alyssa810
<font color=purple>It's much more fun on the boat<
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2001
- Messages
- 4,017
I've decided to take my first stab at a trip report as we edge closer to our second Disney trip of the year, to DLP!
I'll start with some introductions~
I'm Alyssa, wife of Mike, mom to Joel. I work full time for a large investment bank headquarted in Boston; I work just south of Boston, and we live south of Boston as well. My DH works for a market research firm. My DS goes to day care/pre school close to my office. We are also long time Disney addicts; Mike and I took our first trip to WDW together back in 1997. We used to swear that we'd never stay onsite and our first trips were spent at some major Kissimmee crapholes (can I say that?) but after an almost 2 year hiatus from WDW we decided to take the plunge and stay onsite in 2002, and we've never looked back. We were engaged at MK on that very trip, and that was also when we got our first annual passes. We became DVC members the same year we got married, in 2004, and spent part of our honeymoon at DLP. We have close to 30 trips combined to WDW, DL, and DLP.
We started taking our son to WDW when he was 12 weeks old, and he's been to WDW 9 times in his 2.5 years, and this June we'll be taking him across the pond!
To explain my title, we had planned on taking a trip to DL sometime this year to check out the new villas at the Grand Californian, the big decision was if we'd go in May for (US) Mother's Day, or in late September. As it turned out for both our DVC points, flight schedules, and vacation budget in general, September won out. That gave us a big, huge gap between trips; there was no way we'd go from January to September without a trip!
We were going to try to go to WDW for Mother's Day in May, since DL was postponed, but due to Mike's boss's conference schedule and our DVC points (we have a June use year) and the lousy flights from our area to Orlando, it just wasn't working out
Then came that 40% off at DLP deal!
Mike had really wanted to go back to DLP; we had such high expectations that first trip that really weren't met- we were comparing DLP to DL and WDW and you just can't do that. He argued that now we know what to expect (and what not to expect), and the cost for us to go to WDW and get the same package at one of the value resorts was about $500 MORE than going to DLP. AND we had frequent flyer miles approaching the "use them or lose them" stage. AND he said he wouldn't bug me about going back to DLP for at least another 6 years if we went this time. AND if we did go, we'd be hitting EIGHT Disney parks in 9 months, and how cool is that?! We first thought we'd stay at Santa Fe but I said if we were going, I'd rather stay somewhere nicer since we don't go often, so we finally decided on Sequoia Lodge. We stayed at Newport Bay on our honeymoon, and were really disappointed- Yacht & Beach Club it was not. We are looking forward to SL though.
Again, back to the title:
I'm skipping a TR for our most recent WDW trip for the following reasons (besides the fact that we go all the time):
The trip was one catastrophe after another starting the night before we left.
I lost an earring down the bathroom sink, broke a glass nail polish bottle in said bathroom making our vanity look like a murder scene.
We had problems with our home alarm system after Mike tripped it running back into the house as we were leaving
At the airport, Mike ran up the escalator and fell, getting a huge gash on his finger and overall achiness (we had plenty of time, there was no need to rush)
Joel decided to test his independence and our patience and was a run-awayer and bad listener, (really a typical 2 year old), a no sitting in his high chair overall freshy.
Mike ended up with some stomach bug on the day we drove out to visit his godparents in Tampa and we ended up cancelling and he was super cranky overall (but like I said he was sick)
and we also missed a breakfast at Cape May; I ended up bringing Joel to MK by myself for the evening.
I was finally able to get an ADR for ohana, which I had been trying to get for a few years, and when we went Joel was really poorly behaved and we didn't really enjoy the meal.
Getting home went ok but Mike got into a car accident on the Monday he went back to work luckily he wasn't hurt and his car was fixed but overall, it was the lousiest trip we've had in a while, because in all honesty, even a bad trip to WDW is better than no trip to WDW, right?
So here we are, back to 8.5 weeks away from Disneyland Paris!
While I'm not looking forward to the long flight from Boston to Paris, or practicing my miniscule French vocabulary, I am looking forward to seeing what's new and the same from 6 years ago. I'm excited to take my son to a new (to him) Disney park. I'm looking forward to all I can eat croissants at the resort breakfast
but most of all, just getting back!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
I'll start with some introductions~
I'm Alyssa, wife of Mike, mom to Joel. I work full time for a large investment bank headquarted in Boston; I work just south of Boston, and we live south of Boston as well. My DH works for a market research firm. My DS goes to day care/pre school close to my office. We are also long time Disney addicts; Mike and I took our first trip to WDW together back in 1997. We used to swear that we'd never stay onsite and our first trips were spent at some major Kissimmee crapholes (can I say that?) but after an almost 2 year hiatus from WDW we decided to take the plunge and stay onsite in 2002, and we've never looked back. We were engaged at MK on that very trip, and that was also when we got our first annual passes. We became DVC members the same year we got married, in 2004, and spent part of our honeymoon at DLP. We have close to 30 trips combined to WDW, DL, and DLP.
We started taking our son to WDW when he was 12 weeks old, and he's been to WDW 9 times in his 2.5 years, and this June we'll be taking him across the pond!
To explain my title, we had planned on taking a trip to DL sometime this year to check out the new villas at the Grand Californian, the big decision was if we'd go in May for (US) Mother's Day, or in late September. As it turned out for both our DVC points, flight schedules, and vacation budget in general, September won out. That gave us a big, huge gap between trips; there was no way we'd go from January to September without a trip!
We were going to try to go to WDW for Mother's Day in May, since DL was postponed, but due to Mike's boss's conference schedule and our DVC points (we have a June use year) and the lousy flights from our area to Orlando, it just wasn't working outThen came that 40% off at DLP deal!
Mike had really wanted to go back to DLP; we had such high expectations that first trip that really weren't met- we were comparing DLP to DL and WDW and you just can't do that. He argued that now we know what to expect (and what not to expect), and the cost for us to go to WDW and get the same package at one of the value resorts was about $500 MORE than going to DLP. AND we had frequent flyer miles approaching the "use them or lose them" stage. AND he said he wouldn't bug me about going back to DLP for at least another 6 years if we went this time. AND if we did go, we'd be hitting EIGHT Disney parks in 9 months, and how cool is that?! We first thought we'd stay at Santa Fe but I said if we were going, I'd rather stay somewhere nicer since we don't go often, so we finally decided on Sequoia Lodge. We stayed at Newport Bay on our honeymoon, and were really disappointed- Yacht & Beach Club it was not. We are looking forward to SL though.Again, back to the title:
I'm skipping a TR for our most recent WDW trip for the following reasons (besides the fact that we go all the time):
The trip was one catastrophe after another starting the night before we left.
I lost an earring down the bathroom sink, broke a glass nail polish bottle in said bathroom making our vanity look like a murder scene.We had problems with our home alarm system after Mike tripped it running back into the house as we were leaving
At the airport, Mike ran up the escalator and fell, getting a huge gash on his finger and overall achiness (we had plenty of time, there was no need to rush)
Joel decided to test his independence and our patience and was a run-awayer and bad listener, (really a typical 2 year old), a no sitting in his high chair overall freshy.
Mike ended up with some stomach bug on the day we drove out to visit his godparents in Tampa and we ended up cancelling and he was super cranky overall (but like I said he was sick)
and we also missed a breakfast at Cape May; I ended up bringing Joel to MK by myself for the evening.I was finally able to get an ADR for ohana, which I had been trying to get for a few years, and when we went Joel was really poorly behaved and we didn't really enjoy the meal.
Getting home went ok but Mike got into a car accident on the Monday he went back to work
luckily he wasn't hurt and his car was fixed but overall, it was the lousiest trip we've had in a while, because in all honesty, even a bad trip to WDW is better than no trip to WDW, right?So here we are, back to 8.5 weeks away from Disneyland Paris!
While I'm not looking forward to the long flight from Boston to Paris, or practicing my miniscule French vocabulary, I am looking forward to seeing what's new and the same from 6 years ago. I'm excited to take my son to a new (to him) Disney park. I'm looking forward to all I can eat croissants at the resort breakfast but most of all, just getting back!Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
I am so excited to read your trippie - hope you have a great time! Enjoy the planning!
I returned in March from my first trip in a long time to DLP. Every morning I would walk by the Sequoia Lodge (from the SF) and I loved the smell of the redwood trees! It looked lovely!
but I think we'll probably stick with as few jeans as possible as they take up so much room in the suitcase.
