Another dream vacation...this time, in the making!!

Which do you dream of doing most?

  • WDW in Sept. with the Platinum Plan in a regular room for 10 nights

  • WDW in Sept. with the dining plan and a concierge room for 10 nights.

  • WDW in a regular room with the dining plan for 6 nights followed by 4 nights on the Disney Wonder.

  • Option 1 at the end of Nov./start of Dec.

  • Option 2 at the end of Nov./start of Dec.

  • Option 3 at the end of Nov./start of Dec.

  • Go to DL for a week (spend a week enjoying the sights on the way to DL).


Results are only viewable after voting.
WoW! The big surprise for the kids is going to be awesome! I can't wait to see the pictures & video!!! BTW, you've got a great hubby for driving you down there and back! :thumbsup2 Have fun planning!!!

-Michelle


Still trying to figure it out...is Jordan's favorite character Tinkerbell??? :confused3 ;) Thanks again for reading along!!
 
Still trying to figure it out...is Jordan's favorite character Tinkerbell??? :confused3 ;) Thanks again for reading along!!

I did the big reveal already in my TR. I'm such a wimp. I can't keep a secret! LOL! :lmao:

So, when do you get to make ADR's? Have you planned out your meals already?

-Michelle

P.S. I saw that you have the flu! :sick: I hope you are feeling better! :hug:
 
I am here...I am here...I have been in the flu funk for the past few days...so although I have been DISing...it has been sort of rambling all over rather then hitting my favorite threads. Today the cloud is starting to clear, but I fear I am still no where near up to doing any planning. UGH. The flu stinks. Especially when you are a mom....there is no rest for the weary (or the totally worn for that matter)!

I will post a trip update soon. I am in the process (or at least I was before I got sick) of digging up info on my favorite planning sites (DIS and TGM) and compiling that into the holy grail...my planning notebook *I shudder at the thought of losing my planning notebook....ISH*.

PS...I am still waiting on DH to return the cord to me. He is the one who did the downloading of our last set of pictures...I am not brave enough while sick to even dream of entering his disaster of an office (some say chaos is a sign of genius...in my husband's case, he better hope so!!). However, if he has not waded through the clutter and returned the cord to me by the time I am back to normal, I will brave the clutter :laughing: to complete my assignment! ;) :thumbsup2


Hey Jay - so sorry to hear you were feeling under the weather, that is not good! I agree with you totally - there is no rest for the weary when you are a Mom!!! Hopew you are feeling better now!!!

And oh no please do NOT lose the holy grail! We need that planning notebook....hehehe, notice how I said "we"!!! Hahahaha

Has youu sweet husband returned your much-needed cord to you yet so you can upload those pictures!!??? :) (yes, I am anxcious, can you tell)?? I did another photo shoot with my little one yesterday!!

Well again, hope you are feeling better! Look forward to hearing from you soon!!!
 
:cool1: Okay...today was day one of feeling semi human again...the flu really stinks! :sad2: :sick: Hopefully this will be our one and only bout with illness this season! :wizard:

So...being as I felt a bit better, I did some trip planning! :):):)

Based on the July/August schedules here is my tentative what day where plans...I will have to wait for the September ones to come out before I can set this in stone..but I am overly anxious. I want my ressies on day 180.... :rolleyes1 OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE MAYBE??!! I don't know.

SEMI FINAL PLANS:

Here goes nothing:

Saturday 9/1 arrive mid to late morning and then spend a day soaking it all up at AKL. And then do one of the following:

1. Dinner at Jiko (yummy)
2.Grab dinner while shopping at DTD (Wolfgang Pucks, Rain Forest Cafe or Earl of Sandwich) **We LOVE Earl of Sandwich...but are interested in the other two as well...any feedback on either of them?**It depends on what time Jiko opens for dinner and how long we want to spend shopping. ;)

Saturday night our only for sure thing would be the 9:00 PM Cirque show!! WOO HOO!! I am excited to see that! It's the reason we added on another day!

Sunday 9/2: Sunday- more resort relaxing during the day. Let the kids collect beads at the activities. Swim. Watch the animals. RELAX!!! Lunch will be a very special one!! We will have lunch in our room set up out on the balcony overlooking the savanna (hopefully...you cannot reserve the view at the concierge level...but I have heard that if you request it...it's VERY likely you will get it...so here's for hoping :wizard: ). Ahhhh...I am so looking forward to this moment!! I spent my many hours of half napping/half coughing up a lung day dreaming of this moment!! ;)
The following is taken from the In Room Dining menu on Allears.net

Savanna Romance Package for Two - served on your own private balcony

Your private Savanna feast includes:
Mixed Green Salad with mango vinaigrette
Choice of Any Two Dinner Entrees on the Private Dining menu
A Special Dessert made for sharing
Choice of a glass of house wine

*We will also be adding an order of jumbo shrimp cocktail for five (and only four of us like shrimp....;) ).

We would just grab some Mara food for the boys and let them have an "indoor picnic" while watching a Disney movie on tv...trust me...this is heaven for them. :rolleyes: ;)



Dinner will be at Ohanas. Dh loves it there. I like it quite a bit and even the pickiest of our eaters can always find something they like. The peel and eat shrimp are a huge hit with our family!!

Depending on if MK still has an EMH that night we will either just do a circuit on the monorail and watch Wishes from the Poly OR we will do that and then head over to MK for a few hours of nighttime fun!

Monday, September 3 (our 12th anniversary): EPCOT BABY!! (maybe...unless TGM gives it a no go for Labor Day crowds...yes, I do listen to TGM with a blind faith ;) ). But...as long as he doesn't "forbid" it...we will go! After breakfast in the concierge lounge, our "early" day will be spent enjoying all that the "Future World" part of Epcot has to offer. We don't like to rush...we like to take our time and really enjoy everything...so we don't want to hurry and smash all of Epcot into one day. We plan on doing lunch at the Garden Grill by popular request of our three darling sons. This is one of the number one character meals at Disney according to them. So...to the Garden Grill we shall go!

After a late lunch we will enjoy a few more "front of the park" attractions before heading back to the WS. First up on our list will be a visit with Miyuki! We love Miyuki the candy maker!!

Then we will enjoy working our way slowly towards Canada. We will dine at Le Cellier for our anniversary dinner. YIPPEE!! Dh loves this place. I am going to investigate and see if I can have anything special done for him there. Last year I had a diver hold up a sign in the tank at the Coral Reef...how does one compete with that??!!

After that we will grab a spot and watch Illuminations before finally making our way back to the resort.

Tuesday 9/4 will find us at MGM after first eating breakfast in the lounge. Here we run into another "where to eat moment". We know we want to do Sci Fi for lunch (another family favorite...although the movies do sort of creep our middle son, "Goofy", out). But what to do...what to do for dinner? SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME!! We usually do Hollywood and Vine and like it well enough...however, we would like to branch out and try something new. Of course, we would like to dine somewhere that has the Fantasmic package so we don't have to line up super early for decent seats!

Wednesday 9/5 MAGIC KINGDOM OR BUST!! And this day will be full of dining fun! We will start the day by eating at the Crystal Palace as early as possible so that we are finishing up before the park even opens!!

Lunch will be CS on the go! :) Dinner will be LTT!

Thursday 9/6 The day we will celebrate little "Goofy's" 8th birthday! We will spend the day at AKL. Breakfast will be with the cranky yet lovable Donald Duck before the park opens. We will spend the day enjoying ourselves immensely!! We do so love this park! We will grab a counter service lunch. Dinner will be at Jiko tonight if we didn't fit it in on Saturday night. Otherwise, Boma. Either way...YUM! We will have a relaxing evening at the resort and will make sure to let the boys go and use the night vision goggles for animal viewing and go and sit around the fire and listen to the African story teller. We will also make sure to take advantage of the dessert offerings in the club lounge! YUM times two!

Friday 9/7 Once again breakfast will be in the lounge. Followed by a morning of fun at Epcot. Then just before lunch we will head over to BB or TL and spend the rest of the day at a water park. Lunch will be a counter service deal at whichever water park we end up at.

Dinner this night is up in the air...California Grill and then over to MK for Spectro? Or should we head back to Epcot again and do dinner at the Coral Reef? OR maybe back to the resort for another night of relaxation...in which case it would most likely be Mara CS. Hmmm...input on the Cali Grill would be most welcome!!
Saturday 9/8Back to MK (I think). Yes, I know it's a Saturday ;) BUT...we do so love MK. And the boys will really love spending a second day here. And it is low season. On this day we will eat breakfast in the lounge and then head out to MK. CS lunch (or maybe Crystal Palace). Then we will have dinner with Cindy in the castle. After dinner head back to the resort and enjoy our last night by relaxing in the resort and spending our last night out around the fire listening to a story!

Sunday 9/9
Wake up and do the sunrise safari at AK!! :cheer2: This is a big benefit to staying CL level at AKL...we are so excited about this safari!! After the safari we will have breakfast (included in the price) and then hit a few last "have to do" things at AK and head for home.

AHHH...the sadness of having to head for home...however, it will be okay. I can survive! ;) Knowing that in just over two months I will once again be back for another 8 days of fun at WDW!! :):):)

Notice I tried to avoid most "monorail hotel" things (other then maybe the Cali Grill and Ohana). We will have plenty of time to soak that up when we stay at the CR at the end of Nov-start of Dec.!! WOO HOO!!
 

THANK YOU ALL for the well wishes and checking in on me! It feels good to have cyber pals (and yep, I consider those who are willing to stick out such a long PRE trip report friends) who care enough to say "feel better". What a neat online community the DIS is!! :thumbsup2
 
The Table of Contents...a cheat sheet to the "meat of it" posts
Post 1 (page 1)How it all started (the very early stages of planning)
Post 9 (page 1) What would we get out of the Platinum Plan???
Post 17 (page 2)An important update...dh changes things up
Post 34 (page 3)The ressies have been made!! AAA Tip Alert!
Post 36 (page 3)Pins, eBay and saving some more money
Post 37 (page 3)The cast of characters (with pictures)
Post 46 (page 4)Vacation counters are added!!
Post 59 (page4)The What Ifs set in big time
Post 64 (page 5)Oops...this changes things.
Post 81 (page 6)The tentative plans for our September trip.
Post 86 (page 6)The surprise is set! Some trip shopping is done!!
Post 97 (page 7) Some great photography tips posted by MouseTriper
Post 108 (page 8) A bump in the AAA road. :sad2:
Post 116 (page 8) The bump is removed...I hope!!
Post 119 (page 8) The surprise is refined to perfection! :thumbsup2
Post 144 (page 10) Plans that are way more refined to fit in with what Disney offers when ;)

Welcome to my pretrip report! I am excited that you have come to join in the fun and excited energy that comes with planning our TWO (woo hoo) upcoming 2007 WDW vacations. If you would like to read about our last two WDW vacations...I have inserted the links below.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1130447 The Pick Me, Read Me TR -Sept. 2005

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1246511 The Trip of Dreams (with pix) -Sept. 2006
 
val010.jpg


Happy Valentine's Day pre trippie readers! May your day be filled with special times with those you love! :hug: :flower3: :grouphug: :love:
 
Just a thought -- For something new, how about a Wishes Cruise instead of going to the Poly beach? It's really a special way to view the fireworks. The boats have speakers so you hear the music, etc. The view of the castle with the fireworks behind it is just breaktaking! First you go for a ride around the lagoon & your captain shows you the resorts. Then he "parks" the boat right infront of the castle -- awesome! After the show, our captain took the boat around so we could see the water parade. It was really nice! :thumbsup2
 
Glad you're feeling better, Jay!
Your plans sound GREAT!!! You will all have a fabulous time!
Barb
P.S. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!
 
So glad you're not feeling so :sick: anymore! Your plans sound great - especially the Savannah Romance Package! I'll definately have to try and schedule more 'down' time when we go again.

My boys love the Garden Grill too - they really do have the best character interaction there. Sorry I can't offer any advice on the Cali Grill - we've never tried it :sad2: but, I'm sure someone on here has!
 
Oh, you are so fun, and I have Nooooo time for this but I am going to try, try, try to be in, in , IN!!!

Jamal:goodvibes
 
Just a thought -- For something new, how about a Wishes Cruise instead of going to the Poly beach? It's really a special way to view the fireworks. The boats have speakers so you hear the music, etc. The view of the castle with the fireworks behind it is just breaktaking! First you go for a ride around the lagoon & your captain shows you the resorts. Then he "parks" the boat right infront of the castle -- awesome! After the show, our captain took the boat around so we could see the water parade. It was really nice! :thumbsup2
That does sound nice! Actually better then nice! You have added a new thing to my "figure out if this fits before you hit the 180 day mark" list! ;)

About how long did your Wishes cruise last? What time did it begin? Do you recall the cost? Was it available every night of the weeks?

**Sorry, I am like that, you give me a good idea and I ask you a hundred and one questions ;) **

THANKS for the great idea!! Any extra info would be appreciated!! :wizard:
 
Glad you're feeling better, Jay!
Your plans sound GREAT!!! You will all have a fabulous time!
Barb
P.S. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!


Do you really think I have left enough down time? I know we have a huge chunk when we first arrive...but then it gets pretty busy. I don't want to stress out GRUMPY ;) and I don't want to be running on empty either....however...I did strive for at least some sense of balance! ;)

Any news yet on your *maybe* trip!? :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

I hope your Valentine's Day was amazing!! Dh was out of town until 7:00 PM but he showed up with food in hand (by that time it was too late to go out for dinner as the lines were out the door and I still don't feel "great"). He is also very lucky (hee hee hee)...yesterday both the kids and myself received packages from him while he was away. That is the right way to make it up to your family for being gone on Valentine's morning (we almost always have a special family breakfast that morning...so he was missing a "family tradition"). Two points for Grumpy! ;)
 
Do you really think I have left enough down time? I know we have a huge chunk when we first arrive...but then it gets pretty busy. I don't want to stress out GRUMPY ;) and I don't want to be running on empty either....however...I did strive for at least some sense of balance! ;)

Any news yet on your *maybe* trip!? :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

I hope your Valentine's Day was amazing!! Dh was out of town until 7:00 PM but he showed up with food in hand (by that time it was too late to go out for dinner as the lines were out the door and I still don't feel "great"). He is also very lucky (hee hee hee)...yesterday both the kids and myself received packages from him while he was away. That is the right way to make it up to your family for being gone on Valentine's morning (we almost always have a special family breakfast that morning...so he was missing a "family tradition"). Two points for Grumpy! ;)


How sweet of your Dh to send you all packages for Valentine's Day seeing that he could not be there in the morning for your tradition. :earboy2:
 
Do you really think I have left enough down time? I know we have a huge chunk when we first arrive...but then it gets pretty busy. I don't want to stress out GRUMPY ;) and I don't want to be running on empty either....however...I did strive for at least some sense of balance! ;)

Any news yet on your *maybe* trip!? :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

I hope your Valentine's Day was amazing!! Dh was out of town until 7:00 PM but he showed up with food in hand (by that time it was too late to go out for dinner as the lines were out the door and I still don't feel "great"). He is also very lucky (hee hee hee)...yesterday both the kids and myself received packages from him while he was away. That is the right way to make it up to your family for being gone on Valentine's morning (we almost always have a special family breakfast that morning...so he was missing a "family tradition"). Two points for Grumpy! ;)


We found out the hard way that we didn't have enough "down time", even though I thought we had planned enough of it. I know you will do what we did. Have your schedule but go the the flow. When DD2 crashed on her bed that night (when we missed BOMA :sad1: ) we knew there was no way to make her move before she was ready. We managed. Just like you will. If "Grumpy" needs a break, you'll give it to him.

The *maybe trip*....... Man, in my dreams, we're there. Right now, unless we get a massive dose of pixie dust with an equally massive check attached, I don't see it happening this year. I could just cry..... Even just typing the words hurts. But - if you know me at all - I'm always planning for it, & if we can make it happen, we will. Wish us luck & but don't hold your breath.

After almost 22 years of marriage, Valentine's Day isn't usually a big deal at our house. I did do a scavenger hunt for the kids, though. We do this each year. I write up clever little clues to lead them to their box of candy. Each child gets three different clues. They run all over the house in search of their next clue. They love this! It gets harder for me as they get older, because I need to get even more clever with my clues. Last evening, DH & I passed each other in the driveway - I was coming home from work & he was bringing DD1 to gymnastics. Then an hour later, I went to pick her up. I did get a good night kiss, though, so all is not lost!!;) We're planning on doing something fun with the kids this weekend.

Anyway, sorry to ramble. Didn't mean to hijack your TR. Remember, I'm living vicariously through you!
Have a great day!
Barb princess:
 
So glad you're not feeling so :sick: anymore! Your plans sound great - especially the Savannah Romance Package! I'll definately have to try and schedule more 'down' time when we go again.

My boys love the Garden Grill too - they really do have the best character interaction there. Sorry I can't offer any advice on the Cali Grill - we've never tried it :sad2: but, I'm sure someone on here has!


Do you think we have added enough down time? We do have loads of it to start (dh wants down time...so...I am giving him a few days to decompress *his work is pretty stressful sometimes*)...but I am worried about later in the week. I am wondering if I should plan another off day somewhere towards the end. I guess we could always just revamp while at WDW...but here's the thing...I am totally obsessive compulsive about having my plans laid out. ;) Not to the minute or anything but day to day flows...I just feel better going in knowing in general what I will be doing. No...it doesn't make any sense that I have to know what I will be doing on a Wednesday six months from now. ;) BUT...just nod and smile. :rolleyes1

The boys and I find park time relaxing...dh doesn't...I want to strike a good balance (so that he keeps coming back to WDW with us. ;)
 
Do you think we have added enough down time? We do have loads of it to start (dh wants down time...so...I am giving him a few days to decompress *his work is pretty stressful sometimes*)...but I am worried about later in the week. I am wondering if I should plan another off day somewhere towards the end. I guess we could always just revamp while at WDW...but here's the thing...I am totally obsessive compulsive about having my plans laid out. ;) Not to the minute or anything but day to day flows...I just feel better going in knowing in general what I will be doing. No...it doesn't make any sense that I have to know what I will be doing on a Wednesday six months from now. ;) BUT...just nod and smile. :rolleyes1

The boys and I find park time relaxing...dh doesn't...I want to strike a good balance (so that he keeps coming back to WDW with us. ;)

You've got some down time mid week too - I am just beginning to learn the lesson you've already learned, which is to cater to DHs wants too! My boys and I are just like you and your boys - we love the parks and could go all day, but DH does not. He always feels like he needs a vacation from the vacation, so that is why I am living vicariously through you this year - because I don't get to go :sad2: So, I am determined to learn from you and next time make the trip enjoyable for DH as well!

I think your plan sounds awesome - but that is coming from someone whose idea of down time is a couple hours off in the hot part of the afternoon to swim at the hotel - then it's back to the parks!
 
Oh, you are so fun, and I have Nooooo time for this but I am going to try, try, try to be in, in , IN!!!

Jamal:goodvibes


It's great to see you here!! EVERYONE...this is another great trip report...click her siggie and read away! It's a great trippie!

Thanks for jumping in! I am looking forward to hearing any tips you may have to share!! Thanks again for making your way over here!!:goodvibes
 


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