It's the Ed & Annie Show PTR (Nov.2012)! This year on our show... (UPDATE 5/1)

[puente0629]

...we will be cruising the high seas on the Disney Dream and exploring the World in a 4-night stay at Animal Kingdom Villas on November 10-19, 2012! Jambo everyone!


to our our sitcom, we joke that our life together is not short of a TV show. We are a little nuttywhich comes from growing up with a crazy clan of Puerto Ricans and Cubans. We have cruised with Disney twice, once on Royal Caribbean, once on Norwegian, once on Celebrity and once with Carnival and I gotta say Disney is by far the best (I may be a little biast). But enough about us, let's talk about me! My name is Annie (27) and I am a die hard fan of everything Disney! I've written only one PTR (so bare with me if I totally suck at this ) and that was for our Disney Wedding, which you are more then welcomed to check out (click on the link way below). I have gone to Disney at least 30 times (I've gone at the least once a year since I was 1). I was born and raised in Miami, FL but have recently moved to Elgin, IL with my wonderful hubby who I will introduce to you later. Basically, I decided to write this as not to drive my wonderful husband crazy with my obsessive nature for everything Disney. Here's a some pictures of me at our Disney wedding...

Now, on to my hubby...his name is Ed and he indulges me in all my Disney craziness (even buying into DVC, which we both love and can't recommend enough)! He has been to Disney twice before we were married but it wasn't until we met that he really embraced the Disney magic. We were married in 6/2007 in Indiana (civil union) and on 1/11/11 we were able to have a wedding celebration at the Walt Disney World Resort with family and friends. We also will be celebrating our 5 yr anniversary on this trip. DH was born and raised in Indiana but moved to Florida 8 yrs ago and now he lives in sunny Elgin, IL (yea, right) for a job offer. Here's DH in all his glory...

Also, joining us for a small portion of our trip (3-nights of our 4-night resort stay) will be my parents! DH and I love hanging out my parents, DH adores them as do they and we always all have a great time. My parents have been feeding my addiction of Disney since I was one and they usually join us every chance they get. Here's a pic of my wonderful parents...

So here goes the actual planning...we have been back and forth between Disney combo trips. For example, a 3-night Disney Dream cruise w/ a 6-night Disney Resort stay or 9-night Disney Resort stay, etc or a 7-night cruise on the Disney Fantasy. Took us a couple of months but we finally decided that a 4 night cruise with a 4 night resort stay would be perfect for us. We would have the benefits of the parks and the cruise. We will be arriving at Disney Nov. 10 which we will take the ME to Animal Kingdom Villas (using our DVC points) where we will stay in a Savanna view room. The next day we take the DCL bus to Port Canaveral for our 4-night cruise in a Standard inside stateroom (which we booked using points for one ticket and the other cash) on the Dream. When we arrived back on Nov. 15 we will head back to the Animal Kingdom Resort for our 4-night stay (also booked using points). That unfortunately will conclude our Disney portion of our trip but we still have another week of vacation that we will be spending with my family for Thanksgiving in Miami.

We are still debating on some things, like the resort we are staying prior to the cruise and if we should take the DCL bus or rent a car for one night, etc. But little by little the trip will come together, if it's the last thing I do...uhh not literally, of course.

So, welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy my PTR! Please feel free to ask anything you want, about DVC, our trip planning or even about our Disney wedding.

I'll leave you now with some of our wedding/vacation pics...

 

[puente0629]

No takers yet, huh?

Well, I'll just keep it coming...

This is our current Itinerary:

Saturday, Nov. 10 - Arrive at MCO, check-in @ AKV
Sunday, Nov. 11 - Depart on DCL bus and arrive at Port Canaveral for our 4-night Disney Dream cruise
Monday, Nov. 12 - Bahamas Day, stay on cruise ship and enjoy amenities
Tuesday, Nov. 13 - Castaway Cay
Wednesday, Nov. 14 - Dat at Sea
Thursday, Nov. 15 - Depart on DCL bus, arrive back at AKV for our 4-night resort stay, Theme Park?
Friday, Nov. 16 - Theme Park or pool day? Parents arrive at night
Saturday, Nov. 17 - Theme Park or pool day?
Sunday, Nov. 18 - Theme Park or pool day?
Monday, Nov. 19 - Depart with my parents to head down to MIA for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving!

As you can see we haven't really planned out our days very well, it will be probably be another couple of months before we actually narrow it down. I keep checking the touring plans to see what the crowd level is going to be for those days. But it confuses me even more, parents would want to do MK and Epcot with us but we also love AK and HS, plus we want to enjoy the resort. Oh well, I'm sure we can figure it out next month as my parents are coming up for a visit!!!

Now for the cruise part of our trip, we really want to make reservations for Palo or Remy or both but are are worried about missing one of the restaurants we would like to experience. What would you guys recommend? The DCL supposedly doesn't get there until 1 or later and I'm scared Palo and Remy will get booked by that time. Any advice?


Stay tuned, The Ed & Annie show will be back after these messages...

 

[meplus3]

I'm tuned in!!! My DH and I ofen say our lives are like a reality show!! Love your wedding dress!!

 

[puente0629]

I'm tuned in!!! My DH and I ofen say our lives are like a reality show!! Love your wedding dress!!

Love it! Doesn't it just make life that more interesting...thanks, i love my wedding dress, wish i could still wear at least once a month lol.

Oh and thanks for commenting, I was starting to think I was invisible

 

[bearsgirl]

Annie,
Your wedding was beautiful and your upcoming trip in November sounds wonderful. I have never been on a DCL trip--I am excited to hear your reviews!
PS Love Gangsta Mickey!

 

[puente0629]

Annie,
Your wedding was beautiful and your upcoming trip in November sounds wonderful. I have never been on a DCL trip--I am excited to hear your reviews!
PS Love Gangsta Mickey!

Thanks you and thank you! lol This is our 3rd Disney cruise and I can definitely recommend it! So far, it's just me and DH and we love everything that Disney has to offer. Hopefully soon we will have kids and we know Disney cruise line is the only way to go!

I thought Mickey looked pretty gangsta too! lol

 

[laura74]

Love your wedding photos! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip.

 

[puente0629]

Love your wedding photos! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip.

Thank you very much!

 

[puente0629]

Okay, I'm back...

I've been debating back and forth about the inside stateroom we booked for the 4 night cruise. DH is so worried about the inside cabin as we have always booked a verandah and now he has me worried (which sucks, lol). I just keep telling myself and him, that it's only 4 nights and the Dream has so many things to offer that we won't spend anytime inside the cabin. Thank god for the magical porthole or he would of never considered it. It really boiled down to money and every time we spend more on a balcony I feel obligated to enjoy it because it was more. I just need to get over this fear that I'm not going to enjoy the cruise because we are in an inside stateroom. I'm afraid that I'm going to miss the verandah and it will ruin our cruise and DH will be cranky, but how horrible can it be...it's Disney!

In other news, my parents will be arriving from Miami next weekend and we are so excited to see them. We have so many things planned but the number one priority is getting our Disney World itinerary down. I'm sure I will get nasty looks from DH and my dad but my mom will definitely be on board.

Another thing that has me going back and forth, is our one night stay prior to the cruise. We are booked at AKL in a savanna studio but I'm thinking of changing it because we are also booked in a savanna studio for our 4 night stay after the cruise. And I do not want to ruin the "WOW" moment of seeing AKL for the first time. I feel like if we stay there that one night that the the 4 night after the cruise stay won't have the same efffect. I love that "WOW" factor that I get when I stay at a new resort for the first time at check-in. And if were checking in again at the same resort, I wouldn't get that feeling again. So I'm thinking of canceling that one night at AKL and transferring my points over to SSR and keeping my waitlist for BCV or VWL.

So, of course I'm already thinking about what do next year for our vacation. DH already thinks I'm crazy! lol But I would really like to plan something in anticipation, we didn't do it this year because we were moving from South Florida to Illinois and building a home. Now that all is said and done, I really want to sit down and plan it out. Hawaii, Europe, a cruise, Disneyland...so many options!!! Hopefully, I can convince him to talk about it tonight...I'll keep you posted on my next segment.