Chasing a Dream: September Trip Report Update 12/11 FINAL THOUGHTS/TRIP FAVORITES

[tmkinney]

Hello everyone and welcome to my 1st PTR/TR! Please don’t expect much, it will probably be lame compared to great reports I’ve read (which inspired me to tackle one myself) including: timandlesley, kaysmommie, dddisrunner, ampc3 and too many more to name! (BTW – if you have not read these guys TR’s – IT IS A MUST!!!!)

Notice my title - "Chasing a Dream". We just missed the dream squad 2x last year and I am sooo hoping we will win a dream or a magical moment this trip!!!!!!

Okay, first I will introduce the cast of characters:

Me, (Tammy): 31 years old, lover of Disney, first trip ever last September and would love to make it a yearly tradition, although don’t think that DH is going to go for that! I owe thanks for my Disney obsession to my sister-in-law Julie (aka morgtroy on the disboards) who went for the first time in 2005 and convinced us we should go and is as obsessed with Disney as I am (if not more! )

DH (Alan): 37 years old, tolerates Disney for the rest of us. Has fun once he gets there but is sooo not into planning or even following Disney plans (he has nicknamed me “Drill Sergeant”). He is a hard worker, great dad, also an avid hunter/fisher and is also not very happy that this upcoming trip will be during the first weekend of bow-hunting season!

DS (Hunter): 7 years old, loves Disney, luckily it still holds magic for him although I have been questioned on “are those just costumes with people inside?” to which I always answer: “everything at Disney is real, Disney is MAGICAL!” He is also a Halloween baby, very tender-hearted, definitely has his bratty moments but is a great kid. He is also a huge CAROLINA PANTHERS fan just like mom!!!

DD (Rachel): 4 years old, to be such a girly girl, she is also not afraid to get right in there with the boys, catching frogs, etc. Favorite princess is Ariel, loves to sing, definitely a Mommy’s girl!! Loves Disney as much as I do!!! (That’s my girl!) Also known to be a Diva and DRAMA QUEEN at times!!!!

Here is an (old) pic of all of us (one of the very few of us all together that I don’t hate of myself!!)

I hope to get some better family pics this year at Disney. This is the only one from last year, and I hate this pic of me:

Also included in the cast is my BFF Dawn, her husband Ray, and their son Hadley (also known as Rachel’s future husband! Haha)

DBFF (Dawn): 31 years old, friends with since Kindergarten, a total NUT and a BLAST to hang out with.

Her husband (Ray): 31 years old, went to high school with us - I take credit for “hooking them up” later in life (after college) when at a fall festival I went up to his sister and asked if he was seeing anyone (Dawn had always had a crush on him) and told her she should tell him to call Dawn. Which he did and what a happy ending! Ray is such a nice guy, was always very quiet, who knew he could be such fun to hang out with too!

Here is a pic of all of us in Vegas 3 years ago (I won a trip off a local radio station for 4 people- air, hotel, plus $1000 spending money!!!!!) It was sooo much fun!!

And last but certainly not least is Hadley, 4 years old, aka Rachel’s future husband! I am not kidding, these kids talk all the time about how they are going to marry each other one day. It would be too cool if it actually worked out that way! It is sooo cute now, but in a couple years we will have to put a stop to this: (She is always kissing and hugging on him!)

Here is one of their family pics from last year:

Okay, now a little history as to how this began. After going last year and falling in LOVE with Disney World, I decided that we MUST go back & SOON!!!!! Dawn and her family also went last summer (in June) and wanted to go back with us when we went. So the plans were made (not officially) to go back in January 2009 to celebrate Rachel’s 5th birthday. Well after reading about crowds due to the Marathon, then MLK holiday, then the Superbowl, etc…. our trip get getting pushed back further and further. There is this guy that I work with who was planning on going in September during free dining, which I was happy to help he and his wife plan for their trip. (I forgot to mention in the about me section: I am a SERIOUS bargain hunter!!!) So when he was telling me about their deal, etc., telling me I should at least get a quote for September, it is only a few months before February and the deal is better, etc. Needless to say it didn’t take a whole lot of arm twisting for me to be on board!! So, I talk to Alan and get him to agree to September after I got a quote and checked on airfares. Another reason I was afraid to wait until February is the economy the way it is, who knew what airfare would be, etc. So when we received our tax stimulus rebate, it sealed the deal. That was our Disney money. Dawn and Ray aren’t crazy about going in the heat, they went last June and it was apparently very HOT, and Dawn doesn’t take heat well. But hopefully September won’t be quite as hot. So after a lot of flipping back and forth, a deal came out thru Southwest Vacations that gave us an extra $50 off (which as I said before, I am a bargain hunter and something as small as $50 can sway my decision) with the free dining. So, our entire package (for the family of 4) including 5/night 6/day stay at Pop Century, free dining & airfare came to a total of $2100!!! I booked in mid June and miraculously enough was able to get reservations at all the restaurants I wanted including LeCellier (which I was unable to get last year when I booked 6 months ahead of time!!) They are not the ideal times, but hey, you gotta take what you can get in some cases! So to sum it up, the trip is September 10th thru the 15th. We are taking a 7:10pm flight with Southwest direct to Orlando, arriving around 8:30, so we will get there in time to take a late swim or go straight to bed for an early rise!!! Then we will leave on Monday the 15th at 4:00pm. So we will have ½ day in the parks for our last day.

Here are just a few of my favorite pics from last year's trip:

Up the stairs to breakfast in the Castle

Isn't this such a sweet pic?

He had just gotten kissed by Snow White so he was a happy boy!

With his Nanny (my mom).

Thanks everyone who is signing in to read what I hope will be an enjoyable PTR/TR!!!

Up next I’ll post the itinerary………..

TR has started.

Departure day: Page 13

 

[tmkinney]

Bumping....

 

[jj1403]

Okay I'm in!

 

[tmkinney]

Okay I'm in!

Thanks - my first post! I was starting to wonder if my writing was that bad...

Thanks for joining!!

 

[samiet620]

subscribing

 

[Rebecuberduber]

Hey this is great! Neat family. Subscribing.

 

[dad2t&e]

I'm in, lets go!

 

[schmass]

I'm in, too. I'll be there 5 days after you leave!

 

[tmkinney]

subscribing

Hey this is great! Neat family. Subscribing.

I'm in, lets go!

I'm in, too. I'll be there 5 days after you leave!

everyone and thanks for joining!!!!! Day 1 coming up.....

 

[tmkinney]

Before I start this itinerary, I have to tell you a funny story. When I told Alan that Dawn & Ray wanted to go with us to Disney, he said “are they sure?” I was like, what do you mean by that?? He said “Do they realize they are going with the Drill Sergeant???” I told him YES!, that Dawn knows I am a planner, I told her from the beginning it would be early mornings, late nights and if you are not with the plan, you get left!!! So anyway, here goes:

Day 1
Breakfast at Pop food court, out to bus stop by 8:30 (DH will be so thrilled to hear this!!) Our first day we are heading to MGM. The plan is to send DH for fastpasses for TOT and RnRC (since the kiddies are too little/afraid to ride, we are using kids fastpasses too, so with child swap, we can get FP's for both rides!! ). While he is off to get FP's, we are heading to Toy Story Mania!! The plan is to ride, ride, ride every morning until noon to increase our chances of running into the Dream Team!!! (You'll have to forgive me, I know its technically the Dream Squad, but Dream Team just has a better ring to it! ) So hopefully during this morning we'll get in a lot of great rides and then we have a reservation at Sci Fi for lunch @ 12:20pm. We are planning to pay OOP for this meal (DH and I will share) because I didn't want to waste a TS credit on lunch since we also have a reservation at Ohana's later in the day! After Sci Fi lunch, time to do all the fun shows, hoping to hit Stunt Show (we missed this last trip), Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, and take the kids to HISTK playground. Also MUST see the Power Rangers. My son really wanted to see them last trip and we also missed them!! So this is a trip trying to get to do a lot of things we didn't last year!! After a full day at HS, we will catch the bus/monorail to the Polynesian resort for a 5:05pm dinner at Ohana's!!! I can't wait to eat here, I've heard great things!!! I was unable to get a reservation here, but due to the great DisBoards, on the September ADR Swap/Cancel thread, I found another dis member to share a table with. So this should be great fun - we will have a party of 16!!!! Always great meeting other dis members!!!

So, after Ohana's, the plan is to head to MK, maybe get in a few rides, and then find a spot for Spectro and Wishes! This is another thing we missed last year that I really want to see!! Last year we were rained out on our only planned night at MK. This time I do have a back up just in case!!

So Day 1 will be a long day, no breaks back to the room, but I'm hoping with a sit down lunch & dinner, we will get re-energized!!

If anyone has any suggestions to the itinerary at any time, let's hear them!!! Thanks for reading!! Day 2 posting soon!!!

 

[Disneychix]

That's too fun that you'll be sharing your Ohana's meal with another member! More friends the better!

 

[OhMari]

Hi, since you are only about 6 weeks away from your trip, I'll leave you here. We do have a pre-trip board, but it gets confusing with all the moving around.

I wanted to do free dining too, but we stuck with the 40% off code-couldn't have both. Looking forward to your TR. My dh wouldn't go in Sept. He said it would be too hot.

 

[tmkinney]

That's too fun that you'll be sharing your Ohana's meal with another member! More friends the better!

I know, I can't wait! Signed on for your PTR also!!!

Hi, since you are only about 6 weeks away from your trip, I'll leave you here. We do have a pre-trip board, but it gets confusing with all the moving around.

I wanted to do free dining too, but we stuck with the 40% off code-couldn't have both. Looking forward to your TR. My dh wouldn't go in Sept. He said it would be too hot.

Thanks, I thought I selected Pre Trips but I guess not!

How do you get a 40% off code, is it just selected guests? My husband didn't really want to go back in September either, because he thinks its too hot also!!! I would love to go in October for my son's Halloween birthday....maybe someday! Oh well, the good thing is there are great air conditioned shows to slip into should we get too hot! (That's what I tried to convince DH of anyway!)

 

[pmama]

Hello, just stumbled on your PTR. We have a lot of similarities. We will be arriving Sept. 10th at Pop as well We also have a 7 and 4 year old but they are both girls. We too went for the first time last year and are now addicted. I started a PTR but unfortunately have not kept it up. I do plan to write a terribly terrific TR once I figure out how to post pics. So, did you know our trip begins exactly 8 weeks from yesterday? In fact the infamous 45 days is coming up!!

 

[tmkinney]

Hello, just stumbled on your PTR. We have a lot of similarities. We will be arriving Sept. 10th at Pop as well We also have a 7 and 4 year old but they are both girls. We too went for the first time last year and are now addicted. I started a PTR but unfortunately have not kept it up. I do plan to write a terribly terrific TR once I figure out how to post pics. So, did you know our trip begins exactly 8 weeks from yesterday? In fact the infamous 45 days is coming up!!

That is too funny! Maybe we'll see you there!! Wow 45 days coming up - that is hard to believe! I'm so excited!!! I'll send you a PM on uploading pics, its very simple!! Thanks for signing up to read!!

 

[morgtroy]

Hey, I'm working on the church books and decided to look up your PTR.
You're doing a great job, fun to read. You'll have to get Dawn to throw in some of her crazy self on some posts.
Thanks for the honorable mention, and yes it is indeed an obsession. I also appreciate all the DH comments, knowing the men. Has he read this?
Since we aren't going this year, I'm enjoying your excitement, planning and fun. Helps fan the disney fires, until next time. (As if that was needed ) I know you will have a wonderful trip, get to do the things you missed last year and hopefully "run down many dreams"

I also looked at the TR we talked about, I love the photo pass with Mickey in the corner, too cute.
See ya tomorrow.

 

[tmkinney]

Hey, I'm working on the church books and decided to look up your PTR.
You're doing a great job, fun to read. You'll have to get Dawn to throw in some of her crazy self on some posts.
Thanks for the honorable mention, and yes it is indeed an obsession. I also appreciate all the DH comments, knowing the men. Has he read this?
Since we aren't going this year, I'm enjoying your excitement, planning and fun. Helps fan the disney fires, until next time. (As if that was needed ) I know you will have a wonderful trip, get to do the things you missed last year and hopefully "run down many dreams"

I also looked at the TR we talked about, I love the photo pass with Mickey in the corner, too cute.
See ya tomorrow.

Glad you found it! Yeah I hope Dawn will chime in, getting her to actually read it will be a miracle!! I showed Alan yesterday and he got down to the description of him and I put 38 years old not 37, so that was not a good start! Then he got down to the part that reminded him he would be missing opening weekend of bow season and wasn't happy about the reminder. So he stopped there!!!

Yeah I will definitely have to use the disboards (and maybe a trip report from you for next year....) to help get me thru till we ago again after this trip, which will be at least 2 years!!

I know, I love the photopass pics!! I'm getting ready to preorder for the group this year!!

 

[kaysmommie]

Hi Tammy,
I'm here, thanks for sending me the link. I have to laugh about your DH calling you drill Seargent . Your kids are very cute!!! September is really hot and humid. We did free dining in 2006 and were dripping sweat . I have to say though the begining of October is not much better and that's when we are going. So you have 45 more days . Looking forward to hearing all about your trip when you get back! Take lots of pics please. Thanks for giving me a shout out in your trippie .
Nichole

 

[ampc3]

Hey Tammy,

Thanks so much for the shout out! Your family is adorable... I don't have time to read it all now as we are getting ready to go out of town again, but will catch up when get back!

Annette

 

[tmkinney]

Hi Tammy,
I'm here, thanks for sending me the link. I have to laugh about your DH calling you drill Seargent . Your kids are very cute!!! September is really hot and humid. We did free dining in 2006 and were dripping sweat . I have to say though the begining of October is not much better and that's when we are going. So you have 45 more days . Looking forward to hearing all about your trip when you get back! Take lots of pics please. Thanks for giving me a shout out in your trippie .
Nichole

Hey Tammy,

Thanks so much for the shout out! Your family is adorable... I don't have time to read it all now as we are getting ready to go out of town again, but will catch up when get back!

Annette

Thanks guys for joining! I'm excited, some famous Dis'ers joining my report!!

Tammy