April 2015 Pre-Trip Apollo 13 has nothing on us!

[techtony]

I want to start out by saying that this pre-trip report is being written a whopping 4 months ahead of time to augment my Power Point Presentation that my partner refuses to watch.

As you can probably figure out, I am a little on the OCD side, and my partner says I am the modern day Clark W Griswold from "Vacation" - let's just hope that our vacation does not end up with a dead Aunt Edna on the roof and a dog carcass tied to our bumper!

So let's get started:

WHO IS GOING?

The Free Spirited Partner - David.

Likes: World of Warcraft, Cosplaying, Watching the TV show Charmed over and over and over again - sometimes in an endless loop.

Dislikes: Planning - of any kind (honestly I do not how he gets through life) and his biggest dislike?.... PEANUT BUTTER! I know, I know he is an odd duck and sometimes I think he is an emotionless alien robot sent to destroy us all.

Why is he going to Disney?: Probably because it was my idea LOL.

The Short Stocky Nerd - Me, Tony.

Likes: Reading about everything, Going from one hobby the next and nostalgic movie watching. PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING. Did I mention I make Databases for fun?

Dislikes: Not having a plan, Not being listened to, because I know I am right (my logic is infallible) and stupid people that have no consideration for others.

Why is he going to Disney?: I LOVE Disney and would live in the park if I could.

WHEN ARE WE GOING?

April 16th - 21st, 2015

WHERE ARE WE STAYING?

The Galleria Palms Hotel (Off Site because we are not rich and we MUST live within our means, and our budget is tight)

I researched Hotels over and over again and decided a few months ago that the World Champions Resort was the place to stay, until I really read the reviews closely and decided to Google Street View it - cancelled the reservation fast. Decided to stay at the Maingate Lake Resort, until I saw an independent review on trip advisor that scared the day lights out of me - cancelled that reservation too. After a full month of reading reviews, looking at trip advisor reports, google mapping it and calling the service desk of the actual hotel, decided on and paid in full for the Galleria Palms. Why? Free breakfast, good rooms, microwave, fridge and recently renovated. BONUS - Coffee Maker IN THE ROOM!!! Can you believe it? I mean that is enough right there to book!

ADVANCED DINING RESERVATIONS:

Well I fought with David over the reason for ADRs. He thinks we should just go and eat somewhere. He was last at Disney over 10 years ago, so he doesn't really know how things have changed. I took it upon myself to be in charge of the ADRS, and thus, we have the following:

Thursday Night - Ragland Road at 6:00pm
Friday Night - Kona Café at 6:00pm
Friday Night - Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party for Wishes Fireworks
Saturday Night - Flying Fish Café at 5:00pm
Sunday Night - Brown Derby at 5:10pm - Fantasmic Dinner Package
Monday Afternoon - Rainforest Café at 12:15pm
Monday Night - Tusker House at 5:30pm

THE ITINERARY:

Thursday - Travel by car to Hotel (9hours), yes we will leave the house at exactly 6:00am. We will arrive at hotel by 3:00pm EST

Friday - Hollywood Studios - 1/2 day ...... Magic Kingdom other 1/2 day

Saturday - Epcot Center - all day

Sunday - Magic Kingdom - all day, except for Dinner and Fantasmic over at Hollywood Studios

Monday - Animal Kingdom - All Day - no exceptions

Tuesday - Travel Day, we will leave at 10:00am and arrive back at home by 6:00pm


So that is the plan. I will update as time goes on, and trust me, I so want to write a trip report!!!!! We are counting down and cannot wait!!!!

 

[grarsh]

Howdy! Looking forward to reading your trip report, and I agree on the importance of solid Disney planning!

 

[ursalita]

Hi Tony!

We're also going in April, will arrive on the 21st. Looking forward to reading your report. You sound a lot like me - the planner, movie watcher, loves Disney, hates stupid people and not being listened to.

Love your ADRs. We're doing Flying Fish, too. We chose Mama's for the Fantasmic! package just because I limited our budget to one Signature. I look forward to hearing about Brown Derby when you do your TR and more of your pre-trip plans.

 

[techtony]

Planning is a must - seriously, it is NOT an option. Failure is not an option!!!!

I will be taking pictures of all our food - even the quick service lunches and the free breakfast at the hotel. Glad to hear there are others out there that are just like me!!!

I will try to update the trip report as we go, but no promises

Thanks for being interested in the trip - are you guys going to do a trip report too? If so, I'll follow yours too

 

[ursalita]

Definitely plan on doing a trip report, already got the PTR started (link in my signature).

 

[grarsh]

I'm definitely planning a Trip Report as well! My PTR is in my signature!

 

[techtony]

Grarsh - I feel so stupid - I had already read your pre trip report and did not even recognize you in my thread. Sorry for being a dunce. I wanted to include photos like in yours, but my company laptop refuses to link with my camera or my dropbox account - I will try later though LOL.

 

[techtony]

OK, so I so wanted to use the Apollo 13 theme and save the "Houston, We have a problem" for a real trip-related problem, but guess what?

HOUSTON!!!!! WE HAVE A REALLY BIG PROBLEM HERE........

I have been getting over a cold for the past week, and had this nagging cough that would sometimes erupt into a full-blown cough convulsive fit.

Well, last night I stayed up reading trip reports and one of these coughing fits erupted.... but this time I was leaning on the couch in a precarious position - not conducive to a healthy cough.

COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH - ok getting ridiculous - COUGH COUGH COUGH - HACK HACK and then......

CRACK!!!!!! BURNING SENSATION!!!! RIPPING SENSATION !!!!! PAIN!!!!!! AGONY!!!!!!

I seriously screamed in pain (I have a high threshold for pain - but this was unbearable). I immediately thought - OMG, I have ruptured my spleen. I was a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy and the location of the pain was dead-on for spleen rupture, plus I immediately had a bruise forming on my side - at the ribcage line on the left side.

So..... off I go to get emergency spleenectomy surgery.

Thankfully, I have not ruptured my spleen, but I have indeed cracked TWO RIBS coughing, and did so in a weird lounging position on my couch.

Good News is that it is not that serious and my spleen is actually intact.

Bad News is that you can't do anything for a broken rib, it just takes time - 3 - 6 months. Yes - my trip may not be very comfortable

So now everytime I laugh it hurts, everytime I cough it hurts, and this morning I sneezed at work and literally fell onto the floor screaming in agony. Good thing I work at a hospital - where it is normal for people to fall on the floor in agony, so it was not as embarrassing as you would think. What WAS embarrassing was I literally cried - I mean I cried with big ole tears - like a 5 year who dropped their ice cream cone type of tears. LOL. I am a big ole masculine dude and seeing me cry upset a few people LOL.

So, I am sitting here hugging a pillow hoping that I will heal up before my trip.

 

[techtony]

OK, Disney got me!!!!

Disney had an "UP TO 30%" select resort room discount.

I went for it - It cost a whooping $90 more than our off-site hotel, so why not?

We are now staying at the All Star Music!

Not the Poly, but hey - we get free parking, EMH and full use of Magic Bands - plus it is right on property and not miles away and likely not as sketchy.

The thing is...... I am not telling David this tid-bit of info. He thinks we are still staying off-site. A few weeks ago, he lamented that he would rather stay on property, so I told him if he could find it in the budget - let me know. Of course, he has no clue how to budget or balance his checkbook other than to call the bank if his debit card is denied at Tom Thumb - so needless to say, he thinks we will be off site.

I am planning to "go off course" from the GPS and "sneak into the Disney resort areas and look around". In the parking lot of the ASM, I will reveal the magic bands and tell him we have arrived at our destination. I love surprises!!!

My side pain is much better than I had expected, but it still hurts!