How'd I get so lucky?? My AP Year * Updated 8/22 Our Next Trip!

[dawnmichele]

Oh my goodness you guys, I am So Tired - and it's barely past 10pm. I certainly hope I'll be able to stay up later than this on my trip!

Today was a crazy day. It started with Hannah having a bunch of seizures. And then when she was trying to take a pill to stop them, she had a big jerk and threw her full bottle (yes, we finally did get them yesterday) All Over the Kitchen. And I mean all over. She put the gate up right away so the dogs didn't get any, and after she finally went back to normal I found all but 4. A bunch of them were in the sink and I'm thinking/hoping those 4 went down the drain. I've swept and vacuumed so I don't think there are any left for the dogs to find, but man that was a crazy morning.

After that, it was a super full day full of one crazy errand, lots of packing, laundry, cleaning and various last minute things.

For example, I finally made my tshirts!

This one is a sleeping shirt.

I have a pair of brand new fuzzy Marie pj pants, and this is my favorite Marie quote so I thought it would make a great shirt for the pants.

I wanted to make this shirt for our last trip, but I never got to it. This year I did - even though it's not exactly how I'd like it, and it's on a shirt that's a little too big (it's white, the colors here are just a little wonky). But still - I'm so glad I did it. I love this line from the song "Bonjour". It's why I love Belle so much!

After dinner, I finally sat down to do my nails. Last year I only bought the black Mickey head nail decals and I loved them. This year I kind of wanted the Santa Mickey's too, and I thought I'd put those on my thumbs and the heads on my fingers. But these black ones were seriously lame! The black came off on my fingers when I was trying to transfer them and they do not look solid black at all. I figured I'd have to put the Santas on all of them, which was fine - but my pinky nail beds weren't big enough! So they have the kind of black heads. Here's a picture with my stubby little fingers. I hate it when my nails are long, and they grow pretty fast, so I clipped them way short, which only adds to their stubby look.

We're all pretty much packed up and ready. Well, Hannah is almost. She's finishing her last animation project (which is really cute and funny!), emailing her final notes for a project to her group and Then finishing the packing. I'm sure I'll help her out tomorrow night. In addition to epilepsy, she had Type 1 Diabetes which means lots of crucial supplies. I know she's 20 and should be doing it herself, but if I supervise then I worry a lot less.

I printed out the green Mickey heads with the Santa hat that someone in the Facebook group made. I've got to finish laminating them in the morning but that should be easy. I hope they'll help me meet up with some of the other disers who are there at the same time.

Oh, and I got 2 more Disney movies from Netflix. I put 101 Dalmatians on our memory stick, but couldn't seem to digitize Monsters University! Dang Disney and their trickiness. Oh well. I'll watch it tomorrow morning before we leave for my Auntie's house.

The day after tomorrow! Hard to believe. Someone asked me if I was excited today and of course I am, but I said I was mostly just tired! You know I will be incredibly excited on Friday, but right now I just want to take great pictures of my cousin's family, eat a bunch of food (I hope whoever made the pecan pie last year is bringing it again!), get to sleep and then make it onto the plane.

Then I'll be excited.
Oh heck, who am I kidding. I'm excited even now, through the tired.
Perry Mason's on now, and that's my signal to go to bed. 2 more sleeps!

 

[dawnmichele]

The excitement has hit!!
I'll be on the plane at this time tomorrow.

 

[murmkc]

CHEERS! Have a blast but don't wear yourself out before we get there!


Happy Turkey Day!

 

[sue_88]

I hope you are having a wonderful time!!!
May the weather be beautiful and may pixie dust flow freely!!

 

[gracer9977]

Hopefully you are having an amazing time.

Looking forward to reading all about it and seeing all of your amazing photos.

 

[dawnmichele]

Hello People! I've been back from my Disney trip for a while now, and I guess it's time I get talking about it.

It was awesome.

I remember before the trip, many times I was worried 16 days was going to be way too many. I was afraid that by about day 13 or 14 I was going to be tired of it all and wanting to get away from everything Disney.

I was so wrong! I loved every minute.
Ok, of course I didn’t love every minute. But I was glad for every minute, on day 16 as much as day 3. I would have stayed longer if I could. I kind of want to stay forever. I’m sure you know what I mean.

Our magic bands worked great. D & H both had a time or two theirs didn’t work to get in the park, but there was always someone there to let them right through. Fast Pass + isn’t my favorite but it obviously didn’t ruin our trip or anything.

Our food was good. The weather was great (although a little hot at times). Our rooms and resorts were nice. It was awesome to see my brother and Adriane.

There were some frustrating times and cranky times, but all in all it was a really, really good trip and I’m a bit overwhelmed thinking about telling all the stories in my trip report. I wish I could remember every single detail! I’ll do my best.

But I wanted to finally come here and check it.

And…

I wanted to come here and announce not just my next trip, but my next two trips!

Yes. Still lucky.

We’re going in October, for Food and Wine and the Halloween Party (can’t wait to dress up!). We took advantage of the bounceback offer while we were there and booked 10 nights at the Coronado Springs. Fantastic!

When we decided last year to go for the APs, we planned on that October trip and we also talked about trying to squeeze in a shorter spring trip when it wasn't too crowded. Soon after we got back, we realized if we were going to do that, we needed to make the decisions and get busy. I doubt anyone is surprised we decided to go for it.

Luckily my awesome brother was looking to sell his DVC points this year and we were all too happy to buy a chunk of them! We’re headed to a standard view studio at Animal Kingdom (Jambo House) for 6 nights. We’re going to try to keep that trip on the cheap side - only 2 ADRs, more eating in the room, stuff like that. Because a budget trip to Disney World is a million times better than a week at home.

[Oh wait. I just remembered that earlier in this PTR I talked about trying to rent points through David's for that same October period at the Boardwalk. Turned out we weren't able to get any resort in our budget through David's at that time period. So that trip plan fell through a long time ago - I just forgot to tell you.]

So there you go guys.
I’ll be talking about this last trip, and about these upcoming trips (and finishing 2012’s TR!!) soon, but I wanted to check in here first. I’m just going to keep this going as my AP year PreTrip Report, so I’ll see you here later!

 

[dawnmichele]

Only 36 days until I’m back at Disney and it does not feel real at all.
I was just there! I really was.
It’s weird that I’m about to be back.

But I’ve made a schedule, and then scrapped it. And then made another schedule. We’ve got our Fast Passes blocked in, and 3 ADRs. I haven’t bought Memory Maker yet, but I have rented Danny’s scooter and bought a big pile of Gift Cards for 5% off at Target.

Here’s a look at my spreadsheet.

When I look at that, my spoiled side comes out and I just think that is not enough days! And it’s not if you only get to go once every few years. But I was just there in December, remember? So it is plenty.
This plan is insanely flexible. The only things that are sure things are the 3 meals. We like to have a very loose plan, a couple lists, and the freedom to do what we want when we want to. Because it’s vacation.

Also when I look at that schedule, I get so very excited. I am going to be back at Disney World! On Main Street! Meeting a Princess in Epcot. Floating above my seat at the Tower of Terror and watching for animals on the Kilamanjaro Safaris.

I’ve got a couple table service meals I might try to sneak it, depending on how we feel about it at the moment. I’m thinking about breakfast at Boma, since we’ll be staying right there and both D & H love breakfast so much. If we’re at the MK around lunch I’d love to eat at Liberty Tree Tavern again. If we’re hungry for dinner when we’re in the World Showcase I’d really love to go back to Teppan Edo.

I’ve got some daily plans scribbled in my Disney Diary. I’ll be back soon to share the days I’m daydreaming of.

 

[dawnmichele]

I started the report from my last trip. It’s over here. I’m just getting started but I’d love to have you follow along. It was a fantastic 16 days.

But while I’m working on that, I’m also working on the last minute details for our next trip. It’s so weird. I feel like I was just there! But it’s less than 3 weeks from today and there were a lot of things I haven’t done yet. Today I called the Disney Visa people and had our rewards dollars put onto our rewards card. That’s nice. That Disney Visa is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, I have to say. We earned about a days worth of dining since December just by putting food and gas on that card. But! This is not a commercial so…

I still need to pre order MemoryMaker+ and submit our wegoshop grocery order. There are still a very few things I have to buy, but since we just went there’s not much left we generally need for a trip. So that’s great.

Today I made my packing list of which shirts and pants I want to take. I have a problem of buying too many tshirts, and my favorites are Karen Hallion shirts of Disney/Doctor Who tshirts. I realized when making the list I have more of those shirts than days we’ll be there on this trip, so I had to make hard decisions about which ones to take.

Here’s my list (they’re not all Doctor Who related):
Please Stand Clear of My Vacation
Buzz Lightyear
Cinderella/Doctor Who
Snow White/Doctor Who
Ariel/Doctor Who
Belle/Doctor Who
Tigger in a Tardis
Plays Well With Cowboys

For the evenings I’m adding:
Bambi sweatshirt
Mickey thermal
Minnie thermal
Disney “Varsity” cardigan

I also got out the plastic storage bins where I keep all the travel stuff, like rain ponchos and our nightlite. It’s on my dresser now and over the next few weeks I’ll be tossing in stuff like blister bandaids and the lights for Danny’s stroller.

So super exciting, right?
I can’t believe I get to go back again so soon. There’s so much I can’t wait to ride and see and do and eat.

I think I’ll make a list of things I can’t wait to eat, next.

 

[dawnmichele]

Oh you guys!
I was just checking parade and show times on the Disney site - and Dream Along with Mickey is grayed out! Starting the day we get there and going on at least through May.

What the what?
I LOVE Dream Along with Mickey.

Join the party,
a castle party...

So I read around and seems like most people think it's because of the work on the hub. I'm glad they're expanding the hub but why do they have to do it while I'm there, right?

People are also mostly hoping they come back with a new show, which makes me sad. Chances are I'll like the new show just as much, but DAWM brings back so many sweet memories.

Dang.

 

[dawnmichele]

Ok, there’s what I can’t wait to eat:

Nutella Waffle from Sleepy Hollow
Dark Chocolate Carmel Sqaure with sea salt from Karmel Kuche
Poulet Au Pistou and Creme Brulee from Boulangerie Patisserie
olives and cheese and bread from Tutto Gusto
chocolate chip frappucino and crazy brownie from Starbucks in epcot
All American Picnic Burger and Fried Pickles from Sci Fi Dine In (with an Oreo shake maybe)
5 million cupcakes
Grilled Turkey & Cheese on incredible multigrain chibatta bread at the Backlot Express
3 million Mickey bars
Ooey Gooey Toffee cake, even though i don’t have a reservation at LTT


I’m hungry now.

"I'm hungry mother, I really am."
Know what movie that's from?

 

[dawnmichele]

You know this is more like my Disney journal than a trip report.

But Anyway --

I leave Sunday and I am at the "what am I forgetting???" stage. There has to be something, doesn't there?

I hope not.

 

[dawnmichele]

I am about to buy tickets for two different Halloween parties for our October trip. None of us have ever been. I'm so excited I had to come here to *sqeee* a little bit!!

 

[dawnmichele]

Our next trip is in less than 2 months! So Exciting. I’ve been planning, maybe more than usual, but haven’t really checked in over here because I’ve been trying to get on with my December trip report (You Can’t Make Disney Your Permanent Residence). But it’s getting so close now I need someone to talk to about all the plans coming together.

So first! Let me tell you some things about this trip.

When we were in Disney last December, we had a bounce back offer at Art of Animation for a room discount. We thought it over before we vacationed and before we we checked out we called to reserve 19 days in October at Coronado Springs Resort. We weren’t sure that was the resort we wanted, but we knew we liked that one and knew we could change later if we wanted to.

It is now a 12 night stay, with 2 nights at Pop Century (which we’ve never seen before), and 10 at Port Orleans Riverside (which we’ve never seen before). But more about that later.

This time it’s just me, Danny and Hannah.

We’re going to one Halloween party, and we’re dressing up. We’re planning to dress up I should say. We are still debating whether or not we’d like to go to 2. I went to two Christmas parties one year and I loved it. But it’s a lot of money so we can’t decide. Right now the plan is to see how we like the first one (it’s on our first full day so we’ll have time to decide) and if there are still tickets left, we’ll go again if we think we need to.

I just this morning bought our tickets for the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. I have a big rant about the lunch choice at that. Why pick a kind of food so many people have an allergy too? Hannah can’t eat seafood or fish so her choices are like chicken nuggets or salad. Or one sandwich without meat. And even the chicken nuggets are on the menu combined with fish. But whatever. They obviously don’t care. And I don’t think lunch is the high point of the tour. That’s what I keep reminding myself.

At this point, we only have ADRs at Be Our Guest, Liberty Tree Tavern and Mama Melrose. Last trip we/I felt a little pushed around by our reservations, so this time we’re just not so excited about having a bunch of dinner plans. We’ve made these and otherwise we’re just going to wing it. We’ll either find some counter service (there is some really good counter service in places), or see what we can find with the app. I would never suggest this to someone, but I think we’ll be ok. Especially since it’s Food & Wine fest and we plan to enjoy that often.

Are those the basics? I think so.
More Disney talk soon!