Am I A Disney Commando Nazi!?!-->NEW!!! 6/17 My Final Thoughts :(

[KatGarcia]

HI! I'm Kat! Welcome to my Trip Report....

INDEX OF POSTS!
(To make it easier to navigate around all the other "stuff")...Happy Reading.

The PTR Posts...
The Back Story of L & I
ADR's Take One
Planning Drama…the almost NON trip!
Shopping Part One
Shopping Part Two
Itinerary V.1
A World of Disney Store Visit..w/ Pics
And Then there were 8...Plus - Planning Folders Debut
Our Window Decorations
The Last version of the Itinerary
Packing
The Night before we leave.

The Trip Report...
We are on our way!!
What's That Smell??
Jan 29- Off to the Magic Kingdom we go!
Asleep on IASW??? A Lapu Lapu will wake you!
An early morning wake up call
Off to DHS! Meeting some real Characters.
DHS..Part Two.
MORE DHS Pics
WCC! Ketchup Anyone??
Day 3 January 31, Thursday- Off to see the animals.
Tusker House Thursday January 31
DTD, The Best CM ever & AC!
Luis' Pics from the trip..so far...
L's Birthday! Friday February 1, 2008
BBB!!!!
BBB, The Photo Shoot
A Boma Birthday Dinner
Some "Spirits" at Epcot.
An Epcot Morning
An Epcot Morning Cont...
Afternoon Drunks, CP & P&PP.
P&PP Pictures
NYC DIS MEET 5/1/08
P&PP Concluded
Princess Lunch & BWV's Check In
Around the World 1 More Time...
The Vacation Part 2:The Anniversary
A French Dinner For 2
Happy 3rd Anniversary To Us!
Dinner at Narcoossee"s
Lunch in Epcot, A Sick Hubby & Cape May Cafe
Today We Got Our Keys!
The Last Full Day
**NEW 6/13**Our Last Morning...Ohana Breakfast & Home We Go!
**NEW 6/17**My Final Thoughts.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The cast of crazies:

Me- Kat. DISboards addict. Disney enthusiast. Tinkerbell freak. The planner, the over planner and the driving force of this trip (not to toot my own horn but - TOOT TOOT!)

DH- KC. (KC #1DH on these here fine boards) Liker of Disney. Still wishes we could vacation somewhere tropical, but CBR will have to suffice this time! He rocks because he supports the Disney freak he married! Loves Stitch & Tigger.

Lou- Luis. DH’s former co-worker. Video game lover. Has no favorite Disney character (we plan to change that). Shares DH’s sick brand of humor, which will make for a silly trip and TR! Has only been to Epcot (GASP!) and said that MK seems “kiddie” (we will MAKE him change his mind on that I assure you!)

D- Diana. Luis’ girlfriend of 3 years. They are adorable together and are very much like DH & myself. Has only been to MGM (GASP again!). Loves Princess Aurora. Slowly but surely being converted to a Disney obsessor like the rest of us! Hopefully I can get her to sign up for the DISboards and she will chime in!



Here is all of us a few weeks ago at the World Of Disney store in New York City.

L- MY very best, oldest friend I have recently been reunited with after 8 long years of not knowing where the other was! We met up again on DH & my "WDW Trip on w whim" and it was great. We fell into step just like no time passed at all. We still are so alike and we had a great time for the one day we saw each other. I am so excited to get to spend 3 days with her. Her fav is Stitch(her collection of Stitch stuff is HUGE!) Her bday is during the trip, this was her gift to her and to her daughter.

H- L's Daughter-8yrs old- MY new best bud! She is a really great kid. She's smart and funny and a ton of fun. A little dramatic but she's is 8 after all. She's in love with troy from HSM & Capt. Jack Sparrow (great taste if u ask me!) and loves Stitch too. She loved everything we went on in MK and when she found out there were 3 other parks to visit in Jan she just about passed out! Her b-day is also a few days after the trip and we will be celebrating!

Here's Me, DH, L & H From MNSSHP Oct 07.

Last but never least is:

Andy – AKA Pants (long time nick name between he and DH, I get to be called “panties” on occasion lol). DH’s best friend who he calls his brother. He has been a savior to us more times than we can count (put it this way he threw us our wedding!). Has never been to Disney and hears us talk about it all the time. He usually takes care of our cat, Bale when we are gone but this time he wants in on the action! He and L and DH will get along famously and probably drive us girls’ nuts!

Here is Pants with DH & I at our wedding
(First is Pant's Sister Marge,Pants, KC, Me & Pant's Brother, Spyro)

DH & I are really excited to get to show WDW to new people! As far as I’m concerned they haven’t been to Disney if they haven’t been to Magic Kingdom and really don’t know much of what it’s really all about! So I plan to get “1st Trip” buttons for all 3 of them, in hopes that those every one in a while “hello’s” from CMs will make them smile! And if there’s extra pixie dust that’s all the better!

The Story of the trip...
Most of our trips are just DH (KC) and me. This trip; however is chock full ‘o new peoples! We had been trying to get anyone we know to come with us, ever since we came back in Jan 07. Some people expressed interest but nothing too serious. Finally about a month ago DH lost his job (no sobs he got a new one and likes it waaaay better than the previous one) and in efforts to keep in touch with some of the people he used to work with, he invited his friend Luis (To be known as L for the sake of the TR) and his girlfriend, Diana (D) over for dinner of homemade pizza!
Somehow we ended up showing them pics of our recent trip to DL and that flowed into the WDW albums from our Honeymoon and the Christmas trip we took. They seemed interested. I swear we were the best Disney sales people ever! We explained how everything worked and how it really it’s decently affordable if they just know the tips and tricks we knew! We even showed them some videos we shot too. They in passing mentioned how they could save the money in 6 months time to get to go with us. We hoped they were serious but we had heard this before and we really didn’t think anything would come of it. Until the night of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows midnight release party, where we ran into them again. D sits on a bench with me in the park and says “We really wanna come with you to Disney!” And the rest, as they say, is history- in the making that is...

So the first half of the trip is the 7 of us (6 adults and 1 8yr old). We are staying at All Star Music. L & H have their own room for the first 3 days of the trip. The rest of us have a family suite. Originally we were staying at CBR but due to money issues and almost loosing 2 of our friend's for the trip, we made the switch. I am happy about it, I think it'll be a ton of fun! I know all of us together will be kinda cramped but it'll be crazy and it'll make for great stories. The boys are already planning pranks! L & H Leave and then its just the 5 of us for 2 days.

On the day D, L & Pants leave DH & I are going to The Boardwalk Villas courtesy of a lovely DVC member from the DIS, whom we rented points from. Feb 3rd is their departure and our resort switch and Feb 4th will be 3 years that we are married! SO it’s like 3 vacations rolled all into one with 3 totally different experiences!

SO that’s the beginning of my tale…. Thanks for joining us-it's bound to be an interesting journey!

Thanks for reading, can’t wait to hear from y’all!!

 

[princessjv]

I'm first! I'm just never first!

This is going to be so much fun for you! 2 trips in 1, it's BOGO!

My questions are how does your long lost friend come into play? Are they touring with you or are they meeting up a few times? How long will you get to be at the BWV's?

You will love it there! What a great place to celebrate your anniversary!

 

[KatGarcia]

I'm first! I'm just never first!

This is going to be so much fun for you! 2 trips in 1, it's BOGO!

My questions are how does your long lost friend come into play? Are they touring with you or are they meeting up a few times? How long will you get to be at the BWV's?

You will love it there! What a great place to celebrate your anniversary!

Yay my first subscriber!!!! Hi!!!

So I guess I do need to devote an entry to my long lost friend, I will make that the next installment! I'm not really sure what the heck her and her family are doing because her hubby isn't too into Disney (GASP!) but her and her daughter are def planning on coming into the parks with us for at least a few days. She told me she will probably buy a seasonal florida resident pass for her and her daughter and get her hubby a one day if he chooses to come at all. They only live an hour away so they may very well not stay on property (even tho I hope they do). But I will fill in the rest of the blanks with the next installment!

We are staying at BWV's for 5 nights! I'm sooooo excited! We are on the waiting list for Beach Club and if we can get it switched we will do that but I'm happy to be staying in the Boardwalk/Epcot area in general. And the resort switch won't change any of our ADRs, thank god! LOL!

How's your mom doing? I hope everything is getting better for your family!

Again thanks for reading!

 

[KatGarcia]

OK this is the back story about my long lost friend, L, and how we met. It was waaaaaaay back in the 8th grade, in Junior High School. We had an early morning Wood Shop class together. She was the new kid who just moved to town and ended up as one of two shop partners. At first we hated each other! For some reason we just didn’t like each other. We made the poor other guy working with us, the buffer between us. Then one day something happened that completely changed our friendship forever. (Dramatic Pause!) My then boyfriend decided to break up with me in a mean and rude manner in the middle of the hallway and I ended up going to class crying. I excused myself as soon as I could so no one would see me and for some unknown reason L followed me to the girls room and comforted me! We were inseparable ever since! She moved away not too long after, but only a few towns away. Then she moved again and again, everywhere from California to Florida and in between! She made a surprise trip to visit when I was 16, on Christmas Eve she showed up at my door. We always kept in touch off and on. My grandparents had the same phone # for years so she was always able to call them to get my # where ever I was. The last time I actually saw her was abut 8 years ago and it was only for a day. By then she had her daughter, who was only 6 months old. Then my grandparents decided to move and they gave up the phone #. So years and years went by and I always thought of her, esp. at my wedding. So one day I got bored and started surfing classmates.com and found her under her maiden name and then I searched her on myspace and FOUND HER! I cried like a baby when I realized it was her! So I emailed her and she emailed me back and told me she cried like a baby when she realized it was me!! The first time we spoke on the phone we spent 5 hours chatting away! She has always been that friend I missed, that one person who you can always talk to, a true best friend.

As soon as I found out she lived an hour from Disney, I yelled because of the last 2 trips where we were a mere hour away from each other! But it definitely made DH get on board with taking this trip, which until then was kinda my brainchild and his after thought. I knew we had to go, even if only for a few days so L and I could see each other! I can’t wait to see her and meet her husband and see her daughter all growing up!

I’m hoping they will spend a few days with us. As I said they may drive home each night to save money, but whatever happens I’m thrilled to be able to see her! Her daughter, H, is very excited to see Disney so that will make everything fun too, seeing it thru an 8 year olds eyes. Her hubby also said he may take care of H one day so L and I can spend time together, and if its within the beginning of the trip then I can have DH go out with everyone else and us chicks can go off on a girl’s night! Where to, I have NO IDEA!


So that’s the story and the main reason behind the trip!

 

[KatGarcia]

Well the reception kinda stinks for this here lovely TR...But I'm trudging on because it's sort of my travel planning journal as well. Feedback is always helpful tho...so if there's anyone lurkin', COME OUT COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE!

Anyways...Here's our ADRs, as they are at the moment. Witrh so much time in between who knows if it'll stay the same. IO hope it does but one never knows when you get a hankerin' for some random Disney food!


(Party of 5 Reservations)Tuesday January 29th, 2008 – Ohaha 8pm
Wednesday January 30th, 2008 – Whispering Canyon Café 7pm
Thursday January 31st, 2008 - Chef Mickey’s 11:10am (OOP)
Friday February 1st, 2008 – Crystal Palace – 530pm
Saturday February 2nd, 2008 – Boma 7:35pm
Sunday February 3rd, 2008- Akershus 11:25am
(this is the afternoon our friend's leave and we switch resorts)

(Party of 2 reservations)
Monday February 4th, 2008 (3rd Anniversary) – Narcooses’s 7:10pm
Tuesday February 5th, 2008 – Cape May Clambake 6:30pm
Wednesday February 6th, 2008 – Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show 8pm (OOP, Cat 1)
Thursday February 7th, 2008 –Chef’s De France 12 noon
Friday February 8th, 2008 – Ohana 10:30am

 

[princessjv]

Oh I just love your story of your long lost friend. I have had many friends come and go in life due to moving. It is always in my mind to find soem of them. What a great place to rekindle your friendship. I can't think of any better!


There are so many PTR's going on...I am sure more people will pop out of the woodwork.


Your ADR's are looking great. Will your friends be joining you for any of them?

 

[xo juicy splash]

Great start. Sounds fun. Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[daisy_77]

I loved your DL pre-trippie and trippie so I am definitely on board for this one!

All of your friends sound so awesome! I hope you can make Disers out of em.

I look forward to more!

 

[Avivasmom]

Sounds great so far...hey I use to teach in Brooklyn...in Bushwick and Brownsville.

You are eating at some good places...we love WCC and BOMA...doing Cape May Cafe this trip in Nov. We have done all three meals at CP and all were very good.

Sounds fun your friend will be meeting you there.

 

[ArielSRL]

Subbing!

 

[KatGarcia]

Oh I just love your story of your long lost friend. I have had many friends come and go in life due to moving. It is always in my mind to find soem of them. What a great place to rekindle your friendship. I can't think of any better!


There are so many PTR's going on...I am sure more people will pop out of the woodwork.


Your ADR's are looking great. Will your friends be joining you for any of them?

Believe it or not she's lived in Florida for years and not gone to Disney! The horror! I am most excited to see it through her 8 yr olds eyes! So far they won't be with us at any ADRs BUT who knows. She was amazed that I had the whole trip planned already so we'll see what she plans to do. I don't wanna make a whole itinerary and then have to change it. I'm hoping to hear from her this week about her plans.

Great start. Sounds fun. Can't wait to hear more!!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm feeling better about getting some subbers now!

I loved your DL pre-trippie and trippie so I am definitely on board for this one!

All of your friends sound so awesome! I hope you can make Disers out of em.

I look forward to more!

HI! Thanks so much for dropping by! I plan to work my hardest to convert the living crap out of them all! LOL! So far we have started working on Pants, we had him over this past weekend and we watched Disney movies all night! He's getting into it!

Sounds great so far...hey I use to teach in Brooklyn...in Bushwick and Brownsville.

You are eating at some good places...we love WCC and BOMA...doing Cape May Cafe this trip in Nov. We have done all three meals at CP and all were very good.

Sounds fun your friend will be meeting you there.

I'm in BayRidge, but I have been all over Brooklyn, and have lived a few places in Brooklyn too! I'm really excited about WDD, esp. with our friends coming. 59's will be closed while we are there so I really wanted to give them a cool Disney eating experience. I'm just praying I keep these ADRs and not change my mind again, LOL.

Subbing!

HI! Thanks for comin!!!!

 

[blue_river]

Count me in Kat!!!

Very neat stuff about meeting an old friend
(Though I can't believe she hasn't been to WDW)
What's up with that?

 

[KatGarcia]

Count me in Kat!!!

Very neat stuff about meeting an old friend
(Though I can't believe she hasn't been to WDW)
What's up with that?

Hi! Welcome!
I know, i could NOT imagine being that near to WDW and not using the living crud out of an AP!

 

[KatGarcia]

Well we had a sort of scare this weekend and the “Bring some friends” part of the trip almost was no more. We had plans to see L & D this past Friday night, in NYC. We actually ended up getting turned away from seeing Rachel Ray that afternoon (what a drama that was!) so we invited them over instead. They brought junk food and then once we were all settled on the couch they got all serious. L says “We have something we need to talk to you about”. Of course dumb-butt that I am said “KC, they are breaking up with us!”. And they almost were! Turns out due to some really bad family stuff on D’s part they needed to give their savings to her mom to help her pay the rent due to the loss of money. She already had ½ her trip money saved up and she had already paid me for the plane tickets we bought a week or so ago! So they figured there was no way they could go with us.

At the time they were booked under a different package than us with about 3 months till the final payment was due. We obviously told them not to worry and to do whatever they needed to do. They suggested going for a long weekend sometime during the year so that we can use their plane tickets. Another Disney trip you say? Gee, well ok. LOL. But my DIS brain was a’flowin’ with ideas. First I told them NOT to cancel the package, just in case. They are both expecting bonuses from work at the end of the year so there was hope between now and then.

My first idea was that we could switch to a value to decrease the cost. We stayed at Pop last trip and I enjoyed it. I figure anywhere in Disney makes me happy, and being with good friends will make it even better, so wherever we stay is fine by me. As long as it’s on property! Doing that would decrease the trip by about 500 bucks! So I start researching package prices and room only prices, etc. Then a brilliant idea came to me!! What if we could all share a room! The only way to do that is a family suite, of course! It would decrease the price for us all! So I tried to look it up on the Disney site…no luck! It’s the only thing you can not book online! Unfortunately it was about 2am at the time so calling CRO would have to wait. Then my brain starting revving into overdrive (hard to believe at 2am huh?). We had just gotten our Disney Visa limit extended so we could put our whole package on it, so we could get those lovely Disney points! Why couldn’t we put the whole new package on our card and have L & D pay us after the holidays? There seemed no good reason not to do it so we decided as long as they would feel comfortable with it then we would do just that! The whole package for 5 of us came to about $3,600 and our package was $2,400 so the jump wasn’t too painful. In the end it would save KC & me about $200 and L & D about $600 and Pants $100! In my fuzzy Disney math way that meant the $ we had to save to add the DDP to our DVC ressie for the 2nd half of the trip!

All that was left was to get D & L on the phone in the morning. I think we stunned them a bit but they agreed to it and in a flash I was on the phone with Disney! It took a half hour and a little working on the very helpful CM’s part but we now have a lovely family suite at the All Star Music Resort! I have been in the best mood since! I feel so awesome that we could help out our friend’s and that they can still make the trip with us! It’s truly making this trip all the more special to have people to show Disney to! I have never seen DH more hyped to go on vacation!

Anyways thanks again for comin on this ride with me, with us.

I have a question for you wonderful readers out there…


To get TGM or not to get TGM??? What do you think?

Usually it’s just DH & I but with only 5 and ½ days to do the world for those who haven’t been I wanna get the most of the experience for them. I don’t know if they will go for too much of a structured plan tho. I’m torn! Any help would be awesome! Thanks so much all!

 

[DISNEYDUET]

Hi Ya Kat!! That is so wonderful of you to help out your friends! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your planning. As for TGM I have to say I love it. I am a former cast member and a vet of 60+ trips in my lifetime and TGM helped me get through two trips with my husband's best friend and his family. We are usually just two so we come and go as we please but with others in tow it changed everything. TGM really helped me stay on pace so we could get everything done.

 

[Avivasmom]

What great friends you are...it is nice to help them out...your trip will be a blast and I bet even better now!

 

[KatGarcia]

Hi Ya Kat!! That is so wonderful of you to help out your friends! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your planning. As for TGM I have to say I love it. I am a former cast member and a vet of 60+ trips in my lifetime and TGM helped me get through two trips with my husband's best friend and his family. We are usually just two so we come and go as we please but with others in tow it changed everything. TGM really helped me stay on pace so we could get everything done.

HI! I think I decided to do TGM before I mentioned it to DH but I figured I'd try and include him in the decision anyway. LOL. Last night I asked him what his thoughts are about it and he seemed cool with it, as long as I'm taking care of it of course! I haven't started working on our itinerary yet because I will prob get TGM and do it from there! Most of it's in my head tho..lol.

What great friends you are...it is nice to help them out...your trip will be a blast and I bet even better now!

I really an so excited that they are coming with us! People seem to think we will be cramped in the family suite but I figure we aren't really going to be there but to get ready and to sleep so we can deal with it, after all we'll be in DISNEY!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Yay! I'm glad you all still get to go!

Looking forward to all the planning!

 

[blue_river]

Kat,

I'm so glad that you're still going to WDW!!!

You guys are pretty special friends to have

Looking forward to hearing more of your plans!

 

[Phedre]

Ooh good trip report so far. It's great that you have reunited with your old friend. I know I've got a friend I wish I could find again too so I'm so excited for you I'm glad it's going to work out with your other friends too