Lurkyloo Does WDW: Solo Banzai Run for PassPorter’s Decade of Dreams!

[lurkyloo]

OK, the trip report has started, and you can find it here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2173104

But keep reading the pre-trippie if you're curious about the backstory and/or love pictures of cake. Lots and lots of cake....


**************************

A week ago, this trip was just a crazy idea I’d briefly entertained when I learned that my bosses at PassPorter were planning a WDW meet as part of their Decade of Dreams 10th anniversary tour.

It didn’t seem remotely possible for us to return to Florida from L.A. just three months after our blowout anniversary trip, which used up all my vacation time and all our moolah. But last Friday, on a whim, I put in for a solo-trip quote from the official tour travel agency and discovered that if I did a bare-bones banzai run, I could swing it using vacation hours that will accrue sufficiently by, like, the day I leave for Florida.

So I stewed over it all weekend, and Monday I put my deposit down and booked my airfare. The trip ended up being even cheaper than I’d imagined because I was able to use the $%&$#@! Sunshine Rewards gift cards that didn’t arrive in time for our anniversary trip, and Delta gave me $50 off my ticket and 20,000 miles for signing up for their credit card – whohoo! Now I just need to spend a bunch of money on our Disney Visa Rewards card to earn some more Disney dollars.

The parts that sealed it for me are PassPorter’s birthday party in the Living Seas Salon, a Disney wedding reception venue I’ve always wanted to see in person, and the travel agency’s Fantasmic! dessert party that night. Now that we’ve had our own Disney wedding, my new dream is to get invited to somebody else’s Disney wedding, so this is about as close to that as I’ll get without being escorted off the property by security for stalking Disney brides.

The downside is that DH will be too busy preparing for his summer puppet show to come along. The thought of being there without him makes me sad. But before I met him, I used to go on solo trips all over the place, including plenty to Disneyland, so I think I can handle being by myself. I just hope I’m as good a photographer as he is!


* Who is in your party? Me, myself, and possibly I

* Your travel dates: May 1–4, 2009

* Where are you staying: Pop-frigging-Century
(OK, I know on the 2 Haunted Mansions, 1 Day trip I vowed never to stay at Pop again, but it is CHEAP! And marginally better than the All-Stars!)

* What Advanced Dining Reservations you have made: Dude, I just started planning this - cut me some slack!

* Any special plans, events, etc. that you have planned:

• PassPorter’s 10th Anniversary Party at Living Seas Salon
• PassPorter’s Dessert Party at Fantasmic!
• Meeting scads of DISers!

 

[lurkyloo]

The plan is to take a red-eye from LA to Orlando on Thursday night/Friday morning and fly out again Monday night. I think this may prove me (or make me!) clinically insane. But it sounds really good on paper! I only have to take two days off work, but I get almost four days of fun.

Friday morning I will crash into bed at Pop Century and then emerge two hours later fresh as a daisy and ready for a day of fun with my pal Jensey! Alternatively, if Pop doesn’t come through with a room for me that early, I will curl up on the Roots’ porch and hope the Celebration security patrol doesn’t roust me for loitering!

That day is also DISer Lorelai’s wedding day, so there may be a bit of stalking going on....

Saturday is PassPorter’s day in the Magic Kingdom, and Sunday is the day of the big birthday party in Epcot and the dessert party at DHS.

Monday is the day I cram in all the things I didn’t get to do before my evening flight back to LA.

Hopefully, I will be able to meet up with other DISers somewhere in between. I hear May is a really popular time for people on these boards to go, so maybe I’ll run into some of you!

 

[lov2b@disney]

First onboard for the next Lurkyloo trippie!

 

[MEK]

Carrie -
I hobbled on over here to get an update on LL's pretrippie, and much to my surprise, you have already started yours!
Awesome! I can't wait to be entertained for the next 5 or 6 weeks until you leave again. When I go on a quick trip, I usually try to plan 4 nights, but I think your plan for a Friday morning arrival will work great. Heck - who needs sleep anyway. It's highly overrated!

So tell me.... Are you getting another AP cause I know you and Patrick must be going back for free dining??????

 

[lurkyloo]

First onboard for the next Lurkyloo trippie!

You get the prize!!! Which is, uh.... this highly under-utilized snail smiley!!!

Carrie -
I hobbled on over here to get an update on LL's pretrippie, and much to my surprise, you have already started yours!
Awesome! I can't wait to be entertained for the next 5 or 6 weeks until you leave again. When I go on a quick trip, I usually try to plan 4 nights, but I think your plan for a Friday morning arrival will work great. Heck - who needs sleep anyway. It's highly overrated!

Ooh! I'll have to get your quick-trip tips!

So tell me.... Are you getting another AP cause I know you and Patrick must be going back for free dining??????

No, and it's killing me to have to buy a stoopid overpriced regular Magic Your Way Ticket. I mean, once I've paid that much, I'm halfway to an AP! But I know that if I get an AP, I will feel obligated to go back, and I think DH has reached his limit on WDW trips for quite a while....

Ever the optimist, I did try to float the idea of a free dining/food and wine festival/MNSSHP trip last night! ....but it was a huge bust

 

[lurkyloo]

So far, not too many details have been released about PassPorter’s birthday party, except for the most salient one: There will be cake. I just hope it won’t be ruined by fruit!

The two-hour party is open to everyone, but the deadline to register for it is April 1. So if you’re gonna be around and want to come along, act fast!

The party will be held at Living Seas Salon, the corporate lounge at the Seas With Nemo & Friends. It has a big window into the Living Seas aquarium, and it’s a popular place for wedding receptions.

For more pix (including CAKE pix), check out FigmentFan’s wedding trip report!

One thing I do know is the menu!


Birthday Party Buffet Lunch Menu

California mixed greens layered with cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots, served with light zinfandel vinaigrette and avocado low-fat Ranch dressing

Maryland seafood pasta salad with dill and lemon vinaigrette

Sweet cream coleslaw

Oven roasted corn on the cob

Vegetarian Texas barbecue beans

Southern fried chicken with buttermilk mashed potatoes

Kansas City-braised pork shanks with crisp onions

House-made cornbread and butter

Strawberry shortcake

Kentucky bourbon bread pudding with vanilla bean sauce

Coffee and teas

[Burp!]

If I can find out what flavor the cake will be, I’ll let you know. This is very important to me. If it has fruit or liquer in it, I’monna have to run down to Publix and buy myself a consolation cake instead...

 

[Aburns8]

So excited about another PTR, one TR ends and something else begins!

 

[adisneygal]

I'm in for this PreTR. I will live vicariously through you cause I am too scatterbrained to do one. Hopefully we will run into you. For some reason I thought you got in on the 2nd. We don't leave until the 3rd.

Loved the video of Patrick dancing! You guys are too funny.

 

[PopArtGal]

Im here

 

[Wazzo]

Yay!! A new trip report! (Now... how can I convince you to move your trip to July...? )

 

[lurkyloo]

So excited about another PTR, one TR ends and something else begins!

Ooooh - good to know! I guess that means when I get back in May, I'm required to start planning another trip!

I'm in for this PreTR. I will live vicariously through you cause I am too scatterbrained to do one. Hopefully we will run into you. For some reason I thought you got in on the 2nd. We don't leave until the 3rd.

Yay! More chances to meet up!

Im here

Well, hello!

Yay!! A new trip report! (Now... how can I convince you to move your trip to July...? )

Two words: "wedding invitation"

(Kidding! I'm kidding! Far be it from me to invite myself to someone's wedding when I can stalk it from afar! Just watch out for my telescoping cake fork...)

 

[lurkyloo]

First, before I tell you about my Advance Dining Reservations, I must make the stunning revelation that, according to the incredibly snotty CM I spoke to when I called to make them, Disney doesn’t call them “Advance Dining Reservations” anymore.

It all started when I made the mistake of opening with DIS shorthand instead of saying the whole phrase.

Me: “Hi, I’d like to make some ADRs!”

CM: [dead silence]

Me: “Hello?”

CM: “What do you want to do?”

Me: “To make some Advance Dining Reservations.”

CM: [laughing haughtily] “Oh, we don’t call them THAT anymore!”

Me: [mimicking her tone] “Well, then what DO you call them?”

CM: “‘Dining’!”

Me: “OK.... then I’d like to make some ‘Dining’ please...”

At any rate, I can’t say I’m too sad to see the end of the painfully redundant “advance dining reservation” but boy did she set my teeth on edge!


So here’s what I have so far, with explanations, cuz some of them are head-scratchers!

Friday

11:05am: Akershus Princess Storybook Fantasy Festival of Dining: The Experience

OK, so, yes, I don’t do character dining. But this one is a pity ADR for Jensey, who loves Disney breakfast food and can’t find anybody fool enough to go to this thing with her. Enter Lurkyloo!


6:30pm: Shula’s Steak House

I try to avoid the Swolphin cuz I’m just a Disney resort snob (and also cuz they charge for parking!) but I keep hearing so many good things about Shula’s and Todd English’s bluezoo that I figured I should knock them both out on this trip. Also, I found out both places validate!


Saturday

7pm: Todd English’s bluezoo

(See "validated parking," above)

The rest of the day is ADR-less at the moment cuz I think I’m gonna be in the MK all day, and I don’t like most of the table-service places there. Well, maybe I’ll make a fallback ADR at the Plaza – good burgers!


Sunday

4:45pm: Tutto Italia

This is another place I’ve never been interested in, but I realized it’s the only table-service restaurant in Epcot I haven’t been to (well, if you count all the Japan ones as a single restaurant), so what the heck. Sure, I’m not really interested in Italian food and the place is reportedly way overpriced, but then I can put another notch in my belt (one that’s waaaaaaaaaaay out at the end of the belt to accommodate my soon-to-be ginormous tummy!).

I just wish I could have gotten a time that’s a little further away from PassPorter’s gut-busting buffet from 12-2pm... maybe I’ll keep checking on that one...


Monday

3pm: Sci-Fi Dine-In

This is the one place I wish we hadn’t skipped on our anniversary trip. I just love the atmosphere, and it’s hard to screw up a burger and fries. Plus, it turns out to be Jensey’s favorite too!



So the schedule feels flexible enough to me that, if I wanted, I could stick in a counter-service place or a deadsville table-service like Restaurant Marrakesh or Nine Dragons. Some of the ADRs, like the princess thing and Tutto Italia, were not ideal times, but I think I did pretty well considering I’d called only 5 weeks out!

 

[annnewjerz]

WOOHOO! Good job starting the pre-TR, very entertaining thus far

I have a question---I know you are an editor...do you work solely for Passporter? If so, let me tell you how much I love mine. I got the Deluxe for our trip in December and it's faaaaaantastic. Two

 

[PopArtGal]

Yup, you def. did well on such short notice

Glad you are going to the sci-fi. The sci-fi and the plaza are a most do for me.

 

[KatGarcia]

I'm here for the cake!

 

[Angelrose]

I'm here too. I just love all your reports.

 

[Beka]

Ya know, my birthday is in August, and where there's birthday, there's cake...

Can't wait to hear your Bluezoo review!

 

[cdotla]

Oh boy!

I am already dying to read about Lurkyloo's experience at Akerhaus....I'm betting it'll be worth the price of admission in and of itself!

This is one TR I am not going to miss!

 

[blabbermouth]

but then I can put another notch in my belt (one that’s waaaaaaaaaaay out at the end of the belt to accommodate my soon-to-be ginormous tummy!).

Uhh, it might just be too soon since the last report's "surprise" for any belly jokes...

 

[jenna77]

Yay Carrie! I am so excited for you. I'm going to have to talk DF into another short trip (oh, yeah, that'll be hard, he can't go enough!). Is there a day you're not super busy and could hang out with us for a bit? I just got a big promotion, so the timing is just perfect! And I meant what I said about you having to see Disney at Christmas, hint hint, so you'd better be working on getting Patrick to go back to WDW.