"Faith, trust, and pixie dust!" My First PTR for Disney! - 5/11 to 5/16

[AliceandAriel]

(I feel like such a 'cool kid' for posting one of these, hehe!)

It's that time! Back to Disney I go! ​

This isn't my first go-around on the Disney carousel, but my second. Unfortunately, I hadn't known about the DISboards before my 2012 vacation. But nevertheless, we are here and now, and ready to prep for a mind-blowing experience!

Plus, I'm not going alone. More on that in a second.

A quick intro:​

Me, AliceandAriel. Obviously a lover of both Alice via Alice in Wonderland, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Turning 22 very shortly. A tad on the OCD side when it comes to things in life (like vacation planning, ahem) but otherwise a mostly well-functioning wild hybrid child with a love of flaming red hair.

Going with me on the trip also is my DBF, Tim. He's also 22, but not a huge-huge Disney fanatic. I intend on doing my best to change that this time by an injection of his favorite Disney bits (Lion King, anyone?) along with food and maybe a little sneaky treat made by the bakery to surprise him before our trip ends.

(My grandparents are also tagging along, but they will not be visiting the parks with the DBF and myself. They're more of a... sun-soaking, poolside pair. You know, the whole 'been there and done that' chat.)

Moooooving on...​

So as I mentioned earlier, this isn't our first trip down to the Sunshine State. DBF had experienced Disney as a child and fell in love with Space Mountain. My first trip was last year, in 2012, as a sort of half-happy birthday, half-early happy anniversary present for both of us. We did nearly ZERO planning, made one reservation at a fancy French restaurant in Epcot (meh) and sort of tried to wing out whole trip.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

So this year, I sort of took it upon myself to become head planner, and work out any and all kinks to make our vacation truly magical. You know, with enough room for spontaneous action, but enough structure to ensure we had things to do all day. I bought one of the Birnbaum 2013 Disney World guides, tabbed every place we wanted to visit, drafted a list of prices and travel and everything, and thus, let the magic of my OCD-joyful planning, begin!

 

[AliceandAriel]

Table of Contents

"And that's the plan, folks."​

 

[AliceandAriel]

"And that's the plan, folks."​

So currently as it stands, it's March 21st.

Major Checklist
Airplane tickets? Check. ($230)
Room? Check. ($???)
Park tickets? Check. ($879.90)

Airplane tickets/Room: Both the room and our plane tickets were booked/taken care of through my grandparents. By using their timeshare with Wyndham, DBF and I have no worry about the room cost, but we do have to pay back my grandparents for the plane tickets. No biggie though, I mean, we're saving a huge burst on the room right off the bat.

Tickets: Using the discount code through Undercover Tourist, DBF and I bought our tickets last Saturday, now we're just waiting for them to show up. The total cost got us 3 days in Disney with Hopper, and 1 day in Universal with Hopper.

Personally, I would have been fine with 4 days in Disney, but DBF is all about roller coasters and Disney is 'too childish' with the rides to satisfy his craving. Plus, I do still want to go back to the Harry Potter park, and pick up my traditional Pin-A-Year habit we've created, and some chocolate frogs to bring home for my younger brother.

All in all, not a bad layout so far. We've got about 6 weeks left until vacation time. But since there isn't too much more I can do (keyword, much!) I've been crossing off other things like...

Minor Checklist
Backpack? Check.
Shoes?
Dining Reservations!
Mobile Apps?
Disney Maps? Check.

Backpack: Our trip in 2012 was, well, for lack of a better word, a NIGHTMARE. Why? Because I took some stupid huge tote with me to carry, which we then put in a locker, which we then needed to go back to every two hours to re-apply sunscreen because I'm fair to the point of instantly-burning regardless of when the sun shows. DBF said the locker was a pain to have to walk back to, so I picked up a Minnie Mouse backpack from the Disney Store for the trip. Cute as a button in pink!

Shoes: Both DBF and I have been needing new shoes for over a year now, but keep pushing off buying them because... well, I guess because we both love having wet socks in our sneakers. Last year, I took flip-flops with me for the whole vacation. Didn't have a problem with walking all day, my only gripe was that I had to take off my shoes for so many rides, and I hated having my bare feet on the ground. Yuck. So we'll be hunting for new pairs to buy and break in probably over the next week, two tops.

Dining Reservations: This is partially done, hurrah!

One of the reasons we're going back in May is because it's roughly a month past my birthday, making the trip a belated birthday celebration. To keep DBF from losing his marbles, I said we'd stick to one day to celebrate instead of the whole trip, and in return one day would be his day to celebrate however he wished. And of course, a big thing with celebrations is... food!

Currently we've got two reservations booked: one at La Hacienda de San Angel for me, and one at the new pizzeria in the Italy district within Epcot for him. We still have one day left, and I've been itching (itching!) to do a character dining experience; we've boiled it down to Cinderella's Castle OR Akershus.

I'm also planning on contacting Disney about delivering two very special cupcakes to one of our dining experiences to surprise DBF, as a sort of early anniversary gift.

Mobile Apps: Been doing a little research on the apps, but hearing mixed stuff on accurate time estimations and whatnot. My only app so far is the Disney Parks one.

Disney Maps: Got our customized Disney maps this week! They look superb- too pretty for me to be sure if I want to take them on vacation and crinkle or dirty them.

 

[happybelle]

Joining in.