A Belated PTR: Mom & Daughter Take On WDW, again UPDATE 9.22: LIVE FROM WDW!!!!!!!!!!

[lacrosse_lady72]

Hello everyone!

OK, I have finally done it- it’s time to start my Pre-Trip Report for our September 18-October 2, 2009 trip, yayyyy!

I realize that am writing this a little last-minute (in terms of a PTR) but whatever but it’s ok… I’ll pace it out a little bit so it’s not all a bunch of information all at once overwhelming readers

Who the heck is going? Post #2
Where are we staying? Post #8
How are we getting there... our lay-over in Los Angeles is HOW LONG? Post #15
Some Pictures from September 2008 Part 1 Post #27
Some Pictures from September 2008 Part 2: More Food & Wine Festival 2008 Pictures Post #31
Some Pictures from September 2008 Part 3 Post #33
Some Pictures from September 2008 Part 4: Jiko & California Grill Post #38
ADRs!!! I think I might die of over-eating Post #39
Changes to the ADRs and MNSSHP Post #49
Anyone Ask for This PTR's Cast Pictures? Post #62
Finally, a More Finalized Itinerary Post #75
I'm a freaking idiot! Post #81
Scrapbooking and a NEW RULE!!!(ETA: I really slacked on said rule ) Post #88
180 Days for ADRs!!!... Oh no, my heart just sank. Post #92
No, I didn't die... BIG MILESTONE AND BIG UPDATE! Post #101
One month away??? AHHH! Post #108
ANOTHER ADR change! Post #117
I'm kind of getting that trip-is-getting-close freak out earlier than usual... Post #125

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

So who the heck is going?

First there's me: Dayna (please note the 'y' in the middle ) and I'm 22, I am a crazy WDW trip planner like a lot of you all are. I'm all about randomness since I find it pretty fun so here it goes:
-My favorite park is Animal Kingdom.
-My favorite rides include Expedition Everest, Haunted Mansion, Kali River Rapids and Test Track.
-My favorite restaurant is Les Chefs de France, but we're skipping it this trip in order to try new things.
-My favorite food is the almond crusted cheesecake at Narcoossee's.
-Sometimes when I get nervous I begin to speak in a southern or British accent... I think it's ridiculous but others have said the accents are pretty good.
-I LOVE baseball.
-I am not a good swimmer and the water often grosses me out.
-I love alcohol also good thing for the Food & Wine Festival!


My mom, Lynn who is... 52 (shhhh, don't tell her I told you) but she'll be turning 53 during our trip. She's more of the sit back and relax type so basically all the planning was left up to me which is OK since I love it. Randomish stuff about her:
-Her favorite park is Magic Kingdom.
-Her favorite rides include Haunted Mansion, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Soarin' and Tower of Terror.
-Her favorite restaurant is Coral Reef, again- we're not going back to CR this trip since we're looking to try new places.
-Her favorite food is a good creme brulee, from nowhere specific though.
-She's an extremely shy person so much so that we occaisonally fight about her passiveness
-We're kinf of on opposite ends of the sleep schedules, I can stay up until 5 in the morning without a problem where she'll typically wake up at that time... this makes for WDW touring a little more difficult.

I love my mama, and I feel really lucky to have a mom that I can get along with and that I enjoy travelling with. I know so many people who aren't in that situation and it makes me sad I don't have the best relationship with my dad but I know people who feel the same way about both parents x2.


Next: Where are we staying?

 

[disneygirlinnj]

I'm in! Hey Dayna!!! I do love that it's just the two of you (like me lol). I don't always get along with my mom (who does?!) but I wouldn't trade her for anything. My mom is the SAME way in terms of being passive AND waking up at 5am. I'm going to seriously try to be on her schedule and go to bed somewhat early (it's nice that the parks close early so we can just go back to the hotel and relax) and then wake up for rope drop or an 8am breakfast ADR to make the best of the mornings.

 

[oregonmommyof2]

I'm here, I'm here!!!

We need to meet up and have a drink! Even if it's just at the Pop pool or something...

 

[jordanyosh]

Okay...I'm in!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I'm in! Hey Dayna!!! I do love that it's just the two of you (like me lol). I don't always get along with my mom (who does?!) but I wouldn't trade her for anything. My mom is the SAME way in terms of being passive AND waking up at 5am. I'm going to seriously try to be on her schedule and go to bed somewhat early (it's nice that the parks close early so we can just go back to the hotel and relax) and then wake up for rope drop or an 8am breakfast ADR to make the best of the mornings.

Yay you made it (as if it's hard, lol). Yep, I feel the same way with my mom... of course there are moments that we fight and I feel like I never want to see her again, especially when I was in HS but I wouldn't trade my mom either. My dad on the other hand...

Sometimes I feel like I need to make up for my crazy rebel ways when I was a teenager.

I told my mom also, it's going to be a huge struggle for me to wake up early for these ADRs (pretty much all of them before 10AM) but I'll do it. But it's the getting to bed early that's the problem for me.

I'm here, I'm here!!!

We need to meet up and have a drink! Even if it's just at the Pop pool or something...

Awesome!!! I'm definitely down for that!

The Pop pool bar sounds great! Let's find a good time to do that.

Okay...I'm in!

Great!

I am actually reading though your Peeps, drunks, sweaty Asians and what not right now You crack me up so much Jordan, I bet you're a really fun person to be around...

And of course I'm chatting with you about Portland/Hillsboro

 

[MAGICFOR2]

HI Checking in on a fellow Oregonian! It will be fun to "travel" with you!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Where are we staying?

OK, I know this is fast but I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.

I know you could have just looked somewhere in the middle of my signature and found out that I am staying at Pop Century, and this is true, but it's slightly more complicated than that.

Back in the day and by that I mean September 2008 when we were staying at the oh so lovely Pop Century, we of course got a handy dandy little flyer in our room on the first day! It was the FD bounceback offer! Now as a good little DISer, I already knew what the bounceback offer was for free dining but it was satisfying getting a hard copy of the offer in my hands. But since it's our first day that we get the offer, we have a chance to sit on it for 14 nights.

Like we do every year we have gone to WDW, we always say we're not going and that we're going to put it off another year to go somewhere else... yeah right, seriously? We all know we go through this but it never happens.

So we then have to decide on where and when. The when was easy. It needed to be around the beginning of the F&WF, before October 3, around my mom's birthday (September 23) and on a good day to start a vacation of us schedule wise. We pick September 18-October 2.

Where? Well our choices were between any of the value or moderate resorts. It'd just be too costly to stay at a deluxe for 2 weeks. We went on recon during the trip and decided:
-My mom hated the decor of CSR. I liked it though... and I liked when I was there on previous trips but 50% of the travel party vetoed it.
-We never made it to any of the All-Stars.
-We both really liked CBR but it was too spread out for us non-drivers.
-POR was beautiful but it was pretty big as well.
-POFQ was also a good choice for us and was considered but...
... we stuck we what we love- Pop Century!




Why is that complicated?

It's not. Can you all tell I like to talk yet?

Well, I had to keep thinking about what I would get for my mom on her birthday.

A digital camera? No, she wouldn't know how to use it.
Dinner at Victoria & Alberts? Well, dressing up really isn't her thing.
Staying at a deluxe resort on her birthday? Well... this sounds good.

So where to stay?
The one's she had shown interest in during our past trips were Poly, GF, WL, AKL and BWI so naturally- it's between those 5. And it wasn't going to be for just one night, I decided on 3 night Sept 22-25.

In pricing GF, without knowing if there was going to be any special room rates or not it was simply too expensive.

BWI also got eliminated because that clown pool REALLY freaked me out when I looked at some pictures of the resort... even though now I am staying there in April.

AKL was ruled out just because.

So it was between Poly and WL. And in looking at the photo threads and FAQ threads, the Wilderness Lodge won hands down!

Were also staying at WL Sept 22-25!



Am I done?

No.

Anyone ever hear of the Expedition Everest Challenge? It's a 5K then an obstacle course AND THEN a scavenger hunt though the 5K course all throughout Animal Kingdom. Then there's an after party in AK until midnight!

Well I am planning on participating in this race and with that you receive a special rate at the All-Star resorts, POR and AKL. I thought it would be nice to stay at AKL for the night and I got a little seasonal bonus from work at the time of this decision so I booked it for that night.

That's it!



Summary:

Pop Century September 18-October 2
Wilderness Lodge September 22-25
Animal Kingdom Lodge September 26-27



I know I am nuts for doing this, no need to tell me. But hey, I think it'll be fun!

ETA: Why aren't WL and AKL in my signature. My mom lurks on the Disboards a lot and I don't want her to know about it. I already told her she cannot look into the PTR.

Up next: How are we getting there... our lay-over in Los Angeles is HOW LONG?

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

HI Checking in on a fellow Oregonian! It will be fun to "travel" with you!

I almost missed your post but I found it sandwiched in between mine after all.

Yay for Oregon!!! Except this week, I really hate it when it's TOO hot.

I'm glad you're in it I love reading PTRs and TRs... and especially live reports. I might just browse on over to you 2009 TR when I am done reading through jordanyosh's.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Ohhhh I'm jealous you're doing Expedition Everest! I want to do it but it's the day we arrive and I wasn't really sure what to do with my mom while I do the race. Awesome choices for hotels too. I've stayed at Pop and WL and love them both!

 

[Lynn5700]

Hey Dayna!!!! I'm here
Glad you started this!! You and your mom are going to have a great time!!!!

I'm excited you get to do the Expedition Everest!!! Good for you!

 

[crocko]

Hey there....found your thread.

My family will be at WDW form 9/17-9/26! Look forward to following your PTR

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Ohhhh I'm jealous you're doing Expedition Everest! I want to do it but it's the day we arrive and I wasn't really sure what to do with my mom while I do the race. Awesome choices for hotels too. I've stayed at Pop and WL and love them both!

Well, I'm sad you won't be able to make it but there's always next year My mom and I split up a couple of times during our trip so she'll be OK to find something to do for a couple of hours. From 8:00PM-12:00AM there's an after party that is free for racers but $30 for friends and family so I just bought her a ticket so she'll meet up with me later.

It would probably be difficult to do on your arrival day It was on our last full day last year and I passed since it would interfere with our Narcoossee's plans and I am not about to give up Narcoossee's

Hey Dayna!!!! I'm here
Glad you started this!! You and your mom are going to have a great time!!!!

I'm excited you get to do the Expedition Everest!!! Good for you!

Yay!!!

I'm excited to run it too. A least it's a sprint-race, I don't know if I could handle a half marathon like you and disneygirlinnj...

I think since it's such a short race and I am in no way thinking I am going to place, I might just bring my camera along I do love taking pictures.

Hey there....found your thread.

My family will be at WDW form 9/17-9/26! Look forward to following your PTR

Hey there... is this John?

I was just looking through your PTR and I saw the post that you have one of those Year of a Million Dreams ads as your background on your computer... SO DO I! I have the one with Michael Phelps and Julianne Moore, let me see if I can find a smaller version of it...

Found it:

complements of livingorlando.com

Those Annie Leibovitz pictures are all so awesome!

 

[crocko]

Awesome! That is probably one of the best ones in my opinion.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

How are we getting there... our lay-over in Los Angeles is HOW LONG?

Let's turn back in time to a good year, 2007. In September 2007 Alaska Airlines decided they were going to be really cool and have direct non-stop flights from Portland to Boston and Orlando. The Orlando flight was perfect because all you had to do was board the place at 9:30PM Pacific and wake up at 5AM Eastern and you're there!!! We were even on the very first flight for this route! When we did this, we got off the plane walked onto ME (no lines that early) and there was another couple with us, first stop Pop Century. The other couple was going to AKL.

We checked in and we were in our room getting settled by 7AM, it was awesome!

Now in 2008, things were a little different. No more non-stop, we had to stop in ATL and our flight got in around 10:15AM. Still OK, but ME was much busier, the bus was full but we still had the first stop luckily. When we got there, checked-in then they gave us our room assignment. Our first year we were stuck far away in the 80s and this year they wanted to stick us far away in the 50s, fourth floor... you know that area that you can watch Wishes and Illuminations from too far. So, I asked them to move us and they did to the 70s second floor, right next to the elevators. Only we have to wait to get our room. Oh well.

We didn't get it until about 4:30PM.


It's March and it's about that time to book our flights...

Soooo... as you can imagine, I wanted a repeat of 2007 or the closest I can get to it. In searching for flights, I just wanted the earliest arrival possible. The price sort of didn't matter as long as it wasn't absurd so I kept looking... and looking... and looking, then out of nowhere comes a perfect set of flights.

Sept 17 PDX(Portland) 5:10PM - LAX 7:30PM
Sept 17 LAX 10:00PM - Sept 18 MCO 5:59AM

and on the way home...

Oct 2 MCO 5:15PM - SLC 8:05PM
Oct 2 SLC 9:05PM - PDX 10:00PM

I was OK with the 2hr30min lay over in LAX, we'd have to switch terminals and it's a good dinner time, so it's fine with me. Anyone know? Is there free WiFi at LAX?

Fast forward to now and our itinerary has changed. Our layover is now just over 3 hours long I'm still not complaining about it, it'll just be long... oh well, I can write about my experience at LAX... I can even take a picture of the food

But also, our Salt Lake City-Portland flight leaves later and gets into Portland at 10:30PM, sigh. It's a good thing I asked for October 3 off also or I'd be really really tired.

Good times huh?

I think Delta is going to change my flights around again, especially on the way home, I was moving our seats around and it looks like we're the only ones on the plane No, I KNOW they're going to be switching stuff around on us...

Next: Some Pictures from September 2008 Part 1

 

[disneygirlinnj]

First... I LOVE that photo of Michael Phelps!

And aren't flights a pain in the butt?! Hopefully they don't change your flights too much!

 

[manntra]

Sounds like you have a great trip planned! Great idea for your Mom too....staying at WL.
And it's coming up so soon!!!!!!

Tracy

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

OK, first of all... I HATE THE HEAT! I can handle it in Disney because it's Disney and I'd suffer through a lot but at home it just makes me angry.



It's 101 degrees at my house right now and it's not even 2PM, the hottest part of the day here if about 5:30PM so it should get to be about 105

Sorry for the whine but I had to vent a little.

 

[jordanyosh]

ahhh..PDX...I don't think I've been up there since they finished renovating PDX...I think the last time I was up there was 2000....man, too long!

I usually fly that red eye delta flight from lax...

Your resort changes...crazy, but cool.....nothing like checking out other resorts.

I gotta stop complaining about the 88 degee heat!

 

[jordanyosh]

the dreaded double post.