Well, it is FINALLY the week that we leave for Disney World.....
We are leaving this Saturday, the 5th and will be there until the following Saturday, the 12th.... I feel like time is just crawling and I am ready to jump out of my skin with excitement so I thought I would write out our itinerary as a way to get some of this bottled-up excitement out because I'm sure my husband is ready to kill me from all the Disney talk I've thrown his way!
First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Jenna, I'm 27, and I am a disney-a-holic. It has been 11 months since our last trip to the world and I'm about to relapse in 3 DAYS!!
I am definitely the planner of the trips..... I plan and plan and plan all day long.... I just love it, it tides me over until we actually can get onto the Disney property!
My husband John has learned to called Disney his #1 vacation destination! He was always a Disney fan but not quite as much until I came into his life! This trip will be the first time we will be in the World for his birthday, which is September 8th.... he will be turning 31.
We almost ended up cancelling this trip altogether 2 months ago because of the economy
BUT we found a way to make it work, with many thanks to the Disney Visa Reward Dollars and Disney gift cards from past holidays!
We have booked 3 nights at Port Orleans Riverside, this being our 1st time staying at this resort. We both have visited before to check out the fishing here and I used to stay at French Quarter years ago with my family so it will bring back a lot of memories to stay here!
Then, on John's bday, we are heading over to the Polynesian for 4 nights! This is our DREAM resort, we both have stayed there many years ago, me in 2001, and John probably in 1987 but we've never stayed here together, even though we make a habit of visiting Ohana every year and getting a lapu lapu!
I just wanted to share some things on our itinerary for this year:
Saturday, Sept 5th- Check in at POR, take the boat to DD, lunch at either Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgang Puck Express, head over to ESPN Club at night hopefully to watch a dodger game, and back to POR to check out Yehaa Bob at the River Roost Lounge! (don't forget, I plan EVERYTHING!
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Sunday & Monday, Sept 6th & 7th- I really don't want to go to the parks until after Labor Day and the crowds go home so this will most likely be a pool or beach day! Maybe head out to Clearwater.....
I had wanted to do La Nouba one night for John's bday since we've never gotten around to it but didn't want to spend the $$ since we already splurged on Poly so I rented the DVD from netflix instead!
It was much better than I expected and I'm surprised that Cirque du Soleil would allow a DVD to be made bc I don't really feel I have to spend the $$ on tickets now that I've already seen the DVD....
I had gone on tripadvisor.com to look at the highly rated things to do in the area (since we always have a rental car) and came across something at WonderWorks in Orlando called The Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show. 2 shows nightly $25 pp includes an hour show and unlimited pizza, salad, popcorn, soda, beer, wine, and dessert! Then, I searched on ebay and found a buy one, get one free coupon! So I definitely plan on doing this either Sunday or Monday! Dinner, drinks, and a show for both of us for $25?! Good deal!
I also bought CityWalk passes on ebay for a discount to all clubs and plan on doing dinner at Margaritaville and clubs one of these nights!
Tuesday, September 8th *THE BIG DAY*- This is the day I've been looking forward to the most! John's bday and check-in at the Polynesian! I scheduled breakfast at Kona Cafe and plan on checking in super early (even though I'm not expecting to get our room ready) hoping and crossing my fingers that we may just receive our first upgrade ever? I figure the day after Labor Day should be one of their slower times and I booked a garden view room..... but would love to be surprised with a MK view! However, I'm not getting my hopes up or expecting anything. It is wonderful enough to be able to spend 4 nights at Poly!
I always like to surprise John with something at Disney every year. On our honeymoon, I ordered a gift basket from the Disney Florist with champagne, crackers, and the bride and groom Mickey ears. I also had the personalized menus and diver ordered at Coral Reef. Boy, was he shocked!
Last year, for our anniversary, I special-ordered a cake from 1900 Park Fare.
This year, I was supposed to keep Polynesian a surprise but I was so excited and ended up telling him! He was happy but I wish I had kept this a surprise till the day of his bday..... so I still wanted to have a surprise for him and I came across a little web site on the disboards called giftsofalifetime.com.
Jane has been super helpful and wonderful in coming up with a great personalized event for the day of John's bday. All you have to do is fill out a pre-questionnaire on her website (free of charge) and she will email you back an idea for you. If you don't like the idea she comes up with, you don't have to pay anything and can just back out. However, I really liked the idea she came up with and I added some of my own tips to make this event even more personalized! We are going to do a scavenger hunt through Epcot! I was a little concerned that this would make my husband stand out and he is a shy guy and doesn't like attention drawn to himself and Jane assured me that this will just be something the 2 of us can share and be a memorable event for years to come! Since Brady, our german shepherd, is such a huge part of our lives, we decided to have the hunt center around him.... There will be a note with his name on it waiting for John in a designated location in World Showcase. The note will be from Brady, saying pretty much "I know you left me at home but I got you a gift and I left you hints around the park to find it!" All the clues are going to be personalized with a picture of Brady on it and I told Jane our favorite places to hit in World Showcase and she will incorporate these places! For example, my husband loves trains, so one clue will take us to the train garden in Germany. He loves the Mexico boat ride and she will have us ride the boat ride during our search. I cannot wait to see his face when he gets his first clue!
After Epcot and our hunt, I have a 5:30 resort photo session booked at the Poly and I plan on using John's bday fun card to pay for this!
I have his bday dinner booked at The Wave, which neither of us have tried before.....
Wednesday, Sept 9th- Lunch at Chefs De France, new to us again. Was hoping to see Remy but I believe he leaves on Saturday so oh well....
Dinner is scheduled at one of our favorites- Ohana!
Thursday, Sept 10th- Lunch at Restaurant Marakkesh- another newbie for us. I think my husband only cares about seeing belly dancers.
I have dinner scheduled at Chef Mickeys and depending on how we are doing time-wise, I hope to head back over to DHS and catch our first-ever showing of Fantasmic!
Friday, Sept 11th- Our last full day at Disney
.... ive booked an afternoon tea at the Garden View Lounge at GF..... weve never done this before but my husband loves tea and I love the GF, so Im really looking forward to trying this one! Also plan on watching Hallowishes from the Poly beach on our final night!
And that's our itinerary!
, Jiko dinner
thankfully we only live bout 20 min away. we have plans at Rainforest Cafe for lunch at DTD and then i think we are just gonna chill, or what ever comes to mind
and plan to be there all day, no dinner ressie's at this point, so will prolly just wing it.
and dinner ressie's at Fulton's crab House for dinner.
shopping. then off to the airport to fly home at 6pm. ( tears falling from eyes)
I put that (amazing) suggestion to my boyfriend when we first found out and I got this reaction: 
