Adventures in Adulting - April/May 2017 PTR

[steviethegreat]

Heeeey. My name is Stevie. I'm 27 (28 in March). I'm from Pittsburgh, PA. And I'm a Universal/Disney fan. I would say that for the past, oh, IDK, four to five years or so, I've been obsessed with Disney and Universal.

Before I begin, a little backstory. (Though if you're watching my Universal PTR, you can skip to the next post!)

My mom and I made plans in June 2015 to go to Universal and Disney in September of 2016. (Spoiler alert! We did!) We went to Universal for three nights, two full days in the park, and then spent six days at Disney.

Unfortunately, my mom got really sick the first day at the park. And her sickness carried into the second day at the park. So basically, my mom didn't enjoy Universal at all. (And since I 100% funded that trip, I felt SO BAD that we wasted our tickets on crashing in the hotel room and that we didn't get to see EVERYTHING.)

When we came home from our trip, my mom's ankles were so swollen it took a good week for her to lose all of the water. And when the swelling went down, her ankles were black and blue from all of the walking and running around I put her through.

But I wasn't satisfied with my trip. There was a lot left that I still wanted to do. And I asked my best friend if she would consider going with me in February 2017 for a weekend trip to Universal.

At the time, she was uncertain. She was planning a wedding. She wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the money on the trip. And at that time, I was willing to put the whole trip on my credit card. Because I REALLY wanted to go. She told me she would get back to me. And she didn't. So I talked my mom into going with me again. And then I talked us both out of it.

Flash forward to the end of November. Sadly, the wedding is off for reasons I won't get into. But my bff asked me if I would take her to Universal. At this point, I had spent a lot of money I was going to save for the trip. So I told her yes, but I asked if we could post-pone until May.

We ended up deciding to set our trip dates for April 27th to April 30th at Universal. And then April 30th to May 5th at Disney. (So we could be there for May the Fourth be with You, cause..you know, Star Wars nerds.)

And that's how our trip started!

 

[steviethegreat]

Honestly, this trip kind of evolved from a tiny long weekend thing into a full blown trip in early December. My bff, we'll just call her A from now on, was going through some rough stuff. And my heart was breaking for her. I really didn't know what to do for her. I am DEFINITELY not the most tactful of our friend group, but I try. (I'm just kind of ..the Dwight Schrute/Sheldon Cooper of every situation.) So we had planned this Universal trip. I was trying to figure out the best dates to go. Because while Disney's not crazy with Mardi Gras (from what I read), Universal apparently starts early and carries out a whole parade thing and etc for quite some time.

So we opted for late May. I was figuring out the exact dates and had picked a weekend after Mother's Day. But when I asked if 3 days in Universal was long enough, A said she didn't care. She just didn't want to be here. When I talked things over with my mom, we agreed that 3 days at Universal was plenty. And then...Mom asked me the fated question: "Are you going to go to Disney?"

See, I hadn't even thought about it. I just figured, hey, Universal's enough. I'm not going to push.

But then I started to REALLY think about it. So I pitched the idea of Disney World over dinner before we went to see Moana. And A agreed--she had never been to Orlando and she wanted her first time in Disney World and Universal to be with me. (Color me SUPER honored.)

We decided to look at dates again, since our trip had lengthened.

But then we were worried about crossing over into Mother's Day weekend. And then we were worried about not getting to see our CM friend while we were down there.

So! After some intense humming of the Imperial March at my desk, I suddenly realized that THE BEST PLACE TO BE IN MAY WOULD BE DISNEY.

I immediately sent a text to A to confirm that my idea was genius. Seeing as we're fairly into Star Wars, (though my love is new, no judging), we decided this was a fantastic idea. So as not to miss Mother's Day, we opted for April 27th to May 5th. That gave us 3 days at Universal and then 6 days at Disney World before we had to head back to the real world.

Having settled on this trip, we started to talk in earnest about where we would stay, how much it would be, etc. Our CM friend had told A a LONG time ago that if A could get herself to Orlando, she would get her into the parks. I figured that meant we likely had at least one ticket free. That dropped about $450 off of how much we anticipated paying. So I laid out the options. I wanted to stay on property and I didn't want to stay at a value.

We were considering Caribbean Beach for a while, we both like pirates. It was the cheapest of the moderates. But I was also considering Port Orleans Riverside. My first intention was to find out if I could rent points from my cousin to stay DVC on property. A and I discussed things and realized that when the spring discount came out, we could stay at a deluxe for not that much more than we could stay at a moderate. And realistically, the money we'd have saved with the discount at a moderate wasn't that much.

So a month later, we got confirmation from my cousin that all of her DVC points were spoken for. (I had a feeling, but it never hurts to ask!) I checked with a DVC rental place to see if there was anything at Old Key West or otherwise and the only resort left was Saratoga Springs.

As I've only heard 'meh' things about SS, I gave my friend the option of spending a little more money to pay for a deluxe or to stay DVC. And she opted to splurge.

SO! We're staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from April 30th to May 5th. And I couldn't be happier. I looooove the Animal Kingdom Lodge! I recently stayed there with my mom. And it was BEAUTIFUL. And it SMELLS SO GOOD.

I'm so excited that A's first trip is going to be in a beautiful hotel. I'm really hoping that if we don't automatically get a standard room with a view that it's not TOO much to upgrade when we're there. I don't mind paying for Savannah, but it's very expensive online. I'd rather just take my chances and hope for the best. I really enjoyed our view with the 'people' pens, even if there was...an unfortunate incident of almost 'flashing' one morning. We did better with the curtain closing the next time...

So there you have it. Animal Kingdom Lodge, April 30th to May 5th. Just two girls doing an all-alone-adulty thing. Without an adultier adult. I'm so excited!

 

[Raeven]

Yay following along here too! I loved staying at AKL! We took a chance with standard view and got a savannah view.

 

[steviethegreat]

Introductions:

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I mentioned earlier that my name is Stevie, but I guess I didn't really give you much more than that! I'm 27, but I'll be 28 at the end of March. This is my fourth trip to Disney World. I took my first trip when I was in third grade (I believe) and the only thing I remember is distinctly being terrified of Space Mountain. The concept was terrifying. But I wanted to ride Big Thunder. Don't ask me why. I didn't achieve that in third grade. But I did on my next trip.

I went back to WDW in June of 2014 for a graduation trip/wedding. And then I managed to convince my mom to go back in September of 2016. We had a great time. But now I'm headed back with my bff, A, for the trip of a lifetime. (At least I think so!)

I have a LOT of favorite movies. But I'm not sure which is my favorite! The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, Brave, Tangled, Frozen, and Moana are definitely at the top of the list. I'm also a big Pirates of the Caribbean fan. Oh, and Star Wars! All things Star Wars!

I don't have a favorite character, but I think it'll be neat to meet Anna. And if we find Flynn Rider, well, I won't object! It would also be fun to meet Rapunzel, Mulan, and Merida! But I'll admit that I would rather be riding Space Mountain or Soarin' than standing in line to meet face characters. I'm sure there are pictures of me as a kid meeting Mickey, but the last two trips are void of those kind of interactions.

My favorite dessert is definitely the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake from Liberty Tree Tavern. I love Dole Whip Swirl Floats. I enjoy Mickey Bars, but they're not my favorite. And I DON'T like the beignets from Port Orleans! I don't know why! Maybe because I've had some great donuts in my life and they just don't do the job for me? I forgot to mention my deep adoration of the Seven Layer Cookie Bars from Port Orleans Riverside.

My favorite ride is UNDOUBTEDLY Space Mountain. I love all of the Mountains, but my second favorite ride is definitely Expedition Everest. I would say my least favorite is .. hmm. Peter Pan? All of the lines were anticlimactic. Or! Seven Dwarves Mine Train. I rode that sucker twice and I JUST DON'T GET THE APPEAL. There are way better rides. Why wait that long?? It's so slow! One hill and it's over.


A is my bff. She's 25 this year, I think. She's the most levelheaded person I have ever met. I don't think she ever gets mad. Because she's so agreeable, she puts up with my controlling and obsessive nature. (I told you, I'm very Sheldon.)

She has NEVER been to Orlando! She told me that her parents didn't have the money to take their family of five to Disney, so they just never went. This trip is her first time at Universal and Disney. So I kind of feel like I'm taking little-kid-bff to Disney. Which means I have been planning like a lunatic to make sure that what I can control is perfect.

We actually are fairly new friends. We met during my fifth year of college. (You heard that right.) We were in a theatre class together. And then I ended up participating in some other on campus activities. We didn't REALLY bond until we performed A Very Potter Musical together. And then after AVPM was over, we realized we were in the same Latin America class, just at different times! We decided to study together. So we REALLY bonded over how much we studied for that exam. (We both passed the class, btw!)

After that, we basically just kept touch. And then our friendship grew into this amazing thing where we're super close now. (I invite myself over a lot. She has dogs. I love her dogs.) Naturally, I can't imagine a better trip than with my BFF.

I will apologize for the lack of photos of A. But I want to ask permission. And she doesn't know I'm writing this PTR, so while I don't think she'll have a problem with it, I still don't want to do anything she doesn't like. (Just in case.)

She wants to try EVERYTHING. But I'm the most excited to take her on Space Mountain, Soarin', Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, and Star Tours. We're going to try to get on Frozen, since the line was crazy in September when Mom and I went. (90 minutes, seriously?) I'm honestly excited to take her on everything. And I'm REALLY hoping to get us bumped to the Savannah view (whether I pay for it or not). Mom and I had SO MUCH FUN watching Gigi the baby giraffe galloping outside of our window. I'd really like to relive that.

She told me that her favorite colors are purple and green. Her top two favorite Disney movies are Tangled and Moana. She can't wait to try Dole Whips, Mickey Bars, and Be Our Guest.

Another tidbit about A: one of her best friends works at Disney World as a photopass photographer (among other things). Gratefully, she has enough 1-day park-to-park passes so cover A's WHOLE ticket. So we actually only have to buy one ticket!

So we did a room-only reservation, plus one six day ticket, and the Memory Maker. Even though my cousin didn't have DVC points to rent to us, her daughter is actually an authorized travel specialist of some kind. We put our reservation through her so that she could get credit since she's new with the agency. And now I don't have to worry about when things are due and etc.

Today is day 73 and I will shamefully tell you that my ADRs are NOT set. Since A has been incredibly stressed with work and her musical rehearsal, I haven't wanted to bother her too much about ADRs. She says she trusts me, but I want her to have input. We're supposed to Skype her CM friend the week of the 20th. So hopefully we'll have everything settled.

Until then, I'll just have to settle for figuring out all of my surprises for A! I'll be back with those in the next post.

 

[steviethegreat]

Yay following along here too! I loved staying at AKL! We took a chance with standard view and got a savannah view.

Yay! I'm following along with both of yours, too. And AKL is wonderful. I might try the WL next time, but my ideal reservation is at the Poly. Someday! Until then, I'm seriously in love with the AKL. It's like a whole other world.

 

[Raeven]

the only thing I remember is distinctly being terrified of Space Mountain. The concept was terrifying.
​

I don't know why but the idea of just the concept terrifying you sounds hilarious.

​

But I'll admit that I would rather be riding Space Mountain or Soarin' than standing in line to meet face characters. I'm sure there are pictures of me as a kid meeting Mickey, but the last two trips are void of those kind of interactions.

Meeting face characters can be awkward, I prefer fur characters if I meet any.

And I DON'T like the beignets from Port Orleans! I don't know why! Maybe because I've had some great donuts in my life and they just don't do the job for me?

I thought they weren't very good too

Or! Seven Dwarves Mine Train. I rode that sucker twice and I JUST DON'T GET THE APPEAL. There are way better rides. Why wait that long?? It's so slow! One hill and it's over.

I love it! But I also am not big on roller coasters.

We met during my fifth year of college. (You heard that right.)

I also went to college for five years! I changed my major a few times, and they told me to take less classes at the start a semester and later on I found out by doing that I pretty much had an extra year plus a summer semester to get done even in 5 years.

Yay! I'm following along with both of yours, too. And AKL is wonderful. I might try the WL next time, but my ideal reservation is at the Poly. Someday! Until then, I'm seriously in love with the AKL. It's like a whole other world.

If it makes you feel better about not being at the Poly we did one night there in Dec after AKL and I preferred AKL. For double the price I just didnt think it was worth it especially because AKL is so awesome. The Poly is always worth a visit though.

 

[MummyButterfly]

I will apologize for the lack of photos of A. But I want to ask permission. And she doesn't know I'm writing this PTR, so while I don't think she'll have a problem with it, I still don't want to do anything she doesn't like. (Just in case.)

You keep saying you are Sheldon - but, I think it's fair to say you're VERY kind and good at being a friend. Most people wouldn't think twice about posting pictures on the internet. It's smart and respectful of you to ask first!

So glad I found your report and can follow along.

 

[steviethegreat]

I don't know why but the idea of just the concept terrifying you sounds hilarious.

You would love working with me. (Or going to something like HHN at Universal with me.) I freak out about EVERYTHING. Like, my poor 80 something boss rounds the corner and if I'm not expecting him, I startle VERY LOUDLY. I startle often. It used to just be people turning up in my cube unannounced. Now it's in the stairwells and around corners, etc. Complete darkness at like...8 was not my thing.

Meeting face characters can be awkward, I prefer fur characters if I meet any.

I have no recollection of meeting ANY characters. So this will be a first for me either way. As an adult, of course.

I thought they weren't very good too

I thought I just got a bad batch the first time. But the second time was the same. They took forever and they just..didn't have any flavor. If we hadn't been running to catch our flight, we'd have gotten the sauces with them. But I was expecting pillowy, delicious donut. That was not my experience. It was chewy and bland. I'll stick with Krispy Kremes. IDK.

I love it! But I also am not big on roller coasters.

I don't like heights, but I do like roller coasters. Space is my favorite, but I'll have to show you guys the picture of mom and I on 7DMT, because the contrast is hilarious.

I also went to college for five years! I changed my major a few times, and they told me to take less classes at the start a semester and later on I found out by doing that I pretty much had an extra year plus a summer semester to get done even in 5 years.

You gotta love academic advisors. Some of them are very helpful, others not so much.

I actually went for seven years. :| I did two years at our community college, transferred upstate (hated it, drove 2 hours there and back every day, hated it), went back to community college for another year and a half, transferred to Pitt-Greensburg and finished there after two years, because not all of my credits transferred.

If it makes you feel better about not being at the Poly we did one night there in Dec after AKL and I preferred AKL. For double the price I just didnt think it was worth it especially because AKL is so awesome. The Poly is always worth a visit though.

I think I want to swim in the volcano pool and have easy access to their lounges? And be super close to the Magic Kingdom. But I really DO love the AKL. It's my favorite of the deluxes, though I've only stayed at one. ... Eventually, I'll bribe someone into paying the expensive cost of the resort fees for the Boardwalk and monorail loop resorts. Until then...AKL is honestly a steal.

You keep saying you are Sheldon - but, I think it's fair to say you're VERY kind and good at being a friend. Most people wouldn't think twice about posting pictures on the internet. It's smart and respectful of you to ask first!

Oh, I'm very Sheldon in tact. I do 'okay' writing wise, but my mouth does not cooperate in person. I realize I've been unintentionally tactless much later on and then I feel TERRIBLE. But thank you for your kind words! I just know that everyone has a right to their own privacy. I don't let people upload anything to my social media pages without my consent.

And thank you for following along! I'm glad to have you!

 

[Raeven]

You would love working with me. (Or going to something like HHN at Universal with me.) I freak out about EVERYTHING. Like, my poor 80 something boss rounds the corner and if I'm not expecting him, I startle VERY LOUDLY. I startle often. It used to just be people turning up in my cube unannounced. Now it's in the stairwells and around corners, etc. Complete darkness at like...8 was not my thing.

I can be quite jumpy too. Especially if someone touches me while sleeping I'll jump up. I had a boss once who startled so easily though and one day i had to tell her something while she had headphones on and she didn't hear me calling her. I think she almost had a heart attack when I tapled on her shoulder! I felt so bad but it was pretty funny once she realized I wasn't an attacker.

I thought I just got a bad batch the first time. But the second time was the same. They took forever and they just..didn't have any flavor. If we hadn't been running to catch our flight, we'd have gotten the sauces with them. But I was expecting pillowy, delicious donut. That was not my experience. It was chewy and bland. I'll stick with Krispy Kremes. IDK.

Yeah they really didn't have any flavor and I didn't think the sauces helped much. Maybe if the sauces were warm? But I just didn't really like the flavor (or lack of it).

You gotta love academic advisors. Some of them are very helpful, others not so much.

I actually went for seven years. :| I did two years at our community college, transferred upstate (hated it, drove 2 hours there and back every day, hated it), went back to community college for another year and a half, transferred to Pitt-Greensburg and finished there after two years, because not all of my credits transferred.

Ugh that's awful about your credits not transferring. When I went to another school for the semester the commute is one of the reasons I went back to the community college I was at before.

I think I want to swim in the volcano pool and have easy access to their lounges? And be super close to the Magic Kingdom. But I really DO love the AKL. It's my favorite of the deluxes, though I've only stayed at one. ... Eventually, I'll bribe someone into paying the expensive cost of the resort fees for the Boardwalk and monorail loop resorts. Until then...AKL is honestly a steal.

That makes sense. I don't do much swimming so the pools usually don't matter much in my decision making. I do want to stay in a Boardwalk resort someday though.

 

[steviethegreat]

As promised, here is the picture of mom and I on 7DMT.

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I feel like this picture captures my 'essence'. I'm just not impressed by this ride. But my mom is thrilled! She loves it! We contrast quite well!

​

This is A expressing her dislike of returning to work post-vacation. I agree. My face is more D: than hers. When I came back, I actually took Monday off because I Just. Couldn't. Deal. I am pretty sure I cried the whole first week. I went through the phases of grief or depression. I tried bribing, etc. I was angry. Eventually I accepted my fate, but A started this whole thing again by wanting to go back to Disney. Sooo. She gets to put up with me in May when I'm 100% depressed that we're home.

​

Here's a better picture. More flattering! She's honestly a chameleon, though, because she looks different every time I see her. Hair up, hair down, glasses, no glasses. She's stunningly beautiful, but she's so much more than that. She -gets- me. And my tactlessness doesn't phase her in the least. She's the Remus Lupin to my James Potter, I suppose!

As an update, one of the things I've been stressing about, besides our ADRs, is wanting to do something special for A. It's her first trip, but it's also a trip to kind of ..forget some bad things that have happened lately.

So I wanted to have some surprises around every bend. I found a shirt on Pinterest (good old Pinterest) that says 'I'm done adulting, let's go to Disney!' and I realized we NEED these shirts. Like, that is going to be SUCH a great gift for her to kick off our trip.

I also have some Harry Potter surprises for our stop at Universal. And I'm also making a cute bag of 'welcome to Disney' stuff. I know I want to take her to Pick a Pearl in Japan (I think?). But their settings are expensive and they don't include the chain. So I'm going to order a setting from Etsy first. And then we'll go do the 'cut this oyster' thing open in Epcot as a surprise later on. I ordered some cute things from Wal-mart, of all places, but I'm still trying to fill her Disney bag.

I also need to talk to a Dream Maker to figure out their cheapest flower option. They have REALLY cute vases, but their cheapest option comes in a Winnie the Pooh mug. I really don't want to spend $50 on something that's going to die by the time we get home. So. I'm hoping to figure that out soon.

I ALSO know we're going to order some snacks from Amazon, pack 'em up, and ship 'em down before we get there. (If only I could bribe Krispy Kreme to deliver.)

I think we're probably going to do that 'late night cookie delivery' thing. It's like...$12. It's such a cute idea. I just think it'll be something extra to add to the trip.

Anyway, that's my neurotic antics so far! I'll have an update on ADRs and Fastpasses soon. We're still working out the kinks.

 

[Raeven]

I love your face on Mine Train you look so unimpressed. Like "this is all this is?"

 

[steviethegreat]

I love your face on Mine Train you look so unimpressed. Like "this is all this is?"

That's because it's one hill and some animatronic dwarves and then it's over! My dad and I went in 2014 and people were getting sick waiting in line for so long. And they STILL line up for HOURS. And it's such a quick ride. I just don't get it. Thankfully, mom wasn't 'in love' with the ride, so we only rode it once. But then again, Space Mountain is my favorite. So. Maybe I'm just biased?

 

[steviethegreat]

Okay! So, some updates:

I have a tentative schedule for how and where we're going, which sliiiightly includes our nights at Universal since I'm overlapping with Disney property things.

Case and point: Thursday night. That's apparently a slow night for Jellyrolls. If we go to Jellyrolls on a Universal night (since Universal will close earlier than Disney), we can grab dinner (especially since we'll already be tired and we have two more days at Universal) and then head over to Jellyrolls. She'll see parts of Disney before we even leave Universal, which will kind of extend our Disney portion of the trip!

Thursday night we're expecting to eat at Toothsome's Chocolate Emporium, or whatever it's actually called.

Friday night we have an ADR at The Boathouse, which I'm pretty excited about. It's well after the parks close at Universal and I'm banking on Uber/Lyft getting us down there easier than my mom and I, since we do not live in Orlando and had no idea where we were going. :|

The verdict is still out for Saturday night, but I'm HOPING to talk A into Raglan Road. She and I were trying to pick restaurants that were 'unique' and things we can't get here. And unless she picks another resort restaurant, I'm not sure where else to eat. She said she 'could find' something to eat at Raglan Road and Homecoming. But there were 'better places to choose from'.

Sunday! EPCOT! Sunday night is 'Ohana. We have a lunch reservation at Le Chefs de France. And we'll obviously snack around the World Showcase. (She can't wait to go to Mexico and try the margaritas there.) I am an eater, so I will be eating around the World. My goal is to try new drinks, but I've never been intoxicated before, so it's unlikely anything will happen on this trip. Though since we're not driving, the responsibility has been taken from us.

Monday! Magic Kingdom! Ideally, A would have seen the castle first thing, but her cast member friend wants to be there when she sees the castle for the first time. (That's fair!) So we're doing that on the day CM can join us. We THINK it might be Monday, but she won't have her schedule yet. I'm planning everything 'loosely' with the intention of switching when we need to. I was GOING to do Crystal Palace for breakfast, but I'm going to switch it to a different day, I think. We have a Be Our Guest ADR at like..2:25, which overrode my Liberty Tree Tavern ADR for Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. I have to check with CM and A to see if they want dessert before lunch. If not, A and I will go back another day. That night is tentatively Artist Point.

So, here's the thing. We told CM that we wanted to treat her to dinner ANYWHERE she wants to go. So I've been asking somewhat persistently if she knows where she wants to go so I can get an ADR. (Like, obviously, we're not going to Victoria & Albert's.) But some ADRs are hard to get! I know she's busy! I totally do, but I'm also a control freak. So I want to solidify things as much as possible. Waiting has been hard for me. I'll explain my coping mechanism in the next post. :|

I'm not sure where she's going to want to eat, but she previously name dropped Teppan Edo as one of her favorite restaurants. So here's my thing. I'm all for Japanese food. It's really good. But how is Teppan Edo different than Shogun back at home? Or Yokoso? We have SO many Japanese steakhouses here in Pittsburgh, so it feels like I'm going to be spending A LOT MORE for a lot less, because apparently their portions are small. And okay, I'm a big eater. Especially protein right now, because I'm doing low-carb to try to lose some weight before the trip. (Like, if I could lose AT LEAST 20 pounds, I would be SO happy. But it's very unlikely if I can't start actively exercising.)

Anyway, we might be doing Artist Point, we might not. I'm not sure.

Tuesday! Hollywood Studios. Admittedly, I'm hoping this will be a half-day. We have an ADR at the Captain's Grille for breakfast. (Apparently, right before it goes down for refurb! Lucky us!) We'll be hitting the rides at rope drop and then heading back to EPCOT for dinner at Le Cellier.

Wednesday! Animal Kingdom! Boma for breakfast! BOMA IS SO GOOD! IT IS MY FAVORITE. I could eat french toast bread pudding with pecan praline sauce for breakfast every day of my life, I think. Once we're sufficiently HOT, we'll head over to Kidani to get bread service at Sanaa and then heaaad to the Magic Kingdom, I think. We haven't picked dinner, but we were talking about Restaurant Marrakesh, so maybe we'll hit that and THEN head to the Magic Kingdom.

Thursday! Hollywood Studios for ~May the Fourth be With You~. We'll spend time here and then park hop again. I really have a limited tolerance for HS because the lines are longer since there aren't as many attractions. We have The Wave scheduled for breakfast, which I ~guess~ is out of the way, but not if we're using Uber. It'll work out. We do not have dinner planned yet.

Friday! This is the day we're leaving. We could move Crystal Palace here. Our plane doesn't leave until 7:40pm and we're using Uber to get to the airport, so if we're smart, it won't take too long to get from a park to the AKL and then the airport. I imagine we'd probably have to leave the park around 4pm, grab our stuff (since we'll ALREADY have an Uber), and then head back to the airport. We'll probably start in EPCOT and end in Magic Kingdom. I really only do one AK day. And while River of Light seems really cool, I don't know if I want to see it while everyone else is trying to see it, too. I've only seen Illuminations so far and it was cool, but not cool enough to sit and watch while I could be riding things.

It is very probable that I will get Chipotle in the airport. Our flight lands in Atlanta and they have a candy store I'd like to patronize if possible.

I'm sure you're wondering how some of this is going to work and that's a fair question! I just did that math and realized that EXPRESS TRANSPORTATION is going to solve some big problems! I'm super excited to try it out! It's going to make park-hopping a breeze!

So these are my tentative plans for now!

 

[Raeven]

I think you got the name right

I hate not knowing when I'm planning so I understand where you're coming from there!

Ooo we were going to use the Express transportation but I don't think we'll need to now...still it sounds awesome.

 

[steviethegreat]

I think you got the name right

I hate not knowing when I'm planning so I understand where you're coming from there!

Ooo we were going to use the Express transportation but I don't think we'll need to now...still it sounds awesome.

I mean, ET sounds SUPER COOL. I have a lot of reservations all over the place. Specifically, I changed Tuesday's breakfast to Tusker House (right on the edge of lunch, so best of both worlds), so that we could get Rivers of Light seating. In an ideal world, our CM friend will have Monday AND Tuesday with us, so we can hit three parks with her, but I'm not sure if we will or not. But since we're starting in HS and then going to AK for breakfast/lunch, we're going to need ET. And then again, another night, we have dinner in Epcot and then we have to be in the Magic Kingdom for EMH, I think. So the ability to park hop without going through security is going to be awesome.

 

[steviethegreat]

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So, this is the type of stuff I pulled for my mom's birthday surprise. I went to the Party City at the local mall and found confetti! I also found these SUPER cute hangable Mickeys! We were at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I totally decorated. I mean, I hung things on the walls. I hung things in the bathroom. I decorated the tables. And no one said a word to me. So if you're NOT supposed to decorate, well, no one told me otherwise.

I saw a thread the other day where someone asked how to decorate and they were basically told not to do anything because it's against hotel rules. But I've seen tons of other people decorate. And Disney decorates as part of packages??? So I don't know what they're talking about.

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Please excuse this gigantic picture. But I made these. Kind of. This is not my picture!! Mine are not sewn. In fact, mine are paper that I cut into circles thanks to two different sized hole punches. I bought glitter paper, regular paper, and I even took more than my fair share of paint samples to cut into circles and glue together. The front and the back of the glitter were the same color, same with regular/themed paper, and then the paint sames were all willy-nilly, because I got lazy.

I made strings of these and some big Mickey heads to hang across the bed frame, across the TV, and across the doorway of our bathroom. Mom was surprised and she appreciated the gesture! I made some other things that you'll see in my upcoming TR (I PROMISE to write one this time. I have a plan!) I made card soldiers. I had a cute potted Mickey head. Just different things. And then I shipped it all down there so that I didn't have to lug it around with me. When we were leaving, we packed it all up again and sent it home! It was so much easier than packing and worrying about things getting smushed. PLUS, she had no idea.

Just like A will have no idea. Bwuahaha.

Okay, so, before our trip, I'm giving her a shirt that says 'I'm done Adulting, Let's go to Disney'. We're going to make one for our CM friend, too. And then I have her Universal things, all HP themed.

I realized that I didn't get her a birthday gift last year. (Womp womp, worst friend of the year award goes to Stevie!) She had a party at a mutual friend's house and I was planning on giving her money toward her wedding...Welp. And then for Christmas, I put deposits down on Disney AND Universal, so I kind of figured ~Hey, that's your present~. But now that I'm planning all of the things, I'm kind of freaking out. And that means I just throw my money around at the closest things.

So I figured Universal will be this year's Christmas present. (Christmas 2016, rather.) And then birthday 2016 will happen with birthday 2017 at Disney. I will be shipping TWO boxes down. Though, realistically, I only actually need the one, since I'm not shipping decorations to Universal. But I like the spray on sunscreen, so I will probably ship the sunscreen down so I don't have to worry about it. IDK. We'll see.

For her Disney bag, I have some cute snacks, PJs, knickknacky things. I think she's going to get a kick out of some of the things! I need to get her a tote or something. I mean, ideally, they'll come to our room again with a backpack full of stuff to celebrate her birthday, but I'm not holding my breath. It's happened to me twice. I can't imagine I'll be pixie-dusted like that again.

I'll just be happy if we have a 'standard' room view of the savannah. I really liked being lobby level and close to the lobby. I mean, it was IDEAL.

Our CM friend is giving us six parkhoppers for A soon. Which is great! I'm so excited! And SHE seems excited now that she's talking to us more. Since we found out that Universal closes early on Friday and Saturday for Grad Nights (womp womp) we're trying to 'fix' those nights doing something in Disney Springs. If they have another Magic Kingdom After Hours or something like that, it'd be worth buying entry to a park or something the night before switching over. I mean, I contemplated just adding an extra night to Disney and dropping the extra night at Universal, but IDK. It feels late in the game now to go switching things around. RPR is a great resort.

Our CM friend ALSO gets deep discounts on tours....we might be taking a Keys to the Kingdom tour. I mean, I'd really like to do the VIP Thrills thing, but I can technically ride all of those rides anyway. It's not like they're inaccessible. The Utilidors, on the other hand, aren't always open to guests. As theater people, it'd be neat to see how they 'put on the show'. So I THINK we might do that on May 4th. That's the only day we really COULD do it, unless we bumped our AK day, since it's really a half day park anyway. We could do it Wednesday, start in MK, then when the tour is over, move to AK to ride all of the things. It's just going to depend. I need to lay out the schedule with A and CM and figure out the best plan of action.

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There were also talks of Spirit of Aloha and Hoop Dee Doo, but I'm hesitant with both, since I've heard Ohana is better, and I wouldn't eat that much at HDD. The point is to enjoy the show and the food and neither are my thing, I don't think. Have any of you experienced those? Do you have opinions on HDD?

In 55 days, technically 54 now, A and I will be getting on a plane...waiting three days...and then riding through to see this beaaautiful sight! I can't wait to show her Disney! I know she's going to love it!

 

[Raeven]

If you're staying at USO you could still go to Disney during the day. We're doing that. Right now I don't think there's much less left hotel wise that isn't super expensive at Disney, I found USO to be cheaper.

I didn't love the food at Hoop De Doo, but it was fun!

 

[xlsm]

HI!!

I was cruising the PTR board looking for other May people, and lo and behold...we will be at the same resort for basically the same dates!

I was going to be traveling with my mother-in-law, but that has turned into a solo trip for me.

I cracked up at the 7D picture after you'd said you thought the ride wasn't that awesome...because a more perfect picture could not exist to bring that feeling home, LOL! I love it!

I'm so excited for your friend to experience all of this Disney and Universal goodness for the first time. Your enthusiasm is catching, she's sure to have a great time!
Looking forward to following along

 

[steviethegreat]

If you're staying at USO you could still go to Disney during the day. We're doing that. Right now I don't think there's much less left hotel wise that isn't super expensive at Disney, I found USO to be cheaper.

I didn't love the food at Hoop De Doo, but it was fun!

Yeah, HDDR didn't seem like my type of thing. I don't drink, so the sangria thing is lost on me. And I don't know that I would appreciate the show, if that makes sense.

I'm REALLY hoping they add a Villains party or a Disney After Dark event on Friday or Saturday, since USO closes at 6. We'll end up in Disney Springs both nights, if not. I contemplated getting another ticket for A, her friend could probably get us in anyway, and my ticket has 7 days on it as a promo from Disney or UCT or whatever. So if we do, it'll just be for a few extra hours.

But you're right. It's cheaper to stay at USO. I just really love AKL.

HI!!

I was cruising the PTR board looking for other May people, and lo and behold...we will be at the same resort for basically the same dates!

I was going to be traveling with my mother-in-law, but that has turned into a solo trip for me.

I cracked up at the 7D picture after you'd said you thought the ride wasn't that awesome...because a more perfect picture could not exist to bring that feeling home, LOL! I love it!

I'm so excited for your friend to experience all of this Disney and Universal goodness for the first time. Your enthusiasm is catching, she's sure to have a great time!
Looking forward to following along

I have been following along with your PTR, too, now! Even though I'm late to the game to reply to you, and I'm really sorry about that, I'm so glad you're here!

The picture of me is not flattering, but it definitely captures my feelings about that ride. Everest? LOVE IT. Space Mountain? LOVE. IT. I love ALL of the Mountain rides except Seven Dwarves. But I'm glad it's kind of a 'medium' ride for those that don't really like roller coasters. I just can't imagine waiting HOURS in line for it.

I am SO excited for A to see Disney and Universal because I talk about them constantly. And I can't wait for her to love it the way that I do.

 

[steviethegreat]

Send me that Video!

A and I have 39(!!!!!!) days until our trip. Like my weight, it's so exciting to see a new number you haven't seen in a while. But it's still practically the same number as before. I'm hoping that as the days get fewer, I still lose more weight. I've been trying really hard. Yesterday was pizza day at work and it was so hard to forfeit that.

My sister's birthday was on the 16th of March. We have my maternal grandma on the 12th, paternal grandma on the 15th, my sister, B, on the 16th, and then mine is the 30th. We had no idea what to get my sister.

The thing about my sister is that she's 26 (now). We work together in the same building for the same company doing roughly the same job. (We verify backgrounds for clients that are looking to hire employees.) And she still acts like she's ten. I have seen children handle birthday disappointments with much more grace. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she refused to give us any list or hints or anything. She told my mom that 'everything she wanted was too expensive for her'. So she didn't give us a list so she wouldn't be disappointed in her expectations.

One day before her birthday, someone texted her about free puppies or something. So, we have three dogs right now. One is almost 3 (as of May), my dog. His name is Riley. And I got him for a special reason. And then the other two are Oreo and Bear. They're both older, 12 or 13, now, I think. And their health is rapidly declining. We're really lucky to have this time with them. Especially because Oreo is riddled with fatty lypoma tumors. Two of them are so big that he has trouble lying down. But we keep an eye on him. He's doing okay. And when he tells us he's done, we'll do the right thing.

But B wants a dog now because -I- have a dog. (A dog that I got when she didn't live here, by the way.) I had proposed in 2013 that if I lost enough weight to get to my goal that I could get a dog. Which everyone agreed to. And I did lose almost 60 lbs. (That's why the pictures at Universal and Disney back then look so nice.) But now I've gained aaaall of that back. Womp womp.

What she doesn't realize is that if we get another dog, it's going to kill our older two. Riley has aged them significantly. And so her whole birthday just sucked. Every gift she got, she pretended to like. And at the end of the day, she yelled at my mom AND my 83 year old grandma and told them to just take everything back and give her the money.

You wanna talk about ungrateful?!

So I've been burying myself in my Disney stuff. We decided against any kind of tour, since it's A's first trip. And I don't want to take the freedom away from her. Like I said before, I'm hoping to add on an event Villains, Disney After Dark, etc, something to supplement our time after Universal since it closes so early.

In the meantime, our CM friend privately asked me about adding a special breakfast meal for A. (It involves a lot of princesses!) We'll be hitting Epcot to do that and then hopping our express bus over to Magic Kingdom to do our first day there. I anticipate A and I spending most of our time between Epcot and MK.

I saw a trip report by two girls (so much cute in one TR) that wore these super adorable princess skirts in Disney. And I asked A if she wanted to. And she really did. So my mom is going to make us tulle princess skirts. And we bought all of our materials to make our ears. So now we just have to get together (the saturday before Easter) and make it happen. We plan to get it all done so we can ship the ears down for Disney. It worked out really well for Mom's birthday. We bought stuff for making bows for the ears. A keeps reminding me to send her the video on how to do it. I keep forgetting. I'm the worst.

And then yesterday the boards were talking about how the May dates for the Star Wars dessert party were FINALLY available. I called right away, but the dates must not have dropped. So I waited up practically all night. I had my alarm set, but I was terrified we wouldn't get in. So I checked every hour or so.

I called at 7am on the nose. Got right through. STILL. NO. DATES.

The lady told me to call back NEXT WEEK. Uh, no.

So I was mindlessly checking every 10/20 minutes or so. And then, BOOM. There it was. I about lost it. I quickly booked the party. And now A and I are spending May the Fourth be with You right where we need to be! With a whole lot of desserts and a guaranteed viewing spot for the fireworks.

Now that I'm exhausted, I'm going to nap and then come back and blather on about the other things I'm working on. Because I'm crazy. Until then!