It's NOT just a place for babies! ~ Update: WE LEAVE TOMORROW!! *October 2011*

[fraggle551]

Everyone! I'm Kate, i'll be your tour guide for this trip. My boyfriend Nick and I are going to be in WDW for 3 days, October 29-31, 2011. I have been to WDW twice before, but not in about 18 years! Although I did go to Disneyland Paris 2 years ago for a week. He has never been and is convinced it is just for babies, and that anyone over the age of 3 doesn't even enter the parks. I am bound and determined to prove him wrong! He is a thrill ride junkie, while the baby roller coasters are more my speed.

Here we are:

He hates smiling for pictures! I always have to poke him in the ribs or something beforehand to get him to smile.

Now that we've covered the who, lets move on the the when, where, why, & how!

Table of Contents:
Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How!
A little bit about us!
The Plans!
Another Day Added!

 

[ZFamily5]

I'm in! Can't wait for more!

 

[fraggle551]

Well, I guess the 'what' portion is pretty self-explanatory. A trip to WDW of course! As for the when, we will be staying from October 29-31, at a studio at the Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.

I really wanted to stay at the Boardwalk, but there was nothing available for the weekend we will be there . We are renting DVC points, and the person I am renting from is checking to see if anything opens up at Boardwalk. Fingers crossed!!

As for how this trip came about. I have been wanting to go down to WDW since FOREVER! The full on Disney fever hit in 2007, when I was tentatively planing a trip that fell through. Since then I have been doing everything possible to get down to WDW. Here is how this trip came to be:

My grandparents moved to Florida about 5 years ago. I probably should have mentioned that we are all from Long Island! I miss them terribly, and have wanted to take a trip down there to see them. They come up here occasionally, but they are getting older and its getting harder for them to make the trip back up here.

Here they are at my cousins wedding last summer:

Nick has known that i've been wanting to go down to see my grandparents, and to WDW for awhile now. We were out to dinner a couple months ago, and I was going on and on about my grandparents getting older, I really wanted to see them, and oh...they don't live to far from Disney! I finally got the ok that we could go!!

A week or so later, I got an email from southwest that they were having a 3 day 40th anniversary sale on ticket prices. One way from our nice local airport on Long Island to Florida would be $80!! I couldn't believe it. That night I was showing Nick how awesome the flights were, and we decided to book! A quick call to my grandparents to make sure the dates were ok, and we scored 2 roundtrip tickets between Long Island and Tampa, fees, tax, and all were $350!!!!!

Now you're probably thinking...that's all well and good Kate, but get to the Disney details! The dates we are going to be in Florida are October 27-November 1. My grandparents live about an hour from Disney. We are going to stay the first 2 days with them, head over to Disney Oct 29-31, and then back to my grandparents for one last day. A bit of driving, but we're up for it!

We are taking a 6 am flight out of Long Island on the 27th, arriving in Tampa around 9am, so we have a nice full day! Coming home, we are flying out around 7 pm, giving us another nice long day. I don't want to waste any unnecessary time on a plane when that can either be spent with Mickey, or my family!

I think that covers the who, what, when, where, why & how! I'll go over our tentative plans in the next update - I need some feedback!!

 

[fraggle551]

I'm in! Can't wait for more!

So excited to have my first reader!! Hope you enjoy all the details to come!!

 

[fraggle551]

As you may have noticed, 3 days in WDW is not nearly long enough! We are just scratching the surface. My thoughts behind this are to just get our feet wet, hit all the highlights, and hope & pray that by the end, Nick is a full on WDW addict! Well, i'll even settle for no longer a skeptic, and wants to go back for another longer trip. But that's too long to keep saying .

Now a little bit more about us. I am more of a laid back type - generally not in a huge rush, laid back, more spur of the moment type of girl. This however is NOT the case when it comes to WDW! By the time we go i'll be the one with the laminated itinerary for each day . Nick is very quick hurry up, rush, rush, rush. There is never 'on time' for him. It's 10 minutes early, or you're already considered late. I am generally always 10 minutes late, but have been improving greatly to at least be on time!

I am 24 years old, a nursing assistant at a hospital, and going back to school to get my RN soon. Nick is 22, and a mechanic at a Ford dealership. His lifes passion is cars! His happiest place on earth? - his garage, with his toolbox. I swear he'd sleep out there if he could! He is an incredibly hard worker, and in addition to his regular job, he does a ton of sidework at his house. He likes being outside from dusk till dawn, he's an early riser, and has a general dislike for most forms of technology. Loves rap & hip hop, and some classic rock.

I on the other hand work 2nd shift, think that 'early rising' consists of me being up before 9 am (but don't forget, I work from 3-11, so i'm not asleep till almost 2 or 3 am every night!), and I LOVE to cook & bake. I generally despise the outdoors, asides from the fall weather, and weekends in the summer we spend out on our boat. I love country music, and almost everything except most rap & hip hop. We sound like complete opposites - but we balance each other out very well. And most importantly, we love each other! He treats me like a princess , and I do my best to treat him like a prince (although he'd rather have me refer to him as a pirate!) .

Here is how we spend most of our weekends in the summer:

Our boat is Time Well "Wasted"

That's Nick on the left, and my cousin on the right. Note our new awesome inflatable cooler that Nick is using as a foot rest!

Now as for the title of my PTR. Nick has never been to Disney. He has been to Universal and Busch Gardens. He is utterly convinced that WDW is nothing but baby rides, and he is going to be utterly miserable for the 3 days that we are there. Everytime I'm trying to talk about the trip with him, I utter the words "Its NOT just a place for babies!" Hence the title! He really doesn't care about trip planning at all. He wants me to plan everything, and he'll just show up. I have no problem with that!! I do want him to know a little bit about WDW though, so I am slowly trying to tell him all about it.

He has been reading sections of the Unofficial Guide that I point out to him, we watched the planning DVD, and I am showing him some pictures from some TR's. His response? "Well you showed me the pictures, so now we don't have to go!" My response? "Well dear, you keep showing me pictures of Ferrari's, so now I guess you never need to own one, right?"

He just wants this trip to be as cheap as possible, with as little time spent standing in lines, and he wants to ride every thrill ride Disney has to offer. My goal is to make that all happen, so we can return for a longer trip in the future!

Now that you know more about us, let's get to our plans!

 

[ZFamily5]

Hopefully Nick will love Disney and want to return very soon! 3 days isn't that long, but it should be enough time for him to get the feel of it! Can't wait to hear about your plans! I love helping people with the planning of their trips!

 

[wdwgirl03]

OK, I'm definitely in! I am going to be there at the same time as you and I'm also staying at SSR. My sister is starting the CP and I'm going down to visit her for a long weekend. Can't wait to hear more of your plans!

 

[fraggle551]

Hopefully Nick will love Disney and want to return very soon! 3 days isn't that long, but it should be enough time for him to get the feel of it! Can't wait to hear about your plans! I love helping people with the planning of their trips!

I hope so too!! We will definitely need help with the plans. The last time I was at WDW I was 7 years old - AK hadn't even been built yet! I will need a lot of transportation help. Getting around seems so confusing to me!

OK, I'm definitely in! I am going to be there at the same time as you and I'm also staying at SSR. My sister is starting the CP and I'm going down to visit her for a long weekend. Can't wait to hear more of your plans!

So excited to have another reader! We'll probably run into each other! I always wanted to do the CP but never did in college. What is her role? Have you ever stayed at SSR before? I'm a little nervous because i've heard its a little far away from everything. But we will have a rental car, so i'm hoping that will help a lot.

 

[wdwgirl03]

So excited to have another reader! We'll probably run into each other! I always wanted to do the CP but never did in college. What is her role? Have you ever stayed at SSR before? I'm a little nervous because i've heard its a little far away from everything. But we will have a rental car, so i'm hoping that will help a lot.

My sister is going to be doing Quick Service Food and Beverage but she won't find out her exact work location until check-in (next Monday!). As for SSR, yes, I've stayed there before. My family is in DVC and Saratoga Springs is our home resort. We love it there! In all honesty it isn't really that far from everything. If you have a car that'll be nice but even if you didn't the bus service is fine. I hope you like it there!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Joining in! I saw your title and was I had to do a double take then and decided to check it out. I'm still shocked that your boyfriend thinks Disney is just for babies, PLEASE, it's the farthest thing from that. You probably could only get babies on probably 1/20 of the rides at Disney for sure. If you are still trying to plan for where to go on what day, I say you should definitely go for DHS (Hollywood Studios) on your first day. Probably the scariest in all of Disney are right there, along with some other really fun attractions to check out and I'm sure that will totally disprove his "Disney is for babies" theory. I can't wait to learn more about this trip

 

[Merida]

Subbing! I like your boat! It looks very relaxing.

I love Saratoga Springs (never stayed, but it's on my list. Like most resorts!). It's so pretty and I love the horses and treehouses (I'm apparently still eight years old ).

We're bringing a car as well - it seems slightly less hectic than taking a bus, since we don't regularly use public transportation. Plus radio. And my boyfriend will drive, so more sleeping time for me.

 

[PixieMama]

Joining in!

Even with just 3 days, you should have a great time! I'm sure Nick will fall in love with the thrill rides (EE and ToT, woohoo!) and won't be able to wait for a return trip!

 

[fraggle551]

My sister is going to be doing Quick Service Food and Beverage but she won't find out her exact work location until check-in (next Monday!). As for SSR, yes, I've stayed there before. My family is in DVC and Saratoga Springs is our home resort. We love it there! In all honesty it isn't really that far from everything. If you have a car that'll be nice but even if you didn't the bus service is fine. I hope you like it there!

How cool! I hope she loves it. I hope we like it too! I'm sure we will. I just want to be there already!!

Joining in! I saw your title and was I had to do a double take then and decided to check it out. I'm still shocked that your boyfriend thinks Disney is just for babies, PLEASE, it's the farthest thing from that. You probably could only get babies on probably 1/20 of the rides at Disney for sure. If you are still trying to plan for where to go on what day, I say you should definitely go for DHS (Hollywood Studios) on your first day. Probably the scariest in all of Disney are right there, along with some other really fun attractions to check out and I'm sure that will totally disprove his "Disney is for babies" theory. I can't wait to learn more about this trip

Nice to have you! I keep trying to tell him that! Yeah, I was having a tough time between giving MGM (I still call it that!) a full day, or have Epcot a full day. I'm going to post our plans in a few - check them out!

Subbing! I like your boat! It looks very relaxing.

I love Saratoga Springs (never stayed, but it's on my list. Like most resorts!). It's so pretty and I love the horses and treehouses (I'm apparently still eight years old ).

We're bringing a car as well - it seems slightly less hectic than taking a bus, since we don't regularly use public transportation. Plus radio. And my boyfriend will drive, so more sleeping time for me.

I love our boat! We need to get out on it more. It's been raining here every weekend lately. Who doesn't love horses and treehouses?! I'm happy to have a car. It'll just be a relief in case we need to get somewhere quickly. My boyfriend is definitely not Mr. Patience, so I think it'll be a good idea to have it.

Joining in!

Even with just 3 days, you should have a great time! I'm sure Nick will fall in love with the thrill rides (EE and ToT, woohoo!) and won't be able to wait for a return trip!

I hope so!! I hope this just gets his feet wet into the Disney magic and he'll want to go back. I hope he won't think we did everything, so we never have to return! That's my worse nightmare!

Plans to come! I had a CRAZY night at work. I worked in the pediatric ER, and it was nuts. I'm so glad to get into Disney planning to relax.

 

[fraggle551]

So here are the plans we have so far! With only 3 days, I can't possibly fit in everything I want to. Nick of course thinks we can do all 4 parks in 1 day, since there are only 5 rides we can possibly go on since the rest are all for babies. He just doesn't get it! Then again, he didn't know WDW was 4 different parks until a few weeks ago. I don't know what I'm going to do with him!

So we are flying into Tampa, and spending the first 2 days with my grandparents. I'm hoping that we can go over to DTD on one of these days. Possibly take my Grandma with us. There are no set plans for this, we are just going to play it by ear and see how everything is going. If we don't get there, i'm going to try to be ok with it!

Our first day at WDW will be Saturday October 29th. We are going to drive from my grandparents house, which according to google maps will take us about an hour and a half. I want to make rope drop at the MK, so we are leaving super early!!

The MK opens at 9 am that day, so we are aiming to leave my grandparents by 6:45 am. I'll probably be too excited to sleep and we'll be in the car by 6!! Nick refuses to believe any of this because to my body, 6 am is the middle of the night. He just doesn't understand the effect WDW has on a person!

So hopefully we get there for rope drop, then go crazy! (I love that guy!) I have the Unofficial Guide to Disney book, and I was planning on using one of the touring guides from there. Anyone ever have? Or have other suggestions? I haven't been since I was 7 years old, so I barely remember the MK. All of this will be pretty new to me too. Although I feel like I know a lot because i've been reading the boards for so long now!

We have a 3:10 ADR at Fulton's in DTD. I know that seems weird, but I think Nick will be on sensory overload by then, need a nice break, and he LOVES seafood. From going over the menu there, dinner seems kind of expensive, so i'm hoping lunch will be a nice alternative to there. I think it will give us a nice break, and we can see how the day is going.

Wishes is at 9pm that night, and come hell or highwater I will be there! The MK closes at 10 that night, so after Wishes I don't know if we'll have any time for anything. If we do, i'll try to hit something Nick really liked so we can end on a high note. Then off to SSR and sleep for the night.



Our next day is Sunday October 30th. We have a 7:30 ADR at Cape May Cafe. I am so excited for this! Nick is convinced that a character meal means Mickey sits down and feeds you your pancakes. I swear I don't know why he believes all this! I tell him how it is over and over again, but he doesn't believe me. He also doesn't believe that there are any 22 year olds that eat at character meals. I'm really hoping there are that day, because i'll never hear the end of it otherwise! After that we are heading to Epcot!!

They open at 9 am that day, and i'm hoping we will make rope drop, or at least be there very soon after. Once again I plan on following the touring plan. Nick is excited about Mission Space, especially when I told him about the orange side. I guess he's excited for one thing, which is good! Epcot is what I remember the most about the trip I took when I was 7, so i'm really excited to go back here! I loved Figment, and made my family ride it approximately 8,001 times, so I can't wait to ride it again!

We will just grab whatever counter service when we get hungry. I'm hoping breakfast will hold us over for awhile, and we will grab a late lunch. We don't have any specific F&W events planned, but maybe we'll snack on those for lunch! We are also planning on seeing Illuminations at 9 pm that night. And if we are feeling completely and totally crazy, we are going to try and squeeze in Fantasmic at MGM at 7:30, and then come back for Illuminations at 9. I highly doubt that will happen though! So basically the whole day will be spent at Epcot, and hopping to MGM in the afternoon if we want to.



Our last day is Monday October 31 - Halloween!! We have an 8:15 ADR at Tusker House. After that we will spend some time in AK - probably just hitting the highlights because I want to get in as much time at MGM as possible. Hopefully we can make it to MGM by early afternoon. They are open till 10 pm that night, so we can get a lot in! Once again, we will grab counter service for lunch & dinner. I don't want to tie us down to a lot of ADR's and i'm trying to keep the cost of this trip down as much as possible. When we are all done that night, we will head back to my grandparents.


So those are our plans so far! What does everyone think? Any advice is welcome and appreciated! It's so hard to squeeze everything I want to do in 3 days! The main goals are to hit the big attractions, and see what else we can along the way. Like I said, I want Nick to fall in love with Disney, and want to go back to see more.

 

[fraggle551]

An exciting update....we night be adding an extra day onto our plans!! I'm working out the details over the weekend, so we'll see what happens!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

It seems you have nice plans laid out. I would recommend for MK at Rope Drop that you try to hit all the big rides then, which is generally Space Mountain in Tomorrowland, Splash and BTMRR in Frontierland then Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland, but it seems your boyfriend doesn't care for stuff like that, though if you decided to ride that late in the day, the wait will be unbearable. Since you guys are going back to MK at night, have you considered going to MNSSHP, a special event that will be going on then. I'm guessing that may be why the MK is open so late so you may want to make sure it isn't for MNSSHP because then you might want to get tickets

Ok, where does Nick get these ideas? Mickey feeding you pancakes? I thought my dad was ridiculous when it came to Disney. Once he goes to Disney, he's going to be in for a shock. It's good you got a Character Breakfast in for that second day, this is going to be a major wake-up call for him, though I don't know much about the food at Cape May. And you probably know this, but Imagination has changed a lot since you've been there so it isn't the same Figment ride, but you'll see if you like it or not

I'm pretty sure you aren't going to make Fantasmic and IllumiNations in one night and unless that isn't the only night for Fantasmic, see IllumiNations, though Fantasmic is something you should try to fit in, especially if you add that extra day

And I think your last day is pretty good, but try to look into MNSSHP and see if you can get any tickets if you want, that's very fun, though I don't know if Nick would like it or not especially on a first trip where he isn't yet feeling that full-on Disney experience yet, but it's just something to take advantage of when you go to Disney during those special times of years

 

[wdwgirl03]

OK, tell Nick that on our last trip, my sister and I (who are 26 and 24!) ate at Chef Mickey's! So it's not unheard of for us adult kids to go to character meals.

I agree with Timmy about possibly looking into MNSSHP. Yes, you have to pay an additional fee since it requires a separate ticket but all of the special events are amazing. There's special entertainment and the wait times for the rides are usually pretty short. I'm going on the 30th and can't wait! The extra money is well worth it.

 

[PixieMama]

I have the same guidebook, but I've not followed any of the touring plans to a 't'... just used them more as a guide.

I would start with Space Mtn once you get to MK... then hit Buzz Lightyear. Maybe then work your way around the park counter-clockwise? Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Adventureland, Frontierland, and then circle back to Tomorrowland to hit what you missed in the morning. Of course, you'll have to work your break for lunch in there somewhere...

I've heard breakfast at Cape May is great... we've never been there before, but we met the step-sisters at MK last year and they are a hoot!

 

[fraggle551]

It seems you have nice plans laid out. I would recommend for MK at Rope Drop that you try to hit all the big rides then, which is generally Space Mountain in Tomorrowland, Splash and BTMRR in Frontierland then Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland, but it seems your boyfriend doesn't care for stuff like that, though if you decided to ride that late in the day, the wait will be unbearable. Since you guys are going back to MK at night, have you considered going to MNSSHP, a special event that will be going on then. I'm guessing that may be why the MK is open so late so you may want to make sure it isn't for MNSSHP because then you might want to get tickets

Ok, where does Nick get these ideas? Mickey feeding you pancakes? I thought my dad was ridiculous when it came to Disney. Once he goes to Disney, he's going to be in for a shock. It's good you got a Character Breakfast in for that second day, this is going to be a major wake-up call for him, though I don't know much about the food at Cape May. And you probably know this, but Imagination has changed a lot since you've been there so it isn't the same Figment ride, but you'll see if you like it or not

I'm pretty sure you aren't going to make Fantasmic and IllumiNations in one night and unless that isn't the only night for Fantasmic, see IllumiNations, though Fantasmic is something you should try to fit in, especially if you add that extra day

And I think your last day is pretty good, but try to look into MNSSHP and see if you can get any tickets if you want, that's very fun, though I don't know if Nick would like it or not especially on a first trip where he isn't yet feeling that full-on Disney experience yet, but it's just something to take advantage of when you go to Disney during those special times of years

Thanks for all your ideas!! We are definitely going to hit all 3 mountains. I would love Peter Pan's flight, we'll see if he'll like it or not. I have no idea where he gets these ideas!! I keep asking him that myself. I was like why on earth do you think Mickey sits down to eat with you? How would he get the food in?!

I had heard Figment has changed a lot. I'm still excited to ride it though! I love that weird little dinosaur

I'm debating heavily on MNSSHP. I would love to do it, but Nick had major sticker shock over the prices on the admission tickets, so I think that may put him over the edge. It looks like the day we are planning to be at the MK there is no party scheduled either, so it will be open till 10. At least thats what I gather from here:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/oct11.cfm?requesttimeout=1000

I don't think we'll make both IllumiNations and Fantasmic in one night either. It's just a dream right now! I guess we'll see what happens if we are able to add on the extra night.

OK, tell Nick that on our last trip, my sister and I (who are 26 and 24!) ate at Chef Mickey's! So it's not unheard of for us adult kids to go to character meals.

I agree with Timmy about possibly looking into MNSSHP. Yes, you have to pay an additional fee since it requires a separate ticket but all of the special events are amazing. There's special entertainment and the wait times for the rides are usually pretty short. I'm going on the 30th and can't wait! The extra money is well worth it.

I knew it! Now I need picture proof to show him . I keep telling his mom she's making things so difficult because she never took him to Disney when he was younger! (jokingly, of course). I'm still very up in the air about MNSSHP. We'll see how things go. I would love to, but Mr. Disney is for babies and i'm a party pooper probably won't want to go.

I have the same guidebook, but I've not followed any of the touring plans to a 't'... just used them more as a guide.

I would start with Space Mtn once you get to MK... then hit Buzz Lightyear. Maybe then work your way around the park counter-clockwise? Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Adventureland, Frontierland, and then circle back to Tomorrowland to hit what you missed in the morning. Of course, you'll have to work your break for lunch in there somewhere...

I've heard breakfast at Cape May is great... we've never been there before, but we met the step-sisters at MK last year and they are a hoot!

Thanks for the tips! I read a lot about Cape May, and saw a lot of positive reviews, so I hope it lives up to that!

 

[FosterA]

I am totally joining in
I think you have visited my trip report and I have the same situation as you. A husband with an attitude about Disney
I love how your guy thinks Mickey will spoon feed you.

I really think he would love the Halloween party. I've never been of course but it gets such rave reviews on here! You know, my husband doesn't really have a clue how much all this is costing because I hide it a little He said not to charge anything and we have to do cash and that's what I'm doing so other than that, I keep him out of the loop. I've been doing some side work at my hair salon for extra cash and he pays zero attention to what goes on at my salon so that's a good thing!
I purchased Christmas tix onine w/ my personal debit card that he doesn't really pay attention to. I think if I told him how much the tix cost he still would be ok and basically he said to reserve and do whatever I wanted anyway. BUT....sometimes when someone knows the price of something it takes away a little magic, know what I mean? I will hand over his ticket before the party and he'll have a great time and would probably think it was money well spent but unless he snoops and digs and figures out the cost, I'll never tell him. He's so out of it anyway with this trip that even if he saw a big billboard announcing the cost of party tix at the gate, he would still probably assume it was rolled into our "special package price" anyway

I try to talk to David alot about the plans and get him to read guide books and stuff too but I finally gave up. Honestly, I think they'll be more impressed when it's a surprise anyway!!

Have fun and don't quit updating!!