DTTK-A Super Secret Anniversary Trip--My first PTR

[egjlsmommy]

Welcome to my first trip report! Thanks for stopping by!

What does DTTK stand for?
It stands for Don't Tell The Kids! Why can't we tell the kids? Because we're not taking them! Why aren't we taking them? Well, because it's our super secret anniversary trip. Also because we're only staying 2 nights on the way to Jamaica. And...we don't want to.

Who are we?
We are:

Me. Sandye. The Wife. The Planner. Mrs. (That's what he calls me sometimes.) I Disney. I could live there. All the time. This is me.

DH. Wayne. The Husband. Mr. (I call him Mister ALL the time.) Him? Not so much. He's just along for the ride. This is what he wants to do on vacation and this is him.

And together, we are...The Tangs. Mild mannered computer guy and housewife by day. And mild mannered computer guy and housewife by night also. Did you think we had some crazy alter-egos? We don't. But if I did, it would be super cool. Like, I would be a Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris, so I could kick butt. Or maybe I'd hang out with Jackie Chan, again, so I could kick butt. I'll be honest. Most of my fantasy alter-egos involve me kicking butt. The only problem with that is...there's a good chance that I could get MY butt kicked. So it's no good. Sorry Chuck, you're on your own. Jackie, are you going to be okay? Anyway, this is what we look like when we're together. Way different than in our individual pics, huh?

We have been married for 20 years, 21 in August, and have known each other for 28 years. (Ever since we met in Mr. Stolla's math class.)



And since I'm still earning all about this whole "posting photos" thing, here's another one of us. From our anniversary dinner last year. (We went to Babe's with our kids.)

Why are we going?
We're going because I thought it would be super fun to spend our anniversary at Disney World.

When are we going?
We are arrive on August 30 and stay 2 nights at AKL. We got CL!! And dining!


Next up: How did such a short trip come about?

 

[egjlsmommy]

Well, as many of my stories do, this one starts with the tiniest bit of craziness. Like, how did a 12-hour layover in Miami turn into a 2 night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge? Well, it's funny you should ask. And since you did ask, I'll tell you. Here's how it went. Mr. was looking at flights for our trip to Jamaica. (We went last year for our 20th and had a fabulous time!)There was a flight that had a 12-hour layover in Miami. He told me about it. Here is a little dramatic re-enactment...

Mr.: There's a flight that leaves here at blah-blah and arrives in Miami at blah-blah. Then it leaves Miami at 10 something and arrives in Jamaica at 10 something. Cool, huh?

Me: Um...wait a minute. That's a long time to be in the airport. I don't think I want to be in the airport for that long, even if it does get us to the resort by lunchtime.

Mr.:Yeah, but it wouldn't be that bad. We can just sleep there and sleep more on the beach when we get to Jamaica.

Me: No, YOU can sleep there. You can sleep anywhere. (He really can.) I don't want to sleep in an airport terminal. Isn't there a hotel at the
airport or something?

Mr.: I don't know, I can check.

Me: You should check. I'd much rather sleep in a bed.


3 hours later...

(Okay, I don't really think it was 3 hours later, but we watch a lot of SpongeBob, so there you go.) This next part is where things really start
happening so follow closely. (Don't you just LOVE when history comes alive?)

Mr.: Okay, I checked and there is a yadda-yadda hotel there.

Me: In the airport?

Mr: Yes. In the airport.

Me: So we wouldn't have to leave the airport?

Mr.: Nope.

Me: Cool. Too bad this flight doesn't have a layover in Orlando. That would be cool.

Mr.: Actually I looked into that. There isn't a direct flight out of Orlando that time of year.

Me: But wouldn't that be so cool to go to Disney before Jamaica?

Mr.: Um, sure, I guess. But there isn't a flight out of...djhshioie jkauiwp hhkjaa.


But really I had already stopped listening to him because my brain was too busy thinking about how I could make this work.

The original plan went something like this...

We fly to Orlando. Arrive at Disney around lunchtime. Spend the day at the resort. 1 night at AKL. (I've always wanted to stay there.) No parks. Leave early for our flight to Jamaica. Really early. LIke we-have-to-get-up-at-Monday-to-catch-an-early-flight-on-Wednesday-morning early. So that won't work. What's the point of staying in this beautiful deluxe resort if we can't really enjoyit? (Or sleep there?)

I should mention that I barely have the Mr. convinced at this point. He doesn't understand why I would want to go to Disney when we already have a Christmas trip planned. (Christmas PTR coming soon!)

So then I add an extra night. And a 1-day ticket. Because, hello? We can't go for a day and a half and NOT go to at least 1 park, right? Right.

Meanwhile, in another window on my computer, I'm looking at flights. I'm trying all kids of crazy stuff. Roundtrip to Orlando from here. Then roundtrip to Jamaica from Orlando. I was trying to maximize our time in Jamaica, and I was having a hard time coordinating all the flights. Then, like magic, it just worked. (Okay, that was a complete fabrication. But it makes the story sound better. And I can't remember how I figured it out. I do know that the good people at Co$tc0 Travel had a lot to do with it!)

Okay, here is something I forgot to mention. It is crucial to the plot. This is something else that helped bring it all together. I got a PIN in the mail! For free dining! I freaked out! (PS-I had already received one for 40% deluxe last month. I used that for the Christmas trip.)I looked at the dates and got even more excited. They were good until our anniversary! It was meant to be! So I call Disney and ask if the pin is good for less than 5 nights. The very nice CM tells me yes. Fantastic. As she's trying to figure out everything, she realizes somehting. The dates were NOT for for 8/31 like I thought (and wanted). It was good until 8/13! ARGH! Stupid excitement induced dyslexia! But the CM works her magic and I end up with 2 nights CL for the same price as a standard view. (At least according to the website.) Wow! I'm excited again, because now I don't have to book a standard view and hope for an upgrade. Oh, what's that super nice CM whose name I forgot? Do I want to add dining to this package? Yes, please. Uh-oh. So now my "just one night" has turned into 2 nights with diningand a 1-day park ticket. How do I convince Mr. that this is the best kick-off to our vacation? Stay tuned for more...


Next up...How I convince the Mr.

 

[egjlsmommy]

This may be tricky because, as I mentioned before, he's just not that into me.

Going to Disney, that is. But I was determined. I knew this would be fabulous, I just had to make him realize it. Now, I have to tell you something about Mr. I feel like I have painted him in a somewhat unfavorable light. That was a bit unfair on my part. He's a fantastic guy, even if he doesn't Disney. He really wants me to be happy. Just as long as it doesn't cost him too much. I figured the only way for this to not completely break the bank is to cut into our Jamaica time. So, by taking a few days from Jamaica, Disney totally works! I go to Mr. with my dazzling plan. He is still hesitant. He just wants to lay on the beach and not hear kids. There are lots of kids at Disney World. I am very convincing and finally seal the deal with this piece of brilliance. "We're going to Disney! It's only 2 nights and I want to be AT Disney for our anniversary!". So I booked it! And I am SO excited!! I can't wait to sit on our balcony and watch animals!


Next up...In which I make and cancel 75 ADRs.

 

[egjlsmommy]

I think I realized right away that I was inside of 180 days when I booked. Oooh! That meant that I could make my ADRs now! Awesome! I saw a thread about romantic restaurants here on the DIS and someone (I can't remember who, sorry) said that Restaurant Marrakesh was good. I thought "Cool! Belly dancers at dinner. Unusual food, sounds good!" That was ressie...

#1 Marrakesh 8/31 @ 7:40

I made that ressie before sending the Mr. a list of restaurants with menus. After he checked them out, we narrowed it down to a few restaurants. He liked Artist Point. It sounded good to me too. That was...

#2 Artist Point 8/30 @ 7:50

Then I told him about Marrakesh. His response? "That doesn't sound like a good place for our anniversary. I thought you wanted to go to that other
place." Okaaay.

ressie #3 Artist Point 8/31 @ 8:35

Which led to...
cancellation #1 Marrakesh 8/31 @ 7:40

And then because I was on some sort of reservation high/stupor, I thought I'd see if I could get something a little later. I could.

ressie #4 Artist Point 8/31 @ 9:15
cancellation #2 Artist Point 8/31 @ 8:35

Then, because 9:15 wasn't quite late enough, I give you...

ressie #5 Artist Point 8/31 @ 9:20 (Yes, that's 5 minutes later!)
cancellation #3 Artist Point 8/31 @ 9:15


If you're still reading...#1 thanks. And #2, are you remembering that now I need something for 8/30? We liked the looks of Jiko. So here it is.

ressie #6 Jiko 8/30 @ 9:15

That should be late enough. ;-) So, now we;re set. Or are we? After I think everything is settled I realize that we have chosen 2 signature restaurants. I don't know how this escaped my notice before, I truly don't. I think I was just so excited to get to finally make some ADRS and try these great restaurants. And a little bit crazy. We're on the regular dining plan, so 2 signatures won't work. 1 signature won't even really work, because I want to try 2 different restaurants. We discussedpaying for one OOP, but decided we didn't want to. So it was back to the drawing board. In the meantime, I had also been reading about getting around on the buses. I worried about getting to a restaurant on the 31st because that was the day we were spendingat Epcot. Since we only have 1 day at the park, I wanted to make the most of it. I thought we'd have to leave really early to get to one of the resorts. To make the most of our day at Epcot, I decide that we should dine in the park. But where? After much research and agonizing, I choose Rose & Crown. That's...

ressie #7 Rose & Crown 8/31 @ 7:40
cancellations #4 Artist Point 8/31 @ 9:20
#5 Jiko 8/30 @ 9:15

And bonus! Hopefully we'll get good seat for Illuminations! Then I remember that we seemed to like the menu at Kona. So I book that.

ressie #8 Kona 8/30 @ 9:30

Then I realize that MK closes at 9:00 and if we're eating at 9:30 we;ll miss Wishes. So, here we go again.

ressie #9 Kona 8/30 @ 8:00
cancellation #6 Kona 8/30 @ 9:30

So, now we're REALLY set with Rose & Crown and Kona, right? Maybe. Because there's been this nagging thought at the back of my mind. I'm not 100% in love with Rose & Crown. It just doesn't seem "fancy" enough for our anniversary. I was just telling the Mr. about this. His response? "Why don't
you see how much it is to upgrade to Deluxe?" That's just what I'll be doing.

Next up...Do we upgrade? And do I get my fancy restaurants? I'll let you know.

 

[egjlsmommy]

I've been going back and forth about upgrading to Deluxe. On the one hand, it would be nice to try some signatures. On the other, $79 a day! Can I even eat $79 worth of food? We could try even more restaurants with the deluxe though. But, how many table service meals do we really want in just 2 days? When I went to the Mr. with my dilemma, wanting some input, this is what he said to me. "What's the difference between regular and deluxe again?" And even thought I have told him a million times (gross exaggeration), I don't yell. Because I love him. I start to tell him the difference. But he stops me and makes a request. He wants a chart. So he can see all the features and benefits and everything all in one easy convenient...chart. So I made a chart of all the plans and what's included with each one. NEWSFLASH!! Next time we go without kids, I'm going Premium! And we're staying longer. But I digress. We're not talking about the next trip. We're trying to figure out this trip. And this trip will have deluxe dining! Now we just have to decide where to eat...

 

[egjlsmommy]

I just talked to the Mr. about maybe switching the park that we go to. I was a little hesitant about it because of the whole "I don't want to be around kids" thing and I was thinking of switching to MK. But this is what he said to me. "Honey, I'll go to whatever park you want. Disney is all about you." I really thought he wouldn't want to switch because Epcot is more "grown up". But I'm happy that he doesn't mind. I just love that guy!

 

[egjlsmommy]

I remembered these pictures and thought it would be fun to post them, since we're going for our anniversary.

 

[egjlsmommy]

I showed my oldest DD these pics. The first words out of her mouth? "A fanny pack? Really? Wow." I reminded her it was 1990. Lots of people wore fanny packs. And it was really cute and matched my shorts.

 

[egjlsmommy]

Now what?
I've finished planning all of our meals. After making and cancelling a bunch more ressies, here's the line-up...

8/30
Lunch-Sanaa
Dinner-Narcoosee's

8/31
Breakfast-Crystal Palace(before the park opens!)
Lunch-Tony's
Dinner-WCC

I know that WCC isn't the least bit romantic, but once I switched our park to MK, I gave up on super romantic. Or even remotely romantic (apparently). I'm excited to try it and I don't think I can wait until our Christmas trip. So there it is.

What do you think?