Back to Where It Began - 10th Anniversary Trip Report-Dec 2007 - Pics Added 4/7

[ncseric]

On December 27, 1997, my DW and I were married, and the next day, we headed to Disney for our Disney-honeymoon. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly a picture-perfect, pixie-dust-coated experience the whole week. Our flight on NorthWorst was one of the worst I've ever been on -- spent three hours cooped up in a plane on a Detroit runway with no food, air conditioning, or water. DW got sick a day or two into the trip and was miserable until the last day or so of the week. We also didn't get our honeymoon requests at the Grand Floridian, even though they were booked way in advance. Bummer of a trip all around.

Needless to say, it hasn't soured either of our interests in WDW or opening our wallets to Mickey's paws. So from December 7th-11th, 2007, we're going again, without the two girls eek to celebrate our tenth anniversary in style. As obsessive Disney visitors, we already have most of the trip sketched out, and we're going to share our plans with anyone who wants to read. We've been to WDW a number of times over the past years with our kids, so this will be the trip where we get to do what we want to.

This is my first trip or pre-trip report, so be gentle. I was a professional computer book writer, but that's a little bit different than the art of the trip report that LaLa, ZZUB, 1000thhappyhaunt, and others have perfected.

For all you foodies, we'll shoot as many pictures for a food pr0n report after the trip.

I'd also appreciate suggestions for making this 10th anniversary trip a good one to remember. Unfortunately, DW reads the boards too, so if you have a suggestion, PM me and I'll send you back my private e-mail address that she doesn't read. Two years I nearly surprised her with a all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, but American Express blew the surprise by printing the entire itinerary for the trip on the credit card bill, even though I'd paid with points. Grr.

Anyway, on with the pre-trip(e) report.
-------------------------------------

For those of you looking to skip the banter and just read the trip report updates, here is the handy dandy index:

Part I: A Special Delivery
Day One: The Departure
Day One: Check-in at Beach Club Villas
Day One: Going to the Studios
Day One: Fantasmic or Not???
Day One: The End of a Great Day

Day Two: A Roller Coaster of a Morning
Day Two: Shopping and Lunch

 

[ncseric]

As it's our first trip/pre-trip report, some introductions are in order.

Me: I've been going to Disney World since it opened. My grandparents lived north of Tampa, so we'd go over for the day, do the Magic Kingdom, and then drive back. In all the trips, we only stayed on property twice: once in the now-demolished wing of the Contemporary, and once at Fort Wilderness. However, the FW stay was a pump-fake... we didn't go to the park, just stayed at the campground in my parents' RV.

DW: (She's typing now) My first trip to Disney was a one-day trip with my family in seventh grade. We spent the day at Epcot. It was soon after Epcot opened, so we waited at least 1 1/2 hours for Spaceship Earth! Anyway, I also went two different spring break trips with my high school band and marched both times in the Electric Light Parade. It was great!

When DW and I got married in 1997, we were on an early version of the Disney Dining Plan that no one in any of the restaurants quite understood, but we were hooked on the all-inclusiveness of it. We stayed at GFL for the honeymoon and came back a year or so later when AK opened. When DD #1 was born, we took her when she was 1 1/2, and then came back when DD #2 was almost 2 years old. Our most recent trip was our first trip "home" as DVC members. We spent five days/four nights in a 1 Br Villa at Wilderness Lodge.

You might also be wondering about our self-portrait above. Besides being a Disney junkie, I'm also a Lego junkie. Long, long ago, Lego put out an "Idea Book" that showed the travels of Bill and Mary through Legoland. You can see the pages of the book (and the story of their trip) here. We're going to do our trip report with our characters, since I don't particularly want to pose for everyone.

 

[ncseric]

Once we decided to go without the kids, the next question was to decide where to stay. As DVC members, we booked our initial reservation at Old Key West (OKW) the day we were allowed to do it. Granted, OKW is probably not at the top of anyone's list, but we didn't want to get caught without a reservation.

However, we were more interested in staying somewhere else. Since most of our time would be at Epcot and MGM, we figured that one of the resorts closer would be a better fit. So 7 months to the day, we started trying to make reservations at Boardwalk (BWV) or Beach Club (BCV). Unfortunately, Boardwalk was already sold out, so we got our first two nights booked at BCV with wait-list requests for the other two.

Like everyone else, we'd started hearing that they were putting DVC rooms out at Animal Kingdom Lodge, so when we were down in November 2006 for a wedding, we took a drive over to AKL to see that fantastic hotel. Of course, the DVC folks there didn't have dates or any details, so we put that idea aside temporarily. Until...

We got our packet about Animal Kingdom Lodge and the DVC facilities. Tomorrow, we can try to book our other two nights out there. That would be sweet. We can first try for a savannah view (which at last call was available), but in another month, we can try bumping up to concierge level, which would be sweeter.

If all goes well, our first two nights will be at BCV and our last two nights will be at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We'll have a rental car (thanks to American Express reward points), so moving hotels isn't as bad as it would be if we were taking the Magical Express bus.

 

[ncseric]

Indianapolis has a good selection of airlines and we found direct flights on AirTran for less than $90/person each way. Score!

We'll get into Orlando around 1:30 pm, and allowing time for picking up the car, stopping at the Target off the toll road to Disney, we should be at BCV by 3-3:30 pm or so. Given that this is the slow time of the year, hopefully our room will be ready and we can get checked in and on our way.

Since both my wife and I have been there more times than we can count, we're not really shooting for the commando-style trip. We'll be there again in October 2008 with the girls, so this trip is mostly the stuff that they won't do, can't do, or won't sit through.

The current Friday plan:

- Go somewhere after check-in, possibly MK or Downtown Disney
- Counter service for dinner
- We can't remember ever seeing the whole Illuminations show, so we're staying to see that.
- Friday is Epcot EMH, so we'll probably close the place down and go back to BCV.

 

[ncseric]

DW just scored us two nights at AKV this morning after a frenzy of morning calls. Later in July, we can try for concierge level, but for now, standard view is ok, too. Sweet!

 

[ncseric]

We're creeping up on the 6 month window for ADRs, so we're finally putting our "schedule" into something resembling stone. After a number of poor reviews of Mama Melrose's and the lack of need for special seating for Fantasmic, we've shuffled our schedule a bit for Friday.

4:00 PM - Arrive at BCV, check in, get tickets
5:00 PM - Head to MGM, counter service for dinner
7:00 PM - Fantasmic
8:00 PM - Head to Ep(i)cot for EMH
12:30 AM - EMH over

CS in MGM is somewhat limited, but Pizza Planet is ok, and we've heard good reviews of the place with flatbreads -- Studio Catering Company is what it used to be called.

 

[mlill]

I'm hooked already! You had me with the Lego figures! Very clever! We are a HUGE Lego family. HUGE. We have a whole room full of Legos and Mindstorms. LOL! I can't wait to hear about your AKV stay. We're flying AirTran for the first time in October. I'll let you know how it goes. Can't wait to read more!

Take care,
Michelle

 

[ncseric]

We've done AirTran a few times and have had no issues with them. They have a lot more flights than Southwest and their fares are comparable. They also allow bookings much further in advance than Southwest does. We got two roundtrip tickets for less than $400... $87 each way, plus taxes. Southwest might be a few dollars cheaper, but the direct flight times were not as good from Indianapolis.

 

[ncseric]

Saturday is going to be an early and long day. Since besides being a computer and Lego geek, I'm also into trains, both model and real ones. We found out about the train tour that leaves at the crack of stupid in the morning. With the DVC 15% discount, it's $34, which is pretty good for a 3 hour tour and getting to see an empty MK park. Hopefully we won't have the issues that the other, more famous, three hour tour had.

While I'm doing that, MGM has Early Magic Hours, so DW is heading there to do RnR Coaster as soon as the park opens. She's not a ToT fan, so she'll probably do RnR a few times.

The train tour is over around 10:30, after which she's coming back to MK to do a few things there and eat lunch (CS). We like Pecos Bill's and Cosmic Ray's, but the removal of the cheese sauce from the toppings bar was a travesty beyond imagination.

After lunch, we'll stay at MK a little while and then probably go back to BCV. We have an ADR at Le Cellier that night at 4:40 pm and we're planning to see the Candelight Processional after that, but those reservations aren't available yet. We've been reading all the "food porn" and Le Cellier is definitely at the top of our must-eat list.

After doing that and a few things at Epicot, we'll watch Illuminations and probably head back to BCV afterwards.

 

[ncseric]

Since we're splitting our stay between BCV and AKV, we bid adieu to BCV on Sunday morning and head to Ep(i)cot and hopefully get there for the elusive rope drop. After doing the rides in Future World, we'll do lunch (CS) at either the Land or somewhere in World Showcase.

And since we're switching hotels, we don't really have the option to go back to the room/hotel and hang out during the mid-afternoon. We might get lucky and get an earlier check-in at AKV... we'll have to call and see.

We do have a reservation at 'Ohana that night at 5:00 pm. We haven't eaten here before but all the reviews sound pretty promising. We went to Hawaii over New Years 2006 but most of our food was very non-Hawaiian -- lots of Subway because it was all so expensive and we were broke at the time. The trip was covered almost exclusively with frequent flyer/buyer points from various sources.

After gaining a few inches, we have our tickets to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP), which neither of us have done -- we haven't been there at the right times to do it. Tickets this year ran us 87.24 for the two of us. We were able to pick a day with advance purchase discounts, which are a higher discount and more available than the DVC discount. We're planning to see Holiday Wishes and the Christmas Parade, as well as hit any rides during the first parade, per many DISsers' suggestions.

 

[ncseric]

I seem to be developing a new condition which I'm going to name DisneyTripPlanningSchadenFreude. We all know about DisneyFreude and DisneySchadenFreude, but I believe these boards are creating a new condition. Symptoms include:

1) Spending a large amount of time on the boards reading other people's trip reports and trip planning reports.

2) Trying to figure out how to move trips earlier and do more trips without completely losing your house and job.

3) Expanding into other areas of vacations, such as cruises, because other people have written reports about it.

I believe I'm afflicted with this condition thanks to this place. Just this week I've been trying to figure out if we can move that now-far-off plan of a DCL cruise sooner. I just can't figure out how.

Oh well, back to work to save up for the next trip.

 

[ncseric]

When we last left our heroes, we were closing down MK at MVMCP. Monday, at least part of it, will be Animal Kingdom day. Although saying a day for AK is seriously overplanning. If things work out and we get our waitlist request, we'll have a savannah view at AKV and going on the safari won't be a big deal. Little Red will have to survive without us looking for him.

DW wants to do EE, so we'll probably do the EMH at AK that day and FP it.



Whew.



Sit down in a comfortable chair and repeat to yourself:

I'm a DIS geek. I understood that whole sentence.

Moving on.



We'll probably also hit the new Finding Nemo musical, just to see it, since the Festival of the Lion King was so good. Of course, DD #2 slept through it. Don't ask me how. It's scary. She probably gets it from me. I've slept through fire alarms in the past. I haven't slept that soundly since I had kids, though. Everything wakes me up now. Dinosaur/CTX is also on the to-do list, as is the Festival of the Lion King, if there's time.

The afternoon is unplanned scared1 other than maybe some shopping over at DTD. We've got a ADR at Boma that night, after which we'll head to MK for Spectromagic and...


wait for it...


Knishes!


no, that's not right...


Fishes!


nope, not that either...


Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches!


Oh, ok...

Wishes!


We do that to the girls to irritate them. It works well. Thanks for participating.

MK has EMH that night, so we'll use it to pick up any rides we hadn't done at MVMCP or the previous time.

Let the DisneySchadenFreude begin... Tuesday is departure day.

 

[ncseric]

Savannah view, here we come... we got our confirmations today and the points were wrong, so DW called to tell them it should have been 18 points instead of 36. DVC said, no, we used 22 points and had a savannah view. Woohoo!

Hopefully the odor in the morning doesn't resemble Epcot's Canadian bathroom after ZZUB got done with it.

 

[ncseric]

Well, Tuesday will mark the end our stay in that non-reality we all love, but we're going to get a few more hours in before we have to bug out.

After checkout, we've got an ADR at Crystal Palace for breakfast. While we didn't do any character meals, this one lets us into the park early and lets us see the mythical "empty park" condition. Having gone more times than I can count during the peak times of the year, I'm looking forward to this sight. We also like Crystal Palace since they refurbished it a while back. My parents took me there back in the "buffeteria" days and it was truly awful.

We'll have around 3 hours before we have to head to the airport for our 2:49 pm flight back to reality.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I know you guys are going to have a great time. I'm counting down the days with you and I can't wait to read all about it.

Don't forget to pick up a couple of these babies.

 

[ncsjodi]

I know you guys are going to have a great time. I'm counting down the days with you and I can't wait to read all about it.

Don't forget to pick up a couple of these babies.

Thanks for the reminder. I've already told DH that we need to get some of those! You never know what kind of anniversary surprises you might get! Maybe even a dream fast pass??? I can only hope!

I've really enjoyed reading your TR too! Lots of good ideas for a kid-free trip!

 

[ncseric]

DW went to the mailbox this week and found a little surprise. We called in some help to get it opened...

and what did we see?

Those magically cryptic letters:

Ded Studio Sav View Jambo

which, in English, means Dedicated Studio, Savannah View, Jambo House. Woohoo!

So if anyone was waiting for a studio at OKW or a regular room at AKV, we're off the waiting list now.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

that is so cute.

 

[ncseric]

Yeah, it's a dangerous combination. LegoGeek + DisneyGeek + ComputerGeek = a rather involved pre-trip report. Just as DW how much work it was to set up those photos. George Lucas did less for the first Star Wars movie.

I'm also a TrainGeek, but that doesn't figure into the equation yet.

Thanks for reading!

 

[praisehisname]

I just found your pre-trippie and I love it so far!

Denise