I'M ENGAGED! a.k.a. A Freak, a Closet Case and 2 Noobies...(FINISHED w/ PICTURES!!)

[briar*rose]

A Freak, a Closet Case and 2 Noobies

Hullo!! I haven't been a member of the DIS very long however I don't think it takes all that long to become extremely addicted; addicted to trip reports and park info and people's opinion of Disney in general. The past week or so I've been reading many trip reports (since I have just recently "discovered" this area of the DIS) and personally, I LOVE reading about how other's do disney whether they be a first-timer or a Disney Veteran, what problems they have and what they have learned as well as tips they have to share (and good times too!!). You'll NEVER get information like this from a guidebook, unofficial or otherwise. So here I am writing my very own Trip Report...well, pre-trip report since I haven't yet departed for the Happiest Place on Earth.

Meet the Party

Me - "The Freak" -24 - Third Generation Disney Freak! I won't go into much here but I have a rich family history of visiting Walt Disney World, I love it and I feel it relaxes me like nothing else in the world.

DBF - "The Closet Case" - 27 - My boyfriend of 5-1/2 years. We've visited WDW twice together (this will make it 3). He went to WDW once with his high school many years before our first trip together, he didn't really have a strong opinion about it, good or bad so to get him to go the first time with me wasn't too hard but it took some coaxing. Each year as we plan to go, his exitement becomes harder and harder for him to hide, he would never admit to me how much he loves it there....but I see it

DF27 & DF30 (Dear Friend One and Two) - "The Noobies" - Well, one of them really isn't a Disney Noob but then my title would be way too long otherwise . DF27 and DF30 are a couple of 7 years and very, very good friends of ours. DF27 (Female) has never been to Walt Disney World but lived in California at one point so she has visited Disneyland countless times in her life. DF30 (Male) has visited once over a decade ago with an old girlfriend and is convinced that Disney is bad luck for couples since a few of his good friends broke up with their partners right after (or durring) a Disney vacation.

So, yeah, no children in this party, just us 20-somethings.

We will depart (by car---ROAD TRIP!!) from Long Island, New York at 11pm on Tuesday September 26th and we'll return the morning of October 7th, 2006. We've decided on a split stay so we'll be in connecting rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from 9/27 until 10/2 when we will then check into a 2-bedroom villa at the Boardwalk until 10/6.

It has been a long and somewhat arguous road (although not as arguous as some) to get to this point and I'm glad that I am 8 days away and even fewer days until I start preparing to leave (which is why I'm doing this so early, road trips, for me anyway, require alot of prep and I don't want to forget about doing this).

So I guess I'll start at the beginning with my...

"Disney History"
My mother is IN LOVE with Disney World, my grandmother is IN LOVE with Disney World, my dad, aunts, uncles, couisins, brothers, sisters, and pets are all IN LOVE with Disney World. My grandmother and family first visited Disney World in 1972, they stayed at the Contemporary Resort. Who could know that one family vacation would spark a family wide and lifelong love of everything Disney and it would be the glue that held my extended family together in less-than-great times. They visited many times after that and I frequenly hear stories from everyone about the long-gone Disney "tickets" and my mother's personal favorite attraction "If You Had Wings", among other things. My first visit was in 1985 with my mother and my Aunt, we also stayed at the Contemporary. I was only 3 years old. It's odd because not alot of people can remember what their lives were like when they were 3 but I swear I have memories from that trip. Pluto tried to eat my head, the hallway in the Contemporary where we stayed was really scary at night, the silver costumes the characters in EPCOT wore were awesome (oh, how I wish they'd bring those back!!) and My First Monorail ride. I've taken many trips since that first one. My mom married her husband and took him to Disney for the first time on their honeymoon in 1986.

We went for the first time as a family in 1988. One thing I can say about all of our trips is that we're drivers...my mom was a born flyer but since we had such a huge family and since my dad's family used to go on alot of road trips when HE was a kid, his choice, (and usually the cheeper one) was to drive. We always had a TON of fun...8 people (including car seat) in a Caravan....good times (and I must admit some not-so-good-times haha). Now, the road trip is an intergral part of MY Disney vacations. So, over the years our family grew and grew and unfortunetly my parents didn't always have the money to bring us to WDW or on vacation in general. By the end, I was the oldest of six, three boys, three girls, all of them Disney fanatics. In 1998, my parents were nice enough to take my first boyfriend to Disney with us (and that's NINE people in ONE car), the relationship didn't last but I have great pictures and it was the only time I've been there durring Christmas. Eventually people in my family started to buy into DVC and we were able to go regularly once again due to my generous family (and some of my parents friends too!) who always loved to "share the magic" with our huge family. Then in 2002 my mom bought into DVC and now allows me to borrow points from her for my "family" (which, at the moment consists of me and DBF).

My DBF and I first went to WDW together in August 2004 with my ENTIRE family. We stayed in a Studio at Old Key West, while the rest of my family (15 people!!) stayed in two 2-bedroom villas. We only stayed for 5 days so, DBF felt really rushed and the trip wound up being sort of stressful for everyone (as is the norm for parties with more then 8 people). We were however able to enjoy a dinner (just my immediate family, DBF and DSis's BF) at 'Ohana the first night where we sang Happy Birthday to DBF. He was sort of embarassed so I told him I had nothing to do with that!! Fortunetly, all the stress that there was didn't defer us from trying again the following year. This time we would would be in complete control!! We also decided that we need to make this a good one because we'd come to the conclusion that we needed to move and that after this vacation...we would finally do it! We decided on 9/27-10/7...much longer then last time (DBF felt we needed more then a week....and who am I to argue ) and we also decided on a split stay. We would borrow points from Mom for five nights in a Studio at the Beach Club and pay to stay in a resort for the first four. There was a little friction about where we should stay those 4 nights so we decided to split that as well, 2 nights at AKL and 2 nights at the Wilderness Lodge. We invited my younger sister (21 at the time) and her boyfriend (22) to join us, they stayed at the All-Star Music Resort (which they loved). In the months leading up to it my DSis and I spent hours and hours perfecting our itineries, making ADR's and just talking about the tripin general. Long story short we had a FANTASTIC time dispite some rain. We loved every resort. There was minimal complaining and only the occasional lapse in brain fuction by some members of our party.

When we got home we almost immediately decided to put off moving, again so that we could do Disney "one more time" before we have to really buckle down and put money away for something other then vacation, but along the road there were a few wrenches and alot of drama....

.....Pre-Trip, Part Two...later today or tomorrow!!

 

[Lan]

I am enjoying your pre-trip

 

[JAA'smom]

So far so good. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Chad&Janet]

I like your writing style and self-professed "phreakiness." Looking forward to Day 1.

 

[briar*rose]

Thanks for reading!! Here's the second part of the Pre-Trip report....

A Freak, a Closet Case & Two Noobies
Pre-Trip, Part II

So, DBF and I decide to do the irresponsible thing by taking an expensive vacation instead of moving out of our apartment (which would become a major bone of contention over the next few months). In December we had entertained the idea of doing two trips. We'd buy an annual pass and go down for a few days for Star Wars Weekends in May then do our "big" trip in September/Oct.. Picking the late Sept./early Oct time frame was a no-brainer for us since we had such a terrific time in 2005. However, with our money flow being what it was...two trips was just waaaaay over budget (we can dream right??). Again we told my DSis about our plans but she had just broken up with her boyfriend of two years and there was alot going on so she decided to hold off on making plans to go.

Around February 2006 we made the final decision and said "Yes, we're going to Disney World", but did we want to go alone?? DSis expressed that she did in fact want to go but had no one to go with, as she decided what she was going to do we decided to ask two friends of ours who, as I explained have limited Disney experience. Once we got the okay from them that "Yes, We are going to Disney World too!" I moved ahead with explaining all the in's and out's to them. Since we had such a great experience with a split stay last year we all decided that we'd do it again....however, not as many resorts (it was a little hectic packing up every two days). DF27 suggested doing a few days at a "rustic" type resort and a few at a "beachy-er" type resort, since there we're just "so many" choices. We had a showing of the Disney Planning Video and went with the Animal Kingdom Lodge (which DBF and I loved!!!) and the Boardwalk Villas (since I'd already stayed at the Beach Club which was DF27's other choice..this will be my first time at Disney's Boardwalk!!) (both resorts were ultimately chosen by DF27). I also convinced them to drive to Orlando . So with all of that in place I, now named, DF27 & 30's Personal Travel Agent...made reservations for both of our parties. I also put together a schedule for them so that they knew when things needed to be paid, how much travel would cost and when ADR's needed to be planned etc, etc. All I kept getting from them was "you decide, we follow"...which would become frustrating and kind of stressful in the future.

Then the doody hit the fan.

DBF lost his job on April 1st, 2006.

Now, what should have been done was, we should have cancelled our trip to Disney but DBF insisted that he would have a job in two weeks and we would still go. He told me not to worry, that things would be okay, but for a long time they weren't and going to Disney seemed more impossible by the minute. I make enough to pay our bills, but just enough. We had no money for food or gas and things were difficult but by some miracle a week or so after DBF lost his job, he, with all of his bad credit recieved the Disney Visa in the mail after applying randomly online a few weeks earlier. The balance ran out just as DBF found a job, on May 1st.

It amuses me somewhat that it was the Disney Visa card that got us through that time. It took us a few weeks to balance everything out and get back on our feet after DBF started his new job but we did it and were on our way to saving and paying off our vacation, but we were not out of the woods yet. To do the vacation that we wanted to do, we'd need alot more money then any trip we'd taken before and since we had such a lapse in saving time, in order to do this particular trip I'd need 3/4 of DBF's paycheck every week, which is alot. To yet again make an already over-long story short...we're still trying to get everything together, but we have tickets, and all hotels are paid in full (I think I've also lost some hair in the process). DBF has been nothing short of amazing. He's picked up overtime at his new job and sacrificed some of the things that he wanted so that he could take me to WDW (and I'll never forget it ). Of course there were fights and alot of stress but we always had the end in sight even when it seemed too far away to ever seem close, but here we are....and I'm leaving in a week. I know alot of people will say that what we did was irresponsible, but I don't care, we're doing what we love and if it has to be hard to get there well, that just makes the reward that much sweeter!!

In the midst of all this job/money business (which isn't all that interesting) there were DF27 and DF30 to think about and plans to be made!! We had a small dinner party to discuss the ADR's and where we might want to eat, durring this time I realized that things might not be all wine and roses with them either. They're motto is "We'll do whatever you do. We don't know where we're going...so we'll follow you!", which in theory, is fine but in reality is frustrating because I don't want to be responsible for them having a crappy time because of my planning. DF27 contributed to picking our restaurants but as far as putting together the intinerary, that was all on me. But eventually the intinerary was put together (I basicly copied my itinerary from last year and plugged in different restaurants) and ADR's were made.

In May, another couple of friends of ours who we'll call DA and DB decided that since they had off the week of 9/25-9/30 that they would go down to WDW as well (for free dining) and join us for the last three days of their vacation. I decided to add them to our dinner at 'Ohana on 9/28 (since it's DA's birthday) and then again on 9/29 for a day at the Magic Kingdom. However, that day at the Magic Kingdom was never to happen.

Two weeks ago DF30 decided that instead of DVR-ing the Season Premiere of "Lost" on 10/4 and watching it at home when we got back, he wanted to watch it in the hotel room and make a night of it (I'm a 'Lost" lover....but I also love my TiVo so I wasn't anticipating watching it in WDW). Me being the person that I am (and since they had little to nothing to do with making the actual itinerary), I said that I would try and switch around some stuff around so that we could do that. Problem was...we were two weeks out and the reservation that we had planned for the night of 10/4 was the Fantasmic! Dinner Package at Mama Melrose. I knew it would be difficult.

At first I tried to re-plan, then call with the days I wanted to go in mind...that didn't work. There was NOTHING...even for the Brown Derby (which I couldn't afford anyway). So I said to the CM..."Look, I'm going to be there from 9/28-10/5 is there ANYTHING, ANYWHERE?? PLEASE HELP!!"...lo and behold she found ONE reservation on 9/29 for Hollywood & Vine (not my favorite, I was kind of looking forward to Mama Melrose having never eaten there before...but oh well) at 4pm.....I JUMPED ON IT and decided I'd figure out the specifics later. One of the problems that arose with that is that I'd be missing my time with DA and DB at the Magic Kingdom since that was the day of the lone Fantasmic Dinner. I told her one day while we were dicussing the trip and she said not to worry, she'd see us at 'Ohana for dinner either way. Whew!! I was so glad she wasn't upset or anything. So, I decided to order her a huge custom cake for what was now her birthday dinner at 'Ohana (white cake, strawberry fruit mouse and whipped cream!!) to make it extra special. With that out the the way I started to notice that she was micro-managing her trip...making lists of rides and approx. times to visit them....now don't get me wrong, I LOVE planning, but I prefer not to plan out every second (okay for some people...not my thing )...so in retrospect, us not visiting the Magic Kingdom with DA and DB might just have been a good thing.

The second problem with making room for "Lost" was purely because I'm a traditional type of person. I make up new ones all the time and blindly follow old ones...first night dinner at 'Ohana is one of them, the second is breakfast at Chef Mickey's on Magic Kingdom day. I knew if I wanted to re-schedule Chef Mickey's only two weeks in advance would take nothing short of a miracle (I did try, to no avail)...so I decided to let that one go and make reservations for Kona Cafe on our Magic Kingdom morning....close enough right? Upon reflection, the old one was TOO MUCH like last year and I'm welcoming the change in plans. I guess in the end, I wound up liking my new itinerary more.

So after all of this sillyness....this is our itinerary as it stands right now because who knows what will happen in 7 days....

Wed. 9/27 - Leave DF27 & 30's house at Midnight. DRIVING DAY ... Arrive at AKL at aprox. 7pm.

Thrus. 9/28 - Recover from driving. Dinner at 'Ohana @ 8:40. DA's Birthday Celebration.

Fri. 9/29 - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's @ 9:30 am. Day at Disney/MGM Studios. Fantasmic! Dinner Package for 4pm at Hollywood & Vine.

Sat. 9/30 - FREE DAY (Possible Water Park) Dinner at the Food & Wine Festival.

Sun. 10/1 - Breakfast at Kona Cafe @ 10:10am. Day at the Magic Kingdom. Dinner at Crystal Palace @ 6:15pm.

Mon. 10/2 - Check into the Boardwalk Villas. Dinner at Concourse Steakhouse at 5:50pm. Pleasure Island at night.

Tue. 10/3 - Afternoon Tea @ 3:40pm, Dinner at the Food & Wine Festival

Wed. 10/4 - Day at Animal Kingdom. Dinner at Cape May's Cafe @ 5:40pm. 'Lost' Season Premiere at 9pm.

Thrus. 10/5 - Me & DF1 only -> Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus @ 8:55am. Day at Epcot Center. Dinner at Teppanyaki @ 6:15p, dessert at Alfredos at 8pm.

Fri. 10/6 - Check Out and drive home

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

So that's it....the end of my pre-trip report. Right now I'm in the process of helping DF27 and DF30 get their car ready for our road trip and doing laundry to pack. I've got some degree of butterflies (which will only get worse) because I really want everyone to enjoy themselves and l enjoy what I have planned. Disney can be overwhelming to first timers so I can only hope I did my job as a veteran well....

I'm sure I'll be back before I leave!!! 8 Days to go!!!

(Footnote: DSis never got her business together in time to join us. There was alot of drama surrounding her breakup with her BF and things show no sign of slowing even though she is seeing someone else now. I suggested she go by herself or with a friend and she declined. I'm really sad she's not going She thinks I'll have a better time since I'm going with friends but I keep telling her it won't be the same without her. She gives me a hard time, joking of course but I really do feel I'll miss her alot on this trip. This will be the first time that no one in my family will be there with me.)

 

[50 years Too!]

Looking forward to your trip report.
Too funny about "Lost"!

 

[briar*rose]

I'M BACK!!

I needed a few days to unwind but I hope to have part one up by the end of the day.

annnnnnnnnd.....I GOT ENGAGED!!!

....IN DISNEY!!!!

However, that's part of the last day but I just couldn't wait to get it out!!! So to hear that part you'll have to read thru to the end....MUAH-HAHAHAH!!!

That's my little trick.

 

[briar*rose]

Day One-ish...Tues Sept. 26th / Wed Sept. 27th

Ahhhhh, day one now seems sooo far away. I hate when you go on vacation and return home to find that you feel as if you never went anywhere and that it was all just an super-long dream. My ring and my 1,000 photos are my only reminders that it actually did happen and yes, it did actually go as well as it did, which was waaaaaay better then I expected.

I had to work on Tuesday 9/26 so at 8:00 am, bright and early I left for what was one of the LONGEST most IRRITATING days ever. Not because anything bad happened but just because I was going on vacation and time loves to stop when I'm waiting for something big to happen, but it did eventually pass and at 4:30pm I drove home from work, I listened to the Fantasmic! music and called my mom to check on my birds. When I got home at 5pm I took a Tylenol PM and a shower and layed down to sleep. IT WAS SO HARD TO SLEEP!!!! I had a total of about 5 1/2 hours to get some sleep before leaving for DF's house. I was mostly half awake and half asleep during that time and only really fell out of conciousness a hand full of times. I felt sort of tired when I woke up at 11pm but thought that I could make it driving thru the night fine with some coffee and energy drinks. We arrived at DF's house at about 11:30pm.

At about 12:30am, after packing the carrier and the trunk, we cozied up in the car for the 18 hour drive to DISNEY!!! Everyone was really exited so no one fell asleep until about 2:30-3am which was good for me because that ment I would only have to drive for about 3 hours before the sun came up. I flew thru NY, NJ, DE, & MD but toward the end of Virginia (8 miles before the end to be exact) I got pulled over for speeding!!! At 7AM!!! What happened was this: I feel the need to complete things, so my thought process was this: "When I finish this state (VA) I'll wake someone up to switch because I am super-tired (and kind of hungary)". I was going about 5 miles above the speed limit the entire time and never saw a cop in all the 160 miles of VA so I decided to speed up a little as to get out of the state quicker so I could eat and sleep. Bad move. 8 FREAKING MILES before the end of the state a trooper caught me doing 80 in a 65. GRRRRR!!! I wasn't really upset more then I was mad at myself for being greedy, DBF got a ticket in VA last year so I really should have known better. Thank goodness the cop was really nice and we weren't held up for long.

Five miles after that we arrived in North Carolina and the search began for a Waffle House (which they don't have here in NY). The food was greasy and yummy and it definetly hit the spot. Our server was very sweet and we could actually smoke in the restaurant which is sort of a novelty to me since NY has pretty strict smoking laws. I started nodding off during the end of breakfast so we decided to pile back into the car and get moving!! I switched with DF30 and fell asleep almost right away....for about an hour ...I was just too exited but I did get to sleep on and off during the rest of the drive which was nice. In fact the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. NC, SC and GA are pretty dead along the I-95 so we watched alot of trees pass by as we played Mad Libs and listened to some comedy routines on DF27's i-pod.

DF30 got tired about 20 minutes before I had estimated that we'd arrive at the gates of Disney. That aggrevated me a little because I just wanted to get there....but I kept that to myself. He switched with DBF for the last 20 minutes. At about 6:30pm we drove thru the gates and I was home again!! Purple road signs and Disney buses all around me!!! YaaY!!

As we neared the Animal Kingdom Lodge you could hear a collective gasp from the back seat as the Lodge appeared over the trees. I'll never forget the first time I saw it last year...I sqealed like a baby pig so I knew how they felt....WE WERE ON VACATION!!!!! We decided to self park at first and check in then deal with the luggage. When we walked in the lobby there was an "OH MY GOD" from right behind me from DF27 and DF30....that's my favorite part of visiting Disney with people new to the experience....I get joy from their joy!! DF27, our uber-Noob was just too exited to be contained and she took pictures of the woman who checked her in, DBF and I checking in, the luggage guy and the valet man that we didn't even use!!! She was too funny.

After check-in we brought the car up and had a bell hop empty the car and take our luggage up. I wish we hadn't, but I'll get to that in a second. After unpacking the car we went to find our rooms. We were on the Zebra Trail in rooms 4550 and 4552, next to each other but not connecting (which was kind of a bummer, but again I didn't make a big deal...I WAS IN DISNEY!!!). We actually had the room right across the hall from the room we had last year, which I found kind of amuzing.

It was a standard 2 queen room and it was awesome as usual, but right then all I wanted was a SHOWER!!! But where's my stuff?? It had been a good 20 minutes of waiting before I called the Bell Desk to be like, "Where's my luggage? I'm stinking out your hotel here!!!" She didn't think I was funny I guess and told me that someone was on their way. Side Note: I don't mean to sound spoiled and I know I could have probably taken a shower anyway and waited in a towel for my clothing and stuff but I hate Disney soap and my hair is super long....MUCH conditioner is needed. So that's that....I had a reason for wanting/needing my luggage ASAP!!

After the luggage arrived I showered....I love how Disney showers get SUPER hot and don't really run out of said hot water!!! It was the best shower EVER!! When I got out....::RING RING:: "THIS PLACE IS SO AWESOME!!!"....says DF27. I told her that we didn't even see any animals yet (our savannah was mysteriously empty, (except for some spoonbills) which was worrysome at the very second but I didn't dwell, I knew they'd come). At that moment, she didn't really care about the lack of animals, she just really loved the bathroom vanity!! Then I was asked to direct her (us) to food. (You're the Leader, she kept saying) I told her we had reservations at Boma downstairs but if they didn't want all that food we could go to this really good sandwich place in Downtown Disney, Earl of Sandwich. They chose the Earl (which I was secretly hoping for) and we hopped on the bus to Downtown Disney at about 8:30-ish.

While on the bus DF27 kept saying how all-encompassing Disney was. "It's like a mini-city" she said many times. She loved that you could just come here and the fantasy and sillyness is just all around you. For whatever reason...that made me feel really good, like I did something right when I really had no participation in designing Disney World at all, haha.

We arrived at Downtown and there was more gushing from DF27 (that happened alot and personally, I never got sick of it). DBF and I got the Tuna Melt (me) and the Italian Sandwich (DBF), which were AWESOME as usual. I also tried the Cole Slaw which was different but incredible. If you've never eaten at the Earl....GO THERE NOW!!! It's cheep and it's FAN-TAS-TIC!! DF27 and DF30 got three sandwiches which I cannot now remember the names of but needless to say we wound up at the Earl's again a few days later when at a loss for a snack. After food we went to Giardelli's for Ice Cream and walked down to the West Side to take the bus back to AKL.

We were all exhausted by the time our second wind passed so we said our good nights and went to bed.

Tune in next time when we'll wake up late and explore the Lodge and have our First Official table service meal at 'Ohana.....

...and I'm hoping to post a few pictures later on today...

 

[BeautyNBeast]

Congratulations on your engagement! WDW is where I got engaged, and then went on the honeymoon.

Cannot wait to read more, especially when your now fiance asked you to marry him.

 

[serendipity]

I LOVE your trip report. I know what that drive is like. We sometimes drive down from Jersey and right about the end of virginia it starts getting tiresome! Kudos for you for doing it every trip- we're flying this upcoming trip!

I need more, now!!!

 

[silverangel879]

Subcribing! Great Report! congrats on your engagement!!!

 

[John's Mom]

Congratulations on your engagement! Enjoying your trip report!

 

[swankybeth]

Great report so far. Looking forward to the part where you get engaged. Congratulations! I also got engaged in WDW.

 

[serendipity]

come on you're leaving us hanging here!

 

[briar*rose]

Ahhh!! Sorry about the looooooooooong delay.

I hope to have pictures and the second part (which I've already written) up by later this afternoon. I was pretty sick last week and didn't really get the chance to do it....my face felt like it was going to explode...stupid sinuses!!

Again sorry for the dely...(for the few who are reading) and I'll be back later today!!!!

 

[Goofster57]

Glad you are felling better and looking forward to your update and pictures.

 

[Kimberly815]

Looking forward to more!

 

[tinknme]

Great report, look forward to reading more. Congratulations on the engagement

 

[rthutchens]

Can't wait to see pictures.

 

[Mouse511]

Congratulations on your engagement!