First Ever TR, Anniversary and F&WF, October 2010

[dgbg100106]

I have been active on the forum now for about a month and have meet some really great people on here.

This is my first ever trip report and I am looking forward to working on it. I am a little late in starting this but better late than never right?

We went to WDW last year for our anniversary, Late September and Early October, and had no idea it was also the International Food and Wine Festival.

I had read here on the boards a little about the event and how much fun everyone was having planning for their trips.

We stayed at Jambo House in AKV, Concierge Level. We had the best time and really enjoyed ourselves. We even had dinner to celebrate our anniversary at Victoria and Albert’s.

So we decided that we had so much fun and the Wine and Food Festival that we would go again this year. We also planned to take a 7 day cruise out of Ft Lauderdale after wards.

We have booked AKV Jambo House for October 12-17th We have CL for every night except the 14th, we are wait listed for that night.

I have one ADR for Jiko now...
First Update
Second Update
Third Update
New Toy
Car accident
April 27, 1010 update
UPDATE 05/20/10[
Update 08/10/10
Update on Feet
Visit to National Portrait Gallery
Bowling Birthday Party
Orioles Baseball Game Birthday Party
Cirque Dreams
Lion King and NYC
Driving Lesson
Mini Golf
Food and Wine Demos and Seminars
Baltimore Beer Week
Labor Day Ribs
Labor Day baseball... Mets vs. Nats
Sunrise Safari
[URL="http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38513891&postcount=138"]Baltimore Beer Week Pictures Part 1[/URL]
Baltimore Beer Week Pictures Part 2
Day 1 at F&W
Day 2 at F&W
Day 3 at F&W
Day 4 at F&W
Day 5 at F&W
Day 6 = Day 1 of Cruise
Day 7 = Day 2 of Cruise
Day 8 = Day 3 of Cruise
Day 9 = Day 4 of Cruise
Day 10 = Day 5 of Cruise
Day 11 = Day 6 of Cruise
Day 12 = Day 7 of Cruise

 

[dgbg100106]

So we convinced DH's sister and her husband to go with us on the cruise, and they decided to come to the food and wine festival for two days also. This is their first time to AKL and to F&WF.

We talked about it so much that they gave in and are now coming with us.

We also convinced my Aunt and Uncle to go with us on the cruise, have not got them to the F&WF just yet but i am trying.

 

[dgbg100106]

182 days today until our trip begins... it seems that I might not get my missing day at AKL CL. In our 7th month window I called to get 5 days at AKL CL. Oct 12-17, 2010. For some reason the 14th was all booked so I was only able to get Oct 12th and 13th and CL and then the 14th - 17th at a standard room. They asked me to call back on the 14th to see if anything had changed and maybe the rooms had opened up. I went on a waitlist for the 14th -17th at CL. On the 14th I called back and no luck the rooms were all booked at CL. So again on the 15th I call back and am able to CL for the 15th thru the 17th of October.

So right now I have a reservation for AKL Jambo House CL for Oct 12th and 13th. A reservation for a standard room at AKL Jambo house for the 14th and wait listed for the CL on the 14th and finally another reservation for the AKL Jambo House CL October 15th - 17th.

Has anyone ever had a split reservation like this?

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi! I just realized by the talk about Kim's possible PTR that you have one going, so I hopped over here!

Cruise and AKV sounds great!! I hope your waitlist will come through, that would be really annoying if you had to move out of your accomodations for one night...

Where are your DH's sister and BIL staying?

 

[dgbg100106]

Flossbolna, thanks for stopping by, I am really not very good at this. I have never written one before and can't seem to stay on top of it.

I really hope that the waitlist comes through also. I can't imagine having to change rooms twice, being in three differnt rooms in the same place, but at least I am there at AKL and will enjoy myself no matter what.

My DH's sister and BIL will be coming in for the last two night only. The will be staying with us, We got the one bedroom so they get the pull out couch. I am sure they will have a great time. They were only coming for the cruise portion to being with but I finally talked her into coming for the food and wine festival.

So to get them there I had to let them stay with us. Since it is really just DH and I for the first three days I am sure we will be ok with it.

DH's sister and BIL have been to WDW before but never on property. Hoping they have a great time, because I know that we will have a wonderful time.

Thanks again for stopping by the trip report.

 

[dgbg100106]

Thanks Flossbolna for all the help in getting the links to work....

 

[dgbg100106]

Well I know that this does not pertain to the trip report for WDW but My DH and I just bought a new Toy... 2006 Harley-Davidson FXDBI Dyna Street Bob!
She is Black Cherry Pearl and only 2500 miles. Here is a picture...

just a little excited!

 

[dgbg100106]

On the way home last night from the train, in a light rain, my DH was rear ended and pushed into the car in front of him.

he was sandwiched in between both cars, he drives a small pickup and the rear end is damaged pretty good and light damage on the front.

He was stopped at a red light and had left plenty room between him and the car in front of him, so thankful, that cushion is what saved him from more pain and damage. The air bags did not deploy b/c he did not hit the first car hard enough.

The woman who hit him said that her foot just slipped off the brake pedal and she could not stop her car.

She had the same insurance as us and the claims have already been registered and the adjuster is coming over to our house today to assess the damage to the truck. I am so not in the mood to buy another vehicle.
Hopefully they will not total it.

He is very sore and stiff this morning and a little nauseated (I hope that is from the weather and his allergies). He is being monitored and will update more later.

 

[dgbg100106]

Well, we had the xray's and they all came back negative. The Dr said he is having neck and lower back spasms and prescribed some muscle relaxers. they are not helping much with the pain but hopefully they will kick in soon.

 

[dgbg100106]

Well today is 168 days from arriving at WDW and AKL Jambo House. I wished I could be on permanent vacation…. That would require that we win the lottery, and since we never play it would be hard for us to win.

Anyway, David is recovering from the car accident; they finally put him on Vicodin (acetaminophen and hydrocodone). He is finally able to sleep and get the rest he needs; he is having surgery on Thursday, for his feet and will be on short term disability for 6 weeks. He is not allowed to walk or stand on his feet for any length of time for the first three weeks and no driving for 6 weeks. Luckily I have a great understanding boss and work environment that will allow me to work from home most of the time he will be out.

We have decided that since we will be enjoying all of the wonderful food at the Food and Wine Festival, that we will forgo any ADR’s except I am trying to talk DH into Boma for at least one night!

I also am not sure that we will do any of the safari’s either, I think we are strictly going for the food and wine and relaxing the other days!

 

[dgbg100106]

Well DH ended up having surgery last Thursday on his feet… I have stayed home from work with him and he is recovering nicely. The Dr thinks it will take 6 weeks total for him to recover, they took his big toes off, cleaned them up and put them back. He is able to get up and walk to the bathroom and back to the couch and that is about it now. Looking forward to healing and movement, good thing we don’t go to Disney for a 158 days.

 

[dgbg100106]

Side trip to Charleston, SC

Well the job sent me to Charleston, SC for a week of training, since DH was still recovering from surgery and not allowed to drive or go back to work, I decided to drive down and bring him along. He could stare at the walls in the hotel just as easy as he could stare at the walls in Charleston.
It is 562 miles, we left at 5:40 in the morning, drove around Washington, DC and then on to Charleston. Made two pit-stops and were here by 2:15pm. It was not a bad trip at all, I was thankfully that DH was able to walk a little bit and get in and out of the car.

We are staying at a Homewood Suites, in North Charleston; the staff has been great so far. When we arrived, they asked if had every stayed with them before, we said yeas for a week last year, that got us bumped up to the real suites… Our room is huge, it has 1 king suite and another with 2 queen beds, along with two full size baths, DVD players and a full kitchen.

Anyway, we finally got settled in, went to a local BBQ joint and had dinner, came back to the room and fought very hard not to go to sleep. I had to attend training the next morning but did not want to be at 3 AM. SO we watched TV, laughed and just enjoyed the time together.

Monday morning off to work I go and DH hangs out at the suite. Same thing on Tuesday, except after dinner we go to a place called Shem Creek, a very nice family owned seafood place and I had an Oyster Martini, it was Vodka shaken with Cocktail Sauce and a raw oyster. It was GREAT….. Dinner was shrimp and grits for me and DH had feast (it was everything). Wednesday was replayed as Monday. Thursday work was work but we made it out to a Baseball game, the Charleston River Dogs, they are a Yankees team and being that I am a Braves fan, we decided to cheer for the other team, The Savannah Gnats, well turns out they are a Mets team so back to the Dogs we go. The game was a good one, tied until the bottom of the 8th 2 to 2, then the final score was 2 to 4 and the Dogs loose. Oh well we got to enjoy the baseball game, I also got a baseball from the bull pin… Friday back to work and all packed up for the drive to Lumberton, NC for the night.

On the drive after work, we stopped at a place called Smith’s on exit 98 of I95 for some local wine and cider. DH had never had Muscadine wine so we bought a bottle of Duplin winery Muscadine called Magnolia. We made it to Lumberton, NC around 7:30, the front desk sent us to a place called Smithfield’s Chicken for some fried chicken, DH was craving Fried Chicken… Anyway it was the best fried chicken I had ever had; it had a lot of pepper in the batter. Then meat was very juicy, side were hush puppies, coleslaw and French fries. They served it with a gallon of tea (unsweet for us) for under $20 pretty good. Our son is a huge North Carolina fan, so we stopped by the store and bought enough shirts, shorts, caps to last a year of gift giving… Spent the night at Hampton Inn, and shared the bottle of wine.

Up early the next morning and finished the drive back home, only took about 6 hours.

Home sweet home, nothing like being in your own bed.

 

[dgbg100106]

Well it was really neat that David was able to get tickets to the Brooks and Dunn concert here in DC on August 1st.

The concert was supposed to be in June but Mr. Brooks got sick and they canceled, so the new date was this past Sunday. David was able to get them from a co-worker that got transferred to Hawaii on July.

Anyway, long story short, we make it there and find out that we have Mega Passes, which get us into some VIP area, with free food, nothing that is on my diet but I can't pass up free food, I mean come on....

So the pavilion is called "Jiffy Lube Live" and it is open air, for some reason we got this beautiful break in the weather and Sunday night at concert time it is 82 degrees, with heavy cloud cover, with the temp dropping to the low 70's.

Our seats are in the second section from the stage, pretty close and a section of the stage juts out to about 10 rows in front of us.....

Gary Allen opens the show and he is great, I forgot I knew so many of his songs... The music is so loud, you can't hear anything. He is truly rocking the crowd, David and I keep looking at each other saying this is Country music? Sounds more like the rock-n-roll I was listening to in college...

Here is Gary Allen.....

David and I always call ourselves DgBg... but tonight we were B&D going to see B&D so I had to get this shot...

Here is Brooks and Dunn....

Since they are splitting up, it was really cool that David took me to see them. They put on a wonderful concert and we got to celebrate our 46th month anniversary with B&D watching B&D in concert.


(try not to laugh too hard at my being silly)

 

[dgbg100106]

So DH and I were talking about the DVC discount on APs and if it would be cheaper for us to go ahead and get APs then to purchase our tickets thru the MWR office at the Pentagon.

We finally made a decision, buying the APs before the price increase tomorrow.

We will be there for 5 days this year during the food and wine festival, plus 4 days in May for graduation, then we will come again next year for the food and wine festival before our 366 days are up. Yep, the CM told us that the passes are really good for 366 days. I am so excited, this is my first time to have Annual Passes.....

 

[johnsonet]

Hi Brandi - today I noticed your link to this PTR
Your trip sounds GREAT. I can tell from your plans that it's going to be a fun time
I hope you'll get your room situation worked out. Are you saying that you have a 1-bedroom CL in Jambo + 1 night in AKL std room + the rest of your stay in a 1-bedroom CL in Jambo? Even if you DO have to move twice, and stay in 3 different rooms/villas, at least you are not moving out of the building PLUS you will have the CL lounge which makes a BIG difference during split stays in general.
You are a newlywed! Hadn't caught that until now. Very sweet

I look forward to reading more. How is your husband's foot/feet doing?? That sounds so scary about his toes Poor guy!

 

[dgbg100106]

Hi Brandi - today I noticed your link to this PTR
Your trip sounds GREAT. I can tell from your plans that it's going to be a fun time
I hope you'll get your room situation worked out. Are you saying that you have a 1-bedroom CL in Jambo + 1 night in AKL std room + the rest of your stay in a 1-bedroom CL in Jambo? Even if you DO have to move twice, and stay in 3 different rooms/villas, at least you are not moving out of the building PLUS you will have the CL lounge which makes a BIG difference during split stays in general.
You are a newlywed! Hadn't caught that until now. Very sweet

I look forward to reading more. How is your husband's foot/feet doing?? That sounds so scary about his toes Poor guy!

Thanks for stopping by.... I have not been very good about posting here, so maybe I will get better as time is getting closer.

As for the room I checked again yesterday for maybe the 100th time and we are still waitlisted for the middle day, so right now we are CL Jambo House for the first two nights, standard room at Jambo House for the 1 night and then back to CL Jambo House for the last two night.

So 4 out of 5 is not too bad, but I really hate packing and unpacking my room, I wished we could just stay put for the whole trip. Keeping my fingers crossed that it comes in.

But I will try and look at on the bright side that you pointed out, at least I get to see 3 different rooms.....

This is the second marriage for both of us, but yes we will be celebrating 4 years together at WDW....


DH's feet are doing better, since he is learning all over again how to walk correctly, there is a lot of pain and soreness in the Physical Therapy and he complains about it but he is doing much better. He really did very well through the whole thing...

Thanks again for stopping by...

 

[johnsonet]

Glad to hear your hubby is doing well. That's very tough.

Your room situation will be fine - it will be neat to check out different rooms, should you not get that middle night added. Maybe pack in a way that makes the transitions a bit easier (this is what I try and do when we do split stays, which we do often.)

You ARE going to Jiko, right? I recommend sitting at the Cooking Place (the bar in the center of the restaurant) sometime. Very different experience in that you face the chefs who are prepping the first courses and can chat with them and learn a lot

I'm dying to be at AKL right now

 

[dgbg100106]

Glad to hear your hubby is doing well. That's very tough.

Your room situation will be fine - it will be neat to check out different rooms, should you not get that middle night added. Maybe pack in a way that makes the transitions a bit easier (this is what I try and do when we do split stays, which we do often.)

You ARE going to Jiko, right? I recommend sitting at the Cooking Place (the bar in the center of the restaurant) sometime. Very different experience in that you face the chefs who are prepping the first courses and can chat with them and learn a lot

I'm dying to be at AKL right now

Packing options might be the trick, since we are leaving for the cruise right from the resort, it might make that part easier also. With doing laundry and packing up.... Thanks for the idea.

I know this is going to sound bad, but we have not made any ADRs.....

Last year was our first year at Food and Wine Festival, and we ate so much at the different countries around the world that we hardly ate dinner.

I hate to make a reservation and then not go or be so full that we don't enjoy it.

We took the tour last year of both restaurants there in Jambo house and they were amazing and beautiful and everyone was so wonderful.

Maybe we could go for appetizers one night and a cocktail.

 

[dgbg100106]

Thanks to johnsonet I just found out that I can email the CL people and ask for help in planning my trip. It amazes me sometime how little I have know before and spent so much time there at WDW.


Anyway, I explained my one night not in CL and hopefully they can help.

I also asked them to get us a dinner reservation at Jiko in the Cooking Place for a special dinner for the two of us.

I am looking forward to this trip more than any other since I started being a part of this amazing community on the boards. Everyone keeps the dream alive and makes it so special.

Thank you all.

 

[johnsonet]

...I also asked them to get us a dinner reservation at Jiko in the Cooking Place for a special dinner for the two of us.

You're gonna love it I can't wait to hear all about your trip!