If your heart is in your DREAM a Aug/Sept 2011, NEW - links to dining/trip report

[annmarieda]

So cool that you are getting the convertible!!

 

[dizneeat]

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!! What a fabulous list of places to eat at, I'm so excited!!! I can't wait for the food porn already.

Only a little more than 2 months to go!!!!

Wow, 3 cruises on the Dream, plus cabanas! Those look really nice.

Today we fell under 10 weeks!!!
Lots of food and fun a few DISmeets mixed in there as well! This is going to be very good fun!
We discussed the Cabanas a bit more yesterday and we MAY keep them for more than one time!

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!! This will be an amazing trip! I can't wait to read about more plans.. and I will be excited for when you do a TR!

We really hope it will turn out as nice as last year's trip! Well, it should, as we added another cruise!
I hope I will do better with that trip report than I do with last year's one, but I really really hope to finish ALL my open threads before we leave!

Thank you, Karin! I'd say that 2012 is pretty slim for us, too, although...you never know! If you had told me back in February of this year that we'd be going back in July, I probably would have laughed in your face. And here we are!

Your plans look great. I think OKW would be great if we rented a car, but we actually like Disney transportation. All I know is that you are planning for one amazing dining review.

We would need to win the lottery BIG TIME to make it back in February 2012. Tom and I plan on going back in the summer for another 4 weeks and with the airfare as high as it is at the moment I do not want to shell out the money for two more flights for just a week.
We discussed the matter and decided that instead of going to WDW in February we would squeeze in a 5 day visit to DLRP for Halloween, a long weekend to Italy in May/June and a long weekend in Germany. So actually we get three vacations instead of one!
It's the only possible solution, as with all the expenses we have already had this year (2 cars!!) we are lucky enough to be able to go to WDW in summer of 2012 and greedy me wants to go cruising again!

As for OKW, it has a wonderful bus service - internal buses and lots of bus stops for parks - it's the same as CSR. So you would NOT need a car to stay there at all. We just prefer to have one. But so did we when we stayed at CSR.

Wow! I can't wait to see your daily plans. And live vicariously through you for the cruise.

When you do the back-to-back - do you change rooms - or are you set until the end? I am just thinking through the logistics cause I am strange like that!

Daily plans are taking shape - I have a rough plan for every day, but for posting here I want them all neat with photos, so that might take a little longer. Day 1 is ready though and going to be posted today!

When we book our cruises, we actually pick a certain category of stateroom and pick a certain stateroom right there and then. When we decided on the three cruises in a row we made sure we could stay in the same stateroom.
You have to disembark and check in for every cruise, but all your stuff can stay on board and you do not have to pack.
On our last cruise there was one family who booked a back to back with the possibility of being upgraded and even though they were not upgraded they had to move from one stateroom to another. Bummer, having to pack and unpack again.

 

[dizneeat]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous. Sounds like a marvelous trip.

No need to be jealous, Kathy, you live so much closer to all things Disney than we do!

I really hope it is going to be as wonderful as our last year's trip!

Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness!!! Let me add that I am soooooooooooo jealous - but incredibly happy for you & Tom!!

I can't believe you have 17 ngts at OKW in addition to 11 ngts cruising!! FANTASTIC!!!

Even though I've been going to WDW forever - what is the "Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour"? Is this new? Do tell, please!!

And how does one get preferred IllumiNations and Wishes viewing? You can tell my last few trips have been very basic and I never even look for what's new....thinking it's time to catch up!!!

This is all so very exciting and I am only sorry there is no way I can get away for even 3 ngts while you are there - what fun that would be!!

Like so many others, will keep my fingers crossed that one of these days our paths will cross.

I love that everything was closed for the Ascension...I miss those days. Here,. the Catholic schools do not even close anymore.

Great plans!!!!

You are jealous? You live so close to WDW, you can go whenever you want, Christine!

The "Marceline to Magic Kingdom" Tour is brand new. It's a 3 hour walking tour in the MK, and since we love to try all the new tours we HAD TO sign up for it!

How do you get preferred Wishes and Illuminations viewings? You book with the British Disney Travel Company and it comes as a perk with it!
They actually have roped off areas to view the fireworks and it is pretty neat not having to fight for a space to see them. You can even bring a tripod and take pics without having people step in front of it!

I am hoping for that meet with you in the future too!

And everything is still closed here on Sundays and on all catholic holidays. Can't wait for Whitsun and Corpus Christi - more long weekends!

Very cool on the convertible!

Please tell me more about the fish extender. I have seen you mention it - and seen the pictures. But I am not sure that I am understanding the whole picture. And 450 gifts? Oh my! What gifts did you give last year - and what are you doing for this trip??

This is me thinking of having a convertible for the summer .......

Fish extenders work like a Secret Santa. You get this holder with pockets (I make it myself - personalized) and hand it outside your stateroom door on the "fish" - hence "Fish Extenders".
Once you have booked your cruise you go to the cruise meet section and sign up for your FE group.
Everyone in the group will then secretly deliver one or more presents to everyone in your group, so basically whenever you come back to your stateroom you check your extender for presents!
Tom and I love to do personalized small presents every day of the cruise - we are doing 3 cruises (11 nights) and have signed up for all three cruises - therefore all in all 450 presents. Be aware, some of them are small, but handmade and I have been working on some of them since the start of the year.
I cannot post any of my presents now, as I know some of my fellow cruisers read along here and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Any more questions - just ask!

Here are some pics of last years extender!

And the presents we received on our first cruise

It is just the ultimate fun to do on the cruise!

 

[dizneeat]

Ooooohh...a convertible....how fun!

See me ........

So cool that you are getting the convertible!!

I know, we had one booked for last year as well, but they were "out of" convertibles when we arrived and we got upgraded to a


CAMARO!!!!!!!!!

Actually I could live with another upgrade of that kind!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Karin,

I can't wait to read about your daily plans.

 

[jenseib]

I am 100% sure I am going now. I will arrive the 14th around 12:10 at the airport. I don't think I will have a ticket for the day, so I figured I do DTD and either resort hop, or go to Ft Wilderness for the campfire, or to Poly for wishes...nothing set yet, but if you want to meet at all, let me know and we can try and work it out. I just don't want to fork out the money for a 1 day ticket..even though MK is open till 2 AM. I have more than 2 months to change all that though!

 

[Stefy]

Coolbeans for the convertible cruising Disney in style

Loving all the plans laid out and coolbeans on the Cabana, which number do you have on SB?

 

[dizneeat]

Karin,

I can't wait to read about your daily plans.

Detailed daily plans will be posted shortly! Such a shame we are going to miss you this summer, Sophia!

I am 100% sure I am going now. I will arrive the 14th around 12:10 at the airport. I don't think I will have a ticket for the day, so I figured I do DTD and either resort hop, or go to Ft Wilderness for the campfire, or to Poly for wishes...nothing set yet, but if you want to meet at all, let me know and we can try and work it out. I just don't want to fork out the money for a 1 day ticket..even though MK is open till 2 AM. I have more than 2 months to change all that though!

I posted on your trip report, Jen!
I hope we can fit in a meet, Tom and I would love to meet you!

Coolbeans for the convertible cruising Disney in style

Loving all the plans laid out and coolbeans on the Cabana, which number do you have on SB?

Like last year we said this is our last "expensive" Disney trip (too many expenses this year), so Tom decided he would treat us to a convertible again!
Okay, this was ME when he decided -

As for the Castaway Cay Serenity Bay Cabana, we have Cabana 20 for our first cruise, Cabana 20 for our second cruise and for a change Cabana 19 for our third cruise - I want to get it all ready for your visit!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Yippee to the convertible! I have a car with T-tops, but would much rather have a convertible.

Your trip is getting closer & closer as is our's. I do hope that we will be able to meet up in Sept. That would be so much fun, my first Dis meet!
Doris

 

[Stefy]

Ooh we have Cabana 19 Can't wait to see what your review is like of the place. We can't tell exactly where it is on SB, but then we don't really care too much as we know it will be perfect either way

Can't believe you are going to have three cabanas! But they do sound perfect for CC, your own little private getaway

 

[disney67]

Hi Karin , im so envay of your pre trip report i have to read yours to get ideas on doing mine this im not that great at doing this , but it seems like im a student cause i really have to look thru my photos to do it right .

wow it must be awesome to ride in a convertible congradulations we are basically doing the same thing with the car renting at mco returning before and picking up after . the rental car prices are so high this year hoping to get a lower rate closer to the trip . I wish I could do an itenery for every day but have no clue yet still in figuring out every thing mode with 81 days left .
But i will say i so enjoy reading here wish i could be on boards more but work always gets in the way of more disney away from home .
talk to you soon and have a magical week .

 

[dizneeat]

Yippee to the convertible! I have a car with T-tops, but would much rather have a convertible.

Your trip is getting closer & closer as is our's. I do hope that we will be able to meet up in Sept. That would be so much fun, my first Dis meet!
Doris

Thank you so much for sharing our excitement! There is no way we would ever buy a convertible here in Austria, but boy is it fun to drive one in the US!

We are actually finally under 10 weeks in our countdown! In a few more days we will be under two months, can't believe it!

We need to think of a date and time for a meet! We would love to meet you in September!

Ooh we have Cabana 19 Can't wait to see what your review is like of the place. We can't tell exactly where it is on SB, but then we don't really care too much as we know it will be perfect either way

Can't believe you are going to have three cabanas! But they do sound perfect for CC, your own little private getaway

When I picked Cabana 19 for the third cruise I had you in mind! If we can't meet up this summer, we can at least "share" the same cabana!
I promise to post pics as soon as I can - internet connection was SLOW on the WONDER, but very expensive, so we didn't have much online time!

Hi Karin , im so envay of your pre trip report i have to read yours to get ideas on doing mine this im not that great at doing this , but it seems like im a student cause i really have to look thru my photos to do it right .

wow it must be awesome to ride in a convertible congradulations we are basically doing the same thing with the car renting at mco returning before and picking up after . the rental car prices are so high this year hoping to get a lower rate closer to the trip . I wish I could do an itenery for every day but have no clue yet still in figuring out every thing mode with 81 days left .
But i will say i so enjoy reading here wish i could be on boards more but work always gets in the way of more disney away from home .
talk to you soon and have a magical week .

Jeff, I feel honoured that my trip report is supposed an inspiration for yours!

For us renting a car in the US is part of the fun. We just love driving there - much wider streets, bigger cars, and much more affordable gas prices!
We always book our rental car with a European agency and it includes all the insurances, additional drivers, and a full tank of gas for a reasonable price. So we are pretty happy with what we have gotten.

I am so with you - sometimes work just interferes too much with my DIStime! Especially now that the school year comes to an end!

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, let's try this again .......

I wanted to post this yesterday, but then my laptop disconnected itself from the internet and just would not reconnect. Since it was late already I gave up! Let's hope it'll work now!



Trip planning:

Day 1, August 13

Finally the first day of our vacation will have arrived. Our flight doesn’t leave until 11am, so after checking if everything is turned off, I will leave my flat, pick up some of those yummy rolls,

I am going to miss terribly and drive to Tom’s house.
We will have breakfast together,

then check the house if everything is turned off and then it will be time to get ready to leave. I guess we will have called a taxi the day before and it should arrive about an hour and a half before the flight will leave.
Once at the airport

we will pay for our extra suitcase full of Fish Extender goodies before we head over to the check in desk and hand over our suitcases. We will then head through security and wait for the first leg of the journey to start.

Hopefully our plane will be on time and we will board our small aircraft

that will take us to Frankfurt airport.
They will most likely serve us drinks and a chocolaty treat during the one hour flight.

Once in Frankfurt, we will have to take a bus to the terminal, as small planes usually get outside parking positions.

We will have a look if our gate has changed and then head over to the terminal. Planes to the US usually depart from a terminal on the complete other end of the airport and it takes about 20 minutes to get from one end to the other. After doing a little duty free shopping we will try to find a seat and have a little snack, a ham and cheese roll we prepared at home and some drinks and hopefully after that we will soon be able to board the plane.

Once the plane has taken off we will enjoy a little of the onboard entertainment, have some drinks and snacks and finally we will be served lunch. I wonder if the question will be “Pasta or Chicken” again?

After lunch we will both take some sleeping aid and hopefully drift off to sleep for the main part of the flight.
Since we are not used to afternoon naps we will probably be awake again by the time they are serving a light dinner – probably pasta!

Once we have landed in Orlando we will try to leave the plane as soon as possible and get ahead of the crowds at immigration a bit. Once we have gone through that we will pick up our luggage and clear customs.
I really hope we will manage to move 3 suitcases and two pieces of hand luggage, as I do not want to use the airport transportation for our luggage again – takes forever to arrive.

So we will haul our luggage over to Hertz counter and get in line to get the paperwork done. Then we will try to go find the car!

Once we are settled into our car, GPS in place this vacation is going to really start, with the drive to WDW.

I guess by then it is way past 8pm and we should be able to check in at Old Key West by 9pm. Can’t wait to hear that friendly “Welcome home”!

Then it will be time to check out our home for the next 8 nights, move all our stuff in, before we will need to head out for the first shopping trip of this tour.

I guess this will take us to the Hess gas station for some drinks and to Downtown Disney.

Now, the question is, WHERE should we have our first meal of this vacation? So many choices ……….. but not for us! We’ll head over to Wolfgang Puck’s Express as fast as we can to pick up some yum yum sandwiches for dinner.

We will order them for take away, head back to Old Key West and enjoy the first American meal of our vacation before we will fall into bed.

 

[debsters41]

I so love the way you do your day by day report!!!

 

[jenseib]

Busy 1st day!!! But I can't wait to hear about your 2nd one!

 

[annmarieda]

I am always amazed at what you get to eat on your flights! I am a bit nervous about the flight I just booked because flight is at 6am... arrives (3hour time change) 5:45 pm. No food is served other than pretzels and soda. Even if I board with food... not sure how we will make it all day. I think we are gonna be hungry. I would assume that isn't a worry on your flight. As always, your pictures make me hungry and the ones of the flight food is no exception.

All in all.. a very nice first day planned.

 

[disney67]

I so love the way you do your day by day report!!!

I cannot say it any better .
Plus i have to say i look at those pictures are such amazing shots i have to start taking more food shots this trip but wife gets mad when i do pictures of food cause by the time we eat we are usually hugry and those few precious moments are hard when they put those amazing plates in front of you .

 

[Tconst]

Hi Karin:

great trip report! we'll be traveling with you on the 8/28-9/1 cruise!

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Karin andfor the convertible !!!!Day 1 sounds great BUT very long !!!I soooo remember those international flights and the time change and the JET LAG
Can't wait to meet you on the 19th!!!!

 

[tinacaplan]

Great news about the convertible! That looks like it will be so much fun. I also cannot believe what you get for food on your flights...no matter how many times you tell us or I see pictures... And with the Nussini again?? Looks so good. Maybe I need to have dinner now?

First day looks great, if a bit exhausting. I am thankful we only have to deal with a three hour flight.