It was all started by a towel...

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Or a lack of towels. Allow me to explain.

I am a towel hound. I love clean towels. Lots and lots of clean towels. If a towel has been used once it is no longer clean.

Our first DVC stay was in August, 2008. The lack of daily clean towels was vexing. I mean, I KNEW there wouldn't be towels every day going into it, but it was still a problem. I did pay the $6 fee to acquire clean towels, and only part of our stay was DVC. The other part was in concierge at AKL and the Poly. And let me say, the Poly deserves many accolades in the towel department! Towels were plentiful. Thick, beautiful, clean towels! It was truly a sight to behold!

When we got home I started to think about our 2009 trip. Or trips. And I thought about towels. I thought about how staying in a concierge studio at AKV would solve my towel dilemma. Decision made. I don't care how many points it takes, I want to have towels!

My family loves WDW. We go as often as we can. The family is me (38), DH (41), and DS(12). DS likes rides. DH likes to take pics of stuff. I like restaurants. It all comes together for a pretty nice trip. Usually.

At the 11 month mark (September) I called and managed to book a concierge studio at AKV!

In a fit of insanity I booked our flights in October. DH on miles, DS and me on cash. That was a STUPID thing to do. DH wasn't 100% certain when his vacation would be, but I decided to gamble and book the flights anyway. Since DH was on miles we could always switch his flights for free, so I figured it would be fine. Wrong.

In late November some friends of ours announced completely out of the blue that they had decided to come to WDW with us. I think my face must have looked precisely like this. In fact, it might still look precisely like this because I have yet to recover from the shock. I wasn't planning to travel in a group. I find group travel to be extremely stressful, and you definitely have to be in a "group" frame of mind to plan for it. I know this because we have done it before.

In a valiant attempt to save our trip, DH scheduled his vacation weeks back to back. Our friends are unaware that we are now arriving 6 nights ahead of them.

I called the airline and was flabbergasted to learn that the change fee has tripled since I last looked into it! That face again. I hemmed and hawed for awhile, but I finally bit the $300 American Airlines bullet and changed the flights. There was some drama about flight availability with miles for DH, but that all worked out.

So now there is the issue of a room for those front 6 nights. Of course the concierge rooms for those days are gone now. OK, so I will have to cough up the towel fee while we pass the time in a savanna view studio, but only for the front half of the trip. And I will continue to call Member Services relentlessly to see if I can snag more nights in concierge.

My ADR list is ready. The ADR list for IPO is ready. My park days are planned. I have registered my birthday on the WDW site so I can get whatever it is I am getting. Probably the gift card since we will have APs.

I am cautiously optimistic. I am determined to set boundaries for this trip. Our friends might be going to WDW at the same time that we are, but we are not going TOGETHER. This is an important distinction, because on our previous trip we were TOGETHER. We were TOGETHER just about every minute for a week. In case anyone is curious, that was WAY TOO MUCH TOGETHER! I will plan a couple of dinners and things for us to do as a group, but it is my intention to spend some time each day being APART.

August is a long way off. I wonder what will happen next?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

So, Christmas is coming. Time to shop!
I know the trip is more than 7 months away, but it is good to plan ahead!!

DS has a closet full of clothes. So full that I can't really even slide the hangers across the bar. But I keep thinking that maybe in 7 months those clothes won't fit. Better buy some more, in the next size up!

My own closet is also overflowing. But I choose to ignore that little fact, because it just doesn't matter!

I don't think my Adidas mini-backpack will survive another trip. I bought a Baggallini bag to use on our trip this year, but I only used it one day in the parks before I switched back to my Adidas bag. Good thing I brought the old bag along as a back up! The new one was the wrong shape so my things didn't fit in it very well.

Yesterday I was at TJ Maxx and I found a lovely Baggallini messenger bag! I think it might work to replace my little backpack.

DH has gone in search of a camera battery. He knows if he finds one I won't fuss at him for buying it because it is for WDW. Purchases for use in the World are exempt from spousal fussing.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Another Christmas has come and gone. Sigh.

I am now the proud owner of a 2009 Unofficial Guide. Not that I expect to learn anything new from it, I just like to have the current edition on hand.

DS is the proud owner of a Wii Fit. Perhaps I will use it. Maybe by August I will be svelte and trim! Or not.

I read on the Restaurant board that the window for ADRs has now permanently reverted to 90 days. That makes the trip seem REALLY far. I wanted to call on 2/2/09 and book my ADRs for the nights we aren't in concierge.

I must remember that I bought a fabulous pair of sandals on clearance at Nordstrom. They will be great to wear to WDW! As long as I don't forget that I bought them.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Is it August yet?

 

[Heatherhy01]

What a great trip report!!! I understand what you mean about traveling in a group, we went to Disney in a group once, it was a disaster!!! We barely got on any rides because everyone kept dispersing all over. One person would have to go to the bathroom,then the rest of us would go into a gift shop, then the bathroom person would want to shop and then someone else would need to go to the bathroom! I felt like we did not accomplish anything!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Is it August yet?

No but it is almost January and I'm not packed yet.

Nice to hear the towels are nice at the Poly! It has been a few years since I've been there.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

What a great trip report!!! I understand what you mean about traveling in a group, we went to Disney in a group once, it was a disaster!!! We barely got on any rides because everyone kept dispersing all over. One person would have to go to the bathroom,then the rest of us would go into a gift shop, then the bathroom person would want to shop and then someone else would need to go to the bathroom! I felt like we did not accomplish anything!

It's like herding cats. DH stops to take a picture of something, our friends walk into a shop, DS follows our friends, DH gets mad because he hates shops but we can't walk away without DS. We tell DS he HAS TO stay with us, but he doesn't.

No but it is almost January and I'm not packed yet.

Nice to hear the towels are nice at the Poly! It has been a few years since I've been there.

Stop taunting me! Go pack something! And yes, our room at the Poly had outstanding towels. It was very hard to leave all those beautiful towels when we checked out - I think there were still 7 clean ones!

A word about packing. We are leaving August 1. That means my suitcase must be packed and in the hallway on July 19. July 25 and 26 are the days I will add things I forgot. I have a master packing list, but somehow I will forget things in that initial round. All packing must be complete on the Sunday prior to departure. The only exceptions to that are things that I need to use the morning of departure.

This year will be interesting because of the checked bag fees. I refuse to do laundry on vacation, so I pack 2 outfits for every day of the trip. 14 night trip means 28 outfits. Yes, I do have 28 outfits. No, they do not exceed the 50 lb. weight limit. I know this because last time I packed 32 outfits. Same thing for DS.

DH is on his own. He packs his stuff, but not 2 outifts per day. He isn't bothered by doing laundry on vacation, so he is on his own for that, too. He would rather pack camera stuff than outfits. If you see a naked man taking pics it may be DH, waiting for his laundry to dry.

 

[babytrees]

shows you how much I pay attention to people's signatures...I had no clue you had started a trip report.

Elizabeth your posts always bring a smile to my face!! and your musings are great.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Welcome, Theresa!

I needed something to pass the time. Unfortunately, since they changed the ADR booking window I don't really have anything else to say about my trip right now. My pre-trip will be dragging until something interesting happens.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I think I should probably just give up on converting our first 6 nights to concierge. The points we save will come in handy next summer.
On the other hand, the likelihood of me being able to leave the ressie alone is pretty grim. You just never know when someone might cancel!

I finally got around to fixing our seating configuration on the plane. I put DH in what I thought was a middle seat, but it turned out to be an aisle seat because there are only 2 seats in the row. I moved him to the other side of the plane so our seat are all together. Of course I will have to keep an eye on it because the airline does weird things that cause the seats to change. I insist on being as close to the front of the plane as possible, so I don't want to be surprised by being moved to Row 26 or something.

 

[an_evans]

Wow! That is a lot of outfits!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Wow! That is a lot of outfits!

I try to do my part to stimulate the economy.

 

[babytrees]

I try to do my part to stimulate the economy.

by herself

You say you SHOULD give up on converting the first bit of the trip but we all know you won't.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

by herself

You say you SHOULD give up on converting the first bit of the trip but we all know you won't.

Yes, well. When I phoned yesterday I gave the nice boy our flight info for Magical Express. I figured after all the time I spent on hold I should at least get something accomplished. He did offer to book a one bedroom concierge villa for me, but since we would need DOUBLE the amount of points for that I had to decline.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My mom is currently undergoing treatment for Stage III breast cancer. She was diagnosed last March. She had surgery in June, did chemo until the first part of December, and now she is doing radiation. Because she had so many lymph nodes removed from under her arm she now has trouble with her arm swelling, so she is in treatment for that, too.

She had just started chemo when I went to WDW last summer, so I was really worried about her having an adverse reaction. I structured my trip so I could leave on a minute's notice, and I called her frequently to check on her.

I am hoping that by the time I leave for this summer's trip she will be finished with all of her treatment and well on her way to being back to "normal". I am hoping that she might join us at WDW in 2010. Even though I don't really dig the whole group travel thing, DS would really love for Grandma to come along.

 

[an_evans]

You can tell form my pre-trip that group travel is not my favorite either.... but I am really glad the grandparents got the chance to do disney with us. We have one more grandma to go and would love for her to join us!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We don't have much extended family, and I would be very blunt with my family if they were annoying me. I think traveling with my mother would annoy DH, but it is what it is.
We may not be able to convince my mother to go in 2010, and I am not going to knock my brains out trying. She loves to defy me, and if I offer a solution she will oppose me based on nothing more than her desire to oppose me. We'll see. I'll offer to pay for her air, hotel, and park passes if she wants to come to WDW for 5 days. She can accept or decline.

Traveling with a huge group of people would drive me over the edge. Traveling with just one other couple in 2006 was enough for us to require a do-over that December.

Our friends have been eerily silent lately. I have no clue if they are still planning to come to WDW or not. I am starting to think perhaps they sensed our hesitation and now they are waiting for us to bring it up again. Since I am afraid bringing it up again would be interpreted as an invitation, I am going to do my best NOT to bring it up again.

 

[MrsHeg]

When we did the family trip in '06 we would go to rope drop together, remain as a group until lunch time and then split up. There were a couple of nights that we would meet up for dinner.

Brandon stayed with us and we would take him back to the resort for a swim and a nap. This worked great, plenty of time together but not so much that we were sick of each other, only my youngest DD had this problem, she brought her boyfriend, who is now an ex and he drove her nuts.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Those hours from rope drop until lunch are my favorite.
Well, as long as we are not attempting to tour with people who think those hours are good for standing in character lines and stopping to eat.

We like to move expeditiously through the park and get things done during those hours, so stopping and fooling around makes me CRAZY. Then feeling like I am obligated to also stop (and not say anything ugly about it) makes me feel like I am going to explode.

One morning at Epcot DH and DS stopped in the restroom on the way to the turnstiles. I counted how many people walked by (and got in FRONT of us) since they HAD to stop. They know I hate to stop. If the goal is to get into the park then we need to get into the park - no stopping! Other people tend to have a hard time comprehending that. I can't sit on a bench and just stagnate. I have to be moving towards the next thing.

We do take a break at the hotel after lunch. I used to hate to do that, but I have come to accept it. We do have at least one TS meal every day, sometimes 2, and I can sit still for those. I can also stop to look at pin lanyards. Otherwise, no stopping!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DH is on a crusade to convince me that he needs a third dSLR camera. He does NOT need another camera, he just thinks he does. From reading his posts on the Photography Forum I have discovered that the battery he bought last month doesn't fit any of the cameras he currently owns. He bought it in anticipation of getting a third camera.

He announced yesterday that he is willing to sell his hunting rifles and use the profits to buy his third camera. OK, I can handle that. The rifles take up precious closet space AND he never uses them! He hasn't had a hunting license in the past couple of years. The last time he had one, the entire season came and went and he never went hunting! He has never actually shot anything with the rifles unless we count targets at the rifle range, so I think selling them is a terrific decision. Hopefully he will get enough for them to make a dent in the price of the camera. If not, I guess he will be rummaging around for something else to sell!


In trip planning news:

We have decided that we will NOT be booking the Waynama Safari. There are a lot of other ways to spend $480.
We are considering doing another Sunrise Safari.
Not sure where we stand on booking another fishing excursion.
DH asked me last night if I had chosen any "special" tours or anything, but I don't have anything in mind. DS is too young to do any of the Segway stuff. The only tour he could do that we haven't already done is the steam train one.
We have been to La Nouba, we have done Lunch with an Imagineer, we have done the Family Magic and the Magical Milestones tours, we have done an IllumiNations cruise. I need to think about what else we might be interested in.

We are going to play mini golf and go to Blizzard Beach but those aren't really special, those are just normal things we have never done before.