It's Been How Long Since Your Last Disney Trip?!? 06/22 This Isn't Goodbye
- Thread starter Stefy
- Start date
DisneyDarlinBritBrit
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2013
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- 4
We will be at the Kingdom the same week!! 
Also, we spent our honeymoon at DisneyWorld in February 2011! I can't wait to see your plans come together as I will be sharing ours as well!
Also, we spent our honeymoon at DisneyWorld in February 2011! I can't wait to see your plans come together as I will be sharing ours as well! 
Stefy
Is it time for Disney yet???
- Joined
- May 9, 2007
- Messages
- 4,605
Hey Guys
Happy New Year! Hope everyone is good.
Am sending this on my way to work. Wanted to say a quick hello and reassure you that we haven't forgotten you all. Things have been pretty hectic since after the Christmas break, even more so these past couple of days as we have had some exciting news that could go either way, but I promise to update you as soon as I can as we have lots to tell about our upcoming trip.
Have a great day and speak to you all soon.
Stefy & Dave xx
Happy New Year! Hope everyone is good.
Am sending this on my way to work. Wanted to say a quick hello and reassure you that we haven't forgotten you all. Things have been pretty hectic since after the Christmas break, even more so these past couple of days as we have had some exciting news that could go either way, but I promise to update you as soon as I can as we have lots to tell about our upcoming trip.
Have a great day and speak to you all soon.
Stefy & Dave xx
dizneeat
DIS Legend
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- 20,847
Soopafly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
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- 638
Happy New Year to you and Dave!
Can't wait to hear your news and updates on your trip!
Some very very cool stuff for sure
dizneeat
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2006
- Messages
- 20,847
Some very very cool stuff for sure
Ahhhhhh .......... did I mention that I was an impatient person?
Great to hear from both of you again!
Soopafly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
- Messages
- 638
Hey guys & girls, we haven't forgotten about this thread, things have gone manic again and we are moving house on 1st March so not had much time to update. Stef will get back into it as soon as possible. In the meantime, will anyone be at WDW around our dates this year?
NateNLogansDad
Still Wish'n
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,757
After all these years I can finally say we are!
Might have to finally do another TR myself. We didn't go last year and I didn't do one from the year before either...man I'm slacking!
Stefy
Is it time for Disney yet???
- Joined
- May 9, 2007
- Messages
- 4,605
Well hello there 
How have we all been? Long time no speak 
First of all, sorry we've been MIA
So much has happened since the start of 2014. Where to begin... 
well Christmas was fun, had a lovely break and exchanged some awesome pressies 
January we found out that our landlord was finally going to sell the house we were in and we had first dibs on buying. Only problem was they wanted some seriously overpriced moohlah for it. Now being in the housing market industry I knew for a fact that the house we were in was not worth what they wanted, as to renovate and repair was also alot of dosh. However, with the market in the UK being the way it is, overpriced and in demand, we couldn't really argue the cost and quite frankly we weren't that desperate to buy the place, I have my morals.
Anywho, we were now faced with finding somewhere new to live. Fortunately, the rental market was pretty good and bad, bad in that a lot of people like us are waiting for it to calm down so have resorted to renting, meaning that rental prices were also slightly higher than average and good because there was a lot of property to choose from. But we managed to find somewhere reasonable, had to downsize, but this house had no problems and was fresh and clean and bright to move into. We've now been here for nearly 4 months and are so settled.
Suffice to say, Jan to March was a pretty hectic time what with finding somewhere new to live, packing up and moving on. Another spanner in the works was that Dave's work had decided to up sticks and move a few miles down the road
Not that much of a problem you would think, but as we don't drive it was a massive problem. Basically it was either a 2hr bus ride away (one way! 
) or more money to fork out and get a train travel card, which would reduce his travel time by 2hrs a day. His work said that help would be given to those that needed it, i.e. money towards extra travel costs. However, when push came to shove they denied all knowledge and basically said "we won't be giving help and if you don't want to travel to the new offices there's the door" 
I was not a happy bunny I tell you and it couldn't have come at a worse time, when I was already stressed with the move and all the cr@p that it involves.
But we got past that and now really the last (nearly) 4 months have basically been about us settling in and getting back to normal.
Along the way we never forgot about Disney and I think the thought of visiting the World after so long was the only thing that got us through those manic months.
Now back on topic to the matter at hand, WDW
We have made a few changes here and there, the first being resort. Originally we were booked to stay at
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Don't get me wrong, we loved AKL when we stayed there (for one night) on our honeymoon and wanted to experience more. However, I was still sore that we had to give up our beloved Polynesian and Monorail and also a little worried about being solely dependant on Disney buses. Alas, the Poly was still far from our grasp and we were trying to be practical so we had another look at the resort options, thought and discussed hard and finally decided why not try...
The Wilderness Lodge
It was perfect for our Christmas trip as its beautifully themed and decorated for Christmas and was a new resort that we have never stayed at. Minds made up, we excitedly booked a Woods View and sat back thinking of walking through the doors at Christmas time and seeing the lobby gorgeously decorated with the huge Christmas tree to greet us
Resort change down, next up was booking/changing our flights with VA. Originally we were supposed to be flying to St Lucia in May, but I wasn't ready for a beach holiday and we both still yearned for our Disney fix. So we rang VA once our dates were available and changed our flights. As luck would have it, VA were having a sale on their seats and amazingly we were able to get our usual Premium Economy seats for a steal, even more amazingly there was a possibility of upgrading our seats on the way back
and I am excited to say that we are going to be flying Upper Class for the first time on our way home. What makes this even more delicious is that we upgraded for a steal and we get to end out trip with a new experience (always wanted to fly UC but didn't want to pay the millions of £'s that came as a price) and also makes it more bearable about having to come home 
Now how many "News to share" is that? 3? Ok onto the next one
No surprise, but when we were trying to figure out which restaurants to eat in we couldn't keep it to a minimum on the regular DDP so...we upgraded to the Deluxe DDP Small change but exciting nonetheless as we love food and Disney food at that
Our 180 day mark has been and gone and we managed to book every single restaurant we wanted and some extras, but I will post more on that later.
Park days have also been planned and I am so so so excited to say that this trip we are definitely going to be visiting WWoHP
Even more excited now that the new expansion will be open, plus I get to hunt down some Minions
So now we wait for our 60 day window and the last minute bits like Memory Maker and US/IoA tickets and we are good to go
Although I still feel like something is still not quite right. Recently I have gotten back into to looking on the Dis and am on the prowl for some TR's and Food TR's. Been reading a couple and one in particular stuck out with me. A young family staying at our second home (The Poly). Seeing them checking in and recounting their time at the Poly bought back some strong memories and I thought, why not look up what it would cost, probably the world but let's just torture myself again
So off I went to WDW website, input the dates and off it went 
Its worth mentioning now, I have been working 6 day weeks straight for the last 2 weeks and I am a little on the exhausted side, so my brain isn't functioning at its usual capacity. Anywho, back to the story. The results came up and I'm scrolling through and come across a resort that looked oddly cheap to upgrade to 
Was I seeing this right? Could it be? I ran downstairs, scared the life of out Dave (who was COD'ing with his headset on) and jumped up and down saying "we can stay at XX, we can stay at XX, its only going to cost us this much!!!" Immediately he was alert (and forgiving for the near heart attack) and said "ring Disney now and do it!" I was two steps ahead and had that phone in my hand ready to go. Ran through everything with the CM and...
Cntd...
How have we all been? Long time no speak First of all, sorry we've been MIA
So much has happened since the start of 2014. Where to begin... well Christmas was fun, had a lovely break and exchanged some awesome pressies January we found out that our landlord was finally going to sell the house we were in and we had first dibs on buying. Only problem was they wanted some seriously overpriced moohlah for it. Now being in the housing market industry I knew for a fact that the house we were in was not worth what they wanted, as to renovate and repair was also alot of dosh. However, with the market in the UK being the way it is, overpriced and in demand, we couldn't really argue the cost and quite frankly we weren't that desperate to buy the place, I have my morals.Anywho, we were now faced with finding somewhere new to live. Fortunately, the rental market was pretty good and bad, bad in that a lot of people like us are waiting for it to calm down so have resorted to renting, meaning that rental prices were also slightly higher than average and good because there was a lot of property to choose from. But we managed to find somewhere reasonable, had to downsize, but this house had no problems and was fresh and clean and bright to move into. We've now been here for nearly 4 months and are so settled.
Suffice to say, Jan to March was a pretty hectic time what with finding somewhere new to live, packing up and moving on. Another spanner in the works was that Dave's work had decided to up sticks and move a few miles down the road
Not that much of a problem you would think, but as we don't drive it was a massive problem. Basically it was either a 2hr bus ride away (one way! ) or more money to fork out and get a train travel card, which would reduce his travel time by 2hrs a day. His work said that help would be given to those that needed it, i.e. money towards extra travel costs. However, when push came to shove they denied all knowledge and basically said "we won't be giving help and if you don't want to travel to the new offices there's the door" I was not a happy bunny I tell you and it couldn't have come at a worse time, when I was already stressed with the move and all the cr@p that it involves. But we got past that and now really the last (nearly) 4 months have basically been about us settling in and getting back to normal.
Along the way we never forgot about Disney and I think the thought of visiting the World after so long was the only thing that got us through those manic months.
Now back on topic to the matter at hand, WDW
We have made a few changes here and there, the first being resort. Originally we were booked to stay at
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Don't get me wrong, we loved AKL when we stayed there (for one night) on our honeymoon and wanted to experience more. However, I was still sore that we had to give up our beloved Polynesian and Monorail and also a little worried about being solely dependant on Disney buses. Alas, the Poly was still far from our grasp and we were trying to be practical so we had another look at the resort options, thought and discussed hard and finally decided why not try...
The Wilderness Lodge
It was perfect for our Christmas trip as its beautifully themed and decorated for Christmas and was a new resort that we have never stayed at. Minds made up, we excitedly booked a Woods View and sat back thinking of walking through the doors at Christmas time and seeing the lobby gorgeously decorated with the huge Christmas tree to greet us
Resort change down, next up was booking/changing our flights with VA. Originally we were supposed to be flying to St Lucia in May, but I wasn't ready for a beach holiday and we both still yearned for our Disney fix. So we rang VA once our dates were available and changed our flights. As luck would have it, VA were having a sale on their seats and amazingly we were able to get our usual Premium Economy seats for a steal, even more amazingly there was a possibility of upgrading our seats on the way back
and I am excited to say that we are going to be flying Upper Class for the first time on our way home. What makes this even more delicious is that we upgraded for a steal and we get to end out trip with a new experience (always wanted to fly UC but didn't want to pay the millions of £'s that came as a price) and also makes it more bearable about having to come home Now how many "News to share" is that? 3? Ok onto the next one
No surprise, but when we were trying to figure out which restaurants to eat in we couldn't keep it to a minimum on the regular DDP so...we upgraded to the Deluxe DDP
Small change but exciting nonetheless as we love food and Disney food at that Our 180 day mark has been and gone and we managed to book every single restaurant we wanted and some extras, but I will post more on that later.
Park days have also been planned and I am so so so excited to say that this trip we are definitely going to be visiting WWoHP
Even more excited now that the new expansion will be open, plus I get to hunt down some Minions
So now we wait for our 60 day window and the last minute bits like Memory Maker and US/IoA tickets and we are good to go
Although I still feel like something is still not quite right. Recently I have gotten back into to looking on the Dis and am on the prowl for some TR's and Food TR's. Been reading a couple and one in particular stuck out with me. A young family staying at our second home (The Poly). Seeing them checking in and recounting their time at the Poly bought back some strong memories and I thought, why not look up what it would cost, probably the world but let's just torture myself again
So off I went to WDW website, input the dates and off it went Its worth mentioning now, I have been working 6 day weeks straight for the last 2 weeks and I am a little on the exhausted side, so my brain isn't functioning at its usual capacity. Anywho, back to the story. The results came up and I'm scrolling through and come across a resort that looked oddly cheap to upgrade to Was I seeing this right? Could it be? I ran downstairs, scared the life of out Dave (who was COD'ing with his headset on) and jumped up and down saying "we can stay at XX, we can stay at XX, its only going to cost us this much!!!" Immediately he was alert (and forgiving for the near heart attack) and said "ring Disney now and do it!" I was two steps ahead and had that phone in my hand ready to go. Ran through everything with the CM and...Cntd...
Stefy
Is it time for Disney yet???
- Joined
- May 9, 2007
- Messages
- 4,605
"that will be more than you worked out in your head, maybe you should get some sleep" Crestfallen I hung up and looked at Dave and said sorry, I got it wrong 
Now being the amazing, loving and wonderful husband that he is, he said "look yes its a lot to upgrade and we really shouldn't but its been your dream to do this, I want you to be happy and this is basically our go large and out with a bang trip" (meaning we may not go back for a few more years after this one is done) "if you really want to stay there, book it now"
Back on the phone I got and redialled Disney. Did the do's, participated in the survey and am happy to say that for 10 wonderful Christmas fuelled nights we will be staying at...
The Grand Floridian
It has always been a dream of mine to stay at the GF during the Christmas period. I feel that its the perfect resort for the season, gorgeous decor, Victoriana Old World and the decorations are a sight to behold, esp the Gingerbread House, which Dave has already said he will be consuming when he sees it, lol. Well the miniature version that is
Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be, lol! I think I am gonna leave it there for now as its getting late and its back to paying off Mickey in the morning. But stay tuned for our dining choices and park plans.
Ciao for now
Stefy & Dave
Now being the amazing, loving and wonderful husband that he is, he said "look yes its a lot to upgrade and we really shouldn't but its been your dream to do this, I want you to be happy and this is basically our go large and out with a bang trip" (meaning we may not go back for a few more years after this one is done) "if you really want to stay there, book it now" Back on the phone I got and redialled Disney. Did the do's, participated in the survey and am happy to say that for 10 wonderful Christmas fuelled nights we will be staying at...
The Grand Floridian
It has always been a dream of mine to stay at the GF during the Christmas period. I feel that its the perfect resort for the season, gorgeous decor, Victoriana Old World and the decorations are a sight to behold, esp the Gingerbread House, which Dave has already said he will be consuming when he sees it, lol. Well the miniature version that is
Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be, lol! I think I am gonna leave it there for now as its getting late and its back to paying off Mickey in the morning. But stay tuned for our dining choices and park plans.
Ciao for now
Stefy & Dave
Soopafly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
- Messages
- 638
Hi Stefy and Dave! Welcome Back! You have had quite a year. I'm happy that your plans are coming together even better than you hoped!
Thanks! Yeah it's been tough but all is good now. Looking forward to the trip but even more so now we have the monorail! Can't tell you how much difference the monorail makes to us. Never wanted to stay at the grand before because it always had this stuffy feel to it, like you're underdressed in shorts and tees but Stef always wanted to stay for Xmas
NateNLogansDad
Still Wish'n
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,757
Wow! Congrats Stef! I guess it's only fair that you have your dream come true! Dave told me his came true the day you guys met! As much as I hate the winter, I can't wait until December, Disney, here we come!
MAGICFOR2
Condimentessa
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2005
- Messages
- 11,044
Thanks! Yeah it's been tough but all is good now. Looking forward to the trip but even more so now we have the monorail! Can't tell you how much difference the monorail makes to us. Never wanted to stay at the grand before because it always had this stuffy feel to it, like you're underdressed in shorts and tees but Stef always wanted to stay for Xmas
It always seems stuffy to me, too. But it will be beautiful for Christmas!
I had to stroll in there in a pair of shorts and flip flops for dinner after getting totally soaked in the rain and stopping to buy something to wear, and no one treated me any different, so don't worry 
TanzUnited99
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2010
- Messages
- 3,942
Hi Stefy and Dave 
I'm pleased to hear you guys managed to find somewhere to call 'home' and are settled
Wowsers on Dave's work relocating meaning he would have had to face a 2 hour journey! Glad to hear it's all resolved now though.
Yay on changing to Wilderness Lodge resort...that looks great with the Christmas decorations. Also whoop whoop on grabbing a flight bargain!! That's awesome!
I have still to visit WWoHP but all the TRs with it seem to say it's well worth the visit! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Wait...I've just read on and everything I've written about your resort choice is irrelevant!
Whoop whoop on staying at the Grand Floridian instead!!! You've sure got lucky with this trip! Well chuffed for you guys
P.S. I hope you guys have been enjoying the world cup even though England are out
I'm pleased to hear you guys managed to find somewhere to call 'home' and are settled
Wowsers on Dave's work relocating meaning he would have had to face a 2 hour journey! Glad to hear it's all resolved now though.
Yay on changing to Wilderness Lodge resort...that looks great with the Christmas decorations. Also whoop whoop on grabbing a flight bargain!! That's awesome!
I have still to visit WWoHP but all the TRs with it seem to say it's well worth the visit! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Wait...I've just read on and everything I've written about your resort choice is irrelevant!
Whoop whoop on staying at the Grand Floridian instead!!! You've sure got lucky with this trip! Well chuffed for you guys
P.S. I hope you guys have been enjoying the world cup even though England are out
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