How joking about WDW ended up with buying roundtrip tickets and a 2 week stay....

[frzndaqiri]

You read that right.

First the requisite "Intro" - where I divulge enough information for you to form an idea of who I (and the rest of the crew) am before I completely shatter your idyllic impressions with reality.

The cast of "characters" (see what I did there? ) are -

Me - Frzndaqiri (pronounced like the drink - missing enough letters to fit standard name restrictions when the internet first started) aka "Mel". Been to WDW twice - was young enough to not remember much of the first trip and distracted enough to not remember the second.

Chris - Husband of 1 year after 10 years of dating/engagement/wedding planning. I swear Disney won't take as long. Seriously a sweet guy, who has been to WDW only once - when we first started dating *coughaka distractioncough* - a road trip in a van from Michigan with my entire family. THAT'S a story for another time.

Mom - My mom (lurking here as LisaKeys), we get along well - so much so that yes she's coming on the trip with us (along with my dad). Though I'd have to go into the witness protection program before I could get to WDW without her.... She's the reason the joke stopped being a joke. We tend to get "food high" and will turn into giggling hyenas who laugh until we can't breathe.

Dad - My dad (shocking twist there!). His character is Grumpy - just like him he can act all harrumph and grumble and knows how to get a pile of kids in order with a gruff word - but when it's time for fun he loosens up. He and my mom are WDW freaks and have been there a few times now (sometimes without telling anyone!).

----------------------------

The Backstory

Ok. So I suppose you want to know what the deal with the title is (besides a clever gimmick to get you to click ) - ok ok settle in. I've got (checks ticker) 4 months to stretch this out.

Chris and I, after 10 years together, decided we wanted to get married no matter what. We had tried to plan a big shindig a few times and it never quite worked out. So in two months I pulled together a small wedding at the Renaissance Festival with a potluck reception at our house. It was a blast and honestly don't let anyone tell you it's not "done that way" if that's your desire because it was amazing.

That was last October.

Sometime earlier this year my mom asked what we were planning for an anniversary trip/celebration. Now, I do anime conventions, and there's one in Chicago every year that I attend and because of that we developed a deep love for the city. So I said we had no set plans, but might end up in Chicago for the weekend (Giordano's and Murphy's are our vices ). Oh, but Chris and I had joked how it would be funny to sneak off to DisneyWorld. Ha. Hahaha. (insert picture of mom NOT laughing and assuming a "try it and let's see just how hilarious that would be" look).

Now, we really HAD casually tossed around the thought of going back to WDW - pretty much for the past 10 years in fact, since we returned from the 1999 trip (an amazing thing considering how that trip went). To be honest though, it was very much smoke and nonsense as we didn't think we'd be able to afford it.

We also knew that, despite it being ok for THEM to sneak off, if we went without my parents we would be disowned... no no that would be letting us off, we'd be given the dreaded "mom-guilt" for the length of time it took to be able to go again. So it was laughed off as "not gonna happen".

Well. Do NOT joke with my mother and mention WDW without expecting consequences. I had now planted the idea of a trip in her head, and it was sprouting like it had Miracle-Gro! Every so many weeks I'd hear "so, if you were gonna go, when would it be?" and I'd give a flippant "eh, Jan I guess". Then - "if you went in Jan, how long would you stay?" "oh, I don't know, I guess two weeks would be cool".

Finally "About that trip in January to WDW - are you going to fly or drive?" Not WOULD but ARE. *sound of brakes* Bawhuh? Yes, it had become cemented in my mom's mind that this trip now existed, and I "better not be backing out!". (Not that you'll see me exactly fighting the idea of course, but I gotta razz her.)

After that it became MOM - THE PLANNING FANATIC! But that's episode 2 of our PTR.

EDIT: Pictures after I get the required number of posts.

 

[LisaKeys]

We also knew that, despite it being ok for THEM to sneak off, if we went without my parents we would be disowned...

Ha!!! Hi Folks - this is "Mom".

We did not sneak off (lol). It was planned to go without the 3 kids - or I should say 2 kids and 1 adult child??? (Mel was 22 when we traveled sans kids - the other 2 were 12 and 17.) AND YA KNOW WHAT?? It was truly "magical" - but we did miss the kids... go figure.

I have to agree when we get our food highs, we do laugh like 2 hyenas! If one of us is able to begin calming down, the sound of air trying to escape the throat of the other is enough to refuel the frenzy!

Good start on the PTR, Mel. I can hardly wait till our trip - once Thanksgiving hits it will be Christmas b4 we know it, and then even with 4 months of planning - we'll be running around trying to get everything done b4 flying out.

(Their first flights ever!!!) Nothing can be as scary as our family venture in the van/1999.

 

[frzndaqiri]

Ok mom: Yes. We get along very well. I didn't have it worded right up above, and I have fixed it. Not just "I tolerate her enough to have her go on the trip" but "we often type an IM to each other at the exact same time and will hang out on weekends for the hell of it" get along. I tease about the guilt and arm twisting - but the hyena thing shows we're definitely cut from the same DNA!

Clarification over....


Once I had given in and agreed we HAD to do Disney the next step was where to stay. We had stayed onsite when I was 12, but darned if I don't remember anything but the fact there were ice cubes in the shape of Mickey's head. (Oh the things that impress a kid!)

The last trip we rented a house since there were 6 of us.

THIS time I said if we were doing all of this last minute insanity then I want at least a week at a resort. Insert 2 weeks of waffling... yes, mom is a victim of changeitis. Luckily I used to work at a travel agency and had access to check out the packages online otherwise we might have put some poor agent into early retirement (and not in a good way!).

After all this back and forth finally resolved in a booking at CSR! We decided on the deluxe dining plan because we've never done it before - and the one big meal we had last trip is STILL a point of discussion by my husband whenever I mention going back. (To be fair, we were in our teens at the time, so the receipt for a family of 6 at a Disney restaurant is understandably shocking).

So for the first week we have a BUNCH of dining mapped out. Every place we really wanted to try but never would have if it wasn't pre-paid so we couldn't have budget-sticker-shock-guilt once we got there.

So some of the food porn and reviews you'll have to look forward to are:

Biergarten
Brown Derby
Cafe Mickey (char bkfst)
Crystal Palace (char bkfst)
Kona Café
Le Cellier Canada Pav
"Narcoossee's
Grand Floridian"
The Plaza Restaurant
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Yak and Yeti

Obviously not in that order! Those are just the ADR's. We'll be winging it for lunches and snacks. I am a BIG foodie - I love to cook and love all kinds of flavors and varieties of food. There's veggies that I eat that even my mom doesn't (and they say you get your habits from your parents). About the only thing I don't touch are peas. Something about them just ... blegh. Hubby and I are Japanophiles - and would love to spend a few months there (or longer if we got an EASL job) so lots of veggies and fish are a staple of our diet at this point. I have a coworker who says I cook better asian dishes than asian girls he knows. There's a compliment! I think though that it's just because I've got a free style cooking method. I don't measure - no recipes (except baking) - I just kind of have an idea of what tastes good together and throw it all in a pan each night. Hm, right. Back on track...

By this point my husband has gotten to the "Just tell me where to go and when" - all this planning (and changing) is just too much! Really though, he just likes to tease. He's happy that I'm good at and ok with doing all of this.

We have taken to joking that we'll have a time table and a stopwatch in the parks.

Let me say right here - that if you're doing any coop planning that Google documents is amazing! You can create a document that multiple people can work on - which really shines when doing ADR's etc. No I don't work for Google (I wish!) just love a great tool when I get hold of one.

Next episode - shopping!

 

[LisaKeys]

Yachtsman Steakhouse HA! What she actually wrote on our board is: stupid expensive dinner

I have to admit - reading your PTR is exciting - Great Job!!

 

[ljcrochet]

great start to your PTR. Can't wait to read more.

 

[frzndaqiri]

Thanks!

 

[frzndaqiri]

Part 3: Shopping!

As was mentioned, this will be both my and my husband's first time flying. While we have no problems with road trips (we've even done day trips to Chicago - 4 hrs there and 5 hrs back) we decided that it was worthwhile to get the extra time IN Florida instead of getting TO it.

I'm sure we'll go back and do a drive though - there's some lovely sights to meander through between Michigan and Florida, and I wouldn't mind seeing them sometime.

Because of that - we don't have any airline friendly luggage (actually, no luggage to speak of... we kind of just chuck things in the car in random bags!). So that will be our first purchase. (Alright for you people out there going "no it wasn't" FINE, the first one was TECHNICALLY the airline tix, but this is the "shopping for stuff to take on the trip" list so nyah.)'

Luggage!

Once I get it, I will have to cover it in sew on patches or something to make it gaudy and unmistakably mine. I love that the wheels go all directions, so it can be pulled in whichever way is convenient (flat against you in crowds for instance.)

Now, here's the thing - I've never flown - but I've heard the rumors/proverbial jokes about lost luggage - and I'm going to attempt to go for 2 weeks with nothing but a carry-on.

I know! Luckily I'm not your average "35 outfits, hair care products, makeup, and lord knows what else" kinda gal, so I won't be suffering from the limiting space as much. I'm a geek and most of my space will be taken up with my photography equipment. Not that I'd allow that in checked luggage anyway.

I've gotten some great tips on here about some unconventional items too - like the M&M tubes for penny pressing (I love those things - have to get one at the Museum of Science and Industry every year).

Some other things on my "to buy" list:
A rain poncho for my camera
MAC makeup wipes (best things ever!)
More memory cards
New clothes (what better excuse?) - I'm hoping to take advantage of fall sales

The strangest item? A Pazzles. I can use all the extra cash I can get for this trip, and my husband suggested I start actually selling some of the scrapbook stuff I've accumulated / created and make some spending money. So he agreed to do a "pay for it later" purchase on a new cutter machine!

Since DH and I don't have kids I have the luxury of having an entire bedroom dedicated as a craft space. In fact, the only thing that's missing in there is STORAGE! I have stuff everywhere and a few duplicates (as I found when unpacking - we just recently bought a house) because I didn't know I already had one. I've even come across stuff IN THE PACKAGE, NEVER OPENED. I think that's why I like scrapbooking best - it's organized chaos on a page. I'm just not naturally organized. I blame it on being left handed - my creativity just can't be contained.

Hm, I think that's enough randomness for now.

I think next we'll do some flashbacks to the infamous van trip of 99 which involved a stop at Dollywood, an oblivous near death experience and a lot of great one-liners that we repeat to this day.

 

[frzndaqiri]

My goodness - well I promise my TR will be better updated than this thing at least.

We're down to the "ohmygoshisitreallyonlyafewdaysleft" final wire!

Got the luggage - which seems really nice for the price - but we'll see how it fares over the trip.

Got all my appropriately sized grooming products in their quart size freedom baggie.

Bought matching mouse tie dye shirts (cause c'mon they're adorable and no way was I going to manage making them in time).

I do buttons as a side business - and so am going to make a bunch of custom buttons for us to wear at the park. Pics will be in the TR since some of them are a surprise.

Made a food report booklet - to keep track of our thoughts and reviews on the various ressies we have. So you KNOW there's gonna be food porn in my TR.

So all that's left are some last minute purchases and packing.

 

[frzndaqiri]

Home safe and sound - and with 4500 photos to go through! (what?! that's normal right?)

I will be starting a TR this weekend - and will have a link to it posted here when I do. I already miss Disney (and Florida weather - brrr!) and even my husband who was only mildly interested is counting the days till we can go again (sadly, it's a high number).

 

[frzndaqiri]

TR is go!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2647340