All Aboard! The Great Land and Sea Getaway - May 2009 PTR

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Lessa! Just stopping by to check in and see how things are going?

Have a great evening'!

 

[englishrose47]

I'llstart in 30 days I will be heading for Orlando in a few hours !!!

 

[lazydoxy66]

Now that is crazy!

Watch it! I have mine out for September. I even have things in the big one.
Actually, I use my carry-on for smaller trips all the time. It never gets put up.


It will probably sit empty until the day before. Actually it really depends on what my work schedule is that week and if I work the night we leave.

Now that is crazy!

 

[kaysmommie]

I know it! It is a good and a bad thing. Good because I can't wait for vacation and nice HOT weather. Bad because I only have a month to save money/lose weight/get all my stuff together/try and get a little bit of a tan so I don't look like the vampire that I am.

Believe me I feel your pain on all of the above. Did you decide if your going to try the spray tan yet? I might look into it. Just scares because I have such a white face and blonde hair. I don't want to be orange.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hi Lessa! Just stopping by to check in and see how things are going?

Have a great evening'!

Hey! Things are going great!

I'llstart in 30 days I will be heading for Orlando in a few hours !!!

Now that is crazy!

Believe me I feel your pain on all of the above. Did you decide if your going to try the spray tan yet? I might look into it. Just scares because I have such a white face and blonde hair. I don't want to be orange.

Nope, no spray tans for me, I tried one back in high school and it looked horrible.

 

[englishrose47]

In 30 days I will be flying to Orlando !!! Yahooey

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

One month from today I will be sitting on a plane jetting my way down to Orlando!

 

[carissanboys]

One month from today I will be sitting on a plane jetting my way down to Orlando!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Since we are at the one month mark I feel it is close enough to the trip to start posting our day by day itinerary. These plans are pretty much set in stone except for most of the ADR's. I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to spend the money eating at a bunch of sit-down restaurants. I calculated how much it would cost me to eat for the week (did not include mom's food) based on our current ADR's and with tax and tip calculated in it is almost $300. I don't even spend that much on food in a month! I am planning on taking $500 to spend on food, souvie's and tips for room service on the cruise so I will have enough to cover all the food should we keep our ADR's but I question whether or not we should. I have become a real penny pincher in my old age, totally not how I used to be.

Okay so here are my plans for arrival day

May 16th

Leave the house kissing the kitties goodbye around 3am, Erich will probably be sound asleep completely oblivious to the world. Stop at Tim Hortons like the good Canadian that I am as everybody knows you can't go on a road trip/vacation without first getting some Timmies to fuel you for the drive. I'll probably pick up a French Vanilla Cappuccino and a bagel for breakfast.

A short 30-40 minutes later we'll be at the border crossing. Hopefully we will get a good border guard. They are hit and miss, some are super nice and others act like they think you are terrorists and that you should be locked up for life. Mom always gets nervous at the border and usually rambles about stupid things. No wonder they think we are up to something.

After a smooth border crossing (crossing my fingers) it is about 1 1/2 hours to the Syracuse airport. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:20 and we like to get to the airport really early so we will hopefully arrive around 5:30ish. I know you will probably think we are crazy for getting there so early but we would rather be there early and feel relaxed knowing we have plenty of time than arrive closer to the flight and feel anxious and rushed. Another factor for our early arrival is you just never know how long the border is going to take as they may decide to search your car. This has never happened to us but you just never know when you will be randomly selected for a car search.

I plan on stealing Erich's Nintendo DS to bring along on the trip so I will probably kill the time waiting for the flight playing that. Yay Chrono Trigger! Totally awesome RPG by the way.

We are flying JetBlue so we will have those awesome little tv's in the back of our chairs. Last time we flew I was lucky enough to get an Angel marathon to watch during the flight down. Hopefully I will be lucky with my tv show selections again.

We have a short stopover in NYC (we don't have to get off the plane luckily) and then we are off to Orlando!

We are due to arrive around noon, hopefully the flight will be on time. Once off the plane it is off to collect our luggage and then over to Budget to get our rental car for the week. I have head that the lines at the Budget counter can be horrendous, hopefully that will not be the case but given that we are arriving on a Saturday I am not holding my breath.

The drive to WDW should be quick and painless, hopefully our room will be ready when we check in at POP and it will be what we requested. I've only made one request and that is for a room on the top floor. We don't really care what building we are in we just want the top floor so that we don't have to hear people stomping around above us and also to minimize any noise we might hear from the turbo flush toilets.

Once we are all checked in it is off to Downtown Disney for lunch and a little bit of shopping.

Lunch will be at Wolfgang Puck Express although Mom has indicated that she would like to eat at Earl of Sandwich. What we might do is that she will head there and pick up her meal and then meet me over at Wolfgang Puck. We'll see how things go.

Mom wants to check out the Make a T-Shirt store to get Alek and Erich a present. I think we might save this for another day though as I have head it can take up to 3 hours to get your order and I doubt we will be there that long on this day.

Another thing that Mom has mentioned wanting to do is the new Character's In Flight balloon. I might be too chicken to do this though. I will go on roller coasters but the thought of traveling to great heights in a balloon is incredibly frightening to me.

The evening will be spent over at the Magic Kingdom. I'm hoping to be there by 5pm. I don't have any particular attractions in mind for the evening, we will probably play it by ear, see what the lines are like for the rides etc.

At 8pm we are due to meet up with some lovely Disers for the Dole Whip/Spectro Meet. Really looking forward to this! It will not be as big as the meet at Epcot so it will be a chance to spend a little bit more personal time with everybody instead of trying to navigate around a big group.

While enjoying a Dole Whip we will scout out a viewing location for Spectro, I think somewhere in Frontierland/Liberty Square will be best as Main St will most likely be packed by then.

After Spectro we will probably stay for Wishes if we are not too tired. You are probably thinking how could they not be after traveling since 3am in the morning! Well for those who have read my last two reports you will know that I can never get to sleep on my first night in WDW either due to excitement or due to the fact that I work midnight shifts and my body is just not used to it. If we should end up being exhausted we are not going to push ourselves and we will just head back to the hotel. I am hoping to at least last through Spectro.



If for some reason we think we will be just too tired to make it to the Magic Kingdom that night I still have our 7pm reservation at the T-Rex Cafe so my plan should that be the case is to relax in the room, perhaps take a swim and then head over to Downtown Disney to do some shopping, get Alek and Erich their shirts and have dinner at T-rex and then turn in for the night at an early time.

So there you have it, our plans for the first day.

 

[Nicole786]

Whats going on with this DIS meet on the 16th? I'm at work right now and cant check, but i'm pretty sure we're gonna be at the MK on the 16th as well!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Whats going on with this DIS meet on the 16th? I'm at work right now and cant check, but i'm pretty sure we're gonna be at the MK on the 16th as well!

Pretty simple, there are a couple of us meeting up at Aloha Isle at 8pm for Dole Whips and then we are scouting out a spot to watch Spectro. You should definitely come!

 

[MaryAz]

Plans sound great! I am also one of those people who gives myself lots of time. We are always early! I also agree about the top floor prefrence. I am not at all fond of "elephants" overhead. I am excited to meet you and your mom at the Specto Meet.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Your plan looks great Lessa! We leave early and allow for plenty of time also. With all the garb we bring for the girls (electronics, etc.) we always allow for extra time for a bag search. We've had that happen before.

We'll be seeing ya at the Spectro/Dole Whip Meet! How cool to meet DIS buddies, have a dole whip and watch spectro. I can't think of a better way to start off our trip.

 

[KatGarcia]

I'm all about getting to the airport really early, I always fear we won't make it if we cut it close. I like to relax before the flight.

 

[englishrose47]

Me too but I will prolly get outvoted by the gang as they think I get there way to early!!I think I'll fix them and knock off 1/2 hour for depature!!! I too am looking forward to the DoleWhip Meet how many are going !!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Plans sound great! I am also one of those people who gives myself lots of time. We are always early! I also agree about the top floor prefrence. I am not at all fond of "elephants" overhead. I am excited to meet you and your mom at the Specto Meet.

I am chronically early, I think it is programmed into my DNA. I have tried to force myself to be late to work once out of spite for this guy who is always showing up 10-20 minutes late (wanted to get a point across) and all I managed was to be on time! I just couldn't do it.

Your plan looks great Lessa! We leave early and allow for plenty of time also. With all the garb we bring for the girls (electronics, etc.) we always allow for extra time for a bag search. We've had that happen before.

We'll be seeing ya at the Spectro/Dole Whip Meet! How cool to meet DIS buddies, have a dole whip and watch spectro. I can't think of a better way to start off our trip.

I am looking forward to the meet too, I am a little concerned about finding a good spot for Spectro though, hopefully Frontierland won't be too crowded. Not a big deal though as we are scheduled to see it again later in the week.

I'm all about getting to the airport really early, I always fear we won't make it if we cut it close. I like to relax before the flight.

Exactly! Alek and Erich are always giving me a hard time about getting early to places.

Me too but I will prolly get outvoted by the gang as they think I get there way to early!!I think I'll fix them and knock off 1/2 hour for depature!!! I too am looking forward to the DoleWhip Meet how many are going !!

 

[englishrose47]

Morning Lessa !!Rmember this motto "LATE AIN"T GREAT!!!

 

[scottny]

still here

 

[Loafmastermom]

couple of things to add...

you might be able to get the shirts sent to your hotel since you are staying on property...

going up 400 feet in a balloon is madness, I tell ya!

 

[lazydoxy66]

on the plans!

OOOOO, border patrol. I'd be like your mom. You know how I am about the Popo!

BTW, STAR WARS trivia on Tuesday at 8:30 PM.