How the Other Half Lives ~ Updated 10/22: I Forgot Something!

[Dugette]

Here’s a trailer of what you can expect in the exciting upcoming Trip Report! (Note to my PTR friends—this is a different trailer than before—we were having too much fun making them!) Click the image for the video:



The title stems from some FREE “lounge” experiences that we normally would never be able to justify forking over the $$$ for. If you don’t already know, we are pretty budget-conscious and love Pop Century. And, although we originally had Pop booked our first night, unexpected changes really turned this trip around. We got to experience some of how “the other half” lives.

Some teasers:

Will our ridiculously delayed flight make it out of MSP before the Metrodome-destroying blizzard hits?

What does MCO look like at 4:15am? Does anyone work at Magical Express?

What can noisy neighbors in connecting rooms do for you?

Why do we love Lawrence?

What causes me to whip around while entering the Magic Kingdom and spit out a stunned, “Oh... my gosh!!!”?

Why do I have two adorable little boys hanging off of me (literally) for several days of our trip?

Why do we keep cancelling our ADRs?

How do we end up backstage?

Will we survive 28 degrees and windy conditions?

All that and more coming up!

If you want a sneak peak, you can find our pre-trip report here: "Holidays & Hammocks PTR"


Chapters
Introductions & Details

Day 0 - A Most Unusual Travel Day
Day 0 - Lounging Around

Day 1 - Almost Paradise
Day 1 - A Rude Awakening
Day 1 - Fast Passes & Fast Food
Day 1 - 1,050 Pounds of Honey
Day 1 - Lounging Around Again - Part 1
Day 1 - Lounging Around Again - Part 2
Day 1 - Our First Character Meal Ever!
Day 1 - Candlelight, Gingerbread, & Caramel
Day 1 - Lighting up the Night

Day 2 - Trailer for Day 2
Day 2 - Everybody Loves Lawrence
Day 2 - Christmas Shopping
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 1
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 2
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 3
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 4A
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 4B
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 5
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 6
Day 2 - Very Merry - Part 7

Day 3 - Trailer for Day 3
Day 3 - The Secret to Unlimited Fast Passes
Day 3 - Our Own Private Dinoland
Day 3 - Exploring Animal Kingdom
Day 3 - Brunch at Boma
Day 3 - The Fast Pass Redemption Spree
Day 3 - Yak & Yeti & a Jinglin’ Jungle
Day 3 - It's a Small World After All

Day 4 - Trailer for Day 4
Day 2 Bonus - Pretty Pictures
Day 4 - Walkin' Right Down the Middle of Main Street
Day 4 - Mmmmmm, Bacon!
Day 4 - Meet Me in the Hub
Day 4 - Wandering the World
Day 4 - Never Shoulda Left the Poly

Day 5 - Trailer & Another Trip for Us!
Day 5 - Prelude to a Safari
Day 5 - Backstage Safari - Part 1
Day 5 - Backstage Safari - Part 2
Day 5 - Backstage Safari - Part 3
Day 5 - Walking the Trails
Day 5 - Lunch at Sanaa
Day 5 - Bonus Video Clip
Day 5 - Lego My Star Wars Figure!
Day 5 - Treats & AK in the Dark
Day 5 - Mmmmmm, Jiko!

Day 6 - Trailer for Day 6 & Puppy Camp Updates
Day 6 - Stampede Time!
Day 6 - Plans Go Bye-Bye!
Day 6 - Honey, I Shrunk My Energy Reserves
Day 6 - "And I didn't like it!"
Day 6 - Pretty Lights - Part 1
Day 6 - Pretty Lights - Part 2
Day 6 - Pretty Lights - Part 3
Day 6 - Dining in a Pyramid

Day 7 - Trailer for Day 7
Day 7 - Let Me Tell You a Story
Day 7 - More Stories & Photos
Day 7 - Shiny Candy!
Day 7 - Food & Fire
Day 7 - Return to the Osborne Lights
Day 7 - Sweet Fireworks!

Day 8 - Trailer for Day 8
Day 8 - A Private Course - Part 1
Day 8 - A Private Course - Part 2
Day 8 - A Private Course - Part 3
Day 8 - A Private Course - Part 4
Day 8 - Trains & Ice Cream
Day 8 - Chocolate Carousel
Day 8 - "Swalphing!"
Day 8 - On the Boardwalk
Day 8 - Lounging Around Once More
Day 8 - One Last Late Night

Day 9 - Trailer & See Ya Real Soon!

Final Thoughts on the Year of Disney

New Trip Report Has Started!

I Forgot Something!

 

[Dugette]

Welcome to the final trip in our Year of Disney! We had Annual Passes for the last year and utilized them to the fullest (for people who live in Minnesota). This was our 5th trip of 2010. The main goal of this trip was to experience all of the holiday magic at Walt Disney World.

If you followed our pre-trip report, you know that this trip underwent many last minute changes, including dates and resorts. Some of these changes happened during the trip, so you’ll be hearing more about those soon.

Here’s how things ended up:

Dates: Friday, December 10th-Sunday, December 19th, 2010

Resort: The Polynesian

Special Events: Candlelight Processional, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, Osborne Lights, Holiday Storytellers, Ft. Wilderness Sleigh Ride, and much more. Including a backstage adventure that I’ll keep quiet on until I get to it!

The Cast:

Me ("Dugette") and my husband ("Dug"). Our dog Bailey went to Wilderness Adventure Puppy Camp (otherwise known as my dad and step-mom’s house), which I’ll post about later. Our cat Kitty guarded the house and had a friend stop in to feed and play with her:

Although there were some major ups and downs prior to this trip, we were fortunate enough to experience a lot of pixie-dusted moments that made this vacation a fitting finale to our Year of Disney.

I hope you enjoy reliving the magic with us!

 

[A&Bmama]

Yipee I am first! Living on the east coast comes in handy sometimes.

What a treat to have with my coffee this morning!

Your officail "trip report trailer" is fantastic!!!!

I have to run and start getting the kids up for school but I'll be back later to some more thoughs on the first installment.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[lovealldisney]

Ok I'm the Disney film did me in I LOVED it! Can't wait to read more.

 

[A&Bmama]

Ok, all is quiet at home now so I have some time to write a proper reply.

First, I am glad I reread your post. I totally skimmed over the first part where you mentioned a trailer on your PTR. I went back to check it out since I didn't remember seeing it before and realized you had some recent posts there! I don't follow many TRs so I don't bother to subscribe. I just check for posts regularly. But, you have surprised me a couple of times by posting when I didn't expect it, so, I have learned my lesson and subscribed to this one.

First, let me say a big thank you for posting the pics of the H2O products! I am definitely going to treat myself to one of those travel essentials packs and maybe pick-up a full sized lotion as well. I don't think they sell the bar soaps separately or I would get some of those too.

I love the trailer on the PTR, but I am absolutely blown away by the one on the TR! I have watched it about 10 times already. You guys are very, very skilled and creative. I would insert a clapping smiley here if I could find one... Since I can't, I'll just say BRAVO, BRAVO!!!

I love all the teasers you put in this installment and I think I know what's up with the towel. I have a few hunches about some others but I'll keep my thoughts to myself. I don't want to spoil any surprises in case I am right. There are other teasers that are leaving me scratching my head. I'll just have to stay tuned.

It does sound like you were able to have a fitting end to your year of Disney. I can't wait to hear more about it!

 

[Disneymoon09]

Yay another Dug and Dugette TR! I love Disney at the holidays. If a good discount comes out for around christmas next year, we are going to try to change our dates.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Jumping aboard!

 

[gellybean]

I'm sooooooooooo in!!!

You're putting me to shame starting already. I'm afraid my Dec TR is gonna have to wait until we get back!

Should we be looking for you this weekend??

Can't wait to read all about your Grand Finale Trip!!!

 

[jc040404]

LOVED the trailer! That was awesome!

I'm so excited to read about this trip!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

just read through your PTR and all I can say is WOW...you sure did go through a lot to get there and so far are reaping the rewards for it!

Cannot wait to read about hte rest of your trip!

 

[__disneygirl]

Oh man I am IN!!! for this. First of all, you are so brilliant and creative. A trailer for your trip report...why didn't I think of that?! I cracked up out loud when I saw "WHOOPI" - wasn't expecting that, haha! Secondly, FIVE trips in 2010? My head is spinning with jealousy!!

I was in Minnesota & Wisconsin once in late November, and I couldn't believe how cold it was. Like, I thought we got it bad here in NJ/NY, but your area was worse! It must have felt amazing to get out of that cold and to Disney!

I can't wait to read more!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I'm in ! Another great trailer, can't wait to see more!

 

[Dugette]

everybody! Glad to have you all here!

Yipee I am first! Living on the east coast comes in handy sometimes.

What a treat to have with my coffee this morning!

Your officail "trip report trailer" is fantastic!!!!

I have to run and start getting the kids up for school but I'll be back later to some more thoughs on the first installment.

for being first! See, you got your "prize" from the PTR (sort of)!

joining in

Welcome, thanks for following all the TRs!

Ok I'm the Disney film did me in I LOVED it! Can't wait to read more.

Welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed the trailer!

Ok, all is quiet at home now so I have some time to write a proper reply.

First, I am glad I reread your post. I totally skimmed over the first part where you mentioned a trailer on your PTR. I went back to check it out since I didn't remember seeing it before and realized you had some recent posts there! I don't follow many TRs so I don't bother to subscribe. I just check for posts regularly. But, you have surprised me a couple of times by posting when I didn't expect it, so, I have learned my lesson and subscribed to this one.

First, let me say a big thank you for posting the pics of the H2O products! I am definitely going to treat myself to one of those travel essentials packs and maybe pick-up a full sized lotion as well. I don't think they sell the bar soaps separately or I would get some of those too.

I love the trailer on the PTR, but I am absolutely blown away by the one on the TR! I have watched it about 10 times already. You guys are very, very skilled and creative. I would insert a clapping smiley here if I could find one... Since I can't, I'll just say BRAVO, BRAVO!!!

I love all the teasers you put in this installment and I think I know what's up with the towel. I have a few hunches about some others but I'll keep my thoughts to myself. I don't want to spoil any surprises in case I am right. There are other teasers that are leaving me scratching my head. I'll just have to stay tuned.

It does sound like you were able to have a fitting end to your year of Disney. I can't wait to hear more about it!

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed both trailers. And I'm glad the H2O stuff helped you! Thank you for subscribing! Yeah, for followers of the PTR, some of the teasers aren't too hard to figure out. But others, I haven't spoken of at all...

Yay another Dug and Dugette TR! I love Disney at the holidays. If a good discount comes out for around christmas next year, we are going to try to change our dates.

It is so cool during the holidays. Definitely go early December if you find a discount! We loved it!

Jumping aboard!

Welcome aboard!

I'm sooooooooooo in!!!

You're putting me to shame starting already. I'm afraid my Dec TR is gonna have to wait until we get back!

Should we be looking for you this weekend??

Can't wait to read all about your Grand Finale Trip!!!

So funny that you'll be the one in WDW when our APs expire! Although tempting to go back, I don't think we could top our last trip! (Not to mention the over-budget thing). Have a great time and I can't wait to hear all about your December and January trips!

LOVED the trailer! That was awesome!

I'm so excited to read about this trip!!

I'm glad you enjoyed! I'm excited to write about this trip!

just read through your PTR and all I can say is WOW...you sure did go through a lot to get there and so far are reaping the rewards for it!

Cannot wait to read about hte rest of your trip!

Thanks for checking out the PTR! It was sure a wild ride!

Oh man I am IN!!! for this. First of all, you are so brilliant and creative. A trailer for your trip report...why didn't I think of that?! I cracked up out loud when I saw "WHOOPI" - wasn't expecting that, haha! Secondly, FIVE trips in 2010? My head is spinning with jealousy!!

I was in Minnesota & Wisconsin once in late November, and I couldn't believe how cold it was. Like, I thought we got it bad here in NJ/NY, but your area was worse! It must have felt amazing to get out of that cold and to Disney!

I can't wait to read more!

I'm glad you got the Whoopi humor! I thought that would be funny to throw her in there with the Disney characters!

Yeah, we've been on a lot of WDW trips recently. But, it will be a few years before we go back, most likely. The nice thing about doing the Year of Disney is that we got to experience several special seasonal events: Star Wars Weekends, Food & Wine, and the Holidays.

It can get pretty cold here, for sure. However, it was chilly in Florida for several days of our trip too. But at least the snow there wasn't real, I guess.

I'm in ! Another great trailer, can't wait to see more!

Welcome, glad you enjoyed this one too!


And, to everyone, I should probably mention that iMovie really makes it easy to make trailers. The new version has what is basically a bunch of templates and you just throw in the clips you want and change some of the words and it's done. I love it! I actually went to school for video production and could probably make these from scratch, but this is way quicker and requires far less thought and planning! Dug actually did most of the work on the trailers. I'm glad everyone is enjoying them, though. They're so fun that I'm thinking about making a new one for each day of the trip, if I have enough interesting video. We'll see on that.

More to come soon!

 

[lmillercrew]

Followed you over from another TR. Can't wait to read about your Dec adventure!

 

[Dugette]

Followed you over from another TR. Can't wait to read about your Dec adventure!

Thanks for joining us! Another update coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

If you followed the PTR, this may sound familiar, but I just wanted to give a quick recap of the pre-trip changes for any newcomers.

This trip was originally scheduled from Thurs. 12/9 to Tues. 12/14. We had planned our “typical” travel day on Thursday, which meant working all day, going to the airport after work, taking an evening flight, taking the Magical Express to Pop Century, and getting some sleep before our first day.

The other four nights, we had a Garden View room at the Polynesian booked. We actually booked that way back while we were on our January 2010 trip, using a Bounceback Offer of 40% off. We had spent one night at the Poly during that January trip and fell in love with it. We knew we wanted to go back there someday, so this trip was our chance!

We got our flights scheduled back in early August. We used frequent flier miles for this trip. Our flight from Orlando back to Minnesota was a 6pm departure. However, in late September, we received notice that Delta had changed our flight to 3pm. We were bummed about it, but didn’t really think much of it until a few weeks before the trip when we were trying to cram everything we wanted to do into our schedule. It was really tight. Those few hours on a last day can make a big difference. Getting on the Magical Express at Noon versus at 3pm is significant.

So, I looked into airline policies and found out that, because our flight time changed by more than two hours, we should be able to change our flight without fees. We couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to stay an extra day. We’d have that extra afternoon, extra evening, and extra morning to get all our must-do’s done. After some thought and number crunching, we decided to go for it. We called Delta and got moved to the 3pm flight home the next day (Wednesday). We were very excited!

For the extra night, we had hoped to just extend our stay at the Poly by one night. But there was no availability. So, after much tinkering with AP room rates on the Disney site, we ended up with a Theme Park View Studio at Bay Lake Tower for the last night. It was a splurge (more than the Poly), but we thought it would be more fitting to end our Year of Disney there, watching Holiday Wishes from our balcony, than at, say, All Star Sports. There would be incentive to pack up and move from the Poly.

Well, all that sounded good for a short time. Until we got a call the Friday before our trip. We found out that Dug’s grandmother, who had been in a care center battling Alzheimer’s for a few years, did not have very long left with us. Although difficult no matter what, the timing, being right before our trip, was very challenging. We spent the next few days visiting Nana and spending time with Dug’s family, not really knowing what would happen. Making contingency plans, though.

Nana passed away on Monday, December 6th. Due to the flight availability for some family members flying in from Canada, the funeral was scheduled for Friday, December 10th. We had to change our trip.

Long story short, we were lucky enough that Delta was able to change our flights again without a fee. Due to flight availability and the change in start date, though, we ended up extending the trip. Our new dates were Friday, December 10th (evening flight) to Sunday, December 19th (afternoon flight).

Due to the short notice, we were very limited as to AP rate resort availability. We ended up dropping the first night at Pop (since we wouldn’t be there that night). We wanted to change our new first night from the Poly to Pop, but it wasn’t available. We couldn’t get Pop for all of our additional nights. We couldn’t get a King bed at either Port Orleans resort, either. And we couldn’t get the Poly Garden View. After running many, many scenarios, we decided to drop our Bay Lake Tower night and spend our last five nights at Coronado Springs Resort. So, first four nights were still the Poly, then we’d move to CSR. We did not know much about CSR prior to this, but were reasonably excited…it sounded pretty nice!

On Wednesday, December 8th, after work, I saw an email from Delta telling me to check in for my Thursday night flight. Huh? We’d changed our flights. But, just to be sure, Dug put in a call to Delta and it turned out that they’d changed his flights, but not mine! Thankfully, they corrected it without fees. The only problem was that we now were not seated together and would only be able to correct that at the boarding gate. Oh, well, at least we were on the same flights now!

Due to all the family time, we ended up doing most of our packing very last-minute. Thursday night and Friday morning. Waking up on Friday morning, it definitely did not feel like our “normal” travel-to-Disney day. No work to go to. No real giddiness. We had a 10am funeral instead.

As we were milling around before the service, I was looking at the collages of photos of Nana and Papa that one of Dug’s uncles had put together. I knew that Dug had gone to Disneyland with his grandparents. But there was something else Disney that caught my eye:

Nana and Papa had gone to Disney World too! And here they were in Epcot! I mentioned the picture to Papa and he said that they’d had a great time on that trip. How fitting to see that on the day we would be going there. We took a picture of the picture so that we could try to find the spot while we were in Epcot. Soon it was time for the service to begin.

The service was very nice and wonderful things were said. Dug, being the oldest of the many grandchildren, was asked to speak about Nana on behalf of his cousins. He delivered a beautiful message about what Nana meant to the grandkids and all the wonderful memories they had of their time with her. It was moving and he received many heartfelt thanks for it afterwards. It was an emotional morning.

The service was followed by a reception, then later the internment. After all of the activity, Dug’s immediate family decided to go out together to get something to eat/drink. We went to a local hotel that is home to one of our favorite restaurants. We all just sat in the bar area and ordered drinks and appetizers. Dug’s parents, his sister and her husband, and the two of us were there.

I actually felt a little bit like we were in Disney, as we were sitting facing the lobby of a nice hotel and it was beautifully decorated for the holidays:

Dug also decided to take his first food picture of the trip. The nachos looked too good to not be photographed:

I had a delicious hot chocolate creation to drink. It involved peppermint schnapps and was fantastic. This will be the first of many, many hot chocolates that I have during this trip!

We enjoyed the time with Dug’s family, just relaxing together. The rest of the family had an informal pizza dinner planned later that night, but we needed to head to the airport before that. We stopped back at Dug’s sister’s house, changed, put our luggage in her car, and she and Dug’s mom took us to the airport.

We headed in, got our bags checked (one free for each, since we have the Delta credit card), and went through (the old not-so-scary style) security. We checked out the map for Sky Club locations. We had these free Sky Club passes that we’d received when we got the Delta credit card, so we figured this would be a good time to use them. However, we were disappointed to find out that the Sky Club near our gate was closed for renovations and the only open one was on the other side of the airport. We figured we’d just have to keep saving the passes for another time.

Once we arrived at our gate, we requested seats next to each other. The gate agent was great and took care of us quickly. That taken care of, we decided to go sit in the Starbucks by our gate, so Dug would be able to work on some homework (for the one class he was taking).

After a bit, we heard an announcement regarding our flight. I jumped up and popped out of the Starbucks to hear better. I missed the beginning, but caught that our flight was being delayed, due to mechanical issues, for at least 10 minutes. Okay, no big deal.

A bit later, Dug went over to the bookstore next door to get a copy of the day’s paper. While he was gone, I heard another announcement. Again, jumped up to hear, having missed the beginning of it. What I heard was, “The good news is that we found you another plane and it’s coming in from Detroit. The bad news is that it’s running late. But, we should be getting you out of here right around midnight.” I really, truly thought it was a joke. We had a 7:20pm flight. Midnight was just silly.

It wasn’t a joke. I got Dug’s attention and we, along with almost everyone else at the gate, crowded around the gate agent desk. When it was our turn, we asked about any other possibilities to get us there earlier. I asked if there were any flights to Tampa. No, too late. Any other airlines? No, this is one of the latest flights. Under normal circumstances, it might have been tempting to change our flight to early the next morning and go home for the night. However, there was a huge snowstorm forecast to start that very evening, around 10pm or so. Nobody could give us an answer as to whether that would end up cancelling our new, super-late flight.

Not only was it a bummer to have our flight delayed for 5 hours, but we were extra bummed because we were missing the pizza dinner with Dug’s family for nothing. Delta sent us all away with $6 food vouchers. Rather than finding a place to use them, we decided to head across the airport and check out the Sky Club, now that we had all the time in the world to enjoy it.

On the way, we passed a departure board and noticed that we’d been moved up a bit earlier:

Whoop-de-do! So crazy to be waiting for an overnight flight to Orlando. I really felt bad for all the parents with little kids on our flight!

Up next: So this is how rich people spend their time at the airport!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

I'm in!

 

[jc040404]

That had to be such a rough day for the two of you. So sorry you had to deal with it all. I couldn't believe the trouble with your flight! Glad you're going to get some use of that Sky Club though!

Andrew says he loves your trailer, too! He looked so confused and watched it four or five times earlier tonight and then says.. That's the girl from the Mister Potato Head pic! Wish we could've met up while you were at Disney. It's going to be interesting to see how our days compare!

Can't wait to see what happens next!! Okay, so I already know a bit.. but still. Loving the TR!!

 

[A&Bmama]

I hope you guys were able to find that spot in Epcot. If so, I think we will be treated to a picture later in the TR. I'm sure it gave the trip added significance to know that Dug's Grandmother had been there.

I am looking forward to hearing more about your experience in the sky club and the details of what happened at check-in!