Mad Planner's Pre-trip report

[dolphingirl47]

I am an old hot at trip reports, but I have never done a pre-trip
report. I suppose there is a first for everything. I have planned some
great holidays in the past and some of them were quite complex, but this
one is scaring even me a little. So hopefully this will help me to focus
my mind.

Another incentive is that I have been working at one trip report or
another for over a year now. My current trip report will probably be
finished within the next couple of weeks and then I will probably get
withdrawal symptoms until I can start on the trip report for this
holiday.

The Cast

Corinna
I am 32 years old and a complete Disney nut. I also love planning
everything down to the last detail. I am a big kid at heart and the only
thing that I love more than Disney is cruising.

Graham

He will celebrate his 53rd birthday on this holiday. He does not really
get Disney, but loves the service that Disney provides. He thinks that
Corinna suffers from obsessive compulsive planning disease. His motto is
"Just let me know where and when to turn up". He loves cruising as much
as Corinna does.

Itinerary

26th September to 2nd October The Villas at Grand California Resort and Spa
2nd to 9th October Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Disney Wonder
9th to 13th October The Villas at Grand California Resort and Spa


Special Events

30th September Mickey's Halloween Party
6th October Graham's birthday
9th October Vow renewal on the campus of Crystal Cathedral
11th October Mickey's Halloween Party

 

[Chilly]

Sounds like a fab trip.

 

[mandymouse]

It sounds like a fab trip Corinna. Have you got your dress, jewellery, shoes etc ? any pics ? I can't wait to read all about it

 

[jen_uk]

Sounds like an amazing trip

 

[dolphingirl47]

It sounds like a fab trip Corinna. Have you got your dress, jewellery, shoes etc ? any pics ? I can't wait to read all about it

Yes, yes and yes. Not everything is here yet, but the majority of stuff has been ordered and bought. There will be a bunch of photos. I still have to upload some photos and take photos of some stuff, but I am hoping to start with the photo intensive posts by the weekend.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Disneyland

We have been to Southern California and Disneyland three times before. We always have stayed offsite. In 2007, we became DVC members and have not been back to Disneyland since. With DVC villas now being available at Disneyland, it was about time for a return visit. I was a little worried about getting a studio at 7 months out as The Villas at Grand Californian Resort and Spa are the smallest DVC resort. As most of the points we are using had been banked from the previous year, it was a bit of a gamble. Fortunately all the nights I wanted were available.

The Grand Californian Hotel is the sister hotel to Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World and we love both of those hotels. We have stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge a couple of times and have visited Wilderness Lodge and had a meal there so we should hopefully feel right at home at the Grand Californian.

On previous holidays to Southern California, we always rented a car for the duration of the holiday. This time round, with us staying onsite, we will try to make do without a car for the majority of the holiday. We may rent a car for a couple of days. We want to visit our favourite bird reserve, which we won’t be able to do by public transport and also check out photo opportunities around the grounds of Crystal Cathedral. Other than that we will stick to public transport or walk. We will also get a shuttle between the airport and Disneyland and then back to the airport.

I am intending to attend Mickey’s Halloween Party twice. The first party of the season will be on 30th September and I am planning to go to this and then again to the party on 11th October. I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disneyworld in 2009 and found that I did not manage to get everything done that I was hoping to do. So during one party I will make the best of the smaller crowds at the park, watch the fireworks and the parade and during the other party I will make the best of all the photo opportunities and go Trick or Treating. Graham is a little bit on the fence about the whole thing and will probably make up his mind once we are at Disneyland. If he will join me, then it will be for the second party.

I have decided to go for an Annual Pass. We have the cruise to Hawaii booked for next year and will hopefully stay at Disneyland for two or three days afterwards so it makes more sense to buy a Annual Pass rather than to get a hopper ticket this year and another one next year.

It is kind of strange not to be able to make dinner reservations until 2 months prior to the date for which they are required. We will have a lot of meals offsite. Anaheim Garden Walk is within easy walking distance and I really want to try Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company and The Cheesecake Factory, which both have branches there. We will probably have three meals onsite. I am hoping for a character breakfast at Storytellers Café at the Grand Californian and either a character brunch or dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen at Disneyland Hotel. We will probably also have dinner at Napa Rose at the Grand Californian after our vow renewal.

General to do:



Book flights



Sort out airport shuttles



Pre-book extra baggage



Research car hire


Disneyland to do:



Get annual pass



Make dining reservations for onsite meals



Pre-pay Photopass CD

 

[irongirlof12]

brilliant hotel looks lovely and it will be nice to see how halloween at DR compares to WDW.

 

[dolphingirl47]

brilliant hotel looks lovely and it will be nice to see how halloween at DR compares to WDW.

I have heard that Halloween is a much bigger deal at DL than at WDW. Haunted Mansion is getting a complete make over and Space Mountain turns into Ghost Galaxy. I can't wait to see this in person.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Disney Wonder

Cruising is our big passion. I had wanted to cruise ever since I heard about the upcoming launch of Disney Cruise Line while we were on our honeymoon in Florida in 1998. To say Graham was not keen was the understatement of the century. I finally managed to convince him in late 2007 to book a cruise for September 2008. We ended up doing a nearly back to back cruise of 5 nights on the Disney Magic followed by 4 nights on the Disney Wonder. We rebooked on board while we were on the Wonder and have not really looked back since. This cruise will be our 7th Disney cruise and the 9th cruise overall.

This will be our third cruise on the Wonder with the 4th already booked for next year. When we booked this, this was all new and exciting. We did not really know the Wonder and the cruise was going to places that we had never been to before. Of course, this all changed when we decided to book the Panama Canal cruise on short notice. So we had 15 days to get to know the ship and the crew and as DCL dropped Mazatlan as the third port, we have been to all the ports that we will go to. Still, I see this as something very positive. We loved both ports and it will feel like coming home. Maybe this time round I will cry a little tear when I get my first glimpse of the Wonder as I always do when I see the Magic for the first time during the cruise.

Even after 6 cruises, there is a bunch of stuff that I have never done before. I have yet to see the welcome or farewell show. I have not yet seen Toy Story the Musical. I have never watched a film at the Buena Vista Theater. I have yet to manage to stay up for the Pirate party to see the fireworks and I have never seen the dessert buffet. I am hoping to tick at least some of them off my to do list.

On the other hand, there are some things that I can't wait to do again: Spend some quality time in the Rainforest Room. Drink Margaritas in the Outlook Cafe while watching the world go by. Trying to get as many photos with characters as possible. Attend the DVC Member Celebration and the Castaway Club reception. Read a book or work on my trip report while relaxing on deck 4. Take part in Pirate Trivia and hopefully win it. The list is endless.

We usually don't really do shore excursions, but this cruise will be different. On the Panama Canal cruise, we did a whale watching and snorkelling excursion, which was amazing. I have to admit that we did this mainly for the whale watching, but during the excursion, we both finally managed to get the hang of snorkelling and loved it. We saw all kinds of interesting wildlife. So we are hoping to do basically the same excursion again just minus the whale watching. With a bit of luck, we should see dolphins though.

On the shorter of the two days in Cabo San Lucas, we are hoping to each do our own thing. Graham wants to do another snorkelling excursion, this time in the Sea of Cortez and I am hoping to do Dolphin Trainer for a Day. On the other day in Cabo, we are hoping to do a glass-bottom boat trip to see the sea lions and the famous arches. We will organise this when we get into port. I can make my reservations on Sunday morning. Apart from those three excursions, I am hoping to book dinner, brunch and High Tea at Palo.

We have an absolutely amazing group of people going and I am sure there will be some group activities as well. So far we have a meet planned on the first afternoon, a Scavenger Hunt, Fish Extender exchange and Secret Mickey. As most people are new to cruising or at least to DCL, I have taken on the organisation of those activities.

To do list

Make reservations for excursions

Make reservations for Palo

Do online check in

Put together Scavenger Hunt

Organise pairings for Secret Mickey

Organise list for Fish Extender exchange by deck

Print materials for Scavenger Hunt

Organise lanyards?

Put credit onto stateroom account

Order treat in stateroom for arrival day

 

[dolphingirl47]

The original plan had been that I would attend Mickey’s Halloween Party after our cruise. I had a great time when I attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party so it was a given that I would attend Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland. When the dates were released, I realized that the first party would actually take place before we go on our cruise. The prices with the DVC are also very fair, so I decided to go twice. Of course, this means that I need two costumes.



One costume had been taken care of anyway as I had decided to invest in a new Pirate costume for Pirate Night on the cruise. I had worn the same costume for the last 4 cruises and was starting to get a little bored with this. A little while ago, I found a gorgeous cocktail dress on Ebay, which I got for less than £20. This just said Pirate Princess to me:

What I was struggling with were the accessories. The whole idea just did not want to come together. I have recently discovered Etsy and I found a gorgeous mini Tricorn hat in Burgundy when browsing for Pirate accessories. It comes from a UK seller so that made this even easier. So I decided to order it:

It is custom-made and therefore it takes a little while for it to ship, but I have plenty of time until the end of September. Still, patience is not my strong point and I can’t wait to be able to try it on.



So this got me somewhat closer to a whole costume. The next step was to find some kind of sash that goes with the whole pirate theme. I was browsing Ebay for ideas and came up with a Burgundy belly dancing scarf with coins. This definitely said Pirate to me. As it was also cheap, I decided to go for this.

This just left boots. I needed some shoes or boots to wear to work during the winter months anyway so this was not an expense just for the costume. I spend considerable time trying to find some boots, but the ones that I liked and would have gone with the Pirate theme as well, did not fit me. I then came across a pair of shoes that really called out to me and I think they are just the thing that a Pirate princess would wear:

I was still looking for some Pirate themed jewellery. I found a cheap necklace on Ebay with a replica of the coin that Elisabeth Swann wore in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I like the pendant, but I am not too keen on the rest of the necklace in the context of the costume. As I make jewellery as a hobby, this is not much of an issue. I am going to get some brown suede ribbon and some burgundy and silver beads and will just restring this.

With the second costume, this is still a bit more of a work in progress. I am having both the dress and the shoes custom-made so I have no idea how this will look when it is finished. The dress is being made in China. It was very good value and I can wear this for semi-formal night on future cruises. We also have an annual Pink Halloween fundraising day at work and I can wear it for this as well and will probably also wear the dress and the shoes for our company Christmas ball.



I am having this dress made in pink:

I was told that this should ship towards the end of June so hopefully it will be here by the middle of July.



I found those shoes on Etsy and I am having those made in pink with white lace:

Those won’t go into production until mid July and will come from the USA. I really fell in love with them and I am happy to wait.



Jewellery I have covered. I had this set made to go with my formal night dresses for the Transatlantic cruise last year and I think the jewellery is fit for a

The rest of the accessories will be taken care of by Disney. I will treat myself to a make over at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique on the day of the party. They offered this on the Magic during the Westbound Transatlantic cruise last year. I had this done for one of the formal nights and had an absolute blast. The only regret that I have is that I did not have the opportunity to have photos taken of the process. Apparently they have Photopass photographers at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disneyland so I should get photos this time round. The tiara and the sash that I will be getting during the make over should complete the costume quite nicely.





To do list



Book tickets for Mickey’s Halloween Party



Alter Pirate necklace



Book appointment for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

 

[cannp123165]

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!

 

[dolphingirl47]

One of the highlights of this holiday will be our vow renewal, which will take place on 9th October at 13:00 on the campus of Crystal Cathedral.

The ceremony will not be at the cathedral itself, but in the office of one of the Pastors. We do however get the run of the grounds afterwards to have photos taken. We never had professional photos taken at our proper wedding so I can’t wait to get some professional photos this time round. The grounds of Crystal Cathedral are stunning so we should get some great photos. I managed to find a great photographer, paid the deposit and signed the contract.



I have been planning the vow renewal since last summer and have bought bits and pieces ever since. The first thing that I bought were my shoes. Initially I was going to wear the same shoes that I had worn for our wedding 13 years ago, but then I saw those Irregular Choice shoes and fell in love:

The next thing was my dress. I had the same style made for my semi-formal dress for the Panama Canal in royal blue and black and once I saw this dress, I just knew that I wanted this style for my vow renewal. Here are some photos from the website that is showing off the style:

My dress is ivory satin with ivory lace:

I did not like the brooch that came with the dress, but I loved the idea of a brooch just below the neckline. So I ended up getting this brooch:

Next up were the rings. We managed to get some gorgeous rings while we were on holiday in Dubai last month. It was a case of third time lucky, but they were a perfect fit and I love them:

Once I came back from Dubai, I got my bouquet and the button hole. Because the ceremony is the same day that we get off the ship, I had to go with artificial flowers. I found this bouquet on Ebay when I was browsing for something else and absolutely feel in love with this:

I also got button holes from the same seller. They only did them in packs of 6, but they were cheap so I did not mind. Two of the button holes are made with two roses and the others with one rose. Graham seems to have a slight preference for the version with the two roses at the moment:

Of course, things don’t often happen as planned. After buying my dress about 8 months ago, I came across another dress that I loved by accident. As it was only £45 including shipping, I just could not pass it up:

The way that I justified this to myself is that the dress that I am going to wear for the ceremony and the photos will probably get filthy while taking photos outside. I do however wear a wedding dress for the rest of the day. So once we are back at the hotel, I then have the option to get changed. This also gives me the option to do a Trash the Dress Photo Shoot. My other dress would be too delicate for this.



I am having my jewellery custom-made. The necklace is finished and the jewellery artist will do simple earrings, bracelet and a hair vine to go with this. She will also make a matching tiara, but we need to discuss the details of this a bit nearer the time.

The necklace also gave me some inspiration for the main part of the wedding favours for the women. Those pendants use the same shells that were also used in my necklace:

Those pendants were made from chandelier crystals and I thought that would make a nice tie in with the venue:

To do list for vow renewal:



Research options/ photographer for Trash the Dress shot



Sort out Graham’s outfit



Make ribbon veil



Make reservation for dinner on day of vow renewal



Sort out cake



Finalize wedding favours for women



Sort out wedding favour for men



Have trial run for make up/ make up lesson

 

[dolphingirl47]

Well, I had an early, but successful morning. My window to make reservations for Palo and shore excursion for my October cruise opened today. I had decided that I would not set my alarm for 5:00 AM as I normally do. I am in the middle of a run of late shifts and this seemed like too much like hard work. I had left the router on over night and left my iPad next to the bed just in case that I would wake up. Sure enough, I woke up shortly after 6:00 AM. I was very excited when I logged in and noticed that tea, brunch and dinner were still available at Palo. I decided to book tea first and it was available for all three sea days. I decided to book this for the first sea day. My heart just about stopped when I got an error message that there was an error on the page and it would not let me save it. However, I went back to the beginning and tried again. This time it let me book this. Booking brunch and dinner was was no problem. I booked Brunch for 11:30 on the second sea day and dinner for 19:30 on October 6th as this is Graham’s birthday.

I had no problems booking our snorkelling and sea kayaking excursion in Puerto Vallarta and the Sea of Cortez Snorkelling Experience at Cabo san Lucas for Graham. This is only offered on the second day in Cabo, but that is fine. The last thing I had left to book was the Dolphin Trainer for a Day for me at Cabo. This is offered on both days in Cabo, but I ended up booking this for the second day. I did not have the heart to leave Graham to his own devices on his birthday. Booking this was an absolute nightmare. I kept getting the same error message that I had got when I tried to book tea. After 5 attempts, this was finally confirmed. Go figure that the two activities that are probably the most difficult to get are the only ones that caused problems. When I came home tonight, I did the online check in as well. So that is a bunch of things gone from my to do list.

Other things are coming together as well. My dress for Formal Night has now arrived. It was not quite what I expected. I got it from Ebay and on the listing is said that it was gold. So I thought that would be nice for Formal Night, because of the tie in with Golden Mickeys and Mickey and Minnie wear their gold outfits. On the photo in the listing, it looked like an antique gold. In real life, it is actually a rust brown. It is very beautiful and I will love wearing it, but it was not quite what I expected.

The second wedding dress was also at work when I got there yesterday. It is absolutely gorgeous. It will need some minor alterations though. I have found somebody that comes highly recommended and I will contact her to make an appointment for a fitting in due course. I suppose I am spoiled with having had so many dresses custom made that it came as quite a shock that this did not fit like a glove.

I also got the materials that I bought to restring the pirate necklace. I think this will look great once it is finished. Now I just have to wait for this to arrive. I am hoping that this will arrive tomorrow or Tuesday. I am on my days off on Wednesday and Thursday and it would be nice to spend some of them with finishing off some holiday-related projects.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had a lovely surprise when I got to work today. My vow renewal necklace, the earrings, hair vine and bracelet to go this; the pendants that I ordered as favours and the leave necklace for semi-formal night arrived today. They are absolutely gorgeous. I will try to take photos of the bracelet, earrings and hair vine tomorrow. Now I just need the tiara and do my ribbon veil and my outfit is complete. I am so happy with how everything is turning out.



Something else just hit me today. When I booked tea at Palo yesterday, it had not sunk in that this is the same day as Formal Night. This will work really well for me. I decided that I will wear the dress and the shoes that I have ordered for the Halloween costume for tea as well. It is referred to as a tea-length dress, so that seems to fit well. Once I got the dress and know the exact shade of pink, I will see if I can get a matching fascinator. With it being Formal night, there should be plenty of photo opportunities around. So I will try to make good use of them before early dinner in my tea dress. If a free cocktail will make its way into my hands in the process, then all the better. I then get changed into my formal night dress when people are going to early dinner and then I can have the same photos taken again. That way I should get plenty of nice photos. I am seriously considering getting another photo CD as long as I can get enough photos to justify this.



Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Time for another update. I have had a couple of productive days. But first of all, here are some photos for the jewellery that goes with the vow renewal necklace:

Earrings

Bracelet

Hair Vine

Yesterday Graham and I both had days off. We ended up going suit shopping for him. We both liked this suit.

We also got him a light blue tie, which should work nicely with his button hole and my bouquet. He will wear the Mexican wedding shirt that he bought in Manzanillo in January. That seems fitting and it is a very nice shirt.

I finally managed to get my ribbon veil done today. I had kept putting this off. I think I was a bit worried that I had bitten off more than I can chew. I was just about to leave to go to the gym when a heavy shower moved through. So I decided to hold off a bit longer and the ribbon caught my eye. I kind of figured that this was an omen. So I got the ribbon and experimented a bit. I had to make one minor correction, but I liked straight away how it came out. I really love this.

Front

Back

I think project tiara might be underway sooner rather than later and it might do some good into the bargain. The jewellery artist who has made my jewellery has put some custom work on auction to help raise money to pay for a lawyer for a mother and a little girl involved in a nasty custody battle. The winning bidder gets a piece of custom jewellery. At the moment, I am the highest bidder and if I win this auction, I will use this to have my tiara made.

I also had an idea for a wedding favour for our only male guest. Graham was reorganizing our kitchen last weekend. I got out some beautiful custom mugs that I was given as a present years ago. I found the seller of those on Etsy. I wondered if a mug with Crystal Cathedral carved into it and filled with chocolate would make a nice favour.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/36358662/custom-mug

I also finally have my last make up trial set up. I thought I was all set with the make up she did last time, but since then my colour scheme has completely changed. I will take my bouquet and the necklace and we see what she comes up with.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had a special custom Fish Extender made for this cruise when I still was planning to do the vow renewal on the ship. Even though it will now happen after the cruise, I will still display it with pride. I think it worked out really well.

One of the things on a cruise that I really enjoy during the planning stage is working on Fish Extender gifts. I make jewellery as a hobby, but nowadays I rarely get the work box out unless I work on Fish Extender gifts. I used to sell my creations at craft fairs, but with my present job I work many weekends and therefore cannot go to craft fairs. All my friends and family have plenty of my jewellery so I do need an excuse to make more.

This time round I have plenty of excuse. We have a relatively small group so I was able to go all out.

For the women in the group I have made these glass tile pendants with pictures of Tinkerbell. I bought organza necklaces from Ebay that I will give with the pendants.

For the women, tween and teenage girls, I also made those Princess themed bag charms/ zip pulls.

The tween girls will get a smaller version of the tile pendants with either Tinkerbell or Ariel and for the teenage girls, I made the same pendants, but with marbleized Hidden Mickey graphics. The bails for those are a bit smaller so I am going to give them with silver plated necklaces.

The younger girls will get bottle cap pendants with either some of the Fab Five or Tinkerbell on them. Again, they will fit on the organza necklaces.

I also made those hairclips with the coloured Mickey Heads. I have them in lime green, hot pink, baby pink, blue and purple.

Boys and men are always a bit more difficult, but I think this time round I have this sewn up. For the boys I have made bottle cap keyrings. For the younger boys, I have used Toy Story or Jungle Book graphics and for the older boys I have gone with Villains and Nightmare before Christmas. I still have to put the finishing touches to those.

I also made these Pirate themed zip pulls.

For the men I have made these cute Mickey Head cufflinks.

I also used the same graphics that I used for the pendants for the teenage girls and turned them into magnets for the men. I still have to put the finishing touches to those.

Apart from this, I will also make two cabin gifts. I will make a metal bookmark with Swarovski crystals and Mickey key charms. I will also make Christmas ornaments using Swarovski crystals and organza ribbon.



To do

Finish off keyrings for boys

Finish off magnets for men

Buy supplies for cabin gifts

Make bookmarks

Make Christmas ornament

Bag up and label gifts

Finalize Fish Extender list and organize by deck

If required make extras after cut off point.

 

[dolphingirl47]

We finally booked out flights today. We fly out with Delta via Atlanta and come back with KLM via Amsterdam (Delta code share). So I can now start on getting the shuttle organized and also get the hotel at the airport for the night before we fly out booked.

Corinna

 

[PJB71]

I think it's always a lovely feeling when you have got your flights booked

Corrina your FE gifts are wonderfull, you are so talented