It’s going to be the time of our lives..WERE BACK: TR link inside!!

[Raecheal]

Our theme song for this trip should be “It’s going to be the time of our lives, DBF doesn’t want to miss out…right here, right now and there are so many reasons why.” This is a last minute weekend only gate away trip home that has a long history.[/B]

Chapters​

The Cast.
Let's get Started
The Weather Network
Pop Century: Where else?!
Day 1
Day 2
Things I just can't Travel without..#1
Things I just can't Travel without..#2
Things I just can't Travel without..#3
Day 3 and Things I just Can't Travel without..#4
Things I just can't Travel without..#5
New Luggage
Surprise for Dbf
Roots Photography
Things I just can't Travel without
Change is inevitable​

This N' That
Final ADR's
Shopaholic on the hunt, Post # 1
Aerosmith N' Cake (My obession)
Disney's Magical Express
Countdown
Shopaholic refuels, Post #2
Let's Catch up...
O.T.-Grams <3​

History:
Let’s go back 6 months from today: We were originally booked in for a bounce back deal from our Sept. 2008 TR trip, with a free Dining in September for 2 weeks….then our 2 weeks got scaled down to 1 week….and eventually got CANCELLED for Australia. We had decided that this year we would head out to Australia, specifically touring Sydney and The Coral Reef for two weeks…. and one thing lead to another and for misc. reasons….You guessed it: Australia was cancelled!

I had accepted in my heart that their will not be a trip this year, let alone No WDW this year…. until a friend at work (Calderli) was constantly making up proposal’s for her Dh to take their beautiful daughter to WDW to celebrate their birthdays. Finally, after months and months of trying—her hard work paid off. They are off to WDW at the end of August.

I have no problem admitting, it was hard knowing I wouldn’t be able to go home this year and besides my co-worker two other Gf’s were planning trips to WDW for this year… until one night, while I was using dbf computer.. I was about to delete all history/cookies and noticed the Walt Disney World website had been viewed.

And well here we go again, as a couple this will be our 3rd trip home in 4 years. I truly have this gut feeling that this is going to be the trip of my life and for so many reasons why…but I don’t want to jinks anything… well have to wait until the trip report to find out!!!

The Cast:

Me (Racheal), 23 Court Clerk, I"m a complete girly girl at heart..who just can’t wait to have a family and truly feels at home in Disney. I'm completely in love with all things disney...and I also love to take road trips, attend concerts, try new things, SHOP and scrapbook. I feel like i'm forever dieting and I would like to be able to put exercise down in their but its not working out that great!!

November 27, 2006 (My Birthday, November 27, 2006)

June 2008, my graduation from University.

That brings me to:
Dbf (D), 27-year-old love of my life, who just can’t get enough of work and the gym. He’s incredibly handsome and an adrenaline junkie.

Dbf is not a fan of WDW and can never understand why I insist we go every year.. maybe once we have kids he’ll understand the feeling.. but he's a good sport about it.

Our baby, Stella Victoria. She’s an 8-month old Shih Tzu who is the most important person in our life. Of course Stella isn’t coming with us, but I sure do wish we could bring her with us. This will be our first time leaving her for 3 nights.

 

[ArelysAdriana]

I'm excited to hear about your plans! What was your DBF doing on the WDW site??

I didn't realize that you and your DBF are almost the same exact age as myself and mine (he's 26, will be 27 next month, and I'm 22, will be 23 in September)

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! I really need to start my own trip report but I don't know that anybody would read it. We are REALLY boring! So, I'll just read other diser's reports to keep me sane until our August, 2009 WDW vacation.

 

[Raecheal]

I'm excited to hear about your plans! What was your DBF doing on the WDW site??

I didn't realize that you and your DBF are almost the same exact age as myself and mine (he's 26, will be 27 next month, and I'm 22, will be 23 in September)

I dont know what he was doing... I never realized we were all close to the same age as well-- both of our Birthdays are in November!!

Signing on for more! I really need to start my own trip report but I don't know that anybody would read it. We are REALLY boring! So, I'll just read other diser's reports to keep me sane until our August, 2009 WDW vacation.

I'm glad you here...were REALLY boring too... but I'm planning on using my PR-TR and TR to make a hardcover book for as a surprise for dbf.

I"ll be in, when you start your report.. just send me the link!!

 

[Raecheal]

Let’s get started:

Dates:

We are only going for a weekend gate a way, it’s very last minute for us.. Especially coming from Canada. Why are we only going for a weekend? Dbf and I didn’t want to have to use a lot of vacation hours this year and because I’m saving up some money to make some investments, for Australia and to buy a new formal dining room set. With that, our dates are:

July 31st- August 2nd, 2009​

Now we debated about staying until Monday, August 3rd, 2009 (which would give us a whole another day)- but that’s considered a Canadian Holiday which means double time and half for Dbf and I am certainly not ready for a solo trip (even if it would have only been a day).

Flight:

Departing from Canada makes things a little bit difficult. In the past we have paid close to 1200.00 Canadian Dollars including travel insurance for the both of us. (Which I thought was decent) until last September.. I booked our airline tickets only to find out that West jet was having a seat sale NOT EVEN 3 weeks later. Purchasing flights tickets stresses me out.. I really wish dbf would take over that responsibility.. but that will never happen. He just doesn’t have the time in his day.

This time around (our 3rd trip to WDW in 4 years), I got smart and I’ve been looking into flying out of Syracuse. Here's what i can come up with:

PROS
-It would save us close to 600-800 Canadian
-Non-stop direct flights-Shorter distance to travel

CONS
-Dbf has to drive the extra 6 hours after a long weekend
-Extra time crossing the border or possibly have to stay overnight the night prior to our flight

We’ll after seeking Dbf’s opinion, we are NOT flying out of Syracuse… he doesn’t want to have to drive the 3 hours + there and especially back.

With that, I went on Expedia, purchased our tickets for 400 Canadian EACH. Not including travel insurance we are looking at 810.00 Canadian for flight. YES, this may not be the cheapest deal out there… but at this point, I’m tired of stressing over flights and constantly having to look. I’ve got other more important things to plan.

Flight Itinerary:

We fly out at 6am on the Friday, July 31st arriving in Orlando at 10:57am (1 stop).

We fly out at 6pm on Sunday, August 2nd arriving back home at 10:59pm (1 stop).

 

[Disneylover79]

Joining in... I am excited for ya

 

[Raecheal]

The Weather:
According to Orlando-Weather.us:

Orlando Weather In August is almost a duplicate of July weather, with high heat, high humidity, and a high chance of rain. Even the nights bring no relief. Of course every building and car is air conditioned, by necessity, so you will find some escape from the Orlando Weather in August.
Were basically looking at:

HIGH of 92F and a LOW of 65F​

(With some RAIN but I’ve never been to Disney when it hasn’t rained)[/​

COLOR]

Our trip in November 2006 - Rained EVERY SINGLE DAY… our trip in September 2008 - Rained for 15 minutes every other day. I am def. NOT a fan of rain or humidity… it ruins my hair in like 30 seconds after stepping outside.

Hotel:

Drum roll please………. We are staying at:

If it where up to me, we’d be staying at the Polynesian on every trip possibly even try the AKL. I was such a deluxe snob (you have NO idea: no matter where we go) But I’m slowly coming around… and POP feels like home to me now. POP makes my WDW trips feel amazing. Maybe, our next trip down, we’ll stay were I want to stay… hahah yah right!!! However, Dbf would rather take that money and put it elsewhere which I can completely understand. In the past, staying at POP has allowed us to do plenty of extra activities for example, Aqua Seas Tour and the Segway tour around Epcot. In time, I’ve also come to LOVE, love Pop Century.. it really has grown on me. I would recommend it to anyone. Our favorite rooms are in the 50’s section…which is always a request prior to check in.

The pool near the 50’s section:

We enjoy Pop for many reasons, it’s cheap, it’s clean, kind of cheesy, and Everything Pop is pretty decent, doesn’t share a bus with any of the All-Star hotels and can see some fireworks from our room.

Coming from Canada, we usually try to get a CAA rate or AAA in the states… but our membership has run out.. . No discount for us. In the past it has saved us anywhere from 80-200 Canadian dollars at POP. We’ll have to look into renewing our membership and getting a AAA rate applied to our reservations.

 

[ArelysAdriana]

I love, love, love Pop. As gorgeous as the deluxe resorts are, the values are just so quintessential Disney. I'm staying at Pop in January, I can't wait!

 

[calderli]

Subbin' Can't wait to read everything. Love the pic's of Stella. Maybe you will inspire me to start my own PTR. So sweet that you mention me in the begining. Funny though that it was your encouragement that got me to finally propose the trip in August to DH. If it wasn't for you, Payton would not be getting her b-day trip!

 

[DreaGirl]

Hi! I'm joining in!

I agree with your DBF. We stay at Pop so we can enjoy the extras. I would love to stay at AKL one day, but we'll see.

Can't wait to hear about all your planning!

 

[Raecheal]

I love, love, love Pop. As gorgeous as the deluxe resorts are, the values are just so quintessential Disney. I'm staying at Pop in January, I can't wait!

Exactly... quintessential Disney. It wouldn't be a disney trip without POP... but don't get me wrong.. i'd love to stay at akl or at the poly. After reading lynn's TR today, I just announced to Dbf that we are going to WDW again in May-- all the flowers at epcot were so neat. He wasn't thrilled but too bad too sad.

Subbin' Can't wait to read everything. Love the pic's of Stella. Maybe you will inspire me to start my own PTR. So sweet that you mention me in the begining. Funny though that it was your encouragement that got me to finally propose the trip in August to DH. If it wasn't for you, Payton would not be getting her b-day trip!

Glad your in!! It would be really nice if you started your own PTR especially because you have 2 people in your family that will experience Disney for the first time.. it would be nice to give your blog to Payton one day when she's older.

I"m so excited for Payton-- she's going to have the time of her life!!

Hi! I'm joining in!

I agree with your DBF. We stay at Pop so we can enjoy the extras. I would love to stay at AKL one day, but we'll see.

Can't wait to hear about all your planning!

Thank you, Glad your here..

 

[tinkgurl]

Hey girl! I just noticed you were doing a PTR! So I'm here! Funny thing is..the dates that you're in WDW, I'll be in St.Louis!

 

[aharbin88]

I followed you over here from your post in Shopaholic's TR. I'm in!

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
We had a bounce back flyer in our room when we stayed at POP, Nov. 08.
When I looked at the flyer, it ended Oct. 24.
I called the # and told them I was in the room with an old flyer.
She told me new one's came out and instead of 30% off, I could have 40% off. I was thrilled, but my dh stood there shaking his head no. Bummer.
At least you are going back for a weekend.

 

[Raecheal]

Hey girl! I just noticed you were doing a PTR! So I'm here! Funny thing is..the dates that you're in WDW, I'll be in St.Louis!

Thanks for joining.... St,Louis, aren't we lucky? How long are you going for?

I followed you over here from your post in Shopaholic's TR. I'm in!

Nice to meet you, Thanks for clicking over.

I have a feeling this trip is going to be the time of my life... (at least i'm hoping).

Hi,
We had a bounce back flyer in our room when we stayed at POP, Nov. 08.
When I looked at the flyer, it ended Oct. 24.
I called the # and told them I was in the room with an old flyer.
She told me new one's came out and instead of 30% off, I could have 40% off. I was thrilled, but my dh stood there shaking his head no. Bummer.
At least you are going back for a weekend.

ohh.. bummer is right... and i'm thanking my lucky stars he's willing to do a weekend. (Even if it's only for 2 days).

Last night i tried to convince him to go in May for another weekend... I really want to see Epcot's Garden festivale... he was not impressed.

I may just have to plan a girls weekend...

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for joining.... St,Louis, aren't we lucky? How long are you going for?




Nice to meet you, Thanks for clicking over.

I have a feeling this trip is going to be the time of my life... (at least i'm hoping).



ohh.. bummer is right... and i'm thanking my lucky stars he's willing to do a weekend. (Even if it's only for 2 days).

Last night i tried to convince him to go in May for another weekend... I really want to see Epcot's Garden festivale... he was not impressed.

I may just have to plan a girls weekend...

I went for the Flower Festival, and they really scaled back. But I was still glad I saw it.

 

[tinkgurl]

Thanks for joining.... St,Louis, aren't we lucky? How long are you going for?

We're going to be there July 31-August 2 . So I will definately be thinking about you when we're going and leaving.

 

[Raecheal]

Well I thought I’d go through my Itinerary for our weekend posted by day. I’ll include the parks, activities, where were going to be eating and what foods I’d like to try while at that restaurant. Have I mentioned that I LOVE food, and since I’ve been on a grass and water diet for about 3 months by the time this trip comes along…. I think I deserve a CAKE at every meal.

Day 1- Itinerary

Friday, July 31st, 2009 - Arrival Day

Depart: 6:00Am
Arrive: 10:57Am

Lunch: Earl Sandwich

Shopping Downtown Disney

Dinner: Jiko

Disney Boardwalk

Dessert: Boardwalk Bakery

(Possible SURPRISE FOR DBF: Still in the works. Will discuss at a later post)​

Day 1:

I still have to:

-Book the Magical Express from the airport.

Although this we will our third time using the FREE service.. it will be our FIRST time giving them total control over our luggage. You see.. in the past we have always flown in between the times of 1030pm and 1:00am (we would have needed our luggage as soon as we checked it, to get settle, ready for bed and to prepare for the following day). However, on this trip we will be arriving at 11:00Am and as long as I pack my purse (or very large tote) we shouldn’t need our luggage until nighttime. I hope they don’t lose our luggage…​

-Call to ‘request’ because nothing is guaranteed!! a room located in the 50’s building.

We’ve only NOT gotten our request once and it was only for one night. I’m keeping my fingers crossed… it just wouldn’t be Disney without our favorite hotel and room location.​

Food:

Earl of Sandwich
-Island Smoothie or Bottle of water
-Earl’s Club or the Full Montagu minus the lettuce and tomato
-Goofy’s Candy Company for dessert (and some for later)

We will be returning customers for Earl of Sandwich; however, this will be our first ADR at Jiko. I’m excited to try the Mac n’ Cheese with Filet mignon.. Mmmm.. it sounds delicious.

Jiko
-Cocktail
-Barbeque Chicken Flatbread
-Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon
-Tanzanian Chocolate Cheesecake OR hold out for the Boardwalk bakery

Shopping at Downtown Disney, which includes, The Market Place, Pleasure Island and the west side:

(Some stores I MUST go into, I’m actually really excited to shop. On our last trip, (it’s a secret because I haven’t gotten to that part in my TR: I know, I know,.. I’m like sooo behind in fact almost a year behind.. but I’m working on it) I bought some UGGS (my fav. I get a new pair every season) a billabong wallet, a shirt and whole lot of Disney products for family and friends.

-Tren-D
-Le Basin
-Disney Tails (which i didn’t knew exist until now : OMG.. Stella’s gonna get some cute new outfits)
-The world of Disney
-Curl
-Magnetron
-Changing attitudes
-Once upon a toy story, Curl, Team Mickey Athletic club, Sosa Family Cigars, Pop gallery, Virgin mega Store, Starabilias ALL FOR DBF.


Disney’s Boardwalk:

-Boardwalk bakery for some CAKE
-Take a quick look at Sea Breeze point

(There really isn’t much to do besides that… but dbf and I have never been there.. and the night photos look absolutely beautiful.)


Now you may have noticed, we are not scheduled to tackle any parks on our arrival day. Which means we will only be spending sunrise to sunset in the parks on Saturday and we are still debating about Sunday. As of today, I am ONLY purchasing a 1 day park hopper pass… but who knows…plans do change…. For example I suggested to Dbf that we purchase an Illuminations viewing cruise that would pick us up after our walk ont eh boardwalk and take us over to epcot.. but he didn’t like the idea so much.. and for that amount of money he said we could just get a 2 day park hopper and actually go into Epcot..

You know… maybe we will end up doing 4 parks from Friday Afternoon to Sunday afternoon…

 

[Raecheal]

I went for the Flower Festival, and they really scaled back. But I was still glad I saw it.

I heard they had scaled back a bit... I'm hoping we can get to see it before Heaven forbid, they cancel it.

We're going to be there July 31-August 2 . So I will definately be thinking about you when we're going and leaving.

Oh.. please send some pixie dust my way.. I'm hoping this will be the trip of my life.

 

[DreaGirl]

Well I thought I’d go through my Itinerary for our weekend posted by day. I’ll include the parks, activities, where were going to be eating and what foods I’d like to try while at that restaurant. Have I mentioned that I LOVE food, and since I’ve been on a grass and water diet for about 3 months by the time this trip comes along…. I think I deserve a CAKE at every meal.

Day 1- Itinerary

Friday, July 31st, 2009 - Arrival Day

Depart: 6:00Am
Arrive: 10:57Am

Lunch: Earl Sandwich

Shopping Downtown Disney

Dinner: Jiko

Disney Boardwalk

Dessert: Boardwalk Bakery

(Possible SURPRISE FOR DBF: Still in the works. Will discuss at a later post)​

Day 1:

I still have to:

-Book the Magical Express from the airport.

Although this we will our third time using the FREE service.. it will be our FIRST time giving them total control over our luggage. You see.. in the past we have always flown in between the times of 1030pm and 1:00am (we would have needed our luggage as soon as we checked it, to get settle, ready for bed and to prepare for the following day). However, on this trip we will be arriving at 11:00Am and as long as I pack my purse (or very large tote) we shouldn’t need our luggage until nighttime. I hope they don’t lose our luggage…​

-Call to ‘request’ because nothing is guaranteed!! a room located in the 50’s building.

We’ve only NOT gotten our request once and it was only for one night. I’m keeping my fingers crossed… it just wouldn’t be Disney without our favorite hotel and room location.​

Food:

Earl of Sandwich
-Island Smoothie or Bottle of water
-Earl’s Club or the Full Montagu minus the lettuce and tomato
-Goofy’s Candy Company for dessert (and some for later)

We will be returning customers for Earl of Sandwich; however, this will be our first ADR at Jiko. I’m excited to try the Mac n’ Cheese with Filet mignon.. Mmmm.. it sounds delicious.

Jiko
-Cocktail
-Barbeque Chicken Flatbread
-Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon
-Tanzanian Chocolate Cheesecake OR hold out for the Boardwalk bakery

Shopping at Downtown Disney, which includes, The Market Place, Pleasure Island and the west side:

(Some stores I MUST go into, I’m actually really excited to shop. On our last trip, (it’s a secret because I haven’t gotten to that part in my TR: I know, I know,.. I’m like sooo behind in fact almost a year behind.. but I’m working on it) I bought some UGGS (my fav. I get a new pair every season) a billabong wallet, a shirt and whole lot of Disney products for family and friends.

-Tren-D
-Le Basin
-Disney Tails (which i didn’t knew exist until now : OMG.. Stella’s gonna get some cute new outfits)
-The world of Disney
-Curl
-Magnetron
-Changing attitudes
-Once upon a toy story, Curl, Team Mickey Athletic club, Sosa Family Cigars, Pop gallery, Virgin mega Store, Starabilias ALL FOR DBF.


Disney’s Boardwalk:

-Boardwalk bakery for some CAKE
-Take a quick look at Sea Breeze point

(There really isn’t much to do besides that… but dbf and I have never been there.. and the night photos look absolutely beautiful.)


Now you may have noticed, we are not scheduled to tackle any parks on our arrival day. Which means we will only be spending sunrise to sunset in the parks on Saturday and we are still debating about Sunday. As of today, I am ONLY purchasing a 1 day park hopper pass… but who knows…plans do change…. For example I suggested to Dbf that we purchase an Illuminations viewing cruise that would pick us up after our walk ont eh boardwalk and take us over to epcot.. but he didn’t like the idea so much.. and for that amount of money he said we could just get a 2 day park hopper and actually go into Epcot..

You know… maybe we will end up doing 4 parks from Friday Afternoon to Sunday afternoon…

Looks like a full schedule! We always spend one day or night at DTD. We usually go on our arrival evening and then on our departure morning.

Too bad Disney doesn't offer twilight pricing. You could go to EPCOT in the evening and not worry about the price.