Here's to a DRAMA-FREE vacation! A Sept. 2013 PTR, FINAL UPDATE, 9/1!!

[blabbermouth]

You make WL sound so awesome! Slightly jealous

I think it's just a naturally relaxing resort, so I hope you feel that way when you're there.

 

[princess_momma]

WOW!! I can't believe how close you are!!! Your trip will be here so soon! How exciting! Your WL countdown was inspiring! YOu are going to have an amazing trip!

 

[klacey1]

You're going to love Wilderness Lodge! As soon as you get there, before you leave for any parks, make sure you find the character totem pole & rub Humprhy the bear's nose for good luck. I read this before I stayed there in 2009 and followed the advice and was 1) picked to open DHS the day we went and 2) picked to go onstage at Hoop Dee Doo. Extra pixie dust never hurts!

I'm bumming. They changed our AEP resort from Yacht Club to Grand Floridian. Most people would be thrilled I'm sure but not me. I have zero desire to stay there. I'm hoping I will be pleasantly surprised.

I definitely will rub Humphry's nose! I'm not above a little superstition!
I actually totally understand that. I'm not the biggest fan of GF either. It's okay, just a bit stuffy. And if I was paying for myself, DEFINITELY not worth the price!!

My husband had to teach me how to use Excel and I am still learning!

Aw, thanks! Having curly hair can sometimes be a pain, but most days it's very easy. Just wash it, throw in some product and let it air dry.

I'm sure you'll pick up Excel eventually! It's not so bad if you only use it for the basics!
Ahh, I wish my hair was that easy!

I followed you over from my pre-trippie!

You, my dear, have hit a level or organization and spreadsheet domination that I couldn't pull off in my wildest dreams. Much admiration! I also wear a full face of makeup in Disney ... I care more about what I look like there and in vacation pictures than I do on a normal day in the office.

Looking forward to following along now and glad to read your positive thoughts on Port Orleans Riverside (even though I see you've upgraded) We're currently booked at POFQ, but may need to switch to get free dining and I am honestly pretty bummed about it.

Haha thanks for the compliment on the organization. I try!
Agreed-- for the office, it's quick face make-up, blush, eyeliner, mascara. You'd have to multiply that by about 5 to get what I wear in Disney!
Definitely don't be bummed about POR! It's SUCH a gorgeous resort. Yes, it's a bit bigger than POFQ, but bus stops are close to really almost every room and the mansions are so pretty! The food court is great too! It's honestly a little weird NOT to be returning there this trip!

We like your top 5 WL list. We can't wait to be there soon too. The only thing we might add is walking through the woods (or taking a boat) over to Fort Wilderness. We love doing that as a quiet start to the mornings. It is just amazing that you can feel like you are in the middle of nowhere and be that close to MK!

Oh, that's a great suggestion! I am honestly loving the options at Trail's End buffet and may try to eat there our "relaxing" night, so the idea of walking to FW definitely appeals!

You make WL sound so awesome! Slightly jealous

I think it's just a naturally relaxing resort, so I hope you feel that way when you're there.

I hope WL is everything I want it to be!!

WOW!! I can't believe how close you are!!! Your trip will be here so soon! How exciting! Your WL countdown was inspiring! YOu are going to have an amazing trip!

I seriously can't believe it! This summer has just flown by and our trip is SO SOON!!! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!

 

[Mrs T 2009]

Your top 5 sounds great!!!

The wilderness lodge is on my must stay at list!!! Some day

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I love the idea to do a top 5 list for WL! It looks like such a gorgeous resort. We had an ADR for WCC but I ended up with entirely too many ADRs so I cancelled it but I'm hoping we'll still make it over to explore the WL!

September is so close!

 

[klacey1]

Your top 5 sounds great!!!

The wilderness lodge is on my must stay at list!!! Some day

It honestly wasn't on mine (because I didn't think it was very "Florida") until we ate two meals there last trip-- then I fell in LOVE!

I love the idea to do a top 5 list for WL! It looks like such a gorgeous resort. We had an ADR for WCC but I ended up with entirely too many ADRs so I cancelled it but I'm hoping we'll still make it over to explore the WL!

September is so close!

Definitely make it a point to visit WL! It's beautiful. I'd say reconsider and rebook WCC, but since they changed the skillet and took my beloved pulled pork off, I'm mad at them!!!


As a mini update, today I purchased our tickets for Universal! I got us 1 day park-to-park tickets from Undercover Tourist! With their free shipping option, they were $12 cheaper than doing print at home or will call from Universal directly. Hey, every little bit helps! I can't wait to get those babies in the mail!

I am actually waiting on a few things to come in the mail!
- Universal tickets
- A birthday gift for a friend (not at all Disney related but I paid $5 to ship a t-shirt priority mail three weeks ago and it's STILL not here! ETA: I just checked the shipping and it says it was delivered today! It took five days and three stops just to get to my house from NYC. It better be in my mail box when I get home!)
- A package from Ulta. Normally, I am hugely devoted to Sephora. There's one in my mall and I like wracking up rewards points. (I don't think I've ever seen an Ulta.) However, I signed up for Ulta's newsletter on a whim a few days ago and got a 20% off coupon for their entire site. I just had to order a few things! Since some of it is Disney related, I'll share when I get the package!
- A package from Old Navy. Both of what I picked up here, a dress and super cute bathing suit, will be coming on our trip. (That is if they both fit and are flattering. I have kind of a tricky shape, so I'm not crazy about ordering clothes online.) The bathing suit was a bit of an impulse buy as Zach does NOT swim. Period. He CAN swim (his grandparents made him take swimming lessons as a child, for which I am so grateful. I think being able to swim is a life skill that everyone should have!!), he just chooses not to. Ever. Even on the beach, the once every five years that he even goes to the beach. As such, we don't spend time on our Disney trips swimming at all. However, that WL pool looks beautiful! And I really loved the look of the Royal Pacific pool, plus they do "dive-in" movies! So I figured it can't hurt to pack a suit just in case. Pics when the package arrives!
- MICKEY MAIL!! I cannot wait to get my ME tickets and everything else that comes in that little package!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Yay! Universal tickets!

That's pretty annoying about the t-shirt taking so long!

I've never heard of Ulta but 20% is always exciting. I'll have to check it out.

I'm so excited for Mickey mail to come too!

 

[blabbermouth]

Looking forward to seeing your purchases! Especially Old Navy since I have a few dresses and bathing suits from there this year. I hope you like them and they fit!

 

[klacey1]

Yay! Universal tickets!

That's pretty annoying about the t-shirt taking so long!

I've never heard of Ulta but 20% is always exciting. I'll have to check it out.

I'm so excited for Mickey mail to come too!

The tshirt came! I really hated waiting so long though!
Ulta is kind of like Sephora but they have cheaper make-up, hair stuff, etc. too. You also get a "mystery" pack of three samples when you place an online order. I'm excited to get my package!

Looking forward to seeing your purchases! Especially Old Navy since I have a few dresses and bathing suits from there this year. I hope you like them and they fit!

Me too!! I usually like the dresses from Old Navy but I always try them on because I float between two sizes. Fortunately, in the reviews a girl who is my exact height and weight posted what size she got, so I just went with that!

 

[jenny105]

I used to love Ulta but I won't by anything from them now. My sister worked there as a manager and she got fired for BS reasons and it was a huge fiasco. Long story but they suck lol. I've become addicted to ELF. Super cheap but their products are good!

 

[lsenquiz]

Somehow I totally missed that you had a PTR going. So Sorry. I am off now to try to catch up!

 

[lsenquiz]

Just finished "The story behind my title..." Chapter

Wow what a terrible send off. Those kind of days just make me want to get back into bed and start over the next day. Not sure how I would handle it with Disney looming ahead.

We had a perscription glasses mishap on our trip in September 2011 also. My DH was lifting our Niece onto his sholders along the wall in Animal Kingdom where you stand to watch Everest and somehow his glasses flew off his face and over the wall! We got them back but it took a day and a 1/2. I learned a valuable lesson on that trip. We now bring a spare pair of glasses with us. Sadly we have needed the spares on two other trips so now we just wear the spare while we are at Disney and keep our favorite pairs as our backups.

 

[klacey1]

I used to love Ulta but I won't by anything from them now. My sister worked there as a manager and she got fired for BS reasons and it was a huge fiasco. Long story but they suck lol. I've become addicted to ELF. Super cheap but their products are good!

Augh, that's awful!! Definitely a good reason not to shop there anymore! I love ELF stuff! Their brushes are awesome and SO cheap!

Somehow I totally missed that you had a PTR going. So Sorry. I am off now to try to catch up!

Just finished "The story behind my title..." Chapter

Wow what a terrible send off. Those kind of days just make me want to get back into bed and start over the next day. Not sure how I would handle it with Disney looming ahead.

We had a perscription glasses mishap on our trip in September 2011 also. My DH was lifting our Niece onto his sholders along the wall in Animal Kingdom where you stand to watch Everest and somehow his glasses flew off his face and over the wall! We got them back but it took a day and a 1/2. I learned a valuable lesson on that trip. We now bring a spare pair of glasses with us. Sadly we have needed the spares on two other trips so now we just wear the spare while we are at Disney and keep our favorite pairs as our backups.

Hey!! I would have given anything to erase those first two days of our trip! Oh wow, that's so unfortunate about your DH's glasses!! Zach has learned his lesson and will definitely be bringing his spares this trip!!

 

[klacey1]

We are officially under 30 days until our trip!!! Now that we’re getting so close, I’m going to share our individual days’ plans and cap them off with an outfits post! I love seeing what everyone else plans on wearing to the parks, so I hope no one minds when I share mine!

Day One: Travel Day!
As of now, my brother has agreed to drive us to the airport. I am a freak about leaving enough time for traffic, etc. JFK is only about an hour away from mine and Zach’s house without any sort of traffic, but I’m planning on giving ourselves an hour and 45 minutes to get to the airport. I also like to have about an hour and 45 minutes to check our bags, get through security, etc. I would much, MUCH rather sit in the airport for awhile than rush and worry and regret leaving late! That being said, as our flight is at 7:30 a.m., we’ll leave our house at 4:15 a.m. EEK! I am not looking forward to setting that 3:30 alarm! I’d like to say I’d nap in the car on the way, but I think that’d probably be rude to my brother! Also, I know I’ll be way too excited to sleep!

The goal is to arrive at JetBlue terminal of the airport at by 6:00 a.m.!

(Photo courtesy of the Internet)

After dropping off our FREE bags (two huge suitcases, one for each of us!), we’ll go through security. I’ve obviously done some research on the post-security food options, and I suspect Zach will get a coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I’ll try to eat a bagel, as we won’t be eating lunch until much later, but the excitement combined with the early time-- I just don’t know!

I’ll try to sleep on the plane, but that doesn’t usually work out! My Kindle Fire is loaded with episodes of Friends to pass the time. Zach will bring his laptop, with plenty of DVDs of World War II and nerd comedy shows/movies! He is also reallllly looking forward to the JetBlue TVs! It’ll be early, but if they let me, I definitely plan on taking some blue chips for later. Love those!

After close to three hours, we’ll land in my favorite airport in the world...

I love, love, love MCO! To me, it’s always clean and just has a feeling of Disney happiness in the air!

Our first stop after deplaning and making a bathroom visit is always Starbucks! Now that Zach’ll be able to get his beloved coffee in the MK, this stop won’t be as important, but still, tradition is tradition! Coffee in hand, we’ll board the first ride of our trip!




We love ourselves the “fake” monorail. To us, it says WE’RE HERE IN DISNEY OMGGGGG!

One of my favorite aspects of staying onsite is using ME and not having to pick up our suitcases! We’ll head straight to the ME counter and hopefully get on a bus quickly. I never care whether we get a proper ME bus or a cruise bus, as long as I can watch this wonderful video...

Watching this video always gets me a bit teary!

After the usual half hour ride, we’ll arrive at the Wilderness Lodge!!

We will not have done online check in-- our last experience was poor, so I’m going to stick with regular check in. Last trip, the regular check in line was much shorter than online check in anyway! I am hoping we’ll arrive at the hotel around 12:30 p.m.

If our room is ready, that would be great! If not, I’ll have a change of clothes in my carry-on and will just change in a bathroom in the WL lobby. We’ll either drop our bags in our room or leave them with bell’s services. Either way, I hope to be on our way to our first venture by 1:30. That first venture is...

Downtown Disney! This is a first day tradition for us.

I’m imagining it’ll be around 2 by the time we get to DTD and I know we’ll be starving! We’re planning on having lunch at a place new to both of us-- Cooke’s of Dublin! So many dishes on the menu, from the scallops to the sausages, sound good. Zach is intrigued by the battered burger.

After lunch, we’ll probably visit our favorite DTD stores-- World of Disney, TrenD, Basin, etc. This reminds me that I should visit the sports store to get a thank you gift for my brother for driving us to the airport at the ungodly hour!
We’ll aim to leave DTD by 5 p.m. to head to Epcot, our first park! I know the way that makes the most sense is to take a bus to Beach Club and then walk through the International Gateway. However, I really like coming through the front of Epcot. Also, we really love the monorail and looping through the park! We’ll take a bus to the Poly, walk to the TTA, and take the monorail from there.


I doubt we’ll have any time to do anything before dinner, and will probably head straight to the World Showcase. We have a 7:00 p.m. reservation at...

Biergarten! We finally made a decision regarding that first night dinner. Nothing on the Rose and Crown menu was exciting us and I wanted something a bit more fun than Via Napoli (and I could tell Zach really didn’t want to go there). I am really excited by this choice-- this is our first Disney buffet!

Epcot closes at nine tonight. I’m thinking dinner will probably take about an hour, so theoretically we should have time for a ride or two. It will be Labor Day and I have no idea what the crowds will be like. (TGM says 8, EasyWDW says 4) If Test Track’s wait is until an hour, I’d really like to experience the new version!


If the line is too long, Spaceship Earth is always a good choice!


We’ll head out close to closing. I’m sure we will be absolutely exhausted, but full of that early-vacation-adrenaline! I can’t wait for this day-- FOUR WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ah under 30 days?!

I love seeing what others are going to wear to the parks so share away!

How nice of your brother to agree to drive you. I'm totally the same way. I'd rather be way early and sit and wait then have to rush.

Yeah I always think I'll nap while we're waiting or on the plane and it doesn't work out! Too much excitement!

There's a few different options for food after security. In January, I ate a chocolate croissant from Au Bon Pain. We were there so early though that most things were just opening while we were walking around!

Good idea on loading up on Friends episodes! I've seen all of them so many times and I still crack up every time! Make sure you bring your own headphones so you don't have to buy them on the plane in case you want to watch the TV/listen to the radio.

Depending on how full the plane is/the stewardess you get, they're usually pretty generous with the snacks.

AH getting to MCO is the BEST feeling ever.

Can't wait to hear how you like Cooke's of Dublin. Sounds interesting but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone eating there!

I find it so irritating how Touring Plans and easywdw always say the exact opposite! I don't think I plan on renewing my Touring plans subscription when it expires.

 

[Mrs T 2009]

Yay!!!! Under 30 days!!!!!

Arrival day plans sound awesome!!!

 

[abbybeth]

eeek! under 30! You must be just bursting with excitement

I am SO not a morning person, but when you have to get up early to go do something fun it's so much easier and then when you add in Disney adrenaline, anything seems possible.

Day 1 looks great - I haven't tried Biergarten myself, so I'll look forward to the review in your TR!

 

[jenny105]

I love Biergarten! You've never been? It's so much fun! The food is delicious and the entertainment is great too. I hope you get a table right by the stage. That's always where we end up. We'll be going there for the third time when we visit Epcot during our cruise. We have a lunch ressie though and we've only been there for dinner so I wonder if there are any differences. Hope you like it as much as we do!

 

[klacey1]

This is just the craziest week for me at work! I had eight interviews for a story I’m writing yesterday and then today was just back to back meetings. Tomorrow and Thursday will be more of same-- ack, I’ll really need this vacation!! On a fun note, Zach and I just invited people to a party we’re having next weekend-- come dressed as your favorite Canadian! A silly theme, but we really get into theme parties! Also, I just want to celebrate summer and enjoy this beautiful weather while I can! I put that there’s a mystery prize for best costume, but the “prize” is really just going to be one of the dozens of glasses we’ve won from playing trivia.

Anyway, onto the PTR!
Day Two: MK/DTD

There is absolutely nothing like waking up for the first time in Disney! As I’ve said, we’re big into tradition and there is only one park we can visit on our first full day: Magic Kingdom!

When we stay at POR and MK opens at 9, we get up at 7, and get to the bus stop by 8. Being so close to the park is going to be odd! We’ll be taking the bus in the mornings and I’ve heard it’s literally a 5 minute trip. What time do you think we’d be safe to get to the bus stop? 8:30? The opening show is one of my favorite things in the World, so catching that is essential!


We never have a firm touring plan, I just know which rides are our favorites and which are essentially to ride in the early, low-crowd hours! We will position ourselves to the left at rope drop and cut through to Frontierland and straight to Splash Mountain! Zach doesn’t exactly love this ride, so it’s best to get it over with first thing

Since we’ll be right in the area, BTMRR will be next.


At this point, we’ll have the choice between turning left toward Fantasyland to hit the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, IASW, Mickey’s Philharmagic, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid...



OR head right toward Adventureland to hit Pirates and Buzz.



I am leaning toward heading left and hopefully getting all of those rides done before lunch. We tend to be early lunch eaters in WDW since we usually only eat a granola bar in our room for breakfast. Since they took Zach’s beloved ribs off the lunch menu at Cosmic Ray’s, I’m thinking we’ll backtrack back through FL to Adventureland for lunch at Pecos Bill! That toppings bar looks amazing!

After lunch, we’ll hit Pirates. I rarely eat the desserts that come with the CS meals, so I hope I have room for a Dole Whip (just pineapple soft serve, no float!) after our ride. We’ll have to ride Buzz before we leave the park, and if we’re in the mood, we can also ride TTA.


After we do our Tomorrowland favorites, I’m thinking it’ll be around 2 p.m. and just time for a mid afternoon break. Since we won’t be in a rush, I’m looking forward to taking the bus back to the resort!


We’ll do our usual routine of cleaning up and changing for dinner. If we have some time to kill, I think I’d love sitting by the pool and grabbing a drink at the bar! Tonight, we have a 7:30 reservation at Raglan Road! I’m planning on having us be at the bus stop around 5:30 p.m. We’ll have a bit of time to look in the stores we skipped over the day before. This is a great time to make purchases and send them back to our resort, since I’m not sure we’ll get back to DTD before our trip is over.

There are so many dishes at Raglan Road that sound delicious. I know we’ll be paying out of pocket for a beer and the dalkey duo appetizer. I loved the loud, fun atmosphere when I ate here during my work trip and I know Zach will too.

After dinner we probably will pop into a few stores, but I doubt this will be a late night for us. We’ll head back to the WL for bed-- and as every morning at Disney is an early morning for us, this is a good thing!

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

I absolutely love waking up in Disney that first morning! It's that moment where it gets real for me even if we've been there for almost an entire day.

I also enjoy the morning show and getting to MK super early. My goal this year is to try to get a picture with the castle with no one behind us. We will see.

I really can't stand touring plans haha. I mean I have a plan in my head of where we should go and what we should do but I kind of just go with it. As long as I hit my favorite rides at least once I'm good!!

September is coming slowly but surely!!! It feels like August is creeping by.