Can I Survive another 11 days in WDW w/ Disney-Resistant Husband? *11/25 SURPRISE!!**

[cdotla]

Wow - someone was working hard in the middle of the night on an update and checking out trip reports.

Too bad about the mix and mingle - I agree that they should have made an announcement during the conference. Still in all, it sounds like it was a wonderful conference.

And it sounds like you had a great evening at the Wave and during your solo time at the MK.

Can't wait to read about V&A's!

You are right Mary Ellen - it was definitely was a great conference. Awesome conference!

Personally I only had 3 issues/concerns: (1) the botched autograph sessions, (2) the unannounced cancellation of the mix and mingle, and (3) no appearance or welcome by Meg Crofton or any Disney Parks representatives. Given that both DL Pres George Kalogridis and Bob Iger address the Expo in CA, shouldn't we have been given the same acknowledgment by Parks & Resorts?

 

[podsnel]

I agree- it seems so odd that Meg Crofton wouldn't be SOMEHOW involved with the conference- I'm glad you had some cool people to sit next to in the bar, though!

 

[cdotla]

I agree- it seems so odd that Meg Crofton wouldn't be SOMEHOW involved with the conference- I'm glad you had some cool people to sit next to in the bar, though!

It was kinda fun being in the bar at the same time as all those imagineers.

 

[cdotla]

My First Visit to the Grand!


I have always loved the Grand Floridian. The stunning views of the white exterior and red turrets gets me everytime. So beautiful!

(Photo: WikiMedia Commons - freely useable photosharing)

I love the lobby, love the grounds, love the atmosphere, love the restaurants, and love the shops, especially since it is the only place on property where I can shop for Lilly Pultizer...one of my favourite brands to wear in Florida.

However, I have never been big on the idea of actually staying here. While I had never seen a room in person, from photos I had seen online, the room decor just didn't do it for me. It seemed too grandmotherly, and too frou frou. I much preferred the look of the modernist rooms at the Contemporary (my favourite rooms on property), the exotic rooms of the Poly, and even the New England-style rooms of the Yacht and Beach Club.

Choosing to stay at the Contemporary for the first few nites of this trip was a complete no-brainer since it would be handy to the adjacent conference center where Destination D was taking place. However, for our final nite of the trip after the Destination D conference had wrapped up, I was leaning towards doing a split stay somewhere else.

While I had an awesome code for a great rate, I was still initially contemplating saving money by staying at the WL or AK, or even one of the mods or values. Ultimately though it didn't take much arm-twisting for Carrie to talk me into going big on our last nite. Carrie was keen on one of the deluxes, but apart from that, she was pretty open about where to stay. We considered the Y&BC, the Poly, and even just staying put at the Contemporary. Ultimately we decided on the Grand Floridan.

Carrie had stayed at the Grand just two months earlier for a special media blogging/wedding event, but I had never stayed here before. Even though the room decor wasn't my personal choice, it is always nice to try a new resort. Plus, with the special discount code we had, the room rate came to around $330. On top of that, Carrie & I were splitting the cost. When else was I going to be able to stay at the GF for just $165 a nite?

This was such a good call, as I ultimately ended up falling in love with the resort. And it turned out, I didn't mind the room decor at all. While I seem to always visit the GF at least once each trip, there is something nice about actually staying there as well.

(Continued next post)

 

[cdotla]

(Continued from last post)

While I had the best intentions of getting up early, having breakfast at Kona, and possibly even hitting EMH morning at AK, needless to say, staying out late until 2am the night before had taken its toll.

Carrie actually ended up beating me out the door. As we each had different agendas on what we hoped to accomplish that morning, and since Carrie had no interest in eating breakfast at Kona (which was a must-do for me), we ended up splitting up for the day with plans to meet up at the end of the day for our dinner at V&A's.

I think it was close to 10am before I finally got out the door and zipped over on the monorail to the Poly for breakfast at Kona. I always visit Kona for breakfast at least once each trip...it's a must-do!

Then, after enjoying a Big Kahuna, I took the monorail over to the GF and checked in. I figured it would be easier to know where our room was located when I parked the car. Since we were only staying one night, I decided to skip bell service and simply roll my carry-on bag to the room myself. I took a chance and left my big suitcase in the trunk overnite.

Once checked in, it was on the monorail again for a ride back to the Contemporary to check out of the room and finish loading up the car. Then I took the short ride over to the GF and parked in the self-park lot across the street. While somewhat of a pain, it really wasn't all that bad since I only had a small overnite bag with me.

Before this trip, I thought I was fairly familiar with the GF, having visited there many times in the past, but it is surprising how much you miss when you are not actually staying there as a guest. Other than the main building and Narcoossee's, I had never set foot in any of the various resort buildings. We were placed in Sago Cay, and I loved it.

The building was very nicely decorated, and the first thing I noticed was how much nicer the mousekeeping carts were. Also - another cute detail was that all of the linens for each room were placed outside each door in a little white wicker basket. I loved it!

Everything in the building was impecable, and it felt so nice to be staying there.

While I know everyone has likely seen photos of the resort and rooms before, if you will humour me, I will still show you the photos I took, even though they are not all that great since I didn't have a flash and I didn't take the time to manually adjust the camera settings to compensate for that:

After unpacking and settling in, I actually left to run some errands off property, including a little bit of outlet shopping.

While I had hoped to get back in time to hit one of the parks, by the time I finished up, it was 2-3pm so I decided to simply hang out and enjoy the Grand, hit the pool, and soak up some rays. I headed over to the main pool, grabbed a cool cocktail at the bar, and took a load off. Ahhhhh.....complete heaven!!! I am so glad I ran later with my errands than expected because the experience of being poolside with no one to look after but myself was a real treat, and much better than any park touring experience would have been on such a hot day.

After a couple hours, I decided to email Carrie and see what she was up to. As I recall, she was in the Studios doing some touring (which surprised me because she isn't the biggest HS fan..although maybe I got that mixed up). At any rate, she was getting ready to head back, so we agreed to meet back at the room in a bit. In the meantime, I settled back down in my loungechair to relax and soak up a bit more sun.

Finally, after a couple hours of pure bliss, I managed to drag myself off my loungechair and head back to the room to get cleaned up for dinner at Victoria & Albert's.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

That's too bad about the mix and mingle. It's ironic how out of their comfort zone Disney/D23 seems to be in organizing these events. Or is it that we just hold them to a super high standard? Either way, I hope that they are able to collect feedback and improve future events. And when they're done there, I'd suggest they turn their attention to the process of booking F&W events.

I have to say that the Grand has never really appealed to me but you are making a good case. Love those wicker baskets with the linens!!

I am especially interested to hear about V&A since I will be dining there in Oct!

 

[MEK]

Yes - I agree - Meg Crofton should have been involved with the conference in some capacity. Wonder why not?

I have to say that whenever I see pictures of the grand floridian I am always so tempted to stay there and if they do ever open that alleged DVC I am SO there! I agree - the decor is not my favorite, but there is something so elegant about the place in general. I pooled hopped over there last September and I feel in love.

Your balcony and room view is lovely and the room looks huge. And you are right - you can't beat the price tag to share the room. That's a no brainer.

 

[cdotla]

I have to say that the Grand has never really appealed to me but you are making a good case. Love those wicker baskets with the linens!!

I am especially interested to hear about V&A since I will be dining there in Oct!

Unless I was able to get a really good rate, I probably won't be back to the Grand until the DVC property opens and can use points. That was part of my decision to purchase DVC...can't wait to stay at the Grand Floridian Villas!

Yes - I agree - Meg Crofton should have been involved with the conference in some capacity. Wonder why not?

I have to say that whenever I see pictures of the grand floridian I am always so tempted to stay there and if they do ever open that alleged DVC I am SO there! I agree - the decor is not my favorite, but there is something so elegant about the place in general. I pooled hopped over there last September and I feel in love.

Your balcony and room view is lovely and the room looks huge. And you are right - you can't beat the price tag to share the room. That's a no brainer.

You are right Mary Ellen - it was a very spacious room. And I actually loved being there, frou frou decor and all!

Can't wait for GF DVC...seems like it might be here sooner than you would think!

 

[hstrickland]

Finally....caught up with your post! I had no idea y'all were going to try the GF...we LOVE it!! In fact, my parents are trying to plan a December trip to the GF just for the two them. DD5 always says that her favorite resort is the one with the pretty read roof!

Your ticker is getting REALLY close to departure time!!! Are your kids beside themselves with excitement??!!! I'm looking forward to your TR...can't wait to see pictures of the resort!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice pictures of the Grand. I've never stayed there and I don't know if I ever will....you're pictures do make it very enticing!

 

[zipadeepixie]

I felt the same way about the GF, being too grandmotherly. Interesting to hear that actually staying there it wasn't an issue. I have to say the balcony on your room is gorgeous!

 

[cdotla]

Finally....caught up with your post! I had no idea y'all were going to try the GF...we LOVE it!! In fact, my parents are trying to plan a December trip to the GF just for the two them. DD5 always says that her favorite resort is the one with the pretty read roof!

Your ticker is getting REALLY close to departure time!!! Are your kids beside themselves with excitement??!!! I'm looking forward to your TR...can't wait to see pictures of the resort!!

How great that your parents are planning a solo trip.

And yes...you are right...our trip is getting awfully close. Too close. The panick is starting to set in now.

Nice pictures of the Grand. I've never stayed there and I don't know if I ever will....you're pictures do make it very enticing!

You know, I never thought I would ever end up staying there either, but for $165 a night, it wasn't too bad! I probably won't be back there again until after the Grand Floridian Villas (aka the DVC property) opens. Then it will be much more affordable!

I felt the same way about the GF, being too grandmotherly. Interesting to hear that actually staying there it wasn't an issue. I have to say the balcony on your room is gorgeous!

The balcony was great. But I actually think the views from the new DVC property will be even better than Sago Cay where we stayed. And I really, really hope the DVC room decor will be a little less frou-frou, although surprisingly, as you said, it wasn't really an issue once I was there and experienced how nice the resort really was. There is definitely a reason it is WDW's "Crown Jewel" resort.

 

[cdotla]

Do I Even Deserve This Trip???​

I just realized tonite from my ticker that tomorrow we are exactly one month away from our trip. While that makes me terribly excited, I also feel incredibly disappointed with myself.

There were a couple of promises that I made to myself when I was starting to plan for this trip, none of which I have actually followed through on.

First, I vowed that I was going to learn to use my awesome camera in manual mode. While I have made some strides and attempts, I haven't been able to get it, largely because I haven't put in enough time studying and practising. I purchased an exceptional camera for a steal about a year or so ago on the promise that I would teach myself how to shoot manually, and expected to be fully comfortable with it by this trip. So I am really disappointed that I didn't follow through and will be relegated to shooting in automatic, severely underusing my awesome camera.

Secondly, I also made a pact that by the time we left for our trip, I was going to purge and remove all of the clutter and disorganization in our house. This was going to include a complete purging and organization of my closet and donation of clothes to goodwill, and finally ironing the various assorted clothing pieces constantly laying on the ottoman in our bedroom, and staying on top of it from that point on. I also wanted to purge old toys from the kids' rooms and come up with some storage solutions to keep their rooms looking tidy, clean up my office, straighten up the linen closet, and tidy up the "junk drawer" in the house. While each and every weekend I promise myself that I will start some of these tasks, I never seem to get around to doing it. However, I haven't given up all hope. I still really want to get this done before the trip. Maybe if I publicly embarrass myself by posting photos of all areas of disorganization that I want to attack, that will motivate me to finally get the job done so I can come back and post the "after" photos.

Finally, and most importantly, I had vowed that when we left for this trip I was going to finally be back in shape, fit and healthy. Ever since the first trip we took to Disney with the kids back in 2007, I have always said that after the trip I was going to come home and get fit and healthy before the next trip. Sadly, I have yet to follow through on any of these promises.

Up until my mid-20's, I had always been thin. No matter what I ate, I never seemed to put on weight. After university, and I started working at a job which involved sitting down for most of the day, I slowly began putting on weight, probably gaining 10-15 lbs between age 25 and 29. But still, I remained on the thin side of average, and took for granted that I always would be.

At age 29 I became pregnant. While I never lost that "baby pouch", and never regained my formerly flat stomach, without much (or any) effort, within 4 months I ended up losing all but 10 of the 50 lbs I gained during pregnancy. While I was never happy with my post-pregnancy body, I also knew that I would soon be getting pregnant again, (which I did just over 1 year later) and figured I would deal with the stomach and those last pesky 10 lbs after baby no.2.

The problem is, I never did deal with it, and the pregnancy weight didn't effortlessly fall off me after my second pregnancy as it did with my first.

Even though I was acutely aware of the fact that I was not remotely close to fitting into all of the clothes I used to wear up until getting pregnant, it still took me an awfully long time to realize that I was overweight. Being thin for so many years, I just took for granted that I would always be that way, would always be the skinny girl, and would never have a weight problem.

Even after acknowledging that I do have a problem with not only my weight, but also with my health, I still don't seem to be able to follow through on any of my promises to myself and my family that I will actually do something about it.

Fortunately I am lucky to have a very active, healthy and fit family. No one here is bringing me down. In fact, just the opposite....I can look to my husband and kids for motivation and great examples on how to adopt a regular and vigorous exercise program and to get moving again.

While my family eats and enjoys our fair share of healthy foods, like fish and plenty of raw, fresh vegtables, we also eat our fair share of unhealthy food as well. At least for me, that has to stop. I have to adopt healthier eating habits both for myself and as an example for my kids.

Unfortunately, at this point I won't be able to make any significant transformations before the trip, and I certainly will not be imposing any eating restrictions during the trip. Rightly or wrongly, for me, eating is one of the major pleasures of a trip, and in the grand scheme of things, 10 days of indulgent eating should be good for anyone as long as you have the discipline to go back to normal, healthier eating habits when you get back home. I am bound and determined that this time I really will come back and do what I have been saying I was going to do for the last 4 years...get myself back in shape.

In the meantime, starting tomorrow, we are officially one month away from our trip. While I don't intend to limit myself on the trip, I still have 4 weeks to see what I can do before we leave. I would love to lose 8-10 lbs before we go, and at least feel somewhat better about myself than I do right now. Hopefully I can pull that off.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Just catching up here on your last couple updates! I had a chance to tour the Grand Floridian during my recent visit and it surprised me a bit too - I liked it more than I ever thought I would from pictures. Your rate was INCREDIBLE! So glad you took the plunge! I'm really looking forward to the V&A review!

As for deserving the trip, yes you do! Even if you haven't followed through with your vows, you deserve it. And there is still hope for the house - maybe just focus on one instead of it all, and it will seem less daunting? Pick the junk drawer, since it's the smallest space! But maybe it will start an organization spree!

As for the weight - I understand! I battled the same thing after having Henry and still struggle with 10 pounds that I'd love to lose, but always sneak back quickly. Post Disney is an excellent time to start! Do you plan on doing a certain program? I LOVE WeightWatchers since it lets you still indulge and truly teaches balance. You can do it!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Trish - You DO deserve this trip!


If you need some support for weight loss, I'm hanging out here with two or three others...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2572357&page=13


And as for using the camera in manual mode, I've been hanging out on the photoboard and been playing on the photo scavenger hunts run by Pea-n-Me. For me, it's been a great and fun way of getting into the habit of taking shots and also to move into manual mode shooting. It's also great seeing how other photographers are shooting the same category.

I will warn you that it is expensive hanging out on that sub-forum because I now have a couple of lenses that I don't even want to think how much I spent on.

This year's summer scavenger hunt is about to finish but there should be one for winter. Hope to see you there posting like the rest of us photonuts.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Of course you deserve this trip!! . I can totally sympathize about yet to be fulfilled promises to yourself. I am working on ( or more accurately NOT working on) a few myself, including the weight thing. It is tough and time definitely does get away from us quickly and easily.

But as you said there IS a month left and that is enough time to start on each and make some progress. I love the suggestions of starting with a junk drawer or photo class/challenge. I think that is the key - starting with smaller and achievable rather than grandiose goals. Although I have previously established myself as not particularly successful in this area...

So glad that you are not putting eating restrictions in place while on vacation. I totally agree that the food is one of the best parts!!

Hang in there! One month!!

 

[Aburns8]

Wow, you are a month away! Don't be so hard on yourself. I am sure in a month you can figure out your camera. All you need is a day to spend learning all of the different modes. I am sure that you can get some of your organizing done before the trip. You don't have to do all of it. As for the weight loss, I am always torturing myself with it. Even though we are leaving in a week and a half, I am still going to try to lose a pound before we go if it kills me. After this weekend's hurricane I have no excuses for eating junk! Just hang in there, everything will work out!

 

[zipadeepixie]

OMG it sounds like I wrote that post! I’m 32 days away from my trip and having the same feelings! Except for the camera part (I stick with my Cannon Elph!) I vowed to have my house in pristine order when I left. The clutter cleared, and the closets organized. Luckily I had house guests last weekend so I did get it looking slightly better. But there is still a lot of stuff shoved in the closets/drawers that desperately need sorting and purging! I also have a bunch of projects at work that I was hoping to have completed so I don’t stress out about them while I’m away. Ugg.

And the weight thing. I too lost all my pregnancy weight with #1 within weeks of delivering. Of course I thought it would be no problem when my daughter came along. Well, unfortunately I never lost all of it and in the last few years I gained another 10 lbs! I’m also turning 40 in February and I really want this weight off of me. Since it’s too late to lose it all I’m trying to also drop 8-10 lbs before I go. I’m walking or hiking an hour each day and/or running 30 minutes each morning. And I’m cutting out all the junk food and only eating healthy foods. So far I have lost a few lbs. so I did make a little progress! We are also taking a 4 day cruise on the Dream so that means extra bathing suit time for me! Yikes!

So – with a month to go, we CAN make progress. Maybe we won’t reach the perfection we both strive for but I think if we get some of our projects done and lose some weight we will both feel ok about it! Good luck and stay motivated!!!

 

[DisneyBoundinDec]

oh no you don't!!!
I feel like I could have written that post too! You so do deserve to go!! and trust me on wanting and having a list a mile long with every intention of getting it all done. My house needs a major decluttering and my body does too!! Heck, I use the dumb excuse that I am a runner and I need the extra calories.. uh huh.. sure.. I'm not a race horse!!!
I need to drop about 25 pounds and about 10 of them crept up on me this summer while I was trying to lose the 15 go figure!

You so deserve this!!

 

[ronnmel]

I'm a teacher and every summer I have these big plans of all the things I want to accomplish before the next school year. Then September rolls around and I haven't done a single thing. The main reason is that my plans are so grandiose that I feel overwhelmed and exhausted before I even start attacking them.

This year I did something different. I made myself a to do list, separated in small categories, with lots of small and specific things to do, and I checked them off as I did them. I knew there was no way I'd ever get through the entire list, but I had decided that doing at least 50% of the things would be a success for me. Well, it worked! Even if I didn't do everything, I still did a heck of a lot more than all previous summers.

So I would suggest the same thing to you. And be very specific. Don't write "Ironing clothes", instead write "Ironing black pants; ironing blue blouse; tidying up this drawer; bringing this to goodwill; etc." Tasks are a lot easier to undertake this way.

But no matter what, of course you deserve that trip!