wickesy
<font color=royalblue>Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love y
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2006
- Messages
- 3,797
Cast:
Me: David (Will be 40)
Dad: Ray (64)
Ever since I realised that WDW was going to turn 40 in the same year I was I knew that I wanted to go out there and help them celebrate. The original plan was to go for my birthday as well but Dad and I decided we didnt want to go twice in one year and so the June trip was changed to a Norwegian cruise instead (but thats another PTR). The September/October trip remained though and in October of last year it was time to get the ball rolling.
Magic Kingdom opened on the 1st October 1971 and so I decided to make the trip 2 weeks, beginning on the 21st September and ending on the 5th October. I emailed DVC Member Services and got a reservation for a savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge, no problems at all. Next was flights and I managed to get flights with Virgin using Miles+Money to keep the costs down a bit. We are flying out on the 1:00 flight, which is later than we are used to, but it does mean that there will be no need to stay overnight at Gatwick, again saving a bit of money.
We normally go to WDW in April so there are a couple of things we are going to get to do for the first time this year one of them is Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party and the other is the Food and Wine Festival. As we will be doing Food and Wine I wanted to stay near to EPCOT and so I decided on Boardwalk Villas with a Boardwalk view. DVC rules didnt allow me to book that until 7 months before check-in date so a couple of weeks ago I phoned Member Services to check on availability for our first week. There were a few nights not available so I left it and over the following week I did some points calculations and worked out that we could just about stretch to a 1 bedroom and have enough points left for a few nights after our cruise next year. I phoned Member Services again when it got to 7 months from the start of our second week and although availability was still spotty for a studio I was able to snag a 1 bedroom boardwalk view for the entire fortnight.
Although park hours for September are out it will be a couple of weeks before the October hours are released but even so I have sketched out a rough itinerary, which looks like this so far:
Wed 21st Fly out, pick up our hire car and drive to the Boardwalk. Dinner will be counter service from somewhere.
Thu 22nd Morning will be spent in Animal Kingdom (or possibly take advantage of being awake at stupid oclock and go to EMH at Magic Kingdom). In the afternoon, as is tradition, we will go to Downtown Disney and then to Wal-Mart to stock up on goodies. Dinner will be at Sweet Tomatoes, probably the new branch at Crossroads.
Fri 23rd Hollywood Studios in the morning and nothing planned for afternoon.
Sat 24th Shopping day which will start, again as is tradition, by visiting the Bass Pro shop at Festival Bay mall. Another first today will be an ADR at Teppan Edo followed by my favourite of the fireworks shows, Illuminations.
Sun 25th EPCOT in the morning then in the evening over to the Polynesian for a DIS meet.
Mon 26th Nothing planned. Will probably end up doing mini-golf or something.
Tue 27th Morning and evening at Magic Kingdom (with a break in the middle of the day) finishing off with MNSSHP.
Wed 28th Fort Wilderness segway tour. Well go for the later tour so that we dont need to be up early after our late night. Nothing planned for the rest of the day.
Thu 29th Blue Springs State Park. I came across this from a post on the DIBB and think it will be a nice scenic break away from the hustle and bustle of the parks. Depending on how the weather goes we might bring this forward or push it back so we get a nice day for it.
Fri 30th Another day with nothing planned
Sat 1st I know its going to be rammed but this was only ever going to be one thing a whole day at the Magic Kingdom and there will also be a DIS meet there (if we can find each other!)
Sun 2nd No parks planned yet but there is a DIBB meet at the Margarita Bar in Downtown Disney.
Mon 3rd Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT
Tue 4th Nothing planned for the day but we will finish off at one of my favourite (and now a signature dining) restaurants Le Cellier in EPCOT and a final viewing of Illuminations.
Wed 5th Check-in at DTD. Find something to do for the rest of the day then head back to the airport for our 5:55 flight home.
So as I say its kind of a rough sketch plan at the moment well need another visit to AK and HS but Ill put them in as and when and were always open to shuffling days around while were out there. Ill probably put another couple of ADRs in as well I loved Sci-Fi dine-in when we went in 2009 so I want to go there for lunch again and I might try Tonys Town Square in Magic Kingdom as well.
So thats it for now next thing to wait for is our ADR date which Ive worked out to be 25th March for the first 10 days. Ill update as and when Ive got the ADRs booked.
Me: David (Will be 40)
Dad: Ray (64)
Ever since I realised that WDW was going to turn 40 in the same year I was I knew that I wanted to go out there and help them celebrate. The original plan was to go for my birthday as well but Dad and I decided we didnt want to go twice in one year and so the June trip was changed to a Norwegian cruise instead (but thats another PTR). The September/October trip remained though and in October of last year it was time to get the ball rolling.
Magic Kingdom opened on the 1st October 1971 and so I decided to make the trip 2 weeks, beginning on the 21st September and ending on the 5th October. I emailed DVC Member Services and got a reservation for a savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge, no problems at all. Next was flights and I managed to get flights with Virgin using Miles+Money to keep the costs down a bit. We are flying out on the 1:00 flight, which is later than we are used to, but it does mean that there will be no need to stay overnight at Gatwick, again saving a bit of money.
We normally go to WDW in April so there are a couple of things we are going to get to do for the first time this year one of them is Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party and the other is the Food and Wine Festival. As we will be doing Food and Wine I wanted to stay near to EPCOT and so I decided on Boardwalk Villas with a Boardwalk view. DVC rules didnt allow me to book that until 7 months before check-in date so a couple of weeks ago I phoned Member Services to check on availability for our first week. There were a few nights not available so I left it and over the following week I did some points calculations and worked out that we could just about stretch to a 1 bedroom and have enough points left for a few nights after our cruise next year. I phoned Member Services again when it got to 7 months from the start of our second week and although availability was still spotty for a studio I was able to snag a 1 bedroom boardwalk view for the entire fortnight.
Although park hours for September are out it will be a couple of weeks before the October hours are released but even so I have sketched out a rough itinerary, which looks like this so far:
Wed 21st Fly out, pick up our hire car and drive to the Boardwalk. Dinner will be counter service from somewhere.
Thu 22nd Morning will be spent in Animal Kingdom (or possibly take advantage of being awake at stupid oclock and go to EMH at Magic Kingdom). In the afternoon, as is tradition, we will go to Downtown Disney and then to Wal-Mart to stock up on goodies. Dinner will be at Sweet Tomatoes, probably the new branch at Crossroads.
Fri 23rd Hollywood Studios in the morning and nothing planned for afternoon.
Sat 24th Shopping day which will start, again as is tradition, by visiting the Bass Pro shop at Festival Bay mall. Another first today will be an ADR at Teppan Edo followed by my favourite of the fireworks shows, Illuminations.
Sun 25th EPCOT in the morning then in the evening over to the Polynesian for a DIS meet.
Mon 26th Nothing planned. Will probably end up doing mini-golf or something.
Tue 27th Morning and evening at Magic Kingdom (with a break in the middle of the day) finishing off with MNSSHP.
Wed 28th Fort Wilderness segway tour. Well go for the later tour so that we dont need to be up early after our late night. Nothing planned for the rest of the day.
Thu 29th Blue Springs State Park. I came across this from a post on the DIBB and think it will be a nice scenic break away from the hustle and bustle of the parks. Depending on how the weather goes we might bring this forward or push it back so we get a nice day for it.
Fri 30th Another day with nothing planned
Sat 1st I know its going to be rammed but this was only ever going to be one thing a whole day at the Magic Kingdom and there will also be a DIS meet there (if we can find each other!)
Sun 2nd No parks planned yet but there is a DIBB meet at the Margarita Bar in Downtown Disney.
Mon 3rd Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT
Tue 4th Nothing planned for the day but we will finish off at one of my favourite (and now a signature dining) restaurants Le Cellier in EPCOT and a final viewing of Illuminations.
Wed 5th Check-in at DTD. Find something to do for the rest of the day then head back to the airport for our 5:55 flight home.
So as I say its kind of a rough sketch plan at the moment well need another visit to AK and HS but Ill put them in as and when and were always open to shuffling days around while were out there. Ill probably put another couple of ADRs in as well I loved Sci-Fi dine-in when we went in 2009 so I want to go there for lunch again and I might try Tonys Town Square in Magic Kingdom as well.
So thats it for now next thing to wait for is our ADR date which Ive worked out to be 25th March for the first 10 days. Ill update as and when Ive got the ADRs booked.
It's wonderful what Photoshop can do. 
) I had to wait until I got home. As soon as I got home I logged on to the website and put in our confirmation number so I could book for our first 10 days I couldnt work out what format it wanted my mobile number in for the telephone number so I just plugged in the Boardwalk Villas number and I was away. I got exactly what I wanted and this is what I have booked so far:
We really enjoyed Teppan Edo when we tried it last time, and we've got an ADR there for our next trip 
well still be at the 1st October one though. 
) and also the segway tour sounds fab! 
