Escaping the New England winter! Feb 2011 (Completed!)

[Tink9721]

Hi!!! I'm Christine This is my second attempt at a trip report...I never finished last year's, but this time I promise I will!

The cast of this TR is small:

Me - Christine, age 17

And my mom, Nancy

That's one of the only pictures I have of her not covering her face with something

All of my trips with the exception of my first have been just the two of us. I love my Disney trips with my mom!

We live in Rhode Island and as much as we love the snow, there's just been too much of it this year, so we can't wait to get away from it! I'm also happy to get a break from the stress of my senior year Every year we debate between Feb and April(the two school breaks, besides Christmas, that I get). We almost always choose February because the crowds are better and so is the weather. I don't do well in the heat. I get bad headaches and growing up in New England, I'm not used to really hot weather.

I'm really late starting the PTR this year! We leave on Feb 23 and come back on the 28th! Thanks to a pin code, we're staying at the Wilderness Lodge!!! We got upgraded there a few years ago after a booking error at POR. They overbooked and upgraded us to WL for no additional cost. We got hooked and we've stayed there ever since. We love the cozy feel of the WL


I made my ADR's as soon as we booked the trip in December.


Feb 23: Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

Feb 24: Breakfast at Kona Cafe

Feb 25: Lunch at Via Napoli

Feb 26: Breakfast at Tusker House and Dinner at Chef Mickey's

Feb 27: Lunch at the Crystal Palace


Most of those are repeats, but we're trying Kona and Via Napoli for the first time!


On last year's trip, I got to have a DIS meet with Megablocks. It was a ton of fun and we've become really good friends. She lives near me so we've had two DIS meets here This year I'll be meeting up with MeMom and BrooklynnsMommy. I'm not sure who else will be there, but there will be some other DISers too

That's it for tonight! Tomorrow is the 10 day mark and on Monday I can do the single digit dance

 

[MeMom]

It's so nice that you and your mom have these special trips together. I look forward to meeting her on the 26th. She doesn't think DIS people are crazy, does she?

I totally agree about Wilderness Lodge. It is so warm and inviting. We'll be over there at some point to throw coins in the fountain for some friends. I'm not sure at what point in the trip we'll work that in, but a quick boat ride over for a run through The Mercantile, some coin throwing, and a few pictures shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

Reading along. Can't wait to be down in sunny, warm Orlando and out of all the snow we have gotten down here. See ya soon!

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Hi, just came over from Memom & Brooklynnmommy's TR....

It has always been my desire to do a TR or PTR but I worry I wouldn't have the time to do it properly.

I have trouble coming on here daily to keep up with friends as it is.
I am going to do a little NYC TR, so I will see how that goes.

I love Mommy & daughter trips too, only I also bring my DD with us.
My DS has no desire anymore to come along with 3 girls to WDW so he stays with friends.
There is a slight chance that he and his friends wil join us this year, but school may play a factor for all of them.
(I would love to have them along.)

We got a pin code too, that why I decided on POFQ.
I was soooo tempted to go for a deluxe and looked at the costs of each one.
In the end I just decided to save the money for a special purchase on the cruise. (a D&B bag)

Your ADR's look great!
I want to try Kona bkfst one day!
We have done both Tusker House bkfst and Chef Mickey's bkfst & dinner. Love them!
I'm curious to hear what you think of CP for lunch.

Can't wait to read more....

 

[Megablocks]

Yay I'm here! I'm bummed we won't be able to meet up this trip but I can't wait to hear all about it. And it's too bad we can't ride HM together and you can hear me trying not to squeal (I was really trying not to scream) at those stupid heads popping up

 

[Megablocks]

Also, I have a question: do you guys still have Christmas trees buried under the snow? B/c we do...the first big storm was not long after Christmas & there was another one not long after that. So they couldn't come pick up the trees twice (the regular garbage trucks here don't do it anymore I guess, since my city switched over to city-issued barrels) So once the huge pile of snow in front of my house melts I am pretty sure there are going to be two Christmas trees under all of it. Craziness!

 

[Tink9721]

It's so nice that you and your mom have these special trips together. I look forward to meeting her on the 26th. She doesn't think DIS people are crazy, does she?

I totally agree about Wilderness Lodge. It is so warm and inviting. We'll be over there at some point to throw coins in the fountain for some friends. I'm not sure at what point in the trip we'll work that in, but a quick boat ride over for a run through The Mercantile, some coin throwing, and a few pictures shouldn't be too difficult.

Hi MeMom!

Nope Meg didn't scare her away so hopefully none of my other DIS friends will

We've been really lucky to be able to stay at WL so many times. I love being able to take the relaxing boat ride back at the end of a day at Magic Kingdom

Reading along. Can't wait to be down in sunny, warm Orlando and out of all the snow we have gotten down here. See ya soon!

Hi Jill!

We had 6 foot snow banks piled up a couple weeks ago but they're finally starting to melt. It's supposed to hit 50 degrees this week, but in New England it could be 50 one day and 5 the next

Hi, just came over from Memom & Brooklynnmommy's TR....

It has always been my desire to do a TR or PTR but I worry I wouldn't have the time to do it properly.

I have trouble coming on here daily to keep up with friends as it is.
I am going to do a little NYC TR, so I will see how that goes.

I love Mommy & daughter trips too, only I also bring my DD with us.
My DS has no desire anymore to come along with 3 girls to WDW so he stays with friends.
There is a slight chance that he and his friends wil join us this year, but school may play a factor for all of them.
(I would love to have them along.)

We got a pin code too, that why I decided on POFQ.
I was soooo tempted to go for a deluxe and looked at the costs of each one.
In the end I just decided to save the money for a special purchase on the cruise. (a D&B bag)

Your ADR's look great!
I want to try Kona bkfst one day!
We have done both Tusker House bkfst and Chef Mickey's bkfst & dinner. Love them!
I'm curious to hear what you think of CP for lunch.

Can't wait to read more....

Hi!

I love pin codes Yay for a cruise! I definitely want to do a Disney cruise some day.

I love Tusker House and Chef Mickey's too. Crystal Palace is awesome for lunch! I've done it every trip

Yay I'm here! I'm bummed we won't be able to meet up this trip but I can't wait to hear all about it. And it's too bad we can't ride HM together and you can hear me trying not to squeal (I was really trying not to scream) at those stupid heads popping up

Hi Meg!

We have to do another Disney themed meet soon. The fake Epcot meet was awesome

You'll be getting tons of pictures from me I cleared a bunch of space on my phone already. My phone memory was pretty much full but now there's a ton of room.

I'm not usually a screamer when it comes to rides, but you should've heard me the first time I rode ToT

Also, I have a question: do you guys still have Christmas trees buried under the snow? B/c we do...the first big storm was not long after Christmas & there was another one not long after that. So they couldn't come pick up the trees twice (the regular garbage trucks here don't do it anymore I guess, since my city switched over to city-issued barrels) So once the huge pile of snow in front of my house melts I am pretty sure there are going to be two Christmas trees under all of it. Craziness!

Probably We have an artificial tree and we still have it up because we're too lazy to take it down I hate taking it apart and lugging it down to the basement. I'll probably do it tonight

 

[Tink9721]

10 days My ticker is a day off for some reason...Oh well

I only have 5 days of school to get through before the trip. I think this is going to be a pretty easy week. No projects or papers due. I submitted my college applications a couple weeks ago, so those are behind me. In my school we have to do a "senior project" to graduate. It lasts pretty much all year. It includes an 8-10 page research paper, 15 hours of field work with a mentor, and a 10 minute presentation. The papers were due last week and we got them back a couple days ago. I passed A lot of people don't pass the first time, so I was nervous! I've done 12 hours of my field work. I'm volunteering at an animal shelter in the next town over I'm doing my last 3 hours next Monday. I'm enjoying it, but I'll be sooo happy to be done just so I'll have 2/3 of the project behind me. The presentation isn't until May, so I don't have to worry about that yet.

In trip related news, here's a loose schedule for my trip

Feb 23 - Flight at 7:50(?) AM. Landing in Orlando around 10:50. ME to the Wilderness Lodge After we check in, we'll be heading over to MK We have dinner at Liberty Tavern at 6:35. After that we'll watch Wishes and then probably head back to WL. We're usually out later than that but we'll be up at like 4:00 AM that day so we'll be exhausted

Feb 24 - Breakfast at Kona at 8:45. Then we'll be going to DHS for the day This is our Fantasmic night!

Feb 25 - Epcot day! We have lunch at Via Napoli at 2:00. We'll be watching Illuminations that night. I'm so excited about that because we didn't get to see it last year! I've only seen it once!

Feb 26 - Breakfast at Tusker House at 10:00. We'll be at Animal Kingdom most of the day, and then we'll be heading to MK for a DIS meet We also have dinner at Chef Mickey's at 8:10

Feb 27 - Last full day We'll start out at MK and have lunch at the Crystal Palace at 12:45. I'm not sure what we'll do the rest of the day. We may end up staying at MK the whole day I'll want to watch Wishes again that night too.

Feb 28 - We'll be going to MK to soak up as much magic as we can before the ME picks us up around 3:00. Then we'll have to fly back to the real world



That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from last year's trip that never made it into my un-finished TR. Goodnight everyone!

 

[Megablocks]

You know, at first I was really disappointed about not going at our usual time this year (which would be Presidents' week) b/c I thought I'd be able to meet up with you, MeMom, and Jill...then I realized that we'd probably just barely overlap and I'd definitely miss MeMom and Jill. The day that you arrived last year was supposed to be our last night but due to the flight being canceled it got pushed back. We'd probably go like Wednesday to Wednesday or something just to have time to recover before going back to the real world.

I can't remember if I told you, or if you might have seen it on MeMom and Jill's report at some point, but Kailyn is going to Disney in April with friends, AND they're leaving the day after my birthday Charles is leaving for Hawaii on Thursday with his family. I feel like I need to plan a trip somewhere, even if it's just a trip to Buffalo to see Katie or something. I'm feeling left out

 

[Tink9721]

You know, at first I was really disappointed about not going at our usual time this year (which would be Presidents' week) b/c I thought I'd be able to meet up with you, MeMom, and Jill...then I realized that we'd probably just barely overlap and I'd definitely miss MeMom and Jill. The day that you arrived last year was supposed to be our last night but due to the flight being canceled it got pushed back. We'd probably go like Wednesday to Wednesday or something just to have time to recover before going back to the real world.

I can't remember if I told you, or if you might have seen it on MeMom and Jill's report at some point, but Kailyn is going to Disney in April with friends, AND they're leaving the day after my birthday Charles is leaving for Hawaii on Thursday with his family. I feel like I need to plan a trip somewhere, even if it's just a trip to Buffalo to see Katie or something. I'm feeling left out

Yeah that's true. But I still wish you were going even if you could just meet up with me Even though we live an hour away from each other

Awww that's sad! You should come hide in my suitcase next week. Then you can hide in my little bag so I can sneak you into the park. No one would ever notice I think I mentioned this before, but my school's chorus is going to Disney in April. My best friend is going, but even if I wasn't already going next week, I wouldn't be jealous. I would NEVER go to Disney with a bunch of kids from my school

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Megablocks I'm surprized that you aren't going to WDW this year...you and Tink9721 could join all of us for the NYE party on the POLY beach!

 

[Megablocks]

Yeah that's true. But I still wish you were going even if you could just meet up with me Even though we live an hour away from each other

Awww that's sad! You should come hide in my suitcase next week. Then you can hide in my little bag so I can sneak you into the park. No one would ever notice I think I mentioned this before, but my school's chorus is going to Disney in April. My best friend is going, but even if I wasn't already going next week, I wouldn't be jealous. I would NEVER go to Disney with a bunch of kids from my school

I wish I was going, I miss it there so much! My friend just went in January and keeps saying how much she misses it. She's hoping to do the WDWCP though.

I would love to hide in your suitcase! Or Charles's! Actually, when Charles's mom overheard my friend (the one who had just gone to Disney) and I talking, she said that they were going to Hawaii, and my friend said "I'd rather go to Disney." One of those things only a true Disney dork would "get"!

Megablocks I'm surprized that you aren't going to WDW this year...you and Tink9721 could join all of us for the NYE party on the POLY beach!

I would love to be a part of that huge DIS meet! We're not going this year b/c my parents are going to Scotland this summer for their 30th anniversary (which is actually in September but the summer was the best time for them to go.) I'm like 95% sure we're going next year, though. I know my parents both miss it so I'm really, really hoping that we can start planning a trip when they're back from Scotland and need something else to plan!

 

[Tink9721]

I wish I was going, I miss it there so much! My friend just went in January and keeps saying how much she misses it. She's hoping to do the WDWCP though.

I would love to hide in your suitcase! Or Charles's! Actually, when Charles's mom overheard my friend (the one who had just gone to Disney) and I talking, she said that they were going to Hawaii, and my friend said "I'd rather go to Disney." One of those things only a true Disney dork would "get"!

I probably won't be going for a while after this year, so next year, it'll be me living vicariously through you when you go

 

[Tink9721]

One week!

I don't really have anything to report at the moment, so I'll share some pictures that never made it into my TR last year!

This guy was next to us during our entire meal at Coral Reef. He only moved once to go up for air. He was sleeping most of the time.

My Spectro pictures actually came out this time!

I'll share some more tomorrow!

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

Love the pics!

 

[Cat0727]

Hey Christine I'm joining in! I'm so excited for you, your trip is so close now

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

That's a great pic of the tiger!

 

[Tink9721]

Love the pics!

Thanks Jill!

Only a few more days in the real world

Hey Christine I'm joining in! I'm so excited for you, your trip is so close now

Hi! Welcome to my TR I know, I can't believe it's so close!!!

That's a great pic of the tiger!

Thank you! Those tigers are so fun to watch!

 

[Tink9721]

4 more days

As of yesterday, I'm officially on vacation! I just have to get through a few more days in the real world before I go to my happy place

Here are a few more pictures from last year's trip! These are getting me so excited!

I can't wait to see this beautiful place!

That's all for now! Goodnight DIS friends! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

[Tink9721]

Good morning DIS friends!

Just a quick update this morning. I have to go hop in the shower and get ready to go to Boston for a Plain White T's concert tonight. I also have to try to get some packing done because I'm staying at my dad's house tonight so I won't be home until tomorrow afternoon. I made my packing list weeks ago because I know I always end up being really busy right before the trip!

My mom's working from home tomorrow(normally she has an hour drive each way) so she can get her packing done. One thing we don't have to do this year is take our kitties or our dog to the kennel because we have a very nice family friend coming over a couple times a day to take care of them

I'll be back tomorrow, and by then I'll be counting hours, not days!