**A Disney Salute! June 2011 Military Discount/Anniversary PTR!** Update 6/23 Pg 12

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Congrats on AKL! I was hoping to get that for in June CL but there aren't many CL rooms there so I knew they would be gone with all the recent discounts and I was right! You'll still enjoy it I"m sure. We had a Savanna view but we asked if there were any upgrades when we checked in and for an extra $100 total for our 4 nights, we paid the $100 and upgraded so it seemed that they were looking to get rid of room and at $25 extra we jumped on it...IT WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN THAT CHEAP ONLINE!!

So I can't say how a standard room/pool view would be over savanna but there are plenty of seating and outdoor areas to watch the animals and maybe you will get lucky and be upgraded!!!

Good luck on the secret..trust me, my Poly one is killing me!!! I know my dad could careless but I know it's probably killing my mom just as much to not know. Since we're driving from Vero, we'll just keep driving till we pull in and then I'll pull the "WE'RE JUST CHECKING IT OUT BECAUSE OUR ROOM ISN'T READY AT OUR RESORT"..the same line they gave my brother and I back in 2000 when we were supposed to be at POFQ and ended up at WL!!

I guess you could say about checking out the resort or say you have an ADR before you "check-in" at "POR" and then when you pull up to security you can say SURPRISE WE'RE STAYING HERE INSTEAD!!!!!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[21hearts]

The first word that came to my mind is SWEET! I have no advice on how to keep the trip a secret because I am horrible at keeping them!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Woohooo!!! I think you and John are going to love AKL! It's so beautiful and there's nothing like being so close to all of the amazing animals. I think you two absolutely deserve that upgrade. And I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get some pixie dust and get upgraded to a Savanna View room! I hear it's the most common upgrade at Disney. Either way though, it's going to be a wonderful trip!

 

[stephielela]

Yay for an awesome upgrade!! I really want to stay at AKL when we go for our 2013 extravaganza so I can't wait to hear about your experience! I am jealous you are doing WWoHP again! It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in the crowds. Congrats to John for his Green Beret status too!

 

[therussells08]

I have no idea on keeping it a secret, but that's still so awesome!

I've done pretty well so far! We'll see if I can last 18 more days!

That is awesome!!! And there is no way I could keep that a secret!!! Good luck!!!

I can't wait until school ends so we can talk like that more often!

Thanks girl! I'm not sure if I will be able to keep it either!

I can't wait either! Tomorrow is our last day of testing and then I have a few work days and I am DONE!

What a wonderful surprise gift to your DH!!! Animal Kingdom Lodge looks like such a gorgeous resort, and it looks like a wonderful place to celebrate an anniversary. Good luck keeping it a secret, though, I wouldn't have lasted half a day!

Thanks! I am really excited about surprising him. I just hope I can keep myself from spilling the beans!

What a wonderful surprise!! John will be so excited. I know I would be.

I am so excited to see his face when he finds out! He's going to flip!

I know I already told you last night, but that is amazing!!! What a great surprise for John, you guys are going to have such a fantastic trip! I'm still a little sad about not staying in AKL, it is SO beautiful!

I don't know how you could keep that secret though...I would probably just spill as soon as I booked it! It would be fun if you could keep it all the way until you drive up to the resort...just give him the directions to AKL instead of POR and see how long it takes him to catch on!

I am SO excited about surprising him and about our first ever experience in a deluxe resort!

I love that idea! I wanted to try something like that but he knows his way around Disney so well I don't think he'd fall for it. I am thinking about telling him we have dining reservations there or something...

 

[therussells08]

This IS huge!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!! I'm so happy for you guys, what a wonderful surprise it'll be for John!!! You two really know how to treat each other well!!!

I probably would tie with you in the competition for "world's worst secret keeper" so I won't be making any suggestions, but I wish you all the luck!!!

Thank you! I am so excited to surprise him!

I have done alright with the secret so far, but I don't know how much longer I can last!

on upgrading and changing to AKL!! I love the list of reasons but don't think you need to justify your decision. It is your anniversary and holiday so why shouldn't you upgrade?!

Good luck with keeping the secret - unfortunately I am rubbish with them so can not be of help. I hope you guys get some pixie dust and get upgraded to a Savannah view - I will keep my fingers crossed for you

Thank you! You're right, that is good enough reason right there!

I would LOVE to get upgraded to a Savannah room! I am not going to count on it happening but I am going to keep my fingers crossed...

CONGRATS ON AKL!!!!!!!!

We stayed there last July and absolutely LOVED it.

It was gorgeous, so relaxing, and just an amazing escape from reality. You guys will love it! What a fantastic surprise!

We didn't stay in a SV room either. We stayed in a pool view room, because the extra $$$ to be in a SV just didn't interest us. You can see the animals just outside the lobby, and the SV room would just remind us of the intense heat, also.

The pool view room suited us PERFECTLY. We could always go out on the balcony to check out how crowded the pool was, and it just made the whole resort seem more tropical, what with all the vegetation as well, which we loved.

I am so excited for you! It's getting so close now!

Thank you! Hearing your wonderful review of AKL only makes me that much more excited!

I am totally fine with a SV room. I am kind of hoping we will get one of these free upgrades I hear about, but if we don't it's not big deal. Just staying there is enough!

I can't believe it's only 18 days away now!

Congrats on AKL! I was hoping to get that for in June CL but there aren't many CL rooms there so I knew they would be gone with all the recent discounts and I was right! You'll still enjoy it I"m sure. We had a Savanna view but we asked if there were any upgrades when we checked in and for an extra $100 total for our 4 nights, we paid the $100 and upgraded so it seemed that they were looking to get rid of room and at $25 extra we jumped on it...IT WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN THAT CHEAP ONLINE!!

So I can't say how a standard room/pool view would be over savanna but there are plenty of seating and outdoor areas to watch the animals and maybe you will get lucky and be upgraded!!!

Good luck on the secret..trust me, my Poly one is killing me!!! I know my dad could careless but I know it's probably killing my mom just as much to not know. Since we're driving from Vero, we'll just keep driving till we pull in and then I'll pull the "WE'RE JUST CHECKING IT OUT BECAUSE OUR ROOM ISN'T READY AT OUR RESORT"..the same line they gave my brother and I back in 2000 when we were supposed to be at POFQ and ended up at WL!!

I guess you could say about checking out the resort or say you have an ADR before you "check-in" at "POR" and then when you pull up to security you can say SURPRISE WE'RE STAYING HERE INSTEAD!!!!!

GOOD LUCK!

Hmmm...I might have to try my luck and ask about an upgrade when we get there. It can't hurt, right?

That's a good line about your room not being ready! I might have to use that!

I have been thinking about the ADR idea too...hmmm...I think as soon as we get there he's going to know something's up though because I will be so excited!

The first word that came to my mind is SWEET! I have no advice on how to keep the trip a secret because I am horrible at keeping them!

Thank you! I am so excited! I am hoping I will be able to keep it a secret though!

Woohooo!!! I think you and John are going to love AKL! It's so beautiful and there's nothing like being so close to all of the amazing animals. I think you two absolutely deserve that upgrade. And I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get some pixie dust and get upgraded to a Savanna View room! I hear it's the most common upgrade at Disney. Either way though, it's going to be a wonderful trip!

Thank you so much! I can't wait to stay there, especially after reading your thoughts on the resort! I would LOVE to get an upgrade! I am not going to be disappointed if I don't, but that would be amazing!

Yay for an awesome upgrade!! I really want to stay at AKL when we go for our 2013 extravaganza so I can't wait to hear about your experience! I am jealous you are doing WWoHP again! It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in the crowds. Congrats to John for his Green Beret status too!

This is our first ever deluxe resort so I am SO excited! I hope you get to stay there in 2013! Thank you for your congratulations! I will pass it on to John. I am so proud of him!

 

[therussells08]

Hi everyone! I hope that y’all are doing great. I know I am! Tomorrow is our last day of testing and then students are out for the year. I only have a few more days and then I will be out too! Also, John found out yesterday that he is going to be on leave from June 1-30! This is so exciting because we will have our vacation and our anniversary (June 28) together, and we are using the rest of the month of June to look for our first home! Needless to say we have a lot of exciting stuff going on!

Anyway, back to our rapidly approaching vacation! I can’t believe it is so close! The last daily plan I posted was June 11, our arrival day at Disney. Now as you all know those plans have changed a little since I changed our resort to AKL, but we still have the same basic itinerary for that day. Therefore, I am going to go ahead and post June 12, 2011, which is our first full day at Disney World!

We will wake up bright and early and head to the park that holds a very special place in both of our hearts: Disney’s Hollywood Studios! If you read my PTR from my last trip you will know that this was the first park John and I ever visited and we have been a little bit attached to it ever since.

Once we get to DHS it will be a mad dash to get the coveted Toy Story Mania Fast Passes!

After we get those we will head back over to ride two of our favorites:

Tower of Terror and…

Rock’n Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith!

John absolutely loves Tower of Terror and Rock’n Roller Coaster is my favorite ride of all time! These are the two big thrill rides that are must dos anytime we go to DHS!

After we satisfy our inner adrenaline junkies we will go to John’s number one must do of the entire vacation!

The newly renovated Star Tours 3D! John is a Star Wars fanatic and he was so excited about the upgrade to this classic. While we are in that area we will also check out Star Wars weekends. We got really lucky because June 12 is the LAST day for Star Wars weekends! I didn’t plan it that way but it worked out perfectly because John is going to love it. He saw it once when we went in 2009 and he’s been talking about seeing it again ever since!

After we finish all of this is will probably be time for our lunch reservations. That means it will be time to go to my favorite Disney restaurant!

Sci Fi Dine-In Theater! We will enjoy a nice leisurely lunch here while we watch old scary movie reels! I will probably order my favorite, the beef and blue salad!

After our lunch it will hopefully be time to use our TSM Fast Passes! Then we will wander around DHS a little longer before heading to our next park of the day- The Magic Kingdom!

I am so excited to be going to Magic Kingdom for the evening of our first night! While DHS holds a special place in my heart MK is still the perfect iconic Disney park! I am starting to realize that a first day at Disney is not complete without a trip to MK!

When we get there the first thing we will do is head to the biggie that we missed on our last trip!

It was way too cold to ride it in December, so we are SO ready to ride it this trip! I love this ride so much! I think this ride has the best drop in all of Disney World, hands down!

After we finish getting our splash on (cheesy, sorry) we will head over to our other favorite mountain!

This is John’s other favorite ride! I don’t blame him, I love it too! I hope we get to ride this one several times!

After we finish with the thrill rides we will head over to my other BIG must do for MK: The Haunted Mansion! This is one of my favorites and I was so excited when I saw the updates they made to the queue online. I can’t wait to see them in person!

After we finish checking out the changes to the Haunted Mansion we will take our time wandering through the rest of MK. Of course, we will ride some of our other favorites like Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Jungle Cruise!

At some point we will eat dinner. I am thinking it will probably be here:

This is one of those new CS places I can’t wait to try out!

After dinner we will spend the rest of our evening riding all of our favorites as many times as we can. Of course we will stop to watch the beautiful Wishes!

The really cool thing is MK has Extra Magic Hours on the 12th until 2am, so we can stay there as long as we want! I am definitely planning on staying there until I’ve done it all…twice! Then we will head back to our GORGEOUS resort and get a great night's sleep!

Up Next: What are we planning for our second full day at Disney? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[Cat0727]

Your first day plans look awesome That would be the perfect first day for me We love starting out our trips with DHS. If we had park hoppers, we'd spend the night at MK, too!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Your plans sound perfect for your first full Disney day! I think visiting both the MK and a park that is so special to you both is a great way to start your trip.

And yay for John's leave working out so well! I'm so glad you'll be able to be together on your anniversary! Congrats on the house hunt, too. That is so exciting!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay, the first day plans look great! I'm going to be doing my first rope drop at DHS on my October trip, so I'm guessing our day will be pretty much the same...TSM Fast passes, then ToT and RnRC!

I never start my vacation with the Magic Kingdom, it's always Epcot, but this year, it IS going to be MK, which will be strange! But it will be nice to walk down MK and see the castle and know my vacation is just beginning, so it should be the same for you!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Good first day!!! I love Sci Fi but like their lunch menu better! You can't go wrong with Casey's!!!!

 

[amazingact21]

Love the day's plans! DHS to MK (with evening EMH there) will be so much fun! Start off the day with thrills and end with fireworks.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on school holidays almost being here!!

Great first day plans! Good luck with the TSMM dash and I can't wait to try the updated star tours 3D attraction. How cool that SWW will still be taking place when you get to DHS!

MK also sounds like a great way to wrap up your first full day at Disney World!

 

[Disneyfreak616]

OMG!!!! ONLY 2 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS!?!?!?!

Your plans for your first day sound GREAT!

I love Casey's and Splash and HM are two of my fave rides! What a great day!

 

[dancin_princess]

Oh my gosh, you cracked your elbow?? Glad you didn't need a cast, are you alright now?

Yay for a resort upgrade to a DELUXE!!! and you have to try try try to keep it a secret!

Do you want to surprise him there? Or drop hints? I'm trying to come up with something - but I'm not that good at it but I will try. How bout saying you wanted to go grab some Zebra domes (and have a "meetup" with me again- wish we could meetup again for real ) before checking in. I think that plan may work.

oooh! You'll be at TSM the day my dad is working and he usually works mornings. (He's short & bald and his name is Ed, he loves when DIS friends say hi.)

 

[therussells08]

Your first day plans look awesome That would be the perfect first day for me We love starting out our trips with DHS. If we had park hoppers, we'd spend the night at MK, too!

Thanks! I'm really excited about the military tickets because park hoppers is included!

Your plans sound perfect for your first full Disney day! I think visiting both the MK and a park that is so special to you both is a great way to start your trip.

And yay for John's leave working out so well! I'm so glad you'll be able to be together on your anniversary! Congrats on the house hunt, too. That is so exciting!

Thanks!

I'm so relieved that his leave worked out for us! I was really worried! We are going to look at houses tomorrow and I can't wait!

Yay, the first day plans look great! I'm going to be doing my first rope drop at DHS on my October trip, so I'm guessing our day will be pretty much the same...TSM Fast passes, then ToT and RnRC!

I never start my vacation with the Magic Kingdom, it's always Epcot, but this year, it IS going to be MK, which will be strange! But it will be nice to walk down MK and see the castle and know my vacation is just beginning, so it should be the same for you!

Thanks! Yeah, TSM FP, ToT, RnRC is a must. Although, I'm a little nervous now that the line for Star Tours will be ridiculous. Maybe we should get FPs for it too? Do they even have FPs for it?

When we started our vacation with MK is December it was really nice! We usually do DHS first, but like you said, seeing that castle first thing is amazing!

Good first day!!! I love Sci Fi but like their lunch menu better! You can't go wrong with Casey's!!!!

I like their lunch better too! I am excited to try Casey's!

Love the day's plans! DHS to MK (with evening EMH there) will be so much fun! Start off the day with thrills and end with fireworks.

Thanks! I am so excited about that day!

Yay on school holidays almost being here!!

Great first day plans! Good luck with the TSMM dash and I can't wait to try the updated star tours 3D attraction. How cool that SWW will still be taking place when you get to DHS!

MK also sounds like a great way to wrap up your first full day at Disney World!

YES! Summer vacation couldn't be here soon enough! Our students' last day was Wednesday but I have to work until Tuesday. Then I'm off!

I can't wait to see Wishes on our first day in the parks! It will be so cool!

OMG!!!! ONLY 2 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS!?!?!?!

Your plans for your first day sound GREAT!

I love Casey's and Splash and HM are two of my fave rides! What a great day!

I can't believe it's so close!

Thanks!

Splash and HM are two of my favorites too! I can't wait to ride them both.

Oh my gosh, you cracked your elbow?? Glad you didn't need a cast, are you alright now?

Yay for a resort upgrade to a DELUXE!!! and you have to try try try to keep it a secret!

Do you want to surprise him there? Or drop hints? I'm trying to come up with something - but I'm not that good at it but I will try. How bout saying you wanted to go grab some Zebra domes (and have a "meetup" with me again- wish we could meetup again for real ) before checking in. I think that plan may work.

oooh! You'll be at TSM the day my dad is working and he usually works mornings. (He's short & bald and his name is Ed, he loves when DIS friends say hi.)

Thank you! Yeah, I am feeling much better now. It still aches but it's not a constant pain and I can use my arm again!

I'm trying really hard to keep it a secret! So far, so good!

I really want to surprise him there. I like your ideas! I might have to do that! I wish we were really meeting up again too! Thanks for your advice!

Yay! I hope I see your dad! If I do I will definitely say hi to him!

 

[therussells08]

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I am getting ready to leave for my next-to-last workday, but I wanted to post a quick update before I head out. As I'm sure you can deduce from the title, I've made MORE changes to our trip! I'm telling you, I am the world's worst about this!

Well, here's what I decided. I added an extra night to our reservation at the beginning, so now we are checking in on the 10th instead of the 11th! John and I discussed things last night and he has pretty much decided he doesn't want to do the KSC. Also, we looked at the map and realized that Charleston is two hours out of our way to Disney. I guess I forgot that on our first trip! On that trip is was okay because we ended up spending the night in Charleston, but we both agreed it's really not worth it to drive two extra hours just to eat lunch and do a little shopping.

So, now we are going to leave bright and early on the 9th, drive straight through to Orlando (hopefully getting there around 2pm) and go to the Titanic museum and the outlets in the evening. Then the next morning we will go to the WWoHP and then we will check in to Disney in the afternoon!

This changes our plans on the 11th as well. John thinks we are going to be spending the day at the POR pool and the evening at DTD, but what he doesn't know is we we really be spending the morning exploring AKL and swimming in it's HUGE pool! I'm so excited!

Anyway, that's my newest change! I'm going to try really hard not to change anymore, but I can't make any promises! I'm so excited though, because this means I will now be in Disney World for seven full nights! It also means two weeks from today I will be checking in! Yippeee! Now, here's the question: should I make a new ticker so close to my trip?

Up Next: Back to our daily plans!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

YAY! You guys are going to have so much fun

 

[TanzUnited99]

on adding an extra night to your plans - how exciting!!

Also lol at DH thinking he will be relaxing at POR instead of AKL - can't wait to see his face when he finally realises where you will be staying!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay for another day at Disney!!!

*Sigh* Between you and my sister (who just got back from Disney and stayed at AKL and loved it!), I'm really starting to get sad about not staying there anymore! I'm actually considering a split stay...the first few days at WL, and the last few days at AKL but I'm not sure yet. I'd like to rent DVC points if I do that, so I'll have to find out if they even have studios available.