I am Your Host, Your Ghost Host: Our Halloween Disney Pre-Trip Report

[DisneyAngel83]

Oh man, I can't believe I am doing this, but I am am starting a pre-trip report!! I am relatively new to the Dis as I have been frequenting other sites out there on the World Wide Web, but now that I am here, I can't seem to stop reading, and reading, and reading!! I come home from work, eat dinner with my hubby, and get on the Dis between TV shows. I am truly a Dis boards fan!

My Disney background: Well, I am 23 years old and have loved Disney movies and tv my whole life. When I was little, the one luxury my parents decided to give me was the Disney Channel because back then it was extra like HBO is today. My mom taped all the Disney movies and I watched them over and over. My parents also took me to all the Disney movies growing up. I have a really fond memory of seeing The Little Mermaid on Christmas Eve of the year it came out. In any case, I have always been a Disney fan.

I have not however always been a Disney park fan. Why you ask? Well, its simple, no money to go on vacations like Disney, so therefore, no knowledge on my part about Disney parks. But, things started turning around when I was 15. It was the end of my sophomore year in high school and my parents were looking to take our second "big" family vacation. We had gone to Washington DC the year before. My Dad had been teaching a class at a local community college for a few semesters, so that is how we were able to take a vacation, you know, the kind where you actually have to get on a plane to get there in less than a day. My mom announced about 1 month before we were to go that she was taking me to Disney World! I was really excited as I had heard of Disney World, loved Disney already, and was excited about taking another "real" vacation.

I at the age of 15 was blossoming into a mega planner. With the exlposion of the internet around the time I was in junior high, and my natural curiosity to find out about things I did not know about already, I planned everything I could. I like to organize, I like to have an element of control, ok, mabey more than just an element, so planning and research have always been fun to me, no matter the subject (unless it is for a school research paper). So when my Mom announced we were going to Disney World and handed me a Birnumbaums WDW guide that our travel agent had loaned us, I got excited. Now, on this first trip, I didn't get to book our hotel or decided our tickets, or decided what dates we would go. We were already booked offsite at a Best Western and our park tickets were already purchased, but that didn't matter to me, because I didn't know anything at all about Disney World.

I sat down that day (I still remember it was a Sunday, and I even remember where I was when my Mom told me, and who was there) and I read that Birnabaums book from front to back almost. I got so incredibly excited!! That just goes to show you that for a Disney park newbie, even the official guide is enough to get one excited. I then found some other Disney website out there and did a few basic planning things. I planned out what park what day, I decided on some attractions I thought I would really like, and we made a dining reservation at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

Ultimately, while not my best trip, my first trip was all it took. In the planning process, I had fallen in love with the Disney parks, and on our last day I told my Mom I wanted to return. There was the true start of why I am the way I am about Disney. But all of you understand that right? I mean, you ARE reading a PRE-trip report


In the next 7 years I have taken an additional 6 trips to Disney World and just in May I took my first trip to Disneyland. This year, in October of 2007, I will be taking my 8th trip to Disney World. Along the way I have even further recruited my Mom onto the bandwagon (that is even more than she already was seeing as how it was her idea for the first trip). She loves it like me, however she doesn't care to do all the research. She will talk about it all day long with me and debate our plans whenever I want to, but she does not want to do the research. I have also recruited my hubby!! That is most exciting to me! He has always been a Disney fan too, but never able to take Disney vacations. He also didn't understand the parks or know exactly what they were, much like myself before I went the first time. We took him on his first trip in 2005 when I graduated from college with my undergraduate degree. Then he and I went again on our honeymoon when we got married almost a year ago (July 15th is our 1 year wedding anniversary!!) He is drinking the koolaid! Now that he has been to WDW twice, Disneyland once, and his third WDW trip is coming up, he is more on board now than ever. By the time we start having kids, he will be like me, except, not the planner of course. Thats me


So, thats my background, and in case you couldn't read between the lines, this is a pre-trippy for my 8th, my husband's 3rd, my Mom's 5th and my mother-in-law's 1st trip to Disney World in October 2007.

Woah!! Stop the presses!! I am taking my mother-in-law?? YES, YES I AM! And my MOM? With myself and my still NEWLYWED HUSBAND? YES!! And I have very few trepidations about it. Ok, I mean, you can't take a new set of people on a vacation that have never spent that much time together at once without some trepidations, but as you read my pre-trip you will see why my worries about this group are only a few. I have gotten a few woah reactions, but, we all get along pretty well actually.

Up next: How did this trip come about?

 

[DisneyAngel83]

So how did this trip come about?

Last year about a month after we came back from our Honeymoon last July, I started to dream of a Disney Christmas trip. Well, I quickly realized that was not going to happen because my hubby works for a church (he is their media director, which means he is the director of the cameras on Sunday morning, produces all TV commercials for the church and any other videos needed for Sunday mornings). Christmas is a big time for the church and there is just no way he will probably ever be able to take a Christmas vacation.

Then, I turned my thinking to the next time I have wanted to visit and that is Halloween. So, one night before we went to bed last September, I told him my thoughts about taking a trip during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and The Food and Wine Festival. He was on board immediatly, so that left me with a way to figure out how we would come up with the money. I started to look into it and decided that if we saved a measly $200 a month (ok, not measly, but thats what I told myself) and/or we earned enough extra money on side jobs (wedding videography and other various jobs my husband can get making videos for people) that we could go!

I had another problem though. I am still in school. I have my undergrad degree, but I am currently getting my Master's degree. School is in session every October for me for a couple more years. I thought about it for mabey 5 minutes (recalling my February 2004 trip where I missed a couple days of school for Disney) and decided that in a few years kids might be in the picture and I can't let school stand in my way because having babies definently will. So, I decided that I would work something out with my professors when the semester started and worry about that week of school I would be missing later. So, I started the preliminary planning and thinking and this is what I came up with:

October 12-18 2007 This is a Friday-Thursday, this way hubby will only miss one weekend of work.
All Star Movies-preferred room
7 day park hoppers
dining plan
fly Continental so we can fly out of the closer airport so someone can take us and pick us up.
Enjoy the Food and Wine Festival
Go to MNSSHP (my first of these types of parties)

I decided in early November that it would be really fun for us to take our Mom's with us. My reasoning was that my Mom has always wanted to go to a Halloween party at Disney ever since I told her about them. She was born on Halloween and has always loved that she could celebrate Halloween and her birthday on the same day. Since we couldn't just take my mom (cause 3 is a crowd when you are not parents/younger child or best friends) I decided that we should try to take my mother-in-law too since she only take one vacation a year AWAY from home and that is to her families lake house which is also in Texas. I thought she would really enjoy a "real" vacation to a different destination and I love showing Disney to people who don't even know what it is really like. Getting my mom on board was a breeze, but since we couldn't afford to pay for anyone but ourselves, we had to ask my MIL to come up with her own money. So...

I rethought the vacation with the four of us in mind (as well as budgets) and I decided everything would be the same except we would try out the new All Star Music Family Suites. I did not want to put us in different rooms because our Mom's are not close friends as they only know each other because we got married, so I wanted us all in the same suite so no one would be uncomfortable, but I also wanted to give hubby and I our own room as well. Also, this way we would have the kitchenette and two bathrooms and the price would work out well if split into 4 pieces. I quoted my MIL a reasonable price of $1200 (for the entire vacation including airfare, not including some additional food and souvineers) and told her she could make "payments" to us once a month from January-October of $120 per month and we would put it in our vacation bank account.

She was intrigued by the idea, but not sure as she was adjusting her finances to buy a new car at the time. She later told us that she didn't feel she could come up with the money, so we went ahead and booked the trip for just the two of us (cause once again, 3 with my mom would just be a crowd) in early December.

We saved our money from Christmas and hubby got paid for a job he had done a long time ago so we were well on the way to paying for our trip without saving any money out of our monthly incomes. Then...

On New Year's day, my MIL, my hubby's grandmother (her mother), hubby and I were all eating our black eyed peas at well, The Black Eyed Pea and we got to talking about our trip. At this point MIL started wondering again if mabey she could go since she had arranged her finances and now felt she could handle it. Her mother (hubby's grandmother) encouraged her to go as she knew that as an adult my MIL had not been out of the state but a couple of times. As quickly as I could, I contacted my travel agent and gave her our changes. She got back to me the next day and it was booked!! I told my Mom the trip was back on and we were all excited.... well, most of us anyways...

Next: Job Troubles for Yours Truly and Is my MIL excited?

 

[DisneyAngel83]

if anyone is interested I will be updating sometime soon!! Thanks

 

[disneyaddicted]

I am extremely interested. This pre trippie sounds fun. I am onboard.

 

[DisneyAngel83]

Yay! I have a reader. Thank you disneyaddicted!

Well, after the new year I went back to my job which was 40 miles away (one way) and well, everything changed. I worked (yes it is past tense) in a small dentist office at the front desk. My manager was the doctor's wife. She decided (and I have no idea why) to stop coming into the office and manage us from home. She rehired a girl who I really got along well with who had previously quit because they were not very understanding when she had to take off of work due to her baby having to have surgery. She became the dental assistant, I worked the front desk and did all the admin work, and then there was the doctor. His wife/our manager did all the accounting and supply ordering from home. And, she also proceeded to make us really miserable by micromanaging us with all sorts of ever changing rules and regulations. Where I had previously been a great employee, I was made to feel like the worst employee, especially since I had to figure out what contributions she had been making in the office and pick up the slack for her, with no warning that this would need to be done. So, you can imagine that we had some problems and miscommunications due to this.

Now, I had been working on looking for another job close to home for about a year by this point but had turned down a few low paying jobs waiting for something higher paying. My manager knew I had been looking for a job and even helped me get an interview at one point in the distant past. With this change in management techniques, I started to look faster. I really was miserable. What does all of this have to do with Disney or our trip? Well, Disney is my happy place, as it probably is for most of you, and with all the miserableness at work, being in the middle of a hard semester at school, and trying to job hunt, even the anticipation of our upcoming trip couldn't overcome my stress. Part of the reason is I am a major worry wart and one of my worries was getting a new job, then having trouble getting the time off for our vacation since I would not have worked there very long. So, I worried, and worried, and worried some more about that, and even though I found the time to get on my internet Disney boards, I was still just very unhappy.

I got a virus that lasted for 2 weeks at one point and even though I only missed two days of work, I was made to feel guilty about it. (Keep in mind that I had a fever that ranged from 99.4 to 100.0 every day for about 14 days and I still worked). Also, at one point here in Houston, we had an ice storm in the winter. Now, if any of you are familiar with southeast Texas, we just don't get ice storms, or snow or anything like that! We live north of Houston and I worked even farther north where the ice got really bad as it froze for 48 solid hours up there, so naturally, I wasn't going to drive to work in those conditions, and guess what? That was a problem to, and my manager told the other employee I was exagerrating about the ice conditions. (Which even if they weren't as bad as the news made it sound, I still couldn't risk my safety and my car). My husband got mono in January which resulted in him missing 2.5 weeks of work and 3 doctors appointments in which the last one resulted in a blood test that told us he had mono. I had to leave 30 minutes early one day to take him to one of those appointments and that also, was a huge problem (I mean, I couldn't let him drive to the doctor with 102.9 fever)

So, I was miserable in my job and couldn't seem to find anyone to hire me fast enough, so I just kept working there for the time being because we couldn't afford to lose the income.

At the same time, as all of this, I periodically wondered if my MIL was excited about our trip. She doesn't know anything really about the parks and I knew this would be a brand new experience for her. She has never even been on this type of vacation anywhere, unless you count a day in Six Flags AstroWorld (which is no longer here) and really, that was about the worst Six Flags park in IMHO. So, I was really miserable with my life and somewhat uninterested in even Disney, and she was clueless, so I began to wonder if she was truly interested in our trip. I wasn't sure how fast to clue her in because not only would we need to educate her about everything Disney had to offer, we would also need to educate her on what kind of a trip this would be.

So ultimatly, my MIL not knowing how to show excitement (because she didn't know what she had gotten herself into) is what got me really really on the ball with planning our Disney trip. I wanted to distract myself from my stress, and help her get excited about a vacation she was paying for.

Next up: Our Schedule/Dining plans, and writing my dining guide

Coming up later: We get to go to Disneyland now, and yay!!! I got a new job!

And Even later: Our Disney Trip "educating" party/My MIL is excited now!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Aww, it looks like we'll just miss you!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans!

 

[luvmy2sams]

We'll be there the same time as you.

I understand the worry wart syndrome. I'm going back to school in the spring, and I'm already obsessing about how it's going to affect future Disney vacations.

You're going to love MNSSHP. We've been several times, and it's always one of the highlights of the trip.

Looking forward to reading more...

 

[DisneyAngel83]

Well, with my life going crazy and wanting to still escape to my happy place plus let my MIL in on what she had gotten herself into, I really started to plan our trip.

I cannot really remember our original planned schedule (because it changed so often with the Halloween party date announcements and deciding on the Keys to the Kingdom tour), but here is what it looks like today:

Note: I will only be telling you the schedule first, not the dining plans, that comes later in this posting!!

Friday Oct 12
Arrive at ASMU middle of day
go to the MK and leave around 6:30 before the MNSSHP starts that night
Go see Illuminations in Epcot
Option of EMH in Epcot

Now, I know that a lot of you would not be so crazy as to go to 2 theme parks the day you arrive, I mean, that sounds really crazy, but I just can't not start out my trip at MK and we only have 5 full days and 2 partial days, so I can't waste any time, I mean, time is ultra important to me. And, on top of that with the Halloween parties and the F&WF, it just makes scheduling this trip a real challenge for me this time around. So, to stop being longwinded, this was the way it worked out, and we will be ok I think as long as we make it through Illuminations since we don't have to ride all that many rides this day, its really all about being there!

Moving on...

Saturday Oct 13
Special Breakfast
MGM day
Must see the cars stunt show, and start out our day at The Great Movie ride as I think it really sets the mood for our day.
See the Stars and Motorcars Parade
We have a Fantasmic Dining package (I will let you in on where in the dining plan)
See Fantasmic!

Sunday Oct 14
Morning/Early Afternoon for Animal Kingdom-Must see the Safari, Dinosaur, Everest for DH only probably, and see the Nemo Show (and more)
Afternoon for Downtown Disney
Relax/get ready for evening dining plans at resort
Our nighttime dining experience

Monday Oct 15
Today we go on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour
When that is done, we relax or choose another activity
Late afternoon is for relaxing and getting ready for our very special signature dining experience!!

Tuesday Oct 16
Morning is for Magic Kingdom
Early lunch table service in the park
Relaxing at the hotel the rest of the afternoon
by 5:00pm back to MK for MNSSHP!!!

Wednesday Oct 17
Our main priority today is the Epcot Food and Wine Festival
No special F&WF events, just enjoying the culinary selections and the World Showcase (since we are 4 adults, I plan on spending about 6 hours to give ourselves time to wander around) If we get there earlier than 11am, we will spend some time in Future World (although with a late night the night prior at MNSSHP I am not counting on that)
At night, we will go back to MK to catch Spectromagic and Wishes

Thursday Oct 18:Our last day
Today after we check out we will head to Epcot
Our priority today is Future World only
We have a special dining experience in World Showcase for lunch
We will probably need to leave Epcot by 4pm since we have an 8pm flight that night.


Dining Plans:
Note: we are on the Dining Plan and only have a few OOP experiences, I will not include the breakfasts we plan on eating at our resort Food court as those will vary based on how we feel each morning and what is going on that day, also, when we are just picking counter service (as opposed to a few times where I have special places in mind) I will not mention that either.

Friday Oct 12
Casey's Corner-DH and I went to Casey's Corner on our honeymoon the first day (and we also arrived at the park a little after lunch like we should for this trip) and it was a great experience, so we want to take my MIL there. The food is great and you can't beat the view of the castle. I also think it will build up anticipation of whats to come if MIL can't just wander into the entire park right away.

Saturday Oct 13

Kona Cafe-breakfast for us and OOP. We plan on eating here before going to MGM studios and since it is our first morning in WDW I wanted it to be special. Everyone in our party has been here before except of course my MIL. I have had tonga toast every other time, but this time I want the Macadamia Nut Pancakes. I am not crazy about pancakes, but LOVE macadamia nuts and the butter they give you sounds awesome! Also, I want to try the orange passion smoothie. This is relatively inexpensive to pay OOP for, so thats why I chose this.

Mama Melrose Fantasmic Dining Package-Once again, all of us have been here except my MIL. We did not want to use two table service credits (I have something better in mind) and I do not like buffets, and we all like Italian, so Mama Melrose it is. We all really like this place however, so I am excited about returning.


Sunday Oct 14

Earl of Sandwich-Only DH and I have been here and we both really loved it. The best sandwiches we have ever had hands down, so we wanted to take our Mom's here.

Ohana-We absolutly love this place. I love it even more since the menu changes. The potatoes, the dipping sauces, and mmm, the dessert. Now, I don't normally like bread pudding, but that sauce that goes on it, WOW!! I can't wait to go back. This is DH favorite place to eat in WDW!

Monday Oct 15

Columbia Harbour House-this comes with the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, but I would have probably taken everyone here even if it hadn't

Narcossess-This is our signature dining experience for the trip! I know that most people have been giving rave reviews of California Grill recently, but Narcossess is really my favorite. I have been to Narcossess every time since my 3rd WDW trip. DH and I didn't actually plan to go last year on our Honeymoon, but after we got to WDW, we couldn't not go, so we went ahead and made a last minute reservation after we had been in WDW for a few days. I love the appetizers, the steak and lobster, and the yummy desserts, as well as the Mudslide drink!! We can't wait to take my MIL here as she almost never gets fine dining experiences. Plus, as an added bonus, we will be able to see Wishes from here that evening!


Tuesday Oct 16

Liberty Tree Tavern (Lunch)-We are having an early lunch in MK here on the day of our MNSSHP. My mom and I are the only ones to have eaten here out of the 4 of us. We really, really love their lunch time menu and I think it is a nice treat since we are on the dining plan and can order an appetizer, entree and one of their yummy desserts (mabey a griddled butter pound cake for me?). Plus, I love the colonial theme of the restaurant.


Wednesday Oct 17

Food and Wine Festival (OOP or Snack Credits)-this is a day for the Food and Wine Festival. No breakfast, probably no dinner either, cause we have 6 hours to enjoy World Showcase and the special food offerings.


Thursday Oct 18

Le Cellier-Our last meal in WDW will be Le Cellier for lunch. We have all been here before except MIL, and this is one of our staple selections. I know the lunch menu is not a fancy as the dinner menu, nor does it get you as much out of your dining plan, but they still have some good steak selections to choose from. I plan on getting the Shrimp appetizer (since hopefully I can get the cheese soup at the F&WF) a delicious steak, and the chocolate Moose.

So there you have it, that is our planned schedule and our dining plans, I will have to tell you more about my own dining guide later as my fingers are too tired now!!

Up Next: My own Dining Guide

 

[DisneyAngel83]

This was an accidental double post!

 

[DisneyAngel83]

Well, I thought I might continue my pre-trip report today. I am currently sitting here listening to Dis Radio on Live 365 with my new VIP membership!! Thats right after a month of getting to listen to Disney music on Live 365 at work all day long at my new job, I decided that with all the mess about upping the fees, if I didn't start paying for my internet radio soon, then I might not have it anymore! So, now I am only paying a grand total of about $50 per YEAR to listen to Disney park music commercial less at work 40 hours a week and at home while I read trip reports and obsessively plan our trip.

Well, moving on with the pre-trip report...

One Sunday, after church, we were out eating with my MIL. Now keep in mind that I really am not sure how excited she is about our trip. She doesn't really react one way or the other when I talk about it, which I am admittedly not talking about it much compared to how I jabber away to my own Mom and how I really jabber away with DH about it.
Anyways, we are eating our lovely Tex-Mex meal, after church and somehow in the coversation DH starts telling his Mom about O'hana since it is one of his favorites. She seems intrigued. We talk a little bit about Narccosses as well and how it will be our signature dining and the types of food we can order and how since we have the dining plan, this is already being paid for, so she doesn't have to worry about the prices once we get there! She really seems impressed, so we start to talk about a couple of rides and then that leads to Fastpass. By this time we are almost back to her car, so we stop the conversation, but this gave me an idea...

She needs a dining guide!!

So, the next day I set about to write a dining guide about our own personal dining experience, when she will use the dining plan, and when she will pay out of pocket (which is not much). I put a lot of thought and detail into it and it turned out to be about 4 pages in Word. I emailed it to her and my mom and she responded "thank you, this is nice" Which is her way of saying thank you, I am really glad you gave this to me. So I think, well, mabey this is helping her understand....
So then I decide to write a complete guide for her, complete with pictures. I get started on this project, but then another event came along to make me stop planning our Disney World trip altogether, and no, its not bad!!

How about a trip to Disneyland? I had never been to Disneyland before, and had only recently begun to think about going there. I had never been to California either, so this would be a completely new experience. Oh, and although we had already saved all our money for our WDW trip, we had not yet paid it off since we were waiting a few more months to let MIL pay on her portion of the trip, so technically, this would be the first trip Hubby and I paid for on our own with no outside parental help. For us, that was exciting!!

Next time I will let you in on our planning and a short synopsis of a wonderful short 4 day trip to the original Magic Kindgom!!

 

[DisneyAngel83]

Well, I am finally coming back to type a little more cause some exciting stuff has happened! Let me first continue my story about Disneyland though!

Hubby and I decided to take a short trip to Disneyland after Southwest released $49 ding fares to LAX. Let me just say that I do really love Disneyland, I mean, its no Disney World, but it was still awesome!

You can read my trip report in the Disneyland trip report boards if you want the full story, however I will just say that I believe that Disneyland and Disney World are two different animals. Disneyland has a special charm that Disney World cannot ever capture because it is after all the original, the one Walt walked in and the one he saw come to life and grow. Several of the attractions are better IMHO and the fireworks show was really awesome. California Adventure is not the best park. There are some really awesome attractions (like Soarin') but it is not Disney's best work overall IMHO.

Anyways, we took a 4 day trip to California and had a blast! I felt so lucky to get to take that trip and don't regret spending the money or taking the time (which turned out to be unpaid for me) off.

After California was over, I turned my attention fully back to DisneyWorld and started to plan like crazy!! I printed out and created all sorts of paperwork to aid in everything going as smoothly. I purchased Tour Guide Mike's information and delved in to learn even more than I have already learned about touring.

In the meantime I started a new job, which was a challenge, but after a couple of months I began to get the hang of my new responsibilities. I even met someone else that I work with that also loves Disney!! I have directed her to these boards and she has caught on to a lot of Disney planning that I don't think she knew was out here on the internet, but I am not sure how much she reads the boards.

For awhile I just read, and read, and read about Disney and read lots of trip reports to gain any new knowledge. Reading trip reports is really really fun when you are anticipating your own trip!

Then, along came the week of August 13th! That would be the week that special codes came out for our vacation dates! Now, we have been booked in the All Star Music Suites and there are never codes available for these, but I was holding out hope. When the Disney Visa codes came out and availability was spotty, I decided to cross my fingers for more availability with the public codes.

Let me just preface with the fact that I was having a very hard week at work because my computer had crashed and our manager was on vacation, so I was trying to either do my work without a computer or pick jobs that only needed me to move a small amount of things to another desk that had a working computer.

Then, on the 16th, the public codes came out and YAY!! for the first time EVER I got an amazing discount......

drumroll.....

We traded our All Star Music Family Suite for...

Two rooms at Port Orleans Riverside!!! and thats not all...

We still saved over $100!!

So now I was really really happy because this meant that our Mom's would now get beds instead of fold out couch sleepers and we would actually have a more private room to ourselves. I decided that our mom's would definently be ok in a room by themselves even if they do not know each other very well so that they could have their own full sized bed and we could all experience more amenities and theming at a moderate.

I have wanted to stay at POR since it was called Dixie Landings! This really made my day and my weekend after that and I felt somewhat better about my situation at work (which did get resolved with a new computer the next week)

I just want to end this entry by saying we now have only 38 days left!! Woohoo!!

Next time: The preparation truly begins!