Magical Milestones: A Land-Sea-Land Marathon Birthday Adventure!

[stephielela]

Sounds like you will have a perfect group for your Illuminations cruise.

Well...... wait for the next update lol

Following along!

Welcome!! Hopefully all my back-and-forthing won't give you whiplash!

 

[stephielela]

Anyone who has followed a TR of mine before knows that I change plans constantly!! For those of you that haven't, I apologize in advance for my lack of commitment

It looks like we are cancelling the Illuminations cruise. I am bummed about this but no one else really knows so at least they don't have to be disappointed. It's just that my sister is doing the marathon that day and she isn't sure what shes going to be up for that day, my dad will be getting up at whatever obscenely early hour she has to go to the start and everyone else's schedule is so tentative...

The last time I planned a surprise like this it was the Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise and let's just say it isn't the happiest of memories. By the time we got checked in for it nobody in my family was really speaking to each other, I was frustrated that they couldn't get excited for the cruise and they were tired/grumpy and we were all on short tempers from lack of sleep and crowds. I've been having flashbacks to that night while we've been talking about what our park plans are and my mom wants to take it more easy etc. So rather than sink $400 into something not everyone might want to do... I'm thinking we will wait for another trip to try that out. Not to mention that the doctor bills from my foot injury are starting to come in and I know that if I have to save $400 for the cruise I will have almost nothing left to spend on souvenirs etc. I'm just going to have to wait for a time when I can go with a group that I can split the cost with!

 

[stephielela]

I've been dealing with hotel reservations for the past few days and it is making my head spin!!! Here's where we are at now:

2 rooms at POR, my parents in one room, my sister, Jack and me in the other. EXCEPT the night of the 11th when Jack and I are staying at Pop with my friends Elizabeth so my sister can go to bed early without being disturbed. Then the night of the 12th Elizabeth will crash in our room.

2 cabins on the cruise- this one is easy and not changing lol

2 rooms after the cruise... my parents, Jack and I in an AoA Cars Suite, my sister and Elizabeth have now moved to Pop to save some $$... but now my dad, sister and Jack are staying an extra night so the three of them will get a different room at Pop on the last night because the other room is under Elizabeths name and she will need to check out.

Let's just say I am hoping the Magic Band System has its kinks worked out by then since I have plenty of kinks with our group to make it complicated!!

 

[KatMark]

I'm sorry you had to cancel the cruise, but I think you made the right decision.

My head is spinning from who is in what room with whom on what night. But as long as you know who goes where, all is good.

 

[stephielela]

I'm sorry you had to cancel the cruise, but I think you made the right decision.

My head is spinning from who is in what room with whom on what night. But as long as you know who goes where, all is good.

Haha, mine too! I have them all linked on my MDE account and I'm terrified something is going to get screwed up!

I am more confident now that I made the right decision abotu the cruise. I've been doing some financial reorganizing and working on paying down debt and it is such a good feeling to be climbing OUT of the hole instead of digging it deeper!

 

[stephielela]

Ok, now that most of the details have been hammered out, and now that we know for sure we are going (my dad works for the government and my mom mentioned canceling when he was out of work during the shut down) it's time to get moving on these plans. I still ahve 80 days till the trip but as slow as I've been going... I'd better get started now!

Day 1 January 10th 2014

My parents are flying in earlier this day. Not sure exactly when, but they both were able to take this day off. They will be taking their first ride on the ME, and I won't be there to witness it! My dad gets a tad emotional and i KNOW he will tear up at the video. I'm one of the least emotional people in my family but it gets me every time. I hope they get a good bus driver. They have never understood why I love the ME so much

They will be heading to Port Orleans Riverside and checking in before heading over to the Expo to pick up race packets. They will pick up my sisters while they are there, and hopefully accomplishing the task of... signing us up for the Dumbo Double Dare!! Last year at the expo, people who were registered for Marathon Weekend races had the opportunity to register before the public. We are hoping that's the case again because my sister and I both want to do the Double Dare at Disneyland next summer. I am deferring my Marathon registration to 2015 so I can use the DD as my proof of time

After the expo they will have free time. I'm curious to see how they will do with this... My parents have never been to Disney without kids, and we've never had "down time" on our trips before. They won't have park tickets, and they will want to take it easy in preparation for their half marathon, and I'm sure they will have a light dinner and go to bed early.

Jack and I don't arrive until 9:40 I believe, so we will probably grab something to eat in the airport if there's still stuff open and then hop on ME to Riverside and crash so we can be up bright and early!!

 

[KatMark]

Arrival day plans sound good. I tear up at that video too.

Perhaps your parents will tour some of the resorts with their time.

 

[stephielela]

Moving right along to our second day...
Saturday January 11th

This morning my parents will be up suuuuuuper early for their race. They plan on walking to the start as it allows them to sleep in a bit and it can be their warm up. Hopefully we will have gotten adjoining rooms and they will have left their door open overnight so that I can go in and grab anything they need post race.

Jack and I will sleep in a little bit but we still want to try and meet them once on the course and then at the finish to take pictures. My good friend Elizabeth is meeting up with us that day but I don't know when she will arrive so it may just be Jack and I in the am.

After we have congratulated my parents on their big finish, it's Jack's turn! He is registered for the Mickey Mile at 12 pm so we will head over to WWoS. Jack goes back and forth on this, one day he is excited to run and the next he doesn't want to. I know he has plenty of energy but he complains all the time when I try and get him to go walking. I'm hoping excitement and potentially bribery win out in the end

Elizabeth will definitely be there in time for Jack's race so after he is done we will probably head over and get her checked in at Pop. Jack and I will be sleeping there that night, but the room is in her name so that it doesn't screw up our other reservations. Very complicated. If it's warm enough we will swim but we will probably do that at Riverside since that pool is new to us. We are also thinking about doing some mini-golfing and then just leisurely Downtown Disney time. My sister's flight doesn't get in until around 1 so the plan for her is to chill and have a light dinner and go to bed early. That's why Jack and I are staying with Elizabeth. I can only imagine how nervous my sister will be, she is kind of a nervous personality to begin with and gets worked up easily so she will need total quiet and relaxation if she hopes to get any sleep.

I don't know if my parents are going to do a celebration dinner or if we will all eat together but none of us have park tickets for this day so its just a matter of finding enough to keep us busy, which shouldn't be too difficult I do know I want to finish our evening with some tie dye cheesecake from Pop before bed! We will probably head to bed early-ish since we have a big day the next day too![/FONT]

 

[KatMark]

Second day plans sound great too.

We love playing mini-golf at Disney...it's just so much more fun than other courses because it is Disney themed.

 

[stephielela]

Second day plans sound great too.

We love playing mini-golf at Disney...it's just so much more fun than other courses because it is Disney themed.

Me too! WE did Winter Summerland last time and I loved it! Plus I think its the easier of the two to get to without a car. Though Elizabeth will have a car.... hmmmmmm maybe if it's too cold to swim we will do both!

 

[stephielela]

Shockingly enough, I have a small change to report. My friend Elizabeth is now bringing her mom! Now we knew this would be a possibility, we justhadn't gotten a commitment out of her so I was double planning. It's so simple though because I had already put the Pop reservation in her name and Elizabeth's and I had made all our dining reservations for 8 instead of 6. So no extra work, I will just be staying with my parents on the Saturday night before the race instead, so my sister can still ahve a peaceful room to anxiously sleep in

 

[stephielela]

Sunday January 12th

Sunday is the day of the WDW Marathon. I'm sure I will be a but bummed this day at not running the race, but how bummed can a person be at Disney??

My sister will have to be up extraordinarily early, and my dad is going with her to the race start. I will get to sleep a bit longer, but it is our goal to split up and see her as many times as possible throughout her race as ehr support team. We are both going to have backpacks that have supplies and we will work out who is meeting her where. Once she has crossed the finish line, my dad will assist her back to the hotel to shower etc and the rest of us will continue on with our day!!

This will still be our Epcot day, which I am thrilled about. We are planning on selecting later FP times so that if she feels up to it, my sister can meet us for them. So we will pretty much be just chilling and wandering around which is my favorite Epcot activity.

I know our plans will include the following:
*Margaritas from the stand in Mexico
*Agent P missions
*More margaritas

I am a big supporter of drinking around the world. I've never done it myself, but I do enjoy my World Showcse beverages. Just ask Nikki (NikkiLovesWDW!)

We do have a Via Napoli ADR for 4:30 so after that we will probably use our FP's and then stake out a good spot for Illuminations with some yummy dessert and a good beverage. After Illuminations I plan to wander out slowly, savoring every last minute of my 20's

Elizabeth and her mom will drive home Sunday night because Elizabeth has class Monday and the rest of us will go bat to POR for one last night in our Royal rooms!

 

[stephielela]

Monday January 13, 2014
... Otherwise known as the day I leave my 20's behind

Thankfully to soften the blow this day, our plans are simple
Wake up
Get breakfast (currently leaning towards WPE at DTD)
Get in hired towncar
Drive to Port Canaveral
BOARD THE DISNEY MAGIC!!!!!

I am so excited for this cruise. I LOVE cruising, I will use any excuse to get on a ship. In 2012 I suddenly ended up with 5 days off due to a schedule change at work so what did I do? Booked a cruise! Of course that was the cruise I got stuck at sea during a hurricane and never got to get off the ship but its a small price to pay!

I especially love cruising with Disney. I have only gotten to go on one Disney cruise (unless you count the Big Red Boat before DCL existed... I think I was 8) and it was a 7 night Mexican Riviera trip. I knew from the moment I stepped on the Disney Wonder I HAD to find a way to get my parents on a Disney ship. They love cruising almost as much as I do and I knew they would LOVE DCL. We booked this cruise before we even knew about the Magic refurb so this has been such a looooooong wait. I can't wait to see the changes to the ship and introduce my parents to another part of Disney magic (pun intended )

We plan on getting to the port earlyish, but not too early. Our driver has a lot of experience with DCL and we are getting picked up at 9:30 am from POR. Our Port Arrival Time is 11 am so we will pretty much get there right on time! I am so excited about this day, can you tell??

 

[stephielela]

Yesterday my dad bought our tickets. We are doing the Military Salute tickets which are 4 day park hoppers for $169. At first I was nervous because when we buy the tickets at our military base, we just get vouchers that we exchange for the real ones at Disney. I was concerned that because they weren't "real" we wouldn't be able to link them, but we can!! in fact I linked them last night, it worked beautifully!

After I did that I discovered I can now order Magic Bands! All 16 of them!

It turns out that so far, you have to get a new band for each hotel stay. So between the 7 people traveling in our party we have 16 bands to order! The bummer is that our tickets don't transfer from band to band so after our first hotel, we will have two bands to deal with, our ticket band and our second hotel band. It's a bummer but it could be worse I suppose! My dad, sister and Jack will actually have 3 each... We are going to sit down tonight and hammer out all the details and get them ordered. Two (actually 3) of them are for my friend and her mom and they will have AP's. They ordered them this week so we will link those later, but we can go ahead and order her bands too. We are in the midst of getting her account set up so that I'm not managing all her stuff I can barely keep them straight anymore! 7 people, 5 resort reservations, 16 magic bands... one great vacation!

Of course they are doing magic bands on some of the cruises too so for all i know we will have a whole extra set for that! Maybe I will wear them all at once...

 

[stephielela]

Hello all!! (echo's into the emptiness because no one is still reading )

I am 38 days away from departure! I absolutely could not be more excited!!! We have successfully selected our FP's, but I have only posted one day of park touring so I will just list those choices here:

Sunday, January 12th- Epcot
Soarin
Figment
Mission Space

Can I just say I am NOT a fan of the tiered system??? I am very uncertain of how well this MyMagic+ system is going to enhance my visit, but I will try (reeeeeeeallllllly hard) to keep an open mind until after my trip

Now that we ware caught up, onto

Tuesday January 14th- Nassau
The ship docks in Nassau this day. I have been to Nassau at least 3 times and don't usually have much interest in doing excursions. However I thought I'd poke around a bit on the DCL site while doing online check in and I foudn something interesting! It's a Chocolate Experience at the Graycliff Resort. Now I had heard of Graycliff before and had a mild interest in checking it out, but when I read the description, I was sold!
On this tour you will:
•Take an approximate 10-minute transfer to the Graycliff Chocolatier at the Graycliff Hotel and Restaurant. Here, you will learn the process of making chocolate – from the bean to the final product.
•Take a short tour of the factory where you will see a demonstration of grinding and roasting of cacao beans, mixing the liquid chocolate, filling the chocolate molds and more.
•Move to the demonstration room and suit up in your hygienic coveralls. Here, you will learn the origin of regional cacao beans, the importance of promoting fair trade and organic farming and how beans are processed creating the final chocolate product.
•Now it's your turn! Graycliff's Chocolatier will teach you techniques for dipping, glazing and filling moulds to create your own delicious chocolate bonbons.
•You'll sample a variety of chocolates from white, milk and various levels of dark chocolate.
•Leave with a souvenir of your own creations carefully packaged in a Graycliff Chocolatier box.
•You will have time to browse the Graycliff Chocolatier boutique, view photos of your tour and pick up your gift boxes before your return transfer to the pier.

So far we are all signed up for it, but my dad thinks he may stay behind for some quiet time on the ship.

After this excursion, we will make a stop by the pirate museum, Jack and I always get our picture taken there Other than that, no big plans!

Wednesday January 15th- Castaway Cay
I cannot WAIT to see CC for the first time!! I have heard so many amazing things, I can't wait to experience it first hand. I just hope it's not too cold to enjoy!

I do plan on participating in the CC 5k which will be a good way to burn off all those choclatey calories. Other than that I plan for beach time and fruity drinks!

Thursday January 16th- Sea Day

This is a sea day which = relaxing. Oh and stuffing ourselves silly at the Palo brunch! I did the brunch alone on my DCL MR cruise and I knew then that I would have to bring my family to try it someday! And that day is approaching fast! Palo is amazing!!!

 

[stephielela]

To get a littlle off topic, I just discovered I get to take another (very short) trip to Orlando in February!! Friends of ours are getting married in Stuart FL but we are having trouble getting flights that are reasonable... so we are flying in/out of Orlando!! And since we are flying in Thursday night and the wedding isn't till Saturday... we are crossing over to the dark side!



We fly in February 13th super late, so it made sense to stay as close to the airport as possible... which means IN the airport at the Hyatt Regency! The next morning we will rent a car and drive to Universal before they open at 9. We are only doing Islands of Adventure which is fine with me, I can't wait to get my nerdy WWoHP fix!! When we have seen all we want and had as much Butterbeer as we can stand, we will drive down to Stuart! Wedding festivities are sure to be fun and then we fly out Sunday evening so who knows, we may even stop by DTD before heading to the airport...

I love that my sickness has finally rubbed off on my family!!! This was barely even my idea! And it took NO CONVINCING AT ALL!!! There is hope!

 

[stephielela]

Friday January 17th
Back to WDW!
We have our private transfer scheduled for 7 am so we can get back ASAP! We will be checking into Disney's Art of Animation Resort into a Cars Suite, except my sister who is staying with our friend Elizabeth and her mom Lynn in a Pop Century preferred room. I can't wait to see the inside of the suite. I've seen millions of pictures online and we've walked around the cars section of the resort a few times but Jack is so excited! He loves Cars so this is probably the most exciting part of the trip for him!!

Once we are all checked in we are heading to DHS! I know we will miss park opening, but that's ok, we have our prescheduled fast passes! We chose Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours for this park. Jack is too short for RnRC and I don't love it so whoever wants to ride can use the single rider line or whatever. I do have my heart set on a cupcake from Starring Rolls, so I'm sure Jack won't mind going there with me while the rest do RnRC

We aren't planning on spending the whole day at DHS. Jack and I saw Fantasmic the last time we were there and he thought it was ok but not worth seeing again. Instead, we will head to my favorite place of all
Epcot! They have EMH until 11 or 12 (I can't remember) so that means plenty more assorted beverages for those of us over 21 which is everyone except Jack, It also means another shot at Illuminations in case we miss it the first time. No ADR's planned for this day. I wonder how my family will adjust? The past two family trips, we have had free dining, and we at all the time lol. I enjoy doing QS and snacks and only doing one or two TS meals and without FD, this is a good thing

 

[stephielela]

Saturday January 18th
This is our one and only full Magic Kingdom day! And in order to make sure we have plenty of energy to kepe us going we need a good breakfast!

So we are headed to Kona!! We have a 7 am ADR because MK opens at 9. This way we can eat, browse the Poly, the place we SHOULD have stayed, and then head over to catch the opening show and Rope Drop.

We haven't quite formulated our plan of attack yet. We have picked our FP's which are Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain. Jack is tall enough for Space, hopefully he will be brave enough! Since we have FP's for those, I don't know where we will head first. I'm sure we will have a loose plan before we get there though. We are spending all day at MK, and I can't wait to see Wishes! It's a close second to my favorite, Illuminations, but it's still very special. But before that, we have a very special ADR... Be Our Guest! We got a 4:30 ADR and I have told them it is Elizabeth's (and my) birthday in hopes of geting the Gray Stuff. This is our birthday celebration meal so we will make sure to enjoy it! Lately I've been craving Pecos Bill's though, so we might have to do lunch there... I just can't wait to see the inside of the Beast's castle and show everyone the Fantasyland expansion. When we were there last year they were just in preview phase so we didn't even ride the Voyage of the LM since we had already ridden it at DL and didn't have much time. This time I am looking forward to soaking in the atmosphere!

 

[stephielela]

Sunday January 19th
Or the day that just got better!

Originally we were checking out this day. We had decided on AK because we don't usually spend a full day there and we knew we would be leaving early. Well, when we started looking at flights they were crazy expensive. We figured since my dad, sister and Jack were off the next day, they might as well stay behind. They ended up with a one night reservation at Pop. Then last week Delta CANCELED the flight my mom and I were supposed to take and moved us to a flight 4 HOURS EARLIER, at 3:30 pm. Well we all know that the Magical Express picks up super early so there was no way I was having a 3 hour Disney day. I did a bit of looking and found a flight on Delta that left first thing the next morning, and got us into our airport at 9:30. We won't have the bags with us so we can go right to work and just be a little late. So we canceled their Pop reservation and extended our AoA reservation so my sister will just squeeze in with us that last night.

So we are still doing AK in the morning, our FP's are Kilimanjaro Safari's, Dinosaur, and Everest. Pretty sure Jack isn't tall enough for Everest, though he has been growing like a weed, but that's ok. When we are done at AK, we will just head wherever we want! I'm thinking we will end up back at MK. Or maybe we will do a 4 parks 1 day spectacular like we did on Jack's first trip... who knows! All I know is I am counting the minutes until it's time to start our vacation!!

 

[KatMark]

Sorry I've been missing. We were at Disney last week and got home late Sunday. I ended up with a 24-hour bug yesterday and am trying to catch up on all my threads before I start my TR.

Your plans sound great. And for an additional trip to Orlando...even if it is to the dark side.