A Work of Heart – PTR for June 2013

[latexscooter]

Greetings and welcome to my PTR. Over the next 11 months I plan on sharing everything that I do in preparation for what I am sure will be an amazing trip. I decided to call this A Work of Heart because that is what this trip will be – something built from love. You see Walt Disney World is my happy place. Short of the birth of my daughter and my trip down the aisle to marry my DH, the biggest love moments of my life have been in WDW. I proudly state that my Disney fanaticism defines me. Will this PTR be interesting? I’ll do my best. Will it be entertaining? Again, I’ll do my best. Will it help the time pass? That’s a definite. But hopefully I can learn something from you and maybe you’ll be able to pick something up from me too. A little give and take of sorts. So thank you for joining me.

Let’s start with introductions. I’m Carrie and I’m a 42 year old type A personality that never misses a rope drop (unless I intend to), has the patience of Job for children and animals and absolutely no patience for those that should no better. I hate selfishness and work full time at a great job, have a terrific husband and one perfect, beautiful, intelligent and witty daughter. I currently live in San Antonio, Texas a full 1,700 miles from our hometown of Rochester, New York. My favorite character is Mickey (although I’ve recently become interested in Donald which is strange because I’ve never been a fan because he’s so tempermental and I can never understand what he’s saying.) My favorite attractions are Splash, Maharajah Jungle Trek, Tower of Terror, Spaceship Earth and the Mission Space post-ride play area.

I met my wonderful husband, Mike, 11 years ago and knew the night I met him that we would marry and spend the rest of our lives together. He felt the same and we were married 91 days later. He’s a swell guy but don’t ask me his age or birth year because I always get it wrong. I even put it down incorrectly on our daughter’s birth certificate and he will never forgive me. (Doesn’t everyone make those types of mistakes?) He works for a local university and will be completing his master’s degree in December. He loves Disney (although not as much as me) and is the B to my type A. Oh, and he is an awesome father.

Mike doesn’t have a favorite character but is thrilled that Disney acquired Marvel. He’s a big comic book fan – and by big I mean HUGE! We have a comic book room in our house and over 20,000 (the number is currently in dispute) books. He’s one of those guys that can tell you the first appearance of some unknown character you’ve never heard of because they haven’t made a movie about them…yet. He loves Everest, Soarin, Toy Story and Splash.

Last but certainly not least, there is my darling daughter Avery. Let me just get this out of the way and tell you she is perfect. She slept through the night at 10 weeks, never had the terrible twos, loves school and people, is sensitive and kind. She’s never thrown a tantrum in her life because it’s never occurred to her to do so. She’s just aces! We first took her to Disney when she was 5 months and she went on every ride that wasn’t height restricted. We’ve gone back every year since which has resulted in her first Tower of Terror at 4 (she loved it) and Rock n Rollercoaster at 7 (loved that too). She loves the princesses (but it’s no longer cool) and Piglet. Her favorite ride is Splash.

Here’s a picture of our happy family taken during our June 2011 trip.

So that’s my first post. I’m going to work on my next segment where you will get to meet my Dad and I’ll share the craziness that is my hotel selection.

Again, thanks for joining me!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 2: Picking a Hotel
Chapter 3: Things that Happen to Me Every Trip

 

[latexscooter]

Chapter 2: Picking a Hotel

I don’t know about the rest of you but picking a hotel is an essential decision to the success and “type” of vacation we’re going to have. We are not a family that fits into any one category or preference so it ends up being a shell game where I pick something, waffle for awhile, maybe switch, definitely discuss switching and rinse and repeat until final payment. A loop of picking and second guessing – oddly enough I enjoy it.

Since 2001 (the year DH and I were married) we have gone to WDW every year except this one and there were a few years when we’ve gone to Disney more than once. (In those particular cases they were times when I ran a race and we would come down for 4-5 days around the race.)

We’ve stayed value, moderate, deluxe and rented DVC. The best vacation we every had was at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in 2007. The worst (and I says this with a bit of humor because I really believe you cannot have a terrible vacation at Disney) was our stay at Old Key West when we rented points in 2008. (For those of you wondering there was mold on the ceiling of the hallway and bathroom they refused to clean, bus service was terrible and housekeeping was non-existent.)

Our preference at the value level is Pop; moderate is POFQ; and the Deluxe…well, that’s the problem. Not as much experience there but we’re thinking AKL and Poly although we haven’t stayed Poly yet.

For 2012 I finally conceded to Mike and agreed not to take a WDW vacation. Instead, we’re supposed to do something else that half way through the year we still haven’t decided on. But in agreeing to not do a 2012 WDW vacation I get to do/plan whatever I want for 2013 with no pushback. Not an altogether bad thing and this is where the Poly enters the picture.

When I was younger I remember riding on the monorail past the Poly and thinking how dated it looked. A few years later I visited the resort and felt the same. But then, somewhere around 2009 I started to enjoy the relaxed, purposefully-dated charm of the resort and thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stay there. I mean really, you can’t beat the location. But then I looked at the prices and said forget it. Could we afford it, sure, but is this really where I want to blow a bunch of money? I’m still up in the air but I really can’t get this resort out of my mind.

There are only two other resorts on my mind right now. The first is the AKL. Reflecting on our previous vacation brings me nothing but smiles. DD loved that vacation and still talks about it nearly five year later. Are there things I’d do differently? Sure! I wouldn’t pay for a savannah view for one. Although we had a great view last time the novelty wore off after a few days. I think we’d enjoy a pool view room and take advantage of the public viewing areas that are all over the place. But the real reason I’m afraid of going back is that I’m afraid that I’ll always try to compare to our previous experience and nothing will be able to live up to what we did in the past.

The other resort we’re looking at is Port Orleans Riverside – specifically the royal rooms. This is mostly driven by Avery’s insane desire to stay here after seeing room videos on YouTube. She is just thrilled at the prospect at staying at such a unique place. And to be honest, she’s 9 and I won’t have much more time where she’ll want to stay at a place like this and maybe I should appreciate it. I’m just waiting for the day when she asks why Disney hasn’t made a Jack Skellington room available.

So that’s my dilemma. I’ve gone ahead and made a reservation at the Poly but I do know that there’s a good probability I’m going to change. And who knows, maybe I’ll read a trip report where someone had a great vacation at Boardwalk or something I switch out. I’m sure open to the input from others.

Oh, I do have another fly in the ointment but I’m going to save that for later. As a little teaser of sorts, my Dad is planning on joining us for some (maybe all) of the trip and he wants to stay at Shades of Green (which he qualifies for) and I’m really torn between doing what he wants or letting him stay there and we stay at the Poly. I’d be interested in thoughts on that one. I should mention we have had a complex relationship that has been repaired over the past few years. He also shared with me some rather serious news about some health issues that he has that makes me appreciate having him around (small annoyance are really just that).

Thanks for reading.

 

[latexscooter]

Chapter 3: Things that Happen to Me Every Trip

A few years ago I started but never finished a journal/trip report about our annual visit. As part of that I had a log of things that just seemed to happen that were not joyful but seemed to happen almost every time. I've taken that list and added to it and thought I'd share it with you. I'm sure you've had more than your fair share of similar or the same experiences. I give to you Things that Happen list.

If there is a toddler pushing a stroller like a drunken sailor down a walkway, they will hit me every time.

When I go to get a FP for Soarin or TSM immediately after rope drop, I will choose the line where there is a demagnetized card, the person doesn’t know how to use FP or the first person in line has a card for themselves and 35 of their closest friends and family.

If I’ve been waiting in line for 15 minutes for the coveted Dole Whip, the person in front of me will suddenly be joined by the extended family which usually numbers in no less than eight.

I will hold a conversation with someone who knows the college roommate, of the next door neighbor, who was the engineer who designed whatever park we happen to be sitting in. And they will almost certainly share with me the key to touring the parks. (I am going to be kind enough to share this little nugget with all of you.) The key is to go directly to the back of the park and then you are supposed to visit all the attractions in a counter clockwise fashion until complete. I understand it beats the crowds every time. God bless ‘em for keeping that one alive because it makes touring easier for me.

If there are unsupervised children running around like yahoos, one will almost certainly fall in front of me (no fault of their own because they are unsupervised, remember?) and then be cruelly punished by their parent.

If I'm walking from point A to point B behind a group of other tourist someone will pass gas and I will walk through it. This is especially fun when I'm eating an ice cream or have my mouth open.

If we've staked out a patch of concrete for an hour to watch the night parade someone will come and try to steal it. The most commonly used weapon for the theft is a child that is either pushed or shoved into me forcing me to step back and then quick as a flash they're in.

I could regale you with my tales of the biometric scan but that is just too relatable – we all have those stories.

 

[tienpa]

Hi! Loving the PTR so far! look forward to gleaning all your info! Keep writing!

 

[tienpa]

'If I'm walking from point A to point B behind a group of other tourist someone will pass gas and I will walk through it. This is especially fun when I'm eating an ice cream or have my mouth open.'
too funny! Sooo true!

 

[latexscooter]

Hi! Loving the PTR so far! look forward to gleaning all your info! Keep writing!

Thank you for following along. I'll be posting this weeks lesson some time this weekend.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[latexscooter]

'If I'm walking from point A to point B behind a group of other tourist someone will pass gas and I will walk through it. This is especially fun when I'm eating an ice cream or have my mouth open.'
too funny! Sooo true!

I'm glad ( but not really glad) that it happens to someone else. My husband things I'm nuts because it never happens to him! I think he's too much of a gentleman to admit it.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards