to twin girls who are going to be 11 in June (where has the time gone). I've been to Disney World 8 times and love planning and anticipating the trip just as much as going on the trip!

Here I am enjoying some very large delicious drink at WCC during a previous trip!

DD1.
Baby “A” as we like to call her. First born by 5 (very long) minutes. She is sweet as pie and would do anything for anyone. Very caring. Loves dancing school, gymnastics, softball and pretty much any other sport she decides to try.

DD2.
Baby “B”. Second born (by 5 minutes). She is a softie on the inside and tough as nails on the outside. She is my clown and my chatter box. Like her sister, is very athletic and plays multiple sports. Her favorite is gymnastics.

DMom
Will be turning 60 this June. She is the reason for this trip. This will be her third trip to Disney. Although, I don’t think the second one should really count considering how sick she was while we were there. She is a great mom, and a great grandmother to my girls. She and my grandmother live one street over from me – which I’m so thankful for.

She doesn’t much like having her photo taken. And when we do convince her to let us, she usually blinks just when the camera is going off. Here is one of me, her and my girls back in 2004. She in the sunglasses.

DCousin1
How old is she anyways? I’m not sure. She’s somewhere between me and my mom in age. Lives in NH (But we don’t hold it against her). This will be her 2nd trip to Disney. First trip was with us back in 2004. She will be riding the roller coasters with me and my girls!! Here she is back in 2004 at O’Hana’s with her “back-scratcher”!

DCousin2
Last but in no way least. She just turned 17, which is hard for me to believe since she was only 4 when DH and I got married. I still can’t believe she’s 17!!! We will be celebrating her birthday this trip as well. Last time she came with us was back in 2004 and she hated all the rides. We’re hoping this has changed and that she’ll be riding some of the “thrill” rides with us. Will keep you posted on that…
Here she is with DD2 back in December. She doesn’t much like her photo taken either.

So that’s our cast for this trip. 12 days and counting. We can actually see the extended weather report on accuweather.com…so we must be getting closer!!!