A Rolling Plan Gathers No Dust

[Redbudlover]

Part One "And The Plans They Keep A'Changing"

Hi, fellow Dissers,

Inspired by the mighty GlendaMax, UtahMama, Nebo, and my favorite ZZUB – whom I consider the best of the best, because the best writing should not only make you laugh and cry, but think, and aspire to the best of yourself. Thank you ZZub, and of course other great authors of famous and infamous trip reports.

I start this trip report with no small amount of trepidation because my cast is small – and doesn’t include even one adorable or amusing youngster. In fact it is just me this trip and my aunt for the first three days. The best TRs seem to involve either the very funny or the very moving accounts of families discovering the magic together, being liberally sprinkled with pixie dust throughout, overcoming major obstacles in the quest of dreams, rings, and experiencing many funny moments along the way. So I am hoping for a little help from large storms, unruly children and CMs with evil intent. Because a little old blonde lady and her older aunt, well they could use a little help in the magic department.

So who are we?

Redbudlover: that’s me - 59 – shhhh don’t tell anybody. I admit to grandmotherliness and cannot believe how much I totally love my DGD, but dye my hair, work out 3 times a week, and go to rock concerts and UT Horns basketball games. I’m newly single, a lover of flowers, family, golf and dogs, am a headhunter extraordinaire, specializing in doctors. (All decent recruiters think they are extraordinary – it is one of our more extraordinary traits) I decided 7 years ago I wanted to live in WDW and have been working at it ever since. I am addicted to the disboards….. “Hello, my name is Redbudlover and I …”

Aunt Little: that’s my late mother’s youngest sister. A Southern Georgia flower originally from Illinois. Tough as are all the women in my family. Went back to college in her fifties and got her degree – retired several years ago and is working part-time again at her choice – we women do that in my family. Her husband is at the end of his Alzheimer’s fight – she needs some R and R. Enjoys margaritas – another family trait.

So you may wonder, what the devil is some 59 year old short lady who pays way too much money for blonde hair that approximates the real and her 70-something, margarita-loving Aunt doing chasing magic in the land of mice and ducks anyway? Well if you are in the mood for a story then warm up that coffee, put your feet up and lean back. The story commences.

To begin with I, of the glowing 15 different shades of gold, blonde, and butterscotch, am known on these boards as Redbudlover. I discovered the Disboards two trips ago, and it was the start of a lovely addiction. It was truly magical to find others like myself unrepentant to be dissing at 3 am and refusing all offers of rehab or intervention…

Among my friends and family I am known as a Disney addict and they don’t even know about my time on the DB. Do they think I am crazy? Uh, yes…. Duh! I have the reputation of being a tough businesswoman. A woman who raised her kids by herself, getting both sons through college and on to unusual but successful lives. A woman who always followed her own drummer, who carved out a number of separate successful careers, but who was “hip” ( my sons’ word) enough to buy her kids tickets to the Stones and dance at their concerts with them when they were teenagers and attend music festivals in her late 50s with them. Someone who traveled internationally by herself and trained three days a week with a personal trainer so her bad back wouldn’t put her down again. Want to see my muscles? So I think they were yes, a little surprised by my falling in love with all things Disney.

What they began to understand though is that I truly believe in magic – and I believe dreams can come true. It is what led me and kept me alive during all the hard times of being a single mom. It is what gave me the belief that I could imagine a new career when I didn’t have enough money to take care of my kids and create that career out of nothing. It is what kept me going when the kids were little and sick and I was tired and discouraged. And it was what I taught them every day as they were growing up. “If you visualize something and believe in it completely – have true faith you will receive that for which you ask, it will come true.”

I sorta thought of it at the time as a Kaballah belief because I was pretty alternative – I was of the age of hippies, after all. But now I know it was Walt all the way… All those Sunday evenings when my parents played cards with my relatives and left us kids parked in front of the TV watching “When you wish upon a star…”.

The first time I walked into WDW I knew I had come home. It was a place of magic and dreams. It was a place where the real world went away and there were no worries, no bills, no clamoring clients. There were instead dancing fountains, and talking trash cans, Disney characters, and beautiful landscapes and fireworks like I had never seen before. There were Dole Whips and margaritas in Mexico and safaris through the jungle. I felt like a wide-eyed little girl who believed in Peter Pan and was waiting for Tinkerbell to arrive. Waiting for her to sprinkle pixie dust liberally throughout the world and help me to fly.

So for me WDW is a place of dreams and rejuvenation. It is where I go when I need to retreat from the real world and play for a while again. Where I go for whirly rides and death defying action interrupted by parades and fireworks and Segway tours and great food. I get as much fun out of the planning and scheming and budgeting and getting on the disboards as I get out of the trip itself – well almost….

So again here is the cast: Aunt Little who is doesn’t like rides, has a ticket for the Segway tour with me, has never been to WDW, a 70 something conservative who is throwing herself in with me whom she knows to be a risk-taking liberal. Me, Redbudlover, one slightly over the hill but still- playing 59 year old blonde – slightly overweight, but that is because I live in Texas. It is very very hard to not be overweight in the land of enchiladas and margaritas! As I believe I mentioned, I work out three times a week and play golf so you know those enchiladas must be really good. My plan was to travel solo this trip, something I have wanted to do for a long time. You will read soon why that changed.

When I started thinking about this trip, I didn’t know for sure whether I would actually go. My ex and I broke up last February – and my life with him was a dream that didn’t make it. We didn’t give it up easily and we have managed to remain friends, but a lot of my happiest memories are of being in WDW with him. So I just wasn’t sure about this. I was thinking maybe Thailand or Tuscany!!!

But one day a few months ago I “accidentally” got on the WDW site – and decided to look around just for the heck of it…. Toooo toooo tootle. Well my gosh would you look at that? It turns out that WDW is still open! My gosh! Do you believe it? Well I wonder if the BC is still there? I always wanted to go to the BC…. Oh my gosh! Lookee there! It turns out the BC is still there! Well, hmmmm. I wonder what it costs nowadays for a short little weekend? Well, gosh it isn’t very much money at all…

One thing my kids have learned to be wary of is when I start going into my “oh my gosh mode”. It means there is something going on I am not talking about just yet.

So well. Oh my gosh, as long as I am looking at costs and having all this fun playing on the online reservation site with all the great Disney music and the lovely little tours of all the resorts I might as well look at what it would cost to add just one teensy, little extra day – or so. Well oh my gosh, it just doesn’t cost all that much more. Well, maybe a little bit more, but not that much. Well, Oh my gosh, as long as I am looking around I might as well be practical! If I were going to spend all that money getting there and paying for a MYW park hopper, then it doesn’t make sense not to stay a little longer! Hmmmm how much longer? Well lookee here on this disboard, someone talking about the morning safaris at AKL. Well my gosh I had never heard about that before. And the AKL is so beautiful! Not to mention that I absolutely love Bomas more than almost any restaurant there – with a few exceptions. But I am going to be staying at the BC aren’t I? It occurs to me if I stayed just a teensy bit longer I could add a day to stay at the AKL concierge – just for one teensy little day – and go on the safari! Whoo Hoo!

You can see where this is going can’t you? If you weren’t a dyed in the wool disser in a lime green hat with little stolen LGMHs dangling from purses and strollers you might buy it, but I can tell, this isn’t really making you hold your breathe with anticipation, is it?

But I, of course, am great at suspending disbelief and so I am thinking next, “Where would I like to eat if I were there? (notice the lack of reality in that sentence?) I definitely would have to go to Narcoosees to watch Wishes, no question about that. And I love the Brown Derby! It makes a really great package on the dining plan to see Fantasmic. My eyes begin to glaze – Fantasmic! Oh, I really do love Fantasmic. And don’t forget the California Grill to see Tinkerbell fly down from the castle! And I have heard that the Blue Zoo is wonderful and I am after all going to be close by at the BC! Going to be at the BC? When exactly did I make that decision? Hmmmm – somewhere back a couple of paragraphs ago it seems… Oh my gosh, if I have decided to go then it is definitely too late to change my mind now!

So how many days are we talking about? One thing I decide to keep in mind – like I could forget – is that on our last trip we hardly got any Epcot time at all. We went during the Food and Wine Festival and spent a lot of time at the Food for the Senses and at MNSSHP and on a backstage tour. Suddenly it was the end of the trip and Epcot had been sadly shortchanged. So I need at least two days in Epcot, plus some BC resort time. Then there is the Segway tour and all those restaurants to get to. Don’t forget the MVMCP! Oh, yes, somewhere in there I started thinking about seeing the world all dressed up for Christmas, my very favorite time of the year! So I had the Christmas processional to watch and the Osborne Lights – and somebody on the Disboards – I think it was Terk1, was talking about how beautiful the Winter Lights are! And of course I would need some shopping time at DTD with all the decorations up. Don’t forget about Illuminations, and boat rides and someone said they were going to be filming the Christmas parade Dec 1 – and oh yes, AKL.

I also wanted to do this trip differently than I usually do. I wanted to relax and take my time and not rush all over. I wanted to sit with a book in the Epcot gardens and do a little people watching and reading. Plus the above mentioned activities…. So I am thinking I need at least four days!!! (You can see how that would work, can’t you? Commando style relaxing? That is a recruiter for you) Before I can change my mind I pull out my little debit card – I don’t charge anything anymore as I totally cannot be trusted with “unlimited” funds – and book the BC pool view for November 27 through Dec. 1.

BC pool view? Am I crazy? Do you know how much money that is? What about the irrigation system I planned to put in? What about the new carpeting? Oh, the plants can make it another year without water…. They are waterwise plants, after all…. And I think I can squeeze in the carpeting and a little ole 4 day trip to WDW. It is practically just a weekend after all!

What was I thinking??? Good grief. This is not going to work at all. Now we are not talking about the cost of a deluxe resort not working here. We are talking about four days not working. If I were to take two hours and 37 minutes to relax at the resort I might miss riding on Soarin as many times as I want. For another thing I would really short change myself if I don’t spend at least one night at AKL! So I call up and attempt to change my MYW package with park hoppers, dining and ME to add a front day at AKL. Won’t work. My tickets don’t start until the 27th – can’t go a day earlier and put AKL on the front end. I would have to pay for a full extra ticket. I could cancel the reservation and start over but then I risk not getting the BC as the resorts are filling up. I ask if I could change the last day at BC to AKL and the CM says sure – why didn’t she suggest that to me 23 minutes ago? So I change the last day at BC to AKL concierge! Whoo Hoo! (I’ll bet you didn’t see me sneak in that concierge level day, did you? I am sure my little ole debit card didn’t hardly see it at all)

So I am all set! Three nites at BC and one nite at AKL. Whoo Hoo. Concierge. Lots of time now to relax and have fun! I pull out a thick stack of paper and begin to plan – and I get back on the boards….

Oh, my gosh. It begins to be apparent that I either am not going to be able to do all the stuff I want to do and also relax unless I add another month or two to the trip! No, just kidding – two or three weeks would do it. Back to the stacks of paper all neatly headlined with the dates of the trip and days of the week and the days of early and late EMH and the days of Spectromagic and times of park openings and closings and blocks set out for “resort time” and so on. I cancel the swimming with the dolphins. Just can’t make it work what with the garden tour and the segway tour and the safari and stuff….

I know I can make this work. I am a working lady and when I don’t work I don’t make money and when I don’t make money I get very stressed out and I have granddaughterly stuff to buy. Lots of granddaughterly stuff…. I cannot afford to go longer than four nites. I can make this work I know I can. I will just cut out the relaxing part and run all the way and YES! I can do this! I have been working out with a trainer three days a week for months now. I can relax while I am waiting in lines. I will just carry my book with me…

Then I read on the boards that although the segway tour is offered every day, that the AKL safari is only offered on M, W, and Friday. My God, my reservation for AKL is a Thursday! And at this time I have NOT read that VIKI and her partner coerced the wonderful AKL concierge CMs to provide them with a private Safari on a TUESDAY! That is a good thing because otherwise I would not have called to add one teensy little extra day at the AKL and thus would have been stuck with this really short, really crazed commando trip like I always am.

OK so I am good. I now have the ideal relaxed WDW trip in hand. I am booked for 3 nites at the BC and 2 nites at the AKL. I begin to think about airfare. I click on Sidestep – a wonderful travel site I use all the time for personal and business travel for me and my clients that I heard about here on these boards from the incredible dissers.

What !!! You have to be kidding. People are getting incredible deals every day on the boards for flights into MCO. NO ONE is paying more than $150 roundtrip to get there. What is this $376 roundtrip business I am seeing on Sidestep???? They have to be kidding.

Plus they want me to travel at 6 a.m. to get to WDW before noon and I can practically walk that fast. Not to mention that if I have to be at the airport two hours early that means I have to be there at 4 am. Which means I have to leave the house no later than 3:15 am. Don’t they know I am an old lady who needs her sleep if I am going to commando style WDW? I try other sites. Nothing. I am looking at spending close to $400 to be completely miserable, because if I have to leave at 3:15 there is no way I will get any sleep. I have to shower! I have to put on lip gloss and lots of makeup to go with the blonde/ butterscotch hair so as to appear at the very oldest 57 years of age instead of 59.

I get back on the boards. It seems no one is flying out of Austin at this point of time for less than $350. I could go to Dallas to catch a flight or to Houston. Then I could drive all night and hop on a 7 am. flight and save $100 on airfare and spend $50 on gas and $50 on parking. Or drive to Dallas during the day and spend $70 on a hotel that night and $50 on gas, plus $50 for parking. Or I can blow a day at the parks and arrive in the late afternoon at a $300 a day resort when I don’t have enough time as it is.

You can see this coming can’t you? You know where this is going? Oh my gosh yes, I definitely need another day…. So I check out POP, thinking I will spend my first day there. I have heard good things about it and it is wayyyy cheaper than BC. Hmmm $170. What??? $170 for a value resort with dining and a one day ticket? I may as well go to POR then, one of my favorite resorts. $270? Good grief. OK, OK, let’s look offsite. I could get in early, go to my lovely offsite hotel and spend the day at DTD and eat at Fulton’s and go to bed early and be at BC bright and early – I wouldn’t even unpack. Just throw a change of clothes into my carry-on. I learn I can stay at the Radisson for just $100 and that includes taxes. I book that too. Still don’t have airfare, but I figure I have all my options covered. So now I am staying the 26th through Dec 2 at three different resorts. I have that relaxed thing down!

The latest plan lasts about one week. I plan it all out, make ADRs, book my tours, buy my MVMCP ticket. I look at it again and realize that 3 hotels in 6 nites is ridiculous. For that many hotels I need 3 weeks. LOL! I diddle. I dawdle. I like my plans. I don’t like that 3 hotel business. I hem. I haw. I read Buzz’s stuff about Deluxe lite CSR. I think about spending a fortune on two nites at AKL CONCIERGE, no less. What was I thinking? Good grief. I am single and a grandmother with two golden retrievers and a cat to support, not to mention chlorine pucks for my pool and electricity for my hot tub – which I NEED for my elderly aching joints after working out like a mad lady for 3 days a week so I can go to WDW… And there is wine to buy and and and. I wonder how many changes I can make without WDW getting it so confused all the plans don't get lost in the ethernet.

Next up “The Plans They Keep A’Changin”

 

[OhMari]

LOL,
I can't wait to hear how things changed. I always laughed at people that kept changing ADR's and rooms, and now I can add myself to that list.

 

[PrincessV]

Redbudlover, may I say that you are my HERO?!! I'm still in the early years of single parenting and you've just described everything I strive to be. And you're a fabulous writer to boot!

Your ever-changing plans have me laughing up a lung! I made no less than 8 changes to my Dec. plan, not even counting ADR's, which may or may not still be in transition. To be 100% honest, I'm even contemplating adding just one more night....

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Redbudlover]

Mari, You LAUGHED? at people who change their plans? Like a four year old in a candy store - that is what I am like on a Disney planning adventure. This! and That! And some more of those too? And what are those great lime green things? I want some of those too!!! Is this unusual? Is this - gasp - different? Is this something only reserved for the very old or the very young? Just kidding. My ex thinks I am crazy - well he thought that while he was still my DH, too. LOL!

Princess V. Your hero? Oh heavens no! My kids would definitely tell you someone like me should not in any universe be put in that position. There were the birthdays - the kids' birthdays are one day apart - the year I was in Germany.... There was the fact I had so much going on and so much to do that I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around putting my whole world in some man's lap... You know how tough it is - and you know the benefits of single parenting as well - I can appreciate someone doing it well but I would not wish it on someone.... Good luck to you! And thanks for the compliments about my writing! You are darned good yourself! I love the idea of WDW as therapy. I think of it as refuge , but therapy works, too! You little guy is adorable! I look forword to hearing about your changes!

 

[Avivasmom]

What a start cannot wait to hear how your trip went.

We will be at POFQ from Nov 27 to Dec 1. We stayed at CSR in May and loved it.

Maybe we will see each other there!

 

[Redbudlover]

Hi, Avivasmom!

You are going to one of my favorite places! Are you as excited as I am? I hope I see you there. I wish I was going to be there for a meet. It would be neat to meet fellow dissers.

 

[Lauralee131]

Ok Redbudlover...that's it...you hooked me!! I need more!! More Trip Report and of course, More Popcorn!!


Glad to know I'm not the only one whose plans continue to....shall we say, evolve?? I'm looking forward to more!!

 

[Avivasmom]

We love going and helps we are 3 hours and 15 minutes south of there. Between now and January have 3 upcoming trips. My DH shakes his head at my obsession but always has a great time when we go and as long as I feed him well he is happy. So booked BOMA again so he is very happy!

Let me know what days you will be where and maybe can meet up!!

Something I made (digital scrapbooking):

A friend made the outfit for Aviva on the back of the hshirt has mickey ears on a heart.