"Let us plan our escape!" - Adults only for F&W/1st DVC-Oct '14 PTR(TR Link Post #99)

[PrincessInOz]

Looks like a lot of fun! The beach looks great. And I love the fishies too!

 

[Tinker326]

SHARKS!!!!!! I see SHARKS!!!

Looks like a great vacation- Kurt and I always talk about heading down to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head... not this coming summer but maybe 2016 we might do it....

And even though it wasn't a Disney vacation, it was nice to see A wearing a Minnie shirt.... Disney represent! Hahahaha!!

 

[skier_pete]

Looks like a lot of fun! The beach looks great. And I love the fishies too!

It really is one of my favorite beaches. Plenty of beautiful sand, you can walk out a few hundred yards into the ocean with no problem. The only negative is the whole town has beach umbrella rental stations - you can see them in the first photo - that run $30 a day. You can buy your own umbrella, but you can't put yours in front of the row of umbrellas. Less of a problem now that DD is older, but when she was little and you wanted to keep close...not so great.

SHARKS!!!!!! I see SHARKS!!!

Looks like a great vacation- Kurt and I always talk about heading down to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head... not this coming summer but maybe 2016 we might do it....

And even though it wasn't a Disney vacation, it was nice to see A wearing a Minnie shirt.... Disney represent! Hahahaha!!

Yeah, they have one of those tunnels through the aquarium, you walk right under the sharks! I'm sure you'd love it there! Those were the only sharks we saw, though.

I've never been to Hilton Head, but I've always had the impression it's doesn't have all the activities for kids that Myrtle Beach does. Hilton Head is more upscale resort/golf while Myrtle Beach is the "redneck riviera".

Maybe we'll see you there in 2016, we try to go every other year on average, and definitely won't be going in 2015 either. Not for sure yet, though. If you go as a Northerner, try and time your trip late enough in the year to let the local kids be back in school. The crowds go down immensely. Because labor day was so early this year, the kids didn't go back to school until the mid-week the week we were down there (August 20th) which is actually pretty late for them, and while it wasn't real crowded, we saw a noticeable drop in population after that first weekend. (Once kids aren't involved, Myrtle Beach is a fantastic vacation destination in the month of September.)

 

[MidnightParade]

What a fun trip! I hear such good things about Myrtle Beach! Maybe one day we will make it down there! Happy to hear you had a lovely time!

 

[skier_pete]

You know I went to Disney as a kid more times than I can remember, and you know how many pictures I have? One. I have no idea how we went all those times and have no pictures.

I have a few pictures from my last childhood trip in '82 after epcot opened, but none I want to share right now.

After I met my wife, we decided our first ever vacation together was going to be to Disney World. I hadn't been in 15 years, and she had never been. That was 1997, when we were both in our late twenties. We stayed off-site and had a blast. We went back again in 2000, and enjoyed it but not as much.

Since then, we've been back 8 times between 2006 and 2013. But we've have always had our daughter, plus sometimes a grandmother or some friends. This will be the first time in 14 years its been just the two of us. 14 years almost to the day.

I suggested to my wife we resurrect some of our old pictures and see if we can re-create some of them. Not surprisingly, we don't have a ton of pictures from either trip, as they were pre-digital. And some that we do had I didn't bother with, because we aren't going to Blizzard Beach or Universal Studios. But, here's the ones we do have.

First off, from 1997:

Meeting Mickey for the first time - this was pre-Epcot Character Connection in Epcot, but it was inside one of the innovations building, so I figure a meeting there should count.


In front of the Canadian Pavillion. Even back then we laughed at the irony of travelling 1,300 miles to visit a country we lived 20 minutes from:


DW on the giant Ant at DHS. Funnily enough we do this same picture with DD every year:



Is this stander still over in the shop near the backlot? I know most of the props are still there, including the dip-mobile.


DW on Main Street USA with the Mayor. He might be hard to find, and I guarantee we won't be able to track down that giant cake in the background!


OK - this one will be at least a little tough. There used to be a scavenger hunt in adventureland that you could do. I remember it was us and one other couple doing it, and I think the other couple quit. DW and I were the first to find the idol. That gave us some free passes to get on a ride. Most of you probably don't know this, but there was no FastPasses back then! A free ride pass was pretty special!

Anyways, we certainly won't be able to recreate the idol, but I think I know where the picture was taken, so we'll give it a try.


I don't think we'll try for these, as we aren't interested in MNSSHP, but back in 1997 they had the Meet & Greet's in Toontown, one of the M&G rooms was devoted to Villains. Here's the Villains we got:




The third one was Frollo, but we didn't get our picture with him.

Lastly, I thought I would just share this one - look it's the Skyway!


Now, fastforward to 2000. We actually have even LESS pictures of us from that trip! However, we were really good at going at times when they put really hideous things on top of park Icons!


A visit to Norway should allow us to recreate these shots:




Then, there's this one we took at the Brown Derby. This is the last time we ate there. Not sure if we'll get the same booth, but maybe they'll let us recreate it anyways:


Finally, an unfrosted castle!


Looking through those pictures - I still have every single one of those shirts! But no, I am not going to wear them!

If we are successful at re-creating these, I will put them side-by-side in my TR, so be sure to follow along with that!

 

[Tinker326]

I love old pics!!! You guys look like babies!!!

Even awesomer is that School House Rock shirt you have on! You have to re-wear that!!!

I still sing the "I'm just a Bill" song to my kids.

 

[skier_pete]

I love old pics!!! You guys look like babies!!!

Even awesomer is that School House Rock shirt you have on! You have to re-wear that!!!

I still sing the "I'm just a Bill" song to my kids.

Yeah, posting those pix make me feel really old. (In my forties I find sometimes you feel really old, sometimes you feel like you are still a kid.)

I still have that SHR shirt - It says "What's Your Function!" in big letters across the back. I also have an "I'm just a Bill" shirt as well with the front being just a "Bill" button over the left breast pocket area, and the back being the actual Bill. DD has of course seen all the schoolhouse rock videos. They are still a lot of fun. I rarely wear them because they are like National Treasures, too fragile to go out in public often. Maybe I could get that one to make an appearance.

 

[MidnightParade]

Awww! Those are some great pics to try and recreate! That will be so much fun!
Actually thanks to you we're going to try and recreate some of our photos as well on our trip. just one from each park though. We were there in 2010 so they aren't old pics but hoping they are pics we will go for each trip going forward!

 

[skier_pete]

Awww! Those are some great pics to try and recreate! That will be so much fun!
Actually thanks to you we're going to try and recreate some of our photos as well on our trip. just one from each park though. We were there in 2010 so they aren't old pics but hoping they are pics we will go for each trip going forward!

That is a great tradition! Especially when/if you have kids, you get to see pictures throughout the years. We always do the Bruce picture.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Look at those pictures of the two of you!!!

WOW!

Love them!

 

[skier_pete]

Look at those pictures of the two of you!!!

WOW!

Love them!

 

[skier_pete]

There are certain milestones in planning a Disney trip for planner addicts like myself and many of you out there on the DIS. Days you get excited for.

The day you book your hotel/package.

The 180 day mark when you can make ADRs.

Recently the 60 day mark that you can book FP+.

One of the best is one of the simplest. And it's that moment you open your mailbox and you know your trip is around the corner. Yes, it's the day your Magical Express packet comes!



And this one came with a little extra - a Food and Wine brochure. Oh Disney you just read my mind.

Next up milestones will be the Magic Bands and/or getting the FP+ for Be Our Guest (hopefully).

Oh - and also - 33 DAYS!!!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

It will be here before you know it! Getting the ME is always exciting!

 

[MidnightParade]

The days are going to start slipping by so fast now!!! Woooooo!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Exciting countdown when ME Mail arrives and you're starting to look at a month to go.

 

[skier_pete]

29 days to go and I get this!!!

Your MagicBand package is on its way!

Great news, Peter!

You're now one step closer to experiencing the Walt Disney World vacation of your dreams.

Your MagicBand package has been shipped via: US MAIL PARCEL POST
Your tracking number is: ###########
Visit My Disney Experience to manage your plans.

In addition:
-Food and Wine Season starts on Friday!
-On Sunday I can try and book a FP+ for Be Our Guest!!!
-In just 11 days I can book our DVC stay for NEXT August!!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice!

I like the last statement....being able to book again for August 2015.

 

[skier_pete]

Good afternoon, and with THREE weeks to go there is some small news.

Yes, those LOVELY Magicbands arrived! Since it is no fun at all to go by your own names when at WDW, you may notice we chose ours as a tribute to our friends down under!



Since this is a Disney trip, it couldn't go off without some kind of IT glitch. So I logged on to take advantage of the "Be Our Guest" FP over the weekend, and I was able to go onto the site and it gave me date selections. However, the dates it gave me were NOT our dates, but September 27th through October 3rd. Now, at first I couldn't figure out how that could be, but then I realized that at one point we were booked to go down on September 27th - 30th. However, that was on a completely different reservation from the one I typed in, so I am not sure how this system works.

Anyways, since I wasn't invited, I decided there was little I could do. THEN, the next day, I recieved an e-mail from Disney asking me to participate in the "Be Our Guest" FP+ program. I tried again, and again the same issue.

So, I figured since I actually got the e-mail I could call Disney about the problem. After being bounced around awhile they got me to IT (everyone's favorite) and I explained the problem and what I thought caused it. They said they would into it.

That was yesterday....Still waiting....


Actually, I have to say that I would not be all that devistated if it doesn't come through. We ate here last trip, and am sure we will again, so I would be fine going to somewhere else.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Is it sad that I'm sitting here laughing?

First at the blokes and sheilas.....and then at yet another IT issue????

3 weeks! I'm two weeks away from heading to SoCal.

 

[skier_pete]

Is it sad that I'm sitting here laughing?

First at the blokes and sheilas.....and then at yet another IT issue????

3 weeks! I'm two weeks away from heading to SoCal.

Hah! See, it was all about making you laugh! And it worked.

That and I'm hoping as they scan us into the park, a CM says to me "Have a wonderful day, bloke!"

The IT issue is NOT making me laugh, though!