Disney Dreaming: A September 2014 PTR

[silverhaze269]

Hello Everyone, and Welcome Aboard This Walt Disney World Pre-Trip Report. We’re On Our Way To Fun, Adventure, and Good Times. As A Valued DISser, We’ve Compiled Some Insider Tips to Help Make Your Time Here in The Report More Enjoyable. Go Grab A Snack, Turn On Your Sound, And Pull Up A Comfy Chair. It’s All Waiting For You Today, Here in This Pre-Trip Report. And Now I Invite You To Sit Back, Relax, And Let Me Do The Planning. We’ll be there soon.

Hi guys! How is everyone doing? Got your snacks? Is your sound on? Good! Lets go!



A Dedication

My name is Amy…


With my friend, Safari Daisy

And I have a confession to make….

I am a Disneyholic. There I said it.

I have been to Walt Disney World 6 times in the past 10 years, which is pretty darn good for a soon-to-be 26-year-old, living on Canada’s East Coast. I love my home, but I love to travel too, and Disney World ranks at the top of my favourite places to go list (though Ireland and New York City are right up there with Disney). I wasn’t always a Disneyholic though. It wasn’t until I had the joy of sharing a trip with my cousins (who had never been before) that it happened. That was in 2008.

So before I get in to introductions, which will be my next posting, let me tell you about how this PTR came to be.

But first, a little mood music, shall we?

My mom forwards me Disney e-mails all the time, because she, like me, is a Disneyholic. We like to dream about the trips we might like to take and whatnot, but this time she received a PIN for free dining that just so happened to fall into the dates of her and my dad’s vacation time in November. They already have 2 cruises booked in early October (they are 2 short, back-to-back, carnival cruises) but she mentioned the e-mail to my dad in passing, and that certain sparkle hit his eye. You know the one. When their faces light up, and you can see that expectant, hopeful twinge. So, she started plugging the dates into the online reservation system that I’m sure many of us are very familiar with, and after an hour later, and a phone call, she had booked them a short trip. November 11-16, taking advantage of that free dining offer.

Well, as you could imagine, when I heard the news I was jealous. Because, let’s face it, when someone we know is going to Disney World, aside from being happy and excited for them, us Disneyholic’s can’t help but be a bit jealous too.

So, knowing that it would be extremely difficult for me to come up with the funds I told them to add me to the reservation in hopes I would be able to join them somehow. I planned the ADR’s as if I were going along, and made a very rough schedule of what park to go to on each day (all within an hour of getting the initial call from my mom). I was hopeful again. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

NOTE: this is not my image, it was found on google search

During my last trip (October-November of last year) I resolved that it would likely be the last time I’d get there until at least 2015. That trip was my honeymoon, and it was 2 weeks long (and amazing). Our wedding was extremely budget friendly, so we didn’t have any debt there, thankfully, but I knew I was going to have to start paying back my student debts and we wanted to try and save for a house. It would be a long wait and I would have to deal somehow. So, when we got back I had great intentions of making a TR, I even started it, but then I stopped. I just couldn’t finish it knowing that I wasn’t going to be back for so long. I couldn’t even bring myself to come on the DIS to read the trip reports I was so invested in. I was going through a bad case of Disney Withdrawal. I was avoiding anything to do with Disney World in hopes that it might help squash the Disney Depression. And then, out of the blue, here was my mom calling me about a trip they just booked, that she knew they probably shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t help it. I knew I couldn’t really go, but I wanted to so badly.

The gears started turning.




I had a wonderful idea. Ingenious, really.



I wanted to do another 2 week vacation, but knew that the only way it could really happen is if free dining was being offered, so I started scouring the internet for past discounts. I found that for the past 3 years free dining has been offered in the month of September.

With some trepidation I pitched my idea to my mom. A 2 week long Disney vacation with free dining, staying at the Coronado Springs. We would have a 10-day park hopper ticket, take one day to go to Sea World (it’s been 11 years since we’ve been), and then take 2-3 days for USO (because I’m also a HUGE Harry Potter fan). I so wanted her to go for it, so that they might drop this November trip and put the money towards the longer one next year. Instead of coming up with $1500 in 4 months (almost $700 of that is airfare ) we would have 14 months to come up with the Disney portion (somewhere between $1200-$1300) AND they would be able to build up their air miles (they had thought about using them for this November trip). She liked the idea a lot, and would go with it, but my dad is pretty dead-set on going this year. I’m still trying to win them over, and the more I mention it to them, the more they like the sound of it. It’s just trying to convince my dad that going next year will be better in the long run, which is going to be very difficult.

Anyway, if we were going for 2 weeks, why not make the best of it? Why stop at my parents and my wife and myself? So I pitched it to my brother – the Disney Hater. It’s hard for him to get time off, but it’s early enough that he might be able to plan for it, plus it wouldn’t be all Disney. He could rent a car if he wanted. We don’t have to do the same things. He seemed to be receptive to the idea. So that’s another 2 people (his partner would go too). Then I asked my cousins, the ones I went with back in 2008. I haven’t heard back from them yet, and I’m not sure that I will. I just think it would be awesome to get to go back with them, especially because when I went before, my cousin’s son Noah was 5 (I think, maybe 6) and now he’s 10 (or so). They’ve been back 2 or 3 times sine we went with them (yes, I made Disneyholics of them). THEN, I asked a really close family friend, whom we’ve traveled with before. He seemed to take to the idea too!

And thus, the trip report is born.

So here you have it! A potential trip in the works. Nothing booked yet, and no solid plans, but lots of potential.

Stay tuned for some introductions (if I haven’t scared you off already with how long this intro was)!

 

[silverhaze269]

Introductions
Just A Quick Hello
CSR Video Overview (not done by me)
So Many Choices!
Another Boring Update AKA, More Disney Math and No Pictures


2012 TR
Prelude
Travel Day
Day 1, Part 1
Day1, Part 2


Life Update
The Long and Winding Summer
THE WEDDING POST

 

[teekathepony]

First!

Muahaha got it. I can't wait to hear as everything unfolds! So many opportunities!

 

[silverhaze269]

First!

Muahaha got it. I can't wait to hear as everything unfolds! So many opportunities!

to the

Hahahaha! I knew you'd get it

 

[SAT887]

Hi joining in!

 

[OrangeJuice]

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Joining in

 

[silverhaze269]

Hi joining in!

and thanks for joining in!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Joining in

Gotta say, I loved that animated gif

 

[silverhaze269]

Jambo Everyone!

Hi guys! It’s great to see the familiar “faces”, and awesome to see some new ones too! So, without any farther ado, let’s get down to it!



I’m Amy, and I live on the east coast of Canada, in beautiful Nova Scotia, to be precise. I know I’ve already said this, but I love where I live. I love the fresh salt air, our fresh, clean water, our very fattening, but oh-so-tasty local foods, the abundant green spaces, and most of all, I love the friendly, warm atmosphere that the people here create. Before I start writing a tourism ad, I’ll move on

Here's some local music for this installment Joel Plaskett is also good, and if you like this link, I suggest you check him out too

I also feel like I need a disclaimer for this post, which will be really long. Feel free to skip it or skim it if you like, I won’t fault you for it.

I graduated with a bachelor of arts last May, yet I’m still working the same retail job I’ve had for a while. I work full-time at a local drug store, and as tedious and monotonous as it is most days, I have awesome co-workers that help make the days pass quickly. The people I work with make me enjoy my job, which is rare, I think. They also put up with my Disney ramblings

In October I got married to my wonderful wife, Heather.



She is well on her way to becoming a Disneyholic like me. She’s been to Disney World 7 times, and has stayed off-site only once or twice. In fact, the only place outside of Canada that she’s ever traveled to is Disney World, so you could say that she already is a Disneyholic, but she’s not on the DIS and would have no idea what “I’m going to get FP’s for EE, so that we can catch the FoLK in time for our ADR at WCC” means.

She works at an inbound based call centre for a local health insurance company. She’s been there for over 2 years now, and although she’s not overly enthusiastic about her job, she does it really well, and the pay isn’t bad either.

So, since we’re likely not the only ones going this time, I’ll introduce you to the people most likely joining us.

My Mom



She has been to Disney World just a few more times than I have, and loves it almost as much as I do. She works way too much, and is usually insanely busy, but she’s the kind of person that would rather be on the go than sitting around with nothing to do. She is also the most considerate, kind-hearted person I know, and I strive to follow by her examples every day. We like to get together for lunch whenever we can, and usually on our lunch dates we end up talking about Disney at some point

My Dad



He’s been to Disney World only twice more than me, and somehow loves it even more than I do, which is saying something. He’s got a Disney photo as the background image on his computer (as I’m sure most of us do), and his screen saver cycles through all of the Disney photos he has on his computer. I’m told that he gets misty-eyed thinking about the past trips we’ve taken, and even when watching random Disney videos on YouTube. Yep, he’s a Disneyholic too. He also loves to take photos. I mean, really. He’s worse than anyone I’ve ever known with a camera. He will take a photo of literally everything and anything. When traveling with him, we usually end up splitting up because he takes so many photos

My Brother


He’s with a really good family friend in that photo, she’s really not creepy, I swear.

So my brother is the Disney-hater. Well, I shouldn’t say hater…he just isn’t as enthusiastic about Disney as the rest of us. He doesn’t like the lines, he’s not a huge Disney movie fan, and although he likes kids, he’s not fond of the overabundance of them in Disney World. He enjoys the rides and the food, and likes the moderate hotels, but he just doesn’t feel the magic that the rest of us do. That being said, he really is a good guy. We’re only two years apart, and I think we’re uncommonly close for not being twins (though, we were born 2 years, 1 week, and 1 day apart, and that makes us both gemini’s, the sign of the twins)

So I don’t really want to post individual pictures of the next few people because I’m not sure if they’d be okay with it, I’ll at least mention them.

The cousin’s in question are my Mom’s 1st cousin’s wife, daughter, son, and grandson. I’m not really expecting them to come along, but it would be really awesome if they could.

And the family friend that would be tagging along, if all things work out perfectly, is Kurt. He’s like a big brother to me. When I went to Ireland, I went to visit him. He was over there doing a GAP program, he’s not actually Irish. When I won a contest to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Quebec City, I took him along. He was also my prom date, but in a fun way, I was not dating him at the time He also joined us for our Universal Orlando trip in December of 2007, which was a blast! He’s super fun, especially to travel with. He really is like family

And there you have it! The major players, as it were. So, now that you know who we are, I’m going to yank a little quiz a fellow DISser posted on her PTR. It’s kinda fun.

NAME: Amy/silverhaze269
NUMBER OF VISITS TO WDW: 6
IF YOU ONLY HAD TIME FOR ONE ATTRATCION: I would be so torn between the Haunted Mansion and Pirates AND Big Thunder. I would likely choose Haunted Mansion.
IF YOU COULD ONLY EAT AT ONE PLACE: ‘Ohana!
IF YOU COULD ONLY MEET ONE CHARACTER: Stitch
YOUR FAVOURITE/DREAM RESORT: POLY/AKL (dream resorts)
IF YOU WERE ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE ONE SNACK: Cinnamon Glazed Almonds from the AK
IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE ONE DINK: I’m a little embarrassed to say I’ve never tried an adult drink in WDW :shocked1:
I KNOW I’M A DISNEY ADDICT BECAUSE: I’m here No, it’s because I tear up at the drop of a hat when watching Disney videos or mentioning it to people

And because I feel like adding a few more:

MY FAVOURITE QUEUE LINE IS: the Tower of Terror
MY FAVOURITE THING TO PHOTOGRAPH IN WDW IS: Animals/Scenery
THE THING THAT REMINDS ME MOST OF WDW IS (photos don’t count): Forever Nuts Tea from David’s Tea (thanks to a fellow DISser, I know about this amazing tea )
BEFORE I’M ACTUALLY IN WDW, I AM MOST EXCITED TO BE THERE WHEN: We’re leaving for the airport the morning of the trip, or, when we get off the plane in Florida and are heading to the mini monorail to get to the baggage claim terminal. Though, seeing all the bags packed and ready to go by the door the night before gets honorable mention

Have a magical day guys!

 

[happybelle]

Jambo to you!

 

[SAT887]

Great intros! I'm curious though - what is forever nuts tea?

 

[teekathepony]

Great intro to everyone!

NAME: Wendy
NUMBER OF VISITS TO WDW: 6
IF YOU ONLY HAD TIME FOR ONE ATTRACTION: Haunted Mansion
IF YOU COULD ONLY EAT AT ONE PLACE: Be Our Guest!
IF YOU COULD ONLY MEET ONE CHARACTER: Merida
YOUR FAVOURITE/DREAM RESORT: AKL/BW (dreams!)
IF YOU WERE ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE ONE SNACK: Cupcake from starring Rolls
IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE ONE DINK: I don't drink alcohol, so rootbeer float!
I KNOW I’M A DISNEY ADDICT BECAUSE: Disney videos/pictures can make me cry, I DIS at every available opportunity and my kitchen is decked out in Mickey Mouse.
MY FAVOURITE QUEUE LINE IS: Nemo!
MY FAVOURITE THING TO PHOTOGRAPH IN WDW IS: Fireworks
THE THING THAT REMINDS ME MOST OF WDW IS (photos don’t count): Epcot area music
BEFORE I’M ACTUALLY IN WDW, I AM MOST EXCITED TO BE THERE WHEN: We actually make a deposit and book the trip!

 

[silverhaze269]

Jambo to you!

and thank's so much for stopping by!

Great intros! I'm curious though - what is forever nuts tea?

Forever Nuts tea is an herbal tea from David's Tea, which is a shop that sells loose-leaf teas and tea accessories, like tea balls, pots, travel mugs, etc. All of their teas smell the way they taste, which is awesome, so you'll know right away if you like it or not. They let you smell them in the store before you buy. Forever Nuts has apple, almonds, cinnamon, beetroot, and artificial flavouring, as listed on the ingredient list. It really comes close to the cinnamon glazed almonds at AK, but it's a bit more fruity. Just to give you an idea of some of their other teas, here are just a few from my cupboard:

Santa's Secret: chinese black tea, peppermint leaves, and "spices" though it doesn't say exactly what, and it's also got small candy cane bits in it. It's really good.

Buttercream: White tea, mango, chamomile, osmanthus, and organic compliant flavouring. That one is pretty good, I got it in a sampler pack.

Caramel Spice: Black tea, mulberries, orange peel, saigon cinnamon, and natural flavourings. This one is good too, but I prefer the Pumpkin Chai, which is seasonal (like Santa's Secret).

I didn't realize they were Canadian, until just now They apparently do have locations in California, Chicago, and New York, at least that's where it looks like on a map

 

[silverhaze269]

Hey everyone!

Just popping in to see if you guys might like me to do a bit of a trip report from my last vacation to bide the time until I can book this one and get more details sorted out for this potential trip. Scratch that second last word. I'm sure it's happening, it's just a matter of who is coming with us. My brother's partner got the 2013 Disney Vacation Planning DVD in the mail last week, and still hasn't watched it, so I'm hoping we can get together this weekend in hopes that it will spark some excitement, ending with a statement of something like "sign me up!" or "take me there!" I know they want to get to New York really badly, but I'm hoping I can convince them that Disney, Sept 2014 is a better idea It's going to be hard sell though, I might need some ideas from you guys

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to be kinda rainy and windy here tomorrow, thanks to the leftovers of Andrea, I think the first tropical storm is called. I might see if I can pay my brother and his partner a visit

 

[teekathepony]

I vote yes please!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[silverhaze269]

So since I’ve had a vote in favor of the TR within this PTR, I think I’ll just go ahead and do it. But before I switch gears a little, here’s a video that I saw on my Facebook the other day of the Coronado Springs Resort. I thought I’d post it here since it’s a great overview of the resort, especially for those of you who have never had a chance to see it while on property.

Coronado Springs Resort Overview

Alright, it’s time to say adios to the Coronado Springs for now, while we POP on over to the TR portion of this update.

 

[silverhaze269]

Let’s, for a moment, borrow one of those handy time rovers from over at the Dino Institute and set the date to October 28, 2012.

Not my photo

Everyone all buckled in and ready to go?

 

[silverhaze269]

Okay, let’s go!



Mood Music

So here we are. It’s October 28, 2012, around 8am. My wife and I are just waking up, after having one of the most wonderful sleeps ever. This is our first day being married.


This was during the clean-up, and I was not wearing my dress for that, so I brought a change of clothes, and friends of ours wanted us to do something silly, and she just used her iPhone to snap a few photos, and I ended up really liking this one.

What a wonderful feeling!

After a few phone calls, trip to the doctor and then quick run in to the pharmacy, we were back home getting our bags, leaving a note for our apartment/critter sitters, and we were off to the airport (I either had a lung infection or bronchitis, I’m not sure which, my doctor just listened to my lungs, gave me a prescription for antibiotics, and then told me to get better and enjoy my honeymoon)!

Once we said our good-byes to my parents, we were in the terminal building and waiting to be checked in for our flight.

But something was amiss.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...​

The lady at the check-in counter couldn’t get our luggage tags to print off, and while she was trying to fix the problem there was a large line forming behind us. She also told us that the flight had been cancelled earlier that morning, and that it wasn’t looking good for this flight either , but that she would check-us in anyway, in hopes that the flight would not get cancelled again.

After about 15 minutes of her trying, the luggage tags finally printed off, and we were on our way to security, and then customs pre-clearance. We stepped up to the window, and handed the lady our boarding passes. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I thought this flight was cancelled”. So we had to explain to her what the lady at the ticket counter said, which prompted her to radio someone for more information. She wasn’t going to put us through only to have to put us back through if the flight got cancelled 15 minutes later. Makes sense. After what felt like an eternity, someone radioed back to her, and said the flight wasn’t cancelled and to put us through. Everyone in the customs area cheered, including us.

After a long and stressful morning, there we were, waiting for our flight. Lucky to even be there.

Hurricane Sandy was heading our way fast. We were supposed to be on a flight out the next morning, but thanks to the hurricane, we were able to switch to an earlier flight at no extra cost (thank-you Delta! ). You can imagine what kind of a scramble it was, the morning of our wedding, to wake up and find out that our flight had a high risk of being cancelled but that we could re-book if we wanted. To the phones I went, just 15 minutes after waking up. It turned out that we could get on a flight the next day, so we jumped on it and got the last 2 seats on the plane . Then I called Disney to see if we could add an extra night onto our reservation, which we could! It was all working out. Except that I was feeling dreadful, and had a full-out asthma attack when we got home after the wedding, which prompted my wife to call the emergency health line, which is like 911, but for situations that aren’t as severe, and that’s how I ended up at the doctor the morning we flew out for our honeymoon.

SO, airborne and on our way to LaGuardia airport in New York, I finally started to get excited. We were going to Disney World! And we were married! Life is good!

Landing in LaGuardia was a bit rough. The air was really bumpy with the incoming storm, but we made it even though we were late. Heather and I were in a scramble to get to our connecting gate, and as soon as the gate came into view, it was clear we didn’t have to rush. It was packed. I mean packed. It was worse than a Disney bus after Wishes . There was barely room to stand, but stand we did. Our incoming flight was delayed (no surprises there) and it was over-booked. Now, this normally would have been cause for me to panic, however, when we changed our flights, I paid an extra $50 to upgrade our seats to “comfort economy” so that I knew we would have assigned seats. Best $50 spent.

Eventually planes started coming in and people started getting off them, which caused the area we were in to get even more crowded, but then people started getting on their planes and it got better. Around this time there were lots of airport staff around, radioing back and forth. I thought I heard someone say something about leaving or going home or something, but didn’t think much of it. Finally, as our plane was getting in the airport seemed to be slowing down. There were less people around and it was a bit quieter, which was nice. But it wasn’t until I was sitting on the plane that I found out our flight to Orlando was one of the last scheduled flights out of LaGuardia that night because they were shutting the airport down due to the hurricane.

We were beyond lucky . Tinkerbelle must have been sitting on our shoulders all day to get the amount of pixie dust we got that day. I am still grateful for it.

So finally, we arrived at in MCO.

We were hungry and tired, but I just about got off the plane and kissed the ground of the airport. I wish I was kidding.

So, elated to be in Orlando, we made our way to the luggage claim. Because it was around 10 pm, I thought that we had to get our own bags and take them on the bus with us. After not being able to find them, and panicking a bit, the guy at the lost baggage area told us Disney would get it for us, not to worry. So we didn’t!

Then it was over to the magical express counter to check in, since the one thing I didn’t have time to do was call the ME to let them know we were coming early. When I explained our situation to the man at the counter, he told us that we would have to take a taxi or a shuttle . Say whaat? That’s not right! But we were both tired and hungry, so over to the Mears counter we went, where the lady proceeded to be flabbergasted as to why he would have sent us to her. She went to talk to her manager, and in 2 minutes he came out and was talking to us. Apparently the ME guy didn’t understand what I was telling him, and didn’t think we had a room booked for that night. After clearing up that little detail, we were on the ME and on our way in 20 minutes!

FINALLY!

We checked in, got our “Our Happily Ever After” buttons, and headed to our room to quickly drop our stuff before heading back to Everything POP, because it was only open for another half-hour, 45 minutes at that point. Pizzas in hand, we could finally sit down take a load off.

It had been one heck of a long day, but we had made it just the same. Counting our lucky stars, we went back to our room once we were done, got ourselves ready for bed, and sent off a few quick e-mails letting people know that we had arrived.

We were married AND we were in Disney World. It really couldn’t have gotten any better than that.

So with that, it was lights out on our “bonus day” as we called it.

** Sorry there are so few pictures in this post, but I didn't take many that day. There will be lots of pictures later on though, I promise! And, if you like, I can do a post of wedding pictures for those of you who joined me for my PTR last year **

 

[teekathepony]

I would really love to see some wedding pictures! I always enjoy wedding pictures. Love that one you did post, with you in your jeans and her in her dress, if you didn't know the story you almost look like you crashed someone else's wedding! Hehehe stealing the bride.
So glad you guys got through with very few problems, despite the weather! That could have been bad!

 

[silverhaze269]

Yeah, it really could have!

I'll stick a wedding picture post in here somewhere

 

[silverhaze269]

Good Morning!

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer so far! We've been having some really nice weather for a change, so every chance I can get I've been outside enjoying it, and thusly, not around on the DIS. Anyway, I just thought I'd stop by to let you all know about my recent news....

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ...​

I'm going on a cruise in October!

It's actually two back-to-back cruises out of Miami, on the Carnival Imagination. I'm going because my parents (and brother, aka, the cruiseoholic) made me an offer I couldn't refuse on my birthday. Free flights, and everything in, the two cruises would cost me less than $300. Less than $300 for a week's vacation...yes please! Now, it was a hard fought decision I had to make...that $300 I had saved up was supposed to be for "Disney, September 2014"...I know, I know, I caved BUT, there will be 7 of us going in total, and I'm actually really excited to be going with the everyone. My wife won't be able to go, however, because of her vacation time She will be missed a lot. I still remain adamant that "Disney, September 2014" will happen though, despite this minor set-back.

I'm in the process of uploading lots of photos to photobucket from last year's trip, as well as the wedding, which is partly why the updates are few and far between. Also because we still can't book for next year yet. I'm trying to be patient Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I will be see you all next time!