svalencia1
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Messages
- 385
Hello all and welcome to my pre-trip report! It has taken me some courage to embark upon this task, so please be gentle. I decided to begin this trip report not only to pass the time before we go (1 month and 9 days!) but also to give myself some accountability as there are still many things that need to be done and little time to spare. I also hope that some of you fantastic Disers might be able to give me some advice and pointers.
So lets get started with all the fabulous details! This trip has taken many different twists and turns up until this point. We originally got the idea for this trip one evening when one of my friends started talking about how Disney was giving free admission to the parks on your birthday this year. This promotion had just been announced and she being the one who thinks Disney is beyond perfect said Isnt Disney wonderful! They are so nice to be doing this for everyone. Now people who may have never been able to go to Disney before will be able to. I LOVE Disney myself, but am often a bit more skeptical of some of the things Disney does. I told her, This is a clever marketing strategy. Think about it by giving you one free day, you then take down your family, and then need a hotel and food, not to mention by the time you get down there you will probably want to stay more than just one day. Its nice but not something to book a trip on. Well shortly after that conversation I found out that Disney World was doing the buy 4 get 3 promotion. That pretty much sealed the deal for us. We started thinking about the best time to go. It just so happens that her birthday is the same week as my daughters and my boyfriends. So it just made sense to book it then so we could take advantage of the birthday promo too. So that settled it we would be taking our vacation:
June 19th - June 26th 2009!
The date of our trip was set and has never changed. The part that did change was who was going and how we were going to tour. Ill give you the short version and spare you all the gory details. Originally, the traveling party was going to consist of my friend, her boyfriend (he is one of my best friends in the world . I set the two of them up. I love him dearly.), my 2 children, my boyfriend, and myself. We were going to do everything together and were very excited about it. Well a month after this trip was booked my friend completely morphed into a person I dont even recognize and not for the better. I called her out on it and this caused our friendship to dissolve. She got into a huge fight with my boyfriend and he basically refused to go on the trip. I finally got him to agree to go again if we did not spend any time with the other party. So that was the plan. It suddenly went from a trip I was very much looking forward to to one that I was dreading. Added to that was the fact that we were going to drive down together to save money. A 20 hour car ride with people who were not speaking to each other was more than I could handle so I told them we were just going to book a flight. However, this is not the end of this bit of drama because the trip changed yet again. A few weeks ago, my friend and her boyfriend ended their relationship. He asked her to pay for her own plane ticket since he had paid all the other expenses and she refused. That was the straw that broke the camels back and he told her that since she could not even pay for her plane ticket he was going to find someone that could. He had talked to my boyfriend and I about it before and we had said that we wouldnt mind that at all. He expressed concern about trying to find his way around since the person he was taking (another friend of mine, actually someone who I once upon a time dated) had never been to the parks and he had only been once. I told him that we would be glad to tour with them the majority of the time. So that was it. The reservations were changed and the plane tickets were bought. Believe it or not that is the very short version of the story. These past months have been beyond stressful and very sad for me, but I am very much looking forward to this trip. The final cast includes:
Me (Tink): I am the mother of two beautiful children and lover of all things Disney! I am a full time student. I will be getting a dual degree in Special Education and Elementary Education next May. I will do my student teaching in December! My favorite ride is Splash Mountain.
DBF (Donald): This is our second time to Disney together. He is a workaholic and loves playing with cell phones. He likes Disney for the food! His favorite ride is Test Track.
DS (Captain Jack): He is in second grade and a very good student. He recently landed a part in his first play and we are very proud of him. He is pretty reserved but once you get to know him is a bit more animated. He is very funny in his own unique way. His favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean.
DD (Minnie): She is in Kindergarten and is a very sweet little girl. She receives services for her special needs while in school and I am worried about how she will do there. She is also on a special diet which we have talked to several people in Disney about already. Her favorite ride is Tower of Terror.
DF (Goofy): He is such a dear friend. He is really having a difficult time dealing with the ending of his relationship. I am really hoping that this trip will be relaxing and fun for him unlike the last time he was there. He is great with my children. He does not like roller coasters, even mild ones like the Barn Stormer. He really liked Pirates of the Caribbean last time he was there.
DF (Eeyore): One of my other friends. He is an all around good guy and he is also very reserved. We dated for a very short period of time. This is his first time to Disney and I am anxious to find out what he thinks of it. He has no favorite ride yet, but I think he will enjoy the Italy pavilion and talking to the CMs that work there as his mother is from Italy.
So with a group of 6 there were not many options for where we could stay. We discussed staying off property for awhile but ultimately agreed that we would prefer to stay on property. We ended up at the Boardwalk concierge level! I am really excited about this because I have never stayed concierge and I have also never stayed at a Deluxe. I am really looking forward to being so close to EPCOT (my favorite park) and DHS.
Oh, one last thing we decided to get a flight for the day before our reservation starts. We have an early morning flight out on the 18th and will be getting in to Orlando at 10:30 that day. My mom is surprising the kids with a room at the Nick Hotel. They have wanted to stay there for a long time and will be so excited! Goofy and Eeyore will be getting in the next day.
Things left to do:
a. Make a schedule of what parks to go to which days (we have park hoppers!)
b. Procure rental car
c. Find a flight home (as much as I love Florida I need to be able to get home. I found a flight home for $49 the other day for the morning of the 26th and called Donald to see if we should book it. His answer was No way! I want to sleep in that day. Thats way too early. Why are we going back on the 26th anyways? I was in agreement with him up until that last sentence. Thats when my jaw dropped a bit. We are going home that day because thats when our reservation ends. Well it seems that he took off way more vacation time than that for one reason or another He really does not want to come home that day because it is the day after his birthday. I am all for staying longer! Yay! The only drawback is that I do need to be back by Sunday night because my kids are already going to be missing school (they go year round) and so will I.
d. Find another place to stay for the last couple nights if we decide to extend our trip (at this point it depends on airfare). As much as I would just like to stay at the Boardwalk that is a little out of price range since we wont be splitting the cost with anyone else.
e. Pack bags
f. Finalize ADRs also call Beni Hanas to see if they still have that unlimited sushi thing going on and make ressie if possible
g. Figure out something special to do for Donald and Minnies birthday
h. Call and arrange Magical Express for Goofy and Eeyore
i. Call and cancel Segway Tour (This was supposed to be a birthday surprise for Donald but he found out about it somehow and does not want to do this. I guess Im glad he told me before hand.)
j. Call Disney Visa and have them send rewards card.
k. Anything else I am missing .
Thats it for now .coming up next ADRs
So lets get started with all the fabulous details! This trip has taken many different twists and turns up until this point. We originally got the idea for this trip one evening when one of my friends started talking about how Disney was giving free admission to the parks on your birthday this year. This promotion had just been announced and she being the one who thinks Disney is beyond perfect said Isnt Disney wonderful! They are so nice to be doing this for everyone. Now people who may have never been able to go to Disney before will be able to. I LOVE Disney myself, but am often a bit more skeptical of some of the things Disney does. I told her, This is a clever marketing strategy. Think about it by giving you one free day, you then take down your family, and then need a hotel and food, not to mention by the time you get down there you will probably want to stay more than just one day. Its nice but not something to book a trip on. Well shortly after that conversation I found out that Disney World was doing the buy 4 get 3 promotion. That pretty much sealed the deal for us. We started thinking about the best time to go. It just so happens that her birthday is the same week as my daughters and my boyfriends. So it just made sense to book it then so we could take advantage of the birthday promo too. So that settled it we would be taking our vacation:
June 19th - June 26th 2009!
The date of our trip was set and has never changed. The part that did change was who was going and how we were going to tour. Ill give you the short version and spare you all the gory details. Originally, the traveling party was going to consist of my friend, her boyfriend (he is one of my best friends in the world . I set the two of them up. I love him dearly.), my 2 children, my boyfriend, and myself. We were going to do everything together and were very excited about it. Well a month after this trip was booked my friend completely morphed into a person I dont even recognize and not for the better. I called her out on it and this caused our friendship to dissolve. She got into a huge fight with my boyfriend and he basically refused to go on the trip. I finally got him to agree to go again if we did not spend any time with the other party. So that was the plan. It suddenly went from a trip I was very much looking forward to to one that I was dreading. Added to that was the fact that we were going to drive down together to save money. A 20 hour car ride with people who were not speaking to each other was more than I could handle so I told them we were just going to book a flight. However, this is not the end of this bit of drama because the trip changed yet again. A few weeks ago, my friend and her boyfriend ended their relationship. He asked her to pay for her own plane ticket since he had paid all the other expenses and she refused. That was the straw that broke the camels back and he told her that since she could not even pay for her plane ticket he was going to find someone that could. He had talked to my boyfriend and I about it before and we had said that we wouldnt mind that at all. He expressed concern about trying to find his way around since the person he was taking (another friend of mine, actually someone who I once upon a time dated) had never been to the parks and he had only been once. I told him that we would be glad to tour with them the majority of the time. So that was it. The reservations were changed and the plane tickets were bought. Believe it or not that is the very short version of the story. These past months have been beyond stressful and very sad for me, but I am very much looking forward to this trip. The final cast includes:
Me (Tink): I am the mother of two beautiful children and lover of all things Disney! I am a full time student. I will be getting a dual degree in Special Education and Elementary Education next May. I will do my student teaching in December! My favorite ride is Splash Mountain.
DBF (Donald): This is our second time to Disney together. He is a workaholic and loves playing with cell phones. He likes Disney for the food! His favorite ride is Test Track.
DS (Captain Jack): He is in second grade and a very good student. He recently landed a part in his first play and we are very proud of him. He is pretty reserved but once you get to know him is a bit more animated. He is very funny in his own unique way. His favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean.
DD (Minnie): She is in Kindergarten and is a very sweet little girl. She receives services for her special needs while in school and I am worried about how she will do there. She is also on a special diet which we have talked to several people in Disney about already. Her favorite ride is Tower of Terror.
DF (Goofy): He is such a dear friend. He is really having a difficult time dealing with the ending of his relationship. I am really hoping that this trip will be relaxing and fun for him unlike the last time he was there. He is great with my children. He does not like roller coasters, even mild ones like the Barn Stormer. He really liked Pirates of the Caribbean last time he was there.
DF (Eeyore): One of my other friends. He is an all around good guy and he is also very reserved. We dated for a very short period of time. This is his first time to Disney and I am anxious to find out what he thinks of it. He has no favorite ride yet, but I think he will enjoy the Italy pavilion and talking to the CMs that work there as his mother is from Italy.
So with a group of 6 there were not many options for where we could stay. We discussed staying off property for awhile but ultimately agreed that we would prefer to stay on property. We ended up at the Boardwalk concierge level! I am really excited about this because I have never stayed concierge and I have also never stayed at a Deluxe. I am really looking forward to being so close to EPCOT (my favorite park) and DHS.
Oh, one last thing we decided to get a flight for the day before our reservation starts. We have an early morning flight out on the 18th and will be getting in to Orlando at 10:30 that day. My mom is surprising the kids with a room at the Nick Hotel. They have wanted to stay there for a long time and will be so excited! Goofy and Eeyore will be getting in the next day.
Things left to do:
a. Make a schedule of what parks to go to which days (we have park hoppers!)
b. Procure rental car
c. Find a flight home (as much as I love Florida I need to be able to get home. I found a flight home for $49 the other day for the morning of the 26th and called Donald to see if we should book it. His answer was No way! I want to sleep in that day. Thats way too early. Why are we going back on the 26th anyways? I was in agreement with him up until that last sentence. Thats when my jaw dropped a bit. We are going home that day because thats when our reservation ends. Well it seems that he took off way more vacation time than that for one reason or another He really does not want to come home that day because it is the day after his birthday. I am all for staying longer! Yay! The only drawback is that I do need to be back by Sunday night because my kids are already going to be missing school (they go year round) and so will I.
d. Find another place to stay for the last couple nights if we decide to extend our trip (at this point it depends on airfare). As much as I would just like to stay at the Boardwalk that is a little out of price range since we wont be splitting the cost with anyone else.
e. Pack bags
f. Finalize ADRs also call Beni Hanas to see if they still have that unlimited sushi thing going on and make ressie if possible
g. Figure out something special to do for Donald and Minnies birthday
h. Call and arrange Magical Express for Goofy and Eeyore
i. Call and cancel Segway Tour (This was supposed to be a birthday surprise for Donald but he found out about it somehow and does not want to do this. I guess Im glad he told me before hand.)
j. Call Disney Visa and have them send rewards card.
k. Anything else I am missing .
Thats it for now .coming up next ADRs
