A Vacation of Firsts...

[sushibite]

My first first ever PTR!

Very exciting. I know.

So, somethings which are pertinent to the story.

First, I am an Infantryman in the Army. I am currently deployed. Despite the fact that I am an Infantryman, my current job is an intelligence analyst. Long story not being told here, but this is actually pertinent.

Second, my wife is a teacher.

Third, I have been to WDW at least once a year since I was 4, except for the year during my first deployment. Again, this is pertinent so you will know why I do some of the things I do.

Fourth, we are a family of foodies. We love to eat good food. We will try a lot, just to experience it. We usually try to do a new restaurant every time we go.

Now the cast of characters.

Your host: ME!!! very lucky you. If you've made it this far, you already know a lot about me. Let me end with this: I am AWESOME. This is not up for debate. Too many people have told me too many times, and I have come to believe them. May sound a little egotistical, but this is me....

FAVORITE PARK: EPCOT
FAVORITE RIDE: Star Tours (This ride is actually revolting to me, since it defies every known piece of Star Wars continuity, but I won a free trip to WDW because of it. Yes, be jealous.)
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Jiko

LEAST FAVORITE PARK: Animal Kingdom
LEAST FAVORITE RIDE: Dumbo (I have not, nor will I ever ride this ride. More on that later.)
LEAST FAVORITE RESTAURANT: The Coral Reef


DW: She is awesome as well, although not as awesome as me. She is a teacher. That being said, between our jobs we are very restricted as to when we get the opportunities to go to WDW. She has only been to WDW once without me (before we met). Since we have been together, we have been four times, twice off property, and twice on. She is a true WDW fanatic, and we make a most excellent match.

FAVORITE PARK: Magic Kingdom
FAVORITE RIDE: Space Mountain
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Le Chef de France

LEAST FAVORITE PARK: Animal Kingdom
LEAST FAVORITE RIDE: I would say Expedition Everest. She is always making excuses about not riding it. Like one time, being pregnant. I still can't believe she pulled that card.
LEAST FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Tangierine Cafe

DS: This guy is amazing. He is my little clone, and arguably more awesome than I am.

FAVORITE PARK: Magic Kingdom
FAVORITE RIDE: Toy Story Midway Mania
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Cape May Cafe (Character Breakfast)

LEAST FAVORITE PARK: Never truly expressed dislike for a park, but I would imagine EPCOT
LEAST FAVORITE RIDE: Studio Backlot Tour (Does not do well with fire)
LEAST FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Tangierine Cafe

This is a recent photo of him at a restaurant watching ESPN while eatting dinner. Again, he is awesome.

He is a true Phineas and Ferb fanatic. He and I routinely sing the Theme song without prompting, and my DVR has several GB of PnF tv shows. He has been to WDW twice since birth. His first time interacting with a character was Buzz Lightyear. He was shy and did not know what to expect, and was a little bit nervouse.

This photo was taken Thanksgiving 2009.

This is him the following Summer (2010) meeting Mickey Mouse; doing much better meeting characters.

Caveat to this picture: His sandals are not actually too small for his feet, he pushes them that way so he can grip the end with his toes. He ended up tearing apart these sandals before the week was over.

Anyways, this trip will be a first for many things. Most importantly the first time we will have visited in October. We will be there for my birthday, Food and Wine Festival, and the Halloween Party in MK. We are pretty excited, because this trip will also be celebrating a big change for me, professionally anyways. Well, I hope you all decide to stick around, and see just what exactly this awesome family is up to for their trip to Disney.

 

[afwdwfan]

Looks AWESOME!

Can't wait to hear about your hate for Dumbo and the free trip thanks to Star Tours!

 

[DisDadDoc]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Did I hear awesomeness? Because I love awesomeness.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Am looking forward to reading more about your awesome plans! I'm also curious to hear about why you don't like Dumbo and the mention of food always gets my mouth watering

 

[sushibite]

Looks AWESOME!

Can't wait to hear about your hate for Dumbo and the free trip thanks to Star Tours!

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more!

Did I hear awesomeness? Because I love awesomeness.

Am looking forward to reading more about your awesome plans! I'm also curious to hear about why you don't like Dumbo and the mention of food always gets my mouth watering

Thanks everyone! I hope you will be thoroughly entertained.

 

[sushibite]

So, initial ground work to get to WDW.

I can some what speak French. I can talk to a native speaker, sort of, but my accent is awful. Because of this, I have always wanted to go to Paris. The wife and I have thought long and hard about going to Paris, and not only doing the Paris thing, but also enjoying Disneyland Paris while we were there. However, Paris is definitely going to be one of those trips where I do everything, to include booking airline and hotel, before I tell her. She wants to go, but she is timid and shy and will resist jumping into the pool. If I push her in, she will be mad for a little bit, but she will eventually realize I am not only right, but awesome as well, and I did for her own good. However, I had no intention of pushing her in today, just show her the pool. No, the ultimate goal here was to convince her to go to WDW and make it seem like her idea (while she does not need a lot of prodding for Disney vacation, she gets a little sticker-shocked, and may try to weasel out of it).


Armed with the knowledge of how to manipulate my wife into a winning situation, I set forth to do just that.

I knew if I put Paris out in front she wouldn't bite, if she did surprise me and go for it, well that is a win. However, the more likely outcome was her rejecting Paris. "But how do you get her to think Disney?" you may be wondering. Well, we are definitely a Disney family. I can quote the entire movie of Cars, most of Nemo, and sing all the PnF songs from the first couple of seasons (I would like to blame the kid for this, but deep down we all know its a lie). Bringing up something Disney in a conversation is fairly normal for us. So, before Paris was brought into the conversation, I talked a little about random Disney things, like seeing a Perry the Platypus shirt on hottopic.com and how I found a great deal on Pixar blu-rays on ebay (which I did). Then, when I linked my wife to those websites (remember, I am in Afghanistan, so all of our talking is done online, mostly through Skype), I brought up going to Paris.

This was met with a subtle rejection, like oh, now I need to find time to get a passport, what are going to do with the DS? Is he coming, or is someone going to watch him? Where are we going to stay? How much money for flights, hotels, spending cash... blah blah blah.

Now, here is where a lesser man would faulter. I was prepared for all these questions, I had the Paris trip completely planned out. I began fielding her questions like a gold-glove winning short-stop (Barry Larkin is my favorite baseball player of all time).

She is still very hesitant, and I can tell she is looking for an out. I innocently link her to another Disney-related website. This was something on Amazon which under the recommendations listed such things as the Unofficial Guide to WDW, Hidden Mickeys in WDW, and other WDW them park related books.

Finally, she says it. Why don't we go to Disney? We will be there for your birthday, we can go to Epcot, and I will even take you to Bistro de Paris to make up for not going to Paris for real.

I smile to her through the vidlink. "Why, lovely wife of mine, that is an awesome idea. I am so glad you thought of it."

That gentlemen, is how to work the fairer sex.

Next time, I will start to go into the details of this trip.

 

[afwdwfan]

Excellent job of leading your wife to make the right decision. Very well played. However, I have to say that isn't why you are awesome... the following quote is why you are awesome:

(Barry Larkin is my favorite baseball player of all time).

My baseball number was always 11 until I got to high school... and I only switched then because 11 was too small.

 

[TanzUnited99]

I love the way you 'manipulated' your wife into a winning situation

 

[ChattaAlley]

Haha you hooked me. Looking forward to see how this plays out.

 

[sushibite]

Quick little update.

As stated, my favorite park is EPCOT. This is because of my Mama and Papa, whose time shared we stayed in every year. They would take me to EPCOT at least once every trip, and it has and will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Well, I stumbled upon a nifty site called lostepcot.com. I shared this link with my Mama, and told her it made me think of her. The wife, noticed it on facebook, and checked it out. Well, my awesome DS said, "Hey, that's Mickey's ball!" No Mickeys present on the website, and he already knows what it is. I have created a monster.

 

[DisDadDoc]

Finally, she says it. Why don't we go to Disney? We will be there for your birthday, we can go to Epcot, and I will even take you to Bistro de Paris to make up for not going to Paris for real.

I smile to her through the vidlink. "Why, lovely wife of mine, that is an awesome idea. I am so glad you thought of it."

That gentlemen, is how to work the fairer sex.

You, my friend, are a man among men! Nice work!

And thanks for the lost epcot site! Very cool!

 

[teachermommy78]

Subbing! Mostly to gain insight to my husband's brain. Enough said.

 

[sushibite]

You, my friend, are a man among men! Nice work!

And thanks for the lost epcot site! Very cool!

Why thank you. Also, you're welcome for the site. I miss Horizons, a lot.

Subbing! Mostly to gain insight to my husband's brain. Enough said.

"The way is shut. It was made by those who are Dead. And the Dead keep it. The way is shut." -Return of the King

You may not like what you find But you are more than welcome to come on the journey

 

[Winni]

Children's Paradise
power and intersting.

 

[sushibite]

So for this trip, we are flying and staying on property.

We chose to fly, otherwise we will spend essentially 4 days in transit, round trip. Even though ATL is not the closest airport to us, we are choosing to fly out of their for a couple of reasons. first, it is cheaper. Second, we don't need to have a connecting flight through ATL, which means we can get the first flight into Orlando and the last flight out. Third, my mother lives around ATL, so we can visit her and stash our car at her place while we party at Disney. Plus, she will do our laundry when we come back .

So, now that we know our flight times, where then are we going to stay? This is a most perplexing question. Why, because this will be the first time we will have gone to the World with days off built into our calendar. Normally we aren't there long enough to actually take days off, but this time we will get to enjoy our hotel's pool and other amenities.

Picking the right WDW hotel was fairly difficult for us this year. We originally had chosen POFQ, but decided to go with CBR. This decision was based on two things. First, the pool option at the hotel (DS chose CBR's pool over POFQ's). Second, since we will be spending a few days at the resort, the QS dining was more appealing than at POFQ. So, we went with CBR.

I am going to request Aruba, because it worked out so nice for us last time. When we stayed there last time, it was the last stop at CBR before going to the parks, and the first after the bus left the parks. Not really sure how to explain it, but I think it was just the individual drivers. Plus, it is located fairly centrally amoung the parks, so none of the parks are particularly far. That, and I have seen mixed reviews regarding POFQ.

Well, that's it!

Until next time!

 

[carlnix30]

Nice start!! Subscribing..