A Trip Report from The First Timers!! *NEW on 11/15*pg4 #58* Here we are!!!!

[disneyfan61]

Waiting for the next report!!

 

[grimley1968]

Cool, AAP! You have us on the edge of our seats. Keep the report coming!

Content! Content!

 

[aide4]

Loving your TR, can't wait for more!

 

[wenpop]

Can't wait to hear more!!!!
Wendy

 

[Bashful in TN]

Loving your report so far.

 

[AllAboutPluto]

I spend April and May checking out this place on the net called the DISboards. Maybe you’ve heard of it. There seems to be some debate over the pronunciation of this DIS part… is it DIZ or is it DISS. I say DIZ. Not that you care; I’m just sayin’.

Anyhoo, At this point, I’m already well aware of which resort I want to call my first WDW home. I picked POP at least two years before we even gave this any serious thought. I was fascinated with the Giant Big Wheel and the Gi-Normous Mickey Phone. But for some reason, I toy with the idea of switching to a Mod. I don’t remember exactly why we discussed it… was it the fridge in the room? I doubt it. Was it the fancy-schmantzy pool slide? Nah, The Vettehead doesn’t swim, so that wouldn’t have even come up. I really don’t remember why, but I remember that we actually entertained the idea for a good week before finally rejecting the idea. POP it was. Period.

I also remember the mad rush to learn all I could about the Dining Plan and the restaurants. I really only knew about CRT in the beginning. I also knew I wasn't going to shell out two precious Table Service credits to eat with Cindy, when there were other places we could see her for one TS credit. And I needed to know where those places were. I perused my Unofficial Guide. I perused the Birbaum Dining Guide. I perused the Dining Board. I pushed the Birbaum book in front of DH and asked him for feedback (you’d think I’d learn, huh?)(and FWIW, I didn’t get much in the way of feedback, and in the end, I changed all but one of his picks anyhow ), I drew up excel spreadsheets with possible schedules and I finally picked some restaurants and called in my ADRs. Then a couple of weeks later, I called and changed half of them. A couple of weeks after that, I called and changed half of what I had already changed. I think I finally made the last change sometime in June.

It’s right about this time… April and May… that I notice “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” on one of the Park Hours calendars. Party? Did Mickey say Party? Why yes, Mickey, I’d love to come! Oh. You want that I should pony up $35 for each of us people over 10 and $25 for the other one (That brings up a question… why are these tickets $35.67 or however much they are? Why aren’t they $35.00? Or if you need that pocket change so much, just round up to $36. It just seems strange to me). Hmmmm…What a generous invitation. I’m afraid we can’t make it, however. Seems we’ve already budgeted those funds somewhere else.

In the meantime, I’ve remembered that my cousin went to WDW with his family in Oct of ’04. I send off an email to his wife, asking for her tips. Let me also say that my cousin is a very well compensated nurse practitioner for a neurosurgeon. So his wife's reply went something like this…

We stayed at the Grand Floridian and we ate at Narcoosee’s and the Yachtsman’s Steakhouse and the Luau and CRT and…

Uh-huh. I think we’re going to have very different experiences.

But they also went to MNSSHP. On Halloween. And she hated it. It was too crowded and hard to find stuff and very disorganized. But the parade was "neat".

Well that certainly won’t work for DH. He’s not a crowd guy. It’s part of the reason we’re going in the off-season. And DS will think it “beneath him” to go to a kiddie party. So, what if just DD and I were to go? We won’t have to fight the crowds as much when we’re a party of two. We’re going early in the season, so hopefully it won’t be as crowded as going ON Halloween. And ditching the men-folk brings the extra price down significantly! And if my cousin's wife hated it, I've GOT to prove her wrong!

MNSSHP is scheduled for Friday, the 29th. Cool! Our last night there! What a way to end our Magical First Trip! Let’s do it! Yes, I know we’re leaving the next morning, but 8am isn’t all that early! We get up at 4:30 and 5 in our house! We can stay out late and be up at 8 with bright eyes and bushy tails! Number One, make it so!

And I bought the tickets.

So, we’ve got the resort down. We’ve got the restaurants pretty much squared away. We need a little tweak for Friday, now that two of us are going to MNSSHP, but that’s easily solved with a quick call to WDW-DINE. We’ve got tickets for MNSSHP. Maybe I should check out some of the minutiae…like how this Disney’s Magical Express works. That’s one of the BEST parts! They pick us up at the airport, bring our bags along and we get to smile and be carefree! And then when we’re all done, they take us BACK to the airport, because they know if they take us back to the airport, we keep smiling and stay carefree long enough to get home and go back to work. Then, our goal at work becomes this… make more money so we can do leave it at WDW, because when we leave all our money at WDW, we smile and we’re carefree. They’re like drug dealers in that sense.

I’m reading all the threads about DME. And as I read the FAQ thread, I see that for the trip home, DME picks you up about 3 hrs before your flight leaves.

Did you catch that?

Do you know where I’m going now?

Were you actually WAY ahead of me?

Uh-huh. 3 hrs. Three. With a capital T. And that rhymes with absolutely nothing at 5am.

So, if the bus comes at 5am, and I need to not have bed-head, I’m going to be up no later than 4am. Now, I know I said that we’re up early in my house, but we don’t WANT to get up early! We have jobs and kids and in order to get to our jobs and feed our kids, we have to get up at 4:30 and 5! It’s not an in-born thing with either of the parents in the household! And I’m proud to say, we’ve passed our late-to-bed-late-to-rise habits on to our lovely children. So getting them up at 4am is not going to be any sort of picnic either. And DD and I will be getting in late from MNSSHP the night before also!

What in the H-E-DOUBLEHOCKEYSTICKS was I THINKING when I listened to that man and booked an 8am flight on VACATION?!?!??!??!??????

My obsession over the summer (aside from a certain thread that was invaded by trolls posing as dwarves and then summarily *POOFED* into oblivion, along with my post count… you remember it.) became watching AirTran’s flights. The rates, the schedules, the emails. I didn’t want to leave at 8am. It was going to cost me $50 per person to change the flights! There went my cheap flights, but I didn’t care! I was going to find a way to switch! And if I could talk them out of the $50, that was even better.

There were essentially two other flights we could take that day. A non-stop that leaves MCO at 3ish and the last chance flight at 5ish. Either one sounded WAAAAY better than 8am! So I gave AirTran a jingle. But alas, they could not help me, as I had purchased my tickets through an agent. Agent Mickey, I call him. So I gave Agent Mickey a call. He put me on hold a while (he does that) and then he told me that I could indeed rebook my flight, but he couldn’t get me out of the $50 each. And if I rebook the flight home, I also have to rebook the flight out, and he couldn’t get me my fabulous fare anymore, as the “special” had expired. So if I really, really wanted to change our flights, it was gonna run me another $400. I tried it 3 different times. I tried it when the AirTran direct-purchase fares were even lower than what I had gotten. Since it was purchased through an agent, the agent could not get the wonderful internet-only fares for me. In fact, the more I called, the higher the price got! I called about two-weeks before leaving and had we switched, it would have been almost $500.

We never switched.

AirTran does have a policy that if you miss a flight, you can fly standby to the same destination for the rest of that day, with no penalty. We toyed with this. What IF we overslept? Is that 3 pm flight usually full? Would they have room for us?

Wait and see.

Next Installment: Is Your Mom on Crack? No, She's Just on Disney.

 

[fabumouse]

Is Your Mom on Crack? No, She's Just on Disney.

You haven't even got there and I'm hooked!!!

And as you know, I'm dying to hear about MNSSHP.



I hate to ask - but when can we expect more??. .. ..

tonight?

tomorrow?

soon?

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

I feel like a stalker ; I have been watching and waiting and watching and waiting for a new installment. Now that I have it; back to watching and waiting!

BTW, another great installment!

 

[mikayla73]

OK - I gotta pull up a chair for this one. It sounds like it's gonna be lots of fun and I have to know how the return trip home goes ...

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Chris, Chris, Chris. You did it again girl!

 

[blue_river]

Getting up at that ungodly hour is just crazy...I can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[Sthronds]

Yeah Chris! Great Trip Report. . . but. . . I want more! Don't leave us hanging! Is this like a tv show or something, one episode a week? Come on, just because you have a job and kids and have to find time for both, plus eating, sleeping, showering and other necessities, doesn't mean you can't get your TR done!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm just saying..........

 

[AllAboutPluto]

All summer, I’m a lunatic in t-ball mom’s clothing. I tell people that we’re going to The World, and it takes most people roughly one minute of my incessant jabbering or one simple question to my daughter (“Jillie, are you excited to go to Disney World??” “Ya.” Gee hun, don't overwhelm tham with your excitment. ) to figure out which person is most looking forward to this trip.

I practically attacked one of Matt's former teachers when I found out that she's SUCH a WDW fanatic that she pulled a camper from PoDunk to The World and stayed a MONTH at Fort Wilderness. It was T-minus-two-weeks and I saw her at a football game. I told her all my plans, where we were staying, all my ADRs, some preliminary touring ideas and I was thrilled to receive her compliments on my planning. "It sounds like you've pretty much got it under control!" she said. COOL!

Since Former Teacher is also a cheerleader mom, she likes to ride the game bus as a chaperone. She cornered Matt on the way home from the game.

Former Teacher (FT): Matt, I hear you're going to Disney World?
Matt: Ya.
FT: Are you getting excited?
Matt: Sure.
FT: I sort of got the impression that your mom is far more excited than the rest of you.
Matt: Pretty much.
FT: Good luck with that.

Whether or not she actually said that last part is debatable. Someone may have thrown that in to embellish his story.

In very early June, I bought the requisite spray-bottle-with-integrated-cheap-and-lame-fan at The Wal*Mart for a mere $5. Jack looked at me and asked for what I thought I needed that. Although his question probably was not as grammatically correct as that and even more likely, was laced with the sorts of words that machinists use when they’re frustrated. Most of the words have four-letters. Anyhow, I explained, very lovingly, that it was needed for our vacation. Well, couldn’t the purchase of something for vacation wait until, say, vacation? Well, no dear. By September, there won’t be a single spray-bottle-with-integrated-cheap-and-lame-fan to be found in our pathetic little Wal*Mart. And the spray-bottle-with-integrated-cheap-and-lame-fans that we’ll find at The World, will cost three to five times our combined annual salaries. So I am spending the $5 on this one while it is here and I have it in my hand.

I got it home and the clip that holds the battery compartment door closed was broken off.

Since the availability of any needed item at our pathetic little Wal*Mart varies without any real pattern (read: there might not be one there tomorrow), I trucked my fanny back out there to exchange my spray-bottle-with-integrated-cheap-and-lame-fan for one with a battery door that would, indeed, stay closed. I lucked out and didn’t even have to choose another color!

During the summer, I found out about a thing called the Baggallinni Messenger Bag. I bought one. I found out about the D-shaped clippy things that are handy for attaching stuff to other stuff so that it’s easier to carry way more stuff. I bought those. I found the $.89 ponchos at Tar-jay and wallowed in my glee so much that I bought SIX of those! And holy moly, did I turn into a clothes-horse courtesy of Disneyshopping.com! Mere weeks before our impending trip, I found my own little gem… those little D-shaped clippy things with little rubber rings attached (via nylon strap). The little rubber rings fit just under the rim of a beverage bottle. These should come in super-way-duper handy, because through the thorough and diligent “research” I’ve done on the DIS, I’ve learned that my nifty new Baggallinni’s bottle-holding-pouch is not large enough to accommodate the standard sized 20 ounce beverage bottles that I will exclusively encounter at The World.

I even broke down and bought something I’d ridiculed. I bought Crocs. Yikes.

The very week before our trip, I fell into the Dollar Spot at Tar-jay and scored my final deal for the trip. 8-color Princess pens on a string and 40 page Princess journal books. Each, one single dollar. No, it doesn’t have a little pocket on the opposite page for a picture of the adorable child and the character, but, I didn’t need that anyhow, because she can’t find the stupid book now! So I lost a one-dollar book of worthless autographs. How many of you have lost your $8 version?? Huh? HUH? Tell the truth……

Tueday of that week, I'd realized that I wouldn't be a TRUE DISser, until I faxed my room requests (demands???) to my resort. Non-smoking, 4th Fl, 50s section facing Epcot so we could see IllumiNations. I had no idea what IllumiNations had in store for me, but I knew I wanted to see it, and was planning on it the very first night, so seeing it from my room would be whipped cream! I was nice and tossed in some contingencies if my first request (demand) wasn't available... I'd settle for the 70s, still 4th fl, down toward the PopJets preferably, but anywhere on 4th fl would do if that wouldn't work. And I threw in a comment about being first-timers and about being terribly excited and hoping that I'd be lucky enough to catch the cast members doing The Hustle. You gotta butter'em up, right???

I scheduled my vacation from work to include the Friday before our trip and the Monday after our return. BEST MOVE EVER! While we were almost completely packed the weekend before, I still spent that Friday making sure I had it ALL!

Baggallinni? Check
Ponchos? Check
Variety of D-shaped clippy things? Check
Cheapie autograph books? Check
Legs shaved? Check
Toothpaste in checked bag? Check
Requisite spray-bottle-with-integrated-cheap-and-lame-fan? Check
Photo ID? Check
Camera and charger? Check
1GB SD card for camera? Check
512MB SD card for camera? Check, Check, Check
(yes, I took 3 512s and a 1G. So what? I’m sure someone somewhere has taken 3000 pictures during their very first trip to WDW!)
Unofficial Guide? Check
Entertainment for wiggly child for flight? Check
All weaponry removed from Nikes? Check

I also spent Friday making magnets for my door at POP. I had one sheet of printable magnetic stock left from a long ago project, so I Googled me up some (probably copyrighted by someone) pictures of Pluto and Tink. I also scanned an Alien Green Mickey Head Paint Chip and made my official DIS-Magnetic-Identification-Badge. And heck, while I was at it, I made 3 more for some pals I had made during my DIS-ventures.

And then I fought with my printer.

A couple of hours later, I finally had my 8.5x11” printed page of magnetic fun! They just needed to be cut out. Heck, I can do that on the plane. Right? Or can I?

And after 20 or so more minutes of investigation, yes, I could take one pair of less than 4” blade scissors in my carry-on. Whew! Apparently they just can’t be in your shoe.

Friday night, after one last romp with the weiners,

(what did you think I was talking about???) we loaded them up, along with all their doggie-gear and took them to Jack’s brother’s house where they’d spend their own week at the canine equivalent of Walt Disney World. Uncle Joe likes to spoil the dogs, so they were in for a week of fresh warm laps, new squeaky toys and tastier treats than those cheapie things that mom buys.

With tails wagging (theirs and mine, not so much DH and DD), we left the girls and went out for dinner at a Mexican place where I promptly got happy on a couple of very potent margaritas. I thought I’d have trouble sleeping the night before we left. Didn't really turn out to be a problem. I slept like a gal who’d spent her day packing and being excited and then went out and got tipsy on some healthy margaritas. And I woke up bright-eyed and bushy–tailed on Saturday, September 23rd ready for my 8:00am car to arrive!

Next up: Let’s GO already! Sheesh!!!

 

[fabumouse]

OMG!!

Your dogs are cute.

Oh.

We're you talking about something else?

Oh, yes.

You bought Crocs and you didn't tell me????

Er.

Still waiting for you to get to the Trip Report.




(yes, yes, loving your writing, can't wait for more, sounds like you had a great time planning)


LY/MI

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

Still lovin it Chris! I didn't know you had doxies! I have two too.......two as well.........two also? Sorry got lost in semantics there. I will have to post a pic of them in my TR to tip my hat at you. If my trip ever gets here. I think when we turned back the clocks this weekend, time itself slowed down.....

 

[Adi12982]

I LOVE your TR!!! Thanks for sharing, I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Chris you did it again! I've got questions about your magnets. Too cute. I'll ask you on the Cheeky Chicks thread.

 

[tiki23]

Look forward to reading more!

We're 1st timers and getting w-a-y too excited. (Ok, I'm w-a-y too excited, the rest of the family is just regular excited. )

 

[candeeapril]

So funny! Can't wait to hear the rest. What do you think about your crocs? I debated about getting them for this trip. Might get them for next year.