vllygrrl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2001
- Messages
- 390
Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to my pre-dining /trip report!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I fell in love with Disneyland. Yup, that’s me….vllygrrl (38)! Originally a Jersey girl, my family moved to Southern California in the late 80’s, and the original House of Mouse was just a hop skip and a jump away…and I did a LOT of hopping, skipping and jumping!
Fast forward to the mid-nineties, and my family had already moved back to Jersey…it’s hard to be away from family for long periods of time, so I followed suit. A couple years later, I met Grumpy(40), my DH…we were engaged a month later, and married the following year (who says you can’t meet the love of your life in a bar???
LOL!
)
For our first anniversary, we took a trip to WDW…DH had always wanted to stay at the Contemporary, and I the Polynesian, so we did a split stay. It was then that Grumpy was converted into a fellow Disney fanatic….see, told ya he was the love of my life! This year will mark our 9th trip together….and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary
. We had initially booked a fantastic Eastern Caribbean cruise (that is what we did for our honeymoon), but in the beginning of August, Grumpy said to me “What if we took a really nice trip to Disney instead?” Let me tell you, that cruise was cancelled the very next day! 
I didn't even question DH as to what changed his mind...who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I was a little concerned about leaving our little guy, 6, home….fortunately, DMiL will move into our house to stay with him while we’re away….so to assuage our guilt, Grumpy booked us another trip for next August!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I fell in love with Disneyland. Yup, that’s me….vllygrrl (38)! Originally a Jersey girl, my family moved to Southern California in the late 80’s, and the original House of Mouse was just a hop skip and a jump away…and I did a LOT of hopping, skipping and jumping!
Fast forward to the mid-nineties, and my family had already moved back to Jersey…it’s hard to be away from family for long periods of time, so I followed suit. A couple years later, I met Grumpy(40), my DH…we were engaged a month later, and married the following year (who says you can’t meet the love of your life in a bar???
LOL!) For our first anniversary, we took a trip to WDW…DH had always wanted to stay at the Contemporary, and I the Polynesian, so we did a split stay. It was then that Grumpy was converted into a fellow Disney fanatic….see, told ya he was the love of my life! This year will mark our 9th trip together….and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary
. We had initially booked a fantastic Eastern Caribbean cruise (that is what we did for our honeymoon), but in the beginning of August, Grumpy said to me “What if we took a really nice trip to Disney instead?” Let me tell you, that cruise was cancelled the very next day! I didn't even question DH as to what changed his mind...who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I was a little concerned about leaving our little guy, 6, home….fortunately, DMiL will move into our house to stay with him while we’re away….so to assuage our guilt, Grumpy booked us another trip for next August!
, he had us in a club level room at Animal Kingdom Lodge (he swore he’d never stay here, so this is like an early present to me…and club level to boot?) and added on the DELUXE dining plan! Oh my! I may have died and gone to Disney heaven!
He then presented me with a confirmation that he bought tickets to 
We got every reservation we wanted, right off the bat! And then a few days later, an even more magical event occurred
were mostly going for the shows and parade though, so it should be fine. The other issue will be what to wear
for example, we plan to go to see the Osborne Lights right before dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. How do I dress for both a park and a nice dinner? Of course, if that is my biggest problem right now, I need to step back and realize that I am a lucky, lucky woman
.
, and taking the Auto Train home. We always find the drive down easy, but going home is awful
.youre excited when youre going, but hate to leave! We would take the Auto Train both ways, but for just 2 people it would be much cheaper to fly
.and Grumpy HATES to fly. So much so, in fact, that on 2 of our trips, DS and I have flown and he has met us at the hotel
(I actually LOVE it when he agrees to that
.he takes the luggage, and DS and I are strictly carry on!) Grumpy has been obsessively planning the drive down
right to the gas stations we will stop at. Hotels for the first 2 nights have been booked and re-booked. As OCD as I am about the time we spend at Disney, he is this way about the drive. He refuses to use a computer to make a spreadsheet, but will spend hours handwriting tables and calculations. 
Ooofah! I would be much happier if his note said 4am, and then have it a happy accident if we leave earlier (our last trip found us on the road at 3:30am, because we both were too excited to sleep!) Grumpy is a police officer, and will just have finished a week of the midnight shift, so he will be used to being awake at this ungodly hour. I, on the other hand, will be expected to take over driving in the later daytime hours when Grumpy finally realizes hes exhausted
hmmm, its not seeming like such a great idea to leave that early, is it? We have a stop scheduled at 7:30am for gas, a trip to JR Outlet in NC at 9:50am, a 1PM stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch, and according to the magic plan, we should arrive at the Microtel in Kingsland GA at 4:45pm. We stayed here on our last race to the last exit in GA and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was for the small price. Grumpy is very particular when it comes to motels
.I am less so. However there was the one incident when Grumpy kept driving for hours with a screaming 2 year old when I finally joined in the screaming that we needed to pull over and we ended up in a sleazy motel with no deadbolt and neither of us slept out of fea
r
.so that may have something to do with it. Whew! At least on Saturday we get to sleep in!
!
Well leave our hotel around 7am to head over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and check into the club! I am stupid excited about this. Well grab some breakfast snacks at the club, then once we get everything taken care of, the plan is to head over to Epcot for rope drop. We had initially booked the Akershus princess breakfast at 9:30am, but when I scored Cinderellas Royal table Akershus had to go! The thought is - well snack at the Concierge lounge before we leave, tackle Future World, then enjoy some treats at the Food and Wine Festival before we hop a boat over to the Studios for dinner at the Brown Derby. Ive always loved this restaurant, but cant quite figure out why
maybe it reminds me of California, my old stomping grounds? This evening is totally up in the air - because its the first day, we may be up for Illuminations. We thought about seeing Fantasmic, but we decided that weve seen it so many times its no longer a must do for us
.and were coming back with my family next summer, so they will want to see it then.
This morning, he called me to see if we could cancel the Friday night reservation in GA and just try to make it all the way to Orlando that day. Why sure, honey, what's another 3 hours in the car?
It's really no problem, though, the Lake Buena Vista resort was able to add a night on early...and now, I have the opportunity to go to the shopping event at Downtown Disney on 11/5
Hopefully AKL will be as magical as I think it will be and hell be having a fabulous time.
! So
.breakfast in the lounge it is and we will head to the Studios for rope drop. I managed to cancel Boma and snag an 11:45 reservation at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater
I like this restaurant for the ambiance, and quite honestly Grumpy will probably welcome the chance to have a burger. Well take a break, then head back to the Studios in the evening to see the Osborne Lights, then we have an 8:15 dinner ressie for the Yachtsman Steakhouse. Grumpy is always happier when he gets a good steak.
, and the trails are on the list for today. Well probably have a relaxing afternoon at the hotel, before heading over to the Wilderness Lodge to have dinner at Artist Point. Im really looking forward to this
I love the theming at this hotel!
, and Im pretty sure we have a practically perfect day planned!
! Grumpy and I only did this once before - on our very first trip to the WDW together, back in 2001. I remember it well
.the night of the big monsoon! We literally stepped off the monorail ramp at the Magic Kingdom into ankle deep water 
