It will be my last trip for a loong time

[Pakey]

There's been much chatter that a tequila bar is going into Mexico so I'm not sure if that is what this refurb is all about.

Do you know anything about Ohana's for lunch or dinner? I'm not much of a breakfast eater, at least not traditional foods, I did love Tusker House breakfast because it had some very unusual items so it was more of a brunch for us. Also, coming from left coast, breakfast hours are still "middle of the night" for us.

The Poly is my least favorite resort at WDW. Sad but true. So although we've walked through it, we have never stayed there nor dined there. Maybe next trip.........

 

[magicaldisney11]

I have never done anything but breakfast at O'Hana's, sorry!!! We are thinking of adding 1900 Park Lane for a breakfast too but not 100% yet. Has anyone here been there?

 

[magicaldisney11]

Good Morning! It's a crispy minus 11 wind chill this morning and the dogs were barking at 7:00 and told me to get up! I am tired, we picked Donald up from the airport (he finished his internship at Disney Wolrd) at 10ish last night, then luggage, driving, food for him and he had to go through his suitcases looking for things he got us,etc. It was way past my bed time went I finally got to sleep.

On the dining room table right now are small reminders of Disney World, ya know what happened don't you? It made me want to go even more now!!!
These are the kind of things that can ONLY be bought at WDW. They bring me the aura of being there and walking from gift shop to gift shop,lol.


Dream sequence time!!!
Picture this....your walking into the gates of Magic Kingdom, through the "tunnel" as I call it (under the train depot) you walk into the sunshine at the circle and around you are people and characters milling about, you breath in and smell the Disney air (yes there is such a thing- I know this cuz I said there was) you look in front of you and there is Main Street USA. Most people look up and are amazed at the castle, while it it breath taking, it is what's before that that is what gets me everytime....Main Street USA. Now as you walk you see all the details on all the buildings and windows, you see the merchandise that you may never in your life buy but tell yourself...one day...then there it is ....the smell...you can taste it in the air....MAIN STREET BAKERY cinnimon buns !!!!!! Forget the rides, forget the crowds, forget fast passes, there are sticky, gooey, in your mouth melting orbs of heaven ahead of you. I cannot wait for this, do you understand ? I CANNOT WAIT!!!

Okay end of dream sequence, I just gained 5 pounds imagining those cinnamon buns. Now I must go get some carrots here at home to try and stop the grumbling.

 

[HeatherBelle614]

That is way too cold and the main reason I <3 Texas! It's chilly here - in the 50s!

I'm so excited about O'hana now! I'm making special shirts for that day!

 

[Pakey]

Minus 11??? Oh my, I think our low was in the 60's today. Don't envy me though; seek me out in July when I'm melting here when it's over 110.

Loved the dream sequence! It reminded me of walking onto Main Street at Disneyland Paris and how unreal it felt. I've been to WDW and DLR too many times to count but I remember Disneyland Paris so much better because I'll probably only have that one visit there. No cinnamon smell that I recall though.

Heatherbelle, shirts for Ohanas? I would love to see pics of them.

 

[SunnieRN]

Your adr's look great! I bet it will bw fun re-living your past memories at the repeat restaurants!!I
I was so frustrated with the new reservation system for dining. All the cm's were so nice, but calling every day was a pain and some days I had up to a 45 min. wait, 1st at the regular dining line and then at the ala carte reservation line. By the last day most of the kinks seemed to be out of the system.
I think when it is all up and running and you can book dining reservations online it will be great!

 

[magicaldisney11]

SunniRN...What is the ala carte reservation line?
I am on disney shopping right now checking out the newest reduced t-shirts for ME for our vaca.

Pakey...when did you go to Disney Paris? The whole dream of going to europe is huge for me and one day I will get there!!!

 

[Pakey]

My husband and I went to Paris and Disneyland Paris about 4 months ago. We take a "foreign" vacation every year and we rotate who gets to pick the location. This time my husband picked Paris. Well, if you are going to go to Paris and Disneyland Paris is an hour away.......

So after a week in Paris, we spent 3 days at DLRP, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which serves as the entrance to their Magic Kingdom park. It was amazing. I actually had tears in my eyes as we entered the park because it was so dreamlike that we were actually there. I even made my husband go to the Princess meal there which is so much better than our princess meals here.

My husband and I have this "rule" that we cannot return to a place we've already visited but I think we both loved Paris/Disneyland Paris enough that we want to return even if we can't. Seriously, Crush's Coaster is worth the trip just to ride that one ride.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Paris, it's on my list of places I want to go in my lifetime. Do you have any pictures of Disney in Paris? I would love to see a few!!!


We had the flu hit our house for the third time in a month and a half yesterday, Simba was the target and by the end of the day he was feeling much better but this morning wasn't 100% again. We had had plans to work more on his autograph book and passport book for Epcot (instead of carrying that huge mask around that the kids make there) but he wasn't up to it. Maybe this weekend we can set the time aside to do some more.

In my house there has been debating (yeah I will go with that word instead of the reality of fighting ) over Typhoon Lagoon vs Blizzard Beach for our trip. For the record, I have never gone to Blizzard Beach, my feelings is that we go through so much snow here at home all winter that I do not want to go down to Orlando and see it in any form,lol. Anyway... Mickey and Donald had both been to Blizzard Beach when they were young and went with other family members (Tink and CC included) but in the 3 other times that we went as a family we have only done Typhoon Lagoon . I love TL, really love it! Simba and Goofy both have been bugging me since the first time they went to WDW to go to BB though.
Donald went there while on his internship this month and told us all that he was done with the park in one hour. He tried it all and even though it was cool TL surpassed it by a lot. Did this information change Simba and Goofy's mind? NOOOOOO

I am telling all of you this because I would like some advice. Do we use our free afternoon and run over to BB and try it for a couple of hours or keep my free realxing afternoon as just that?

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Keep it as a free and relaxing afternoon! The kiddos can swim in your resort pool; our tradition is to always make sure we have a day of nothing planned. Some of my favorite memories are from that day, too.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Thanks HeatherBelle614!

That's how I feel too and I think once the kids have already gone to TL plus the other parks they will want a relax day but then again they are 19, 16 and 10, they really don't know how to relax,lol.


I am still on the look out for a bag for the trip. I looked at the one at disneyshopping.com. It's a messenger bag but not sure if it will be big enough for us or not.

Tink (DSis#1) and CC (DBil) have decided to extend thier vacation for a few more days after we leave, the brats!! They are jumping over to CSR for the last few days since FQ prices jump up to over $200 a night that week and the pin code doesn't work for FQ those nights.

I am having a hard time stopping myself from becoming a DVC owner right now. I know I won't be going to WDW next year and I can save the points for the follwing year, etc but I am worried about the monthly payments. The incentives are pretty good but not great so maybe I will hold up and just see what comes next.

 

[Pakey]

I agree. The only thing special at BB is the Summit Plummet ride, which I did not do. We snow ski so the gondola ride wasn't a thrill I needed to experience and that drop on that slide, NO WAY.

I do have pics of DLRP somewhere, just not sure where (I have 4 computers) so I'll see if I can remember where they are. I've been to WDW and Disneyland so many times so DLRP was a dream. It's very different than our parks here, much cleaner and more mystical rather than childlike. It has a huge animatronic dragon in the castle, the rides are more intense. Dang, it makes me want to go back.

Think very hard about DVC. It's a huge investment. I pay $2000 each February for my annual maintenance. I paid cash for all 3 contracts but the dues are forever. In today's economy, I would not purchase it now (I've had mine for several years). DVC only makes sense if you stay at Deluxe resorts, otherwise, staying at mod hotels is cheaper than owning DVC. OK, that's my conservative accountant spiel for the day. I'm going to go crunch some numbers at my real job now.

 

[magicaldisney11]

My sister, Tink, has DVC and she was leary for me too. I guess I'll wait. I like cruising and I cant use the points on Carnival,lol.

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Oh dear; the DVC debate! Know what my thought process has been? We went last summer for our honeymoon; that could've been money put towards DVC. Now, we're going again, which could be put towards DVC if we purchased when we're there.

I know I should wait until after law school though; but the WDW addict side of me doesn't quite understand.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Ohhhhh how so much I agree with you on that. I think that I will crunch my numbers this weekend and see if I can afford the monthly payments. I will say it is less than my car payment at this point,lol.

There is the side of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and jump on it and even have $1000 gift card to use while I'm at Disney (that's the incentive right now) and the other half that says....wait and see.

 

[magicaldisney11]

You know how it is...you get the email from disneyshopping.com with the codes and the specials and your only going to look for a minute and move on, right? Weeeeelllllll...an hour later I was done looking and did some buying

Simba has three new shirts (they were 3 for $20) and I got another set of luggage (have gray and red now I have the black set.) I love luggage, totes, bags, etc it's the organizer in me, a place for everything and everything in it's place. That's the way I roll

I also got Donald and Goofy a new shirt each. I would have gotten more but didn't like a lot of the shirts that were on sale for men's large and extra large. I will keep my eye on that though. I saw this 6 inch plus mickey that holds a gift card so I snapped that up and will use it in Simba's Easter basket and have Mickey hold a new mickey wallet with some disney dollars in it.

So by my count Simba is done with his shirts for the trip and after I have him try on the new shorts I got him this past summer I will see if he needs anymore new shorts. The older boys I will watch for more sales at Walmart to supplement last years.

I was able to get three new shirts for myself at Walmart's sale that will fit if I lose the weight or I don't. I want to take off 20 pounds and tighten up what I have left as my goal. It means exercise, I HATE doing that!!!

Okay next I am going to check out laughingplace.com and see what little fun things I can find,lol.

 

[Pakey]

I thought I was the only one with a luggage problem. I have 4 sets now. My favorites are the Samsonite spinners. People might think it "odd" to have so much luggage but alot of friends and family have certainly taken advantage of borrowing them. The only rule is that they must leave the Tinkerbell luggage tags on them.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Luggage is cool! Bags, totes,etc are even cooler. I love putting things in all the little compartments,lol. I know I am a bit "in the head" as my son says.

I found the bag I want for the trip. It's very similar to a bagallini but I got it from abcdistributing.com and it was very inexpensive. It's called a Buxton Shoulder bag and only $12.95. I have tried to paste a picture of it here but it isn't letting me I will try again.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Happy Dance!!

My luggage and shirts came in already from Disneyshopping.com!

I am going to start packing tomorrow. Yes, I really am, it's not too early, it's never too early! Tonight I will clean my bedroom and find all the small stuff that I bought for the trip already and tomorrow morning, it's packing time!!

Sunday I will do all the laundry and find the stuff that we want to bring (Disney shirts) and pack them too. I am so psyched! I think I may have to go shopping this weekend too and find more things for the trip.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Does anyone know where I can find disney dollars on line? We no longer have a disney store here so I can't get them locally. Any suggestions?